sockens

not much progress has been made on my hedgerow socks because i ended up ripping them out and restarting with smaller needles. though i got gauge (in stockinette) with 2.25mm, i tend to forget that i get looser when knitting in knit/purl patterns or lace .... the fabric did not have enough boing for my taste, so i am knitting again on 2mm needles now.

and it's slooooowwwwww ! and i'm already bored with the pattern ! whaaaa ! its only redeeming value is that it's pretty and i like the yarn ... and they're gonna be for me.


on the other hand, in protest to wee tiny stitches in a knit/purl pattern with 2mm needles, i started a truly mindless sock (stockinette) ... also on 2mm needles (oops).

i almost completely knitted the leg yesterday (read: didn't have enough brain cells to work on the cabled yoke pullover) and it's totally mindless just knit knit knit round and round !

i don't know when i knitted the first sock. apparently, i didn't keep any notes on it, and ended up having to swatch all over again.

whoops !

i've counted and i've recounted, and still ... there is a missing stitch ! where did it go? was it ever really there? can i get it back ?!

the good news: i know where it needs to be. and i can fudge it.

other news: modifications are in order. i thought i wanted the finished 37", but decided today that i want it an inch bigger ... so, i'm going to keep on increasing, thus gaining a wee bit of length too. it will change my numbers for the shaping and everything else that follows, but oh well. all's good as long as i end up with a multiple of 6 by the time i'm ready to cable the borders. right?!

progress report

i waited until yesterday to pick up my stitches for the yoke of my cabled yoke pullover. i had to pick up 198 stitches in light black yarn ! ... thus, i waited until i had plenty of time to take my time doing that, and for a moment during daylight hours ... outside.


and today is overcast and dreary (i love it, but it's too dark for taking pictures outside on the porch), thus the even more color imbalanced indoor photo with a wonderful bathroom shot.


just a little fyi ... the rest of this post is going to be a lot of yadda yadda yadda about picking up the stitches, knitting the pattern, etc .... just sayin'.

so far, without modifications, math has been my friend. i knitted 18 repeats of the cabled yoke strip. the pattern does not tell you to knit X repeats but to knit for a certain length depending on which size you're knitting.

for me, that was 18 repeats. which, was a good number in relationship to the number of stitches (198) i was suppose to pick up for the top of the yoke.

198/18 = 11

i picked up 11 stitches per repeat of the cabled strip. i pinned my stitch markers onto the cabled strip at each repeat transition. the cabled pattern of the upper yoke begins as an 11 st. repeat. how convenient ! i shifted things over by 2 stitches so my cables would all be centered on that repeat transition of the long strip.

it was very helpful to alternate the colors of my markers, as when the decreases are worked, i would just have to pay attention to doing my p2tog's after either the green or orange marker, depending on which round i was on. that was a happy accident, but became an asset.

now, for the next part of the sweater, math should be my friend again with the #'s in relationship to the 18 repeats of the strip and the # of stitches i need to pick up. and, i hope i don't have to wait for another sunny day to do that part.

i did not tie off my yarn at the neck yet. i'm thinking i might want to add another repeat to make it a bit taller.

yarn usage: i had 10 grams leftover (from a 100 gram hank) after knitting the long cabled strip, and 37 grams leftover (from another hank) after knitting the upper yoke. i've allowed myself 7 hanks of the cascade 220, but according to the pattern i'll only need 6. better safe than short !

" the new phone book's here ! "

that's just a quote from one of the funniest movies ever! ... and that's what i thought today when i got my package from elann with my patons pattern booklets. silly me thought they'd be small like my cables book, but instead they were grande !


street smart and happy feet are already on the bed, and i'm going to have some fabulous bedtime reading tonight! in the meantime, i think i'll knit on my socken.

i needed a little mindless knitting

i think i might be ready to connect my cabled yoke ends together ... but deciding that and the next step (picking up the stitches) will take more time than i can dedicate at the moment ... so of course i started something new !


i love a good semi-solid, as such yarns are perfect for lace and textures. this is going to be hedgerow, a simply textured sock with the design running down the back of the heel.

notes to self: susan bates 1's (brushed silver ones)

jaywalkers

finally, i have finished my first pair of jaywalkers! i cannot say i love the pattern, and will likely never knit this pattern again after i finish the other socken. i can say i love how stripy yarns look in a chevron design. and i can say how much i especially love how yarntini looks in chevron ....



specs:

top photo ... knitted in adriafil's knit-col on 2.5 mm crystal palace dpns. 120 grams total.

bottom photo ... knitted in yarntini's cosmopolitian on 2.5 mm turbos. decreased 4 stitches on instep after finishing gusset round by doing double decreases on a plain round. knitted toe in my nancy bush way.

what i should do is cast on for the yarntini mate, before i forget all the little details, but, as always, there's something more alluring tempting me ....

see ...

... i started !


this is the beginnings of the cabled yoke pullover i spoke of in my previous post.

you first knit that long horizontal band of cables and then sew together the ends. next, you pick up stitches along each edge and knit either up or down for the yoke or body. weeee !


thus far, i have 7 repeats and 16.5" of the cabled strip.

special notes: the cable has both written and charted instructions, so take your pick. though i prefer to knit from charts, i am actually knitting from the row by row instructions, since i had to keep flipping back to the stitch glossary for all the abbreviations. the cable pattern does have a selvedge stitch on each end. the selvedge stitch is not represented on the chart, nor mentioned in the cable pattern instructions (panel pat A)... only is it noted in the yoke cable directions. just fyi.

this sweater is a keeper. funny thing is it did not meet my criteria for a must have cardigan. i mean, it's a turtleneck pullover. not exactly easy on & off. but, i don't have to alter the size and can freely knit the pattern w/o much fuss, and the construction is quite interesting.

other special notes ... i have not knitted my glove-mate, nor finished any socken toes, and i'm awfully tempted to go stash diving for another sweater project (like a simple simple cardigan !).

dreaming of sweaters ....

believe it or not, i'm still debating over the fate of bristow or wicked. i actually did cast on for bristow, with my slightly smaller gauge than the pattern calls for. but, i don't think that's how i want to do it. i think i'd rather knit to gauge, and adjust for size in the body of the fabric by adding or subtracting some stitches, so i can keep the shaping and vertical length the same as the pattern calls for.

and i don't know if my brain wants to handle all that potential math.

so, when a project isn't really working out with the flow i desire, it's easy for me to look elsewhere for the next best/new thing.




which, very well could be this pretty cable yoked pullover from the patons book _cables_ as pictured above.
i just got this booklet fresh today, from miguel's.

wouldn't that look lovely in cascade 220's light black ?

there is an errata for this pattern which can be found here.



i was also in search of a couple of other booklets ... this cute publication of socks ....




and this very popular issue of street smart.

they are all mine now, though not in my possession. the cables book i did find locally, but the other two were just mail ordered today via elann.

the good thing about ordering from elann is they have an option of $3.00 shipping on lightweight orders, ie: wee booklets.

sometimes ....

... when you're stalled on other projects, you find something else to do.

like, um ... make something new for stuart!

i went home to visit mom & family last weekend. everytime i go home, i take a suitcase full of projects and promises. i will never learn my lesson and take only one project. i'm afraid of being without.

i had several things on my agenda. one of those things was to make stuart some bunny slippers. i didn't get around to it. but, my mom did !






i tried to make him some pj bottoms today ... but kinda messed that up.

specs:
caron simply soft
G hook
dmc embroidery floss
plastic safety eyes
love

oh, and stuart had a bath the other day ... you can see it all over here.

hypoteneuse debut

hey, i did finish something .... but, i just can't manage a decent picture of my hypoteneuse. it's full of drape, and wonderfully soft. as much as i'd like to wear it a few times before sending it off to its recipient, there's no chance in hell that it will be cool enough soon enough.

is it strange that i can knit an entire shawl and not finish a wee sock ?


i'm at my usual place with this sock ... the dreaded toe ! i don't know what it is about me and sock toes. i don't even care to analyze it. oh, and when i do finish this wee socken, it too will become an orphan =)

... kinda like this glove ....


i've had gloves on my mind lately. pretty gloves, like these and these and these.

but they all required more thought than i could muster up, so i went for something very very basic ... just to satisfy my bug, and my need for mindless knitting.

i made a pair last winter. it was fun ... something i had to try to see if i could actually do it. those were knitted with a worsted wt. wool. though they're very warm, and fit, they are just too bulky.

this time, i am using australian merinos, with a gauge of 7.5 sts/inch on crystal palace 2.75mm dpns. this glove definitely has the negative ease thing going on, and that makes them a better fit than my first pair.

i'm more or less following the instructions in ann budd's _handy book of patterns_.

finished goodies

i can hardly believe it myself!
the mate sat patiently waiting for the toe for about three or four days. i needed to feel some sort of accomplishment, so i finally took the time to knit the toe, and thus have a completed pair of monkeys.

mind you, there are still lots of little socken orphans running around here. and i will have to decide who's next ... and resist the urge to cast on for something new.

but, i will cast on something new. i changed my mind again and decided that i am going to knit bristow. i even swatched!


i'm using addi turbo size 7 circs for a gauge of 5 sts/inch. the pattern has a gauge of 4.75 sts/inch. but, the pattern is also in increments of 4" and i'm shooting for a finished 38" ... thus the modification.

i was set on wicked until stacey got me thinking again with the comment she left in my last post.

and swatching the cable sealed the deal ... though the pattern won't be as obvious as in rebekkah's version, i still think i will be lovely in light black.


these pot holders were crocheted by my friend debalicious. she gave me the pattern about a week ago, but i hadn't made the time to crank one out. these are certainly inspiration to break out the hook! the instructions for making these double thick pot holders is similar to this pattern i found on the net.