Week of Mail

The mailman has been busy stopping by this week. First my "Folk Solks" book came so now I can start thinking about the Latvian socks for the folksolks kal.


I love elann.com. I placed my order on Monday and received my package on Wednesday! Here we have some circs I needed: Clover and Addi-Turbos. Then some Harris Tweed Shetland for a shawl (Butterfly Garden from Inknitters mag) I'm planning and some Endless Summer Cotton for dishcloths for my kitchen.

As you know I am a sock-addict and therefore must absolutely belong to a sock club. I've been neglectful up to this point but have rectified the situation by joing the sock of the month club from theknitter.com. The first kit arrived and I'm thrilled with it. Beautiful lace sock called "Hawaiin Leis" and some Trekking XXL which I have never knit with before.



Of course, when signing up, I had to add a few other items to my basket. So here we have Lornas Laces Glenwood and Mountain Colors Weavers Wool Quarters in Firestorm:


On the knitting front, I'm working on both the Chevron and Conway socks. We are going away for this weekend for Thanksgiving and I have a 2 hour drive both ways (= 4 hrs pure knitting!) and hope to have them both finished when I return.

Finally, for Jane's contest here are my socks:

Gimme a K, Gimme an A, Gimme an L

It is KAL time! The sock knit-alongs have posted the new socks! The socknitters kals didn't have anything that spoke to me this time so I have just 3 new socks to knit.

The sixsocks is doing a mosaic pattern and oddly enough I've never knit a sock with a mosaic pattern before so this should be fun. Gotta sit down and pick out some yarn.

The FolkSocks group has chosen the "Latvian" sock and I'm expecting my book to arrive any day now. Nothing like a kal to give you an excuse for buying a new book!

The Knitting of the Road group has chosen "Conwy" for the new sock and I am in love. The pattern is beautiful and this yarn is to-die for. I'm using Harris Tweed Shetland 4ply and the colours are yummy.



Also on the needles: The Gotland Island mittens are progressing, slowly but surely. The yellow ball of cotton is decreasing and the number of dishcloths increasing. The chevron sock for my sister has one done and the second one underway. And like I didn't need another wip, I cast on and have not been able to put down this Feather and Fan Comfort Shawl. I'm using odd balls of fancy/novelty yarns from the stash.


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Zebra - Take Two

Well, one ball of Opal Rainforest Collection Zebra made me a pair of socks and a this pair of Spiral Rib socks for the 5 year old - with about 1 yard left over! This pattern is from Socks Socks Socks.


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On the needles


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Since I was sockless, and the kals will be announcing the new sock patterns in a few days, I couldn't possibly not have socks on the needles but needed something quick I'm working on a pair of my Chevron Socks for my sister for Christmas.

Also, still working on the yellow dishcloths.

And a new mitten is underway! The Gotland Island Mittens from Folk Mittens. These are a learning experience for me. I've already frogged it once as they were coming out too big. I had to go down to a US#0 to get gauge. I'm using Lang Thema since I bought a bag of different colours from elann to make mitts this winter. I also have switched to 5 dpns. I've never used 5 dpns before and am surprised at how easy they are to use, especially for the stranded work. The floats over the needle joins are so much easier to work this way.

Comments on Comments

Thanks for all the nice words about my knitting! If you leave your email address when you comment, I can respond to you personally.

mitz: the zigzag multi-d scarf used a mystery yarn from my stash. No label, and I can't remeber what it was, sorry.

tanja asked where I get my dishcloth patterns. Knitting Pattern central. This is where I get almost all my on-line patterns.

rebecca: I belong to the "I-belong-to-too-many-knitalongs-club" and there is a new one , which you've gone and started, for Folk Socks that I.must.not.join.

Sky for Sandy (and Mitts, too!)

Sandy asked for a sky picture, so here is a picture of my gloomy overcast sky.



And since I always think of mittens when I think of Sandy, these are appropriate for this post, too!

Finished the mittens with the fringe and love them! I'm using up my stash yarns as much as poss. these days and used vintage Pingouin Challenge 4 (a DK weight) which is an acrylic/wool blend but very nice and soft.


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FOs

I have a big ball of yellow cotton that I've been using for washcloths. These will be for Christmas presents. I have three done with more to come.



Another Multi-D scarf finished. I love doing this technique! Here is the zigzag scarf. This pattern is from Iris's yahoo group and obtained free after you have finished the first multi-D scarf.



And last, but certainly not least, are the completed Feather and Fan socks for the socksx3 kal in Opal Rainforest Zebra. I kinda lost steam on the second sock. I really like it and the pattern is easy but I guess the neutral black and white numbed my senses a bit.

I followed the pattern almost exactly as written. The only changes I made were a 24 row heel and I did not do the garter stitch rows at the the end of the leg.


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I've made a bargain with myself to work on different techinques for heels and toes. Up to this point I have got into the habit of ignoring heel,gusset and toe instructions in a pattern and just using my normal (favorite) methods. So, for the Feather and Fan socks I had always wondered what a ribbed heel would be like. I like the look but am not too crazy with fit, but it's ok. A dutch heel with short gusset fits nice. The dutch heel does look wonky when it's not being worn, but it does fit nicely. The toe (Decrease every 4th row till a certain point, then decrease every row) I was afraid I wouldn't like and I kept thinking it was going to be way too long but surprisingly, it wasn't and I really like the fit of this method.

On the needles: The nordic mittens just need their thumbs, more dishcolths, and I'm using the leftover Zebra to make spiral rib socks for the 5-year-old.

On the Needles

Three new projects currently on the needles.


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From left to right,

Iris Schreier's multi-directional zig zag scarf. This is the free pattern you can receive after you have posted a photo to the group of the first free pattern.


Nordic mittens with fringe: This is a pattern from a vintage McCall's Accessories magazine that I have wanted to make for ages. The fringe is wild! It was not fun to do (crocheted with double strands and a tiny hook) but worth the effort.


and feather and fan socks in Opal Rainforest Zebra. I love how this turned out. I think the feather and fan pattern would look good in practically any yarn: solid, variegated or self-striped. The ultimate sock pattern!

Finished x 3

Woo hoo! Items just flying off the needles in the past few days. Finished off three things!

First, the bias blanket. I used scraps for this and knit to the point where I was sick of it and then decreased. Knit in garter stitch, it lays flat so I didn't bother with a border. It's a little smaller than I had originally intended but it's the perfect size for the 5-year-old, who is thrilled to have his own cuddle blanket.


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Next on the block are the basketcase socks. I've been using up some of my vintage yarns and again these use a vintage sock yarn by Embassy. The sock in the foreground is still wet and you can see the faint variences in the colour of the yarn. The neutral yarn has very faint almost rose highlights and I think the red on the heels and toe really bring it out on the sock in the background which is dry.


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Finally, we have the munstersocken, which were pure joy to knit!