A little verse

For want of a sock blocker, an FO was lost.
For want of a FO, a photo was lost.
For want of a photo, a blog post was lost.
For want of a blog post, blog mojo was lost.

Gauge issues

I just tried on my nearly finished Typhoon socks (pictured in the post below) and sadly realized why they're pooling differently. You see, I started the sock on the right with a large circular needle and magic loop months ago, and knit the sock on the left using DPNs over the past few weeks. Since the needles are the same size, I naively expected to get the same gauge. I guess that's one in the lesson column for a) not leaving projects half done for months and b) making sure to knit all parts of a project exactly the same way.

Also, since this skein of yarn was extra large and I wanted to use as much as I could, they're the tallest socks I've ever knit. Which is tall enough that theyreally probably should have calf shaping. But, ugh, I don't have the patience to figure that out.

Now I have the unfortunate problem of deciding whether or not I want to frog them completely and reknit, or just live with what I have. I'm fine with the pooling/striping being different on each sock. The left sock is a bit tighter overall, but I can still get the socks on. What concerns me most is the tightness around the ankle and top of the sock. I'm not sure if blocking would loosen things up enough or if I need to find new gauge.

What made it easy to get these finished was a lot of mindless knitting during a grad ceremony, car rides and playoff hockey. I don't have much more of that coming up this summer. I know I'll prefer something more interesting to knit, so even if I do frog, the yarn's most likely going to sit there.

Socks Aplenty

I've pretty much given up on my Red Wings sweater for now. Construction difficulties combined with warmer weather have forced it to the hibernation pile. What I've really been working on lately is socks.

I finally finished by Beyond the Sea Socks (FO post forthcoming) and picked my Typhoon Socks off the WIP pile. I'm knitting them toe up from opposite ends of a large skein, and you can see how they're pooling differently. 


Typhoon Socks

I made lots of progress on these this weekend when I sat through a two hour graduation ceremony. I wanted to work on these since they are simple stockinette. I didn't take note before I started, but I probably did about two-thirds of what you see on the left sock. 

It was the first time I've knit in such a public place. I was nervous to start, but once I did I was glad; it made the time go by much more quickly. The only 'casualty' was dropping my bag of yarn behind the seat in front of me. There's not much room in between rows and I'm a big guy, so I had to wait until the end to retrieve it. It didn't keep me from knitting though!

I've been trying not to buy much yarn after the huge lot I purchased back in February, but WEBS' May sale made me fall down. I ended up with three skeins of Noro Kureyon Sock.


Noro Socks

I started these Thursday night and made most of this progress during the 2 1/2 hour drive to and from Mt. Pleasant. It's hard to tell in the photo, but I'm doing Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's Earl Grey pattern. I wanted some interesting knitting without requiring too much attention. I switched it to a toe-up pattern, so I can use every last inch of this beautiful yarn.

Finally, we have the socks I will be spending the most time with next week.


Vacation Socks

I started these only as far as the cuff because they will be my vacation socks. I didn't want to fiddle with starting socks on the plane, but I figured working the actual pattern before vacation would be cheating. The pattern is the Mad Color Weave socks, available here. They're pooling really crazily right now, I'm hoping it either continues like that or gets broken up by the pattern. I want to see how much knitting I get done, and also document the trip like the Yarn Harlot does. 

We're heading to St. Petersburg, FL for the week and I could not be more excited. It's been a while since we've been on a real vacation. We already have plans to see a Rays game, visit the Salvador Dali museum (great find!) and take a day trip to Orlando to see Univeral Studios. The rest of the time we will be relaxing on the beach, but if anyone has any can't miss places to visit, let me know.

I'm a Fan of the Environment

Pattern: Swiffer Re-Usable Cloth
Author: Birdy Evans
Source: Birdy's Knits
Yarn: Lily Sugar'n Cream Ombres & Prints
Needles: Knit Picks Options, size 7
Started: April 10, 2009
Finished: April 11, 2009
Modifications: none
Ravel It!

We go through a lot of Swiffer cloths in our house. In fact, my mother-in-law dropped off a giant box of them from Costco a few weeks ago. I finally decided that we needed a better solution.

I landed on this pattern because it was a) free, b) used needle sizes I had and c) is reversible. You can't see it in the pictures, but there are bobbles that you poke into the retaining tabs on the sweeper to hold it in place. You only need to push the bobble through to the other side and turn the whole piece inside out.

I gave it a quick push around (that's why it looks dirty in the photo - it is!) and it seemed to pick up the dust and dog hair nicely. I plan to knit several more of these and hopefully it can cut down on our waste.



Pattern: Everlasting Bag Stopper
Author: Amy R Singer
Source: knitty.com
Yarn: Lily Sugar'n Cream Solid
Needles: Knit Picks Options, size 5 & 10.5
Started: April 11, 2009
Finished: April 18, 2009
Modifications: knitted handle, left off toggle
Ravel It!

Another shot at helping the environment, this bag took about a week to make. We already choose paper bags at the store whenever possible since they can be recycled and reused, but they also take up space in the kitchen and I hate putting them away. I thought a fun, totally reusable bag would make shopping more fun and environmentally friendly.

I originally thought two skeins would be enough, but as I knit I realized it would be way smaller than I wanted if I only used that much. I picked up a third skein at the store, but soon saw my mistake. The new yarn was a different dye lot and the difference was quite noticeable. I wanted to use as much of the three skeins as possible, but the dye lot difference meant a transition in the middle of the bag would not be pretty. So, I knit as far as I could on two skeins, then switched to the third for the garter top and handles. If you look closely at the photo, you can see the difference.

For the top and handles I knit 8 rounds (4 ridges) then bound off 20 stitches centered on either side. On the next round I cast on 35 stitches and reattached on the other side. I knit another 8 rounds or so and bound off loosely. The extra stitches cast on for the handles make them a little longer and easier to hold. Next time I may bind off more stitches to move the 'ends' of the handles closer to the short sides of the bag. That should also allow it to fit over a shoulder.

Unfortunately my first attempt to use my new shopping bag was met with resistance. I tried to use the self check out station at the grocery store and my approximately 180 gram cotton bag threw the scale off. It kept asking me to remove my last item and scan it again. To add insult to injury, I had to use plastic bags for that shopping trip since they don't supply paper at the self check stations.

These knits were my first foray into knitting with cotton yarn and it wasn't bad. I've read a lot of comments saying it hurt people's hands or wrists. My wrists did end up hurting after knitting the bag, but I don't know if that was from the cotton yarn or because I was doing a lot of knitting.

The collar didn't work

Stitched down the collar last night and made a sad realization. Knitting a collar straight around without decreasing makes for a stand-straight-up collar. Yeah. Back to the drawing board. I know I have to decrease, but how much? 10%? 25%? 30%? 50%? Any suggestions?

So it's been awhile...

According to Ravelry - the only site I can keep semi-up-to-date it seems - I've finished three WIPs, started two more and finished one of those since last we spoke. I also know I've made good progress on my Wings sweater. I just haven't had time to let you all know that. A busy work schedule in March combined with almost 2 weeks with practically no computer killed my blogging mojo. The upside was I had more knitting time.

I had planned on waiting until the collar was finished on this to show my progress - you know how progress photos are instantly obsolete - but with the weather we've had this week and the fact that I haven't actually finished it yet and that my camera crapped out and, and, and...here's a month old progress shot.



This is right after I finished the widest (tallest?) stripe where I will dup. stitch DETROIT across the chest. I've since finished knitting the body and only need to stitch the collar down. I hope to complete that tonight. After that I only need to reknit the sleeves and stitch the 'crest' on. Hopefully I can finish before the playoffs are over.

Sweet Christmas Present

So it's two months to the day late, but better than never right? I heard about this particular book on David Reidy's podcast, Sticks and String. Noting the current scarcity of Alice Starmore's book, this gem at around $20 was a steal. When mom asked if there was anything else I wanted for Christmas, I couldn't say the words fast enough. You can get the best look at the goodies inside on the Ravelry page for the book. I love that about Ravelry since you can't look inside most knitting books on Amazon.

With all the Bartlett that recently came into my possession, I've got plenty of fuel to burn through this book rather quickly.