Busy bees

Spring is here. Our azaleas have bloomed and gone. Seeds have been planted in the garden. Carpenter bees are buzzing. We battle those every year trying to prevent them from drilling new holes into our house. I've been buzzing around knitting a lot of socks.

I've been in a lace sock mood. It started with the sock that I designed for The Loopy Ewe's April club. The yarn is madelinetosh's Tosh sock in Midnight Rendevous. It's a very dark purple--almost black, but not. I tried my usual cables or twisted stitches, but this yarn wanted to be lace. Plus it was an April pattern. Lace is more appropriate for this time of year. The center portion of my pattern, Rubus, reminds me of blackberries. I know it's not the season for them, but with spring comes thoughts of berry picking. The side/secondary part of this pattern reminds me of vines.

My other lace socks were done with a desire to have a few patterns with smaller charts. I was in the middle of designing other things that can't be shown and sample knitting. I needed sock patterns that I could work in between those. These are all easy to put down and figure out where you left them when you work on them again.

There was a knit-a-long in the String Theory group on ravelry. My goal was to knit all of last year's sock club colors and I squeaked in and finished. I also won some yummy smelling perfumes in a random drawing from the finishers list. That opened up a whole new world of shopping. ;-)

As of March 30, I have completed the 52 Pair Plunge IV. Yay!! That link goes to my project page that lists all of my completed socks between June 1, 2010 and May 31, 2011. I'll continue to list socks there until the deadline to see how many I do finish. And since I don't see my designing, sample knitting, or my kids feet will stop growing any time soon, I've signed up for the 52 Pair Plunge V for next year. The next challenge starts July 1.

Back on track...socks!

This dial-up connection is wearing me down. Increasingly, there is less and less that I can get to load in a reasonable time on the internet. And that is frustrating. I've started looking into a satellite connection or even something like Verizon's hotspot. Either one would work for our location, but the limits are really...limiting. CNN even had an article about 1/3 of the US not having broadband. The article even included a link to see if broadband was available in your area. Adding insult to injury, that website initially wouldn't load. :-( After trying it a few more times, I finally did get it to load just to find out that nothing is available here except for the two options that I mentioned above.

Ugh, enough of that ranting and onto knitting! The two socks above were finished a while ago, but we had some really dark cloudy days that made picture taking difficult. Those were taken indoors. I really like the lace on the blue socks. It's fun and the chart isn't too huge. The beige socks are Enchanted Knoll Farm in Gold Dust Woman. The blue socks are Dream in Color Everlasting Sock in Blue Fish(and it did turn my fingers blue).

I've been knitting more self striping yarns lately. I'm supposed to be writing patterns and need to focus one those. Plus, I want to use up some of my String Theory yarns from last year's club before this year's club starts up again. From top to bottom and left to right: Ultraviolet Catastrophe, Horsehead Nebula, Chrysocolla, and Neon. That last one was hard to photograph. The camera kept washing out those super bright colors.

I've woven a few more scarves. I've started using my cashmere and cashmere/silk blends to make really long scarves that you can double up around your neck. No pictures of those because I haven't washed all of them yet.

I'm on a lace sock kick right now. I just finish done a few days ago and I'm working on another one right now. Lace socks seem to knit up quickly. I'm up to 45 completed pairs of socks for this 52 Pair Plunge. Only 7 more to go before the end of May.

Not just socks

I do work on things other than socks. ;-)

I finished these a while ago, but wasn't able to get a good picture of my own hands. I had my daughter take this picture and it came out pretty good! I'm going to have to ask her to help out with picture taking if I'm going to continue designing things like these.

These fingerless mitts were made using modified charts from my Unicurve sock pattern. I plan on writing and releasing this pattern soon. I just need to work on the thumb numbers some more. What I really like about these is that they use less than 50gms of yarn and that the pattern is really stretchy. This is the medium and it's loose on me.

These are the scarves that I had drying on a rack in the last post. I'll show some close-ups of the patterning that each yarn made.

Yarn used from left to right: Fiesta Baby Boom, Fleece Artist BFL, Cherry Tree Hill, All Things Heather, and Jojoland Quartette

Yarn used from left to right: Yarn Pirate, FlyDyed, and the last three are Red Heart

The Red Heart scarves were a fun experiment in weaving with 2 colors. I need to work on my technique when I change the colors on the side.

I've started a new and simpler sock pattern. I've also reminded my self why I like twisted stitches, cables, and large charts so much. This sock is boring me. I don't really have too much motivation to work on it because it such a small stitch pattern. I have it memorized and it just seems endless while knitting it.

I did shake things up a bit by trying out a different short row heel. This one is called the double stitch, yo yo, or sister stitch short row method. I like it. It does seem easier to do than my usual wrap and turn. But I'll have to figure out how to add this to a pattern without being too wordy.

I did start another lace sock, but I don't have pictures of that one yet. It has a larger chart and a lot more interesting to work on than this one.

Obsess much?

This is only 7 of the 10 scarves that I've woven between January 13-23. Yeah, some might call me crazy. I'm calling it a necessity. In the grand house remodeling project, my computer, craft, and homeschooling room will turn into my daughter's bedroom. That means all of my yarn, fabrics, and books will have to be relocated. In an effort to ease that relocation, I'm trying to use up some of the things that have been sitting around for a while. And this includes my variegated sock yarns. I'm designing with mostly solid yarn or semi-solid yarns now. Plus, variegated yarns look pretty cool when woven. A few of them will give an automatic plaid effect. I'll post more details about the scarves and the yarns they're made out of when I can get better pictures. I would like to have a little sunlight, but it's snowing again.

I've finished the Threaded socks that are pictured in the post below. I will be writing up that pattern soon. The Mullion test knit is moving along. There have been sooooo many missing symbols on the charts. The test knitters have once again been awesome in catching them. Yesterday, I put a call up for test knitters for my Taglioni socks(over there on the left). That has been filled quickly. These were originally called emaNoN, but I've changed it to Taglioni because of the way the cables look like the ties on ballet shoes. I like the emaNoN name and it will be back on another pattern.

Another thing that has been hanging around for a long time is a quilt for my daughter that I started over 5(?!) years ago. The top is pieced flannel, with flannel back, and a layer of batting in between. I had a crazy idea to hand quilt it since it wouldn't fit in my sewing machine. Well, it's thick and hard to hand quilt. I did about 1/4 of it before I stuffed it in the closet. My daughter has asked me many times if I'm planning on finishing it. I've decided to just tie it and be done with it. I started tying it last night and I like the way it looks so far.

Because I don't have enough to do around here (haha!), I've started a cross stitch pattern for my son. My daughter has one of those birth record frames that a friend of ours made. My son has asked why he doesn't have one. We picked one out and I'm working on it. I'd forgotten how slow cross stitch can be.

I'll end with more house remodeling pictures. The picture on the left shows the wall that we had to build. That's where the refrigerator used to be. The picture on the right shows the other side of that wall. You can see the rectangle on the floor of where the box around the refrigerator was. See that mural wallpaper? That's gone. We'll be putting up more cedar wall planks on that wall to match the rest of the house. That wall will also be covered with bookshelves when we're finished. This will be my new computer, craft, and homeschooling room.

Start and finish

The Complicated test knit is almost finished. Things have gone really well and my test knitters have been awesome! I should have a new call out for test knitters later today for Mullion or Crooked Wheels or maybe both.

I've started another new design. I'm calling this one Threaded because of the cables that pass through the loops. I guess that I'm still fixated with cables. I like how they stand out and after a few rows, you can usually tell where they're going to go. These are easier on my hands than all of those twisted stitches I designed last summer.

I'm still working on using up my stash yarn. Since my last post, I got out my neglected Cricket loom and wove 4 new scarves on it. I don't have any pictures of those yet because they haven't been washed. I've been thinking a lot about getting a new loom. I want a wider one and have been considering the 25 inch Schacht flip.

Our remodeling is still moving along. We now have a revamped pantry. We had to do that to be able to remove 3 cabinets from our kitchen. We had to move the cabinets to make room for the refrigerator. We had to move the refrigerator to free up the corner of the dining room where it used to be. One thing just led to another and half of this floor is a mess right now. I really like the new pantry.

Busy, busy. Lots of things going on around here.

Great News x2

Exciting stuff going on around here. Sheri over at The Loopy Ewe announce this year's plan for the Loopy sock club. It's changing and will be called Club Loopy. I was surprised when she announced the designers for the spring round. I'm so used to designing and then having to keep quiet about it for many months. I can't say what yarn I'm using or what color(s?) I've been assigned, but I will say that the yarn is pretty and soft. ;-) Is that vague enough?

This is the sock that I finished a while ago, but couldn't post. Allison posted about it on her blog, so I guess it's okay to talk about now. Months ago, she asked if I would design a sock for her Valentine's Day kit and if some of my recently designed socks were available. She liked Zurc, but asked for one change. I like to knit my socks toe-up and she prefers cuff down. Fortunately, Zurc was an easy design to flip.

Okay, there were two changes. I always knew Zurc would be a temporary name, but I have a hard time coming up with good names for my patterns. Allison's husband came up with Papyriform. I like it and it's so much better than the temp name. She knit it up in a great variegated/semi-solid color called Silver Plume. Check out the rest of the kit while you're there too.

The Complicated test knit is moving along smoothly. A few errors and typos have been found. One of these days, it would be cool if the test knitters found no errors. Haha! I'll most likely start up another test knit next week.

Socks for others

I usually knit for me, but lately I've been knitting socks for other family members. My daughter is to the size where I don't have to knit socks specifically for her anymore. Back in my early sock knitting days, some of my socks were a tad too short and I finished them anyways. Now those socks belong to my daughter. They're a little bit long for her, but she'll grow into them just like she's grown out of all of the other socks that I knit too big for her last year.

My son still has little feet. By little, I mean that they're about 2 inches shorter than mine. They're not the tiny little feet anymore. I loved knitting socks for his little feet and now he's growing too fast. These socks were knit big on purpose. He mostly wears these around the house. With our new laminate flooring, he likes sliding across the floor in them too. Both socks are sport weight Fortissima yarn that I bought several years ago from Little Knits. They were one sale and I bought a lot of it because it was hard to find sport weight self-striping yarn back then. Over the years, my kids have socks in several different sizes from this yarn. It's not too scratchy and very sturdy yarn.

My husband is picky about his socks. He usually lives in smartwool type socks in the winter. I remember when he bought a pair early in our marriage and I wondered why socks could cost so much? Jokes on me since the yarn that I buy now usually costs more than that. I've knit him a few pairs over the years and he's had an opinion about all of them. Fingering weight merino/nylon blend--too thin. Sport weight self-striping--too scratchy. Sport weight indie yarn--felted and now no longer fit.

And then we come to Knit Picks Felici. He says that this one is very soft and is one of his warmest pairs of socks. For last Father's Day, I gave him a pair out of the Sticks and Stones colorway. He's worn those weekly through fall and winter and they have held up really well. Recently, I finished another pair out of the Ecology colorway. He did say that they colors were a bit bright. I mentioned that if he could wear orange smartwool socks, these were along the same lines in brightness. He did wear then and he does like them. Yay!! I have a few more pairs for him planned. I just need to knit them on the sly before he can see the colors. ;-)

I'm still working on pattern writing. I have three patterns that are really close to the test knitting stage--Complicated, Crooked Wheels, and Mullion. Another pair is almost there--just needs some clarification in the leg to cuff transition. The fingerless mitts pattern has stalled at the thumb gusset. I'm stuck on the wording.

This year is off to a busy start.

2010 in review

Another year ends and knitting is still going strong. I've knit more from my stash, but somehow my stash didn't decrease. ;-) One of my goals this year was to mainly knit my own designs and I did do that. Here is my 2010 project count:

Scarves: 4
Shawls: 5
Legwarmer: 1
Fingerless mitts: 2
Christmas stockings: 2
Socks: 67

Of the socks: 10 were kid-sized, 23 were self-striping, and 30 were my own designs. I didn't design 30 different socks. I knit a few of them more than once either changing colors for the stranded pattern or different sizes. I did release 12 patterns this year. I hope to release more next year. I already have a few designs ready to be written and others that are ready to be knit.

Since I don't like posting without pictures, here are some of my latest finished socks. From top to bottom and left to right, the yarns are Wollmeise Twin in Taube, Dream in Color Everlasting in Tang, Dyelectable Yarns Lolita in Crimson Moon, and Light Brown Hare-Three Hares in Happy New Year.

Right now, I'm working on some self-striping socks for my husband. He's decided that he likes the Felici Sport weight socks the most in terms of warmth and softness. Coming from him, that's high praise for a hand knit sock. In the past, other socks were too thin, too scratchy, etc.

We also have a big project going on in our house right now. We've ripped out the carpet and are installing some laminate flooring. We live in an old log house and nothing is level or square. That makes any type of home improvement project a pain. We had a lot of problems a few years ago trying to get a new tub/shower into one of our bathrooms. Before putting the laminate down, we had to repair some old water damage (ugh!) and level the floor. To do that, we also had to take out the stonework around our fireplace. Below are before and after pictures.

I hope this next year brings a finished floor. Not just in our living room, but the rest of that floor. I also hope to publish more patterns. See you next year!

Catching up again

Brief update: Took a lot of projects with me to work on during Thanksgiving week and finished only one. Instead, I spent time catching up with my sister at her new house, playing with her new dog, watching dvr'd episodes of Vampire Diaries and Big Bang Theory, and just hanging out with family. It was a great week, so I'm not too sad that I didn't finish much. And of the projects that I took with me, the one I finished was picked up and will be used by a yarn store. I won't post pictures of it now.

Here are some recently released patterns:

The pair on the left is Pirate Danger. It is another one of my toe-up, twisted stitch, with a heel flap and gusset designs. I initially put a short row heel on this, but decided against that and put a slipped stitch heel on it. This pattern is charted and available in two sizes. Within those two sizes, the pattern can further be sized by adding purl stitches in between motifs. The skull is already a large motif, I didn't want to make it larger.

The pair on the right is called Snakes. It is also a toe-up, twisted stitch, with a heel flap and gusset design. This design started because I saw the center motif in a twisted stitch dictionary. I liked the look of it and wanted to use it in a sock. The challenge on this sock was to find enough other motifs in a similar design in the stitch and row counts that I needed.

I've named this sock Harps and Strings. It's currently available for free with purchase of Mini Mica yarn at Saffron Dyeworks. It's been wonderful working with Dee again. She dyes such pretty yarn and this Mini Mica yarn is just luxurious. It's a 50/50 blend of merino and silk. The yarn is very soft and has a great sheen to it.

The sheen provided some difficulty in designing a pattern. The shininess likes to compete with stitch patterns. I had to find a stitch pattern bold enough to withstand the shiny competition for attention in this sock.

Right now, I'm working on three different cabled socks. I also have some Christmas projects that I'm working on in secret. I can only work on these in the evenings after my kids have gone to bed.

I've also started thinking about next year. I have a few projects that I'm signed up to do and I'm very excited about them!

Cables

November is here and I'm still busy. Pictured above are my Fenestra, Unicurves, and Downward Spiral sock patterns that have recently been released. The mystery sock OppAtt is going on in the Barking Dog Yarns group. Almost everyone participating is using the Opposites Attract yarn and it's fun to see the different pairs of colors.

Snakes, Pirate Danger, and an unnamed red sock for Saffron Dyeworks are currently being test knitted. Those should finish this week or next and then be released this month. The red sock above is the one that I designed for Saffron Dyeworks' Mini Mica sock yarn. It's a luxurious merino/silk blend. The yarn has a pretty shine to it and can surprisingly withstand multiple froggings without showing signs of it.

It's exciting to see my designs pop up as ones knitters have chosen to knit for the November SKA challenge. I'm participating too, but I'm designing a few new cabled patterns. Below is my first November sock. I used the new Dream in Color yarn called Everlasting Sock in the color Gilt. It's an 8-ply fingering weight yarn that leans towards a heavier fingering weight. These socks were knit with a 2mm needle and feel very sturdy.

A lot has been mentioned about comparing this yarn to Wollmeise. Everlasting feels thicker and squishier than Wollmeise. Wollmeise is smoother and shinier than Everlasting. Both yarns show off twisted stitches and cables really well and come in great colors. The extra plus that I would give to Everlasting is that it is easier to find.