FO: Silly socks for a silly girl

Just in case you were concerned about the lack of knitting content in this supposed knitting blog, here's a pair of socks for the wee Devil:

Pattern: my own toddler-sized interpretation of Mata Hari (detailed below)

Needles: Susan Bates US1

Yarn: Knit Picks Dancing

Started: on vacation in the UK, around 8/30/07

Finished: 9/25/07

Comments: I just made up the pattern as I went along, after several abortive attempts to get the right size. I ended up casting on 48 stitches, knitting 6 rounds of k2, p2 rib and then started the pattern. Pattern row: knit 6, k2tog, yo. Repeat to end of round. Then knit three rows plain. On the next pattern row, on the first repeat knit 5, k2tog, yo. The other repeats are still k6, k2tog, yo. This shifts the eyelet over one stitch so they end up spiraling around the leg. I worked the leg until the first repeat of the pattern started with a yo (about 8 repeats), and then knit one round before starting the heel. Short row heel - I did short rows down to 6 live stiches, but I'd do fewer short rows next time since the heels are a little narrow and pointy when they're on the feet. Once the heel was do, I knit 2 rounds and started up with the pattern again. Worked the same distance for the foot, knit one round and then began decreases for the toe.

Toe decreases: row 1, k1, ssk, knit to last 3 stitches on far side of toe, k2tog, k1. Repeat on back of toe. Next row: knit all stitches. I repeated these two rows 5 times, then worked row 1 every row until there were 12 stiches total left. Then grafted the toes together and started sock 2!

Devil was very excited to have a new pair of silly socks. They weren't as silly as I had been envisioning since I remembered the yarn looking like this:

Instead of like this:

But so be it. She immediately put them on her hands and started dusting off the coffee table. Clearly not my child!

Gotta get this place cleaned up...

Look! Silly socks!

I may have a problem

Usually I'm able to keep working away at a project until the bitter end (aka the weaving in of ends and blocking) with no problem. But in the last few weeks I've found myself having an absolute fit of startitis, with very little to show in the way of finished projects.

First came our vacation, and the need for a small portable project to take, so I'd have something to work on in the few brief moments in the car when I wasn't in fear of my life, what with all those crazy Brits driving on the wrong side of the road and all. So I knit a pair of socks for Boo, which ended up actually being more appropriate for a newborn. And I started a pair of socks for Devil, whose current status is one sock done (ends not woven in) and the second sock to the heel. Good bus knitting, but not terribly inspiring.

Then came the Basalt Tank from Knitting Nature. This is a fun project, but I've now made it through the two side half hexagons, and I'm having trouble getting excited about casting on for another whole hexagon. OK, it's a 5/6 hexagon, but still - it's an awful lot of stitches to cast on/pick up at once.

So I pawed through the stash and started this.

This is 1) really fun, since I'm basically knitting a doily with worsted weight yarn and 2) a Christmas present for some lucky family member. In fact, this is the only picture I'll post of it, since I've only got the edging left to do, and any blocking shots would just ruin the surprise. I'm not sure who's going to get it yet, but a number of the candidates do actually stop by here once in a while.

Then there's the homespun Zeebee I started a while back, also perfect bus knitting, which has been languishing completely untouched in the bottom of my bag for more then a month. The problem is that I don't think I have enough yarn. Somehow it's easier to not move forward then it is to get half way through the last quarter of the hat, realize I don't have enough yarn, and rip it back yet again. Or find someone with a smaller head to give it to. Both of these last projects are immediate reactions to my sudden awareness that the holidays are just around the corner, and I may have built up some unreasonable expectations in my family as to the availability of handknit goodies at Christmas. For example, last year the three grandmothers in the family received this, and this, and this (a month late). What to do for an encore? Chunky acrylic hats for everyone, whee!

With all that complaining, I do actually have an FO to show you (note: the actual knitting on this has been done for two or three months waiting for the buttons to get sewn on).

Pattern: Peapod Baby set by Kate Gilbert (helpfully modeled by Panda), free on the Interweave Knits website somewhere

Yarn: Elsbeth Lavold Silky Wool in in color #45

Needles: US4 I think - whatever the pattern called for.

Started/Finished: Doesn't bear thinking about (sometime in June I think)/Last week, let's say 9/14.

Comments: A really cute and easy knit. It went very fast, and the lace panel on the front kept it from being too boring. The only modification I made was to work short rows on the neck edge instead of binding off stitches. This necessitated reworking the numbers for the top ribbing, since the pattern has you pick up fewer stitches then were left after the short rows. No big deal. It's now off to be presented to the wee one it was made for, and hopefully it will fit him for a bit.

Sigh. So now I just have to keep plugging away on the projects on the needles, and try not to hyperventilate when I contemplate the ever-growing list of holiday knitting. Like sweaters for the girls. And socks for Dad. And something for Ironman? Uh oh. I'm in trouble.

Granny's party

I'm mostly recovered from my expedition over the weekend with the girls to North Carolina*, but it's amazing how exhausting vacation can be! We left on Thursday, sneaking out of IAH between feeder bands from Tropical Storm Erin, and made it safely to Richmond, VA without an further mishap. Despite having to sit on the plane for an hour at the gate and then for almost three hours in the air, the kids were fabulous. Having a bulkhead seat helped tremendously, but it was still a long time to be stuck in one place, particularly for Devil.

We met Nana in Richmond, threw the kids (neither of whom slept on the plane) into the car, and headed south. They were both asleep inside of ten minutes, and we had a very peaceful trip down to the lake. Things were very calm until Friday morning, when my cousin arrived with her two kids (7 and 3) and then later in the day, my two aunts arrived with another cousin and 2 more kids in tow (4 and 10 months). Devil was so enthralled by all the excitement that she basically forgot to eat. The rest of the weekend was a blur of playing in the lake, going for rides in the big motorboat (which Devil very proudly got to drive), and the ingestion of copious amounts of junk food.

On Saturday night we had Granny's birthday party, and I gave her the Branching Out scarf I've been working on. I'm not much in to making scarves, they get real boring real fast, but something about this one was different. Maybe it was the lace pattern, or the excitement of working with yarn I spun myself, but I really enjoyed making this scarf. I was originally planning on keeping it for myself, but decided that Granny would love it. And she did. Although she made sure to tell me to take it back when she goes.

She loved the colors (which are perfect for her), and was very impressed by the fact that I'd not only knit it, but also spun the yarn. That's the kind of appreciation for handknitted gifts you like to see!

Here's a close up. More details about the yarn and it's origins are

here

, but it was approximately worsted weight (varied between 11-13 wpi in three different skeins). I started off with two skeins, one thinner then the other. I weighed both skeins and the thinner one was also half the weight of the other. I wanted to avoided pooling and abrupt changes in the color sequences as well as minimizing any variability in the gauge due to thicker versus thinner spinning, so I used both balls at the same time, working 4 rows from the heavy/thicker ball and 2 rows from the lighter/thinner ball. I carried the non-working yarn up along the side, catching it up in the middle of the 4 row stretches so it didn't dangle off the edge. This worked out pretty well, but when I ran out of the thicker ball of yarn, the scarf wasn't quite long enough, so I had to spin up some more. Thankfully I had some fiber left!

Some pattern details:

Pattern:

Branching Out

from Knitty.com

Needles: US size 8

Yarn: BFL top handdyed from the

Hello Yarn

Fiber Club, spun on a Golding spindle

Started: er...sometime in mid-July

Finished: ~August 10th or so

Gauge: Hunh? Who cares, it's lace...about 7 inches wide and on the short side for a scarf.

Trip back on Sunday was uneventful except for Boo showing disturbing signs of wanting to be _that_ baby. You know the one, who screams non-stop for the entire flight and will not be mollified. Thankfully we were right next to the engines at the very back of the plane, and she eventually conked out.

Note: I'll be on a brief hiatus for the next couple of weeks - we're heading off to the UK tomorrow for a wedding and some time out looking at fossils on the Jurassic Coast. But back after Labor Day, and I've got a review of a bunch of different types of spinning fibers in the works for you.

* except for the lovely case of pinkeye I've picked up from my oldest child, for which I spent two hours at the doctor's office this morning trying to get some antibiotics. Thanks Dev!

Finis!

I've got several finished items to show you today. First up is the final Lantern Moon skein.

It took me what felt like forever to ply this stuff up. At least four evenings of solid 2 hr plying sessions. But I'm pretty happy with the finished product - I like the colors alot more then I thought I would when I started off.

I ended up with 467 yds of fingering weight yarn (18 wpi)! That is such a change from the weight I was spinning before - I'm not sure how I managed to go from heavy worsted to fingering while skipping over the intervening weights, but I now understand why folks say it's harder to spin thick then thin. The biggest difference in what I did with this yarn (versus

Cricket

) was to prep all the top at once, predrafting each section and then winding up two big balls of fiber to spin. That meant that once I started spinning, I could just keep going without needed to stop and prep more fiber. The best part of the spinning was watching how the colors changed. This was also the worst part of the plying - I seperated the top by color repeats and was hoping to get them to line up in the finished yarn. Mmmm...not so much. But this stuff is still very pretty, and will make good Silly Socks* for Devil.

And here is another FO,

blocked and awaiting delivery to my grandmother for her birthday. I'll try and get a good shot of her modeling it this weekend. The blocking process was greatly assisted by a freshly washed Boo:

(It looks like she's smiling in this photo, but really she's starting to wail)

This is my first fiber-to-FO project, and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. And the process of knitting with yarn I had made myself was really a special one. I also found the variability of the yarn worked well with the lace pattern and kept things interesting. I'm not going to put a moratorium on all mill-spun yarn for future projects, especially for something with a lot of stockinette, but I'm liking the handspun stuff alot.

Here's a final, unfortunately framed shot of the Lantern Moon for you. Probably no Fiber Friday this week since the girls and I will be in NC for Granny's birthday (cross your fingers for me for the plane ride tomorrow afternoon!), but I'll be back next week, hopefully with more stuff cleared off the needles. I'm getting some fall sweater startitis around here!

* Every Friday Devil's classroom does something different, for example wearing pajamas to school. Last week Friday was Silly Sock day. I found out about this on Wednesday at 5:15 pm, and spent more time then I care to admit trying to calculate how much sleep I would have to give up in order to knit her some Silly Socks by 7:00 am Friday morning. Needless to say, I came to my senses and ended up putting embroidery floss bows all over a pair of socks she already had. She was quite taken with the idea of silly socks, however, so there's another project to add to the list.

FO: Padded bag

Pattern for padded hard drive bag - this easy bag uses the same stitch pattern as a sock heel flap to create a thick sturdy fabric that will cushion your valuables against the hard knocks of everday life (such as being unceremoniously tossed in your bag on your way out the door in the morning).

Yarn: worsted weight left over from a sweater for my MIL many seasons back

Needles: ? US size 7 I think

Gauge: 5.5 sts/9 rows per inch

Dimensions: ~3.5x5.25 inches

Pattern: Row 1 - sl1, k1, repeat to end

Row 2 - sl1, purl to end

Cast on 20 sts (or number needed for desired width, just make sure it's an even number). Work in pattern for desired length, ending with a WS row.

You'll now work the back of the bag by knitting the first and last stitches on the needle with one of the slipped stitches along the side of the bag front as follows:

Row 1: pick up slipped stitch at right edge of bag front (when WS is facing you) and k2tog with the first stitch on the needle. k1, *sl1, k1*, repeat * to * to last stitch. Pick up slipped stitch on left side of bag and ssk with the last stitch on the needle.

Row 2: purl all stitches

Work these two rows until all slipped stitches along the side of the bag front have been worked. Continue in pattern until bag flap is desired length.

Bind off 9 sts, k2, bind off 9 sts. Reattach yarn and work a 2 stitch i-cord tie to desired length. Bind off 2 sts. On bag front, pickup and knit 2 sts. Work 2 stitch i-cord tie to desired length and bind off. Weave in all ends, slip in portable hard drive, and enjoy!

ETA: how about that new countertop?