WiP: Black Cat (Spoilers)

I still fall victim to the occasional Woolgirl kit that isn't a part of a club series.  This time I couldn't resist the Black Cat Halloween kit and it, too, arrived last week... and then jumped right on the needles!

************ Spoilers from this point on! ************

The kit contents:

The black cat with the polka dot background is a pack of decorated tissues and the cute pumpkin and ghost fabric above it is a small tissue pack holder.  The smiling cat pyramid at the upper left is an old-fashioned style treat box (although mine was squashed pretty flat during shipping).  There's also the black cat notepad in the lower right, a cat charm/ornament, black cat gummies, and candy corn kisses.  I love the included project bag, which is nice and large with a drawstring closure.

I'm excited to try more new yarn that I haven't heard of before: Pico Accuardi Dyeworks Acid and Weed Sock!

But the kit also included a warning that the yarn would bleed some due to the dye process.  We'll see if that means it will also fade significantly in the first few washings or not.  At the moment, it's very dark, nearly black, but I can see hints of deep wine colors, too, with enough direct light.  And of course another adorable WeeOnes stitch marker that will be carefully added to my collection.


There's also a sock pattern included:

Poppies: The End

I finally finished my Poppy Fields Socks just before the Lollipop Guild kit arrived last week.

I don't have any desire to disparage the pattern or the designer, so I'll point out that the things that bothered me about the pattern might not bother other people.  But I also know from previous comments that people are curious why these were not my favorites, so this is a rundown of some things that made it a pattern that didn't work well for me:

1. I don't want to harp on this (and I know I've mentioned it before), but I don't like it when patterns give size(s) based on foot length/shoe size with no measured circumference.  I know that even a measured circumference is somewhat subjective (stretched, etc.), but it gives me a much better idea than foot length.
   
   
2. Because of the size issue and the needle size recommendation for the pattern I had a hard time sizing these.  Using the recommended US 0 needles with sport weight yarn seemed off to me, but I thought maybe it was for a particularly tight gauge, so I balanced it out by starting with the large size.  After knitting the toe and starting the foot I found that I had more stitches to the inch than the recommended gauge and the sock was going to be loose on me.  When I ripped it out and started over with US 1½ (2.5 mm) my gauge matched and the sock fit snugly on my foot... until the heel.  The finished short row heel was like a little cap for the bottom of my heel and there was no way that I was ever going to get my foot into the finished sock.  Since I had gauge and it seemed to fit well enough otherwise I didn't have any confidence that ripping it all out and starting over with the large size again was going to give me anything but a loose sock with a better heel, so I manufactured my own heel based on Yarnissima's brainless sock pattern.  Then I could finally get the sock on my heel, too.
   
   

Woolgirl Oz Sock Club - Lollipop Guild

I wasn't sure I could finish my previous kit socks (Poppies!) before this Woolgirl Oz Club kit arrived, but a dedicated push got them off the needles just before the new kit found its way to my doorstep.

************ Spoilers from this point on! ************

The kit contents:

There's a lollipop and a lollipop lip gloss in there, another little scrabble piece painted and attached to a necklace-length chain, and a larger drawstring bag with handles.  I have to admit that my eye is immediately drawn to the large Certificate of Death on the fabric, which feels a little morbid, but it's nice to have such a large bag with the drawstring to keep it closed.

And then there's the bright and highly variegated yarn, appropriately from Sunshine Yarns!
Pro: Most of the club kits, while certainly not boring, have been more limited to a specific color or color family:

So a bright rainbow yarn jumped right out in a very happy way.
Con: Then I saw the pattern photo.  It looks splotchy or sort of tie-dyed once knit up.  I'm afraid it might be one of those yarns that I love in the skein that I don't love as much as a finished knit.  But I'll try not to worry about that until I've already knit a good chunk of a sock to find out.  It's hard not to love it in the skein!

WiP Determination

Although I mostly like the finished appearance, my Poppy Field socks have not been a project I enjoyed knitting.  I've struggled with them and even considered abandoning the pattern after the first sock.  Even though I started them in early August, I've put them in time out several times and they've been lingering on the needles.  But, late last week I finally finished sock 1:

The poppy itself was fun to work

And since the next kit in the series is due to arrive any day now, I pushed myself to immediately cast on sock 2.  Admittedly, sock 2 has gone much faster since I didn't have to experiment with size and gauge and different heel styles.  I still made mistakes that required tinking and ripping (for some reason that happens a lot more with this pattern than most for me), but parts of it actually moved along rather quickly.

Poppy Fields - Sock 1, finished

I don't yet have any photos of sock 2, but it's on the needles and halfway up the leg now.  Barring a catastrophe it should be off the needles yet this week, maybe even before the Lollipop Guild comes knocking at my door.

I'm pretty good at letting go, so although the pattern might get buried in a dark, dusty corner somewhere, the socks themselves aren't facing pent-up ill will.  I'm looking forward to wearing them and showing them some love instead of flinging them aside in frustration.  I love the Miss Babs yarn and it clearly deserves much better!

Simple Soothing Socks for WiP Wednesday

I have a lot of projects lingering on the needles for various reasons, which isn't really a common occurrence for me.  But since I often want knitting to be relaxing, I started a simpler, more mindless project to work on in between dedicated efforts to deal with the trickier things.  So for the first time in a very long time, I'm working on simple stockinette socks - with a twist.

Peek-a-boo, it's a picot hem cuff!

I was intrigued by the round toe, afterthought heel, and double knit picot hem of Turtlegirl's Let it Be socks.  It seemed like a great pattern to showcase variegated yarn that had a lot to say on its own and I had yarn that wanted to do just that.

Struggling with Poppies

It's not certain that the Poppy Fields socks will be completed before the next Woolgirl Oz Club kit arrives.  These socks have been a struggle for me, which means I'm not always in the mood to pick them up when I have knitting time.  It also means I can't take them with me to knit when I'm traveling -- they require spreading out several pattern pages at a time, concentrating on what will go where, and in several cases so far, ripping out a good chunk and reworking something.

Size US0 needles and sport weight yarn gave me a much smaller gauge than the pattern recommended, so I had to frog the toe and start over with US 1½ - 2.5 mm.  Once my gauge was corrected I had to guess at the size based on foot length/shoe size with no given circumference, which is not my favorite (since the length of my foot doesn’t really affect how wide I want my socks).  I opted for the smaller size for a snug fit.

Poppy stems before the heel

The snug fit is good, but as you can see it makes for an interesting ridge where the stockinette toe shifts to the purl background for the pattern.

Blocking with Wires

I decided to invest in some blocking tools and outfitted myself with some interlocking foam mats, blocking wires, and T-pins.  I know I shouldn't need any of those things, but I'm hoping they help me to get on with blocking some of the knits that really need it in a more timely manner.

Having never worked with actual blocking equipment before, I decided to go simple and block my recently completed scarf.  It wasn't a piece that technically needed blocking, although it wasn't perfectly straight along the edges and seemed like it might benefit from it.  (More Stitches Midwest 2009 yarn successfully used, by the way!)

Somewhat curvy edges

Straighter blocked edges

1) First impressions: blocking can take an annoyingly long time to do no matter what equipment you have!  I didn't time it, but it probably took me a good 45 - 60 minutes and 6 blocking wires to get the scarf pinned out and relatively straight.  Maybe (hopefully!) it's something I'll eventually get better and faster at with practice.