Strings Attached

As it happens I'll have most of a skein of Lorna's Laces Irving Park sportweight leftover after finishing the toes of my purple cable socks. And now I see a friend is in need of socks without toes. Since I have this skein with the toes missing, I might as well use the rest to make a pair of socks without the toes. It makes sense, right?

Now for the strings....

I will make 1 pair of toeless socks if....

1. The color is okay
   
2. They will be worn, used and appreciated
3. I can use this pattern
4. They will be entered in the county fair (doesn't everyone want award winning socks?)
   
5. I can use said friend's new spinning wheel :)

And, most importantly...

6. I don't have to add toes to them later.

Sockin' for Thanks

I have 2 TAs and another teacher at school that I want to thank. I usually get them gift cards, but this year I've decided to knit them socks. Here is the rundown:

TA Fracesca (who loves purple even more than I do)
Yarn = Lorna's Lace Worsted in Black Purl
TA Katie and Calculus Teacher Corrie
Yarn = Schoeller+Stahl Limbo Mexico in Schwarz/blau and Yucatan

The only place local that had the Lorna's Lace color was The Yarn Boutique in Lafayette which has moved to a larger nicer spot next to the Cake Box bakery. While there I also discovered that schoeller+stahl (who makes the Fortissima Socka Color sock yarn) makes a sport weight super-wash self-striping yarn too... the Limbo Mexico stuff. So I'm on a little bit of a sock mission in-between other projects.

County Fair Update:
Hand-spun scarf - 10 more inches done, almost there...
Ryder Sweater- done except for sewing armpits, screwed up once on that seam, need to try again...
Fridge Towel - Need button for closure

Turning into Grandma

Did anyone else grow up with Fridge Towels? My Yaya would cut a towel in half and crochet a bit and then make a loop and button closure at the top, you hook it around your fridge handle and have a handy towel. I always used it to pull open the fridge (not the best idea, but fun) . Yaya still makes them for us and we usually get one or two at Christmas.

I've just begun my first attempt at making some of my own (with the ulterior motive of winning county fair prizes)....

and ITS FUN!

I'm putting a green top on a red/yellow/green plaid towel. It was easy to loop the yarn through the towel then I did a few rows of decreases to get a nice gather. Another few rows and I'll I-cord for the loop, find a button and then.... I'm done! So easy! Who knew? ....... Yaya did.

Blue Ribbons for Me

I'm getting my county fair entries together, here's the run-down so far:

Items and Status

• Raglan Child Sweater --------Almost done
• Purple Cabled Socks -------Almost done (ran out of yarn, bought a different color for toes)
• Handspun Scarf -----2/3 done
• Handspun yarn----- Spun, still on spindle
• Fridge Towels (knit tops) ----Towels and yarn bought
• Potholders ------I have the yarn

I may have more..... but I should probably get going on this stuff! I have 1 month to get it all done! EEEKK!

Shrinking Along

I finished the sleeves on Saturday and began the raglan shaping. Nothing too exciting there, a bit of fudging with the decreases, I settled on a KSP, K2, K2Tog at each 'seam'. I'll probably change it up a bit when I do K's. I'm a bit annoyed at the neckline now. I think I may have to finish it and then decide if it looks okay. I've gone back on the smaller needles for the neck but it doesn't seem to be as tight as I want it.... I may have to go smaller.

Anatomy of Annoying Sleeves

1. Go to laundromat.
2. Cast on 28.
3. Knit 12 rows, increasing along the seam side.
4. Realize the increases look like crap (too many too fast).
5. Rip back to cuff.
6. Knit 8 rows, forgetting to do any increases at all.
7. Rip back to cuff.
8. Knit again increasing on rows 2, 6, 10.
9. Realize that increases should be on rows 4,8,12 etc. to finish increases as the first stripe begins.
10. Rip back to cuff.
11. Refuse to fold laundry until 24 rows of correctly increased sleeve is done.
12. Go Home.
13. Repeat steps 6 and 7 on second sleeve.

At least I'm past the increases now, but I held a sleeve up to a 2 year old that was at school today and I think I need to make them a bit longer.

Sleeve me alone.

I feel a little bit like Goldilocks trying to knit the sleeves for this sweater.

24 stitches (the recommended 20% of body) seems way to tight... Ow! This sleeve is too small!
32 stitches seems way too loose.... Oooh! This sleeve is too big!
28 stitches seems to be fine... Yeah! This sleeve is just right!

All that means that I've spent 2 days knitting half sleeves and ripping them back. I am off to the laundromat to try to finish the sleeves and figure out how to attach them to the body, and maybe I'll do some laundry too.

The French Sweater

I'm starting a sweater based on the sweater that One is wearing in City of Lost Children. It is a Blue with red stripes raglan style sweater and it is the first sweater K has shown any interest in having me knit for him.

I've only knit one other adult sized sweater. I knit Rogue for my mother last fall. It was a bit ambitious but I wanted something I wouldn't lose interest in, and it was a VERY well written pattern, definitely worth the $6.50 for the pattern.

Anyhow, I spent a hour last weekend slowly framing through the movie trying to find good shots of the ribbing, neckline, decreases, etc...

And there were TWO different sweater designs!

Admittedly its only noticeable to a knitter that one raglan decrease has four k1p1 ribs and the other sweater has a simple decrease for the raglan part. But now I have to choose! So as to not screw up the whole thing (and what will probably be $50 worth of nice wool yarn) I'm knitting a mini version which should end up being Ryder sized for next winter.

Here's the stats so far:
Yarn - 2 balls black Cascade 220 Superwash and 1 ball Gray for the stripes. (Its for a kid, it has to be washable..)
Pattern - Basically the pattern for a simple raglan from The Opinionated Knitter
Needles - Size 4 for cuffs/neck/hem, Size 6 for the rest, in 24" circulars and double points
Details - Cast on 120 stiches for the body, Knit 3 rounds for a curled up hem, K3P1 ribbing for ~7 rows, K1P1 ribbing for rest of body. There are two stripes the lower is 3 rows tall and I think the upper will be about 8 rows.

So I'm going to try to use this as a knitting blog. We'll see how it goes. I'm just starting to design my own patterns, mostly out of frustration at not finding exactly what I want anymore. School just started back up after spring break so this may also be an outlet for my frustrations with crazy teenagers.