Shorty Sock Season

With the temperatures rising now is the time for shorty socks! I've just finished two pairs, one dubbed the ugliest socks every featured in this post and this lovely spring pair I just finished out a 50 gram ball that I had in stash.

This first pair done is Regia that is the perfect colors for spring! So bright and happy but very warm for short socks. I like the sturdiness of a Regia sock, I don't worry about what shoes I'm wearing and they always look great even after tons of wear.

Look at how cute these socks are! They scream spring! I think they'll be coming to Europe with me in a few weeks. I really love these socks because the gusset increase runs along the bottom of the foot (these were knit from the toe-up) and they fit like a glove!

And my ugliest socks ever are done too! My mom and I had a good laugh because we checked her stash and she has a hank of this too! LOL! We are so predictable, we have very similar tastes and usually end up with the same yarn. She's going to try and sell hers.

I've just started The Yarn Whisperer by Clara Parkes for my yarn shops book club. Joining Frontier Dreams for her along this week. So but also happy to note Ginny from Small Things is stopping her along. Enjoy your life Ginny, I'll be following along!

The Ugliest Socks Ever: A Saga on why Not to buy Sale yarn

Sale yarn is so appealing. All that fiber! At 30% off! What!?! But really folks, take a step back and evaluate that yarn. Is it something you would really buy if it wasn't on sale? I say this because I love me a good sale and it has come to bite me in the ass.

Behold, the ugliest socks ever. Provided to you by sale yarn from my local fiber festival.

I'm not linking the dyer because I don't want you to think they don't have great yarn. They do, they really do, but this one just did not knit up well. I tried other patterns, different stitches, any thing to make these look better and they are just as ugly.

But they make me laugh! They are so ugly I just can't wait to wear them and laugh at how ugly they are! I just need to cast on the second one and giggle while I do.

So just remember people, do you really want that sale or is it just a great bargain?

Also on today's agenda, the first book club meeting at my yarn shop! I just finished The Friday Night Knitting Club for the second time and I'm excited to discuss with the ladies. Joining Ginny and Frontier Dreams  for their make "Alongs" this week.

Stripy Socks!

Finished up a new pair of socks last night! I love them!

This slip stitch pattern isn't something new but I had never tried it before and it looks so dang cute! I'm also in love with these socks because I dyed the yarn!

Of course Andrea and I dyed it together, she is the self-striping sock yarn queen! I just get to be part of the entourage that follows along and plays with the colors. I will definitely be wearing these while it's still cool enough to wear hand knit socks.

Reading Friday Night Knit Club for my yarn shops book club and joining Ginny and Frontier Dreams this week. Happy Wednesday!

The Heel Report

Previously I talked about how ill fitting I find most afterthought heels and wanted to try a few to see if they worked better for my feet. I found Lara Neel's heel from this sock pattern and it fits perfectly!

YAY!

I'm So Excited!!

This heel is constructed similar to the top of a hat decrease. It comes out very round in comparison to other afterthought heels.

Lara has a formula that you follow (it's super easy) where you use the length from the tip of your thumb to your first knuckle joint. Sounds weird but it totally works! I only used the info there and how to space the decreases, I didn't do the provisional cast on.

I followed the instructions from Susan B. Andersons SOS pattern for adding in the afterthought heel but followed the instructions from Lara's to actually shape my heel.

I am one happy camper, if you've had trouble with the fit of afterthought heels please check out Lara Neel's pattern. I did find that the pattern decreased to too few stitches and became kind of pointy on one heel; I resolved this in the second sock by pulling the stitches through when there were a few more stitches. Ta Da! Instant fix!

(Good on the left, too pointy on the right) 

Very excited to work this heel again! I'm joining Ginny and Frontier Dreams in the Alongs this week. I'm currently still working my way through Man in the High Castle, but the shop I work at is starting a book club! Our first book is The Friday Night Knit Group so that will be cracked open soon (I've already read it but for the sake of the group I'm going to read it again). 

Resolutions

I usually try to write a list in the last month of the year as resolutions for the coming year. None of them are hard fast have to be done, but they help remind me of my goals. They serve in times of "I have no knitting mojo," "This feakin' isn't working," and "I'm overwhelmed in yarn," a perspective on my time and the art I like to produce.

1. Knit one pattern from each of the books that I own.

2. Put out three designs throughout the year.

3. Walk at least twice a week

4. Pursue the first portion of a Knitting Master degree.

5. Keep in touch with long distance friends once a week.

6. Blog at least twice a week.

7. Start a podcast.

8. Read one book a month.

9. One pair of Knitted Knockers a month.

Just little reminders to keep my life from flying away in these crazy times.

I finished the book Overseas by Beatriz Williams and now have moved onto The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick. Its been interesting comparing the show to the book, so far things are very similar and vastly different. I'm joining Ginny and Frontier Dreams this week with their Alongs.

12 Socks of Christmas!

Well, not actually. There are three finished pairs and I am seriously happy about the amount of Christmas socks that I knit. This KAL was hosted by Sara from Love Sock Wool Podcast and this was the first year that I participated. So without further ado, here are the three pairs of Christmas socks I completed in 2016.

I organized a sock KAL at my yarn shop for the months of November and December, we all used Cascade Heritage Prints in the Holiday colorway but each person used whatever pattern they wanted too. I had so much fun seeing what all my knitting ladies came up with!

The only special portion to this sock was adding in a contrast heel so my stripes would stay in order. I <3 them!

The second pair I finished were purchased at my local fiber festival and are definitely a sport weight sock. I'm pleased as punch with the colors that are in the Blue Moon Fiber club colorway. I would love to dye some self-striping sock yarn to match the colors in these ones.

The last pair that I finished were a test dye for LunaPurl Yarns and I will be wearing them all year long. Although Andrea changed the colorway a bit, I definitely think this is going to be a great seller for her!

I did join a brand new book club! The first book that we've read, I just recently finished was The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I thoroughly enjoyed the book but I found it a bit slow to start in the beginning. Can't wait to start our next book! So I'm joining Ginny and Frontier Dreams in their "Alongs" for this week!

5 Sock WIP's...Wednesday!

That's right folks, I currently have FIVE socks wips going! Four of them are cast-on's for my trip to Rhinebeck, and the other one was cast-on for LoveSockWool Twelve Socks of Christmas KAL! Yay! More KALS!

Obviously I'm really excited to participating in KALs still. All my socks are knit on US 1.5 needles with either 64 or 68 stitches, heel flap and gusset and traditional wedge toe!

I have my Stephen socks in special edition Hedgehog Fibers from my summer Yarn Along. This gorgeous speckled heaven was in a shawl but the yarn really needed to be socks so I frogged the shawl and cast on these amazing socks!

My second sock WIP I brought on my trip is my Fairy socks out of Peepaloo Fields I am so in love with this colorway! The best part is I have two more hanks for a shawl!

The last sock WIP I brought to Rhinebeck with me is the Lorna's Laces sock yarn inspired by The Hobbit! This actually is a variegated yarn that spiraled into these amazing colors, I'm not usually a fan of pooling but this came out so well.

Once I got back from my trip I had to cast-on this fall inspired sock yarn that was given to me. I'm finding the yarn a little thin but so nice to knit with, it's a BFL, cashmere, silk blend and I can't wait to have them on my feet.

Last week I cast-on for the 12 socks of Christmas KAL. The first sock is Cascade Heritage Prints Holidays colorway. We are knitting these as a KAL in the yarn shop I work at, out Thursday night knit group ladies are all knitting socks out of this yarn. So the shop KAL plays nicely with the KAL for Sara @ LoveSockWool.

These definitely aren't my only WIPs but they are the ones that have my main focus. Joining Ginny and Frontier Dreams with their "Along's" I've just started reading a new book about the history of knitting during war time and I've paused my reading of Harry Potter until I can give the illustrations a little more time.

Feeling Moody

I've been a bit moody about my knitting lately. Nothing has really inspired me to work on it; I'm not loving any of the patterns, none of the colors are speaking to me, everything is just...meh. I think its this period of transition into fall. It's not really summer any more but definitely not fall yet.

I'm ready for:

1. Cool weather (give me grey skies!)

2. Wearing handknits season (this goes hand-in-hand with cool weather)

3. Cozy up under a blanket and read a book (again cool weather)

4. RAIN!

I need Fall!

So with this restless feeling taking over and my knitting not fulfilling, I've started sewing. I work full time at a yarn shop but we're actually one business with a quilt shop! We have two different store fronts but one name and one staff. This has given me the opportunity to be surrounded by AMAZING fabrics.

My ultimate goal is to be able to sew my own clothing but I'm going to start off with some project bags and a small quilt first. I'm currently borrowing a Janome sewing machine from one of my favorite customers at the shop. She's looking to sell and I'm looking to buy, so far the machine has been great. And I've made three project bags!

The first bag was made with great aid from my friend and co-worker Claire. She makes the project bags that we sell in the shop and they are amazing quality in the perfect sizes. I made a nice large one with a few pockets for a large shawl and small blanket.

The second and third bags I made on my own. Everyone I know who sews has been handing off fabric and rulers like they are going out of style. I'm currently swimming in fabric that I don't have time to use yet :) One set of fabric was Halloween/Fall fabric! I've been eyeing Halloween bags on Etsy and I'm so excited that I got to make my own!

Ta Da! Yay! Halloween bag for me and enough leftover fabric to make my mom one too! The thrid bag I made was a simple draw string bag that was supposed to have a round bottom but I made kind of squircle, but cutting the corners off of a square. I also started a new fall inspired sock project to match my new bag!

So my Friday's off have been spent in the sewing classroom at the quilt shop working on my new skills! Yay for self teaching! I'm joining Ginny and Frontier Dreams in the Yarn Along for the week. I'm slowly making my way through the illustrated Harry Potter and the Sorcerer Stone but The Chamber of Secrets came out today!

SSKAL Completed!

I finished my sweater! Yay! Woop, woop, woop! And it fits perfectly! Isn't that every knitters worry that their sweater won't fit when they finish? I definitely worried when I adjusted what size I was going to make because my gauge was larger than what the pattern called for. Had I used a smaller needle my sweater would have been bullet proof.

But my adjustments ended up being exactly perfect!

 I can't wait to be able to wear this on my trip to New York in a few weeks! I'm hoping the weather cooperates and it's actually cold enough. As a reminder the pattern is Chimney Fire and the yarn is Blarney Woollen Mills Aran Handknitting Wool.

The only adjustments I made intentionally was lengthening the body by an inch and go up a needle size when I started knitting in the round. I believe I had two extra stitches on the right arm in comparison to what the pattern called for. It didn't make any difference until I got to the cuff, then I had to decrease two extra stitches for the ribbing pattern to match up with the cables.

While blocking, the arms got a touch long so I've folded the cuffs to the correct length. I think I'll live with this for my trip to NY and if I don't like it throughout the trip I'll rip back and bind-off a little earlier. All-in-all I'm ecstatic about my sweater and very proud. I think, this sweater is the most impressive looking piece I've knit so far, but not necessarily the hardest. It really was basic sweater constructions with a few extras thrown in to keep you interested :)

My reading for this week has been the illustrated version of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer Stone. So many childhood memories are coming back with this comfort read. The illustrations are just what you  would expect from a Harry Potter novel. Though I was sad there was no illustration of the letter flying through the chimney for Harry! Joining Ginny and Frontier Dreams for the Yarn and Craft Along this week!

SLO Yarn Crawl

I'm very lucky as a knitter that I live within 5 hours drives of about 30 yarn stores! My knitting group and I joined a formal Yarn Crawl and drove down the coast to San Luis Obispo CA! See ya later 100 degree temp, hello 72! I was able to wear a shawl!

We stopped at a few yarn stores that weren't part of the crawl on our way down. If you ever have a chance to visit Monarch Knitting in Pacific Grove, do it, what an amazing shop! It will be one of my visit a few times a year shops; I would move to Pacific Grove just to have that as my local yarn shop.

We spent the night in an amazing hotel and had a knitting sleepover. This was a great prep-trip for Rhinebeck next month (24 DAYS!) sidenote: my sweater just needs the last sleeve and ends woven in!

The first shop was Yarns & Beads (in Grover Beach) who was having an Anzula trunk show, most of my knitting group is now ready to do a beaded shawl. We made a little beach pit stop first; in our excitement we arrived way before opening.

Then we moved on Yarns...At the Adobe. They also had a few local dyers there for a trunk show and snacks for everyone. Marilyn, in my knitting group, just found out she won their door prize!

The next shop we visited was Never Not Knitting! I'm am so excited that we got to visit this shop! They shop is tiny but stuffed full of amazing yarn and treasures! I didn't buy any yarn but ended up with fun little treasures. And Alana had an amazing gift bag for everyone who visited the shop!

We had two shops left to visit, the first was Ranch Dog Knitting and the last on our fun journey was Ball & Skein & More.

We had a total blast! I really enjoy visiting other shops, seeing their samples, trying new yarn. I came home with a couple hanks of yarn and other lovely yarn goodies. Can't wait until my local fiber fest the first weekend of October! 

I'm joining Ginny for the Yarn Along and Frontier Dreams in their Craft Along this week. I'm currently reading the illustrated version of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer Stone! It's making me so happy to hop back into this world and the illustrations are lovely! Still chugging along on my Rhinebeck Sweater, I'm so close to done I can almost taste it! 

SSKAL Update #2

My sweater is cruising right along! I've finished the body then picked up and knit a few inches on the arm! For a recap, the pattern is Chimney Fire using Blarney Woollen Mills Aran Handknitting Wool. I worked on this project for the Summer Sweater KAL along with This Knitted Life Olympic KAL.

Now back to your regularly scheduled knitting talk. I fell a bit behind in the original finish date for the SSKAL, so a lost some of my motivation to work on my sweater. Everyone in the KAL so kindly voted to extend the finish date! Yay! So I started working on the arm of my sweater. I decided I won't decrease in the arm as fast as the pattern calls for, I don't want the arms to end up too tight! I'm going to wear my sweater more as a jacket so I would like a layer or two underneath.

To adjust for the fact that I knit tighter in the round than flat I went up a needle size. I used an US 8 for the body and I switched to a US 9 for the arm. I need to get to work! I'm a just a tad further along in the arms that my pictures show; I'm just to the elbow now.

In other news, the Olympic KAL I mentioned above wrapped up at the Olympic closing ceremonies. When everything was added up and counted I won a prize! Yay! Competition you are such a great motivator!

Andrea from This Knitting Life sent me this beautiful skein of Swan Island fingering weight yarn. This is a beetroot base dye that is just gorgeous, such a tonal purple. I can't wait to find the perfect project for this! Thanks Andrea!

I'm joining Ginny for the Yarn along and Frontier Dreams. I just finished Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, 3 out of 5 vote for me. I went in thinking that it wasn't an original HP book so I wasn't too disappointed. I'm glad that I read it but I won't need to again.

Lacey May

Social events, for me, aren't always fun. I'm great with yarney people, we speak the same language. I'm not always the best with non-yarney people who are new to me. Knowing this, I always bring what I call 'social knitting'. A non-thinking, easy to knit, don't look at my hands project. Plain. Vanilla. Socks.

Mid August we had a family friends baby's first birthday! Ms. Lacey May turned one! 

      

I cast on plain vanilla socks, 64 stitches, US 1.5 needles, 9 inch circulars; my really basic formula. Brought these to the birthday party and made a significant amount of the cuff and leg. I worked on them furiously the whole week, mainly because I hand-dyed the yarn! Yay me! I'm so happy with how the dye job turned out!

I have a yarnie friend, Andrea, who owns an etsy yarn dyeing business, Luna Purl Yarns. She invited me over to come dye experiment, yarn science as she calls it. I was inspired by yarn I was coveting from etsy and took a stab at dyeing a similar colorway. I'm so in love with how the yarn turned out!

I finished them a week to the day. I went on a yarn crawl with some of my knitting group to a few of the local yarn stores. Lucky me, I wasn't the driver. Which means I had plenty of knitting time! I finished up the last toe and kitchenered in the car! 

Happy feet for me! 

I put these into Grocery Girls second sock summer, pair number 7 or 8 I think. The original base of the yarn is Sweet Georgia that I over dyed. Think this works for the Canada KAL? Let me know!

I'm joining Ginny this week with the yarn along, I just finished reading The Martian by Andy Weir. I really enjoyed a more in-depth view of the story than was in the film, but I also enjoyed the fact that I could pictured the actors in the film as the characters. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is next on my bed-side table.