Break

So, for some reason, I took a few weeks off from knitting. I know I went at least 10 days without knitting a stitch. It was weird. It wasn't an intentional break, but I guess I needed it. Luckily, I was able to get back into it recently. Yesterday I did a heel flap and today I completed the turn and finished about half of the gusset decreases on my Crest of the Wave sock. I'm glad I ripped it out previously because the pattern really does look very nice on the size 1 needles. I also cast on for a new project a while back, but I haven't made much progress on it either. A friend of mine sent me some possibly DK weight cotton yarn and requested that I magically transform it into a bag. It's based off the Everlasting Bagstopper, but with a ton of modifications. Basically, I love the construction of the Everlasting Bagstopper, so that's what I use from it. I finished the bottom and started the body of it already. It's dyeing my needles a fabulous shade of green that makes me think they're sick. Luckily, I have a set of needles that were turned into a lovely shade of red, so when Christmas rolls around, my needle collection will look a bit festive. Good times. :) Well, I'm glad to be knitting again for now and I really want to finish all the socks I've got going. I'd love to wear my Resurrection socks this fall! Must finish this Crest of the Wave sock so that I can get to that second Resurrection sock. :)

Resurrection socks and Crest of the Wave update

Good news! I finished one of the Resurrection socks the other day. Hooray! It turned out well enough, but there are a couple of things I would change. First of all, I would stop doing the yarn over cable at least one inch sooner than I did. The pattern goes up over my 2 smallest toes and it just bugs me for some reason. I wish I'd thought about it more and that I'd done a few rounds of plain stockinette before beginning the toe. Secondly, I'm not totally fond of the toe either. I did a round toe but it came out funky. I don't really like how pointy the standard toes end up looking on my feet, but it seems like most toes just end up looking pointy on my feet. It must just be my foot, you know? But, overall, this is the best sock I've ever had on my foot. It fits better than any store bought sock. Very cool. I could end up a sock wearer if I keep on knitting them for myself.

In other news, I ripped out almost all of my Crest of the Wave sock. I wanted to make some changes to it. First of all, the design looked neater on the size 1 needles, so I decided to knit the whole thing on the 1s, well, except the cuff. The cuff was knit on 2s and I liked how it felt when I tried it on. The thing that sucks though, is that I don't own 2 sets of size 1 DPNs. So, I have to finish the Crest of the Wave sock, then knit the mate to the Resurrection sock, then knit the mate to the Crest of the Wave sock. Well, technically I could do both of the Crest socks first, but I'll probably end up doing the Resurrection mate first. That's just how I roll, I guess.

Resurrection

Wow. I can't believe it, but I think I've decided to resurrect a project that I abandoned ages ago. You see, a few years ago, I promised my friend Alicia that I would knit her a pair of socks. Originally, we had picked out a Knitpick's yarn called Simple Stripes. (It has been discontinued, or else I'd link to it). Anyway, I started them at least 3 times trying to find the right pattern. I was never truly happy with it. Then, I finally decided on a yarn over cable from Sensational Knitted Socks. I started knitting the first sock and just as I finished the heel turn, my needle broke. Well, it splintered really, but it wasn't going to work anymore. So, I put the project aside so that I could try ordering size 1 aluminum DPNs from Knitpick's. Time passed and I ordered the needles and then I stalled out again. I don't remember what happened, but I was unhappy with it and cast on for about 109 other projects. Until tonight. Tonight, I looked at that sock and thought it is time to finish these suckers.



This picture was taken at least a year ago and it was taken just before I abandoned the project. As of right now, I've just finished the gusset decreases. Oh yeah, and I've decided that since I've made Alicia a kick ass pair of socks, that this pair will now be for me. I've tortured this yarn so much that I don't think I could stand to give it to anyone else. I literally made an entire sock and then ripped it out because I was unhappy. Of course, I've also made design changes that required ripping out a few rows and things of that nature. I just can't pawn them off on someone else in good conscience. Oh well. It appears as though I'm making myself 2 pairs of socks at the same time now.

Oh and about those Crest of the Wave socks? Yeah, I've run into a bit of a problem. I finished the toe and had to rip it out again. It was just a little too short. I'm worried because I don't have a lot of yarn left. I'm cutting it VERY close and it slows my knitting progress down. I hate the idea of ripping out more of the sock and adjusting my gauge and all that, but I may have to. Just pray to the knitting Gods that I will have enough yarn left to finish them. To be honest, I'd rather go out and buy a contrasting yarn for the toes than to redo the sock, I think. Well, maybe not. I don't know. It was a fun pattern and I did make it taller and wider than I needed. Oh I don't know what to do. For now, though, I'm just going to avoid thinking about it by working on the Simple Stripes socks instead. :)

In other news, I turned in my coins at a local Coinstar. I love that you can convert your change into a gift certificate for places like amazon.com. My mom had a jar of quarters she wanted turned in as well, so I took them with me. Altogether, we turned in over $100 worth of change! Amazing, right? So, we got together and ordered some stuff from amazon tonight. I'm getting Charmed Knits, the second season of the Venture Brothers, and I pre-ordered a copy of Norway to Hide by Maddy Hunter. I love Maddy Hunter's Passport to Peril mystery series. Seriously, if you like reading mystery novels and travel, then this is the perfect series. It's a little bit silly and a lot of fun. I'm very excited about the Charmed Knits book because I'm a bit of a Harry Potter fan. The funny thing for me is that I'm probably most excited about the Venture Bros DVD. I love this show. It's one of the greatest shows EVER. It cracks me up to no end. Hooray! I can't wait for the package to get here! :)

Crest of the Wave socks

Well, I cast on for some socks not too long ago. I've been making slow progress, but it's progress all the same. I think I'm in love with them. They are looking very cute so far. The pattern is from More Sensational Knitted Socks and it's called Crest of the Wave. I started out with size 2 needles, but when I got to the heel, I switched to size 1 needles. I wanted to make sure the leg of the sock was loose and comfortable, but I don't want it to be baggy around the foot. I cast on 72 stitches to start, but I want to get the foot down to less than that. I think I will continue decreasing around the foot until I have 64 stitches left. I might even go down a little more than that, depending on the fit. I love trying on socks as I'm knitting them. I think it's fun! Well, I still have a bit to go before this first one is done, but I'm actually looking forward to finishing them soon. I may actually even wear this pair! Shocking, I know!

Chapeau Marnier Pics

Like I mentioned in my previous post, my Chapeau Marnier is finished! It was very small and tight before I blocked it and I was truly afraid it wasn't going to fit. But, of course, blocking is magical and worked wonders. I think if I were to make it again, I would go up a needle size or 2 so it would be a better fit for me, even fresh off the needles. I lost a little bit of the length when I blocked it, but it seems to cover my ears well enough. It's really a very cute pattern and generally easy to follow. I did make a small mistake in the brim, but again, that's what we refer to as a "design feature". That's the only way to know that it was hand-made, or something like that. :)

• Pattern: Chapeau Marnier from knitty.com
• Yarn: Louet Gems, 1 skein
• Needles: Size 2 Addi Turbos and size 2 Brittany DPNs
• Size made: Large

FO - Chapeau Marnier

I took my Chapeau Marnier off the needles tonight. I was very upset at first because it was so very tight on my head. It needed blocking, so I went to it. I'm very glad that I did. It seems like it will be okay after all. The hat required one helluva blocking job, but I guess you have to do what you have to do. :) It is currently drying on my head so pics will have to wait until tomorrow.

Concept Hat Complete

I just realized that I never did post pics of my finished project known as the Concept Hat. I was waiting to post pics until I was certain it would fit and whatnot. Well, I'm most pleased to announce that it fit and it worked! Yea! It looks so cute in person. I did chuckle when I tried it on because it looked a bit Rastafarian on me. Oh well. It looks great over my mom's hair rollers. She said it felt great too. It wasn't too loose or too snug and it stayed in place overnight without issue. Holla!

Pattern: Mine (aka "Made it up as I went along")
Yarn: Crystal Palace Panda Cotton, 1 skein, Colorway 0415, Roses
Needles: Size 7 16" circs
Size 9 16" circs

2 Projects at once

I've been making progress on both of my most recent projects. I'm just a little shy of the half-way mark for my Chapeau Marnier. The flash washed the color out a bit, but I think it still shows how far I've come with it. I just discovered that I may have been a stitch off on part of the pattern, but I'm not going to fix it. It's really not a big deal and when I run the ribbon through it, I'm almost certain it won't be noticeable. Plus, it's a design feature. Yeah, that's it. :)


I've also made progress on the Everlasting Bag. The picture doesn't show too much at first glance. But if you were to look closely, and really use your imagination, you might be able to see that I've finished the base of it and have picked up the stitches to complete the base. After another inch or 2, I'll be switching to size 11 needles and moving on to the body of the bag. Once I do that, it will be a lot quicker and easier. I feel like I'm struggling to keep all these stitches on size 7 16" circs, and well, I am! It's a lot of stitches for those needles, trust me. I didn't have any 24" length circs in a good size, so I made do with what I had. That means stuffing a lot of stitches on a smaller needle. Oh well. They are my Addi Turbos so I imagine they are up for the challenge.

So far, I'm quite pleased with my progress on both projects. I wonder which one I'll finish first. Normally, I'd say the hat would win, but there are a lot of rows when you're making a hat on size 2s. It's a tough call for sure!

Marnier Update

I'm on the super tricksy row 11 of this pattern and I'm doing okay. I had to take a moment to figure out where I was and what I needed to do, but after only 1 small mistake that was easy to fix, I've not had too many problems with it. It looks like it's going to be a big hat! This is a good thing for me because I have a big head. :) I'd love to just bust the rest of this hat out in a day, but I have to pay attention during the beginning and I just haven't had the attention span yet. Honestly, once I'm finished with the super cute brim, the hat will be a breeze.

In the meantime, however, don't be surprised if I cast on for an Everlasting Bag for a friend. She's been hinting, not too subtly, that she wants a bag she can take to the farmer's market. I pointed out this new pattern and said I could be convinced to make it for her. She seemed to really like it, so it's now in my queue. I need to print it out so that I can have it on hand when I'm ready to start.

Marnier hat for me!

I decided to do something drastically out of character today (yeah, right!) and cast on for a new project! My latest project is Knitty's Chapeau Marnier. I'm very excited by this pattern and I'm not sure why. I don't have much of a personal style but I fell in love the moment I saw this hat. The designer has directions for 2 different styles and I haven't totally decided which one to do. I think I'm going to go with the one on her website. I'll make my final decision in about 12 more rows. Hooray for casting on for a new project! :)

So far the only change I would make to the pattern is a very minor thing. She called for using size 6 needles to cast on, but then switching to size 2 needles to work the actual pattern. That ended up being quite the fiddly thing for me to conquer and so I would omit it. I generally don't have a problem with casting on tightly, so I really don't think it was necessary. But, seriously, how minor of a change is that?

And just in case you forgot, I'm using the Louet Gems yarn I balled the other day. I really like this yarn. The red is fabulous and I like the feel of it. I hope this hat turns out as great as I'm thinking it will. :)