Secrets and Obsessions

I finished a blanket!! And, by my deadline! (check out Rav for the details.)

I’d been wanting to make Babette (which is crocheted! ::gasp::) because it’s just so freaking pretty – and it reminded me of the blankets that my grandma used to have – but with a nice new modern feel. But I knew that if I made the blanket for myself, it would take years. Probably even longer than my log cabin did.

So I pitched the idea to my mom (the one with the mad crochet skillz) that we BOTH work on it and present it to my sister as a graduation present. She liked the idea and one awesome yarn-shopping-trip later, we were all set to go. I did crochet some of the squares, though my mom did more than her share. I had the awesome job of seaming, weaving in the ends and making the border. The fun stuff right?

It was worth it. My sister likes it, and as a friend said: It’ll be perfect for those movie nights.

Next up:

I started a new, mindless sock.  I lurve it.  The yarn came from a sock blank swap that we had over on Ravelry and the package totally made my day.

I know that I promised that I was going to design a sock and show you the whole project along the way… but there are a few things stopping me right now, only one of which is that I haven’t yet come up with a stitch pattern that I want to use.  The other thing?

I have an addiction.  An obsession really.

I’ve become a twilight fan.

Luckily, I only started the series 2 weeks ago so I haven’t had to wait that long for the final book to come out (tonight.  Midnight.  Eeek!) – but I’ve re-read all the three books and I can’t stop thinking about it.  I joined a Ravelry group and it’s more than 3/4 of my posts (out of the last 30 days) on Ravelry now.  At knitting night last night, I was yelled at more than once for checking out some of the latest posts on the topic.

As you can imagine, reading about 2,000 pages twice (and daydreaming about irresistible vampires) has seriously cut into the knitting time.

Anyway.  I was ashamed and hiding my addiction, but now I just don’t care – I fully acknowledge that I have an addiction.  Kalani reminded me that this is the first step.  This should all be over in a few days and then I’ll hopefully be back to my knitting self.

And Mom?  You still cannot read these books.  Edward is mine and I don’t want him in your head.  I’m just not comfortable with that. Really, I’m just trying to protect you from this terrible addiction.  Yea.  That’s it.  I’m just looking out for your best interest.

Advertisement

Popsicle! Limesicle!

I’m pleased to be able to announce one of my secret projects!

Yay!

Here we have Popsicle (Rav link), a new sock pattern that features a mirrored patterning across the foot. I designed this for Three Irish Girls yarn company and their Sock Yarnista sock club.

I’m incredibly proud of this design and the way it turned out. It’s pretty easy/simple… and the swooshing off the foot makes me hope that people will be able to avoid some second sock syndrome. Just doing my duty, you know…

One of the design challenges in this sock was that I had to figure out how to do the gusset decreases (since the instep had it’s own party going on, I didn’t want to crowd it with your typical gusset decreases).  I knew that as Cat Bordhi explains, I could place the decreases where ever I wanted in the gusset section, just so long as they existed…  I tried a few options and finally found a perfect solution… along the bottom of the heel.  You can see a photo here that illustrates this.

Um, so yay!  I love this pattern and I hope you do too!

Here are some specifics:

Popsicle, Designed by Nicole Hindes
Gauge: 30 sts over 4 inches (36 rows over 4 inches)
Yarn:  Three Irish Girls Kells Sport Merin
Needles: US 2 (But use what gets YOU gauge)
Download available: at the Three Irish Girls Website ($5.95)
The inspiration:  This sock is an homage to the summers of my childhood. It’s a fairly simple, top-down sock with a heel flap. The interesting element to keep you out of the heat is the way the pattern melts off the top of your foot like a popsicle during the dog days of summer.

Chain Melody Socks: Now, For sale!

Only $3.50!

If you’re not on Ravlery (And why the H aren’t you???), you can also try this paypal link:buy now

Yay! I’ve finally got this pattern up… and Casey over at Ravelry has done his magic so you should be able to buy this pattern now!

This sock is knit from the top down on dpns. After the cuff, the pattern is only worked on the top of the sock – the back of the ankle is worked in a rib stitch to add elastic to the cabled pattern. The larger sizes have a purl ridge on the top of the sock to prevent the roll-top from getting too out of control and rolling too far.

Anyway… I hope you like it… Oh! And there are two special stitches in that pattern – a RT and an LT – (Right twist and left twist). If you go to the Helpful Videos page (look up at the top), you can see how to do those!

Lucky Robyn’s Nest Club’ers!

I designed some socks for Robyn’s Nest Sock club. She was my secret pal hostess in the past two secret pal swaps that I’ve done. She emailed me a few weeks ago and wanted to know if I could design something – and of course, I did! It’s my first commissioned/paid design!

I hope you like it… but because I’m a tease, I can only give you photos right now!  I’ll be making the pattern available on January 2nd! In the meantime, you just have to be excited that I’m now a paid knitwear designer!

workin’ “9 to 5…” (A Free Pattern)

I’m sorry. I’ve moved blogs. You can find the post you’re looking for right here.

Know one thing: Packages are the best thing in life for college students.

I got this on Tuesday from my Secret Pal, but I haven’t had time to blog it yet…. so viola!

There’s some Fortissima Sock yarn in a really fun green/blue color – with a metallic thread running through it so it looks like it’s been sparkled with glitter. As soon as I saw it, I knew the perfect pattern that would do just the simplest amount of work and show off the glitteriness best… Uptown Boot Socks from the Favorite Socks book. Check it out:

I got this package on Tuesday (it’s finals/moveout time, I hadn’t had time to blog it yet, I know I’m bad!) and started these socks on Wednesday – and look how far I am! It’s an awesome pattern – and I forced myself to learn how to cable without a cable needle – and now that I know how to do that, they’re flying! I’m having a lot of fun knitting these!

Next up in the package was a cotton washcloth.

It’s really soft and it’s so nice because I hadn’t spent the time to knit myself one lately. So this was wrapped around a box that had some oh so yummy stuff inside:

This is hand-made all natural soap from the Gudonya etsy shop (which I’ve marked as a favorite- and bought a few more things from…) which I just absolutelyLOVE!

Thank you secret pal! You did a great job!!

Wool stockings in April

And, according to the weather forecast, it’s not to late!

So… remember those gorgeous stockings I started a few months ago?

I finally finished them! Check them out!

I lurve them so much. They are wicked warm, but that’s a good thing. Now, I just need to find the perfect shoes and the perfect skirt to show them off…

Some details:

Pattern: Norwegian Stockings from Folk Socks
Designer: Nancy Bush
Yarn: Knitpicks Telemark 100% Peruvian Wool.
Needles: US 3 dpn (Brittany Birch)
Time to knit: Only 2 months. A long time, but not compared to how long my socks usually take.
Mods: I guess I’m pretty short. I had to cut some of the repeats out of the pattern.
Notes: At first, I did the heel turn with the yarn held doubled – that was NOT a good idea. After I finished the pair, I cut the heel turn, unraveled it and re-knit it with only one strand.

Also, if I were to knit this again (a possibility, it’s definitely a good pattern), I would NOT slip the edge stitches. The pulled pretty badly and there are holes along the flap. I may duplicate stitch them to close it, but I’m not sure yet.

Note to self: My mom likes these socks and this (or a version of these) may be a good gift for her someday…

Extras: I feel pretty dang confident in my fair isle skills now. Another photo, just for fun…

Love, not infatuation

Dear Ms. Evelyn A. Clark,

You amaze me. Truly. Let me explain:

Two summers ago, I decided (rather bullheadedly) that I was going to knit some socks. Forget that I’d only been knitting for 5 months. I wanted to knit me some socks! So I did what I would normally do. No, I didn’t take a class. No, I didn’t find a pattern labeled “starter socks” or “basic socks.” I pulled out an issue of IK (winter, 2004), found a sock pattern I liked (in this case, retro ribbed socks, see right), and cast on.

I knew that the pattern was only a page long. I realized it was all text. And I knew that eventually I was going to have to knit a gusset even though I had no idea what one was or what one looked like. I had faith in you Evelyn. I had faith in my ability to knit a pattern. You did not let me down.

It was a wild success. Using only the words and abbreviations in the pattern, I knit some socks. I amazed my grandmother with my fearless conquering of needles the size of toothpicks (ok, well maybe size 2’s aren’t quite toothpicks, but still …) and I loved the slow satisfaction of knitting a pair of socks.

I knit the pair in two weeks, without error. It was an incredible introduction to sock knitting. The pattern, with it’s twisted knit stitches and blocks of purls is incredible. It was easy to memorize and looks incredible. You are a goddess, Evelyn.

Anyway, I was ecstatic when I picked up a back issue of Knits with a (new to me) pair of your socks(waving lace). It was cute, it was fun and I had the perfect skein of hand-dyed yarn in mind … And it uses a stitch pattern I’d never have thought to use on socks. The pattern turned out so beautiful on socks.

Since I knit these socks, I’ve since been on the lookout for more patterns that you’ve written. Just a few weeks ago, I bought three Evelyn A. Clark Fibertrends sock patterns.

One of which, the first I decided to knit, was Raindrop Lace. Oh, how beautiful. Simply beautiful. It’s not as simple and mindless as Retro Rib, but the repeat is only 4 rows, so that keeps things really simple. Look how the first of mine turned out:

I love the way this pattern turned out. I was unsure as I was knitting it if I like the pattern, or even the color of the yarn (my choice, not yours). When the lace is relaxed and scrunched, you don’t understand how incredible the pattern is. Finally, when I finished the pattern and fit it on my foot, I was flabbergasted by how much I loved this pattern. Look at the foot:

It’s nothing crazy – but so beautiful. The yarn, Knitpicks Gloss, just really dresses up the sock quite perfectly. The sock is snug (so the lace stretches) but not too tight.

Anyway, I write, to simply say – You rock my socks! Really Evelyn, I’m not exaggerating. And so, to that, I present, in thine honor, a button (which I’ll post on my sidebar soon). Because, really, I love your socks.  Best, Nicole

(Fellow Evelyn Sock Knitters:  Feel free to steal this button and host on your own bandwidth.)

Spring Break Knitting, I guess.

So, I sat down today and started working on the mate for my boring, trekking stockinette sock. You remember? I knit it back in January? When I added three more singles to my collection of mate-less socks?

Well, looky, looky!

Ok – let me start by saying that when I started, I only had the cuff and maybe an inch. I knit the whole rest of this sock. In one sitting (ok, it was “The Office,” and then “Grey’s Anatomy” and then I gave “October Road” a try [eh, ok] and then “Sex and the City” and then, I was so close that I just knit right on through a rerun of “CSI Miami” and a bit of “Psych.”). I felt like Forest Gump. I started knitting and I just didn’t feel like stopping.

My mom joked that I was going to finish them tonight and I told her on three occasions that I wasn’t going to finish tonight. I thought I’d only get a few inches done (these socks have 9 inch ankle/legs) and then it would be bedtime. Then, I thought I’d get caught up at the heel. Then I figured once the gusset was done, I’d throw in the towel. And then I was so close – and I love me some finished socks.

Here’s another photo – from a remarkably different angle than you usually see (via the timer mechanism)…

Yea, it’ s fuzzy. It was my mom’s camera. Plus I’m finally starting to get tired.

Quick, let me post the details before I zonk out…

Pattern: Originally, this was going to be the Simple Trekking sock pattern from Miriam, but I got bored with the ribbing and switched it up a bit. It’s a 68 stitch sock with 15 rows of K2 P2 ribbing, one row of knitting, 10 rows of p2k2 ribbing and then tons of stockinette. Also, this eventually turned into a 64 stitch sock before the heel so that I could stick with my normal sock formula.
Yarn: Trekking XXL in color 132.  It’s superwash and so it was sorta splitty at times. I prefer the good stuff (handwash only merino).
Needles: US 2 dpn (Knitpicks dpns – much better with the sticky superwash than the bamboo I used to knit my sister’s superwash socks)
Time to knit: A couple months. The second sock was obviously pretty quick to knit.
Notes: A quick knit. I’ll use trekking again, but it’s not my favorite.

Also, as I was knitting, I looked down at my finger and noticed something peculiar.

You see that mark there on my index finger, right where my top knuckle would be?

That’s where I strand my yarn. Dude, I’m like a hard core knitter.

Ok. Seriously. Bedtime now.

Handknit wool socks are like warm clouds…

It’s spring break and I finished a pair of socks (ok, well one was done a long time ago). I did this sock instead of…

• working on my 25 page senior thesis that’s due the 29th (of this month)
• getting ahead in my other classes (which have 12 and 10 page papers due the same time) so that I can neglect them when I’m working on my thesis
• doing one of 5 loads of laundry that I brought home
• organizing my school stuff that I brought home
• evaluating which grad school I’m going to go to (status: I’ve been accepted to Loyola and IU [higher ed and student affairs programs] and I have an assistantship for IU. I haven’t accepted it yet because I’m waiting to hear if I get an assistantship offer at Loyola)

But these socks felt so good to knit. Yes, its’ true, I was really, really tired of the pattern by the time I finished it. But each fiber passing though my fingers just felt so wonderful. And of course, an FO is equally satisfying.

So, the specifics you want?  OK.

Pattern:  River Rapids from Sockbug
Yarn:  Knitpicks Bare 100% Merino Sock Yarn.  I hand dyed this stuff using Jaquard Acid Dyes.  My second favorite/most proud of dye job ever (it pooled -but was pretty).
Needles:  US 2 dpn (Clover bamboo, as usual)
Time to  knit:  To long.  I knit the heel through the toe of the second sock in two days.  But I started the pair in back in September of 2006.
Mods:  When I moved from the ribbing to the chart, I moved the first stitch of the chart (a purl) to the end so that the purls would stay in nice and neat rows all the way down. I also did my normal toe and heel – I don’t remember if that different than the pattern or not.  Either way, it’s a pretty good pattern.
Notes:  The length of the ankle/leg of the sock is PERFECT – I’d say the most perfect to date.  I did 5.5 inches before I started the heel.