Revived Socks

 

I cast these on in December of 2011 and then apparently stuffed them in a bag and completely forgot about their existence. Fast forward two years and I am doing some cleaning and organizing, and hark, what is this? I honestly do not remember casting these on and working on them, but I have notes on Ravelry stating I did (apparently cast on while watching The Biggest Loser).  So I decided to quick finish them up so I could wear them this weekend. Monday is supposed to be so cold here that the governor of Minnesota closed all schools in the entire state for that day. Before the Wind Chill is factored in they say a high temp of -10°F and I have heard colder than that on some channels. Yikes. So having a paid of bulky wool house socks sounds mighty fine to me!

 

 

• The Pattern: Socks 101 by Larissa Brown from the book "Knitalong: Celebrating the Tradition of Knitting Together"
• The Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky in the color Elderberry Wine. I used just under 1 skein for the pair of socks, 115.0 yards (105.2m).
• Needles: US 10 - 6.0 mm double point needles
• Knit a ♀ Medium
• My notes on Ravelry can be found HERE.

 

As you can see by looking at the toe construction, I decreased more on one toe than the other. I think I got confused about which size I was working on and followed the directions for the small sock on the first sock. When I finished it I was not thrilled with the toe, but I thought Well, if I make these again I will change the toe construction - because I am not an elf and my feet aren't shaped like an arrow.

Then I finished the second sock and realized it was a Jenny oops - meaning I fudged up that first sock. So I have a pair of house slippers with wonky toes and I know that if I make them again I need to REALLY watch that toe construction.

I wore these all last night and my feet were toasty warm in them. When it gets cold like this you can just feel the cold seeping in through the walls and floor of the house, so I am pretty sure these will get some good wear for the next few days/weeks.

If I were to change anything, I think I would make the ribbing much higher (which would make this a two skein project in this yarn) and I would watch the toe construction so I didn't get wonky arrow toe on one foot next time. I might also try an eye of partridge heel on it as I am sort of in love with the eye of partridge heel.

Pleased to have a wearable garment and to have cleared up a long lost WIP! Win!

Tree Planting Hat

And I finished a hat! I actually started this back in May when I went up to do some tree planting at my Brothers house. I wanted a simple project to work on in the car and while we sat around after the planting was done and just chatted.

The pattern: Countrywool Rolled Brim Hat on Ravely - or if you are not on Ravelry you can find it HERE.

The yarn: Adriafil Knitcol I used 44 grams which is about 121 yards (111 m) on size 7 (4.5mm) needles. I love this yarn as it does all the color-work for you! So you get to look fancy with no effort. Awesome.

This is the fifth time (at least!) that I have made this hat. Love the pattern. It's just so simple and perfect. My Ravelry page can be found HERE for anyone interested in the notes I have there. The pattern is really easy though and written well. Highly recommend!

A gift for a Neighbor

Here we are at December 22nd and I have done pretty close to nothing for Christmas this year. I have not a single decoration up. I have baked nothing. I have purchased nothing. BUT I have knit/crocheted a couple of things. 

One of those things is a scarf for the daughter of a neighbor. I actually worked on this at school while waiting for class to start for the most part. Crochet goes really fast so I had it done in no time. Since it was for a toddler, I made it with one skein of yarn - Bernat Pipsqueak in the color Neapolitan on a size K (6.5mm) hook.  I don't have many notes on this, but my Ravelry page for this project can be found here. I think this was double crochet? Uffda. Can't remember!

Then when I was at the store I found the perfect gift box to tuck it in. It's all set to take over to them as soon as I buy something for the adults to go with it. I suspect I will be out shopping with everyone else today!

Something Something Hat

You can tell I am sort of running out of names for hats. I was looking for a pattern in Creative Knitting, Fall 2010: Accessorize with Style and came across this pattern for a simple cap in a Single Skein of Blizzard Yarn. Why I would have purchased a single skein of a yarn with only 66 yards on it - I have no idea. I think the color and the squish factor made me do it. (Apparently this yarn is now discontinued which just makes me sad. It was so yummy!)

So I cast on and quickly got through the body. And then as I was getting ready to knit the last couple rows I noticed a twisted stitch half way up the hat. On sock yarn this would not be a big deal - but when you are working on something this bulky it REALLY stands out. So I frogged it and started over. Second attempt I got into the final rows of decreases and realized my stitch count was off and it looked BAD. Frog frog frog. Third time I managed to knit the hat correctly! So really I made the same hat three times in one day. It's a wonderful pattern. Very simple and I really only used about 50 yards of yarn.

It's one of those hats you just want to pet because it's so soft and cuddly. The rib keeps the hat from rolling up. A really warm hat. Instant gratification. I think I will keep the pattern handy as it would be excellent for one of those "Oh crap!" moments where you need a hand knit gift immediately. (Shocking how often that really does happen!) I might need to troll the Internet for more of this yarn.... It's really nice!

Yelcho Feather and Fan Scarf

I finished blocking out my Yelcho Feather and Fan scarf over the weekend and was very pleased with the end results. The yarn did bleed some dye out during the soak process for blocking, but I feel like the colors have remained fairly true to what I fell in love with at the yarn store. I found my wool long coat in the closet for picture taking.

When I did my rough measurement of the end product I came in at 68" x5" which is a pretty nice length. I thought it would be much shorter than that - so I am pretty happy. The scarf is really light and airy but I think it will still be warm. I will give it a test run this week. I love the variegation in this pattern. Seems on trend with the Zig Zag craze that is going on.

Here is a close up shot of the scarf. Obviously the blocking stretched the feather and fan into more of a Zig Zag, but I like it. Really enjoyed working with this yarn and loved the pattern as well.

One more WIP completed!

Ladybug Picnic

My first finished object of 2012! WOOT! I started working on this WAY back in July of last summer, a simple project I started for a family picnic. The pattern is a free one on Ravely called Scrunchable Scarf and it's a pretty popular pattern. Wonderful use of a single skein and an easy pattern to memorize.

All that being said it was boring boring boring and I had to force myself to work on it. Which is why it took me about 6 months to finish a simple scarf.

The yarn is by Pagewood Farms and is called Kissi. 210 yards of 100% merino wool - it reminds me a lot of Malabrigo but more expensive. The colors in this and the squish of the yarn were so amazing that I had to have it.

The length after I soaked it in Eucalin (See bottom picture for a look at the dye that came out of this puppy!) was just over Six feet! I was surprised by how long it got. This made blocking a bit interesting. I was worried about laying my blocking blocks on the floor with oodles of pins sticking out. Our cat has never pulled out my pins - but I don't want to tempt her. So I folded the scarf in half and used a rolled towel to pull the scarf taut. I then pinned the towel and it worked just perfect!

The finished scarf is quite pretty and I am very pleased with it! Love the colors in it - I suspect it will "go with" almost anything since there is a ton of colors in there. It's quite soft and squishy still. And the length ended up making it versatile in how I can wrap it around my neck. I am very pleased!
 

And here is the "bath water" to demonstrate how much dye came out of this yarn after a soak. As usual, blocking made a huge difference in this project. I am more and more a fan of blocking even though it delays my gratification.

More specific project notes can be found on my project page on Ravelry.

Pocketbook Slippers

I finished my Pocketbook Slippers and I love them! They are a free pattern on Ravelry, and they used just under 1 skein of Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Yarn (stash buster!)

I knit these up thinking it would be wonderful to have a tiny pair of slippers to throw into my house when I go to friends houses this winter. We get a LOT of snow - so we generally take our shoes off when we go into someones home, and then I spend the night sitting on one foot and then the other because my feet are frozen! So this will help keep me warm without having to haul giant slippers with!

You can see the seam on the center of my foot as well as where I seamed the center strap as well. Very clever construction. These are knit flat and then you seam up the ribbing areas for the front and the back of the foot - and then the two tabs on the ends become the strap over the foot. The pattern is so easy! I cast on for Thanksgiving because I wanted a really simple project to work on and just couldn't face another scarf or hat.

We are already in snow season so I suspect I will be getting some serious wear out of these. I think that is why the Knit Picks was a good choice too - it's a tougher wool than say Malabrigo. (Malabrigo would be pretty and warm - but I suspect they would have holes in them pretty darn quick!)

They fit like a dream and will tuck in my purse with no problem. I was tempted to put embellishments on them (buttons or flowers) but in the end decided they should be plain for me. I had visions of my headphones wrapping around buttons or flowers and really just wanted neat and simple for purse rides.

Wonderful pattern! Love them!

Wine about Winter Mitts

I do a lot of knitting with Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky yarn. Both of my Tread Mill afghans have been knit from this yarn and I use the left overs from these afghans for lots of fast projects. I recently came across this free pattern Easy Half Mitten 106 on Ravelry.

This is a great pattern! It used up slightly more than a half skein of yarn (under 70 yards) and the mitts fit wonderfully. The yarn is really thick so I know these will keep me warm while I work on the computer this winter.

 I really like the thumb on this pattern. It's worked in pattern so you don't end up having to do some complicated gusset. It's very simple and yet very clever. I really like it!

I am fairly pleased with the length of these. The top ribbing stops just under my knuckles, which is pretty perfect for working on the keyboard. You don't want it going too high or it constricts motion in the pinkie finger.

If I made these for myself again I might be tempted to go down a needle size in the body - but for speed and simplicity of pattern - maybe not. Whipping through the whole thing on one size of double points is pretty easy.