Completed happy socks

The very loud socks are done! These were knit with my very basic sock pattern. I like using a Turkish cast-on and a short-row heel. I usually make the leg a little bit longer, but E requested some socks out of the left overs. I stopped sooner, so there will be plenty of socks for her little feet. Details:
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in 502 Sassy Stripe
Needles: Size 0 40" Addi Turbo
Start: April 25, 2007
Finish: April 27, 2007

I've had these socks on the needles for a while now. They were my on-the-go socks. I took this photo when I finished the other socks, but now this pair is complete too. I'll get another picture of it soon. It was strange knitting this yarn after the Lorna's. The cotton blend is stiffer, not as giving, and not as smooth feeling. These socks are for my Mom. She thinks all wool socks are too hot and rarely wears the other socks that I've given to her. We'll see how she likes this cotton blend.

I've seen a knit-a-long out there in blogland for 52 socks in a year and then another one for 12 socks in a year. I haven't signed up for either one because I'm somewhere in between. I doubt that I can get 52 pairs in a year, unless they were for E and D's little feet. I definitely get more than 12 pairs though. I plan on counting how many I can get in one year, without trying to wreck my hands. So far this year, I've finished:

• 12 pairs of socks
• 1 adult sweater
• 1 toddler sweater vest
• 3 shawls
• 1 scarf
• 1 balaclava
• various little knits

A few things are not under my 2007 flickr tag. I need to get some photos of those to make that tag complete. If I stay at this pace, I can get approximately 48 pairs of socks done. I don't think I want to knit that many. We'll see. What's up next? I'm digging through my lace yarns again. It takes me a while to match up a yarn to a pattern. There will be another pair of socks started. I'm waiting a bit to start those since I have some yarn coming from The Loopy Ewe. It's decision time again.

Better Sea Wool Monkeys

Ah, that's much better. I should give up on indoor photography or work on my photoshopping skills. The lighting was ideal on the front porch yesterday. I took these socks outside, a bunch of new yarn, and my new completed shawl. This is a much, much better photo of the origin Sea Wool. I didn't get a good shot of the shawl. I need to hang up a lighter backdrop than the woods. The shawl got lost in those photos and it didn't do any better on the porch. Speaking of new yarn, here are some of my latest favorites.

The left is Lorna's Laces Shepard sock in Sassy Stripes. This is my first time using Lorna's and I like it so far. It's as thin as opal yarn, but softer and squishier. I've started a pair of socks for myself. I'm calling them my happy socks. Why? Because you can't help but feel happy when looking at colors that loud. The middle is Fleece Artist merino sock yarn in Tiger. I've knit with Fleece Artist sock yarn before. It was my first indulgent sock yarn that I bought when I started knitting socks. Those have held up well and I wanted another pair. The right is Fleece Artist Sea Wool in Renaissance. I really like the colors in this one. These yarns are in the immediate I-want-to-use yarn stash.

This is something I made rather quickly for E. The pattern is from the May 07 issue of Creative Knitting and it's called Diamonds on the Cuff. I used some left over cherry tree hill glitz sock yarn and some beads that I had on hand. E likes it a lot and D wanted one too. I did make one for him, but it turned out a bit too snug for his wrist. I also made one out of the leftover cherry tree hill cascade silk laceweight yarn. I like how that one turned out size-wise, but silk is not really up to the wear and tear that my two kids put it through. haha! I'll have to try a more durable lace weight.

Details of the cuff:
Pattern:Diamonds on the Cuff from Creative Knitting (May 2007)
Yarn: Leftover cherry tree hill glitz in tropical storm
Needles: Size 1 dpns
Beads: 84 6/0 beads in rootbeer from Firemountain Gems
Changes: I only did three of the beaded diamonds for E's 6 year old wrist. It's quite fitted, but another diamond would have made it a bracelet and more likely to fall off of her.

Cloud factories

We went to a birthday party this past weekend. We had an adventurous day. We stopped by a lock and dam. We visited a wooden playground. And we drove right by a power plant. My three year old declared, "they making clouds!" I guess it does look like that's where clouds are made. Then, we had this conversation on Monday:

E: What are you doing?
me: It's supposed to rain today and I'm checking the weather.
E: It's not raining. They're wrong.
me: They might not be. It's getting cloudy outside.
D: That's because the factory is making clouds.
me: That's where the clouds come from?
D: Yes, the factory make clouds.

This conversation is typical around here. E is in a bossy and know it all stage. D usually tries to join the conversation, no matter what the topic. I need to write down more of the things he says.

In knitting, I finished the Luna Moth Shawl. It's currently blocking on the checkered green sheet that I always use. I plan on wearing it out Wednesday evening, so we'll see if I can get good pictures of it then. I've started messing around with beads and knitting again. There is a little wrist cuff thing in the May issue of Creative Knitting. I made one of those for E with some left over sock yarn. It was quick and easy. We'll see if E likes it in the morning. I'm also going to try the Emerald beaded bracelet. I plan on using some leftover silk laceweight and 8/0 beads. I haven't figured out which needles to use yet, but we'll see. I'm still stringing beads on the yarn.

Seawool socks quickly finished

I finished another pair of socks. I ordered this yarn last Thursday, received it on Saturday, wound it up Tuesday, started knitting Wednesday, and finished the socks Thursday. I would say that this is the nicest sock yarn that I've knit with so far. This is the Seawool sock yarn from Fleece Artist in the Origin color. The color is most accurate in this first picture. It is very earthy looking. It has brown, a reddish-orangish color, and yellow. To me, this reminds me of what it looks like at sunset in the fall around here. I used my size 1 Knitpicks classic circular needles and didn't have any problem with splitting. There were odd bits of off-white fuzz here and there. I suspect this is the seacell bits. I had that happen when I knit a shawl out of their Seasilk yarn. Those fuzzy parts were easily pulled out and didn't make that area of the yarn any thinner. I did leave a few in and they're not that noticeable.

Details:
Yarn: Fleece Artist Seawool in Origin
Needles: size 1 Knitpicks for the socks and size 0 for the cuffs
Method: toe-up with Turkish cast-on
Pattern: used the lace pattern from the Monkey socks
Heel: short-row
Start: April 18, 2007
Finished: April 19, 2007

I have used the Monkey pattern before and liked the stitch patterning on variegated yarn. I wanted to knit these toe-up. I just followed the chart and the stitch pattern is upside down in these socks. I think that I did manage to finish these socks so quickly because of the stitch pattern. It's easily memorized and keeps my attention better than plain stockinette.

I have another ball of Seawool ready to go, but I need to get back to the Luna Moth shawl. I will probably start another pair of socks as my in-the-car knitting, but that will be another gift pair like the one below.


Details:
Yarn: Regia Tip Top 4080
Needles: size 0 knitpicks classic circular
This pair is for my sister that insists everything be matchy-matchy. I thought she would go for a pair of funky socks, but nope. She won't even wear a pair of socks around the house that doesn't match her pajamas. My Mom has the same issue, so I need to dig in my stash for some neutral color. sheesh. ;-)

Finished stranded socks and LYS

I finished the stranded knitted socks. I tried a few new things with them. First of all, I tried a short rowed garter stitched heel. The heel was really fast to knit, but I'm not sure if it added much in the way of bulk. I wanted to make the heel a bit bulkier in hopes that it will extend the life of the socks. I knit the socks with Knitpicks Palette yarn. It's not your typical sock yarn, but it works wonderful for stranded or fair isle socks. I have two other pairs of socks made out of this yarn and those still look great. I also tried the pinstriped star toe. The toe feels very snug. I'm not sure if that's due to the pinstriping or my tension or both. I did try the pinstriped heel flap, but it was turning out too tight and didn't have any stretch at all. I frogged that and went with the garter heel. My stranding is out of practice. The first sock is a bit looser than the second. The second sock is much more even and better fitting.

Details:
Pattern: Blocks(pg. 104) six-stitch stranded pattern from More Sensational Knitted Socks
Yarn: Knitpicks Palette
Needles: two 16 inch size 0 Addi Turbos
Started: April 7, 2007
Finished: April 13, 2007

I used the Addi needles because my Knitpicks Classic Circulars were taken up in the Regia Surf socks. I missed the pointy tips, but the Addi needles were probably better for the loosely twisted Palette yarn. I didn't have any problems with splitting the yarn while knitting with the Addi needles. I had a lot of fun doing the stranded knitting. I plan on making a few more out of that same book and with more Palette yarn that I have in my stash.

I found out that I do have a LYS (local yarn store). The name of the store is Market Street Yarn and Crafts. I heard about it on the knitting livejournal, but never got around to visiting it. We were in town and decided to check it out. Wow!!!! I was very impressed. The two ladies there were very nice. They asked how I heard about the store, what type of knitting I did, etc. The front of the store had comfy couches and chairs and toys. E and D busied themselves there while I looked around. Dwight was there to watch them, but they did behave very well. I got to see some pricey yarns up close(didn't buy any). The store had a very nice selection of yarns. I ended up buying some Lorna's Laces and Wildefoot sock yarn. They had a good variety of sock yarns. I'll have to check out some of the other ones, if I ever get my stash down to a reasonable size. I liked the store a lot. The ladies answered many of E's questions and were very kid friendly. They even mentioned having kid classes this summer.

Back to knitting projects, I've started another shawl. I'm knitting the Luna Moth Shawl out of some Cherry Tree Hill Cascade silk that I've had for a while. It's a top down shawl and it seems to be flying right now. I'm sure it will slow down once I get a few pattern repeats into it. I tried taking pictures of it, but they didn't turn out so well. I try to with natural light to get more accurate colors.

Cable-Down Raglan complete!!

I did try to get a picture of myself in the sweater, but it didn't work out and I didn't want to postpone writing about it. I wanted to get a few things down about this sweater before I forgot them. I like how this sweater turned out. It's not perfect, but it's really good. I made the sleeves longer. I shortened the body of the sweater when I realized how long it was going to be. If I had known that I was shortening it that much, I would have started the smaller cables sooner. Oh well.

Part of the problem was the yarn that I was using. I used Colourmart's oiled cashmere yarn. You must knit this yarn loosely and then wash it in hot soapy water. Because of that, I couldn't try on the sweater as I went. It did look huge before washing. It looks short in the picture, but sweater covers my tummy. My sweater ended up looser than the one pictured in the pattern, but I like it that way. I'm not one to wear clingy knits.

I would use this yarn again. It's a bit weird knitting it loose and then throwing the whole thing into a washing machine. I did try to hand wash the sweater first, but it wasn't enough. The sweater was still a bit rough feeling after the handwash. I don't think I got all of the oil out of it. I was brave after that and threw it in the wash with a few towels on warm wash/warm rinse. When it came out, it was very, very soft. I didn't try throwing it in the dryer. I laid it flat and it dried quickly. The color of the yarn is a very dark blue. The most accurate picture is the close-up detail shot of the cables.

Details:
Pattern:Cable-Down Raglan from Interweave Spring 07 issue
Yarn: Colourmart 4-ply cashmere (held double)
Needles: Size 6 Knitpicks Options
Start: March 26, 2007
Finished: April 4, 2007

Late snow

Snow? It was 84 degrees last Tuesday and now we're having days in the 30's again. I was ready for spring and then I remembered my allergies. Then the snow came and I thought I would get a break from my allergies, but they're still driving me crazy. I have it contained, but the allergy medicine makes me feel drowsy for about an hour and then cranky. Dwight wonders how that makes anything different. Funny--very funny.

There is a lot going on around here. We just got the samples for our floor. We have agreed(!!) on one of them, but Dwight wants to look around locally again. I can't wait to get started on that project. All of our little starters for our garden are sitting in the kitchen waiting for the weather to warm up again. I even brought in E's flower pots. All of those are now sprouting. I hope she gets some pretty flowers. I'm doing pretty good with the planting so far this year. I guess practice is good. So far, nothing has drowned from too much water or died from lack of water. ;-)

There has been a lot of knitting. I finished the Cable Down Raglan!! I took some in-the-mirror shots of it. I hope to get better shots when I wear it out on Sunday. I started and finished a little sweater vest for D. I used the cobalt blue bamboo yarn. There will be more details when I get a picture of D wearing it. And finally, I started another sock. This one is a pattern from More Sensational Knitted Socks. I liked the stranded knitting patterns in her other sock book and wanted to start one right away when I saw these in the new book. The yarn is Knitpicks Palette. It's not usually an ideal sock yarn, but I like it for stranded or fair isle patterns.

Knitting as a temporary allergy cure?

I don't know what it is, but it's probably something inside my head. Sometimes when I'm knitting, all of the sniffles and sneezes go away. Hmmm, that sounds like a good excuse to knit more. I have been knitting. I'm knitting away on the cable down raglan. I'm on the second sleeve and almost finished. Why are there no pictures, then? That's because it's ugly. Not the pattern or the yarn, but the combination of the two. This colourmart yarn is oiled and must be knit looser than normal. After knitting, it gets a nice bubble bath with hot soapy water. If I'm feeling really brave, it gets thrown into the dryer to fluff it up again. I doubt I will be that brave. We'll see if it's good enough for pictures after all of that. Right now, it's a blob looking thing that's loosely knit.

Of course, I'm thinking about what's next. I want to knit lace again. Sweaters are great, but I find lace so much more fun. I don't have anything planned yet, but I'm looking. I've seen a few patterns that caught my interest. I want to sew more. I need to tackle those purses and get that pattern straightened out. I want to make more dresses for E. I want to make something for D, but what? It's hard finding interesting things to sew for little boys. He definitely doesn't need a toy, but clothing patterns for boys are hard to find.

And then there's other stuff going on too. I spent a few hours yesterday scraping paint off of our back deck with a wire brush. I'm getting ready to paint it again. BUT, we have cold temperatures coming for the next few days and through the weekend. I guess painting is out for a while. At least the deck will be ready when it warms up again. I started some garden seeds indoors and they're doing pretty well considering it was me that planted them. I'm usually terrible at growing plants. Dwight and I just decided to tackle the kitchen floor. It's ugly, peeling, and needs to be replaced. I think we've decided to go with some kind of wood laminate flooring. I initially wanted tile, but Dwight thinks the wood will look better. We've been talking about it for years and at this point, I don't care what we use. It just needs to get done. So many projects to do....