FO Parade

The finishing has been fast and furious here the past couple of days, including some last minute knitting and some very last minute blocking yesterday afternoon in order to finish up gifts for my parents (and give the finished items to them last night at our family Hannukah party). I'll try to keep the commentary to a minimum and just give you the facts.

Pattern: Gentleman's Plain Winter Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush
Yarn: Knit Picks Essential (75% superwash wool, 25% nylon), colorway Navy, two skeins
Needles: two US 1 (2.5 mm) 12" Addi Turbo circs
Started/Completed: November 15/December 8
Recipient: My dad (who requested navy socks!)
Mods: my usual for this pattern -- grafting the toe rather than pulling the yarn through all the remaining toe stitches

Very straightforward, and would have been very fast to knit had I not picked up all the other projects in the middle of knitting these.

Pattern: Tube scarf (my own design)
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino (55% merino, 33% microfiber, 12% cashmere), color 340600, five skeins
Needles: US 7 (4.5 mm) 16" Addi Turbo circs
Started/Completed: December 25, 2006/December 7, 2007
Recipient: My mom

This scarf was knit in the round, mostly in stockinette, with a cabled panel on the "right" side. I designed an interwoven cable for one end and transitioned to 2x2 cables that gradually got longer (i.e., I increased the number of rows between cable crosses) as they moved toward the other end of the scarf. Here's a closeup of the two ends so you can see the effect:

I am not in any rush to knit a tube scarf again. They're incredibly warm and are aesthetically pleasing because you can't see the wrong side, but they also take a really long time to knit and eat up a lot of yarn. In hindsight, I probably had too many stitches around, and even though I used almost every bit of the five skeins of yarn, the finished scarf (before blocking) was a mere 46" long. I didn't have time to wet block, which is what I really wanted to do to maximize the length, but giving it a light spray of water and a good long steam managed to get it to a full 5 feet of length.

This last FO was an unplanned project that I cast on for late yesterday afternoon in anticipation of meeting our friends' newborn son today.

Pattern: Hat from the Pea Pod Baby Set (largest size) by Kate Gilbert
Yarn: Knit Picks Shine Sport (60% pima cotton, 40% modal), colorway Sky, less than one skein
Needles: US 5 (3.75 mm) bamboo dpns
Started/Completed: December 8/December 9

This picture was taken in the car on the way to meet baby Tyler, and the hat is still damp from washing (for some reason a spin in the dryer didn't work). It's way too big for him now, but I told Tyler's mom to throw it in the washer and dryer to get it to shrink a little bit, and it should fit better by the time he's big enough to wear his matching sweater.



So, now I'm all caught up and the holiday knitting is officially complete. I do want to thank all of you who gave me good tips on spinning and spinning resources. I'm definitely going to continue to explore this new fiber hobby, but I've also got a lot of baby knitting to do. I think I may sign up for the spinning workshop for the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival in February (anyone care to join me?) by which time I hope to have completed many cute little things. And, if by then I decide I really like this spinning thing, a couple months will give me some good time to start a wheel fund!

Aptly Named

My little present to myself arrived today, and I couldn't wait to open it up and experiment a little. Because really, could you open up a package containing 8 oz. of beautiful natural fiber and a spindle decorated with sheep this cute and not play with it?

I soon figured out why it's called a drop spindle. The first time I tried to let it spin? THUNK. By the third go, I managed to get something resembling yarn (and I use the term loosely). Only about half of the section of fiber I was using really twisted and I couldn't seem to get the second half to thin out, so I ripped it off and let the section twist onto itself. Here's what I got:

I think I need a proper lesson in spindle spinning (or just plain spinning, period) before I waste any more of this fiber. Anyone know of a good spinning teacher in the Pittsburgh area?

I am pretty far behind on my holiday knitting, and it looks like I'll be needing every bit of Saturday to finish in time. The second sock for my dad is at least into the foot, but I've got a good 5 or 6 inches of foot and a toe to go, and I'm still only on the fourth skein (of five) of my mom's scarf. I hope you'll understand my cutting this post a little short -- and I hope I'll be able to post with not one but two FOs next time!

A Hannukah Miracle

Hannukah officially started at sundown this evening. We had a fairly low-key celebration, if you can call it that. We'd already agreed that we weren't going to really exchange gifts; The Mister was going to pay for my 2008 Rockin' Sock Club membership as both my Hannukah gift and my birthday present, and he knew he was getting a couple pairs of socks I'd finished earlier in the year as well as his Seamless Hybrid (which he got a little early). When I presented him with one of the pairs of socks, he had a little surprise for me. A wooly little surprise -- this guy:

Isn't he adorable? He's very soft, so I've decided he must be a merino sheep. I've named him Baaaahb (get it?), in an homage to everyone's favorite Ravelry mascot. (Strangely, he goes rather well with the little Hannukah gift I ordered for myself yesterday. I'm really not sure what came over me and caused me to click and order, although I think part of the blame lies with Jen, who kept talking about her research into spinning when the girls were here on Saturday.)

Now, as cute as this little lamb is, he's not the Hannukah miracle. Nope, it would be the other surprise that was awaiting me this evening, and part of it is what he's sitting on.

Thine eyes do not deceive you: That is indeed a skein of Dream in Color Smooshy, in a delectable colorway called Blue Lagoon. This photo has actually captured the color quite well -- it looks like a teal, but up close you can see the gentle gradations of greens and blues. It is so me. This came as part of prize package from Devorah (aka Mama Squid) for having the closest guess for the total mileage for the Squid on Wheels this year. She also included two delicious looking Jacques Torres chocolate bars and a fun NYC souvenir keychain. I had no idea what kind of yarn she'd select -- she only asked my fiber and color preferences. I have no idea how she knew I'd been coveting the Smooshy! Thank you, Mama Squid!

Just a reminder: Tomorrow is the first Wednesday of the month, which means knit night for the Hurricane Knitters. Come and join us!

ETA: Damn you, snow, cancelling our knit night!

Time Is Running Out

How on earth is it December already?! I really feel like I missed a month somewhere along the way. There is a lot of knitting left to do and not much time left in which to do it.

I spent most of last week making novelty yarn scarves for my office hallway sale. I was a little disappointed that only about three of them sold (leaving me with many more novelty yarn scarves than I'd like), but I was happy that I made a good chunk of change that's going to a good cause.

This week there are three projects that will take up my time. The first is the miniature sweaters (and socks) for ornaments to be sold in my coworker's gallery. Her holiday "open house" is this Saturday, so I've got to finish up as many as I can by Friday. As of this morning, there are six completed sweaters:

For some reason I can imagine the sweaters singing "Kumbaya"

I've completed only a few socks; something tells me that people will think pint-sized sweaters are a lot cuter than miniature socks.

I'm also trying to finish up the gifts for my parents. Although Hannukah starts this Tuesday night, we're not doing our family celebration until next Saturday night, so that buys me some extra time. I finished up the first sock for my father last night and cast on the second this morning. It's a basic stockinette, so I'm not worried about finishing. The real nail-biter is going to be the tube scarf for my mom. I worked on it for about four hours yesterday, when I had the girls over for an afternoon of knitting. It's about halfway done:

This will need a good blocking before it goes to her, and it will probably need a couple days to dry, which means that the knitting needs to be done by Thursday. There are two skeins left to be knit after the present one, so if I can manage to knit a skein's worth of yarn each night I'll be okay.

Of course, once I'm done with all the holiday stuff, there are all the babies to knit for. Two are due next month, four are due in March, and one is due in April. And then there's my aunt's sweater to knit (at least now I have the yarn for that). Oh, and a pair of socks for a swap to be knit this month and mailed out the first week of the year. It looks like it might be a while before I can cast on for me again -- I suppose Tangled Yoke will have to wait a bit!

Obligatory Knitting

Thank you for all your compliments on the Seamless Hybrid. I must confess that I think I'm prouder of it than I have been of any other knitting project I've completed; I caught myself looking at my husband -- well, at his sweater, anyway -- all throughout Thanksgiving dinner and petting him whenever he came near. The family and friends were much impressed, and my uncle even asked me if I would knit a sweater for my aunt -- the very same aunt who taught me to knit many, many years ago! That was a request to which I could not say no, so there will be some yarn acquisitions in the future. I'm thinking another EZ seamless sweater, perhaps a stranded yoked design. Any and all ideas are welcome.

We had a fairly quiet weekend and avoided all the malls and shopping areas on Black Friday. In fact, other than going to the supermarket, the only shopping we did all weekend was a trip to Bed Bath & Beyond for some much-needed items: a proper drying rack for faster blocking and a cover for our bathtub drain so I could finally use it to wash larger knitted items. I used both right away to finally wet block the Seamless Hybrid, and it was amazing how quickly it dried (not mention how nicely a proper blocking allowed the stitches to relax and even out). As you can see, the racks (I wound up buying three) are serving very nicely to help with my sock washing:

I did do a fair amount of knitting over the holiday weekend, though mostly for others. On Thanksgiving day, it was more of these:

Since then, I've been working on some items that might shock you if you're familiar with the types of things I normally knit.

This Friday is my office's second-annual hallway sale to benefit the United Way. Last year, most people brought in odds and ends they had around the house, and I brought in a bunch of novelty yarn scarves I'd knit for fun with no intended recipient in mind. People just went crazy for them! So this year, I decided to make good use of the freebies that were in the Stitch 'n Pitch goodie bags. I'm hoping people will shell out some big bucks for these, especially as it's for a good cause. The benefit for me? I'm finally moving all this novelty yarn out of the stash.

Finished: Seamless Hybrid

What better way to show my husband how thankful I am that he's in my life than by knitting him a sweater?

Pattern: Seamless Hybrid by Elizabeth Zimmermann (Knitting Without Tears)
Yarn: Cascade 220 (100% Peruvian highland wool), color 9465, five skeins, and color 8401, approximately 1/4 skein (for contrasting hem facings)
Needles: US 5 (3.75 mm) 32" circs, 16" circs, and dpns
Started/Completed: September 11/November 21
Recipient: The Mister

I am thrilled with how this sweater turned out. I finished it last night at Hurricane Knitters and promptly tried it on; the girls made me go to the ladies' room to look at it in the mirror, and I must admit that for a moment I was seriously tempted to keep it for myself. The moment passed, however, and The Mister was happy to have it to wear to Thanksgiving dinner this evening, where it was much admired by the rest of the family and friends who were there celebrating with us.

I started this sweater with a swatch using three different needle sizes and asked The Mister to pick the fabric he liked best. It ended up working out well, as he picked the needle size that just happened to work out for using the numbers EZ gives as her examples in KwoT -- a 40" chest size and a gauge of 5 sts/inch. It made for minimal math to complete the sweater, which was extremely helpful considering this was my first adult-sized, designed-to-fit EZ sweater. It was tricky enough to figure out how to get all the pieces to fit together (figuratively, of course) without worrying about my math skills.

What you can't see (because I was a little absent-minded and forgot to take any pictures) are the contrasting hem facings. I used some light gray Cascade left over from The Mister's Cambridge Jacket and followed Jared's directions, for the most part. I did make one modification, and that was to use the contrasting color for the increase row right before the purl turn row. This allows a little bit of the gray to show at the bottom hem and the cuffs, and I thinks this adds a little interest to an otherwise pretty neutral and plain sweater.

I think my favorite part of this sweater is the saddle shoulder. I opted to carry it along the back (so that it looks like one strip of fabric that's perpendicular to the rest of the body) instead of a third saddle in the middle back. The actual knitting of the saddles was a bit tricky, what with the circular needle holding the front and back stitches and a couple of dpns used to work the shoulder stitches back and forth. Tricky and awkward, yes, but not difficult. It was the one part of the sweater I was most worried about, but in the end it turned out perfectly.

I used a simple 2x2 rib for the collar, which thankfully did not need to be reknit. It's a tad bit snug going on, but it hugs the neck nicely, preventing any chilly air from getting in.

Overall, this project is a winner as far as we're both concerned. I loved this pattern and will definitely be knitting other versions of the EZ seamless sweater in the future. While on paper it looks like it took a long time to knit this, in reality it was a pretty fast knit; I was knitting several other projects at the same time (including a sweater for myself) and the appendicitis and subsequent hospitalization greatly cut into my knitting time. What really amazes me most is how little yarn, relatively speaking, I wound up using. I had started with seven skeins and started worrying it wouldn't be enough soon after I joined the second skein for the body. It's nice to know that I can knit the same sweater again and won't have to overestimate my yarn needs -- and I can knit myself one with some 220 I already have in the stash!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving (if you were celebrating) and had as warm and cozy a day as we did!

Let the Fun Begin!

As of last night, the yoke of The Mister's Seamless Hybrid was complete. You know what this means, don't you?


Tonight I get to start the saddle shoulders! My numbers are a little off from EZ's, but I'm making it work and I'm having faith that all will work out. My (perhaps insanely ambitious) goal is to finish this up in the next couple of nights so that, following a steam block, The Mister can wear it to Thanksgiving dinner and show off my mad skillz to all my relatives -- among them the aunt who taught me to knit many, many years ago!

Regardless of whether or not I meet my goal, I promise that the next time you see this sweater it will be more interesting than a brown blob on the floor.

Malabrigo is My Weakness

Today The Mister was kind enough to take me to Natural Stitches, since I wasn't able to make it for the grand opening yesterday. The shop was very well stocked and everyone was very friendly; Martha greeted us when we came in and pointed The Mister in the direction of some comfy chairs at the front of the store. He waited patiently for me while I had a bit of a falling down in the Malabrigo aisle. I picked up a couple skeins of sock yarn and was slightly tempted by the wall of Cascade, but in the end I just couldn't resist the kettle-dyed colors of Uruguay.

This laceweight (in the colorway Stonechat) was the first to call to me. I think it will become a Leaf Lace Shawl or perhaps another Adamas. (By the way, if you click over to the Adamas pattern, does the shawl in the photo look familiar at all?)

My real undoing was the aisle containing many gorgeous colors of the worsted weight. In the end, I decided on a colorway called Dusty Olive.

Unfortunately the overcast sky and poor indoor lighting have prevented me from capturing the true beauty of this colorway -- in real life, it's a beautiful combination of a dusty rose and a deep olive with shades of chocolate brown. I bought six skeins, a real splurge for me, that will become a Sunrise Circle Jacket (pdf) provided I can get gauge. Of course, that's only for knitting after the long-awaited Tangled Yoke Cardigan.

The good news is that I should soon be ready to cast on for the TYC. Last night I "finished" the second sleeve of The Mister's Seamless Hybrid, so there's only about two or three inches left to knit on the body before I join all the parts and begin the interesting part. I've gotten to the point where all I want to knit is his sweater, so I'm anticipating another week or less is all I need (especially considering there's a long weekend coming up). If I'm really good and really productive, maybe he'll even get to wear it to Thanksgiving dinner!

Finished: Monbras (or is it Zekeys?)

Cross another project off my holiday knitting list:

Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A (winter '06 Knitty)
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock (80% superwash wool, 20% nylon), colorway 101/Shadow, two skeins
Needles: two 12" US 1 (2.5 mm) Addi Turbo circs
Started/Completed: November 5/November 15
Mods: no purls in the stitch pattern, and I used a slip-stitch heel

Is it just me, or do these look rather

like zebra butts?

These are for my mother-in-law, who luckily has feet very nearly the exact same size as mine, which makes it very easy to knit socks for her (and even easier to model them for blog pictures -- don't worry, they'll be washed before she gets them).

Would you belive that this LLSS is the very first Lorna's I ever bought? It was an impulse eBay purchase about two years ago, and it had been sitting in the stash waiting for the right pattern ever since. It turned out to be perfect for this pattern, just so long as you don't look too hard at them while intoxicated.

There's not much to say about this pattern that I haven't already said. I think I've gotten the Monkey business out of my system for a while, but these definitely won't be my last pair.

As soon as these were finished I cast on for what I'm calling Very Boring Socks Indeed -- plain stockinette socks in navy blue, for my father, by request. Only for someone I love would I knit such a boring sock! At least it will go quickly -- and at least my father's feet aren't as long as my husband's.

Continuing the Trend

Thanks for all of your compliments on the CPH! I am resisting the urge to wear it every day, that's how much I love it. I definitely want to knit another one -- someday --in a larger size for more of a sweatshirt feel, but for now I'm very happy with a snug cardi.

After seeing the results of being faithful to one project, I decided to be good this weekend and work on some other gift knitting. First I finished the first of my mother-in-law's Monbras/Zekeys (thanks to Weezalana for those wacky names!). Then I focused on The Mister's long-languishing Seamless Hybrid. I spent several hours on Saturday watching some Netflixed DVDs and working on the second sleeve. Now both are approximately half done:

We're definitely getting close to the point where I join the sleeves and the body, and now that this is the only sweater I'm working on, I can give it my full attention.

Of course, there's a little bit of a distraction. Like these:

One of my coworkers (the same one for whom I knit a sweater earlier in the year) recently opened a gallery downtown where she sells her self-designed jewelry along with artwork and other hand-made items, and she asked me to knit some things for her to sell. With all the holiday knitting I've been doing, I couldn't really commit to any big projects, so she asked me to do some ornaments. Everything you see here will fit in the palm of your hand, and all were knit on 2.25 mm needles (Knit Picks Harmony dpns, to be exact). The red and green sock is worked over 24 stitches, the purply one over 18. These are fast, satisfying, and (I hope) popular with her customers. The best part? Well, they use up some of my huge bag of sock yarn scraps and they really help assuage the urge to cast on a new project!

Finished: Central Park Hoodie

I really wanted to do an outdoor photo shoot for this FO, but I couldn't wait any longer. You'll just have to deal with my parents' living room as the backdrop.

Pattern: Central Park Hoodie by Heather Lodinsky (Knitscene, fall 2006)
Size: 36"
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers (100% Peruvian highland wool), color 9461/Lime Heather, five skeins (including swatch and seaming)
Needles: US 8 (5 mm) and US 6 (4 mm) Addi Turbo circs
Started/Completed: September 5/November 6

I am absolutely in love with this sweater. I think it says a lot about a pattern that as soon as I was finished I wanted to knit it again.

There are several things I'd change if I knit this sweater again, however. The first thing would be to knit the next larger size. I knew that others who'd knit this sweater had found it to run small, but I wanted a fitted sweater, so I knit my normal size. It fits perfectly, for the most part, but as you can see in the photo below, the lower arms are a little snug. I have the pull the sleeves on, but once they're on, they're not uncomfortable. I wore this sweater all day and didn't really notice. Still, it would be nice to be able to wear a looser shirt underneath the sweater and to have a little more room.

The other thing I'd change is the decreases on the hood. It bothers me that they're not centered, and that's a little apparent because of the fact that I grafted the hood stitches instead of binding off and seaming it. Next time, I'll adjust the decreases so that they are actually in the center of the hood.

I used almost every bit of five skeins of Cascade, which was really quite amazing, in my opinion. That included a swatch (which thankfully gave me spot-on gauge on the first attempt) and yarn for seaming; there's a little left over for repairs or reinforcement if needed in the future. Once again, it proved to be the perfect yarn -- great color, great yardage, great stitch definition. I still have five more skeins of this same color in my stash, along with five skeins of a shocking pink that was in the same WEBS order.

I used six buttons, all sewn on with sewing thread and then covered with a bit of yarn (somehow I must've had the subconscious foresight to buy buttons with extra-large holes).

This sweater marks an important step in my sweater-knitting career: With this sweater, I officially conquered my fear of the set-in sleeve. These sleeves were the easiest to sew in of all the sweaters I've knit so far, but getting them in perfectly on the first try was a huge confidence boost. I swear that from this moment forward, I will not be scared of sweaters with set-in sleeves!

Now that this is finished, I will turn my attention to The Mister's sweater, which has been languishing for quite some time. It might not be as fun a knit as the CPH, but at least there will be no seaming to deal with at the end. And finishing his sweater means I'll allow myself to cast on for the next sweater for me!

Enhancements

First things first: Jenn and I both wore our recently completed Central Park Hoodies to the meeting of the Hurricane Knitters last night, and we took the requisite shot of each other:

We had our usual good time, and towards the end of the evening we got a bit punchy. But it was just what I needed to cheer me up after a stressful day at work. What also helped were the packages waiting for me at home.

Remember the test knitting I did back when I was fresh out of the hospital? Well the designer sent me a package of goodies as a thank you. There was a gorgeous skein of yarn, some edible treats (pumpkin seeds and hot cider mix), and a beautiful wood inlay box that will serve perfectly to hold these gorgeous stitch markers:

My less-than-stellar photography skills have failed to capture the real color of the beads -- a beautiful indigo with an underlying silvery sparkle.

The other package was a shipment from Knit Picks. The original reason for the order was to get the book (you know, since I had the stitch markers all ready) and some navy sock yarn for the socks my father requested. Then I decided I really wanted to try some Felici, and then I noticed that there was some Shine Sport on clearance (for less than $10, it'll make another Pea Pod set!). At that point I was so close to the free shipping, I threw in a skein of Telemark with no particular project in mind. I'm sure I can find some use for it -- suggestions, anyone?

I got a surprise package in the mail today, from Miriam. Inside was my Adamas, which she'd borrowed to photograph. As a thank you, she sent me two jars of homemade jam. Yummy! Thanks, Mim!

Now that the CPH is done (and I promise a full write-up with photos will be up in the next day or two), I'm not feeling the same sense of urgency to knit any particular project. I resurrected a very old UFO for knit night last night; I'm hoping to have it finished for my mom before it's a full year old. I did work a little on The Mister's sweater when I got home last night, but I'll spare you the picture of dark brown stockinette. Then there are the socks I started for my mother-in-law:

More no-purl Monkeys, in Lorna's Laces. Would you believe this is the very first Lorna's I ever bought? It's been living in the stash for a couple years now; I thought it was about time I used it.

'Tis Done

My Central Park Hoodie is finished! Unfortunately, it's a tad bit tight, especially in the lower arms, so I'm going to have to try some serious blocking. I'm also sorry to tell you that you're going to have to wait a couple days to see it; this sweater really deserves a proper photo shoot, and these days all the natural light is during the day when I'm at work. So I'll have to wait until Saturday for the full write-up.

For those of you who can't wait to see the finished sweater, I'll be giving a little preview of it tonight at the meeting of the Hurricane Knitters, Waterworks Barnes & Noble, 7 p.m. Hope to see you there!

Loose Ends

The saga of my Central Park Hoodie continues ...

On Saturday, I convinced The Mister to let me make a stop at Parker Button on the South Side so I could find the perfect fasteners for my sweater. I'd pretty much decided to go with toggles for my closures -- until I discovered that the only toggles to be had were pretty much hideous. So, buttons it was. Here are the ones I picked out:

They're a little on the square side, which I really like, and what you can't see from the picture is that they're pretty three-dimensional. I bought all seven buttons that were left in the box, although there will only be six on the sweater.

Last night I finished the second button band, so tonight the Adventures in Seaming begin!

In other news, I won a blog contest! Devorah and her family are avid bikers, and months ago she held a contest in which all entrants had to guess how many miles they would log on their bikes by October 31. I wound up being a mere four miles off, so she will be sending me some sock yarn and some chocolate for my lucky guess. I somehow managed to not check my e-mail at all over the weekend, so it was a nice surprise when I checked this morning.

Other knitting news? I know this will a huge shocker (can you sense the sarcasm in my voice?), but I started another sock. It's the first of a pair of Monkeys for my mother-in-law for the holidays. Not much is done other than a cuff, so I won't bore you with a picture of ribbing.

Sorry for the short post; it's been all CPH all the time here, and I am determined not to show you another picture of the darn thing until it's done! Let the seaming commence!

Finished: Lenore, and Details on My Sock Obsession

Lookie here! I finally managed to finish a pair of STR sock club socks before Pat!

Pattern: Lenore by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (October 2007 Rockin' Sock Club shipment)
Yarn: Socks That Rock lightweight (100% superwash merino), colorway Lenore, one skein
Needles: one 32" US 1 (2.5 mm) Knit Picks circular
Started/Completed: October 26/November 4

I absolutely love these socks, even though they're a bit on the snug side (they're 60 stitches around as opposed to my standard 64). This was the first shipment in the sock club where I loved both the yarn and the pattern. It was easy and fast, and I really only had to pay attention to the first 22 rows.

Did I mention that I re-upped for next year for the sock club? I wasn't going to -- not because I didn't want to, but in an effort to save some more money -- but then The Mister offered to get me my membership as my Hannukah/birthday gift. You can imagine how quickly I said yes.

As long as we're discussing socks, Amy tagged me for a socky meme, so here goes:

1. What’s your favorite sock yarn? (please note that the word “yarn” is singular. Just pick one. I know it’s hard.)

Thanks to the sock club, I'm going to have to say Socks That Rock. It's soft, it holds up well (or it has so far), and the colorways are always gorgeous.

2. What’s your favorite type and brand of sock needle?

My most-loved needles are my 12" US 1 (2.5 mm) Addi Turbo circulars. I've used them so much, the silver finish has worn off in several places. Lately, though, I've been quite enamored of my 32" US 1 Knit Picks circular for magic loop.

3. Do you knit your socks toe up, cuff down or sideways?

Most of the time cuff down. I see the appeal of knitting toe up to maximize yarn usage, but the cuff is never comfortable and the socks never fit quite as well as cuff-down socks.

4. Do you knit both socks at once or just one at a time?

One at a time. I knit one pair both socks at once and hated how un-portable they were and how much time I spent detangling the yarn.

5. What’s your favorite toe and why?

Just the standard wedge/wide toe, for the simple reason that it fits my toes the best.

6. Favorite heel?

I'm a heel flap and gusset kind of girl. It may take longer than a short-row heel, but it fits oh so nicely.

7. Do you prefer plain or patterned socks?

Depends on the yarn. For a really busy variegated yarn, a simple stockinette is usually my preferred pattern. But patterned socks can be such fun to knit, as long as the colorway doesn't compete with the pattern.

8. Who do you knit the most socks for?

I'll admit it: I'm a selfish sock knitter. Most of the socks I knit are for me. But I knit a fair amount for The Mister as well.

9. Do you darn your socks? If not, what do you do with them?

So far, not yet. I've only had one pair wear out thus far, and I just haven't gotten around to darning the holes yet.

10. Do you only wear handknit socks?

In the winter, mostly. It does depend on what type of shoes I'll be wearing -- handknit socks just don't go well with tennis shoes. Considering how many socks I've knit in the past year, I'm hopeful that this winter I'll be able to wear handknit socks pretty much any day I want to.


Bonus Question: What pattern, if any, is your basic “I-just-need-a-pair-of-socks” sock pattern based on? Do you keep it written down or memorized?

Although it's almost identical to the Yarn Harlot's basic sock recipe, I perfected my own standard stockinette pattern way before I read Knitting Rules. Mine is 64 stitches, all stockinette with a 2x2 ribbed cuff and a wide toe. Easy peasy and fits my foot perfectly.

I'm sure this has worked its way around to most of the sock knitters I know by now, so if you want to do this meme and haven't yet, consider yourself tagged! Just leave me a comment about it so I can read your responses!

Alright, Already!

You all gave me a hard time*, so I put down the baby sweater and got back to work on the CPH. And do you know what this is?

It's a nearly complete hood. I'm hoping to finish it tonight, which will leave only button bands and seaming. There's still one major decision to make: button or toggles? What do you think?

It's still supposed to be pretty chilly tomorrow (and my office is still frigid), so guess what I'm wearing for the first time?



*You know I'm only kidding, right? I actually do appreciate the kick in the pants I needed to finish this sweater. My love for it has come back to me and I'm actually even looking forward to seaming it now.

Ooops, I Did It Again

Last night, the back and fronts of my Central Park Hoodie were all nicely blocked and ready for a bit of seaming before I could start the hood ...

But did I do that little bit of seaming so I could start the hood? Nope. Instead I cast on for something new:

This is the beginning of Trellis in Cotton Ease for a little boy who is due to arrive in mid-January (but, if he's anything like his two older sisters, is likely to arrive a month early). I think the knitty karma was working against me, though, because I had to rip and re-cast on three or four times before I was satisfied.

The good news is that my sock mojo was not affected. Look, I finished my first Lenore!

Did you know mostly black yarn is difficult to photograph accurately, especially when there's no natural light to be had?

Tonight I'm going to be brave and tackle the seaming so that I can start the hood, and I'm going to block the sleeves as well. I am so close to finishing this sweater that I have no good excuse not to work on it. I could use it to keep me warm, too, since temps have gone down to freezing the past couple of nights. Sweater weather has arrived!

How many of you, dear readers, are knitting sweaters right now? What sweaters are you knitting?

Being Good and Being Bad

We did make it to our dinner party Friday night and had a great time, but I think I overdid it a bit because I did not feel so well yesterday. So after venturing out to meet my parents for lunch and running a few errands, we came home and spent a quiet afternoon and evening that included plenty of knitting time. Although I was very tempted to work on my new STR socks (cast on Friday afternoon), I decided I would be good and work on finishing my Central Park Hoodie, which has been on the needles for nearly two months.

Actually, that's not entirely true. I did work on the CPH, but first I made some stitch markers that will be used if I ever get around to buying Cat Bordhi's new book:

These are very light, as they're made of thin coated wire. The hardest part about putting these together was trying to crimp the crimp beads; I think maybe my cheap miniature pliers are not the best for this task.

I did eventually settle down with my CPH sleeves and got as far as completing the increases and getting ready to start the sleeve cap. I'm now just a handful of rows away from finishing, so this week the CPH will see some blocking and perhaps even some seaming, if I feel brave enough to try to conquer the set-in sleeve again.

So that was my being good. As to my being bad? Let's just say I had a bit of a falling down at Michael's. For some reason, even though I was longing to get home and lie down, I felt compelled to go and buy some yarn (and, in all honesty, it did make me feel a little better!). I bought some non-yarn items as well, namely the beads and wire to make the stitch markers and some more tapestry needles (my spare package seems to have wandered off). But mostly there was yarn: three skeins of Cotton Ease to make this sweater for a new "cousin"-to-be, two skeins of Patons Classic Merino to make my father a scarf for Hannukah, and another three skeins to make this adorable little guy for ... me? a baby? We shall see. I guess the splurge wasn't that bad, considering the Patons was on sale for $4 a skein and more than half the yarn was specifically for gifts. I really really wanted to cast on for that bear right away, but as I said, I was good! I'm sure that when I have my CPH done to keep me warm (we have a frost advisory tonight!), I'll be happy I was good and stuck to my plan.

Tomorrow I go back to work, although I'll be leaving early to go to my follow-up appointment with my surgeon. I'm hoping that will be the end of the appendix story, as I'm tired of dealing with it and I'm sure you're all tired of hearing about it!

Finished: Intercontinental Socks

This surgery thing has done wonders for my finishing of WIPs, let me tell you!

Pattern: basic stockinette with 2x2 ribbed cuff and slip-stitch heel
Yarn: Knit Picks Essential (75% superwash wool, 25% nylon), colorway Dusk, two skeins
Needles: two 12" US 1 (2.5 mm) Addi Turbo circs
Started/Completed: October 6/October 26
Recipient: my FIL, for Christmas

There's not much to say about these socks, as they are very plain and were a very straightforward (albeit somewhat boring) knit. They were cast on our first afternoon in Venice on our honeymoon and traveled with us to Greece, Turkey, and Croatia. The only thing really noteworthy about these socks is that the legs are an unusual length. Somehow I managed to pack stitch markers, thread scissors, and even tapestry needles with my yarn, but I completely forgot to throw in a tape measure. Without any way to accurately measure length, I relied on what I thought my row gauge was with this yarn (I figured roughly 11 rows/inch) and counted rows. So the cuff is 22 rows long and the rest of the leg is 55. I thought the 77 total rows would be about the 7 inches I normally use for my basic sock pattern; in reality, it's a little less. As I highly doubt my FIL will know this is the case, and I know he'll be thrilled with these socks anyway (he specifically requested "heathered blue" socks a while ago), I'm not sweating it. You can bet I always check to make sure I've got a tape measure now, though!

Now that these are done, I can finally cast on for my new Rockin' Sock Club shipment. I think this may be the first time I've actually started the shipment in the same month in which is was shipped.

Yarn Stockpiling

It appears I may have been a little clairvoyant this past weekend. Saturday afternoon, just hours before the appendicitis reared its ugly head, I made a stop at Knit One to finally use the gift card my bridesmaids gave me. It's almost as if I knew I'd be home for a week and would need some pretty wool to keep me company.

My acquisitions weren't altogether selfish. My main reason for stopping by was to find some good, washable yarn suitable for baby sweaters. This stuff fit the bill perfectly:

Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton in natural green. Dreamy stuff. Someday I'd like a sweater for myself out of this stuff.

I couldn't leave without some treats for myself, especially as it was all free to me. I picked up a couple skeins of Reynold's Soft Sea Wool, which I so enjoyed working with in Aidan's Red Sox sweater (which I certainly hope he's wearing for the World Series!) and the Canada socks. These particular skeins are intended for a pair of Denmark socks (inspired by Pat's).

My real splurge was my very first Claudia Hand Paint, in a gorgeous colorway called Teal Party:

I think this will make a beautiful pair of simple stockinette socks.

If I'm feeling up to it tomorrow, I will get out the swift and wind all of this as well as the new Socks That Rock (which you can see here; I think most people have received their kits by now, but I don't want to ruin the surprise for anyone who hasn't).

Today was a better day. I was able to get out of bed (and actually stay out of bed), put on real clothes, and even make dinner. I spent the better part of the day test knitting a sock pattern. I can't show you pictures or give you any details until the pattern is done, but I can tell you it's knit with worsted weight yarn and thus goes very quickly. I'm also close to finishing the socks for my FIL, and then I will turn my attention back to the sweaters. Trust me when I say I'm making the most of my knitting time!

Finished: Little Monkey Foo Foo

Thank you for all of your good wishes for my speedy recovery! I think the positive thoughts of knitters are starting to pay off, because I'm feeling much better. I'm still nowhere near back to my old self (I'm still sore, tire easily, and have a bit of a buddha belly from the swelling), but tomorrow I should be able to spend the day out of bed and do things like get/cook food for myself. Today's big accomplishment was making it through the day without needing a nap. Granted, I did get 9 1/2 hours of sleep last night and spent pretty much the whole day in bed, but when you consider I needed a nap after a trip to the bathroom a couple of days ago, you can see what a big improvement that is.

If there's a plus side to being in the hospital and being (for lack of a better word) an invalid, it's that there's plenty of time to knit. This morning I finished up a pair of socks:

(Apologies for the crappy photos in this post; there's only so much I can do from bed with no natural light and very little flexibility.)

Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A. (winter '06 Knitty)
Yarn: Socks That Rock lightweight (100% superwash merino), colorway Little Bunny Foo Foo, one skein
Needles: one 36" US 1 (2.5 mm) Knit Picks circular, magic loop
Started/Completed: October 1/October 24
Mods: changed all the purls to knits in the stitch pattern and substituted a slip-stitch heel

Here's a closeup of the no-purl pattern that works so well with this yarn:

There's not much to say about this pattern that hasn't already been said. I'd been intending this colorway of STR specifically for this pattern; something about the name of the colorway asked to be knit into a pattern with an animal name, I guess. In any case, making these no purl was a great tactic for making this pattern an even faster knit. In truth, these did not take as long as it seems, because they were started just before we left for the trip and picked up again when we returned -- and I really wasn't able to knit until the end of my stay in the hospital. So these went quite quickly, and now that the weather has gotten a little cooler and more seasonal, I'm looking forward to wearing them.

Tomorrow I hope to be out of bed, albeit still home-bound. We are supposed to be going to a dinner party Friday night, so I'm using that as my goal for the initial stage of recuperation. Keep those positive thoughts coming!

P.S. Forgot to mention the surprise that made my day -- I made my first trip downstairs since getting home to pick up the package the mailman left in the door, which turned out to be my October Rockin' Sock Club shipment! I won't post any spoilers just yet; suffice it to say I hope I'm feeling well enough to get out my swift and ball winder tomorrow so I can get to knitting!

My Mysterious Disappearance

Have you been wondering where the promised honeymoon post was the past few days? I know sometimes I can be a little lazy and let things like the blog fall by the wayside when things get crazy, but this time I have a good excuse. Ready for it? I was in the hospital recovering from surgery.

I've just gotten home this afternoon and apparently the car ride and the walk up one flight of steps were so exhausting that I passed out for three hours this afternoon. So because my strength and stamina are clearly not where they should be, I'll give you the abbreviated version of the story.

The Mister was out of town last week, so I spent Saturday getting all the errands and cleaning done around the house so that we could relax when he got home Saturday night. At around 5:30 Saturday evening, while I was watching TV and working on his Seamless Hybrid, I started getting a weird sensation in my lower abdomen and some cramping in my lower back. By the time he got home at 10:45, I was in horrible pain. We finally went to the emergency room about two hours later. They ran blood tests and did a CT scan, but all they could find was that my white blood cell count was up, indicating some sort of infection. They weren't sure what was wrong with me, so they sent me home at about 6 in the morning. Neither of us had really slept, so we both fell immediately into bed -- only to be woken about two hours later by the phone ringing. It was a doctor at the ER; apparently another radiologist had looked at the CT and determined that, although it was hard to see, there was an issue with my appendix and I needed to get back to the ER right away.

We actually wound up going to a different hospital, as a good family friend of ours (a doctor) had called a surgeon he knew and arranged for him to meet us in the emergency room. Within an hour of arriving at the second ER, I was whisked off to surgery for an emergency appendectomy.

The surgery went really well and was done laparoscopically (is that a word?), so I only have three small incisions. I am, however, sore and get tired really easily, so I will likely be taking the rest of the week off from work. The Mister has been wonderful about helping me get around and helping out around the house. I've been able to move from the percocet they were giving me in the hospital to some extra-strength Tylenol, so I'm actually able to stay awake for longer periods of time, and I've even been able to get some knitting done in the last day. (I knew I was really sick on Saturday night when I actually put down my knitting midway through a row.)

I'll be doing my best to keep up with e-mail and blog reading in the next few days, but it all depends on how much strength I have and how long it lasts. I promise I will not forget about the promised honeymoon post; maybe now that I'm sitting in bed all day, I'll have the time to go through and label all the photos and upload them to Flickr.

So that's where I've been, and I hope you'll bear with me while I get back to normal!

Getting Back to the Grind

Things are now relatively back to normal (that is, after leaving work midway through yesterday to spend the better part of the afternoon horizontal on the couch and then getting to bed at 9 p.m.). In an effort to get the blog up to date, I'm going to go with a list format for this entry. Knitting content will be at the end, for those of you who wish to skip over the other stuff.

The Honeymoon
Thank you to all of you who left comments wishing us a good trip. We did have a fantastic time and saw some pretty amazing sights. I am planning a post or two on the trip soon in which I'll post some of my pictures; The Mister is leaving me again tomorrow for several days to attend a leadership conference in Virginia, so that might be a good opportunity for me to sit down and spend some quality time with my laptop. Stay tuned.

Blog Reading
I am finally caught up on my blog reading, which was quite a feat considering I had 120+ posts to get through. If I'm being completely honest, I will admit that I skimmed a lot of entries and made very few comments in the interest of getting up to date. Generally I make a concerted effort to comment on blogs I visit, because I do believe in the karma of blogging -- I enjoy getting comments, and I assume other bloggers do as well, so if I comment on other blogs I should get comments on my blog in return. Please know that if I visit your blog regularly, I've probably read what you wrote, but please don't take it personally if I didn't have any response to your post(s). Trust me, if you'd seen how what I was thinking was manifested in my typing yesterday, you probably would have thought it was spam because frankly it made no sense. Now that I'm all caught up, I will resume my regular commenting!

Pay It Forward
About a week before we left for the trip, I read a post on Octopus Knits about a new kind of exchange she was participating in and decided to sign up. It uses the concept of taking a random act of kindness and paying it forward. Here's how it works: The participant offers to send a handmade item to three people, and in return those three people make the same offer on their blogs. So I'm on board. I will make three handmade items (most likely knitting related) and send them to the first three people who e-mail me with their contact info. In return, all you have to do is post this same offer to your own blog and send out three handmade items of your own. Interested? Send me an e-mail at paknitwit AT gmail DOT com with your name, mailing address, and blog URL; I'll send the items to the first three people who respond. I won't be sending out the items immediately, but let's say within the next six months. So think of it as a surprise to look forward to when you least expect it.

Stash Enhancement
I also neglected to mention that about two days before we left, I received a Knit Picks order in the mail. Now before the alarm bells start ringing for breaking my yarn diet (really only self-imposed to save some money), I must note that the package contained primarily needles. Most needed were some 16" circs that were desperately needed to knit the sleeves and collar of The Mister's Seamless Hybrid. I also found I needed some other circs for the Tangled Yoke Cardigan after swatching, and since everyone was raving about them, I picked up some of new Harmony wood dpns. All that was left in stock that I was interested in were the US 1 (2.25 mm), which are a little smaller than the US 1 1/2 (2.5 mm) needles I usually use, so I'll have to do a little swatching and see what they do to my gauge. I did order just a little bit of sock yarn, just to get to the free shipping threshold: two skeins of Essential in the colorway Carbon Twist (a black plied with a gray) for socks for The Mister and two skeins of Gloss in Woodland Sage for me.

and finally:
Knitting: An Update on the WIPs
Let's do a number list for this one, shall we?

• The Central Park Hoodie: The back and both fronts are done, and I am knitting both sleeves at once to ensure that they match (there was a little tinking and reknitting on the second front section, so I've learned my lesson by now). Now that I am into the cabled portion, the sleeves should move along swiftly. I just have to make sure that I keep my counting straight to ensure that increases fall where they are supposed to and cables cross at the correct intervals. There are a lot of tally marks on scraps of paper for this one (I'm really high-tech like that). (*Note: Blogger is not letting me upload a picture; see it here.)
  
• The Seamless Hybrid: I'm still chugging along on the body, which is now about 9 inches long. Now that the KP circs have arrived, I can cast on for the sleeves as well. As there is no shaping whatsoever in the body, it makes for very mindless (read: boring) knitting, so it will likely see action mostly when I want to pay attention to something else -- say, all the DVRed shows we have to catch up on from the past week and a half. (*Note: Same picture issue; go here to see it.)
  
• Socks for My FIL: I'm calling these the Intercontinental Socks because they were cast on in Venice and went with me on all our excursions on the trip -- which means they were in Europe (Venice; Katakolon/Olympia, Greece; Istanbul, Turkey; and Dubrovnik, Croatia), Asia (Izmir/Ephesus, Turkey), and now have come home to North America to be finished. I'm hoping that creation history makes them more interesting than they look, since they're just plain stockinette worked in a solid color of Knit Picks Essential. (My FIL is not a fancy guy, so these should be right up his alley.)

• Little Monkey Foo Foo: Did I ever mention these socks? I cast them on right after finishing the Love Lace socks, as I was still feeling the need for some STR. They're no-purl Monkeys, in the colorway Little Bunny Foo Foo -- hence my name for them. The first sock is almost done and I have no doubt the second soon will follow. The pattern is really fast to begin with, but taking out the purling? Superfast.

Still with me? Well thanks for sticking around! I'll try to be less verbose now that I'm back to normal blogging. Now, time to wolf down some dinner and head out to meet up with the Hurricane Knitters!

What Day Is It?

We're back! And we're quite a bit jetlagged. We got home at around 1 a.m. this morning, promptly rolled into bed, and passed out. We spent much of today running errands (grocery shopping, bank, etc.) and doing laundry (load three of four is in the dryer). I have a feeling we'll be getting to bed early again tonight.

All in all, we had a fantastic time. We're in the process of going through all of our pictures (The Mister alone took more than 1,200!); I'll post the best to my Flickr account later in the week, once I have time and energy to put in all the information so you'll know what you're looking at.

Lest you think I left all my knitting at home, here is some proof that wool did make the trip with us in the form of some simple stockinette socks for my father in law. First they saw the port of Katakolon in Greece (they only came out on the bus as it was pouring at Olympia):


Then they did a little sightseeing at the ancient city of Ephesus in Turkey:

They admired the view from the ship at the port in Istanbul (not Constantinople!) and spied one of the many mosques:

They also traveled to Dubrovnik, Croatia, where this knitter was so enthralled she forgot to take a picture.

I am way behind in my blog reading and my e-mailing, so I hope you'll forgive me if I've been lax in responding to your e-mail or commenting. I hope I'll be caught up in a few days, but frankly right now sleep is more important than anything! Bear with me!

Bon Voyage!

Well, we are almost ready to leave. As it turns out, our flight schedule changed and we're now leaving a little earlier than originally planned. The good news is, we'll have a few hours in Boston between flights, so maybe I'll be able to get some chowdah!

After many hours of consideration, I have decided not to try to take knitting on the plane with me. I don't think I'd have an issue on the domestic flight, but a number of threads on the Ravelry forums led me to believe I might have a problem with European security. I didn't think German security would buy the argument that my German-made Addis were perfectly safe, so rather than risk losing them, they'll be making the trip in my checked baggage. Instead, I'll have some podcasts to keep me company, as well as a teach-yourself Italian book to jog my memory (only a few years ago, I was "proficient"; I'm hoping it'll all come back to me).

We'll be arriving in Venice midday Saturday and the cruise departs Sunday evening. If you're interested, you can follow our progress and see the ship's webcam here.

Pictures when we return!

Finished: Summer of Love Lace Socks

Just in time for the start of Socktoberfest ...

Pattern: Summer of Love Lace by JC Briar (August Rockin' Sock Club shipment)
Yarn: Socks That Rock lightweight (100% superwash merino), colorway Flower Power, one skein
Needles: two US 1 (2.5 mm) 32" Knit Picks circs (worked both at the same time, magic loop)
Started/Completed: September 23/October 1
Mods: None

These socks worked up incredibly quickly, which was a good thing, as I felt really bad for neglecting them for about a month. The only "complicated" part of the pattern was the cuff, which has a four-row repeat (two of which are purled across). What you can't see when the socks are worn is that there is an inch and a half of ribbing underneath the folded-down cuff. This was a design feature I was happy to discover.

My favorite part of the pattern, though? The Eye of Partridge heel -- I just love what it does with a bright, varied colorway like this:

This is not a colorway I would have picked out on my own; it's probably a tad bit loud for my taste. But it does work exceptionally well with this pattern and makes for some very happy socks. I am definitely going to knit this pattern again, although next time I will try it in a more subdued colorway. I'd like to see what happens to the lace cuff when it's paired with a semisolid.

Yesterday I spent part of the day at a baby shower, where I was finally able to present the Pea Pod Cardigan to its recipient (well, to the mother of the recipient, as he's not born yet). As you can see, it was a big hit:

The mom-to-be received a lot of very nice gifts, including a great many very adorable baby outfits, but the women at the shower just could not get over the sweater. It was literally passed around the room so every attendee could examine it for herself. This is certainly validation of one's knitting, is it not? It's settled -- I'm knitting this sweater again!

The Mister and I are getting ready for our honeymoon; we leave Friday. Blogging may be a bit spotty before we leave, and for that I hope you'll forgive me. I will be knitting with the Hurricane Knitters this Wednesday, so if you're in the area I hope to see you there!