Hey, Hey, We’re the Monkeys

Tags

lorna's laces, monkey, socks

Sorry about that title – it’s probably been used on 50% of blog posts about Cookie A.’s Monkey sock pattern [with the other 50% being “Monkey See, Monkey Do”, I’m guessing : )], but I couldn’t resist!  : )  I’ve just finished and photographed my first pair of Monkeys, a wonderful and very popular sock pattern by probably the most well known indie sock designer, Cookie A.

Monkeys are knitted from the cuff down, and have a simple (but effective!) lace pattern that’s easy to memorize but looks complicated (and pretty!).  I’m not a prolific sock knitter, but occasionally the stars align (i.e. I don’t have any bigger project on my needles + there’s some sock yarn that’s calling my name + I’ve knit too many shawls lately) and I knit a pair.  I’ve been wanting to try out Monkey for a while, so I decided to go for it with some Lorna’s Laces sock in “Flames” – a beautiful colorway that was beckoning to me because it looks so fallish and changing-leafy and warm.  The yarn is gorgeous and soft, and I had plenty of yardage with two skeins – I’ve still got quite a bit of yarn left over, maybe for some little ankle socks or some sort of fall accessory.  I used size 0 US needles, because I’m a really loose knitter and can never knit socks that actually require a gauge unless I use zeros (or switch back to American style knitting, which I refuse to do!).

I’m not sure that this stitch pattern was the perfect one for this yarn – maybe I would have preferred something more like Leyburn to break up the colors a little bit?  Well, even though there might have been a better pattern choice out there for this colorway, I’m still really happy with my Monkeys!  It was a very fun pattern, easy to carry along and pick up because the lace repeat is pretty short, and it’s easy to see where you left off in the pattern.  And it’s free from Knitty – awesome!

Is it just me, or is it really hard to take pictures of socks?  Wait, am I saying that about every type of garment?  Hmm . . .

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[Last Minute Gift!] Warm and Cozy Socks

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free pattern, socks

Here’s a quick and easy pattern for some very warm house-socks for your favorite guy (I say guy because they are sized for a man’s foot – US size 10 1/2 – 12). They only take a few hours to knit, so are perfect for a last minute gift!  I used Encore worsted (doubled) to ensure that they could take some abuse (or at least washing).  They’re worked from the toe up and are a quick way to try out Judy’s magic cast on (my favorite for toe-up socks) and a toe up heel flap.

I’ve also worked out a little trick to eliminate the hole at the gusset/heel flap join.  I can’t guarantee that this method is original, only that my pictures are!  If you give it a try, let me know what you think and if it worked for you.  To set up the join, leave the final gusset stitch unworked until you have begun working in the round.  This method decreases the last gusset stitch backwards, so that you are knitting in the round and can close up the final gap between gusset and heel flap.  [If this doesn’t make sense, it might help to take a look at the pattern]

One: after knitting the last gusset stitch, pick up one leg of horizontal stitch from previous row

Two: twist picked up stitch and place on left needle

Three: place previously knitted stitch on left needle

Four: pass picked up stitch and last heel flap stitch over knitted stitch

As far as the pattern goes – it hasn’t been tech edited and has only been knitted by me, so please let me know if you find any mistakes!

February Lady

Tags

february lady sweater, socks

Ah . . . my Summer February Lady Sweater.  We’ve had some good times and we’ve had some bad times – and now you’re going to live with my mom so that I can focus on the good times only and stop glaring at you out of the corner of my eye.

Good moment: sitting on the floor of Gourmet Yarn Co fondling all of the cotton yarns, looking at the bright colors and thinking, “hmm . . . I really like that February Lady Sweater . . . but it’s summer and summer isn’t the season for wool sweaters.  I know!  Brilliant!  Summer February Lady Sweater!”

Good moment:  So excited about yarn I just bought.  Must get out the needles and cast on immediately!

Bad moment:  Arrrgh!  I don’t have the correct gauge!

Good moment:  Oooooh, my gauge is so wrong that I can knit the XS size and it will come out Linden size (which is not usually XS size).  Okay, change that previous bad moment to a neutral moment.

Bad moment:  Hmm . . . I think I might have been slightly confused by the placement of the stitch markers for the yoke.  Well, I’m about to finish the yoke – surely I would have noticed if there was something way wrong earlier.

Worse moment:  Um, there is something seriously wrong with this side of the sweater.  I’ll just take it off the needles and have a look at it to see why it looks weird.  Huh- this sweater is supposed to be symmetrical, right?  It’s time to frog it  : (

Good moment:  I’m going to change the yoke so that there is no chance of me messing this up again (see below for what I did).

Good moment:  Finished with the body and one sleeve!  I’m going to try it on!

Bad moment:   Bah!  I don’t like it on me!  Well, hopefully mom will like it.

Good moment:  Mom likes it!  Yay!  Okay, project can go down in history as a success.

All kidding aside, I really love this pattern, I like this yarn ok – but I don’t like them together for me.  My opinion improved once buttons were added, but I’m still giving the Summer February Lady to my mom because I don’t see myself wearing it.  I only slightly changed the yoke because I didn’t like how the increases looked (and because of aforementioned yoke disaster).  Here are the details:

Pattern:  February Lady Sweater by Flint Knits

Yarn:  Mission Falls 1824 Cotton in Coral

Needles: US3

Modifications for XS size:

CO 78

Place markers at points given in pattern
Increase row: *k to 1 st before m, KLL, k1, sm, k1, KRL; repeat from * 3 times

Work 19 increase rows – 230 sts

Work 35 YO increases (k3, YO, *k6, YO, repeat from * to last 3 sts, k3)

Continue in pattern as written!

Oh, and I also made some basic socks out of what was left of my Knit Picks Stroll Kettle Dyed!

Copycat Seaweed Socks

Tags

socks, toe up

I recently ordered my first Knit Picks yarn, and I have to say that I was very happy with what I received.  I ordered some City Tweed HW for an as yet un-revealed sweater for Sasha and I decided to add some Stroll (formerly Essential) Kettle Dyed Sock to the tab.  I went with the color Bordeaux, a beautiful red-purple.  I couldn’t really decide what I wanted to do with it (I tend to be pretty picky about my sock patterns) until I saw these gorgeous socks made by Susan out of her Pathway Sport Sock Yarn (check out Slackford Studios, I pretty much love everything Susan does).  Her socks are Wendy Johnson‘s Seaweed Socks (ravelry link) – she modified the pattern to work for sport weight yarn.  I actually like the socks a lot better in sport weight, so I did what a lot of people do – I totally copied!

My gauge in the Stroll Sock on size 3US was 5 sts/inch, so I decided to modify the Medium Chart – I worked the pattern repeat 3 times with 2 sts in between the SSK and YO (so the chart was 22 sts and 8 rows).    The sock is worked from the toe up, so I cast on 20 stitches using Judy’s Magic Cast On (which I love) and then increased to 44 stitches for the foot.  The only other change was working a k1, p1 rib for the cuff instead of k2, p2.

I really love the pattern – it’s sort of like a mock cable, it looks beautiful and you only have to know how to SSK and work a yarn over.  I’m also really impressed with Judy’s Magic Cast On, which I tried for the first time for these socks.  Right now, I’m thinking that I prefer this toe to the short row toes I was working before – we’ll see if I come across anything else I like better!

Oh, and did I mention that the Stroll Sock has awesome yardage?  I’ve started a second pair of basic toe up socks to use the rest! : )

Delusion

Tags

flowers, francie, lightfoot, needle case, socks

de·lu·sion: a persistent false psychotic belief regarding the self or persons or objects outside the self that is maintained despite indisputable evidence to the contrary

Let me tell you about Francie Failure 2.0
Let’s remember back to about a week ago, when I was so hopeful that my gauge was close enough for my beloved Lightfoot Francies. Remember I said I’d tell you how the story ended? Well, who knew it would turn out to be a tragedy? (Actually, I think I might detect some foreshadowing here and here.) Unfortunately, this knitter did not see the writing on wall. Let’s diagram the knitting time line of my delusion: (if you find it difficult to believe that the long section is the foot of the sock and the short is the cuff, you are not alone)

It’s not all bad news, though! I finally caved and bought needles I never thought I would need – US 00, and I have the correct row gauge (or at least as close as I will ever, ever get). I WILL make these socks!  And let me say again how much I love this yarn!

Other pretty things – these are my roomie’s flowers, but I’m allowed to take pictures of them, right?

Lazy Saturday

Tags

francie, kaffe fassett, lightfoot sock, socks, toe up

So, it’s the weekend now, and I’ve got my secret wedding present supplies! I’m about 20% finished, and I love it so far. I even took it into L&B to show off (and buy much needed needles) and convinced someone there to knit it as a wedding gift [not for Emily – don’t worry about duplicates :-)]! Don’t be concerned – I swore everyone there to secrecy before I left. Since I can’t really tell you much else about that project, let me share what I completed since last time.

Plain-ole toe-up socks. My Kaffe Fassett’s Design Line Universal Toe Up Socks are finished (they knit up really fast because the yarn is so big – well, big for sock yarn). I really love the colors and they fit great. After looking at more pictures of this yarn on Ravelry, I may have to make a few more pairs of plain-ole toe-up socks in different colorways.

My second accomplishment was getting closer to row gauge for Francie than I have ever been!  I’m well into the foot decreases on the first sock, and I’ll let you know if this story has a happy ending . . .  In the meantime, please enjoy this picture of my Lightfoot Francies.  I think the yarn is so beautiful in this photo that I have found myself looking at it over and over again!

The one where Linden realizes she has a problem

Tags

knitting, koolhaas, malabrigo, miss babs, socks, wrap, yarn

I have a yarn problem. It’s not that I can’t decide which yarn to use. It’s not that it’s too itchy for me to knit with. It’s not even that I have too little to finish my project. It’s that I have too much right now and I can’t stop buying it. This is no thanks to L&B (my LYS) changing up their reward system. For a while now, every $5 I spent was marked on a card and once I got to $200 spent, I could cash in my card for 25% of my next purchase. A steal, right? Well, now I have been told that I have to use any cards I have by the end of December. I won’t say how many I happen to have, as I have been avoiding this fact because knowing would indicate how much I have spent there in the last year. I’m totally in denial about the amount.

But back to why I have so much yarn. I’ve decided that I think it would be awesome to design my own patterns and offer them here and on Ravelry. This means that something I want to make pops into my head and I have to go buy the yarn.

Oh, and then there’s Christmas. Yes, I have to make Christmas gifts because clearly I am super-knitter and can knit things for all 22 members of my family. No problem. Ok, so I’m not planning on making 22 gifts. But I am (for some reason) planning to make 11 gifts (and 5 of those gifts are double gifts – meaning I have to make two of them – knitters, you see the problem). The progress has been good so far, though. Four of the six single gifts complete. Four of the ten double gifts complete. I might make it. That’s not my problem.

Back to my problem. The yarn. So I have too much of it. Reasons: “Designing”, Christmas, forced yarn buying due to discount card expiration, and pretty green yarn addiction. I fear I might have to go on a yarn fast . . . help . . . me

I put designing in quotes above due to the abundance of ideas in my head, the abundance of yarn in my possession, but the lack of concrete evidence of designing (i.e. written patterns). I have made some progress, however. I’ve got one hat pattern ready to go, and I’m almost finished writing out my dream sweater pattern. I’ll be a designer on Ravelry yet!

Now for an update on my knitting projects:

The Jackson Wrap: finished a few days after I returned from Mississippi. I actually love how this turned out, now I just have to find a place to wear it.

Yarn: Miss Babs Yowza– Whatta Skein

Pattern: Dream Swatch Head Wrap by Wendy Bernard (I just made it much bigger)

I also made a Koolhaas hat and mitts for my friend Ryan. Now I just have to get them to him in Denver . . .

Yarn: Malabrigo Yarn Merino Worsted in Charrua Pattern: Koolhaas by Jared Flood

And socks . . .

Pattern- Universal Toe-Up Sock Formula by Amy Swenson Yarn – Miss Babs Yummy Hand Painted