Kim's Handwarmers Continued

Tonight is the KNOT (Knit North of Town) mtg of the Knit at Night Guild of Houston. I am looking forward to going since it will be my first time. Yes, I am planning to take my camera. :O) I will be knitting the mate to Kim's handwarmers. The first one is the picture. It still needs it's thumb knit! The thumb stitches are on the pink waste yarn. The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd's Sock in Lakeview. With all the new sock yarns lately, I had forgotten how wonderful and beautiful Lorna's Laces is.

I really like the way they look. Kim, How about a few tiny beads around the edge of the cuff? Very discreet? Love you,
Mom

Kim's Handwarmers

I have become disenchanted with the Jitterbug colorway that I was knitting. It reminds me of camouflage; I hate camo. It has been put in the corner until maybe forever.

This is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Lakeview. I have had this yarn for awhile. To be honest, while we had the shop, 100gr of nearly every sock yarn that came in the shop door; went back out the door and home with me. That is one of the perks of being the YSO! There were only a few colors that didn't make it to the house. I had to really not like it at all AND think that no family member would ever want anything knit with it.


Kim came after Thanksgiving and picked this yarn from my stash for her handwarmers. I do love knitting with Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock. These pictures show the colors fairly true and it is beautiful.

I have realized that there are some things I can be obsessive about. Saturday while vacuuming the living room; I sucked up one of those little Clover stitch markers. You know, the little green and purple rubbery ones that come in two sizes. I LOVE those things; especially the smaller size. The smaller size is perfect for sock yarn knitting. Anyway, I realized what it was just at the moment the vacuum sucked it up! Now, I know I have gazillions of those. I couldn't leave it alone in all that dirt and dog hair; destined to the garbage can. I had to dig through the dirt container and find the damned thing. Poor little guy; he was so glad to get back into the bag with his siblings.

When You Can't Decide What to Knit; Start a Sock

This is Socks That Rock lightweight yarn in the X-Mas Rock colorway. I got it the end of November but never got around to knitting it. I thought I would knit a bit and see what it looked like. YIKES! Maybe it's because I am past Christmas; whatever the reason, I am not liking this much. I think I will put it away until next Christmas; maybe I will like it better then.



This is Colinette Jitterbug sock yarn. The picture just doesn't do justice to the colors in this yarn. They are understated yet rich and pretty fabulous. I started this sock day before yesterday; I have had a hard time putting it down. This morning, I was on Ravelry loading my past projects. Gosh! You can get lost on Ravelry for HOURS! Joe came in and asked if I knew I had been at it for 3.5 hours. Noooo, but I sure am having fun! This afternoon, I did some housework; not my fav thing to do but totally necessary. Neatness will get you by for awhile.... My point is I haven't knit today yet.


This pictures are the same. One is with the flash and one is without. Just trying to get the colors to show better. Neither picture really shows the depth of the colors. Those of you that have knit with Jitterbug know what I am talking about. Maybe the sun will come out tomorrow and I can get a better picture. Sunshine makes everything look better.

(tomorrow is our anniversary! We have been married six years! It doesn't seem like it; then we have been pretty busy. Joe would probably say it does seem like six years to him LOL) Pam is planning Jayden's first birthday party! He can't possibly be 10 months old!

Fetching Update

I loved knitting this pattern and I almost finished them this past weekend. I RAN OUT OF YARN! It is my fault. I used #5 dps instead of the #6 specified. I couldn't find my #6 dps. I know knitting with smaller needles makes a denser knitted fabric therefore using more yarn but I thought it wouldn't be that big a difference. So, I didn't have enough yarn to knit the thumbs. My solution is to frog them both and reknit them (I will enjoy knitting them again) with my #6 knitting needles.

(I found my only set of #6 dps in the closet still in the decreases of the toe of a Christmas stocking)

Especially for Robin/Anonymous - Fetching is a free pattern through Knitty.com. Look in the Archives under the mittens and gloves section.

Fetching Cast On

I have cast on for the Fetching handwarmers this morning. My knitting girlfriend, Debbie, has been emailing me about these. She made a pair and is now making another pair. Getting started meant a trip to my LYS, Twisted Yarns , for a ball of Sublime. You have to go to your LYS and squeeze some Sublime! You won't be able to leave without at least one ball of it. Lucky for us, one ball makes Fetching.

This picture is not true to the color I am using. It is more of a gorgeous sage green. I am going to see if I can make these this weekend keeping in mind that Joe is home with me. (I tend to get sidetracked when Joe is home BUT today there are two football playoff games and tomorrow Dallas plays in a playoff game) I think I can do these in three football games or less! Knit that handwarmer!

(I am going to see if a few beads would look nice somewhere on these)

Back to Joe's Handwarmers

Happily, I can say that the Maizy Twisted Rib Sock Pattern was sent to Crystal Palace Yarns yesterday. It should be up on their blog as a free pattern soon.

I have really enjoyed knitting Joe's handwarmers and hat. It's just a basic pattern which means not really having to think about it much except to measure every now and then. And...the yarn is a pleasure to knit - American Buffalo. It has a lanolin feel to it; not too much to be icky - just soft. The picture is deceiving - as this is a BIG handwarmer. It is as one of my girlfriends noted - man-size.

So, while I was at it - I decided to knit a hat too. Hats are just so much fun to knit! It is a basic hat pattern. I measured his head; multiplied that # by my sts per in and cast on. (It was a considerable cast on # since this is sock yarn weight). This is a generous hat meaning it's not going to be real tight on the head. So, now Joe has a pair of gloves with a matching hat in case it ever turns cold enough that he will want to wear them.

Working on the Maizy Twisted Rib Sock

This is where I have spent most of my day. It's not a bad place to hang out; actually the view is nice. Gratefully, I watched a cool front blow through after lunch. The high yesterday was 79 degrees and extremely humid; completely unacceptable for January.

At the end of last Summer, while still living in Lake Charles, Susan at Crystal Palace Yarns asked me to do some sample knitting with Maizy their new yarn made from corn. After knitting with it; I designed a twisted rib sock and sent it to her. About the same time, we put our house on the market allowing 2 months for it to sell before our house in Houston would be completed. Susan emailed me saying they wanted the sock pattern especially in a larger size for men. At the same time, Dorothy, our realtor, called saying our house had sold the first week. Chaos set in as we began to pack and look for a place to live in Houston while they continued to build our house. Joe, Tugley and I stayed in an extended stay hotel for 7 weeks. We both knitted for sanity's sake. I did work the numbers out for the Maizy man's sock but then we moved into the house. Then, it was Thanksgiving and Christmas....

On top are my original notes for the ladies Maizy sock. My little journal actually got left at the hotel in a large storage cabinet for 3 weeks. (I don't even want to think back to the morning I realized I had left a large tote of yarn, needles, and personal knitting stuff at the hotel) On the left underneath, are the notes made while in the hotel working out the design in a large man's size. It's an absolute miracle after all the chaos from the move that I still had those notes AND could find them! At the right is the finished printed version for both! Hip Hip Hooray! Yee-Ha! (Texan)

Above is one of my original pictures of the Twisted Rib sock in Maizy. I really do like it. Crystal Palace still has a picture of my knitted sock here. I am going to proof the printed versions and email them out tomorrow morning. (now I am going to the kitchen for a margarita)

It's Time to Un-Deck the Halls

Sadly, it is time to put away all the Christmas decorations. I dread this every year. We stopped in at Kim's yesterday and she already had her tree down and put away. Starting is the hard part; once I get started, I tell myself just one more box.....

We took Alexis home yesterday doing one of those "round trips" in a day . It's 7.5 hrs of non-stop driving; but we always stop at least once, sometimes twice. Those are getting to be exhausting; hopefully we won't be doing another one for a while. I did knit on Joe's Handwarmers on the return trip. The second one is almost completed. The thumb on the first handwarmer is a little long. I will have to undo it and make it a bit shorter. The American Buffalo yarn has been so enjoyable to knit with. I think I will knit him a matching hat while I am at it. I love to knit hats! He will have a set in case he ever needs it. South Texas does have some cold days every once in a while.


This is Tugley looking dashing in his Old Navy shirt! He's wandering through the house looking for Alexis. He has just about "outgrown" the hoodie I knit for him a couple of years ago. He did wear it at Thanksgiving even though it was a little snug.

Tugley and Alexis playing.

HI Alexis!

Happy New Year to Everyone

I wish everyone a most happy and prosperous New Year!