More posts coming when I have to get back to a real life schedule again in a few days. ;)
lu⋅di⋅stitch - [loo-duh-stich] Sometimes laughable, often in stitches.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Woolgirl Oz Sock Club - Tin Man
Yep, I fell apart a bit. I've been distracted by all of the usual holiday tasks and consequently have had a lot less knitting time. I've fallen behind on photos and such, too, but I finally have some to share of my penultimate Oz Sock Club kit - featuring Tin Man!
The kit contents:
This is definitely one of my favorite kits! The project bag is large with drawstrings to close it. The heart-shaped tape measure is attached to a long cord, presumably for wearing around your neck if you choose. The decorated red heart tin came with some little Hershey's kisses inside, and the little metal notebook holder has a spring-loaded cover that's held shut by the matching metal pen. All very useful swag!
The pattern made me want to cast on immediately!
It doesn't look complicated, but it looks interesting with the different textures and matches so well with the yarn.
And the yarn:
Macaron MCN by Wool Candy! The MCN is for Merino, Cashmere, and Nylon and it feels wonderful. I love the muted colors and I have a feeling these will be another pair of socks that get a lot of wear.
But I restrained myself. I haven't finished my Lollipop socks yet; in fact I haven't even worked on them in weeks since I'm trying to wrap up some Christmas gift knitting. So the Tin Man socks aren't anywhere near the needles yet, but I might get to start them sometime around the New Year.
************ Spoilers from this point on! ************
The kit contents:
This is definitely one of my favorite kits! The project bag is large with drawstrings to close it. The heart-shaped tape measure is attached to a long cord, presumably for wearing around your neck if you choose. The decorated red heart tin came with some little Hershey's kisses inside, and the little metal notebook holder has a spring-loaded cover that's held shut by the matching metal pen. All very useful swag!
The pattern made me want to cast on immediately!
It doesn't look complicated, but it looks interesting with the different textures and matches so well with the yarn.
And the yarn:
Macaron MCN by Wool Candy! The MCN is for Merino, Cashmere, and Nylon and it feels wonderful. I love the muted colors and I have a feeling these will be another pair of socks that get a lot of wear.
But I restrained myself. I haven't finished my Lollipop socks yet; in fact I haven't even worked on them in weeks since I'm trying to wrap up some Christmas gift knitting. So the Tin Man socks aren't anywhere near the needles yet, but I might get to start them sometime around the New Year.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Mitten Distractions
I've been a bit distracted by some necessary destruction to keep our house steadily heated through the winter...
...so the blog posts have fallen a bit behind. But of course I've still been knitting and I started yet another project.
Fun and colorful mittens from the kit I purchased at Stitches Midwest 2010.
I got to work my first i-cord cast on and I'm pretty sure I'm going to find a way to use it again in future projects. It's slow, but it makes a very neat edge.
And they're stranded, so I've been practicing my 2-handed knitting again with the background color in my right hand and the pattern colors in my left. I still haven't mastered the tension in my left hand, so I've been using an inexpensive Knitting Thimble
to help me along. Instead of using it to separate multiple colors, I run the single yarn through both guides to help keep it from slipping too loosely on the left side. It might be an odd way to do it, but it's really helped me keep the yarn in my left hand without constantly fiddling and trying to find a good way to hold it.
I haven't quite finished the outside of mitten #2 yet (they're lined with another smaller mitten inside) so they haven't been blocked. My stitches aren't as even as they should be, but I'm working on it and hopefully a nice soak and block will loosen them up and even them out enough.
I'm hoping to finish up the outside of mitten #2 in the next night or so. With the Holidays and the end of the year looming these will probably have to be set aside for a bit to make time for deadline knitting soon.
...so the blog posts have fallen a bit behind. But of course I've still been knitting and I started yet another project.
 |
| Fiddlehead Mitten #1 |
Fun and colorful mittens from the kit I purchased at Stitches Midwest 2010.
I got to work my first i-cord cast on and I'm pretty sure I'm going to find a way to use it again in future projects. It's slow, but it makes a very neat edge.
 |
| i-cord cast on edge |
And they're stranded, so I've been practicing my 2-handed knitting again with the background color in my right hand and the pattern colors in my left. I still haven't mastered the tension in my left hand, so I've been using an inexpensive Knitting Thimble
to help me along. Instead of using it to separate multiple colors, I run the single yarn through both guides to help keep it from slipping too loosely on the left side. It might be an odd way to do it, but it's really helped me keep the yarn in my left hand without constantly fiddling and trying to find a good way to hold it. |
| Inside out |
I haven't quite finished the outside of mitten #2 yet (they're lined with another smaller mitten inside) so they haven't been blocked. My stitches aren't as even as they should be, but I'm working on it and hopefully a nice soak and block will loosen them up and even them out enough.
I'm hoping to finish up the outside of mitten #2 in the next night or so. With the Holidays and the end of the year looming these will probably have to be set aside for a bit to make time for deadline knitting soon.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Christmas Socks for Him
My knitting feels a bit out of sorts lately. I think I feel like I should be casting on for Christmas gifts or something, but I don't really have a list of gifts to make. So when Hubs (aka my Mr. Wonderful) pointed out that my Lollipop socks looked a bit like Christmas socks, it made me want to make him some Christmas socks too.
So I decided to grab some Socks That Rock Rare Gems Mill Ends with some green and red and join the Kalajoki socks knit along in the Socks that Rawk!! group on Ravelry.
The yarn didn't really knit up how I expected (based on what it looked like in the skein) and they're turning out more gingerbread than red and green, but Hubs is pretty used to crazy pooling socks by now (e.g. Mr. Wonderful and Blue Jean Gems) and doesn't mind. Fortunately, this pattern seems to stand up to the pooling well enough.
Now the Christmas Lollipop socks and these Christmas River Socks are definitely Christmas socks in spirit, but I/we have already accepted that I might not be able to finish both pairs in time to wear them for Christmas Day 2010. Both have much longer legs than I usually work for socks, so if I do succumb to knitting Christmas gifts there's a good chance I won't have time for these. But I finished the toe of his right sock last night and my first sock is ready for the toe decreases, so we'll both have one sock for sure. Maybe the single socks will get hung up as stockings this year and they'll get their mates for next year. They would definitely make for some bright and uniquely mismatched stockings!
So I decided to grab some Socks That Rock Rare Gems Mill Ends with some green and red and join the Kalajoki socks knit along in the Socks that Rawk!! group on Ravelry.
The yarn didn't really knit up how I expected (based on what it looked like in the skein) and they're turning out more gingerbread than red and green, but Hubs is pretty used to crazy pooling socks by now (e.g. Mr. Wonderful and Blue Jean Gems) and doesn't mind. Fortunately, this pattern seems to stand up to the pooling well enough.
Now the Christmas Lollipop socks and these Christmas River Socks are definitely Christmas socks in spirit, but I/we have already accepted that I might not be able to finish both pairs in time to wear them for Christmas Day 2010. Both have much longer legs than I usually work for socks, so if I do succumb to knitting Christmas gifts there's a good chance I won't have time for these. But I finished the toe of his right sock last night and my first sock is ready for the toe decreases, so we'll both have one sock for sure. Maybe the single socks will get hung up as stockings this year and they'll get their mates for next year. They would definitely make for some bright and uniquely mismatched stockings!
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Lollipop Socks in Progress
My Scarecrow socks took cuts in line and jumped on the needles first, even though the Lollipop Guild kit arrived first. But the scarecrow yarn was such a perfect combination of Fall colors that it begged to be knitted right away. The Lollipop Guild yarn was delightfully bright in the skein, but I was a little worried by the splotchy socks in the photos for the accompanying pattern so it was easy to put them aside for a bit.
I was afraid that the Lollipop socks might not find their way onto the needles for several months or more, but here they are.
Of course, this is the time of year where things get hectic and I have a hard time keeping up with photos, so I'm actually a lot farther along with these now. And they're really long! Either I've been consistently misreading some part of the pattern or these would be nearly knee socks. They don't look like knee socks in the pattern photo and it doesn't seem like a large skein, so there must be some fault on my part.
The leg was pretty long for me after just one repeat of the 77 pattern rows, but the pattern suggested repeating rows 30-77 again before the heel. Needless to say, I didn't repeat. And since it's only 370 yards of fingering weight yarn I'm a little concerned that I might run low on yarn as it is. So when I reached the start of toe decreases on the first sock last night I set it aside. I'd like to at least weigh the existing sock and remaining yarn to try to make sure I don't need to switch in some contrasting toes.
In the meantime, my Mr. Wonderful pointed out that these look sort of like a lit Christmas tree -- they have a lot of green with dots of all the usual colors from the strings of lights -- so these have become my Christmas Lollipop socks. They've been knitting up faster than I would have thought, so if I don't get pulled into too many last-minute gift knits they should even be done in time. We'll see.
I was afraid that the Lollipop socks might not find their way onto the needles for several months or more, but here they are.
Of course, this is the time of year where things get hectic and I have a hard time keeping up with photos, so I'm actually a lot farther along with these now. And they're really long! Either I've been consistently misreading some part of the pattern or these would be nearly knee socks. They don't look like knee socks in the pattern photo and it doesn't seem like a large skein, so there must be some fault on my part.
The leg was pretty long for me after just one repeat of the 77 pattern rows, but the pattern suggested repeating rows 30-77 again before the heel. Needless to say, I didn't repeat. And since it's only 370 yards of fingering weight yarn I'm a little concerned that I might run low on yarn as it is. So when I reached the start of toe decreases on the first sock last night I set it aside. I'd like to at least weigh the existing sock and remaining yarn to try to make sure I don't need to switch in some contrasting toes.
In the meantime, my Mr. Wonderful pointed out that these look sort of like a lit Christmas tree -- they have a lot of green with dots of all the usual colors from the strings of lights -- so these have become my Christmas Lollipop socks. They've been knitting up faster than I would have thought, so if I don't get pulled into too many last-minute gift knits they should even be done in time. We'll see.
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