All about the sock

Because you know I'm all about the sock. 'Bout the sock no trouble. I'm all about that sock.

Ok. I'll stop but I can't get that song out of my head.

I put my shawl away for a little bit. The dryness of my hands was making the yarn picky. I'll take it back out when the humidifier makes it way out.

So...off to CO another pair of socks. I just can't get enough.

Pattern: Toe up Socks by Sarah Peasley
Yarn: Crystal Palace Panda Cotton
Colorway: Blueberries/Grape
Needles: US 1.5 (the smallest I have ever knit with!)

Now that I have the next 4 days off I hope to make quite the progress on these socks, in between eating turkey, and shoveling what might turn out to be 10 inches of snow!

Let it snow, let it snow.....(any better than the base song?)

Secret Scarf Knitting

So, I have these two really great friends and I wanted to provide them with a little something knitted for the next time I saw them.

Well, doesn't it figure that our lives were so busy (aka work!) that it had to wait a couple of months. Last night we finally met up and they received these:

Which went from this:

To this (in a few weeks):

Pattern: One Row Scarf by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Pearl
Colorway: 50 Shades of Gray - Anastasia & Christian
Needles: US 6
Ravelry Page

When Lorna's Laces came out with the 50 Shades of Gray, I had to special order it. Jimmy Beans Wool was great in handling it, as I had requested it in the Pearl base - since I'm allergic to wool. It took a few weeks, and then this gorgeous package of yarn arrived.

These are all 5 skeins:

I mean who wouldn't want to share her 50 shades with great friends! You know the kind, they meet you for drinks, send you text messages for support/encouragement, listen to the complaining, talk you off the cliff, share life lessons...you know the kind!

The same that say "I'll have what she is having!"

Now back to regular knitting...

A Shawl

I really like this yarn, so every year it is my purchase from Lisa Souza during Stitches East.

This is the one I bought last year and once I found this Raindrops Shawl pattern I knew the two belonged together.

It is funny however, going from knitting socks on a US 2 needles to US 4 feels like knitting with pencils!

Not bad progress for a few days....it does help when you leave the office at a reasonable hour! I love this deep, rich color of burgundy.

Pattern: Raindrops by Irish Girlie Knits
Yarn: Sylvie by Lisa Souza

Back to the needles....

About these socks...

or rather FINISHED socks!

Ok, so I need to tie in the ends and block them. I'm still calling them finished. The yarn you see on the left is the only yarn left.

Pattern: Self improvised, trying on as I went
Yarn: Universal Yarn Bamboo Pop
Colorway; Happy Birdies
Yardage: 292 yards
Needles: US 2
Ravelry Page

These were my 4th pair of socks I've knit. The prior 3 were knit cuff down and I didn't enjoy them very well. I do not care for picking up stitches. However, thank you Sarah Peasley, I've learned how to knit socks toe up and have fallen in love with this method.

I think I'm going to CO a shawl, then another pair of socks. Why not?!

Toe Socks...and we go round and round

Work really does put a cramp in knitting as I'm still plugging away on my socks.

That was what they looked like on Friday...a mere 4 days ago.

I ignored the house chores this weekend, except laundry, and just kept knitting.

Here is what they looked like on Saturday night...

Then, I needed to take a break, we had some errands to run. BUT then I learned it was Socktober. Where you start and finish a pair of socks during the month of October.

Well now it is game on.....

I knit all day Sunday to the point where I thought my fingers were going to fall off....

It is going to be close if I can finish them by Midnight on Friday, October 31st. Dang work.

Toe up Socks

Well I'll be....toe up socks are SO much easier than cuff down. In my opinion.

This was Saturday morning during a class from Sarah Peasley on toe up construction (keep in mind this is worsted weight yarn and US 7 needles).

Then after a couple of hours of being home, I started on my real next pair of socks.

The following day, taking a ride to the apple orchard it was looking really good.

Even better after a marathon of TV...

It is cool how the color is starting to swirl on the sock.

However, work is definitely getting in the way this week of my sock knitting!!

Stitches East 2014 Stash Enhancements

Well, there was a bit of stash enhancements purchased at Stitches.

Each year there is a map released through Ravelry that shows the layout of the convention center with the names of the vendors in their locations. Well, the OCD in me takes this map, color codes the vendors to visit, makes the list of what to get, and off I go.

This year I had ordered, for pickup at Stitches, a Bison/Silk kit from The Buffalo Wool Co. I had heard that you cannot be allergic to bison as you can be from sheep/wool. I was really looking forward to trying this new yarn.

They were easy to spot....as Knitters Universe had allowed them to bring their van onto the convention floor! Very cool!

Within my kit, was 800+ yards of Bison/Silk, beads, shawl pattern...and a little friend:

I also knew if I was going to continue to knit more toe up socks I needed more Hiya Hiya needles. So, here is the obligatory purchase photo:

• Lisa Souza - Bombxy Silk in Bayberry Colorway, 1094 yards
• Fiberlady - Makicot Bamboo/Cotton; Blue Hues, 335 yards
• Fiberlady - Mousou Bamboo; Purple/Rose, 650 yards
• The Buffalo Wool Co. - Bison Down/Silk; Natural, 800 yards
• Cast off Bind off Book by Leslie Bestor
• Hiya Hiya Sharp Needles - US 1.5, 3, 4; All 32" (2 pairs of each)
• Nicholas & Felice aluminum 'Bow' shawl pin
• Michelle's Assortment Straight Pin with blue bead
• Blue Beads, 8mm

 Not too bad!

Stitches East 2014

This household looks forward to a long weekend in Hartford every year. This year was no different.

A 4 day weekend arrived just at the right time from a lot of craziness! We enjoy walking around Hartford, eating at some really good restaurants, taking photos, and enjoying the architecture of the older buildings...and of course Stitches East!!

I usually take one class, this year was no different. I chose Toe Up Socks by Sarah Peasley. She was great and has such a funny personality! It also helped that nearly everyone in the class had knit socks before (cuff down) so the pace was really good. She would give us the next step, go around to make sure we all had it, then go back to those that weren't as familiar with sock construction.

We even make it to the photo section on Knitter's Universe on FB.

I managed to finish mine in no time. It helps that we were to bring worsted weight yarn and I used US 7 needles. It is a great way to be able to use the full hank on your socks, without the worry if you are going to run out. It also doesn't require all those pick up stitches around the gusset.

In having completed, I think 3 or 4 pairs of socks from cuff down, this is definitely going to be my sock method going forward.

By the time we got home, I was itching to start real socks, on a US 2. Much slower construction!

The yarn is Universal Yarn's Bamboo Pop which is a bamboo cotton blend. My needles are Hiya Hiya Sharp, since my Knit Picks interchangeable sets are not available in this size.

As for my stash enhancements. How about a teaser of waiting until tomorrow? I want to get back to my socks!

Mystic & Noank CT with a side of knitting

One of my favorite places to go for the day or a long weekend is Mystic, CT, in fact we just came back yesterday!

I could just sit for hours and watch the boats. It is so relaxing.

In fact I can say I actually knit while sitting looking at the sailboats. I started this scarf last week with some yarn I purchased in Washington state a couple of years back, and managed to nearly finish it while just enjoying my ocean view.

I plan on using a kitchener stitch and making it into a cowl. I will post all the details when I finish it.

My Christmas knitting is officially done, as I only wanted to do a couple of projects. My fall schedule at work is going to be crazy so I needed to keep it light.

Up next, I'm thinking socks...as I'm waiting for an order from The Loopy Ewe. :-)

Knitting...not so much with all this traveling...

We decided to take a few mini vacations this year, over one big summer vacation and had always wanted to check out Salem, MA. Of course, the more popular time is October...but we wanted less crowds.

It was another beautiful weather day.

We highly recommend the trolley ride as it brings you all around and shows you some things off the beaten path.

Still knitting away on gift items....

Boston or Bust

The DH and I celebrated our 21st anniversary this year. We decided to take a long weekend and head into Boston to celebrate.

It was a great weather weekend, high 70's and just a mild wind.

We took some time to check out the USS Constitution:

We chose to stay where we could walk to everything, the North End, Rowe's Wharf and Quincy Market. This was our superb view from our hotel balcony...

Anniversary treats!

Of course I love being on the water, so off we went....

As for the knitting front I'm working on a couple of projects I can't disclose yet, as the recipients read this.

Have any of you started the Christmas knitting?

Mini Vacation

Finally a vacation. We turned a concert into a very long weekend in Western MA.

This would be the one and only Gordon Lightfoot! We ended up in the 8th row....the seats were great!

We took a couple of day trips around the area....Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls:

Favorite view from Mt. Sugarloaf:

The one thing I didn't do was any knitting. I know...shocking!

Wet spun linen anyone?

I picked up this yarn when traveling a couple of years ago to Sitka, Alaska.

While it wasn't easy to knit with, the linen is hard on the fingers, I really like how it came out. I didn't at first like the pooling then it grew on me. When I was blocking it this past weekend my husband mentioned it looked like Tartan, I can work with that - in fact I really like it!

The pattern is from a shop we visited when we got back to the lower 48 in Washington. If you are a long term blog reader, it was the same trip we visited Debbie Macomber's shop A Good Yarn and actually ran into Debbie!

Pattern: Bias Before & After Scarf by Churchmouse Yarns & Teas
Yarn: Country Linen by Raven Frog Fiber Arts
Colorway: Raspberry Truffles & Cream
Yardage: ~300 yards (and I used all except 7 inches!)
Needles: US 6, 4 mm
Ravelry Page

Best blanket ever....

when you are sitting in a cold living room, thank you AC!

I've been working on this blanket exclusively since late March. It wasn't one of those things that I would knit on every day...more like if I got a row or two in a week I was okay with that, especially when it hit the center section.

It took about 7 1/2 balls of the yarn, of which was semi-planned. I had originally planned another project for this yarn, however, when this pattern came out from WEBS, I had to knit it! I had 8 skeins in my stash, so I planned the center of the blanket accordingly.

I'm enjoying it during the evening when the AC becomes a little much.

Pattern: Snowdrop Baby Blanket by Kirsten Hipsky (WEBS)
Yarn: Valley Yarns Longmeadow
Colorway: Periwinkle
Needles: US 6, 4mm
Ravelry Page


Now I think this little cutie needs another hand knit something or other.....

Clapotis

I'd been wanting to knit one of these for a really long time. I'll admit I first read the directions when it showed up in Knitty, back  in 2008?, and remember thinking I need to up my skills before I tackle that one.

So, I waited, saw the thousands of knitters knitting them on Ravelry and finally bit the bullet. I can now say that was one of the most fun knits I've done. There is nothing like the feeling you get when you drop your first column of stitches on PURPOSE! You hold your breathe and hope you did it right!

I'm really enjoying wearing this to work, it goes with so many of my clothes, wrap it around your neck with a sweater/skirt and I feel like a million bucks!

Pattern: Clapotis by Kate Gilbert
Yarn: Great Adirondack Yarn Co. Bamboo Cotton

Yardage: 900 yards
Colorway: Mixed Berries
Needles: US 7mm
Ravelry Page

 Trust me, if you haven't knit one already, what is taking you so long? Knit on!

A really warm cozy

I had originally intended this yarn to be another project, however after I cast on I realized it wasn't meant to be.

I am still blogging about all the knits I did last year, so I can tell you I've worn this all winter long at home. It is the perfect size to wrap around my shoulders, or loop around my neck, either way I'm really warm and the yarn feels heavenly on my skin.

Pattern: Cozy by Danielle Schoonover
Yarn: Great Adirondack Yarn Co. Bamboo Cotton
Yardage: 495, and I used every bit!
Colorway: Victorian
Needles: US 9
Ravelry page

The color alone just goes with anything...perfect to brighten up this long new england winter!

Bakersfield Shawl

So, you all know by reading this blog I have a fondness for Handmaiden Sea Silk. I couldn't resist knitting up this shawl pattern again in it.

Pattern: Bakersfield Shawl by Corrina Ferguson
Yarn: Handmaiden Sea Silk
Colorway: Salt Spray
Needles: US 5mm
Ravelry Page

We spent time last year, over a big birthday of mine ending in 0, in Bermuda. This was the project I chose to bring and knit up during that time. It makes for a wonderful memory!