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Socks

Socktoberfest wrap-up

By Sheetar 5 November 2009 7 February 2012

As promised, here’s the run down of the socks I knit during the month of October.

	Thrilling Jaywalkers Pattern: Jaywalker Designer: Grumperina Needles: US 1 (2.25mm) Yarn: Wollmeise Sockenwolle 100% superwash in colorway, “Thriller” –Ravelry Project Link– Still my favorite out of them all. The yarn has already proven to wear like iron and the socks are comfortable too. And, the colors are just so Halloween, you’ve gotta love it.
	Mystery Sock Pattern: Mystery Sock ’09 Designer: Kristen Kapur Needles: US 2 (2.75mm) Yarn: BMFA Socks That Rock Lightweight in, “Scum Bubble” –Ravelry Project Link– This is the first mystery sock knit-along I’ve participated in and it was a ton of fun. I’d feverishly knit each new clue the day it was released, giving me time to knit other things during the week (you know, like, more socks). The colorway is SO awesome and I’m happy with how it worked in the pattern as well. Yum. Scummy socks. Love it.
	Diamond Rib Lace Sock Pattern: Diamond Rib Lace Sock Designer: Kathleen Taylor Needles: US 1 (2.25mm) Yarn: Twisted Fiber Art Kabam! in, “Minstrel” –Ravelry Project Link– Isn’t that dye job incredible? Gotta hand it to Meg, she’s just a genius. The sock pattern was originally meant to be a child’s sock, but with a small amount of tweaking, it sized up very easily to an adult’s sock! And, I LOVE LOVE LOVE that zig-zag eyelet running down the leg as well as the cuff.
	Make-Up Sox Pattern: Make-up Sox Designer: Kristen Kapur Needles: US 1 (2.25mm) Yarn: dkKnits Technicolor Bounce in, “Teacher Teak” –Ravelry Project Link– These are toe-up which isn’t really a favorite of mine to knit, but the pattern is really so gorgeous (and the name so cute) that I really couldn’t leave them out. The yarn is just the perfect color and SO cozy – it’s a great match!

2009 Knitting, Socks, Spinning

June and July Knitting Wrap-up

By Sheetar 13 August 2009 7 February 2012

I guess this is becoming a bi-monthly thing instead of a monthly update. We’ll re-visit the Knitting Resolutions.

3. Knit one pair of socks per month
Did it again. Seven pairs so far (well Eight if you count the ones I’ve already finished for August), and I can’t wait to get to December and post all twelve of them in one big post.


Rare Monkey Gems	Jupiter Lava Socks
Pattern: Monkey	Pattern: Hey Jupiter
Designer: Cookie A.	Designer: Liz Abinante
Needles: US 1 1/2 (2.5mm)	Needles: US 1 (2.25mm)
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock Lightweight – Rare Gems	Yarn: dkKnits Technicolor Smoosh Toes
-Ravelry Project Link-	-Ravelry Project Link-
These knitted up in FOUR DAYS. Four days. I had the pattern memorized after one repeat and it was so simple yet beautiful, I’m positive these won’t be my last monkey socks. The rare gems came from Rhinebeck last year and I just LOVE how the colors pooled up.	This was the sock of the month from Yarn4Socks. After a false start (too tight to fit over my heel), I added four stitches in and they worked out perfectly. I did an extra repeat on the leg since there was plenty of yarn. The color is FANTASTIC and the pattern was super fun to knit.

4. Spin four ounces of roving per month.
Well I got eight ounces in one month? Does that count? I decided to go ahead and put away the knitting for a month and spin along with Tour de Fleece, a yearly spinning event that takes place during the Tour de France. Well I spun my little feet off and ended up with two finished skeins and one half-spun chunk of roving.

	This merino/tussah roving was from dkKnits and is spun up to laceweight, 789 yards. I think maybe this is why I only completed two skeins during Tour de Fleece! It spun up delightfully soft and squishy and I just love how the colors came out.
	This is a roving from Twisted Fiber Art and is the Brilliant Roving (superwash BFL) in the colorway, Blaze. It spun up to fingering weight and came out to 420 yards. I’ve already knitted up a pair of socks with this and they are AWESOME if I do say so myself. An absolute delight to spin and knit, definitely a roving I’ll be working with again.

And I think that’s about it. I haven’t really made any more progress on the other goals, and should probably get started on that considering the year is well over half done. 🙂

2009 Knitting, Socks, Spinning

April and May wrap-up

By Sheetar 4 June 2009 7 February 2012

Hah, I knew at one point during the year, I’d miss a month or get lazy or even give up completely on the resolutions. So far, though, doing okay, and still chugging along.

Going back in time to January again for the knitting resolutions..

2. Knit two sweaters this year
Started one. It’s tough knitting a sweater in the summer. I had a big rush of excitement when I started, gushing over the gorgeous color, dyed by Becky of dkKnits and then set it aside about 30% of the way down the body to do socks and lace and other fun summer type projects.

3. Knit one pair of socks per month
Got both of those!


April – Blue Angee Socks	May – Twisted Devon Socks
Pattern: Angee	Pattern: Devon
Designer: Cookie A.	Designer: Cookie A.
Needles: US 1 ½ / 2.5 mm	Needles: US 1 ½ / 2.5 mm
Yarn: Malabrigo Yarn Sock, colorway, “Impressionist Sky”	Yarn: Twisted Fiber Art Kabam! in colorway, “Terrain”
-Ravelry Project Link-	-Ravelry Project Link-
These were finished just in time to go to Stitch n’ Pitch with the Phillies. Sadly, we were soundly beaten by the Nationals, but the socks told me that they didn’t mind. The pattern is from Cookie A’s new book, Sock Innovation, and I’m absolutely in love with all of the patterns. This one was pretty simple, but with a great effect. And the yarn! There’s a reason why we call it MMMmmmmmmalabrigo. Squishy, Yum.	Another entry from Cookie A’s Book. Both the yarn and the pattern came together to produce an absolute delight to knit and wear, even if one sock somehow tricked me into knitting an extra repeat on the leg. I’d go back and rip the longer top down to match the shorter one, but there’s a cuff-to-leg transition set of stitches that I wouldn’t be able to do if I knitted back up the cuff. So, we’re going to call them unique and leave them as they are, unmatched and beautiful.

4. Spin four ounces of roving per month.
My poor wheel has been feeling woefully neglected. I did get my 4oz for May though.

Corriedale from Maisy Day Handspun in colorway, “Water Lily.” I never really liked corriedale, until now. I got my hands on the raw roving in the past and did a little nose wrinkle – scratchy. It’s not merino. But, after it’s spun up and plied? Not so bad. I probably still wouldn’t make a scarf out of it, but it’s pretty and squishy and I rather enjoyed spinning it. It clocks in at 285 yards and is about sport weight.

And that’s the wrap-up for the last two months of acheiving resolutions. There has been more knitting, of course, that I haven’t detailed here, but with the garden growing, the lawn needing mowed, and a whole host of fun outdoors stuff to do in the lovely weather we’ve been having, knitting has mostly taken a back seat to a lot of seasonal things to do.

Hats, Spinning

Thorped

By Sheetar 10 February 2009 18 February 2009

There’s this great thread on Ravelry that shows a project from roving to spun yarn and the finished object. It’s without question my favorite thread on Ravelry and is really inspiring for a spinner to see what people spin with what fiber and what patterns they’ve adapted to their handspun. REALLY creative people there.

Sometimes, you get a batch of fiber and you just know what it’s going to be – like Michelangelo said about his sculpture, “I saw the angel in the marble, and I carved until I set him free.” This may sound a bit strange (if it does, then Michelangelo was strange and that’s a club I don’t mind being a part of), but you knitters know what I’m talking about.. The times when the yarn speaks to you and tells you precisely what it wants to be. It’s just like that with roving and spinning fibers. The finished article is in there somewhere, waiting to be let out. Sometimes it just wants to be yarn. Sometimes it wants to be a finished object and you just KNOW it the second you lay eyes on the colorway and the texture of the fiber.

So, here’s my most recent Spun-to-Finished entry and the first one for the blog.

Fiber:

Superwash Blue Faced Leicester (BFL) from dkKnits – January installment of the fiber club.
Colorway: Burnt Blueberry Baa’Hill (baa’hill.. baaagggellll.. get it? :-P)

Yarn:

8wpi, Heavy Worsted, 167 yards, navajo plied, spun on my Spinolution Mach 1 wheel.

Finished Object:

Pattern: Thorpe
Needles: US #8 (5mm)
Trimmed with a bit of leftover Cascade 220 Superwash. I have NO idea of how to crochet, so I used a helpful video on YouTube.

In other news, a family friend sold her sheep farm and moved recently, bringing with her A LOT of fleece. I graciously offered to take some off her hands and came home with just about five pounds of raw wool from Border Leicester mix sheep. There was about 1.5 lbs of black fleece and about 3.5 lbs was white. I decided to mix them together to save on processing and shipped it off to Zeilinger’s for cleaning and to be drawn into roving. I hadn’t heard anything back in a few weeks, but sure enough, today, a box showed up on the doorstep containing my roving. Dog for scale, but there’s a ton of it. I believe this roving is begging to be a sweater. It hasn’t decided on a color yet though, but I’m sure it will let me know once it’s ready. (The dogs are North American Standard Mutts by the way, weighing in at about 50 lbs each)