Sole socks

My attempt at something new, which stretched into almost a year!  Sock number one finished end of August 2014.  

This is supposed to be a "removable" sole sock, to accommodate wear and tear and replacement of the sole without having to re-do the pattern.  Makes sense! And at first the pattern didn't make sense.  As in life, the second time around is always easier, or at least things are expected.  And this is no exception.  In May I picked up the yarn for sock number two, and was finished in no time!  

Pros:  I love the pattern, and they are super warm (especially now that it's 30ºC) and I appreciate that there's one layer of yarn on the sole.

Cons: I hope I can locate the heel pattern when I need to replace it.  My socks wear out only on the heel bottom.

It needs a good blocking to straighten out the pink edge stitches, but I'm planning on wearing and washing instead of blocking.  I'm a bit lazy like that.

To see the process click on THIS PREVIOUS BLOG POST.

Can't wait for the model

After many attempts at getting the sizing correct, I'm finally finished with this tunic.  Hopefully in size 6 for a 6 year old.  Replaced the tractors with a row of hearts.  Unblocked.  Since I have to be home to supervise bad cats while blocking, I'll wait until next week when I'll have more home time available.

Meanwhile, one concert down and second one in a few days.  They sure are fun when they are over!!

The Pattern:  Gråtass is the name of the little tractor.  The little tractor I didn't use...

21506 Tunika

by Kari Haugen

from Dale of Norway / Dalegarn #215, Gråtass

The Yarn:

DK Merino Superwash

by Plymouth Yarn

DK / 8 ply

100% Merino

130 yards / 50 grams

Sock Crazies

Once upon a time, there was a sock pattern.

Maybe there were two or three, or dozens, but the construction of the sock was either toe-up or cuff-down.  Then there were holes.  Nasty feet wearing holes in the soles.  And then someone came up with an idea.  Why not knit the sock so the sole can be removed and replaced!  Yay!!  Excellent!!

I found the perfect project for a week of knitting with knitters.  Advice and encouragement, and a new technique.  Then I started:

Above:  This pattern I downloaded and it left me scratching my head.  Until I found the same pattern instructions in a book, with the design below.  It had a sentence or two extra which cleared my head-scratching, and I was on my way.  When wait!  Look at that lovely design above:  Two S's.  I thought it rather ugly, and when I looked at the photograph again, it was, indeed NOT two S's, but one S and one backwards S.  The CHART was wrong.  (I blindly followed the chart.) I couldn't stand it anymore, and even though I had knitters around me saying, "But it's so pretty!" I ripped it out, and started with the pattern in the book.

The technique?  First you knit the pink band around the foot, then you fill in the insole design. 

 Next you knit in the sole, and heel and then you start the circular part around the leg.

Not as complicated as it sounds.

I like!  I like the pattern better than the first, and I really appreciated the directions being complete.

One done.  NO rush for the second...:)

Half-Stranded Socks  by Anna Zilboorg  from Sock Knitting Master Class: Innovative Techniques & Patterns

Lament:  I'm happy with the sock, though I have yet to see a description of removing the sole to replace it.  Anyone?  Help!!

Got Gauge?

The Story of Two Mittens:

1. One mitten (on the left above), knitted, so cool! With thumb, fit perfectly... very proud.  Needed a second, but...
2. The second was knit within days of the first, yet it was bigger/wider.  Too wide. 
3. Put together, they weren't a pair, nor did I like the way the black showed through between the white stitches.  (See below)
4.  All decorated with duplicate stitch pink, they are sweet, but you'd have to have (really) big hands, especially the left hand...Now the left one above is the right one below.
5. There was teeth-gnashing, and an hour later I had (un)raveled the bigger one, on the left below.
6. I wanted to make sure the third mitten wasn't too big, so I decreased my needle size (2.5mm to 2.0mm) AND I was firmer with my yarn tension.  
7. Third one is on the right in the above picture.  But what about that wide cuff, you say?  Got me... I didn't (un)ravel the cuff from the white stripe. (Boring!!!  Who sees the cuff anyway?)
8. What I didn't expect was the length to be so diminished, so I'm 3/4 done.  Fourth Mitten is in my mind.  Dang!! I hope I can get two alike...

For Those Grandmas

I want to direct you to a blog post.  Alas, in Norwegian, but a brief translation would be:  "What to knit for your "teddy bear" grandson, when he's no longer a little kid."

Hope you enjoy! Here, or for more click in the sidebar under Muffins Verden.

Mitten Disaster Averted

I wish that was true, but since the first mittens WERE a disaster, I felt compelled to redeem myself.
"What are your favorite colors, Juju?"
"Purple"  "Pink"  "Purple, pink"
"How about these?  Do you like these colors?"
"Yes, sure."
(She says "sure" a lot, in place of yes... and we found ourselves using "sure" ALL the time.  Let that be a lesson!)
So I found this cute animal... Totoro... that none of us are familiar with, but it makes a cute animal... and then I added a certain name on the cuff, instead of repeating Totoro (which is on the back side).  And a cruise later...

The hot pink makes the purple turn blue, but really, they are 3-year-old pleasers!  Off to Norway!  

Can Cozy!

After everyone was stressed out by cables, there was a request to have a go at color work.  I put together a little project to use two colors at a time.  For some, it was a snap!  Others found they weren't THAT interested, and that's ok!
A couple of comments about stranded (two-color knitting):

• We used 100% wool, so if the 36 stitches weren't quite right for your container (can or bottle), try swishing it around in hot water, and letting it dry on the container for a perfect fit.
• I forgot to mention that I learned the hard way to keep track of which hand is holding which color.  For example, if you hold the red in your right hand, and the blue in your left, keep it that way.  I found that by switching part way through a project, there was a noticeable difference. (I have to write it down... I'll old.)

Of course, your can or bottle won't be offended!

We also learned a new cast-on:  Estonian Double Cast On, by Nancy Bush.  You can find it on youtube.  And I finished mine off doing the Estonian Double Bind Off... They almost match.  Here's where I found those instructions:  Cindy's Sock Knitting

Stocking stuffers, anyone?

Turkish socks

Can you see me kicking up my heels?  (Reference to a Turkish dance.)  Yes, it's getting too warm to wear wool socks, but I had a bout of startitis a few weeks ago, and when it involves using some left over yarn, I put aside several other things to finish these.  

When will I learn?  I'm usually happier with socks that match as identical twins, rather than fraternal, so maybe next time I'll try to fix that.

The red on the left gradually turned to a rust and back again.  It shows up in the foot, then the third large band, the top braid and heel, in that order.  When it repeated itself for the right foot... I should have yanked out a bunch of it to get it back to red,... but I didn't...  By the time I got to the final heel, it still wasn't red again.

Maybe I'll make another fraternal pair!  Fat chance at identical... two other yarns have long striping repeats (blue and yellow) and it would be my luck to run out of something, completely.

After much head scratching over the directions for making a snazzy tassel to hang from the upper edge, I scratched it.  I mean, REALLY!  Does it need more?

Turkish Socks by Anna Zilboorg from Knitting Traditions, Winter 2010

Yarns:  Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine, Regia Design Line Hand-Dyed Effect by Kaffe Fassett, Regia Lace (doubled), Zwerger Garn Opal Hundertwasser Cotton, Lanett by Sandnesgarn.  

The Final Seam

After six months of thoughts, starts and frogs, seams and colors, I'm finished.
Here's some of the process:

A little cut out for the back of the neck, a little more to shape the front neck, a cut down the front for a button opening.  Front button/buttonhole tabs knit, collar stitches picked up and knitted.  Look what you can cover with all that knitting!

Neatens it up nicely!  (Norwegian instructions from the '90's.)

The inside shot:  Pay attention here, because I'm going to ask for comments later.
Then there's the sleeves.

I don't know why most knitters are afraid of cutting their knitting...  Oh, yeah, you can make a mistake, like cut too much... I did.  I slit the sleeve opening too far down.  I tried to just sew it up, but it looked all bunched up, so I ended up sewing a whole faux seam all the way down on that side.  Not perfect, but no one would notice unless it was being judged.  (I hope it's acceptable to the day care workers who are expecting great things of Juju's American Grandma!)

And the finished product:

And now for the comments.

Go ahead, and click on the above to enlarge.  Comments and thoughts are welcome on WHY, I ask, WHY is the coloring different in the band of pattern at the bottom of the button tab?  Do you see it?  The yarn is the same lot, and I can only imagine that I did something when stranding the two colors, but I can't see it.  Who thinks they know what I did?
Next week:  Modeled.  Drum roll, please... will it fit?

After the Knitting

There's more to life than knitting... No, I'm just kidding!  After the knitting, is the thinking about knitting.
Just kidding, again!  I think about knitting when I'm knitting, and when I'm not knitting.  OK, I'm obsessive... I'm the first and not the last to be aware of my condition.  So, when I spent from mid August to mid November knitting sporadically on a fair isle project, all the time I was imagining a certain two year old growing out of it.  Then I threw it in a basket and started a new fair isle.  The "knitting" part is finished, and what's left?  Sewing, cutting, blocking, weaving in ends, and ... the thinking about it.
I followed a pattern that was for a pullover with a tab neck opening, and I was only considering a true (crew neck) pullover or a cardigan.  Just didn't decide until two days ago that I indeed was going to follow the instructions and make the tab opening.  It's going to be great!  At the last check of measurements of said two year old, now two and a half, it will fit if I can get it to her in the next 2 months, or by her third birthday.
Here's some of the progress:

Circular bodice, before cutting.  The needles in the center mark the front opening.

Pieces blocked, the bodice has been cut open for sleeves, neck line shaped and

when it's totally dry, ready for construction.
More thinking, and luck is in order!

Curling up

Yes, I have plenty of other interesting projects to choose from.  Here's one that I have to keep slapping myself to stop!  This is the one project that I really have no need to finish before February, yet... I love it!  I love watching it evolve...

It's the body of a pullover with 3 button tab neck opening in size 36 months.  (Steeked... or maybe not technically steeked, because I plan on knitting in pattern all the way to the shoulders.  By cutting it open part-way for the neck opening, without steek stitches, does that constitute 'steeks'?)
This morning I read from Mimi that she's unhappy with "Edges that keep curling up".  
Go ahead... read what she says...
I'll wait.  (I'll be knitting...)

It struck me that this rolling happens all the time, doesn't it?  Here's what I mean:

Taken before ruler and crochet hook.  My best guess is that there's a lot of yarn on the backside.  The ribbing isn't going to stop the fair isle part from curling up.  Anyway, I thought I'd give a shout out to Mimi who, indeed, makes pretty things!
See why I'd rather knit this than those Bee Socks?

To do Tuesday...

The pressure is on... suddenly, I'm in startitis mode, thinking of gifts, Christmas, little people growing out of sizes I've started...  you know that sinking feeling when you realize that you haven't picked up a project intended for that 2 year old, and realize that she's almost 3...
My hub is traveling East in less than a week, leaving home in three days, and I really would like to send two UFO's with him.
One:  A new bonnet, requested by a niece for her little one.  It's quite easy to do requests when someone knows exactly what they want, and the colors, and is willing to pay for it, too!  And family, of course.  So, I wouldn't take money for it.  It will be a gift.

Needs an inch of pink ribbing at the bottom, and a row of pink crochet around the face opening.

Two:  A little pullover for another niece's little one.  Back is finished, needs the rest... hmm. Two days?

Very cute ribbing pattern at the top and bottom, done in cotton.

Three:  Not really a deadline, but the child is growing!  Intended to be a pullover, I think I'll cut it open and make it into a cardigan so I can add a bit of width with button bands.

Hearts and Flowers - better be done by the end of the month so it will be delivered before Christmas.

Four and Five:  My knitting class that I'm teaching ends in one week.  Here are the projects, which won't be finished by then...

Cabled scarf, intended for my ambitious beginners, and short row heel sock for my ambitious intermediate knitters.

See you next week!!  HA!!

Mitten Picture

The third time knitted mitten is a fast knit.   :)  
Fewer stitches!  And I have changed up the colors and am finally happy with what I see.
Mitten on the left is the newest edition.  Mitten on the right is too narrow in the cuff and too wide in the hand (therefore, frogged).
Cupcakes, in my dreams!

Spoiler Alert!

If you are thinking of entering my contests, you might want to think about the following information:
My mittens are not alike.  And for the contest, I intend to have a matching pair.

On the left, I REALLY wanted to use my garnstudio Alpaca.  It's lovely soft.  Then I got this far and was disappointed in the definition of the cupcakes.  Assuming that it's because the "garn" is fuzzy, I decided to try a second mitten with the lovely Valley Yarns Superwash DK.  Although the second one isn't "miles" better than the first, I'm going to continue with it.  The color is lighter, and it has a crisper look to it.  We agreed that if you told someone they are cupcakes, it would be obvious, but otherwise, they are colorful.

 Detail of the rejected mitten:  The bottom (first row of cherries) was knitted with a fluffy, eyelash type of red, and it stuck through the whole row as I carried it behind the other stitches.  It was surprising!  I never thought of that.  I thought it would be perfect for the splash of cherry, but, alas.

I have 12 more days to finish my projects, YOU have 3 more days to enter my contests!
NOTE: The deadline to enter has been extended to Sunday at midnight (MST or GMT+7).

Crazy Hat for Toddler

A couple of things motivate me:
#1, a request from my daughter
#2, my stash
#3, a pattern that I ogle over for years
With that combination, one evening last week, I gathered my thoughts, and my materials (during TV ads - oh, I probably missed a few minutes of whatever I was 'watching') and came up with a fun hat for my toddler.

Pattern: Multicolored Merry-go-round - Hat by Juliette Liétar;  Yarn: Valley Superwash DK by Valley Yarns DK / 8 ply 100% Merino 137 yards, used DOUBLED for main color.  Contrasting colors are "various". Size US 8 needles.

It's very stretchy, so much that I was able to put it on.  If it's too sloppy for my toddler, I'll add ear flaps and ties.  I knitted the figures on straight needles and continued the upper part on circular. I hope hope hope it will be accepted (by the toddler).
NOTE:  This project has not interfered with the contest... unless earflaps become a necessity.