Nothin' but socks for March

I have been knitting a lot of socks lately and this month I haven't knit a stitch on anything but socks. That's OK thought because I like knitting socks and my guys like wearing them.

These socks are from Socktopia's Knit-off contest - the pattern was posted on Saturday and everyone had until Monday night to finish them (you did get partial credit in case you couldn't get them done on time). I finished on time but my team still lost, oh well, it was fun. The pattern is not one that I would have chosen on my own, I usually stay away from patterns with holes in them, but I gave it a try anyway. It turns out that I don't mind the holes nearly as much as I thought I would and my oldest said he really liked them and wanted me to make him a pair but in a solid color. Go figure!

Pattern: Eleanor - Socktopia

Yarn: Lana Gross Meilenweit Meeting

Needles: US#1 dpns

Start / Finish: March 24 - 26

Next up, my candy cane socks and your right, they don't match. I started these back in December, my wonderful guys took a road trip to get me yarn for Christmas and gave me this yarn early to make holiday socks for myself. I swatched and swatched to find just the right stitch pattern and finally knitted up the sock on the left (the one with thick stripes on the leg) but I guess I wasn't really happy with it because after I finished the first one I cast on a different sock and three months later, I still had not cast on that second sock.

I decided to start over and try the toe-up pattern I received with my Duet yarn. It was much easier this time (even though I switched to a thinner, tighter yarn and size 0 needles). Once I got the toe done I didn't want to just knit stockinette all the way up so I added a simple slip-stitch rib on the instep. All was going well until I got to the heel. I guess I didn't really read through the instructions very well and ended up with the heel stitches on the instep! After fixing the heel, the rest of the sock went along smashingly.

I even cast on the second one and finished the pair! They turned out quite nicely, if I do say so myself.

Pattern: Toe-up from A Swell Yarn Shop w/ slip-stitch rib

Yarn: Gypsy Girl Creations in Peppermint Twist

Needles: US #0 dpns

Start/Finish: March 6 - 28

FYI about this yarn - This is a superwash wool but it feels a bit stiff with very little stretch, similar to cotton. If you like to knit with cotton, you will love this yarn, if you don't, you still might like it. The socks softened up considerably after the first wash and they feel great to wear. I must say I was surprised when I gave them a rinse to see if the color would run, the red die did not bleed even the slightest bit.

Having had such good luck with the candy cane socks, I pick-up another lone sock from December. The pattern for the first sock (on the left) is Spey Valley from Knitting on the Road by Nancy Bush. I wanted to knit this pattern and I wanted to knit with this yarn but the two together wasn't such a great idea. I finished the first sock but couldn't get the second started.

This time I used a simple garter stitch rib and size #0 instead of #1's and the sock zipped right along. I knit up to where I thought the toe should start and tried them on - WOW! I love this sock! It was so perfect I jumped up, grabbed my husband's foot, ripped off his sock and slipped this one on. Needless to say, he was not quite as excited and actually said I needed to get out more. This sock was so great I felt guilty keeping it for myself and sized it for him anyway.

The second sock knit up even faster and I really do love these socks. I am so glad I frogged the first sock and tried again! I have another skein of this yarn in my stash and I already have the pattern picked out for it (these will be for me)! I didn't include a pic. of the finished pair (imagine it, just like the one above but both the socks look like the one on the right). Hubby liked them so much he already took them, I tried to get a pic. while he was wearing them but he is a very uncooperative model.

Pattern: Basic sock w/ garter rib

Yarn: BMFA Seduction in Neptunite

Needles: US #0 dpns

Start/Finish: March 21 - 31

I broke it already!?!

Here it is, only the middle of January, and I have (almost) already broken my New Year's Resolution! I forgot a few of the silly little knit stuff I did. My son reminded me and I was able to get them photographed so I guess I haven't really broken it, just came real close! Here they are:

The other day, I was looking through some of my stash to see what colors I had available to donate for the charity baby blankets one of my knitting groups is making and thought I should whip something up for little Michael's 1 month Birthday. I decided on this, Bunny blanket buddy, in Lion cotton. It knitted up so quickly (and my kitten just loved it) I decided to knit one up for him as well (in Homespun). The light blue with eyes, nose and mouth are for the baby and the dark one without a face is for the cat, didn't think he would care and I was right.

These were my first completed knits of the year. My son received a new camera for his Birthday this year (he's a new years baby) and he asked me to knit him a cover for it. I decided it was to small to knit a gauge swatch for (it is a gauge swatch!) and it turned out to be a little too big. I gave that one to my younger son for his Ipod and made another smaller one for the camera. The yarn is left over Lana Grossa sock yarn. They love them and they use them, which is very nice. Just so long as they don't ask me to knit ones to match all of their socks.

I also knitted some quick gifts for the upcoming February birthdays. I have a rather large family and we celebrate everyone's Birthday, which can get quite expensive, so we have put a $5 limit on gifts for the adults. It can be difficult to think of a gift for $5, but this is what I came up with, coffee cup cozies (made from left over sock yarn) with a $5 Starbucks gift card tucked inside. They are cute and fast and really didn't cost anything because they were left over. Hope they like them. My husband thinks they are kinda weird, but then again, he thinks that I should just use all the left over sock yarn to make a pair of socks. When I run out of one yarn, just start another one, "they are all stripey anyway, this just makes more stripes." I sometimes wonder if he is color blind. Maybe it is just his love for hand knit socks.

I have also finished those wonderful Alpaca socks but they are upstairs and I am not, so I will get pics. of them soon.