fidget

Finally posting photos of my newest finished knit. Last month the sale yarn at the Knit Shop was Louisa Harding Kashmir DK, a super-squishy merino/microfiber blend with a touch of cashmere. I bought 2 skeins to make CO some mitts for her birthday, but only used a tiny bit of the second skein, so I went back and snapped up a 3rd to make a floppy beret. I’d been seeing these hats around and decided I had to have one. Bonus: this yarn is my very favorite color – a rich, teal-blue.

I looked on Ravelry for free patterns and there were a lot but none of them were for DK weight yarn. I decided to just make up my own, since I have big head and I wanted the hat to really be floppy. I had a bit of trial and error to make it tall enough before decreasing, but once I got started on the final version I finished it off within a week. This is my first new hat in years – and I love it.

Ravelry link

I finished my Re-Sweater!

I’m so glad I decided to unravel and re-design/re-knit. This sweater is so warm – I wore it all weekend with just a long-sleeved t-shirt and didn’t even need to wear a jacket over it. Super-cozy!

Before

After

Ravelry link: Before, After

Hot, hot, hot!

The first pair of socks I knit were for BN. He picked out a lovely reddish-orange yarn and I designed a simple-but-interesting chain/rib pattern for the cuff. They were fun to knit, and came out very nice if I do say so myself. But, I ran out of yarn right before the toe on the second sock! I had to go buy an additional skein just to get those 20 or so yards I needed to finish the project. The leftovers were plenty to make myself a pair and I found the perfect pattern – “Tiger Eyes” by Margaret K. K. Radcliffe from Socks, Socks, Socks. The intricate, swirling pattern that runs up the front is so exotic and appealing – this project caused a stir in my knitting group. This is one of the first really detailed lace projects that I’ve done – I had to pay attention closely to the chart. This project followed my 3 rules for successful socks:

1. Knit them toe-up. Not that my first sock-knitting project scarred me or anything! Seriously, though, toe-up prevents the dreaded run-out-of-yarn problem and I love long socks so if I knit them toe-up I can make them as long as the yarn lasts.

2. Must contain ribbing. They will certainly sag, bag, and bunch around the ankles otherwise. It’s best to make at least part of the sock leg ribbed so that it has a chance to stay up… I’ve knit several pairs now where the details and beauty are on the front and the back is ribbed. In this case, a pretty mock-cable rib keeps it un-boring and more in key with the complexity of the tiger-eye motif on the front.

3. Repeat after me: Cat Bordhi rules! Her “new pathways for sock knitters” allows me to take any sock design or stitch pattern and adapt it to my size. In this case I used the “riverbed” architecture.

Ravelry link

My sister gave birth to a son, the first of “the next generation” on my side of the family. Baby JWS was born June 26th, 8 lbs 12 oz. From the pictures my family has sent, I can tell he is super-cute and doted on by his parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. I am looking forward to meeting him in person later in July. Welcome, baby J!

The last few months I’ve been knitting a colorful blanket for him. It’s the Mitered Square Blanket from Mason-Dixon Knitting by Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne. The first stage of this project was choosing the colors – I spent several afternoons at the Knit Shop, sorting through piles of Berroco Comfort trying to narrow it down to 8 colors. The blanket is made up of 36 squares, arranged in 9 blocks of 4. (Basically, it’s a quilt, but knitted.) Each square has 2 colors and I knit each of 28 unique combinations, plus some duplicates. Each block of 4 contains all 8 colors – arranging them was like a puzzle.

The not-so-fun part, as every knitter knows, was weaving in all those ends on the back. But, I was planning to back it with fabric so they didn’t need to be hidden, just secured to keep the blanket from unraveling. I found a stretchy, rib-knit fabric to make the backing and I tacked it at the corner of each square.

I’m very happy with how the blanket came out – it’s nice and contrasty for J’s early vision development. He was born into a heat wave but once the weather cools down I hope it will carry him through the first of many winters cozy and snuggly.

Ravelry link

I went to a baby shower in Salem last weekend. A friend from the knitting group is having her first, a girl, and several of us Eugenians made the trip. I happened to have a few slow days at work and I spent all day Friday knitting 2 pairs of baby socks. (I started them Thursday afternoon.)

I used 3 colors and made them intentionally mismatched within a theme so that if one sock gets lost the others can still be used. And mommy will have a little less fumbling in the drawer to find the matching sock!

Ravelry Link