Bury Me With My Needles
  • Embarking on plans of world domination through crafted objects...

Highs and Lows/Photo Smorgasbord

01/20/2013

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This blog has been silent for a little while, while I try to figure out what to do with it.  I've decided that an exercise in daily writing is a good way to get out of this indecisive phase, and as an example, the following is writing from Friday night and Saturday night.   I've thrown in some photos of finished items for the last little bit of time to keep things light :)  Each photo is linked to the pattern if you're interested.  Here we go...
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Baby sweater for sweet baby Mara (sweater from a LYS, not on-line)
Friday night:

Oh my gosh, knitting frustration!  I have at least 9 work-in-progress projects going on right now.  And I don't want to work on any of them.  Is the solution to start a new project?  It certainly seemed hopeful.  The first project I tried to start called for size 13 circular needles.  I checked, and I have no regular set of 13 circulars.  I have two interchangeable needle sets, one of which goes up to size 11, and the other one does have size 13s.  Good news, except that I only have the shortest cable available for that set.  It is 9:30 pm at this point, so I can't run to the store.  Husband points out that I could order another large cable.  This wouldn't help me in the moment, but, I tell myself, I can endure this crazy for a few more days, so I order one from Amazon.  But I still want to knit to relax and I still don't want to work on any of my current projects.  
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Hot Fudge Sundae Socks for my mom
Maybe I could start something else that is ready to go.  Maybe a hat that I bought the yarn for last Christmas.  Let's see, that wants size 10 double pointed needles.  I don't have those, but I can come up with two size 10 circulars on the short cables between the two interchangeable sets.  Let me just check gauge before I'm off and running on this... oh, I have 8 stitches per inch instead of the 6 required by the gauge.  And, the fabric already seems like it is too loose, and when you stretch it, you can see through the "holes", no good for a hat.  Going up in needle size to get the right gauge would make the fabric even looser.  Could I hold two strands of the yarn together?  Yes, but then I wouldn't have enough yarn to finish the project, and this yarn is actually discontinued I've had it in my stash for so long.  
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Thank you gift for the wonderful woman who made my husband's kilt
Hm, maybe I should start some complicated doily, because I finally have some size 30 thread.  No, I know that is a bad idea for what is now 10 pm.  I'll just work on this reversible project that I started in 2009 and picked up again recently. It is a little tedious because there are so many stitches per row, but it has a certain appeal.  You know, after the gauge being so off on that hat, maybe i should just check it on this for a lark.  Oh, I'm 2 stitches off on the vertical and horizontal gauge, oh, and I also just learned a much prettier way to join the sides.  So, I guess I should take it apart?  but each row takes around 20 min.  I don't want to take it apart, but on the other had, I still have much further to go on the project than I've already gone.    
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Christmas ornaments
Saturday night:

After a morning of continuing to bemoan my situation, I awoke from a nap to a mail delivery of the most lovely Icelandic yarn from a friend who just came back from a trip.  
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Beautiful surprise wool from Iceland
The colors are beautiful and the sentiment is charming.  Alright, I'm feeling better.  I planned to go to a bagpipe jam session with my husband that night, and had thought I would bring a project to while away the hours, but in my current state I was beside myself as to what that project would be.  
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Observe, I had the perfect eye stalk button in my button box!
Ultimately I decided to go back to a wedding gift project that is due in August that I hadn't worked on since October (a conservative estimate).  What a good project to return to!  Cables to keep things interesting, 100% wool yarn, one eye calming cream color.  Pleasant music, and a lovely bunch of German women who happened to be there who lavished my project with ego boosting praise and then descended upon me trying to show me how to do a continental purl stitch.  
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Friend commissioned baby two-toed sloth
There were three women, two were mother and daughter, and each had her own slightly different continental purl technique and each felt her own way made the most sense, and it was such a nice moment of knitter fellowship and so charming to be literally hugged from behind by one of the women while she grabbed my hands and  attempted to lead them through her version of a purl.  So i'm back in the game, inching my way back to relaxing knitting.  
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Everyone cuddles when they're cuddly!
And that's why i need to write every day here, because the experience of knitting is so mercurial to me and I want to try to document it, maybe for 2 weeks?  
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Second Sock Syndrome

11/10/2012

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Socks are fun to knit.  While there are some knitters who never knit socks, there are some who only knit socks.  A basic sock leaves a lot up to the discretion of the knitter.  There is a cuff, a heel, and a toe, with leg and foot between them, and because there have been people knitting for hundreds of years, there are lots of different ways to create these parts.  I love that socks are based on measurements, and that you can make a sock that fits just based on the wearer’s shoe size.  I love to find a favorite method for each part, use it a few times, and then find a new favorite method.  I’ve been knitting socks since 2005, and plunging head first into the knitting part of the internet since 2009,  and I still come across new ways to do things that tickle my fancy.  I’m looking at those numbers, and they don’t seem long enough ago to encompass what I feel I’ve learned about fiber arts in those years, but, to put it another way, I spend an average of 3 hours a day on fiber crafting, and so those years add up to 5,000-10,000 hours.  

I learn new skills with each new project I undertake and with each old project I do a 2nd or 3rd time, and spending 50 straight days a year crafting means that I’m learning a lot.  Even so, I’m surprised to see how things I made, even a year ago, feel far away and foreign.  Places in a pattern where I had to make decisions look strange to my eyes now, because I’ve learned new techniques that I would use instead.  

I’ve been busy recently working on projects for folks at Thanksgiving and for folks at Christmas, and for weddings that are happening in August (yeah, I know, but it is better to be ahead than behind I say!).  I’ve gotten through everything I wanted to do for Thanksgiving, and Christmas still seems far away, so I got inspired to finish a project that has been hanging around since May 2011.  The project is a pair of socks that were supposed to be for an August 2011 birthday, but instead they will be for a 2012 Thanksgiving.  
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Hard won toe
Technical Notes: My goal is to avoid taking the first sock apart and have two matching socks at the end of the process.  I did not, however, make it simple for myself.  In 2011, apparently, I hadn't yet learned to keep detailed notes about pattern changes, because I looked at the finished sock, looked at the directions I had stuffed into the bag with the extra yarn, and had some troubles.  After trying to start the sock cuff-down and knitting a few rounds, I figured out that the finished sock is knit from the toe up.  I can still access vague memories of being so enamored of Judy’s magic cast-on that I would use any excuse to employ it, and also being so interested in the Interlock Bindoff, that, again, any excuse or pattern tweak seemed reasonable.  The Interlock Bindoff looks almost, but not quite like a Twisted German cast-on, thus my cast-on confusion.  They may, very well, operate under the same principles, because they are both very stretchy.  Figuring out how many stitches were cast on was another challenge.  Well, less of a challenge and more like I didn't look that closely at the toe of the first sock before I plunged ahead, so, a completed toe later, I realized that I had cast on 28 stitches on the first sock, and only 20 on the second, so I ripped it back again.  Now I’m on the almost right track and should be able to finish the foot without further incident.  
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Dissatisfying heel
I did an afterthought heel on the first sock (a heel knitted after the rest of the sock is finished).  Now, as you would expect, I have a different favorite heel, which is knitted during sock construction.  The afterthought heel I did has a thicker side seam than I would like.  I’m torn because I don’t want to do a bunch of ripping back, and I can’t employ my new favorite heel technique anyway, but if I can find a satisfactory solution, which I think I have, then I’ll be pulling out the heel on the first sock and doing something a little more elegant.  


The pattern for these, by the way, is Jaywalker.  
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A Mom for Blog

09/14/2012

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My friend has a joke that her blog is a “blog for moms.” Not that she writes for moms, but that her main readership is her mom, a friend’s mom, her boyfriend’s mom, etc.  I think it is mostly a way of expressing the confusing feeling of writing for the internet.  You don’t really know who you are writing for, besides your mom.   
Personally, though I don't always know who all is reading, I know that my mom is my most dedicated reader, and also my most dedicated harasser when I fall behind in my posts.  One of the reasons I fall behind is that I get it into my head that I have specific things I want to say about my projects, and I can’t say them to my own satisfaction.  My mom always has tons of nice stuff to say about what I’ve made, so I decided to just let her say it this time, and also clean out the backlog of projects I needed to share with you all, and then maybe I can get motivated from here moving forward.  I've included links for the patterns.  Some are only on Ravelry, one is on Lion Brand and you have to log in to see it.  
So, without further ado, here’s my mom: 
Sarah just finished making me this beautiful silk shirt.  Last February, I took a trip to California to visit the kids and go with Sarah to the Stitches West Show in San Jose.  There, we found this pattern and yarn.  It sat around until late July when we gathered in Paradise (Michigan), and there, Sarah started working on the project.  So soft, so lovely. This pattern can be adjusted for any body size.  And of course, Sarah made it so it fits me perfectly.  [pattern]
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The cute red and white placemat is 100% cotton, and 100% LOVED by Sarah’s cat Mona.  I guess you could say that it is a catmat…  The pattern is a free pattern from Red Heart.  [pattern]
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Lovely wool socks for the fisherman.  Sarah’s father-in-law loves to fish – and loves to keep warm.  These socks work for both!  I love the red toes and the heals as well as the ultra cool pattern on the leg. [pattern, though I did a jojo heel, which is not in the book.]
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Mom and Mom-in-law both got a pair of these paneled socks.  The blended yarn worked in sections really makes for some cool socks.  [pattern, above with a short row heel and picot hemmed cuff, below with a heel flap heel and ribbed cuff.]
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Having such a talented daughter, I tend to make a lot of special requests.  Sarah really went out of her way for a dear friend of mine.  With a new German Shepherd in the family, I thought it would be nice for my friend to have a knit German Shepherd for her collection.  So I sent photos of the puppy to Sarah, who went through her stash to try to match the markings of the actual dog.  She did a fantastic job (of course).  The odd thing was that the dog was scared of the knit dog.  She wouldn’t stop barking at her miniature.  Sarah thought this might have happened because she made the dog while dog sitting.  Maybe the dog could smell the other dog on the yarn?  Who knows? [pattern]
And the HATS. 
My husband has worn a knit hat forever.  His mother was an amazing knitter (as is his daughter).  When Sarah was researching the perfect hat to make for her Dad, she came into a quandary.   There were TWO hats that she liked.  The best solution was achieved.  Sarah knit two hats for her Daddy.  One for really cold weather, one for medium cold weather.  Both lovely (although the patterned one is my favorite).  Both blue (because that is her Daddy's favorite color).  Both wool (because that is what Daddy loves).  [and I never got a finished photo of the one on the right!  left: pattern, right: pattern]
Okay, thanks Mom! for guest blogging.  I’ll be back next week with a post about a new project. 
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Socks and other things

06/30/2012

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Thought I might not post frequently, I always keep busy!  Here are some pictures with their origin stories.
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Zombiedillo
Meet tiny Texas Zombie!  

I combined two of Anna Hrachovec's wonderful tiny patterns.  The armadillo is from her book Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi, and the zombie is from a separate pattern collection.  I changed the pattern for the zombie just a little, making the legs longer, and making the shirt white.  I made up the little hat.  It is crocheted, starting at the top, making a little tube, and then increasing in every stitch to make the brim.  I should write up the pattern for those that want a tiny hat, but I haven't yet, so I would just say, trust your gut, and let the tiny hat flow from you naturally.  I put some wire into the raised arm so he could give a proper yee-haw, which shows a little in this photo, but just think of it as yarn zombie bones.  The reins are embroidery floss.  He now lives on the desk of a co-worker who is from Texas and loves zombies.  
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Rainbow Trout Socks
A little treat for my husband who lends emotional support to all the projects you see on this site.  When projects start to go south, he listens to me talk it out, and he calmly accepts a bedroom destroyed by trying to find that one ball of yarn that just can't be found.  This pattern may look familiar.  It is the Sidewinders pattern that I've knit several times already.  I knit it with Mini-Mochi which was a lovely experience.   I was very pleased that the pink stripes landed on the sides of the socks so that it really looks trouty.  For fans of non-traditional sock construction (I know I'm not the only one!) I recently happened upon Hypercycloid's blog where she has been up to lots of non-traditional sock construction.  I've saved several of these patterns for future use.  
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Kilt Hose, click on the images to make them larger
More husband socks!  My husband has been taking bagpipe lessons for almost a year, and he played in a competition for the first time recently.  Not only have I learned a lot of about the instrument in this time, but I've also learned about the parts of traditional Scottish dress.  Eventually he will have his own kilt, but in the mean time, he rented one, as well as all the fixings.  Of course, I was darned if he was going to rent or, perish the thought, buy the hose to wear with the kilt.  Also of course, I only came to the realization that I would need to make these hose 3 weeks before the competition (I ended up finishing them the night before).  No problem!  I found this lovely free pattern through Ravelry.  I chose the toe up version of the pattern because I knew I would have to make a few modifications to fit my husband's larger calves.  The hose are knit with worsted weight yarn (Cascade 220) but on US size 1.5 needles.  When the socks are on the leg, my vertical gauge ended up being 15 rows per inch, which is quite a few more rows than I think the pattern was intending.  Instead of two balls of the 220, I ended up using almost 4, but the result is a pair of very nice dense hose, no holes between stitches (which was my husband's main concern).  Besides doing many more rows for the leg and cuff, the only other modification I made was to do two more rib increases on the back of the calf, instead of the suggested single center rib finish.  (Sorry, I'm not sure how better to describe that, look at the picture of the back of the calf and I think you'll see what I mean.)  I want to try kilt hose again, and he is competing again in September, so, more kilt hose might show up here in the future.  
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Ood!
Last, but not least.  I had had my eye on this pattern on Ravelry for some time, but had no reason to make it.  Enter the reason,  I had the opportunity to go to a Dr. Who themed party.  Hurrah!  This is a crocheted Ood.  The Ood are hilarious and also full of pathos, and so, they are favorites of mine.  This pattern was super quick and super easy, it took me about 2 nights of work.  I had all the yarn in my stash, so, good de-stashing project if you have some left over sand from an under the sea blanket and some left over coral color from making sea horses.  The pattern is also brilliant because there is a mouth opening behind the tentacles for breathing and eating.
Okay, and we're not caught up yet!  I have a lot of gifts to give in the near future and then there will be a catch up gift post!
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Catch-up time!

04/07/2012

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Whenever anyone tells me "Hey, I like your blog," I feel compelled to say: "I don't post enough!  But I just like crafting more than I like writing about it." As a result, a lot of projects never make it onto the blog because they were finished so long ago that by the time I get it together to write a post, I'm onto something totally new.  But I've done a lot of projects recently that I like, so I'm just going to overwhelm you with a big smorgasbord of finished projects.  Dig in! 
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Completed Under the Sea Blanket
Here is the finished Under the Sea blanket.  Though I am pleased, and my friend who received it is pleased, it somehow never lived up to my elaborate conception, (which was much more sculpture than blanket).  All of the items button on with toggle buttons, and so they can be re-arranged and moved around.  
More socks for my mom.  They are both from patterns that you've seen here before and that just work particularly well.  I liked the Sidewinders pattern so much, that I knew I wanted to make a pair for my mom.  I used some Felici self striping yarn and it ended up coming out so perfectly!  The last pair of Skew socks got rave reviews for fit, so I thought I would make another pair.  This time around I used an acrylic blend so that they won't be quite so warm as wool.  A summer sock.   
More socks!  This time socks for my husband, who, you may have noticed, doesn't get a lot of stuff.  The items in the cue for him are long and varied and he is very patient about it, so I got the lead out and actually finished something for him.  These were designed by the witty little knitter, and the pattern is here.  I was worried about tightness in the ankles, so I did the all of the white accents on the leg in duplicate stitch.  I hadn't really ever given a lot of though to the technique of duplicate stitch, but thankfully and serendipitously, smartygirl at the filmcraft blog posted a link to a Watermelish tutorial on duplicate stitch which was awesome!  And everything came out much neater than my original attempt.
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The completion of tiny seahorse!
Tiny seahorse is finished!  I put it off for so long because I was worried I wouldn't be able to pick up the stitches for the belly.  I hadn't even considered how absurdly small the back fin would be.  So tiny!  This is, once again, a Hansi Singh pattern.  I didn't have to change the pattern at all, just used smaller needles and yarn.  People's main reaction has been, "how do you make it so tiny," and my only answer is "tiny needles."  The stick supporting the seahorse in this photo is actually one of the needles used to knit it.  They are size 0/6 and I got them from BagLady, where I also got 0/4 and 0/5.  They don't sell 0/8, thank goodness, or I would probably be blind.  
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Imp!
And I know I'm kind of burying the lead here, but ta-da!  Tiny chameleon.  He was inspired by a little guy you may have seen in the news a little while ago:

One new chameleon was found on Nosy Hara, an islet off the coast of Madagascar. Named Brookesia micra, it is the smallest of the four species. Juveniles are small enough to stand on the head of a match. 
Well, I didn't quite get it that small, but pretty close!  Also, chameleons are incredibly fun to look at!  When ever I'm doing a project where I'm trying to match something in nature, I do a lot of image searches first, and that was how I learned the super fun fact that baby chameleons ride around on their mom's faces.  So, then, of course, I knew what I had to do.
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Both mom and baby are Hansi Singh patterns.  The mom was knit with sock weight yarn and using 0/4 needles.  The hardest part by far was the tail, but it wasn't impossible.  The legs are knit separately, but the head and eyes are knit with picked up stitches.  There are wires inside the legs so that they are positionable. 
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More little duck feet...quack!

09/19/2011

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Happily, another family I know had a baby, and so he is now the recipient of my new favorite baby item:
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Knowing this little baby was a boy, I decided to add some little blue stripes.  I like how they look like soccer socks a little.  I did the Interlock bindoff this time, so the tops don't roll when not filled with a fat little leg, but they are just as stretchy as the correctly named Stretchy bindoff that I used on the last pair.
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Blankets and Socks

09/11/2011

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I would love to say that I've been knitting up a storm instead of posting here, but that isn't quite the case.  I've also been baking pies and cleaning the living room and watching TV.  In the midst of a few un-ending UFOs, my passion has been flagging a little.  
Which isn't to say of course that I haven't finished anything since July when I last posted.  August was actually a productive month, knitting wise.  It just didn't definitely feel that way.  Though I could question the health of it, what I love is to have a project going that I think about all the time.  Something I plan out aspects of during down time at work and can't wait to get home to.  How I felt about the sideways socks and my tiny hermit crab.  
But I also think I will find that project somewhere in my massive horde of projects waiting to be started.  Last weekend I made it though the left and right front of a sweater and part of the way up the back before I lost oomph over concerns about the tightness of the arm holes and running out of yarn.  Is it better to know you don't have enough yarn to finish a project, or to always think you might not have enough yarn to finish a project?  If you know the answer to this puzzle, please let me know in the comments.  
Alright, enough musing and down to brass tacks.  What exactly have I been up to since July?  Well...
Atomic Fireball Socks for my Father-in-law
Lots of cables for large men's feet.  They took me quite a while, but they have a lot of small touches that I like.  The heel is the extra long, good for men's socks, Fleegle's short-row heel.  It used up more yarn than I think a heel flap heel would have, but I also think a well fitting heel is half the battle in good sock fit.  I used the Interlock Bindoff, which I really like a lot.  It is possibly the most ridiculous and complicated sewn bindoff, but the results are fantastic, very stretchy, but also attractive.
Java Socks for my Dad
These were my first two-at-a-time socks.  Though of course each row takes twice as long, it is wonderful to cast off and be totally finished with a project.  The second sock is always the bane of my existence.  Very much like sleeves, my brain just doesn't want to do the same thing it just did, AGAIN.  I like the Java pattern because it is so stretchy.  The sad truth is that the more ornate a handmade sock is, the more it is like a tiny wool foot blanket, no give, no stretch, very thick.  So, though I love them, I think I am finished with Fair Isle socks because they just don't work for 80% of feet.  
Wedding Umaro
These photos really don't do it the color or the dimensions justice.  I blocked in haste and didn't think to snap a photo then, and these are pre-blocking.  The blanket ended up double bed sized, but that may only be because a double bed is the largest surface in my home that I have to block on.  The color is more of a natural cream.  It took FOREVER, but the result is beautiful and well worth it for a wedding gift.  
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Baby Wonton Wrapper
I made this for the arrival of my brand new little 1st cousin once removed.  She is beautiful and lovely.  I knew she was coming, but I didn't know her gender.  I figured yellow and teal would be good bright gender neutral colors.  The blanket is 100% cotton.  The main yellow part is Lion Brand, and then I had to delve into fancy yarn store territory for the teal because it would seem that there are no good true mass-market teals commercially available.  This baby's birth was conveniently timed during a trip East, and so I had a chance, the night before going to see her, to whip up some little coral colored star embellishments.  I didn't invent this star pattern.  Actually I scoured the internet for a free star pattern, only to discover that the best one, and I mean, really, the best crocheted stars in all history and time, would cost me $4.95.  I hemmed and hawed for a day, and finally my husband agreed to split the cost with me so that I could stop agonizing.  They are totally worth it.  The blanket has a little triangle sewn onto the front of one of the corners to act as a baby hood.  I love the texture of seed stitch, so I alternated squares of that with squares of straight knitting.  The boarder is a broken rib, so it doesn't shrink up but still has the texture of a rib.  Also, a baby blanket takes a lot less time than a wedding blanket with cables!
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Pre-stars and pre-weaving in the ends.  Also, the colors that an overcast sky affords the photographer.  Trust me, the teal is awesome.
Baby Duck Booties
Tucked inside the blanket are some booties that I finished within a month of finding out about the pregnancy, but that I haven't posted, just to cover my gifts are supposed to be surprises bases.  The pattern is a field trip into the mind of a master knitter and I loved making them, and actually plan to make another pair very soon for a friend's baby.  
Well, thanks for making it through the poorly lit photos and the rambling prose.  Though it gets hot here before it gets cool, I think Fall always brings good knitting.  
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Bee Socks

05/08/2011

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I've got several finished projects now that I need to post about, but I thought these were so neat, they needed a post all to themselves
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I made these socks for a friend with whom bees figure prominently into our friendship.  I got the yarn ages ago, but I hadn't found a pattern that worked well with the yarn.  Pooling is the ugly and unwanted phenomenon where big blobs of one color in a variegated yarn plop themselves down in what otherwise is a pleasing random arrangement of the colors.  On socks this usually results in a pretty random sock and then one giant zig zag, thin-thick stripe of brown or something.  I'm not sure of the scientific support of this theory, but pooling usually happens with the ugliest color in the yarn.  Anyway, this yellow and black yarn was pooling badly with every pattern I tried.  Then I tried this pattern!  I guess the yarn still pools, but it pools evenly, creating the illusion of stripes or just more organic forms.
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The socks are worked long ways, from cuff to toe.  The pattern is a few years old, and lots of folks on-line have already worked it, but it is new to me, and I'm excited about it.  The elegance, the simplicity, I'm going to stop gushing now.  I took some photos at different stages of the process and I will leave you with those:
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Half a sock.  You first work decreases to make the heel shape, and then increases to make the toe shape.
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As you increase and decrease on the sides of the toe, the little toe pocket forms by itself.
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The whole sock finished.  All that's left is to sew up the back with an invisible seam.  I'd like to think it looks like a tiny tiger skin at this stage. 
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Sweet Alice

04/28/2011

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Once again I've been working on gifts, and so I haven't been posting.  I still have to figure out a way around that.  But at least one gift has been presented, so here are the Sweet Alice Socks:
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They were worked using the Sweetheart Socks pattern on Knitty, and inspired by a lovely color combination I saw on Ravelry.  That person did their socks in a deep red, but I thought I would just soften it a little by using this old barn pinkish color for a more feminine heel and toe.  Mostly worked by knitting stitches together and making new stitches instead of real cables, and also worked in worsted weight yarn, they worked up quickly and are super thick and warm.  This was the first time that I worked an afterthought heel, so it was a fun technical experiment.  The afterthought is that you work a piece of waste yarn where you want the heel to go, and then once the sock is complete you take out the waste yarn, pick up the stitches, and knit the heel.  The only negative is that you can't try the sock on while you are making it, but since most of my recipients live far from me, that isn't really a problem.
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Husband socks

02/21/2011

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Just finished a pair of socks for my husband.   They are the Java Socks pattern from the most current issue of Knitty.  They have a little two stitch cable all over them, which is good because it is more interesting to knit than just plain ribbing, but is bad because it still became kind of monotonous.  The pattern is special because the decreases that happen after the heel are done across the ankle instead of down the side of the heel.  The pattern is nicely written so that the decreases just become a part of the flow of the ribbing.  My husband says that these socks fit better in the ankle than any others that I have made for him. I think part of this is the construction, but I also think that having an all over rib helps because it gives the fabric a lot more stretch, thus making it fit better.  
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