A Wee Bit o'Blanket

Well, after a day of restarting, here's what I've got:


There's nothing for scale, but it's about 5 inches square so far...
And check out the circular cast-on:


Gorgeous, no?

New technique

Emily Ocker's circular cast-on.

Best. cast-on. ever.

New Baby Blanket Plan

Ok, the cables are just not going to work with the acrylic that the mum-to-be picked out herself.

So, we have a new plan.
Based upon inspiration from:


and the incomparable Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitter's Almanac, I should be able to make this work.

Off to swatch!

Dun, dun, dun, DONE!!!!

Yes. I am done.
Check 'em out!

2 whole socks:


on feet:


shy feet:


and a rather neat closeup of the jaywalker/stockinette stitch patterns:


Project Details
Pattern: The fabulous Jaywalkers by the equally-fabulous Grumperina, knit toe-up as per the directions by Natalia. Adjusted a wee bit to include my usual figure-eight-cast-on toe and Wendy's short-row heel. Also math-adjusted because the yarn I used had a different gauge.

Yarn: Koigu KPPPM in the P303 colourway. Mmmm.

Needles: Knit one-at-a-time with magic loop on addi turbo 2.5mm circular needles.

Would I do it again? Oh yes, indeedy. I think my Lorna's Laces needs to become Jaywakers for ME!!!

Jaywalker update

Yes, my sockapalOOOza jaywalkers will be done by Monday. And because I'm saying this "in public," it has to be true!

Dye-o-rama

I signed up for .

Oh dear . . . this is too exciting. I am definitely dyeing some beauteous sock yarn for myself and my pal!!!

Baby Blanket planning

So I think I'm designing a Celtic-inspired baby blanket... phew. This is going to be crazy.

I'm still struggling to find yarn. It needs to be pink and washable, have great stitch definition and be wonderfully soft.

But I think the pattern is percolating nicely in my head.
I've got two cables I'm debating:

Wake from AranPaint (great software!)

and

Simple Celtic from The Girl from Auntie.

Either of them would be around the border of the blanket, I think. So it would have a garter edge, then the cabled border, and then stockinette inside.

What say you?

Kim Hargreaves

I love Kim. Everyone knows I love Kim. And her summer stuff is available.

One day... when I have 42 pounds just waiting to be spent... I will buy this kit:


Her name is Rose, and I love her. Even though I do not like knitting with cotton, I think I'd love to knit this sweater.

Ruby is beautiful too. Really, go explore the site... you won't regret it.

Summer Interweave

Wow, the new Summer Interweave magazine makes me very happy. I think I will have to go get myself a copy once May rolls around.

Yummm. Check it out here.

I think I want it just for this pattern:

One down, one to go...

There's a sock. It's done. Ends are woven in. (It needs to be washed and blocked, but I'll wait for the other one to be done before I do that!)

Yes, life is good.

And here is the sock:


In case you need proof that it really is done, you can see it does have a top:

Show me some leg!

Well... it's a good thing that my sockapal has much bigger feet than I, because I am madly in love with these socks. Instead of keeping these, I'll just have to make myself a pair. I have some Lorna's Laces in the wings, just waiting to be turned into socks.

Look how much I've done in just two days... the heel and just about enough leg to start the ribbing at the cuff:


And every sock needs to be photographed with Marilyn. I mean, really.

Unholy Heels!

Well, I have finally done it. I finally have created a toe-up sock without gaps in the heel.
Want to know the secret? Well, I should have tried this years ago, but Wendy has the best Generic Toe-up Sock Pattern ever. It double wraps the short-row heel, and it works.

I would like to submit into evidence, Exhibit A: (a.k.a. gorgeous heel closeup)


In case you didn't quite catch that, there are no gaps in the heels!!!!!

I have been trying to solve this problem for as long as I have been knitting socks. And man, am I glad to have found a solution. (And it's fun to do. Give it a shot!)

Hopefully I'll have made much more progress by the end of the week... the deadline for mailing out socks is rather close to my final exams...

Birthday Sheep for Solveig

Well, all of a sudden I realized I didn't have a lovely hand-knit present for my boyfriend's mum... and voila, a lovely sheep was born:




It was too hard to give this one away... The finished product has little grey eyes, but my camera was not with me. Hopefully I can get a photo sent to me of what she looks like now.

Project Details:

Pattern: Fiber Trends 206x - A Felted Flock

Yarn: Knitpicks Wool of the Andes in Fog and Coal.

Needle Size: 5.5mm (because they were the closest I had lying around)

Time to felt: 15 minutes in the washer on HOT HOT HOT!

Oooh, yes. This was a great project that I am going to have to make again!

Long overdue photos

Well, the jaywalkers are coming along...
I'm up to the heel on one, and working the gusset on the other:


And the artsy daisy shot:


There was a little something that kept me distracted, but I will be getting back to working on these exclusively. (And photos of the distraction soon!)