Holiday Travel Knitting

Two new sock projects for traveling between Philly, Pittsburgh and home last week. With some beautiful Trekking XXL, I cast on for Retro Rib socks from Fav Socks.Retro Ribs were my on-the-plane knitting, because they're on wooden needles, and then in my checked luggage I also brought along these garter ribs--also my first magic loop-ers--for knitting I could easily do while talking and visiting with family and friends.
The GR pattern's easy, and with ML, there's no chance the needles will slide out or be misplaced during transit, or, more likely, during exploration by inquiring nephews. :)

Before I left, I received this wonderful box of bday goodies from GK (with help from MK at The Knit Knack). And then while I was in Pittsburgh, GK took me to Natural Stitches, where I bought this and this, which pretty much took up the last bit of room in my suitcase. Except for the coolest of cool needle sizers, a bday present from JG, which I likewise needed to save a tiny bit of room for.

While in Pittsburgh, I also spent a memorable afternoon at The National Aviary, where we were lucky enough to arrive just as the birds in the rain forest room were having lunch--and we got to help! With my nephews, I volunteered to hold various avian delicacies (live and dead) high in the air so the birdies could snatch them as they flew by. Could there be anything more fun? (Nope.) Then it started to "rain," and we watched the birds bathe and preen. An extra treat for me was listening to the woman from the Aviary staff answer a zillion questions (mostly from my nephews) about the different birds. She knew everything about every bird.

And now for an abrupt change of subject (because I can't think of an elegant transition), in my next post, I'll have some things to say about progress (and lack thereof) on my MIL's Simple Yet Effective Shawl (in Kraemer's Alpaca, DK weight, which knits up nicely on US 10s) which was coming along NICELY...


and nearly finished until I discovered THIS MISTAKE:

Yes, I am an idiot--I totally screwed up this garter st stripe by purling instead of knitting 18 stitches. Who knows why. And I didn't discover it until about 25 ROWS LATER! 25 LONG ROWS, I should say, with yarn overs that I sometimes lose track of.

I spent all of this morning working to correct my mistake. I'll say more about what I did next time. It probably wasn't the most efficient approach, so if anyone has advice I will be happy to hear it.

In the meantime--and on a happier note--I think these are my fav FO of 2008:

Pattern deets here.

Some Faves

This week I tried a couple new yarns that have been waiting patiently in my stash. (Yes, this means, I have two new FOs, which puts me at 9, I think--just over the average recorded in Knitting Daily's recent poll.) Below is the beginning of the Anthropologie Inspired Capelet from Peony Knits

I'm using Kraemer Yarns alpaca, bulky weight, in rose gray on size 10.5 circs. This yarn is buttery soft, and I look forward to using it for other projects. As for this project--it's quick and easy. I added 5 extra stitches (which gives me 55 total at the cast-on edge and works out to one extra for each section--i.e., two front panels, 2 sleeves, back) since my gage on these needles is slightly fewer stitches per inch than in the original pattern. This may make the capelet too big-- I'll just have to see.

And then below is another pair of Easy Mittens from OS Wonders. I really like this pattern--and, actually, I really REALLY like it with this yarn: Paton's SYS. (GK tells me that she finds this yarn too splitty. And it is. A little. But for me the fuzzy softness is worth dealing with the occasionally splitty strands. Also? So far, it's not pilling. Gotta love that.) I knit these in the smaller size on #6 DPNs.

Truth? They're just my size, which means that they'd probably be a bit snug for a person with average sized hands. If I were making these for someone else, I'd probably go up a needle size.

And, last but not least, can I just say that I recently spent a TOTALLY pleasant afternoon at The Knit Knack in Maplewood NJ. This shop is fab, in no small part because of the friendly owners and the wonderful selection of very beauteous yarns. GK and I spent a very cozy couple of hours knitting (and catching up) as we sat in the comfy chairs at the front of the shop. I also came home with more than a few things to add to my stash, including the most lovely Trekking XXL, which I've nearly finished knitting into a pair of socks. Just for me.

OSW Squashy Bag

Dead camera batteries + house full of company = no blog updates.

But I did get in some knitting, especially in the past couple of days because it's been raining like crazy.

So I have this rule that I can knit for an hour in the morning, and then I have to stop. If I don't, I won't get anything else done. I'm an early riser, so this rule works pretty well (i.e., it doesn't mess up my day) when I stick to it. But sometimes I cheat. Like today. I'd started the "Squashy Bag" from OSW yesterday, and was making good progress until this morning when I got to the flap. For some reason, I got messed up counting the bind offs just before the flap, and it took me a few tries before I figured out what the instructions were actually telling me to do. "Step away from the knitting," I kept thinking, "come back to it later." But in addition to my 1-hour-in-the-morning-rule, I also have a thing about not putting work down when I'm stuck on something--I hate the thought of picking up a project and having to first undo a problem. (Is that weird?) Anyway, I think I finally figured it out, but I won't be completely sure until I knit more of the flap to see if it's really centered.

Yarn is Mauch Chunky that I bought a couple weeks ago at my LYS. I hadn't tried this yarn before, but I'm really liking it. The color is "bing cherry," and I'm using size 11 circs (24", but I probably could have used 16") and DPNs.

And below, finally FINALLY, I finished the second blue stripey sock. The first of this pair was my first short-row heel attempt, and I discovered after I posted (bragged) that there was actually a pretty big hole at the last wrapped stitches on each side. A few gajillion SRHs later, and, grateful for advice from helpful friends about minimizing those dag blasted holes, I forced myself to finish the second sock.

End-of-June WIP

As promised, pics of WIP. Well, some of them, anyway. Below are "Classy Slip-Up" socks from Knit Socks! 15 Cool Patterns for Toasty Feet by Betsy Lee McCarthy. Yarn is Knipicks Gloss, which I'm not loving because already the fabric is looking kinda fuzzy.
Next is the first of my Lichen Ribbed Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks. Except instead of "lichen," mine are Baltic Sea. This is my first experience kniting with Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn, which is just as fab as promised. Needles are Knitpicks #1 nickel-plated dpns (ditto for all the socks pictured below):

I also started a couple things from Sensational Knitted Socks. Here's the leg for one Ribbed Lace sock, in Lang Jawoll cotton:

And here's one leg of the SKS Chevron pattern knit in Crystal Palace Panda Cotton, which may have been a mistake on the nickel-plated dpns because this yarn is v-e-r-y-v-e-r-y split-y. Of course, the needles' extra sharp points are also really great for picking up split strands--so--maybe it all balances out in the end. And, once knit, the colors in this yarn ("fern") are really pretty (I think), esp. in this pattern.

And last but not least: a little crochet. Here's the "Fit to be Tied" clutch from Happy Hooker in Cascade 220 (Pale Yellow), as called for in the pattern. I need to add the finishing deets, including a lining and some ribbon woven through the eyelets.

Somehow, even though I've been trying not to start new things, I have a lot of stuff IP. Some of these will probably be Christmas presents (but which ones? I like them all for me!).