More Charity Knitting And A Slow Moving Sock

Most of my knitting this last week or so has been hats.


The one on the right will go with a crocheted scarf that was made by Frances from my knitting & crochet class. Frances tries a new stitch pattern with every scarf she makes and is working her way through a book with 30 different patterns. The hat on the left will, hopefully, be sold to increase our kitty for yarn purchases. It combines a strand of apricot worsted weight with a multi-colored fun fur.


These two were knit to go with crocheted scarves someone crocheted and dropped off at the Sr. Center without leaving their name. The scarves are double crochet with fringe so I added some simple patterning to the hats.


This set is all mine - the scarf is garter stitch on size 15 needles, the hat is the standard pattern with a bit of patterning to again add some interest to the set.


Here is my slow moving sock - I don't think I'll get this pair done in time for SOS08, but they will get finished. I'm using my customized toe-up sock pattern and adding in the lace design from Wendy's Seaweed sock pattern. The original design for the large size sock was a 9 stitch repeat, so I added an extra purl stitch between the lace cables so I had 6 repeats of a 10 stitch pattern for 60 stitches that I'll have around the leg.


I really like the way that the lace also forms cables. Thanks, Wendy!


And finally, this is what passes for a diner salad these days - lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli, green pepper, & onion topped with lots of home grown tomatoes!! MMMMMMMMMM...

Lazy Sunday

It's been a fairly lazy day here, but I did get the sweeper run so I could take a couple new photos. Given the amount of cat hair on the carpets, all three of our feline masters should be downright BALD!!


This is the current progress on the multi-colored lap robe in the "brain dead" (aka "crazy" & "box") stitch. I have more rows to work to get it up to the 36" length for the hospital.


I worked a bit on the sock last night while watching a bit of the Olympics. Once the toe increases were done, I started working two repeats of Wendy's Seaweed lace pattern. I added an extra purl stitch between repeats so at 10 stitches it would work evenly into my 60 stitch sock. I love the way this #551 Vinca colorway is working up - it reminds me of tidal pools, beach sand & is just morphing into a touch of green like the grass above the beach. Once I'm past the heel shaping I'll work the lace pattern all the way around the leg. This pair will be #3 for the Summer of Socks 08.

08-08-08 - A FO & A New Start

I finished the second pair of socks for SOS08 a few minutes ago. These are made from Vinca color #8. I started them back on July 18th, but let them languish for over a week when I discovered a mistake a few rows back in the blueberry waffle stitch. Yesterday, I sat down, tinked back & got going again. I was disappointed that once again the two skeins of yarn didn't come close to matching - the solid grey around the heel of the left sock was nowhere to be found in the first skein and I was unable to find a spot in the second skein that would let me start with a solid blue that would then meld into a blue grey mix. Still, I like the yarn and love the way that it demands just a few more rows to see what the next color change will be.


A photo of the heel. The gusset isn't very big, but the heel fits nicely.


And here is the next pair - again Vinca yarn in color #551, size 2 Harmony double points and my usual toe up pattern. I haven't even started to think about what design I'll add either to the instep or the leg, but I love the shades in these skeins.

An FO Weekend

Actually, I finished the Queen Anne's Lace lap-robe on Friday, but didn't get a photo taken until last night. As you can see, my usual helper was on duty.


I knit these two "Dopey" hats on Saturday (and another one tonight that I haven't photographed yet). These are the same pattern I used a year or so back with the addition of a bit of fun fur to liven them up.


I also finished a "Charlie Brown" hat in blue with the famous black zig-zag just above the ribbing and got a good start on a scarf to go with it. The first Blueberry Waffle sock is bound off and I need to start sock #2. I should have taken the camera with me to knitting class today because the afghans & lap-robes for the hospital were picked up and I would have liked to get a photo of them. We filled one very large tote and another medium size tote, plus we had four on the table that were just brought in today that wouldn't fit.

Presenting ..... Boomer Belly!!

I just couldn't pass up a photo of Boomer, completely blissed out, showing his belly last night. {g}


Here's the well loved reason for the bliss - his catnip mouse which I knit from one strand of wool & one of recycled sari silk from The Wool Peddler almost two years ago when I was designing patterns for Stephanie. Boomer latched onto it about 10 minutes out of the carrier when we brought him home. Take a look at the post from April 17th last year and you'll see that at that time the mouse wasn't this tattered.


I've been busy with needles & hooks since my last post. I started SOS08 sock #3 Friday night. I'm using the Blueberry Waffle stitch pattern by Sandy Turner, but incorporating it into my standard toe-up design. This was taken last night - I'm a little further now, heading for the heel-bed.



The "Brain Dead" lap-robe is finished. The stitch pattern pulled in more than was apparent the first couple rows, so I added two rows on either side to make the finished afghan a little wider.


This is a close up of the stitch pattern. It's really easy to do and makes a nicer texture than plain old double crochet. I know that I'll be using the stitch again in the future, but will take gauge off this one so I know how wide to make subsequent ones.


For my next lap-robe, I'm using a pattern that I haven't revisited in over 30 years - Queen Anne's Lace. At least that's what it was called in the original pattern book. I found it again this last week on Annie's Attic free patterns and started it last night in worsted weight yarn and a size K hook. The first strip is about 5" wide and 36" long. I've just started the second strip after a bit of internal debate on which side of the first strip the second one was supposed to go. I think I finally got it figured out. One of the things I used to like best about this pattern is that you join the strips as you crochet them.

And Then There Were Two..

I finished the second pair of Vinca socks for the Summer of Socks 08. You saw the first one earlier but now there are two. This is color 548. I couldn't get the colors to match up because there wasn't as much as the darkest purple/red tones in the second skein as the first. Looking at what is left of the second skein, I don't think it would have helped if I had tried to start further into the skein - those dark tones just don't exist except in the smallest amounts. Anyway, the details are size 2 Harmony DPs, worked from the toe up starting with a figure 8 cast-on of 16 stitches (8 on each of two circulars), a 4-row rectangle that melds into the toe increases up to 60 stitches around. The leg pattern is a 12 stitch Feather & Fan lace with twelve repeats before 8 rows of K2, P2 ribbing. I purled the 3rd row of every lace repeat and this seems to have pulled the lace in lengthwise more than I expected. The leg above the ankle is about 4" unstretched. I'll be posting these to Ravelry's SOS08 group tonight, just in time to qualify for the July 7-18 contest.


These two skeins of Vinca color #8 will turn into the next pair of SOS08 socks. I'm thinking of using the BlueBerry Waffle stitch pattern, but continuing with my standard design of toe up.


This is the reason that pair #3 hasn't been cast on yet. Another K4 lap-robe that will be going to Beaumont Hospital in Troy. It's a version of Stashaholic's Brain Dead afghan which I found on Ravelry. It's a fun pattern to crochet - almost as easy as straight double crochet, but with a lot more interesting texture. I think I'll be using this pattern again & again. For now, I have about 10 more rows to complete and then a border.

Catching Up

I haven't been blogging much this week, but I have been working on projects and hanging around over on Plurk..


First up, a rather boring yellow lap robe (wheelchair size) for the hospital. Worked in worsted weight yarn, double crochet with a size K hook.


This lap robe is a "rescue". DH came home from garage sales Thursday morning with several bags of yarn including five 12" granny squares and the start of four more that measured about 6". There wasn't any matching yarn, so I crocheted the four small ones together and then assembled them with the full squares. I added onto the sides with a yarn that came close to the outside rows of the big squares and then worked one row of navy blue shells & a row of single crochet around to finish it off at about 30x38".

These next two are hats I knit to go with crocheted scarves that another member of our K4 group made.




Last weekend, I took a photo of the two skeins of Vinca color 548 yarn that I planned on using for the next pair for Summer of Socks 08. Looking at it in the skein, I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but I was pleasantly surprised once the first sock was complete.


The pattern is my standard toe-up with a feather & fan lace design in the leg. Unlike the last pair of F&F socks, I purled the 3rd row of the four row pattern and didn't start the lace until the heel was turned and the gussets shaped. I added a few rows of K2, P2 ribbing at the top before binding off. Now to cast on the second one.

What Is The Difference???

... between a sock cuff that took me over a week to complete and an almost identical cuff that I finished this afternoon? Answer: 1 Formula One British Grand race & 1 Indy Car Watkins Glen race plus a half hour or so of news. Presenting Summer of Socks 08 pair #1:


What you can't really tell from either of these photos is that the leg ribbing is a K3, P2 pattern that shifts one stitch every fourth row. Sounds simple - at least it did when I dreamed it up - but I found when trying to do it while reading, which is my usual knitting style, I was making too many mistakes and it was difficult to keep track while working within the black stripes of the yarn. Therefore, the first sock which was cast on at 12:01 on June 21st seemed to take forever once I got past the heel turn & the gussets. Today with two races to watch, I decided to hide the latest book and concentrate on the sock first & the races second. Next thing I knew, I was heading toward the finish line - ah, I mean bind-off. {g}


The ribbing on the right & left socks spiral in different directions so that they're mirror images. The yarn is On-Line & the sock pattern a version of the toe-up design I came up with earlier this year with the only difference being the ribbing on the leg. I used size 2 Harmony double points after starting the toe with two circulars to obtain a provisional cast-on. This is the same yarn that I attempted to knit on size 1 needles only to find that with that size I get a gauge of 11 stitches to the inch instead of the 8 stitches with size 2 needles. I'll try to get a better photo of the ribbing soon. Right now, I'm going to pick out the skeins of Vinca I want to use for SOS pair #2.

FOs!!!

A few photos of some finished projects instead of the garden.


I spread the green afghan out for the photo shoot and Boomer thought it was worth investigating. Looks innocent, doesn't he?


"Hmmm.. Maybe there's a mouse under here somewhere?"


"If I tie this chunk of green whatsit in knots, I'll have any resident mice trapped!!"



After *suggesting* that Boomer might like to visit the basement, I tried again. I finished this hat a few weeks ago and then got busy on the afghans. Finished the scarf yesterday so now it's a complete set.


This hat was knit to go with a scarf a new member of our K4 group knit. She wasn't at the meeting today but we'll get them united sooner or later.

No photos yet, but I finished up the first sock this afternoon and cast on for the second. The toe is complete and I'm working toward the heel.

In a comment a couple days ago, Angie asked about the leaf pattern I used on a vest that I made for Mom back in the April 10, 2005 post. The leaf pattern is the exact same one as is shown in the Leisure Arts booklet. I've used different lace patterns, but the lime green version was straight from the pattern, except that I knit the vest in the round up to the armholes instead of knitting a front & a back. Hope that helps.

Summer Of Socks 08 - Started

It's a little belated because I'm in the process of setting up the NEW COMPUTER, but this photo was taken at 12:34 a.m., Saturday, June 21st.


That's the very start of the toe at which point I gave up and went to bed. The sock is coming along - the toe & foot are done and I started the heel bed. I'm trying a variation of using slip 1, k1 on the right side rows of the heel bed and slip 1, purl across on the wrong side along with offsetting the slip stitches every 4th row. I'll try to get a photo when I get past the heel turn.

Busy Week

I've been trying to clear the decks for the beginning of the Summer of Socks 08 which starts in about 20 minutes.


First project - which is coming up short by about 12 rows - is an afghan for Beaumont Hospital which asked our K4 group to knit or crochet two full sized afghans and a number of smaller lap robes for which they've provided the yarn. This is the first of the full sized ones (50"x65") which I started on Monday during knitting class.


Second project, which did get finished, is the first pair of socks out of my Vinca sock yarn stash. I love them, but the yarn doesn't run quite true in color sequence even though I pulled out some of the second skein until I was where I thought the colors on the toe of the first sock started.


Details: Vinca super-wash sock yarn, size 2 Harmony DPs, and my toe-up sock pattern. They didn't get finished as fast as the pair I made before them but that was in part because I wanted to work slow so they'd last until SOS08 starts tonight at midnight. I used two circulars and a figure 8 cast on for the toe, worked a small rectangle and then picked up stitches and switched to DPs.


Here are my materials that I'll pick up about 11 minutes from now. Sadie decided that she wanted to help while I was arranging needles & yarn, so she got into the photo.


What's that I see in the front hallway??? A NEW COMPUTER!!! Actually, we got two of them and DH is in the process of getting his set up before he tackles mine. This one has a sound card so I'll be able to listen to knitting pod-casts (and the Grateful Dead) on line.. More later, it's time to cast on..