good-natured ribbing

I started a pair of Vinnland a while ago and have worked on them in the background throughout August and September. These will be payment to a coworker who is doing an artsy favor for me.

Ava took this picture for me!

Yarn: Sweet Georgia Superwash Sock Yarn in Life Aquatic colorway
Needles: Size 1.5
Modifications: Described below

I really love the way this pattern turns out – but I didn’t enjoy the process very much. I didn’t get the hand of the pattern until well past half way on the second sock. By then, I was able to memorize the pattern and it went much more quickly! You can see progress on the sock here and here.

In this picture, you can see my modifications. I made the socks a little short in the leg because the recipient said she intends to wear them in the house as slippers and my personal opinion is that short socks are better for that. I also decided to leave the back of the leg plain stockinette instead of continuing the patters because the pattern pulls in so much – I didn’t want to leg to be too tight. I also used the tubular bind off for the cuffs (my favorite for toe up socks).

It was Monday evening this week when two interesting things happened: I finished the Vinnland socks (pictures to come) AND I remembered about a baby shower this weekend (today, in fact). The time between these two events was short, but long enough for me to fantasize about the next project I would start. But alas, I cannot attend a baby shower with no knitted gifts.

So I headed for the yarn closet to see what I could pull together. I decided to make the Sweet Baby Cap by Gro since the last one I made turned out so well.

I pulled out the most gender-neutral yarn that was still baby-appropriate: Sweet Georgia in Elf.

I squeaked this set out in 3 evenings – 2 for the hat and first sock and one more for the 2nd sock and adding the ties to the hat. Not bad. Especially since I got the skein of Sweet Georgia for 40% off.

Now, I’ve been a fan of Sweet Georgia yarn for a while and have a bunch of it stashed away. But I’m starting to think that crazy pooling might be the norm. Here are a couple examples:

The Vinnland socks used a semi-solid Sweet Georgia so they don’t have any pooling issues. I’m intrigued now and want to start knitting up all my Sweet Georgia to see what happens!

Anyway, the baby set is part of a gift basket that includes many books, some Burt’s Bees baby stuff, and an over-sized stuffed monkey. I’ll let you know how it is received. And Vinnland tomorrow, I promise!

Oh yes, I almost forgot this:

I may have to make a larger one for her.

I just learned that there is a new fiber festival to be held in Ann Arbor at the end of October. The Fiber Expo will be a the Washtenaw Farm Council Grounds on October 27 &28. More information here.

Anyone want to go?

I’ve been plugging away at a few different projects. They are all coming along, but nothing is getting finished!

As soon as one of these is finished (it will be the Vinnland socks), I’ll probably break down and start about 10 new projects. I have so many things on my to-do list.

So, since the our last trip to the dentist, we’ve been trying to get Ava to stop sucking her thumb. This has been quite a challenge. She doesn’t to it a lot anymore, but any time she rubs one of the dogs or is getting sleepy, in goes the thumb.

I suggested knitting a thumb cover for her and for some reason she loved the idea.

Instead of making progress on my many projects this morning, I decided to make the thumb cover. She has had it on since.

It has been working so far – who wants a mouth full of yarn?! Even if it is a lovely merino and cashmere blend!

UPDATE: It worked! She went all day and all night without sucking her thumb. And she was very proud of herself, too.

need a knitzi

Something kept poking me as I walked from the parking lot to work on Thursday, and finally I looked down to see one of my sock needles sticking out of my backpack. It went through a knitting bag and two layers of backpack material just to poke me in the butt. When I showed Beth (of course I left it out to show her) she had our co-worker, Stephen, take a picture immediately with his iPhone.

I should have used my knitzi.

For some reason, I woke up way too early this morning. Although I wasn’t ready to get ready for work, I was happy to get the knitting out. I was able to get the toe going on Vinnland #2, so it wasn’t all bad.

Sorry for the pre-dawn lighting. I’ll get better shots soon!

Several people have inquired about the sock in my previous post. The yarn is Wollmeise Sockenwoll in the colorway Spice Market (which I love!). The pattern is one of my own creation, called Nutkin. I’ll be working up the pattern as I complete the socks and it will be available for free at Knitzi.com.

If you are interested, just leave a comment and I’ll notify you when it is ready.

You may have noticed me allude to a secret project that I’ve been working on with my husband. Now, we are finally ready to share it with the world!

I’d like to invite you to visit www.Knitzi.com. This is a shop run by my husband, Nick, and I. All the products on the site are lovingly hand-crafted by one of us. The Knitzi is our main product. Here it is:

We also offer project bags and patterns. That’s right, Twinkleberry (first introduced here) is now available for free on the site.

Please stop by and let me know what you think. There is also a store blog where we will post updates, new products, etc.

I’ve been using my Knitzi for nearly a year now and I can’t imaging not having one. I’m sure you will find it as useful as I have!

I’ve started in on my Minimalist Cardigan made from the Briar Rose merino/bamboo yarn I got at the fiber fest last month. I love the way it is turning out.

I am, however, full of doubt about the sizing. This is usual for me and sweaters. I found the sizing in the magazine to be a bit odd. I had to choose between a 35.5 or a 39 inch bust. I’d be right in the middle of that. Since I didn’t want a big baggy cardigan (I have enough of those from earlier knitting projects!) and the sweater is meant to be worn open, I chose the smaller size. Of course now, I think it might be too small.

I’m sure it will be fine, especially once it is blocked. And, I have that exact shirt the model in the magazine is wearing hers with (I got it at Target).

So, I decided to place another Wollmeise order. This time, I narrowed it down to four colors (for my first order, I managed to get it down to 2).

I love this stuff! Can’t wait to start knitting it.

I’ve completed the “armies” I mentioned a while back…

I was actually waiting to weave in the ends for a while…I didn’t have a small enough darning needle to fit through the stitches! Thanks to Beth, I permanently borrowed a real darning needle and now I can weave in all the sock-yarn ends I want! Thanks!

I love how these turned out. I’m starting another pair already. They are the conversion of Pomatomus. Here’s what I’ve got so far:

Despite my lack of posts, I have been busily knitting. Idle hands, and all that. First though, I want to say to Allison, who sent me my Sockapalooza socks: “I tried to message to say ‘thank you,’ but my email bounced back! I hope you see this and know that I appreciate them.”

Part 1. Sock knitting.

So, I got the urge recently to organize the top layer of my stash and took over the dining room table to lay it all out. It can be a great pleasure to sort lovely yarns and remind oneself that one doesn’t need to go shopping any time in the near future:

In my mind I matched up all of these skeins to specific sock patterns, and now that summer is winding down just want to sit and knit them all at once.

I started by finishing a pair of manly socks. This is one more pair for Nigel, easy to do in the car while we commute.

This gets my annual total up to 11 pairs of socks. My goal is 14 this year, so I’m well on my way. I have at least 3 other pairs started, and more sock yarn in my stash than I can shake a stick at.*

*possibly “an old shepherding term where you have so many animals to herd, you cannot shake your stick at every individual animal to herd them.”

Part 2. Non-sock knitting.

Yes, there’s more, and I’ll be brief. I’m knitting a baby blanket. The pattern is from Minnies: Quickknits for Babies and Toddlers. This is relaxing knitting – it’s quick and the pattern for this side is just interesting enough. Once I’ve finished this piece (4 more repeats of the pattern), I’ll knit the back panel in green, all in stockinette. Then, the two pieces get sewn together with an i-cord border and bobbles are added to the diamonds.

The pattern calls for Brown Sheep Bulky, which I’ve never thought of as particularly baby-soft, so I substituted Cascade Chunky. It’s turning out well.