Michaela Made Me Do It....

OK, the Brits finished their April socks early and now they are hinting at our being behind the curve.  I needed to post something this month anyhow, I'm not being prodded by Michaela, yeah, no way I'm competitive...my socks for this month are the most beautiful blue, Malabrigo sock yarn.  These socks are super soft and springy, really I can not wait to slip my feet into these babies!

Watch this space

I'm 2 inches into the second sock. Needless to say, I chose the plain foot, for speed. I'm traveling this weekend, which usually is good for making sock progress, but this time I'm the driver!! So 8 lovely knitting hours lost. . .

April ends one week from today. It occurs to me that Pat and I are the bosses of this project, and we didn't specify any penalty for missing the deadline, but I'll be so disappointed. . .

Watch this space. . .

--Elizabeth

Note to self...

We are half-way through the month and I haven't mention the yarn I'm using or the pattern.  I haven't posted a photo or discuss my knitting thoughts...tomorrow, I must take sock knitting pictures and post them.  On top of that I only have half a month to finish this pair of socks, ouch!

Monkey mind

I think I have spring fever. We're halfway through the month on Thursday, and I've just barely started the heel turn on sock #1 (on 68 stitches, for big feet. . .)

It's not that I haven't been knitting! But I am frighteningly easily distracted in the spring -- look at this yarn, wouldn't it make a pretty scarf? Let's cast on and see. Oooh, it would be so much fun to knit something for Sarah's baby. I should work on that white blanket for the hospital -- it's halfway done. But all these family weddings must mean I should be knitting presents. . . and it's been a long, long time since I made myself a sweater. Oooh, I have this great idea for an afghan block based on a traditional pattern, and I really need to try it out right now. . .

Help!

(No pictures, because in the unlikely event that any of these get finished, they're meant to be surprises.)

Morning glory

For April's blue socks, I finally chose the yarn from The Woolen Rabbit. The colorway is called Morning Glory (not currently available on her web site) -- I'd say the blue is more like hydrangeas, but both are lovely, so that's not a problem! I'm finding this yarn impossible to photograph -- there are brief intervals of green in it that just don't show up. They're the same value as the blue, and with a blue rather than yellow tint, so the color is defeating me. I will persevere and eventually post a picture that shows reality. (Obviously, I should fool around with the background.) Meanwhile, here's what the sock will look like (it's already several inches longer, though):



The pattern was immortalized in the early days of the Socknitters group on Yahoo as the blueberry waffle socks, but it's a pretty basic rib.

I started (because I like to) with 8 rounds of k1, p1 ribbing, and then began the pattern:

rounds 1 and 2: *k2, p2* around
rounds 3 and 4: k all stitches

If I'm feeling ambitious, I'll continue the pattern down the instep after the heel turn, but I may just need the feel of the open road (ie, speedy stockinette) by then.

What I did with the rest of my month...

Yes, after I finished my socks I had time for some other knitting.  I made a pair of baby booties for a new dad at work.  I love this pattern and have been using it for years.  Each bootie takes me about an evening to make and you can vary the size by using different thicknesses of yarn.

 My young neighbor came over and helped model them.

I continue to knit scarves, they are the most mindless knitting and sometimes that's exactly what I need.  This month I made the Petits trous de printemps scarf.  My knit buddy Gina translated the pattern for me.  I made it using Kid Silk Haze...I love that stuff!

Hot Dog...I finished my socks!

Please tell me you can see the color similarity between hot dogs and my socks...these hot dogs are fresh out of the freezer and are the upscale, all beef variety, stretch your mind and think about fairground dogs, floating around in a vat of greasy water, come on you know the ones.  Having an "ah ha" moment?  Want to admit that I was right?

I'm glad I finished these socks and I will find a family member to wear them but they are too thick for me.  I am a bit disappointed with Socks the Rock yarn.  I have a skein of the thinner STR and I will try that but the colors pooled and weren't outstanding not what you expect from high end yarns.