SOS #4 done

What is this? Another pair...already? Yes, the sKNITches socks are done. I had fun knitting these socks. I like the Showgirl color with the pink, yellow, and black sections. One sock decided not to spiral while the other one spiraled the whole way. It doesn't bother me as I tend to like socks that don't match. I used to be obsessive about making the stripes match on self striping yarns. Now, I think it's a lot more fun when they don't match. There is one thing that I was not happy with on these socks and that's the cuff and bind off area. Ick! I've tried a garter cuff before and thought to give it another chance. Well, I won't be using it again. It's just too loose. I'm planning on leaving it on these, as a reminder to myself on why I don't like that cuff. ;-) The pattern is very similar to the feather and fan pattern you can find many places on the internet. The one I'm used to only uses k2tog decreases. This one has decreases going in both directions towards a central stitch. I like it and will probably use it again. But next time, I may just leave out the all purl rows.

Details for SOS #4
Yarn: sKNITches bebop sock in Showgirl
Needles: size 0 (2mm) Knit Picks classic circular
Method: magic loop, two at once, toe up using turkish cast-on
Pattern: Crest of the Wave (p. 101) in More Sensational Knitted Socks
Changes: added a knit all row after the second purl row, omitted the first knit all row
Start: June 25, 2007
Finished: June 29, 2007

What's next? I don't know. Dwight has all of next week off and has a lot of adventures planned. We'll see how much knitting time I'll have. I do have some yummy yarns lined up and ready to go. I've also swatched for Melanie's Mystery Shawl #3. I got the pattern this morning, but haven't started it yet. I'm still trying to decide on which bead to use. I'm itching to knit some lace, so I will most likely cast-on for this sometime this weekend. I did her shawl last year and it was a lot of fun. It was a different type of shawl design, but very well done and one of my favorite shawls to wear.

As a distraction, I'm making a few magnetic bracelet/necklaces for E and D. Dwight brought some back from China that were so inexpensive. E and D love them, so I'm going to make more. E has requested polka dots. I'll have to get a picture of that one.

Well, I'm off. I hope everyone has a great 4th of July week.

SOS #3 done

Here's my third pair for summer of socks. I am working on the sKNITches pair that I mentioned in my last post, but I felt a need to make these. These have a deadline. I'm making them for....someone. Someone that might read this, so I'm not going to mention them. It's a new someone that I haven't made socks for yet and I'm worried about fit. They fit me and I think her feet are similar to mine. We'll see soon. I know that she'll like the color. She lives in a warm-ish place, so that led me to do an open pattern and ankle length. All I've seen her wear are ankle socks. I really like this stitch pattern. It's from the Sensational Knitted Socks. It's called Oblique Openwork. I worked this over 64 stitches and was afraid that it might be too loose since this stitch really opens up.

Details:
Yarn: Regia 5372 (maroon - ish)
Needles: size 0 (2.0mm) Addi Turbo
Method: magic loop, two at once, toe up with Turkish cast-on, short row heel
Pattern: Oblique Openwork (p. 55) from Sensational Knitted Socks
Start: June 25, 2007
Finish: June 26, 2007

Now, I am back to working on the sKNITches yarn. It's in the Showgirl colorway. Very pink and girly. I think that I picked out a stitch pattern that is girly enough for the yarn. Back to knitting...

SOS #2 done

I just finished weaving in the ends this morning. I finished this sock late last night. The yarn is All Things Heather in the Dorothy color. I love the color. The yarn was a bit rough compared to the Lorna's Laces that I used on the last socks. I do like it though. I really like the stitch pattern that I used. It's Milanese lace from More Sensational Knitted socks. I can see myself using this lace pattern again. I used new needles for these socks. I used a size 1 needle, but it's 2.25mm instead of the usual 2.5mm. Since this was a lace pattern, I couldn't really tell the difference in gauge.

Details:
Yarn: All Things Heather in Dorothy
Needles: size 1 (2.25mm) Knit Picks Classic Circulars
Method: magic loop, toe-up with Turkish cast-on, my normal increases until 62 total stitches
Pattern: Milanese Lace (p. 96) from More Sensational Knitted Socks
Start: June 21, 2007
Finish: June 25, 2007

I did take one night off from knitting socks. On Friday night, we went to a drive-in movie theater with E and D and watched Surf's Up and Spiderman 3. Thankfully, D fell asleep about halfway into Spiderman. I was worried that he might get scared. It's not too bad because if something is remotely scary looking, he will hide. The movies didn't start until 9:30pm and we didn't get home until 2am. :-O E did great. She stayed awake during both movies. She said that Surf's Up was "a lot more entertaining" than Spiderman. We like going to that drive-in. It only costs $7 per adult and the kids are free. That's for both movies too. They also have great french fries. We usually bring our own drinks and snacks--something that they don't mind. But we do usually buy some french fries there.

Up next, I plan on working with some sKNITches yarn.

SOS #1 done

I finished Dwight's socks. Hopefully this will be like Goldilocks. The first pair of socks that I knit for him were a bit too bright for his taste, even though they were green. The second pair of socks were too thin and too short. This pair is thicker (sport weight yarn) and longer. I could have made them even longer, but I was wanting to avoid shaping. He tried them on and his first comment was, "can you put in elastic around the top." Grrrr. I'll let him wear them a bit first to see if he really does need elastic. I thought that these would go quickly because they were sport weight. Well, they didn't because they're for Dwight's feet. If they were for my feet, I would have been finished this morning. ;-)

Details:
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Sport Camouflage
Needles: size 1 (2.5mm) Knit Picks Classic Circular
Pattern: my basic magic loop, toe-up, turkish cast-on, and a short row heel
Start: June 21, 2007
Finish: June 22, 2007

I started these yesterday and got as far as finishing the toes. I was planning on working on these most of the time. I figured that the camo socks would bore me and I would need something more interesting. I didn't. I just worked away on the camo socks until they were done. I'm using the Milanese Lace pattern from More Sensational Knitted Socks on these. So far, I like it. I think that I will be able to memorize the pattern after a few repeats. I love this yarn so far. The Lorna's yarn was softer, but I'm enjoying the slight color variation on this one.

You know, I'm on a message board and I use those little smileys a lot when I'm typing out messages. I miss them here, but I'm too lazy to go looking for some on the internet somewhere. Oh well. I'll just settle for the little type version. :-D

And we're off, Summer of Socks begins

It's the start of Summer of Socks. I started two socks today. I didn't take in progress pictures because that would be wasting time. hahaha! I am entering the most socks contest, but we'll see how I feel about that after the 5th sock or so. I expect to feel burn out at some point during the next three months. My main goal is to focus on socks and just to see how many I can do. I also want to try more stitch patterns for variegated sock yarn. Those are so much more enjoyable to do and they seem to go faster than plain stockinette socks.

Speaking of stockinette socks, my first sock is just plain stockinette. Stockinette socks seem to take forever with fingering weight yarns, but are much more bearable with sport weight. Up first is Lorna's Laces Sport in Camouflage for Dwight. The red yarn will by my next pair. That yarn is All Things Heather in Dorothy. I plan on doing some kind of stitch pattern on those socks. I've started and finished the toe section of those, so they're ready to go as soon as I decide on a pattern or when I finish the camo socks.

Progress so far...started toe-up and I just finished the heels of the camo socks. And I have the toe section of the red socks done also. Both socks are done two at once, magic loop, and toe up.

Primrose fern socks are done!

I almost didn't post yesterday because I knew that I would finish these socks soon. I didn't think that I would finish them the next day. This pattern was fun to do, easy to memorize, and looks okay with variegated yarn. I've found that I can't stand plain stockinette socks anymore. After only doing those for a few months, I'm worn out. Now, I'm into stitch patterns. It's hard finding good stitch patterns for variegated yarns. I plan on trying a few more out of the More Sensational Knitted Socks book. I'll have to go back and check the first book also. I finished these socks in time to start a new pair tomorrow. I'm participating in the Summer of Socks. I certainly have a good variety of sock yarn to pick from.

Back to this sock...This one is made out of Yarn Pirate sock yarn in Primrose. I think of the color as a very bright Easter egg. The yarn was nice to knit. I think that a few other yarns from different dyers use the same base yarn. Whatever it is, I like it. This yarn came in a very generous skein. I knit these socks to the length that I usually like and I still had almost 50gms of yarn leftover. That should make some good sized socks for E.

Details:
Yarn: Yarn Pirate in Primrose
Needles: size 0 (2mm) Knit Picks Classic circulars
Pattern: Baby Fern (p. 101) in More Sensational Knitted Socks
Method: the usual turkish cast-on and short row heel
Start: June 15, 2007
Finish: June 20, 2007

I think that I've finished organizing my projects and yarn on Ravelry. I've only uploaded pictures of most of my sock yarn and some of my lace yarn stash. Well, those with the most potential of being used soon. haha! I don't plan on putting up the rest of my stash. Besides the bamboo yarns, the rest of it consists of odds and ends that aren't really enough to make much. I didn't load up some of my projects. Either the pictures were stuck beyond flickr's 200 limit or it was just plain jane stockinette socks out of plain sock yarn. Maybe I'll load those if I get really bored. haha! Like that's going to happen around here.

It's actually been kind of quiet. Well, as quiet as a house with a 3.5 year old in it can be. E is off at summer camp this week. It's just a day camp, but she likes it. She is the smallest one there, so games like tag are rough on her. She must like it anyways because she's requested to go another week. D has missed his big sister. E says that she doesn't miss D at all. haha! We'll see how they get along when she's done with camp. ;-)

Luna Moth Shawl and more socks

I finally got around to taking better photos of the Luna Moth Shawl. I've worn this one a few times, so it's not completely straight anymore. I tend to wear a lot of black shirts and this shawl is perfect to wear over them. It's shape is more narrow than my other triangular shawls, but I ended up liking it. I tried blocking it into a more even triangle, but the lace pattern just didn't want to stretch that way. The yarn is Cherry Tree Hill's Cascade Lace in Foxy Lady. The pattern is a free one from elann. It was a easy to knit and easy to make larger. The pattern uses a thicker weight yarn with larger needles. I wanted a summer shawl, so I used lace weight yarn and much smaller needles. I adjusted the pattern by knitting chart 2 until I was thought it was large enough. The pattern calls for knitting chart 2 three times, but I knit it 9 times.

Details:
Pattern: Luna Moth Shawl from elann
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Cascade Lace in Foxy Lady
Needles: size 3 Knit Picks classic circulars
Changes: I did 9 repeats of chart 2
Finished size: 78 inches across the top from tip to tip and 42.5 inches from the neck down
Started: April 13, 2007
Finished: April 24, 2007

We went on a short camping trip for Father's Day weekend. This is what I finished right before we left. The camping trip was a lot of fun, but wool socks were definitely needed when the temperatures dropped to the lower 50's at night. Brrrrrrr. I started on another pair of socks during the trip. This one is out of Yarn Pirate sock yarn in the Primrose color. I'm doing another pattern out of More Sensational Knitted Socks. It's hard to see the patterning now, but it looks good once it's on a foot.

I've been playing around and organizing my stuff on Ravelry. It's pretty cool how it helps to organize all of your projects, yarn, projects to be, etc. It's also easy to see what others are working on too. Man, does it seem to suck a lot of time trying to set everything up. It's worth it though. It's still in beta, but should be very cool once it's live for everyone. It has definitely gotten me motivated to keeping track of what I'm working on and keeping up to date with pictures.

Ugh, my poor feet

Last weekend, we took a short trip to Washington DC. From Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon, we were walking. And walking. And walking. I took those new Crocs and some comfortable running/walking shoes. Both of them were equally comfortable. After walking for 5+ hours, it doesn't matter what kind of shoe you're wearing. ;-) We spent Friday walking to most of the memorials and monuments around it. It's funny how D could be so tired walking from the WWII memorial to the Lincoln memorial, but suddenly regain a lot of strength to race up those stairs. On Saturday, we met up with friends and visited some museums. On Sunday, we went to the zoo before heading home. E and D were real troopers. They walked and walked their little legs off. We offered many snacks and water to make all of that walking more bearable. D did get tired and Dwight did end up carrying him up on his shoulders a few times. It was a great trip and we will most likely visit again. There are so many other sites that we want to see in that area.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much knitting done. That was mostly because I was bored with the project that I took with me. I'm currently working on a plain stockinette sock out of Regia cotton yarn. Why is it that plain socks take about 2-3x longer than a sock with patterning? I think it's because I get bored and just don't want to work on it as much. With patterning, there is something to keep me interested. There probably won't be much knitting done this weekend either. We're going camping. As it's Father's day weekend, I'm also working on something for Dwight. That took all of this evening, but most of it is done. Yes, I did wait until the last minute.

I received my Ravelry invite on the day that we were leaving. I didn't join until we got back. Now that I have, I've been spending a lot of time over there organizing my projects and yarn. I have most of my current projects entered. I don't think that I'll enter very many of my older projects. My pictures are stuck in the beyond 200 limit on flickr and I don't feel like deleting pics or re-uploading them. Instead, I'm working on entering in my stash. I took a lot of pics today and I'll start uploading those tomorrow.

Yummy socks - yes, another pair

This is my latest finished pair of socks. Trying different indie yarn dyers has been interesting. The colors are so different from one to the next and the base yarns can also be very different. Whatever the base yarn is used for these socks, it's really nice and very, very squishy. This is a Scarlet Fleece yarn in Coffee and Raspberry Pie. It comes in skeins of 100 gms, which is somewhere around 480 yards according to the label. That would make me put this on the finer side of fingering, but it's not. I knit this yarn on a size 0 with 64 total stitches. That's the gauge that I usually use for sport weight yarns. The yarn is thick looking, but quickly thins out once you put some tension to it when knitting. It bounces right back too. I would quickly add this yarn to the list of yarns that I would buy again.

The colors are very subtle and it truly was variegated. I don't mind pooling or flashing, but it is nice when it doesn't happen. Picking a stitch pattern for variegated yarn can be tricky. Will the colors get lost in the pattern? Will the pattern get lost in the yarn? I used another pattern from More Sensational Knitted Socks. This one is called cross-stitch block and it's on page 97. The pattern does look different while knitting. I just looks like a basic checkerboard type pattern. When you stretch it, the pattern stretches to look like interlocking circles. Very nice! I'm having fun using more stitch patterns with variegated yarns. It's more fun to make something beyond basic stockinette socks.

Details:
Yarn: Scarlet Fleece in Coffee and Raspberry Pie
Needles: size 0 Knitpicks classic circulars
Pattern: Cross-Stitch block (p. 97) of More Sensational Knitted Socks
Method: toe-up with turkish cast-on, short row heel
Start: May 31, 2007
Finish: June 5, 2007

What is next? Socks, of course. Which yarn? We'll just have to see what catches my attention when I look through the yarn.

Arrrrrr, be these new shoes?

Yes, they arrrrrrrr. ;-) Why am I talking like this? I got to go see the latest Pirates movie, At World's End. It was great!!! I was surprised at the ending, but it was hinted at throughout the movie. I will definitely get the dvd when it comes out.

These are my new mary-jane Crocs. My sister tried out some of the regular ones, liked them, and bought these for me. I just got them today. I've always thought that Crocs were a bit ugly. These are okay looking, but I'm not looking for fabulous shoes. I want something comfortable for an upcoming trip. I wore these around the house a little. They're very comfortable and make me feel like I'm walking on a piece of foam. The shoes feel very light and feel cheaply made. I think that they're being light makes me think that way. Overall, I think they will be comfy and make good vacation shoes.

The socks are knit from a merino and tencel blend sock yarn from Ashabee's Creations. This is my first time using this type of blend. It's different, not as stretchy as a merino/nylon blend, and very shiny. I do like it and the socks feel nice. This yarn made very tiny stripes, so I chose to do a feather and fan stitch. I like how this turned out. I've only done the feather and fan thing once before in a pair of socks. That time, I tried the garter stitch top and I don't care for it. The garter stitch at the top didn't look very nice, so I went back to a basic 1x1 ribbing.

The colors are most accurate in this photo.
Details:
Yarn: Ashabee's Creations in Punk (merino/tencel yarn)
Needle: size 0 Knitpicks Classic Circular
Pattern: basic 18 stitch repeat feather and fan
Notes: The yarn is in a very generous hank. I used approx. 75gms of yarn and had around 40 gms left.
Start: May 25, 2007
Finish: May 28, 2007

I've started a pair of socks out of some Scarlet Fleece yarn that I bought recently. On the side, I've been knitting wrist warmers and hats for the Loopy Challenge. I'll take a picture of those before I send off the whole thing.