iheartknitting

This fall - well, last fall really.  It was LAST year after all - I decided to be all crafty for my family.  It started out innocently enough, with wanting to make my nieces something I'd had in the back of my mind for a long time.  They go to a school whose mascot is a Panther.  And their logo is a paw.  How cool would that be as an illusion scarf?!?  So I set out to knit two before their football season ended.  I got them to them on October 29.  Pretty good timing, I think.

Pretty nifty, no?

My nieces enjoyed the scarves, too.

OK, maybe Rachel enjoyed her Halloween candy more...

Yup, Grace looks happy

You can tell pretty well in the second picture that the paw print doesn't show up straight on, but in the final picture, you can see it starting to pop.  I'm proud of those little scarves, and they honestly weren't hard to make.  I think my nieces will enjoy them for a while.  Now, I need to make my other niece and nephew one, as they go to a school with a polar bear mascot. Polar bears also have paws...

I've seamed all of the squares together.  Tomorrow, it will get a good bath, and then, it's off to block.  After that, all I have to do is the i-cord edging.  Perfect lap blanket.

Way back in May, I attended the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival with my good friend, Andi.  We had a blast that weekend, just chilling in our hotel room and enjoying the festival.  I wasn't too keen on buying much yarn, since my stash is pretty exorbitant, but I did have one thing in mind.  I really wanted to make the Mitered Crosses Blanket by Mason-Dixon Knitting.  I had bought the pattern, as the proceeds went to the relief effort for the earthquake in Japan, and wanted to make it with something rustic.  No sir, no Noro for me!  At the end of our time at the Sheep and Wool Festival, I happened upon a Bartlett Yarns' stall. The worsted weight wool was exactly what I was looking for!  After a few moments of deliberation about color, I purchased enough yarn to make the blanket as written.

The yarn was immediately caked when I got back to my hotel room, and I cast on for it that night. In case anyone is curious, my entire haul looked a bit like this:

Only one other skein of yarn (STR mediumweight for a Chevron scarf I'd like to make) and LOTS of honey!  I also bought a stuffed sheep... don't ask...

Well, knitting the blanket has been a bit slow going - as blankets sometimes are.  But I finished the last of my 10 squares - again, that's what the pattern calls for - in late August.  After laying them all out on my bed, and after a few discussions with my friend Andrea, I decided the blanket may be a wee bit small.  But... I don't know that I have it in me to knit more squares.  At least not now, and I really want this blanket.  It matches my office chair so well, and I really want to be finished with this.  So I'm forging ahead!

On Tuesday this week, I began seaming my squares exactly as the pattern calls for - 3 needle bind off, RS facing.

I'm not sure if you can see that... there's a GIANT seam in the middle of these two squares!!  Does this help?

It isn't exactly the look I was going for with my seams.  So my next thought was to just seam them with a needle and some yarn.  Yea, I hate seaming.  Just really not something I enjoy doing.  And just last week, the one of the Mason-Dixon ladies had seamed their blanket with wrong sides facing, so maybe I'd try that, just to see.

Now that's more like it!  And I think that it'll match the i-cord border much better than the unseemly seam!

In sock news, I did finish my last Sockdown sock.  But.... I cheated.  I used my go-to short-row heel.  I know, I know, but at least it's done!  And now, I can actually knit what I want to knit!

So I have one more sock to go.  ONE MORE!  This challenge has been... challenging... for me.  I have learned a LOT through the year about socks, so for the FINAL sockdown challenge, I've decided to continue that theme.  The designer for the month is Wendy Johnson, who is a talented knitter and designer.  She has many, many sock patterns out there.  So many to choose from!  I own one of her books, but can't remember which one.  She published two 'toe-up sock' books within a year of each other, and they have very similar titles.  I kind of feel like the content is the same, but can't remember, and have never cared to look at it too much.  I believe I have this one.  It's informative, but it isn't my favorite book.  Anyway... since I'm continuing the theme of learning, I'm going to knit her Temptation Top-Down Socks.  The heel is constructed in an interesting way.  And it takes into account one of the biggest things I've learned this year - I do not like to knit or wear patterned socks.  I am 100% positive that I only like plain, boring vanilla socks.   And I'm ok with that.

Months have passed, and I have *almost* completed the Sockdown Challenge.  I still have one sock to go, and it's for the month of July.  I have until August 31 to finish, but I do have to start by July 31.  The last sock I shared on the blog was February's, which leaves plenty of Sockdown goodness to show.

March - The theme for the challenge was Lace and I've always wanted to knit a pair of Nutkins.  Even though I have the Wollmeise, which is called for in the pattern, I decided to use another very thin yarn, Trekking XXL.  I've had this yarn in my stash forever (2006-ish) and love the colorway.  The Trekking XXL that is in stores today doesn't have the same feel as what this yarn has - there is almost a handspun quality to it - and the striping just isn't as subtle.  I'm happy with these socks, and the knitting was pretty easy.  It took me far less than a month, even with the lack of knitting mojo I've had.

April - We were challenged with a sock made with non-traditional construction.  No other sock comes to mind when I think 'non-traditional' like Skew.  This was  a fun knit, and a quick one - just a little over two weeks for both socks.  It was interesting seeing the sock come together, and as everyone says, you really have to trust the pattern with this sock.  I'm still unsure how I like the fit on these socks.  Only time will tell.  The yarn is Socks that Rock Lightweight in the Lucy colorway.

May - This month involved texture, and it couldn't be ribbing.  I've passed over Hermione's Everday Socks before, and I'm glad that I came back to them for this challenge.  The only thing that made these socks difficult was the yarn.  I purchased this Plymouth Yarn Zinnio at the Great Lakes Sheep and Wool Fetival last year.  I enjoyed the colorway and was hoping that it would be more like Trekking XXL used to be.  What I got, though, was some very splitty, very hairy yarn.  The socks look great, but it wasn't the most enjoyable knit.

You can kind of see the texture at the top, right?

June - Self-striping yarn, which I ADORE, was the theme this month, however, we weren't 'allowed' to knit just plain ol' vanilla socks.  The pattern had to show off the stripes in some way.  I scoured Ravelry for a good pattern, but the only thing I could come up with was Jaywalker.  Don't get me wrong, I like this pattern, but I've done it before, and I feel like the socks are sort of difficult to fit.  I decided to knit these for my friend Mary's daughter, who turned 5 last week.  She loves the socks, and I'm glad for it!  Since I wasn't enamored with the pattern, I didn't want to use some of the self-striping stuff in my stash.  I'm saving those skeins for boring vanilla socks.  I decided to use Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Girly Stripe.  When I purchased the yarn, I loved it.  Seeing it knit up, however, I've lost my love.  The stripes aren't nearly wide enough for my liking!  I'm sad about that, because I have a few more skeins of LL striping yarn, and I'm sad to see the tiny little stripes it produces.  I'm super happy to have given these to Mary's daughter, though.  She starts school in the fall, and has to wear a uniform.  Socks are about the only thing that can showcase her awesome personality, and I think they do a great job!

Stolen from Mary's website - Even this kid's shadow looks happy!

So just one more pair of socks, then it's back to regularly scheduled knitting.

Participating in the Sockdown Challenge has actually paid off for me.  I know, I was whining about it two weeks ago, but honestly, I'm glad that I'm knitting socks.  I enjoy knitting socks (can you tell?) and I'm WINNING!  And not just in a Charlie Sheen crazy kind of way.  See that picture down there?

I won that.  It's a Knit Sack from Peg's Procrastination and it has a TON of goodies on it.  First, there is a clip on the drawstring, so I could potentially clip it to my belt look so I didn't have to carry it.  Second, it has a row counter on the drawstring.  Very useful, that.  The bag opens up plenty wide for storing your WIPs.  There is a handy pocket inside.  It has a key ring on the inside with, this is my favorite, stitch markers attached to it.  And the best part, there is a handy little loop for threading your yarn through before you begin a project.  Just helps to keep the ball inside the bag.  All in all, a phenomenal prize for knitting a pair of socks back in October.

But to top the WINNING! off, I also won a prize for my January socks.  I haven't received it yet, but it is a month of Enchanted Knoll's Happy Hooves Sock Yarn club.  I think that's pretty spiffy and totally WINNING!

One of my coworkers is about to give birth to a baby boy, and I didn't want the little guy to go unhatted. (ok, so I'm blogging on my iPhone, and autocorrect just kicked in. For unhatted, it subbed the word untasted. This could have been a whole other, highly inappropriate blog post). I made two hats for her baby boy and couldn't be more in love with the outcome!

So after the whiny tirade I went on last week (thanks PMS and lack of sleep), I decided to put on my big girl pants and dig right into the February socks.  It is amazing what a simple pattern and determination can do for me.

I finished these socks faster than I think I've ever finished a pair of socks before.  The challenge was for Man Socks - any socks specifically designed for the Y chromosome set.  When I searched Ravelry's database, there were a LOT of socks.  I decided that, since it just had to be a sock designed for a man, a simple pattern would suit my tastes.  I'm more of a stockinette sock kind of girl anyway, and I've had this yarn in my stash for a while, so I went with the Men's Basic Sock (rav link).   I began last Tuesday with the cast on, was finished with the first sock Friday evening, and completed the second sock Sunday afternoon.   I am amazed by the quickness with which I knit this sock, though I've known others to complete socks quickly like this.  I've just never done it before!  I can now work on other things without feeling guilty

Next month's challenge is lace - anything that has a yarn over in the pattern.  I know that I don't like a LOT of lace on the foot of my sock, as it bothers my foot, so maybe I'll go with another simple pattern.  Something like Cookie A.'s Monkey pattern or possibly Nutkin (which I can knit with some of my stashed Wollmeise).  I'm feeling much better about the Sockdown Challenge now that I'm all caught up.

My socks are done!

I am beyond happy with them!! And I'm super glad they are finished.
So once I finished them, I got out the yarn for February's socks. I had a few problems winding the yarn in the past, and it was a little twisty in the ball, but workable, however, Lucy got hold of it later.

Not sure if you can see all of the yarn that has been pulled out of the ball.  This means that the ball needs to be rewound.  And my ballwinder is NOT good at rewinding yarn - it works ok when it's coming off the swift, but not when it's coming out a ball.  Something about the tension required to wind it properly.

And this is what I was complaining about yesterday.  I feel like I get one step closer to finishing a goal, then SOMETHING happens and it yanks me back three steps.  It's really getting old.  I think I'm going to have to pick a different pattern, though, and carry on.  I really want to accomplish this goal!  And I'm bound and determined to do it!

So the Sockdown Challenge - not going as well as originally planned.  I have finished socks for each month.  Proof?

November:

December:

I'm way far behind though.  January is working at the moment (we have two months to finish the socks)... February's will be started this week... I think.  I'm not doing well with the "must knit this" rigidness of it, though I think that's why I started the challenge to begin with.  To make some socks that aren't just plain ol' vanilla stockinette socks.  That was the point, wasn't it?  But so far, I only like two pairs that I've made (out of 4 that are completed).  That isn't a good thing, is it?  I'm really hoping that the sock mojo comes back or I'm going to have to throw in the towel for the official challenge.

So what about January's sock?  Well, I was enjoying knitting it.  It is different than any sock I've ever knit (link to the Ravelry pattern info).  And sock #1 came together quickly - less than a week to finish everything but the afterthought heel.  The second sock, though, I wasn't digging the colors.  But I powered through.  So on Saturday, nearly three weeks after I started the second sock, I finished knitting everything but the afterthought heel.  I got the heel done on the first sock, and when I unravelled the waste yarn on the second sock, I realized that I had put the waste yarn in wrong.  So I had to rip out the second sock all the way to the heel!  I'm hoping that I can power through tonight and tomorrow and finish it.  It will be a giant relief to be done with these socks.

For my February socks, I believe I'm just going to do a simple pattern.  The challenge is man socks, and Thuja might just be the pattern I've been looking for.  I have some very basic grey yarn that I'd like to use up too, so that will be easy enough.

I realize that complaining about a 'deadline' that was given to me by an Internet challenge is ridiculous!  But I really was looking forward to accomplishing something.  Each year I begin by saying that I won't buy any yarn.  And new yarn enters my house by the middle of January (this year it was because of an AWESOME destash I attended in January).  Or I say no more sock yarn or no more snacks after 7 or no more this or no more that or more going to the gym or ... I think you get the picture. I have a plan, but I rarely follow through.  This was something I believed that I could follow through with.  Don't get me wrong, I'm following through with the Sockdown Challenge, but it hasn't been enjoyable.  I guess goals sometimes aren't, though, right?  No pain, no gain as they say.  Maybe I need a new way to look at this...