Now with Knitting!

Believe it or not, knitting has been happening at a pretty good clip around here lately. It helped to have some motivation on Sunday when my sister and I trucked down to Sarah's and had a fun craft day. Her sister Jeanine got to do her talent as well - check it out!

Both Naomi and I were pretty sick of our hair - it was long and for me, just getting really annoying! I had Jeanine chop it off and give it a nice new winter color. Both ponytails are getting donated to Pantene Beautiful Lengths which is the same type of organization as Locks of Love, they just require only an 8 inch long ponytail, not 10. Hopefully my ponytail can make someone happy somewhere! I love my new cut - very easy and it feels about ten pounds lighter. She nailed the color - perfection! Thanks again Jeanine!

Like I said - there was some knitting going on also. I had finished the first mitten back in July, and with the cold weather here, I really needed to get cracking on the second one. I'm always amazed how fast these go - the rows of colorwork just seem to fly by!

This is after about 3 days of sporadicly working on it. I'm hoping to finish it very soon so I can wear them! They fit absolutely perfect. Colorwork is definitely my thing. My hands, even after all this time, just naturally fell into the rhythm and were pumping out the stitches.

I also cast on a new project - socks!

Get out the sunglasses - these are going to be bright! The pattern - Boyfriend Socks - I'll just rename them the Husband Socks....yep - these will be for hubby. He really loves all the socks I have knit him, he wears them constantly, and that makes me very happy. I have yet to make him any socks with cables, so these will be his first cable socks. He is working away in Atlanta for the winter (wave, wave - Hi sweetie!), so I am missing him terribly. I can't wait for Spring......

The pattern is pretty simple - the repeats are easy to memorize and I'm liking how the yarn is knitting up so far. No pooling and the color is just spectacular!

There may not be another post this week as Tucker, Ace and I are off to the Bay Colony Dog Show in Boston early, early Thursday morning for the weekend. Four days of doggie fun! I'll be taking plenty of pictures and video though.....

Long Awaited

When I cast on for these socks back in August of last year, it was recently after I had finished both the Heart Crook and Turkish Stockings. I was on a colorwork sock roll. The first sock went pretty quick, but then I hit the skids. My knitting slowed to a crawl as time ran at a premium. Dog shows, family events and just life in general kept getting in the way.

But, after a twelve hour plane journey, I am very happy to report they are finally done. Once I got back into the groove of knitting them, the second one flew off the needles (as I flew over the ocean!).

Pattern: My own. Inspired by the pattern on this Vogue Knitting cover.
Yarn: Tess Supersock & Baby
Needles: #1 KnitPicks 32" circular
Mods: Well, it's my own pattern, so I guess everything is a mod! Lucky for me, the stitch count on the pattern fit into the sizing I needed for my sister's feet. I learned quite a bit knitting on the Turkish Stockings (the heel flap and picking up stitches for the gusset) so I put that into practice. I'm still not 100% satisfied, but these came out a lot better than the Turkish. They have yet to be blocked, and that should even out some of the stitches.

An inside shot (unblocked remember!):

My sister was really glad to finally get her pair of stranded socks. These socks also provided me a jump start back into sock knitting. I really loved knitting them! When I picked the needles back up on the flight from Boston to Houston (our first leg), I wasn't really sure how I'd feel. By the return flight from Quito to Panama City, they were complete. Reading the chart, knitting with both hands, it all felt so natural and comfortable. Like I was home again. I do have one other single sock to finish up (story for another post), but after that I will be doing another stranded pair. Hubby doesn't have a pair yet!

The photos have been edited, now I just have to do some uploading. Travel pictures tomorrow!

Faster! Faster!

Why must I always pick wet, dreary days to block things? The hoodie is still drying. I have put a fan on it to hasten the process and hopefully give me a dry, ready to photo sweater by tonight. Hubby has to leave for class not too long after I get home, so I may be relegated to using the self timer, or teaching Tucker to use the camera....I'm so conflicted about this time of year. The diminishing daylight gets really depressing. What happened to being able to take photos outside at 8pm? Wasn't that just yesterday? But, I do love the crisp, cool air (though it is supposed to be in the 80's here this week!). Since the hoodie is pretty much done, I thought it was time to pick a new sweater for fall knitting.

For yarn, I really would like to use up one of the oldest yarns in my stash - some oatmeal colored Kimmet Croft Softie purchased a couple of years ago at my first MD Sheep & Wool. I only have about 1200 yds of it, and it's about a 22 sts/4" gauge, so I needed a pattern that was relatively close fitting and simple. But not boring. I came up with a few options.

Now I just have to decide! There are things about each I like. I'm leaning towards Sugarplum (using some leftover DK weight sock yarn for some color, but not as many colors as shown in the original!), I also like the simplicity and classic shape of the V neck pullovers.

Being that Socktober is already 4 days in, I finally picked a sock pattern - the Victorian Lace Socks (Ravelry link) in my burgundy colored Spirit Trail Fiberworks sock yarn.

I love the color and the semi-solidness of it. The lace should really show it off. The picot edge may turn to ribbing. For me, picots never stay up as well as good old 1x1 ribbing.

Speaking of socks, have you seen the pattern for the Rainbow Socks in the new MagKnits? Makes me look at stripey yarn in a whole other way. They remind me a lot of the Short Row Striped Sweater from the Fall 2003 Interweave (see Cara's finished one here). Pretty neat.

This is a big week for the puppies. They had their first vaccinations, eye exam and will be puppy tested probably this weekend. Next weekend, the first puppies go off to their new homes! We still haven't decided who will be coming home with us yet. Lots of decisions!

I Never Thought I'd Say This

I want more variegated yarn! Well, there are a few conditions on that statement - it has to be very short runs of color, no wild contrasts within a skein and the base yarn needs to be really nice. Pretty much, most of Gypsy Girl's yarns, as well as that Koigu stuff. Using variegateds in Fair Isle can be tricky - there has to be no "common colors" between the two skeins - if there is and they overlap at any point, the pattern will be lost. If you choose correctly, and have a little bit of luck and a great new book, things can turn out beautifully.

It's funny, when I was knitting this up last night, I only really saw the purple Crooks, but when I look at the picture, the orange ones stand out to me. These neat, almost Escher-like patterns are great to look at. You can change the dominant color just by changing how you look at them.

I'm doing these toe up as I only have 200 yards of each color. I want to squeeze the most sock I can out of the yarn I have. I'll knit until I'm halfway through the skeins, then start the second one. Two at once would be a pretty logical choice here, but two socks and two yarns would be just a mess. I'd have it tangled beyond repair in no time! I can't say enough good things about this yarn. More will make it's way to my stash eventually. The twist is nice and tight, it's not super thin like Lorna's, but more like a lighter weight Koigu (but not by much). The color - well, you can see that for yourself in the pictures.

The way these are turning out really opens up tons of possibilities. A variegated with a contrasting solid would also produce stunning results. Now go and use those skeins of variegated you had no idea what to do with!

Random Act of Kindness

You really never know what may happen in the world of Ebay and the internet. For quite a while now, I have been lusting (to put it mildly) after a copy of Anna Zilboorg's Simple Socks. My library network used to have it, but it went missing. I was lucky enough to take it out before it got "lost", but was really bummed when I saw that it was no longer available. The prices around the net for this book are well over $60. I just wasn't ready to spend that. The same book, but in hardcover and an earlier publishing date is Fancy Feet (kind of like the Charlene Schurch mitten book - Knitting Marvelous Mittens and Mostly Mittens - same book, just different publishing dates). Once again I scoured the net looking for a half decent price. Several of these (as well as the Simply Socks) have come up on Ebay recently. I've gotten out bid each time. Surprisingly last week, someone emailed me that they had a copy that they would sell me outright (no bidding - yay!) for a steal of a price - at least $30 below any price I had seen. How could I say no? The seller was wonderful, very communicative and even offered to pay for insurance as she says - "the book is irreplaceable". It arrived yesterday.

Pretty much brand new condition. Minor (and I mean very minor) wear at the spine. Other than that, it's perfect! I took it outside and sat down to flip through the truly amazing book. It has 45 patterns/charts for socks. Many of the socks have multiple charts and you can use bits and pieces of them to make your own design. It also has a whole section devoted to sole patterns. I'm surprised the pages didn't wear out from me flipping through them all night! I'm not sure why this person emailed me, I wasn't even the second or third closest bidder on some of these auctions, but I am forever grateful for her kindness!

Since the patterns and pictures are the best part, here's a little preview.

My favorite, I think, is the "Dogs" pattern. It took a minute for me to see it, but I am totally smitten. This will get knit into something!

Speaking of dogs, we did quite a bit of training last night in our front yard. We are lucky to have a nice, big, flat front yard, so I hauled out the agility equipment and set up some training courses.

The neighbors thought I was training dogs for the circus! I had a good laugh at that one. A few of the kids came by to watch, and the boys did very well. Weather wise it was a perfect night, and everyone slept very well.

Design work continues on MSS (my sister's socks) - after receiving the new book, I now have to re-think several things!

Sign of More to Come

With a few days of sunshine, things have started greening up around here. Still not what I'd condsider a "lush landscape" but we are on our way. I figured I'd contribute my little bit of green to help things along.

Pattern: Little Child's Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks
Yarn: Lisa Souza Hardtwist in Bluegrass
Needles: KnitPicks Classic Circulars, #3's
Modifications: I omitted about 10 rows of plain stockinette before the instep texture. Hubby didn't want knee socks. I also used larger yarn and needles than called for but left all the stitch counts the same. Worked like a charm!

Once again, Nancy Bush comes through. After finishing up these last night, I looked at the skein of Shelridge Soft Touch sitting there waiting for a pattern. I'm not sure what triggered it, but all of a sudden a few recent blog posts sprung to mind - Elinor's, Miriam's and Kathy's to be specific. They all made the Canal Du Midi from Knitting on the Road. I have been looking at these socks forever. Why I haven't knit them until now, I have no idea. So, for now the designing is on the back burner (I do have a "meeting" with my sister in a few weeks to plan out her next pair) and Nancy will guide me again. Her patterns are like a big cozy chair and a soft blanket with a cup of cocoa on a cold day. Pure comfort. This sock has both a heel and toe I have not done before, so I am really looking forward to trying them.

After spending most of a beautiful weekend day browsing through all the design and pattern books, I came across a new book on the blogs that just came out - Selbuvotter looks to be an interesting Nancy Bush type conglomeration of both knitting patterns and history. Just look at all those mittens on the cover! This one is going on my short list for sure!

Moving On

It finally came. Spring entered New England this weekend in full force. Temperatures in the 70's and bright, blue skies. Ahhhhhh. Still no leaves or real greenery (as you can see from the picture) but there are lots of buds waiting patiently. I spent a lot of the weekend at the kennel both taking care of the dogs and moving everything off the floors - we are getting a new poured floor today, so everything had to be moved this past weekend. I have my share of blisters and bruises, but it felt great to do manual labor instead of sitting in front of a computer all day. The sun and I also made sure we had our share of quality time together. I missed you old friend! I took the opportunity to multi task - while I soaked up the sun's rays, I looked through some books for inspiration for my next pair of socks.

There are so many amazing patterns out there! The yarn is already chosen -

Shelridge Farms Soft Touch Ultra in the beautiful Opal colorway. I got this yarn last year at the festival and thought it only right I use it before the next one arrives. With so many books and patterns, it's hard to choose, but I'm playing around with some patterns and hope to get started soon!

Speaking of the festival - Morehouse Merino posted a coupon here for $4 off your purchase! Discounted yarn - can't beat that!!

So, discounted yarn is great, but in the words of Allison, free yarn is better! Her wonderful gift of yarn arrived this weekend also.

Soft, squishy and beautiful. The colors are so pretty - olive, burgundy, turquoise - it will be really neat to see how this knits up. As I was snapping photos, hubby came over to take a look. "Hey, I really like this yarn - these are all really "me" colors. Now this is stuff I'd love a pair of socks from!" Subtle hint dropped. The skeins have been claimed. I think a plain pair of ribbed socks will be perfect for both hubby and the yarn.

His other pair of socks just need a toe and they are ready for wear. I got some good knitting done in the sun this weekend.

Turkish Delight*

* from one of my favorite books of all time!

After a rough start, they are finally complete! (warning - picture heavy post!)

Here they are in all their glory. A big thanks to hubby for the photo shoot!

They were really fun to knit once I worked out all the details. Now that I have gone through this process once, I really feel like I could design another set and have them come out even better. You'll notice the soles are different - I misread my notes on the second sock (one with less stripes) and didn't pick up as many yellow stitches. That's ok - I think it gives them a little hidden individuality! The picked up stitches along the heel flap aren't the neatest (I tried several times and just couldn't get them looking nice and tight), but overall I am very, very happy with them!

ETA: The inspiration for these came from the Turkish Stockings pattern in the book Ethnic Socks and Stockings. I tweaked them a bit to make them top down and more to my taste. The yarn is Cherry Tree Hill Supersock, knit on #1 KnitPicks 32" circulars.

Thank You!

First off, I wanted to thank everyone who left comments on the Turkish Stocking. I was a bit overwhelmed by the response on both Flickr and my post! After several false starts and a rocky road, a sock was finally born. It never would have came to fruition without all of you! From inspiration to execution, the knitblog world is knit right into the fabric of these socks. Never fear, no second sock syndrome for these. The second is well into the colorwork pattern. There will be a huge photo shoot when the pair is ready to wear. All the comments mean so much to me - thank you!!

On to a pair of finished socks I think I totally forgot to post about - the Garter Ribs.

They are now happily reunited and living in New Hampshire with their happy new owner. They are also the perfect color combination for the new installment of Project Spectrum. The pink/yellow/green months. Lucky for me, the Turkish Stockings fit right in. (the first effortless thing on that project yet!)

Also (another stroke of luck) fitting right in are the Little Child's Socks. I may re-name them "Big Hubby's Socks" as it sounds funny saying they are for him. Progress on #3 needles is fast with these.

Photographing the color accurately is a challenge. This is a pretty good representation. I love the color, and there is so much yarn on the skein I'm not sure what I'll do with the leftovers. Maybe a pair of anklets for him as well.

Spring seems to have made a brief appearance here. We are under a winter storm watch and are expected to get a few inches of (sigh) snow tonight. Winter took long enough to get here, now it's never going to leave.

50%

I'll let it speak for itself....

The guts ('cause you know you want to see them!)

I'm really happy with how it turned out. The sole I kind of just winged, and went with the striping that carried down the foot. I did know I wanted patterning right to the tip of the toe. The gusset I ended up doing a solid pink. A few other options were explored, but then ripped. The look just competed with the instep. There are a few places where there is a loose stitch, but overall, my tension is pretty even. There will be a modeled shot, but I'm waiting for the pair to be done. More impact that way I think.

The second sock is already cast on and colorwork commences. It should go a bit quicker as I have all the technicalities worked out and written down on copious slips of paper. I guess a little re-organization is in order also!

Wanting to look at colors other than pink and yellow for a bit, I started hubby's next pair. Inspired (once again) by a pair by Terhi. Her green Little Child's Socks shown here made me take a second look at the pattern. Seems like that is the case with a lot of the Nancy Bush patterns - they aren't photographed too well for the book (the case in almost all of the poor socks in Knitting On The Road), but when I see a pair done out in blogland, they come to life and scream to be knit. Hubby liked them (especially the texture on the instep), so I pulled out the Lisa Souza Hardtwist in the beautiful semi-solid Bluegrass color that hubby himself picked out.

It's a thicker, very springy yarn that knits up super fast on #3 needles. The stitch count I'm leaving the same, just going up on yarn and needle size based on previous pairs. I'd say it's about the same gauge as the medium weight Socks that Rock.

Not to leave you without at least a few mouth-watering photos for a cold and rainy Monday morning, I made the Overnight Pizza Dough recipe from A Year in Bread.

It was the best homemade crust we have ever had. Not only was it very easy to make, it came out wonderful. The chew was fantastic, it was crispy outside and really tender inside and tasted great. We chose to top it really simply - fresh tomatoes, basil, minced garlic and red onions with a little basil and fresh mozzarella. Try it. Now.

No dinner this close to Easter would be complete without dessert, right?

One Good Turn

Anxious to get this first Turkish Stocking done now that it's actually cooperating, I did my first two color turned heel last night. I think it came out pretty darn good! (I do need some more practice on my two handed purling as the tension isn't perfect)

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the gusset and sole as far as patterning. I'm reading up here on planning a two color gusset, and here for some more information on executing it. Simple stripes may be the best idea, though not evenly spaced - I like to mix it up at least a little!

Knitting it wasn't as bad as I was anticipating. The heel flap was done back and forth, so I was getting better at purling with two hands and two colors. The first stitch of each row isn't slipped like a normal heel flap - there is only one yellow stitch at each end of the heel flap, and I learned from my last attempt that slipping that lone yellow stitch makes a mess at the edges. Instead of picking up every stitch, I'll just pick up every other to make the count the same as if I had slipped. Logistics of gusset decreases and patterning is on the schedule today!

I think one of the reasons the heel went so well is I was well nourished last night. My homemade French bread was the base for dinner. Hubby created some really, really great sandwiches with tons of fresh veggies, our home grown lettuce (yes, it's still producing!) a thin slice of extra sharp cheddar, and I made a simple Balsamic Wasabi dressing to round it out.

Tasty just doesn't even begin to describe it. Lucky for me he made me one for lunch today too!

Has anyone else been watching Planet Earth on the Discovery Channel? Nature shows are something I always like watching. This series reminds me of the Life On Earth series I watched in Junior High School science class. We watched every single episode, and it was one of my favorite classes ever. I learned quite a bit.

The Planet Earth series is done in the same style, and is narrated by Sigourney Weaver - she does a nice job. It's great knitting television as listening gives you all the information you need - I haven't yet mastered the "knitting without looking" especially with two colors! The camera work and scenes they capture are amazing. I highly recommend it!

Everyone has probably seen the cover for the last Harry Potter book. It was all over the news last night. People speculating as to what it means, what it reveals about the book, etc. Funny what constitutes news these days.

Taking Shape

Finally, finally things are coming together with the Turkish Stocking.

That is one rockin' knee high! It fits amazingly well (I never really even measured or calculated for decreases. It must be the sock apologizing for causing me so much angst in the beginnings) and is knitting up pretty fast. I have started the heel flap. Purling in two colors - not fun. This will slow me down a little.

For my other recent obsession, I created my first "real" shaped bread last night.

French baguettes! I didn't score them quite deep enough, so they didn't split like they should have, but they smell wonderful, and the dough was amazing to work with. Funny what happens when you follow directions and take 3 days to make it.

Short post today, too much work to do! (my office unfortunately doesn't look like Betheany's)

Last Day of Winter

With the bright sunshine and fresh almost foot of snow, hubby and I decided to take the boys to the park yesterday for some romping and running in what may be the last snow of the season.

It was a bit windy.

The boys had a blast. They played in the snow,

they played beaver and tried to take down a small tree,

and ran a lot.

We all went home happy and tired.

(my view from the front seat looking back)

After we got home and everyone was settled in for a nap (including hubby) I went back to work on the Turkish Stocking. First, I had to figure out what I wanted to do for a heel if I was to do them top down. The whole point of these is to have the patterning go down the heel flap so my clog wearing sister can show them off. There are lots of neat patterns out there, but really none carry the pattern down the heel flap and are done top down. I did find a few exceptions. Both the Arch Shaped Stockings from Vogue Knitting and the Norwegian Stockings from Folk Socks both have patterns that run down the heel. The Norwegian involves breaking and re-attaching yarn, so I have to read up a bit more on that as well as the technique for the arch shaped stockings. One of these really has to work. I am bound and determined to knit these socks!

After my research yielded a bit of hopeful news, I cast on again. Knitting away happy doing my colorwork, I realized that I really am not a huge fan of the side motifs in the pattern (the 2 pattern columns on either side of the main design). A little more digging and I found a substitute in a library book I had - Alice Starmore's Book of Fair Isle Knitting. (Isn't my library the best??) So, now I just need to re-chart the sides to incorporate the new motif. For now, I did get the motif on the top done.

I can see these are going to need a good blocking!