Done: ASJ Epic

The last end was actually woven in on Dec. 2, but as I've been caring for sick puppies I was a little too distracted to blog.

The pups are feeling better, by the way. They seemed better Wednesday during the day, but relapsed that evening after bedtime.

I went to the vet Thursday and they said it sounded like colitis, which is an inflimation of their intestines which points to something they ate.

Now they have medicine they have to take three times a day for a week. At least it sounds like something passing (no pun intended) that isn't life threatening or chronic.

Anyway, the sweater.

Sleeves, again.
I really can't harp on how narrow the sleeves are following the original pattern. Mine would have have been about 12 inches around, which would have been negative ease for me.

Even with my slick little flap they are a little snug, probably since I'm wearing them over shirts, but they seem to be streatching out a little.

When I made my little shoulder flaps I didn't think about the neckline at all. After you knit the body you go back and knit an edging that includes the front opening so extra depth it added. It worked out ok because as you knit this border you increase at the beginning of each row and that little flare fit in nicely along the edge of my shoulder flap.

Still, what I think I should have done was pick up along the entire cast on edge, instead of targeting the sleeve section.

By knitting two seperate flaps I ended up making the back neckline deeper than it should have been.

Of course now that I know how it works out if I ever make it again I'll follow the alternative directions for deeper arms.

Collared
My alterations made the neckline very open. That made it look unfinished, sloppy, and oversized when I first tried it on.

I knew some finished was required and a simple collar seemed the best bet.

The collar in the pattern seemed more about the baby size. I got out my big Vogue Knitting book and discovered that collar was basically the same.

My first attempt didn't work out because I didn't pick up stitches along the front evenly. One side went all the way down to the outside edge of the neck opening and the other side fell a few stitches short. It made the entire sweater look crooked. sigh.

I pulled it out but despite being careful still fell a stitch short on my pick up. This time I figured it was close enough.

I just picked up each stitch around and worked in garter stitch. I worked Sl1, k2, kfb, k to end on each row. Additionally on every, oh, fourth row I worked a KFB one stitch in from the corners on the back section to give the back a little more fullness for the fold over. I worked the collar for about 18 rows.

Buttons? Pockets?
Now all I need are buttons. And they are going to have to be big, honking buttons. I followed the button hole directions in the pattern, which are over four stitches and at 3.5 sts/inch they are some big button holes.

My need for buttons makes me wish I was still at Westport Yarns. Not only did we have a good selection of buttons, but I would have had a ton of advice on which one to select.

Turns out the women in the library knitting group are as much of a bad influence as any knitters you would meet. They suggested I should make buttons out of fimo. They were like, "You could get blue and green like in your coat" and they made it sound all easy.

Of course, the big problem is now I have that idea in my head....

I think I'll also probably end up adding pockets. But I want to wait until I have buttons so I know how it will actually close.

Project Stats
Pattern: Adult Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmermann. I have the ABC booklet with all the sizes and expanded directions.
Needles: US 10
Size: I aimed for a 35" chest.
Yarn total potential yardage: 1131

  Yarn Name                  Yardage         Amount Used
Noro Kogarashi                  165 yards            used all
Queensland Collection Sandstone 65 yards             used all
Noro Kochoran                   176 yards/100g       41g left
Queensland Collection Mist  2 at 54 yards=108 yards  used all
Ella Rae Country Tweed          82 yards             used all
Araucania Coliumo               95 yards/100g        17g left
Araucania Azapa                 147 yards/100g       17g left
Ester Bitran Tirua              163 yards/100g       34g left
Louisa Harding Millias    2 at 65 yards=130 yards    used all

Remember, if you want to see the specific yarns, I made a little map on a close up picture.

This pattern was a lot of fun. It only took me a month of concentrated knitting. Project monogamy for the win! I'm sure the big gauge helped speed me along.

I do have a desire to make another one, which is saying a lot since I'm not usually a pattern repeater. However, I'm resisting the urge.

I think my next sample yarn sweater will be a top down cardigan. On the other hand, a small project to cleanse my palate might be in order first.

ASJ: The Hard Part

Despite my best effort to knit in the ends as I worked I still ended up with about 24 ends to weave in when I was done.

Since I was changing colors every 10 rows I knew I'd have a lot of ends to weave in at the end. Fortunately that realization hit me with the first color change and I immediately too steps to head the ends off at the pass.

Now, I learned how to weave in ends as I knit during a Lucy Neatby class at Knitting Central but I think this blog post shows the technique pretty well. There are a lot of pictures so if you're on dial-up you might get bogged down.

On the row I changed colors I would weave the color I was dropping. I would knit back on the next row normally. Then on the third row from the color change I would weave in the end of the new color. That way I quickly eliminated both ends. ha!

If I was so conscientious how did I end up with 24 ends to contend with? Simple. Things went south when I started running out of yarn. I was changing colors on right (public) side rows, but if I ran out on a wrong (private) side I just rolled with it. I find I can't do the knit-in-ends thing on the wrong side; the yarn is in the wrong place for me.

The Edging
A number of the ends were concentrated at the bottom right (on the body) corner. For some reason I couldn't weave there either.

I don't know if you can tell from the picture but I did end up changing yarn every two rows.

When it is time to work the final edging/border you knit across the last center flap row, then pick up stitches along one side of the flap, knit back down, across the bottom of the flap, and up the other side.

I thought this was going to be a really dreadful process because I don't like picking up stitches, but it turned out to be really easy. When I sat down to do it I reminded myself that it was going to be just like picking up along my beloved garter stitch heel flap, which is really simple. Just go for the strand in between the garter ridges. yippee!

Anyway. Since you go up and down one side before working the other side your stripes could end up uneven. As you know I'm a little neurotic about being matchy-matchy. Therefore I knit up and down the first side, across the flap, up and down the second side, and across the flap, stopping at the bottom corner where the row started. In this manner I got two rows of the color on each side.

Insert happy sigh here.

Pick Up Line
Oh, and the other cranky thing I did with the edging was picking up the left hand side (on the body) purlwise.

The right hand side picked up from the public side, which was just fine. But when I knit back around to the left side I was picking up from the private side of the work. This made an icky ridge on the public side.

Now it might have blended in with the garter stitch fabric, and it might have been covered by the button band, but either way I would know it was there! So I pulled that side out and picked it up again purlwise then went back to working garter. This made one little stockinette row so there is a blip in the fabric, but it's going to be covered by the button band. Also, no one should be close enough to the sweater to see it aside from Hubby and the puppies.

And if someone does see it I think it will be more attractive than the blobby edge from the first time around.

My new concern is that I didn't work a deep enough edging. The pattern says to work the button holes after two ridges then to work 4-5 more ridges. Well, I got so caught up in changing colors every two rows that when I worked the Noro Kogarashi rows (which is the yarn I cast on with) I got so excited I cast off. This was actually only three ridges after the button holes.

Part of me says this is going to be fine since it's basically just the button band. The button holes have been placed and that will dictate how much I have to work with when closing it. Still, I'm not going to cut that last yarn until I can try it on.

Which brings us back to another hard part.

Weaving in the ends went very quickly last night. phew. Now I just have to close the arm seams. I'm really happy there are just two seams since I don't like finishing much. I think I'll go with a three needle bind off. I just have to select the color to use.

At this rate I might have finished project pictures to show you tomorrow!

Permission to stop.

That is what I gave myself last night.

As you can see, I didn't get all the way through the heel, but I got awfully close.

I worked the first set of heel shaping and then the numbers started to go off. I was supposed to have 15 sts to graft together and was already down to 14.

When I saw that I transfered the sock to a piece of scrap yarn and did my best to try it on.

I still wasn't happy about the look of the stitches along the side of the foot. The stitches were still stretching open like Swiss Cheese.

The fit along the instep and ankle area was a little harder to determine, but still seemed snug. Even though I was around seven rows short of what the area should be since I had stopped the heel shaping short, I decided it wasn't going to work out.

At that time I decided to frog it and move on. After all, it's just a sock! It shouldn't be so difficult.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming the pattern. I know these issues are mostly my own fault.

It's a very clever pattern, it just not for me.

I know for a fact, from experience based on trying on my friend's sock, that if I follow the pattern as-is the resulting sock will be baggy for my little foot. I don't like baggy socks. Shoot, I don't knit socks for them to end up baggy!

On the other foot, I don't seem to have the math and spacial reasoning skills to downsize the pattern to fit me in a satisfactory manner.

All of this means it's time to move on.

Happily, the yarn does not seem any worse for wear for the abuse it's suffered. It's a nice, soft, yummy yarn, so I'm enjoying knitting with it. And it's self patterning, so it will make fun socks even though I'm going to knit plain ones.

However, I have a lot of WIPs on my plate at the moment and I need to let the yarn relax. Which means I'm returning the yarn to the hoard for the time being until I'm prepared to enjoy our time together.

This frogging business is rather freeing.

Done: Tartan Argyles AND Green Step Socks

It's a good thing I've had this job for a few years, and I apparently do it well, and Boss Man has a good sense of humor.

Because I just ran into his office and demanded he use his iPhone to take a picture of my socks and e-mail it to me for my blog. Which is totally not work related.

Hubby has run off with our camera for some final yearbook related activities. Regardless, I finished the Tartan Argyles around 9:30 last night so it would have been too dark to take a picture anyway.

I'm so excited that I finished two pairs in one evening that I felt a super massive picture was in order.

Green Step Socks
You haven't heard a terrible amount about them, because they were my mindless knitting project, which meant there was very little exciting to report about them.

Yarn: Austermann Step in colorway 44.
Needles: US1
Pattern: my personal, plain stockinette stitch sock formula sized to fit my wee feet.

I forgot to weigh the leftover yarn last night. I'm sort of thinking maybe fingerless mitts with it. This is the yarn that is impregnated with aloe and jojoba so that might be good for mitts.

This is my second pair of socks with Step yarn (I made a pair for Hubby in 2006 from the Blue colorway 04). I didn't notice a big benefit to my fingers while knitting with it. Hubby didn't report any foot benefit, but I don't remember if I told him about the aloe.

I have a third ball in Red/08 that I plan to use for another pair of socks for Hubby.

Also, I've had a fingerless mitt spree building for a while now. My knitting plate is basically clear now, so I could jump into it. I have two complicated pairs in mind and maybe some plain ones from fancy yarn like this leftover Step.

Tartan Argyles
Ah, my beautiful Tartan Argyles.

I started them in August 2009 and you have seen every excruciating stitch of them.

Where you starting to doubt I would every finish them? I know I was.

But there they are in all their Yellow, Red, and Black glory.

sigh.

Yarn: Dale of Norway Baby Ull.
Used almost all the Yellow and at least half each of the Red and Black, if not more. Again, I forgot to weight the leftovers. But I will be soon as they are key in one of the complicated pairs of fingerless mitts I want to make.

Needles: US1
Yes, two pairs of socks on US1 needles at the same time. Good thing I have two sets. Still, poor planning. A variety of needle sizes is much healthier.

Pattern: mine, mine, mine. But I might share the chart if you ask nicely. 60 st sock.

What can I tell you that I haven't already? Not much, they have their own tag so it will be easy to find all the posts if you really want to know.

I used traditional argyle construction for them. I attempted Elizabeth Zimmerman's Moccasin Sock sole and failed miserably.

Now that these are out of the way, I mean done, I suppose I can plunge into those polka dot socks I was planning around the same time.

Twitchy
Despite the fact that I finished both socks last night, with the final end on the Tartan Argyles woven in around 9:30, which should have been bedtime since I have a cold, I felt the overwhelming need to line up my next project.

This was not so easy.

Of course I have the Angora Bed Socks of Power and Fortune! hanging over my head. I should be good and focus on them. However they are complicated cabled socks so I need a rest pattern as well.

So I thought I'd finally make the mate to my Cubes and Cables Anklet so I could actually wear them. (The first sock was on display at the store for the longest time, which was kind of a demotivator.) However, they are worked on US3 dpns and those needles are tied up in the ABSoPF.

I briefly considered plunging into the fingerless mitts, but I need to make charts, and I need to measure my hands more accurately, and etc.

I ended up fishing out the Red/08 Step to start Hubby's socks, which are back to the US1 dpns, but at least still mindless St st.

Then this morning I grabbed yarn and needles to swatch for a sweater as well. But that story can wait until another day.

Done: Girly Top

Ravelympics victory is mine!

Did I already mention that?

My wardrobe has expanded by one.

And what a lovely one is it.

I finally cornered Hubby and made him take my picture. I have to admit he was right about the light, it isn't showing the details at all. But you get the general idea.

And he immediately said, "I can see your bra line." I was like, "Well, this is probably the bra I'll be wearing it with and I don't feel like changing, so take the picture!"

I took it to the store yesterday and everyone oohed and aahed over it and said the fit was just perfect. Which is always nice to hear. I had on a different bra yesterday and nobody said it looked bad and you would think a bunch of women would have jumped on that situation. So I might have to reconsider my foundation garments when I wear this in the future.

Project Stats
Pattern: Stella's Blouse by Robin Melanson from the Spring 2004 issue of Interweave Knits.

If you don't have that issue, the pattern is now available independently from the online Interweave store filed under "tops, tanks, and camisoles." Frankly, if you have a Ravelry account follow the link from the project page, that's the only way I found it.

Yarn: Rowan Cotton Glace in color 827, which is a nice powder blue.
The pattern called for eight for my size. I bought nine, but can only find labels for eight, so I guess I threw one away. But I have two entire balls plus 27 grams left over. So I only used seven balls.

Needles: US 3 & 4 (as required).

Size: 34" scaled down to around a 32", which brings us to...

Modifications
I really liked the top but new the smallest size, 34", would be too big for me clocking in at 31".
I was able to track down Robin on Ravelry and ask about downsizing it by ditching 10 stitches, 5 each on the front and back.
She agreed that would give me the right amount of ease and probably still fit properly through the shoulders, etc.

I worked the sleeves as instructed without changes.

I cast on and worked the bottoms of the body through the patterned sections as instructed for the 34" size.

Then I decreased one stitch at each end of the needle on two right side rows, then one on one end on the next right side row.

I worked all the shoulder and neck shaping according to the pattern. Only I didn't have a center stitch to decrease away for the front notch.

Also, the pattern calls for a slip stitch row of crochet around the front notch, but I ended up going around the entire neck opening. I put my hook into the last loop from binding off and just when forward from there. Which meant one less end to weave in.

Finally, the pattern calls for a zipper down the left side, but as I think I mentioned the other day I just seamed it shut and I can get it on and off just fine.

At this point, and in these pictures, the sweater has not been blocked, aside from when I hit it with the iron before I sewed it together. I figure washing it is blocking it.

Photographic Trickery
I'm very pleased with it. I think it looks adorable and I can't wait to wear it. I can't decide if I should go ahead and wear it despite the fact its a short sleeved cotton top and the weather is hovering around 35 degrees F, or wait until the spring.

However, I am a little surprised about how the neckline turned out.

You might remember I was expressing surprise at how open it was when I finished the knitting, but I thought the collar would bring it all in.

But if you look at the original picture it looks like a high collar, almost a Neru collar.

Yeah, not so much on my finished version. And the two projects on Ravelry that are shown on people also don't have a high collar.

I think the size was too big for the model and they shifted it back on her to make it fit better. Because if I grab the shoulders of mine and shift the fabric back I can get it to look like the magazine picture. Also, if you look at where the model's breasts are in relation to the smocking they are much closer than mine.

Anyway, I suppose on the scale of photographic deception this is pretty minor because the sweater is still lovely and fits me really well. But I was a bit surprised is all.

Ok, time to go work on my Tartan Argyle Socks.

Girly Top: Neck Pain

Have I mentioned how much I dislike picking up stitches along an edge? Especially a neck edge.

Oh, I have? Several times?

Well, I'm not surprised because I really don't like it.

First, it's so loosey-goosey. Oh, maybe pick up each stitch, or every other stitch, whatever seems right.

I don't want it to "seem right!" I want a formula! I want to be able to pick them up correctly the first time, every time.

But that is not my fate.

My fate is to struggle with it for over an hour and still not have it right.

Yes, I know for a fact it was over an hour because we were watching Heroes, which we had recorded. It was a little difficult to watch the show and my knitting, which might have been part of the problem, but both had to be accomplished.

I considered working on my Green Step Sock instead, but the week is drawing to a close. (Yes, I know it's only Tuesday.) It would be a shame to have come so far, so fast, on my Ravelympics project only to fail now.

Anyway.

It took me several attempts to get the required number of stitches picked up along the first neck edge.

The back of the neck was a little easier since it is a straight line and mostly one-for-one.

Then I tried to copy the first edge for the second edge and it didn't quite work out. I was three stitches short of the required number.

Which might be a pattern repeat, but I'm not going there. I'm going to squeeze them in somehow.

By the time I'd gotten that far it was 10:30, i.e. bedtime, so I shoved it into my project bag in disgust, tossed it on the dresser, and pulled the covers over my head.

Hopefully with fresher eyes tonight after work I'll be able to spot any gappy spots.

Hopefully I won't have to go all the way back to the beginning.

grrr.

Girly Top: "Sew" Delightful

Do you see that?

It's actually starting to look like a real sweater!

Very exciting.

What is also exciting is how quickly I was able to seam it up.

Let's see, according to my Twitter timeline, I was able to set-in both sleeves during one marathon 3 hour session Friday night. With, apparently, breaks for playing on the computer and probably dinner.

Then I got both side and sleeve seams done in bursts on Saturday, in between gallivanting across the countryside with Hubby and going to the movies, finishing around 11 pm.

Now, maybe that doesn't sound fast to you, but I'm sure it usually takes me much longer to sew up a sweater.

I don't know if it's because it's a little, short sleeved thing or because it had full on selvedge stitches, but I think it went together a treat.

Not the Voice of Experience
It's not like I've made a million sweaters, but I'm pretty sure this is the first one I've made with a legitimate selvedge stitch.

And by that I mean not just assuming the first and last stitches will be eaten by the seam. This pattern calls for the first and last stitch to be knit on every row, making a garter stitch column up the sides.

This greatly reduced the fussing involved of squishing the edge out while trying to find the ladder to grab for the mattress stitch.

I was just able to bounce from side to side, boom, boom, boom. Because they were right there obvious.

Now I want all my sweater patterns to be like this.

On the other hand, like I said, it is a short sleeve top, so that might be helping.

No Zipper Required
Another exciting turn of events is that I'm going to be able to skip the zipper.

The pattern calls for a zipper down the left side for ease of entry, I suppose.

I saw someone on Ravelry who said she was able to get the sweater on and off without it and it gave me hope.

I figured I had nothing to loose since I was sitting there sewing it up anyway. If it worked I could move ahead. If it didn't I would be stalled. I was already plotting finding out how much the tailor at our dry cleaner would charge. Happily it didn't come to that.

After all, since the bottom section of my sweater was technically sized for a person who would take a 34 inch bust I expected to have wiggle room.

And it worked! Yippee!

After I got both sides sewn up I slithered into it, then bounced into the living room. Hubby got a gleem in his eye, which indicated it looked good. So I dashed up stairs to the full length mirror and saw it fits quite well.

Now I just have to get through the collar.

Open Wide
I was still rather concerned about how open the neck line is looking, so I took it into the store Sunday.

We looked at the picture and decided the smocking is going to both draw it in and fill it in, so I'm sure I'll be fine.

I got hardly any work done on it Sunday. I was being good and focused on weaving in the ends from the seams. But then it was time to watch TV, which is not conducive to either weaving ends or picking up neckline stitches, so I switched to my Green Step Sock.

The heel has been turned and the gusset picked up. Decreases here I come.

Girly Top: Getting Close

On Tuesday I wrote this long post, as I do, and when I hit the "publish" button I was redirected to the login page.

I thought that was a bad sign, but I completed the login process only to be greeted by a polite message that they could not process my request at this time.

And my post was gone. poof!

There wasn't even a draft saved.

I was so traumatized that I've been unable to blog since.

Well, that and we were closing an issue and you know how cranky and unavailable that makes me.

Shape Armhole, Shape Neck
Fortunately, I was not so traumatized that I was unable to knit!

That would have been rather disastrous to my Ravelympic aspirations.

On Tuesday I was just finished the bottom patterning and starting on the stockinette stitch portion of the body.

As of last night the knitting is basically done!

I think I have one more row to work on the shoulders, then I can three-needle bind off the front to the back.

Let the finishing commence!

Shoulder Shaping Rebellion
The pattern is not written for a three-needle bind off.

It is written with some step shaping, a traditional bind off, then sewing the shoulders together.

I rebelled against that, just worked to the required number of stitches, left them live on a holder, and cut the yarn.

I didn't even short row them. Mainly because I botched picking up the short row wraps on Nell's shoulders and I'm worried about botching them again.

Of course, now I wish I had worked the shaping since I've finally been reading my copy of Sweater Design in Plain English by Maggie Righetti and have a better understand of why sweater shoulders are shaped.

Oh, well, too late now.

Actually, I might have to count rows. I might have worked rows even that should have been shaped, so I might have enough yarn to pick them out and shape them. But I wouldn't hold my breath on that if I were you.

I am a little concerned about how wide the neck opening looks when I laid it out for the picture.

I'm pretty sure I worked the neck shaping properly. It just kept saying X stitches Y times. But I went a head and worked the bind offs every other row.

I mean, you basically have to. The yarn isn't in the correct place otherwise.

My coping mechanism is reminding myself I'm going to pick up around the opening and work a little collar.

On Track
The knitting just flew along. I'm a bit surprised it only took me about seven days to knit the front.

This gives me nine days to work on sewing it together, weaving in ends, and working the collar.

This is where things get dangerous.

I don't like finishing.

I like the idea of finishing.

And I like the magic of turning these pieces into a sweater and the way the stitches suck together as I'm sewing, but the actual process doesn't appeal to me.

Also, I can't watch TV and seam a sweater at the same time, which conflicts with our evening activities.

I might have to be focused and work on the sweater when I first get home before dinner while Hubby is doing school work.

Wish me luck.

Oh, and the second green step sock is ready for its heel flap. Thanks for asking.

Done: Hubby's Striped Sweater

I finished Hubby's Striped Sweater!

Around 8:30 last night.

Which is why there isn't a finished object picture (yet).

He even humored me and posed for pictures. Stood right next to the Christmas tree. Then rejected all the images.

If I used the flash all the colors came out electric (as you've been seeing all along). If I didn't use the flash the image was too dark to see anything.

We decided to wait and take it in the sunshine. But it's Monday morning and there were places to be (for me at least, he's on winter break already).

Hopefully I'll have a picture for you soon. Almost as exciting as it being finished is that it actually fits and looks good. When he first put it on I was flipping out because it looked tight across his shoulders. I mean, he has broad shoulders and all, but I made the size large to take that into account.

After he had it on for about half an hour it suddenly looked better. I suppose the fabric was able to shift around and his body heat blocked it a bit. Because, really, I wove in the last end and he put it on, so it's not like any washing, blocking, or other finessing took place before it hit his body.

Then, when it was time for the photo shoot, he revealed he had it on over a T-shirt (which I knew) AND an undershirt (which I didn't know but should have realized). That was a lot of fabric for the sweater to accommodate.

The only snag I hit as I was finishing the sewing was where the collar met the shoulder. There was a gap where the shoulder didn't close and also a big, nasty, loose tan/white stitch from when I picked up for the collar. After I finished sewing the collar shut I used a piece of green yarn (remember the shoulders are green) to do a funky duplicate stitch embroidery train wreck type of maneuver to close the hole and cover the icky stitch.

It seemed to work out well, I might even take a picture for you. Choosing the green was the no-brainer key, since it made it all blend in. Of course no one will ever notice because (and you know what's coming) no one should be close enough to my Hubby's collar to tell.

He loves it. (phew, didn't want to have to kill him. The back yard is frozen, there would have been nowhere to hide the body). He said it was nice and soft. He wore it until bed time last night, then he put it on again first thing this morning. He also had on the Yankees Socks I knit him.

He has to do the grocery shopping today. I wonder if he'll wear his new sweater out of the house?

Project Stats
The pattern is #12 Striped Turtle Neck Sweater by Brandon Malby from the 2002 Vogue Knitting Men's Special Issue.

I made two modification: changing the color scheme radically because I used different yarn than specified. Made a mock turtle neck, which is what Hubby wanted, rather than a full-blown, fold-over turtle neck.

Oh, and I worked the collar on the big needles rather than the small needles because I was worried about it being stiff/tight.

US 5 & 2 needles.

Yarn: Zara and Zara Chine from Filatura Di Crosa 100% merino wool, 136.5 yards each. (The chine are the two tone colors.)
Originally I was going to substitute Zara colors but follow the stripe sequence in the pattern. So I bought two balls of all stripe color and four of the main charcoal color, because the yardage should have worked out since I would be hitting each color as the pattern hit the original colors.

Quantities became a bit of a guessing game once I switched up the stripe sequence and hit some colors more than the original pattern intended. I ended up going back for more on a few, which means I now have some nice Zara colors in stash.

Charcoal was the main stripe color and also appeared in all the ribbing (and I used it for all the sewing). Used: 4.75 skeins. Now stashed: 1
Tan/White was the other color in the ribbing and was also a one row stripe between all the other colors. Used: 3. Now stashed: 1

All the other colors were just used for stripes.

Black Used 1.75. Now stashed: 0.25
Maroon Used: 2. Now stashed: 1
Dark navy: Used: 1.25. Now stashed: 0.75
Green Used: 2
Black/White Used 1.5. Now stashed: 1.5
Royal Used 1. Now stashed: 1

I don't know if that will help you determine quantities if you make this sweater as well.

I think the take away would be to consider both yardage and frequency when substituting yarn in a striped pattern. My main color and a few of my supporting colors showed up with much more often than the original colors in the pattern and it made all the difference in the amounts I needed.

Done: Christmas Stocking

Yippee!

I finished the Christmas stocking. And well before Christmas, too.

What a relief.

I didn't bother taking a picture since it basically looks the same as yesterday, except without a bunch of dpns sticking out of it.

Project Stats
As I said the other day, the pattern is The 2002 Holiday Stocking from Mary McCall on this page here.
The yarn is "Merry Pop'n Christmas Yarn" in the Christmas Red and Christmas Green colors.
US7 needles.
Looks like I got about 4 sts to the inch.
I worked the green part of the leg for 6 inches from picking up off the cuff to marking for the heel. If I stretch the cuff out, the leg from the top of the cuff to the top of the heel measures 12 inches (give or take).
Then I worked the foot section from the heel for 6 inches before switching to red for the toe.
The entire stocking from the top of the cuff (stretched) to the tip of the toe is about 20 inches.
Looks like the leg has a circumference of about 13 inches.

Which are pretty good stocking dimensions, if you ask me.

The last thing left to do is a hanger loop thingy. But I seem to remember something funky about the loops for the other stockings/mittens. They get hung from the railing on the steps, so I think I've made loops and then we use extra yarn to tie them to the railing. It might be best to make two cords instead.

The point is, I'm going to take the yarn with me and wait to make the loop until I'm up there.

Hubby's Sweater is still in a seamless state.

Stocking progress

The stocking is working up rather quickly.

As you can see, I finished the toe the other day and have started on the heel.

What you can't see is that I forgot to pick up extra stitches at the corners of the heel so there are massive gaps there.

Now on one hand I say, "It's a Christmas stocking, nothing is going to be small enough to fall out."

And on the other hand I say, "AAAAHHHH! Look at those massive gaps! How could I let that happen?!"

So I'll probably be going back with some green yarn and attempting to sew the buggers shut.

What you also can't see is a true representation of the colors. I took this one without a flash, but I am in my office so the florescent lights probably aren't helping. The yarn is vibrant, but not as vibrant in the picture. I'm actually wondering whether I should have used the green for the cuff instead. Well too late now.

I'm also thinking that I should have made the green portion of the leg longer. At the time I was thinking the cuff counted as part of the leg length, which made it plenty long. But the visual break because of the color change kind of skews it.

It looks a little more proportional in person. And if I fold it in half at the heel the green leg and foot sections are the same length. So I guess I'm ok.

Once again, too late now.

Hubby's Sweater
Is still crawling along. Even though these side seams are easier to line up, they still take quite a bit of time to execute.

I didn't have any time to work on it Monday night. But I was able to take a whack at it yesterday.

The first side seam is done and I've made a start on the first sleeve.

I am still holding out hope for having it finished by Christmas.

Hubby's Sweater: Breakthrough!

I've conquered the sleeves!

They have been beaten into submission!

Perseverance pays off. I am victorious. yippee!

There were a few more missteps along the path, of course. On Friday night someone on Ravelry said she read an idea in a Meg Swanson book to pick-up stitches along the arm hole then Kitchener or three-needle bind off to attach the sleeve.

This sounded brilliant. I ran down stairs to try it out. There are, of course, more rows in the sweater body in the 20 inches the top of the sleeve covered than there are stitches in the sleeve. I couldn't get the correct number of stitches picked up nicely along the body edge.

I struggling with it for about an hour before giving up. Frustrated, I fought the urge to throw the sweater across the room and burst into tears. Instead I complained that I was hungry.

Outside In
I settled myself down, repinned the sleeve, and had my breakthrough.

This time I started at the outside edge, where I wanted the sleeves to end, and worked my way toward the middle from both ends.

I thought of this because I had mentioned the other day that it is the direction I go when I'm attaching a set in sleeve that has shaping.

You might remember in my first attempt to attach the sleeves I started at one end and went straight across. But everything shifted out of place.

Since I own two darning needles (well, ok, four actually) I was able to work from both ends at once. I would work 10 rows (one stripe) on the right, then 10 rows on the left, etc. The whole time I kept smoothing the body down and it was much easier to see where it was buckling up and needing to be "eased in" by taking two stitches on the body instead of just one. In this manner I ended in the middle, at the shoulder seam, and was able to hide any remaining pucker there.

phew!

Of course, that was just one sleeve. The second sleeve I had to once again rip back before I could go forward.

I got the second sleeve finished Sunday evening and plunged right into working on the body.

(I didn't work on it Saturday night. Hubby was out for the evening. I borrowed Love Actually from the library. Even though I'd seen it before I opted to sit and watch it and work on the stocking. The stocking is into the toe shaping. When the toe is finished I just have to go back and do the afterthought heel. I might actually finish this stocking by Christmas! Although I suspect it might be smaller than the other ones I've made.)

The amorphous blob you see at the beginning of the post is the sweater in position to have the first side seem sewn.

I've used a combination of wee, spring loaded, butterfly hair clips and my trusty Lake Placid stitch markers to pin it together. (I'm not sure those hair clips have ever actually touched my hair, but they are awfully handy for seaming a sweater.)

Smooth Sailing
As you might imagine, sewing up the side is much easier. First off, working mattress stitch on two even vertical pieces like this is easy-peasy once you know what you're doing. I like to work a few rows then pull the yarn and watch the work zip into place. whoosh!

On this sweater I have the additional guide of the stripes. If the colors start shifting out of place so the pattern doesn't match up I can see it right away.

I made it all the way up to the second charcoal stripe before I stopped to go to bed. Of course, for this part, I wished it was still the weekend so I could just stay up all night working on the sweater.

Alas, that was not the case. But now that I'm on a roll I might actually have the sweater finished by Christmas too!

Neat-o!

Shameless promotion ahead.

If you have any friends who speak Russian and you want to impress them this Christmas or on their next birthday you should totally check out the greeting cards at Bash Designs, a small company based in California.

There are Russian language and bilingual (Russian/English) cards for Christmas, Birthdays, Names Days, Easter, and Thank You notes.

(Names Days are the feast day of the saint for which you are named.)

These aren't stodgy old cards either. They have cute, stylish designs.

Now, despite how obviously biased my review is, I haven't actually seen these cards in person. But they are being made by my younger cousin, so I know first hand how neurotic, I mean, detail oriented and fashionable she is. So I trust in their quality.

Considering Russian Orthodox Christmas isn't until Jan 7, you probably still have time to order.

What Knitting?
Oh, I'm sorry, those cute cards were supposed to distract you.

Do we really have to discuss Hubby's Sweater? I pulled it out last night, but decided going to bed was a better idea. Hubby was at one end of the dining room table grading papers. I spread out at the other end. He sighed and said, "It will never be done." Boy obviously doesn't realize these things take time. I'm going to conquer this blasted sweater this weekend if it's the only thing I do!

On the other hand, the Christmas stocking is moving along nicely. The entire thing measures 12 inches from the top of the cuff. I'm trying to decide if I can mark for the after thought heel here or if I should work the green part of the leg for a few more inches.

What did me in on the claddagh stocking was that I couldn't get the proportions to look nice, I'd rather avoid that this time round.

Hubby's Sweater: Square One

Hubby is a bit distressed at the lack of progress on his sweater.

And believe you me, I'm right there with him.

sigh.

Part of the hold up is that I can't multitask when I'm seaming. When I'm knitting (or crocheting) I can sprawl on the couch and also watch TV with only occasional glaces down at my work. When I'm seaming I have to park myself at the dining room table and give the work my undivided attention. So I can either join Hubby in watching our TV shows or I can work on his sweater. I have not actually laid those choices before him. I wonder which he'd select?

Well, I better get cracking. Last night I told him it would be done by Christmas.

Two Sleeves Forward, One Step Back
I settled down last night to start sewing the sides together.

Things immediately went wrong when I couldn't line up the underarm area. If the points of the sleeves lined up the hem of the body didn't.

uh-oh.

I took a closer look and realized the points of the sleeve didn't land at the same spot on the front and back of the sweater. I tried to get a picture of it, but don't know if you can tell what is going on.

See, on the front of the sweater the sleeve ended on the third row of green. But on the back it ended on the eighth row of green. Which is a five row difference. There was no way to fudge it. If I proceeded, the sleeve seam would run along the side of the arm instead of under it.

This was the case on both sleeves.

I know how it happened. As I was attaching the sleeves the fabric slid and flexed and I just fudged it and kept sewing figuring it would all even out in the end.

I kind of forgot at the time that I was working on a drop-shoulder sweater and the sleeves had to land at the same spot on both sides.

The last few sweaters I made for myself had set in sleeves. Those were easier to fudge because I could see if they were coming out of line and it made more sense were I had to "ease them in."

Hmm, thinking about it, for those sweaters I think I started at each end of the sleeve and worked my way toward the middle, so all slack ended up at the top of the shoulder. On Hubby's Sweater I started at one end and worked straight across.

Take That You Curling Beast!
With a heavy heart I ripped the seams out. All my hard work over the weekend destroyed.

Then I dragged the sweater up the spare room, set the iron on wool, cranked the steam valve, and steamed the thing to death.

Yeah, you read that right, I blocked.

I have to imagine that part of the problem last time was that I was fighting the curl and couldn't see what I was doing.

I repinned the sleeves taking care to ensure the ends hit on the same rows this time.

(It was around this time Hubby came wandering in to see what was happening. I'm not sure whether he realized the sleeves were attached earlier in the evening and weren't any longer. I did tell him it was messed up and I had to start over. While I was talking he examined the ribbing, fingered the fabric remorsefully, then sighed and wandered away. That's when I promised it would be done by Christmas. I'm starting to see the wisdom of paying someone to do this bit.)

This time I started in the middle and worked my way toward the ends. My thinking was any slack will get pushed out evenly to the ends and keep the sleeve balanced.

I was able to mostly reattach one sleeve last night before bedtime.

Two issue have presented themselves.

1. Despite the fact that I'm reusing the piece of yarn from the first time around, it has run short. This is annoying because now I'm going to need two wee lengths to finish off both ends of the sleeve. This means more ends to weave in. grrr
2. There is a good chance the sleeve is once again going to hit on two different points. It might only be a row or two this time, which might be fine in the end. I'm really annoyed about it since I was being careful and don't know how it happened. I'm also debating whether I can fudge the short end by stretching or scrunching. sigh.

By then it was 10 pm, so I abandoned the sweater and went to bed. Well, not really. I let the dogs out, wrapped up the sweater and stuck it in the dining room credenza to keep it safe, let the dogs back in, then went to bed.

At this point, I think I'll work on the second sleeve tonight and see if I have better luck.

Maybe I should be using more pins.

Hubby's Sweater: Assembly Required

The process of seaming Hubby's Striped Sweater has begun.

It's going slowly, but at least it's going.

Hubby's Sweater has been languishing since I finished the actual knitting last week. But isn't that always the way? I knit my Nell Sweater is like two months, but took two years to finish it because of the blasted button band.

There is no button band on Hubby's Sweater, so my excuse is that I was in no condition to mattress stitch because of my head cold.

This was working out rather well for me. I finished the back of my Stella Sweater. I was hanging out on the loveseat Friday night debating binding off the shoulders as instructed or leaving the stitches live for a three-needle bind off later, when Hubby suddenly noticed I was messing with a little light blue thing rather than a big striped thing.

Some adorable, silent pouting ensued.

The result of which you see above. Along with the all important cup of tea.

Simply Sleeves
I spent Saturday night and all of Sunday on and off attaching the sleeves.

I told you it was a slow process.

In fact, seaming sweaters is such a good motivator for me that on Sunday I also cleaned the kitchen, wash a load of towels and two loads of sheets, changed the bed, and vacuumed the whole house.

Just think how much further along I'd be on the sweater if I didn't keep taking breaks to "stretch."

Hubby's sweater is a drop shoulder style, so no shaping to line up.

I folded the sleeve in half to find the center point then pinned it to the shoulder seam.

Then I flattened the sleeve out (yes, I still think blocking is overrated) and pinned the two ends to the body of the sweater. Then I flattened the sweater body and the sleeve and pinned a few more points in between the ends and the center.

The extra pin points help me make sure I'm on track and the sleeve isn't slipping out of alignment. If there is a little slippage I might grab two bars on the sweater body to even it out. If there is a lot of slippage I yank a small section out and try again.

Terribly tedious.

I'm saying "pin" but what I actually used was the stitch markers I made in Lake Placid that have jewelry lobster claw closures instead of rings. Very handy.

For the sleeves I decided to do the seaming with the maroon yarn. I figured it probably wouldn't be visible anyway, but since the sleeves are a solid color the sewing yarn should match. Since the body is striped the sewing yarn isn't going to match all the colors anyway.

For the body I'm going to start the seaming with the left over charcoal grey yarn and moved on to other long scraps from there. I know on the sides the sewing yarn won't show, so I feel pretty safe going with the grey.

I'll just have to be disciplined and work on it a little every night.

Necking, Again
Just for grins, here is a picture of the collar.

You can see how the fabric is buckling just a wee bit where I picked up stitches.

Huh, that center bit, where it really looks wobbly is where the stitches were cast off so I could pick up 1 for 1. Overall I think I did a good job of picking up evenly.

Anyway, the theory is it will hang flat when he's wearing it.

By the way, everyone who has seen the pictures then seen the sweater in person say the pictures don't do it justice. No prompting required. The colors are much nicer in person. My best guess is the flash keeps activating and that is distorting things.

Hubby's Sweater: Weaving & Necking

Totally fell off the face of the blog there, didn't I?

First we were out of town for Thanksgiving.

Then I got sick.

Then I got cranky. Why is all the news these days so very gloomy and depressing? Or am I just looking at the world through mud colored glasses?

Anyway.

One thing that is not mud colored is Hubby's Striped Sweater. You can't see this for yourself as I've lost track of the camera. We took it to Thanksgiving (but didn't use it). I think I saw it on the bed in the office this morning....

Because of the lack of photographic evidence you will have to trust me that Hubby's Sweater is rapidly approaching completion. yippee! All the knitting is done. I just have to sew it up. But a head cold is not conducive to putting me in the mood to mattress stitch. Therefore I've shoved it into the dinning room credenza and returned to working on Stella.

The Ends Go In, The Ends Go Out
I took only the sweater to Thanksgiving to force myself to weave in ends during any yarn time I might have had. Weaving the ends was the major obstacle between me and finishing.

On Wednesday night, before I settled down to work, I held the body of the sweater up to my mother-in-law and exclaimed, "Do you see how much I love your son!!" Because she would appreciate how much time a man-sized sweater would take to knit.

She admired my handy work and declared again that I had far surpassed her. Of course, she takes special pride in my abilities since she's the one who taught me to knit. I'm sure she could keep up with me if she applied herself, but she prefers crocheting and is an afghan making machine.

Then on Thursday, after dinner, when everyone else settled down to watch the Giants football game, I parked myself in the recliner in the corner under a floor lap and wove ends for almost the entire game. That's, what, four hours of end weaving? But it was done!

Collared
I made two changes to the collar.

I was supposed to work it on the smaller sized needle, but I was concerned it would be too stiff, so I worked it on the larger needle I used for the body.

It was supposed to be a full turtle neck, but Hubby wants a mock turtle neck, so I cut it short. I worked it for about two inches. I draped the sweater over him and it seems like a good length. I figure I can open the bind off and work a few more rows if it turns out too short once the sweater is all done.

Picking up necklines gives me almost as many conniptions as buttonbands do. But necklines I can conquer.

It took me two tries to get it right. Not counting the half starts when I realized the stitches weren't evenly distributed and I had to start over.

I had worked the neckline decreases one stitch in from the edge. I do that on side shaping as well, since it make it easier to seam if you aren't fighting with lumpy stitches.

On the neck it didn't work out so well. My first attempt at picking up I did under that lone edge stitch. I worked about two rows of the collar and took a look. It was rather stretched and gaping because the single stitch wasn't very stable. Aahhhh!

I tore it out and picked up again, this time going under the second stitch, which is the decreased stitch. I hope it doesn't make the neck to bulky.

After I knit the whole collar I looked at it again and decided it was puckering where I had picked up along the shaped edge of the neckline. I thought my only recourse would be to rip out the collar, rip out the neckline shaping, and rework the neck/shoulder area with the decreases on the first stitch.

Fortunately, before I did anything that rash I took it into Knitting Central for a second opinion. I told the other staff members to be brutally honest.

The Other Ann pointed out that when he's wearing it the slack will be pulled out and the pucker will disappear. C agreed. So I was on my way again.

Now all I have to do is buckle down and seam the sucker.

Hubby's Sweater: Maintaining Focus

I finished the sleeves on Sunday.

Did I tell you that?

It was quite the adventure. I had measured the back to the designated length and thought I would need six rows of maroon. But the sleeves were half an inch short. So I measured the back again and suddenly needed all 10 rows. I worked three more rows on the sleeves, at which point they were measuring half an inch to long. I measured the back again and eight rows seemed right.

So I made a whimpering noise and went to bed.

Of course yesterday the sleeves measured the correct length. I stopped measuring and bound off. I know not to push my luck.

I didn't get to do a lick of work on them yesterday. Well, that's an exaggeration. I was able to devote about an hour to the sweater (maybe less, we do fast forward through commercials). However that was only enough time to weave in the ends on one edge of one sleeve. Does that mean I have three more hours of sleeve end weaving to go? I tremble to think about end weaving on the front and back pieces.

sigh.

I was even being good and trying to knit the ends in as I went along. This was only really effective on the knit sides. I trapped the yarn when I was on the purl sides, but it isn't quite the same. Hopefully this means I only have to weave in half as many ends are I potentially could have faced.

Of course, all the ends have to be woven in before I sew it together, or its not going to happen. Which would be bad. Visions of the sweater unraveling....aaaahh! Sadly the ends aren't long enough to be used for the seaming. That would be a real pain. Woven in they must be.

I blame the holidays
My evening was tanked yesterday because first I had to do an interview for an article I'm working on. That went til 6:45.

Then I had to make the tassies for Thanksgiving (I volunteered to help my MIL out). They are little bite sized pie thingies. Do a search on "cashew tassies" and you'll find plenty of recipes. Only I used walnuts left over from the date nut bread I baked Friday. (I am racking up the awesome daughter-in-law points this year).

The tassie dough is basically butter mixed with cream cheese. Samson and Baru were going nuts. They were right on top of me the entire time. Breathing their hot puppy breath on my legs. I kept ordering them out of the kitchen, but a few minutes later they were back.

Anyway, you mix the butter and cream cheese together with a little flour, then push it into mini muffin tins like little pie shells. That was the high maintenance part. I forgot how long that took.

And the whole production was interrupted for an hour and a half by dinner. I ended up putting the muffin tin in the freezer while I mixed the brown sugar/egg filling so the dough could stiffen up a bit and be easier to squish into shape.

They weren't done until well after 9 pm. Sadly, two tassies got stuck to the pan. I had no choice but to destroy the evidence. No one will know they are missing.

Good Hubby
We were watching that show Lie to Me while I was weaving in end.

The teenaged daughter on the show had on a cute, red, knit hat. It was a few rows of ribbing, then seed stitch in the center, then wide ribbing on the crown. And there were two little buttons on the side.

Oh, how do I know what it looked like so well? Because after the third or fourth shot of it Hubby hit the pause button unprompted (we have digital cable with DVR service). He said something along the lines of, "I bet you like that hat." And that he was pausing it so I could get a good look.

Isn't he adorable? Further confirmation he does deserve a handknit sweater.

Done: Scrappy Socks 2 PO

I finished my second pair of Scrappy Socks last night.

Which means I'm wearing a pair of brand new socks today.

Which is always fun.

I told Boss Man the problem with wearing these anklets I've made with jeans is I get a draft on my shins. I said I really have to remember to wait and wear them with shorts or a skirt.

He said he totally hates when that happens. Then he rolled his eyes and walked away. Which makes me think he wasn't being serious.

Project Stats
Anyway. There is nothing to be done for people who are jealous of my adorable socks.

This pair is from leftover Purple Jitterbug and Orange Sol Joy yarn.

I had less of both of these than I did of the Blue and Red Jitterbug I used for the first pair of scrappy socks, so I did a better job of using up this second round. I have little blobs left of each. On the first pair I still have a good (but useless) amount of Blue left.

Since the first pair showed me I would have to go the ruffled anklet route, I was able to work this pair cuff down starting with the ruffle, garter edge heel stitch flap, and my usual toe decreases.

I used a set of US2 dpns and a 24" US2 Addi Turbo, since I was working them at the same time.

Happy Toes
I'm more pleased with these socks than I am with the first Scrappy Socks.

I think it's the cuff down construction. I like the traditional progression as you make them. And I think I just like the fit of a cuff down sock better.

The first pair of socks suck down into my shoes in the back a little. Or at least they feel like they are sucking down. I blame the short row heel. I hear it is more shallow than a flap heel. I suppose I could have made the leg longer on the first pair, I had enough yarn, but this pair should be the same length and feels fine.

Actually, this pair might be five rounds longer...I don't remember. I didn't write anything down. I was working them simultaneously so I didn't have to.

Well, I'm not reworking the first pair, so I'll just have to live with it.

I'm not sure how much it plays into my satisfaction, but these socks strike me as much flashier than the red and blue pair. snicker. Actually, they make me think of clown socks. snicker.

Anyway. Moving on. I'm going to try to focus on the Tartan Argyles now. Three weeks to make a pair of socks is just ridiculous. I was so much more productive when I was practicing project monogamy!

Done: Scrappy Socks 1 RB

Wow, I was down with a doozy of a headache the last two days. Not fun at all. Guess I shouldn't have taunted my migraines in that last blog post.

The one good thing was I'm not on any close deadlines at work this week, so I was able to call in sick for both days and not have to worry about it.

Of course, I wasn't feeling so very bad that I couldn't knit! (The pain does come and go, after all.)

I finished my first set of scrappy socks last night.

As you can see, I ended up going with the ruffled anklets.

Trust me, that's a ruffle on there. I swear.

After working the heel, I was able to work about 15 rows before the red yarn ran out. I switched to the blue and kept an eye on the rapidly dwindling balls.

I worked even in stockinette to 25 rows, then I switched to ribbing. It had already occurred to me that a ruffle was probably in my future.

The balls continued to decrease rapidly. To make matters worse they weren't the same size.

Maybe it was the migraine talking, but I said to myself, "Do you really want to do all that knitting only to have them end up a goofy length, which will force you to rip back and knit a ruffle anyway?"

So after row 30 I knit front and back around. The worked two rows even and cast off.

The ruffle is heavy enough that it takes the ribbing with it when it flops over. I suppose this means I should have worked more rows of ribbing. Really, five rows of ribbing, who was I kidding?

I'm debating pulling out the ruffle and extending them. But you and I both know that isn't going to happen.

Lazy? Me?

In the end though, I'm pleased with them. I'm wearing them today with jeans. As soon as I finished weaving in the ends and put them on last night I realized they will be adorable when I wear my Mary Janes with a skirt.

That was one tactical error I made when I bought these shoes—I wore my hand-knit socks to be sure to get shoes that fit, but now I can't wear them with normal socks. Which makes skirt or sundress wearing a little awkward.

I guess I'll plunge into the purple and orange scrappy socks when I get home. But now I've learned my lesson. I have less of the purple and orange yarns than I did of the red and blue yarns. Now I know there is no way I'll get full socks out of them. So I can start with the ruffle and work cuff down.

And if for some strange reason I run out, I'll just toss the left over blue into the mix.

(In case you are wondering, that is a corner of my desk at work. You can see Wee Teddy with his raglan sweater in the background. And that is a puppy picture of Samson when we first brought him home. And those are Hubby's legs in his kilt at our church wedding!)

Done: Second Chance Socks

My obsession with knitting ribbed cotton socks continues.

Holy Smokes! I changed my web browser from the new version of Firefox to the new version of Safari and now my blog looks like hell. AAAAHHH! What font style/size was I using? Does it look like this on other people's computers?! Ok, I have to pull myself together.

As I was saying, this is my third pair of 2x2 ribbed socks. I'm actually rather tired of knitting ribbed socks, so these couldn't end soon enough.

Re-Cap
Yarn: Lana Grossa Cotton Fun. I've heard a rumor it's been discontinued.
Needles: US1 dpn
Pattern: 2x2 rib, garter stitch edge heel stitch flap, princess sole, normal toe shaping.

The Name
These socks are knit from recycled yarn. I'm very pleased with myself because of this.

You might remember I started the process of harvesting this yarn back in July.

I had originally knit a pair of plain stockinette stitch socks with it. They were a little big to begin with and then they stretched. Causing me to basically stop wearing them. That wasn't doing anyone any good, so I harvested the yarn and had another go.

The ribbing was an effort to counteract the lack of spring in the cotton yarn. I'm wearing them today and they are more or less sliding down. But the overall fit is better, especially on my feet, which is all that matters.

Moving On
This was my third pair of ribbed socks in a row. I am so over 2x2 ribbing it isn't even funny. I was getting tired of working these socks not because of second sock syndrome, but because I was sick of the pattern (or lack there of).

Oh, in case you're wondering, I kept better notes this time. The second sock went off without a hitch.

Well, expect for I somehow fouled up when I was kitchenering the toe shut. I was forced to rip it out and re-graft it. sigh. But it's lovely now.

I'm on to working on my Scrappy Socks from my leftover Jitterbug. I may have mentioned this intention sometime in the distant past.

And, of course, the Tartan Argyles, but I haven't had a chance to get a picture yet.

Tomorrow, hopefully another installment of our France trip!