FO Friday: Mother's Day Nutkins

 Like so many parents, my mom and dad are hard to shop for.  Fortunately, my mom can usually be pleased with one of my knits.  So when I realized that Mother's Day was approaching back in April I offered to give my mom any of the projects that I was working on at the time or to make something else for her.  When I mentioned I had a pair of socks on the needles she made her decision very quickly.

These are the socks she choose, Nutkins made with Dream in Color Smooshy in Beach Fog.  As many have said Smooshy is a lovely yarn.  The colors are vibrant and the yarn is smooth and springy. It even holds up well after wearing and washing.  It's just perfect for socks in my opinion.  The pattern was great too, though I decided to do my regular heel rather than the short row heel called for.   I'm a little sad to give them away, but of course my mom deserves them.

Ribbit!

I remember reading through Stitch n' Bitch way back in college when I first got a copy.  Somewhere in there Debbie Stoller explained the origin of term 'frogging' for ripping back.  My mind must be going because I can't remember if she said its because somehow the noise of ripping back a project resembles the noise frogs make or that 'rip it' and 'ribbit' sound similar.  It must be the latter.  I've heard plenty of frogs and they do not sound at all like the sad little noise of ripping out knitting.  Frogs are actually quite loud, especially when its summer and you're trying to sleep in a house that's next to a marsh.

Regardless of the origin of the term, I am currently faced with having to do some frogging myself.  Below is my Somewhat Cowl, which has been keeping me company while I listen to bar review lectures.

While I working on it, I started to think it was coming out a touch too big, and that perhaps my gauge had changed when I switched to knitting in the round.  Turns out I was right.  I decided to wash the incomplete body to check on everything and my gauge is looser on the lower half of the sweater.  I tired on the sweater and, as I expected, in the back there's a loose flab of fabric.  Sometimes, its hard being right.  

Of course, this issue was possibly made worse by my inability to count.  I added a couple stitches because I thought I needed to have the right number for the ribbing.  Turns out I was wrong about that the number.  I fudged the ribbing a bit since I was feeling lazy.

Now I could ignore the extra fold of fabric.  Its not so bad as to be unwearable. Actually most people probably wouldn't even notice it.  But I still have a few more weeks of bar lectures and if you're going to knit a sweater you might as well do it right.  So my poor little somewhat cowl shall be partially frogged.  

But at least I have pretty socks that are going well to knit on the beach this weekend.

Eight!

As I mentioned not too long ago, I recently had a sudden uncontrollable need for blue and pink stripe socks. I'm happy to say that this need has now been satisfied.

I learned two new things, and this is particularly pleasing because its been awhile since I've learned any new techniques.  That doesn't mean that I know everything, just that I've been too lazy to take on a project that requires me to learn something new.  But with these socks I learn how to do helical stripes and a short row heel.  Neither of these are really all that hard and I can see my self using them again in the future.  The stripes are a great way to stash bust the little bits of extra sock yarn I have lying around.  The short row is just a nice alternative to a flap heel.  I'm not sure which one I prefer, we'll see how well the short row heel wears.  But it is very nice looking and actually was not nearly as finky as I thought it would be.

Overall, I love them.  They're simple and cute, and make a great addition to my collection.

Summer Knittin' & a FO

The past few weeks have been incredibly busy. I have two weeks left at my summer job, I've moved, and of course I've been knitting. I even finished these socks as part of the Sock Knitter's Anonymous July Challenge

Pattern: Show Off Stranded Socks by Anne Campbell
Yarn: Aisling Yarn in Being There that I got from the CT sheep and wool festival

Overall, I liked the pattern and I'm happy with my socks. I'm still not convinced that this yarn and pattern combo are ideal but I didn't feel like ripping them out and just went with it. I think a yarn with shorter lengths of color would take better advantage of the stranded pattern and provide more visual interest. The long colorway here results in the strands blending in and not popping like they should. I did enjoy the different heel construction though. It was the first time I made socks without doing the conventional heel flap so it good learning experience for me.

In other news the new Fall Twist Collective is out, and I love soo many of the patterns in this issue. I don't even know where I would start if I was going to make one of the sweaters, they'll all beautiful.

FO: Blueberry Socks

Next to my family's house in Georgia there was a blueberry bush that seperate our yard from the neighbors.  I always liked to pick the blueberries during the summer.  They were a beautiful deep blue and it fasniated me that the juice was purple.  My mom would often make muffins using what I picked.

The entire time that I was making these socks the color reminded of blueberries.  The yarn just has the prettist variation between deep blues and purples like the berries I picked when I was a kid.  I am quite pleased with them, they're simple, warm, and cozy.  I thought about using some sort of pretty pattern but I started these just after finals so I wanted something simple to work on. 

Next up, I know I should start Robert's socks but I'm feeling a little tired of tiny needles.  Instead I'm going to make something using this handspun yarn that his mom gave me for Christmas, possibly Glampyre's new Reclamation Scraf.  

The yarn it from a family friend who owns alpacas and spins and sells her own yarn under the label Cold Spring Alpaca. This is a woman that I definately would like to meet sometime (I'd also love to meet the alpacas) but for now I'm just happy to have some of her beautiful yarn.   

In Need of a Good Home

So that hat I mentioned recently is now complete! Yay! That's one project off my incomplete list.  It's a modified turn a square.  I cast on fewer stitiches and did not increases after the ribbing. But I currently have no idea what to do with it.  I perfer things that are more girly and the boy's head is a little too big for it so the poor little hat is just going to have to hang out until I either remember to give it to its original intended recipient or think of someone else.

Next up are my blue socks, which only need to graft together to make them complete. I always forgot how to do it though so I need to look up kitchener stitch again before I do it.  (I really like the tutorial they have of it on knitty if anyone else has this problem.)

Recently, I did something that was not in keeping with my goal of reducing the amount of yarn I have, but was necessary for another purpose.  I bought yarn,

The boy's birthday is in March and I really want to make him a pair of socks.  He loves toe socks so I may try to make those for him, but I am a little concerned about that prospect.  I want these to be finished on time and I'm afaird that knitting toes may be a stumbling block.  So I may knit him a pair of daigonal cross rib socks from Favorite Socks instead. 

The Agony and the Ecstasy of Sock Knitting

I have a conflicted relationship with sock knitting.  Much like fellow knitting law student Emilee, I'm not really a huge fan of knitting socks.  I find them to be fiddely.  Sure its easy enough to make the cuff and then flap but then you need to remember the proper way to turn a heel and pick up stitches and then decrease those extra stitiched you just picked up.  Now I'm not saying that knitting a sweater is straight forward either but at least the needles aren't so darn tiny and fragile.  I know I've bent several sets of DPNs out of shape.

But then you know wool socks and are just so nice.  They're cozy and warm.  I have one pair of socks I made that actually fits, the others suffer from gauge issues and picking up too many stitches, and I wear those socks all the time.  I'd wear them everyday if it was socially acceptable to do such a thing.  I sincerely believe that the key to happiness in a New England winter is wool socks and a good pair of boots. 

So how do I deal with my dislike of sock knitting but love of the end product?  I knit them anyway and hope that I'll learn to love the process.  I do think its growing on me.

But more importantly, does one sock count as an FO? 

taste the rainbow

So last night I sat down to write a post and simply could not think of anything to write. I was so hopped up on diet cherry Pepsi and chocolate that mind was going 3,000 miles a minutes but it all went out too fast to make the connection down to my key broad. I don't have much sugar or caffeine in my daily diet so I can get a little wired when I do have some. Today I'm having a bit better luck with focusing thanks to the lack addictive substances in my system

Sadly, not much knitting has been going on the past few weeks. I did manage to finish these socks out of SWTC's tofutsies on size 2s. They're pretty basic, but I did make an eye partridge heel for the first time which is so pretty in the multi-color yarn. The SWTC It's really lovely stuff. Very soft and nice to work with. It's not nearly as tough on the hands as knitting with 100% cotton. It's even machine washable and didn't pool very much. I'm wearing them right now and even though they came out a touch big I really like them. Plus I might have enough of the skein left to make another short pair. Next time though I think I'll go down a needle size.

My other projects, however, feel never ending. All I want is to be done with them and move on to other things. More on them some other time, like when I don't need to finish my civ pro reading for tonight.

pink

As I turn out projects it gets harder and harder to deny that pink is my favorite color. I'm actually not sure if I bother to deny this since I'm not 12 and trying to be a tomboy anymore but that's besides the point.

What is the point? That I have new pink mittens. My favorite pink gloves are developing holes in the fingers, probably because I got them two years ago while I was London and have worn them nonstop ever since. So I decided it was time to figure out how to make mittens. I didn't really use a pattern so I messed up a little bit. The thumb either needs to be lower or the hand should be longer. But they'll do the job of keeping my hand warm when walking to and from school.

Also in the interest of keeping my extremities warm I decided to cast on for a pair of socks. Normally I don't do socks, but while picking out yarn with my mom we were both rather taken with SWTC's tofutsies. She offered to buy me a skien and who am I to turn down yarn? So now I'm knitting it and can't help but think that red, orange, and purple is kind of a bizarre color combination.

Seriously, who came up with it? I'm not entirely sure I like it. I like fun colors and all but this might be a little too fun. And it begs the very important question: who's crazier SWTC for dreaming it up and making it or me for picking it out?

Nice Guys Finish Last

At long last I have finished the socks for my brother. And it only took 8 months or so. I am definitely not a sock knitter. All those tiny little stitches get a bit discouraging after awhile.

Now on to newer and better projects. I ordered the hedgehog pattern the other night so I'll be starting that once it gets here. I also cast on for Knitty's Blackberry today using that red yarn that I've had forever. It's nice to be knitting with big needles, I feel like I've already gotten a fair amount done.

On The Table

So I finally have some progress shots of what I've been knitting recently so without further ado I present to you... the Simple Knitted Bodice!
Isn't it pretty? The one on the left is when I tired it on after finishing the increases. I picked the XS so I was terrified that it would be too small, but I was equally afaird of the S being too big, but it fit perfectly when I tired it on. The trying on was about a week ago and since then I've joined it and started the lace section. I've finished the first repeat of it and it looks pretty, though I don't particularly like knitting with size 3mm needles and a worsted weight yarn.
I didn't even realize how tight I was knitting though until I was watching House last night and picked up my brother's socks. For the first time ever I actually enjoyed knitting with size 0 needles. I was able to get a couple inches of them done, so they're just under 4 ins now, and hopefully while I'm in the newspaper office tonight I can get some more done in between editing sections.

And finally for some recent statsh enhancing purchases. There have been a few good sales going on recently and I just couldn't resist stocking up. However, I do projects in mind for everything that I ordered. This is some Cotton Fleece I got from yarnware.com a couple weeks ago. The color is Praire Lupine and I'm imaging either a Rusted Root or Green Gable from zephyr would be lovely, but I'm currently using the needles I need for the SKB so I have some time to make this decision. I also took part in the massive sale that was going at knithappens.com, but more about that when the order gets here. Suffice to say its pretty, really, really pretty.