Friday, March 14, 2008

See Ya!

So, it's Friday afternoon and I'm packing a bag to go to my parents' house. Hubby and I are leaving straight from play rehearsal.
Here's the bag:
In clockwise order from top left we have:
1. The Schaefer Anne Socks. These are almost done and I think that I can finish them if I set my mind to it.
2. The Lotus Blossom Tank. I have just finished the first repeat of the Lotus Blossom Pattern. This has not stopped me from packing all the yarn and the pattern.
3. The Vanilla Swirl Socks. So far this is the most accurate picture of the colors in it. These are my Take-everywhere-cos-I-don't-need-a-pattern socks.
4. Barely Visible are the Tiger Eyes socks. These are close to done too but are fussy so they can't be worked on just any time.
5. Mittens. I haven't shown you these yet. They are kinda boring and may get frogged. I haven't decided yet but I was worried that I wouldn't have enough to knit.
No, I didn't pack the yarn first but as you can see, it has pride of place and takes up most of the room in the bag.
So, the question is: how long will I be gone?
Until Sunday.
Is it wishful thinking that I will be able to knit this much or am I delusional?
Good question.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Updates with New Stuff

Since the never ending socks are making my whole body itch (figuratively not literally, it's beautiful yarn and I am not having an allergic reaction to it.)
and the Tiger Eyes are too difficult to take along anywhere because the pattern is too complex.

So, I started another pair
They are Sockotta Socks. It's just the Basic Sock Recipe from this book: Knitting Rules But the yarn makes them interesting so I am calling them my Vanilla Swirl socks. Vanilla because the pattern is plain and Swirl because the colors kinda swirl.

This picture is not even close to accurate for color but it will have to do for now.

I also picked up this yarn a few weeks ago
It's Patons SWS (Soy Wool Stripes) yarn in Natural Pink. The ball on the left is pretty accurate as far as colors go. At least as good as I can get my crappy camera to take. I want to use it to make a cute scarf. Maybe something with drop stitches again but I haven't decided on a pattern yet.
I also got out this yarn from the stash

I have already swatched it for this:
It's the Lotus Blossom Tank from Interweave Knits Summer 06 (I believe) I've got gauge so I think I will get going on it soon. I've been wanting to knit a new sweater for myself for awhile.
Other than all this project planning, I've just been busy with the play but I thought it was time you got an update with pictures.

Sunday, March 09, 2008

Neverending socks

Did you ever see that movie "The Neverending Story"? I feel like my socks are neverending. I'm trying to stick to it and luckily I love the yarn but quite frankly, I'm getting pretty sick of them. They are the Schaefer Anne socks. I started the one at the toe and worked it to past the heel.

Picture a photo of a sock just past the heel here.

Then I took the other end of the yarn and started the other sock.

Picture a photo of two socks worked just past the heel.

I worked both of them alternating back and forth until they were just about to hit the calf muscle. Then I started thinking about it and put the one on a piece of waste yarn to try it on. I realized that I would have to increase if I wanted to have it fit my calf. I increased two stitches on each needle for two rounds (so a total of 16 stitches increased) and changed to 2x2 rib. I thought that if I changed to ribbing that when I ran out of yarn that they would have a better chance of staying up even if it was on the middle of the calf muscle. Now, I'm trying to just keep working them until I run out of yarn.

It's taking awhile. I do a round here and another round there and once in awhile I sit down and work on it for awhile. It's still taking awhile. I feel like I have been working on these socks forever.

What else. I frogged the Feather and Fan socks because they weren't going to fit. I love that STR yarn and I want to do something special with it but I haven't figured out what yet. I guess I'm just going to have to take some time one day and look through my patterns to see what I want to make.

I am getting close to done with the Tiger Eyes socks. They require a lot more focus though so I haven't been working on them much. I think if I took one day and just sat down for an hour or two and worked on them that they would be done. Now, I just need to find a couple of hours one day. hee hee.

Not much else is going on. Hubby and I have been busy rehearsing for the play. That's what has been taking up most of my time. One day I'll get some more pictures for you too.