Part of a Tin Man Sock

I haven't been much of a knitter lately.  I think I went nearly a week without knitting a stitch.  But, when I did have some knitting ambition and some new kits at the beginning of the month, I got started on the first of the Tin Man socks:

And the lack of knitting ambition certainly isn't because I don't like these, because I think they're awesome!  There's delicious Cashmere in the yarn, so while they have something of a Steampunk vibe to them they're going to be wonderfully cushy.

The muted colors of rusty tin also blend beautifully with no real striping or pooling in sight.

So I wanted to show the progress here because I love how it's knitting up, but there likely still won't be much knitting progress on these for a bit yet.  What little knitting time I've made recently has been devoted to adding the lining to my Fiddlehead mittens.  Mitten weather will be coming to an end before long and I really want to get to wear them at least once this season, if possible.  I did start the lining of the second mitten last night, so there's still a chance!

Woolgirl Oz Sock Club - Oz

It's time to share my final Oz Sock Club kit - featuring Oz himself.  Although Woolgirl started an additional year of the club for 2011, I'm afraid I've had my fill of Oz and opted out, so this is the end of the yellow brick road for me.

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

The kit contents:

I'm not sure if it was due to post-holiday timing, but this particular kit didn't make much of an impression on me.  The project bag is great -- it's large enough to easily hold a large skein project and then some, and the box style with a zipper always seems nice and secure.  Then there was actually very little other swag included -- a small post-it note pad, a couple of magnets, an oddly shaped Wizard of Oz tin, and a keychain with a stack of large beads that didn't make it into the picture. 

The pattern didn't jump out at me, either, but I have learned that some of the included patterns aren't represented very well in the pattern photos.  This particular one is rather hard to see since it's obscured by the busy color changes in the yarn.

Now the yarn:

is a lovely squishy Superwash Merino Sock Yarn by Pigeonroof Studios.  I'm not sure about how it looks knit up in the pattern photos, but I'm always game to try knitting with a nice new yarn!

Of course I'm still running a bit behind.  I did finish my Lollipop socks and I have the first of the Tin Man socks on the needles, but I haven't made a lot of knitting time lately and progress is slow.  For the moment, I'm determined to try to wrap up some lingering projects from 2010 before I cast on something new, so it might be quite a few months before I manage to wrap up the majority of the Oz club socks.  Then there's the attempt to knit down some stash...

A Very Large Sock Revealed

A very large sock was the source of my quiet knitting delay before Christmas.  It was also the only Christmas gift I committed to knitting this year.

I hadn't done any colorwork since the beginning of the year (2010), so I did warm up with the Fiddlehead mittens first.  Thankfully, the mitten warm-up helped me get my colorwork tension under a bit more control before tackling the stocking.

Now the lovely free stocking pattern called for bulky yarn, but heeding the Ravelry warnings that it led to an enormous stocking, I down-sized to worsted instead.  It's still pretty big, based on the stocking I had as a kid, but not too much so.

The intended recipient is just a bit too young to even understand what a stocking is yet, but his parents appreciated it and they hadn't bought him one of his own yet, so it was a gifting success.

I did manage to finish it in less than two weeks, but that was also partly due to late start and the looming deadline keeping me on track.  Modifying the pattern and charting out the name so that it would fit on both sides was slow going, but I kept notes so that future stockings might go faster.  It is a beautiful pattern that I would be happy to knit again!

Pattern: Falling Snow Stocking by Jennifer Hoel
Yarn:  Plymouth Yarn Worsted Merino Superwash - Burgundy and Cream
Needles: US 7 - 4.5 mm
Completed: December 23, 2010
Mods: Cast on 80 stitches to accommodate the lighter weight yarn, added the name panel to the pattern, and used a snowflake-like pattern for the toe.

Christmas and Lollipops Complete

I actually did finish the Christmas River socks for Hubs, almost two weeks before Christmas:

But they are probably the longest pair I've made for him yet, and since I used Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Lightweight, that means I ran out of yarn before the second toe.  And it was a Rare Gems Mill End skein, which means it's not a standard colorway.  Fortunately, I had another Rare Gems Mill End skein that was surprisingly similar -- at least in that it had a lot of brownish red -- so while the toe doesn't totally match it definitely doesn't stand out as badly as you might expect from a totally different skein.

Pattern: Kalajoki by Tiina Seppälä
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Lightweight - Rare Gems Mill End
Needles: US 1 - 2.25 mm
Completed: December 12, 2010
Mods: Cast on 66 stitches to accommodate the lighter weight yarn

Happy Yarny New Year 2011!

More posts coming when I have to get back to a real life schedule again in a few days.  ;)