One and Only Knitted Christmas Present

I have not had great success in the past with knitting for others for Christmas, but I found an incredible bargain on Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere in a color that my mother would like that I just had to try again.

This is KPS top down raglan T-shirt. I know the picture is not great, but it is a sort of grayed lavender. We bought an amethyst pendant to go with it.

It fits, and my mother likes cotton a lot more than wool, so I guess this is a successful Christmas present.

Now that Christmas is over, I have to get back to UFO's. I have a pair of socks for my son-in-law and a Rogue hoodie that I have had for two years now. And scarves and felted slippers and hats and felted oven mitts . . . The list is endless!

Another Goal Completed

My husband and I have been working on building our house for more years than I want to admit. College tuition for all 3 of us interfered for a good many years.

However, this week he finished one of the major projects - installing the woodstove and chimney! This is on the second floor, and installing the chimney was not easy, involving scaffolding and very heavy lifting very high off the ground.

But, you can see, we are already enjoying it. The next thing is to texture and paint the room, and then varnish the floor, but taking a break next to the stove is great!

Gratitude

I know it's a cliche, but gratitude is on my mind today.

1. I am grateful for family - they are the best.
2. I am grateful for my job, even when I want to pound on middle school students!
3. I am grateful for my home - unfinished still, but we are still working on it.
4. I am grateful for knitting. It keeps me calm.
5. I am grateful for football and the time to watch football. I am especially grateful that the Sooners are winning!

And I could go on and on.

And, certainly not last or least, I am grateful that Addison is here and that she and her mom are both okay. She's a little early, but still healthy.

Last Baby Sweater

This is the last sweater for Addison - at least for now.

I used Paton's SWS in Geranium and Knitting Pure and Simple's neck down baby cardigan pattern. I opted to do neck ribbing instead of a hood because I wanted to do a hat. This is the 12 month size.

I am such a fan of SWS! I don't know how it will wear, but it is very nice to knit with, and I love the colors. I am making myself a hooded tunic in the Earth colorway now.

Sock yarn stash

This is the yarn stash that could overflow my house! And this is just sock yarn!

Looks are deceiving - there are two layers in each box. I have totally lost count of how pair of socks I could make - at last count I could make 25 pair. And, I ordered 4 more skeins yesterday.

Maybe Socktoberfest will get me going, but I have to finish the baby cardigan since it looks like Addison will come early, and my daughter wants her tunic since the weather has gotten colder. Although, I am about halfway through the hood on the SWS tunic and should be able to mail it by Tuesday. Then the plan is to zoom through the cardigan and then back to socks.

Soctoberfest Questions

So, I'm a little late with these, but at least here they are:

When did you start making socks? - I started my first pair of socks on Jan. 1, 2004, using some of elann's sock yarn and the pattern in Sally Melville's The Purl Stitch. I started because I had been reading about socks for months on Knitters Review, and I decided I should just give them a try.

What was your first pair? How have they held up? - My first pair is as described above. I gave them to my dad who wore them every week until he died in March, 2004. My dad had small feet, so the socks also fit my mom, so she kept them. They have held up exceedingly well.

Here they are, on my feet.


What would you have done differently? - I would have invested in a better yarn. I don't really dislike the elann yarn, but I now have tried other, softer yarns.

What yarns have you particularly enjoyed? - I have tried Koigu PPM, Lorna's Laces, Socks that Rock, elann's Sock it to Me, Cherry Tree Hill, Regia, Opal and Knitpicks undyed that I dyed with KoolAid. I really like the Knitpicks yarn both for the feel and the price and because dyeing the yarn was great fun. My favorite socks to wear have been from Lorna's Laces because I like the softness and the thinner yarn.

How do you knit your socks? - I stick with DPN's just because I feel more comfortable with them. I'm not a big fan of circulars except for sweaters.

What kind of heel do you prefer? - I really like the square heel flap, both for making and for wearing. It gives me great satisfaction to do the heel flap and to turn the heel. I have tried short row, but it just doesn't feel right to me.

How many pair have you made? - I stopped counting at 15. I know I have 4 pair, my daughter has 6 pair, my niece has 4 pair, and several other family members/friends have a pair each.

Okay, that finishes this set. I am trying to take a picture of my sock yarn stash, but there is so much, I am having trouble getting it all together. And, embarrassingly enough, I found some yarn that I had forgotten about - I just ordered two skeins of the same thing yesterday!

Another Patons SWS - this is the top down baby cardigan from KPS in Geranium. I haven't gotten as far, but you can still see that the sleeve stripes will be wider than the body stripes. Still, this is soft and, while not machine washable, should make a nice warm sweater for Addison.

Patons SWS in KPS top down, knit in the round, hooded, tunic. I posted these so others could see the stripe pattern that has developed. You can see that the stripes on the sleeves are, of course, wider. This is the Natural Plum color, which has a lot more red than I expected. The stripe pattern is not perfectly regular, but it is still predictable which makes it fairly easy to join a new ball of yarn.

Trouble in bloggerland. I suddenly cannot see this blog!

This post will be an attempt to get this back on the web.

ADD Sock knitter??

After signing up for Socktoberfest, I thought I should look at socks I am already making. I think I have gotten a little carried away. To the right is Socks That Rock, and I can't remember the colorway. I was a little disappointed when I got the yarn because I didn't expect so much yellow. I'll still finish them because the yarn really feels nice.

In the middle is my second pair of Chutes and Ladders from elann's Sock It To Me. That pattern, which I got from Six Soxs KAL, is fun to do - these are for a friend for Christmas. Bottom left is KnitPicks Sock Memories, and again, I cannot remember the colorway. I was making the Ribs and Cables from IK for my daughter, but she tells me no more socks for now, so I think I will frog this sock and try something else. Top left is what I actually planned for Socktoberfest, Snowflake Lace in Lorna's Laces.

I was too embarrassed to take a picture of all my other UFO's, but I counted 4 sweaters, three scarves, and one pair of ballerina slippers to finish. Football should help because I really enjoy watching football while knitting, and, since the Sooners aren't doing that well, I don't really concentrate on their games.

Pea Pod set from Interweave Knits.

I wanted to make something different for Addison, this coming baby, and I found this superwash merino at Webs in just the color pictured in the pattern - I think it was meant to be. It was surprisingly easy to knit, and I am very happy with how it looks.

Hopefully the mother-to-be won't see this, as the shower is tomorrow morning.

This is how the fair should be - friends and Fair food - turkey leg in one hand, corn in the other, chocolate covered banana or fried S'more to follow.

I had the stuffed sopapilla and curly fried potatoes; my husband had fried pickles with ranch dressing. We missed the deep fried Twinkies - darn!

One of the best parts of Fall - Fair food and football, although those Sooners are giving me ulcers.

The other blue ribbons.

Blogger wasn't cooperating today, so I had to do the pictures separately. The scarf is Branching Out from Knitting and I used Elsebeth Lavold's Silky Wool in a gray-blue. The hat is Ann Norlings fruit hat pattern, done in the tomato. I don't remember what yarn I used, but I know I posted about it when I made it. I didn't really expect a ribbon for the hat, but I got a free gate ticket if I entered 3 items, so I put it in to save me a few bucks.

Success at the Fair!

I haven't entered the Tri-State Fair in a couple of years, but they have a new building for the textile, culinary, and art exhibitions, so I decided to try. I have never entered knitting before either, but I certainly will next year - three entries = three blue ribbons and one Best of Division rosette!

These are socks made in Heartstrings Parting Ways pattern which is a spiraling eyelet rib. One rib of the spiral eyelet also goes down each side of the heel. I used Knitpicks new merino/silk blend called Gloss which is great to knit with; it is very soft! I know they are hard to see, but I am glad they are locked behind glass doors.

Yarn from Copenhagen. I bought this at Sommerfuglen, a store that was recommended to me by another KR member from Sweden. It is produced in Denmark by a company called Kauni who has a website at kauni.com. I didn't see this colorway on the website, but I did see another I will think about for another project. This is I think either DK or sportweight; the label is in Danish and I am just not sure. It is 100% wool and this skein has 400m.

Yes, I'm a geek - this is the picture I plan to send to Knitters. I'm standing in front of Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek - an art museum in Copenhagen. This was my first trip to Europe; we went to Copenhagen because one of my grandfathers emigrated from there in 1902 and we wanted to see where he had lived.

It is a mecca for shoppers - I loved it! I found Debbie Bliss Cathay for around $3.50 a skein - I bought 10 pale blue and 12 pumpkin. And, the one thing I really wanted, I found at Sommerfuglen, a really amazing yarn store - some Danish produced wool. I bought a 400m hank that is dark blue, purple and dark green. I don't know what to make yet, but probably some sort of lacey scarf. I'm going to use Grumperina's Picovoli pattern to make tops for my daughter and niece out of the blue Cathay, and a light cardigan for me out of the pumpkin.

We also saw castles and museums and churches. What an amazing place! I am already planning another trip back, although I need to recover from airline glitches for awhile longer.

More new knitting accomplishments! My first neck down, entirely knitted in the round sweater. And, I finished it in 17 days, another first.

I am now a true fan of top down, circular knitting. I hate sewing pieces together, so this is so much easier. I will be looking for these patterns again.

7/13 I forgot to put in that the pattern I used was from Knitting Pure and Simple.

Baby sweaters are really fun to make! One of my daughter's close friends is having a baby in December, so when I saw a link to a simple pattern on the KR forums, I just had to try it. I bought the Encore at Gourmet Yarns in Oklahoma City. I don't know gender yet, so this varigated seemed appropriate for either, although I am generally not a fan of variagated. Now that I have made this pattern, I will get some nice cotton, and try again, especially since I hope to know gender soon.

This was a very easy pattern - took me 2-3 days to finish. It called for I-cord instead of ribbon, but I really don't like making I-cord. I plan on using a solid color for the next one and getting plaid or dotted ribbon for the ties.

7/16: I should have put this in the original post. I found the pattern via a link on the Knitters Review Forum - dogsstealyarn.com/yoda.htm

This is a wool and kid mohair blend from Brooks Farms; I bought two hanks at the Taos Wool Festival last October. I wasn't thinking - two hanks are only 1000 yards, so I have had trouble finding a pattern that would show off their great colors and stay under 1000 yards, but I finally found Knitting Pure and Simple's top down, raglan sleeve, crewneck that seems to be okay. This is my first time to knit from the neck down, and my first time to do a sweater completely on circulars, but I think I am hooked.

I also know that next year, when I go back to the festival, I will certainly buy more of the Brooks Farms yarn. It is so soft and so easy to knit.

The tomato hat on the right was not something I planned or wanted to do, but I recently visited Gourmet Yarns in Oklahoma City and saw their model. The colors were perfect, so I had to buy the Skye Tweed and make one for myself. I don't know what I will do with it; surely some small child will happen along who needs a tomato hat.

Gourmet Yarns was a great place to visit; the people there were so nice and knowledgeable. I treasure opportunities to talk with other knitters. I also loved the Cascade 220 - what a selection they had! I bought a couple of skeins for the striped bag I am planning.

On the left are the stitch markers I put together. I finally found a pattern for some yarn I bought at the Taos Wool Festival, but it required 5 stitch markers which I didn't have. So, I hit the local Hobby Lobby for eye pins and found yarn ball and dragon charms. I found the bee beads at JoAnns. I made more markers, but they are in the sweater. I don't need lots of stitch markers which is too bad because they are a lot of fun to make. I'll have to find other knitters who need them.

Okay, here are the completed baby derbies. I am so impressed with the Cascade 220 - it felted so much quicker than the Knitpicks Merino. I am still looking for a bowl with the right circumference for the other hat.

Here are my newest felting projects, pre-felting. A colleage and I knitted these hats from Knit One, Felt Too; they are the baby derbies for another colleague's coming twin great-granddaughters. We used Cascade 220. On the right is a kind of chullo made from KnitPicks Merino Style.

I spent some time in the local WalMart measuring small plastic bowls to get something to put the baby hats over to keep them at the right size. I will be felting them tonight and then, when I find a bowl for the black hat, I will felt that. I will post pictures of the finished objects as soon as they dry.

First socks of the new year!! I know this is a terrible picture, but I wanted to get them posted, and I really wanted sun to show off that gorgeous KPPM. Of course, I also got the dry, dead grass, but with drought, that's all we're going to have for a while.