I Love Socks!

Besides loving WEARING socks, I am falling in love with knitting socks.  They are a compact project that can be tucked into your purse and pulled out to tackle a round or two on a whim.  They can be knit from the cuff down, from the toe up and apparently from the heel out and up (thanks for that info Itchy).  They can be knit on a set of 4 or 5 double-pointed needles, a single circular needle, two circular needles.  They can be knit one at a time or two at a time.  They can be made from honking bulky wool and from the finest of lace weight yarn.  They can be knit in different heights, from your ankle (or cankles for some of us), to your thigh.  They can be knit with anything from a solitary solid colour to a hand-painted yarn, a multitude of colours, striped or in a pattern using a variety of colours.  They can be knit with cables patterns, lace patterns, beads....the possibilities are truly endless!

I am not the best at knitting them....YET...but I'm working at it and what better way to improve my skills than to enter into another KAL project with my friend, Jolene.  We are tackling Salor designed by Hunter Hammersen  from her recently published book Silk Road Socks.  The fun thing about us doing a KAL is that in the two that we have undertaken, we have chosen two different wools in two completely different colour palettes.  I think I am seeing a pattern here....Jolene's choices seem to be optimistic as though she might be willing Spring and Summer to arrive upon us with pastels and bold vibrant colours.  While mine, appear to be more of a realist "living in the moment" option steeped in Fall and Winter earthy colours - dark green, chocolate brown mixed with rust, burgundy and camel.  It's a great opportunity to see what a pattern looks like in a variety of products and hopefully provide some inspiration to knitters to join in on knitting one of these glorious patterns.  Perhaps you might even consider joining in on our KAL.

My choice is Cascade Yarns Heritage Paints.

I laugh now at my seasonal analogy in describing our choices because the colour name for my choice....Indian Summer.

Jolene's choice is Knit Picks Stroll Tonal Sock Yarn in the magnificent Golden Glow Tonal.  This photo doesn't do it justice.  Check her blog out here for a picture of her actual skein.

We had our cast-on party yesterday complete with homemade cinnamon buns sopping in butter and coated with cream cheese frosting dribbling throughout.  Several hours of chatter later, interruptions by two disrespectful, perhaps bored 6 pound wonders and Jolene was well on her way.  I, on the other hand, had several "false starts" but I did manage to get in a couple of rounds before it was time for her to leave.  Can't wait to make some progress so I can share it with you.
 
I am also just washing up a little hat that I have crocheted for one of the SF's co-worker's kids.  She had this beautiful cotton crocheted hat that was starting to wear and asked if I would be able to replicate it.  His co-worker and I happen to play hockey in the same league, so we met up on the bleachers between her game and mine - me in my hockey gear, hers near-by so she could dart off to change -  so that I could take some mental notes and a couple of measurements.  Her daughter is so attached to her hat that there was no way she would lend it to me so I had to go from memory when hunting for a similar pattern.  I ended up combining several and added my own edging which I am hoping is the same as what she had because it was one of her favourite features of the hat.  A simple reverse single crochet stitch.  I'm very self-taught when it comes to crochet but I think it turned out great.  Here's hoping she will like it.  I kind of cheated on my 11,111 because I included this in the count even though it is crochet, not knitting...same diff, really?!
 
 

 
Well...that's about it for today.  SOCK ON!

11,111 in 2011 - The Man Hat II

Another contribution to my knitting goal. This is the second time I have knit this pattern. Check it out here. I knit this with the remainder of the same ball of wool but changed the stitch I used and the needle size which resulted in a completely different colour pooling. The wonders of wool.

11,111 in 2011

My second completed project is Allegheny Muse.   This is a KAL (knit-a-long for all of you non-knitters) that my friend, Jolene and I took on.  We hooked up (ha! ha!....that's a crochet pun) through the magic of Ravelry (grandiose knitting website for those of you who don't knit). We have been chatting online for some months now. Actually, the stalker that I must be....I seem to have favourited a project that she crocheted while I still lived in the Arctic. If you are anything like the SF, you are probably saying to yourself, "What the heck is favourited?" It's just a tag you place on a designer's pattern or other knitter's project for future reference. I think it must be kizmit?! Anyway, we started off the New Year with a face to face Stitch n' Bitch session and decided to tackle a project together. Here's mine....

Please check hers out here  Her blog post is very thorough and a great tutorial on blocking knitted lacework.  The pattern was a joy to work on with a great variety of some crochet, beadwork and lacework - several techniques that were new to me.  I know it's hard to tell but there are about 600 beads knit into this work.  Time consuming, but well worth the effort!  I think we did the designer proud.  While you are visiting her blog, be sure to check out her fuzzy butt bunny, Ruttiger.  I've linked to my favourite clip of him facing off against Hurricane Earl like a trooper!

11,111 Yards in 2011

I have added another goal to 2011.  Knit 11,111 Yards in 2011.  You'll notice a progress bar on the sidebar to track my progress.

Of course, the peanut gallery's comment was, "Why not 11,000 kms on the treadmill?"  My thoughts....why set myself a goal that I KNOW that I'll never achieve.  Knitting is so much more fun that running on a treadmill.  Besides, I happen to have suffered another Kimism last night.  As usual, I was distracted from the task at hand, emptying the dishwasher, by something riveting on the internet...probably some knitting.  The way I look at it, I was actually multi-tasking.  While I was waiting for the kettle to boil for our evening tea, I decided to empty the dishwasher but only got the top half emptied before my tea was ready and then retired to the couch completely forgetting about the bottom shelf.  That was, until, the SF went to put his spoon into the dishwasher.

"Did you not finish emptying the dishwasher?", he says, with a hint of disdain.  My response, "Oh, Sh*$", jump up from the couch and start my retreat to the kitchen.  I don't even make it to the end of the couch when I slam my baby toe into the battery pack from my laptop and feel a crack, followed by a bevy of, "Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch!"  I'm surprised I could actually bend over to grab my toe, as my back also happens to be out of service from a slip I suffered over the weekend.  Seems the steps outside are a little icy.  Seems one pain made me forget the other....for a few moments anyway.

Anywhoooo, when I woke up this morning, my little piggy looks about the size of my big piggy and is a rainbow of red, black, blue, purple and green.  Thanks, once again, Mum.  (She knows what I mean.  Believe me!)

Here is my first completed project..... the Faux Flap Heel Sock 

A free toe-up sock pattern designed by Brie.  A really quick knit (once I figured out my math and gauge?!)

2.37% down....97.63% to go.....Check back tomorrow for my second project.