Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Happy Halloween!



Our little bumblebee, Fiona, is not very excited but the rest of us are! Happy Halloween!

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Grasshopper #1



Here are a few photos of the first Knee High to a Grasshopper sock. They are soooo comfy to wear. I'm nearly 1/2 way to the heel on sock number 2. I can't wait to finish these socks!

Friday, October 26, 2007

distracted...

O.k., I know I don't have a big excuse for not blogging as regularly lately, but the real reason is ... ravelry! I feel like a little kid who can't stop playing with a new toy - it is amazing! I am a far cry from getting all my stash, projects, etc., entered in but I am so enjoying sharing ideas with others who share similar interests in patterns or other outside interests. And I just keep gathering projects to the point where my head is about to explode from trying to figure out what I should make next!

All that inspiration being said, my knitting progress has been slow. I finally finished my first Knee High to a Grasshopper sock (April sock from Rockin' Sock Club) and I just love the way it fits. I'm so glad I decided to knit the size small with larger needles. I think the next larger size just would've been way too baggy around the ankles and up the calf. Plus, with the smaller needles the fabric was knitting up like cardboard and I really wanted something slightly spongier and prettier.

I decided to go with the addi turbo size 1's. I bought one lace needle this time for the top of the sock and it is working like a charm. They only had a size 32" length at the store, and I was too impatient to order a 24" over the internet, but I still went with it and am so glad I did. It is making the lace knitting go much faster than before.

I plunged into the 2nd sock right away and have started it over 3 times. It just didn't look like the 1st one and I couldn't figure out what was wrong. Well, while knitting at my daughter's swim meet tonight I realized that it is because I messed up the initial increases on the first sock! I must've increased every row instead of every other row, so now I have to frog back to the beginning and do it "wrong" again so I will match my first sock! I like it better the way I did it anyway. Somehow It looks less pointy and seems shaped more like my foot. I just don't look forward to starting it over for a 4th time! Urgh!

Well, that's it for now. Sorry no pics but I will post some of the first finished sock soon.

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Knee High to a Grasshopper


I started the Knee High to a Grasshopper sock - the April 2007 mailing of the Blue Moon Fiber Arts - Rockin' Sock Club. I opted to make the size small sock. The pattern offers 2 options - a knee-high sock (which requires purchasing an extra skein of yarn) or a shorter sock. I chose the shorter sock, primarily because I didn't want to have to buy more yarn, but also because many others who have knit the knee highs say that they don't stay up, etc.

I swatched and ended up getting gauge using size 0's. So I went out and bought addi turbo circulars and got to work. The toe box immediately looked tremendously small but I kept going. I could get it on my toe but admittedly it was a little tight.



I followed the directions and started increasing for the gusset when I was about 3" from where I wanted the end of the sock to be. It was still a bit snug, but many people said that they liked it that way so I kept going.




Well, by the time I finished the heel, I was pretty disappointed with the fit, so I decided to frog the entire thing and start over. A week of knitting down the drain! But at least that's better than being unhappy with a pair of lovely socks that don't fit. I wish they'd listed in the pattern instructions the suggested dimensions of the sizes but I think I'm going to knit the same size small over again using the next larger size needles.

Friday, October 5, 2007

Ta, Da!


I finished the Petals Collection Bird of Paradise Socks! I only made one noticeable mistake (that I have found, anyway!). I was knitting at a very exciting part of my daughter's swim meet and dropped a few gusset stitches off my needle when I wasn't paying attention! When I picked them back up I somehow overlapped one over the other but didn't notice until I had knitted several more rows and thus decreased several more stitches, so I would've had to frog back quite far to fix it. Usually, I go back and fix such a mistake, but in a way I kind of liked having a reminder in the sock of that moment in time! So, I left it in! Otherwise, knitting them was fairly uneventful and now they are done.



Once again, like my first pair of Sundara's socks (which I will try to post about sometime soon) they turned out a little tight in the instep eventhough I picked up one extra stitch on each side of the heel flap. So, next time I knit one of Sundara's patterns I think I will pick up a few more stitches along the side of the heel to allow more ease (I think she likes a nice tight sock). But they are rather comfy and I think I will get a lot of use out of them.

Now I am off to start the Blue Moon Fiber Arts' Rockin' Sock Club Knee High to a Grasshopper sock!