Coming Along

So I finally finished the baby blanket mentioned in the last post:

It's a very simple four-row repeating pattern for both the border and the main part of the blanket.  I did choose to shorten the blanket by several repeats for the main pattern, mainly because this blanket is over 2 1/2 feet long, which is plenty long enough for a baby.  Also, she is now 3 months old, and at some point, I would have to keep knitting to keep up with her continuing to get bigger.

And my cousin J is having a boy in Februrary, so I need to cast on the next blanket.

The Start of the Holiday Season

When I was younger, I remember that some retailers would advertise "Christmas in July" sales as July 25 is 6 months from Christmas.  In June, while working my way through the Vorticity sock pattern, I realized that I should probably make myself a list of holiday knitting projects so I could stay on target.  I also had two November birthdays (my friend J and my mother-in-law) that I wanted to put on that list, so I sat down and wrote it all out.  In a time frame from November 3 - January 3, I need to have finished 2 scarves, 1 hat, 4 pairs of adult socks, and 6 pairs of childrens' socks. This is only marginally more than what I knit for last year, but I am determined that this year, the caboose gift receiver (my husband) will not get shorted by getting only one sock.  (I finished the other one about 2 weeks after his birthday.)  Fortunately, I finished my sock project in time to cast on July 25 for the first project, a scarf:

This is the Vine Lace Scarf pattern by Marin Melchior.  She recommends knitting this pattern using Vermont Organic Fiber Company O-Wool Legacy DK sock yarn, but I had this yarn (Berrocco Softwist Bulky) which was given to me by a friend and it's the perfect color for my friend as she has worn this particular color in my presence several times.  It is somewhat slippery yarn, so I've had to be careful when knitting the yarn-overs in the next row.

As compared to the baby blanket I am also currently working on, this scarf is flying off my needles.  I cast on on the 25th but sort of dawdled on the project until the 30th, and then managed to knit 28" (of a 33" piece) in 4 days, just working on it during my morning commute.  (Ah, 31-stitch projects, how I love you.) It is knit in two pieces, and then a Kitchner stitch joins it together. 

At this rate, I could possibly be finished the project by the end of this week.  Perhaps I should consider making everyone a scarf, instead of socks, for Christmas.......

Moving Right Along

I try very hard not to be working on too many projects at the same time.  Sometimes knitting demands pop up (babies, birthdays, Christmas) that force me to put current projects on the back burner.  The problem with having too many projects going consecutively is it can often tie up the very needles you need to start a project, forcing you to buy more.  So far I've managed to avoid this conflict by maintaining discipline and purchasing a few stitch holders.

Right now I have more projects going at the same time than I've ever done before.  This past spring I started work on a ribbed winter men's hat, with no particular person in mind (Dad?  My friend G, who's been pestering me endlessly for a knit hat for about 2 years?)  I haven't gotten very far on that project:

At the same time, I took a knitting class on sweaters.  The catch was that we knit doll sweaters, to practice the different tips and techniques for sleeves, finishing, etc.  The sweaters are from a booklet called "The Little Book of Little Sweaters," published by Martha Moore, who is based in Sturbridge, MA (contact her at: The Running Rabbit in Sturbridge.)  I finished one, a roll-neck:

And got most of the pieces of another, a raglan-sleeve button up cardigan, done:

I paused the project as I was working on finishing the neck.  I loved this one, because I learned how to knit in a seamless pocket.  I really should finish it, because the sweaters are apparently the right size for American Girl dolls, and several of my young cousins are big American Girl doll fans, so I'd have a few things to add to the Christmas gift stash.

Both those projects got back-burnered due to the impending arrival of a longtime friend's baby girl.  I used to be a huge baby blanket knitter, gifting all my friends and relatives with baby blankets.  And then I hit my mid-30s, along with every other woman in my social circle and my family, and suddenly I couldn't go two weeks without a phone call or email saying, "Guess what!"  Madness.  I was getting carpal tunnel.  Plus, the blankets are too large to take with me in my bag for my commute, so I only have time to knit when I'm home, and with work and volunteer groups, I'm not home all that much.  But I've been friends with this woman for over 20 years, and I knit a blanket for her first baby, so I cast on for the blanket.  It's Jeannette Crews' Ridge Stitch Coverlet pattern, which is super easy - four repeating rows, of which one is knit and one is purl.  I can knit this while watching t.v., holding a conversation and drinking a glass of wine, and the pattern still works without a lot of counting.

FYI, the new baby was born July 6, and I'm only about halfway done with the blanket.  I console myself with the knowledge that it's summer and even with air conditioning, she does not need to be tucked under a blanket this heavy.  But fall is coming fast, so I'm trying to knit quickly.  It's problematic because it's hot and the last thing I want is a blanket over my legs when it's 90 degrees out.

And I've already started my holiday knitting - but that's a subject for another post.

Done!

I was so excited to finish these socks.  When I cast them off the needles, I heard this in my head, I was so happy to be finished:

The pattern is totally amazing, but each sock took eons and for the first time in my life, I developed Second Sock Syndrome.  Possibly because I had to restart the first sock three times, and then on the second I had to rip back 25 rows to the heel, due to a mistake I made in the gusset.  After all my years of knitting, this was the first time I had ever tried to follow a chart.  I need more practice, clearly.

I persevered, though, and they're ready to go:

It's a shame that it's now over 90 degrees with 70% humidity in New England.  I have them sitting on a chair in my bedroom rather than in a drawer so I can admire them daily.  My husband leaves his store-bought socks out on top of his dresser all the time, so what's one pair on the chair?  I like them even more now that they've been cast off the needles.  And now, onto the next  project!

Third Time IS the Charm!

I am pleased to say that I appear to be smarter than a sock knitting chart - I have finished one sock of the Vorticity pattern from Alice Yu's Socktopus - but not without significant help from the internet.  That chart VEXED me, until I found the Ravelry group and the errata page done by Ms. Yu herself.  I noticed that I pop up pretty high in the results when you do a Google search about the Vorticity pattern and problems, so for those of you who are just here to gawk at what I'm making, you can skip ahead to the pretty photos at the bottom.  For those of you in a vexed state about your own version of the Vorticity sock, read on.

First off, read the chart left to right, starting at the bottom right corner and working left, then up.  In the book, the leg chart (p. 88 in the U.S. version) is properly numbered - there are 21 rows, and the numbers are right next to the appropriate row (they are not for the instep chart, but more on that in a minute.)  The stitches for the rows repeat until you get to the last 10 or so stitches.  At row 11, you knit three, then knit 2 together, and that is the end of that row.  Place a stitch marker, mark your paper (or whatever you do to keep track of where you are in the pattern), and immediately start row 12.  (This is where I went wrong the first two times I started.)  Row 12 is knit normally, and the last stitches of that row are the ones that were the four stitches that made up all of row 11.  Continue on with the chart.  When you get to row 19, you don't knit the last 4 stitches.  Those 4 stitches become the start of row 20.  The shifting stitches help contribute to that lovely rippled pattern.

The heel, heel turn and gusset were all pretty straightforward.  As I was knitting, I was thinking, "Hmm, I wonder if this pattern will feel strange on the bottom of the foot of the sock?"  Turns out, you don't do the pattern on the bottom of the sock.  After you knit the heel, and as you start the gusset, you use a stitch marker to establish the instep portion of the sock, and that's the only part that gets the pattern - the rest of the stitches are straight knitting, leaving a smooth sole on the sock.

When using the instep chart, you'll notice that there are 21 rows, which is not accurate - there are only 20.  Alice Yu explained on Ravelry that the printer's typesetting caused the numbering to be off from the actual rows.  I re-numbered the rows, starting at row 3 (where they start to go off-center of the row) so that my pattern chart has the correct number of 20 rows.  (I put my knitting down and pick it up often and tend to knit in the morning on the train, before my second cup of coffee.  I need every crutch and clear set of directions I can get my hands on.)  Knit the instep pattern for only the stitches found on the instep needle, and then straight knit the remainder of the row.  The instep chart doesn't have the same stitch-shift that the leg chart does, so I found it a little easier, and it was smooth sailing right through the toe decreases and binding off (I used the Kitchner stitch to close the toe.)

I cannot wait to wear these socks.  Too bad it's summer, and I'll have to wait a few more weeks.

Harumph

I successfully finished another pair of socks for my mother just before Mother's Day - with three days to spare, a new noteworthy record.  As it is May and Christmas (and all its associated sock knitting, a problem I have created for myself, sadly) is over six months away, I decided now was the perfect time to make myself a pair of socks and to try a new pattern.  A few months ago I got my hands on Alice Yu's Socktopus and eagerly paged through it, loving almost all of the patterns (some are beyond my capacity.)  So I started her pattern Vorticity on Monday, and started knitting.  Here's what it looks like this morning:

But that's not a sock, you say.  Indeed it is not.  I have started and frogged this sock pattern twice this week.  I started the pattern and switched from the cuff and started the leg chart, then examined the sock and decided it would be enormous and slouchy, not what I wanted.  So I frogged it (rrrrriiiip it back, for those of you who read and are not knitters), got smaller needles and started again.  This time, I knit three repeats of the leg chart and then took a hard look at it and noticed it was getting smaller the further I knit - I had cast on 70 stitches and after 63 rows (I know, I KNOW!) there were only 40 stitches.  That was a sock unlikely to slip over my foot, and when I tried to frog back to the cuff, I had an enormous amount of trouble picking up the k2p2 pattern.  Since it was only an inch long cuff, I decided to just start again.  I am determined to get this to look as it should.

On an online message board I am on, people speak in reverent tones about Ravelry, so last night I joined, searched for the board related to this pattern, and found over 300 messages from people who are working on this pattern, including some pattern corrections that mean I will be able to fix this sock and make it look like the picture in the book, something I never would have figured out on my own.

Third time is the charm.  Right?  RIGHT?

Socks! (As if I could knit anything else....)

A friend of mine was in a terrible car accident at the beginning of February in Texas.  Thankfully she is home now with her husband and children but she still has a long way to go to normal.  Rather than send flowers, I knit her a pair of socks:

They were mailed off to Texas on Saturday.  Be well, K.