St. Patrick and St. David

My husband and I are both mutts. Our families have been in America long enough that we can trace our ancestry back to several countries in Europe. I'm proudest of my Irish heritage though and he claims the Welsh so March is a month of ancestral pride. I've read that St. Patrick's Day isn't that major of a holiday in Ireland, but in the states it is a huge celebration of Irish heritage. My socks aren't finished, but they're looking good. I'll definitely be wearing these next year to celebrate my Irish side.

St. David's Day is a lesser known holiday here in the states, but from what I can gather is a pretty big day in Wales. The daffodil is a symbol for Wales and is in season in March so many people will wear a daffodil on March 1 in honor of St. David. (They also wear leeks, but I'm not including a leek in my wall hanging.) 

I'm having a lot of fun with this project and it's going significantly faster than I thought it would. I'm already trying to figure out how I'm going to quilt it. I'm leaning towards outlining the flowers and leaves and doing a micro-stippling in the background, but I'm not sure what to do with the dark blue boarders. Suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Christmas Socks

These socks are coming along nicely if a bit slowly. I finished the leg last night so there's just the foot part left. I think next year might be dedicated to smaller projects and hopefully I can spread some gift making out throughout the year. (I say this as I still have the back for Blueberry waiting to be reknit and I have yarn for a sweater for the huzby waiting in the closet.) At least I'm almost done with these and the cowl and then I'll be through the knitting portion of my Christmas list.

*Pattern is by Lion Brand Yarn and yarn is Knit Picks Felici (They brought the yarn back last month and only have a small amount of one color left. Hopefully this means it will come back permanently soon.)

Comfort Knitting

This week I've been struck with a nasty virus. I didn't have the mental capacity for the complicated cables the green sweater required so I turned to a bit of comfort knitting. When I began knitting socks were very scary things. I could grasp the concept of how yarn could turn into a scarf and that a sweater was just a bigger scarf. I couldn't figure out how it turned into a tube and the heel was a complete mystery. I decided to trust the pattern. It felt a bit like waving a wand and hoping some magic would occur, but I created a sock. Three years later and socks still hold a bit of magic. However it's now magic I'm familiar with and making a basic sock is like working with an old friend.

Hopefully by the time I finish the second sock the last traces of this bug will be gone and I'll be able to return my attention to the green sweater. 

Christmas Sock Update

I'm really pleased with how well the Brown Blob is progressing. I've finished the left front so all that's left now is the sleeves. I've also made the bold decision to go off pattern for the sleeves. (Cue the ominous music.) It's really not that big of an alteration and probably isn't even worth mentioning. I hate seams so I'm knitting the sleeves in the round rather than flat. I know knitters do this kind of thing all the time but my inner knitter is sitting back with a smug look reminding me that she reserves the right to say, "I told you so" when I'm ripping out the sleeve next week. 

I've also been somewhat successful at having two projects going at once right now. The Brown Blob is getting most of the attention, but between each piece of the blob I've been putting in a few rows on my Kingpin Socks. I didn't want to count stitches for the heel in the car so I cast on for the second leg. Then a couple weeks later I ended up taking these with me to the Des Moines quilt show and still worked on the heel in the car. I did okay until it came time to picking up stitches for the gusset. Definitely not a car activity. Thankfully I've had some knitting time outside of the car lately and have gotten the first heel and gusset completed. I'm trying to stay even with the socks so I've started working on the heel flap on the second sock. I've heard of knitters doing socks this way to avoid second sock syndrome, but since I've never struggled with that I don't foresee knitting two socks at the same time very often.

More Socks

The blue socks are done. It's been so nice to have a simple pattern to take a break with after the long project of Omelet. I'm going to be mean and make you guys wait just a little bit longer before I reveal Omelet. She really deserves her own finish post and not to be lumped in with a bunch of socks.

Basic Ribbed Sock; Deborah Norville Serenity Sock Weight: Surf

Monday I cast on a pair of socks for the husband. It's another basic pair of ribbed socks. The yarn is KnitPicks Felici in Kingpin. I got it when they had their summer sale and the yarn is discontinued, but in looking at the colors Felici currently comes in I may have found some more sock potential.

Basic Ribbed Sock; KnitPicks Felici: Kingpin

The one problem I foresee with these socks is that I have a 4.5 hour car ride home ahead of me today and I'm almost to the heel. I've heard of DPN sock knitters working two socks at once by making one leg, then the second, then working both heels and gussets that way, then working the feet for both socks, and finally the toes. I brought a second set of DPNs with me, so I might cast on the second sock for the drive home. I think it's going to be a bit too challenging to work a heel and gusset riding in the car. Next week I'll let you know how it goes.

And on to the socks...

I finished Omelet last Wednesday. I have the perfect photo shoot planned for showing off Omelet, but it won't happen until this weekend so you guys will just have to wait until next week to see the finished shawl. This week I've finally gotten to move on to the socks I've been itching to start. At the end of July the first sock snuck onto my needles during a weekend that was not good for lace knitting. Since the sock was not in the knitting plans I turned my attention back to Omelet rather than immediately casting on it's mate. 

I love the colors that Deborah Norville yarn offers, but I'm really getting tired of their winding practices. Can someone please explain how two skeins of yarn in the same dye lot can be wound in opposite directions? After knitting a few inches I discovered the stripes on my second sock had been reversed. I ripped back and restarted. I probably should have ripped back and restarted a second time so that the blue strips at the top of the socks were the same width. This pair of socks is for me and I have no intention of frogging an entire leg and heel just to add 1/4" to the first stripe, but it still bugs me a little that they don't match perfectly. 

Sneak Sock Attack

I've been making progress on the shawl, unfortunately half of it has been backwards progress. Haven't figured out why my stitch counts keep getting off (I have checked to see if my yarn overs slipped under my stitch markers, but sadly they weren't there.) Saturday night my husband brought home Cowboys and Aliens. It was a rather good movie, but after twenty minutes it became clear that I needed to pay more attention to it than my lace was letting me. Watching a movie with no knitting was just not going to happen. Since my yarn stash doubles as my footstool I was able to quickly grab a skein of sock yarn and cast on a simple sock. 

My parents are both pastors and celebrated 30 years of ministry Sunday. Their church invited the bishop to come speak and then held a potluck and a special program in the afternoon. I was so glad to have this sock with me. Mom and Dad moved to their current church after I'd already left for college, so I've never really gotten to know the members there. It's always nerve-wracking to be in a room full of strangers who all know you. Thankfully this sock proved to be the perfect ice-breaker. I met several ladies who were skilled at crochet and other needle crafts and this provided us a topic of conversation throughout the afternoon.

Basic Ribbed Sock; Deborah Norville Serenity Sock Weight: Surf

I have a tight yarn budget, so I usually choose complicated projects that take a long time to knit so I can get the most entertainment time out of my yarn. Normally this is a good thing, but sometimes I start to wonder if I'll every finish anything. I cast on this sock on Saturday evening and was weaving the toe three days later. Tonight I go back to the shawl so this little sock will be a loner for a while, but I think hope it will still be a few months before weather is cold enough for thick warm socks.

Picasso Socks 3

This long weekend was great for knitting. I finally finished the Picasso socks. I tend to be a slow distracted knitter, but on Saturday I successfully turned the heel and finished the foot! (I couldn't resist showing off my basil and African violet. I've tried for several years to raise an African violet, but this is the first time I've convinced one to re-flower after all of the blooms fell off.)

My green sweater is progressing at a much slower rate. I'm finally understanding why knitters have more than one project going at a time. The cables in this thing are rather intense and don't satisfy my craving for simple mindless knitting. 

Over the weekend I picked up Boyfriend Sweaters and I'm thinking I may be casting on one of those sweaters soon. They're simple enough for the end of a long day of work, and the yarn is big enough it's not going to hurt my fingers when my arthritis is acting up. The only problem is figuring out yarn substitutions. One of the sweaters I really love is knit with Baby Camel. I'm not sure what universe this guy lives in, but my husband would be horrified if I gave him a sweater that costs as much his wedding band. In the meantime I'm going to stroke my green sweater a bit more. I love that the cable pattern is finally starting to show.

Picasso Socks

The green sweater is progressing, but because of it's size progress is very slow to show. I've also been working on socks this week. My husband is very patient watching me focus on the green sweater and abandoning work on his socks. He has made several comments about how much he loves them and I like knitting for people who appreciate what I create so I've made it a goal to get these finished soon. (It's also really satisfying to have a project where an evening's work results in an inch of knitting rather than a single row.)

The yarn is Deborah Norville Picasso Marble. It's a basic vanilla sock with no real pattern.

What kind of knitter are you?

I've heard several discussions about product vs. process knitters. I've always suspected that I fall into the product camp, but after this week there is no longer any doubt in my mind. I am a product knitter. I usually start looking for my next project shortly after casting on my current project. I think about what piece I want in my wardrobe, spend hours looking through patterns, and debating what yarn I want to use. Because I have a fairly solid vision of what the finished piece will look like I don't have too much trouble focusing on my project. I may have a sock or dishcloth floating around, but they only get attention when I'm too tired to work on the main knitting. If you've been here for a while you might be asking about the Purple Monster. This sweater was my attempt at being a process knitter and the knowledge that real Knitters do colorwork. I have the sleeves and steeking left on this sweater, but because I didn't follow my process of selecting a project I feel no guilt over it not being done. The price of the yarn will force me to finish it sooner or (probably) later, but this week has not been the purple monster's week.

I've been making steady progress on my Fogarty Creek Blazer, but have gotten stuck on how to read the charts for the main body. I think I've figured it out, but now I need to get the right number of stitches on my needles. I should have known that with 282 stitches some of them were bound to go missing. Since I haven't been able to work on my green sweater, and I can't spend the week not knitting I've been reluctantly working on a sock. My husband really loves this pair of socks so I've been trying to get them done. (Turns out I married a product spouse who sees a pair of socks in some yarn and a half finished sock.)

So are you a product or a process knitter?

Sock it to Me Week 7

I'm pleased to announce the completion of the first pair of socks in the year of socks! (We're just going to ignore the fact that these are February's sock and January is still waiting patiently in the front pocket of my knitting bag.)

I was so excited by how well I got the strips to match. I really need to get into the practice of starting striped yarn at a color change so then my strips will easily match up. (Of course when the yarn company decides to randomly repeat three strips of colors it throws off all of your planning. If you look closely you'll notice the purple strips stripy bit repeats itself on the right sock. Grrr.)

The yarn is Deborah Nroville Serenity Sock Weight in Spring Fling, and the pattern is a basic vanilla sock.

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