Nothing Much New

With my family visiting last week, I didn’t get a lot of knitting done.  We had a great time, but I was very busy and very exhausted.  Having more people around wore me out!

I’m getting close to done on the pair of socks in Sweet Georgia.  I’ve ordered some of the new self-striping sock yarn from KnitPicks and I’m going to use it to try my first toe-up sock.  The Loopy Ewe is having a challenge in which you’re supposed to challenge yourself.  It could be a pattern that is difficult for you, or a technique, or whatever.  My challenge will be toe-up socks.  I can’t imagine liking them better than cuff-down, but you never know.

I have also been working on Cozy.  It’s not so bad, actually.  But, I still have a lot of yarn left to go.

I’ve ordered the yarn for the Cream Baby Cardi and it should be here in a couple of days.  I’m using Shine Worsted again.  The mom chose that, which is nice, since I know how the yarn works up and it turned out great for the first baby cardi.

Next week we are going to go on a mini-vacation to see my dad, his wife and my brothers and sister.  We’ll be driving anywhere from 7-8 hours with a three year old who tends to get carsick.  Think good thoughts for me!  I will be taking the new sock and the Cream Baby Cardi.  Unfortunately, I won’t be able to knit in the car, since I’m the driver in the family.  I’ll have quite a bit of knitting time on vacation, since it tends to be pretty low key when we visit.  Josh and I are going to spend 2 nights and 3 days in Vancouver, B.C. without LouLa.  I’ve never been there and it’ll be nice to get away for some “us” time.

On Saturday I took my sister to the airport and stopped off at a yarn store that I hadn’t been to before and didn’t know about it.  It was really nice and I’ll head back there again, I’m sure.  The coolest part was that they carry Socks that Rock!  I bought one skein in the Fred Flintstone colorway.  I just love the name.  It’s the medium weight, but given how I knit socks, I’ll probably knit them on 1s or 2s.  I just need more time to knit all these nice yarns that I’ve acquired!

Socks, Socks, Socks

My London Calling sock bag made by Momma-Monkey:

I love it!  I love the print and it’s just the right size.  It’s perfect.

What good is a sock bag without sock yarn?

That’s Vesper Sock in Venus in Fur and Dream in Color Smooshy Sock Yarn. I don’t know what color it is, but as you can see, it’s a purple blend. That picture is pretty true to the actual colors, which is amazing, given my track record lately.

Both yarns are ones that I’ve wanted for awhile. The Vesper is interesting to me because it knits up with wider stripes than most self-striping yarns. I’m not a fan of most self-striping yarns because the stripes end up being skinny, not matter what size needles are used (remember the Ugly Socks?).  I ordered it from Knitterly Things and I was lucky to get it.  That yarn sells out fast!

I loved the Dream in Color that I used for Wicked, so I wanted to try out their sock yarn. The worsted weight is *very* smooshy, so I expect the same from the sock yarn. I can’t wait to use it!  It was ordered from my favorite source for sock yarn, The Loopy Ewe.

I’ve put myself on a strict schedule of knitting at least one pattern repeat on Cozy every day before I get to knit anything else. It’s only 8 rows, so it’s not that hard, but at least it’s progress.

After getting my “assignment” done, this is what I’ve been doing:

It’s the Waving Lace pattern from (where else?) Favorite Socks.  The yarn is Sweet Georgia Superwash Sock in Viola.  The pattern is great and, like most lace patterns, a quick knit.  The yarn is fabulous!  It has a tight twist, but is squishy.  The color on these pictures isn’t very accurate.  It’s definitely purple, not blue-ish as the pictures show.

In the next week or so I’m going to order yarn to make another Daisy sweater (the pattern I used for the Green Baby Cardi).  A friend of mine had a baby in April and I gave her a certificate good for a baby sweater to be worn in October.  I need to show her samples of different yarns to see what she would like.  She wants an “oatmeal” color.  When I think of oatmeal, I think of cream, and hopefully she does, too.  Her choices will be all Knit Picks yarns, since I’m familiar with them.  Swish Superwash, Main Line, or Shine Worsted will be the ones I’ll show her.  I’m excited about starting it.

Lisey and The Road

Reading Update:

I finished Lisey’s Story and I really liked it.  As I wrote, it started slow, but once it got going, I really enjoyed it.  It wasn’t too terribly scary, but there were unusual (for lack of a better word, it is Stephen King, afterall) elements to it.  I was really interested in the focus on the love between Lisey and her husband.

And, after that, I read The Road, but Cormac McCarthy.  An excellent book.  I’ve always been interested in the idea of what the world would be like after a nuclear bomb.  I spent my childhood with the Cold War going on and I remember in elementary school having to do nuclear bomb drills.  A silly waste of time, really.  This book tells of a man and his boy on the road (duh) after some kind of nuclear bomb.  The circumstances for the bomb aren’t given, and I wasn’t able to figure out where they were, but that really doesn’t matter.  The focus was on their relationship and the two of them trying to survive.

Right now I’m reading some brain candy.  With Harry Potter coming out, I didn’t want to start a “real” book and not have it finished when I got the book on Saturday.  The book I’m reading now is just to pass the time until I get HP.

I’ve been busy getting ready for the visit from my mom and dad, two brothers, and my sister.  Cleaning and organizing has been a big part of that.  It’s been things that I’ve needed to get done for some time, but I’ve put it off.  Their visit is the perfect excuse.  They’ll be staying for almost a week.  That could be stressful, except for the fact that they won’t actually be sleeping at our house.  Our house is only 900 square feet and there’s barely room for us.  They’ve rented a small cabin about 20 minutes away.  LouLa is very excited about it for herself, but also for me.  She’s fascinated by the fact that my mommy and daddy are coming.

I have something coming in the mail that I hope to share with you before the ‘rents arrive.  I’ve also started on a new sock that I want to share.  It’s lovely, in a yarn I haven’t used before.

Confessions

Remember this?

Yeah, I hate it. It’s so boring to knit and I really don’t see myself (or anyone else) wearing it. So, I’ll frog it one of these days and use the yarn for socks. I may not think they’re pretty socks, but I’ll wear them and I’ll enjoy knitting them.

This is something that I’ve kept tucked away and haven’t worked on for a loooooong time:

This is Cozy in KP Andean Silk. The color is way off in the picture, but it’s in Lettuce. It’s a cross between an olive green and a spring green. I don’t hate this project, I just don’t particularly like knitting it. But, I’m going to keep working on it, because the finished shawl is something I can see throwing over my shoulders when it’s cold out. I only have three skeins left of the yarn, so I can kind of see the light at the end of the tunnel.

The moral of the story? I have no knitting attention span. I hate knitting things that use the same pattern over and over and that take a long time. Socks are great for me, because they’re pretty quick and there are several parts. Sweaters are fine because they also have different parts. Scarves and blankets? Not so much.

It’s finally done…

I’m really proud of it.  For my first adult sweater, I think it’s pretty good.  Of course, it is a pretty easy pattern.  My bind-off for the sleeves is looser than the bind-off for the bottom.  I used a size 8 needle for the right needle and tried to be as loose as possible.  I knew that if the sleeve was too tight, I would have to redo it, and I really didn’t want to redo anything more.

 

Pattern:  Wicked by Zephyr Style

Needles:  Size 7 32″ circular

Yarn:  Dream in Color superwash merino wool- I used 2 full skeins and a little more than 1/2 of another.  I still have 2 full skeins left.  I love this yarn.  It’s not cheap, but it knits up great.  I did quite a bit of frogging and it held up really well.  It’s very soft and it’s very wearable next to the skin.

Guage:  ??  It fits, that’s all I care.  I had a really hard time getting gauge and ended up  fudging a bit.  For this pattern, it worked, but I wouldn’t do it with a cardigan or something that required seaming.

Modifications:  I used the crossover rib on the bottom, as well as on the neckline and the cuffs for the sleeves.

 

So, now, I’m going to be working hard on the Go With the Flow socks.  I really need to seam and finish LouLa’s wrap dress, too.  She’s going to grow out of it if I don’t get it done.

Home Alone

This is what happens when I am at home in the middle of the week, during the day:

London Calling

Go look!

I’ve been looking at Momma-Monkeys sock knitting bags for quite some time. There’s been a couple of fabrics that I liked, but not enough to click the “Add to Cart” button on impluse. I’ve been working up to it, though.

Today was different. Today….London called!

I’ve been to London (and various parts in the UK) twice. I’d go again in a heartbeat, given a couple of thousand dollars and no responsibilities. So, this bag was the one that spoke to me. Seriously, I clicked that button before I could even think.

I’ve heard only good things about these bags and all of her products. I’m looking forward to seeing more of her bigger knitting bags. I really like her 50s/60s inspired prints. You know, that ones with little Suzy Homemaker, or the little girl from Dick and Jane. (Hint, hint, Josh!) I needed a new sock bag, really. Mine is a tacky, see-through plastic thing. Hardly becoming to a sophisticated sock knitter like myself.

I have absolutely no regrets, and very little guilt. Hey, London called, I just had to answer.

Body Finished!

I’ve been marathon knitting the last couple of days, and my hands are feeling it.

As you can see, I’ve finished the body of Wicked.  I used the crossover rib for the bottom, instead of the k2, p2 rib that the pattern called for.  It just seemed to make more sense to me, and I like the way it looks.  The sleeves will be longer than the short sleeved version of the pattern, but won’t be long sleeved.  I’ll probably have them stop just above my elbows.  I should be able to finish this sweater over the weekend.  I’m really excited, though I won’t be able to wear it for some time.  We are going to Vancouver, B.C. in August, so I’m hoping for a cold snap to go through the area during that time so I can wear it.  I think I’m going to be disappointed.

I did do the waist decreases which were suggested, and I did some increases a few inches below that for my hip area.  I like the way it hugs my body, which gives it some of that wicked look.  The length is just about perfect, but my bind off is a little tight.  I’ve always struggled with getting my bind offs loose enough.  It’s not something that’s worth taking out, though.

I’ve gotten past the heel on the Go With the Flow second sock.  The foot should go pretty fast.  I’m not looking forward to redoing the first sock, but it has to be done.

I ordered a skein of yarn from The Loopy Ewe last week and ordered a skein from Knitterly Things this week.  Both are sock yarns and I’ll get some pictures when my recent order comes in.  It’s not like I need more sock yarn, but both skeins were yarns that I’ve been wanting to get and they were almost sold out.

Falling Short

I’ve made tons of progress on Wicked and I’ve finished one of the Go With the Flow socks. All would be well with the world, but for one thing.

I’m short on both of them.

I am a short person (5′1″), but it seems with both of these, I thought I was shorter than I really am. I tried on Wicked and thought that just a few more rounds of stockinette and then I could start on the bottom cuff. I had almost finished the bottom and I tried it on. It was too short. It barely covered what it needed to cover. I tend to wear a lower rise pant (not the really low rise), because it makes my ass look smaller. At least, that’s what I tell myself.

Anyway…I ended up frogging and I’ve been busy doing more stockinette. I will show a modeled picture of it (probably sans my head) when the body is done.

The pattern for the Go With the Flow Socks said that the lace stretched vertically, which needed to be taken into account when determining foot length. I knit to what I thought was an appropriate length, finished the sock, and tried it on. Too short. I tried to think of someone with smaller feet than I have who would like a pair of orange-ish handmade socks. I couldn’t think of anyone. Then I tried to convince myself that I could wear them, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal, and maybe they would grow after washing. I wasn’t convinced. I’ll need to pick out the kitchener and frog back. I’m going to wait until I’ve finished the second sock, so I have a better idea of how long it really should be.

The last couple of weeks just haven’t been my best knitting weeks.

Book News:

I’m still half-heartedly working on The Princes in the Tower. It’s pretty dry. Even though it’s short, it’s not that interesting of a read. I may give it up. In between reading that, I read Better by Atul Gawande. Another really interesting book. Right now I’m working on Licey’s Story by Stephen King. I’ve really liked some of his stuff, but his newer stuff has been hit or miss for me. This started out slow, but it’s picking up speed.

I finally have made some progress, so I’ve got some pictures to show you.

As you can see, my flow has some issues:

It’s either that I made a mistake, or there’s an error in the pattern. Chances are, it’s me, though I did think that I followed the pattern correctly. But, I’m not ruling out the possibility of errors in the pattern, it is a new book, after all. In any case, by the time I started knitting the instep and found out that I had flow problems, there was no way I was going to go back and frog the heel turn and heel flap. These are for me, so my standards aren’t nearly as high as if I were making them as a gift.

I’ve even made progress on Wicked:

I tried it on when I was at the number of stitches for the second (medium) size.  It fit okay, but was a little high and tight, so I increase 3 more times and tried it on again.  It fit much better, so that’s where I stopped.  The great thing about this pattern is that you just kind of knit until it fits.  It’s my first top down raglan sweater, and I suspect that they are all like that.  I’m almost ready to knit decreases for waist shaping.  I may end up doing more than is called for in the pattern, because my waist is fairly small, relatively speaking.  I’ll just keep trying it on and seeing how things look.  I still love this pattern and the yarn.  I’m not so sure about the pink, but with some nice black slacks or a cute swingy skirt, I think it’ll look very nice.

I’m getting close to finishing up the 6th Harry Potter book.  I have no idea what I’ll read next, though I have about 10 books in the “to read” stack.  Maybe The Princes in the Tower, which is a library book and needs to get back.