Two Loops

Sockapaloooza

First a picture of the socks I knit, just before grafting. They're the petticoat socks from Weekend Knitting. I like the pattern, but I changed it for gauge. Unless you take very good notes or knit two socks at a time, this is not such a great pattern for changing the stitch count. Remembering what to do for the heel was easier than the special before the toe pattern change. I actually mailed these the morning we flew out; I've been having trouble getting the small one to the post office. Good thing the airport post office opens early.

As I was finishing these up, I was sorry I wouldn't have a new pair of socks to wear on my trip. (Why? I don't know, but I did in December. Maybe it just makes up for how little time or thought I have to spend on what I pack for myself. Toothbrush? Toothpaste? Good. I've done worse.) Then, even worse, I thought I'd leave before my sockpal's socks arrived, and they'd sit, and my sockpal wouldn't know whether or not they'd arrived safely. I didn't really realize that both problems had a single solution until these were on my feet.

They are the falling leaves pattern from Knitty in Cherry Tree Hill. Thanks Sue, I love them. They're a great color and pattern, and I was so happy to put them on my feet.

Finally

Finally, the yarn I've been waiting for arrived, I could dye the yarn for my sockpal socks.

Finally, it stopped raining for a few hours, and I could hang some things outside to dry.

Finally, a sock update. I started off with the sock pattern from the Spring IK, but it seemed a little stiff and small--and just punishment on 2mm--so this little rim of knitting got ripped. I switched to the Petticoat socks from Weekend Knitting (modified for gauge) and I like knitting them. It's a four row repeat, with two of them mostly rest/knit as established, so there's a good amount of variation to keep from getting bored, but it's also so so easy to memorize. Goes quick, quick, quick.

I may never knit again

A Choice For Mom

Here's the one I dyed to try to match the one you liked (top) and the one I think you'll want (bottom). They're still drying.

When the going gets tough

The weak cheat. Finished objects 12-17.

Small bowl of six flowers from handspun. (Vogue Knitting Holiday 2005)

Here's the last sunny day photo I took, showing progress as of last Friday: seven hats and one bag.

And the final tally:

Eight hats, a scarf, and two bags, and six flowers. Yarn used: 12 balls of peruvian highland wools, 7 balls of jo sharp rare comfort mohair, one large skein of handspun (scarf), bits of handspun for flowers.

Three down

Another part of my plan is to make half of my items to give away. I've now nearly finished three hats for Dulaan.

I think I like the color, fabric, shape, of the first (purple) one best. Next I tried a sort of creamsicle orange, just to see the difference between a light and a dark. The third one is a curiously bright lavender.

Is this a lot?

I had a few ideas of what I wanted to do for the knitting olympics, but the one that's stuck is to knit up a lot of stash. Since the stash doesn't lend itself very well to big projects, I thought I'd make it my challenge to knit an item a day. I see a lot of hats and felt bags in my future.

Here's what I have picked out for the first one.

What I did all weekend

You would think that taking a picture in winter wouldn't be so hard, living in California and all, but this was the best I could come up with:

Reds also just seem to look awful in every picture I take. A shame, what with it being my favorite color and all. I did up both brightness and contrast to make the photo slightly more representational.

This slew of yarn is the whole result of my efforts this weekend. It's all dyed with madder--I started off with the amount indicated for a light shade and got the two dark skeins on the right. It looked like there was still some dye left in the pot, so I mordanted another two skeins and dyed them the next day. I got the medium shade in the middle. It still looked like there was dye in the pot, so I got a little lazier with the mordanting--didn't really measure, put if one skein and something smaller. I got a light color, but not really an exhausted pot, so I threw in a couple more small skeins, and so on.

I really love the color--of all the skeins. The process required more watching than acid or kool-aid dyeing, but it wasn't too hard to fit it in around other things. So long as those other things didn't require more than two burners...

January Magknits

Pattern available here.

Gift Knitting

I'm so glad my camera decided to focus on the inside of the booties. And that the best photo I could come up with was on top of the dishwasher with flash. This pair went to the newborn of a friend of my mother's. I haven't heard if they've been received, but the two pair that went to husband's co-workers were much appreciated. I was really surprised. The woman expecting a girl was thrilled to receive something that wasn't pink--I can remember that--and has promised that they will be the first booties her daughter wears. The other co-worker was really impressed with all the ridges and said she couldn't knit at all, well maybe a scarf. That's the second time someone's said that to me and for some reason it stumps me. What's wrong with a scarf?