Monday, December 29, 2008

Mom's shawl

This is one of my Christmas knitting projects that I had not blogged about here since my mom reads my blog:
It's a knit shawl using black Caron Simply Soft yarn and just a basic increasing garter stitch pattern. At the beginning and end, I increased at both ends of every row and in the middle section I increased at both ends of every other row. Which gave it a strange shape, but I think it looks ok when she is wearing it:
And here's a picture of Shelby enjoying one of his Christmas gifts from my mom (a dinosaur shaped Nylabone):

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Christmas update

Here's the photo of my first completed Tofutsies sock and as you can see, I have already cast on for the second one:
I had finished knitting the gusset decreases long ago, but in two days I finished the whole foot section and toe! It was nice to have hours to knit on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. I wonder how long it will take me to knit sock #2...

I received some yarn as a Christmas gift!!! :-)

I got this:
and this:
The colorful Woobies Wool yarn is 100% British Blue Faced Leicester Fingering Weight Yarn. It's really soft!!! I can't wait to find a project for it. The colorway is called "Anasazi's Sunset".

The other yarn does not have labels, but with 7 skeins, I can use it the next time I find a big project that I want to take on! I usually only buy one or two skeins at a time so I never have enough yarn in my stash for a big project. Now I do!

Here's a close-up of the Tofutsies sock foot:
Also, my grand-niece really seemed to like her socktopus!
I think it's funny that she instinctively put it on her head and in the pictures with the pattern on knitty.com, the kid has it on his head in several pictures. I guess socktopuses are meant to sit on kids' heads!! :-)

Friday, December 26, 2008

One Tofutsies sock finished!

I finished one Tofutsies sock and it turned out nice and it fits! I'll post a pic as soon as I can. Now, I just need to cast on for the 2nd one!

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Most of my knit gifts have been given and well-received. I still have to wrap the socktopus. That will be given tomorrow.

I am now back to working on the Tofutsies sock since it is the one unfinished project that I have had sitting around for awhile.

I am still thinking about knitting the SKA mystery sock in January. It is going to be a beaded sock! I am hoping that I can use the beads I bought for the KDO class I went to in September.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Socktopus complete!

I finished the socktopus!
I don't have a lot of time to write, but here's some more pictures:
I really don't like embroidering faces, and I'm not thrilled with how this face turns out, but I hope it's ok:
Here's some pics with a light background:
Shelby had to stick his froggy toy into the top of this picture:
Then, he needed to rest:

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Socktopus update! 5 down... 3 to go!


5 legs of the socktopus are complete! For some reason, the legs are not all going the same direction, but oh well! I must have reversed how I was picking up the stitches on some of them. The striped leg is leftover Wick yarn from the socks I knit awhile ago. Very nice and neat to work with! The lavender sock is leftover from some crocheted baby blankets and the light blue sock is Denim Style left over from one of the hats I knit for KDO in September. I like the scrunchy effect I got from the alternating knit and purl rounds as the pattern suggested.

Here's a close-up of the 3 most recent sock legs:
Shelby says "Why don't you show everyone the fingerless gloves that you finished??":
"Here, I will sniff them to make sure they are ok":
"These gloves are boring... they don't have squeakies in them or anything!":
Well, hopefully my Dad will like his new, longer fingerless mitts:
They look almost black in some of these pictures, but they are hunter green. I'm happy with how they turned out!

Sunday, December 14, 2008

2 legs done... 6 to go!

The socktopus is underway! Yes... I know I still need to finish my Dad's fingerless mitt, but this so much more fun to work on! The body of the octopus is Lily Sugar 'n Cream yarn in ivory. The increases were a little tough to knit in the dishcloth cotton, so if I make another one I will probably use an acrylic yarn. I think it will be fine though once it's done; just a little tough on the wrists when knitting!

Getting to the socks was such fun! I knit the blue one first using Red Heart Casual Cot'n in the Majestic colorway. I love this yarn, but never know what to use it for. It's really soft! So, I thought I'd make a nice long sock for the octopus. For the 2nd sock, I figured I'd make it a little shorter than the first one and I used Caron Simply Soft in raspberry. This was leftover from the Irish Hiking scarf that I knit. I add a white stripe at the top of the sock for a little contrast.

You can see the yarn I plan to use next peeking in the top left corner of the photo. Some light blue denim style yarn. I think I may make this a "scrunchy" sock and add some purl rounds as the pattern suggests. Fun!

Stay tuned as socktopus continues to gain additional sock-covered legs (tentacles???)!!

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Socktopus

I cast on the socktpus last night! I'm using Sugar 'n Cream cotton yarn because I liked the ivory color that I had in my stash. I really think I'd like to make a smaller socktopus out of sock yarn too! Hopefully I'll have a pic to post soon!!

Friday, December 12, 2008

Misc. update

First, I'd like to thank all who voted for my project in the Carefree Holiday Knitalong! I was so surprised and proud to learn that my Through the Loops Mystery socks were voted the favorite project knit with Crystal Palace Yarns. Those who participated in the KAL were allowed to vote. To see the announcement, click here. I won 4 skeins of my choice of Crystal Palace Yarns and I decided to try the new Panda Superwash. It's a blend of bamboo, superwash merino and nylon. I enjoyed knitting with Panda Wool in my magic loop class and this yarn should be similar, but washable.

I am still knitting along on the 2nd fingerless mitt for my Dad. I finished the thumb increases and now just need to knit the top of the hand and the thumb and it's done. I should be able to work on that tonight!

I also have my next project planned! The new issue of knitty came out this week and as soon as I saw it, I knew I'd have to knit a socktopus!!! Be sure to click on the link to see all the cute pictures. It's a knit octopus that is wearing 8 different socks! Great way to use up some stash yarn and make a cute knit toy. If it turns out nice, I think I'll give it to my grand-niece for Christmas.

The Tofutsies sock is still lingering in a project bag. I have no motivation to continue knitting it right now, but am anxious to cast on a new pair of socks using some stash yarn! I just need to decide on a pattern. There's also another mystery sock KAL coming up in January in the SKA Ravelry group, so I may be doing that!

And since this has been a post with a lot of links, but no pictures, I will leave you with a random picture of Shelby:
This is an oldie but a goodie (this pic's actually from about 5 years ago!). As you can see, he likes to gather his toys and lay close to them. He also usually sticks his feet out when he lays down. Funny boy. :-)

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Tuesday Knit Live???

I've been so bad with updating this blog lately! I updated it last Tuesday, and here it is Tuesday again. I have not been keeping up with updating every Saturday! I will get back on track eventually. I have started the 2nd fingerless mitt for my Dad. I think this is the last Christmas gift that I have to knit. No problem!

I also started knitting some mini sweaters from Berroco's Minutia '08 patterns! I don't know what I'll do with them yet, but they're such fun to knit.

First, I knit sweater #9 using some leftover Lionbrand Microspun that I had in my stash:
Then, I knit sweater #2 using some TLC Cotton Plus (also in my stash):
I think I need to buy or make some little hangers for them...

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

a wee sock project

I knit this little sock ornament last night. I improvised the pattern using basic top-down sock construction with a heel flap. I held three strands of sock yarn together: Cactus Maizy, Purple Maizy and Magenta Panda Wool. I cast on 12 stitches using US2 circular needles (magic loop).

It was a quick little project. I'll probably take it to yarn-love tomorrow night and submit it for the Winter Wonder-gar-land contest.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Finally some photos!!

I finished my toe-up Panda Soy socks in cocoa mint!

And I have one fingerless mitt done for my Dad:

This is Lion Brand Wool-Ease in "Forest Green Heather".

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all who read this blog!

I hope to finish knitting my toe-up socks today and I also started a pair of fingerless mitts for my Dad.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

not much new!

Sorry, no new pics today. I'm still working on the toe-up socks and some Christmas knitting projects. I actually bought yarn for another Christmas gift project that I hope to start soon. I'll blog about all the gift knitting after Christmas! Although at the rate I've been knitting, there won't be too much to blog about. But, I'm hoping to complete at least a few projects that I have in mind.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Two toe-up socks in progress

Each sock is patterning very differently! Oh well... keeps it interesting. They will be a very unique pair of socks! The 2nd sock's contrast colors are lining up into zigzags! With the light blue on one side and mint green on the other side.

Here's the top of the socks:
And here's the bottom of the socks:
As you can see, I finished the heel of the first sock, but I was getting quite a hole when I was trying to resume the rounds for the leg, so I want to take it to class and see if our teacher can help me fix that before I go any further. Meanwhile, I am trying to finish the foot, gusset increases and heel of the other sock so that I have both socks at that point before the next class.

Here's a close-up of the 2nd sock:
Sorry, for the bad lighting. It's a cloudy, rainy day this afternoon.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Toe-up progress

Shelby would like to point out the progress I have made on my toe-up sock. I actually cast on another toe and tried increasing by knitting into the front and back of the stitch instead of using the M1 (make 1) increase that we were using in our class. I had much better results with this (less holes). The sock in these photos is the new and improved toe-up sock. I am probably going to frog my other toe and re-knit it. I think it may be because I'm a bit of a loose knitter; I just can't seem to avoid holes when trying to knit an M1 increase.

Here is a close-up of my first toe-up sock:
The yarn is Panda Soy in cocoa mint. This is my first Panda Soy project and I love it! It's knitting up into a very nice, soft fabric.

Shelby is bored with all this talk of toe-up sock knitting:
He's sleeping by my feet now. Have a great Saturday everyone!

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Toe-up sock class

Last night, I started my toe-up sock class at yarn-love. It was a lot of fun! I decided to knit fingering weight toe-up socks as soon as I saw this pretty Panda Soy:
There were 6 people in my class, plus the instructor, so it was a little hectic at times with us all asking questions and trying to learn something new and tricky at once, but our teacher was great at answering everyone's questions and helping us all get through our first sock toe!

Here's what I knit during class:
and another view:
I really love this yarn! It was a bit splitty and the first row knitting into the backwards loop cast-on was tricky, but once I got past that it was fine. I've knit with non-wool Crystal Palace Yarns enough that I'm used to working with it. It's so soft and the colorway is beautiful! This colorway is called "cocoa mint".

Our "homework" is to knit the foot up to the ankle before the next class. Basically, we should knit up to the point where we will begin our gusset increases.

I am also working on some Christmas gifts, but I won't post pictures or blog about those here until after Christmas once the gifts are given!!

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Mystery Socks are finished!

I started these on October 1st and finished them on October 31st.

The yarn is fuchsia Panda Cotton and this seems to be the best-fitting pair of Panda Cotton socks I have ever knit! I'll know for sure after I wear them the first time. It seems that the cable pattern gives them a nice, snug fit.

See...

A new mystery sock KAL starts today! If you're on Ravelry, click here to check it out. And, if you're not on Ravelry, why not? It's the most fantastic online source for all things knit, crochet and yarn-related!! Sign up today!

Monday, October 27, 2008

Mini Knits!

I finished two more mini knit items that I will be submitting to yarn-love's Winter Wonder-gar-land contest!

A mini mitten:

And a mini Christmas stocking (for this one, I was aiming for the "most colorful" category!!):

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Mystery Sock update

I have been knitting along on the mystery socks since my last blog post. I finished the leg and heel of both socks prior to clue 4 being posted on Wednesday. Since Wednesday, I have been working on the foot of the first sock and am just about done. I will move that onto stitch holders and try to complete the foot of the other sock before the final clue is revealed this Wednesday - the toe!

Progress photos:
It really is a cool pattern. Probably not something I would have tried if I saw the pattern first - too indimidating!! - but since I didn't know what lie ahead, I dove in and had a lot of fun! I tried on the first sock today and it seems to fit me very well. So I think I will probably wear these. When I have an outfit that fuchsia socks will go with! ;-) They should be fun summer socks anyway.

Here's a close-up:
And here is a photo looking down at the top of the foot (but off the blocker so you can't see the lace pattern quite as well):
But, you can see that she adjusted the pattern a bit, so the cable "squiggles" don't squiggle out quite as far as you go towards the toe. Very interesting!

I also found out on Ravelry that there is a Magical Mystery Sock Tour beginning in November where a new mystery sock pattern will be posted in each odd month. So, I definitely think I'm going to check this out! November's mystery sock will be slip-stitch colorwork which I have really been wanting to try. I'm looking forward to it! Of course, that will mean two pairs of socks starting up in November and two new techniques, because I will also be starting my toe-up sock knitting class. That's ok though, I am up for the challenge! I just need to find time to also squeeze in my Christmas gift knitting that I have planned...

P.S. For more info in the Magical Mystery Sock Tour, check out the Sock Knitter's Anonymous group on Ravelry!

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Photos to go with yesterday's post

Here's the mini sweater I knit from magenta Panda Wool (leftover from my magic loop class socks).

So cute. :-)

yarn-love (the yarn shop I take classes at) is having a Winter Wonder-gar-land contest in December. You can submit mini knit items to decorate the garland and there will be prizes for most creative, most winter-y, etc. Details here. I love knitting mini items so you can be sure I'll be submitting several items for this!!

As for other completed projects, here is the illusion Christmas Tree dishcloth:

The front (looking at it straight down):

The back:

And looking at the front from an angle... the illusion appears:

See the Christmas tree? Pretty cool, eh?

I am making great progress on the leg of the 2nd Mystery sock. Only about 6 more rows to go and then the heel. I expect to be done with that before the next clue is revealed on Wednesday!