Socktober the Ninth

I thought, in honor of Socktober, I would show you all the socks I have knitted.

This doesn't include the big house socks I knit with acrylic yarns for wearing around the house. And this is minus the lovely orange pair I wore today and didn't want to stack with the clean ones.

When I was little, and growing up, my mother knit socks for all of us (my dad, brother, and I). She knit them with Red Heart and she knit them very large, so we could wear them over our regular socks (mom kept the thermostat low). You couldn't wear the mom-socks with shoes or boots. They were too bulky.

And mom knit our socks with these broken plastic dpns. Probably about a size 8. That was all she ever knit socks with -- not only was my mom frugal, she knew what she liked and refused to buy new needles that she might not like as much. To her, the broken ones were still usable, even though they had no tips!

Perhaps she didn't like the metal dpns, as I don't. They make my hands ache, and my mom had arthritis. I don't believe wooden needles were readily available in the little corner of Louisiana she lived in at the time, and knowing my mom, she likely would have balked at spending the extra money for the bamboo needles (anything from $8 to $12, and if you use circs, you need two).

I personally knit with almost nothing but Clover brand knitting needles. I have some Knitpicks Harmony needles which are also very good to knit with, but the Clovers were what was at Joann's and regular readers of my blog know about my fondness for Joann's! So about 90% of my collection is Clover Bamboo, and Addi Turbo for the smallest sizes.

Does anyone else have a sock story to tell, for Socktober? If so, Georgie Girl and Molly-the-Glaucoma-Cat would love to hear it!

No, do go on ... socks, was it? How interesting.

Socktober Already?!

Time for Socktoberfest!

I was rooting around through a yarn drawer and found the above blue sock. I had started it as part of a pair of two-at-a-time socks ... and by two-at-a-time, I mean one pair of socks on 4 dpns, a la Anna Karenina. Or was it War and Peace? In any case, it's where you knit one inside the other, alternating skeins of yarn, purling the one on the inside and knitting the one on the outside. It was fun, but tedious, and once I figured out how to do it, I grew frustrated by how slowly it was going. And how worried I was I would cross a stitch and wind up with useless socks! I pulled them apart and will knit them one at a time.

So, to follow Socktoberfest, which is also a Ravelry group, I will finish both these pairs of socks. I set aside the pink one to finish the cowl. I am determined to finish them this month, though. And have two new pairs of socks for winter.

The Bohus sweater creeps along slowly ... I'm just not that into it right now, you know? I don't blame the Bohus. I tell it, "It's not you, it's me!" I just want to knit socks.

So I have a question for you sock knitters, and I hope you'll answer in the comments. Do you have problems with your heels wearing through quickly? Because I do, no matter what the yarn (fingering, worsted, wool, acrylic) the heel wears through. It's frustrating. I would blame my rough skin, but it happens to the socks I knit for friends, as well. What am I doing wrong?

Don't forget to visit Tamis Amis on Wednesday, for Work-in-Progress Wednesday!

It's Too Big (Edited).

Everyone say it with me ... 

"Gauge, shmauge!"

I didn't think gauge mattered since I was using the yarn they called for ... but I forgot that I didn't have the right needles available, so I used a size 0.25mm larger. 

It's still a fairly nice Mandola ...

So I will wear it anyways. 

I have no new cute cat pictures, so I leave you with a 1-year old boy investigating the bra rack at Macy's. 

He seemed to favor the underwire demi bras.

 Don't forget to stop by Tamis Amis for Finished Object Friday!

This was edited to add better pictures. Pictures that make it appear that I actually make an effort with my appearance ... ;-)

Inching Along

It's a good thing I'm not in too much of a hurry!

Because my Bohus Swing Coat will not be done anytime soon! This is the back. The lighter purple is the hem. It's 12" and needs to be 17" before I take the next step, which I assume is sleeve-related.

Here's a closeup so you can see how wonky my stitches are:

Kinda warbly, aren't they?





Cascade tweed ... I think it's loverly.







And the Mandola cowl-hat is creeping along.

I've got 25 rows out of 68. My fingers are tired from typing a lot, so sometimes I just don't want to fuss with thin yarn and 3.25mm needles.





That's it for me. What WIPs are you all WIPping up for the coming winter? (Unless you're in New Zealand, of course, and starting Spring!)




Don't forget to check in with TamisAmis on Wednesday, for WIP Wednesday!

 It's not really meant for two, but Molly Cat doesn't read labels.

The Importance of Being Earnest...

...about paying attention to pattern instructions.

These are my WIPs:

In the middle is the Mandola Hat Cowl, which I am not knitting in the colorwork as the pattern dictates, but with this lovely Stroll yarn instead. Around it is the bare bones of the Nicky Epstein Bohus Swing Coat, which is quite a big project and I hope to have it done by Christmas. I could, if I'd stop adding more WIPs to the pile.

Anyhow, I carefully read ahead in each pattern to make sure I understood what was required of me. I cast on the hat-cowl, the appropriate size for my giant noggin -- 22 inches -- and was promptly dismayed that 84 stitches didn't even go around my head halfway. I cast on the larger size, 94 stitches ... same thing.

I am using the right weight yarn and the right size needles--well, no, because my 2.25 mm are busy, so I'm using 2.5mm. Or vice versa. Anyway, I cast on 100+ stitches, thinking I'd just have to wing it, and had  started knitting when I finally realized there might be something in the pattern to give me a clue.

Voila. 84 stitches is half the headband. The other half is knitted separately and joined later, so that it flips up like a brim. When will I learn?!

The Bohus Yarns

Apparently never. I cast on the Bohus not long after, and was soon fretting that the hundred-something stitches for the hem would in no way go around my hips. And it called for a decrease to 78 stitches as it went up. It's Cascade 220 -- not at all bulky. I was about to rip it out and cast on the next size up (thoroughly demoralizing myself, because I am so thrilled that when I knit stuff now I use the 2nd size from the left, and not the last biggest size!), when it occurred to me that maybe, just maybe ... I should check the pattern. Before I started climbing the walls.

Me climbing the walls

Voila the second. I was knitting the back. The sides came later. To be fair, every cardigan I've knit so far was all of one piece, so I didn't immediately think of panels. But all this confusion happens despite my reading ahead. So in the future, I will never again be so prepared.

In other news, I went to my favorite craft store, Joann's ... and discovered something that helped me thread beads onto knitting projects in a fraction of the time it was taking me.

Tapestry needle threaders!

I have broken six of the regular needle threaders, and then I continue to use the tiny wires until those break. But with tapestry threaders ....

No

Problem.











So that is my week so far! Don't forget to stop by TamisAmis  for Work In Progress Wednesday!

Finished Object Friday!

The blue cardigan is officially finished!

   

Alas, I am really not good at taking pictures. A flash in a dim hallway facing a mirror? What could possibly go wrong? (Crikey, I had no idea those pants were so baggy)

(What do I do with my arms?! I don't know how to pose!)

I do have a "screaming button" problem ... which is not unusual in women who are built rather large on top. I'm not sure how to fix it (the gapping in the buttons). 

What do you all suggest?

Don't forget to drop by TamisAmis on Friday for Finished Object Friday!

Many WIPs for Wednesday!

It only lacks the buttons, which I have at hand, but not yet sewn on!

(I rather suck at sewing anything ... I'm good at seaming, though...not that this sweater has any.)

There is a wonky decrease line on the right, as compared to the left. Not sure what happened. 

The decrease line on the left is closer to the front. How did I mess that up?!

The top-down view in the back.





I posted my blocking adventures in my last blog post, if anyone cares to see it ...












All in all, a fun, relatively fast knit. The arms *are* a little weird, though. Almost too low on the sweater. As near as I can tell, my arms are no higher or lower than anyone else's!

I am also piddling along on a Mandola Hat Cowl, a KnitPicks pattern, using their Stroll hand painted sock yarn. It is really, really pretty. And the seashell yarn sock, which has been sadly shunted aside.

 I believe the Stroll yarn color is "Make Believe."

That pop-top sound you hear is Edgar Allen Poe opening a can of whoop ass ...

Right before I took this picture, Molly (bottom cat) was swatting at Edgar Allen Poe and trying to get him off the chair. Soon as I got the camera, she lay down in her innocent-kitty-pose and pretended to be good.

Don't forget to visit TamisAmis (anyone know how to pronounce that?) for Work-in-Progress Wednesday!