Skiing Knitting

I just realized I should probably explain one of my WIPs in the sidebar. That would be the Ski Headband.

Remember the ski hat? Well, I loved that fair isle section so much I wanted to do it again, as a headband. So I did. It's almost complete...I have finished the knitting portion, and now need to weave in the ends and attach the whole thing to a purchased black fleece headband. I think this will work. For a while I was going to abandon the whole idea because this thing's gonna be thick...not only is the fleece headband thick by itself, add to that the fair isle knitting, and it'll be super thick. Warm, yes, but too thick? Maybe. We'll see. But I am still going to complete it, for better or for worse.

And the sock fascination continues. I am now working on some very basic socks with this yarn, the Sockotta 8. So far so good! It's coming out as a mottled blues sort of thing...just a variegated yarn, no stripes or anything. I like it, they'll go well with jeans. The pattern I am using is one I purchased a long time ago, before I ever even made a sock. I decided to try it, though I have already made a modification to use 2x2 ribbing at the top. It is a plain sock pattern, and designed more for a finer sock yarn and size 2 DPNs. My other favorite ribbed sock pattern is better suited for a slightly thicker sock yarn and size 3 DPNs.

Back soon, with more pix and updates!

Think Pink

Started some socks. I couldn't stand it, I needed to start some socks. And even this morning I was thinking that I might even start another pair with another pattern I have yet to try. I have only made four pairs of socks so far, two pairs of which I've given away. The ones I have are my lavender socks which were my very first pair, made in a worsted weight yarn. So needless to say, they're not standard socks, they're much thicker. Better as slippers.

The others I have are my Magic Stripes socks which to be perfectly honest I am not totally crazy about. I do like them, but I've also learned from them...they are a bit too big, and the 1x1 ribbing at the top does nothing for keeping them up. So next pair, I'm doing 2x2 ribbing instead, and a little more of it too. I would also try this pattern again only if I used a slightly thinner sock yarn (Magic Stripes seems to be a little thicker than others I have) and smaller needles. But I have another pattern I want to try that might work. Even on that one I'll have to modify the top to do 2x2 ribbing. I am still a relative novice when it comes to sock knitting, and though I love it, I still have much to learn!

But meanwhile, I have started the Pink Socks. I am using a ribbed socks pattern which I adore. The two pairs of socks I made that I gave away were made from this pattern, and the wearer/recipient loves them. So this will be my first pair of my own in this pattern. And I am making them from Bernat Sox in "Pink Hot." I know the yarn is acrylic but I just couldn't resist that color!

I have other sock yarns waiting for their turn, and they are mostly superwash wool blends. I am interested in trying a cotton blend sock yarn too. For some reason I thought that cotton would be less pleasant as socks until I thought about it and realized that most of my store-bought socks are cotton! The only thing is I am not sure how it'll be for knitting since cotton has that non-stretchyness issue. But the wool blend socks (the magic stripes ones) I find are very warm! Almost too warm at times so that's what made me think of the cotton.

I potentially have some good knitting time coming up where small, travel-worthy projects like socks would be ideally suited. They're so great for that!

Snow, snow, and some more snow

Well, it's been a while, huh? I intend to get down to business here and get this thing going again. Really. I do.

I am currently sitting here, in the kitchen at the island counter, in our new house, typing on our laptop (wireless, baby!) and watching the snow fall outside. We got about 12 inches already, beginning yesterday afternoon and overnight last night. It's beautiful out there! And you have to love the Saturday/Sunday storm so we didn't have to go anywhere at all. Plenty of time yesterday to run our errands, and get home in time with a stocked fridge and everything. And only one car to shovel off this time! We have space for one car in the garage (yay!) so there's only one in the driveway. Of course, the flip side of this is whatever driveway the car is covering, you don't have to shovel. But 12 inches will involve lots of shoveling no matter how you slice it. My car is now a foot taller, and I can see it from the window.

This is the view from the family room window of the back deck, with table and chairs:

Snow...Feb 12, 2006

And how is this even possible? The foot of snow is balancing on the top of the chair:

And now for some...

Knitting Content

Firstly I need to go update that sidebar with my actual WIPs and Finished Objects, cuz, well, even though I haven't been updating this, I have been busy knitting. :)

I finished the Ski Hat. Yay. :) I am very pleased (okay, that's me being modest. I'm actually totally thrilled. It's okay to be, right?) with how it came out, and I was happy with my Fair Isle technique. For the first time, I tried holding the second yarn in my left hand, and "picking" it, while doing my normal English-style fling thing with my right. It worked like a charm! Thankfully the Fair Isle in this pattern only ever had two colors going at once so this was the perfect chance to practice this new thing for me without too much going on. It was fun! I breezed right on through this section and even got my tension right. That was something I had trouble with before, I think I had tried too hard to not pull too tight that I ended up leaving it too loose. But this time I just tried not to overthink it and it worked. Maybe that's the trick?

Here's a photo of the finished hat:

Project Specs

Yarn: Cascade 220

Colors: heathered purple, black and pale lavender-ish gray

Pattern: Match My Coat Cap

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And on the subject of firsts, I also wrote my first pattern! After completing a few pairs of socks and seeing my stash growing with new sock yarns as well as remnants of completed socks, I thought it would be fun to make mini socks to use as gift decorations and/or ornaments. A good way to use up some of the leftover yarn. I had searched the web for a pattern that suited my tastes but didn't find one...so I wrote one. I wanted a pattern that used sock yarn, and so this is just a tiny but "real" sock. All of the regular sock aspects are there...cuff, heel flap, turned heel...right down to the grafted toe. I will post a link to my pattern one of these days, but in the meantime, here's a photo of my first Mini Sock:

Project Specs

Yarn: Patons Kroy Socks

Color: Harris Tweed

Pattern: My Mini Sock Pattern

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In other knitting news, I finished off a scarf or two. Or three.
Here is the Red Sparkly Accent Scarf:

Project Specs

Yarn: Patons Brilliant

Color: Beautiful Burgundy

Pattern: K1P1 ribbing

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The Pastel Sparkly Scarf, to go with a jacket I have:

Project Specs

Yarn: Karabella Magic

Color: #1727 (pale blue, pale pink, gold, with silver sparkles)

Pattern: Garter stitch

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And this is just a fun, thick and soft scarf, my "Fuzzy Blue Scarf" (original name, isn't it?):

Project Specs

Yarn: Lion Brand Moonlight Mohair in color "Glacier Bay"; Lion Brand Trellis in color "Ocean"

Pattern: Stockinette in the middle, bordered by garter stitch edges.

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And now what am I working on? Well, the ever-present Sparkly Black Cardigan (a.k.a. Sitcom Chic). Then there's the Wavy Scarf (WIP photos of both these items in the sidebar), and also the Mimi Verylong scarf from Amy's KnittyBlog in a beautiful laceweight yarn. This is my very first lace project.

But I'm itchin' to start some more socks. So there might be a sock WIP in my future. We shall see.

Until later then.