Peaceful Knitter

I’ve almost forgotten what it feels like to have a finished object.  So instead of showing you more of my works in progress, I’m going to share one of my sister’s greatest finished objects:

Meet Jackson, born just one week ago:

Clearly he feels triumphant about his arrival!

And because I’m a super proud auntie, I have to show you another photo of the new babe wearing a certain hand-knit hat.

Good thing I went with a rolled brim hat because this thing is huge on him!  For this reason it’s always wise to make baby knits a little bit flexible in the sizing, something that will fit through a variety of stages.  I think both these FOs are winners, don’t you?!

I’m so proud of my sister and can’t wait to see this little guy in a few weeks!

Just when things were looking irreparably bleak on the knitting motivation front, I got a package in the mail.

Fellow Rockin’ Sock Club Members, you know what I’m talking about.  If you don’t want to ruin the surprise, just turn around and walk away right now.  Cause things are about to get crazy in here!

Rooster at Burgis Brook Alpacas

I pulled in the driveway after work this afternoon and thought to myself “I really hope my new yarn is here from Blue Moon.” It’s about to be a holiday weekend, which means no mail on Monday!  So if it didn’t come today or tomorrow I was prepared to have a yarn-withdrawl tantrum.  Fortunately for all of us, this did not have to happen.

There were teasers about the yarn and pattern for this month’s shipment that left me expecting bright, playful colors.  Maybe it was the YouTube Video from Fraggle Rock….funny, right?!  Or the playlist of songs talking about rainbows and The Flinstones and other cartoon characters.  In any case,  the yarn was not what I expected at all, but that is part of the fun of the surprise.  At least this month it worked out and I love the colorway.  Last time, I found the clues to be misleading and didn’t like the colors at all, so this was a welcome surprise.  Anyway, without further ado:

• Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock lightweight in Pepe La Plume

• Pattern: Fraggle Squiggle Socks by JC Briar

I love it!  These are my colors and I absolutely would have chosen this colorway for myself.  I’m not as sure about the pattern, however.  It seems nice enough, but it’s hard for me to get a clear idea of the stitch patterns in the photos.  I didn’t even want to try to take a picture of the pictures!

The yarn is also pretty contrasted, so the lace/squiggle pattern seems obscured by the color changes.  I’m on the fence about what to do here.  At one moment I want to start knitting the yarn immediately in a different pattern; the next moment I feel brave and want to take the plunge and knit the two together as intended.

When I think about why I joined this sock club to begin with, I am reminded of my desire to take on new challenges, to try things outside my comfort zone.  This may be precisely one of those moments in life where I’m being called upon to follow through with my intentions…drat!  Yeah, I think I’ve just talked myself into it.  Okay, off to wind up some yarn and blindly cast on!

I may have spoken too soon about the return of my knitting mojo.

All was going well with my Spot Check socks for a couple of days.  I was happily knitting on, enjoying the playful way the colors were knitting up, daydreaming of cooler fall days when I could keep my feet warm and cheerful wearing them.

And then it came time to knit the heel.  I’ll admit, the fabric seemed a little tight.  I had anticipated this from previous experience with color work socks and cast on for the largest size.  Surely a 70-stitch sock would be large enough!

Not so.  After a couple of heel flap rows I decided I had better try the sock on before we got any further.  I could barely get the thing over my foot!  And what kills me is I had that feeling, that little niggle that tells you when something’s not quite right.  As knitters we should listen to this feeling as soon as it hits us, otherwise precious time can be wasted.

Turns out, casting on 70 stitches was only one of 2 ways in which the author suggests the knitting of a wearable 2-color sock.  The other, which I either missed or chose to ignore, was to go up a needle size after knitting the cuff.  Drat.

So, these are off to the frog pond.  As much as I think they’d make stellar fingerless gloves, I had my heart set on the socks.  So when my rage dies down and my mojo kicks back up, I will set about knitting these again.

My knitting mojo has been nonexistent for approximately 2 weeks now.  It’s a strange feeling to lose something that has been such a part of my daily life.  I would watch tv without doing anything with my hands.  Or ride in the car and just look out the window.  Strange!  I really got a reminder of what my life was like before I was a knitter.

Hemlock Ring blanket, stalled

I had been trying to force myself to work on this blanket, but my heart just wasn’t in it.  And I didn’t feel like starting any  new projects, so no knitting was happening at all.

This break did give me a chance to work on some other projects.  My little sewing machine has been humming as I work on alterations, hemming, refashion projects, and my first quilt.  All good fun, but not knitting.

Fortunately, just when things were beginning to feel irreparably bleak, I was rescued.  Knitting night with the Stitch ‘n Bitch gals (and one guy last night, hooray!) helped give me the kick in the wool that I needed.  That and the miracle of coincidence…

I was flipping through Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn before heading out last night, and I was struck by a certain pattern.  I wanted something simple, and Spot Check seemed to fit the bill.  It’s essentially a stockinette sock knit in two colors, one a solid and the other a wilder multi.  And as I looked closer at the photo of the pattern, I realized that I had the yarn called for in my stash.  Not just the yarn, but the exact 2 colorways pictured!  It was clear that I had to knit these socks.

Spot Check in Shibui Knits Peacock and Spectrum

I got off to a good start last night, and have even knit a couple rows on them today.  I’m not going to be so bold as to say that my knitting mojo is officially back, but I will say that I feel like knitting a little bit.  Which is a great improvement!

Hope you have a great weekend, knitting or otherwise!

Do you remember when I used to talk about the things I was actually knitting?  Yeah, me too.  So I’ve got a treat for you today: a real finished object!

• Yarn: Regia Design Line by Kaffe Fassett, 1.5 skeins

• Pattern: Basic Sock Recipe, ravelled here

• Needles: US size 1/2.25 mm Magic Loop

• Mods: Cast on 72 stitches for boy feet!

I knit these socks in April for my dear friend Burk.  We’ve been friends since we were younger and wilder, back in college.  Actually, I’ll have to speak for myself there, because I believe he can still get a bit wild, especially if there is karaoke involved…

He has been a great admirer of my knitting career and of hand-knit socks in particular.  So when I saw his birthday approaching on the calendar, I knew I had to cast on a pair of socks as fun and interesting as he.

While the yarn wasn’t my favorite to knit with in terms of texture, the colors were a lot of fun.  As you can see, I chose not to match up the stripes on these socks, instead letting the colors meander on their own.  This kept me entertained as I knit row upon row of stocking stitch!

This was my first time knitting socks for someone with feet larger than my own, and that presented some challenges.  Burk kindly sent me his foot measurements, and with the help of Knitting Rules I was able to come up with a 72-stitch cast on and estimates for length of leg and foot.  But I’m used to being able to try socks on and customizing the fit as I knit, and that didn’t really work in this scenario.  So Burk, I did the best I could without having your actual feet to fit them onto.  I hope they fit!

Well, it’s been a week. Some low-lights: allergies, a death in the family, and the unceremonious loss of the diamond from my wedding ring… And rain.  Lots of rain.

If it weren’t for having to go to work today, I would promptly crawl back in bed and read Twilight until tomorrow. That’s right: I’ve been on a vampire novel jag lately, and having polished off all the Sookie Stackhouse novels I had on hand, turned to the juggernaut Twilight for entertainment. It’s a little bit of a soap opera so far, but I can’t seem to tear myself away!

Very little knitting is going on this week. I finished some socks, so that is progress. And I’m trying to do a repeat on my Hemlock Ring blanket every day. But I feel uninspired to knit, if I’m being brutally honest. These moods hit me from time to time, and always pass in short order. So I will sit back, relax, possibly catch up on housework, and read vampire novels until my knitting motivation returns.

The whole thing with the mice also prompted me to refashion another finished knit that I still like and would love to wear.

Before:

• Pattern: Lelah, original details here

• Yarn: Calmer by Rowan in color 484

After:

I did two things to make this more wearable for myself.  First, I changed out the ribbon from a shiny white to an embroidered brown grosgrain.  I love the combination of lavender and brown (my bedroom colors, incidentally) and looked long and hard for that ribbon!

Second, I went back and added the elastic that was suggested in the pattern to begin with.  Not having a sewing machine when I originally made this top led me down a series of rationalizations as to why I didn’t need elastic.  The truth is, I didn’t want to hand sew!  So I simply turned down the top edge and sewed a channel for some elastic cord to slide through.  It feels much more secure up top, and I may actually get to wear it this summer!

Do you have any knits that could come out of hiding with a quick adjustment here or there?  Is there something you have never worn or used?  Well, I’m here to encourage you to take the knits back and make those changes, give them away, or frog them and reuse the yarn.  Life is to short to let your knits languish in a dark closet!