Knitting Catch-Up



~erica



I realized its been a year since I did a knitting update. Last year I got a lot of yarn for my birthday and its partly knit up but I added some projects to the queue...

The big project for the year was the Seasons Shawl (Spring). I finished it in February in time to give it to a friend for her birthday- I decided I am just not a shawl person; no matter how lacy and pretty, it still makes me feel like a babushka. My friend, she's a shawl person and always cold so it worked out well. I am now knitting myself a long, lacy scarf with the leftovers plus an extra skein of the main rose pink color. Hopefully it'll make me feel cheery in the cold, gray winter.

I blocked it on the bed in the trailer and then took it outside for pictures.

Just looking at the colors makes me happy.

I finished the opossum socks. MaryLinda brought the 2 skeins back from New Zealand 2 years ago. It took me a long time to find a pattern that showcased both colors. This spiral heel is the start of the socks and caused a lot of cursing and throwing of yarn and knitting needles. I finally found extra yarn and larger needles and watched the youtube video over and over again until I got it. The second heel wasn't quite the ordeal of the first but still made me anxious. The yarn seems to want to felt but they are so warm and soft. I wish I had made them a little taller but I didn't want to run out of yarn.

The pattern is Double Heelix from Knitty Spring/ Summer 2011

After much reading online I decided to dye my wool with Wilton food dye in the crockpot rather than using Kool Aid. Kool Aid dyeing is pretty limited to reds and oranges, there are a lot more color choices with food dye and it seemed less work. Then I decided I wanted stripes... Our school and little league teams are all blue & gold.

 

This made me happy. I managed to twist it like a real yarn dyer.

 

 

Ready to knit

 

This is the yarn knit up in my first Crazy Ribs fingerless glove I only have one knit because it goes halfway down my forearm and I wasn't sure I wanted such long gloves. Now I either need to make the decision to keep it that long and knit the other one or frog it and start over. Its a silk merino blend and very soft and warm. They'll get lots of use for football, soccer, and baseball practices and games

 

This is some alpaca/ wool blend that I picked up at the knit shop in Lakewood. The colors are just right for my mom and I figured I had plenty of time to knit her a pair of Dragonfly Socks for her August birthday (I bought the yarn back in January, just before I finished the shawl).

 

I started these on the plane down to Disneyland and had to start 3 times because they just weren't playing nice. 10 days later I had about 2" knit. The first sock (knit on size US 1.5 needles) turned out too big so I knit the second sock on smaller needles (US 1) then frogged the first sock as I knit the third sock. I did work on them at Family Camp and managed to get one sock completed as we watched the Olympics. The second sock went more quickly but it was too hot to work on while we were in Idaho and Montana (and when you haven't showered and its 100-degrees you don't want any wool touching you anywhere). On my mom's birthday I had the cuff done of the second sock- that day I turned the heel and I finished them the day after her birthday. The lace pattern was easy to memorize and the repeats went quickly. I added an Eye of Partridge heel as the pattern was plain.  

 

Not pictured: I knit about a dozen mini socks for Christmas gifts and then knit a pair to give as a baby gift. I used up a lot of my leftover sock yarn and they were very cute with some chocolate and a candy cane in them. They have a provisional heel that was easy to add, you knit half a row in waste yarn, then in the main yarn, after you have finished the toe you go back and pick up the stitches on either side of the waste yarn and knit the heel. Each mini sock took me about 2 hours and I was slightly obsessed with making them

 

Still to come: I need to knit my second fingerless glove and finish my scarf, hopefully before school starts for me on September 25. Then I still have 2 skeins of sock yarn to knit for myself to replace a couple of pairs that are wearing out. I'd like to knit some fingerless gloves for a friend for Christmas and a pair of socks for another friend's birthday next August. We'll see how much I can get done with my school schedule- I got an email from the instructor and I can expect to have to read 250-300 pages a week... the first 2 books came from Amazon today and I'd like to be done with both before school starts (the first one is assigned to be done by the first day).