It felt like a minute

Oh, Friends, where has the time gone? I'm having difficulty believing that I've been gone as long as I have, but so it is. Last time I wrote, I talked about my disappointing State Fair results, and showed you the beginning of a sock I was making for my mother-in-law. I've since completed the sock and three other projects.

First, the sock: it's the Rhombus pattern from CookieA's Knit Sock Love book. It ended up taking about six weeks to finish, and I ended up running out of yarn about 2.5" before I could close up the toes. A kind Raveler sold me a second skein of the gorgeous Sundara Sock, which allowed me to finish with enough left over to make some socks for myself.

Next I decided that I would make a point of knitting up the oldest yarn in my stash, partly as a way to clear out some space in my bins and partly as a challenge to myself. While I have a whole lot of some mohair boucle that I bought at a fiber festival some years ago, I knew I could find a pattern for the silk/bamboo hand-dyed sport weight that's been in my stash nearly as long. Anyway, believing that I had a mere 450 yards of this yarn, I cast on for the Glitz at the Ritz shawl, which I thought would use up both skeins. I got through nearly the whole shawl before I realized that I'd underestimated the yardage of the skeins, leaving me with nearly the whole second skein upon completion of the shawl.

Knowing that I likely didn't have enough yardage remaining to make another triangular shawl, I decided that a rectangular scarf would be the way to go. I could cast on and knit until I ran out of yarn, hoping that the yarn's slinkiness would help once it was washed and blocked. I used the Shimmer Wave scarf pattern, which had an easy-to-memorize repeat and traveled well. I mostly worked on it during my commute to work every day and occasionally in meetings and waiting rooms. It took a mere three weeks to complete, and I've already given it to a coworker.

Lastly, I restarted the Streymoy sweater I'd had so little success with last winter, but I think I'll save that for next time. There's a lot to tell! Until then.

There: I fixed it.

Oh, Friends, I fixed that damned sock! I undid the messed up part, re-did it, undid it again, and finally re-did it correctly. Once I took a good look at the photos of the sample and wrapped my head around how the foot of the sock would come together, the knitting went pretty quickly.

I think I might have gotten back on the right track on Friday or Saturday, and by yesterday afternoon I'd finished the toe. The foot section ended up being a little longer than I'd expected, so I had to graft the toe closed a little sooner than I would usually have done. It's not a big deal though; I have a pretty wide foot.

There were what felt like a million ends to weave in, as the sock is constructed from 12 triangles that are knit from the outside in to the center. So that's 27 ends, if you're counting the cuff and the toe in that number, and that's before you close up all the gaps where the corners of the triangles meet.

Now, the thing is, right now I've only got one complete sock. I'm not going to start its mate just yet because the yarn for my State Fair socks just arrived, and I've been dying to start these. I took last year off from Fair knitting, as I'd won the points total the year before. Last year, my thinking was that it wouldn't be as much fun entering if I couldn't win the big prize again. This year, I've decided that I like seeing how my work does compared to my peers across the state. I have a couple friends who have a category that they consistently win, and I kind of feel that the socks category is mine. I don't want to get a big head or anything (maybe it's too late?), but I did win the last two times I entered and the socks that won last year placed behind mine the two previous years. I want my ribbon back, y'all.

I'm not going to reveal the pattern until I've submitted the socks to the Fair, so this might be the last time I mention them for a couple months. I will, however, show you the yarn, which is freaking gorgeous. It's Dream in Color Smooshy, in the Melon Bomb colorway. I think it a little more coral in real life, rather than the slightly muted hue in the photo. I only ordered it on Friday, so I'm really pleased that it was waiting for me when I got home from work today.

So that's it for this evening, Friends. I have new socks to start! Until next time, then.

Hey! It's a WIPs Wednesday post. On Wednesday!

So I have two projects on the needles right now: a Cypri shawl and a Euclid sock. The shawl is humming right along, while the sock is kind of stalled, so it looks like I'll talk about the shawl first.

I've been working on it pretty steadily since I completed the Feminine Lace socks, getting about two rows done during my bus rides to and from work. 382 stitches is a lot! Especially when, at stitch 350 or so, you realize you've been decreasing too much and have to unknit back to stitch 12. The nice thing about this project is that the garter stitch is super-duper easy and the traveling stitches only happen every fourth row. It's really just a matter of getting through those long rows. I really like how it's knitting up and I can't wait 'til it's finished!

As for the Euclid socks, I've gotten through turning the heel, but I haven't decided if I want to knit the sole with the centered double decrease as it's written in the pattern. I love how the yarn (Knitivity Phydlbitz) is behaving in the triangles, but I'm pretty sure that the ridge from the decrease will be uncomfortable. I suppose I could try and see how I like it. It's only one sock, after all. I can make it differently without too much trouble. This sock (how long has it been since I knit a single sock? I have no earthly idea.) has been a lot of fun to knit, thanks to its interesting construction. I think the only way I'd like it better would be if I had this yarn in 4 small skeins: 3 semi-solids and 1 variegated, so that the triangles would be a little more obvious. I think this pattern would be great for stash busting, which I might consider after I complete my State Fair knitting.

Regarding the Fair, I haven't yet decided what I want to enter this year. I have a couple projects I've been  considering, but I don't want to broadcast it just yet. I'll save it for a post later in the summer.

Well, I think that's about it for tonight. Until next time, Friends.

Slow & Steady as she goes.

Holy smokes! It's been two weeks since I posted last. I can't really say that I've had that much going on, so I'm a little surprised so much time has passed. Anyway, I've made good progress on my Rafters cardigan: I've completed the waist shaping and only have the bottom border to do before I can start on the sleeves and the collar/buttonband. The cardigan doesn't really have any ease right now, but I think that once the button band is on and I can get the whole thing washed and blocked, the cables will loosen up some and I'll end up with about 1.5" of positive ease. I'm still in love with the color and I can't say enough about how soft this yarn is. I just want to pet it all day long. The cat is still in love with it too. Today he was rubbing his face on it and licking the bag I store it in. He's a strange little beastie.

I've also made progress on Dan's Scylla socks. I finally turned the heel this week, and now only have the leg to finish. The great part of that is that the stitch pattern knits up quickly, without a whole lot of thought. Since Dan's so tall, I'm just going to knit until I run out of yarn. We'll see in a hurry whether I divided the hank evenly.

So it's a short post tonight, Friends. Thanksgiving is coming up soon, and there's a chance I'll get to see the Yarn Harlot when I'm home in Fort Wayne for the holiday. I'll probably limit myself to the Saturday night lecture and skip the classes. I'll post pics if it happens. Until next time.

WIP it good.

All my WIPs continue apace. I seem to be a little all over the place lately with my projects, but somehow, bit by bit, they're progressing.

This week I managed to get to the halfway point in the Hanami stole. I'm really happy with how it's coming along. I like that the beads have given it some heft (as hefty as seed beads can be on an alpaca/silk lace stole) and I think it's going to drape beautifully once it's finished. I hope I have some occasion to wear it. Maybe I'll get invited to a wedding. Or maybe we'll go to the ballet. Or something. Of course, I'm not sure I have anything to wear with it, so I'll have to get on that.

Knitting. Tasty, tasty, knitting.

I've also made progress on my Rafters cardigan. Just this morning I completed the front shaping and now I'm ready to get everything all joined up for some progress on the body. It looks a little small right now, but I think that's because so many of the sweaters I've made for myself have turned out too big. Even if it's a bit small now, I'm pretty sure that blocking will relax some of the tightness in the cables. So long as I get gauge on the sweater as a whole, I'll have about an inch of ease.

Since my last couple posts I've frogged the blue socks for my friend, Dan, and started a new pair for him. I'm doing the Scylla pattern again, this time with a skein of Mountain Colors Crazyfoot I've had in my stash for awhile. In the skein, the yarn looked a lot more brown than it's knitting up. In the socks, I'm seeing more jewel tones, but I think it's still masculine. I hope he'll be cool with it. This is my commuting-and-waiting-in-line knitting and it's moving right along. I've probably got another two weeks with it before it's finished.

Of course, with three projects on the needles (four, if you count my unfinished Halloween costume), it looks like I'm not going to be doing any Christmas knitting. There just won't be any time. I have a feeling I'm still going to be baking up a storm, but it's already too late to be in time for Christmas. I will, however, be scouring my house for just the right contribution to our family's Dirty Santa exchange.

On that note, I'll sign off for now. Until next time, Friends.