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.

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!

Very Busy

Yeah, it's been a long time again. I thought about just giving up the blog. If I want to include pictures in my post, it takes me about an hour with uploading and formatting. That eats too much into my knitting/designing time. Maybe I'll just do a few posts without pictures and see how I like that. I'm pretty much on ravelry all the time now. Especially right now. I've been busy actually writing knitting patterns! I know...I've been meaning to do them, but I'm a lot more motivated to knit than to write.

I was voted in as a designer of the month at Sock Knitter's Anonymous and November is my assigned month! Woohoo! Because of that, I'm pushing myself to get new patterns out before November. I'm having several patterns test knitted. I've used the Free Pattern Testers group for the first time and it's been a great experience. Sure there are a few rules that have to be followed, but keeps the group running smoothly. I like that the pattern testers are not afraid to tell me the truth about wording and such. I hope it makes my patterns better!

I was also asked to design a sock for a November knit-a-long in the Barking Dog Yarns group. I'll be using her new Opposites Attract yarn. The idea is very cool and the results are interesting. You buy sock yarn in sets of 2-50gm skeins. One skein will have a dominant color with a few other colors. The other skein will be the opposite with one of the other colors as the dominant. This yarn is great for mirrored type sock patterns.

I have another pattern that will be released in November as part of a sock club. I can't really say more than that. I'm also working on another sock pattern for another indie dyer. That one will be released in mid-November. Preparing for November has kept me really busy.

Two of my patterns pictured in the post below have just finished test knitting. Split Cells and Chimes are now for sale on ravelry.

Cough, knit, cough, design, repeat

Ugh. I have a cold right now. I hope that I'm just getting it out of the way and will be relatively healthy for the rest of fall. I usually love this time of year when the temperature starts to drop, but I haven't been able to enjoy it because of this cold. I have been knitting a lot lately. I have new designs, more designs being written, and more socks being completed.

The first one is Decorated Diamonds. It's not written up yet, but probably will be. I have the different sizes all charted out and just need to write up the pattern with the correct numbers. You would think that after writing so many patterns that the numbers would coincide with something already done, but there's always something different.

Details:
Pattern: Decorated Diamonds by me
Yarn: Opal solid
Needle: size 0 (2mm) Knit Picks Classic Circular
Method: magic loop, 2 at once, toe-up, Turkish cast-on, short row heel
Start: August 13, 2009
Finish: August 24, 2009

This sock was knit for the Solid Socks group on ravelry. September's color is red and I love red! I had to knit some socks for this month. This sock is called 12 Legs. It was going to be something along the lines of spider until I counted out the "legs" correctly. ;-) I see this sock as one that I would wear inside of a mary jane type shoe, so the toe was done with more stockinette.

Details:
Pattern: 12 Legs by me
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll Kettle Dyed in Wine
Needle: 2mm for the foot, 2.5mm for the leg
Method: magic loop, 2 at once, toe-up, short row heel
Start: September 1, 2009
Finish: September 14, 2009

And this is the sock that is keeping me busy right now. Yellow was September's challenge for the Sock Knitter's Anonymous (SKA) group on ravelry. I've had this neon yellow yarn in my stash for a while just waiting for the right pattern. I found one! These twisted stitches show up really well with the brightness of the yarn.

There was a huge response to this sock and I started writing out the pattern right away. The pattern is finished and it's being test knitted. I was overwhelmed and surprised at the number of people that offered to test knit! I've sent out the pattern to those that said they could start right away, instead of waiting for October. Why October? Because that's I'm the designer of that month at SKA. I want this pattern to be ready by then and October is coming soon.

Organizing test knitters isn't as easy as I thought it would be. I've tried setting up the pattern on ravelry and then sending out free links to it. But that gets complicated when I have to send out new links for the updated pattern. ugh. I think that I might have to set up a yahoo group. I wanted to keep everything on ravelry since that's where everyone is.

Back to the yellow sock. I'm calling it Everything's Connected. My husband and I have been watching the season 2 dvds for the now canceled Life show. We enjoyed it and it's sad that it won't be back this fall. The main character is trying to be all zen and "everything's connected" is something that he says often.

Details:
Pattern: Everything's Connected by me
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill solid in yellow
Needle: size 2.25mm for the leg and heel, 2mm for the foot
Method: magic loop, cuff down, heel flap with picked up stitches, grafted toe
Start: September 15, 2009
Finish: September 20, 2009

Sample, test, sample

I've been busy. The title says why and that's all I can say. I've been doing some of my own knitting too. Ever since knitting the sample for Bex, I knew that I wanted to knit a pair for me. The problem was that the size it was written for is slightly too small for me. That pattern really draws in and is quite fitted. I could get the sample that I knit on my foot, but it wasn't comfortable. To fix that, I added 4 stitches to the round. This isn't as simple as adding a stitch to the stitch pattern, since this pattern shifts over after finishing each repeat. I had to add in the stitches and also take them out to move them whenever the pattern moved too. It was fun to figure it out.

My sock is knit with Flydesigns Lacewing in Lavender. It's such a squishy, pretty yarn. The yarn is a semi-solid and works really well with this intricate pattern. This sock has been put on hold by the projects in the title.

I have finished a pair of socks. This was started last month for the March Sock Knitter's Anonymous challenge. I've wanted to use this stitch pattern on a sock ever since I saw it, but knew that it would be too large at the written stitch count. I went ahead and used it anyways thinking that I could find someone with larger feet than me (my sister).

I made each sock a mirror of each other. The stitch pattern was easy to convert. It's also easy to memorize. I didn't need the chart after the first repeat. I used two lines from the pattern and repeated those for the cuff. After finishing the socks, I tried them on and they fit. Weird. This stitch count usually only fits my foot if the sock is heavily cabled and has no lace on it. I guess those tiny cables do pull it in enough.

Details:
Pair #41 in the 52 Pair Plunge II
Pattern: Shifted 8 by me
Yarn: Regia Line Step-green
Needle: size 0 (2mm) Knit Picks Classic Circular
Method: magic loop, 2 at once, toe-up, Turkish cast-on, short row heel
Start: March 30, 2009
Finish: April 16, 2009

I'm still hacking away at the 52 Pair Plunge total. I'm up to pair number 46. I number the socks as I cast on and that's why they sometimes appear out of order. So far, all of the numbered socks have been finished, except Bex. Still 6 more to go. It's still a reachable goal....

Smiling ear to ear...

I have so many reasons to smile this week. First of all, Cookie A's book, Sock Innovation, is out! If you're a sock knitter and don't have it--go buy it! Not only are there some pretty cool patterns from Cookie A, she goes into a lot of detail on how to design your own. I knit the sample for Bex (ravelry link) that's in the book. Cookie wasn't kidding when she said that the socks would be closely inspected. There are close-up shots of Bex in the book of the stitch pattern and of the heel area. Bex was my first sample knit and it was weird sending it off in the mail after I finished knitting it. I just sent off another one today. You'll probably be seeing it sometime next year. ;-)

Other things to smile about? Being asked to design something (by someone I look up to) is very exciting! Details are still being discussed, but it looks good so far. Asking if I will wholesale my patterns? Also very exciting! Now I need to figure out the printing costs and details for that.

Besides the sample knitting that became a priority last week, I'm still knitting a few of my own designs. This one was finished right before the secret project and after going through a few name changes I'm calling it Bug Parade. I initially thought that the center motif looked like spiders, but they grew wings after blocking. ;-) The smaller stitches on the sides are the leftover cicada wings that can be found everywhere after they've invaded an area. The first year that we moved here was a cicada year. I remember waking up one morning and wondering what that really loud humming sound was. It was all of the bugs digging into the trees around our house. Ewww. They left so many wings and body parts behind. Ewww again. After living here for almost 10 years, we haven't had another cicada invasion like that. We were told that it happens about every 17 years. I have no idea who came up with that number, but we'll see.

I've been in a bug mood lately. All of the stitch patterns that I've seen or tried resemble some kind of bug to me. It must be a spring thing when all of the creepy crawlies come out when the weather gets warm.

Details:
Pair # 40 in the 52 Pair Plunge II.
Pattern: Bug Parade by me
Yarn: Enchanted Knoll Farm in Esmerelda
Needle: size 0 (2mm) Knit Picks Classic Circular
Method: magic loop, 2 at once, toe-up with Turkish cast-on, short row heel, 1x1 twisted rib
Start: March 26, 2009
Finish: March 29, 2009

This pattern will be written up...sometime. I still have 11 pairs to go in the 52 Pair Plunge. I do have 2 pairs of socks on the needles already. I started a pair called Shifted 8 and found them a little bit too big for me, but perfect for my sister. I've started another pair with an altered stitch pattern and am calling it Shifted 4. So far, I like this one and I've been working on it a lot more than the 8 variety. Pictures to come in a few days...

Too many ideas

I seem to be coming up with pattern ideas faster than I can knit them. I tend to be a monogamous knitter, but I've been so tempted to start casting on single socks. Thank goodness that I mostly knit 2 socks at the same time or I would move on and knit a new idea after the first sock was done. Right now, I've gone back to my standard short row heel. I just find this heel so much faster than the gusset heel. It's the gusset increases that make the rows seem never ending. Short row heels are so easy--no looking at numbers--and they fit my foot really well. But gusset heels are so pretty. I'll still do gusset heels on a few designs, but that will be determined by the stitch pattern in the sock. I think some stitch patterns work really well down into the heel flap area.

This sock was fun to knit and seemed to go so quickly. The yarn is Enchanted Knoll Farms in the Silk Road colorway. It's so pretty. I love the stretchiness and squishiness that this yarn has. This pattern reminds me of a geometric pattern that might be found on a rug. It works great with this variegated yarn too. I might have to write up this pattern.

Details:
Pair #33 in the 52 Pair Plunge II
Pattern: not named yet by me
Yarn: Enchanted Knoll Farm in Silk Road
Needle: size 0 (2mm) Knit Picks Classic Circular
Method: magic loop, 2 at once, toe-up, Turkish cast-on, short row heel
Start: February 27, 2009
Finish: March 2, 2009

Besides that sock, I've decided to try the Sock Knitter's Anonymous(ravelry group) challenge this month. It was either a Cat Bordhi pattern, lace, or the mystery sock. I chose to do a Cat Bordhi pattern. Not just one of her patterns, but a stranded pattern. I'm not the best at stranding knitting, but I think that I just need some practice.

This is the Clematis Vine pattern from the New Pathways for Sock Knitter's book. It's unique in that the gusset increases are on the bottom of the foot. I thought that was a strange place to put them, but you don't really feel them. There's something about stranded knitting that makes the projects go quickly. I think it's the "I'll just do a few more rows to see how the pattern is coming out" thing. On these socks, it was the leaves for me. I'll just finish one more leaf before putting the sock down. Before I knew it, the socks were finished.

Cat's patterns in this book rely heavily on accurate row counting. I'm pretty sure that I counted correctly---at the time. I think my stranded knitting tension is just all over the place that it was hard to get a good count. These socks ended up a little long. That's okay. I can always give them to my sister. She likes thicker socks for wearing at home and these are definitely too thick to be worn inside regular shoes.

Details:
Pair # 34 in the 52 Pair Plunge II
Pattern: Clematis Vine from New Pathways for Sock Knitters by Cat Bordhi
Yarn: Araucania Ranco in dark olive green and Cherry Tree Hill solid in pink
Needle: size 1 (2.5mm) Knit Picks Classic Circular
Method: one at a time, magic loop, toe-up, Turkish cast-on, picot cuff
Size: largest size
Start: March 2, 2009
Finish: March 5, 2009

Up next, a lace sock in a solid Opal yarn. I started those on Friday and they're almost finished. After that, I don't know. I have a few ideas that I want to try, but I'll have to match up patterns with yarns first.

Finally...success!

I know that's an odd angle, but it was my best photo of the yarn and stitch pattern. I managed to put together a pattern that I liked for the pretty Franz Wollmeise yarn. There is a larger stitch pattern that runs up the center of the front and back of the sock. On each side of that, there is a smaller stitch pattern that sort of mimics the bigger one. I'm pretty happy with this and I'll probably write this one up soon.

I had to mess around with the stitch count while knitting this pair. I was afraid that the lace would make the sock too loose, so I altered the stitch count in some places. Luckily, there are purls that can be purled together here and there.

After knitting these socks, I learned something from my camera. I have a Canon xsi (digital rebel). When I first got it, I was worried about not having a swivel lcd. That's how I used to take most of my sock photos --myself. With the xsi, I learned that I can take photos with the lcd on. It's not the same as the swivel screen, but I can get a better idea of whether my whole foot is in the shot or not. ;-)

Pair #32 in the 52 Pair Plunge II
Pattern: Swarm by me
Yarn: Wollmeise 100% sockenwolle in Franz
Needle: size 0 (2mm) Knit Picks Classic Circular
Method: magic loop, 2 at once, toe-up with Turkish cast-on, short row heel
Notes: stitch count changed to accommodate pattern and fit
Start: February 23, 2009
Finish: February 26, 2009

I've already scribbled another design out on graph paper. I need to dig through my yarn to see guess which one will look the best with the stitch pattern. The socks below are mini-socks to fit my daughter. I knit these with the idea of releasing those patterns soon. I have Fallin Ribbons (the upper sock) ready to go. Cables and Corsets is giving me a headache. The heel is just complicated and I can't figure out a non-wordy way to explain it in the pattern. These are #29 and #30 for the 52 Pair Plunge.

I'm still knitting away on socks for the 52 Pair Plunge. I think that I'll make it. 20 more to go! When phrased that way, it sounds like a lot. I do have three pairs of socks that are half completed, so I am a little closer.

Busy starting and stopping, ugh

I have a few skeins of the much coveted Wollmeise yarn. I was only able to buy these back before it became insanely popular. I was tired of having the yarn just sitting around and looking pretty that I wanted to use it. This is the Emil color. I tried some twisted stitches mixed in with plain stockinette and was not happy with the result. The yarn self striped at the stitch count and gauge that I used. This has been ripped and I'm searching for another pattern to use with this pretty color.

This is Franz. It also wanted to stripe a little and I didn't like the pooling at the heel gusset. I guess that I'll have to stick with a short row heel for these two yarns. I was knitting both of these over 66 stitches around. My gauge was 9 stitches and 13 rows an inch. This sock didn't look too bad under the right light, but it was also too tight getting it on my foot. I've changed the charts and tried it again.

This next sock fits a lot better, but it still pulls in a little. I'm using a lot more stitches that I thought I would need.

This yarn is a basic 4-ply Opal solid. It is slightly thinner than the Wollmeise yarn, but great for showing off a stitch pattern. I love how the diagonal lines grow out from the cables on either side of the foot. I do plan on writing this pattern out. I just need to figure out how to make it for multiple sizes. I wanted something different at the top and settled for a picot edge. I think it caps the top of the sock off nicely.

Details:
Pair #31 in the 52 Pair Plunge II
Pattern: Twist Me by me
Yarn: Opal 4-ply in red (62 gms used)
Needle: size 0 (2mm) Knit Picks Classic Circular
Method: magic loop, toe-up, Turkish cast-on, patterned gusset heel, picot cuff
Start: February 18, 2009
Finish: February 22, 2009

Red is so hard to photograph. I'll have to take better pictures for the written up pattern.

I've started a new sock with the frogged Wollmeise Franz yarn. I think it's working out. The stitch pattern doesn't seem to be fighting the striping too much.

I've also been busy reading too. I'm reading romance books for a competition. I probably can't mention what contest, but it's a yearly thing. I'm reading books for 4 categories and that resulted in 17 books! I got them earlier this month and I'm down to my last 4 books. I have until mid-March to finish them. This is my second year reading and I'm enjoying it. I've gotten books that I wouldn't normally pick and I've found that it's fun reading something different.

Too busy hiding

Okay, I'm not really hiding. I'm just worrying. I probably worry too much about things. Every Monday, I've started worrying as soon as I put an Orange Mystery clue online. Most Mondays, I had nothing to worry about. This past Monday, I was really worried because the clue #3 was a strange one. It wasn't your typical sock heel. I was relieved when a few people got through it. Then a few people had questions about one part. Then a few more had questions about the same part. Then I started questioning my pattern. And yes, there it was....a mistake. Argh! Okay, it wasn't too big of a mistake. My math was correct. I was my wording that made my math appear incorrect. sigh I've fixed it and I hope that's the end of worrying for this week.

On a happier note, I've been test knitting. That's all that I can really mention. It was fun, but I've found that I really don't have the eyes for editing. It's like my eyes just auto-correct things. All of the test knitters have kept in touch through email. It's amazing how many things I blew by and never noticed the error.

I did finish another pair of socks. This was for the orange part of SKA's September Sockdown. I've wanted to knit a cabled sock, but didn't want a typical cable. I went for the patchwork cable from Barbara Walker's 3rd Treasury. The stitch pattern itself wasn't wide enough for my socks and I had to think of a filler for the sides. I went with a simple twisted rib to match some of the patches in the cables. At the top of the sock, I wanted to use the seed stitch to match the other patches, but didn't want that to be the cuff and I didn't want it to just be at the top of the cables. I needed a dividing line. I figured out a way to do a horizontal line with a few yarnovers and passing yarnovers over other stitches. It turned out pretty good and I want to use that technique again in another sock. Surprisingly, it's not binding since it's done with extra yarnovers. All in all, I was very happy with how these socks turned out.

Details:
Yarn: Opal Uni in melon
Needle: size 0 (2mm) Knit Picks Classic Circular
Pattern: my own using the Patchwork Cable II from the 3rd Barbara Walker Treasury
method: magic loop, 2 at once, toe-up using a Turkish cast-on, gusset heel with patterned flap
Start: September 4, 2008
Finish: September 10, 2008

In other knitting, I've started another pair of socks for E. I've also started some gloves for me. This is my first knitted glove (with complete fingers) that I've tried. Doing all of those fingers and weaving in all of those ends are fiddly, but the gloves are so pretty! Beyond that, I'm in the mood for lace again. I just need to sort out which pattern goes with which yarn in my stash....

Back to school time and...

I'm feeling drained already. It's only 1pm and what a morning! D started his kindergarten lessons and did great. He wasn't very enthusiastic about starting, but he didn't want to stop once we started. That was encouraging for me. E started the the day off great, but hit a bump in the road. It was pretty much down hill after that. sigh.

In the knitting area, I'm testing knitting a shawl and I hit a bump with that too. I can't get my next row to line up properly. That's frustrating. I've checked to see if I made any mistakes and everything looks good up until this line. I'll have to wait to hear from the designer.

I'm also having my mystery sock test knitted by two people. So far, so good. I did have an error about the way I referred to the multiple charts. oops. I did it one way in the file with the complete pattern, but had to change it to accommodate the pattern being separated into four clues. I'm happy that the charts do seem to be correct.

Beyond that, I'm still working on writing up other sock patterns. I think that I have most of the pattern portion written for a few of them. Now, I'm trying to figure out the best way to get the big charts into the pdf without making the file size huge or the charts looking blurry. I'll probably have those test knitted too before I let them out.

I have no socks on the needles. Yikes! I think that I'll start a plain stockinette sock to work on while the kids are doing lessons. That's all that I can manage right now. ;-)

Details for the sock above:
Pair #15 for the 52 Pair Plunge II
Yarn: Lovesticks in Count Sockula
Needle: size 0 (2mm) Knit Picks Classic Circular
Method: magic loop, 2 at once, toe-up with Turkish cast-on, short row heel
Start: August 7, 2008
Finish: August 10, 2008

Weaving socks and some mystery

This is my latest sock. Every now and then, I need a simpler pattern. This one was perfect. It was simple enough to not need a chart, but it wasn't boring. This pattern could probably be done in a more variegated yarn too.

Details:
Pair # 14 for the 52 Pair Plunge II
Pair #9 for Summer of Socks 08
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy in Nightwatch
Needle: size 0 (2mm) Knit Picks Classic Circular
Method: magic loop, 2 at once, toe-up with Turkish cast-on, gusset heel with patterning
Pattern: Weaving (pattern to be written later)
Start: July 30, 2008
Finish: August 1, 2008

I've been asked to design the September mystery sock for Sock Knitter's Anonymous (ravelry group). This pattern will be released in four parts, once each week during September. I've been digging through stitch dictionaries and working up a few different ideas. I think that I've finally gotten down what I want. Something interesting, but not too complex since there is a wide range of skill levels on the SKA group. The only requirement was that I use orange yarn. Pretty cool to have such an open ended range of what I could do. By the end of this week, I should have a good rough draft of the pattern.

I can't really say much about the pattern. I've been asked about using variegated yarns. I think a slightly variegated yarn would work. A yarn that stripes subtly might work too. I really don't think that yarn with bold stripes would work.

Catching up x3

It's been a while. I've finished three socks since my last post. I wanted to finish writing the patterns too, but that's taking longer than I thought it would.

I finished Purl and Zag while I was getting ready for our camping trip. Ideally, I wanted to have the pattern written before we left, but I've decided to write it for at least three sizes. That means making three different charts and adding those sizes to the directions.

I think it's a lot easier to design a sock pattern for solid yarns. Throwing variegated yarn into the mix makes it a bit harder to find a stitch pattern that will look good and cooperate with the various colors. I think this stitch pattern is bold enough on it's own, but also lets the colors show off too.

Pair #6 for the 52 Pair Plunge II
Pattern: Purl and Zag by me
Yarn: Great Adirondack Silky Sock in Onyx (70 gms used)
Needles: size 0 Knit Picks Classic Circular
Method: magic loop, 2 at once, toe-up, Turkish cast-on, short row heel
Start: June 21, 2008
Finished: June 24, 2008

This is another pair that I started and finished before the trip. I'm not sure how to write this pattern. This was a challenge for myself to use a gusset heel on a toe-up sock and to incorporate the stitch pattern in that heel. That meant counting and working backwards.

I was successful at knitting these socks with the fancy heel, but writing it? I'm not sure how to explain how to count backwards on the chart to figure out how to do the pattern on the heel. I can see why cuff down patterns are more common that toe-up. It would be a whole lot easier to explain if I just knit the other way, but I'm stubborn. ;-) Look at that heel...

#7 in the 52 Pair Plunge II
Pattern: Cables and Corsets--pattern to be written out later
Yarn: Wollmeise 100% sockenwolle in Brombeere (87 gms used)
Needle: size 0 Knit Picks Classic Circular
Method: magic loop, 2 at once, toe up, Turkish cast on, gusset heel
Start: June 25, 2008
Finish: June 28, 2008

This sock was started and finished on the trip. The stitch pattern plays nicely with the variegated yarn and it's easy to memorize too. That's always a big plus for an on-the-go knitting project.

I did the gusset heel on this sock too. This one fits me just a little bit better than the previous sock. I still don't see the big advantage of this type of heel over the short row heel. The gusset heel can be prettier, but the short row heel is easier to memorize. With the gusset heel, I have to refer to the written directions to turn the heel. Maybe it's because I've done so many short row heels and that's why it comes so easily. I'm not sure if I'll continue to do the gusset heels. They make pattern writing difficult. ;-) But they look so pretty...

#8 in the 52 Pair Plunge II
Pattern: Twisted Arrows-pattern written later
Yarn: Wollmeise 100% sockenwolle in Raku-Regenbogen (90 gms used)
Needle: size 0 Knit Picks classic circular
Method: magic loop, 2 at once, toe-up, Turkish cast-on, gusset heel
Start: June 28, 2008
Finish: July 3, 2008

I'm working on another sock right now. It's a mindless knit since I'm using a pattern out of More Sensational Knitted Socks. I'm still working on the patterns for the socks in this post. I really want to focus on writing them in more than one size. I know that I'm usually a little disappointed when a pattern only comes in one size, even if it says it's "very stretchy." Some of these stitch patterns aren't that easy to resize. I usually end up having to draw a new chart for each size.

My next post will be vacation pictures...

Bloomin'...take two

Today was an impossible day for photos. It was either bright sunshine or really dark thunderstorms.

For the Bloomin' socks, I did what I hardly ever do. I ripped back a project after it was finished. I took out the cuff and all of the flower section. I'm very happy with how it looks now. I took away a few lines from underneath the flower. I also made the flower larger and knit several more rows for a bigger rolled cuff.

This sock is very easy to resize. The leaves and flower are on a purl back ground. It's easy to add or subtract stitches from either side to make the sock wider or narrower. This sock started with 64 stitches for the foot. Towards the heel, I added 4 additional stitches to the sole. I kept those stitches for the leg and I am very pleased with the fit of the socks. In my pattern, I wrote it for 64 stitches throughout without my added increases. These socks have a 7 inch relaxed circumference and a 10 inch stretched circumference.

Bloomin' is a free pattern that you can download from ravelry. That link should work even if you're not a member of ravelry.

To recap some details about the socks that I made:

Yarn: Opal Uni solids in a dusty rose color (65 gms used for pictured pair)
Needle: size 0 (2mm) Knit Picks Classic Circular
Pattern: Bloomin' by me
Method: magic loop, 2 at once, toe-up, Turkish cast-on, short row heel, rolled cuff

Bloomin'...take one

Here is sock #5 in the 52 Pair Plunge II. This is another design by me. I've wanted to do a sock that had a vine-ish look to it starting at the toe and ending with something pretty near the cuff. This is a combination of a few different stitch patterns. I took the elements that I liked and put them together. This pattern will be written up, but I've changed the charts. I want to knit it with the chart changes and take pictures of that one for the pattern.

Overall, I was happy with this pattern. I changed the flower a little bit and I definitely changed the cuff. I wanted a rolled cuff, but it didn't roll as much as I thought it would. As it is, it looks odd to me. I know that I don't want a typical ribbed cuff, but I'll deal with that when I get to that section on the next pair.

Pair #5 for the 52 Pair Plunge II
Yarn: Opal Uni solids in a dusty rose color
Needle: size 0 (2mm) Knit Picks Classic Circular
Pattern: Bloomin' by me(will be written up after I make corrections)
Method: magic loop, 2 at once, toe-up, Turkish cast-on, short row heel, rolled cuff
Start: June 15, 2008
Finish: June 19, 2008

I must say that I was surprised and overwhelmed at the response to the Magic Mirror socks. They've been linked from Lime and Violet's Chum and Craftzine's blog. I've gotten a lot of hits from those two places in addition to ravelry. On ravelry, there are a few people that have started the pattern already and have posted pictures. That's exciting for me to see my pattern knit by other people. I can't wait until the finished pictures are posted!

Up next, I'm knitting with a very dark variegated yarn. Talk about a yarn being difficult to find an appropriate stitch pattern. I've searched through all of my stitch dictionaries and I think that I found one that won't compete too much with the colors.

Magic Mirror socks

Here is pair #4 for the 52 Pair Plunge. As long as I'm still having fun, socks will keep on coming at this pace. The socks aren't getting old or repetitive as long as I keep doing interesting patterns or challenging myself to come up with a pattern of my own. This pair is one of my own and I LOVE it. The charts that I made for these socks are huge and I wasn't sure if the curves would come out smooth. When I started these socks, they do look large from the lace sections and the twisted ribbing. After knitting the foot, it starts to pull in and become a very snug, stretchy sock. I think that this sock should fit a wide variety of foot sizes.

These were knit at the same time on one needle. That was interesting and challenging for my brain. Since I wanted the socks to mirror each other, I had to follow one chart for one sock and then a different chart for the other. Some knitters might even be able to flip the chart in their head. I didn't want to try that because ripping or tinking back on magic loop is a pain. ;-)

Details:
Pair 4 for the 52 Pair Plunge 2.
Yarn: Knit Picks Essential in Pumpkin (used 72 gms)
Needle: size 0 (2mm) Knit Picks Classic Circular
Method: magic loop, 2 at once, toe-up, Turkish cast-on, short row heel
Pattern: Magic Mirror socks
Start: June 8, 2008
Finish: June 11, 2008

I think that I've gotten used to taking a picture of the backs of my own legs. These socks were posted to ravelry already and the response has been huge. Thanks to everyone for all of the nice compliments. That lit a fire under me and I was determined to get this pattern out quickly. It still wasn't as quick as I wanted. I had to argue with word, excel, the pdf converter, and photoshop. That was mostly me trying to experiment in many ways to keep the file size reasonable.

Now that I have one pattern done, I have a few others here that will be written up some time soon.

Too many ideas...

I'm still going strong with the 52 Pair Plunge 2. I'm actually ahead of the one-pair-a-week schedule. That's good because I'll need a break from socks sometime in the next year. I've been looking through stitch dictionaries and coming up with my own patterns. Now I have too many stitch patterns that I want to alter to fit into socks.

These super bright yellow socks were knit from a stitch pattern that was really easy to fit onto socks. The yarn is solid Cherry Tree Hill color. I really like their solid yarns. It feels springy and doesn't split at all. I decided to put the picot edge at the top simply because I was tired of ending my socks in 2x2 or 1x1 ribbing. I like the picot edge because it's thick, feels sturdy, and is pretty. I'm not fond of having to sew it down.

Details:
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill solids-yellow
Needle: size 0 (2mm) Knit Picks Classic Circular
Pattern: basic sock with stitch from a stitch dictionary
Method: magic loop, 2 at once, toe-up, Turkish cast-on, short row heel, picot cuff
Start: June 3, 2008
Finish: June 5, 2008

This is my Monkey pair for the 52 Pair Plunge 2. Over on the Ravelry group, they picked out two patterns for June. One pattern was Monkey, so I added it to my queue for this month. I've knit this pattern before, but never with Socks that Rock. In fact, I've never used any of the Socks that Rock yarn before now. This is their lightweight yarn, but it felt like sport weight to me. It was definitely thicker than most indie dyed yarns that I've used. The socks turned out really dense and should make a nice winter sock, despite the lace. I like how the yarn pooled into stripes. I did the picot edge again and was a little faster at sewing it down.

Details:
Yarn: Socks that Rock lightweight in Emerald City (used 95 gms)
Needle: size 0 (2mm) Knit Picks Classic Circular
Method: magic loop, 2 at once, toe-up, Turkish cast-on, short row heel, picot cuff
Notes: This yarn is on the thicker side for sock yarns, but I had to use a 2mm needle or the socks would have been too big. This resulted in a very dense sock. It should be great for next winter.
Start: June 5, 2008
Finish: June 7, 2008

And this is what I'm working on right now. This pattern was heavily altered from a stitch pattern that I found. I love how these socks are turning out. I started calling them my Mirror socks because of how they mirror each other. Now I'm calling them my Magic Mirror socks. Why? Because they look so shriveled, small, and kind of ugly on the needles. They look great on my foot and stretch a lot. I think that this pattern wouldn't need to be altered much to fit a wide variety of foot sizes.

And speaking of patterns, I really want to write up a few of these socks as patterns. I also haven't posted about two lace scarves that I've knitted because I want to write up the patterns to post along with them. I need to get with it and start writing them before the backlog gets too long and overwhelming that I don't do it at all.

If you're wondering how I had time to do all of this, it's because Dwight took the kids camping. I stayed home because my allergies have been super annoying this season. Over the weekend, I managed to sew 4 dress for E, finish the Monkey socks, start on the Magic Mirror socks, and do all sorts of cleaning. Not bad. I also had a lot of fun watching old New Kids on the Block videos on youtube. I obsessed over the guys back in the day and it's so exciting to see that they're together again and working on an album.

And it begins...

The 52 Pair Plunge started on June 1st and runs for a year. The goal is to knit 52 pairs of socks in one year. I think that I can do that easily. To challenge myself, I'm trying to come up with some of my own designs. I'm using stitch dictionaries for inspiration. I plan on trying to write up a few of them as patterns. We'll see. I've tried to write a pattern before and I tend to get really wordy.

This is my first pair and I had a lot of fun with it. The chart was too big to memorize, but the socks were still a fast knit. The pattern is really stretchy. I don't think that I would have to size this up very much for anyone, but it would be difficult to size down.

Details:
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy in Dusky Aurora (used approx. 80gms)
Needle: size 0 (2mm) Knit Picks Classic Circular
Pattern: mine using a stitch dictionary
Method: magic loop, 2 at once, toe-up with Turkish cast-on, short row heel
Start: June 1, 2008
Finish: June 3, 2008

I said that I would take better pictures of my Marie Antoinette socks and here they are. If socks could be sexy, I would say that this one qualifies. I love the detail in these socks, especially down the back. I don't knit too many patterns more than once, but I really want to knit this one again. This was such a fun pattern and surprisingly quick.

Another pretty shot:

It's easy!

It's easy. I think that some people probably don't like to hear those words from anyone. I find myself saying it or wanting to say it a lot. I don't know if it's natural talent or just an uncanny ability to read directions and actually follow them through. Dwight would say it's a natural talent. I would give the second reason. I always feel a bit strange when someone who sees my work and says, "wow, I bet you can make anything." I feel like telling them, that I can indeed make anything, especially if there are given directions. And if there are no directions, I will try to do it on my own.

I've found this true for myself with sewing or knitting. To me, sewing is just following a pattern. You cut out the pieces and put them together how the directions tell you do it. Just a few days ago, I've found that it's also true for doing our taxes. I do our taxes by hand. That's how I've always done them, but this year proved a little more difficult. I ran into a snag, read the (insane) directions, and figured it out. To double check, I used a tax program and I did get it all correct!

This is another thing that was easy for me. The directions for Jean Greenhowe's dolls are so thorough. I did try to make things a bit less complicated by knitting in the round. That messed with my row gauge a bit, but I like how it turned out anyways. This is the second doll that I made for E for her birthday yesterday. I gave the doll to her and then remembered that I didn't take pictures of it yet. So, Miss Sophie is looking a bit rumpled. This doll stands at around 12 inches high. She can stand on her own. I used whatever leftover acrylic yarn that I had on hand already. That's why her pantalets are pink instead of white.

I was a little worried about making dolls for E. She has so many dolls already, but none of them were handmade. Well, I had nothing to worry about. She has declared that the two dolls that I made are the best simply because I made them. That was such a sweet comment for her to make. I've kept the pattern book hidden while I was making these. I showed her the pattern books yesterday and she's picked out Jemima Jane as the next doll for me to make. I want to make the pirate doll for D. I'm not sure when I'll get around to them, but they're on the list!

In knitting, I've started to branch out and do my own thing with socks. And now I'm just winging it with these fingerless gloves. And I've found that once again--it's easy. It was all about finding a pattern that works for me and plugging in a stitch pattern. Finding a good stitch pattern is the tricky part. I've found that I can plug in just about any stitch pattern that's used in a sock and it will make pretty fingerless gloves.

Here are the completed Wollmeise fingerless gloves. These took up 60 gms of yarn. That's less than half of the skein. They are quite snug because of the pulling in that this stitch pattern likes to do. The stitch pattern is Stansfield 304 that can be found in the More Sensational Knitted Socks book. I wore them out yesterday and they do keep my hands warm. I have a few more skeins of sock yarn that I want to make into fingerless gloves now.

To recap:
Fingerless gloves made up by me.
Yarn: Wollmeise sockenwolle in Drachenblut (60gms)
Needles: size 0 Addi Turbo
Notes: These are knitted with 72 stitches around, due to the stitch patterns nature to pull in. The gloves are quite snug.

I've started this pair with Dream in Color Smooshy in the Midnight Derby color. This pair is for my sister. She loves blue and I think this one just about matches the color of her car. My sister is all about being matchy-matchy. This is the Cross Stitch block stitch pattern that can also be found in the More Sensational Knitted Socks book. I have found it in one of the Barbara Walker treasuries too, but I can't remember which one. This glove is knit with 64 stitches around and I did use a larger needles. My sister has larger hands than I do and I was worried that 64 stitches around on a size 0 might be too snug for her.

The color is more accurate in this picture, but you can see the stitch pattern detail better in the first picture.

Details so far:
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy in Midnight Derby
Needles: size 1 (2.5mm) Knit Picks Classic Circular
Glove pattern: my own
Stitch pattern: Cross Stitch Block




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