Sunday Already??? Socks Update and New Gadget

WOW!! This week went fast! It's Sunday again and the sun tea is brewing. It is near 90 in Norhteast IN and humid today; the normal high is low 70's for this time of year. So I am taking advantage of the sun tea weather for as long as I can!



Here is an update of the socks from last Sunday. The pattern is Mountain Color's Peaks and Valleys Socks and the yarn is their Bearfoot in Sapphire Trail colorway. This week's picture is more accurate of the colorway. The main color is navy with bits of red, green and orange interspersed. It's a great colorway for fall and winter and the yarn is so cozy!



I want to share a few interesting things about this particular pair of socks. My LYS had a class the past two Saturday mornings of knitting two socks at a time on one circular needle. Since I have never tried the "Magic Loop" method and I have never tried socks on anything other than double points, I thought I'd give it a whirl.



Well, let me tell you, you could hear the neurons "pinging" in my brain as they were growing! I really enjoyed the class. It was challenging to learn two socks at a time on one circular needle, in a patterned cuff and instep and with a dark colored yarn. I love challenges; bring it on! It was fascinating for me to see how to switch the stitches around to fit the sock in progress especially after the heel and picking up the gusset. It is amazing how Sarah Hauschka's mind works. How in the world did she come up with this Magic Loop idea? It's so totally twisted but cool! There is a book, The Magic Loop, which describes the process written by Sara Hauschka and Bev Galeskas published by Fiber Trends. Check your LYS and give it a try.



I decided that I would like to try a few more pairs of socks with this method to get it "implanted" in my brain. I don't know if it will be my method of choice for socks since I have a great rhythm established with double point needles. I'd like to see if I could get a rhthym going with this method. However, it is really fun to have a pair of socks completed at the same time! I am glad that I learned this method; I love learning new things.



There are two other things I learned during this class that I would like to share with you. First, I learned the Twisted German Cast On which is very stretchy and I would like to try this again on a few pairs of socks. If this is something you are interested in, an online search provides you with LOTS of information. Go for it! I also learned about a new gadget to fix my boo boo's. What boo boo's you ask? The ones when I am tired and knitting at night with dark yarn and too lazy to go get the Ott Light. The next morning, they kind of humble you by smacking you right in the face like DUH!! :-D Here was a nifty little gadget called the Seed Stitcher: (Heads up! Lea-ann might be changing the name.) However, you can check it out here and see how it works.

http://www.knittingtoday.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=KT&Product_Code=20011&Product_Count=&Category_Code=

I have to admit, I am a gadget and gizmo gal. This little gizmo is a nifty little handknitter's helper. How does it work? Well, in a nutshell, it reminds me of a Push You Pull Me (the two headed llama on Dr. Doolittle) What?? You also don't remember the giant pink sea snail?? Ok, ok...I know...I need some more sleep! Haha.

Anyway, when dropping a stitch off the needle to knit or purl back up into place, you insert this two headed hook into the stitch below the one you want to fix. Then working up the ladders of yarn, if you pull the head thru, you make a knit stitch. If you push the other head thru, you make a purl stitch. It is very cool, very simple and will work on different gauges of yarn without splitting the yarn. I tried it on fingering weight. Also, you don't have to stop and figure out which way the crochet hook or knitting needle has to go into the stitch to get the stitch you want. It takes a bit to get the hang of it but this will be a staple in my knitting tools bag.

What's For Breakfast?

While making my breakfast this morning as the sun was starting to come up, my Collie, Simba, started whining which means there is a deer close to the house. This little buck was eating breakfast at the birdfeeder right outside my dining room window (hence, the fuzzy picture...it was taken thru the screen and the window).

Our yard is a haven for deer and other critters and having the "herding" instinct inbred, Simba likes to patrol the top of the hill and "herd" the deer to the woods. He never follows them into the woods. In fact, they are so used to him that they will stand on the perimeter of our woods and nonchalantly continue to eat or frolick and ignore him. Too funny! We have "regulars" in our yard which we name including Long Tail ( a young buck) and Mama who gave birth to twins in our yard this year. At any given time day or night, we have deer sightings and if they are not visible, they are easily heard thru the deer paths in the woods. Last winter when a big snowstorm came in, we had 30 deer bed down in our yard.

I have been busy spinning a production order this week so there is not much done on my knitting endeavors. I guess the spinning is appropriate since it is National Spinning and Weaving Week. However I am anxious to start spinning up some of my fiber festival finds for some sweater knitting! I accumulated quite the stash of hand dyed roving from MI Sheep and Wool and from Midwest Folk Art andFiber Festival. If I leave it in plain sight, it looks at me with little puppy dog eyes begging to be spun into luscious yarn. So it is stashed away for now but I swear I keep hearing tiny voices saying, "Spin me. You know you want to. Think how great I will look in a sweater. Think how much fun you'll have...you know you love my colors..." Enough already! There are things and deadlines I HAVE to get finished first. My resolve is faltering but I must move onward and make some progress. So back to spinning I go with daydreams of getting to my own spinning and knitting soon.

Sunday

SUNDAY

SUNSHINE

70's

SUN TEA

SOCKS ON CIRCS

SEE YA!

FO: Socks and Washing

Here is the finished pair. I posted them as my September socks on SAM4 . I did a 2 x 2 ribbing cuff with the leg as follows: 2 rows K, alternate with 2 rows of K2 P2. It is fun and simple and looks great with striped yarn. Sorry, I didn't keep the ballband but I believe it is Online yarn.

I love handknit socks. Once you try a pair, you are hooked! It's fun to see that my children automatically reach for their handknit socks when they want to feel cozy. I often see them wear them when they are "under the weather" or when they are tired and/or when it's chilly. The only time I am not enamored with the kids wearing their handknit socks is when they are playing basketball in the driveway without shoes. :-) They will reach for handknit socks before regular socks. They love them and have even worn them when they've outgrown them! They stretch them to fit. My daughter used to call her socks, "Mommy's Hugs" when she was tiny. I'd like to think that they can feel the love that went into them. Added note: when my kids were little, having them pick their own sock yarn at the LYS allowed me a bit more time to shop! Haha. There is always a method to my madness. :-D

My husband, on the other hand, has not been coerced into trying handknit socks yet. He thinks they will be way too hot since they are made of wool. The kids and I keep telling him that they "breathe" and feel wonderful on. At first I was frustrated that he didn't want me to knit him a pair. He said that if I did, he would not try them on. However, maybe it is a blessing in disguise. He wears a size 13 shoe. I'd be knitting forever! With my kids' feet getting bigger all the time, (my 11 year old son's are bigger than mine not to mention he is now 2" taller than me), I have plenty of socks to knit.

I've heard people say that they wouldn't want to have to wash them by hand. Ever since the kids were small, I put a plastic tote with a hand drawn picture of knitting and socks, on the dryer. They know that their socks go in there and not in the regular laundry. Then when I get a whole bunch, I wash them in the tub sink in the laundry room with a squirt of Dawn and spin them in the spin cycle of the washer. Then I lay them flat to dry on towels either on the deck if it is a nice day or on the floor by the heating vent. It really does not take long to wash them by hand at all. You could put them through the washer and even the dryer depending on the yarn content, but I think they get "nubby" faster. I like the look of them when they are handwashed.

FO: My First Lace Shawl

Charlotte's Web Shawl is finished! It took 5 skeins of Koigu in 5 different colorways ranging from yellow golds/olive greens/corals/golden browns and blues. I'm sorry I didn't save the ball bands so I cannot share the exact dye lot #'s. (The colors are much more rich and vibrant in person.) I blocked this shawl to be about 70" in width and 36" in length.

I had wanted to make this shawl the minute I first saw it but it took awhile until I could find the right combo of colors. One day last fall I made a trip to Needles n Pins . It was a dreary rainy cold day and I needed a little drive cross country to avoid climbing the walls. I had nothing in mind only a small getaway before picking up the kids from school. It was serendipity that a new Koigu shipment had recently arrived. Anyway, I sat down on the floor ( I am known to do that) and played with color combo's until I found just the "right" one for me. I had waited so long to get the right combo and as I layed the skeins out on the floor, the funniest thing happened. The sun broke thru the clouds for a moment and everyone in the shop commented on it. A sign?...it was really funny! My whole day was brightened by the new yarn combo and the thought of making this shawl.

I've had it on the needles for awhile and packed in a box to move to IN. I wanted to finish it but I was stuck on the edging. I didn't want to do the fringe. I'm not really a fringe person and I didn't care for the crochet edging all by itself. I wanted something simple. So when I got it out again recently to finish, I did a search online to look at examples and I found a beautiful example on Knitting Wench's blog . She simplified the shawl by doing a YO edging. I loved it; thank you so much for the inspiration! Aren't blogs wonderful?

So here she is in all her autumn color glory just in time for Autumnal Equinox! I really enjoyed knititng this shawl. It was a wonderful project for my first lace shawl.

Spa Day for Knits

My Charlotte's Web Shawl had a spa get away in SOAK (Aqua fragrance, I believe). I really like the scent. It is fresh and makes the house smell good, not at all like wet wool. Plus it leaves the yarn so silky soft afterwards.

Then Charlotte got blocked today. I pinned and pinned and didn't realize how long it took but I'm glad she's drying. I told you I'd show her before the official first day of Autumn and believe it or not, that is this Sunday. Time goes way too fast!

Other items that were washed today (but with a spritz of Dawn) were the kids' knit socks and some of my own. I finished the purple turquoise pair that was featured in a previous post. We've had a bout of cold nights last week in the upper 30's and lower 40's so I am just getting ready for when it decides to stay awhile. I hope it is not too soon. I'm enjoying our seasonable weather this week of 80's during the days and 60's at night.

Swatch This: Sneak Peek

It has been about a week and the little guy on Friday the 14th's post (let's name him Al) has been working along slowly but surely. Maybe he should be a turtle instead of a walrus. :-D The swatch is now 12" x 34 1/2" all garter stitch. Any clues yet as to what it is? Knitting Today's ladies cannot guess since they already know from last Friday's sit and knit.

It's coming along...not only the project but Mother Nature's project as well!

Enjoy your day!