Mystery sock update!

I ended up knitting the leg of the mystery sock yesterday and today. The colorwork section is complete and now I just need to knit the corrugated ribbing at the top of the leg. This will be the dark brown(almost black) Maizy and the cream-colored Panda Soy.

I think I am going to be on a colorwork kick for awhile! It's so much fun to knit, but challenging as well.

I found a free Yankees pin-striped sock pattern that I want to knit next!!!

There will also be two mystery sock KALs in September (SKA group and Carefree KAL blog group) so I will be a busy knitter over the next few months!!

Finished hat... Started vest... Mystery socks on hold...

The Flora hat is done!



I had to order some more yarn to finish the top of the hat, but it is now complete! I will most likely donate this to Caps for Kids at Knitters' Day Out this year. I'll probably knit a couple more hats too by the time KDO rolls around.

I have the final clue for the mystery socks, but I started a new project while waiting for clue 4 and I have not touched the mystery socks since!

I finally started the fair isle vest, that I have wanted to knit FOREVER from Fall 2007 issue of Knit Simple magazine.

Here is my progress so far:


This is knit from the bottom up, in the round. I'm using Kraemer Yarns Tatamy Tweed which accounts for the little flecks of color in the yarn. There will also be some red yarn introduced in the pattern further up. I was struggling to like this at first, but now that I've started the fair isle part I am liking it more and more! I sure hope it fits me when it's done!!

a quick Saturday update!

Here's my progress after clue 3 of the July SKA mystery sock:


I have also finished the fair isle section of the Flora hat and now just need to knit the top of the hat:


And... I finished the Seascape scarf last night!


Whereas, Shelby spent some time sitting at the top of the stairs last night:

FO's and WIP's

I finished my WWKIP Day socks!



I love that I can pretty much knit a pair of socks using Panda Cotton without even referring to a pattern. Although, I was using the Slipped Stitch Rib pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks. It's an easy pattern to memorize!

Clue 2 came out for the mystery sock, but I had started a new project while waiting for that and I'm more interesting in working on it than that mystery sock. I cast on my first hat for KDO - attendees donate knit hats for Caps for Kids. Last year, I had so much fun once I started knitting hats, that I knit about 6 hats! There's a photo of all the hats in this blog post from last year.

The pattern I started with is called Flora:


Here's my progress as of yesterday:


I'm using Knit Picks Shine Worsted yarn in Sailor (blue) and Grass (green). I love watching the pattern emerge, although there are some lengthy carries between colors so I have to keep switching which hand I'm holding each yarn in! I only know how to catch the carried yarn when it's in my left hand. I'm not sure if there's a way to do it when it's in your right hand. I tried a couple times and it didn't seem to work. But, I am using what I learned in the fair isle class I took at KDO (Knitters' Day Out) last year, so that is good!

I still need to finish the Seascape scarf; I'm waiting for a lengthy car ride where I am the passenger... I wish I would have had it with me when we were stuck in gridlock after watching fireworks last week!

And, I did start clue 2 of the mystery sock last night, but only knit a few rounds so there's not much to show yet. I hope to work on that today and then post a progress photo.

July Mystery Sock

It's now July, and that means a new mystery sock pattern in the SKA group on Ravelry!

Clue 1 was posted on July 1st and it is a toe-up colorwork sock. The designer suggested using the Turkish cast on which I have not used before so I thought I would try it since the goal of the SKA group is to challenge yourself each month. Well, Wednesday night was very frustrating because I was having major trouble casting on! I tried the Turkish cast on and it came out very loose, so after knitting a couple rounds I ripped it out. I tried it again and did not end up with the right number of stitches on my needles. Then, I dug out my instructions for the figure 8 cast on that I used for the last two pairs of toe-up socks and for some reason I could not get the hang of that even though I found it simple the last time I used it!

So, I took a break and then tried the Turkish cast on again. This time it worked, although I ended up with only 19 stitches instead of the 20 stitches I needed, but instead of ripping it out, I just increased a stitch on the first knit round and it seemed to work out just fine!

My main yarn is Panda Soy in natural ecru. I got this with the gift certificate I won at last year's Knitters' Day Out. The first motif in the mystery socks is cherries, so I needed red and green yarn for the colorwork. I decided to use the poppy red Panda Soy that I had leftover from the May mystery socks, but I was having a difficult time deciding what to use for the green. I did not have any green Panda Soy on hand. I originally wanted to knit these socks in a red, white and blue theme but that didn't work out with the first clue being cherries. I debated about knitting the leaves in blue, but the "blue" Panda Soy I have is really more of a periwinkle purplish-blue so I didn't really think it would work. I looked into ordering green Panda Soy online, but the website I checked was out of stock of the green!

Last night, I started knitting the colorwork section and got to the point where I needed the green yarn. I dug out all Crystal Palace Yarns sock yarn that I have and after considering several possibilites, including some multi-color Panda Superwash, I decided to go with the only green sock yarn in my stash, the single skein of cactus Maizy. I'm a little nervous about this because I tend to knit Maizy on smaller needles than Panda Soy or Panda Cotton, but I decided to just give it a try. So far, it seems to have worked ok.

Here is my mystery sock after completing clue 1:


It would probably look a little better with a darker green, but I think I will probably just stick with the Maizy. This pattern will also involve a fourth color which is supposed to be a dark brown, so the bittersweet Maizy I have should fit the bill.

If nothing else, this mystery sock pattern will be a fun learning experience!

And, it has finally giving me something to blog about!