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.