• Large barrel bag from Erin Lane Bags
• Earrings from Harlan Glass (hanging on bag)
• Sock Hussy pin from Miss Purl (pinned to bag strap)
• Yarn, left to right: Skein of bulky orphan yarn from Bashful Bags & Fibers (no label, no info – somewhere around 85-100 yards, and I think there’s some alpaca in it); STR Lightweight in Tina’s Silver Lining; STR Lightweight in Gail’s Autumn Joy
• In the front: limited-edition violet/black alpaca fiber by Pine Hill Alpaca Farm (purchased at Kanine Knits booth)

I’ve already made use of the orphan skein of yarn:

“Orphan” Musician Beanie

• Pattern: Starving Musician by Laura Linneman
• Yarns: Orphan skein of bulky multicolor something-or-other; Classic Elite Renaissance (discontinued yarn) that’s been in my stash since 2008, used doubled, in a light olive green (lost the label)
• Needles: U.S. 11 (8mm); used U.S. 10.5 (6.5mm) for the decreases since I only have one U.S. 11 16″ circular needle!
• Started (and finished) 10/26/11 (only took three hours)
• Link to my Ravelry project page (login required)

Though it only took me three hours to knit, it was also the third time I was knitting something with the orphan yarn in the same week! I started off making a Starving Artist slouchy beret — not enough yarn, and I wasn’t happy with the way I was augmenting with the light olive green. Next, I attempted a Starving Musician beanie using only the orphan yarn — just a bit too short, wouldn’t have been long enough to stay pulled down over my ears. So I started again for the third time and worked in a few stripes in the light olive. Love it! I still think I look better in hats made with less-chunky yarn, but this one is growing on me. How can you not love something that’s done so quickly, anyway?

And it turns out I finished this one just in time for a freakishly early (well, maybe not for NH) October snowstorm.

Let’s just take a closer look at those great earrings (click the photo to enlarge)…

How about a closer look at the Sock Hussy pin? Perfect knitting bag accessory…

Oh… and did you happen to notice that the STR Lightweight in the Tina’s Silver Lining colorway matches the bag??? Seriously, I didn’t plan that. Didn’t even notice until I was taking the photo.

Double Heelix socks, first pair

• Pattern: Double Heelix by Jeny Staiman (from Knitty, First Fall 2011)
• Yarn: Alpaca with a Twist Socrates, color #1019 & #3018
• Needles: U.S. 1.5 (2.5mm), used magic loop technique
• Size made: Medium (64-stitch circumference after instep decreases)
• Started 7/9/11, finished 7/22/11
• Link to my Ravelry project page (login required)

As you can tell by looking at the photo, these came out too loose. Not surprised, since 64-stitch socks on 2.5mm needles always come out too big for me. But I took a chance since the heel is a unique construction and I was expecting these to be tighter around the ankle (but for me, they weren’t). I alternated the two colors in single-row stripes on the toes, and the last inch before the cuff. Each cuff is a different color. Also switched up the foot and leg colors from one sock to the other. (Yeah, it will look like I’m wearing mis-matched socks. Heh.)

Double Heelix Socks, second pair

• Pattern, yarn, needles same as above.
• Size made: Small (60-stitch circumference after instep decreases)
• Link to my Ravelry project page (login required)

Even though I scaled down to the small size for the second pair, these are still a little too loose. But not unwearable by any means. Hard to tell in the photo, but I alternated each color in single-row stripes on the foot and leg. Each cuff is a different color.

I really enjoyed knitting this pattern (obviously, since I did it twice). It can get a bit fiddly at the beginning when you’re working the heel, since there are 4 strands of yarn going. But just pause once in a while to detangle, and you’ll be fine.

I Drank The Kool-Aid

• Pattern: Firefly Fringed Scarf by Cecily Glowik MacDonald (from Classic Elite #9109 Picnic)
• Yarn: Classic Elite Yarns Firefly, #7739 Cyprus colorway
• Needle: U.S. 8 (5.0mm)
• Started 6/26/10, finished 7/13/10 (finally wove in the ends & washed it 10/24/10)
• Link to my Ravelry project page (login required)

I’m referring to this one as “I Drank The Kool-Aid” because there were no less than five of my coworkers knitting it at the same time as me. It had definitely become a mini-trend at the office. A couple of my coworkers have even knit more than one in different yarns! For some silly reason, it took me more than three months to weave in two little yarn ends and wash/block it. For yet another silly unknown reason, it took me nearly a year after finishing the knitting to snap a photo of the thing. (Well, I did make a miserably failed attempt at taking a pic of myself with the cell phone one day when I wore it to work last fall.) If you do knit this project with the Firefly yarn, be aware that it takes every last bit of the two balls of yarn called for. I had about a six- to eight-inch tail at my cast-on edge, and the same after binding off. In fact, I have heard of several Patternworks customers needing to dip into a third ball of yarn in order to finish – so be safe and get a third ball, especially if you typically end up using more yardage than a pattern calls for.

And now, we move on down to the feet…

Jaytrekkers

• Pattern: Jaywalker by Grumperina
• Yarn: Trekking XXL, color #80 (faux-isle self patterning yarn with pinks, purples, grays and browns)
• Needle: U.S. 1 (2.25mm), Clover Takumi 5″ long DPNs (AKA overgrown toothpicks)
• Started 2/14/11, finished 7/3/11
• Link to my Ravelry project page (login required)

The pattern may look sort of familiar – you’ve seen it on here twice before. This is the pattern I used for my second-ever pair of socks and also for a pair of socks made for my cousin Jill. They turned out to be a little snug over the ankles as Jadee reminded me on Plurk, but I can still get them on my feet. If I do knit these yet again (which I just might, I love the pattern) I will probably use U.S. 1.5 (2.5mm) needles just to have a wee bit extra room in the ankle. It wasn’t a problem with the first pair I made, since they’re (duh) anklets. (And damn, now I’m really hoping that Jill’s weren’t too tight! She does have smaller feet than me, so hopefully hers were OK.) It took me a while to finish these, since I knit the first sock and about half of the second sock almost exclusively on breaks at work (the rest was mostly done during long car rides). Cast-ons and kitchenering the toes were also done at home.

Recently off the needles – but not finished – is a cowl design for work. Not finished yet because it needs buttons, so I will be shopping for some this week. More on that later. Still on the needles – but finally more than halfway done – is a super secret project for a friend. My motivation to finish that (besides finishing a project for a friend) within the next month is the KnitGirllls 5K Stash Dash. (I’m at 2,692 meters knit… just a little over halfway there! Not sure if I’ll hit 5K by the deadline, but hopefully I will be close.) A perpetual item on the needles is my sock yarn blankie – I really should pick that up again, especially considering I recently received a little care package in the mail from my Pennsylvania knitting peeps, Cathy and Denise.

Sock Yarn Scraps from Cathy & Denise (miss you both too!)

And considering I haven’t had any socks on the needles since I finished the Jaywalkers on July 3rd (gasp!), I shall be casting on the Double Heelix socks from Knitty shortly. Tonight, in fact. I have two skeins of Socrates (#1019 denim and #3018 berry) and my ball winder sitting a few feet away on the sofa, beckoning me.

Ennoble (Nelkin Designs Mystery KAL)
Quite an unglamorous photo… will probably replace later when I take a better one.

• Pattern: Ennoble by Laura Nelkin
• Yarn: Schaefer Yarns Heather, colorway Tatiana Proskuriakoff (T.P. for short!)
• Needle: U.S. 6 (4.0mm)
• Started 4/8/11, finished 5/28/11
• Link to my Ravelry project page (login required)

Father’s Day Socks

• Pattern: my own Father’s Day Socks pattern (garter rib panels on front and back flanked by small cables)
• Yarn: Austermann Step Zodiac, Capricorn colorway (even though Dad is a Virgo…)
• Needles: U.S. 0 (2.0mm) Addi Turbo, 40″ circular (magic loop, one at a time)
• Started 5/5/11, finished 5/28/11
• Link to my Ravelry project page (login required)

Preemie hats for Sweet Caroline Project

• Pattern: Preemie Baby Beanies by Karen Everitt (basic construction, used stitches from sock patterns on them)
• Yarns: (L-R) Southwest Trading TOFUtsies, Zitron Trekking Maxima, Plymouth Sockotta (all leftovers from socks – left and center – and baby sweater – right)
• Needle: U.S. 2 (2.75mm)
• First one started 6/5/11, third one finished 6/10/11 (each one took 2 evenings of knitting)
• Link to my Ravelry project pages: #1, #2, #3 (login required)

Mysteriously Sublime Shawlette

• Pattern: Summer Mystery Shawlette by Wendy D. Johnson
• Yarn: Fearless Fibers Superwash Merino sock yarn, Sublime colorway
• Needle: U.S. 5 (3.75mm)
• Started 5/2/11, finished 6/13/11
• Link to my Ravelry project page (login required)

Deep V Sweater Monstrosity!

• Pattern: Deep V Sweater from Classic Knits by Erika Knight
• Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold Silky Tweed
• Needles: U.S. 3 (3.25mm) and 5 (3.75mm)
• Started 1/5/09 (yes, that’s 2009), finished 6/18/11 (yes, that’s 2011)
• Link to my Ravelry project page (do I really need to tell you again that login is required?)

This one requires some commentary… After nearly two-and-a-half years on the needles, I’m really disappointed that this turned out to be a waaaaay huge hot mess of a monstrosity. That’s the problem with an adult sweater knit in pieces and seamed together after all the hours, days, months, YEARS of knitting has been completed. (At least with baby sweaters, if they’re too big, the baby will eventually grow into it.) Holding the individual pieces up on my body, I thought for sure the sweater would be too small, if anything. Well, it’s freakin’ bigger-than-plus sized. It’s linebacker sized. Might even be too big for a linebacker. Sheesh. I knit a generously-sized swatch, which I’ve run through the washer (cold water, frontloader) and dryer (on regular, not even low heat or air fluff… REGULAR HOT DRYER) and the swatch didn’t even shrink at all (which is not at all what I expected). However, the swatch did come out extremely soft after washing and drying. So the sweater wasn’t a total waste of time — at the very least, it will make a great lounging around the house in wintertime sweater. A note about the v-neck: Yes, it’s supposed to be a very deep v-neck… though not quite THAT deep. I’m short. I had the foresight to alter the sleeves so they wouldn’t be gorilla-length (like the rest of the sweater, though, still too big), but I didn’t think to alter the body so the V wouldn’t be quite so low. Duh.

Butin Collar

• Pattern: Butin Collar by Laura Nelkin
• Yarn: Schaefer Yarns Audrey, Clare Booth Luce colorway
• Needle: U.S. 2.5 (3.0mm)
• Started & finished 6/22/11 (well, clasp was sewn on 6/23/11 before I went to work, so I could wear it that day)
• Link to my Ravelry project page

This requires a little commentary as well. After the disaster that was the sweater above, this project was an absolute delight. Amy brought a kit back from TNNA (trade show) for me to try out. She gave it to me at work on 6/22/11. I knitted the whole thing that night, in about 3 hours, including the time it took to tediously thread the beads onto the yarn in a specific sequence. It would have taken me a bit less time had I not miscounted the size 8 beads at one spot and had to perform surgery on the yarn to thread on one more bead and do a Russian join to avoid too much bulk in the yarn. This is a GREAT kit — seriously, it includes everything you need except for the knitting needles. There’s even a dental floss threader included for threading the beads onto the yarn. This was also the first time I’ve used Audrey yarn — it’s a wool/silk single that’s absolutely beautiful. I think I really need to pick some up at the shop and make a shawl with it.

But wait… there’s been spinning!

Yes, I’ve been spinning! This is Highland Handmades hand-dyed bluefaced  leicester (that’s a breed of sheep) top in the Maritime colorway. It came with the drop spindle you see in the photo above as part of a beginner spinning kit. The stuff on the spindle has been spun; the fluffy stuff at the top of the photo is the fiber that I’ve pre-drafted (pulled apart to thin out the fibers before spinning). This was from my second session of spinning this fiber (trust me, you do NOT want to see the results of the first session). I’ve since gotten better, more consistent, with a little more practice. I’m a little more than halfway through spinning the whole four ounces of fiber. Not sure what I’ll do with the finished yarn yet. We’ll see what it decides it wants to be.

Last weekend was my second year attending the New Hampshire Sheep & Wool Festival. Last year, I came home with only 3 skeins of fingering-weight yarn, one of which has been made into socks in the past year. The other two are still safely tucked away in a plastic bag upstairs — one destined for socks, the other for a shawl. Eventually. This year, however, my purchases were quite different. Only one skein of sock yarn — which happens to be one of the colorways I was eyeing at both NHSW and Stitches East last year, and I’m still wondering why the heck I didn’t buy it until now. The remainder of my purchases consisted of A WHOLE POUND of hand-dyed fiber. Not of one type — four, four-ounce rovings. I find this quite ambitious, considering the only spinning I had done to this point was in a short class several years ago, and badly. This pound of fiber joins another four-ounce braid at home — BFL that came as part of a drop-spindling kit I ordered several weeks ago from Highland Handmades, which I finally started practicing with during Crafting Corner at the library this week. And wow, what I’ve spun so far certainly does look like hell. But I shall save the picture-taking until I have some of it plied, so you can see it in all of its craptastic glory. (Mind you, it’s the spinning that’s craptastic — Heather’s hand-dyed fiber is absolutely gorgeous!) Without further ado, here’s a closer look at my NHSW 2011 purchases:

Mad Color Fiber Arts (formerly Sereknity Yarn & Fiber)
60% Superwash Merino/30% Bamboo/10% Nylon, colorway Tempest

Mad Color Fiber Arts (formerly Sereknity Yarn & Fiber)
60% Superwash Merino/30% Bamboo/10% Nylon, colorway Passion Flower

80% Merino/20% Silk, colorway Field Of Rye
purchased from The Fiber Studio, Henniker, NH (at NHSW)

Purple Fleece BFL/Silk, colorway Embers

Holiday Yarns Flock Sock (75% superwash merino/25% nylon), colorway Embers

Cora’s Blanket & Sweater

• Patterns: Cradle Me (blanket) and Inky Dinky (jacket) by Anne Hanson
• Yarn: Plymouth Encore DK, color #233 (lavender)
• Needles: U.S. 5 (3.75mm) & U.S. 6 (4.0mm) for Cradle Me; U.S. 3 (3.25mm) & U.S. 4 (3.5mm) for Inky Dinky
• Cradle Me started February 9, finished April 6, 2011; Inky Dinky started April 7, finished April 19, 2011
• Links to my Ravelry project pages: Cradle Me, Inky Dinky (login required)

Of course, any time there is a new baby arriving in the family, I’m going to be making something. Traditionally, I’ve made handwoven baby blankets. Unfortunately, I don’t have a space to set up my loom right now with all the remodeling going on in our house — it’s still folded up under a blanket in the unfinished dining room. So this time, I opted for knitting. These patterns by Anne Hanson feature a matching lace motif. The jacket pattern offers a wide range of sizes and also includes a matching hat, which I did not make. The blanket was a very easy knit — obviously, since there’s no construction, just a big square. And the jacket was surprisingly easy, too; it’s knit in one piece from the bottom up to the armpits, then the sleeves are knitted separately and joined to knit the yoke in the round.

Inky Dinky, a closer view

And a Mother’s Day gift…

Finishing things up seems to happen in threes. Here’s the third item — a scarf I started last fall which became a Mother’s Day gift for my Mom. It’s a circular scarf that can be worn as-is and longer, or doubled up as a cowl. Heck, you can even double it up and have half around your neck and the other half over your head if it’s cold. Mom doesn’t like things up close to her neck so much, so she’ll probably be wearing it long most of the time. This is my own design which was “homework” for work — it was included in a sheet of free patterns that Patternworks sent out with the purchase of certain limited-edition yarns (which are sold out now, unfortunately).

Circular Scarf for Mom

• Pattern: my own unnamed design
• Yarn: Fiesta Yarns Baby Boom, Surf colorway
• Needles: U.S. 5 (3.75mm)
• Started September 4, 2010; finished April 19, 2011
• Link to my Ravelry project page (login required)

Mad Color Weave Socks in Araucania Ranco

• Pattern: Mad Color Weave by Tina Lorin
• Yarn: Araucania Ranco, color #303
• Needles: Crystal Palace bamboo DPNs, size U.S. 1 (2.25mm)
• Started 7/5/10, finished 8/15/10
• Link to my Ravelry project page (login required)

I lovelovelove these socks. First of all, the pattern is gorgeous – looks way more complicated than it really is. The slip-stitch pattern works really well with handpainted, hand-dyed, and variegated yarns. I also really love this yarn. My former LYS (when I lived in PA) carried lots of this yarn for a while. It was all so beautiful, so I ended up buying several hanks in multiple colors (and even bought the same colorway twice, unintentionally). The yarn is especially beautiful with this pattern.

Hermione’s Everyday Socks – in Kollage Sock-A-Licious

• Pattern: Hermione’s Everyday Socks by Erica Lueder
• Yarn: Kollage Sock-A-Licious, colorway Blue Mist
• Needles: Addi Turbo 40″ Circular, size U.S. 1.5 (2.5mm) – magic loop 2-at-a-time
• Started 9/3/10, finished 10/23/10
• Link to my Ravelry project page (login required)

This was the second time I knit socks using this pattern. However, this time I switched to knitting them toe-up instead of cuff-down (I followed Wendy D. Johnson’s Toe-Up Socks with Slip-Stitch Heel pattern for the sole and heel). And, since I knit them 2-at-a-time on magic loop, I used my Addi circs, which are exactly .25mm larger than the size U.S. 1 DPNs I used the first time. Which means these came out huuuuuge. Plus, the yarn is part silk. Makes it feel really, really nice… but the socks stretch out and don’t snap back as well after washing as wool socks with no silk in them. But they’re great for winter when I need to wear two pairs of socks to shovel snow. I still love them, though.

Seeded Rib Socks – in Zitron Trekking Maxima

• Pattern: Toe-up Socks with Slip-Stitch Heel by Wendy D. Johnson; added my own seeded rib pattern made up on the fly.
• Yarn: Zitron Trekking Maxima, color #902
• Needles: Addi Turbo 40″ Circular, size U.S. 0 (2.0mm) – magic loop but one at a time
• Started 10/27/10, finished 2/12/11
• Link to my Ravelry project page (login required)

After finishing up the second pair of Hermione socks, I needed a new pair on the needles for a travel project. I wasn’t sure which socks I wanted to knit next from my Ravelry queue, so I just started something plain and winged it. Ended up with a very nice seeded rib. This pattern would be great for men’s socks – actually, this yarn would be great for men’s socks as well. Like other Trekking yarns, it’s a good workhorse yarn with some nylon content for sturdiness. Very comfortable, and the seeded ribbing is very stretchy.

I’m knitting on several other things right now, but nothing I can share yet since they’re gifts.

Billy’s Tomten Jacket, Front

• Pattern: Tomten Jacket, Child from Knitting Without Tears by Elizabeth Zimmermann
• Size: Approx. 4T
• Yarn: Marble Chunky, color #MC6 Log Cabin
• Needles: U.S. 10 (6.0mm) Addi Turbo 40″ circular for body, hood, sleeves; U.S. 10.5 (6.5mm) Clover Takumi bamboo DPN for i-cord edging
• Started 11/30/10; completely ripped out and restarted 12/14/10; completely finished 1/15/11
• Link to my Ravelry project page (login required)

Billy’s Tomten Jacket, Inside

Since I made this with a chunkier yarn than the pattern calls for, I knew I would need to make some adjustments. As is usually the case with gauge swatches, it lied. I was getting 3.5 stitches per inch, so I adjusted my cast-on number of stitches and the related stitch/row counts proportionately. This resulted in a jacket that, prior to sleeves being knitted on, actually fit me (though it wasn’t big enough around to close, that was reassuring at least). I figured that was a clear sign it would be way too big for my three-year-old nephew. (Granted, the basic concept of the jacket is that a child can wear it for several years but, had I continued with the jacket at the size it was, Billy probably wouldn’t grow into it until he’s ten.) So, much to the horror of everyone at my knitting group, I ripped out a whole two weeks’ worth of knitting just a week and a half before Christmas and restarted it.

Fortunately, by the time I had ripped out and restarted, I bought some clothes for Billy that were the appropriate size, so I was able to compare the size of the reknit jacket to them. The reknitted jacket indeed does seem to be the appropriate size. The only thing I’m not sure about at this point is the armholes; they seemed plenty large enough as flat pieces of knitting laid atop a store-bought size 4T sweater, but now that the sleeves have been attached and seamed up, I’m not sure. I’ll just have to send it off and hope for the best. There are ways I could fix it if necessary without redoing the whole thing again.

Billy’s Tomten Jacket, Back

About halfway through the project (the second time), I decided I would finish off all the edges with a little single crochet. But when it came time to actually do the edging, I changed my mind back to my original choice of applied i-cord. That part went much more quickly than I expected it would, and I’m happy with the results. I’m also very happy with how well the zipper went in. I hand-sewed it; the fabric is a bit thick to run through a sewing machine, and hand-stitching allows more control over the thread tension. I would have preferred a zipper in a darker brown, but my color selection at the local Jo-Ann’s was a bit limited, considering I needed a sturdy, separating zipper at least 16″ long and didn’t want metal. (There are online sources with a wider selection, but I wanted something I could get immediately and finish up the project.) The zipper does hide pretty well when the jacket is zipped closed, though.

Even with the recalculating, ripping, and reknitting, this was a very simple, no-nonsense project. Billy will have a baby sister arriving in Spring (woohoo, I get to knit cute baby girl stuff for a new niece!) so I may make one for her that she can wear in the fall. And I’m seriously considering making an adult-sized one for myself.

Update, February 10th… the jacket has been delivered, and word is it fits. Woohoo!