Zombies knit too!

Happy Halloween!

Manda's Evangelines

Since Manda kindly sent me pictures of her modeling the Evangelines that I knit for her, I figured the least I could do is blog about the pictures.

Clearly they were just made for her. I'm kind of jealous, they're much more...luxurious than the pair I have for myself, even if they are knit from the same yarn (just different colors). Hopefully these will keep her satisfied while I figure out which one of her many demands will be next on the needles.

Socks and disappointing revelations...

Spring Forward sock one is finished! After an eternity of knitting (aka, two weeks) I finally grafted my toe closed on my lunch break today. And as Tim Gunn would say "I'm concerned".  It is a little tight on my foot. It fits, but it's tight. I may or may not be able to block that out. I need a set of sock blockers first. Or at this point, just A sock blocker. Another thing that concerns me is they make my feet look fat and stubby. I have long narrow feet. How can they look so fat in these socks? Has anyone ever uttered the words "Do these socks make my feet look fat?" because I was totally thinking that when I was looking over the pictures.

Anyway, on to the pictures. You can judge for yourselves.




(You can kind of see the minor laddering I got between the two needles that I used to work the sole. Right in the middle of my foot.)

This is not a very good picture but I wanted to show off my holeless toe.





See?! My foot totally looks like chubby in this photo.

I love the pattern. I love the yarn. I'm just not sure if I love this sock on my foot. There's a distinct possibility that my Mom may get some socks as a Christmas gift this year...

Oh, and I finished one baby hat. This is the smallest of the hats that I need to make. I'm thinking the other hat I'm working on is gonna have to be ripped out. It just seems way too big for a 6 month old. Then again, I kept thinking this one was going to turn out too large and it seems appropriately baby sized.

Nearly there...

I'm so close to finishing that sock I can taste it. (or smell it, or see it or something...) All I have left is to kitchener the toe closed. I just hope I don't blow it like I did on my first sock. These babies are too pretty to have holey toes.

Pictures to come later tonight.

**ETA**

The Sock is finished! YAY!

Roving, thrumming, and cascade 220.

I got another package from the Loopy Ewe today. (yes, I know, I compulsively buy yarn) This yarn is destined for a specific project though (normally I just buy and figure out a pattern later). I've decided to make a pair of thrummed mittens for Kevin's Mom. What happened to the convertible mittens you ask? My ADD is what happened. That and I got scared at the idea of doing fingers. I figured she could use something that could keep her fingers nice and toasty while she's out walking on cold New England winter mornings. Kev said it would be different from what she already has so it would be a nice change of pace.

So I've got two cakes of Casecade 220. One in Alki beach and one in Persimmon. The Aliki beach looked a little more...beigey online. In person it is a little grayish but still works with the roving. The roving is Glenda the Good Witch from Perchance to Spin. It might be a bit nice for a thrummed mitten project, but I wanted pretty roving and I know nothing about buying it. I'm hoping to perhaps maybe find a lady at the LYS to spin it/teach me how to spin after I get my thrums just to get a taste of spinning. I haven't decided what color I'll do for Kevin's Mom yet. Probably the Persimmon, it is such a lovely color.

The sock is coming along nicely. I'm about halfway down the foot now, and my heel came together so much better this time around. I'm just dying to get it done but it's taking forever. I can only usually get about 10-12 rows knit a day. But I am working on a baby hat finally, so that is slowing me down a bit. I have a feeling it's going to be a bit big, but babies only get bigger so it'll grow into it eventually, right?

Buttons Galore!

  Etsy is my new best friend. I ordered 4 sets of about 30 buttons each from a seller on etsy (all together it came to like $12). I was sorely lacking in the interesting button department. Now my cup runneth over. I'm so excited. Now I have buttons ready for when I made a garment that needs buttons. Yay.

Prioritizing

I’m starting to think about the holidays and who will get what for Christmas this year. Last year I made nearly all of the Christmas presents I gave. Scarves, hats, dish cloths…I was pretty busy right up until the last minute. I’m not going to make nearly as many presents this year seein’ as how the dish cloths I made my sister sat in a box for the entire year and I don’t think I ever saw my nieces in scarves/hats that I made for them. There are some gifts that I would like to make though and they will take more time since they will be more complicated than the standard scarf/hat patterns I did last year. So I need to prioritize what’s on my to-do list and figure out what needs to get made first. Sadly, this may interrupt my sock knitting (that is going along swimmingly! I’m working on the heel flap now!). Working fulltime and taking class/dealing with homework 2/3 nights a week doesn’t help with the free knitting time either. Boo.

So the list:

Newest Addition

I haven't been to my LYS in quite a while so I stopped by this afternoon on my lunch break to pick up some yarn to make some hats for a LJ friend's little girls (soon to come baby, and tot). She requested something in fall colors and this yarn is just perfect. It's got lovely shades of red, purple, brown and orange in it. And it was only $6 a hank for kettle dyed yarn. Not bad! Now on to the pictures.








I haven't settled on a pattern for a hat though. If anyone knows of a good pattern for little girls please feel free to toss it out there. I'm open to suggestions.

Spring Forward!

So I haven't finished the mate of my first sock. In fact I haven't even started. The thought of doing one more sock solely in stockinette was just a bit too much to bear and I want to make pretty socks! And I've got that lovely cake of Dream in Color Smooshy just itching to be turned into a pair of squishy, comfy, pretty socks.

So I'm working on a pair of Spring Forward. The pattern is fun and more interesting than just stockinette but not so complicated that I get lost in it. The lace is easy to memorize and I can read my knitting with it to tell where I am. The color of my yarn and the pattern are just made for one another too. See?

Obviously I still need to work on the photography thing. Or the lighting thing. The lighting in my apartment stinks.

I still haven't finished the hat I was working on. I was itching to try more socks. Have another hat on the needles too for a friend's baby but I have a sneaking suspicion that it will be too large. I'm not very good at guesstimating baby head sizes.

Another photo to showcase the stitch pattern. So far I haven't screwed up yet (that I can tell). *knocks on wood*

Finish!

So. That sock? I finished it. About goddamn time. Who knew it would take me WEEKS to knit one lil sock. Why did nobody warn me how long it takes to knit a sock? Seriously. WEEKS!

So here is the finished product. The heel on one side has some laddering. My kitchner stitch needs a lot of work. But it looks like a sock, it feels like a sock and it fits. Therefore, it is a sock.









Now, the question is. Do I knit the second sock the same exact way? Do I try a star toe with a gathered closure instead? Maybe a short row heel? Or do I knit it the same and try to perfect my skills? Orrr...do I just say fuck it and move on to something new? (Lace perhaps? Fancy socks?) Decisions!