STR Binge

After a long dry spell, I'm finally back to my usual Socks That Rock knitting.

Pattern: Northampton Beat Socks by a dear friend Knittinggolfer
yarn: STR lightweight in Seastone
needle: size US 1.5 KP nickel-plated dpns & size US 1 Signature Stiletto dpns
only mod: longer heel flap for my higher instep

Pattern: Sweet Home by the sweet Irishgirlieknits
yarn: STR lightweight in I Love What You're Wearing
needles: US 1.5 KP nickel-plated circs - I went on vacation with this project

March RSC kit
pattern: Intrepid Traveler by Gail Marracci
yarn: STR lightweight in Kool Aid Acid Test
needles: US size 2 & 1.5 KP dpns & circs

I started off the sock on dpn’s for the cuff & first 5 repeats of the leg. But in anticipation of traveling by plane for a visit to see  my family in HI, I switched to circs (KP Harmony). The switch was to reduce my klutzy likelihood of dropping a needle & losing it somewhere during my trip. The needle material switch was to keep gauge since while I am normally tighter on circs, I am looser on wood wrt metal.

As I was putting my circulars away until I needed them for the 2nd sock, I measured what I thought was my second 2.75 mm KP Harmony circ & found it to be a 2.50 mm circ. I checked all my other Harmony circs just in case I mis-filed it & didn’t find one. I wonder if KP’s manufacturer mis-labeled the circ or their tolerance was way off. If so that explains why I got the pooling in the leg when I switched from dpns to circs - inadvertently knitting the rest of the leg half on 2.50 mm & half on 2.75 mm.

I also finished Monkey1's blankie in Crystal Palace Mochi Plus.  I was short on the main color, but when we went to Purlescence to buy 2 more skeins, Monkey 1 opted for a contrasting solid border color instead of the matching pastel.  We're both happy with how it came it, so much so Monkey1 won't let me have it back to wash & block it yet. 

Pattern: Parquet Squares blanket
yarn: Crystal Palace Mochi Plus in Baby Face (main color) & Purple Rain (border)
needle: size 9 KP Harmony circs

Pattern: Jayne Cobb Hat - There are so many free ones I had to double-check which one I used
yarn: Cascade 128 Superwash in 3shades centered around the red
size: medium - I'm not sure if it's large enough so I may knit a second

This is a gift in reds instead of the original oranges, but I'm contemplating making a second with the colors in a different order and in the large size 'cause I'm unsure of this one.

And I'll leave off with a view on the Kaneohe side of the Ko'olau Range on Oahu from my trip.  It's a little less common to have a clear view as most of the time the rain clouds obscure the tops of the mountain range.  This is not your typical tourist view as it's mostly locals who see this when they visit their loved ones at one of the memorial parks in Kaneohe. 

Monkey2's foot cozies

As I was trying on the first sock on my sleepy Monkey2's feet one morning, she mumbled, "Ooh, those feel nice.  Is this my foot cozy?"  And so they are.

yarn: Regia 4-ply Flusi Das Socken Monster in Fraulein
needles: US 1.5 (2.50 mm) KP Harmony dpns
CO 56 sts
Simple 2x2 ribbing throughout the leg & instep
Worked until hit the bottom of her big toe & did a typical wedge toe bind off.  It's a little pointier than I should've made for her feet but it does give a teeny bit of growing room.

And with that done, I'm back to my usual pile of WIP's.  Well, technically the black one w/silver sparkles retangular wrap in the top left corner is Monkey1's.  While it should be easy on size 17 needles in garter stitch, she sometimes can't see the loops well enough & so she has me correct her errors.  I did try to power through her WIP in case she could wear it to the one "formal" dinner on the cruise ship, but once we found out it would be the second night of the cruise, I abandoned it for her ruffle scarf instead.  I'll have to have her get back to it or it'll end up permanently in my pile.

Continuing clockwise from Monkey1's WIP, is the olive Berroco Cuzco Cosima.  This may be a very long term knit since many Ravelers seem to have to make a lot of adjustments for a decent fit.  The little red blob is the beginning of a gift hat so it should go quick, the blue/beige shawlette WIP is Stephen West's Blue Whale from A Verb for Keeping Warm's Pro-Verbial yarn club, and the brown infinity scarf is a Twisted Rib Neckwarmer in The Plucky Knitter MCN Aran.  Underneath it all is the mostly brainless Crystal Palace Mochi Plus Parquet Squares blankie for Monkey1.  I don't have enough to finish, so I need to order more of the colorway.

But with all that, I don't have a sock on the needles, especially with Monkey2's foot cozies being done.  I should wind my Jan 2011 Blue Moon RSC kit & cast on, but our March 2011 RSC kit is travelling towards us & should arrive soon.  Then there's 2 of the 3 kits from last year I should knit.  (Not knitting up Sweet Pea 'cause I'm saving that for the next female baby in my extended family...that lives somewhere colder than Oahu and the Philippines, that is.)  And still in the Blue Moon theme, the Socks that Rawk group has a KAL voting poll going on and I have all 5 of the paid patterns in my "library" of patterns.  But that's won't start 'til the beginning of April once the voting is done.

Then there's Irishgirlieknit's Walk Now.  I even have a skein of Plucky Knitter Primo in a neutral color that would go well with it.  I guess I'll knit on my WIP's while I contemplate which yarn & sock pattern to do next.

The good, the bad, the ugly

The good: from the Once in a Blue Moon Rare Gems sale at BMFA -


All lightweight, one in each category (Earth, Fire, Air, and Water), not necessarily in that order since I think Tina & her dyers based the categories on what dyes and overdyes were used, not necessarily what the end result was. I love them all, but if I had to pick favorites, they are the 2 intensely deep ones on the left.

Also good: The first Knetted sock I cast on for the Blue Moon Cast On -


Sept RSC kit
medium weight STR in River Rocked
pattern size: medium-ish
size 2.50 mm KP circs
mod: foot decreased to 54 sts, 1 extra diamond repeat on the leg, but I bet if I weigh this sock & the remaining skein, I could've gotten on more diamond repeat on the leg.

The good & the bad:


pattern: Jasmine fingerless mitts by Adrienne Fong
yarn: Crystal Palace Mini Mochi in Neptune Rainbow
needle size: 2.50 mm KP Harmony circ
mod: extra lace repeat since Monkey1 wanted it longer

When we got back from vacation, I realized that the light turquoise was very sparse to almost non-existent in the second skein. The second half of the first skein & most of the second skein had a royal blue instead of the turquoise, so I punted the idea of getting both mitts to match color progression at all.

I do like the pattern & the colorway though, so that's good. The bad however was the yarn. It's splitty, the single ply is underspun in spots & I had to spit-splice it together many times, and it behaves like sticky mohair when attempting to frog or tink back a bit (looks mohair-ish too w/its halo). Maybe if I knit my Noro sock or sample Malabrigo sock, I would feel differently. Or even if I got a second generation of the mini-mochi instead of the first? Who knows, but it'll be awhile before I knit up the second skein.

It's just bad:


It used to be a completed Brioche Hat for DH. Then he asked me to extend it - several months after it sat in a dresser drawer in our cabin upon completion.

The bad part's not that I started slowly frogging it from the top even though I don't remember much on how a brioche stitch in progress looks like after several months. It's the stitch that snagged on something in the drawer he kept it in. It's to the right of the orange stitch marker, an inch from the cast on row that is currently causing me much angst. So, to fix that somehow (duplicate stitch for 2 inches on each side of it?) or to frog entirely & start over? That is my dilemma.

The ugly, though I could call it a swatch since I intend to frog & start over, but probably in a different pattern, maybe something stripey instead:


pattern: Beginner's Fair Isle Headband
size 7 KP circs
yarn: Nashua Handknits Grand Opera in Teal & Silver

Sometimes I should say no to Monkey1's requests when I feel it probably won't work. It was a bad combination of needle size, gauge, yarn and pattern. I didn't bring my entire needle set when we were vacationing, I had limits but tried it anyway. I did like the initial pattern & yarn combo on size 5 dpns, but that made the headband infant-sized and too stiff to work as a headband. I probably should've started a stripey scarf instead, which is what was intended for the leftover yarn. Knitting on size 7 circs Magic Loop style made the colorwork look really crappy and made keeping the floats even at the transition halves w/this yarn difficult.

Hopefully next time I tell Monkey1 it won't work, she (and I) will believe it and I won't need to "swatch" to prove my point. But then, that's par for the course in the parent/child experience.

Back from vacation

We got a little bit of snow. Just enough for a little snow angel & snowman-making.


After what seemed like an infinite amount of 2x2 ribbing, I am done with my mother-in-law's belated holiday gift:


Seamingly Simple Vest
Cherry Tree Hill Twister in Waters Potluck (assuming it's the same base yarn as BMFA's Twisted) - I think this is discontinued by CTH
size 10 KP Harmony circs
size: to the waist as my m-i-l is a petite lady


Finished 2 pairs of gift mitts and half of Monkey1's mitts , mainly because I forgot to bring the second ball of yarn to match up the color progression per Monkey1's request. All in need of a wash & block, though I did steam block one of the Evenstar fingerless mitts just to see.

On the left:
Fine Cabled Mitts by Anne Hanson
Koigu KPM in a blinding chartreuse - I have no idea what to set my camera to so it doesn't fuzz out
size 3.00 mm KP Harmony dpns
small/med size

In the middle:
Evenstar Gloves
Shekinah's Alpacas 100% alpaca 2-ply sport - bought from Piedmont Yarns booth at Stitches West 2009 (IIRC)
size 3.25 mm KP Harmony dpns

On the right:
Jasmine fingerless mitts by Adrienne Fong
Crystal Palace mini-mochi in Neptune Rainbow
size 2.50 mm KP Harmony circs (need to double check)
mod: extra lace repeat in total to make cuff/arm length a little longer


And on New Year's Eve for the Blue Moon Fiber Arts Blue Moon Cast On, I took a picture of what the blue moon looked liked up in the Sierras and I cast on the only BMFA skein I had with me:


Rockin Sock Club 2009 Sept yarn & pattern
pattern: Knetted by Cat Bordhi
yarn: BMFA STR medwgt in River Rocked
needles: 2.50 mm KP nickel-placed circs
mod so far: added an extra diamond to the leg to make it slightly longer

Hope everyone had a Happy New Year's weekend and best wishes for the upcoming year and new decade.

Circles Never End

I didn't think much about Cat's nifty moebius concept since I bought her book & the skein of LSS at Sock Camp last April 'til tapmouse suggested I join in Tina's KAL. After the sucky start of my new year, I figured I too needed a little peace and decided to join in. The only thing I won't be doing though is dragging this WIP out for 4 years. Maybe I'll do one a year. And instead of for 4 years, hopefully 8 like Carole suggested in the comments.


yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Luscious Single Silk in Moody Blues
pattern: Cat Bordhi's moebius scarf from knitty gritty
needles: US size 10.5 KP nickel-plated circs

While I started working the main pattern yesterday during the inaugural ceremonies, I cast on earlier last week. It took me a few tries. While Cat's tutorial is awesome in how easy the cast on is, I had issues in 1) casting on the correct number of stitches for the pattern, and 2) prevent myself from adding in extras crossings/twists while knitting the first round, all at the same time. It probably didn't help that I tried to learn another new cast on during the same week.


Yup, I started DH's forest green & tan vertically striped hat. It took several aborted attempts on dpns & KP circs magic loop style before I remembered I still had my old Boyes Interchangeable set that would allow me to have a 16" circular. A total doh moment! So much easier to keep the cast on stitches aligned straight while joining the 2-color tubular cast on in the round. It was an absolute PITA on dpns or a much longer circular needle.

It was so frustrating that I cast on what I thought would be a suitable alternate hat for DH in the meantime.


The Other Hat that Rocks
Knit Picks Swish Bulky in Squirrel Heather
size 9 & 10.5 Knit Picks Harmony circs
pattern size large

After checking to make sure that he also didn't think cables are "girly" (guess who Monkey1 got that idea from), I cast on & finished in 2 days! Even in between boring chores & tasks. Then DH tells me "It's not green. Or tan." So. Now it looks like that co-worker that half-jokingly asks for a hand-knit item now has one. Or at least he will have one next holiday season.

Back in business

After posting a couple pleas on Ravelry for my Marron Oscuro Malabrigo lace, in the end I found another yarn store online that did have it in stock. For reals. And they were very quick in replying to my e-mail and mailing the skeins out. The skeins are a bit more orange than my original two, but it could've been worse. I saw a worsted weight skein in this colorway somewhere that was practically blush pink.

Because of the color difference, the plan of attack will be to knit hint #5 only with one of new skeins and then finish off hints 6-9 with the second original skein since I got all they way through hints 1-4 with the first skein. Hopefully balancing the colors this way will work.

But before I got those skeins in the mail, I grabbed a skein of Crystal Palace Merino 5 in pink (yes, pink!) from Article Pract for Monkey2's BFF. Unfortunately, the toddler BR hat pattern I chose didn't go quickly enough, so I missed the birthday deadline and BFF has moved on to pre-school. So by default it'll be Monkey2's hat.


Of course, there was no way I was going to leave Article Pract with just one skein of Merino 5. I finally got my hands on the Noro Kureyon sock yarn. And it's no surprise, especially to tapmouse, that the colorway I picked has my favorite Noro cobalt blue. I think I will knit a pair of socks out of this skein, but I am fully prepared to deal with all its quirks detailed in many a review. After all, I managed to survive making a Silk Garden Clapotis as my first big knitting project without giving up on knitting altogether.


I somehow missed this yarn at the Bobbin's Nest booth at Stitches West, but my excuse is that their booth was a little small and it was during the crowded lunch/class break period at the Market. In the end, I got these 2 Hazel Knits colorways simply by checking her online shop. At least this way I got the Chocolatier (left) and Weekend Warrior (right) colorways that I wanted.


And speaking of chocolate, tapmouse & I discovered the yummy tasting Cosmic Chocolate location just a few doors down from Article Pract on our more recent visit. (You gotta see tapmouse's pics!) Between that and Bakesale Betty's fried chicken sandwich, it's going to be really dangerous to the wallet & waistline going there. Oh, but what a confluence of shopping delights!

Sometimes only a hat (or 2) will do

Not feeling the sock knitting lately and not yet mentally ready to seam all my Twist pieces despite the fact the sleeves should be dry by now. I saw Nathania knitting the red version of her cap pattern at Purlescence during one of the Twist KAL sessions and I really liked it. Besides I figured it was a great way to use up 2 of the single skeins in my stash.


Pattern: K & K Caps
size: both toddler/small (yes, Monkey1's head is on the small side)

Left -
Crystal Palace Merino 5 Solid in Vibrant Blue (same as Monkey2's toddler socks)
under 1 skein (need to weigh how much I have remaining)
size 7 & 9 dpns to get gauge

Right -
Knit Picks Swish in Red Pepper (had bought 2 skeins when I made Monkey1's crocheted Mary Janes but only needed 1)
just under 1 skein (5 g leftover)
size 6 & 8 dpns w/a slightly tighter gauge than pattern so it's a bit too snug for the Monkeys, despite Monkey1's assurances otherwise.

The blue hat stays as Monkey2's, but the red hat is an undesignated gift or charity hat. My stash of ready-made gifts have been depleted, so I need to stock up again.

Heading into sweater only knitting

Since I'm trying to make myself do sweaters only this month (well, essentially anything not socks), I won't have a FO for awhile.


deets:
Crystal Palace Merino 5
size 5 Clover bamboo dpns
3" leg including 1" k1p1 cuff
rest of sock in St st
36 st cast on for a gauge of 6 spi

Monkey2 is not one for negative ease. She wouldn't wear the STR Fairgrounds socks I made her earlier this year which I based on the Knitty toe up sock formula cause she didn't like the snug fit. And to make sure it wouldn't be a struggle to put her new socks on, I opted for a regular heel & gusset instead of a short row heel.

I was such the proud mama when Monkey2 called these her "yarn socks" as she knew these were most definitely not regular ole socks. And she said it too cutely for me to teach her to correctly call them handknit socks.


My other FO is my Zig Zag scarf that was my alternate knit here and there at home. I finally got the urge to finish it.


Deets:
yarn - Yarn Botanika 100% cashmere (dc'd?) in Pink Sand - 200 yd/50 g
pattern - Lacy Zig Zag scarf
needle size - US 8
6" X 44" after steam blocking

Interrupting the WIP's for Harry

Got my book yesterday and proceeded to ignore the house-cleaning and folding the laundry (at least it's been washed & dried) and put my mad speed reading skills into high gear. DH had a refresher course on what I used to do before I knit. ;)

My sister got the book the day before and we vowed not to call each other 'til we knew we were both done. Gotta love siblings that understand the Harry thing. She really hates being spoiled and was beside herself when people at the bookstore proceeded to, not only open the book at the end, but read parts of the book out loud. She did all she could to get the heck out of there with her copy unscathed.

Luckily, that didn't happen to me 'cause I got mine at Costco amidst the Sunday morning shopping rush. And DH thoughtfully stuck my copy in a plastic bag from the meat department so it wouldn't get stained from anything that could leak as he knows how much of a neat freak I am about my books.


But before I got the book, I did manage to get quite a few rows into my Horcrux sock in fingering weight. The pattern's available at the Six Sox KAL yahoo group. (The worsted weight version is available here.) Thanks to tapmouse for pointing me in that direction.

For some reason my brain associated horcruxes with the color dark green, so I cast on with Yarn Botanika's superwash merino tencel in Pine Forest. It's thinner than BMFA's Seduction as far as my initial swatching went, so it'll be a nice learning experience for me.

Also in so progress is my Menehune Cobblestone sock. So, so soft. Splitty as heck, but I guess I'm used to it when I've been working with cotton. It's also giving me a nice break from all the ribbing I've been doing for my Something Red (which I've torn back to re-do the increases) and the Horcrux sock.