world rib socks
pattern: lichen ribbed socks (ravelry link) from vintage socks by nancy bush
in knitpicks essential riverbed multi (special dye lot)
started: september, 2007
finished: november, 2007
needles: 1 – US1, 2.5mm knitpicks circular needles

my mods…toe up, short row heel, sewn (l) and traditional (r) bind off

i royally screwed up the bind-off yet again. er…(cough)….

in an effort to study the elasticity of different bind-offs, i used two different cast-off methods. (i admit – i didn’t have the first sock with me when it was time to b.o. the second. i just assumed that i used a simple sewn bind-off (like on the left)….but i didn’t. the first sock (on the right) was finished with a very very loose traditional bind-off….now that i think about it, i didn’t have a needle at the time and decided that risking a non-elastic bind off was ok.

the risk was worth it; my bind off was loose and elastic…no frilly willy nilly cuff for me! (except that i used a different bind off for the second sock). while i prefer the look of bind off on the right, the sewn bind-off is decidedly stress free. is it worth ripping back to fix the error?

no.

oh! and the yarn?! well, the jury is still out.  i’ll report back after wash and wear testing.

work it!!!

give me a “blue steel”….no,no,no! i want…..”magnum”.

show me your stuff.

requisite butt shot.

um…sheldon? what are you doing?

**SHOCKING**

[THIS PICTURE CENSORED FOR THIS BLOGGING AUDIENCE]

in my blogging absense i have been knitting feverishly on my stole (much to the dismay of my little army of single socks). i will eventually catch up with the sock knitting (and pictures)…but in the meantime, here she is, my arctic diamond stole:

i’m loving the lace…and i can’t wait for post blocking photos. i’ll give a better “fo roundup” when i get more time!

crocheted ballband dishcloth

crocheted ballband dishcloth for grandma kathleen
peaches and creme worsted in strawberry cream,
daisy ombre, sea mist and gumdrop
started: august, 2007
finished: august, 2007
hook: G or H
notes: made smaller for wringing ease

in the near past i’ve acquired a number of books and had a little bit of stash building….i’m going to start off with the vogue knitting book:

the best of vogue knitting: 25 years of articles, techniques and expert advice

i’ve actually had this book for a while. when i first received it, i thumbed through the pages and was turned off by the photographs from the 80′s. i put the book on my desk and peeked at it from time to time. slowly, i came to realize that i treasured this book. not only is it a piece of knitting history, but i also gives the reader “how to’s” for techniques from casting-on, to shaping and design, to binding-off.

this book contains no knitting patterns; it is more a reference. however, it doesn’t read like a knitting reference, as it shouldn’t,
since it is a collection of articles. but by the same virtue, it is difficult to find a specific technique if you just leaf through the pages. however, this may be overcome with the thorough table of contents and index.

you won’t sit down and read this book from cover-to-cover in one shot, but you will enjoy the timeless advice contained within the articles. pick this up if you want a quick shot of knitting reading, but i would not recommend purchasing it as an end-all, be-all knitting reference. this is a great coffee table book! i’m glad i bought it sight unseen!

i love mustang ganseys from six sox
STR in mustang sally (rockin’ sock club) by BMFA
4.25 oz / 360 yards ; 100% superwash merino
started: august 1, 2007
finished: august 12, 2007
needles: 2, #1 addi turbo circs
notes: decreased an extra two stitches in the foot

i was totally obsessed with the sock/yarn combination! i would be tempted to knit these again and sub out the heart or something a little more spicy….like a skull? anyway, for you sock lovers, i do recommend joining the KAL (through yahoo). it seems well organized and very informal. i am a lurker at the forums myself, but i do enjoy the daily posts.

ooooo! did you notice? huh? didja?! look up at the address bar!!! butter bought me my very own domain for my birthday!! (thanks babe!)… i think all past links should work fine, but if you are inclined, i would update any feeds!

anyway, these were finished by the dying light of the fourth of july. we were sitting on a lawn waiting for red, white and boom! to commence. (are you crazy? i would NEVER go downtown for that thing. to many friggin people and way too much traffic. i don’t care how many funnel cakes you give me!)

the first sock pooled a bit but the second formed a pleasing stripe. now, i’m not one to frown on flashing….i just would like um….two ‘flashy’ socks versus one, okay? no matter, these socks are lovely. soft and cushy, with a handsome cuff to boot!

broad spiral ribbing pattern from more sks
STR in peaseblossom (rockin’ sock club – july) by BMFA
4.25 oz / 360 yards ; 100% superwash merino
started: june 20, 2007
finished: july 4, 2007
needles: 2, #1 addi turbo circs
notes: in a former life, the yarn was this; toe up, 60 stitches, short row heel, p2k4 ribbing

i love this cuff. here’s another pic.

i like socks. i need to work on my own pair now.

i saw miss lime for the l&v live podcast, listened to cat bordhi’s lecture on new sock architecture (omg, soo cool! her new book will be released at the end of july!!) and some stroke of luck, i was able to get into cat bordhi’s toe-up sock class (thanks cat!!). of course, like kelly, some yarn followed me home. i also met lizzie and some other new columbus knitters (sorry can’t find my notes to link you) and jerry was nice enough to embarrass re-introduce starry-eyed me with the queen of new sock architecture herself (blush).

anyway, i joined knitter’s connection and got a cool bag of swag…here’s a pic of it with some of my purchases:

kc member goody bag – sooo worth the price of membership.

there were at least 3 magazines and 5-6 full or sample sized skeins in there. i stuffed it full of yarn that i bought at the market. some yarn love, neighborhood fiber co and cider moon yarn jumped into my bag (pictures in another post)…the beautiful red yarn is a mini-skein from twisted sisters.

one of my favorite finds was this:

chameleon colorworks evolution sport weight

i bought two colors:

lime and violet

morning dove

it is phenominal! so soft and it has a sheen unlike any merino i’ve ever used! would you like some? i’d like to share the love of my kc week. i’m still up in the air of what colorway i’m going to give away, though. i also have some patterns and sample skeins (from the swag bag) that need a good home. i’ll post the details of the how/when/what in the next week.

ps- check out these socks…they done in str medium weight in fairgrounds and are from my class. we did mini-socks for the class…and mine happen to be baby size.

new sock architecture – class sock

i was curious to see when my blogiversary was…

my first blog post was may 11, 2005. it was not an interesting post.

man, was i boring! early on, i tried to establish why i wanted to blog. i thought i would just share my thoughts with the world about the world. knitting related content is much more interesting. so i’m calling my blogiversary july 19 2006. (mental note, put date in palm pilot).

in knitting related news, i finished my mother in law’s socks! i was so excited to have them finished, i didn’t have time to photograph them. i tried them on manny before, but her foot is smallish. when i went to the in-law’s house to drop them off, i asked sandie to try them on and borrowed her camera to snap a pic:

mil socks, pattern based on traveling vine pattern in more sss
for sandie made with colinette jitterbug in marble
started: april ?, 2007
finished: april 21, 2007
needles: 2 – 2.5mm, 60 cm addi circ’s
notes: size 8, toe up, 64 stitches, short row heel, back-stitch bind off, only 9 gm left of the ball!

i loved this yarn!! love! love! love! (am i being too enthusiastic?) the yarn was soft and squishy, tightly spun and a dream running through the fingers. were it not for the skimpy yardage, i would crown this my favorite sock yarn. however, i think it’s worth the 20 bones or so that you plunk down for a skein. i’m looking forward to knitting with the other two skeins i have in my stash. hooray! by the way, she liked the socks. (one day, i was knitting a pair of socks for butter…and she casually mentioned that she might enjoy some socks…and that was that, poof!, mil socks were born.)

also not pictured today: the letter a, a beautiful columbus morning, my yarny present(s) from gena and some knit picks shine for baby toys!! some day i will get out the camera.

garter rib socks adapted from sensational knitted socks
for butter (k) in yartini 4-8-15-16-23-42
started: march 7, 2007
finished: march 17, 2007
needles: 2 – 2.5mm, 60 cm addi circ’s
notes: toe up, 72 stitches, short row heel, back-stitch bind off

they are done! hooray!!! i can’t say enough about the yarntini yarn. yummy. so yummy. anyhoo, butter (k) said that he loved them and immediately put them on. (well of course he needed green socks for st. patrick’s day!). here’s another look at them. (our beloved daughter was the stylist for this shot)

kiss me i’m irish!

instead of opting to finish the second sock to this or this…i pulled out MORE green yarn.

lime green... get out your sunglasses.

cherry tree hill supersock in lime green

i’ve been itching to use this yarn for awhile. i love the super bright color…it’s so happy and spring-like! i’ve also been hankering to use a solid sock yarn with a cable pattern. most variegated yarns obscure all the hard work one puts into cables, don’t you agree? with yarn in hand i picked out this pattern:

uptown boot socks by jennifer l. appleby
from favorite socks: 25 timeless designs from interweave

the pattern describes the sock as “a fluid, allover cable pattern…suitable for casual or dressy use. a modern classic.” i’ll add “that screams for attention with it’s vivid texture/color combination”. take a look:

uptown lime boot socks
for me in cth supersock lime
started: march 17, 2007
needles: 4 – #2 latern moon ebony dpns
notes: 72 stitches cast on, 2″ cuff, cuts yarn at heel?!?

it’s a somewhat enjoyable pattern. things i would alter…i would knit it with 5 needles instead of four; there is too much tension. unfortunately. the boogie man stole my fifth needle…oh, and the pattern has you cutting off the yarn when you start the heel flap, wtf?!? weird. otherwise, i can’t wait to see how this one turns out.

whew! so what does one do if they are down in the dumps? well, add to their stash, of course. now, i didn’t go too crazy. i decided that i needed to shake things up. so i bought yarn for a sweater. i know. stop the presses!! a sweater.

tweed cascade 220 – charcoal
6 skeins | 100 g : 220 yds | 90% peruvian wool : 10% donegal tweed

a blogless (gasp!) and computerless (gasp! GASP!!) friend and i decided that we needed to knit sweaters. now, i’ve learned that i’m not much of a pattern person. adhering to rigid rules bores me. (that, or i’m really bad with stuff like that. for those of you that remember, demi is still in the works but stalled because i lost my place in the pattern charts and am too lazy to figure out what went wrong). so i went to the library, picked up a copy of knitting without tears by elizabeth zimmerman and selected a sweater that i couldn’t live without. me thinks that i shall knit the hybrid sweater. the gauge swatch has been knit…is it just me or is this yarn thinner than most worsted? cuz i knit up a little less than 5 sts per 1″ on US#4′s! (as compared to the #7′s or #8′s on the ball band!).

ooooh!

i’ve also finished the whitby’s!

whitby from knitting on the road by nancy bush
in str mediumweight a rare gem
started: january 14, 2007
finished: february 2, 2007
needles: 5 – #2 lantern moon dpn’s
notes: added another rib since the pattern pulls in
gifted to my step-daughter

guess who’s feet belong to whom?

finally, i’ve started a new pair of socks and will have more pictures of new purchases (“lost” yarntini goodness and more CTH!!) …but i’ll leave that for fodder for another day. i must get a nap in since i have to work tonight. stay warm all!!