i did. i DID. I did ... finish a sock .....

wow. that's all i can say. this sock has been sitting around, on needles, for much too long.

and finally, this weekend, i finished this sock!

sock on right foot is ... the sock !!!

on left foot is an older handknit sock. BUT, right foot ... wow ... knitted in an unusual construction.

the pattern is stripe tease. the yarn is serenity wool-free.

forgive me for not providing the links. i have to still, tonight, deal with dinner in the oven. write up both a resume & letter of intent, and i really want to work on my "secret project".

♥ i love pink ♥

last night, i was watching an old episode of the west wing. donna was wearing such a cute toboggan! ... the hat itself looks fairly simple (though, i could not quite make out the stitches).

it's ribbed. but i can't tell if it's a brioche stitch or some other kind of ribbing.

i don't really think it matters.

the best part about it was she was wearing a bubble gum pink hat, amidst the doom and gloom of the wintery weather, and the rest of her outfit was neutral and drab.

it's a cute hat. perhaps i should make a notation as of which season or episode i saw the hat just incase i need to see it again?

i have a secret

i have a secret, and i can't post it here. i already told the recipient that i'm making a secret project, and i even dared to tell her the color, but i'd better stop there before i totally spill the beans.

because i'm working on a secret project, i haven't been knitting on anything else. my sock just needs the toe to be finished (and of course, the mate!).

the fit is good, and of course, i am a wee bit concerned that if i don't get the 2nd sock on the needles soon, i might forget what i did the first time.

i reason with myself, i say, "well, i figured it out the first time, so when i get to that point again, i will resolve it the same way" (take or give a few stitches or rows).

i know, i can't help it. i've really been enjoying the BeFunky app way too much!

lovin' the cheapie yarn!

so, that yarn ... i cast on. right now, i will say i ♥ love ♥ it.

i simply find it interesting. first of all, i was blown away by the color saturation. the colors are a bit "unnatural" ... and so are the fibers. 

the yarn is 93% acrylic and 7% PBT. i asked myself, what is PBT ?! i found the answer here.

i thought i would knit a plain vanilla sock (you know, the kind you can knit in the dark, because you've knit it 100 times already). 

but, it is "unusual construction" month over at sock knitters anonymous, and i felt this yarn would be awesome for the pattern stripe tease (rav link).

so, here we go ....

i know the sock looks kinda not like  a sock. in this pattern, you start first with the cuff, knitted in the round. and then, the rest of the sock until the toe, is knitted in strips.
i have the gist in my head, and have somewhat abandoned the pattern. and i hope it fits =)

i'm a sucker for craft store sock yarns

mom and i went to the hobby lobby today ... i don't have one near my city, but when i come "home", we usually end up in the next little town that has a couple of craft stores.

i like the hobby lobby because they carry more sock yarns than the other craft stores i frequent. and, they let us use our 40% app coupon on every item purchased.

though i didn't "need" any yarn, i "wanted" some ... and they had a yarn i'd not seen before ....

the color in the picture is slightly exaggerated. but, still, it's super bright.

i'm still knitting along on my hitchhiker, and am just about out of my yarn. i'm thinking i will do the bind off with a contrast color though.

h i t c h h i k i n g

yes, i am knitting a hitchhiker scarf! i have admired the pattern for a loooong time, and really love most all of Martina Behm's designs. 

fairly recently, a friend sent me the pattern as a gift. i have friends that say it's a really good "mindless" project.

right now, i can use something mindless. thus, i cast on yesterday afternoon.

the color is a bit whacked. since i've switched computers, and am mostly using apps vs. my camera to take pictures, sometimes i just take the colors i get. i did try to edit via flickr's "aviary" but that feature wasn't working for me moments ago.

and today, i'm playing around with the font as well =)

the second picture is a little gizmo made by clover, which i think is normally used to help knitters manage multiple yarns on one finger. i'm using it to keep the yarn from digging a trench across my index finger as i knit.

i could use a bandaid, but don't even get me started about that texture issue (it's akin to nails on a chalkboard).

and it's not that the yarn is rough like linen or hemp, ... it could just be my long stretches of knitting.

the yarn i received for christmas. it's knitpicks "imagination". it's a fingering weight alpaca/wool/nylon mix ... and if you go to the website, you'll see a better color representation if you look at the colorway "evil stepmother".

they describe the color as this:

A regal, deep blend of purples and reds, ranging from cool royal purple to plum to burgundy with shots of bright crimson.

i was worried that i wouldn't have enough yarn, but this is really one of those patterns that you can knit until you run out of yarn. i have two hanks ! approx 440 yds.

the long edge is already long enough to go around my neck, and i'm not yet finished with the first ball. so, i've quit stressing that i'd run out.

of course, with each row the stitch count grows by 1 stitch.

here's a snapshot of my knitting last night on my lap. again, the color is "off", but the color is a bit more true.

anyways, i'm enjoying the knitting. perhaps i should be knitting on my socks, or other things. instead, right now, i'm thinking how fabulous this will look wrapped around my neck once finished.

and i finished!

i am thrilled to say i finished a pair of socks in the same month i started them. and, they were a labor of love. i plowed through a lot of seed stitch. BUT, it really wasn't that bad. and eventually, the pattern became more intuitive.



and now, that they're done, i think i've almost forgotten all their "un fun" parts.



i'm happy i read the instructions enough to remember to make them mirror images of one another too. the pattern has a very basic name of "textured socks", and they're from this little gem of a book by patons.

there's quite a few patterns in that booklet i'd like to knit. i'm also just glad to be knitting from my stash and library =)

so, now that it's march, along comes another sock challenge. this month, "unusual construction".



for this challenge, i cast on carousel from knitty. this yarn is knitpick's stroll sock in colorway "hard candy multi".  (and, after linking to their website, all colorways are labeled as "goodbye" ... guess they're changing things up a bit?)

anyhoo, this sock IS a challenge ... because of the construction, i don't know if i'm wasting my time. if i can get it over my heel, it might be too big for my leg. or too loose for my foot. we'll see. but, it looks pretty darn cool!