I'll Be Back

I'm heading out tomorrow morning for the east coast, but I will be back by Thursday.

When I return I will have much progress to report on the Wheat-Ear Cable Yoke Sweater, an FO to show & lots of pics of the trip.

In the meantime, Happy Independence Day!

Casting On

When I finished the Embossed Leaves socks I realized that I had nothing else on the needles! GASP! I thus immediately cast-on the Wheat-Ear Cable Yoke that I am making for my niece. I initially did a bunch of math to convert the pattern to a 25" chest and cast-on. I knit about 5 rows & realized that a) I'm not getting correct gauge & b) the needles are really too large for the yarn.

I therefore ripped it out and started again. This time I am using the directions as written for the smallest size, but went down 2 needles sizes. Hallelujah! I Have GAUGE! And, no more math required, since little miss has a 25" chest, but her arms & torso are 18" long already! (Yes, she is going to be really tall!)

I'm a little over 1/2 done with the back and I'm really looking forward to getting to the cables (stockinette can be so boring)!

Not to be satisfied, and frankly feeling a bit inadequate after seeing mammoth stash photos over on ravelry (seriously, get on the list if you aren't already! Love, love, love this site!), I stopped by the LYS on the way home from work & picked up the following.

I am planning on making (surprise) socks out of both of these. I'm thinking of trying Breeze for my Sockapalooza pal with the Hempathy. I'm looking for a pattern that will be good for the Calmer. These will go to my mom & will be cast-on first, since her birthday is in a few weeks. This yarn is soft, very stretchy & (most importantly) will probably hold up to my dad's laundry practices.

On This Day Meme

I've been tagged again by Vicky and this one is really interesting!

The rules are to go to Wikipedia and type in your birthday month and day only. Then post 3 events, 2 births and one holiday that occurred on your birthday, then tag 5 friends.

My birthday is October 18th, and on this day in
1648 - Boston Shoemakers form first U.S. labor organization.
1851 - Herman Melville's Moby-Dick is first published as The Whale by Richard Bentley of London.
1968 - The U.S. Olympic Committee suspends two black athletes for giving a "black power" salute during a victory ceremony at the Mexico City games.

I share my birthday with
1935 - Peter Boyle, American actor (d. 2006)
1961 - Wynton Marsalis, American musician
(I also share it with Pam Dawber & Erin "Joanie Cunningham" Moran, but I've known that for years! lol)

And the 18th is, according to the French Republican Calendar, Piment (Chili Pepper) Day (spicy!)

Mary, Joanne, Ruinwen, Dani, & Denise... you're it!

Embossed Leaves

Finished another pair of socks!
Pattern: Embossed Leaves by Mona Schmidt from Interweave Knits Winter 2005 (also in the book Favorite Socks).
Yarn: Knit Picks Bare Fingering weight 100% Merino, dyed by me with Kool Aid
Needles: size 2 dpn

Notes: I'm pretty happy with the way these turned out. I made a few modifications to the pattern. I changed the heel from stockinette to slip-stitch and I did fewer decreases on the toe. The pattern called for decreasing down to 4 sts, I decreased to 16 sts and I'm glad I did.. the toe on these would have been very pointy if I hadn't. I really do like this style of toe decrease though, it compliments this pattern very well!

I don't know if I will make these again. The pattern is lovely, easy to follow and goes quickly. However, I find that I like the appearance of the sock better when it's not stretched out (i.e., not being worn). These will be going to my mum for her birthday. Now if I can just keep my dad from throwing them in the dryer...

I would like to thank everyone who participated in my poll. I appears that the overwhelming majority prefers my WordPress blog, so I will be switching over. However, we are going to be running it off our own domain so it will take a few days to get it set up. I will be keeping the blog running here in the meantime. :)

Yarn Porn!

I just received my Knit Picks order! Yippie!

They are running a clearance sale & I snagged some sock yarn at a fantastic price! I've never knit with their Memories sock yarn before, but according to the folks at Ravelry the yarn is supposed to knit up fairly well, although is highly prone to felting. Well, I guess I will just have to keep these all to myself then... darn! ;)

Spring Prairie

Hawaii

Rocky Mountain Dusk

Yukon

They also kicked in a couple color cards: Palette & Telemark! I love this store! :)

Oh, btw, I would love your opinion on something. I have been playing around at WordPress for the last few months & I'm getting heartily sick of updating the same info on 2 different blog sites. So, I'm going to get rid of one. Which should I keep? Take a peek at my other site & let me know.

Sockapalooza Socks Done!

I've just finished the Swirling Lace Anklets! Whee!

Project Notes:

Pattern - Swirling Lace Anklets by Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer
Yarn - Lorna's Laces Shepard Sock in Sage
Needles - Size 1 dpns

Love the pattern! Very well written, chart easy to follow. The pattern stitch is very easy and very quickly memorized.
I think the yarn compliments the pattern perfectly. And I just love knitting with Lorna's Laces! The project ended up using just over 1 skein (I needed the 2nd skein for the toe shaping). I still have plenty left over to do another pair of socks in a smaller size.

I am so very pleased with the way these turned out! I just hope my sp likes them! Since I finished so early, I'm thinking of knitting her a second pair of socks. Maybe Breeze from the new issue of Knitty? I really like cabled heel, but I'm concerned the holes might be too big for my sp's liking... Any thoughts?

Busy As A Bee

That's what I've been the past few days. Honey was actually home this weekend, so that meant we needed to catch up on projects around the house & what-not.

The big project was that we finally got round to striping and staining the deck! It was 3 days of work, but it's finally done and looks pretty good considering we are rank amateurs! :)

Here are some project pics

Before

During

After

The last photo shows the stain as darker than it actually is. I believe that's because the sun isn't quite as bright today.

I did get some knitting done as well. I've just finished the gusset and am a 1/4 of the way through the foot of the second Sockapalooza sock. I'm still on the first skein of yarn too, which means I may have enough left over to make a 2nd pair!
I also finally decided to rip out the Folk Jacket that I had started knitting for my mom back in February of last year. I had finished the back and 1 front piece, then I lost the pattern. I ended up purchasing a second copy of the pattern a few months ago, but realized that my mom has gained weight since I started the sweater and it will no longer fit her. And I don't have enough yarn for a larger size.

However, the beautiful yarn will not go to waste. I will be taking the main color yarn...
And knitting this for my niece.

Wheat-Ear Cable Yoke from
Summer 2007 Interweave Knits

Considering that she is only 9 and, surprisingly, smaller than the model, I am going to have to do a fair bit of math to convert the pattern to her size. It looks like the pattern is sized in increments of 5", so it should be fairly easy to size it down. She is tall for age and very slender, so I think this will suit her perfectly!

Lastly, my dearest friends had their baby yesterday! I'm so insanely happy for them!
Welcome to the world, Declan!

Swirling Lace

I've finished the first Swirling Lace Anklet for my downstream sockapalooza pal! Whee!
I didn't make any modifications to the pattern and I think it turned out beautifully!

The pattern is very easy and quickly memorized, so it knit up rather quickly. I highly recommend it.

I think the yarn color compliments the pattern well. I hope my sp likes it.
Now to cast-on it's mate.

Ravelry Revelry

Yesterday I received my invite to Ravelry. OMG, I'm so addicted already!. It's still in beta testing, but it's already a great resource! I'm having so much fun updating everything and realizing how bad I am at documenting my knits, even on this blog! Fun, fun, fun. You should put your name on the waiting list if you haven't already! :)

In knitting news, I have about a repeat left to go on my first swirling lace anklet before decreasing for the toe. It really is knitting up very nicely. I will post a pic as soon as the first one is done.

Also, this weekend I got very frustrated trying to listen to my ipod while wearing a dress... no pockets. So, I took about an hour and whipped this up.
I don't know what yarn this is, it's a remnant that I got from Ingrid quite a while ago. I knit it up on size 3 dpns in the round. There is 3 rows of 1x1 ribbing at the top & the rest is knit in stockinette, with an i-cord strap. Very snazzy! I am thinking of knitting up a few more & playing around with lace &/or cables.

That's about it for now, I'm off to watch On the Lot. :)