Socktoberfest!

Today is the last day of Socktoberfest! I enjoyed it so much, thank you Lolly, I can't wait for next year. I was hoping to finish Hubby's b'day socks, but that didn't happen. That's ok, I have to have something to knit for the Solid Sock KAL. *vbg*

solid socks

A new sock knit along, horay! I enjoyed Socktoberfest so much, I just have to join this one, too.

I went out on Saturday morning to get coffee, (hubby almost died, we were out, gasp) but since Costco wasn't open yet I went to Great Yarns! to kill some time. I am so glad I did! I made some great finds.

• 2 skeins Burly Spun for daughter's sweater, I had been searching for the perfect yarn and I guess 3rd time's the charm.
• US11 Brittany DPNs, I have been looking for size 11s for a week, everyone has been out of stock
• 1 skein Noro and 1 skein Cascade Pastaza in fall colors for a felted bag, may need another skein of the Cascade.

(I also found that they carry Kroy Sock. I have wanted to try it and now I don't have to order it online.)

Later, I ran up to Pacific Fabrics to pick up Knit Mittens!, I ened up not getting the book but did pick up :

• 1 skein Noro and 1 skein Cascade Pastaza in pale blue/greens for a felted bag, may need another skein of the Cascade.
• Vogue Knitting Holiday 2005

This is yarn for 3 hoiday gifts, time to get knitting!

that's my bag, man

I found hubby's socks that I started last year and discovered that for some strange reason I had cast on way too few stitches and I need to restart them . . . sigh. I got about 2" of 4x2 ribbing done and put them down. I think I am socked out, for now. Saturday I went to Acorn Street, once again looking for the perfect yarn for daughter's sweater. No luck on that front, but I did manage to come home with yarn for a hat for hubby's aunt and a felted bag pattern. The shop had a sample knitted up and it was so cute, had to have the pattern, this will be my 'holiday gift' pattern this year. Since my mom does a lot of red/black/gray I decided that would be what I would do the bag in, I have a TON of Cascade 220 in varied shades of gray, black, and red in my stash so I wanted to pick up a varigated red/black/gray. I stopped at Village Yarn to see if I could find said varigated yarn . . . nothing in all that beautiful Manos . . . hmmm . . . nothing . . . nope not here . . . not over here either. Darn. One of the wonderful employees said she had used a Noro like that for a project she had done. We looked all thru the Noro, no luck, but she offered to go and look in the back room. Success! The laaaaaast skein. (think Ice Age)

So that night I started the bag, I knit the bottom and on Sunday started up the sides. I decided to use a double strand of the Cascade 220 since it is a lt weight Worsted and that is what the pattern suggested. I dropped one of the strands of the black 220, added the Noro and knitted away blissfully while hubby and I watched SG1: season 1 on DVD (love Netflix). That is until I got here: Well, this isn't the look I was going for . . . shoot . . . ripit . . . ripit . . . ripit . . . Decided this time I would drop both strands of the black 220 and pair the Noro with a strand of red 220:

ah . . . much better. By the end of the evening I was almost done with the body of the bag. Woohoo, gotta love those quick knits.

Mondays my hubby works an early shift (4a to 12:30p) so when he got home he said he would watch the kids and I could go out. Didn't hve to tell me twice! I grabbed my knitting and ran out the door and drove straight to Village Yarn & Tea where I sat and knitted and drank some wonderful Green Pear tea. There I sat, knitted, drank tea and chatted with the gals who work there until they closed at 6pm. (with only occational breaks for yarn fondling) I was able to finish the body of the bag and do the I-cord bind off, I had never done this before and was a bit nervous about it, but it turned out fine.

I'm still working on the I-cords for the handles but here is what it looks like so far:

mitten monday

I've got nothin'. I did look thru a copy of Knit Mittens! at the LYS, does that count for anything? Well, maybe next Monday I'll have an update for the Warm Hands KAL.

what's next

I have been planning on casting-on the 6Sox mosaic socks as soon as I finished daughter's Halloween socks, now I'm not sure. I want to do some mosiac knitting, I have the yarn, etc, but while I was surfing yesterday I found these socks. Although they are not knit as a mosaics, it would be very easy to knit as a mosaic and I think they would show off my LL sock yarn better. I wouldn't go all the way down the foot with the pattern, just on the leg like the 6Sox mosaics. While I'm figuring that out I think I'll finish some socks I started for hubby last winter . . . basic 2x2 rib in Cascade 220 tweed . . . if I can find them.

mittens

Another knit-along? Sure! This time it's mittens at Warm Hands. I have been wanting to make some mittens for a while, so here is a good excuse.

halloween socks v2.0 - finished

The Halloween Socks v2.0 are finally finished and my daughter grabed them and wore them to school today. She declared after I finished the Lacy Heart socks that she really liked the 'yarn socks' and wanted me to make more for her. pattern: Knitting Pure & Simple Basic Children's Socks, with french heel, stripes inspired by the beginnerSAM pattern yarn: Cascade 220 needles: US4 Takumi Bamboo started: 10/11 completed: 10/19 This is pair 3 for Socktoberfest! (4 if you count the booties)

eeeep!

I decided to exchange the yarn for daughter's sweater. So, back down to Seattle I went. I entered the shop with the intention of only exchanging the yarn and looking at maybe picking up some US13 straight needles, that was it. Well, hmmm, so much for good intentions. I went straight to the yarn for daughter's sweater and picked up some bright pink Blizzard then headed to the straight needles and picked up the Brittanys. While heading to the register I saw the Silky Wool, in a beautiful dark purple, it jumped into my basket of its own accord, I had nothing to do with it. As I was passing some Dalegarn Falk in a nice medium gray-blue,I started thinking about the holidays and how I wanted to make some socks for my dad. It came home with me too. In my defense I do have to add that I resisted some Lorna's Laces shepherd Sock in Black Pearl (beautiful purple/grey/black) . . . it went in and out of my basket several times before finally staying on the shelf. So a quick run to the yarn shop that should have cost less than $15 ended up costing quite a bit more . . . sigh. But, on the other hand I have the yarn for daughter's sweater, and for dad's socks, and I may actually make Branching Out before the end of the year.

stash enhancement

My dear friend J. asked me earlier in the week if I thought I could divest myself of the kiddos at some point in the near future as she needed to go yarn shopping and thought it would be fun if we could go together. So, yesterday after my daughter's soccer game, I ran away. I needed to make a few stops before I got there. I stopped at the drugstore and picked up a new can opener, my son disassembled my current one and I have been unable to put it back together. While I was at there I wandered over to the magazines and found the new Knit It! and Family Circle Easy Knitting Holiday issue. They both have some great patterns, especially with the Holidays coming up. Then I went to JoAnn to return some yarn I had buyers remorse about. After picking up J., and giving her a copy of the new Knit It!, for which she jumped up and down and clapped her hands while squealing, we headed out to Acorn Street for stash enhancement. I was looking for yarn for a specific project for my daughter, needed to be a wool blend in a girly color that would knit up to 2.5 sts=1". I found some beautiful soft pink GGH Aspen, it is a 50/50 blend of merino and acrylic, very soft, and lists as 10sts=10cm. Needless to say I bought it. J. did some holiday stash enhancement. After said SE we were weary with hunger so headed over to Top Pot Doughnuts for fortification and to browse thru our knitting magazines. Last night while watching SG1: season 8 from Netflix, I proceeded to cast on a sleeve with my new acquisition . . . size US13 needles, cast on 22 and knit . . . hmmmm . . . this is to gauge but the fabric is really loose . . . ok, rip out . . . size US11 needles, cast on 22 and knit . . . hmmm . . . nice fabric but gauge is off . . . shoot . . . darn . . . now what? I can monkey with the pattern and knit it at 3sts=1" or I can return the skeins I haven't used and get something else . . . darn it!

halloween socks v2.0

Halloween socks for my 5yo daughter . . . and a cat nose. My hubby didn't like them at first but now that I am past the heel he says he likes them now. I am using Cascade 220 in orange, purple and green. This is my first time doing stripes, other than self striping yarn, and I love it!

1st pair of Halloweeen socks

I finished my son's Halloween socks. The Pink Heart socks from the beginnerSAM were my inspiration for these socks but I used the Knitting Pure & Simple kids sock patterns to knit them up. I used the medium size at 36sts but next time I would knit them between the medium and large . . . at 40sts. I used Cascade 220 in black for the 2x2 rib, french heel and toe, and orange for the body of the sock. The orange is more of a heathered pumpkin than I could show in the pictures . . . I tried all over to get get a good color, but to no avail. I also tried to get a picture of them on my 3yo, but the pics were just a blur. Now on to my daughter's Halloween socks.

One down one to go.

Socktoberfest!

Over at Knit Once, Purl Forever October has been declared Socktober!! I am so excited. I have finished two pair of socks so far this month, who knows what I can do with all those wonderful KAL patterns out there this month. Ok, one pair I finished were baby bootees, but I say they count anyway. added 10/11: to join Soctoberfest, head over to Lolly's blog and pick up a button . . . thanks Lolly!

lacy hearts and 'martha moments'

I finally finished the Lacy Hearts this morning. I took them to Knitters' Night at Village Yarn & Tea last night. I arrived there late as we had dinner my MIL and I couldn't duck out of that. I had fun, knitted and came home with only one additional skein of yarn, some green Opal. I almost feel asleep while working on them when I got home then finally finished them this morning before daughter's soccer game. I wrapped the booties so hubby could take them to work. I have to say I had a bit of a "Martha Moment". I wrapped them in poka-dot tissue in a pink chinese take-out box with a green and white gingham ribbon tied around it. I wish I had taken a picture . . . very Martha.

break's over

After finishing the baby booties I went back to the Lacey Heart socks. I started by ripping out the foot and heel of the first sock directly onto my ball winder. Wow, I wish I had thought of this before, makes it so easy, no tangled yarn, faster than hand winding as you're ripping. I knit the heel flap in pink and returned to the purple for the gusset and as of this morning I am pretty much in the same place on the foot as before I ripped it out, just with a pink heel.

I finished the baby booties. It feels nice to finish something without haveing to rip it out 3 or 4 times. pattern: Textured-cuff Booties from "50 Baby Booties To Knit" yarn: Superwash Cascade 220

taking a break

I am taking a break from the Lacy Heart socks to knit a pair of baby booties. I need a break from these socks as I am getting a bit frustrated. It's not the pattern, it's my yarn, or lack there of. I started knitting the first sock got to the middle of the foot and realized I didn't have enough yarn. OK, no problem, I thought, I'll just rip back and do a contrast heel and toe for the socks, and, hey, while I'm at it I'll try an afterthought heel, I haven't done one of those before. So, instead of just ripping back I started the second sock, inserted the scrap yarn for the afterthought heel, knitted the foot, did the contrast round toe . . . and I hate this sock! I don't like the afterhought heel, I think it looks strange and it pulls at the corners because I didn't pick up the stitches correctly. The sock is finished and I am thinking of ripping it back and doing a constasting flap heel and reworking the round toe, I do like the round toe. So, I am taking a break and knitting a pair of baby booties from "50 Baby Booties To Knit" that I bought a couple of days ago at my LYS. They are the Textured-cuff Booties in bubblegum pink superwash Cascade 220.

sock pattern heaven

The new pattern for SixSox is up this morning. I have already printed it out and been to the yarn shop to purchase yarn to knit it up (see yarn porn above). I will be useing the black Opal and the purple & green (Jungle Stripe) Lorna's Laces Shephard Sock for the Mosiac Socks. The orange and green Cascade 220 are to go with some black and purple Cascade 220 I have in my stash, I will be using these to knit up some Halloween, socks for the kiddos, for inspirationSAM over at SocknittersSAM. I am already on the foot of the first pair of socks for the beginnerSAM. I am useing some leftover Cascade 220 superwash from Basketcase and am knitting up a pair of Lacy Heart Socks from the Hearts & Stripes pattern. I ended up ripping it out twice because the pattern is written for a VERY small foot, something like a childs size 6. I ended up casting on 44sts on size US4 using Cascade 220, perfect for my daughter's size 1 feet. Oh, I also bought some Lavender Eucalan, cuz you gotta warsh dem sox.