Bind Off Two, Cast On One or New Adventures in Ribbing

One of my Knitting New Year's Resolutions was that I'd have to finish two WIPs before I could start a new one.  That's ME knitting, not gift knitting.  If that was the case, nobody would ever get anything.  Right now I have a hat and a baby sweater that just need finishing touches (buttons, ends woven in...) and I'm knitting a shawl for my grandmother and a birthday present. And probably more I'm forgetting about..but I digress.

I did finally finish 2 WIPS: My sister's sweater (that I started last August, so it totally counts) that I managed to get to her almost in time for her birthday in May:

And the Owlie Socks that were last Socktober's Knit-a-long finished June 1:

As a reward for finally finishing two long term projects, I've started Mermaid, by Janel Laidman from her "Enchanted Sole" book.  Sound familiar?  Yes, I realize I am slowly knitting my way through the entire book. What can I say? I love it. I've had the yarn and beads for these socks for probably nigh on 4 years now. It has long been time to knit!

Here is what Mermaid is supposed to look like:

Twisted Ribbed "fin" feet and a pretty beaded "fish scale"  lace pattern at the top. Here's what I have:

About 3 inches of ribbing for the foot.  The pattern is cuff down, but (no surprise to anybody who knows me) I'm doing them toe up. The pattern is easy enough to reverse.  Plus, I started with 171 grams, so I want to see how far up the leg I can get) and I worry I may need to do extra increases over my calves.  It'll just work better for me that way.  It's how I roll.  Or knit. Whatever.

But here's the point I have been wanting to make all along:  see how the ribbing suddenly changes about halfway through?  Yes, I know it's there.  I'm ok with it, and here's why.  I never liked doing twisted ribbing (where you k1 through the back loop, p1) because I always felt like it stretched out the space between the ktbl and the p stitches.  Even going down a needle size or 3 didn't help. I hate how it looks when I knit it, though it always looks so pretty in other people's knitting. The twisted rib is pretty integral to "mermaid fin" look of this sock. So I started experimenting as I went along. I tried alternating between plain rib and twisted rib.  Nope.  I tried doing a twisted purl stitch instead. Nope. Finally, right at that line where the ribbing changes, I figured it out.  I twisted BOTH the knit and purl stitches. See how finally the stitches are closer together and not loose and, well, exactly how they are supposed to be?  That was the trick that worked for me.  The downside is that it takes FOREVER to do (which is the main reason I decided not to rip back the first inch or so. These socks are for me. Who's going to see it?)  That last inch of Really Twisted Ribbing (or so I've dubbed it) has taken me hours and hours.  I think the foot of the sock is going to take me longer than the lacy leg.  But I'm ok with it (for now. Ask me in another 3 inches.) because I've finally figured out what works for me, and that feels really good.

I'm still trying to finish up my next batch of WIPs in between gift knitting, hexapuffs and my Really Twisted Knitting. I already know the next project I want to cast on, if only I can bind off on a couple things first!

May you always get gauge,

Sereknitty

Vacation Knitting!

I'm back home from my vacation and recuperating (my flight got in very late last night.)  Only good thing about flight delays?  Lots of time to knit!

I didn't get a ton of knitting done on this vacation as I was visiting my best friend and one year old niece.  Anyone who has or has ever been around a one year old knows they only stop when they're sleeping.  So, not much knitting. But, I did manage to finish ONE of my vacation socks!

 Isn't it pretty?  The pattern is Tintagel from The Enchanted Sole by Janel Laidman.  I knew I had to knit this sock since the day I got the book because not only do I love the pattern, I have been to Tintagel, the legendary birthplace of King Arthur.  Seeing the ruins on the romantic, wind swept, heath strewn cliffs overlooking the deep blue ocean, you can amost believe  he was really born there. It's a beautiful and (possibly) magical place. 

Though I loved the pattern and the socks fit great, I think I'm going to have to add elastic around the top.  I did the small size and I DON'T have tiny calves, but it's still a bit loose. We'll see.  I love the yarn so very much. It's Sanguine Gryffon Eidos in a one-off colourway I got at Rhinebeck a couple years ago. It was love at first sight.  I kept thinking the colour reminded me of something. 

 And since I started knitting it up, I remembered.  It's this tapestry from The Hunt of the Unicorn:

Both are a dark rich green background with lots of lush colours over it. Greens, yellow, reds, purples.  I had a book as a kid with this on the cover. Back in my pre-teen years when I was really into unicorns. Obviously it is stuck in my psyche.  I just adore these socks and can't wait to finish them!

Hope your summer knitting is going well!

SereKnitty

They're finished!

I finished my Concentric socks!

As you can see, they fit great!

I actually finished them Saturday night while watching Hamlet at Shakespeare at the Park (that's for being so long-winded Hamlet! :P) but I've been going non-stop since then and this is my first chance to post about it.  I'm currently in OK visiting my BFF and my niece Sera who just turned ONE!

I also finished her bunny, which she really loves:

I'm so glad!  And I'm really happy with how well my i-cord tail came out.  I was worried a pompom tail might get ruined, so I made a long i-cord and looped it and tacked it down into a sort of flower shape and I think it works well!

I also finished my Aruacania tank top, which I will post pictures of soon, it is in my suitcase and I plan to debut it maybe tomorrow!  Hooray for finished projects!

Since I finished all my projects, I started my Sanguine Gryffon Eidos vacation socks (Tintagel!) and am looooving them.  Pictures soon (maybe!)

Hope your summer knitting is going well,

Serenity

Deadlines

The blessing of being a knitter is that you can and love to make gifts for other people. The curse of being a knitter is that you're often scrambling at the last minute to finish a gift.  I've been making a lot of gifts lately.  There are showers, birthdays, weddings, babies.  I feel like every weekend for the last month or so I've had a gift to give.  And I'm not done. I've got events the next three weekends that all need gifts. On top of all that, I'm also making things for the Etsy shop/craft shows and a few things for myself.  Before I go on vacation next week, I wanted to have my Concentric socks and a top I'm making myself done.  It's been hard finding the time to knit for myself when there's always a gift that needs knitting.  But I've been working hard trying to finish these up before my vacation.  I thought I was doing pretty good, but all of a sudden I find myself a little over a week away and I'm getting a bit panicky.

I've made good progress on my Concentric socks since I decided to pick them up on a Finish Friday (or weekend!)  I bring them with me to work on rainy days when I can't take a walk at lunch, I carry them in my purse for knitting on the go.  I finished the first one and just finished the heel of the second. (They look a bit lumpy until they're on the foot and then they fit great.)

If we have a rainy week, I may be able to get these done before I go.  I really want to have them done before I leave because I need the needles for my chosen vacation knitting project. I'm FINALLY going to knit the Tintagel socks from "The Enchanted Sole" by Janel Laidman. I really love this book.  It was one of the very few pattern books I've ever picked where I went "I MUST HAVE THIS!" (Susan B. Anderson's "Itty Bitty Toys" was another.) Janel comes up with some very creative,exciting and nerdy sock patterns, even if I don't always enjoy how she charts out everything. I'd rather have "Work k2, p2 rib for 2 inches" than have it charted out, but that's just me.  I want to knit almost every single pair in it the book and I can easily forgive her for her overzealous charts. I've already knit a couple pairs and I have yarn and plans to make others. I've had the yarn (Sanguin Gryffon Eidos in this really rich green colourway.  yummmo!) and beads in my stash for these socks for nearly 2 years and I want to get them knit!  But, I can't do it until I finish Concentric! So, pray for rain for me.  Ha!

I'm also knitting a cotton/linen blend top for myself.  I'm using the pattern for Parasola (which is a pattern I really want to make when I get the right yarn in my stash) but adapted to work with the gauge I'm getting, and then I think it's going to be a tank top because the sleeves just weren't working out.  I've been working on this for ages and ages (it seems. Really it's been about a month and a half.)  It's been slow going as I'm knitting on size 2's and rotating skeins every 2 rows.  But I love the colourway of the Araucania yarn.  Blues, purples and greens:

Isn't it pretty? I just measured tonight and I'm only half an inch away from separating for the arms, but I'm really not sure I can get this done before I leave!  I want to wear it on my vacation, so I am very motivated to finish it.  BUT, before I can do that, I have to finish my last minute gifts!  So, say a prayer to Fiacre (possibly the patron saint of knitters) or maybe Saint Dymphna (the patron saint of mental illness!  ha!) that I find the time, that my needles fly true and that I make my deadlines!

Hope your summer knitting is going well,

SereKnitty

Finish Weekends!

I have been so busy with knitting for our monthly craft shows, gifts for other people or special orders and then a few MUST HAVE NOW items for me (currently a new bath mat and a cotton/linen top that I want to wear on my trip 4th of July weekend) that I have a ton of UFO's sitting around not being knit.  In the past, I've tried dedicating an hour or two on fridays to working on projects and I keep a pair of deep stash socks in my desk drawer to work on at lunch but the weather's been so nice lately that I've been walking at lunch instead of knitting most days and my fridays have been so busy that I haven't had time to do much knitting.  So last weekend I tried something different.  I carried a project around with me all weekend and knit whenever I could; in the car or when I had a free moment.  I didn't get a ton of knitting done, but here are the results:

I'm knitting the Onion Market Wrist Warmers.  I think the pattern is cute and will go well with my Cloudy Day Beret and Cladonia Shawlette that are made out of the same Mad Tosh Merino Light in Silver Fox that I overdyed more silvery (I'm starting to wonder if I bought magical yarn that never gets used up.) I decided I wanted to make them more like fingerless mitts and add a purled thumb gusset and I tried adding a bit of ribbing at the cuff.  I didn't like how the ribbing looked and the purled thumb gusset bugged me so I ripped it out and started over.  This time I left out the ribbing and I'm going to do another thumb gusst, but in st st instead and I'll increase every 4th row instead of every 3rd.  This is how much I had when I started:

And at the end so the weekend, this is what I had gotten done:

Not a TON, but I got through a full pattern repeat at least.  I put that aside for now because I won't be needing those for several months.  Instead, I want to focus this weekend on the socks that I keep wishing were done because I want to be wearing them!  I'm knitting Concentric in a 716Knit self-striping colourway called "Sire Whipped".  Jenna, the creator of 716Knit, is a local dyer and knitterly friend who makes awesome yarns in super bright colours.  And all her yarn names are hilarious quotes from Buffy.  What's not to love??  This is one of those projects where the yarn and pattern are working perfectly together and I WANT to be knitting them, but I put them aside to knit socks for my sister and then got busy with other things.  :(

So here is where I am this morning:

I know it looks weird, but it fits perfectly!

I marked my spot so I can see my progress.  Wish me knitting luck!! 

Mending Monday

I had a hole in one of my very favourite pairs of socks.  They are Monkey by Cookie A.  which nearly all of us have knit at least once. I think I've made at least 3 pairs. But this pair is MINE. I knit them toe up in Koigu and I love love love them. I probably wear them at least once a week.  So, the hole was devastating!

I put them in a drawer and vowed to fix it and they've been sitting there for several months.  But I MISS them (and I'm low on laundry!) so it was time to mend. 
I keep small amounts of all my sock yarns for just such an occasion in a ziplock bag in my stash, so I dug that out and then picked up the stitches above and below the hole on two small needles. I think I used  my 000's.  Then I grafted them together just as if I was kitchenering a toe of a sock.  Then, I reinforced the areas around the hole with the ends.  I wove them through the rows following the stitches themselves in the places where the yarn looked a bit worn.  Then I weaved the ends inside the sock.  It took all of 5 minutes, and look!

You can barely tell there was ever a hole! Hopefully this will hold up for many more wears, but if it doesn't, I have plenty more scrap yarn for mending.  I'm just annoyed at myself for taking so long to fix it!!

Don't procrastinate like me!  Today's lesson: a fixed sock is a wearable sock!  :)

Happy Knitting!

SereKnitty