Socks – Page 2 – Ms Lindz – My little corner of the internet

Scarf of DOOOOM and Other WIPs

Posted on November 30, 2011 by mslindz

Since finishing the two pairs of socks, I’ve been fighting the urge to cast on something new. I have at least 3 projects in mind that I’d like to start, possibly more if I thought about it longer!

Thankfully, seeing how far along I am on my current projects and seeing how fast they’re moving along has kept me from starting anything new before finishing something up. As luck would have it, I was able to finish up one of the three projects I had on the needles yesterday.

Matt’s Scarf

This project has been on the needles since 2009. I started this scarf for Matt in the winter of 2009 and it kept getting put aside for other things. It’s finally DONE! I hope to take a better picture of it soon for a FO post. So incredibly happy to have this project off the needles!

Matt and his new scarf!

Finishing those two pairs of socks I has allowed me to pick up the Embossed Leaves socks again. The pattern repeat was easy enough to memorize and is just enough to keep me interested without being bored. I finished the heel flap and I’m now working on the foot of the first sock. The yarn I’m using is Alchemy Juniper, which I’ve not used before. It’s really squishy and nice to work with. This is one of the yarns I got in The Loopy Ewe Sock Club in 2010. Nice to be knitting up some of the older things in my stash!

Embossed Leaves

The other project on my needles is probably the least interesting to look at. It’s a black cardigan. The pattern I’m knitting is Estelle Cardigan, which is a pretty simple cardigan with a feather and fan edging around the collar, cuffs, and bottom of the sweater with ribbing at the waist. I think it will be very wearable, but really just not that interesting to see! Plus, black is sort of hard to photograph and hides any of the details in pictures, so it ends up looking like a blob of black instead. Ah well. I think the yarn is pretty nice to work with. Matt thinks it’s too rough and not soft enough – what a yarn snob I’ve turned him into!! Hehehe 🙂

Estelle Cardigan

I debated starting another pair of stripey socks to work on after finishing Matt’s scarf. There’s a lot of holiday parties coming up this month and a plain sock that I don’t have to think much about seems like just the right thing to have to work on. I took a look at my stash and decided to cast on a pair of house socks for Matt. I picked up a skein of MadeleineTosh Sport at Lambikins Hideaway the last time I was there. At the time, I had just finished a pair of socks for myself out of this yarn and enjoyed working with it, so I thought I’d knit him up a pair. I used a US 1.5 (2.50mm) needle for my socks with this yarn, but I thought that was a little on the tight side (though, personally I like my socks with a bit tighter fabric). For his, I decided to go up to a US 2.5 (3.0 mm). I didn’t have a plan when I cast on aside from making it a 50 stitch sock. Once I finished the toe, I played around with different stitches until I decided I liked the look of 3 x 2 rib best. It’s working up really fast! I’ve already knit 5″ of it.

Matt’s House Socks

What are you working on this week? Something new? Holiday gifts?

Rikke Hat, Sweater Fail, and Other Projects

Posted on November 21, 2011 by mslindz

Wow, where has November gone? I can hardly believe it’s almost Thanksgiving. I’ve had the best of intentions to blog over the last almost 3 weeks. Things have been busy lately. It doesn’t help that the sun going down so early now or that the weather has been rainy and dreary making it difficult to take decent pictures. Despite all the busy and lack of photographic evidence, I’ve been knitting things. In fact I started and finished a project since I last posted!

After some issues with another project (which I’ll get to in a minute), I needed something that was almost-instant gratification and fairly simple. I happened to see this hat pattern on Ravelry and immediately knew that I needed to make one out of the Malabrigo Rios I had.

Rikke Hat – Front

Pattern: Rikke Hat by Sarah Young (My Ravelry project page.)
Started: November 11, 2011
Completed: November 13, 2011
Yarn: Malabrigo Rios, colorway Solis, 1 skein
Needle: US 4 and 7, bamboo circular
Notes: This is a free pattern that can be found here. I ended up using a yard or so from the leftovers from the first skein of this that I had for the last 2 rows of the hat plus bind off. Simple pattern that makes a great, squishy hat!

Rikke Hat – Side

It is November and it is NaKniSweMo. Do you recall me talking about a sweater I planned to knit this month? Yeah… about that… I ran into a problem. It’s small. REALLY small. I had a feeling it might be a bit on the small side from the gauge being off, but I thought the changes I planned on making would allow it to still fit well even if it was a bit snug. After finishing the right and left fronts, I tried it on and it just felt incredibly small. Way smaller then I’d want it to be for a cardigan I want to wear over other layers. I haven’t frogged it yet because part of me thinks I should just finish it, wash it and see how it turns out. However there’s a secondary issue. The second skein is quite a bit lighter in color from the first and other two skeins. Guess where I joined the second skein and there’s a pretty distinct line! The bust. Right around the largest part of the bust even. Yep. So, it’s sitting in time out for now while I debate what to do. Thoughts or ideas what to do?

Metro

Since that didn’t really work out, I went back to working on my Lace and Cables socks for the SSK KAL. I finished the first sock last Monday. Not the best picture as it was taken in the car on the way to take Matt to the airport last week, but hey, it’s a picture of my progress! I’ve finished two of the lace repeats on the second sock. It goes pretty quickly, so I’m sure I’ll be able to finish it this week I have some time off this week because of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Lace and Cables Sock

Last week, while Matt was out of town doing some training for work, I spent a lot of my free time cleaning and organizing parts of our house that we usually ignore: the spare room that has boxes of things that don’t have a place to go and the basement that holds both things that have no place to go and things that are only used occasionally. Much of this stuff needed to be sorted through, thrown out, and given away, so while he was away, I focused on taking care of these two areas of the house. I’m pleased to say I made huge progress on both! I think there’s probably a little room for improvement in the spare room, but that can’t happen until we have some sort of storage solution for it. Overall, I’m really happy with getting rid of a lot stuff and having a better idea of what we have.

As a reward for getting all that done, I cast on for a sweater: Estelle. I picked up yarn for this sweater after seeing a sample at Lambikins Hideaway. The sample was knit out of a different yarn, but this yarn was near where I saw the sample and was really reasonably priced. If I’m remembering correctly from what the shop employee said, this yarn was something that was custom spun for the shop quite some time ago (I think before owners changed). The yarn is Yarn Source Sol, 100% wool, and 220 yards for $4.50. They didn’t have a huge selection of colors, but since I’ve been wanting a black cardigan for a while, I figured this was the perfect opportunity to knit myself one.

Yarn Source Sol

When I got home and looked up the pattern, I found it was already in my queue. No wonder I liked it!

When I bought the yarn, I decided I was going to wait until the socks were done to cast on. After almost a week of hardly any knitting and getting so much accomplished at the house, I made Saturday “knit anything you want” day and cast on for Estelle. I’ve knit to just past where you split for the sleeves. Since my gauge is different then the pattern, I’m knitting the smallest size to get the size I want and it’s moving along quickly. Now to get those socks done so I can get back to it! 🙂

Completed Projects, Current Projects

NaKniSweMo, Luz Mojito, and SSK KAL

Posted on November 1, 2011 by mslindz

It’s November and today is the start of NaKnitSweMo! Have you cast on for your sweater yet?

After getting home from Rhinebeck, I started searching for just the right pattern to use for the Twist of Fate Spinnery worsted weight 50 wool/50 alpaca yarn I purchased.

Twist of Fate Spinnery Wool/Alpaca

I swatched with one sweater in mind, but ultimately decided to knit something different and to knit it for NaKniSweMo. I wanted something that would be great to keep at the office for when it’s freezing and that would use the new knowledge I had from the Fit-to-Flatter class I took. I combed through my queue and all sorts of patterns on Ravelry. Ultimately I decided on Metro. I had the right yardage available, it’d be easy to take on and off at the office, and it would challenge me to use shaping modifications I haven’t used before.

It took a little math since my gauge is different then the pattern, but I’ve decided to knit the smallest size and add in vertical bust darts with the waist shaping increases. I still haven’t quite worked out how to do the bust darts other then a general idea of where I’ll put them. I plan on taking a look over my class materials tonight to plan out exactly how I’ll do that when I get there. I feel pretty confident that I can do this, but I think it’ll be a challenge to make these modifications and trusting that it’ll work. Here’s hoping it all works according to plan!

Now for an FO! 😀 I finished the Luz Mojito socks last Thursday, but didn’t get finished photos of them until the weekend. I love these socks! They are so squishy. I can definitely see myself wearing them around the house this winter to keep my feet extra warm. This is my first time knitting sport weight socks, but I have a feeling it won’t be my last! One skein of yarn was just enough for these for me. I had only a tiny bit left over. If you have larger feet (I wear a US women’s 7 or 7.5) you’ll want more then one skein if you like the leg to be somewhat tall and knit a denser fabric like I did.

Luz Mojito

Pattern: Luz Mojito by Heather Zoppetti (My Ravelry project page.)
Started: October 14, 2011
Completed: October 27, 2011
Yarn: MadelineTosh Tosh Sport, colorway Terra, 1 skein
Needle: US 1.5 (2.50mm) Knit Picks nickel circular
Notes: Followed the pattern as written. Only mod I made was to the toe. I knit as written until there were 16 stitches on each needle left, then decreased every round until 8 stitches were left on each needle, then kitchnered the stitches together. I chose to do these on a US 1.5 instead of a US 2 because of the stitch count. I knew that the stitch count called for in the pattern would be too big on a US 2, so I went for a denser fabric.

Luz Mojito Socks

Little update about the SSK KAL. When I looked at what I had knit of the Crocus Socks, I didn’t like how the side lace stitches looked. They didn’t look much like the pattern. I figured out that this was because I was knitting the smallest size which wasn’t producing the same look as the medium or large size would. I really like that design element, but knew I couldn’t go up a size and still have socks that would fit, so I decided to pick another pattern. I settled on the Lace and Cables socks instead. It had the same stitch count I knew would fit and from reading over the pattern I knew that none of the design elements would be lost on the smaller size. Ripped back the Crocus Socks and added 10 rows of stockinette before starting the charts (prevents the lace from showing “toe butts” which I’m not fond of). Not much to look at so far, but they’re moving along quickly.

Attempt 3: Lace and Cables Socks

Look! I found that other circular! Turns out I’d missed it in my WIP drawer. It was on a project I’d marked as frogged in my Ravelry notebook, but apparently hadn’t actually frogged yet. Oops! I think the sock is going a lot faster now that I’m not using DPNs. Guess I’m a total magic loop convert! Hahaha 🙂

Start anything new or have any plans to? As usual, I’ve got other things I want to start OMGRIGHTNOW and making myself hold off. I have plans to participate in the Solid Socks (Ravelry Group) November KAL, but holding off on casting on until I get at least one of the Lace and Cables socks done. I would like to focus on other WIPs, too, however new things seem to be winning out at the moment! What do you to to help motivate yourself to finish WIPs? I keep trying to make myself work on them, but struggling because they aren’t holding my interest.

Off to start Metro! Happy Knitting/Crocheting!

Current Projects

Super Summer Knitaway KAL and NaKniSweMo

Posted on October 31, 2011 by mslindz

Happy Halloween! Do you have any fun Halloween plans for the day? We’ll be handing out candy to all the trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood tonight. 😀

Today is also Matt’s birthday, but we celebrated over the weekend. I took him out for a surprise day of fun things on Saturday! Started with a trip to the spa for pedicures and massages, then we had lunch at Take the Cake . After that I’d planned go karts, but they ended up being pretty booked up and the next time slot conflicted with the dinner reservations, so we paid in advance and will be going another day. Since that didn’t work out and we were really close to Dave & Busters, we went by there and played games for a while. For dinner we got all dressed up and went out to Embers. He said he had a great day and enjoyed all the things I had planned for him. Hopefully we’ll get to the go karts sometime this week or weekend. It looks like it will be fun. 🙂

Now… onto the knitting things!

I did start one new project last week that I didn’t mention. It’s for the Super Summer Knitaway KAL. I’m fairly certain I haven’t mentioned the Super Summer Knitaway or that I got a spot, so let me back up a moment and talk about that!

Back in August, The Knit Girllls and Carin from Round the Twist announced a knitting retreat planned for June 2012. Spots would be limited and attendees would be chosen by lottery. It sounded like it would be a lot of fun and a lot of the folks I met at the Spring Fling in 2010 or know on Plurk were putting their names in, so I put my name in the hat for a spot.

When the lottery spots were first announced, I didn’t get in. I admit I was a little sad to see a lot of my Plurk friends saying they got a spot when I didn’t, but I was on the wait list in case someone else couldn’t make it. On October 3rd I received an email saying that someone had to drop out (sad for them) and my name came up in the lottery (yay for me!). I’ve already sent in my deposit and I’m looking forward to attending next year! 🙂

Leading up to SSK next year, in the Ravelry group we’re doing some KAL-ing to support the teachers and hosts of the event. The first one features the designer Wendy D. Johnson. For each KAL you participate in and complete, you get extra raffle tickets for door prizes at the event. I initially started to knit the Transvers Shawlette using Tempted Good Grrl yarn in Pocket Full of Posies (which will earn me 5 extra raffle tickets!).

Transverse Shawlette

I was moving right along on it, but something about this yarn and pattern weren’t really working for me. I like the yarn, I like the pattern, but not together. I think the yarn is just a bit too variegated for the pattern for my taste, so I decided to knit something different. I pulled out all three books I have from Wendy and looked at all my options. I decided on the Crocus Socks from Toe-Up Socks for Every Body and cast them on last night. I’m just about through the toe of the first sock.

Crocus Socks

Did you notice the DPNs there? I can’t remember the last time I knit a sock on DPNs! When I went to start these, I couldn’t find the US 1 (2.25mm) Knit Picks circular that I know isn’t on a project. I know I have at least two in this size and one is with my Embossed Leaves sock. I looked everywhere, including my WIP drawer and I couldn’t find it. I decided that since I used to knit on DPNs all the time, I could just use those instead. One thing I seem to have completely blocked out of my memory of knitting socks with DPNs was how fiddly it is to cast on toe-up socks on them. It took me two tries to get it going! Guess I was really sold on magic looping and it’s hard to go back to DPNs now. I’ll be taking another look for the missing circular because the lace pattern on these socks will definitely be easier with all the top of the foot stitches on one needle.

Since I finished the Luz Mojito socks last week, I’ve been working on Matt’s scarf as my TV knitting and other projects as my on-the-go knitting since the scarf, with it’s two balls of yarn, isn’t really that portable since they tend to get tangled in the project bag no matter how hard I try to place them in there so they don’t.

I can’t believe it’s nearly November! How did October go by so quickly? November, if you aren’t aware, is the National Knit a Sweater in a Month challenge, which was created in response to NaNoWriMo. This used to be hosted on Knitgrrl’s blog, but now has it’s very own Ravelry group where you can participate. Since I’m not a writer, but do like knitting sweaters, this challenge is right up my alley, especially considering that I recently took the Fit-to-Flatter class at Rhinebeck and I’ve been itching to test out my new knowledge. I’ve seen a few folks mention what sweater they have planned for NaKniSweMo, which of course is making my queue grow. I can’t believe I nearly forgot about it until I saw people mentioning participating! Luckily I recently swatched and had plans for a sweater, so I’ll be casting on with everyone else tomorrow. Will you be participating this year? If so, what do you plan on knitting?

I’ll share my NaKniSweMo plans tomorrow, along with an FO!

Current Projects

Frogged and in Progress

Posted on October 25, 2011 by mslindz

The other day I realized that I don’t often mention projects again if I end up frogging them. Often I start projects, find they don’t work or I don’t like them or I’m no longer interested in working on it, frog them and move on. Since I’ve moved on, if I’ve blogged about that project at all, I forget about it completely as if it never happened and never think to mention it here. There are sometimes projects I don’t mention on the blog at all and never make it into my Ravelry notebook. Frogged projects have a story that doesn’t get told on my blog. I don’t really have a reason for this, so I think I’ll try to mention when projects get frogged or don’t work out.

Back in September I was working on a pair of Ambroso mittens. Even after trying to turn them into fingerless gloves, I just wasn’t happy with the way they looked at all, so I frogged them. RIP mittens/fingerless gloves!

After finishing Eadon, I frogged the first Seneca I knit and started one in a smaller size. As you know, I took a class at Rhinebeck about sweater fit (Fit-to-Flatter with Amy Herzog). When I got home, I looked at Seneca and contemplated it with my new knowledge. I decided that it needed to be frogged because it was going to end up a bit too big. Since this is already re-claimed sweater yarn, I figured I should put it to good use to knit up a sweater I can wear that won’t be too big. I’m on the lookout for just the right pattern for the yarn. I’m thinking it’ll be a pullover, but I’m open to suggestions if anyone has a favorite sweater pattern for a worsted weight yarn.

Since I last talked about what I currently have on the needles, I’ve cast on for a new sock project: Luz Mojito (Ravelry link). My first two attempts to knit socks from the CIS series didn’t work out, but these have! I finished the first sock on Sunday and I’m now through the leg of the second sock (not pictured below). Hoping to have them done by the end of the week. The yarn is MadelineTosh Sport in the colorway Terra. Makes a very nice, squishy sock!

Luz Mojito – Sock 1

Speaking of socks, since it is Socktober (though I haven’t been much of a participant this year), I finished another first sock. This is just a plain vanilla sock in Vesper colorway Venus In Furs. I like having a plain sock on the needles at all times in case I need an easy project for knitting in public. They often don’t progress very fast, but they are fun to knit up! I haven’t started the second one yet. I’m focusing on getting Luz Mojito done first.

Venus In Furs – Sock 1

What are you working on this week? Something new? An old WIP you’ve pulled out to complete?

I have a few other projects on the needles, but they haven’t seen much noticeable progress recently. Matt’s scarf did see some love this past weekend. No new photograph because it’s not all that exciting – just imagine a few inches added to this picture of it. I may focus on getting that scarf done next so Matt’s neck is warmed with handknit love this winter.

I’m still working on the Embossed Leaves socks and Ashby. They’ve been set aside for other projects at the moment. Oh if only there was more time in my day to spend knitting!

Current Projects, Sewing

WIP Wednesday

Posted on September 28, 2011 by mslindz

It’s been a while since I shared all of my current projects and since I recently cast on some new things, I figure it’s time to share what I have on the needles today.

Sometime at the end of August or early September, I decided I needed to have a plain vanilla pair of socks on the needles. I have enough stripey yarn that I could probably have a pair of striped socks on the needles for at least a year or two! I pulled out a skein of Vesper self striping yarn in Venus in Furs. This is a colorway I traded with Jen (of the Piddleloop Sewing Team) for. I don’t know if my knitting changed or what, but for some reason my normal 64 stitch sock was way too big. Then, I went down to a US 0 made, but the fabric I was getting was a bit too tight and the sock (66 stitches) was too big. After a number of failed attempts at getting these socks going, around mid-September I finally re-started these with a stitch count that worked (60 stitches). I’m past the heel and halfway through the leg on the first sock. Behind the sock, you’ll see one of my bags from Jen. I love the fabric and it’s just the right size for a sock project!

Venus in Furs Stripey Sock

I think I could have forced myself to work on things I had going, but last week Knitty released their Deep Fall issue and Brooklyn Tweed released the Fall 2011 collection. Two patterns jumped out at me as things I MUST KNIT NOW.

The pattern from Knitty caught my eye was Ambroso. I had a skein of Cascade 220 Superwash on hand that I’d been trying to find a pattern that suited it. Yesterday I spent a lot of time working on the decreases on the top of the hand portion, but after working it as written twice and trying to adjust it twice, I’m just not happy with how it’s turning out. The decrease section on the outer part of the mitten tends to shift itself almost to the center of the backside of my hand. Personally, I’m not at all a fan of how this looks. In looking at the pictures on the pattern page, I do notice this issue. I guess I didn’t think much of it when I started knitting them. After some thought on what to do since I couldn’t straighten it out, I’ve deiced to make these into fingerless gloves instead! I’ll knit ribbing around the thumb and hand to match the cuff.

Ambroso Mittens

The pattern from Brooklyn Tweed that caught my eye was Ashby. As the weather has turned a little cooler, I’ve found myself wanting something light that I could wear and easily take off. A non-lace shawl made from a warm fiber was just what I needed. I picked up some Ultra Alpaca and started it this past weekend. I like the construction of it. You knit the edge first, then pick up the stitches from the edge and knit the shawl from there. It avoids the problem of having 400+ stitches when you get to the bottom of the shawl! The color of the yarn is a little lighter in person then the photo shows.

Ashby

For a while now I’ve wanted to make a pair of Embossed Leaves socks. I also wanted to use up this very fall colored yarn I got from the Loopy Ewe Sock Club last year. The yarn is Alchemy Juniper in Autumn Ecstasy. I’ve not used this sock yarn before and at first I wasn’t fond of the colors, but it seems to have grown on me and has been demanding that I make it into some nice fall socks. When I saw another pair of Embossed Leaves out of this very colorway, I knew I needed to finally knit this pattern. So far I’m enjoying both the yarn and the pattern. The yarn reminds me a bit of Fiesta Baby Boom. Looks kind of fluffy in the skein, yet isn’t as fluffy when you wind it at work with it, but makes a really nice fabric.

Embossed Leaves Socks

Despite casting on three new projects, I can’t shake the urge to cast on more things! I’ve noticed some other folks feeling the same way. Maybe it’s just the time of year. The weather has started to cool for many of us. For many knitters and crocheters, we start to think of all the warm, wooly things to knit and wear during the cooler months. I’ve already got my eye on at least one pair of fingerless gloves, a scarf, a hat, and a few pairs of socks. I won’t even talk about all the things in my queue!

Have you started any projects recently? Is anything calling to you to start right now? Any new patterns come out recently that you just can’t resist?

Completed Projects, Knit Ramblings

Summer Spirals and Project Talk

Posted on September 26, 2011 by mslindz

Last week I managed to finish a project that’s been lingering since June! Not the best picture of these socks, but it’s the only one I have of them finished. I took this picture with my iPhone right after I finished them, then forgot to get a decent picture before I gave them away. Oops! A better photo of the pattern and color are below so you can see what they really look like.

Summer Spirals

Pattern: Summer Spirals by Ina Isobe (My Ravelry project page.)
Started: June 3, 2011
Completed: September 22, 2011
Yarn: Unknown yarn, gifted to my friend Karen, knit up into socks by me for her boyfriend’s mom
Needle: US 1 (2.25mm) Knit Picks circular
Notes: These took me so long because of Camp Loopy. I think if I hadn’t done Camp Loopy, I probably would have had these done back in June! Not sure what the yarn actually was made up of since I didn’t bother with a burn test, but it wasn’t too bad to work with and the socks knit up fairly fast when I actually worked on them. I did modify the pattern to have one extra purl stitch in each purl section. Took a while to get the right stitch count for a good fit.

Summer Spirals – In Progress

I don’t think I mentioned it previously, but I wasn’t entirely happy with how the sleeves ended up on Eadon. The bothered me, even after living with it for a few days. Ultimately I decided I didn’t like the cast off I used after cutting a chunk of the sleeve off and that the sleeves needed a little more length. If you look at the sleeves of Eadon in the first picture here, you can see they’re a bit flared. It made them loose and bothered me when I wore it. To fix it, since it’s knit in 3 by 2 rib, I had to knit a small piece and graft it. This was no small task because it would be my first time grafting ribbing together. After some fiddling, I did figure out how to do it, though. After bringing it to knit group, all agreed you can’t tell where it was grafted. I can a little on the first sleeve I did, but the second one isn’t noticeable to me. I’m quite happy with the results and can now truly say I’m happy with how this sweater has turned out!

After finishing up the socks and fixing Eadon, I tired to be good and finish things on the needles first. Sadly, almost everything I had going required a chart that isn’t easily memorized, which made them not portable projects or I just wasn’t feeling like working on it. As much as I really love some of the designs that require lengthy charts, it’s difficult for me to work on those projects away from home and I spend a huge chunk of my knitting time away from home! The Seneca sweater just wasn’t holding my interest, the Grove mittens have a large chart that make them not portable, and High Seas shawl is charted on right and wrong side rows (too much for my poor brain at the moment). I look at Seneca and High Seas as longer term projects and I’m sure I’ll get around to finishing Grove.

I did try to focus on finishing up the Dawn Gnot sock before I started something new. Something about the cables in the pattern are bothersome to my wrists. I can only knit a few rows at a time, plus I can’t seem to memorize the chart, so they aren’t a good project for me right now. I may frog them and start a different pattern from the series (Crafty Detour CSI: Most Wanted – Ravelry link) with the yarn. Still undecided, though.

Are there ever times that you just can’t focus or work on whatever projects you have going? Do you start new projects, frog the ones you have, or just keep going? I tend to be a mix of all three depending on the projects I have going. I did end up casting on for some new things. I’ll share them in my next post later this week!

Completed Projects, Cooking

German Stockings FO and Project Three

Posted on August 15, 2011 by mslindz

Finally have these German Stockings done and just in time. I finished these Saturday morning and really couldn’t be happier to get them off my needles after all the trouble (aka frogging) I had with them. In the end, they were worth the trouble. They turned out gorgeous and I love them. Now I just need to figure out when I can wear them and what I’ll wear them with.

I didn’t get a chance to blog about the issues I had with this sock last week. To sum it up, I ended up ripping back over 5 inches because I was doing the increase portion of the traveling row in the wrong place. I didn’t realize it until I was about to start the heel. I considered continuing on as I was, doing the increase in the wrong place, or leaving what I had done already and doing the increase in the correct place on the foot. After debating about it, I decided there was no choice but to frog it. If I’d done either, it would have looked quite a bit different from the first sock and I knew I didn’t want to just finish it to get it done on time because I know I wouldn’t want to go back and rip it out later on. I sucked it up, risked not finishing on time and fixed my mistake. Thankfully I ended up getting it done with a few days to spare!

German Stocking

Pattern: German Stockings by Cookie A. (My Ravelry project page.)
Started: July 15, 2011
Completed: August 13, 2011
Yarn: Socktopus Sokksu Original in Fontainebleau, 1.5 skeins, roughly 650 yards
Hook: US 1 (2.25mm) Knit Picks nickel circular
Notes: Didn’t change anything about the pattern. I wouldn’t say they were a difficult knit, I just seemed to have a difficult time following the pattern properly and reading the notes section (which I actually did do, but apparently missed the info I needed there). They turned out great despite the issues I had that caused lots of frogging. Had I not made so many mistakes, I think I could have had these done in about 2 weeks time. I’m just happy I got them done in time for Camp Loopy!

German Stocking – Motif Detail

German Stocking – Back

You can see more pictures on my Ravelry project page.

Now that Camp Loopy Project Two is off the needles and a photo has been uploaded to The Loopy Ewe, it’s time to move on to other things… like Camp Loopy Project Three! Today is the starting day (and finishing day for Project Two). I’ve got my yarn and needles ready to cast on for Eadon. I think as long as I don’t have any major issues, I can get it done in less then 4 weeks, but depends on how busy I am between now and then. I knit my swatch on Saturday, measured it on Sunday and was happy to find that I got the right gauge the first time. Getting gauge on the first try seems to not happen often for me. I usually have to swatch 2 or 3 times!

I’m trying out some new needles on this project: ChaioGoo Red Stainless Steel cirulars. I’ve heard a number of knitters rave about these needles and particularly love the cable. I knit a swatch with them and so far I like them quite a bit. The cable is different then anything else on the market and the tips (regular ones, though they do make a lace circular) are somewhere between regular Addi’s and lace Addi’s. They’re pretty inexpensive, too. I paid $8.50 for the ones I bought through Grandma’s Hand Knitting Etsy shop. Shipping was pretty cheap and they arrived in a few days. Definitely worth checking out if you’re looking for something new to try that’s not too pricey. I’ll definitely be ordering more and really want to try the sock sizes.

I don’t think I mentioned it, but this past Friday, Knit Picks had a warehouse sale at their warehouse in Columbus, OH. I went with a few friends and scored some good deals. That experience deserves a whole post to itself, though, so I’ll share that next time. I may even have a little giveaway for one of the items I picked up! 🙂

Current Projects

WIP Wednesday!

Posted on August 3, 2011 by mslindz

It’s Wednesday and I still have WIPs I haven’t shared with you all yet, so I’m making it a WIP Wednesday!

After Saturday knit group on July 23rd, I went out with a few of my favorite people Lani, Lisa (who used to live here, but now lives in Indianapolis and was visiting us), and Karen. We went to lunch at Cock & Bull English Pub, then to the newest yarn shop in town, Hank. I had been to Hank once before on their opening day and this was the first chance I’d had to go back since then. They’ve received quite a lot of new things since they first opened! It’s such a gorgeous shop and the staff is incredibly nice and helpful. No yarn was screaming at me to take it home that day, but I didn’t leave empty handed! While I was there, I picked up a copy of Westknits Book Two.

Westknits Book Two

Aside from wanting to knit just about everything in this book, one pattern in particular was calling to me: Bandwidth (Ravelry link). The first time I visited Hank, I bought two skeins of Malabrigo Rios in Solis. Initially I purchased it with the intention of making a crocheted hat, but the pattern turned out to be written poorly and I wasn’t sure how big it was supposed to be coming out since no information was provided in the pattern about how big the brim of the hat should be. So, the yarn had been sitting around, begging me to knit it into something, but I couldn’t find just the right thing for it to become. As soon as I saw this pattern, I knew the yarn needed to be turned into this hat. Instead of using two colors, though, I’m just using the one. It’s coming along quickly after casting on for it almost as soon as I got home that day. Those German Stockings have been the only thing I’ve worked on the last week because of the issues I’ve had, so the hat is only a little over half way done now. Any other time it would have been finished already! Ah well, at least it’s summer and I don’t need it right away. 😉

Bandwidth

On July 11th, I finished the first sock of the Summer Spirals pair. I started this pattern as part of the KAL for Summer of Socks 2011, but put them aside after the completing the first sock. The pattern seems to go pretty quickly when I’m working on it and I think once I get back to them, they’ll be done in no time. These are a gift out of an unknown yarn and they will be over-dyed before heading to the recipient.

Summer Spirals

I’ve managed to finish the first German Stocking! It went so much faster once I finished all the calf decreases and the foot felt like it took no time at all. I’ve already started the second sock, slowly slogging my way through the ribbing.

German Stocking

Finally remembered to take a picture of Matt’s Scarf I’ve been working on, so I’ll share that, too, even though it’s been around two weeks since it’s seen much progress. The black is Malabrigo and the green variegated is Dye Dreams Luster Sock. Both are being held double to get closer to a DK weight yarn.

Matt’s Scarf

I have to confess that I haven’t started the Westknits KAL. After seeing photos of the first clue that some people had finished, I wasn’t completely sold on it. I’ve decided to wait until the next clue comes out on August 8th to see if I want to do it. I suppose that’s the risk with mystery knit-a-longs – you won’t always like what you end up with! Not the first time I’ve watched a mystery knit-a-long develop before casting on and I’m sure it won’t be my last, but I think it’s a good thing I’ve been busy with other projects and wasn’t able to start this one right away since I have other things that need my attention right now anyway.

What’s on your needles this week? Start anything new? 🙂

Current Projects

Camp Loopy Project Two

Posted on August 1, 2011 by mslindz

The WIP I’m going to share today has turned out to be quite the challenge project for me!

I was looking back at my blog entries to see when I last mentioned Project Two for Camp Loopy and found that I haven’t even mentioned it yet! Oops. Project Two for Camp Loopy, called “Hiking in the Mountains” is to be knit/crocheted between July 15th and August 15th and has to be either socks, mittens, or gloves with cables. I initially thought I’d do mittens since I do need a new pair, but it’s also the Summer of Socks and being the joiner that I am, I figured that I should knit a pair of socks for this one.

First I looked at Cookie A patterns, which are always a great place to start if you want cables. The German Stockings have been on my list to knit since I first saw them. After some thought, I decided against them. Knee socks knit in 4 weeks? That might be a bitt too challenging even for me. Then I found out that Michelle was going to be knitting them for her Camp Loopy Project Two, so I let her talk me into knitting them with her! I picked out a new-to-me yarn from The Loopy Ewe for this project: Socktopus Sokkusu Original in Fontainebleau.

Soctopus Sokkusu Original in Fontainebleau

The yarn arrived with plenty of time to get everything ready to cast on on July 15th. Winding it turned out to be a royal pain. I don’t know if it was my ball winder or the fact that this particular yarn seems more slick then any other yarn I’ve wound or knit with. It seemed to be wound loose in some spots of the skein and tighter in others, which definitely wasn’t helping it wind onto the ball winder evenly. Eventually I hand wound it into a ball, then unwound it into a big pile, then I was finally able to get it properly wound on the ball winder. I swear it must have taken nearly 3 hours to do. Not the best start and looking back it may have been a sign this project was going to be trouble.

Nearly two weeks in, I was hoping to be done or nearly done with the first sock. Now, I’m just hoping I’ll be able to get them done in time! At first I had no trouble. I cast on and knit the cuff. Once I finished that 2″ cuff I ran into trouble. The next part didn’t make sense and despite reading the “notes” part more then once, I didn’t see anything that applied to this portion and it still wasn’t making sense, so I just did the best I could and moved on. I started Chart A and was about halfway through it when I realized something wasn’t right. The chart for the left sock was on the inside of the leg. After a lot of looking at the pattern and cursing, I asked for help on Plurk. Julia was kind enough to help me out since she had the pattern on hand. Without her, I may not have figured out where I went wrong! Turns out that part right after the cuff is where I screwed it up. There’s a note about “b” being for the left sock and “c” being for the right sock in the notes section that I somehow managed to totally miss despite reading it multiple times. I needed to move the beginning of the round for things to properly line up. Riiiiiiiip.

After that, I get back to about where I’d frogged to and I realize “Huh. If I keep decreasing the way the pattern says to, I’m going to have to make decreases IN the charted part. Uh oh… something isn’t right.” Didn’t take long for me to realize that I didn’t reposition the beginning of the round after the calf increases. Ugh. I’m sure you know what happened next. Another ripping out session. 😦

I checked, re-checked, and checked once more just to be absolutely sure I had it right this time, I stared the chart and calf decreases for the 3rd time. Seems that the 3rd time is the charm in this case. I haven’t run into any more issues since and I’m now past the first chart and onto the second chart.

German Stocking Progress

I’m hoping that I’ll be able to get this first sock done really soon otherwise I’m not sure I’ll be able to get the second one done in time for the deadline. I did consider ripping it altogether and finding a different pattern after the second time I had to rip, but I decided against it. I was determined not to let this pattern get the best of me! It does seem to be going pretty quickly now and if it gets down to the wire with only a little left to go, maybe I’ll take a day or two mental health days off work to get them done. I think these socks will be great once they are done, I just hope it doesn’t knock me out of the running for that Wollmeise kit at the end!

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