Finished Object: Stansfield 304 Socks

Pattern: Stansfield 304 stitch pattern from More Sensation Knitted Socks, worked from top down with a garter stitch cuff and with a slip stitch heel
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in Peacock
Notes: This was the first time I really ran out of yarn with a pair of socks. When I started the toe of the second sock, I knew I was in trouble! I managed to pull it off, barely, but it meant making the toe on the second sock slightly shorter than the first. It still fits comfortably.

I really enjoyed this pattern. It wasn't a fast knit for me, since I'm not very quick with the numerous M1 and P3tog stitches. The pattern is extremely easy to memorize, and is actually very intuitive. It is also beautiful to look at. The biggest downside is that I found this pattern does not have a lot of give or stretch. Pulling the ankle part of the sock over the heel is a little difficult, and they are a bit tight at the top (though not to the point of discomfort).

Overall, I really enjoyed making them, and love wearing them! The yarn was also easy and pleasant to work with. I did find two knots in the hank, which slightly annoying. The colors are lovely.

Here are the scraps of yarn tails I clipped off when I wove in the ends, all that remains of the yarn:

Finished Object: Baby Bolero

The color in the second photo is closer to the actual color:


Modeled by Mr. Gorilla:



Pattern: Baby Bolero from One Skein
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpaca Dyed Cotton
Changes: I picked up less stitches for the ribbing than it said to in the pattern - it seemed like too much, and my finish garment looks fine too me. I didn't do the motif on the back of the jacket that was in the pattern.
My opinion: This was so fun! I knit this for a baby shower for an acquintance. This is the first time I have knit a garment for a baby. It came out so wee and cute! True to the name of the book, this really did only use one skein of the cotton, although I only had a few feet left when I finished. The yarn itself blew my mind. It is truly one of the softest, most comfortable yarns I have ever felt. This cotton is also very easy to knit with. The color selection was also amazing! I would love to make myself a top out of this cotton, but the cost is a bit prohibitive.
The only other complaint I have is that when I did the seams, at one point I tugged the yarn quite hard and it broke! Not something I usually worry about with cotton. It only happened that one time however, and I was pulling pretty darn hard.

I already went to the baby shower, and the reactions to this and the petal bib were very positive. Many of the ladies were blown away that they were made by hand. I'll admit, I felt rather proud!

How Green is My Valley...er, Bib.

An FO! An FO! A small one, to be sure, but an FO nonetheless:

Pattern: Petal Bib, from One Skein
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cotton DK, 1 skein
Comments: I screwed up on hiding the wraps just slightly the first few times, but only on the purl side. So there a few semi-obvious "darts" on one side of the bib. However, it is nothing overly noticeable, so I let it go. I do think I will try to block this a bit to make it look neater. Otherwise, I've really happy with how it came out. So cute, and so easy! This is for a baby shower I am going to in a week.


I'm also making the baby bolero from One Skein for the shower. I'm making it from Blue Sky Cotton, although I'm using dyed instead of organic. My LORD it is soft! This is probably the best cotton I've worked with so far. I've finished the body and sleeves, and I seamed the shoulders. I'm trying to gear up to seam on the sleeves at this point.

I've been working on a pair of socks for myself for a while now. I'm really enjoying them, but I'm finding the pattern to be somewhat of a slow knit, and I recently got distracted by the baby knits. I've got one sock finished so far, and this is how far along the other is.

The pattern is Stansfield 304 from More Sensational Knitted Socks, and the yarn is Cherry Tree Hill.

And finally, a shot of my wedding cake from my wedding in April. The cake is somewhat small since we had less than 20 people at the wedding.

Back in the saddle!

Ah, my poor neglected blog!

My last post was in October. I actually did complete most of the Christmas gifts I had planned, but not all. Sniff! But frankly, the holiday knitting burned me out. By the end, it had become a chore instead of something fun. I don't think I will attempt that again for a while. I still plan to knit gifts on some occasions, but not a huge mass of gifts all at once.

I didn't knit anything for about 4-5 months after Christmas. Part of it was the burnout, and part of it was that I finally GOT a JOB! After over a year of searching! It has been really great, but it also means a lot less free time. I also got freaking MARRIED in April. So yeah, there has been a lot going on, and knitting got left by the way side.

Still, I have had long breaks from knitting before, and I always come back to it eventually. It was no exception this time. I can tell when I am becoming "ready" to knit again, because I gradually start looking at other people's projects on their blogs again, fondling my yarn, imagining projects that would be fun, etc.

So now I'm working on a pair of socks. It is going really well, but sloooowly. I just don't have as much time anymore. Before I had the job, I could sit around and knit all day. Ah, well - it is still really nice to be back in the saddle.

I plan to put up some pictures soon - I've got the socks in progress, I'm working on some gifts for a baby shower, and I've made some nifty yarn acquisitions. I know that I don't have that many visitors to this blog, but for those that are reading this, thanks for your attention and patience, I promise you some yarn porn in the near future!!!

The Agony of Defeat.

Yesterday, I completed the seventh gift of my holiday countdown - a gaiter (like a collar-scarf for the neck) for one of my fiance's grandmothers. I had noticed while I was knitting it that it seemed a bit large. However, with my powers of mental delusion, I convinced myself it was not a problem. After all, it's done in ribbing! It'll pull right in! Or...something like that! Yeah!

After casting off, I looked at it and dread filled my soul...it was big. Beautiful and classy, of course, knit up in Elsbeth Lavold's Silky Wool, but nonetheless quite big. See?

So I tried it on....


Argh! It's not just a little big, it is HUMONGOUS. To the frog pond it must go. Le sigh.

More tidbits!

By the way, apologies for the lack of updates! I have no excuses, but I do have pictures! Michael's had a sale recently on Patons Classic Merino! Only $3.77 a ball - not bad for over 200 yards of merino. It is, of course, not as soft as some of the more expensive brands, but is still quite comfy and squishy. I got some Winter White for one of my upcoming Christmas gift projects (a Yorick scarf), and quite a few balls of a natural oatmeal-ish color (the name is escaping me now).

The oatmeal color is to make the Turbulence U-neck Pullover from Knitting Nature (I also joined the Knitting Nature KAL).


Okay, so far, not very exciting. I suspect much of the knitting will be rather dull - it is a loooot of stockinette. But the final product should be lovely. And more importantly, it is all for ME ME ME! Yes, the holiday knitting is getting to me. I want something for myself dammit!

Completed: Jaywalkers!

A finished pair!View from the top.

When sock yarn explodes...

Socks...or a pair of earwarmers for Mr. Baa Baa?

Pattern: Jaywalkers by Grumperina, from Magknits September 2005
Yarn: Socks that Rock, in color County Clare, mediumweight
Modifications: Short ankles (1 inch of rib, 1 inch of pattern).
Made one more set of decreases at the toe (ended with 24 instead of 28 stitches).
Seemed to find an error(?), although no one seems to mention it elsewhere - before the toe, several stitches are decreased on needles 2 and 3 to get a multiple of 4 stitches - the pattern has you decrease a total of 4 stitches, but I had to decrease 6 to get the right number. Weird?
Finally - I made a minor error that I decided to simply keep doing. I ended the ankle on round 2 instead of round 1. Thus, on the gusset, I performed the slipped stitch on the same round as the gusset decreases/round 2. Didn't cause a problem at all.
Recipient: Christmas gift for my mom! The socks fit on my - but very snugly. This is good, as my mom has very small feet (size 5 1/2!) and I have medium size feet (8 1/2). I think they will fit well - perhaps a bit loose, but my mom hates overly tight socks anyway!

This was a fun and very easy to knit pattern, although since everyone except me has knit a pair by now, I'm sure I don't need to tell anyone that! The Socks that Rock was very pleasant to knit with, and much less prone to laddering that some socks yarn I have used (Lorna's Lace, I'm looking at you!). The color was a bit different than what I expected - more bright greens as well as very dark tones - but I'm pleased with how it came out.

Unfortunately, I had a yarn explody incident. Stupidly, I wound the entire hank into one ball (close to 400 yards) instead of two. Close to the end of the first sock, for reasons I don't quite comprehend, the yarn I was pulling from the inside got badly tangled and came out in a massive yarn barf. Attempts to fix it only made things worse. I managed to finish sock 1, and then did sock 2 with yarn pulled from the outside of the ball. I made it, but you can see the remaining yarn in the picture above - it ain't pretty. Well, lesson learned - don't get overzealous with the ballwinder, even if a single giant ball of yarn looks really cool.

Once upon a post.

Today's sock is brought to you by Mr. Baa Baa:

Short-ankled Jaywalkers for my Mom. I only did a half-hearted swatch, so I don't know yet if they size will come out right. But hey, that's all part of the excitement, right? Yeehaw!

I also took a happy little jaunt over to Bluebonnet Yarn. The Silky Wool is to make two separate gaiters (neck warmer things) from One Skein for my fiance's grandmothers. The Cashsoft is for ribbed armwarmers for my brother.

I have made armwarmers previously out of Cashsoft, and this stuff is goooooood. It remains to be seen whether I will remain faithful to the socks and put all my attention into them until finished, or whether I will cheat on them like crazy with the Silky Wool.