Jess's 2008 FO list

FO list for 2008 (not exactly in order)

- lenore socks
- feb stash socks (k3p1 with short row heel)
- Carin Boelman Test knit socks (which i wear and love and will one day share with you)
- Amie's wedding garter
- Flower basket edging (mentioned before as cotton garter)
- Jan Stash Socks (Justin's 2nd pair)
- Rogue
- 30 dishcloths
- Justin's 3rd pair of socks
- March stash socks (Sweetheart Socks)
- Amie's wedding lace
- April stash socks (embossed leaves)
- Justin's 4th pair of socks
- Nathan's trivet hat
- May stash socks (K3p1 rib)
- Lorna's laces test knit (Florentine Lace Socks)
- crochet slippers
- June stash socks (Feather and Fan Socks)
- scrap booties
- luxury bag
- MS3
- July stash socks (Simplicity Socks)
- Cedar dancing Socks
- Tam C
- Fake Isle
- Baby Mine
- CPH
- August stash socks (Amie's Bday socks, Hedera)
- Lorna's Laces test knit II (will share this with you when I can. I will say it was a toddler sweater and came out very cute)
- September Stash Socks (Nathan's k3p1 pair)
- Basic Hat for charity
- YFB BSJ
- October Stash Socks (wee tiny socks)
- Justin's Work Socks
- November Stash socks (k3p1 rib)
- Justin's Hat
- FIL's Hat
- Justin's Cousin's Hat
- Nathan's slippers

I wasn't a good girl and didn't blog all these projects. Although they are all up on Ravelry. Maybe later I'll add picture links to all these. That's a pretty big maybe tho, as it seems like a lot of work.

In Jan 2008 I stated my 2008 knitting goals. And I failed. My goal was 12 pair of socks (and since I was in Socks from Stash that seemed very possible). 3 large lace pieces/projects and to finish Rogue. Well I finished Rogue. I even knit 17 pair of socks (I did miss December's Stash socks). I only knit 2 lace projects. I started MS4 but later decided to frog it. And never did start another lace project. All in all for 2008 I knit 17 pair of socks, 7 hats, 2 pair of slippers, 2 adult sweaters, 3 Baby Sweaters, 2 garters, 2 lace pieces, a pair of booties and a luxury bag. Oh and about 30 dishclothes. I also have 4 projects currently needing attention. Not to bad for one year of knitting, while running after a 4 year old, and continuing to have a life.

I have some thoughts for my 2009 knitting goals. I'll save that post for Jan tho.

Take good care of your wheel and keep it happy.

I never posted before after pictures of the wheel. This is the only one I can find that shows how dramatic it really was. Not even sure this picture does it justice.



on the left is the un-oiled side. On the right is the pretty happy not horrible dry wood. It was thirsty and I had to give it a drink. It thanked me.

FFF and Bday weekend

I got my buttons for CPH and they are perfect. Hopefully I'll get them sewn on and pictures taken tomorrow. That'll be the goal anyways.



In the meantime we can talk about the "Fall Fiber festival". I was lucky enough to manage a trip up. Inlaws living a mere 10 minutes from the event did help. Being my bday weekend and the family wanting it to be special also helped.

Was so much fun watching the sheepdog trials. Those dogs are amazing. If you ever get a chance you should watch them. Trust me you'll be amazed.

As it turns out tho, I'm a horrible blogger and failed to get many pictures. Some very cute things happened. Like Nathan kissing the llamas. How adoreable right? And totally blog worthy. Yet no pictures. Apparently I'm new to this blog thing and keep forgetting "hey pictures would be nice". This is what we did manage to get.


Nathan wasn't impressed with much about the festival. He could have cared less about any of the sheep. But he kissed the llamas. When they were bored with him he resorted to petting the baby goats.



I got some fiber (30 oz to be exact) and poked around the booths. It was small and fun and hot. The sun was beating down on us. We went home and came back sunday afternoon. Where we meet Alice. and did a little spinning. Sorry Alice but this was the better of the two pictures Justin took of us. Not sure what was being said but we both have interesting expressions about it.

Central Park Hoodie

Pattern: "Central Park Hoodie"
Yarn: Ella Rae Classic (color graphit/deep steel)
needles: US 6 and US 8
started: Aug 26
finished: Sept 20

I love this sweater. I dont know what all to say about it. I really can't wait for it to cool off enough to wear it. I still need to find buttons for it. But its wearable without buttons. The only mods I made were that I grafted the top of the hood for a more invisible seam. and I picked up all the edge stitches at one time instead of half down each side.

progress

Thought I'd show some progress.


So this is "Central Park Hoodie"
This is the back, right front, left front, and both sleeves. Blocking so I can sew it up, pick up stitches for the hood. Knit the hood and button band and have a nice sweater.

Time to Share

some FO's:

Tam C

Pattern: "Three Tams (tam c) by Angela Sixian Wu"
Yarn: Patons classic merino in Natural. and Patons SWS in natural pink
needles: US 8
started: July 26
finished: July 28
Really fast knit. Was a ton of fun. Blocking was a bit of a pain in the arse. But whatcha gonna do. I loved how it turned out. I'm not a fan of Tams on myself but it was made for Zoey. Just to bad it was to big. I tried to shrink it; In which I shrank it to much. Now I'm hoping that either Sophie or Natalie might like it and fit it. fits Nathan perfectly but as he is a boy I'd rather not.

Fake Isle Hat

Pattern: "Fake Isle Hat by Amy King"
yarn: same as for the tam above (used what was leftover actually)
needles: us 6
Started: Aug 4
finished: Aug 11
Was also fun to knit. turned out really well. Gifted it to Zoey. I hope she wears it this winter. If not I'll steal it back. This picture was before it was blocked. blocking totally took care of all those areas that aren't laying right.

Baby Mine (no I'm not pregnant)

Pattern: "Baby Mine by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (YarnHarlot)"
size: newborn
Yarn: The Knittery 4ply sock Merino Cashmere (old) in water lilies
Needles: 2.75mm (us 2)
Started: Aug 20
Finished Aug 22
Awesome sweater. Will make many more in many different sizes. It was fantastic knit. and SO CUTE! I'm still looking for buttons. Although not very hard. Maybe if I actually went to a store I'd find some.

Amie's Bday Socks 2008

Pattern: "Hedera by Cookie A."
Yarn: KnitPicks Imagination in looking glass
needles: 2.0mm (us 0)
Started: Aug 11
Finished: Aug 25
I used 1.04skeins of yarn. Yep I ran out and had to go and beg another Ravelry user for more, since this yarn is unavailable at the moment. I loved the yarn and will order more once available. Its so soft. and OMG warm.

As far as what's on the needles right we have several things. But I'll save those for another post.

pst:all my pictures posted oddly to the right. and as its late I dont feel like fixing it. Maybe tomorrow, maybe they'll just be off center. time will tell.

Niddy Noddy

To go with my new wheel my FIL made me a niddy noddy. The ends are unfinished because he wanted to make sure that the pieces were the right size and shape. I think its wonderful and I'm totally excited about it. He is totally excited that I like it. Now he is working on making me a custom Lazy Kate.

I'm FO-mad!

Yes, that's right, I finished another project. Coachella this time, in black Lion Brand Microspun. Sadly, the pictures I tried to take of it suck. I'll get more. And while I'm at it, I'll sew on the buttons I bought for the Anne Elliot and take pictures of that, too.

By the way, I love both of these tops. I've already worn Anne Elliot three times (including yesterday), even without buttons. I just threaded ribbon through the buttonholes and some of the stitches on the other side of the buttonband, laced it up and tied a small bow at the bottom. I think I mentioned that in the last post, but I can't remember for sure. It looks good like that, and there's always a possibility that I'll prefer that look to the buttons...I'll take pictures of both. I made major modifications to the pattern, because it wouldn't even come close to fitting me as it was written. I didn't have too much trouble modifying it though. I wouldn't call it easy, because increasing and decreasing in lace is never easy, but I didn't have much trouble...except that I made a dumb mistake and got off on the lace pattern. I was too lazy to fix it, but that's okay. Since it's an allover lace pattern, even I don't notice the mistake unless I'm actively looking for it. I think Anne Elliot just might be the knitting project I'm most pleased with, over my, what, 6 years of knitting? High praise. It looks great with a tank top underneath. I've been wearing it over pink, but it also looks good with anything else that isn't too pale. By the way, my Anne Elliot is made from cream-colored Bernat Baby fingering-weight acrylic.

Coachella was really easy to follow. I believe I followed the pattern exactly, knowing that my gauge was slightly off and that the top would come out just slightly smaller than the pattern said, which is what I wanted. It fits me really well. I probably should've knit a little longer before the waist shaping, but it works okay as it is, it's just an inch or so higher than it really needed to be. My two complaints are that the neck/shoulders are a little wide (probably because I have narrow shoulders and forgot to compensate for that) and the armholes are HUGE. I can deal with the wide neckline. It makes the front of the top stick out farther than it should, but I'm going to tack the sides up a little to fix it. It's hard to explain, but it's kind of like a dart on the neckline. I've pinned it in place and it looks fine that way, so that's no problem. The armholes on the other hand...there's not really a fix for those. I only have one bra that I can wear with it without the back strap showing, and that's the low-back convertible bra I bought for my wedding. Even that one comes close: I have to tuck the strap down a little lower than normal so it doesn't peek out. But other than that, it's a great top, and the yarn works well with the pattern. It's smooth and kind of silky/slinky feeling. Cheap, too, which is always good. I want to make another Coachella (this one with smaller armholes) with some handspun silk I bought on Ebay a while back. It's mostly red, with orange and green and purple slubs in it...I think it would look great in this pattern. But I was dumb when I wound it into balls. I wound it double-stranded. It's not terribly thick yarn, probably dk, but double-stranded...well, it's a little bulkier than I want for a summer top like Coachella. So I'll have to go back and unwind it, then rewind single-stranded, then knit. And the knitting will take longer as well, since it's finer yarn. I might still do it though. I think it'd make an absolutely gorgeous top.

I still have to weave in the ends on Coachella, and I'm debating whether or not to crochet around the armholes. It would help with the hugeness, but not enough to really make a difference, since it'd just be one row of single crochet. I wouldn't want anything thicker than that as a border. The main benefit would be a smoother edge. But with the way the top's constructed, I don't know. I like the idea of crocheting around the front and shoulders and under the arm, but I think the racerback part looks good without a border. Unfortunately, it's all one big edge. So we'll see.

My current project is a knitted goomba (from Nintendo's Super Mario Bros.) for a friend's birthday. It's going to have a stress ball-like thing inside, so you can set him up somewhere and squish him down flat repeatedly. Once I finish Jacob's, I'm making one for my own desk at work. I also have to make Cigar gloves for my husband to wear while on the computer and a Legend of Zelda-themed scarf and mitt set.

Okay, gotta go, the husband's singing to me to get my attention. Pictures of all these projects will come later! I promise!

-Amie

Yes, Virginia, there is an FO

No pictures yet, but I finished the Anne Elliot Spencer I was making. I love it! I still have to find, buy and add buttons, but for now I've been wearing it with cream-colored ribbon laced through the buttonholes and button band. It looks okay that way. Once I find the perfect buttons (I'm looking for small, cream-colored pearls that don't cost an arm and a leg) I'll attach them and try to get pictures.

Yay FO!

-Amie

spinning wheel

So no big surprise to those who heard me talk about it. This made its way home with me today. Its a Country Craftsman spinning wheel. Which is a hand-crafted saxony wheel designed after historic wheels from the collection at the American Museum of Textile History in Massachusetts. Its a is a reproduction of a New England 1700's flax wheel, but also resembles a Canadian production wheel because of the large drive-wheel. I really love that the wheel is the work of one man. he fashioned the entire thing of native hardwoods. With his name stamped on the bottom of the wheel. Sadly its no longer in production. But some replacement parts are still available. I'll be placing an order for some of these very soon.

I'm so excited about it. And what a steal for only $75! It needs a little TLC and I need to do a great deal of learning. But I'm super excited and of course had to share. anyone wanna help me name her?

Cedar Dancing (because I cant think of a more intersting title)

Pattern: Cedar Dancing socks By Cat Bordhi (New Pathways for Sock Knitters: Book One)
Yarn: Knit Picks Felici color: coastal
needles: 2.0mm (us 0)
started: July 10
finished: July 22


My first Cat Bordhi pattern. I'm not totally impressed with this book, but have hopes for the series. I'm more interested in the designs that "start somewhere in between".

For this construction you start at the cuff and work down. The cuff itself was different for me too. I cast on twice the number of stitches I needed using Judy's magic cast on (common cast on for toe up socks). Knit 3 rounds then folded it in half and knit the two sides together. Ending with the correct number of stitches for the sock. You then knit down the leg then do a series of increases for what we know as the traditional gusset. Then you do some short rows and turn the heel. What we know as the traditional heel flap is worked across the bottom. Then you incorporate stitches from the "gusset" until you are back to working in the round. Finished with a star toe. Not sure I'm sold on the design. But it is interesting, and does fit. I fear for the heel. This one is called "master reinforced" but when I Incorporated the stitches it looks really weak. You do ssk's and p2tog. And it just looks weak to me. Maybe if I did it tighter or tbl it would help.

I got pretty close to matching up the stripes. They are only a row or two off. Which is really surprising since I re knit the toes half a dozen times. Having to re-attach yarn several times. I finished the first sock and took it to "group" and got several "you should make it at least 1/2 inch longer". So when I knit the second I took the advice and knit it longer. Must be the design. Because when held up to other socks I've knit these are super long. But fit fine. Where the others look short compares to this one but also fit perfectly.

voting time!

Ok guys I'm in desperate need to cast on something new. I have the blue and black mittens that are getting very little love these days. And my Cat Borhdi socks that are almost finished (I'm most likely going to go back and add 1/2 inch to the first one but lets not talk about that right now). So do I cast on another lace project or a sweater?

dishcloth distraction

So this is what my dishcloth drawer looked like before I got on the dishcloth kick. Now these aren't the only ones I've ever made. I gift them a lot. These are just the ones that I've kept. As you can see they are well used. We use them daily. We love them. Some are stained and all are faded. but really they are in pretty good shape considering.



These are the ones I've made recently. Minus the 8 I mailed to my cousin last week. There are 14 in that first picture (and I actually just noticed that the center one in that picture should be in the second picture. its new but used already). There are 12 in the second picture. So in the past couple weeks I've made 21 dishcloths.

6 mitre square
6 gma's fav
6 ball band
2 basket weave
1 garterlac

This is a lot for someone who doesn't like knitting with cotton. But they are nice quick projects. And like I said I gift them. Very few of these new ones I've made will stay here. They will most likely all find new homes. My aunt and cousin love them. In addition to the 8 I recently mailed them. They both have pretty hefty drawers full as well. I think out of all the dishcloths I've made the garter stitches one do best. And these are nice patterns that take pretty much zero concentration. Which is what I was looking for. A distraction.

July Stash Socks

Finished my July Stash socks!



Pattern: Simplicity by Janel Laidman
Yarn: Fleece Artist Merino Sock 2/6 color: vintage
needles: 2.0mm (us 0)
started: July 5
finished: July 9

Busy busy

Wow, so I never get to post anymore, even though I have Internet access at home now. I never have time to knit! I get half a row here, a few stitches there and that's about it.

I honestly can't think of anything interesting I've been working on. I still need to finish up Jess's stole and send it to her. Long sad story there. It was almost finished, and then...it snagged on something in my bag...two feet from the needles...I couldn't fix it. I had to rip back. So poor Jess didn't get her stole in time for my wedding, and she still doesn't have it yet. I promise you will, Jess.

And for the record, the matching stole she knit for me is BEAUTIFUL. As is the Swan Lake she just posted. I'm in awe over that one. I'm buying her leftovers so I can knit an identical one. Yeah, I know, here I am saying that I don't have time to knit and turning around and buying more project stuff. But I can't help myself. I have to knit it. As soon as I finish some other things.

Let's see, what else...I started a pair of Bayerische to work on here and there. It's going slowly. I've done, oh, I think 31 or 32 rows since I started. I'm about halfway done with the leg of one sock. It's been about a month. It's looking great, but I'm never going to finish.

Sadly, I still have no pictures of anything because we still don't have a digital camera. I have my web cam, but it's never even close to accurate on color and it's not very detailed. I'll post some pictures when I can get good ones. I'm not sure what I'll post pictures of, but I'll think of something. I've got a lot of projects planned, a lot of projects laying around half-finished.

Oh, upcoming projects, just so I have a list somewhere:
Cigar gloves for Luke
Swan Lake for me

Of course, now my mind goes blank. I'll add to the list when I remember more.

-Amie

MS3 DONE!

So its finally finished. The knitting was actually finished several days ago. I just had to finally get around to blocking her. Looking back on the project I'm proud. I'm proud that I finished it. There was more than one occassion when I wanted to quit. The first clue was the hardest for me. And took so much concentrations. I think this project made me grow as a knitter. I learned a lot, while still having fun. Now on to the pictures!
First a bath:

And here we are all pinned out. blocking with the aid of Carly's blocking wires. Thank you so much Carly. We started out attempting to block this without wires and wow! So glad I have knitting friends to bum tools off of.

Now to just let the pictures speak for themself.









Pattern: "Swan Lake / Mystery Stole 3 by Melanie Gibbons"
Yarn: Knit Picks Bare - Merino Wool Lace Weight. I used one (880yards 100g) with 16.3g leftover.
needles:3.25mm (us 3)
started: sometime in Dec. After Justin got home from deployment. Not sure what day.
finished July 5

socks for Amie

Ok so these socks are my June socks. I generally wanted to not count socks unless I cast on and off during the month. But with life and other projects and what not these are the only socks that will get finished in June.


Pattern: Feather & Fan Socks by Judy Sumner
Yarn: Fleece Artist Merino Sock 2/6 color: pinata
needles:2.0mm (us 0)
started: May 29
finished June 17

hopefully no more cheating on the stash sock front. sorry Amie I still haven't put these in the mail. I have them all packaged up so its just making it to the post office now. hehe.

The mittens have gotten little else done on them since the last post. I picked them up this morning but I'm not feeling like colorwork today. I did finally go get printer ink. But haven't printed off the next clue for MS3 yet. I have moved the laptop downstairs and the printer is upstairs and not even plugged in right now. So motivation to hook everything back up is what's holding me up. Hopefully soon. I did 2 test knits since the last time I blogged. When patterns are releases I'll share details on those. Both projects are socks. I also got bored of knitting my current projects and knit like 6 dishcloths. I dont put those on ravelry or blog or picture them since they take me like 30 minutes or less to knit.

Its warmed up a bunch and we are trying to not turn the air on... and when you are this hot working with wool of any weight seems less exciting. But as I'm an addict I doubt this will hold me up long.

Mitten love

So I pulled out an old project that I had actually forgotten about. When I pulled it out the other day other than the corrugated ribbing only a few rows had been worked.
I tossed it aside in favor of a faster project at the time (it was for a swap). When going thru the knitting bags/baskets/boxes/etc the other day. I found the neglected mitten. I'm awaiting a package in the mail (a test knit. more details later) and didn't want to start anything new. I still haven't managed to remember to pick up printer ink. So this mitten was the perfect distraction until the mail arrived.
I finished the mitten today. Tho its not blocked yet and needs a mate. But I couldn't help but want to share these pictures with you. First off the inside. The floats. Because we all know seeing the inside is just as much fun as the outside (sometimes more if its neat enough).


and the mitten. In all its glory (pictures fuzzy but we are to lazy to try to get another one since we didn't realize it was fuzzy until already up on flickr and ravelry).


Pattern:Knitting Marvelous Mittens by Charlene Schurch #20
Yarn: knitpicks palette in blue and brownsheep wildefoote in black
needles: size 2.0mm


I can't wait to get this pair finished and blocked. I'm already picking out other color combinations and patterns. There is going to be more mitten knitting going on in my future.

May Stash Socks

Pattern: k3p1 ribbing, slip st heel flap, with a wedge toe
Yarn: YarnPirate Merino sock color: rebel
needles:2.0mm (us 0)
started: May 12
finished May 19
notes: really liked the yarn. very squishy and soft. we found several knots when winding it. each sock had its own knot, and if memory serves there is at least 1 more in what's leftover. Speaking of leftovers I had 30.4g leftover.

This yarn started out as Feather Fan Socks. But they were to small. I was lazy and didn't want to upsize the pattern. dont even get me started on how changing to bigger needles isn't a good way to upsize a pattern.


I think the yarn knit up prettier in the ff pattern. But I dont totally dislike the fo.

(playing with picture sizing. If I adjust the width to make it fit properly on here it gets blurry. when i dont adjust it its off center.)

So Soft.... sock washing

I love when yarn gets softer when you wash it. For those curious Fearless Fibers gets TONS softer when you wash it. They are so dreamy feeling.

Austermann Step also gets slightly softer with a wash.

Smooshy doesn't change at all.

Sock Contest

"Melissa" is hosting a sock contest on her blog. All she ask is that you send her an email with the pictures of the socks you've knit since last July.

Turns out I've knit 15 pair of socks in the last year.

always knitting

Finished Justin's socks. Not 100% thrilled with them. But they fit perfectly and he really likes them. I absolutely love LOVE the yarn (but not the way the colors worked on this one).


Pattern: Justin's basic sock pattern
Yarn: Fleece Artist Merino Sock 2/6
color: SeaStorm
Needles: 2.0mm
Start: April 16
Finish: May 7


Finished clue 4 on the lace the other day. Will have to wait a bit before starting clue 5 (out of ink in my printer and its definately a pattern I need printed out. Can't see myself working off the computer for this one).



(I hate how the pictures are fuzzy. On ravelry and flickr they dont look fuzzy. and when we take them they are much better looking. so I'm not sure if its something I'm doing wrong when I post them here? anyone?)

project update

Pretty close to throwing in the towel on Justin's current sock in progress. Frogged back twice and still running into the flashing issue. I'm gonna go with third times a charm theory. But if that fails the sock will go away and I'll just pull out new yarn. I will say that so far the yarn is holding up really well, even with all the ripping back.

As far as MS3 is going. I finished clue 3 last night. I need to print the next section. Clue 4 is twice as big as the previous couple clues (it was a double weeker clue) so it might take me a bit longer. I really like how this lace it knitting up. I can't wait to block it. The blocker magic. Hopefully I'll remember to take lots of pictures of this one.

some wip

Ran into some issues with "Justin's 4th pair". after doing the 31 gusset decreases the yarn started to flash. This picture is with the needles removed just before I frogged back to the last decrease.
(this picture isn't great. The flash makes the yarn look all odd.)
My plan is to do another decrease or two and see if that fixes it. He will have to then try the sock on and check that it isn't to tight. I'm pretty sure going down just 2 stitches isn't going to make that much of a difference. I think I'll need to change at least 4 if not more than that to see much of a difference. But Justin is afraid going down 4 will make it to tight. He says right now it is the perfect fit. But I dont want to finish with it flashing like that. When I first started the socks I had to find the perfect combo of number of stitches and needle size to prevent it. Then I feared it would show up in the gusset or heel flap. When it did neither I totally didn't expect it to when I got back down to my original cast on number. But with half the sock know stockinette instead of all ribbing there is flashing. blah...

Since the issue with his sock happened while he was at work. I put it asside and was able to pick MS3 back up. Yes I still refer to it as MS3 instead of "Swan Lake".

This is it after finishing clue 2 and a couple rows of clue 3. (Figured it was time for a nice blog update.) I totally love knitting lace now. I finished Amie's Wedding lace (sorry no pictures. still working on that. was dumb and didn't take one.) I was really itching for more lace down in GA. So it was a real treat to get back to some when I got home. I decided instead of starting something new I'd finish MS3. It has been on hold for like 3 months. Clue 1 tried as hard as it could to kick my butt. And almost did. I was ready to give up on lace. Then I knit the wedding lace and loved it. I'm glad I picked MS3 back up. Clue 2 went extremely fast. I started it yesterday and finished up today. With very little knitting time actually available. I printed off clue 3 tonight.

I dont think I'll have a hard time finishing my goal of 3 lace projects this year. Its addicting. As is most knitting. When I was working on Rogue all I could think about was doing more sweaters. Working on socks makes me want to knit more socks, and now working on lace makes me want to knit more lace. Knitting is just enjoyable. Safe to say I'm more than a little addicted to knitting.

finished april socks

all done!

April Socks

So I'm keeping up so far. But I'm glad that I didn't make the 2 socks a month goal. I love knitting socks but I'm really aching to get something else on my needles. SSS seems to be creeping up with each pair I knit.


Pattern: Embossed Leaves by Mona Schmidt
Yarn: The Knittery 4ply Sock: Merino Cashmere (OLD)
color: Lakeside Flora
Needles: 2.25mm
Start: April 7
Finish: Not yet this is only sock 1

This yarn is thicker than what I'm use to. which makes knitting with it seem odd to me. But its super soft. Justin loves how the "stripes" spiral around. I'm not as fond of that. But its not horrible I guess. These colors knit up totally make me think of the Grinch.

sweetheart socks (my march stash socks)

pattern:Sweetheart Socks by Chrissy Gardiner (interweave knit holiday 07)
needles:2.0mm (us size 0)
yarn: Fearless Fibers Superwash Merino Wool Sock Yarn
color: infatuation
start: March 6
finish: March 30
notes: changed the cables on the back of the leg. the pattern shows up much better in person than in the picture. its not as lost in real life as it appears. Was able to memorize the chart which made things easier.
Now lets talk about the yarn. When winding this yarn into a ball I ran into some unhappiness. Lots of knots. We stopped counting after 7 I think. And there were more than that. The two socks from the same ball (550 yard ball to start with) are different. which i know is the case with lots of handpainted. One sock is darker than the other. the yarn itself has it issues other than just the knots. It goes from thick to think speratically. Which was a little annoying. Not sure how the yarn will hold up to washing as I've not washed or blocked these (I normally wear them first then do that, when they are for me. and these are). I dont want to say the yarn is complete crap because its an awesome price for the yardage and the colors are amazing. Will give another review after I've worn and washed them a few times. But those are the issues so far. It is soft yarn, but did start to get a little fuzzy just from knitting with it (just trying to make sure I mention everything). I got both pair of socks for my us size 8.5 foot out of the 1 skein with 33.7g leftover.

socks took me longer. Being in GA really changed the amount of knitting time available to me. I have a lot less here believe it or not. Plus we are spending weekends at my cousins house and so busy down there no knitting time at all. Started to get worried that I'd never finish these, but here they are.

Justin's #3

Because I couldn't resist the urge to cast on another pair of socks. Justin now has 3 pair.



Yarn:Austermann Step
Needles: 2.0mm (us 0)
Pattern:His Basic k3p1 rib. We did a longer heel flap this time that he thinks fits better than his last pair. But we think we need to do a couple more rows next time. Will test it out and see. This pair like the last has a round toe.
Start Date: Feb 27
Finish Date: Mar 4


The lace is coming along nicely. I've finished the little flower section and just have to do the repeat of the LoV chart. Then the edge chart (which right now I dont have). I'll do my best to post another picture once this chart is finished.

changes and a wip

Some changes are being made here at PixieRose Knits. Before both Amie and myself would sign in as pixierose to make post. This got a little confusing for some people (example when my local knit group asked me about teaching knitting when that was Amie). So now we are posting as separate identities. It also got a little confusing when I'd comment on other blogs. I've commented as PixieRose, Gayle_Rose, JessicaRose, etc. Now I'll post as JessicaRose. The goal is also to post more. I think I can easily accomplish this. Amie has a lot on her plate right now. Her wedding is coming up and work and what not. But hopefully she'll start posting more too because she is an amazing knitter and needs to show her stuff off more. That and come on, she created our blog. As of right now she hasn't created her "identity" but I'm sure she will soon.

So this is my first post on here as JessicaRose. And for my first post I'll show off progress on the wedding lace.

some FO's enjoy

Seriously need to update more. Will try to work on that. I have plenty to show. I finished Rogue. I've knit 4 pair of socks (can only show off 3 as one pair was a test knit and the patterns not released yet. Will show them off as soon as I can tho because I love them). so lets get to those pictures.

Rogue

Pattern: "Rogue" by Jenna Wilson
Yarn: Patons Classic Merino in Dark Natural Mix (a little over 5 skeins)
Needles: 4.5mm
Started: Aug 25, 2007 (official cast on)
Finished: Feb 19, 2008 (officially got everything woven in and sewn together)
notes: I learned a lot with this pattern. I could have gotten it done a lot faster if I hadn't kept hiding it behind my couch. I hide it for various reasons. Either I was struggling a little or just didnt' have time to work on it. Its a good pattern. I might knit it again someday.

Justin's Second pair of socks

Pattern: Basic k3p1 rib with a slip stitch heel flap and a round toe
Yarn: Koigu in p312
Needles: 2.0mm
Started: Jan 2
Finished Jan 8
notes: Had a little trouble finding a toe. But Justin loves this round toe and has requested it again on his next pair.

Ugliest socks EVER

Pattern: another k3p1 rib witha short row heel and standard wedge toe
Yarn: Skacel Collection, Inc. Trampoline
Needles: 2.0mm
Started: Feb 12
finished Feb 17
notes: these were my feb stash socks. The yarn had been in stash for several years. I got it when I was first learning socks and dont recommend stretchy yarn when learning. I figured it was right with the stash club to get it out of my stash. I picked the yarn when pregnant and wow its UGLY knit up.

Lenore

Pattern: "Lenore" by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (ravelry link)
Yarn: DiC smooshy in Gothic Rose
Needles: 2.0mm
Started: Feb 17
Finished Feb 22
notes: The yarn is so soft and squishy. Had about 32g leftover. The pattern is well written and knit up fast.


Now I'm working on Amie's wedding lace. Sorry no current pictures, but will try to get one soon.

~Jessica Rose

2008 Goals

So I'm not usually big about setting goals for myself. Especially knit related ones. But this year I've decided that there are things I want to do and if I say them aloud they are more likely to happen.

first up is the "socks from stash" group I joined. Its a kal blog. One pair of socks a month from stash yarn. So first goal is at least 12 pair of socks. Most likely I'll knit more than 12. I started to set my goal at 2 pair a month. But there are other things I want to knit and I dont want to get stressed out with my goals. So at least one pair even tho more are possible and likely.

Next up is lace. I did successfully fix the mistake in the lace I'm working on. But because lace takes a lot more concentration and is impossible to knit around Nathan my lace goal is not very high. I want to complete 3 lace shawl/stoles this year. Big (or well decent sized) ones. One will be the one currently on needles. Another will be Amie's wedding lace. The third I've not picked yet but I have plenty of stashed lace yarn and ideas. I might as for help on deciding this later. This goal may even be small by my standards but since I've yet to actually complete a lace project I dont want to set my goal so high that I'm destined to fail. So 3 it is.

I MUST complete Rogue this year. I have half a hood and 2 sleeves to knit. So this is possible. I've just lost my rogue mojo. I've had this pattern for like 2 years and the yarn for forever. I must have this sweater off my needles and in wearable form.

There are other goals I have in mind but these are the main ones for right now. Might not sound like much. But I have big plans for knitting in 08. This is just the beginning.

~Jessica

scary lace

So I started knitting some lace a few nights ago. Not exactly easy to do with Nathan, so I was hoping since Justin was home I'd be able to manage it. Well last night I was knitting along and they both asked me like a dozen questions. and well yes you guessed it there is a mistake in the knitting. I can't find it. I'm annoyed and disappointed. I want to take the lace and throw it out a window (not literally). I'm pretty sure all I need to do is tink back 2 rows and I'll be fine. But with how annoyed I am there is no way I can tink back 160 stitches.

This was suppose to be my practice lace before starting Amie's wedding lace. Which I really really need to start because I'm horrible nervous about finishing it on time. Since this is a deadline I can't move around.

Other than I'm a stitch short the lace itself looks really good. I was pretty proud of myself. I kept stretching it out and trying to show Justin. I don't know if he truly appreciated what I was showing him. But he humored me for the most part.

~Jessica