Pre-Christmas Crafting Push

I’ve been working on and off on Christmas gift items for a while now and have one large project finished and a few smaller ones.  All will be held in secret until Dec 25 or when the packages are finally delivered.

As with many of us, gifts this year will be those created.  Knitting is still enthralling to me so many of them are knitted.  Dust will be removed from the sewing machine for some fleece projects that have been popular in previous years.  Lots to do!

While trolling for knitting patterns I ran across these sites and thought to share.

Most of my pattern searching has been on Ravelry, but other places have ideas, too!  Lots of knitting charts and patterns are here.  The creative and generous designer is Jessica Tromp and I have only begun to explore the site.  I’m eager to try some more color work! The mittens page is full of some adorable ideas.

Ever been to www.colr.org? I was led there through a Google Widget and it is fascinating to pick a color out of an image and give it a name.  Lots more possibilities and need to see what else is offered.

 

Adventures in Knitting – shhhh – it’s a secret!

The focus of the latest adventure is not for public consumption yet.  I’m knitting a small tote for a Ravelry Group Swap and don’t want to give too many details in case my victim/swappee reads this.

It is an adventure, though.  I was planning on knitting something in my beloved cotton yarn, but it wasn’t speaking to me and didn’t feel right.  So that went back in the barn for the next project.  I carpool to knitting group and my buddy S wanted a chart keeper for her new lace project.  We stopped at Michaels and she picked out a cute mini-lunchbox tin big enough to keep her yarn.  Of course we couldn’t leave without checking the yarn.  Still no update to the yarn section, but there are some additional yarns on 99 cent special – including Lion Brand Feltable Wool.

Ping!  My inner designer liked the thought of a brilliant eye-knocking color felted bag.  A few skeins jumped into my cart – I wish I had glommed more and off we went to knitting.

I enjoy reading patterns and then winging it, especially when it is a simple idea.  A rectangle for the bottom, pick up stitches and knit around and around.  But how many stitches?  Hmmmm… 47 was the last cast on I did on a dishcloth.  So I did 50.  Like round numbers.

It grew.  And grew.  It got wider and wider, almost like magic.  I didn’t take into account I had switched from 4 mm to 9 mm needles.  Ooops.  Big isn’t a problem with bags, but it was too narrow and I didn’t like the proportions.

Rip

Returned home and located the pattern.  Only 25 stitches??? That would be wayyyy tooo small.  I want the bag to be big enough to actually use; a paperback book, an apple, and a sandwich should fit.  Or a small knitting project.  So I cast on 35 stitches and like the size.  I’ll felt carefully so it doesn’t shrink to nothing.

The pattern strap may be changed too.  I’ll have to think about that.  I like smaller handles on small bags as I usually stuff them down a larger bag.

Yes, I have Too Much Stuff.  How did you guess?

Got lots to do…better get this proof read, posted and move along.

My Knitting Adventures – Socks 3A

I really love knitting socks.  Working on pair 3 AND 4 at the same time!  I had stalled on pair 3 and started on pair 4 at knitting group one week and have continued to switch back and forth.

This is sock 3A

Pair number three, first sock (Sock 3A)

The yarn is a cotton/nylon blend called Lagoon from Sara’s Colorwave yarns.    I purchased some crochet cotton from her in the past and was impressed with the quality of the base thread and her dyeing skills.  It was VERY reasonably priced – anytime I can get enough yarn for a pair of socks in size huge from one skein of yarn for less than $10 I am going for it!

Closeup of the yarn under my "daylight" lamp

I know the socks look kind of odd-shaped but that is what it takes to fit my feet.   They are a teeny bit short- about two more rows and they would be perfect.  Socks 3B are past the heel but I’m not happy with the sloppy way I did the heel turn.  A heel turn is not the time to watch a show you actually pay attention to.  Frogging is in the future.  The very near future.  Yuk.  But rather frog than SEE those holes (both of them…LOL) or know they are there.

I’ve been wanting to try some summer yarns – it gets pretty hot in Florida and I wore my first pair of wool blend socks and my feet were HOT.  And it isn’t really summer yet!  We have a couple of weeks before the night temps go above 85…LOL.  Cotton fiber socks are an option and I am aware that cotton yarns have the rep that they stretch all out of shape but I’m hoping the nylon in these will help hold the shape.

I did the ribbing for these sport socks in the same size needle as the rest of the sock – size US zero and it is much too loose.  I had a JoAnn’s coupon and bought the Susan Bates set of DPNs in sock sizes.  The 00 size will be used for the ribbing for socks 3B and if I like it better, guess what – I’ll rip out the ribbing on socks 3A and redo with the small needles. And then find circular needles in 00.  I can use DPNs but like circs MUCH better.

Some may think the ripping is excessive but I am learning more and more about knitting each time I try something, rip,  and then try something else.  The Toe-Up Gusseted Heel from Maia has been a fantastic heel and I can almost do it without looking at the instructions.  Not quite, but almost.  When studying sock construction I kept finding wrap and turn methods but they seemed…fiddly…to me.  Maia’s heel was straightforward and simply slipping the first stich allowed me to yank up the stitch tight to eliminate the holes.  Most of the time.  When I am paying attention to the knitting and not watching an episode of Chuck online.

My Bird Poop Socks

Which one of your friends did the dirty deed?

I’ve started my second pair of socks with Deborah Norville’s new yarn by Premier – Serenity Sock yarn.  (as a Firefly fan, love the name!).  The color pattern is Indigo and a mix of stripes in light turquoise, and stripes of indigo and off white in kind of a faux fair isle colorway.

The knit fabric with size 1 needles was too “holey,” and didn’t like the fabric with the size zero so went back to the size 1.  I quit thinking “relax” and just knit.  Gauge is 9 stitches an inch, and works out nicely.

The socks started life at Knitting Group on Sunday night.  When I went out to my vintage Toyota, it wouldn’t start.  I did NOT leave the lights on this time and got the click sound when turning the ignition so it was Not Good.  The AAA guy agreed with me it was probably the starter and he was awesome and gave me a push start!  I love a standard transmission for just that little trick.  Pop the clutch while rolling forward and you start up!  I will have to think about that when sitting in traffic and shifting up, shifting down, shifting up, shifting down.

So when I got home I backed up my drive so if I had to, I could roll down the driveway and use that momentum to start the toyota.  Good thing I did – and the next stop was the mechanic.  He had time to work on it and replaced the points in the starter and I am good as new again.

After the repair the weather was so nice I wanted to go sit in the park for a bit and enjoy the river, birds, and temperature.  Walked to my favorite bench, put the bag down beside me while I took some pictures.  When I reached in for the knitting my hand came away with ick on it…and some bird had pooped on my yarn!  It wiped off pretty well and was mostly on some previously knit part so worked on it a bit more…then the gross factor got to me and I gave up, went home, ripped it out, and washed the yarn.

Started again and took the socks with me to a dr’s appointment today.  I had about the first 3 inches of toe-up socks done again.  It isn’t very impressive yet and looks like a tube with a wedge-shaped bottom.

As you know, a lot of hurry up and wait in a dr’s office.  He was a little faster today and caught me before I climbed on the exam table.  I set them down in my chair and here is our conversation:

Doc: What are you making?
Me: Socks
Doc: Who are they for?
Me: Me.
Doc: -silence- I guess you are at the beginning then…

About fell off the exam table laughing.  I love this doctor!  He is great, and has a marvelous sense of humor.  He has encouraged my knitting as it is great hand therapy.

These are going to be famous socks and they are still in the fledgling stage!

Sock progress

Yep, still working on my first pair of socks.

You can see the finished first sock in the upper left, and I’m up to the heel wrap and turn stitches on my second.  I got a lot done last night at knitting group.  We went to a new restaurant, and they have LIGHT.  I could SEE what I was doing!

I like the way the second sock is “pooling,” the pattern that develops with the color changes of the yarn.  It changed abruptly when I had to start increasing for the instep, but that is part of the fun – watching the colors change you make each stitch.