Hello Spring!?!

This is what I woke up to the other day, beautiful yes, but in April! I am finally ready for spring and this is what Mother Nature throws at us.

Well, I have been doing my part to encourage spring to come by knitting up some wonderfully bright spring colors!



This was my first attempt to bring on the warm weather. My son chose the yarn but after seeing it knit up decided it might be just a little too "girly" for him. I was not surprised, I had already started to size them for myself. (For some reason there is dark stripe of pink in the photo, don't know how that happened because it isn't really there.)

Pattern: Slip-stitch rib from Sensational Knitted Socks
Yarn: Duet in Spring Fling from A Swell Yarn Shop
Needles: US 1 dpns
Start/Finish: April 3-10

I just love this yarn, the colors are so vivid and the yarn is so soft and squishy, you can't help but squeeze it. I also like that she includes a matching solid color for the heel/toe/cuff. I love the way the solid portions bring out that color in the rest of the sock. I think it makes the socks calmer. They can be too busy sometimes with the colors changing so often and the stitch pattern on top of it, the solid parts give your eyes a place to rest. Plus, you end up with a tail at the top of the gusset so you don't even have to worry about that little hole you get there. The only problem with these socks is that they are a bit warm for spring (they are actually perfect with the spring we are having) but they don't really cry out for warm weather.

Realizing my error, (knitting warm socks to beckon spring) I knit these up in a real attempt to call for warmer weather. Just look at that yellow! If that doesn't bring the sun out, I don't know what will. If the color alone isn't enough, the yarn is - get ready - COTTON!! How's that for warm weather knitting.

Pattern: Flame Wave Socks by Ann Budd from Favorite Socks
Yarn: Cascade Fixation in color #1430
Needles: US 3 dpns
Start/Finish: April 6-14

First off, I love this book, I have already picked out the yarn for the first six patterns that I want to knit. I put the yarns in their own little basket, to help keep me focused.

The pattern is great and works really well with this yarn. I used the suggested yarn simply because I had never tried it before (and it was sitting right next to the counter in the yarn shop - looked like fate to me and I'm not one to tempt fate). I don't really care for knitting with cotton because it has no give, so I didn't have very high expectations for this yarn. Once I started to knit with it I was pleasantly surprised. The elastic in it gives the yarn a lot of stretch, but not too much. I can see how people might want to knit too tight or too loose with this yarn, but when I just ignored the stretch and knit normally with it I ended up with a nice tight fabric with an amazing amount to stretch. The cuff of the first sock (on the left in photo) is a little stretched out because I kept making people feel how stretchy it was. When I finished the pair, I held them up to show them off and before I even said a word my son said, "I know, I know, they're stretchy!" I will definitely use this yarn again, I already bought more.

Well, back to my knitting.

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

And now for something completely different - More Socks!

This is my new STR in Monsoon. I love these colors so much. A perfect transition from winter to spring. I love the yarn too - medium weight is really great! Rah, rah, rah. I decided not to use the pattern that came with the kit with this yarn. I like the pattern, but I thought the yarn and the pattern detracted from each other, the yarn didn't let the cables show enough and the cables broke up the colors too much. So, I am saving the pattern to use with another yarn and I knit this yarn up using my basic sock pattern with a cartridge rib from Vogue Knitting Stitchionary. The first sock knit up quickly and I love the way the colors striped, but then I knit up the second sock and was surprised by the difference in the color pattern!


It's not that I mind so much that the socks didn't match (don't get me wrong, I mind, just not that much) I was curious as to why they were SO different. I had to think about it for a while then I remembered that when I was knitting the first sock the yarn was twisting terribly so before I knit the second sock, I rewound the ball in the opposite direction and just to be safe, I rewound the ball a second time in the opposite direction. It worked, no twisting at all! But it appears that I didn't remove all of the twist while I was knitting the first sock and now I had to either rewind the ball (with all that twist and remove the twist like I did on the first sock) or just tighten up my gauge. I chose to tighten up my gauge (which proved to not be so much fun) and the stripes started to match again. They don't match perfect, the stripes in the second sock are tighter, but they fit the same so all is well with the world, or at least with my sock knitting.

Pattern: Basic sock w/ cartridge rib from Vogue Knitting Stitchionary
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts - Sock that Rock - Monsoon
Needles: US 1 dpns
Start / Finish: March 13 - March 19

In response to Liz's comment about my knitting speed, I am not really a fast knitter, Alyssa is a fast knitter (I have seen her knit, wow, speedy!) I just knit all the time. With the amount of time I spend knitting I should probably have more to show for it. Even though, I will take it as a compliment. Thank you.

Hope everyone had a great St. Patrick's Day!

I am off to finish up my very first toe-up sock. I think I am starting to get the hang of it - I have stopped swearing and flinging needles about, that's a good sign right?