Hat Heel Socks

In a past life, this yarn (Schaefer Yarn Company Anne) was a Clapotis, but I could never wear it because my neck was too sensitive for the fuzziness of the yarn. After looking at it for over a year, I decided to frog it and make socks instead, because the yarn was too beautiful to waste.



I knew the fuzziness of the yarn would hide fancy stitch patterns, but wasn't looking forward to plain socks. Then I looked at the Fall 09 Knitty, and found these socks. I am really curious about the construction, and like the idea that I can knit the foot top down, but then go back and knit the leg bottom up, until I run out of yarn. Ingenious idea!!



I was beginning to hit a knitting rut, where I didn't have anything I even wanted to knit. Now I am really excited to cast on. A new, cleverly constructed sock, a really beautiful yarn, and a weekend at home with no plans. :)

I have my work cut out for me today. I have only had about 6 hours of sleep in the past two nights combined, and I am planning on turning this:



and this:



into a completed pattern.



The way I usually design socks is to knit the first one while taking lots of notes, write out a pattern using these notes, and then knit the second one by following the pattern. This allows me to catch mistakes, but only have to knit one pair.




I designed these socks because the yarn reminded me of fall leaves, and I wanted to knit leaf patterned socks out of it. I have already knit the Embossed Leaves pattern, and couldn't find another leaf pattered sock I wanted. I found the Lovely Leaf Lace Scarf pattern, and decided I could use that stitch pattern, and make socks out of it.




The stitch pattern in the scarf was knit flat, and it took me some time to figure out how to knit it in the round. Once I figured that out, I was off and running.




The sock came out really nice. It was almost exactly what I had pictured in my mind. I wish the leaves stood out a little more, maybe with some plain knit or purl stitches between each leaf, but they are really pretty just as they are.

Primavera Socks

I finished my Primavera Socks. Here are a few pics:





They turned out very nice. I would recommend the yarn and the pattern. I can't reveal the yarn yet though. The name of the yarn will be revealed when my review is posted on the SSYC Blog in a few weeks.


I am now working on a dishcloth. I am pretty busy with school at the moment, so I wanted something that was quick and amazing. Here is a photo of it so far. I am liking the spring colors:





I went grocery shopping today, and found an amazing coffee mug.



Ok, maybe amazing isn't exactly the word for it, but the shade of orange just makes me happy. And it is heavy enough that the cat won't knock it over when he crawls around on my desk trying to help me. Here is a picture of the cat with some flowers and a pot I bought last week:





And last, but not least, a picture of Jeffrey, because he's so darn cute:

Mystery Yarn

My Mystery Yarn arrived from SSYC at the end of last week. It isn't orange, but it is a really beautiful cranberry color.



It is a little hard to photograph accurately, but this is pretty close.


So is this a color I like? Lets take a look:




Those are various projects, most finished but some not, made in the same color. The Mystery yarn is shown there balled up in the center. It fits right in. So I am pretty happy.




I decided to make Primavera Socks after seeing them on Rob from Threadbear's Black Dog blog.




I cast on for them on Monday, March 3rd. I wasn't so sure about the pattern choice when I got going, because the pattern wasn't very impressive at that point. If I wasn't knitting on a deadline, I think I would have ripped and restarted. Here's one of the first pictures I took:





Not bad, but not drop-dead gorgeous like I was hoping for. But I kept chugging along, hoping it would be better when it was finished.




I'm glad I didn't give up. These socks are really beautiful. I don't know if any of the pictures do them justice, but here are a few of the first finished sock:





These photos also give you an idea of how hard the color is to capture. The first two photos are more accurate.




I will be doing a writeup on the yarn next, but wanted to post something about this now. I still have the second sock to knit, but I am not worried about that. I love the socks so much, I want to finish the second one so that I can wear them.

Catching up

I can't believe it has been this long since I have posted. I always plan on posting more, but never seem to get around to doing it.




First off, I will share a little excitement. It was a long time ago, but after sending my Oliver blanket squares to Kay from Mason-Dixon Knitting, she wrote a post about my squares. Check out Forrest's Momma Was Right. The photos of my squares a WAY better in her post.




Between then and now, I was busy with the holidays, and then going back to school. Besides having to take last semester off, I have been in and out of school for years. I am finally really back. I am only taking 9 credits this semester, but with kids, a husband and a puppy, that is more than enough. I am officially a Junior, but because of being in and out of school, I do have one entry level programming class that I have to take. It is good though because I haven't had a programming class in a few years, so it is a good refresher for me.




For knitting, I have been working away on numerous projects. I have been posting everything on Ravelry, but just not here.




For new exciting knitting adventures, I have been chosen to be a fill-in Test Knitter for Simply Socks Yarn Company. I was bummed that I didn't get chosen as one of her test knitters, and then she contacted me today to see if I could fill in and do a review. I won't know what yarn I will be using, the label will be removed, but I know that it is a solid color wool/nylon mix. It will be in the mail to me tomorrow. I am excited. I haven't been able to afford any sock yarn since Christmas, so it will be like Christmas all over again for me. Plus, Saturday is the start of spring break for me. So I'll have plenty of time to sit home, catch up on Tivo, and knit me a beautiful pair of socks. Sounds perfect to me!




I am not sure what pattern I will use until I actually see the yarn, but I have some ideas. I would love to make one of these Cookie designs, but they aren't available yet. Dang. But there are a lot of beautiful designs for me to chose from, so I won't have a problem finding something perfect.




Well, I will come back and post pictures of my mystery yarn when it arrives. I hope it is something really beautiful. Hopefully orange. Orange isn't just my favorite color, it is my obsession.




ps My entry level programming class is full of mostly teenage boys, and I, the old lady in the class, got the highest grade on our first test (92.31)!!! In your face little boys!

Lotsa squares

I have been knitting squares, and squares, and more squares. These are all for the Oliver's Blanket project on the Mason Dixon Knitting site.

First, All of them piled up waiting to be mailed:Next, pictures of them drying after washing them all (I couldn't mail them without washing them first!!)

Next, here are closeups of all of my special MasonDixon squares. Each is based on one of the patterns in their book, or on their website. We have:

The Ballband square:
The Moss Grid square:
The Big Dotty square:
The Log Cabin square:
The Tailgate square:
The Mitered Square square:
The Baby Genius square: (my own reversible version of the Baby Genius pattern)
And finally, the Nine Patch square:

Some of these took a little swatching and reknitting to get them the right size, but they are so cute, it is worth it. Some of them (like the Nine Patch square) are identical to the real pattern, just done on small needles with thin yarn. Others (like the Mitered Square square) are adaptations of the original. I suppose I could have knit with sewing thread on pins and made the original Mitered Square Blanket pattern turn out 4" in size, but even I'm not that crazy!

They are off in the mail today, just in the nick of time. I enjoyed making these, and was a little disappointed that I ran out of time before I used up every scrap of my leftover sock yarn. I mean, look at all of this:
There's enough there for at least two more solid squares. And all the little odd pieces left over could make at least one more square with about 2 or 3 rows worth of each color. And yes, that's another plain square, about 2/3 of the way done, that I started when I thought I had time for "Just one more" before I had to mail them.

What am I going to do with all my knitting time now?

ps Sorry about the crappy pictures. I could have done a little better, but I'M ON A DEADLINE HERE!!

Ramblings

I've been busy knitting, but have spent too much time on Ravelry so I haven't had time to post anything here.

The project of the moment is working on 4" squares to donate for the blanket mentioned on Mason Dixon . I am using up all of my leftover sock yarn. I started out by making the basic garter stitch square shown on the site, but then I came up with a great idea to make some extra special squares. I'm not going to say exactly what my idea was at the moment, but lets just say that I am pretty excited with my idea. I am planning on sending them in about a week before the deadline, unless I run out of yarn first. I am hoping that by sending them in a week early, I will still be able to get them there on time, even if I space out and forget for a couple of days. My usual thing to do is work on a project like this, and then forget to send it in until it is too late. I have lost $50 rebates because I forgot to mail in the rebate form until it was too late. But THIS time, I am going to do this. These squares are too perfect to not follow through for once.

In non-knitting news, I am not only registered for classes next semester, I have actually PAID for the classes!!! I wasn't able to attend classes at all this semester because all of my school money was used to go back home when my dad died. But this coming semester is all set. I am very excited.

Other exciting news involves my oldest daughter. She is a senior in high school and is taking classes like Anatomy, Chemistry, College writing, Pre-Calculus. She got her first report card for the year, and she has a perfect 4.0. She actually got a 100 in Anatomy. When we went to pick up report cards and talk with the teachers, one teacher shook my hand and told me he loved me. He said she was the model student that every teacher hopes to get. She is extremely excited. She is planning on becoming a Pediatric Neurologist. She sure has the drive needed for that. Daughter 2 is extremely intelligent and has been tested to have a very high IQ, but she doesn't fit in so easily in the school environment. She did a lot better than usual this year though. She was even only about .3 points away from being on the honor roll. That is a huge achievement for her. The main thing that hurt her was a low grade in Chemistry. All of her other grades were good, and she even got 3 B's and an A. Hopefully she'll get that chemistry grade up next semester, and she'll be on the honor roll for the first time ever.

Sorry this has been a long rambling post with no pictures. I wanted to get something on here to help get me excited about blogging again. Not that I've ever blogged very regularly, but I would really like to. I'll include here a picture of Jeffrey, our new baby boy. He is almost 6 months old, and we all love him to death. He is a Papillion.

This is when Jeffrey hid on the table away from the big bad carpet cleaner.

And a closeup.