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Sock yarn doesn’t count as stash, right?
Especially if it sparkles?
I didn’t think so.
The Ivy Sockettes are finished!
Pattern: My own, sort of. Toe up with a wedge toe and an odd short row/gusset hybrid heel thing.
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll (Essential) in Ivy. Pretty much used up the rest.
Needles: US 1
So these knit up pretty quickly and are a simple, utilitarian object. They will get a lot of wear throughout the seasons. The yarn is a good, solid sock yarn and I believe I have previously professed my love for it. It’s cheap and works up into nice, soft, sturdy socks.
The construction of these sockettes, on the other hand, was…special. Because I knit my Artichoke socks two at a time, the leftover yarn was already split into two balls, so I knit these two at a time too. Which worked out fine until I got to the heel. As it turns out, I divided my yarn unevenly, so I ran out of yarn on the first sock and had to use a tiny bit of different sock yarn. Which is annoying because I had plenty in the other ball after I finished the second sock.
I knit a mini-gusset into each sock. The first heel attempt was a short row heel which resulted in a too-wide heel and some Issues. So I ripped it back and moved the short rows more to the center and worked some decreases like in a regular flap heel turn to decrease the gussets out of the number of stitches on the back of the heel.
All in all, they came out pretty well and the fit is great–the gusset means they’re higher in the back of the heel and the shallow toe means the sock is hidden under most shoes. So yay. Sockettes are a perfect use for the leftovers after a pair of mid-calf socks and I think I might write up the pattern the next time I make a pair. Would anyone be interested in testing?
And I have, of course, started another pair of socks (Skew in KP Stroll Handpaints), so I suspect I’ll be knitting more sockettes soon.
PS: I am in DC for the week to move my sister into college and to visit my boyfriend, so posting might be spotty. I am planning to visit a new yarn store while I’m there though, so there’ll probably be a post about that.
While I have in fact been doing some knitting and spinning for me (sort of–the spinning may eventually turn into a gift), I have also been knitting for other people. Sort of. Like the mittens I made, I am working on socks for Will Work for Yarn trades. The first is a pair of Skew socks in Regia Nation Color. I finished one sock:
and started the other. In return for knitting them, I received three skeins of Aslan Trends Santa Fe (two in Jungle and one in World’s Ocean):
It’s pretty pretty–squishy and wonderful. : ) It’s a two-ply so I might have to do contrast heels and toes, but it does have nylon in it.
Once I finish the Skew socks, I have another pair lined up. I received these two skeins
of True Love Fiber hand dye in Further Under the Sea (for the trade socks) and Happy Lipstick (for me).
I’m not really sure what socks I’m going to knit for this trade because of the variegation in the yarn and because the person I’m trading with didn’t have a specific pattern in mind. It’ll be a couple days because I get to them because I have to finish the Skew socks first, so I have some time to think about it.
As you may have been able to tell, I am on a definite sock kick lately. Here’s my latest pair:
Pattern: Easy Adjustable Lace Panel Socks
Yarn: Premier Yarns Serenity Sock, one skein in Indigo
Needles: US 1
Mods: Well, the pattern is written fully, but it is presented as a lace panel you can also throw into whatever socks you want, so that’s what I did. I took my usual 54 stitch toe-up sock with garter stitch short row heel and threw some lace on top.
So I like these socks. They’re taller than I normally knit them because I split the yarn into two balls with my mother’s sort of reliable kitchen scale. They weren’t even, but I started with the smaller ball and knit until I was sick of knitting it (which was before the yarn ran out). I like ’em. They fit well. The yarn stretched out a little by the end of the day when I wore them (Wednesday, in case you were wondering), but once I throw them in the washer and dryer, they’ll be good as new again. It’s the bamboo. That stuff stretches.
Currently, I am knitting a couple of things. I’m knitting some dino mittens on commission (more on that later) and some more socks. I started Viper Pilots! Well, I had started them before then proceeded to knit the chart upside down, so I frogged and knit something less complicated (the socks on this post here). But I’m starting them again. And they’re going to be awesome.
Welcome to Raglan month (well, April apparently was) and NaKniSweMoDo number six!
Pattern: Featherweight, mostly for the cast on number and divisions.
Yarn: Regia Silk sock yarn, two skeins in a lovely pale blue
Needles: US 5/3.75 mm
Mods: Clearly, shorter body and shorter sleeves and thicker yarn.
Okay, it looks a little funny on Elizabeth because her wide shoulders and tiny tiny waist make her distinctly apple shaped, but my proportions are more balanced, so it looks a lot better on me. I like it a lot, I have worn it a couple times already. I usually wear it open, like the first picture, though I often pin the bottom closed with a bobby pin or something. It’s a great layer over tanks and tubes (I’m awkwardly uncomfortable in tube tops even though I have a ton of them). The only problem is that the back section is a little too wide, and if I use this pattern again, I’ll cast on fewer stitches for the back section. I certainly don’t intend to knit Featherweight in lace weight again (oh god), but I could maybe use another little shrug like this ones. It’s totally casual–throw on and go–and that’s great.
Also: the yarn. It gets a bad rap on Ravelry for being pilly, and I wouldn’t make it into socks because of that, but as a shrug, this yarn is wonderful. It was such a joy to work with cause it’s SO SOFT. Plus, Regia is a pretty great company. So yes. Yarn love here.
First thing’s first:
That’s right people, FEATHERWEIGHT IS DONE. My longest wip EVER (since October) is finally DONE. I settled for 3/4 length sleeves instead of the full length ones I originally planned for, BUT STILL. IT’S DONE. It’s currently laid out on my bed, drying after a soak and I can’t wait til it’s dry. It fits beautifully (before blocking at least), and I’m so pleased with it. AND, the thing I’m most pleased with is this:
When I started Featherweight, I grabbed the pound cone of the yarn and hand-wound a ball of it that kind of looked like the 100 g of lace weight that the pattern calls for. I totally guessed, having only a 100g ball of worsted weight wool to compare it to. That little ball of yarn up there is all I had left of my original hand-wound ball after knitting THE ENTIRE SWEATER.
I’m so good.
Anyway, I’ll have a proper FO post of this sweater on Thursday probably.
Clearly April is raglan fever time (Featherweight and Seafoam plus…), cause I started a new sweater. It’s just going to be a little shrug, so it shouldn’t take that long and it will be perfect for wearing over tube tops (I always feel awkward in them). It looks like this so far:
I’m using some Regia Silk sock yarn I got in a destash on Ravelry, and ohmigod, it’s SO SOFT. I love this stuff.
While I was soaking Featherweight earlier today, I got around to another craft project I’ve been meaning to do. I went from this:
to this:
A bit of scrapbook paper and some buttons make for a much prettier pencil cup than the plastic cup I’ve been using. It was super easy and took all of five minutes. AND because of where the paper joined, the seam is practically invisible:
I mean, you can see it if you look up close, but if you’re just glancing, you can’t see it at all. : )
Pattern: Charade, a free download on Ravelry.
Yarn: Red Heart Heart and Sole, one skein in Rustica.
Needles: US 1 metal dpns
Mods: Worked toe-up and pretty much just used my own toe-up sock pattern and threw in the stitch pattern on top. Also, I probably have fewer stitches than the pattern. I went up to 60. Also, I used self-striping yarn cause it’s what I had, even though the pattern says not to use self-striping yarn. I’m a rebel, damn it.
The ankles of these are a little loose, as usual. I think I need more ribbing before I bind off. **shrug** I do like them though. They’re super cute and they stay on well enough.
I want to venture out in the world of sock knitting and make some that are a proper height. I like the short ones because when I’m done with the heel, I’m pretty much done, but I would like to have some taller socks. The problem with this, of course, is that taller socks require more yarn, and I’d have to get more than 50 grams. Maybe I will and maybe I won’t. In the mean time, I’m content making anklets. And like, other things.
Speaking of other things: I also finished the shrug I’d been working on and I started some felted slippers. But I’ll tell you more about that later. : )
As anyone who knows me will attest to, I have a serious love for baby knits. They’re small and quick, they don’t take much time and they’re SO CUTE. So when my friend Sarah told me her cousin was having a baby (the shower being this weekend) and asked if I would be interested in a commission from her for several baby things, I jumped at the chance. Also cause it meant I got to buy nice sock yarn. : )
So here’s what I came up with:
Pattern: Top Down Bonnet with Anime Character
Yarn: Trekking XXL
Needles: US 3/3.25 mm (or whatever the metric is)
Mods: I followed the size for the child using a smaller yarn and needles, hoping it would come out about baby sized. I think I accomplished that. I also, obviously, left off the face features.
Pattern: Mostly an amalgamation of various baby sock patterns. Mostly I made it up. No idea when they’ll fit the kid but I imagine they will at some point. Also, I did one cuff down (I started with a pattern) then did the other toe up, as I prefer. Both have a wedge toe and short row heel.
Yarn: Trekking XXL
Needles: US 1
Pattern: Steggie Bib
Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton-Ease in Lime
Needles: US 6/4 mm, which made for a super squishy and wonderful seed stitch.
Mods: Changed the icord ties to crochet chain/single crochet because it was faster that the icord would have been.
I totally love this bib. The pattern was fun, it’s super cute, and the cotton-ease is SO wonderful and squishy on the 4mm needles.
Anyway, I hope the parents-to-be like the things I made for Sarah to give to her cousin. At the very least, they were lots of fun to make.
Pattern: None. Started with Broad Street from Knitty, but that come out huge, so I made up my own, fingers down.
Yarn: Regia 4-ply in color 2004
Needles: US 3/3.25 mm
So I have this pair of machine-knit glittens that I got from Kohl’s and I love them to death. But I, being a knitter, decided I must make my own fingerless gloves as a foray into fingering yarn that isn’t knitted on giant needles into lace. I’d had a million pairs of fingerless mitts, but I decided my new gloves must have fingers, and patterns for those are somewhat harder to find. I love how these came out though, once I figured out what the hell I was doing.
And the figuring out took some time. The first glove i made was too big in the hand (I didn’t decrease enough after the fingers), the thumb was in a weird place, and the cuff, which I made while following Broad Street and didn’t want to frog, was grafted to the hand of the glove. Except the stitch numbers were uneven, so there was random decreasing and whatnot.
The second glove was much better. The thumb was still in an odd place and the ribbing started a bit late, but it’s a good, sturdy glove.
The third glove has a proper thumb, fit snugly, and has late ribbing to match the second. I’ll be keeping the last two, and the first one was… destroyed. I didn’t frog it, really, because I still had a fair amount of yarn left after knitting the next two. I did, however, chop the cuff off of it in order to knit the fingers of the third one.
In other knitting news: Owls is done and pictures were taken, so look for that soon. I also started a new project (socks) and will be starting a new sweater soon. So stay tuned. : )
Stitch, Brinn, Stitch! 