A Palatte Cleanser

Since finishing my gnome socks and my pullover, I wanted something simple to work on.  The next ESK Craft A Long doesn't start until Monday and since I'll be casting on for a sweater for that, I wanted something small.

Hello socks!  This is the first of the Hibernal Socks, knit in Yarn Love Oliver Twist in Pizzazz.  The repeat is easy to memorize and the sock is knitting up quickly.  I should have this finished by the first of next week, making it the perfect little knitting palatte cleanser!

Have a great weekend!

A Finished Sweater and A Birthday!

I have finally finished my Sammensat T.  I started this back in December and it really should have been done much more quickly.  The knitting itself is very easy, and once you're through the short row neck shaping and the yoke, it's just straight knitting.  This is a perfect project for complex, hand dyed yarn (I'm seriously considering some hand spun for a second one of these), and it's also good for times when life gets more complex and all you can do is stockinette (which is why it took me so long to get it finished).  This is definitely something that I will do again, whether in hand spun or commercial yarn.  

The pattern photos show this as a short sleeved top, but the pattern includes directions for a long sleeved top as well.  Obviously, I chose the long sleeves, hoping for a post-holiday pullover to wear in January and February before it got very warm.  Naturally, this year we hit 80 degrees in February and I still wasn't finished with it.  Fortunately, I'll wear pink year round.

One of the things that I liked about the pattern was the minimal edgings.  You start with a Chinese Waitress Cast On (above), and at the end of each section, you do a Chinese Waitress Bind Off (below).  I didn't even know that Chinese Waitress Bind Off was a thing, but I really like how it looks (and I adore the cast on).  I was a little concerned about my edges rolling, but I went down a couple of needle sizes for the last inch or so of knitting, and after steam blocking, everything is lying nicely.  Different yarns, different fiber content, and different levels of twist could mean more issues with rolling at the edge.  If I had had rolling issues, I had planned to work an i-cord bind off.  It would have meant a more substantial edge, but it would have given a similar look.  I used Malabrigo Arroyo in Rosalinda for this project.

In other big news, Obi had his first birthday late last week!  He's now a dog!  I don't know for sure how big he is now, but when he saw the vet at 11 months (ear infection, yeah early spring!), he was 80 pounds.  When he went in January for a booster shot, he weighed 76 pounds, so while we've slowed down quite a bit (thank heavens!), he's still growing.  At this point he probably has the majority of his full size, he'll just do some filling out over the next year.  He stands taller than Logan did (Logan was 80-85 pounds) and conveniently (for Obi), he can easily rest his chin on our kitchen table.  He's doing pretty well learning all the weird human things we've been teaching him, and Mr. Noodle has decided that he's old enough to be disciplined.  When he was younger, Mr. Noodle would just walk away when he got fed up with Obi's puppy shenanigans.  Now Mr. Noodle employs the paw of justice, and to really get the pup to pay attention, he bites.  We're not sure if the kitty has actually made contact with his teeth, but seeing those teeth coming at him, Obi backs up quickly and shows Mr. Noodle some respect. 

Finished Gnome Socks

I finished my Hidden Gnome Socks!  This was such a pretty pattern and I'm really happy with my finished socks.  The pattern is Zwergenaufstand and I knit them in Malabrigo Ultimate Sock in Magenta and Natural.  

I mostly followed the pattern - all stitch counts are straight from the pattern, but I did need to make a few changes to fit my feet.  I started with US 0's (2.0mm) for the top ribbing and then switched to US 1's (2.25mm) for the stranded colorwork on the leg.  Then I switched back to the US 0's for the rest of the sock.  The pattern suggests going back to the larger needles for the colorwork on the foot, but since I have narrow feet, I got a better fit by staying with the smaller needles.  This did change the gauge of the colorwork a little, but unless you know to look for it, it's not really obvious.  I also did my usual toe instead of the one used in the pattern.  Again, it fits my foot.

This is the same designer who did the Winter Dudes socks I did at the first of the year and while these will be the last project for ESK's Gnome Craft-A-Long this quarter, I might be doing some more of her designs later this year.  Third quarter is Colorwork Socks! 

March Socks!

I've finished my first Zwergenaufstand sock and I'm halfway down the leg of the second one!  I need to get these finished by the end of the month in order to get credit for the Craft-A-Long.  As I explained on a previous post, for the most part I'm knitting these exactly as the pattern is written.  I worked the cuff ribbing on Size US 0's (2.0 mm), then I switched to Size US 1's (2.25 mm) for the leg.  I went back to the smaller needles when I started the heel flap and used those all the way through finishing the toe.  I didn't change any of the stitch counts from the pattern, I just used the smaller needles on the stranded section of the foot because I have narrow feet, and by trying on the sock-in-progress, I could tell that if I worked the foot color work in the larger needles, I wouldn't have a snug fit on my sock.  

The only big change I made to the sock was using the toe decreases I've used on 99% of my socks instead of the pattern's toe.  I don't know the name of "my" toe, but you work decrease rounds every other round until you've decreased half of the total foot stitches, then you work the decrease round every round until your stitch count is one quarter of the total foot stitches, then you Kitchener stitch the toe closed.  Occasionally, I have to juggle the numbers a bit if the total number of stitches doesn't divide out neatly, but that's easy enough to do, and knitted fabric is very forgiving. 

Still Sleeving Over Here

I'm working on my second sleeve now!  Second sleeves always go faster for me because I already have all the decreases and the number of rounds before binding off figured out and written down.  I use a row/round counter pretty obsessively and it really pays off in speed of second sleeves (and second socks).  Also, I don't think I've woven in a single end as I've knit this, so there will definitely be some finishing time with this sweater when I finally get this sleeve done.

At this point in the year, I probably won't be able to wear this until fall.  Spring came a little early and it's already warming up around here. 

There was a question on the last blog post about the number of stitches I cast on for the hidden gnome socks and I have knit the socks exactly as the pattern is written.  I do plan to use my usual toe (I don't know it's official name), but that's the only change I'll be making.  If I knit these again, I will slip the stitches at the edges of the heel flap, but that's only because I think it's easier to pick up later from slipped stitches than the garter stitches the pattern has you work at the edge.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

A Hidden Gnome!

I'm still working on my first sock of the new pair (why does stranded knitting take so much longer than single color knitting?), but I'm past the heel turn and the gusset now.  You can see the little gnome above, between the gusset decreases.  He's technically knit into the gusset of this sock, and he sits right on the underside of the heel.  You can barely see him in the photo below

When I started the stranded section for the foot, I decided to use a smaller needle than what I used for the stranded section of the leg.  I tried on the sock, and the leg portion is looser than I like the feet of my socks to be.  For anyone who's interested, I used US 0'S (2.0mm) for the top ribbing, heel flap, heel turn, and foot colorwork.  I used US 1's (2.25mm) for the leg colorwork.  This tightened up my gauge on the foot section so it will fit more snugly.  This also means I will have to knit more rounds in the foot to get the length right.