Socks

I didn’t intend to be absent from my blog for so long, but I had a tough semester and the blog got forgotten. Even though I haven’t blogged since September, I have been knitting. So, here I the socks I’ve finished since my last post:

Pattern: My own basic sock
Yarn: Premier Yarns Serenity Sock Weight in Indigo
Started: August 27th
Finished: September 15th
Notes: These have become one of my favorite pairs of socks. They fit well and the yarn is very soft. This is the yarn I bought at JoAnn. I have been very impressed with it. The colors are nice and it wears really well.

Pattern: Angee by Cookie A.
Yarn: Colinette Jitterbug in Sunflower Susie
Started: September 1st
Finished: September 17th
Notes: I like this pattern, but I’m not crazy about this yarn. The yarn is spun very densely, and I had a hard time getting gauge with it. I shortened the leg on the pattern too, because the yardage on the yarn is kind of skimpy (only 320 yards).

Pattern: Wanida by Cookie A.
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy in Blue Lagoon
Started: October 1st
Finished: October 8th
Notes: This was an easy pattern that was fun to knit. I loved the yarn because it has all my favorite colors in it–turquoise, aqua, and purple.

Pattern: Booby Socks by Rosemary Chapman
Yarn: Zitron Trekking Sport XXL in color # 1450
Started: October 10th
Finished: November 15th
Notes: These socks were part of a breast cancer awareness kit, so the sock has pink ribbons and “boobs” knitted into it. The kit came with beads, so I gave it a try. This was my first project using beads, and it actually wasn’t that difficult to do.

Pattern: My own basic rib sock
Yarn: Austermann Step, color #0026
Started: October 28th
Finished: November 12th
Notes: These are just some basic socks with yarn I found in my stash. The yarn has aloe in it, which is kind of cool.

Pattern: My own basic sock
Yarn: Regia Galaxy Saturn in color # 1559
Started: November 22nd
Finished: December 7th
Notes: Usually I try to avoid pooling, but this yarn was designed to pool like this. It’s supposed to look like Jupiter. I think they turned out pretty well!

That’s all the socks I have finished since September. But wait, there’s more! I wasn’t only knitting socks this fall. I have a few other projects to share, as soon as I get pictures of them.

Trilobite Hat

I used up some leftover yarn to knit a quick hat, Trilobite. This is another free pattern from Knitty. (I sure knit a lot of Knitty patterns, don’t I?)

Even though I hate bugs, I thought this pattern was really cool and something I wanted to make. When I think of trilobites, I think of trips to the natural history museum, where they have huge trilobite fossils. Actually, I haven’t been to the museum in awhile, so maybe the fossils just seemed huge because I was a little kid. This was a quick knit; I couldn’t put it down because I wanted to see what next row of the chart would look like, all the way until the end.

I used Dream in Color Classy in the Tea Party colorway that was leftover from my Lucy in the Sky Cardigan. I thought the rusty brown was an appropriate color for a trilobite. I figured this hat would take all my leftovers, but I still have a lot left, probably enough for another hat. Maybe I’ll make coordinating wrist warmers.

That’s the last of the finished projects, for awhile at least. I have several projects going now, and lots more planned. There are so many sweaters, socks, and scarves I want to knit, it’s just a matter of when I will get around to all of them.

Sunday Swing

Three weeks into the fall semester, I am finally starting to find a balance between school work and knitting. This is good news, because it means more knitting to share. Here’s a pair of socks I finished. The pattern is Sunday Swing and is free from Knitty.

This was a quick and easy pattern that I will probably knit again. It works great with handpainted yarn, so it’s a great pattern to use those wild skeins of sock yarn in your stash. That’s kind of what happened here. The yarn is Wool in the Woods Cherub in the color Sugar Maple. I’ve had this yarn in my stash for a long time, and I’m still not sure why I bought such eye-searingly bright yarn. I started looking for a pattern that would work for the yarn right around the time this pattern was published, and I think it’s a perfect match.

The pattern comes in four sizes. I made the smallest size because this yarn is on the thicker side of fingering weight, so my gauge was slightly larger. They still turned out to be a bit baggier than I usually like my socks, but that’s okay. I have a feeling that these may end up being house socks because I don’t wear a lot of neon, but I still like them.

Estella

I have yet another finished project to share, a beret I finished last Saturday.

The pattern is Estella, designed by Ysolda Teague. I’ve had the yarn stashed to make this hat for ages, but kept putting it off because I had to learn a new cast on to start it. I decided that I would start this during the summer when I had plenty of time to work out the new technique. After waiting until the last week of summer to finally start, I used the tutorial from Ysolda’s website to cast on Estella using the long tail tubular cast on for 1 x 1 rib. The cast on was not as difficult as I had assumed and only took a few minutes to learn.The rest of the knitting for the hat went quite well and I finished the project in a few days.

This pattern is written to be a very slouchy beret. I did not want my hat so slouchy, so I only did three repeats of the straight section before I started the decreases. I’m very happy with the amount of slouchiness. These pictures are of the hat unblocked, so it will probably be even slouchier after blocking.

I used the yarn called for in the pattern, Mirasol Miski, a 100% baby llama yarn which is super soft. The yardage on this yarn is pretty low though, only 82 yards per ball. This hat calls for two balls, one in each color, but if I hadn’t shortened the pattern I would have run out of yarn. I only have a few yards of the navy left. I think my problem is most likely due to a gauge difference and because I knit the ribbed band a few rounds longer than the pattern. I’m just happy I made it through the hat with only two balls.

This is the last project I finished during the summer, and since going back to school on Monday, my knitting output has slowed way down. I’m halfway through a pair of socks and I’m working on a scarf too. Hopefully I’ll have new finished projects to share soon, but I’m not counting on it.

Vilai

I finished another pair of Cookie A. socks!

These are Vilai, designed by Cookie A. and knit as part of a KAL on Ravelry. I really love the look of these socks, they have cables, ribbing, and lace all in one. They also fit great. I was concerned that they would be large, so I went down a needle size and they fit perfectly.

For these socks I used Crystal Palace Yarns Panda Silk Solid, which is a silk/bamboo/merino blend. The yarn is silky smooth and soft with great stitch definition, and even though both balls had one knot in them I would use this yarn again.

I prefer to knit socks with dpns, but for these I found it easier to divide the stitches over two circulars. The drawback is that my circulars are metal Addi Turbos, which make my  hands hurt. As much as I wanted to knit on these socks, I had to take breaks so my hands could get a rest. Even though I love the finished socks, the knitting wasn’t quite as enjoyable as I had hoped. Currently, I am happily knitting away on a new pair of socks using my KnitPicks Harmony dpns, no achey hands here!

Aeolian

Today I got the chance to take pictures of the projects I’ve recently finished. First up is the Aeolian shawl. I made the smaller size, but this thing still turned out to be rather large. It measures 23 inches down the center. Here’s a picture of it pinned out. This really shows all the lace details well.

For this project I used Dream in Color’s lace weight yarn, Baby, in the Midnight Derby colorway. I love this color, it’s blues and purples which are some of my favorites. I think it will look great with my navy peacoat. For today, I’ll model it with a t-shirt.

As far as the knitting goes, this shawl gave me the least amount of trouble of any lace I’ve knit before. No ripping back and only a few missed yarn overs. I also was confident enough to skip using lifelines, which is usually a recipe for disaster, but this shawl turned out great. I think as I knit more lace patterns, it’s becoming easier for me to recognize the motifs as I’m knitting, instead of relying solely on counting as I knit. I was able to finish this in just a week, which surprised me, considering its size. I really liked using the Zephyr needles for this, and will be sure to use them on more lace projects in the future.

Pioneer

I have a new finished project to share, Pioneer from Knitty.

This is a short sleeve raglan sweater knit in sport weight yarn. I used Textiles A Mano Martina, a superwash merino I got last year at the Estes Park Wool Market. I like the subtle color of this yarn, it works well with this pattern too because it doesn’t obscure the details.

I made a few modifications to the pattern. I chose to make the 30″ size, but decided to add some hip shaping so the sweater would fit better. I also lengthened the lower edging by a few rows, because it was too short and wanted to curl up. Blocking helped with the curling, but the scallops on the neckline still tend to curl in. I accidently modified the scalloped edging by doing what I thought was half double crochet, but was actually double crochet. It made the scallops slightly taller, which I like. I enjoyed crocheting the neckline, and it got me thinking about starting a crochet project.

This sweater has little cable details on the back, sides, and sleeves. I love how this little bit of texture looks, and it kept the knitting interesting. I think I’ll like wearing this top, especially in the spring and fall. Right now it’s still too warm to wear a wool top.

As for the other projects I’m working on, the Aeolian shawl is almost finished and I’m working on the second Vilai sock. Hopefully I’ll have some more finished projects to post later this week.