South Woods pullover

This was a test knit for a friend at the local yarn store-she’s set to release this pattern on the 15th, and while I finished it two weeks ago, my model and I were not in the same place until last night.

It was a fun knit, and I love the finished object. I will probably be making a few more… The contrasting touches everywhere are really nice, from the fold up cuffs to the latvian braid across the back. For all those details, the pattern is actually very straightforward and I had no problems with it at all!

The navy yarn is from Kim Dyes Yarn, in the colorway ‘string theory’, while the (sparkly) silver is Forbidden Fiber Co’s color ‘mist’. I really like both these yarns-the navy color is excellent, and the sourdough sock base is nice to work with. I’ve used it before for several pairs of mosaic socks as well. The sparkles in the grey are really nice-they’re much more subtle than a lot of other sparkle yarns, in that they aren’t candy-caned in.

Birch socks

Me: Any preferences on what pattern I use for this new pair of socks for you?
Him: I really like the patterns on the socks I already have.
Me: Yes, but I’ve done those already. Why don’t we do something that isn’t just some sort of cable down the side?
Him: Like what? Just pick any pattern you want.
Me: But not lace
Him: Yes, no lace
Me: Even if it’s just a small detail in a larger cabled motif?
Him: No lace please.
Me: Okay, here’s pictures of socks on Ravelry-pick a design element and we’ll go for that.
Him: This one with the diamonds down the leg looks interesting.

And that is how we ended up with another pair of socks with some sort of cabled something down the side. I did do a twisted stitch rib down the back of the sock, and I hadn’t done straight up diamonds before, so they do count as something different, I suppose. I’m very pleased with how the back of the leg transitions into the heel.

The yarn is ‘Birch’ from Round Mountian Fibers. I really like how their website has pictures of the inspiration for the color along with the yarn. The color isn’t quite solid, which gives it some interest. I’m really pleased with how well the twisted stitches stand out in it.

I just upgraded my phone, so I’m playing around with the ‘portrait mode’ setting. It was having a bit of trouble sometimes determining that I wanted the whole sock, and nothing else, in focus, but I’m fairly pleased with the results. The sun was refusing to shine this morning, and I think that plays into the picture quality as well. While we’re talking about how the pics were taken, I balanced this foot on my balcony railing to get the nice green tree background. I was really worried about it falling off (and thus down the three stories), so I ended up putting both the sock and the little metal baseplate (that allows the foot to stand up) on leashes. Nothing fell, thankfully, and after the photoshoot I tried dropping the foot onto my bed to see how well the leashes would have worked. The foot was fine, but that little metal baseplate would have been lost-it cut right through my attaching bit of yarn. So glad I didn’t find that out the hard way, and I’ll have to come up with something else for next time. Or just not take pictures on windy days.

anklet socks test knit

I did this test knit of some anklet socks-my mum wrote the pattern, and thus naturally asked me to proof it for her. She wrote the pattern for a fine fingering weight border Leister yarn from Seven Sister’s farm, but I’m knitting these in Knitpicks, because that’s what I had on hand.

The heel is a modified fish lips kiss, and even with the modifications I had to yank on it a bit to get it to come up this high. That’s in part because the sock is too small for my model (probably around a size 9 or 10 in women’s? While the socks are around a size 6), but it’s also just the nature of this heel style, that it doesn’t consist of enough fabric to cover that larger heel region. Still, for little short anklets like these it works great!

Cerulean Twilight shawl

I played a lot of yarn chicken on this shawl, and I won in the end! I had originally thought I had three skeins of this yarn, but when I went looking through my stash I only found two… This shawl is inspired by the red ‘V’ on the Bain de Soleil shawl I just finished-I wanted to see if I could get a shape like that without the rest of the shawl, because triangle shawls always bunch up at the back of the neck and just don’t sit well. I’m quite happy with the results, so now I can do the lace version! I’ve got the pattern all figured out, I just need to finish a few pairs of socks and then I can start…

I ended up blocking it flat, but it’s supposed to have little cups for the shoulders, to help it stay in place. In any case, with this shape it stays much better than a triangle shawl would! The yarn is called ‘Cerulean Twighlight’ by MJ yarns, and it’s a 50 % Alpaca, 30 % Merino, and 20 % silk blend. It’s quite lovely.

I also got a second model for this shawl! So nice of my little sister to oblige and let me take pics of her wearing it.

Bain de Soleil

This shawl was a sample knit for the local yarn store. It uses three different yarns, though sometimes it’s a bit hard to distinguish the two pinks. The yarns (and pattern) were from Biscotte Yarns, the first one is a speckled 85/15 blend of merino superwash and nylon, the second is a sparkly 95/5 blend of merino and stellina, and the final is 75/25 mohair and silk. The shawl had some interesting design elements that I hadn’t seen before, like the big red ‘V’ in the center. I like the picot edging, but my was it a pain to block!

I don’t think Grumpy sheep looks quite as grumpy as usual-maybe he actually likes wearing pink.

fireworks socks

I started these socks on July 4th, when going to watch the fireworks. I needed a mindless project that I could do in the dark, and hence these socks. The yarn was in my stash, without a label-I think its an 80/20 merino silk blend, but I’m not quite sure.

Shawl time, part two!

This is the follow up shawl to my last one-I was playing around with the idea some more, trying to get it to sit on the shoulders even better. This one lays really nicely, and stays put even with arm flapping, due to it’s overall shape. It’s too big for white sheep to really be able to model it well though, so I had to borrow a mannequin at the local yarn store.

The two yarns are very different-the main aqua color yarn is a 50/50 merino silk yarn in the color ‘Mariana by Anzula, while the lighter yarn is 100% milk protein fiber from Bellatrista. When I ran out of the first yarn I was worried about trying to match it, so I decided to go with something entirely different, and I think it worked well. People at the yarn store liked it so much they asked me to write down the pattern, and gave me assurances that they would knit it if I did write it up!

This is the fifth shawl I’ve finished this year, though one of those I did start last year.

Nasty Woman socks

I was hoping to get these done in time for them to be part of Socks on Vacay, but ran out of time. That meant that I got to knit one of my own patterns again! This one has the same diagonal/diamond purl lines, which don’t really show up as anything more than a bit of texture. I think the texture looks nice though, so I’m not disappointed. I’m also very pleased with how the yarn pooled, since I wasn’t sure what to expect when it was all skeined up! The colorway is called ‘Nasty Woman’, from Knitted Wit.

Socks on Vacay: Carlsbad Caverns

This is the last installment of Socks on Vacay-the end was on Labor Day, and I just managed to finish the second pair of these socks in the Carlsbad Caverns colorway. It’s been a lot of fun, but I will admit that I’m looking forward to knitting some of my own sock patterns again. I think I ended up knitting 26 pairs of socks! This puts me at 59 pairs for this year, and 610 overall.

Socks on Vacay: Mammoth Caves, Joshua Tree and Guadalupe Mountians

Sorry for the long break-I was on vacation, busy knitting my socks on vacay. I got 6 pairs done in the two weeks I was gone, so not quite a sock a day! I also worked on a fingering weight sweater that’s coming along nicely, but is currently just lots of stockinette.

This installment of the socks on vacay covers Knitted Wit’s National Park yarn inspired by three parks: Mammoth Caves, Joshua Tree, and Guadalupe Mountains. I’m going to try and get Carlsbad Caverns done before the end too, at least one pair if not two (since I’ve been knitting two pairs from each skein).

Socks on Vacay thus far

I put things in the county fair!

In other news, this year I entered stuff into the local fair. It was my first time being in a fair, and the main impetus to enter was that all I had to do was leave a bag of potential objects and my contact info at my local yarn shop, and my items were magically taken to the fair, entered, and returned to me. I did stop by the fair, but it was before they’d finished the judging on knitted objects, so I didn’t know how well I’d done until I got back from the beach and picked up everything yesterday. I got 5 first places, 3 second, one fourth and one fifth, so a pretty successful first fair experience.