Eco Wool = Happiness

This is going to a very good friend and her boyfriend that are going through a medical crisis too early. Hope it makes them happy...


The pattern is EZ garter stitch blanket
Yarn: 10.3 skeins of eco wool in latte and .75 skein of eco wool in a chocolate brown.
Started February 15th and finished April 1

Overall, pretty happy with it, there is one line I could have crocheted a little better but I was still trying to get used to a foreign stick with a hook in my hand :)

Not a good start to a sock club

Look at Livia:

I have been trying a few things to get rid of the ladders....that's why you see some imperfections in the sock. I thought about frogging back to fix it but then decided this is such a slow going sock that I would rather leave it as a character compliment :) .....

....then I tried it on....

...and then,


I frogged :(

I guess 80 sts on size one needles, as the pattern calls for, might not be so giant. I thought this sock was going to be huge so I casted on 60 (usually cast on 64 sts) as I needed the number of stitches divisible by 20 and used my usual 2's rather than US 1's. While there isn't a ton of cabling I think the twisted cabled stitches result in little stretch to the sock. There is no way this thing was going on. There were two options, (a) try to bind my feet and hope they shrink or (b) acknowledge I am not an incredibly smart knitter and just follow the silly pattern!!

Seeing as binding my feet would likely only make them uglier, I am going to cast on now with 80 sts on size ones. If this doesn't work out this sock is going to go in a hibernating pile.

The sock club has started

February first was the start of my personal sock club. I had Joel draw a random number (1-13, you will see this was unlucky) and started to cast on for Knotty or Knice from a recent interweave. After battling the pattern cables I pouted "I QUIT!" In defense of the pattern, there were no problems with the pattern itself and it is a gorgeous sock, it is just the damn cables that drove be nuts! My hands were cramping, I was sweating while doing (ok, not really, that is gross) and I just wasn't enjoying the process. As a result, I instead casted on for Livia:




Yarn: Malabrigo Sock
Colorway: Lettuce

I wish the photo above was my gorgeous sock but they definitely aren't a quick knit. Initially I had some problems with some big ladders but have been able to remedy that with some ravelry and local knitters help :). Still, the pattern is a slow go. A sock that is largely purling is somewhat irritating on DPN's, I feel like a new knitter with ten needles in my hands. I have a feeling when I finally finish these socks I will be afraid to wear them as I don't want them to wear out. Overall, I am happy enough with my first sock club surprise. My only disappointment is that I just finished Nana's socks in the same yarn and was looking forward to something new. Oh well, new socks to come March 1st!

I am also making quick progress on Ginny (Color is most accurate in the second picture):


Pattern Source: Amber
Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed
Color: A gorgeous purple that didn't photograph so well

I am changing a lot on this pattern (the puffy sleeves are ridiculous) and am happy with how quickly it is coming of the needles. I am nearly done with the back in just a week. At this rate, I am hoping to have it completed by the end of the month.

In going through some of the projects I have done since I took a vacation from blogging I realized there were some I should share.

This was Joel's Christmas Present:


It is the Penrose afghan which I truly love. I probably have never been more excited to give anyone a gift before. The pattern comes from the Wooly Thoughts website. All the patterns on the site are designed by a mathematician which caught Joel's eye. In July he said "If you ever want to make me anything, I would like one of these," say no more, he was on a business trip the next week so I marched to the yarn shop, bought my weight in ultra alpaca and casted on. This afghan was done without him ever knowing. At the time, I was working in DC and would take the metro an hour early each morning (he thought I was doing it because otherwise I was late for work) and would knit squares and pentagons in a coffee shop before work each day. There were nights that I would tell him I was tired and would 'go to bed' and instead sit hunched over the pieces in the bedroom listening for his movements while I knit away. There are so many stories that go along with this beast but in the end, I couldn't be happier with the results or his reaction to the blanket...pure shock. Unfortunately, since I was so happy with his appreciate and shock, now I feel like I need to one up this effort for the next major occasion. Any suggestions? (many thanks have to be given to Claire for crocheting the border, a seamstress in PA that backed the blanket for me, and Melissa for carrying me through the project with encouragement!)

I decided to try and cook and make a nice dinner tonight. Joel has recently taking up cooking as a hobby and always makes wonderful things for us to eat. I feel like it is making me an even worse cook since he is so good! Tonight I tried to show him up. While cooking I thought 'geesh, this is a lot of work, how about a drink"....low and behold, my ravelry shot glass has seen better days....

....and then the wine cork was less than willing to pop off the bottle. Come on!

Anyhow, a drink or not, I ended up making homemade herb pasta (possibly more of a pain than Knotty or Knice), meatballs, and fresh bruschetta on wheat bread. Yumm! I did good!!

Blocking fixes everything

I found my sock blockers! What would have been great is if I found them BEFORE I ordered another set from The Loopy Ewe! Grrr! I have been known to leaving knitting items in strange places but don't ask why the sock blockers where in a drawer of CD's.

Now you can see the wonders of blocking! If you remember, the pictures from yesterdays post showed the socks in a crumpled pre-blocked mess. Here's the finished product! (the color is most accurate in the whiter shots, had to mess with the flash to show off the pattern well since I didn't want to wait for daylight to take pictures.

It's my fault Northern Virginia

Ok, I will take the fall....

... if you look closely, you will see the snow even warrants dog sweater vests...



Just the other day I was commenting on Melissa's pictures of all the snow she received and how we hardly see any and I don't miss is. Then I wake up to this! Coming from Michigan I remember snow well but do not miss it. The best part is that Joel had this in his email at work "Please don't forget to take your laptops home tonight as the office may be closed in the morning as we are expecting 1-3 inches of snow."

I finished Nana's socks. Unfortunately, the pictures are completely awful as I can't find my small sock blockers! I am still turning the house upside down and will take pictures of the finished product once I find them.

Pattern: Lace and Lattice Socks
Yarn: Malabrigo Sock
Started: January 23, 2009
Finished (ok, but unblocked): January 27, 2009

I'm still not sure how I feel about the Malabrigo sock yarn. It seems a little thinner than what I would normally use but I am curious to see how they block out. Gosh, I need to find those blockers!

...Is this thing on?

OK, so it's been awhile. I got away from blogging as my life was getting too nuts with school and work. While I am still in school I am only working on my internship so have found some more free time on my hands. While I wasn't blogging from September 19th on, I still found time to knit. Here are some things you missed...

...just looked in my ravelry queue and there are 17 items that have been completed since I last was on....I don't want to scare everyone away so I will only include the most recent additions of the 17. Know that the rest can be seen on ravelry.

I just finished Lucille


I saw this sample at Stitches and fell in love. I was completely blown away by the vintage look that I bought handwash yarn! Obviously, this baby sweater will have to be saved for a knitter who will treat it well. For now, it will go in my stash of baby knits (ok, not many, this is only sweater two stashed away) for someone who needs it.

I also finished Joel's, slightly obnoxious, inauguration day socks!

He still doesn't have a pair that fit perfectly so I wanted to do insanely boring stockinette ones to get the fit just right.

Last bit of knitting news. Liz told the knitting girls about a self developed sock club. The idea is that you match 12 sock yarns with 12 patterns and then at random each month you draw a match. I love it! Talk about a cost effective way to join a 'club' and also a great way to use up some stash yarn. I spent the day matching up patterns with yarns. Here's the 12 I chose! The chaos will officially begin February 1st!
While hand knit socks are great, I don't need to be greedy and keep all 12 pairs....send me your size and you just may find a random gift in the mail.

Happy knitting!!

It's Louisa's Birthday!

It's Louisa's Birthday!!! If you knew Louisa you would understand she would hugely appreciate a knitted gift and would be especially amused by a Mr. Peen and a Womb. Kaityln (also at work) knitted Mr. Peen and I had the pleasure of constructing the womb.....


Seriously, how can I top that folks? That's all I got...