FO: February's socks

Pattern: Paul Attwell by Emily Johnson
Yarn: Knit Picks Bare, dyed by me
Needles: started with US 1.5/2.5 mm, but sock was waaaaay big, so the final version was knit with US 1/2.25 mm double points. I knit the 72 stitch version, to fit a men's US size 9 foot.
Start/finish: 1 February - 24 February 2011
Gauge: 9.5 stitches/inch in stockinette, 13 stitches/1.5 inches in pattern stitch.
Comments/mods: A total and shameless mimic of the Yarn Harlot, this pattern is fantastic. The stitch pattern is a 4 row repeat, with every other row being plain (i.e. straight stockinette or seed stitch). The pattern is really well done - great pictures, clear instructions (although no charts, but they aren't necessary). Since splitting the sock up by repeats worked so well for me last week, I did the same with this - with a four row repeat, it didn't lend itself quite as well to that technique, but I settled on five repeats a day. They languished a bit with the dyeing/starting of next month's sweater, but I got a lot done on the bus to and from Geneva over the half term.

I'm really pleased with how the dyeing came out. These are a birthday present for Ironman, and he liked the color of the yarn in the original pattern, so I tried to replicate that. I added a tiny bit of burnt orange to golden yellow, with a small bit of black to tone it down. Some of the orange ended up on the yarn in small flecks, which add a nice varigation (IMHO). I did my best to tie the skein loosely enough that there weren't any white areas, but there are still some spots that are quite light. But no matter - I like how it ended up in the knitted fabric. And look, they sort of match the Small Ridiculous Dog.

So now I have a breather of a few days to get in some work on Dad's sweater before March hits in full force, with Sock #3. Two months of 2011 down, two pairs of socks produced (plus one not in the club). Still on track, but next month brings the start of Sock Madness, in which I am once again participating (in a fashion). I'm hoping to be able to stay on track through that (I've got another pattern in the competition), but it may get a bit nutty in short order. We'll see, I guess.

FO: Smaug and Boo

I finished my first installment of my Self-Imposed Sock Club (SISC) on Monday, wove in the ends and blocked them. Ta da!

Pattern: Smaug by MoragOgg
Yarn: Brown Sheep Wildfoote Luxury Sock, colorway "Vinca Minor", approximately 1.25 skeins
Needles: US 1.5/2.5 mm, magic loop
Start/finish: 1/1-24/1/11.
Comments/mods: This was a nice pattern - enough to keep me moving on it (aka not bored silly), but an easy stitch pattern to memorize. I made one modification on the toe - I continued the purl ridge down the sides of the toe, just because I liked the continuity.

I knit these just as written (60 stitch sock) and, as a result, they are waaaaay too small to fit me. I wanted a modelled shot, but Boo's arms were as close as I could get.

At least you can see the stitch pattern a bit better...these will go to some deserving soul with more petite feet.

In an unbelievable, once-in-a-lifetime convergence, I actually finished two pairs of socks this month.

These are for Boo, toe up, no pattern to speak of, short-row heel, an inch of 2x2 ribbing, find right spot in ball, repeat for matching stripes. I started these on our three-day trip to Copenhagen just after Christmas, and finished them a couple of weeks ago? I think? Anyway...Month 1, two pairs. It can only go downhill from here!

Summertime, and the blogging is absent

Sorry about my unplanned hiatus. I've spent the last two weeks in the US with family, and the last two days trying to shake the jetlag before I get on yet another plane (this time for work). But I do have lots of finished objets to share with you.

First off: I did manage to spin up my yarn in those few days at home between trips. I ended up with 96 yds of bulky/superbulky superwash merino,

and about 175 yds of somewhat overplied Targhee.

About 91 yards of the merino became this,

and 170 yards of the Targhee became this,

which still needs the ribbing redone on smaller needles so it doesn't fall off quite so easily. The patterns are written and off to my wonderful test knitters, and I hope to have them available for release soon. Along with some better pictures!

I also managed to finish 99.9% of the mind-numbing stockinette on the Aran Necklace camisole. And then I ran out of yarn. Thankfully I was in the hidden section of the hem, and I had some DK weight random cotton lying around.

Last night's bout of jet lag-induced insomnia meant that this baby has it's hem sewn down and is blocked and drying on the guest bed as we speak. Hooray! Of course, autumn has arrived here in the UK (unlike in New England where it was ludicrously hot) (ok, it wasn't Texas hot, but it was hotter then England!), and it's not likely that it will be warm enough to wear on it's own, but that's ok. Especially since the armholes dip down below bra line on the side. Hmmm...

Finally, I finished my first pair of socks in a couple of months. I kind of lost my sock mojo at the start of the summer holidays in July, but 7 hour plane rides do allow for some concentrated sock time. I can only show part of these, since they're a design that I'm submitting, but they were great fun to knit. I liked the yarn alot too - Cherry Tree Hill Supersock merino. I think the colorway was "Blueberry Hill", which I liked. US 1.5/2.5 mm needles, 8.5 stitches per inch.

I wrote this up and sent it off to Sock Madness for next year, so the picture is deliberately obscured. Just in case you thought I was doing some drunken knitware photography.

So, two weeks vacation and no blogging means three completed original designs, and one summer tank I can't wear until next June. But there's a lot going on this fall - the iKnit Weekender is in a couple of weeks, and yesterday on my bike ride I hatched out a great and completely insane plan to knit sweaters for six people in my family (including me to be fair), four handspun, one cabled, one colorwork, by next March. Methinks that any Christmas knitting to be gifted has already been knit this year...

FO: Nice GAMs!

Pattern: GAMs by Taya Schram, for Sock Madness IV
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock, colorway Irving Park, 1.6 skeins (~350 yards)
Needles: US 0/2.0 mm
Start/finish: 30 April - 25 May 2010.
Gauge: 10 stitches/14 rows per inch
Finished size: 7.5 inches from cuff to bottom of heel flap, 8 inches foot circumference (unstretched)
Comments/mods: The third pattern for Sock Madness. I've had this yarn sitting in the stash for more then 5 years, and it was high time to move it along. I was very entertained by the way the yarn pooled into stripes on the leg and foot.

It broke up a bit around the heel, but came back together nicely. I knit the 77 stitch version of this sock to try and make sure they would fit my size 10 (US) feet, and the stretchiness of the stitch pattern meant that I had no problems getting them on.

The heel design is called a strong heel: there's no heel flap, but you increase two stitches on the sole/back of leg stitches as you go down, making a kind of reverse gusset. This makes it easy to carry the stitch pattern all the way down the back of the heel.

This was a really fun pattern to knit, with an easily memorized repeat, and I'm happy with the way it works with the fairly variegated yarn. I was a bit worried that the stitch pattern would get lost, but that wasn't the case.

These got finished just in the nick of time, because guess what arrived today?

May's Knit Love Club package. Some gorgeous yarn (Spirit Trail Fiberworks Sunna in "In Dreams"), a beading needle and a week package of purple beads. What you can't see from this shot is the rest of the fiber content: 75% SW merino, 15% cashmere, 10% bombyx silk. Excuse me while I swoon...

FO: Cool beans

As previously mentioned, I am "participating" in Sock Madness IV (if by participating, you mean lurking on the forums, oooing and aaahing over everyone's socks and occasionally knitting one of the patterns). While the true contestents are now at the beginning of Sock #4 (ribbed and cabled knee highs!), I've finally finished Sock #2.

Pattern: Cool Beans by Heatherly Walker, Round 2 of Sock Madness IV
Yarn: Knit Picks Essential in Bare and Pumpkin (overdyed brown), approximately one 50 gr ball of each
Needles: US 2/2.75 mm and US 1/2.25 mm
Start/finish: 29 March - 27 April 2010 (clearly I will not be making it to the later rounds of the next Sock Madness, so I'd better submit another sock design so I can get all the patterns!)
Comments/mods: This was a really fun, and surprisingly quick pattern to knit. For the first sock, I only did four beans on the leg instead of the required six beans - I was a bit worried about having enough yarn to finish both. I also got completely confused by the directions for the colors on the heel turn, so I just kept the stripes in pattern (which ended up being the right thing to do). The first sock used 21 gr of each color.

For sock 2, I decided that, while sock #1 fit me just fine, I wasn't very happy with the fabric. It seemed too loose to wear well, so I went down one whole needle size for the second sock, and used US 1/2.25 mm needles. Same number of beans and everything, and I liked the fabric much better, but the second sock was a bit small for my gargantuan tootsies.

You can see the stitches straining on the right sock - poor things!

So my dilemma is this: at least one sock will have to be frogged and reknit, so do I a) frog the big one, knit it again on US 1 needles, and hope I can find some coffee lover with feet the right size or 2) frog them both, and use US 1.5/2.5 mm needles in the hopes that I'll get a sock that is just right for meeeeee! I do love the coffee, but I know a number of smaller footed coffee lovers as well. Hmmmm...I might even be able to knit the correct number of beans on the leg if I do the smaller size.

Decisions, decisions. In the meantime, I'll leave you with the wrong side of a heel flap to look at.

Looks kind of cool, doesn't it?