Sunday, July 29, 2007

Frogging and Filling

Well I finally decided to Frog the sweater I started last Spring. I just was not happy about how the front pattern was looking.

Sweater before Frogging

I did not like the center cable.. It was coming out too tight and pulling the yarn to the right and creating long strands along the left side. That no matter how hard I tried to tighten during my knitting, it always seemed to occur. The photo below isn't very clear but you can see how loose the stitches were along the center cable.

Guage problems at side of tight cable

I like the yarn. I got it off off Ebay. It was from some farm in Connecticut. It was called Mule Spun. It reminds me of Bartlett yarn. I think I will start a new sweater with it, but I need to decide on a less complicated cable pattern. The moss stitching I did on the back side was really very nice so maybe I'll design something along those lines.

As for my Filler project:
Okay, you must know what a filler project is....a project that will only take a few hours, so it will not interfere with any other project commitment. Since I just couldn't decide on a sock pattern to begin for pair 3 of my SOS2007 KAL, I decided to cast on the filler project the Saarjte baby booties, for my friend who is due in October. A perfect filler project!!


Saartje Booties

These are just the most adorable baby booties. And they are SOOOOOOOO small. I finished them in about 2 hours including sewing on the buttons.
I knit these in a vintage yarn: Miss Canada (Patons & Baldwins LTD) 100% wool on size 1 needles. The yarn is a very smooth fingering weight with alot of spring to it. Each booties came out to about 3" long.

I think today I will pour over some of my sock patterns and maybe some sweater patterns to decide what I should do next.
Can you believe it, Since I frogged the sweater, I have NOTHING ON THE NEEDLES. Time to get casting on!!

Saturday, July 28, 2007

A Time To COMPLETE

Harry Potter Completed!! Undulating Ribbed Socks Completed!!

undulating Ribbed Socks

What a weekend. That makes 2 pair completed for SOS 2007. While not monumental.....this is good for me.

The sockotta sock yarn was quite nice. Not really as fuzzy and springy as a higher wool content, but I like it non-the-less. The socks are cooler and more summer-y. My daughter might take them. She is a huge pink fan.

I must go off and decide what sock is next.

Have a Great Day!!!!

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Harry Potter Weekend in Full swing

Some Knitting News First.
These are the pictures of my current Sock Projects. I've been working on the Undulating Rib socks in My Sockotta. I think the first sock came out great. I've already casted on the second sock.....of course while reading Harry Potter. I am trying the Elizabeth Zimmerman's recommendation about reading and knitting. It is a little hard because I need to pay attention tot he pattern and count and read in my head, but really it just slows down both he knitting and reading at this point. I just get the enjoy both for longer.

U-Rib sock

Also.....TaaaDaaaa! Just a teaser. Below is a picture of my sock that I have designed for the SOS design contest.
SOS2007 hint

I still need help...If anyone is interested in testing the pattern for me I would GREATLY GREATLY appreciate it.

I'm going to spend today at the Harry Potter Movie with my kids and friends and then come home and read the book. Maybe try some knitting along with it.
Happy Harry Potter Weekend Everyone!!

Sunday, July 15, 2007

SOS 2007 Design submission. Help Needed!!

The pattern for my SOS2007 design contest is almost done. I just have the toe to finish up on the second pair. I've been diligently knitting a row....writing the pattern....knitting a row....writing the pattern. I was so happy to get to the repeat part so it would go faster. I have to say I am very satisfied how it came out. For my first design, no real issues arose.

I do need some help, If anyone out there is willing to help test the pattern, I'll purchase you the yarn. If you are interested I can send you a picture of the socks I have finished and you can decide if you want to help me. I've already purchased the yarn from Simply Socks Yarn Co. It is the Lanna Grossa Meilenweit-Wool solids in (Pink, Green, Turquoise, & Yellow). I have lots of 2 color combinations to choose from so you can pick the 2 colors you want your socks to be.
If interested please leave me a comment.

Now that I am done with my Pattern designing, I can start knitting socks from others' patterns. I've been scouting all the socks that everyone else is doing at SOS2007. They have given me some great ideas. I love being here with all these potential socks to knit and Yarns to use.

Have a great week! Off to Knit!

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Sock Designing for SOS 2007

I have finally settled on the Sock design for SOS 2007. It is different than the socks I finished in my previous post, but I will say.... It's related. The pattern is a play with 2 colors. I made one is a highly contrasting color (Bernat Hot Sox Yarn in blue and white). I'm in the process of finishing this second sock of this pair. I am using up my cheaper acrylic yarn for this first pair as I work out the pattern kinks. I've had this yarn for years before I found the good stuff. I've decided that I will give this pair to a friend who is allergic to wool. She always asks for stuff made with acrylic yarn- which just kills me. But that is what friends do for each other.....make sacrifices. I knit with acrylic just for her. I think I will try to convert her to cotton, silk and bamboo.

Back to the pattern:
I love the look of Fair Isle knitting, but to be honest I've always been very intimidated with doing more than 1 color knitting, other than stripes. That is how I am. If it looks hard, I have a tendency to shy away from it until I finally tell myself , "This is not that hard, put your mind to it and practice." So recently I started playing around with Fair Isle Techniques and swatched out some ideas. And finally I decided I could do this in a sock. So hence I started working on the Ute sock pattern and found that I am an extremely tight knitter, so my sock seemed fairly tight and will not stretch much. Although I can get it on my foot. And once it is on, it is nice and snug. But I don't like to struggle to get my socks on. For me, the end result of my knitting is important. I guess that means I am not a process knitter. I do not want to knit something I do not want to wear. So I've quit working on the Ute socks (for now) and started working out how to use the Fair Isle knitting style in a sock that allows for stretch and comfort while wearing. Plus, I get to submit something to the SOS 2007 Design contest. What fun this has been!!

Wish me luck. I'll check to see if I can post the picture of the socks on this blog. If so I will. I'd love know what others think of them.

Sunday, July 08, 2007

Still working out the pattern

Well I am still working out my pattern for the Fair Isle Ribbed socks. I still need to come up with a name. I am thinking Purl Isle (like fair Isle) Or maybe Rib Isle. But that sounds like something you order at a Steak or Ribs Restaurant. I'll have to think about that for a while.

I finished the painting of my Bedroom ( Alleluha!!!!!!) That was such a project. I have absolutely no guilt now about just knitting for pretty much the rest of the summer.
Pretty blue bedroomAnother view of the lovely bedroom



Sock yarn stash
Oh and I included a couple of pictures of the stash. I wanted to look at my sock yarn stash just for inspiration. I decided about 1 month ago I had lots of darker masculine colors and I needed some more lighter brighter feminine colors. Hence I bought the Wildfoote and Sockotta (pinks and yellow)on while on vacation

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

New pattern

Hi All......I'm Back from vacation. The Outerbanks was beautiful and fun-filled. I did get some knitting done. In fact, I worked out the pattern that is Pretty cool. I only have one sock done. It was intended for using up scrap sock yarn, but I started with a couple of odd balls of sock yarn I had laying around for the first pair.
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I tried a combination of some leftover Bernat sock yarn with this pattern to see how it looked in a cuff. It is really very easy to do.
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