Net Crochet

Sarah here. This past month I crocheted this scarf/shawl. I finally have some nice pictures of it and I wanted to share. I crocheted in net stitch and I think this really shows off the Kureyon colorways.
I used two skeins of Noro Kureyon # 139. It took me a loooong time to figure out what to make with these two skeins because I really liked them and wanted something special. The finished product is very stretchy and light, perfect for spring, fall, and sometimes cold summers in the Northeast.

Knitting Under The Gun

Wow. I must want it to feel like Christmas year-round. It seems that at every moment a deadline (or several!) is looming. My dad and two of my brothers came down to visit this past weekend, and my intention was to send him back with belated gifts for different family members: my mom's Mother's Day socks, my sister Hannah's crochet purse, the Knitted Babe for littlest sister Rachel, and a bunch of crocheted hacky-sacks for my two youngest brothers (not the two who came to see me). So. I also had 5 dishcloths to finish for my Knitted Dishcloth Class I'm teaching at Major Chain Craft Store, which really should have been done by the begining of this month, but certainly by yesterday, since the first class is on Friday (!). For whatever reason I was putting off the dishcloths (it was hard to pick only five that would cover pretty much anything you'd want to know about knitting!)

Want to know what I was able to finish? Well, it's a bit too much to put into one post, so I'm going to space it out.

For now, here's the Babe:

Click on her for gallery of her fashion shoot and details.

All knitted items were worked up in Knit Picks Pallette.

Was at Major Chain Craft Store yesterday, and noticed that they needed a sample of the crocheted One Skein Scarf from Happy Hooker. I took home a ball of Paton's Classic Merino, intending on starting it after I had completed the blanket. Somehow, 5 hours later, I had this:

(Did anyone else realize that this was an 8 foot long scarf?! Woah!)

Project notes to follow once this is dry and I can take a proper picture.

tiny felt

So, did you hear it? I was in Cast-on yesterday. I sent in an audio comment with Odeo, and it was cool because I could play it back and re-record if needed. The surprising thing was actually hearing myself on the show. I don't know why, but I figured she wouldn't play it.

Last week I knit the ballet shoes for the Babe, and they turned out huge. These were knit to gauge, so I don't know what's up.

Anyway, I showed them to Knitting Friend Laura, and she suggested hand-felting them to size (I've knit the doll and all accessories with Knit Picks Palette sock yarn). I don't know why I'm surprised, but it worked really well!

With the little ties sewn on the backs of them, they look even cuter. Last night I sewed her tutu together, and a pair of sweat-pant/capris. A few more items of clothing and she'll be ready for her final photo shoot, and then off to NY! My little sister is waiting.

Dishrag

So. I've knit this same dishcloth now three times. Three. Well actually, I finished it once, ripped back twice almost to the eyelets and knit back in.

Here's the first attempt:

The trouble seemed to be that when I switched to DPN's, my gauge changed (got tighter). I went up two sizes in DPN's, ripped back and re-knit twice, and here's the final outcome:

Looks kind of similar, does it not? My husband, seeing that I was getting my butt totally kicked by a mere washcloth, suggested blocking. (My husband does not knit, but aparently he's a genious.)

Here it is, drying after a severe blocking:

I should probably go straighten it a little more, but can you believe it? That's the same washcloth! No rippling! I hope that it dries like this. We shall have to see.

First timer

This weekend, I traveled to the Island of Fair. That is to say, I learned Fair Isle (two-fisted!) for the first time! I also learned to properly mattress seam (I think). This knitted babe has taught me much. It's nice to try out new techniques on such a small, forgiving subject. This doll will be for my 8-year-old sister, so I know she'll forgive any mistakes, but I am trying to get it as near perfect as possible. Here's the Babe's new sweater:

I will get a better shot of this once I finish the entire wardrobe. I also knit the ballet slippers, but they came out huge, although on gauge. Hmm. My friend Laura suggested hand-felting them down to size, which is probably what I will do. I don't feel like knitting other ones, and sturdy shoes probably wouldn't look all that wired since...well, they are shoes, after all.

This doll has to be finished by this weekend. That's my deadline. I think this is the third deadline this thing has had, but I'm going to try and make this one, for real!

Also, I've been working on some Dishcloth samples for a dishcloth class I'll be teaching at Major Chain Craft Store:

(Note the computer print-out of the Mason-Dixon Dishcloth (PDF). If you're new around here, scroll down about two entries.)

Anyway.

Hmm, I think this is my first green Project Spectrum post. Yes, all of the washcloths will be based around a green theme. It helps that green is my new favorite color.

So a few weeks ago, right around the Maryland Sheep And Wool Festival, my friend Laura (mentioned above) said she was going on a trip. I knew that she was going to be in the area of the festival, but she didn't mention it, so I figured it was because she was bitter that she'd be so close but couldn't make it there. I didn't ask her anything about it. Last night at Stitch N Bitch, we were all getting ready to go when she pulled this out of her bag.

She mentioned offhandedly that she'd picked these up for me in her travels. And the place she happened to get them from was...well, yes, The Festival. !!! So here I was, choosing not to mope that my plans to go there had fallen through, and the festival came home to me! Laura is one of the most thoughtful people ever. (Thank you!!) I look forward to spinning this. I may even try dying it before I spin it, although I'm a little scared to get it wet before it's spun. I know that people do it all the time, but I'm still feeling a little apprehensive about it.

My dad and two of my brothers are driving down from NY this weekend, and my dad is bringing me some roving.

You saw it coming, right? My fiber collection is turning into a stash.

Utility pole knitting

I might have gotten a lot of Wool-Ease yesterday. I don't really want to talk about it.

In other news...

This is extreme knitting at it's finest. David Cole is my new hero. (I think!)

Knitting with utility poles



Also, has everyone seen the handspun skein at Go Knit In Your Hat? Woah. Not sure what to say here. It sold for around $250 though, so someone must know something I don't.

I can finally reveal my pal in Sockapalooza! It was the talanted Sigga Sif. She just posted a picture of her foot in the socks I knit for her. I was unprepared for how thrilling that would be. =) So anyway, if you've never been to her site, go check it out, because she knits some seriously cool stuff.

Stash Enhancement

Wow, the squeaky wheel really gets the grease, huh? If you haven't checked the comments yet, please do. Just in case anyone's wondering, I do realize that Wendy's book "Wendy Knits" was the least of the offenders, since there was only one "free online, pay for in book" pattern included. Mason-Dixon's book is probably the worse offender.

I guess that my answer to the problem is, I think it's fine to discuss in a book patterns that are free online, and to include links to it. I do not, however, think it is ethical to include said free patterns in a book.

Also, I have realized that Wendy's book is more for people who subscribe to her blog, rather than the knitting world at large (like Stephanie/Yarn Harlot's books do, appealing to every knitter). That just goes to show that it pays to look inside the book first if you don't "know" the author.

The socks were completed at 11pm last night. I love it when I hit my own deadlines! Here they are:

Pattern: Bell Lace Wool-Ease Socks
Yarn: Wool-Ease Denim #114
Cast on: May 14th
Cast off: May 18th
Modifications: Instead of a 1x1 rib on the cuff, I did a 2x2 rib since I wanted them to be extra stretchy and clingy so they would stay up. Also, I lengthened the ribbing from 1-1/2" to 2" for the same reason. (These are to be used as hiking socks, after all.) Also, I substituted an Eye Of The Partridge heel for the Plain Slip Stitch heel, because I'd never done one and was experimenting. I also went down two needles sizes to make these a little tighter, since now I know that socks can stretch out and that's no fun. It's better for them to be a tiny bit too tight at first, I've decided.
Notes: These socks were fun and easy to work up. The lace pattern made the project feel like it was flying, and was super easy to memorize. (Yarn overs every 5th row, so you hardly have to think about it.)

Here's a close up detail of the lace and the pretty Eye Of The Partridge heel:

This pair took exactly one ball of yarn. At the end, I was nearly running on fumes. Here's how much yarn was left:


Yesterday, hearing rumours of a yarn clearance sale, I went to Hobby Lobby. I had my 11-month-old, Max, with me. We trolled the aisles and confirmed that yes, the Wool-Ease was going for almost half price. (!!) They only had a few colors left, and before I knew it, I looked down and noticed my shopping cart was nearly full of the stuff. I started to walk away, so proud of my find, when I looked down at the pile again. What was I going to use this stuff for? Am I really in love with Wool-Ease? Wouldn't I rather spend my money on some more quality stuff? Shouldn't I save my money for that oportunity? It was difficult...but I put back most of it. I ended up with three balls of green/blue to make one of my boys a sweater. Then I noticed some LB Landscapes (twisted colors in pure wool), but notice the restraint: I only bought two balls of it, because they were the only ones left that I really liked. Yes, I should be awarded a medal at this point. "Shopping based on what I really need/want vs. a good sale." (Don't worry I'm patting myself on the back for you.)

(Shhh, don't tell anyone, but during all of this critical decision time, I may have given Max his first lolly pop to stretch out my shopping time.)

Sparky arranged the little stash enhancement pile all nicely for you to see:

Of course now I'm thinking, "but the black would have been cute with the blue as matching intarsia skull-and-crossbones sweaters for the boys..."

If you need me, I'll be at Hobby Lobby.

Rant

*ETA: Log Cabin link, courtesy of Sonja, in the Mason-Dixon tirade.

Before I begin my little tirade, let me show you my progress on my mom's socks:

I feel very accomplished. My goal is to finish them tomorrow. Then I need to work on my little sister's Knitted Babe (the poor thing is getting clothing veeeeery slowly), and make up a bunch of beanie bags for my little brothers. My dad and two of my brothers are coming in two weekends, so I intend to send them home with knitted goods. That's my intention. We'll see how all that goes.

Ok, on to my little rant:

A few weeks ago I was ordering some books from Amazon.com and was in an expansive mood. This book came up in the "other people ordering blah-blah ordered this as well!", so I was a sucker and bought it, sight unseen, the day before it was released.

I hadn't ever even read her blog. I guess I was thinking "the Yarn Harlot's books are awesome and so is her blog, so here is more of the same". Anyway, it arrived with....shoot, can't remember. I think it was the Vogue Knitting Stitchionary Vol I. Something with big color photos and such. This book is entirely black-and-white on the inside, so it didn't grab me at first. Once I started reading it though, I noticed several things. The book reads kind of like a blog in book form. If you're new to the world of blogs and online knitting groups and such, this will be a helpful and non threatening way to find out about all of it. For me, I was just thinking "who's Wendy?". I put the book down and came back to it later.

The stories got more interesting to me (probably distancing myself from the colorful books was a good idea before reading this again), and then I noticed the chapter on socks. "Surely this will have something for me!" I said to myself. I've never knit socks toe-up. She knits all of hers this way! She has a generic sock pattern in the book!

She has a generic sock pattern on her blog! Wait. Read that again. Yes, now go check here. Yup, that looks like the same pattern to me. That makes me a little mad, but thankfully, I didn't notice any other "free online, pay for it in book" patterns. But isn't that wrong? Hopefully this is an isolated incident.*

Then I got a sudden flashback memory of when I was reading Amy Singer's Knit Wit. I had checked it out from the library, and noticed a pattern I'd seen before...in Knitty. Thinking this is just some little oversight, I continued to page through it, and noticed at least 4 patterns that had already been published by Knitty, and are free. What the heck?!

A few days ago I was listening to a knitting podcast (sorry, can't remember which one at the moment) and they were reviewing Vogue Knitting's On The Go Shawls (I think?), and mentioned that several of the patterns were simply recycled from other Vogue books or mags.

Recently I bought the Mason-Dixon Knitting book. One thing everyone's raving about (do a google search) in blogland these days are the dishcloth patterns in here. One person even wrote "this is why I bought the book". Should I leave a comment on her blog and mention that both dishcloth patterns are available for free online? That would be mean, so I won't but it made me pretty mad. Thankfully I like some of the other patterns as well, and the narrative of the book is pretty engaging as well. (Another plus is the HUGE, BEAUTIFUL color photos. The book itself is pretty huge, actually.)

Here are the free patterns:
Mason-Dixon Washrag (pdf)
Textured Slip-Stitch Dishcloth
*Log Cabin Knitting (thanks Sonja!)
And I may be wrong, but I suspect the Heartbreakingly Cute (One-Piece) Baby Kimono is out there somewhere too. Free. (Let me know if you find it first.)


Perhaps this should be included in KnitSpot's "We're Knot Taking Anymore" (top right corner of her blog)

All of this pisses me off. Authors and publishers should make sure that they're giving us what we pay for. Not just something we can get for free, packaged nicely. I could do that for myself, thank you.




*I have given the book, Wendy Knits, to a friend who is a new knitter. She loves the scarf patterns in there, and I think it'll be a good intro to the whole knitting world. I decided not to keep it only because it seemed too basic, and anyway I'm not currently emotionally attached to Wendy. Maybe I'll start following her blog though, and then perhaps I will regret this. Who knows? I'm sure that I could always check this book out at the library though if the urge to read this again should strike. And thankfully, whenever I decide to knit toe-up socks, I can print them straight off her site. For free. I'm not bitter though.

it's all about socks

It was some point just before Mother's Day that I realized I hadn't gotten my mom anything. I didn't even make her a card. Whoops. What's a knitter to do? Cast on that day, of course. This is what I knit on The Day:

It's the Bell Lace Wool-Ease Socks and they're so quick! I wanted to make her some hiking socks that could be described as beautiful, and I think these fit the bill. I'm loving the eye-of-the-partridge (is that what it's called?) heel. I'll have to shoot a close-up later. I'm knitting them from some Wool-Ease that was in the stash. This is her favorite color.

Also, I knit this the other day in anticipation of teaching my friend to knit socks.

It's a baby sock of my own design for Max. It's a little to short for his foot, so I need to rip it back and knit a little more, but they're very cozy (knit from Plymouth-something that's just like Wool-Ease)

The pink/purple squishy baby blanket is about half done. I'm not including a photo until I begin to edge it though, since it looks exactly like it did before, only bigger. Yeah.

Ok now, gotta run. I'm off to see the Lady Doctor. Yuck. At least I'll have some knitting time in the waiting room (gotta look on the bright side, ya know?)

Package from my very own sockaPALooza

So sorry to leave you all hanging. Remember this?

Of course you do. Ok. The story. Our neighbor above us had just stepped out, and 10 minutes later we were drowning in our indoor tropical storm. About 5 minutes after that, we heard someone go back into the apartment, and then a flury of running about and a shop vac was clearly heard.

A little later, the neighbor (whom we had yet to meet) came down and knocked on our door. Severely embarrassed, he told us how he had balanced a Styrofoam tray of steak over the sink and started water running over it to thaw it out. Then he had to run out to the store to get something....and forgot the water running. He apologized many times as he watched the water run and splash down into our kitchen, then went back up to his apartment to try and get things cleaned up.

The water dripped for over an hour, and my husband emptied those two buckets 3 times each. That's a heck of a lot of water. The matainance man came over yesterday and painted the water-stained portions of the ceiling.

Everything has dried out, and thankfully, we were home to put the buckets in place and clear the area. My knitting bag was sitting right up there on the breakfast bar when the water started, so everything in it may have been ruined, had we not been there. (Makes my heart jump just thinking of it!) So we're fine, the ceiling didn't fall down on us, and our kitchen has been restored to it's former state of clean and dry. An interesting thing to note: we assumed that there wasn't much insulation in the ceiling since we can hear the neighbors clearly upstairs. Now that we saw the water running out of the holes where the light fixture wires are run, we realize that there must be pretty much none at all. At least there won't be any mildew and awful smell, since it was able to all drain out and then dry quickly!

Ok, on to knitting content.

My sockapalooza package has arrived! When I got the mail last night, I found a blue bubble mailer, and immediately tore into it. This is what my incredible sock pal, Anita, sent me:

I have got to be the luckiest sock pal around. One skein of Bearfoot Mountain Colors! Four ounces of silky, pink/peach/purple Merino! And the absolutely gorgeous Simply Lovely Lace Socks. Check out the detail of the heel. Didn't she do a perfect job? I love these! Even though it was hot last night, I wore them until bedtime (I admit I was tempted to sleep in them!) and showed anyone who cared to look (and probably a few who didn't). Thank you, thank you!!

Here is the card she sent me with a little family of Suri Alpacas on it:

Finally, I "get" all the excitement surrounding a swap, or in this case, a round-robin. While planning the socks for my pal, I started reading her blog to get a feeling of what, exactly, she would like. She wasn't very specific in her preferences, so I chose a colorway based on things she's chosen to knit for herself. Then I picked out a pattern that seemed to suit the yarn and the occasion (knitting for a skilled knitter!). During the nights and days spent knitting them, the places I took them, the people I visited with, the stores I shopped, I imagined these stitches hugging the feet of someone living across the ocean from here. This knitted fabric, this carefully chosen pair would be walked in, on soil I may never see. Exciting, interesting, inspiring.

Now, a week later, I have opened my very own package, and slipped my feet into a pair of socks knitted especially for my feet. Someone knit socks for me! (Did I note that this is a pattern I'd intended to knit anyway?) Not to mention, they took time to find out about my favorite things -- sock knitting and spinning! Thoughtfulness, all around.

This, my friends, is the beauty of sock swapping.

Blackberry Kiwi Love

**Make sure you read to the end -- unreal video clip**

On Thursday morning I asked Amy Boogie if she would be able to custom dye some merino/nylon sock yarn for me. Leprechaun green is my new favorite color (along with almost any other shade except mint green), so I sent her a pic of my most favorite, most green shirt. Also, I asked for a purplish black. By Friday morning she sent me some shots of two freshly dyed skeins. I approved them and Paypaled her, and the skeins were in my mailbox yesterday afternoon!!



Now that's quick service! They are even more beautiful in person than I could see in the pics. The purple one is very hard to photograph, but I assure you that it is the richest shades of purple and black. For $16 each and the exact shades I wanted, what else could I ask for? These are dyed after the manner of her Almost Solid Series, and these colorways are Kiwi and Blackberry (in case you should feel the need to indulge as well).

I'm working on that sample baby blanket for the Major Craft Store again. It's Bernat Baby Boucle (the yarn I'm supposed to be showcasing), and if you've been following this blog in the past few weeks you'll know that I've tried many a technique to get this stuff to work up nicely. The most recent was an attempt to crochet a baby sweater, but I soon was frusterated by trying to find which hole to poke the hook through, and getting lost in the boucle while counting. I'm sure I could have done it if I wanted to enough, but the drive just wasn't there. Finally, about two days ago, I picked it back up again, chained a 61 loop foundation and began going back and forth in half-double-crochet. This is what it looks like now:

It reminds me of one of those chunky pixled old style video games. I hope that they like it, because this is it. This is just the way the yarn stripes up. At least it's better than my knitting attempts. This yarn just wanted to be crocheted. Thankfully it's going quickly. The sooner I can get it from my hook to the store, the sooner I get a paycheck in my mailbox, and it's all about the money, baby. =) And let me tell you, with all the labor that's gone into this already, this is turning into one very expensive blanket -- hope they don't choke when they see how much I'll want to charge for it. Does anyone have any pricing suggestions? Does $70 or $80 sound unreasonable for a baby blanket?

OK, if you're still with me after that long post, you must watch this little video clip. There is a little bit of narration, so make sure you have your speakers turned on so that you'll know what's going on. I'll explain more details on the outcome of it tomorrow.

This happened in my house three days ago:

Texture, baby!

I picked back up the Textured Tweed Clutch (From IK Crochet, Fall 2005) and have been working on it this week. As it turns out, I was almost done! This was supposed to be my sister's Christmas gift, but seeing as today is her birthday, it'll be a belated birthday gift instead (as per tradition, she hasn't sent me mine yet either, so we're even.) =)


All that needs to be done now is to line it with fabric (not in the pattern, but totally needs to be done to make this functional), and find a leather covered buckle. Any tips on where I might find a good one?

Crochet always makes me a little nervous. It feels so free form to me, so open to interpretation. I learned mainly from a book, so I always think, "what if I'm putting the hook into the wrong part of the loop? What if I'm counting from a different starting place? What if...what if...what if...?" It's very disconcerting to a perfectionist like this particular chick. But it seems that my projects generally come out well, so even if there's something a little different (is there) about the way that I crochet, it tends to look like the picture, so maybe I am doing it right after all. Generally speaking, I am always able to feel confidant about learning a new knitting technique by myself, but maybe I should look into some crochet classes. Hmm.

I went to my (sort of) LYS on Friday and picked up some more Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool in deep, grapey purple to make a Kiri shawl. I only snagged one skein of it, because I intend to make it more of a kerchief/scarf to tie around my neck. Having a babe in arms doesn't really lend itself to long, flowey shawls that drape loosely over the arms.

Will show progress pics as soon as there's something to show for it.

Two FO's. Whew! I'm out of breath after this one!

Rather than update yesterday's post, I'm just going to post a brand new one with all the details, including my mailing misadventures of the morning.

To recap, I completed these socks last night:

Pattern: Fancy Silk Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill "Foxy Lady" -- 100% luxury merino fingering weight, Superwash wool. Machine washable, cold water. (I'd probably hand wash these, though.)
Needles: Susan Bates aluminum DPNs size #0
Cast on: April 8th (if we're including swatching)
Cast off: May 1st
Modifications: The pattern calls for 1" of the lace cuff, but I liked it so much that I knit 2" instead. I'm very pleased with this. Also, the lace pattern on the leg and instep is a twisted rib with lace panels in-between. I stopped twisting the ribs on the foot, because I was concerned it'd be uncomfortable, pressing into the foot when inside of a shoe. I initially knit the "draw yarn through 8 remaining stitches together" toe, but the sock felt so uncomfortable, pressing my toes together and such. I quickly ripped back and did the "grafted 20 stitch toe" instead.
Notes: I had my doubts about the yarn. I've never knit with Cherry Tree Hill, and the colorway is certainly not in my usual palette. As I started to work with it though, I noticed how the colors began to glow against each other, and it was truly lovely.
The yarn, though unremarkable on the skein (to me at least), knit up into bouncy, squashy soft socks. When I modeled them for the "FO" pic, I didn't want to take them off my feet! I love how the lace on the leg is so stretchy.
Oh, also, when I swatched for these, the size #0 DPN's giving me slightly too many stitches per inch, but I was concerned that the sock would stretch out when worn and bag around the ankles. As I knit, I kept trying them on from time to time, and though it was snug, they fit me perfectly. My sock pal is the same size, so I'm pretty confidant that they'll be a good fit on her too.

At 8:30pm yesterday evening, I picked these socks up with the intention of finishing. The gussets had been completed, and I had about 8 inches of knitting left to do until I could kitchner the toe (my favorite part!). The situation looked grim. Sure, I knew that I could finish up the socks this afternoon and still get them over to the post office before they closed for the day, but in honor of the May 1st deadline, I felt like they needed to be finished that very night. Mr. Fiberflash was concerned that I'd injure my hands again, so he asked that all knitting cease by 11:30. I surprised even myself when, at 11:30pm, I knit the last stitch.

This morning I set out to mail the socks. I still had to buy a postcard, but I figured that would be no trouble. Doesn't everyone sell postcards?

After packing the boys up, we set out. Several stores later, and it was nearing (or past) naptime. Still no postcard. I did, however, find something she may be interested in:

(Note: I had no idea how much room 20 Kool Aid packs take up! Would have brought along a bigger envelope! I hope they don't bust open during shipment....) So, sadly, no postcard, no nice little note from me... but now she can dye a hell of a lot of yarn, so hopefully that'll make up for it. I heard that it's difficult to even find food coloring in her country, or that it's sold at exorbitant prices. So if you're reading this today, and happen to get this particular package in the mail in 7-10 days, please know: I tried! Hope you enjoy them.

To completely change the subject, let's look at a tiny little something that slipped right under the Blog Radar:

(Check out the way I've implemented Knitty gift wrapping by using the gift itself as part of the whole deal. One might think that I was being super creative/crafty -- in actuality, I was pressed for time, which, if you want to read between the lines, really means that I was sewing in ends and such at the baby shower, so this was all I had time for.) =)

Pattern: Heartbreakingly Cute (One Piece) Baby Kimono from Mason Dixon Knitting, by Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne. Pattern written by Christina Shiffman.
Needles: Aluminum straights, size 1
Yarn: Sugar and Cream "Rose Pink" -- 100% cotton (worsted weight)
Ribbon: Sweet Petites "Argyle" by Morex Corp.
Cast on: April 28th
Cast off: April 29th
Notes: This truly was a quick knit, as you can see from the dates above. The cotton was pretty hard on my hands though; my thumbs felt bruised. It was so wonderful to pick the wool socks back up again and feel the forgiving, tiny strand through my fingers.
The arms were a little funky with the seaming. It might have been better if I'd separated out a few plies of the yarn to sew it together with, or else just used embroidery floss in a matching color. The seams ended up a little bulky, and there was no time to block it out.
It was really hard for me to get gauge. This pattern is supposed to be knit on size #6 needles. That's just the way it is with me and cotton, I suppose. I really don't like the way it feels like I'm fighting with it the whole time. Argg! It was super cute though. Next time I make one, I will use something like KnitPicks Main Line instead.
Also, I would like to implement something from Nicky Epstein's Knitting On The Edge, use stockinette instead of garter stitch, and maybe crochet a pretty little border along the bottom of it in a contrasting color. (The last idea was part of the plan for this one, but I cut it way too close for any inspired modifications.)

Something I learned from this knit: don't try too hard when your audience/recipient isn't inherently crafty themselves. The sweater was received graciously, but the silk ribbon that had tied it up was promptly thrown in the trash. Also...well, I don't know. All I'm going to say is, know who you're knitting for, and determine if it's worth the stress/effort/creative energy.

Personally, I loved this sweater.

All of this explains why I haven't been blogging lately. Too much to knit! I love it though, you know I do. =) It's just all these dang deadlines...

It's done

Although I sort of finished on time, these are actually late, since I should have mailed them to my international pal earlier this week. I literally just kitchnered them together about 5 minutes ago, so these are hot off the needles.

These are the Fancy Silk Socks from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks. They were knit in Cherry Tree Hill "Foxy Lady" on size #0 needles (!!).

I'll add details of the pattern/yarn/notes/etc. as usual tomorrow when I can think straight and it's not so late at night. I also had some very introspective thoughts while knitting them for some reason. Will also wait to share those for a more sane hour.

For now, how about a close up of that lace:

Well, maybe that just makes my leg look massive, but anyway, you get the picture. Updating this tomorrow....