actually posting on a Saturday!

I finished my Carefree Blog mystery socks last night:


I'm so happy with how they turned out and can't wait to wear them! Adrienne designed a wonderful sock and a fun KAL. The yarn is Tropical Peach Panda Cotton.

I also received a nice surprise in the mail yesterday. I won a prize from Barbara Bretton on the Romancing the Yarn blog. Of course Shelby had to inspect it as I photographed it:




I won a skein of KnitPicks Gloss Lace yarn in the colorway Kiss (hot pink!). It's 70% merino wool/30% silk. I have really been wanting to try a lace project so now is my chance!! She also included a nice tote bag. Thanks Barbara!!

Here is my progress so far on clue 2 of the Nancy Bush mystery sock:

The lace panel on the front:


and the ribbing on the back:


Just below the ribbing, I have started stockinette because the rest of the back of the leg is in stockinette. I have never knit a pattern in this style so it is very interesting! I'm also loving the Panda Silk yarn!! My goal is to finish clue 2 of both socks before clue 3 comes out on Tuesday.

Too busy knitting to blog!

Both of my mystery sock KALs are going well!

Clue 2 of the SKA yellow sock KAL comes out tomorrow. Here is clue 1:


I have clue 1 knit for both socks. The cool feature of this cuff is a vikkel braid (you can see it at the top along the needle loop) which was very interesting to knit. A little tricky, but not too bad once you got the hang of it. The designer for this mystery sock is Nancy Bush!

I finished one sock of the Carefree blog mystery sock KAL as the final clue was sent to us yesterday:


Here's a close-up of the pattern on top of the foot:


Isn't it pretty??? The designer for this mystery sock was Adrienne Fong.

I still need to finish clue 4 and 5 of the second sock, but the Yankees are playing again tonight so I should make progress on it!

Mystery sock

Here's a photo of my latest mystery sock through clue 3:


Such a pretty pattern and fun to knit! Really holds my interest so I don't get bored knitting it.

Yarn is Tropical Peach Panda Cotton.

My other mystery sock KAL starts on Tuesday (I'll be using the yellow Panda Silk).

a quick update with more photos

I finished another hat for KDO. The pattern is called Gingerbread hat:



I started the Mystery sock from the Carefree KAL blog. Here is my progress after completing clue 1:


That's Panda Cotton in Tropical Peach! I also learned a new cast on which I will probably using for all socks in the future. It's the German Twisted Cast on and makes for a really neat edge.

I just printed clue 2 and will start working on that tonight!

While waiting for clue 2, I worked on my fair isle vest this weekend. I have now knit the 46 pattern rounds and will be starting again at round 1 until the piece measures 12 inches:


And here is the Panda Silk in Buttercup Tones that I'll be using for the SKA mystery sock which starts September 1st:

Blog catch-up

Oh, I have neglected my blog for too long!! So sorry!

I did finish the July SKA mystery socks:



Haven't had a chance to wear them yet, but I think they will fit me. They were fun and I look forward to doing more colorwork socks.

I have made progress on the fair isle vest since the last photo I posted. I introduced the red yarn and am loving how these four colors look together:


Choosing good color combinations is not usually one of my strong points, but I really like these colors! I guess I'm safe with red, white and blue, but I even like how the two shades of blue go together in this project. I haven't worked on this since I finished the mystery socks, but I'll get back to it at some point.

I did start the Yankees socks:


I know, you can't tell anything yet, but those are going to be interlocking NY logos around the top of the sock. These are going to be a challenging knit for me!

1. The needles are tiny - US 0 and something like 96 stitches around right now - ugh!

2. The yarn is a cotton/wool blend (and some nylon or something) - it's Knit Picks Risata - so I'm not loving the feel of it, but I needed these colors and I think the yarn should work well for the colorwork.

3. Sometimes to you have to carry the navy yarn for long distances and sometimes you have to carry the white yarn and I don't know how to "catch" the yarn except when I'm carrying it in my left hand. So, I have to keep switching which hand I'm holding each color yarn in (6 times!) as I work across the row. This is very tedious and is slowing me down. I need to research and see if there's a way to catch the yarn when you're carrying it in your right hand. I was taught in my fair isle class to always carry the yarn you have to catch in your left hand and that's the only way I know how to do it! (I'm talking about weaving it in across long lengths that are more than 5 or so stitches).

Anyway, for all those reasons, I believe the Yankees socks will be a long-term project!

Since these socks were proving to be too challenging at the moment, I decided to cast on another hat for KDO:


Ah, Knit Picks Comfy in Pomegranate, now that is some soft yarn!! So nice to work with. I believe this pattern is called "Gingerbread Hat". I found it on Ravelry. It has cables and is a pretty simple pattern to follow. I'm hoping to work on the hat some more tonight!

The Carefree KAL mystery sock starts on Friday - I can't wait! I will be knitting these in either the peach or blue Panda Cotton that I purchased from The Loopy Ewe. I just can't decide which color to use, but I will decide on Friday!

The next SKA mystery sock KAL starts on September 1st and I plan on participating in that as well! The technique is "knitting with yellow yarn" so I bought some pretty Panda Silk in the colorway "Buttercup Tones". This will be my first time knitting with Panda Silk so I am looking forward to that!

I also bought some Blue Green Wick yarn so I can knit another quick pair of socks when I have the time. I really like the other Wick socks that I knit.

And to end this lengthy post, here's a recent photo of Shelby:

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!!