Peters Socks

Pattern: Peters Socks, Nancy Bush (located in the novel, A Good Yarn by Debbie Macomber)
Yarn: Mountain Colors Bearfoot, Granites Peak
Mods: shortened cuff by 1" to make up for lengthening foot 1", eye of partridge heel and modified round toe

I tried an Eye of Partridge heel, just because I wanted to. I don't think the slipped stitches really show, but overall I think I like the look of it better than a regular slipped stitch heel.


Hub is pretty picky about how his toes feel in socks. So I made up this modified round toe instead of a "standard". There aren't any ridges to "feel" so it's much smoother. I also ended it sooner than a standard round toe and grafted the end together to keep it from becoming "pointy". The only thing I would do differently with this is do about 6 rows of plain stockinette before starting the decreases. The toe looks visually too short.


You may have noticed... these weren't originally for Hub. I had set out to make them for my brother. Then I realized... single man... delicate socks... maybe not a good choice. So I'll make some for him from something a little tougher. (And perhaps a yarn I'm not having a silly love affair with.)

I was going to wait to do the second sock of these, but the idea of a single sock hanging around for the summer was giving me a twitch. So I just dove in.

NOW, I'm going to get on top of those two shorts and THEN it'll be all for me! Yay!

Miss N goes to knit night

Last week when we were discussing knit night, several people mentioned they would not be able to make it, including me. Hub was scheduled to be out of town and I needed to stay home with the girls. There was also talk of "we HAVE to meet at the park..." And the two combined to "Let's meet at the park and you can bring your girls so we can meet them!" The plan was hatched. Then Hub's plans changed and he was indeed home. SO, Miss E stayed home and went to bed on time and Miss N got to be a "big girl" and go out with Mommy.

We met at the Rose Garden and it was just GORGEOUS! Next time I'll take rose garden pic's. This time I caught this...

Miss N ran...



And ran...


And occasionally would crash on Mommy and give Bear a squeeze.


I knit 8 stitches. lol! Not productive, but Miss N had quite a time. She enchanted several of the ladies... giving out drawings, collected rose petals and compliments. The big girl had a blast. She never let Miss H far from her sight either. It was a chorus of "Miss H, come run with me." "Miss H, do you want some of my rasins?" And on and on it went. (Miss H is the manager of my lovely LYS.) Then we gave Miss H a ride home and Miss N asked "Miss H, can I see your bed?". It was defiantly time for a worn out little girl to go home and see her own bed.

On a ROLL!

Watch out UFO's because I am on the warpath!

I completed the "Princess of the Wild Things" last night. Hub wanted to demonstrate to you that this thing was as long as his arms. He, much like myself, has little to no faith in the felting process. I knit and I knit... and I think... this could be crap. I'm not charmed by the "magic". I fear it. If it's crap, it's wasted yarn. There's no ripping. This disturbs me.


However, despite our dire hopes, this one came out a winner! The Princess in question could not be bothered for a public appearance. There was applesauce to eat.

Pattern: King of the Wild Things from Little Turtle Knits
Yarn: Cascade 220

So, my question is... for all you experienced professional felters... how to make it nice and smooth? I tugged and tugged... even got out the iron (which is really something - I never iron!) but it didn't seem to help. Maybe now that it's dry I should try the iron again? Help, help, help!

In Search Of...

A size 6 foot model.

The Roza's are done! Yay! However, this picture quite obviously does not show them off. I believe one of the ladies from my knit group wears a 6... so I will be hitting her up this week to model Roza for us. Otherwise, we'll have to wait until the end of July when my MIL is coming to visit with her small feet. These are going into the Holiday Gifts box and lets just check one more thing off my list! Yay! I'm getting nearer to knitting some things for myself.

Daffodils for Breakfast

The second Roza is now humming along. (Look at how IDENTICAL the colorway pooled at the ankle.) Her gusset is now complete and she's ready to pop in my purse and go to the doctor this afternoon. My goal is to finish her this weekend so I can start my SOS socks!

So, a review of the goals I laid out a week or so ago...

I've completed the first Peter sock. CHECK.
I completed Miss E's last pair of shorts. CHECK.

Roza is well on her way to being done. Yay!
Then it's just two pair of shorts - shouldn't take more than a week.

And then my (knitting) plate will be cleared! Yay! I'll be free to do the SOS and start my sweater. I can't wait.

**Breakfast artwork courtesy of Miss N. It's called "sad face". Sad because he/she misses their Mommy and Daddy. I have no idea where they are.

Saturdays are for Shorts!

Better late than never!

Pattern: My Own
Yarn: Blushing Violet from Wooly Wonders By Nada

This project was doomed from the start... the reason? I apparently did all the calculations while my kids were awake. Bad idea. They were totally messed up and I have no one to blame but myself. I would have had them done on Saturday, however, I realized I'd used my rise measurement for the hip and well, that was not going to work. So I ripped out the majority of the body, added stitches and got going again. Then I realized I'd forgotten to subtract the gusset portion from the body... and well, thankfully I caught that in time and started the gusset where it needed to be. All I can say is it's good I've made so many or I would have never made it through this pair!

So now Miss E's summer "wardrobe" is complete. 3 pairs of shorties! Done! She's also got her two pair of capri to get her through cool mornings. I am proud of myself... this is better than winter when I was too busy knitting for other people and ended up having to buy Miss E more pants. I put my family first this time. Yay me!

So NOW it's on to knitting the two pair of shorts for a friend. She's having her 4th boy in the fall so I might have to sneak a little soaker in there too. We'll see. I'm trying to be better about putting limits on myself. (ha ha)

You know what the best part of summer is?


Faster wool drying on the back patio instead of in the basement!

Happy Fowers Day!

That's the Miss N way to say it. :)


Anyone else give their love a single sock for Fathers Day? Really, Hub deserves better but I really didn't have the time to finish a whole pair. At least the Birthday socks were early right? We had a lovely weekend of relaxation and enjoying our little family.

I wanted to have another 'Saturday Is For...' post for you. However, this Saturday... while I was thinking I might finish something, I ended up ripping it because of an error in the initial calculations. SO... we'll just not talk about that.

Fruit Snacks

For my birthday, Miss T sent me some undyed knitpicks sock yarn... She was hoping to drag me to the dark side and get me to dye. Well, I don't think the yarn had been in my home a week and it's already been dyed. I have to say... thank you Miss T! This was SUCH fun! And I absolutely ADORE the result!

I dyed it with Kool Aid. Miss N named it. She got up from her nap and was sniffing all around asking "Mommy, what that smell is?" And the next words out of her mouth were "Can I have some fruit snacks?" Which was fitting since our whole house smelled like fruit snacks!

Here it is before I reskeined it.



And after... it really changed the look I think. The purple looks much darker and the orange really stands out. The red does stand out more to my eye than it is in the pictures. Which is good... I wanted red to be the main color as I LOVE red.




I have to say... if there were more undyed yarn in my house... it would not be that way anymore. It's probably good I only had the one hank. Otherwise... I might have gone off the deep end. This was SO fun. I've been looking around seeing new colorways in my mind... dangerous dangerous... I might have to make a trip to Paradise Fibers and see if they have any small quantities I can snatch up to play with. This was SO fun. SO fun! And not scary at all! I've dyed cotton, and I detest it. But this... totally different and SO fun! I will defiantly be doing it again soon!

Not to worry... Saturday is not for dying. Saturday is for shorts this week! Stay tuned...

Goals

We are now just ONE week away from the Summer of Socks KAL. I, in usual form, have three socks in progress. None of which are for myself, again, usual form.

SO. I have decided that the SOS KAL will be ALL SOCKS FOR ME! That's right. It's the summer of knitting for self! I have four yarns plucked from my stash that I have decided to knit up for the KAL. If I get further, than I'll do more, but I'm trying to be slightly realistic.

I am also going to work on Something Brown this summer.

But before I can start all that I need to get a few things done.

1. Complete second Roza sock - which will complete a pair. Whew.

2. Complete Peter's Sock. This is only the first of a pair, but this is a super fuzzy warm yarn not suitable for summer wear, so I've got time to make it's mate.

3. Vintage and Modern sock will wait until fall to be worked on. Hub's getting all the socks and my feet are jealous.

4. Must complete 3 pair of shorts, 1 for Miss E and 2 for a friends boys. THEN I can start Something Brown.

This will certainly not all go as I'd like, but it's what I'm aiming for. I'd love to have all the other knitting done by next week, but that is NOT going to happen unless I grow a second pair of hands and someone else cares for my family.

I got a bit of knitting done yesterday. I had an afternoon doctors appointment (just 2 blocks from LYS) so after that I explored another LYS (not as good as mine) got an iced latte and headed for LYS. I puttered about for an hour and then everyone arrived for knit night. So between waiting rooms and knit night Roza got a couple of inches. It was good to be away from home for six hours in a row. Time for my mind to get a break from my usual.

SO, I'm off to work on some socks, and shorts so I can enjoy a summer of knitting for ME!

Saturday's are for Soakers!

I've been putting this off. Stretching her night soaker as much as I could and tying it real quick before it could slide down. However, it's gotten to be a bit much. I sucked it up and knit up a new night soaker for E this weekend. I made up my own pattern because I was not satisfied with the patterns I have. It worked out REALLY well! Yay! I can't believe I got it right on the first try. The rise is a little extra tall, but E has a tall rise and those night diapers give her a giant booty so I did that on purpose. And, I only used scraps from other projects which was really cool!

Yarn: Peace Fleece scraps for body & Lion Wool scrap for trim
Pattern: My own
Needles: Addi Turbo's, 4,7 & Knit Picks DPN's

Runneth Over

My sock yarn basket is has now officially runneth over. I know you experienced stashers are laughing at me. Stop that now. Miss T sent me my birthday gifts and spoiled the heck out of me! She bought me more Vesper! In the Knit & Tonic colorway which I love! What a sweetheart huh? But wait... she also bought me bare yarn and koolaid. She's an enabler. I've not dyed yarn and I was not going to go into that deep dark hole but it looks like I'm there. Miss N wants to help! Agh! lol! There were more treats too. She's too generous. Makes me feel special!

Also, there is MORE COMING! Yes, I for the first time in my life... won a prize! Sarah held a contest for her vacation which I did not win. (She finished a whack of fab socks! Check them out!) She was in the giving mood and started just giving stuff away left and right! And I actually won some Tofutsies. Can't wait to check it out. My LYS doesn't carry it. Thank you Sarah!

I am now TOTALLY ready for the Summer of Socks! Hopefully I'll get that basket under control!

Speaking of children... Miss E is a yarn monster.


Aghh! Good thing I had a hold of the other end of that. And good thing she's this cute. She loves yarn. Puts gobs of it in her mouth if I let her. Future knitter for sure.


I'll have an FO report for you tomorrow. A "must get done" but didn't want to do kind of thing. But it's over and done with and drying as I type!

Crazy Friday

Question of the day... Can socks be a jag?

I don't think they can. How could something so useful... that you could possibly never have enough of, be a jag? I don't think so. So then what? I have a "problem". lol! At knit night a woman peered into my bag to see 3 socks going and looked at me like I was a bit nuts. Apparently she hasn't caught the insanity bug. I actually felt myself blush and said "I have a bit of a problem with the socks right now".


There's one finished Roza and her mate started. I'm sorry to say that until I can get my MIL to come visit and model them, I have no nice way to show them to you. They are far too small or big for anyone in this household. Unfortunately it's a most pathetic looking sock without a foot in it. Miss N's crown is still going. Please discourage me from trying to do felting projects... they really make me cranky.

Speaking of felting projects look what I dug out for you!


I mentioned the French Market Tote made it's way out of the back of the closet to go on a picnic last week and she's grown on me so I thought I'd let you take a peak. She's not my favorite FO that's for sure, but she's useful for picnics. The only downside is the mohair stuck to the rubber sippy spouts.


Have you ever seen this wine? It's a hoot. Hub bought it while I was pregnant with Miss E so it's been sitting around a while. Last night we decided to give it a try. The label cracks me up.


Then Hub noticed something else on the label... see that Alcohol content? A bit steep! Apparently they want you to be the drunk housewife. Which I quickly was finding my way towards seeing as after 2 kids in 4 years I rarely if ever drink anything.


All the while Miss N was putting on quite a show last night. She was inspecting this Knit Picks catalog and telling Hub all about it. I asked her here if she was learning a new technique and she very animatedly replied "I'm trying to, but it's just not working!".

Knee High!

This afternoon I had Hub try on the pair of socks I'm working on for him. I just wanted to make sure he could get them over his big heel. So she wouldn't feel left out I had Miss N try on the Roza's since I myself could not. I was surprised to see that they were actually fairly close to fitting her. Hub and I both gasped and he said "You have to make her some socks like that!". Knee Highs! They are SO cute! I think I can cast on the same as these, but I'll need to learn how to do some calf shaping and take them down by a dozen stitches at the ankle to fit her. Need to do a little research and planning on how to do that. But... I see some Roza Knee Highs for a soon to be four year old coming up in the fall!

Saturday's are for Socks!

One could say I have a bit of "sock startitis". This Saturday while Miss N played out in the sunshine with Hub I stayed indoors and worked on a few socks while catching up on some long distance phone calling. These are all the first sock of the pair...

Roza is ready for her heel though, so at least she's moving along into something else. In sad news, I tried them on and... they are too small for me. So I'm going to complete them as a gift for a wee footed love.

Peters Socks for Brother J moved along at a nice clip. I'm working them on my Knit Picks needles. At first try I didn't care for these needles, but working with them this time I am REALLY enjoying them! I think the first time I tried them the gauge was too loose and with their weight it was just not working out at all. But this time the gauge is right, so it's working out well. I don't mind the weight and I might actually like it. My hands (like my feet) are a bit bigger, so the weight makes me feel slightly more coordinated. As does the 6" length. I really like that as the 5" seem a bit short at times. These should move pretty quickly!

I worked a bit on the Vintage and Modern Socks for Hub. They are based on the "Gentleman's Plain Winter Sock" from Knitting Vintage Socks, however I worked a different ribbing (which I'll explain later) and quite frankly, there is NOTHING plain about that yarn. Which brings in the "modern". The yarn is Kona Fingering Superwash dyed at Little Turtle Knits in the Elijah colorway. Hub picked it out himself! Yes, a bright man sock! Although he did think it would be more blue, but is still willing to wear it! It's worked on 2.0mm needles, so the gauge is wee wee tiny. It's working up fairly quickly now that I'm onto the plain stockinette.


And Yarn PrOn for you... I scored some Vesper last week and it arrived on Saturday. I am so excited! I'll be starting some jaywalkers with this. I love all the ones I've seen worked up in this. I'm really excited to get these started... but as you see... I'm not exactly lacking for sock projects here.

Hey look! Miss T joined the party!

A little falling down

Well, I didn't go a whole day without knitting. I just didn't make it. It was 9pm... I'd folded every piece of laundry I could find (including the basket full of socks that never get folded). And well, I simply CAN NOT watch TV without doing something else. It's just wasted time. So uh... I cast on two new projects. You know... because if you're going to fall down you might as well do a good job of it. Above is Miss N's felted crown. It's a very loose gauge, so not hard on the wrists at all. I was going slowly too... trying not to race through it. And then... I couldn't wait. I had to cast on the new Bearfoot sock yarn...


Isn't it so gorgeous? When you first look at it it seems to be a charcoal. But then the light catches it and you see all these colors. It's simply stunning to me. It reminds me of a mallard duck... you know how the light catches the dark parts of their feathers and all of a sudden you see brilliant color. That's what this reminds me of. I love it.

So I fell down. Where's the 12 step?

And that book, it's great. The most honest look at Motherhood I've yet seen. Love it!