I finished those socks

On Friday, I finished the Hummingbird socks, on Saturday I got the ends woven in and on Sunday I got them washed. Yesterday I took pictures, so now I can give them away. These socks were a very quick knit - I'm not sure that I've done any other socks in just 10 days. Blocking definitely helped the pattern assert itself, but I think if I do this pattern again, I might use a yarn with shorter lengths of color for a more mottled look rather than the stripes & flecks I got with this yarn.

Since I finished the socks, I started on the Chawton Mittens from the Jane Austen Knits magazine. I was thinking that I needed a challenge, so the color work in these mittens should do the trick. I've also upped the challenge quotient by starting these two-at-a-time. I've only done one round so far, so I'm not sure how this will work out for the whole project. One thing I've done that I think will help is that I put the yarn for each mitten in a separate bag to make it easier to keep the yarn from tangling too much. I don't expect this project will travel much, so I'll have to find a project that will. It'll probably be socks, as usual.

Well, that's it for now, Friends. Until next time.

Here's what I've been doing this week.

I only started these socks last Tuesday, and I've already turned the heels. There are a couple reasons these socks have progressed so quickly, the first being that the chart repeat is pretty easy. The second is that I had a couple days last week where I had a lot of time on my hands. In the middle of the day on Wednesday, I had a work-related hearing to go to, and it was two hours before my case got called. So I knit up about 2 inches of the leg before it was my turn. Then that evening I had to prepare for a colonoscopy the next morning, so I spent the whole evening knitting while the preparation did its, um, work. I think I was knitting until about midnight or so. The next morning, I had the 'scope, which was all clear, and alternately napped and knit the rest of the day.

I had a little trouble turning the heel - not because it was difficult, but because halfway through it, I discovered a broken ply in one ball of yarn. I had to cut it, then unravel because I didn't have enough to weave in. Then I had to unravel again because I'd made a mistake with a couple wraps, so I think I ended up doing those heels about three times. At least now I'm working on the foot, so I've only got a couple more chart repeats until I can do stockinette to the end. I think I can safely say they'll be done before another week passes.

In other news, I got a call from my mother who told me today that the Vilai socks I knit for her friend were a big hit. She was so excited to have such fancy socks, she kept offering to buy me more yarn (which I wouldn't decline, myself) but Mom told her they were a gift, so no new yarn was necessary. It's always nice when your hand knits are appreciated, isn't it?

I don't have anything else on the needles at the moment, but I have been looking at lace patterns to use with some Brown Sheep Legacy Lace I bought last year as the Knit Nook was closing. I haven't made up my mind whether to knit it up in an Estonian pattern or try something else. If you've got any suggestions, I'm open to them. Until next time, Friends.

It's been an age.

It's been an age, it seems, since I last posted. I don't really have much of an excuse - I mean, I had a vicious cold the week before last that kept me home from work for 3 days. But that's all I've got to say for myself. I've been making a point of going to the gym every day, but that's only an hour or so a day and you'd think I could manage a blog post sometime in the remaining 23 hours.

In that time I did manage to finish the socks for my boss' retirement. They're the Milo sock, designed by CookieA, knit from Punta Yarns Merisock handpainted. After my blunder at the beginning, I was able to regroup and start over from the beginning. By the time I got to my third sick day, I had turned the heel and I felt like I coasted right through the foot to the end. I gave them to my boss yesterday, even though he doesn't officially retire for another six weeks. It will be nice for him to get to wear them while it's still kind of cold. (Even though I wear merino wool socks year-round.)

Since that project's finished, I cast on for another pair of socks: Sandi Rosner's Hummingbird from Clara Parke's book Knitters Book of Socks. I'm knitting these for a friend who likes blues and greens, so I'm using Scholeller+Stahl's Fortissima Sock yarn, which was acquired from a swap I did a year ago (Thanks, Corrinne!). I can't believe it's taken me so long to knit up this yarn! Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing how the faux Fair Isle coloring of the yarn works with the lace patterning on the sock.

Another thing I've decided I want to do is to work up some charts for the color work from the Muslim textile book I wrote about in my last post. I think it would be fund to see if I could re-create a few of those items, or at the very least, design something inspired by the charts. I'm still very impressed by the skills of those ancient knitters. I'm not sure I'm willing to knit to such fine gauge, but I think many of those patterns could work well for a pillow or similar item.

Well, it looks like that's all I've got for tonight. Until next time, Friends!