Back on track!

The knitting was so much better this week! Once I got the Rick socks back on the needles (a two-hour process, btw), the gusset decreases went really quickly. It seemed like it took almost no effort at all. It might have had something to do with my having done this once already, but whatever, I'll take completed gussets over incomplete gussets anytime. I've also made pretty good progress on the feet. I'm not sure how that happened, but for me, it seems like once I can get going on the feet of the socks, my needles fly. Anyway, I've only got about three inches left on these socks before I can call them finished. I'm SO looking forward to these socks being done!

I also made a little more progress on the Columbines needlepoint, slow and steady with the background. What's nice about it is that I don't have to concentrate all that hard on it, so it's a good break from the attention that the Rick socks require. I'm getting pretty close to halfway through the field, and more and more I'm liking how it's coming along.

So that's all I have for tonight, I hope next time I'll be able to say that the Rick socks are finished and that I've moved on to my next project. I think I'm feeling like taking a little break from socks. I'm pretty sure I need a break from socks. Until next time, Friends!

The socks are done. Long knit the socks.

I finished the Elm socks last week and immediately cast on the Rick socks from Sock Innovation. I'm knitting the new socks from A Verb for Keeping Warm Creating sock yarn in color No. 9. The colors are a gorgeous indigo and lovely purple that's knitting up into beautifully mottled socks that I wish were going to be mine, but are probably going to belong to one of my aunts in Japan.

You see, my mother is pretty sneaky. When she was here for a visit last Thanksgiving she asked if I would make her a pair of socks, and I said I'd do it as soon as my Christmas knitting was finished. Then she asked if I would mind making a second pair for my aunt, who just loved the socks my mom had given her (that I had knit for mom). How could I say no to that? Someone who appreciates my knitting definitely gets more.

Anyway, I had happily finished the Elm socks, and happily started the Rick socks, when my mom called to check in. "Oh, I'm working on the second pair, and as soon as they're done, I'll put them in the mail to you."

"Great! Are you making a pair for me?"

I thought I had been making a pair for her. Turns out I was making a pair for each of her sisters, so now I'm on the hook for a third pair of socks. That will probably be knit from Skinny Bugga. That I'd intended to knit up for myself. But I like knitting. I like knitting. I like knitting even better when I get to knit for myself again.

Until next time, Friends.

Finally, I can talk about it!

Today CookieA's new collection of patterns, CookieA Knitwear Volume 1: Shapes + Form, was released which means that I can finally talk about the samples I knit this summer. I can't say enough about how much fun I had knitting these three accessories and now I want to make some to keep. I also want to make a few of the garments, which are so interesting, I can't stand it.

The first of the sample knits was the Cylinder Cowl, knit from Lorna's Laces Shepherd Wool. The yarn in tandem with the stitch pattern made a fabric with such a beautiful drape and a supple hand that I'm having a hard time describing it. The yarn is listed on Ravelry as aran weight, but it's so lofty that it felt like a light worsted as I knit it up. It was so awesome to knit with! All my friends who got to feel it while I was knitting it remarked on how great it felt. It's definitely worth getting your hands on a skein of this yarn to knit this cowl. The stitch pattern was easily memorized and zipped along quickly. The cables drew the selvedges in quite a bit, but blocking took care of all that. Sadly, I only remembered to take photos of my swatches, so that's all there is here.

The second sample I knit was the Dome Hat, knit from Stonehedge Fiber Mills Shepherd's Worsted. Not long ago I wrote about my trip to the mill; it was inspired by this project. The hat knit up quickly, too, and the yarn had such excellent stitch definition that I was pleased with this project even before I washed and blocked it. I didn't add the buckle that's shown in the e-book, but isn't it just the right finishing touch?

The last of the accessory samples I knit was the Slant Mitts. These, I think, were the fastest of the three to complete. They're mostly ribbed, with a couple of simple lace inserts. Since there weren't any right/left directions to worry about, the second mitt went as quickly as the first. I'm in love with this yarn too. I actually have two skeins of Miss Babs' yarn in my stash, but they're sock yarn that I bought at Sock Summit last year. I really liked working with the Yowza, and I think my favorite thing about this yarn is how rich and saturated the color is. I haven't really ever thought I wanted a pair of fingerless mitts, but now that I've made these, they might come in handy this winter when my basement is all cold and uncomfortable.

As for the garments, I definitely want to make the Rotation Cardigan; I just have to save up for a minute to be able to afford the specified yarn. I also like Slope, which uses the Miss Babs Yowza, but I'm not sure it would look right on my figure. Maybe I can reward myself with this sweater if I meet my weight loss goal by next fall. It's good incentive, right? Lastly, I like the Pivot Pullover, but I'm not sure I'd have the patience for all that stockinette in a laceweight yarn. The interesting construction might make up for it, but I'm not sure.

Well, that's all I have for tonight. Next time, I hope to be able to show some progress pictures of Zori. Until then, Friends!

Things to do, things to do.

You know how it is when you get really excited to cast on for a new project, that you're willing to cast aside all the others to get to it? Well, I'm kinda there right now.

I just cast on for Anne Hanson's Monkeybread hat & scarf. I'm making it out of Great Northern Yarns' luscious 70% mink, 30% cashmere DK-weight yarn. And as one would expect, it is fabulous. I love this yarn. A couple years ago I made some ridiculous cable gloves from it, in black. The reason the gloves were ridiculous is because anyone with any sense would know that knitting cables with black yarn is just plain foolish. Then, to knit cables in black yarn that blooms like angora is doubly foolish. I did all that work with complex, mirrored cables only to have them entirely disappear because they bloomed so much that my hands looked like they belonged to a silverback gorilla. I'm not kidding. All that work and I could have done them in stockinette in half the time. On the plus side, though, they are the warmest gloves I've ever owned and I'll be making myself another pair this winter, as I've nearly worn through the fingers on the current pair.

But I digress. The Monkeybread hat is what I'm so excited about! It's so soft! and the cables are lovely. If only I were better at reading instructions. See, there are two sizes to this hat: small and large. This set is a gift for my mom, whose head circumference requires the larger size. The instructions say to start the chart on row 13, and idiot that I am, I knit 13 rounds THEN started the chart, instead of just skipping the 12 previous rows. I'm not sure how this happened, but I think I can make up for it. We'll see what I have to say in a week or so. I'm using the Blueberry colorway, which is gorgeous altogether, and I kind of wish I was keeping for myself. But this really is for Mom, unless she decides otherwise. That's the only way I'll get this back.

Since I started the Monkeybread hat, I haven't touched the Kristi socks, except to photograph them. An amazing thing happened with these socks: when I finished the gusset decreases, each sock was on the same row of the chart, ready to go, not needing any adjustments from me. This is a miracle of the highest order and will probably never happen again in my lifetime. What usually happens is that I forget a decrease somewhere along the line, so that when I finally have the right number of stitches along the bottom of one sock, the other still needs at least one more decrease round. It can be frustrating, but so long as both feet use the same chart for the top of the foot, I'm alright. In the case of the Kristi socks, the charts are mirrored, which would have made it maddening to do them at the same time if they were off even the least little bit. I am grateful they're right. I'll definitely work on them on the bus tomorrow on the way to work.

Lastly, I'm on the home stretch with the Kusha Kusha scarf, finally on the smallest size needle and rapidly running out of yarn on the first cone of silk/stainless. For whatever reason, the scarf seems to be going a little faster, but may only be because I can see the end. Maybe I can finish it Thursday night at Stitch 'n' Pitch. A bunch of us are going to see our Louisville Bats take on the Gwinett Braves. It's dollar beer night, so I have to make sure I take something easy. I hope I remember to take some pictures.

That's it for now, Friends. Until next time!