Summer of Socks 2007 ending

Well, if any of you follow the summer of socks, you know I did not win. Boooooo. But Yea for Ina!! Her pattern was really pretty and I am excited to try it myself. I thought about submitting this one to Knitty but I think it is disqualified because I've posted pictures on my blog. So if anyone is interested, I can email them the word (.doc)or the works (.wps) file. Also I may post it in the text of my blog, but that makes it difficult to print. Leave me a comment if you want the Izzy socks pattern sent to you with your email or drop me a personal email at jhollingshead@cinci.rr.com.

More Art, less functionality

You know, I've decided my blog pictures are boring. Yes they show the projects I am working on , but the are just BLAH!!!!!

I'm going to try to start adding some "artsy" project and yarn pictures. Bear with me, I am learning.

What do you think?

More Boring version:


More Artsy version:


Either way. This is the knit side of my Skinny Scarf I promised.

Oh!!!! Fall is coming

Well I just realized that I have been blogging for about 1 year. I remember starting sometime around fall last year. I've been much better at keeping up with it now. I was pitiful a the beginning. I'm faster now at downloading pictures.

Thanks for all who check in on me to see what I am up to....Speaking of what I have been up to. I finished the scarf for my daughter. She like it. At least it has found a place in her closet among other clothes she will wear.


If you will notice, the picture is of the wrong side of the scarf, but my camera battery has died so I will have to get the correct side ( or I should say the knit side) photo to you later.

I've also been working on a pair of gloves. I purchased some handspun alpaca last year and it has been in my stash just waiting for me to knit up a pair of gloves.

I have this one complete except for the thumb. I actually kitchner stitch the last 6 stitches together. I think this makes a flatter top of the finger. I used the vintage knit gloves pattern. i just added a 3 inch ribbing tot he wrist. They fit so nice. I love gloves. I am planning on casting on the other one tonight.

I've also decided to treat myself (for my birthday this month) to the hobby of spinning. I've been researching it and I think it is time for me to jump in. I put the order for the Book, Spinning in the Old Way and I ordered a spindle and various medium grade wools to begin with from www.Fiber2yarn.com. Elizabeth was great help in letting me know what I needed to get started. I'm so excited. I cannot wait to get my supplies.

I decided to go with hand spinning on a spindle. I know it is very different than wheel spinning, but I like the control factor and the simplicity of it. I thought about why I wanted to spin and it is not about pumping out lots of yarn. It is about learning a new skill and trying to get really good at making yarn. From all I read, there is alot of control over this process with the Spindle. I guess we'll see....

I'll keep you posted..
Have a great weekend.

Still Knitting....Just Not Socks

Okay Okay, I have no Stamina...I've fallen off the sock knitting band wagon at the end here. This is the time I should be devoting myself to finishing up as many pairs of socks as possible, but I know I cannot win....In the spirit of it all. I did get my design pattern in on time. Hopefully more people will enter something. I understand that Jess has extended the deadline because she is 4 patterns short of her 15 minimum to run the contest. Booo.. I hope she gets the patterns to run this contest.
Back to my non-sock knitting. I've started and finished some seat covers for my car. I have black leather seats and they get really hot when the sun shines on them, and they are really cold in the winter (until I get the seat warmers cooking). Anyway....My daughter burnt her butt on the hot seat the other day so I promised her I would finish this weekend.



Nothing too special. But they are really soft, and they will keep my butt and legs from sticking to the seat in the summer. I still have to make on for the back seat. I don't have enough Katia Beetle yarn. I do have some acrylic that might be great for that. I just am not particularly fond of knitting with acrylic. It just doesn't feel as nice. I know these seat covers are going to take some abuse. Soccer season is coming up. We'll see what I can come up with.

Also, I got my Cloud 9 from Webs: Scrumptious yarn. It is so soft, and it knits up so nice. I'm using it for the scarf for my daughter. It is still in progress, but I should finish it soon. I'm more than 1/2 way there.


This pattern has a great stitch. I've seen it used in pillows because the fabric it produces is very sturdy and smooth. But I like it more for the way the colors blend into one another. I want to make a matching hat, just because I have enough yarn, (not because my daughter wants one.) I'm not sure if this stitch pattern will work for a hat, but I may try to work it out.

Well, I'm off to work on another pattern that I am putting into the correct format for Knitty. I decided to try to get it into the next issue - Deadline is Sept 15. I have to get a good picture of it. I guess this is key to getting things accepted to the magazine. That could be a bigger challenge than anything else in the process.

Enjoy the rest of your Labor Day Weekend.

Just Takin' A Break

I'm just taking a break for about a week or so. I haven't forgot to write. I've just been swamped with "kid duties." School started this week for my 2, and it has been....well, something. I've even taken a break from sock knitting.

I've been putting the final word together on my Izzy socks. I'm worried that no one will like them. well, I've decided to put myself out there. If no one likes them..so be it.

Write at ya soon

Pictures of Izzy's

Pictures are on.

I'm working on getting the pictures added to the pattern. And adding my written comments about the pattern. The 2 color knitting is really very easy with this pattern. I'm all about a simple repeat I can just pick up and knit. This one really is like that. I plan on writing out this simple formula in my comments. But, the pattern is, of course, the details of each row.

Writing these details was hard for me because I don't normally knit using a pattern. It was hard thinking in such detail about each row. Anyway, If the pattern is not included anywhere in SOS2007, I will publish it on this site some way (I haven't ever done anything like that) , but I will figure something out. That way if anyone is interested in trying it, they can.

Hope you like the pictures.




These were completed in Lana Grossa Meilenweit Turquoise and Pink. I purchased this from Simply Socks Yarn Company



These were my first pair that I made with some left over Bernat Hot Sox yarn. The gauge was a little larger but they still fit great. The stretch is really nice on these even though the yarn is carried around like in Fair Isle knitting.

Have a great rest of the week!

Thanks for the Yarnaholic Support!!

Thanks Karen and Tonia for the support on my inability to resist Yarn purchase. I no longer feel alone in my weakness!!!

I've heard of others who can shop on these websites and then close the window without purchasing. I cannot understand how they do this!!! If I go on the website and look, I am buying. Weak...I know. It's a good thing I don't drink.
Have a great day.

Jude

Quick Sock design update and A Yarn Splurge

I'm finished!!! Sorry I will post the pictures later today or tomorrow.
Very exciting. This has inspired me to maybe try to submit something to Knitty. When I taught at a shop, I came up with all kinds of original designs for different classes. Now there is no one to share them with. I was thinking that these may be perfect to send off to some online magazines to get their take on them. Who knows, maybe they will like them.

I have to say I have been on a yarn buying spree. My stash overfloweth....

Yesterday I was cruising ebay....you know just to see what was there. And there was a person unloading Lopi Lite. Lots of different colors. Whenever I see Lopi on ebay, I usually watch it and it goes for at least what you can buy it for from Webs or other yarn sites. But I put a bid in on it, figuring I would get outbid as I usually do on Lopi. Well......can you believe. I won 15 balls of Lopi lite for 26.00!!!! With shipping it only comes to 2.10/ball. I cannot believe it. I am such a dork that I went to Webs and priced what this would be and it would have cost me about 70.00 to get this much from them. Okay that is not all. Of course I'm on webs so I have to check out the clearance and closeouts. I live for a good deal....Can you tell. Anyway I come across some Cascade Cloud 9(50 % Merino/50% angora) in beautiful shades of pink and yellow. (My daughters new favorite colors.) So we start planning out a scarf and hat set for her. Well she is thinking scarf. I'm thinking she needs a hat this winter. So I buy another 8 balls in 3 shades of pink and yellow. But it was only 35.00 with shipping. I cannot pass this kind of yarn for that kind of price.

I went onto Webs this morning and they are almost out of the colors I purchased. The yarn is a fabulous deal at these close out prices.

Okay...I must stop buying yarn. I have to start really buckling down and knitting what I already have. It's just so damn hard to restrain myself.

Have a Great Day.....Promise pictures soon!

Finished Pair 3 SOS2007

I've finished the basketweave socks. That is Pair 3 for the SOS 2007 KAL.






I'm in the midst of pair 4. Just about done with the First sock. I'm reknitting my CONTEST design pattern in the correct yarn. They are coming out soooo cute. I'm just about ready to send in the pattern. Likely I will get this done in the next couple of weeks. I will post the pictures of both the socks I've done when I send in the pattern. For anyone who is interested.

By the way, My daughter and I decided on the name.....sort of..

She calls them "Izzy's"
I like "Lizzy's"

We came up with the name because the pattern has a resemblance to lizard skin. But of course I did them in Pink and Turquoise.

Pair 3 Started in the SOS 2007

A simple basket weave pattern, german sock yarn: Strickspass.
I did these on 2 circulars. I have to say.....Didn't like it much. DPNs seems so much easier to me. I used a 16 inch and a 29 inch needle. It was such a pain with all that cording flipping around and getting in my way. I'm doing my second sock on 4 DPNs.


I think I will try doing 2 socks on 2 circs. I see the advantage to that. But otherwise.......I'm not converting.

Have a great Weekend.

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.



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.



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!!




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!!

A Time To COMPLETE

Harry Potter Completed!! Undulating Ribbed Socks Completed!!



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!!!!

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.



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


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!!

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!

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.

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.





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

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.




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.

Summer of Socks really begins June22

As usual....I missed the kick off. I'm not ready yet. I've been formulating my sock pattern in my head, but no swatching yet. I've been packing for vacation. I think I need to focus on sock knitting on Vacation.. I'm stopping on the Modified Ute socks to start my OFFICIALLY COUNTABLE socks. Maybe I will start on my pattern. Nah......too much thinking for vacation knitting.

Good luck all!!!

Must pick a pattern. Must pick a pattern!!!

Summer of Socks - Begins for me

Okay.....I know that I am supposed to wait until June 21 to start my socks.....But I couldn't wait. I finished all my sock projects and just could not wait for 2 weeks to start new socks. So.........I began my Ute socks (with a slight color modification). I'm really flying through them!!





The Colors are quite different from the picture in Favorite Socks (Interweave), but I like them. This is the first real multi-color Fair Isle style project I've ever done. I am a tight knitter so I knew I needed to be really loose. I'm not doing too bad. They fit really nice.

Actually, This project gave me a great idea for a sock pattern that I am working out now for the Summer of Socks pattern contest. I'll keep you all up to date on the swatching. The pattern is color based. I'm not sure if color work is very appealing to sock knitters, because, I think, most of you are like me and very intimidated by multi-color knitting. But I'm going to incorporate color blending that Elizabeth Zimmerman discusses in Knitters Almanac - Difficult Sweater (not really). The swatches will tell if this pattern will ever be born.


I'd love to know if other sock knitters have done Fair Isle work. And If not, why not?

Baby Knitting Continues as my Computer Falls ill

Happy JUNE Everyone!!!!

Well, I've finally gotten my computer back on track after a nasty trojan. I hate viruses. Who does that. They should be hunted down and shot. ( sorry, just a bit graphic).

Anyway, in between completely restarting my computer from scratch, I was knitting baby items for some friends. I finished the EZ's Surplice Baby Jacket. Instructions in Spring/Summer 2007 Vogue Knitting. As with all EZ's work, a great pattern!. Here it is in traditional baby colors.


I found out one of my friends is having a girl. So this will be hers.

I've also finished the Baby Booties. I love the Teal ones. I will need to buy some girl color wool to make them again. They were just too easy and really sweet. Besides, these lace up so they are more likely to stay on the baby's little feet.


Off to hunt down all the blogs I lost in my favorites.
Have a great weekend!!