Loads of WIPs (and Rhinebeck!)

Howdy. I was just taking pictures of some of my current works in progress for Ravelry, and I thought I'd post them here, too. And, no, these aren't all of my WIP's. Unfortunately, there are many, many more. Yes, I am easily distracted (knitting-wise anyway). Sigh.

First of all, there is the pair of socks that I am making for Sister#1 as a belated birthday gift. (Her birthday was in July -- how lame am I?) I'm using the Ukrainian Socks pattern from Nancy Bush's Folk Socks book, but with several modifications. These socks will be very similar to this pair that I made a few years ago, but with a thinner yarn (Regia 4-ply).

Ukrainian Socks for Sister#1

---

Next up are some Bayerische Socks that I started a long time ago. They are languishing because they are too narrow for anyone except the fine-boned females in Sister#1's family. So maybe if one of them shows a strong interest they will be finished. Otherwise, I'll need to rip them and restart. It's a great pattern, but it's a lot of work.

Bayerishe Socks for ???

---

Below are some socks I just started for Daughter#2. I was cleaning out her bureau drawers lately and discovered that most of her handknit socks no longer fit. So she's in need of some new socks. These are not colors I would have picked, but Daughter#2 likes them. This pattern is an adaptation of Ilga's Socks from Favorite Socks.

Ilga's Socks for Daughter#2

---

These are another pair of Jaywalkers that I am making with some Lorna's Laces yarn. I tried this yarn in another sock pattern, but I didn't like the way the color was working out. I'm not sure if I like this yarn as Jaywalkers either. What do you guys think?

More Jaywalkers (to be ripped?)

---

The socks below were inspired by some pictures I saw online of knitted pouches done in medieval Egyptian patterns (can't link because the site is currently unavailable). I charted out some of the patterns from the pictures. I'm hoping to combine a few different patterns into a pair of socks for me. This is as far as I've gotten, but I really love them so far.

medieval Egyptian socks

---

These are just some boring stockinette socks for Uncool Guy, who needs more socks that he can wear to work. This is my first time using the Trekking Pro Natura wool/bamboo yarn (color 1603). I'm liking it so far, except for the little white fluffy bits that I keep running into. They are hard to pull out because they are so embedded in the yarn.

Boring stockinette socks for Uncool Guy

---

Here are some more boring socks, with some basic 3x1 ribbing. These are in Trekking XXL. I'm hoping these will be a Christmas gift for someone.

Basic Ribbed Socks in Trekking XXL

---

These gloves have been on my needles for a loooong time, maybe since the beginning of last winter (possibly even the winter before that). They are for Uncool Guy, to match his lovely scarf. However, I abandoned them because I was having problems with sizing. He has very large hands and I had to rip and reknit a few times (and then I got bored). Hopefully I will finish them before this winter is over. (Wanna bet?)

Gloves for Uncool Guy

---

Here's another project I'm working on -- some mittens for Brother#1's girlfriend. They are temporarily on hold until I can check the sizing with a fitting.

Basic Mittens

---

And finally there is this illusion scarf for Nephew#2. It was supposed to be a birthday present for him (birthday in March -- again, I am lame). I made up the chart for this myself. It's supposed to be a skull and crossbones. However, I don't think the bones are coming out very clearly and the mouth needs work, so I think I'm going to modify the chart and try again.

Skull Illusion Scarf viewed from an angle

Skull Illusion Scarf viewed from above

---

That's not even all of my current WIP's. Those are just the ones that were conveniently lying around when I had my camera out. Yeah, I know. I need to focus and actually finish a few things. Ah, but that's so boring.

You know what's not boring? I'm going to Rhinebeck in a couple days!!! Wooo hooo!

This will be my first trip there and I'm excited. I'll be traveling mostly with Melissa and Sister#1 (pic of us here, I'm the one without the cowboy hat). Say "howdy" if you see us.

I'm also signed up for Rhinebeck Blogger Bingo, as both a square and a player. If I'm on your card, you can identify me because I'll probably be carrying this red bag. Hope to see you there!

Silly Knitting

So, I recently went to a Rovaniemi Mittens class taught by Susanna Hansson at Webs. I should really be telling you about that (it was fabulous) and showing pictures of the "wristlet" that I started in class. However, it's not finished and my gauge is so super tight (11 sts/inch instead of the recommended 8-9 sts/in) that I think I'm going to rip it and try again. Anyhow, I'll get back to that sometime. But not now, because currently I am obsessed with making this silly thing.

How stinking cute is this?

It's the Alligator Scarf from Morehouse Farm, and it's super cute. I'm making it with some Jaeger Baby Merino DK that I got on sale at Webs. It will be for either Niece#4 or Nephew#4 -- the only family members who are still young enough to actually want to wear an alligator scarf.

Morehouse Farm has a lot of other cute animal scarf patterns on their website. I just noticed they now have a dragon scarf. Oooh, I'm tempted.

Ravelry!

Yay, I finally got my Ravelry invitation!!!

Too bad I will be away this weekend and I won't have any time to enter more of my projects, stash, etc. It's going to be a lot of work since I currently store all my photos on Photobucket (I love the amount of organization it gives you for free). Now I'll have to copy them over to Flickr -- what a drag. A question for those of you with Flickr accounts: Do you pay for the upgrade so you can have more than 3 sets or do you just go with the free version? If so, is it really hard to find stuff once you've uploaded a lot of pictures?

If you're already on Ravelry and you want to be my friend, then look me up. My username is "persnicketyknitr" (boo-hiss to the 16-character username limit, but I'm grateful for the invite, really).

What to do With Leftover Sock Yarn

Want to see what I've been knitting lately? Well feast your eyes on this:

Oooh, pretty.

Can you guess what it is?

Well, when you knit a lot of socks, you invariably are left with lots of leftover sock yarn. And what do you do with all of those tiny little balls? [No you don't throw them out! Who said that? You should be ashamed.] No, you use them. You knit something like this:

It's a Leftover Sock Yarn Afghan.

It's colorific.

The plan is that I will knit one block on this afghan for each pair of socks I have ever knit. Since I give away a lot of the socks I make, this will serve as a nice little memento for me. The problem with my plan is that I have no yarn left from several pairs of socks. That bums me out. Maybe when those particular socks die (I officially hate to darn socks), I will unravel some yarn from their ankles and use it to make a block. We'll see.

Anyhow, as of this morning, I have knit 43 blocks. My current sock quota is 61 pairs, so I've got some more blocks to go before I catch up. Also, clearly, it will be a loooooong time before this thing is big enough to actually use as an afghan. Guess I better knit some more socks then. ;) [Do you see a cycle here?]

I'm knitting the afghan in entrelac (so no seaming, yay!), with each block consisting of 24 sts and 47 rows. Since I've knit socks from many different weights of yarns, from aran-weight to very thin sock yarn, I've had to mess around a bit with various needle sizes to get the blocks to come out roughly of equal size. I divided the plies of the aran- or worsted-weight yarn to use only half of its thickness. The DK yarn I knit fairly tightly. The fingering-weight yarn I knit at varying degrees of looseness (mostly looser than I would for socks). I'm going for an approximate gauge of 7.5 sts/inch, which is giving me a block size of approximately 3 x 4 inches. It's going to take some serious blocking to get this afghan to lie flat, but I did a little trial steam-block (love that Scunci steamer) and it seemed to work fine.

The trial steam-blocked section is on the left side of this pic -- nice and flat.

I haven't yet decided what kind of edging I should do (since that step is far off), but I'm thinking it will be black. Does anyone have any suggestions?

A Long List

Thanks for the comments welcoming me back to blogland. I'm actually surprised you guys didn't give up on me after my long absence.

I've been catching up on my blog reading and I saw this list on a couple of blogs. It looked like fun, so here goes:

Mark with bold the things you have ever knit, with italics the ones you plan to do sometime, and leave the rest. [And I, in my ultimate analness, have made things bold and italic if I have tried the technique (like in a swatch or a UFO) but not finished an item with it yet.]

• Afghan (I've started a sock-yarn afghan, but it's not very big yet.)


• I-cord


• Garter stitch (Is this question really necessary?)


• Knitting with metal wire (Sounds painful, but still intrigues me. I think I saw some wire & bead candleholder thingies I'd like to try.)


• Shawl


• Stockinette stitch


• Socks: top-down (my favorite way)


• Socks: toe-up


• Knitting with camel yarn (very fragile)


• Mittens: Cuff-up


• Mittens: Tip-down (I might try gloves starting with the fingers)


• Hat


• Knitting with silk (I'd like to make a silk shawl someday.)


• Moebius band knitting (Need to buy the book.)


• Participating in a KAL (However, the level of my participation is not exactly stellar.


• Sweater


• Drop stitch patterns (Hmmm, I don't think so.)


• Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn (I did unravel a sweater a few years ago with the intention of reusing the yarn, but I never got around to knitting with it. Now I've got too much stash to make this worth the effort.)


• Slip stitch patterns


• Knitting with banana fiber yarn (Not sure. I guess I might do this just to say I tried it?)


• Domino knitting (=modular knitting) (I've done some swatching, but this is definitely not my favorite technique.)


• Twisted stitch patterns (love 'em)


• Knitting with bamboo yarn


• Two end knitting (Took a great twined knitting class and made a kid's mitten. Very cool technique.)


• Charity knitting (Dulaan)


• Knitting with soy yarn (I recently bought some Tofutsies though.)


• Cardigan (I started one, but never finished it.)


• Toy/doll clothing (doll socks)


• Knitting with circular needles


• Baby items


• Knitting with your own handspun yarn (Only in the very distant future. I am currently trying to resist the urge to become a spinner.)


• Slippers (Have a pattern waiting.)


• Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street) (This wouldn't really work in my neighborhood.)


• Continental knitting


• Designing knitted garments


• Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)


• Lace patterns


• Publishing a knitting book (I guess I shouldn't say "no", but it's very unlikely.)


• Scarf


• Teaching a child to knit (a whole street worth of little girls)


• American/English knitting (as opposed to continental) (my preferred method)


• Knitting to make money (Hmmm, not if it sucks the joy out of knitting.)


• Buttonholes


• Knitting with alpaca


• Fair Isle knitting (I've done 2-color stranded colorwork, but not with traditional Fair Isle patterns with the shading of the foreground & background colors)


• Norwegian knitting (I've done 2-color stranded colorwork, but not in a sweater and I've not done steeks.)


• Dying with plant colours (Maybe, in the very distant future)


• Knitting items for a wedding (sounds stressful)


• Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies...)


• Knitting socks (or other small tubular items)on two circulars (I love using 2 circulars.)


• Olympic knitting (I sucked at this. Never finished.)


• Knitting with someone else's handspun yarn (Yes, thanks to Anne of knitspot)


• Knitting with dpns


• Holiday-related knitting (Mini mittens that I intended to use as ornaments, but never hung on the tree -- do those count? I keep saying that I'm going to knit Xmas stockings, but somehow I never get around to it.)


• Teaching a male how to knit (I've taught 2 boys to knit. Does that count?)


• Bobbles


• Knitting for a living (not sure -- may kill the love)


• Knitting with cotton


• Knitting smocking
  
• Dying yarn (again, distant future)


• Steeks


• Knitting art (hmm?)


• Knitting two socks on two circulars simultaneously (Well, one person I know is very fond of knitting 2 socks at a time. She's even written a book about it, although on one circular. But I am far too apt to rip back in search of the elusive perfect fit, and ripping back 2 socks is just too painful.)


• Fulling/felting


• Knitting with wool


• Textured knitting


• Kitchener BO (love it)


• Purses/bags (drawstring bags, no purses)


• Knitting with beads (I've got a huge stash of seed beads. I should do this more.)


• Swatching (enjoy it)


• Long Tail CO


• Entrelac


• Knitting and purling backwards (I can knit backwards fairly smoothly, but I haven't gotten the hang of purling backwards yet.)


• Machine knitting (maybe, distant future)


• Knitting with self patterning/self striping/variegating yarn


• Stuffed toys (I made a stuffed seal. It was kind of a pain. Too much sewing for me.)


• Knitting with cashmere (yes, and it's lovely)


• Darning (not much fun)


• Jewelry (a knitted bead bracelet)


• Knitting with synthetic yarn (novelty scarves, and maybe a foofy tank top here or there)


• Writing a pattern


• Gloves


• Intarsia (only a little bit)


• Knitting with linen


• Knitting for preemies


• Tubular CO


• Freeform knitting (hmmmm, I don't think freeform fits my oh-so-methodical style)


• Short rows


• Cuffs/fingerless mits/armwarmers


• Pillows


• Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine (Jaywalkers, Wavy Scarf. Surprisingly, that may be all.)


• Rug (Have the book. Have been meaning to make something.)


• Knitting on a loom (not really interested)


• Thrummed knitting


• Knitting a gift (lots)


• Knitting for pets (have no pets)


• Shrug/bolero/poncho


• Knitting with dog/cat hair (ummm, no)


• Hair accessories (headbands)


• Knitting in public (ALL THE TIME)

Holy crap, that was a long list! It will be interesting to review this list in a year and see if I can bold any of the non-bolded items by then. Which do you think would be the most likely or the most unlikely? Any guesses?

Blog Avoidance

Wow, it's been exactly 5 months since my last post. How much do I suck? In case you are curious, I am not dead. Nor do I have any other good excuse for my shameful lack of blog posting. I have, however, been knitting. But I still haven't attempted to fix that shawl (is anyone really surprised?).

In an attempt to get back into the swing of blogging, I have updated my Gallery. I have listed every single stinking pair of socks that I have ever knit (cuz I'm anal like that, in case you haven't noticed). Anyhow, it contains several things I have never blogged about, so you may want to check it out.

Here are some teaser pics from the Gallery:

Chipman's Block Mittens

Cashmere Fingerless Gloves

Silk Garden Ribbed Hat

Cascading Leaves Socks

Ugly Purple Sockotta Jaywalkers

Manly Greenish-Brown Trekking Socks

6-ply Regia Socks

Cabled Bearfoot Socks

American Girl Doll Socks
(made from Trekking, of course)

Lacy American Girl Doll Socks

Simply Lovely (or not so lovely) MISTAKE Lace Socks
(Trekking XXL again)

Crazy-Patterned Opal Socks

More Trekking Socks
(Apparently I am addicted to Trekking XXL. It's like crack.)

Mother/Daughter Socks
(click for cute stuffed bunny picture)

Strange Blue & White Opal Jaywalkers

Plus some oldies from several years ago:

Brown & Natural Stranded Socks

DK-weight Purple & Green Socks

Crazy Furry Socks

And much more in the Sock Gallery.

---

Oh, and if you are looking for some entertaining blog reading, go check out my friend Rachel's new blog, Diary of a Mad, Mad Housewife. It is a wickedly funny look at the trials and tribulations of a slightly paranoid "Suburban Mommy". It's good stuff.

Shawl Fixes, Austrian Mittens, and Bacteria

Thanks for the supportive comments about my shawl problem. You gave me some good things to think about.

As Cattycorner pointed out, since the shawl is circular, I would probably wear it folder over. However, I'm thinking that I would like to wear it not quite doubled, but with the top 12 inches or so folded down -- I like the look of having the center of the swirl in the center of my back. And I think I will be annoyed if every time I go to wear it, I need to arrange it so that the stupid error isn't falling right smack on my butt (thereby drawing unneeded attention to that part of my anatomy ;)

franticom suggested that I try to hide the mistake under some embroidery, which is an interesting idea. However, my embroidery skills are sorely lacking and I think I might just totally mess that up.

SJ suggested that I do some creative blocking to make it LOOK like there are yarnovers in that row. I'm really intrigued by this suggestion and I think I'll try it. I'll let you know how it works.

I'm in the process of making a test swatch for the kitchener fix, just to see if it works. If it turns out to be too difficult or annoying, I will just leave the shawl as is. The mistake does kind of blend in and look like a variegation in the yarn, especially when seen at a more normal angle (and against a darker background).

---

Well, enough about my shawl. In an attempt to give you something interesting to look at, I am finally posting pictures of some mittens I finished a couple of months ago (during my blogging hiatus).

Austrian Mittens

I made these mittens after taking a Strickmuster class with Candace Eisner Strick at Webs, back in October. This was a great class, in which we learned all about Austrian twisted stitch patterns, including some of Candace's special adaptations. Candace gave out the pattern for these mittens as part of the two-day class, and I started them on the 2nd day.

Here are the details:

Pattern:

Austrian Mittens, designed by Candace Eisner Strick (provided as part of her Strickmuster class)

Yarn:

Reynolds Whiskey [100% wool],
color: 16

Needles:

US 3 (and US 4 for the i-cord at the bottom)

Gauge:

7.5 sts/inch in stockinette, about 9 sts/inch in pattern

Modifications:

My gauge with this yarn was a little tighter than that specified in the pattern, but I did not change the number of stitches for the hand since the mittens made from the pattern (which Candace brought to class) were a little big on me.
I started with the i-cord edge, but I kitchenered the i-cord together at the ends, instead of having extra i-cord hanging down (kind of like tassels). Also, I did not want to include the gauntlet part of the cuffs, so I cast on just enough stitches for the hand of the mitten. I widened the thumb and knit the inner part of it (the part toward the palm) in reverse stockinette, instead of twisted ribbing.

Comments:

I really enjoyed making these mittens, although it did require me to pay a lot of attention to the chart. Once I got about halfway through the first mitten, all of the manipulation of the stitches started to come more easily, and the project moved along more quickly.
I really like the way this pattern had you start with an i-cord edge and then pick up stitches from the side of that to start the hand. That makes a nice, clean bottom edge for the mitten.
I used Reynolds Whiskey for these mittens because it was one of the few yarns then available at Webs that was the right fiber content and roughly the right gauge for this pattern. It really doesn't show off the stitch pattern to its best advantage (a lighter color and a smoother yarn would probably have been better), but my choices were limited and I do like the color. I would definitely use this yarn again for a different sort of pattern.
I love these mittens and they fit great. I intend to make another pair of them sometime, but using a yarn like Louet Gems Merino (the recommended yarn for the pattern).

---

Oh, and I wanted to let you know about one last thing. I was just on the website for the Boston Museum of Science and I stumbled across a very interesting bit of science news. Apparently, some new research has shown that the amount of certain types of bacteria we have in our intestines may help determine how fat we are. Check out the museum's podcast about it -- fascinating.

Crappity, Crap, Crap, Crappers

So, I finally got around to blocking the spiral shawl that I started last summer. I finished it sometime in the fall, but I was too lazy busy to block it until now.

All was fine and dandy, and I was feeling pretty proud of myself, until I stood back to admire it and whammo, I saw it. ARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH! A big fat mistake!

Can you see it?

How about now?

Can you see it now?

Yep, there it is.

(rollover the image for a lovely highlighted effect)

I knit across one of the segments instead of doing the yarnovers!

At first I thought, "Well, maybe it's not that noticeable." I had Uncool Guy look at the shawl to see if he could find the mistake. He didn't see it. I directed his attention to the general area. He still didn't see it. I told him which segment it was in. Nope. (The man must be blind.) I had to point it out to him. That was encouraging.

However, I then located Daughter#1 and challenged her to find the mistake. (sigh) She found it within 10 seconds. (She's got a touch of the persnickety in her, that girl.)

Maybe you just have to be a knitter to see it. Anyhow, it bugs me and now it's all I can see when I look at the shawl. I'm hoping I can fix it by cutting the yarn, picking out the one offending row in that section, and kitchenering it back together with some added YO's and K2tog's. Sounds fun, huh? I'll have to test that very carefully on a swatch. (big sigh) But not anytime soon -- I'm just not up for it.

What a big fat bummer. Anyone have any other ideas?

Cowgirls and some FOs

Do you know what these pictures mean?


Why, it's a semi-surprise cowgirl birthday party for Melissa, of course.

Here's a picture of the birthday girl herself, contemplating the number of candles on her cake. Wait a minute -- aren't there a few missing?

It was a fun celebration of "all things Melissa", with great margaritas to boot. I discovered that I suck at Pictionary (or, at least, I suck at drawing chicken- and baseball-related clues).

Daughter#1 managed to get a halfway decent picture of Sister#1 and me at the shindig. I'm the one without the cowgirl hat -- unlike Melissa and Sister#1, I'm not even a small part cowgirl.

For a laugh, go check out the funny picture of Daughter#1 caught eating wasabi peas at the bar.

In knitting news, I finished those Franklin socks for Melissa's book. I really like the yarn. It's not splitty at all, and it holds up great to lots of ripping (ask me how I know).

Here's a picture of the chutney color. It looks very different when knit at 72 sts (on the left) than it does at 60 sts (on the right). I really dig the diagonal flashing the yarn does when knit at 60 sts around. Too bad that size doesn't fit my foot. :(

I have also finished a pair of Trekking socks for my dad's birthday. These are color 62, done on US1 needles. I'm getting a little tired of Trekking yarn -- these are my 7th pair, I think. Yet, for some reason I just started another pair of Trekking socks for Uncool Guy. He has recently put holes in two pairs of his handknit socks (these and these), so I need to whip out some more for him.

Here's another FO that I need to mail off to its recipient. It's a pair of handwarmers/fingerless mitts for Sister-in-Law#1. This pattern is from Interweave Knits Fall 2005, in the Yarn Spotlight section. The yarn is Peruvian Collection Sierra Aran, used with US8 needles.

This is the fourth pair of these I have knit (see the others here). It's about time I tried a different pattern, huh? Well, last year Sister-in-Law#1 saw the ones I made for Mother-in-Law#1 and decided to knit herself a pair. However, she did not finish them before she decided to give up knitting (SHOCKING -- yes, I know), so I told her I would finish them for her.

I have a lot of other finished objects to show, but right now I need to get away from this computer and ride my bike. I can feel my butt expanding as I sit here...

Sugar Rush

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone. I'm running on very little sleep today, since I spent a lot of last night trying to install my new blogger template (more on that later).

Uncool Guy has continued his customary Valentine's Day generosity and has showered me with flowers (tulips) and candy. These are the most wonderful fruit jellies from the Harbor Candy Shop in Ogunquit, Maine. Man, are they good. Plum is currently my favorite, but that could change because they are all just so lovely. If you are ever in Ogunquit, be sure to stop in at this store -- it is a chocolate/candy lover's haven.

In knitting news, here is the completed bowl that I showed you the other day. It came out pretty well for my first felted item, I think. I had a little problem with the edge though. I kept stopping the washing machine every 5 minutes or so to check on the progress of the felting, and I didn't notice until it was too late that part of the edge had started to curl in. By the time I noticed it, the edge was already too firmly attached in some places to unfold it. So I tried to curl the rest of the edge all the way around and felted it some more. It sort of worked, but the edge came out lumpier than I would have liked.

I based this bowl on the mancala pattern at Knitty, but I doubled the yarn and used bigger needles. Here are the specs:

Pattern:

I followed the instructions for the Large Bowl in the Mancala pattern at Knitty

Yarn:

Manos del Uruguay [100% wool],
color: 38 (dark purple), which I got from Windsor Button last year

Needles:

US 15 (used with the yarn doubled)

Gauge:

who knows?

Finished Size:

3" high by 6" wide

Comments:

I felted the crap out of this bowl and it came out pretty thick and sturdy. Interestingly, the felted fabric seems to have a sort of "boucle" surface. I wonder if this has something to do with the fact that this is a thick & thin yarn. I'm guessing that the thicker yarn sections turned into the boucle "bumps" when felted. Anyway, it's a cool effect.

I shaped the bowl by stretching it tightly over a glass bowl. The bowl had slight vertical ridges on the outside and a sharply defined bottom ridge. It's funny that I can kind of see the ridges in the dried bowl and I can definitely see an indent from the bottom ridge in the bottom of the bowl. So next time, I'll have to find a different bowl for the shaping and drying.

[Updated to add: It has been brought to my attention that the bowl in the mancala pattern has an attached i-cord edge. I did not make an i-cord edge on my bowl, because I, apparently, cannot follow directions. Anyhow, I bet if I had made the i-cord edge, it wouldn't have partially curled in like it did. I'll try that next time.]

Oh, and Daughter#1 made this little shrinky dink tiger for me the other day. Isn't he cute?