What's Up Wednesday

Wow, another week gone by!  Sekrit knitting is done (will post when my swap partner gets her package) and trying to finish up another hat or two for the Hats for Sailors group.

Lookee what I got in the mail today!!


Socks that Rock Lightweight Minis
approx. 708 yds total

L to R: Smokin' Cause I Am, Bumblebery, Koi Koi, Tanzanite, Oregon Red Clover Honey, Watermelon Tourmaline, Spawn of Brawn, Garnet Dreams, ST-1, Pond Scum, Queen Charlotte, Mad Hatter

Aren't they cute!  Doviejay hosted a mini swap and I was lucky to get in as an alternate.  You see I had to wait for my skeins (Oregon Red Clover Honey & Pond Scum) to arrive from storage, and the swap had closed.

Anyhow, she did an awesome job chopping and labeling the minis.  You can see the little pictures for the colorways too.

Mine will go into my Beekeeper's Quilt stash bag for now.  Of course, I may change my mind, that happens a lot around here ;)

FO's will be coming soon!

Fairgrounds of Kate

I had never knit a sock pattern more than once....that was until I knit the Cotty Sock pattern by my friend Carrie. Proof is here and here. I think it's a great pattern for semi-solids and variegateds. I've not seen a self-striping version yet.

I needed a quick knit for my September SAM 10 socks and I saw this skein already wound up into like 4 little cakes, so the decision was made.

Why 4 little cakes...well..um..I had planned to knit a baby hat with this colorway for the 2008 Ravelympics. I had wound the skein doubled. Then I was going to destash it so I was trying in vain to un-double the yarn. Yeah..note to self...do not pre-wind a skein doubled....either make 2 separate cakes of yarn or knit from the inner/outer of the cake.

This colorway was the 2nd shipment in the very first Rockin' Sock Club a few years ago. I hate to say it, but I've never liked it. I just set it aside and figured I'd knit something for a baby, as I knew it would be perfect for it.


They are so wee I love them, and they go pretty fast too! They are the smallest picot cuff I've ever knit. I thought it would be tough, but not really.

I have plenty to knit the hat, which will be very soon :)

Socks That Rock Mediumweight in Fairgrounds (from the first RSC)
Sweet Baby Kate by Irishgirlieknits
US 2.5 circular via Magic Loop
September 2010

Will go in the gift drawer as I don't know of anyone having a girl yet.

Psst....now I'm just waiting for the wee version of her Uncle Frank socks

Having pooling trouble....

with your sock yarn? Well have it no more! Knit these :)


You may see clumps of colors, but no big areas of one color....the slipped stitches help. Plus it's quite the stretchy sock.


I just love all these colors!

Oh, we must have the toepic pic



The heel, it is an interesting construction. No holes for me for the first time with a short row heel.

SSP-Wrap hints are here to help understand. I really like it, and will use it a lot.

A view from below


Oooops! There's some pooling...well I think it looks kinda cool on the cuff.

It is a double knit cuff, my first and pretty neat. Of course the bind off, I love to K-stitch.
The cuff is a little bit wide and wants to fold down on mine. I did try them on and it doesn't fall and holds up well. No picture of that...don't want anyone to faint for seeing a ghost ;)




Everyone Out Of The Pool socks by Artsygal
Socks that Rock Lightweight in Waterlilies, which was a lovely gift from my Knitty SP Irishgirlieknits so long ago! It was waiting for the perfect pattern.
2.25 mm circular, magic looped

Go on...you know you want to stop the pooling, so knit these socks instead! ;)

YPF-The Grimm Pastel Version

I've been looking over some photos and I don't really think I have all that much pastels, except in baby yarns.

I seem to like more jewel, brighter, stronger colors as you've all seen here before.

But after seeing a pair of socks knit in this yarn, I came to appreciate it even more

I honestly can't tell you why either....

Could it be the pink or yellow?


Or hint of teal and brown....

blue or purple....

I give up and have absolutely no earthly idea, but I like it a lot! Not sure if it'll become socks or what.....
BMFA Mediumweight STR in Grimm's Willow Wren

Cross another one...

off the WIP list!

Presenting, better late than never....

Cedar Creek Socks
STR Lightweight in Gypsum
US 1.5 circulars, done magic loop
Started: April 4, 2008 -Sock 1 finished July 08
Finished: Sock 2--March 3, 2009

I started knitting them as part of a KAL.....but that KAL has been done for a while LOL..

See here, eleventy-billion gusset stitches. You see the pattern has you pick up one stitch for every 2 rows on the heel flap. Well it was too holey for me and I didn't like it. Thus, I picked up every one...sigh..no wonder by the end my hands ached!!

Also note the eye of partridge heel. I think I knit sock 2's heel with too small of a needle...I still prefer good old slipped stitch heels though.

Although knit almost 6 mos apart, they look pretty good. I love the colors together, not so much the pooling, but I can live with it :) I got the pattern when I was in the very first Rockin' Sock Club, it was the very first shipment. I was fairly new to sock knitting and was too scared to try it.

As you can see, not scared anymore!

Cedar Creek Socks-------DONE!

Almost FO's!

Yes, so close I can taste the finish line! Both of these projects were started last April and both were put away for different reasons.

Now I am really trying to finish some WIP's up, my goal for this year. I could have 2 taken care of this month if I can finish these Cedar Creek Socks!!


Very close and not eleventy billion gusset stitches this time too!


Ohhh look whose having a bath!!

He says he likes it and isn't even shedding any excess dye!! He's blocking now and has grown a bit, which is exactly what I needed him to do (heh...men don't usually listen to me well either ! Maybe he's the exception ;)

And before you think I'm just being all goody-goody...I cast on a new dishcloth..you know for mindless knitting!

Multidirectional-diagonal Dishcloth

I'm pretty excited!!! Off to finish my CC's!

Wednesday WIP's--why version

hrmpf....that's all I can say. One would think with an afternoon off one would have more progress on said items below. Well if one would keep her eyes open, one might have. ;) Oh and if tinking wasn't being done on a regular basis...they would progress more as well!

Thorpe hat...

I was down to the earflaps. It was snug and I wanted it looser, so frogged bag to the increase section and added another one. Plus I went up a needle size. Going better I think..

Socks shouldn't be soul sucking should they? They should be enjoyable shouldn't they?

Sometimes they are, sometimes not...US 1's why do I even try! This is the Leyburn pattern you've seen on other's blogs, yeah, my speedy friends :)

Well, it's a really easy pattern repeat, why do I end up tinking more? Could it be that I'm wishing the US 2's worked? Or is it that pesky extra K row that seems to get in there ;) Why is it my STR socks seem to just go on forever, I mean, I knit, it seems to go no where! I have 2 others in progress as well. Not looking forward to finishing them, that's why they sit there. Love the colorways, but the yarn to me seems to knit slow, I feel like I can't make progress. It's me, that I know, cause other's seem to fly off the needles. Don't mind me, I'll perservere, I'm not letting pesky socks get the better of me!

Could this be.....

Long resurrected Mr. Lipstickjeans! Finally out of the project bag. Thankfully, this project hasn't been getting tinked this week. I didn't think it would ever get long enough. Still a bit worried but I measured it with other sweaters and it seems about right, plus this yarn is known to block big. I still have at least a 2" button band to add as well. I like the idea of knitting 1 sleeve earlier, doesn't seem so daunting right now to finish the other one. I do want to finish this month, as I have another sweater OTN raring to go.

Off I go to brave the black ice! Yeah, back to work today :(

First Trip/Ravelympics FO

Let me tell you, it was a looong one too! Yeah, the pattern is easy and best to not use a cable needle, but to me it just took forever to knit it. Or maybe it was because I was otherwise occupied...hmmm...anyways!

Koolhaas Hat
STR Heavyweight Rare Gems Colorway which as I knit it, I am thinking it used to be Little Bunnyfoo foo (pink and brown) in it's former life. I used this doubled to acheive a worsted weight. Yarn courtesy of my BMFA shopper thank you!
US 5 & 7 Circular, Magic Looped- heh, tried this on a 16" and no way I could even knit anything other than rib with this short of a cord. So ML it was.
Cast on: August 8, frogged and re-cast on August 9
Finished: August 18

The first time I knit it using recommended US 6 then 8, was way too big. Swatch a hat, no way, it was easier to frog and start again!


Close up of the yarn. See the pinks and browns peeking out...love it!

Not too bad of a back headshot! Good thing DD showed up, um as I had already taken like 10 shots trying to achieve this!

It is a great pattern, I love the decreases too. It can get confusing on 2 rows of the repeats where you move the marker, but I read up on it before I started. Not sure if I'll ever knit another one anytime soon though. Each row seemed to go on and on...Oh and the yarn doubled, worked great, but this hat sure is heavy and I bet will be warm! You'll see it again soon ;)

YPF-The Challenge

Ok, lots of you have heard by now about the Ravelympics. Some of you may be sick of hearing about it already, sorry, you're about to see 2 weeks worth of FO's. The idea is to try knitting something in 17 days that challenges you. Well most of you know all the stuff going on in my house, so hey, finishing anything lately can be a challenge in itself.

So with lots of car knitting coming up during the 2nd week, I figured some easy projects and some using of the *cough* sock yarn stash, doubled...yeah all the yarns will be doubled. Just finished a mess'o'knots from winding the yarn doubled too...

My goal is 4 hats and 4 cowls...we'll see how I do.

My first 2 projects are for the Cowl Jump and Hat Dash
Chickadee Cowl (on the right sidebar under free patterns) using

STR Watermelon Tourmaline, medium weight.

Koolhaas Hat using STR Heavyweight in the Rare Gems colorway.

Here it looks like Mochaberry, hmmm. Both courtesy of my personal BMFA shopper ;)


Um..could you tell what team I'm on?? Blue Moon! I think they both go together well. Although I see more browns on the bottom cake than I do IRL hmmmm...stay tuned!

This is perfect timing for me, really, gives me something else to concentrate on other than the fact in 8 days...yes, 8 days we leave to take my college man to Maine... **must concentrate on the lobster...yeah the lobster**