Monday, September 29, 2008

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

It's Good To Be King!

As the great Mel Brooks once said, "Ahhh, it's good to be king," or at least, in my case - it's good to be knitting socks again. After a VERY long hiatus from sock knitting I'm back at it again, only this time it's not for me. It's for a friend of mine from work. I actually tried to teach her to knit socks last summer--she still has the yarn, but no socks. She asked me last week if I'd make her a pair of socks, so I've got her unused yarn and I cast on last night.

I'm going to knit the Knotty or Knice socks from Interweave Knits, Fall 2008. I was originally going to make Pomatomus, but when I saw these, I just had to knit them up. I think this will be only my 3rd toe-up pair and the first time I've ever knit socks for anyone other than myself. I'm a little worried about the fit since I've never knit socks for anyone else (& she lives about 2 hours away - so she can't try them on in progress), but hopefully it will all work out.

Photo courtesy of Interweave Knits, Fall 2008



I used Judy's Magic Cast On with a lot of difficulty (in fact one toe was cast on using the Magic CO and the other toe was cast on with the Figure 8 Cast On since the Magic CO did not work out the 2nd time around). It's the first time I tried the Magic Cast On and it is just not clicking yet. BUT - I just went to YouTube and lo & behold, what did I find, but Cat Bordhi's video of the Magic Cast On!. Hooray!!! Wish I had seen this last night...Oh well. The toes look OK, so I'll just keep on going.

THE STATS
Pattern: Knotty or Knice by Chrissy Gardiner
Source: Interweave Knits, Fall 2008
Date: Cast On 09.22.08
Yarn: Sandnes Mandarin Petit, 2 skeins; Pink; 100% Cotton
Needles #1: Size 1 US (2.25mm); KnitPicks Harmony Options, 40"
Method: Magic Loop; 2 Socks at Once

Monday, September 15, 2008

Baby Knitting

Wow - It's been about 2 1/2 months since I last posted. I guess I had better get caught up. I've completed 3 more knitterly items since I last posted:

Jester Hat (Ravelry link). The pattern, by Wooly Workhead, can be found as a free download directly from ravelry or from here.












Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmerman (Ravelry link). I knit this for the Ravelympics & I am happy to say I made it to the finish line!!!!





Pinwheel Blanket (Ravelry link). This project was also entered in the Ravelympics but did not make it to the finish line on time. I missed it by just a few hours - oh well.... The pattern, by Genia Planck, can be found here.











All three of these are gifts for April at work. She's having a baby in early January. A the time when I was knitting them, she did not know what she was having, but liked browns so hence the colors of the sweater and blanket. We now know she's having a girl, although she's not big on pink, so I'm not sure any of the above would have been in pink anyway. Well - maybe they would have been - I LOVE pink.