My finger hurts!

Well, there hasn't been much knitting around here, the stockinette baby sweater of hell, worsted weight 75% acrylic 25% wool on size 3 and 5 needles. Did I mention the intarsia patch on size 3's that gets buttoned on the front? All the knitting is done, except for the button on thing, and it's making my right index finger hurt! I can't wait to get it done so I can move onto more selfish things. I'm also knitting an adorable trellis for my cousin's new baby, which is due soon!!! It's so cute, knit out of LB cotton ease in terra cotta. I'd rather work on that than the stupid baby sweater. I think once those two items are done I'm going to move onto projects for ME and feel guilt free.

It was a good yarn day

This morning after my attempts to surf the Internet for all things knitterly failed miserably I took it as a sign from the universe to give dyeing a chance. I had been meaning to try it for awhile but always put it off. I absolutely loved it. I dyed two skeins of yarn today, one worsted weight hank of cascade 220 in the crock pot and a ball of knit picks palette that I hanked up. The 220 turned out pretty, I dyed it green and blue with a hint of purple and for the most part I like how it turned out. It's a little murky in some spots and there's a bit of white left, but for one of my first dye jobs it turned out pretty well! I LOOOOOVE how the palette turned out. I used the cold pour dye method and dyed it red, orange, and yellow. Love. Right now they're drying and then I will take pictures of them hanked and then again after they're reskeined. To dye them I used food coloring. The cold pour was really messy, but only stained my fingers. I am definitely going to do it again!

I also bought some yarn today. I stopped by the store to pick up the cc220 to dye and a hank of Plymouth baby alpaca lace came home with me, too! It's a very pretty orange color and it will soon be a swallowtail shawl.

The new yarns from left to right: Plymouth Baby Alpaca Lace, color 996, Socks that Rock Lightweight, color 'Firebird' and 'Hot Flash'

Best of all? My STR came!!! I got two colors, firebird and hot flash, and I love them!!! I don't know what patterns I'm going to use for them. I know that monkeys would be a good idea, but EVERYBODY uses the monkey pattern with STR. Diagonal cross rib socks? I don't know... I need to get through my spring forward socks (done with #1, onto ribbing of #2) first. Then I want to finish my toe up anklets... And then I'm thinking my orange/red/yellow hand dyed creation should become either a pair of gloves or monkey anklets... And I have the itch to knit a sweater or five... And then I need to finish up the stupid baby sweater for work... So many projects, I need more hands!!!

Finito

The embossed leaves socks are done!!!




Pattern: Embossed Leaves Socks By Mona Schmidt
Yarn: Two skeins of Plymouth Happy Feet
Modifications: None. If I make them again for my self I will add another leaf to the foot
Thoughts?: I really liked making these socks! They are perfectly knit! The pattern was a little weird, it had me break the yarn after the heel flap to rejoin it on the other side, which I didn't like but I did anyway. Also, the yarn wasn't right for the project. It was too fuzzy and I don't think I'll use it again. It also bled a lot while I was blocking them and stained my sink for a few days. For the price It's a good yarn but for quality... It's okay. Since these were a gift I won't get to see how they wear, but I hope they wear well.

I think I'll do the pattern again with a different yarn and a modified heel and foot. After those were off the needles a new sock went on almost immediately. The Spring Forward Socks (aka, the new monkeys) are almost half way done! I'm onto the foot of the first one. I'm a little worried if they're going to fit so I'm hoping the lace blocks out nicely and I have no idea how many lace repeats to do on the foot. Why do I have to have size ten feet!!! I think this is the universe evening things out, I get to knit small sweaters but I have to knit huge socks. I think once the second spring forward sock is all kitchenered nicely I'm going to cast on a sweater. I have a bunch that I want to do and I have yarn for at least 5 sweaters. An EZ pattern in malabrigo? We'll see...

Socks: 365

On flickr a lot of people are doing the self portrait 365 project where they take daily self portraits of themselves. I really want to participate, but I don't know if I can commit to it because: 1) I am a terrible photographer. 2) I'd have to get flickr pro... I want to but I don't know if I can justify it. 3) The cameras at my disposal suck. They're good for what I do but... yeah. So I came up with an idea, the 365 sock project. The idea is to knit a pair of socks, one row for every day of the year. This I think I can do. I've been thinking of a few rules so here are a few preliminary things

1. The cast on and row one is day one, row 365 and the toe of the second sock is day 365.
2. Cast ons, heels, and toes don't count as rows, they should just be done with the corresponding row for that day.
3. The socks should either be in stockinette stitch or ribbing except for the ribbing at the cuff.
4. Both socks should have 365 rows together. That means 182 rows on one sock and 183 rows on another, excluding the toes and heels. If you're OCD about it I guess both could have 183 rows, the extra being for luck
5. You WILL only knit one row a day except when you reach the heel and toe of the sock. If you miss a day you can make it up by knitting the missed rows on another day, but missing a day is not encouraged.
6. The 365 socks are meant to make you sit down for about 5-10 minutes a day, add another row onto your socks, and to think about the day. It's supposed to make the passing of time a little more tangible.
7. Pick your yarn according to how you want your year to turn out. Cooler colors for a peaceful year, warmer tones for a happy, passionate year, self striping for a year of change, pick a color that has special symbolism with you. Use needles you like and are willing to have in use for the year.

Well, those are the preliminaries. I'm thinking of a ravelry group, maybe a flickr group (for progress and finished socks) but it's just an idea I'm toying with. Thoughts?

To Do List...

On the lovely ravelry I have a queue about a mile long. I have 'knitting obligations' that seem never ending. I need a to do list...

1. Finish second embossed leaves sock (to the heel flap!)
2. Knit sample sweater and all the little button on patch things (from a knitter's dozen book, the kids' sweater one)and have it done by july 12th
3. Do swatches for my SCJ class (I'm doing another one!)
4. Freak out a bit because the SCJ is no longer a free pattern. ack.
5. Do last year's christmas knitting.
6. Start this year's christmas knitting.
7. Organize the stash, figure out future projects.
8. Knit spring forward socks. now.

that's not too hard, right?

Also, have you seen the twist collective site? I cannot wait, it comes out on August 1st. It's not a free online magazine but the designs are 'fair trade' and that makes me happy. I like it when the geniuses that bring me great patterns are earning enough money to keep doing it. It looks so high quality and amazing. I kind of wish it was a real magazine and not just an online deal so I could kiss it. Can. Not. Wait!

Well, I'm going to listen to my latest obsession, Lime and Violet! I must have socks that rock now.

12:30 P.M.- I'm buying some yarn for the new monkeys and since I love my aluminum sock needles but HATE how bendy they get, I bought a set of brittany sock needles that come in packs of six "just in case"

5:20 P.M.- Pulling thread through remaining sts. on my first embossed leaves sock. Break A needle.

*sigh...* This is why they come in packs of six.

When the going gets tough, the tough knit complicated cable charts and fair isle

I found that when things get a little hairy around here I like to get a really complicated project to keep my mind off of things. I usually go to fair isle when I get stressed but cables and charts also get the job done. Between planning a big party, graduating, and being rejected from a university I should have gotten into right away I was lucky to be stringing together coherent sentences. I had been in a knitting slump where nothing felt 'right' but these mittens changed everything.

Chevalier Mittens

Pattern: Chevalier by Tikru

Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worstred in Pink

Time to complete: The first mitten took a little more than a day, the second took a little longer.

Mods: I mirrored the cables and I mixed up on the thumb so I just did it again and now it's a mod. I did the thumb increases every other row twice, every three rows twice, and then every two row twice and started the gussest one row later.

Thoughts: Wow. The cables are insane but the second time through was much easier. I really liked the pattern and there were no mistakes, just a travelling cable coming out of no where. This was a fabulous pattern paired with a fabulous yarn (but seeing as it's a single, I don't know how they're going to last!) yeilding fabulous results. Go and knit your own pair, now!

Another debut, well worth the wait: The sunrise circle jacket

Sunrise Circle Jacket

Pattern: Sunrise Circle Jacket By Kate Gilbert

Yarn: 6 Hanks of Cascade 220

Time to Complete: A little more than one month

Modifications: I knit the sleeves in the round and I added a picot edge

Thoughts: Perfect pattern. No mistakes. It fit and it looks great. I might do another. I gave it to my mom for her birthday and she loves it.

So what's up next? Well I'm almost done with a Dale hat and I want to knit some socks as thank you's. I really want to be selfish this summer and knit sweaters and socks and mittens and cowls for ME but I think I need to catch up on last year's christmas gifts and get started on this year's. BUT this is My hobby and it will be fun. Also coming soon a project I affectionately call the dumb fish.