FO: Crazy pink double knit socks

I've posted about the process of knitting these socks already here, but I'm happy to say I've finally finished them.

The poor things were going back and forth from London Bridge on a daily basis with no toes for several weeks before the Olympics started, and when I finally accepted defeat, I whipped out a couple of toes in time to finish them for February's sock of the month. Here's the specs:

Pattern: plain stockinette socks with 1x1 ribbing at the cuff, both knit at the same time one inside the other, as directed by Kory Stamper.
Yarn: Random bits and pieces from the Sock Yarn Blanket
Needles: US 1/2.25 mm circular
Start/finish: 28/12/09-26/2/10 - almost two months. For a pair of kid's socks. Yee gawds...must have been more then several weeks delay there.
Gauge: ~8 sts/inch.
Comments: I knit the cuffs individually before loading them all on one needle with alternating stitches. Devil had picked out four wee pink balls of yarn she wanted to use, so I split each one in half by weight, and used two for the leg and two for the foot. Details of knitting the heels are in my previous post, and by the time I got to the toes, I was ready to be done.

Getting the socks apart was a bit like watching a snake molt. First I got all the stitches separated onto two needles.

Then they were pulled apart.

Almost there,

Ta da!

Then the toes and weaving in of ends. New socks for Devil!

PS - Tomorrow is Steek Day!

The first FOs of 2010

A couple of items that, as of today, are on their way to the Windy City. First up:

Pattern: Star Crossed Slouchy Beret by Natalie Larson
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Stone Blue, a gift in last year's WHMU (WAMSKAL) Festivus gift exchange, 210 yds/100 gr. I used just barely over half a skein (48 grams in hat, 46 grams left).
Needles: US 10/6.0 mm and US 11/8.0 mm for ribbing and rest of hat respectively.
Start/finish: 3/1-6/1/10, making this the First FO of 2010
Comments/mods: no mods, only comment is that 1) I love this yarn (to-die-for soft), if only for squooshy soft things like hats and cowls and 2) I was surprised at how much I liked the fabric knit on needles two sizes larger then called for on the label. I am going to try and squeeze another hat out of the remaining 46 gr using just the size 10 needles. If it doesn't fit me, it might fit one of the kids someday.

FO #2:

Pattern: Ocean Toes by Cat Bordhi, Cedar architecture from her fabulous book
Yarn: Dream in Color Starry, about two thirds of a skein, which would round up to about 300 yds.
Needles: US 2/2.75 mm
Start/finish: 6 Dec - 10 January 2010, making them the second, although longer process, FO of 2010
Comments/mods: this yarn was repurposed after my failed Viper Pilots experiment. The yarn was meant for my best buddy Aquaphilic, and as she is something of a fan of BSG, I was hoping the Viper Pilots would do the trick. Unfortunately, my choice of needle size led to a Viper Pilot that was a bit on the small side. So on to Ocean Toes, also an appropriate choice given her athletic history.

The yarn was lovely to work with, and the sparkle is just fun. We'll have to wait for an update from Aquaphilic as to how well it wears in the future.

The only modification I had to do to adjust the pattern to fit a women's US size 10 (approximately) was work an extra 12 rows of stockinette before beginning the toe decreases. Here's hoping they fit!

Both of these lovely items are winging their way to the cold Midwest as we speak, so I'd better get cracking on another winter hat. I still need one!

FO: Hat and mitten set

Back to the Christmas rundown. This was certainly the year for handspun gifts.

The hat was knit in July, and I had enough of the yarn (blogged here) to make some matching mittens.

Pattern: Robin's Egg Blue hat by Rachel Iufer, inspiring matching mittens
Yarn: Hello Yarn Fiber Club superwash BFL in "Night Sky", 2 skeins bulky weight, 245 yds. I used probably 200 yds for the set.
Needles: US 10/6.0 mm - next time I'll go down a needle size on the mittens - they were a bit loosely knit.
Comments/mods: I've already blogged the hat, so I'll just comment a bit on the mittens. I figured out the number of stitches I wanted for the folded over cuff, and worked that like the band on the hat. Then I knit a generic mitten shape, with an inset thumb (as opposed to a thumb gusset deal). The mittens are a bit loose, but I think they can work with liners if it's really cold.

The buttons came from some I salvaged off my Mountain Mohair sweater when I turned it into spaghetti. I think they work well, and the receipient seems to like them!

FO: Handspun manly mitts

Pattern: my own, a simple k6, p2 rib for the body of the mitt, with 8 stitches increased for the thumb gusset.
Yarn: Handspun BFL from Spunky Eclectic, detailed here
Needles: US 3/3.25 mm
Start/finish: 2 December - 6 December 2009
Gauge: ~6 st/inch
Comments/mods: Made for my brother, who lives in DC, where it gets cold, but not really really cold. I suspect he won't wear these much in the winter, but they'll be good for spring/fall transitional times.

I worked four rows of k1, p1 ribbing before switching to the main stitch pattern and worked for 2.5 inches before starting the thumb increases. Then put thumb stitches on waste yarn and worked the body of the mitt for another 1.5 inches before ending with 4 rows of ribbing. Then picked up thumb stitches plus 4 more and worked four rows of ribbing. Done and dusted (in the local vernacular).

I hope everyone has a great New Year's Eve tonight!

FO: Homage to Hello Yarn

Of all the Christmas presents, these were the hardest to give up, by far!

Backs

Palms

Pattern: Norwegian Snail Mittens by Adrian Bizilia
Yarn: Handspun BFL in natural brown and "Norway" (dyed by Adrian as part of the Hello Yarn Fiber Club)
Needles: US 00/1.75 mm (hoo boy!)
Gauge: ~ 9 stitches/inch
Start/finish: 8 November - 6 December 2009
Comments/mods: I've blogged about the spinning here. The 2.5 oz of brown BFL I originally spun up ended up being too thick as a 3-ply, so I spun up another ounce quickly and 2-plied it, getting ~70 yards. That worked perfectly. I ended up having to spin up another ounce later (72 yds) but didn't finish it all off. Let's say ~120 yds of the brown.

I didn't use up all of the Norway I'd spun either. As you can see, the stripes didn't match up as well as I was hoping, but I refused to let that bother me. Otherwise, I would have been splicing and swearing about small bits of handspun gone to waste and so on. I think I probably used two thirds of each skein, so maybe 3 oz total? Again, since I didn't measure the yardage, I have no idea how much I used. I'll have to measure the leftovers and weight them to get an estimate.

The pattern was great fun to knit, although I have issues with using sport weight yarn on miniscule needles. My bright blue metal size 00 dpns are now bent and tortured from the effort of trying to knit with this stuff. I adore the stripes on the palms. Maybe even more then the snails...

It's a very good thing these were a bit tight around the hand, otherwise my mother-in-law might be going home with very chilly fingers. I hope these beauties enjoy life in Vermont!

ETA (30 Dec): my MIL wore these yesterday on our poorly planned hike in the rain/sleet/snow and her hands stayed dry and warm enough that she had to take the mittens off. There's something to be said for teeny tiny needles I guess!