Soaring right along

Sock #1 flew off the needles. I brought it along for my weekend in SC and knitted happily for most of Friday night's airplane experience.

Sunday morning I bound off the leg stitches and did the provisional CO for sock #2. (This is the second sock I've finished while at my in-laws' house--maybe I should there go more often!) Though I was happy to avoid casting-on on a plane, I didn't take advantage of my unexpected speed and ended up reading on the return flight.

I was planning on also bringing some yarn to begin a flower-shaped washcloth. I have never had *any* desire to knit a washcloth until I borrowed the book Weekend Knitting and immediately saw this really interesting-looking pattern. Thanks to a former co-worker I have plenty of cotton chenille yarn so I figured, "Hey why not?" It's small, it's portable, it uses up stash yarn. We'll see how long it takes me to CO.

At this month's guild meeting, we had a speaker from Lion Brand and got a LB tote bag and goodies. The bag is big enough to carry a small child so I'm not sure what I'll do with it but I'm sure I'll find a use. Anyone who knows me well knows I love my bags! Inside the free tote bag was a free ball of cotton yarn, an old issue of Knit.1, and some loose info. I was interested in the ball because I was eying a Cotton-Ease baby blanket a while back and Maize was one of its colors. I rather like it and will figure out something to use it for.

I just want to point out that my puppy has good taste. Hazel loves yarn, and not just because she's trying to get my attention. When it was colder she would try to chew on my lace scarf if I left it draped on the couch. When I tried to take a picture of the freebie yarn, she stole it off the the coffee table before I could get a shot. I'll have to move my knitting baskets! Bulldogs are supposed to be calm and lazy so hopefully Hazel won't be quite so hyper when she gets older. When we first got little Penny, she used to sit on my lace charts but now happily sits next to me while I knit. There's hope...

Love the sock

I love this sock. The lace repeat is not complicated; 3 of the 4 rounds are the same and the fancy bit each 4th round is easy. The yarn is just fabulous and I *love* the colors and the way they're appearing (a dark bit getting used through a light stitch or vice versa. I must be easily amused).

<--The bottom of the sock is stockinette. Look how pretty the yarn is. I'm using a Creative Couture holder for the first time. I knew these things existed but I always preferred my ziplock bag...until I saw that my mom stuffs her WIP inside the bag. I suddenly saw why it would be useful and had to buy one. I put my yarn cake right in the bottom and pulled the yarn through the hole. I knit the sock, place it in its WIP holder (see below) and then put the whole thing--with pattern--inside this clear thing and zip it up. It's just perfect for socks!

I asked for this fancy WIP holder for Christmas because I've had WIPs slip off the needle during storage (not fun). I was so happy that my mom bought it for me! This is the first I'm using it because my last pair of socks were/are being worked on circs. I really love this little tube and can't imagine knitting another pair of socks on dpns without it!

I haven't had a picture of little Penny in a while so I had to include this one. She's been such a snuggler this weekend and has been keeping me company on the couch. Love her!

First toe-up socks

I needed something pretty to work on. What better than colorful socks? I bought this hand-dyed yarn a few months ago from Fiber Optic and the hank has been patiently waiting for its turn on the needles. Monday night I swatched it for Wendy Johnson's Double Eyelet Rib Socks. I washed the little square and measured it the next morning--perfect! Exactly what the pattern calls for, 8 sts/inch.

I brought my dpns and yarn to work and attempted to start the project at lunch. The designer calls for a Turkish Cast-on (or Figure-8 or any other toe-up method) so at first I was concerned because I had neither crochet hook nor waste yarn. Since this is my first pair of toe-up socks, I had to look up instructions. I found a very helpful tutorial on Knitty--written by the sock designer herself--and attempted the Figure-8 CO since it required fewer supplies. I tried repeatedly and could *not* create the appropriate number of sts.

After work I again tried repeatedly without any luck and decided that I would have to use a crochet hook and the article's third method (supposedly easier). Indeed I was able to make the "Easy Toe," which begins with a provisional crocheted CO. I made a rookie mistake though: I made a crochet chain, knitted all 24 sts on to my first needle, knitted 4 rows of stockinette, and....oops. The next instruction would have left me with 48 sts rather than the required 24. I ripped it out, kind of glad for the practice run. I restarted, picked 12 sts out of the crochet chain, knit the 4 rows of stockinette, and cut the chain with scissors (I couldn't get the chain to "unzip" as it was supposed to). Sort of voilà! I put the project in my work bag and went to bed.

Today at lunch I encountered more problems. About two minutes into my break I dropped a dpn on the floor and spent 5-10 minutes crawling around trying to find it. I heard it clink when it fell out of my live sts (ahem) so knew it had to be somewhere. I finally found it and knitted on my merry way.

Tonight I finished the toe!! What I find amusing about the whole thing is that despite all of these problems, I'm thoroughly enjoying myself!

(Sorry for the 3 computer-camera photos)

FO: Sea Foam baby blanket

Pattern: Feather & Fan baby blanket (link)
Started: February 13, 2009
Finished: April 4, 2009
Gifted: May 31, 2009
Size: Approx. 23" x 36"
Yarn: 8 balls of Knit Picks Comfy (109 yds per 50g ball; 75% Pima Cotton, 25% Acrylic) in "Sea Foam"
Needles & Gauge: 5 sts/inch on US #5 needles

I knit this blanket for my nephew-to-be, sister, and brother-in-law. I had a really hard time choosing a pattern because I wanted to make the "perfect" gift for them. I ended up making a Feather and Fan blanket and I just love it. I CO 136 sts, did 5 garter ridges, knit in pattern (with 5 edge sts each side) until the blanket was about 1" shorter than I wanted, did 5 garter ridges and cast off.

I chose Comfy because it was a mostly-cotton yarn (good for a summer baby!) and can be machine washed and dried. I would have liked to knit a blanket in an all-natural fiber but didn't want to use wool so that caused a problem. Knit Picks's description and a color card sold me on the yarn and the color I ended up buying.

When I began I didn't know if I was knitting for a boy or girl so I chose a color I thought would work for either sex. It's a really nice ocean color and I think it worked well with the pattern because it looks kind of seashell-y. :)

I think bringing Sea Foam on the plane trip to Vegas saved me because I got a ton of knitting done at the airports and on the long flights. That ended up being *really* useful because getting a puppy in early March really cut into my knitting time and I don't know if I would have made my deadline.

Old blog posts here.

See baby's picture here. :)

Inspiration?

I'm searching for inspiration. I just saw the Summer 2009 issue of the Twist Collective and loved almost every single pattern. I've been finding *tons* of appealing projects and think it's time to start working on something other than a dog sweater (which I haven't been doing all that much of, by the way).

Catskill Ridge is a very pretty color in person and a nighttime/indoor picture doesn't do it justice. However, it's now at most 1/4 done and I'm going to either rip it out or put it aside. We'll see.

I am going to start working on some socks, I think. Hmm...