FO: Diamond Gansey Socks

I finished these back on October 7th, but didn’t get around to taking a picture until today, when I wore them for the first time. These are the Diamond Gansey socks from Wendy D. Johnson’s book, Socks from the Toe Up, and I started them as part of the Socks from the Toe Up KAL on Ravelry (they were the KAL sock for August – sheesh, took me a while!). I love the yarn — Aussi Sock from Oasis Yarn (there’s a koala on the label, how can you not love that?). The only drawback to the yarn is that I chose the charcoal gray color… so I had a bit of a time trying to see what the heck I was doing with the crappy lighting in our house. It’s a beautiful gray, though.

Diamond Gansey Socks

• Pattern: Diamond Gansey Socks by Wendy D. Johnson
• Needles: US 0 (2mm), 40″ circular needle (magic loop technique, 2 at a time)
• Yarn: Oasis Yarn Aussi Sock, WS05 Charcoal colorway
• Started 8/4/09, finished 10/7/09
• Link to my Ravelry project page (login required)

Retooled headband/earwarmer – free pattern, too.

Well, I finished my reworked headband/earwarmer for running, and as Goldilocks said, it’s just right. (And on the second try, not third!) This one is good and snug, even along the bottom across the back, it stays put, and the ponytail hole is the perfect size (though if you have tons and tons of hair, you might need a larger hole).

Here’s the front:

And here’s the back:

OK, maybe it’s on the verge of dorky from this angle… BUT IT WORKS.

• Pattern: Fitness Headband/Earwarmer with Ponytail Hole (my own! download pattern PDF here, or on Ravelry)
• Needles: US 1.5 (2.5mm), 40″ circular (used magic loop technique)
• Yarn: Zitron Trekking Hand Art, 511 Trinidad colorway
• Notes: 2×2 ribbing, ponytail hole in back, short row shaping to create ear/neck flap
• Started 10/27/09, finished 10/30/09
• Link to my Ravelry project page (login required)

Now I just have to make a second pair of fingerless gloves so I have a spare set (and I have just enough yarn left).

The running set is complete.

In addition to the fingerless gloves mentioned in the previous post, I now have a handy little headband/earwarmer thingy to wear for running this winter. It’s all fine and usable as it is, but it could use a few tweaks and enhancements. Fortunately, I have just a little more than half of the yarn left over, so I can make an entire second set — and considering I’m wearing the headband and gloves for running, it’s probably a good idea to have a couple sets to alternate.

me just before heading out for my run today in my new knitwear
(pardon the scary-n0-makeup-wide-eyed-bathroom-mirror pic)

• Headband pattern: my own made-up thing
• Needles: US 1.5 (2.5mm), 40″ circular (magic loop technique)
• Yarn: Zitron Trekking Hand Art, 511 Trinidad colorway
• Notes: 2×2 ribbing with ponytail hole in the back
• Started 10/24/09, finished 10/26/09
• Link to my Ravelry project page (login required)

And here’s a shot of the back — you can pretty easily see one of the things I want to change next time around. The ponytail hole is just a bit too wide and not quite tall enough. Also, it’s a little loose at the bottom (part of that may be because of the bindoff I used, but generally the whole thing could have been made a little smaller). I’m also thinking a little extra coverage over the ears might be good — that will call for a bit of shaping.

Oh, and after wearing the whole ensemble for just one run, I can say that the whole thing works as I intended. Generally, pretty happy with these and I’m looking forward to improving the headband on the next set.

FO: Absolutely Necessary Somewhat-Fingerless Gloves

While out running on an unseasonably cold day recently, I suddenly decided that what I really, really, REALLY need is something to keep my hands warm while I’m out running. But not just regular gloves or mittens. Once I’m warmed up, my hands warm up as well — so fingerless gloves seemed to be the way to go. I certainly have an overabundance of sock yarn to use up, so I went stash diving and found something suitable — a hank of Trekking Hand Art (75% superwash wool, 25% nylon) in various shades of green and purple (color #511, Trinidad). This was a gift from a knitting friend before I moved from PA to NH this past spring.

I used the Knotty gloves pattern by Julia Mueller for reference — just for the stitch counts, thumb gusset and dividing for the fingers. I didn’t do the long cuffs or cabling, and kept the fingers very short (that’s where “somewhat-fingerless” comes in).

Absolutely Necessary Somewhat-Fingerless Gloves

• Pattern: Knotty Gloves by Julia Mueller (for some reference only as noted above)
• Needles: US 1 (2.25mm), 5″ long Clover bamboo DPNs
• Yarn: Zitron Trekking Hand Art, 511 Trinidad colorway
• Notes: 2×2 ribbed wrist cuff, 1×1 ribbed finger & thumb ‘cuffs’, plain stockinette on palm and back of hand
• Started 10/18/09, finished 10/24/09
• Link to my Ravelry project page (login required)

Gloves are really ridiculously easy to make. Easier than you would think. (Though working on small areas like the fingers can get tedious — but I don’t mind the fine detail work like that.) One thing I can say for sure, though, is that I prefer fingerless gloves with divided fingers, as opposed to mitts that just have a thumb hole and one opening for all four fingers. They stay put much better.

I still have quite a bit of the yarn leftover — I don’t think I even used half of it. Next up is a headband/earwarmer with a ponytail hole in the back, using the same yarn.

Playing catch-up.

Wow, it’s been nearly 3 months since my last update! Well, I do have some FOs to report. Here’s what I’ve been up to…

Dad’s Socks (Birthday Gift)

First up… I made my Dad a pair of socks for his birthday. I never know what to get him for gifts, and I have even less of a clue when it comes to thinking of what to knit for him. So I figured I’d take a stab at knitting him a pair of socks. They’re too thick for him to wear with his dress shoes, so they’ll be “around the house” socks for him.

• Pattern: Gentleman Socks by Kristi Schueler
• Size: Men’s Large
• Needles: US 1.5 (2.5mm), Magic Loop one at a time (didn’t do 2 at a time because of the number of stitches)
• Yarn: Patons Kroy, Flax colorway
• Modification: I didn’t do the eye of partridge stitch on part of the sole as the pattern directed… mostly because I totally missed that instruction
• Started 7/22/09, finished 8/4/09
• Link to my Ravelry project page (login required)

I also made another pair of footies for my Mom for her birthday — same as the first pair I made, but in solid purple (sorry, no FO pic). For those on Ravelry, here’s a link to my project page.

Just last week, I finished a new project I started as car-knitting in September: my Clown Barf Scarf.

Clown Barf Scarf

When we took a trip to Pennsylvania the weekend after Labor Day, I needed a simple project to work on in the car. I’ve had this yarn in my stash for quite a few months now, earmarked for this particular scarf. So I cast on and worked a few inches to get started a couple days before we left. It’s finally finished — I used 3 skeins of yarn, but wish I’d bought a fourth. It’s just barely long enough, and I would have preferred it a little longer. But it’ll work.

• Pattern: My So-Called Scarf by Allison Isaacs
• Needles: US 8 (5.0mm)
• Yarn: Mirasol Hacho, colorway #300 (muted rainbow hues)
• Modification: The pattern calls for a worsted weight yarn and US 11 needles; the yarn I used is more of a DK weight, so I used smaller needles and cast on more stitches (45, I think).
• Started 9/9/09, finished 10/6/09
• Link to my Ravelry project page

I’m calling it clown barf because I admired the yarn on several trips to the yarn shop, but held off buying it because I wasn’t sure if the colors were too bright and “clowny”. Turns out the colors look a bit more muted, especially when knitted up, but I already had the name in my head so that’s what it is!

And finally, I was able to knit something for my husband. He’s always warm, so there’s no way I ever need to knit him a sweater. And forget about socks, a scarf, or gloves. But his head is practically shaved, and now that we live in New England he needed a warm hat for winter.

Transformers (Autobot) Hat

• Pattern: Transformer Inspired Autobot Symbol Chart by Nancy Fry (not really a hat pattern, just a chart for the graphic); referred to Seaman’s Cap by Brenda Zuk for sizing/stitch count only
• Size: Mens Large
• Needles: US 4 (3.5mm) for ribbing and US 6 (4.0mm) for body of hat, Magic Looped
• Yarn: Knit Picks Swish Worsted, Black and Coast Grey colorways
• Started 10/7/09, finished 10/12/09
• Link to my Ravelry project page

In hindsight, I probably should have used smaller needles. The hat fits fine in the circumference, but it’s just a wee bit tall. The motif takes up quite a bit of space. I think you’d have to use a lighter weight yarn to use this motif on a child’s size hat.

I also finished another pair of socks for myself… but haven’t taken pictures of them yet. So that will be a finished object post for another day!

Guess what? More socks!

Shocking, I know.

On-Hold Socks

• Pattern: On-Hold Socks by Wendy D. Johnson (from the book, Socks from the Toe Up)
• Size: Medium (66-stitch circumference)
• Needles: US 0 (2.0mm), Magic Loop 2-at-a-time
• Yarn: Cascade Heritage Paints, color 9872 (shades of blue ranging from dark slate to navy)
• Techniques: Judy’s Magic Cast-on toe, slip-stitch heel, Russian bind-off (used US 1.5 (2.5mm) needle for bind-off)
• Started 7/2/09, finished 7/21/09
• Link to my Ravelry project page

This is definitely a pattern you need to pay attention to. While I didn’t have any major mistakes that required serious frogging, tinking, or ripping back in general, there were a couple of times when I had to either tink* back a whole row (or close to it) or pick up a stitch a couple rows down where I forgot to do a yarnover. Learning how to fix mistakes in your knitting without having to undo several entire rows is a valuable skill to have in your bag of tricks. Not something I’d want to do on a complicated, open lacework piece — because it would be really hard to avoid making it look totally awful — but for something small and less complicated like these socks it’s pretty handy.

Next on the list is some gift knitting, so no blogging about that until the items are gifted (and, um, I have to actually start them first). But there will probably be another pair of socks on the needles in August for the next monthly installment of the Socks from the Toe Up KAL. At least that should be bloggable!

*For my non-knitting, blog-reading friends, here’s a vocabulary lesson: “tink” is “knit” spelled backwards. Tinking is undoing your knitting one stitch at a time by un-knitting it, as if you were playing a video of your knitting in reverse. Oh, and “frogging” is when it’s so far gone you just have to “rippit”. Srsly. I am not making this up. These are Official Knitting Terms.

FO: Kaibashira Socks

I decided to kick off my Summer of Socks 2009 knitting with Kaibashira. This sock pattern has been in my Ravelry queue for a year and a half, and I’ve had the TOFUtsies yarn in my stash for just a little over a year. Knitting these socks was certainly long overdue!

They look so very complicated, but once you get past the first couple rows of the cuff, they’re far easier to knit than you would think. There’s really only one “pattern” round in the 12-round pattern repeat, and everything else is just strategically placed rows of all knit or all purl stitches. Kaibashira is a surprisingly quick knit, as well. (Of course, I have had an unusual amount of free time for knitting lately, so YMMV.)

Kaibashira Socks

• Pattern: Kaibashira by Chrissy Gardiner
• Size: 66-stitch circumference (approx. “medium”)
• Needles: Cast on and worked first few rows using US 1.5 (2.5mm) circular needle, Magic-Loop style; then switched to US 1 (2.25mm) DPNs
• Yarn: Southwest Trading Co. TOFUtsies, colorway 792 (Feet in the Sand)
• Techniques: Cable cast-on, slip-stitch heel, kitchener stitch toe
• Started 6/23/09, finished 7/2/09
• Link to my Ravelry project page

I’ve already started my next pair of socks that will do double duty for the Socks from the Toe Up KAL as well as Summer of Socks 2009 — On-Hold Socks by Wendy D. Johnson (pattern is from Wendy’s book, Socks from the Toe Up). The yarn I’m using is Cascade Heritage Paints in colorway 9872, which is a dark blue in subtly varying shades from deep slate to navy. I’ll be knitting the On-Hold Socks according to my preferred MO — 2-at-a-time on Magic Loop, from the toe up.

FO: Sprucey Lucy Socks

Wow, finished these in record time!

Sprucey Lucy Socks

• Pattern: Sprucey Lucy by Wendy D. Johnson
• Size: Small (58-stitch circumference)
• Needles: US 0 (2.0mm), Magic Loop 2-at-a-time
• Yarn: Schaefer Nichole, Greenjeans colorway
• Techniques: Judy’s Magic Cast-on toe, slip-stitch heel, Russian bind-off (using US 1.5 (2.5mm) needle)
• Started 6/17/09, finished 6/22/09
• Link to my Ravelry project page

I knitted these socks as part of the Socks from the Toe Up KAL I mentioned in an earlier post. I loved working on these — loved the pattern, loved the soft and squishy yarn. For the bind-off, I had first tried tubular bind-off (even used a slightly larger needle, US 1.5 (2.5mm), for the 4 prep rows before the bind-off). It looked great… but it was so tight, I really had to force the sock over my heel. And once I got the cuff over my heel, I couldn’t pull it up past my ankle. And I had already bound off both socks and wove in the ends. So I strung some scrap yarn through the cuff several rows before the bind-off, undid the bind-off and ripped back. I redid a couple more rows of the cuff and then finished up with Russian bind-off using a slightly larger needle. Ta-da… perfect fit! Absolutely, perfectly snug. These are probably the best-fitting socks I have right now.

I can’t start the next KAL sock until July 1, so in the meantime I’ve started a pair of socks for the Summer of Socks KAL I’m also participating in. I’ve chosen the pattern Kaibashira (that I’ve had in my Ravelry queue since January 2008) and a ball of TOFUtsies yarn (that I’ve had in my yarn stash since May 2008).

The walking (knitting) wounded.

“Why, yes, I have been knitting socks a lot lately. What gave that away?”

A little old crack in my index finger isn’t going to keep me from knitting, nosirree. Band-Aids to the rescue. Last time this happened was last year during either Sock Wars or Summer of Socks. It’s those teeny tiny pointy needles…

Them thar gorgeous socks in the background are my Sprucey Lucy socks using the Schaefer Nichole in the Greenjeans colorway (sooooo soft and squishy). Started them yesterday, and I’m about an inch away from starting the gusset increases in preparation for the heel flap.

Finished: Lacy Ribs Socks

I recently ordered the book Socks from the Toe Up by Wendy D. Johnson (blogmistress of Wendy Knits). The book features more than 20 sock patterns, all toe-up, along with several different toe, heel, and bind-off techniques. Choosing which pattern to knit first was a little tough, but I settled on Lacy Ribs. Within a few days after casting on, I discovered there’s a knitalong (KAL) group on Ravelry for the book… and it just so happens the first KAL sock for June is Lacy Ribs.

Lacy Ribs Socks

• Pattern: Lacy Ribs by Wendy D. Johnson (from Socks from the Toe Up)
• Size: Medium (64 stitch circumference)
• Needles: US 0 (2.0mm), Magic Loop 2-at-a-time
• Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock/Wool in the Woods, one of the “lottery” colorways (a mash-up of all the dyes from that day, so there are many varieties of “lottery” colors — this one is a teal/purple blend)
• Techniques: Judy’s Magic Cast-on toe, slip-stitch heel, Russian bind-off (went up to US 2.5 needle for bind-off)
• Started 6/5/09, finished 6/16/09
• Link to my Ravelry project page

This was an easy stitch pattern to memorize — only 2 pattern rows alternated with ribbing. Easy, so it’s somewhat mindless knitting while watching TV, but just interesting enough not to be boring. I had originally started these on US size 1.5 needles, but I was afraid they were coming out too big (especially for such a stretchy pattern), so I ripped them out after finishing the toe and about 1.5 repeats of the pattern, and started over on US size 0 needles. They’re a bit on the loose side, but not too baggy. I probably would have been fine making the small size instead of the medium. This was also the first time I did Russian bind-off. I really liked it and will definitely use it again. I wouldn’t have needed to go up to a US size 2.5 needle for the bind-off, though — I would have been fine going up to a US size 1.5 instead. Still, just a little loose, not so baggy that they’ll fall down. (Plus, it leaves a little room for them to tighten up with washing.)

I’m definitely looking forward to making lots more of the patterns in this book — I love Wendy’s toe-up patterns, especially with the slip-stitch heel. Up next for the June segment of the KAL is Wendy’s Sprucey Lucy pattern (each month, there’s a pattern from the book and one of Wendy’s free patterns to choose from — or to knit both). For Sprucey Lucy, I’ll use one of the yarns I bought at Lamb’s Ear Yarns last weekend, Schaefer Nichole, in the Greenjeans colorway.

Schaefer Nichole, Greenjeans colorway

Another brief crochet interlude…

The doily is finished as well. It’s a little wonky (yes, that’s a technical term) at some spots, but overall not bad for the first one.

Petite Pineapple Doily (please excuse the blocking pins)

• Pattern: Petite Pineapple Doily by Priscilla Hewitt
• Size 7 steel crochet hook
• Aunt Lydia’s Crochet Cotton, #10, ecru
• Started 6/12/09, finished 6/15/09 (even though Squeek got his hind leg caught in the loose thread and ripped out almost an entire round as he ran through the house…yikes)
• Link to my Ravelry project page

I also took a stab at crocheting a coaster…

Quick & Easy Crocheted Coaster (why, yes, it was)

You can see something is not right below the center hole, all the way out to the edge. I think I forgot the ch2 at the end of the second round. But other than that, “Quick and Easy” is a good name for this one… it’s true.

• Pattern: Quick & Easy Crocheted Coaster by SusanB in Metro KC
• Size H crochet hook
• Takhi Cotton Classic yarn, colorway 3254 Taupe
• Started & finished 6/15/09 (only took a couple hours while watching TV)
• Link to my Ravelry project page

I’ll definitely be making some more of these coasters — gotta keep trying until I get it right!

So that’s it for the FOs at the moment. You’re sure to see more socks here in the near future, what with the Socks from the Toe Up KAL going on, and Summer of Socks 2009 starting up this weekend!