Actual Knitting and a Small Velolution

Psssst, look, knitting! (Pardon the photo quality, my camera was out of batteries so these were taken with my phone.)



That's right, one whole complete sock. The pattern is Hedera by Cookie A, the yarn is Mama E (in saffron, I just love the color).

In other news I went to the bike shop on Sunday with the cutest boy ever and got a new bike!



There are 3 days a week (when I don't drive my daughter's carpool) that I can bike to work and in the summer I can bike every day. I'm excited to spend less on gas and more time outdoors. I also discovered that I am really out of shape so it's doubly good for me to get my ass on a bike.

Here's one last pic for you; new sock, new bike, old cat. :)

It's not summer until I've made sweet tea.

Mmmmmmm, minty.

Today was a perfect day, mid 70s, sunny, clear, light breeze...I was sad to be in an office today.

The heat broke and of course I promptly turned on the oven to make a cherry and nectarine Clafoutis and scones.


I also finished the first sock for my Sock It To Me pal. I hope she likes them because I kind of don't want to send them. The pattern is Bloody Mary (every time I think the name of the sock I think it in a spooky voice) and the yarn is Mountain Colors Bearfoot.

Day of Packages!

My Yarn in a Tea Cup package arrived from Jessica today. I love everything in here, thank you Jessica!
The package contained 2 skeins of Caudia's Hand Painted, a delicious cookie covered with chocolate and a beautiful mug. I really love the mug, it fits in my hand perfectly, I'm super excited to try the yarn, and believe it or not, I haven't eaten the cookie!


Leyburn socks in progress along with the beautiful socks blockers I just received from Chappy's. The yarn is some Koigu I've had in the stash for years.


These stitch markers also came with my sock blockers, what a pleasant surprise.

One Down, One To Go

Marigold #1 is done! I love this pattern, this yarn, this heel. Unfortunately my shoulder doesn't like all the knitting I've been doing so I think it will be a no knitting weekend for me. :(

Marigold Revived!

The new heel is awesome! I definitely started the short row heel too soon and I think that's why it was so tight across my ankle. Short row has been good to me but it can't compare to the fit of a heel flap and gusset. A big thank you to Wendy of Wendy Knits for coming up with this incredible technique, I love, love, love this heel.



Sock: Marigold
Heel: Toe up gusset
Yarn: Knit Picks bare

Marigold Progress

Here's my marigold progress so far. I am loving the pattern and the yarn.
Unfortunately the sock is tight across the top of my ankle (the bendy spot), I think it's because I started the heel too soon. I may need to frog, add a repeat or two to the foot and redo the heel.



*Edit
I guess I should add some details. The sock is Marigold from Flint Knits and the yarn is Knit Picks Bare hand dyed by me (and Elah).

*whew*

I had a busy weekend.
Let's start with Thursday. So at 11:30 Thursday night I realized that Friday was Georgia's last day at work and I had no knitted gift. For shame!

I cast on with the hand dyed Lamb's Pride and got to knittin'. I had to frog twice and by lunch time I was knitting so fast I actually broke a sweat but it was done by 1 and Georgia loves it.
The hat is based on the Cloche Du Bois pattern.

I got a lot of knitting done this weekend but didn't manage to take any pictures so today I had to try and grab some pictures after work but before this hit...


Saturday I bought some Plymouth Encore (machine washable!) for Casey's Coat from SnB Nation.

Elah picked the colors and we are knitting it together for the Bad Grandma's new dog, Lily. Hopefully it fits; we enlisted Elah's dad and stepmom to do some stealth measuring.

All weekend I continued to knit my Cable Twist Socks from hello yarn and I finished then Sunday night!

Ack! The legs, they blind me!


Yarn: 1 skein, Cherry Tree Hill Supersock
Color: Loden
Source: Linda's Store
Needles: Inox Grey US 1 crics
Date Started: 21 June 2007
Date Finished: 8 July 2007
Details: Remember when I decided to mirror the stitch pattern on the second sock? I'm really happy I did; I love them!

Sunday we had out Knit and Natter over at Viva Espresso and we had a new knitter come hang with us. Always exciting. Her Jitterbug sock was beautiful!

And finally, today I cast on for Marigold. I didn't get a lot done because I wasn't feeling well but I am very excited. (Yes, I know I need to cut my nails.)

I cast on for the 72 st sock but I think that I may need to go down to the 68. Instead of a short row toe, I did a Turkish Cast On of 20 sts, increasing every row with M1R and M1L* until I reached 36 sts and the increased every other row using the same method until I reached 72 sts. This more closely mimics a traditional wedge toe.

A note to my Sock It To Me pal, I'm working on your additional questions. They are very thorough and thoughtful; thank you.

*I remember the difference between M1R and M1L because the M1R picks up from the Rear. When you knit that stitch if it feels really loose then you're knitting into the wrong spot (front or back). Easy peasy.

Sunday Afternoon

Just a reminder, we will be getting together for a little Knit & Natter at Viva Espresso from 2:30-4 today.

One Cable Twist Sock is done and I've started the second one.

I'm finding that with the pattern reversed, the twist is tighter and I need to use a spare needle to do the cable. I know that there are other ways to cable without a needle but I'm afraid to drop my slippery sock yarn so I'm going the safe route.

Aija has been doing an Etsy Friday and while it's not Friday, I figured I'd share some of my Etsy purchases with you.

1. Nerd Necklace, 2. Knitty, knitty, 3. Even superheroes need a break, 4. Owl Cards

And while you're getting sucked into the black hole that is Etsy, go check The Other Emily's new store! Ocho is my fave.

Hello Sock

I'm almost done with my first Cable Twist sock (closer than this pattern implies). I should be done already but things like parenting and work and sleep keep getting in the way.
Anywho, I want to reverse the stitch pattern on the second sock so the two are mirror images of each other so I spent my lunch hour swatching. Here's what I came up with (I tried to write it up just like the original pattern):

To reverse the stitch for the second sock:
Row 1: *K2, K1 tbl, RT, P2* repeat around
Row 2 and all even rows: *K5, P2* around
Row 3: *K1, K1 tbl, RT, K1, P2* repeat around
Row 5: *K1 tbl, RT, K2, P2* repeat around
Row 7: *RT, K3, P2* repeat around
Row 8: as for row 2
Repeat these 8 rows for pattern

Right Twist (RT) as follows: Slip second stitch from the left hand needle to the right hand needle as if to purl. Without slipping the stitch off the needle, knit the first stitch, allowing the second stitch to drop off left hand needle.

*(This can done with a cable needle by slipping the first stitch onto the cable needle and holding it to the back of the work. Then slip the next stitch as if to purl and knit the stitch on the cable needle through the back loop.)

*Edit I changed the position of the K1 tbl after some testing. I like it better when it comes before the slipped stitch.

Marigold

I set out to dye the yarn I couldn't find for the Marigold socks. I was a little nervous having only ever dyed with Kool-Aid before but I figured that I could always overdye any disaster with dark blue. I started with some Knit Picks bare, some acid dye, directions from Adrian and a dream. My whole apartment smells like wet wool and silk but it was totally worth it. I love this yarn!

Observe:


You can see more of the process here.
The quick and dirty:

• 1 tsp of yellow sun
• 1/4 cup vinegar
• 190° for 20-ish minutes
• a drizzle of a strong (only dye and vinegar) burnt orange solution
• a few more minutes
• a cool down period
• a couple of rinses
• time to dry

Dudes Love The Nail Salon

Case in point:


We got our nails done on Friday, a special occasion since it was Elah's first manicure.

She picked her own colors and everything.

In actual knitting news, I am about to embark on a dyeing expedition.

I'll be using the dyes and yarn (and dye kit from hello yarn) to make my own colorway for the Marigold Socks. Wish me luck!

Also, a coworker had a sweater at work hat I love. Very simple but with an interesting
stitch pattern in a couple of places. I took a pic because I wanted to look at the stictches but unfortunately, I am not good and discerning such info from a picture.

Anyone know what's going on here? You can see the whole sweater here.

I'm trucking right along on the Cable Twist socks and should will have a picture later, after I take the time to pull it off my camera. Maybe I'll even have some yarn to show you.

Summer of Socks Begins

Happy Summer of Socks 2007! I cast on Adrian's Cable Twist Sock.

I was at a conference in Killington all day today. I took some pictures of the mountain and stopped on my way home to take a few pictures. I'll post about it tomorrow.

Summer of Socks 2007

The Summer of Socks is fast approaching and it's time for me to do some planning. Following is my sock queue. The summer of socks runs from summer solstice to the autumnal equinox and while I have 8 pair of socks on my list, I don't anticipate knitting them all in 3 months. But just in case...



1. Cable Twist socks by Adrian Bizilia (free)
2. Go With the Flow socks by Evelyn A Clark
3. Anastasia socks by MintyFresh (free)
4. Monkey by Cookie A. (free)
5. Leyburn socks by MintyFresh (free)
6. Marigold socks by Pamela Wynne (free)
7. Bed Sock in Lemon Pattern by Nancy Bush
8. A pattern of my own design currently named Fable sock

Come on June 21!