2nd Saturday of SOS08

Well, it's the 2nd Saturday of Summer of Socks and I spent most of the day knitting again. Lucky me!

I keep working on the Brigit sock, but don't seem to be making a lot of progress. It is becoming the never-ending sock! But, I still like the yarn and the pattern and when I finally finish this pair, I think I will like wearing the socks. Here's what it looks like as of tonight:
The Fall Herbs socks are going much faster. It's funny when I switch to these after working on the Brigit socks, the needles seem huge!! It's amazing the difference between US 1 and US3! As you can see, I've made almost as much progress on the first Fall Herbs sock as the Brigit sock:
I have also been thinking about whether I prefer metal or bamboo needles since I have been switching back and forth. I'd say there are advantages and disadvantages to each.

The bamboo needles cost more and seem more fragile, although I haven't broken one yet, thank goodness! One thing that I like about the bamboo needles is how they seem to warm in your hands as you use them. They are also probably lighter than the metal needles, although my metal sock needles aren't particularly heavy or anything.

I only have one set of bamboo needles. The rest of my sock dpns are metal (aluminum, I believe). The main advantage to metal needles, in my opinion, is price and durability. I bought most of my sets at the craft store with 40% off coupons and I don't have to worry about breaking the needles when I throw my projects back into the knitting bag. And, believe me, this crosses my mind EVERY time I'm carefully placing my Brigit sock on the bamboo needles back into the bag!!

I guess the other main difference between bamboo and metal is how the yarn slides along the needles. But, with these two projects I don't notice a major difference in this area. The stitches stay on when I want them to, and when I'm knitting the stitches slide along the needles just fine on both the metal and bamboo needles.

I wonder if I'll actually finish a pair to enter in the first bi-weekly SOS08 contest. I believe the deadline is 10pm on 7/4/08. Instead, I may be entering a couple pairs in the 2nd bi-weekly contest and will hopefully have a 3rd or 4th pair cast on by then.

SOS08 - cast on 2nd pair

No, I didn't finish my first pair, but I decided to cast on a 2nd pair last night for a little variety. The Brigit socks are getting a bit tedious. So, I thought I'd cast on some Panda Cotton in the "Fall Herbs" colorway on nice "big" US 3 needles and an easy "don't have to think" pattern. I chose the Slipped-Stitch Rib from Sensational Knitted Socks. This is the same pattern I used on my first Panda Cotton socks in the blue "Faded Jeans" colorway.

Here is what I knit last night with Fall Herbs:
The colors seem to be pooling a bit into diagonal stripes, but the slipped stitches in the body of the sock should help to break that up a bit. Also, the striping is much more noticeable in the picture than in person. I love the variety of colors in this yarn. There's different shades of green, a dark blue/teal color which I love, a dark purple/cranberry sort of color and a brown/rust kind of color. These socks should be an easy knit.

I have made some progress on the Brigit socks since my last blog post. I decided to continue the ribbing pattern on the top of the foot, but without all the cable twists. Just to give it a little interest as opposed to plain stockinette:
I still have a few more decrease rounds and then it will just be working the length of the foot. Oh yeah, and then there's a whole other sock to knit... Well, it is the Summer of Socks!!!

I did decide to assemble the cable purse on Monday night. It just needs a button to close the flap and the fabric lining:
I like the way it turned out. I will post another picture when it is completely finished.

Well, I need to update my projects on Ravelry and then off to knit some more!

SOS08 Progress

Above is my progress on my first Summer of Socks (SOS08) sock. I can't believe how much progress I've made in just 2 days!! Being signed up for SOS08 is very motivating. I decided to leave out the last 18 rows of cable repeats in the leg, and therefore shorten the leg to about 4 inches, so I wouldn't risk running out of yarn. These tiny two stitch cables are a bit tricky but I was getting the hang of it towards the end. I'm trying to cable without a cable needle but with just one stitch and the tiny needles, I sometimes had a hard time getting the single stitch back on the needle! It was much easier when holding the stitch to the front as opposed to the back. But, I finally found that if I hold the fabric right below the stitch when I pull it off the needle, I'm able to get it back on much easier. It just takes too long to bother putting a single stitch onto a cable needle, so I'm really trying to do without the cable needle. I think the second sock will go smoother now that I figured out a good technique. I'm probably just going to knit the foot in plain stockinette instead of continuing the cable pattern down the foot.

I do like this pattern (Brigit) and I am happy to be working with Panda Cotton again instead of wool. I think the color of this yarn (Periwinkle) is really pretty too. I may try to knit some more tonight. I just finished the heel flap, so the next step will be turning the heel. I am hoping to finish this pair in time to enter in the first bi-weekly sock contest!

Now, I need to go on Ravelry to see how everyone else is doing!

Summer of Socks 2008 has begun!!!!!

Hooray! Happy First Day of Summer! Summer of Socks is underway. This should be a fun summer. Since we couldn't cast on for Summer of Socks until after midnight last night, I spent yesterday evening getting non-SOS08 stuff done (laundry, grocery shopping, etc.)

On Thursday night, I finished all the knitting on the cabled purse, so I blocked that last night and it is now drying:
The cables seemed to flatten out a lot when wet. I hope they crisp back up when dry. This is the first time I've wet blocked cables. I also braided the 3 I-cords to form the handle, but forgot to take a picture of that. You'll see it on the completed purse.

Since I had a sink full of Soak I decided to also hand wash some socks while I was soaking the cabled purse. They are drying now as well:

After that was done, I needed a quick knitting project to get me through the last few hours before SOS08 and I came across my "Loopy's Red Sock Kit" from The Loopy Ewe (one of their awesome free gifts!). I figured I could crank out a mini sock in an evening. I cast on at 8:30 and finished it at 11:30! (Took a half hour break to take our dog for a walk since it was so nice out last night) So, 2-1/2 hours of knitting time produced this:

Loopy immediately claimed it for his own and asked when he'd have a 2nd sock to go with it:

I thought about staying up until midnight to cast on my first sock, but was tired by then and decided to start fresh in the morning. I woke up bright and early and cast on the Brigit pattern in Periwinkle Panda Cotton:

I think this will be a fun and challenging (enough to keep it interesting) pattern to knit. My only concern is that I think I may need an extra skein of yarn to complete.

Well, enough blogging... time to resume knitting my sock! Have a Happy Summer everyone!!!

Cabled purse progress

Above is the current status of my cabled purse project. I am hoping to finish this before Saturday - the official start to the Summer of Socks!! I have about 4 more inches to go on the cabling body of the purse, but last night I decided to start on the I-cord since I bought my US 6 dpns yesterday. As you can see, I finished one I-cord (folded in half at the top of the photo) and started a 2nd last night. I need to complete 3 to form the braided purse strap.

My Knitting Answer Book is in the photo because I used this to refresh my memory on cabling without a cable needle. I have been using this method and it's been working well for me. I always keep this book by my side when I'm knitting and, as you can see, I have several green sticky notes marking pages I refer to more than once. It's a great resource!!

If you are trying to envision what this purse will look like when complete, I took a photo of the picture on the pattern:
I still need to look for the perfect button to complete it. I will check my button stash first, but I will probably have to go shopping for one.

Here's a close-up of the cables:
This has been a really fun pattern to knit. I love small projects. I have yet to knit a full-size sweater or afghan. That is why I love knitting socks. Even though it's a lot of stitches, there's no assembly or piece-work and I don't even block mine, I just wear them. Just weave in two ends and you're done! This purse shouldn't be too hard to assemble. The pattern does call for a fabric lining so that will be a first for me! But, if I plan on using the purse (which I'd like to!), it will need a lining because the stitches are a bit loose (at least I think they'd loosen up when I put stuff in the purse). I, of course, didn't check my gauge, I just used the recommended needles and cast on. This shouldn't be a problem except that I may have to adjust the size of the fabric piece used for the lining if my gauge ends up off from the pattern. Only time will tell!

Well, I think I will go knit more of this project now since I only have 3 evenings to complete it!

Happy WWKIP Day!

Today is WWKIP Day.

I don't think I'll be participating this year. It was way too hot to knit outside and I think I'm just going to stay in the A/C, rather than go anywhere to knit.

But, if you see any knitters out and about today, be sure and say hi! And if you're participating in WWKIP Day - have fun!

If you're near Toronto, be sure to check out the yarn harlot's birthday bash today! What are the odds that her 40th birthday landed on WWKIP Day? Lucky knitter!!

Sock blockers!

My sock blockers arrived from The Loopy Ewe today! I got the medium size and I love them. I no longer have to take pictures of my feet!

Here's my first pair of Panda Cotton socks (colorway: faded jeans) on the blockers:
These socks began my sock knitting obsession!

I also decided to buy my first set of stitch markers because I really liked this Loopy Ewe set from Zephyr:
I displayed them on one of my sock blockers and the flash glared a bit, sorry! They came in the cute little tin. You can see better pictures and a description of them here.

In other knitting news, I finished the doily style dishcloth and am really happy with how it turned out:
I love the colors in that yarn! The colorway is "Butter Cream Ombre" by Lily Sugar'n Cream. Pretty!!

And, I am using one of my knitting bags while working on my latest project:
It's the "Flapper Purse" from the 6/6/08 page of the knitting calendar I have at work. It's a rectangle-shaped small purse with 3 cables running along it and the top flaps over, thus the name "flapper purse".

So far, I have knit this much:
If I dig out my notes on cabling without a cable needle, I think this will start to go faster. I used that method when knitting the Irish Hiking scarf and really liked it.

I just had to take pictures of some of my other knit socks on the sock blockers:

Maizy socks:

Sable Panda Cotton socks:
Painted Daisies Wick socks:
Don't forget - tomorrow is WWKIP day! World Wide Knit in Public Day!!!!!!