To All The Lovely Ladies....

   The Ladies of my knitting group are outstanding. They are phenomenal! And I think they really like me. First the lovely Trish brought me her unwanted sock yarn which found a very good home on my dpns, one shining example is the pair of Firestarters. Such beautiful things those skeins of sock yarn. Then the lovely Mary Ann and Susan donated a very large amount of yarn (from which I am still reeling). Lots of sock yarn and lace-weight and purple!!! So very happy am I! These wonderful works of fiber arts were given to me on Wednesday the 2nd of June and when I got home that night I took out a skein of autumn colored alpaca and cast on another set of the Nicholas Fingerless Gloves...

 
The colorway reminds me of autumn leaves and I love this pattern. Course so do many of the female members of my family.... I finished the second glove the night of June 4th. So very happy with the way they turned out. I am trying to take the left over yarn and duplicate the 5 stitch pattern and make a matching hat. They fit so very well, the first thing that I have made that fits me like a...well...a glove. I will indeed be hard pressed to part with this pair.
   I have been spending a lot of time (when not at work) digging through the newest and most welcome additions to my meager stash, winding and planning. I can't decide what to do next....


   I ordered and received 1200 yards of Catherine Lowe #1 merino in Chianti and despite the misleading line "Total purchase will be wound into large balls, not into individual balls of 100 yds/91 m." leading me to belive that I would get one ball totaling 1200 yards not 2 balls 'slightly over' 600 yards and despite the rather snippy email 'explaining' this to me, I do like the yarn. It is soft and yummy and I can't wait to really get to work with hit. I waited so long to get this yarn, I am planning on making the Icarus Shawl for my cousin's bride to be, who's wedding is Labor Day weekend. I feel I may have bitten off more then I can chew however as I have never worked with this fine of lace-weight nor made a shawl of this caliber before. I am hoping I can get it figured out soon since I have only 3 months to work with it. I do get to take the unused sample purchase of a 400 yard ball back to Knit Purl and exchange it for something else..... maybe something purple....

TTFN

If It's Baroque, Then Fix It!!!

    So when I saw this pattern I thought they were gorgeous. I could not wait to make them. I loved the twisted lines, the crisscrossing cables, the smart ribbed heel. The whole pattern is unique and exquisite. I got my hands on some Cocoa colored sock yarn, the right sized dpns. I have made two pairs of socks so far this year, with the intent they would be for me, however both socks were slightly too big for me. I thought since I made the Firestarter socks in medum I would make these sock in size small. I cast on and quickly discovered the cuff would be rather tight...so I decided to ski the second pattern round as I do like a shorter cuffed sock. Then I went on to make the sock itself. However upon completion I made this...

     The little silver thing is not a quarter but it is the same size. This sock came out too small for my foot. The actual sock portion is only a half inch or so too short. But the cuff is simply too tight to really fit well over my heel but fits snuggly around my ankle. I am not sure what to do about this...I am thinking I really do need to acquire a set of 1 1/2 or 2.5mm dpns and maybe I could do the cuff section with them, then switch to the 1s. I need them anyway to do many other sock patterns but they do not carry this size that I have seen at Joann's. Then I would just extend the pattern into the instep another 6-8 rows.
   So of course I will be frogging these. Yet I am forlorn to do so. I don't even want to think about it. I suppose I need to learn this Magic Loop technique I keep hearing so much about, as I have a few other patterns that say to use 2 sets of circulars but I can't seem to wrap my brain around how that works. I might even extend the cuff to the original pattern repeat called for, when I can bring my self to go back to them. This failure is making me even rethink the Firestarter socks...wondering if I should use and smaller needle or try to find a way to make them fit me better, frog them too and start from scratch. Yet that thought makes me want to pull the nearest rock over my head, throw out my dpns and never look at sock yarn again! :(

TTFN

Firestarter!!!

So I completed my Firestarter socks. Remember those? They looked like this....

These were made with the Blue Moon Fiber Arts Purple Rain. I loved working with htis yarn. Not to mention I was able to meet the lovely lady who owns Blue Moon, as she is one of the wonderful women from my knitting night. These were started April 17, 2010 and finished May 9, 2010. These socks also exhibit my first gusset, which was super fun to make. My second pair of adult socks ever!! These colors are so my colors, I love purple so much!



They came out like this....

:) I am happy with them... However I am not happy with the fact my feet are not big enough for them. They came out just a bit too big, though they haven't been blocked or washed. Perhaps they shall shrink a bit then life will be sweet while I sport perfectly fitting Purple Rain Firestarters!!!

I think next time I will shorten the gusset, and thus the heel a smidgen, and maybe the leg portion by two repeats as I like my socks a little shorter. Anywho, I am working on socks #3. More updates on them soon.

TTFN

Yarn Cakes!!!

Yarn Cakes Galore!!!

My lovely Auntie DiDi sent me a very lovely Mother's Day Gift. Wanna see?

It's a yarn ball winder!!!!!! Cool huh? I am so very happy! My dreams have come true! Now I can finally make yarn cakes!!! Wanna see?

From this............................................................to this!!!! (weird how they are same yarn but two different colors...)
And this!!!

Beautiful!!!!! Thank you Auntie Di Di, you are the very best!!

SOCKS!!!!! and Yoga....

So I have done it! I have completed my first pair of adult (me) sized socks. It was hard, I had to recover from a brief and mild case of SSS, (Second Sock Syndrome or Single Sock Syndrome) but I over came and finished it!! I have posted it up on my Ravelry profile (CoryM) but I will post pics here for the benefit of all!

These are the Five-Stitch Socks from Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch in the Laburum pattern. I used Sensations Bamboo & Ewe from Joann's, in purple (my favorite color these days) and was very pleased. I bought two skeins and used a whole and a smidgen of the second to complete these socks. So I find that I need a good ankle sock pattern to finish up the second skein. Shouldn't be too much trouble as I have found I am in love and obsessed with socks.

I must then tip my knitterly hat to one of the lovely ladies of my knit group who caught wind of my new found love and having found she herself not so inclined in the making of foot wear passed on a great deal (score!) of sock yarn to your's truly. Thus I have begun these...

These are the Firestarter socks by Yarnissima of Ravelry in Purple Rain by Blue Moon Fiber Arts, a lovely gift by a lovely lady and I much love this yarn. It is yummy and delicious to work with. I can not wait to get my hands on more of it. Much more of it!!!

Of course though I started the sock 2 nights ago I am nearly done with the first one and will add a new picture of it in the next posting.

And of course last but certainly not least, the picture of Brie's Yoga Bag. She recieved this bag on the 10th and absolutely loved it. It turned out to be the perfect gift as the bag she was using was falling apart. What made it more perfect was the fact I had no idea of this, I merely thought when I saw the pattern and happened to have two skeins of the yarn used in my stash already I thought it perfect for her...

   Seen here modeled by me. The pattern came from Inspired Cable Knits, the Tree-Pose Yoga Bag and was done in Red Heart Eco-Cotton in Linen Marl, two skeins of which I happened to have already. I bought 2 more and used one and a half of them, using the last of the fourth skein to make a face cloth to go with it. I was very happy to make this bag for her and am soon to be commissioned to make another for her mother in the future. However I am left with some concern as I have found that in knitting with cotton the knuckle of my right ring finger swells and aches somethin' fierce. But I love knitting and will perceiver in my chosen craft!!!

TTFN

A Quick Word...

So I have been waiting for some sun to take pictures of my latest projects. I finished up a housewarming present and birthday present for my wonderful cousin Brie. But alas no sun and therefore I can't not take any decent pictures. So here are some teasers instead.

House Warming dish/face cloths.

Base and body of a yoga bag, which is completed I just want to model it of correctly so hopefully I will get the chance to take some good pictures before this weekend when I must ahnd them off as the present they are intended to be.
TTFN

All Hail the Internet!!!

Been waaaaay too long since I last posted. needless to say I have still been hard at work on knitted projects. My internet usage was down for some time making it hard to do anything it seems. Also my poor laptop has finally gone capute on me and I will no longer have it's travel worth conveince at my fingertips. Thus it is posting from the good ol' trusty desktop for me!!

To start...

Nicholas' Fingerless Gloves, found at Knitting Daily and as modeled by my lovely cousin Brie. I made these with the same yarn as the infamous poncho to go to the very same cousin, but now must get my hands on yarn for 4 more pairs as they are AWESOME!!!!

Then...

The Fuzzy Bunny!!! Birthday present for the darling Inari. I am in the midst of making a blue one for my son's birthday out of left over yarn from his baby blanket, as he fell deeply in love with this one.

And lastly....

Tiny baby socks, lots of them...





New project has pictures forthcoming. I am working on the Tree Pose Yoga Bag from Inspired Cable Knits. I am loving this book as cables are my new favorite stitch. I am also working on a pair of socks for myself but who knows when they will be done since I keep coming up with projects for other people! Until next time..ado!