The Return of the Blueberry

I finished Hermione's second sock!  Yes I still haven't woven in the ends, but that bit won't take long. 

I've finally returned to Blueberry. It was painful, but I knew I wouldn'tlove this   sweater if the lace was off center so I ripped it out. I'm being very careful in the set up and  so far everything is looking good. 

Hermione Sock Part Two

After finishing the Christmas knitting I decided it was time to work on something for me. I debated between socks, finishing blueberry, a cowl I've been drooling over, a hat that I have the perfect yarn for, or mittens. Our high today is -10 before windchill (yes that's in Farenheit and yes that is bone chilling cold) so maybe I should have chosen the mittens or hat, but I've decided to bring back my socks. I thought that I had finished the first sock sometime last fall and was shocked when looking through my posts to see that I finished the first sock in May. 

Thankfully I've written fairly good notes so I'm not too worried about the socks matching. I think that I used a smaller needle for the second cuff, but after switching to a size 2 needle for the body of the sock it's looking the same as the first sock. These socks are for me so I'm not going to worry about them matching perfectly. If one cuff is tighter than the other it is okay.

Hermione's Everyday Socks

Back to Knitting

The past couple of weeks I haven't been very excited about my knitting which means I've been focusing on quilting. Ordinarily this isn't a big problem, but in the fall is when I start most of my quilts. Since I don't have a big stash I've been ordering lots of fabric. While waiting for the fabric to arrive I read quilting magazines which results in shopping for more fabric. It's a wicked cycle, but since it's all been ordered with a plan I know that it will all get used. Once the fabric arrives I'll do a post of everything so that I have a record some where of my plans. Yesterday I was a bit shocked to see a post on facebook that Christmas is 100 days away. Eek!!! Since Christmas usually means lots of knitted gifts I've been focusing this week on finishing up those languishing projects.

The fronts of Blueberry are done! (Even better is the fact that they look nice and are the right size so I won't have to rip those out.) Has anyone had to rip back an entire piece of knitting before? I'm trying to figure out if I'll need to wash/soak the yarn from the back piece before I reknit it.

I've finished the heel flap on my "Father's Day" socks. My sister invited me to go to the Renaissance Fair in Minnesota this weekend so I'm looking at several hours in the car on Saturday. I should be able to turn the heel before then and this will make some great car knitting. Who knows, maybe I'll even have time to cast on a mate for Hermoine's Sock.

Dancing the "Happy Knitting" Dance

Today I'm definitely dancing the "Happy Knitting" dance. I finished the first Hermione sock. The pattern uses a different heel and toe then I usually do. Erica did a great job of walking me through each new step which made it easy and a lot of fun to try something different. 

In more "Happy Knitting" dance news I finished the second sleeve for Blueberry. It feels like I've been working on this forever, but looking at my Ravelry page I finished both sleeves in 6 weeks. Considering all of the quilting I've been doing in those 6 weeks that's really pretty good time.

Last night I even cast on for dad's Father's Day socks. I'm using the Old Joe pattern by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee for these socks. It's the first time that I've knit socks on 3 needles, but since the pattern is repeated 3 times it makes sense to do it this way. Unfortunately it means the socks don't lay flat when I'm not working on them and there's no good way to get a good picture. My goal (in all of it's insanity) is to make a sock a week for the next four weeks so next week there should be enough progress to get a good picture (even if the sock isn't finished.)

If you're wondering I'm using Knit Pick's Stroll Fingering in Midnight Heather. It reminds me of a blackbird in that it's almost black, but has hints of greens and blues depending upon the light.

Still here

I've finished the secretive quilting project so my posts should go back to a more normal schedule. Since we use my sewing machine cabinet as our computer desk my husband and I haven't been online much the past week or two. Turns out that one week of internet silence results in a phone call to confirm life. I'll try not to do that again (or at least give warning the next time it happens.) I've actually had some time to work on knitting this week. The sleeve still isn't done, but it's getting closer.

I think part of the reason why the sleeve isn't done is because I've been distracted by Hermione's Socks lately. I realized that Father's Day is coming up about a month away and I really need my sock needles. Since I learned to knit socks I've started a tradition of making socks for my dad. I have yarn and a pattern picked out for dad's Father's Day socks, but all of the needles that are appropriately sized for me to make socks have yarn on them. I just need to finish the foot and toe and will be done with the first Hermione sock. It's not the order I like to do things in, but since there's a deadline I'll probably knit a pair of Father's Day socks before this little one gets a mate.

Hermoine's Socks

Blueberry has been sucked into a black hole. I'm really not sure whether there's been knitting with no progress, or most of my time has been spent on other projects. Since there's no progress to show on her I've decided to show you guys how Hermione's socks are coming. I've reached the heel! I was a little confused by Erica's pattern which tells you to move on to the next section based on the number of rounds you've done rather than the length of the sock. I didn't feel like counting 20 repeats of the pattern so I just stopped when my leg reached 7". I'm really loving the spiral effect that the yarn is creating. I can't wait to wear these next winter. (Thankfully we're finally getting temperatures warm enough that hand knit socks are too hot!)

Machine Work vs. Hand Work

I'm a bit surprised that I have any knitting to share this week. I hear the clock ticking on my quilt guild's annual show (I have 41 days left. Eek!) Usually my knitting and quilting don't get in the way of each other because in my mind machine work is separate from hand work. Machine work gets done in large chunks on weekends and the occasional mornings when I wake up super early and inspired. Since my sewing studio doubles as our kitchen I don't set up my machine unless I can dedicate a minimum of an hour to work. Hand work gets done while I sip coffee in the morning or am watching t.v. with my husband at night. Normally hand work is knitting. However right now I'm buckling down and sewing on some long waiting bindings. (Unless it's part of a workshop or the mystery all of our quilts have to be completely finished in order to hang in the show. The grace period in this is that there's no deadline of when we have to start so any quilts that don't get finished in time can hang in next year's show.)

I'm not sure how my knitting post has turned into a quilting ramble. Back on topic. Last week I had two cuffs and this week I've got stuff attached to both cuffs! You can tell Blueberry hasn't gotten much attention this week. I am feeling a bit more confident with the pattern and aren't tied so closely to my stitch counter or pattern. (I think that will change when my increases move from every 4 rounds to every 6, but I'm right now I'm just appreciating that little bit of lace that's grown above the cuff.)

I'm really late to the party with Hermione's Socks. I know lots of people have knit them before, but there's a good reason for that. This pattern rocks! It takes me a long time to memorize patterns (please note that I'm still using the pattern for blueberry when there are only two lines where anything happens.) I had Hermione memorized after only three repeats of the pattern! Granted the pattern is only 4 stitches wide and only 2 rows have action, but it's still memorized. I love that this sock can go into my repertoire of easy sock knitting when I want something that's just a step above vanilla. I also enjoy the fact that it will work great with hand painted yarns. I never know what to do other than vanilla which doesn't seem to do justice to those lovelies. This pattern is even basic enough that I can see using it for my husband or dad with a more masculine yarn color. The pattern only gives directions for a women's sock, but since the repeat is only 4 stitches wide it won't be hard to change.

Casting on some Cuffs

I finished the first sleeve for Blueberry and cast on the second one. I finally managed to get a good picture of this yarn. I love the subtle color changes in KnitPick's Stroll Tonal sock yarns, but my camera doesn't. I don't have pictures to share of the first sleeve, but my gauge is perfect. I still don't understand what's going on that I'm using needles three sizes smaller than the pattern, but I guess that's why we're supposed to make swatches for everything.

I also finished my orange socks and cast on for another pair. I'm trying Hermione's Everyday Socks for this one. It looks like a fairly basic sock which will fill the need for mindless knitting, but it's a step above a vanilla sock. I'm using Deborah Noville Serenity Sock Yarn in Lavender Topaz. This was actually one of the first skeins of sock yarn I ever bought. Someday I might share pictures of my first "pair" of socks. When I started knitting socks I didn't realize that a skein of sock yarn didn't necessarily make a pair of socks so I bought two different skeins of sock yarn with the intention of making two pairs of socks. I finished one sock with a very small foot and a sock leg and then ran out of yarn. I've made several pairs of socks since that first attempt, but I've never come back to the second color I bought. Since JoAnn Fabric sells this yarn it wasn't very hard to find a second skein. The dye lots are different, but they're socks for me so I don't think this will matter too much.