Archive for December, 2007

December 31st 2007

Yarn and Socks

For Christmas, I was the lucky recipient of three skeins of Socks that Rock Lightweight, including two of the Ravens.  Jim described his color choices as two he liked, and one he thought was hideous – so of course I’d like it.  If the man had his way, I’d only knit with black yarn (and maybe some charcoal gray).

First up is Grawk, one of the Ravens.  It’s a bit of purple and olive-y green mixed with the black (or, as described by Blue Moon – raspberries and pond scum drowned in black).

Next up is Corvid, another Raven.  It is shades of purple and greenish-blue mixed with the black.

Finally is Sun Stone.  This is one of the shaded solids, and I’m really excited about it.  Jim was right, I love the color.

Of the three, I think that the Corvid is my favorite. Not sure what any of them will become, so they’re all headed into the big sock yarn stash bag for now.  Jim purchased sock yarn for me for all of my major gift events this year, my birthday, our anniversary (which featured 5 unblogged skeins of Socks that Rock), and Christmas.  If he keeps this up in future years, I may never need to purchase sock yarn again!

With the holiday schedule, I have been knitting much faster than I’ve been posting.  I cast-on and finished a Sunflower Tam from Knitting Nature without posting about it, but I’ll give it it’s own finished project post soon.  My current project is the Embossed Leaves Socks.  I’m using the Interweave Knits Winter 2005 issue, but it’s also available in the Favorite Socks book.  I’ve been using the Knit Picks Risata in Cocoa that Jim got me for my birthday.  I flew through the first sock and have started on the second.  The only major modification that I made was that I used a slip-stitch pattern on the heel.  I kept the garter-stitch border, I just didn’t like the plain stockinette heel flap.  I’m not sure if I’ll finish these before heading back to work, but I’m going to try.

December 25th 2007

Go with the Flow

After finishing the Phyllo Yoked pullover, I decided to do a little holiday knitting.  My mom had asked for a sweater, but didn’t give me her measurements until two weeks before Christmas.  I knew that there was no way I would be able to knit it for her in time – plus I didn’t have the right yarn.  So, I decided to knit her a pair of socks instead.

After looking through my sock stash, I settled on the Pink Granite colorway of the Socks that Rock Mediumweight that I had in the stash.  While browsing for patterns, I saw a note on Ravelry that the Go with the Flow socks were a quick knit.  Knowing that I had two weeks to knit the socks, I decided to give the pattern a try.  The person posting that comment was right.  These were a very quick knit.

Pattern: Go With the Flow Socks
Designer: Evelyn A. Clark
Source: Interweave Knits, Summer 2005
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock Mediumweight (380 yards / 155g)
Quantity: 1 skein (380 yards)
Color: Pink Granite
Needles: Knitpicks 32″ US0

Started: December 12, 2007
Completed: December 19, 2007

Pattern modifications:

  • I knit an Eye of Partridge heel flap on the sock instead of the pattern heel flap.
  • This wasn’t knit exactly to the specified gauge, but it still fits fine.

Pattern notes:

  • This is the fastest pair of socks that I’ve ever knit.  Eight days from start to finish – I still can’t believe that I finished them so quickly.
  • The pattern is easy to knit, but looks much more complex.
  • I like the combination of lace and ribbing.  The lace provides a nice detail, while the ribbing provides an allowance for sizing and fit.
December 24th 2007

Mad Finish

I finished the Mad Color Weave socks.  I really like the length of the leg of this sock, which is a little bit longer than I usually knit.

Pattern: Mad Color Weave
Source: Knit Tenacity
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock Lightweight (360 yards / 122g)
Quantity: 1 skeins (360 yards)
Color: In the Navy
Needles: KnitPicks 32″ US0

Started: October 29, 2007
Completed: December 10, 2007

Pattern modifications:

  • I knit 9 repeats of the pattern on the leg.
  • I continued decreasing the toe until I had 8 stitches remaining because my sock ended up a tiny bit short.
December 10th 2007

Finished Phyllo

The Phyllo-Yoked Pullover made it’s debut at the KTog Holiday party last Friday, but I never got a good photo of it there.

I love this sweater.  It is very comfortable to wear, and the yarn is smooshy and soft.  I wasn’t sure about the sleeves before I started, but the bell sleeves are one of my favorite things about the sweater now that it’s finished.

Pattern: Phyllo Yoked Pullover
Source: Knitting Nature by Norah Gaughan
Yarn: Baruffa Merinos Sei (135 yards / 50g)
Quantity: 11 skeins (~1485 yards)
Color: Olive Green
Needles: Denise US5

Started: November 01, 2007
Completed: December 04, 2007

Pattern modifications:

  • I shortened the sweater and the sleeves by an inch.  I still wish the sweater was a tiny bit shorter.
  • I knit a different edging on the sleeves and body because I did not want a rolled stockinette edge.  I did three rows knit, three rows purl (knit flat).
December 5th 2007

Only four days late

Since things were a bit snowy last night and I was feeling a bit tired, I stayed home from KTog.  The good news about staying home is that it allowed me to finish sewing the seams on the Phyllo Yoked Pullover and block it.  In the end, it was only four days late for NaKniSweMo.  That’s not bad, considering how the month of November went for me.

I hope to have it make the big debut at the annual KTog Holiday Party on Friday.  Finished photos coming soon!