good-natured ribbing

OK. I had my doubts about the yarn, but I have to say I think I love this sock. The yarn feels much nicer knit than it does in the ball. And maybe I just don’t have very sensitive feet, but I don’t find it to be scratchy or rough to wear.

I can’t wait to finish the 2nd and start wearing them. I’ll be writing up this pattern for the Knitzi website.

This shows the full range in color of the yarn. The light purple seen on the toe was just about to start (after the grey) when I bound off.

Many people were supplied my knitting habit this Christmas. Here is some of it:

I’ve been wanting to get those KnitPicks Options interchangeable needles for a while but haven’t been able to bring myself to make the purchase since I have a perfectly good set of Denise needles. I like the Denise but they just don’t work well with some yarn. I’m looking forward to trying the KP ones. There is also a set of KP sock needles. I’ve also been wanting the Barbara Walker Treasuries for a while, too. I got the first two for my birthday and the others for Christmas.

I’m really loving the Knitting Nature book. Of course there are a few off the wall items but many of them are beautiful and very wearable. I’m dying to make the Ram’s Horn sweater and may start it as soon as my Minimalist Cardigan is done (so, no time soon!).

Nick wants to start making Knitzis in exotic woods and I received the first one he made of Wenge, a hardwood from Africa. Ava loves it, too!

Christina surprised me with a lovely gift:

She worked on these fingerless gloves over the summer, all the while lying to me about who they were for. I love everything about them – the color is perfect, the stitch pattern is very cool, and I love the length! See better pictures here, on Ravelry. She also gave me one of those magnetic chart holders that I’ve been wanting for a long time.

My dad also gave me a gift certificate to a yarn store in Windsor. Maybe I’ll put that towards some yarn for the Ram’s Horn!

I’m really glad I decided to skip the Christmas knitting this year – it just about did me in last year! Instead, I’ve been slowly getting some of my own knitting done. I’m still plugging away at the Minimalist Cardigan but it is slow going. I have also been working on another hat/socks baby set for some friends. You’ll see pictures of those when the socks are done.

About a week ago, I decided that I needed to get something at YarnMarket.com to finish off a gift I’m putting together. While there, I decided to take a quick peek at the sock yarn. They had the new Noro Kureyon Sock yarn in stock and I couldn’t help but get some. I just love those colors. The yarn is just like the regular Kureyon – a little scratchy and uneven – and I’m not sure if it’ll make good socks, but I’m giving it a try.

What do you think? I think they’ll go pretty quick. Just like when I made a Kureyon sweater, I’m eager to get to the next color, so I just keep knitting. I made up the pattern and used the magic cast on.

I also made a super-quick pair of fingerless gloves to keep at work. At the first mention of heating failure, I knew I needed a new pair. This yarn is pretty awesome. It is Nashua Snowbird, a wool and alpaca blend. Very warm. The mitts are just 2×2 ribbing with a gusset thumb. Simple yet effective.

And the pattern is now available for free! I’m thrilled with how this sock turned out. The yarn is awesome – I really love that Wollmeise (these socks are in Spice Market, medium intensity).

Other things I like about this sock: the turned down cuff (no ribbing) and the 3 needle bind off (no kitchener).

It is a lovely sock, if I do say so myself. Give it a try!

knitml. huh. an ravelror’s able to see the group on ravelry?

A quick Christmas project I snuck in as a revamp of an old favourite. This little set was knit for one of Mike’s first students. She is a mother now and recently got back in touch with Mike. She’s a sweet girl and I hope this set looks adorable on her little girl.

The hat pattern is from Oneskein and is one of my favourite fast-knits. The mitts are of my own devising.

Just dropping in to let you know that I’ve posted another pattern on Knitzi.com. This one is Hunca Munca, a collection of 3 baby socks.
You can download it here.

I have to admit that I have always liked the idea of knitting socks. And I have may a few pairs of socks for babies, but I have never been able to finish a pair for myself or any other grown up. My gauge is usually too loose and I end up having socks that would fit a horse – even when knitting with size 0 needles! When I saw the snowflake socks in the new IK, however, I decided to give sock knitting another try. Since I do a lot of two color knitting I figured these might keep my attention longer. I am only on the first sock, but they seem to be working out pretty well. Here is a picture of the side.

I really like the way the gusset decrease worked out. Here is a picture of the front.

I am using a yarn from knit picks called Telemark. It is a bit heavy for socks, but since my feet are always cold, these should be fine. If I were to try another pair of two color socks, I would definitely not pick such a dense yarn, but I doubt I will be knitting another pair any time soon. Although I really like the way these socks are turning out, they take a lot longer than mittens!

I had a burning desire to crochet a scarf, even though I don’t know how to crochet, and not just any scarf, but the Zen scarf that I found in my daughter’s Crochet Pattern-a-Day calendar for this year. I felt compelled to drop everything in progress — hats, socks, handwarmers — to get this out of my system.

• My first attempt consisted of trying to get past the starting chain, while looking up each and every abbreviation in the pattern multiple times. That ended in a tangled mess.
• The second attempt got me into the pattern further, but the sides of the scarf were bulging in various directions.
• The third attempt got me 3 inches of scarf, but I became convinced (and rightly so, it turns out) that in the printed version there were three extra turning stitches called for between rows two and three. (It made me proud to discover that this was corrected in the online version — I caught an error in my first ever crochet pattern).
• The fourth attempt yielded 4 inches of scarf, but yikes, I got confused somewhere and the pattern was all wacky.
• The fifth time I thought it was going okay, but when I held it up to check Emily laughed out loud because the end was flaring out while the body of the scarf was getting narrower and narrower.
• Finally, for whatever reason, the sixth time it clicked and here it is:

That took up the first 2 days of the Thanksgiving weekend. On Saturday and Sunday I managed to finish these 3 items, which shows how much faster my knitting is than my crocheting!