Knitting in pink

Read - ing

I just finished reading this book this morning. It was a very quick read, I started to read 2 nights ago and read and read some more. I enjoyed this book quite a bit, although it reminded me a lot of another book I read a couple months ago, The Friday Night Knitting Club.

Knitt - ing



I've been knitting away on my secret knitting. If you like what you see, sign ups for our June Sock Club are still open! : )

Join - ing

In the last 24 hours I signed up for 2 more sock related knitalongs: Sockamania and Sockapalooza 4.

Sockamania is organized by Anni of Confessions of a Yarn Addict. Starting in May, participants will get a sock pattern by Anni which we will knit. Hopefully the patterns will match in some way Socktopia themes! : )

The sign ups for Sockapalooza 4 opened sometimes between late last night and this morning. I've been debating the last few days whether or not to sign up for it. My main concern is knitting socks for someone's else's feet. I can't try them on as I go, what if they don't fit? But I decided that I would try my best and that it shouldn't be too hard to do! So I signed up. Also, send off are in August, so I have plenty of time to knit a pair of socks that will fit!

Participat - ing



My Secret Pal 10 hostess has asked our group to post a picture of either the ugliest thing we've ever knit or the ugliest yarn we have. And since I had one of each I decided to post both.

On top is my second scarf ever. I knit it for my husband out of some Lion's Brand chunky acrylic yarn. Not only was the scarf too short but it was too stiff and thick, we called it the "Neck Brace". I have to admit that I tossed it a few months back. No need to keep something so horrible around. I can't say that the second scarf I knit for my husband was a better success... We call that one "The Rope".

On the bottom is some yarn I received at Christmas... As a joke, thankfully. But I still have to keep it. I keep threatening the giver that I will knit him a hat out of it. But I can't even get myself to do that! lol!

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Hopefully within the next day or two I will be able to resume my usual knitting and show you either the beginnings of a sleeve or the beginnings of another Child's First sock.

I've got too many things I want to knit and I'm not sure how I can fit everything into one month!

I've got the Austermann Step socks for my husband that I want to finish for Project Spectrum. I'm up to the heel on the second sock. - I have until the end of March so I should be ok.

I've got my Dublin Bay socks started over the weekend on my way to Montreal for Socktopia - February

I'm a little further down the leg, I probably want to knit 2-3 more inches before starting the heel. If I work only on this I might make the pair by the end of the month.

The thing is, I also am part of Fair Isle February and would like to knit Center Square before the month is over. I know that I just finished the Fake Isle hat, but it was finished in January, so it doesn't count for me!

I also received today the yarn I ordered for Thermal. Although I doubt that would be the first sweater I started working on.

And, as written in my last post I just received the yarn for Lady E...

I also want to try making a Calorimetry, and a pair of Fetching! Lol! I wish there were more of me!

I guess I can only knit one thing at the time and the most important things to finish as per self imposed deadlines are my Dublin Bay socks and Center Square. The others can wait a little longer!

After a random Friday here is a random Monday. Beware, their will be lots of pictures!

First: Let me show you a before / after pictures

The boxes took a couple days each and were knitted out of two strands of Lambs Pride Bulky. I followed the pattern to the letter, except for a couple non-noticeable mistakes. I hope that my nieces will enjoy them!

Second: I'll show you my third FO of the year and my 7th pair of socks



Stats
The socks were started December 2, 2006 and finished January 19th. The first sock took 9 days, the second 12.
Yarn: Dicentra Design in Abalone
Pattern: Madder Ribbed socks from Knitting Vintage Socks
Mods: Did the socks toe-up with turkish cast-on with a purl row at the beginning of the pattern

Third: As soon as I finished my Madder socks I cast on for the second Austermann Step sock for DH



I would like to finish this sock by the end of January for it to count for Socktopia, but if it doesn't it will be my gray project for Project Spectrum in Feburary.

Fourth: I have a question for you guys


Click on it to make it bigger

This here is a handknit scarf made by J. J gave the scarf to her sister M for Christmas. Sister M has a dog, Lola. Do you see where this is going? Lola chewed on the edge of the scarf... Now we are wondering what to do to make the scarf better. There is no yarn leftover. Thankfully the yarn was angora and is sticking well to itself so there is no unraveling going on. Please help a girl out and make suggestions as to how I should help J fix this!

Thanks!

The last few days have been very productive on the knitting front. I have started 2 new projects and finished 2 projects. Where to begin...

First, let me introduce a completed Bejeweled

artsy photo or just plain out of focus!

Stats
Bejeweled was started on December 27 and finished January 14.
Yarn: Done Roving "Indigo Moon" 50/50 Fine Mohair/Wool
Pattern: Bejeweled by Lisa Shobhana Mason
Mods: Used US 10 needles, Increased till 24 stitches, length is about 60".

I had fun knitting the scarf. The pattern was really easy to knit and it went really fast. The yarn is a little itchy due to the mohair but it looks really nice and keeps the neck warm. I will definitely knit this again.

Second finished object is the garterlac dishcloth by Criminy Jickets. A couple of weeks ago I started obsessing about knitting Lady Eleanor from Scarf Style. And before investing in the yarn and the book I decided to try out the technique, see if I could actually do it! I had seen this pattern before and decided it would be a quick and easy way to try the technique and use some of my dishcloth cotton.

Here are the results of my experiment:



I really enjoyed the technique, it's really simple and the results are really cool. As you can imagine I had tons of ends to weave in. Using 2 colors on the dishcloth wasn't a wonderful idea but I didn't have any variegated cotton in the stash. Also, I am uncertain about the picking up of stitches part. Should I have picked up stitches only on one side? There was no mention of that in the pattern. Any experts on the subject want to comment?

After finishing both Bejeweled and the dishcloth on the same day my fingers were itching to start something new and this is what happened:



I know it's hard to tell what it is so I'll help you. It's the beginnings of the Fake Isle Hat from Magknits. I just couldn't wait any longer! Considering that it's my first fair isle project I think that it's going rather well. The color choice wasn't the wisest, though. The pattern color is very similar to the background color in this section of the pattern. So the fair isle pattern doesn't show very well, but it hides mistakes too! : )

Here's a close up shot



Ok, enough blogging, more knitting!

I don't know if you've noticed but I've added a button in my side bar, for the Bejeweled Knitalong. I had been thinking about getting the pattern for a while now. I was afraid that it might be too hard for me! But then, yesterday, I finally decided to go for it and order it. I wanted to knit it from the stash and I managed to find one yarn that would work in yardage and weight. I didn't really have time to look at the pattern yesterday but I got around to it this morning. The pattern is super easy and a great start for a lace newbie like me.

So I cast on this morning and here is what I've got so far (actually it's more than that by now)

I was afraid that the variegation of the yarn would hide the stitch pattern but it still works out really well, although you can't really see it in the picture.

The yarn that I am using is Indigo Moon (50/50 Fine Mohair/Wool) by Done Roving from Maine. I bought this yarn this summer while spending the weekend in Maine.

I am using my new KP Option needles in size 10 and because of it decided to increase less than recommended. Even so, my scarf is still about an inch wider than the pattern. But I like it that way, I'll just have to make it a bit shorter to compensate.

ETA: The KAL officially starts on the 1st of January... But I wanted to knit something else than socks for a while, so I'm knitting away, at least today. Tomorrow I'll probably go back to socks!