I have moved

I have finally found the time (and place) to start getting all the patterns in my head written down to share with others.  Come visit me here.  Enjoy.

Ravelry and socks

I got my Ravelry invite last month, the morning we were leaving on our family vacation! I knew it was coming (I had been stalking the check your place in line page) so I got up extra early to sign in and look around a little before my guys got up and got moving. That turned out to be not such a great idea! Wow, there is a lot too look at! The entire time we were gone I kept wondering if anyone would notice if I disappeared for a bit to "check my e-mail". We all had a great time on our trip and I saved Ravelry for when I got home.

The only problem with Ravelry is that you could spend hours there without even noticing. There is just so much there. If you haven't signed up for your invite, get over there and do it right now. It only takes a second and they are really zooming through the wait list now. Even if you don't think it's for you, check it out, you will probably find something there you didn't even know you were missing.

I spent a little time checking out all the things I could organize, mostly just stuff off the top of my head (and that I had pics of on Flicker). I am not what you would call an organized knitter, but I wanted to give it a try. Everything was super easy to do and I was completely amazed at how perfectly everything was linked together, not just linking my stuff together, but my stuff linked to everyone's stuff. The more stuff I entered, the more cool stuff I found that ravelry could do. It is just so cool! I got to the page to enter all my needles and decided to just put in my dpns, to check it out. My dpns are pretty organized so it was easy to just grab them and enter the info. It turns out that this is really the only place on ravelry that isn't amazingly awesome! It's just a chart that you enter your needles into, but it ended up being pretty cool for me. I went and got my dpns and remembered that I had a few sets in the sewing box in my bedroom. I rummaged around to find them all and came across a skein of STR heavyweight Stonewash that I had completely forgotten I had. I am calling this my "welcome to Ravelry" yarn, thanks ravelry!

I haven't posted in a while (you might have noticed) but it's not just because I have been spending all my time on Ravelry, I have been knitting too. I finished my Harlotty socks and promised them to my oldest. I finished grafting the toes while the boys were in school and left the completed pair on the table in the hall outside of his bedroom. That night at dinner I noticed that my youngest already had the socks on his feet! I can't really blame him, they are nice socks.

Pattern: Basic sock with slip-stitch pattern
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts - STR Mediumweight in Harlotty
Needles: US# 1 dpns
Gauge: 7sts = 1"

I have some more socks done, just waiting to get some pictures. I even finished up a pair from Cat Bordih's new book! Those will have to wait for my next post, which I hopefully will be soon.

Busy end of summer

I have been way too busy lately and haven't had much time to post here, sorry about that. I also haven't been able to finish up much knitting. I have had time to get a few socks started so that will have to do, but first I wanted to reply to Debby's comment on my last post.

Debby asked about how tight my knitting was on size #0 needles with the Panda Cotton. I am a rather loose knitter so I usually use needles 1 or 2 sizes smaller than recommended, but I like my socks to be knit fairly tight (loosely knit socks wear through quickly and are not as comfortable on the soles of your feet). So, with my loose knitting and size #0 needles I was able to get a gauge of 8 sts to the inch which resulted in a very nice sock.


I knit this sock up last month while I was up in northern Wisconsin for a week.

Pattern: Basic sock w/ Steeples stitch pattern from the Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts STR Lightweight in Lunasea
Needles: US #0 dpns
Gauge: 7.5 sts = 1"

I really like this sock, I just have been distracted by other socks and haven't knit up this ones mate. I actually have the top inch of ribbing on the needles, tucked away in the bottom of my knitting bag.

This sock is Tamara's fault, she had this same yarn at knitting Group recently. I loved the colors and asked her what it was, when she told me I realized I actually had that yarn in my stash at home!

Pattern: Basic sock w/ slip-stitch pattern
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts STR Mediumweight in Harlotty
Needles: US #1 dpns
Gauge: 7 sts = 1"

I tried several different stitch patterns until I finally settled on an old favorite. This is a simple 2 row stitch pattern but it looks great with almost any yarn. I started with a k3,p2 rib and then:
Row 1 - Knit
Row 2 - * k3, slip 1 (k-wise), k1, yo, psso k1 & yo (pass slipped stitch over the k1 and the yo)*
This socks mate is almost half done and will probably be finished within the next few days.

This sock is Eunny's fault. I love cables, especially teeny tiny ones on itsy bitsy needles. I could not resist. I love them.

Pattern: Bayerische Socks by Eunny Jang
Yarn: Lang Yarns Jawoll
Needles: US #0
Gauge: 9 sts = 1"

These are not nearly as difficult to knit as they look, you just have to pay attention a little bit. It is a lot of stitches (96 sts.) and cables on every row. I am not crazy about the yarn (it's a little scratchy) but it might soften up after washing. I just couldn't think of a nice solid yarn that would be thin enough for this pattern. Claire came up with the perfect yarn, after I already knit this one, Lorna's Laces. Damn! I love that yarn. The only thing I DON'T like about Lorna's Laces is how long it takes to knit a pair of socks with because it is so thin. My favorite socks to wear I knit with Lorna's Laces. I can't believe I didn't think of it.

That's all I have pictures of for now, so I guess the rest will have to wait. Thanks for stopping by and I'd love if you left a note to let me know you were here. That way I can come visit you too.