Saturday Sky, Scarf, & Even More Socks

Yesterday we had a gorgeous day here in St. Louis. I took my kids & my knitting to the playground. (I've got to do that while I still have the chance -- my 13 year old started complaining about being bored & wanting to go home within about 20 minutes, which is a BIG change from how he used to be with playgrounds. Kids grow up so fast!)



The scarf is my very own design, destined to be a present for someone who I hope doesn't read my blog. It's done in Lisa Souza's Violet's Pink Ribbon yarn, on size 7 needles. After it's done, I'll work on writing up the pattern for it.





I also worked on my newest socks while I was there. I'm a bit afraid of running out of yarn, so I am going to go ahead & finish one to be sure I don't need to try to get one more skein. The yarn is from the Loopy Ewe. I used size 0 needles for the ribbing on the cuff, & size 2's for the rest, with 72 stitches.


There's also a sock on the needles for my daughter. I picked up a single skein of Lorna's Laces that was on sale due to it's being a lone, unmatched skein. I'm hoping two small child-sized socks can be made from one skein. These are on size 1's, & I used size 0 for the cuff on these as well, with 56 stitches around. I'm doing this set one at a time, since it's my first smaller one & I need to be sure I'm getting the size done correctly.

Socks, Socks, & more Socks

Since I'm expecting 5 days-worth of car-knitting time this summer, I'm getting several projects started in preparation. If all goes according to plan, I'll end up with several finished pairs of socks at once. (Or, perhaps just a LOT of toes to work & kitchener after I get back home again.)

In addition to a sweater-in-the-round, I'm also preparing a bunch of socks to the plain-stockinette-in-the-round stage. I can knit stockinette without looking at it, but not ribbing so much, so the cuffs are done for several sets, & I'll do the legs in the car.



As you can see by the red socks, this picture is actually a few weeks old. I'm finishing up the gussets on those & will leave them ready to do the main part of the feet on the trip.

In the process of all of this "Start An Insane Number Of Socks" madness, I also tried to start my first set of Trekking socks. My friend Mary Beth knit perfectly matching socks from her Trekking, so I know it can be done. But so far all I have to show for my efforts in trying to find a match is a couple of long piles of yarn.

Saturday Sky, & Sock Progress.

Here's a picture of the Saturday Sunset.

(Don't worry -- I wasn't trying to take pictures & drive -- I was in the passenger seat!)

& here's a picture of the progress on my red socks, after switching to different needles. Flickr one again rotated this picture in the process of uploading.

Lucy likes to "help" me take pictures. I think she figures it's a fair trade for my invading her sunny spots to take my pictures.


Speaking of being in the passenger seat, here's some more knitting I did this week, in preparation for summer vacation passenger riding.



This is the start of a Norwegian sweater that will have a plain body & colorwork at the top. I'm going to get it to the point of starting the boring-stockinette-in-the-round phase of the body, so that I can do that part while riding down the interstate across Kansas & Colorado this summer. (I get carsick too easily to try to do any complicated knitting or reading while in the passenger seat.)

Knitting & Laughing Can Be Dangerous.

Take this as a Public Service Announcement, knitting & laughing at the same time can be dangerous to small, wooden knitting needles.

Exhibit A:



(For some strange reason, Flickr rotated the pic 90 degrees when it uploaded to the web, but you still get the idea.)

Here is a belated Saturday Sky picture.



This was not the scene of the mishap with the needle, but the tour & wine tasting there may have had something to do with how hard eveyone was laughing later that evening.

More Information

Thank-you for all the lovely comments on my first socks! I couldn't see what all the big deal was about socks initially, but now I'm hooked. Here is a picture of how much yarn was left over from a single ball of Sockotta, once the socks were complete.



I could have made them longer, but with knitting from the top down, I decided to be cautious. I knit tightly on dpns, plus I have big feet, so I used 72 stitches around for my socks. They fit perfectly, so that's the number I'm using again on my next socks.

I bought the Mary Jane Crocs at Lauries Shoes at the main location on Manchester Road, while on my way back from the spring knitting workshop. Originally I was just going to get the Crocs. (I can see why Lime & Violet raved about the Dansko outlet, after seeing the regular retail prices for Danskos.)

Having the sales lady rave about my one completed knit sock put me in such a good mood that I was tempted to buy out the store, though, & I did give in to temptation & buy a second set of shoes-good-for-showing-off-knit-socks. Those are black, so as to match a variety of sock yarn. I'll probably end up blogging about them with my next completed socks, whenever that happens to be.

Kitchener Stitch Gets Better With Practice

First of all, Happy Easter to all who celebrate it! We have a nice, if chilly, day here today.

The toe on my second sock is not exactly perfect, but Kitchener stitch definitely gets better with practice. I officially finished my second sock yesterday afternoon.



I did much better closing up the toe on the second sock compared with the first. I doubt anyone is going to ask to look at my toes, so I don't think it will matter much. If you look closely, you might be able to see the purl-style bumps on part of the outside of the right sock in this pic. That's the first sock I ever Kitchenered. The one I did yesterday is a LOT better, but still has big bumps at either end of where I closed them up.



I ended up with quite a bit of leftover yarn, so I could have made these each an inch taller on the leg. That's a drawback to top-down sock construction. I'll know for next time. The yarn is Sockotta, & I used size 1 Inox dpns. These socks took about 80-90% of one skein. The pattern came from Sensational Knitted Socks. I used the garter rib pattern from the 4-stitch patterns section.



I also got a REALLY cute pair of Mary Jane Crocs after I finished the first sock. I thought the sales lady was going to look at me strangely for having only one sock, but it turned out she was also a knitter, so she understood completely! (& having a matching pair of shoes to wear with the new socks probably helped prevent "second sock syndrome," don't you think?) I'll probably wear these to my parent's house this afternoon -- perfect Easter afternoon socks, even if they weren't exactly church attire for this morning.

Saturday Sky

We had a sudden return to winter this week, after having enough warmth for everything to bloom. It's made me glad that I was too lazy busy to get any bulbs in the ground last fall. Even the leaves on the trees look sad, although it is bright & sunny today.



In knitting news, my Icarus is slowly being recreated into sweater sleeves. The reason it seems so slow is probably due to doing both sleeves at once, but I think that's the easiest way to be sure that the increases & the striping match. The body of the sweater is going to be done in a solid brownish pink, the same as at the cuffs of the sleeves.



I also have my second sock ready to kitchener. I'll likely get that done this afternoon so that I can wear them when we go to my parent's house for Easter dinner tomorrow.



I've already cast on for more socks. I'm actually in the process of getting ready for summer vacation car-ride knitting, where I'll have several days of riding in the passenger seat & needing simple knitting to keep me from going crazy. (But it can't be anything I'll need to look at, or I'll end up carsick.) I've decided that stockinette socks will do the trick, so I'm getting some to the cuff-done-ready-for-plain-knitting-in-the-round stage. I'll post pictures of those on a future blog entry.

(I've also got a semi-secret project going, with details to be revealed later.)

Quick update

Yesterday the Maytag service guy came out & replaced the drawer that was defective but shipped to us as new. There's still one more part to be replaced, though.

The second sock is now in this condition. I hope to get the toe Kitchenered this weekend & finally have a completed pair of socks.

There's been some progress on other projects too, so there will be more knitting updates to come.

Third of a Dozen -- March Pictures

This post is a bit late. I've been short on time for downloading & sorting pictures lately.

All pictures are from the 24th of March. My husband & I went hiking at a local nature center for our anniversary.
The Redbud trees were just beginning to bloom.




The wildflowers were very pretty, & a welcome sign of Spring's arrival.