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.

FO: Noro Mitered Mittens

Pattern: Mitered Mittens
Author: Elizabeth Zimmerman
Source: Knitter's Almanac
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden
Needles: Knit Picks Options, size 7
Started: September 8, 2008
Finished: September 17, 2008
Photographed: September 17, 2008
Modifications: Thumb Gusset by Grace Ivy, garter edge instead of ribbing
Ravel It!

Love these. My hands will definitely be warm this winter.

This is the second pattern I've knit from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitter's Almanac and it's just as inspired as the February Baby Sweater. I swear, EZ never ceases to amaze me. I did add the thumb gusset rather than the afterthought thumb. I've knit mittens like that before and my hands just aren't built that way; The palm fabric ends up pulling like crazy.

I knit these both at the same time using magic loop - after the initial cast on. It saved me from having to count rows of the first mitten to make the second one match. I also knit the garter cuff in the round: knit to the end of the row, slip the next stitch, wrap it, return it to the left needle, turn and knit. Finally, for aesthetic reasons, I placed the thumb gusset opposite the 'seam' created by wrapping stitches in the garter cuff. That places the seam on the outside of my wrist, so even if it was a little wonky, I wouldn't have to see it.

This was my first experience with Noro Silk Garden (killer price at divaknitting.com by the way) and I came away impressed. It was soft and buttery as I was knitting with it and bloomed nicely after a good soak. I haven't worn the mittens yet, so I can't say how well the yarn will hold up. There was some vegetable matter - which I hear is the thing to expect with Noro - but I wasn't bothered a bit by it. To me, it added an extra bit of interest to the knitting process. I did find a knot in one of the skeins, but it happened to be in the portion I didn't use. I used almost a full skein per mitten and the cuff starts about three inches before my wrist.

The only thing that bothered me about the yarn was the colorway. Most of the mitered mittens knit with this yarn look different for sure, but still related since more than one of the colors usually show in both mittens. In mine, the connective colors are the black and gray, so it's not quite as obvious. But, that's more my fault than anything, I should have rewound the skeins first and chose the two that coordinated best.

The photo of the yarn also marks the first and last time I got to use my DIY light box. I used a rather large box that our patio chairs came in, figuring I could use it for larger items like sweaters. Unfortunately, that meant it was stored on the floor of the basement. After last week's heavy rains from hurricane Ike, our basement flooded and the cardboard was soaked. Oh well. It was kind of a pain to make since it was so big and this gives me the opportunity to make another.