Holy Cow(l)! :D

This was a really fun pattern to do. It's a freebie from my LYS, Hearthstone Knits, when you buy the yarn. The yarn is Aquamarina by Lana Gatto, in the Carnival colorway, which can be found here: http://www.diamondyarn.com/d/yarn/52-aquamarina/
I modified the pattern just a bit to make it a big bigger around. It's still tall enough! It's very nice and warm, and adds just enough warmth w/o bulk.

I have 2 skeins in the blue colorway to make another one, but I think I'll use a different stitch pattern.

More socks!

Ned's Regia



My Regia Cotton "quill lace" which is a really easy pattern-two rows....one row is knit all the way round, and the other is just some YOs and Ktogs.



Mary Maxim bamboo 2x2 rib....which is pretty and soft, but really really splitty. Speaking of Mary Maxim yarn.....I ordered a couple of other yarns at the same time, went to start them, and realized they were wound opposite on the two balls! Yikes, talk about a PITA......I finally started one and hopefully will be able to rewind the other ball so it comes off the skein in the same order. It's really pretty yarn (I think it's called Gemstone), but I would never order from them again, knowing what I know now. The bamboo was one skein, so no worries. I don't even want to think about the other two skeins of Gemstone that I ordered in another colorway.




Hand dyed for me! Well....the socks are for me from a hand dyed yarn that was actually dyed about 45 miles from here in Wentzville, MO, especially for Hearthstone Knits. I don't remember the name of it, but it's one of the Operas. I have to laugh when I look at the label since they mispelled the shop name. :P

I started these almost two years ago and couldn't quite figure out how to finish them. I finally decreased at the heel and made a gusset for the foot. The second one went very quickly. I finished these on the way to Canada this month.

Woohoo!

Easy Socks group KAL May/June

Done! Very easy pattern, made even quicker and easier by using worsted weight yarn. I usually don't use heavy yarn, but thought I'd go ahead and use some CottonEase I had. I remember it being pretty cheap-I think Michael's had the color on clearance. So yeah, they aren't exactly very spring like, but they are still finished socks! LOL Since I have never used this yarn in socks, I have no idea how they will wear. The yarn itself comes in lots of pretty solid colors, and is 50/50 cotton/acrylic. Information on the yarn is here: http://www.lionbrand.com/cgi-bin/yarnInfo.cgi?yarnPage=1694582

As you can see, I made a couple modifications....I just couldn't resist! I made the cuff longer, and did a short row heel instead of the one called for in the pattern. BTW, the best instructions I've found for a short row heel is from the Ann Budd pattern called Ambrosia Socks, and can be found here: http://www.knittingdaily.com/blogs/patterns/archive/2007/07/30/ambrosia-socks.aspx?download=true

Easy Socks KAL

I'm in a yahoogroup full of lovely knitters called Easy Socks. Umm the group is called Easy Socks, the lovelies.....no clue if they are Easy or not. LOL

Anyway, we do KAL every couple of months, and I really do enjoy them. I don't always get them finished or posted, but I do most of them.

This time we're doing Alli's Anklets, which can be found here: http://www.knitwits-heaven.com/all_anklets.htm I remember going into my LYS last year for the yarn and buying Plymouth Jeannee worsted as a substitute. So I'm all set for this KAL!

I have one scheduled for Sept/Oct, and I do have a couple of things in mind. Something a bit more challenging, but not so challenging to make you tear your hair out.

I think what intimidates most people who are new to sock knitting (or circular knitting in general) is using double points, not the size of the needles or yarn. But if you've done any circular knitting at all, the pattern I'm thinking of will be a snap.

Speaking of easy socks.....this pattern looks really cute and even easier than the one I'm probably going to do.

http://www.plymouthyarn.com/index.php?nav=cPatterns.freePatterns&pattern_id=000027

More fingerless mitts!

Yeah, I'm loving these! My hands are cold and I don't like wearing regular gloves when I knit or type on the computer. (well duh, that's why people do these, right?) So I made another pair. (and in a day or two, you'll see yet another pair from Regia Stretch.....another story)

I used the same pattern I used for the Magic Stripes pair from a previous post. But this time I made them a bit smaller. I CO 56 and decreased to 42 after the ribbing. There is plenty for a pair of socks. I don't think I used 1/2 the ball for the mitts. Wondering now if I can get a hat out of the rest of that ball. I guess I'll try measuring it somehow......in my spare time. lol

I love the yarn and I have another ball of it in a different colorway. It's so soft that I kind of thought it might not be a good one for socks. It's hand painted fine merino socks from Lanartus in the turquiose/fuscia/blue/purple/pink/lavender colorway. The next set will be from the same yarn in the variegated blues. And I think I will do the thumb a bit differently. I like the rolled edge, but maybe I'll do one w/o that next time. Maybe a couple of ribbing rounds before the bindoff. They look like they are a bit different in size, but I think it's because one of them was tried on more.

Ooooh I love this yarn! And if it weren't so expensive, I'd be tempted to do a sweater from it.

Did I mention I love this yarn?

Moda Dea Sassy Stripes Socks

More socks! Pairs #4 and 5....I think. :P

These are both made with Moda Dea "Sassy Stripes" yarn. It's soft and the striping is pretty neat, but if you'll look carefully, the two socks in each pair don't really match. Yes, they are all the same dye lot (respectively of course), but one of the blue striped socks has way more yellow, and the colors in the red/pink socks aren't very true either. Naturally the lighting isn't perfect, but you can still get the idea. Another thing that was really weird was that the pink/red yarn is really a lot thinner than the other one. So there was a bit of adjustment on the second pair. I'm not complaining at all. I look at it as a learning experience. I'm sort of tired of hearing people whine about such and such, so I hope I don't come across like that when I describe this yarn.

However, I'm sort of glad I didn't pay for this yarn. Some kind soul gave it to me from her stash. I'm wondering how they will wash. Instructions call for machine wash, and dry flat. That seems odd to me since they are 100% acrylic. I'll probably forget and throw them in the dryer. (note-I've washed and dried them several times and they haven't shrunk or faded.)



But you know, they turned out pretty nice actually. I used bits and pieces of patterns from some leaflets I'd gotten at my yarn shop (sorry, LYS is the proper acronym/jargon), as well as some patterns online. I really like the way the heels turned out. Those heel instructions are from knitty.com and the Ambrosia sock specifically. You know I'd probably better write the pattern down before I forget what I actually did. :P

Oh well, you know, they're free socks and I'll wear them proudly. lol






I've been starting a stash, so not sure what I'll do next. I think I'm very nearly ready for some size 0's and some of that really cool sock yarn I've been fondling.

Now I need to finish the KAL from the EasySocks list. More on that later. ;)

Jiffy Thick and Quick/Red Heart Strata socks

The other socks.....

The first pair shown was made from Jiffy Thick and Quick, using the same pattern as the Sharpe socks. That pattern is easy and using that thick yarn makes them go very quickly. Duh, maybe that's why it's called "Thick and Quick" lol Anyway, these fit even nicer than the worsted weight version, so I'll probably do a bunch of these for my SIL and Mom for Christmas. And who knows, if someone is extra nice to me, he/she might get a pair too!

The second pair is using Red Heart Strata Stripes, which is also worsted weight. I used a different pattern for this pair. This pair will probably go to my SIL or my Mom, because they are a bit big for me. I will use this pattern again, but will do the heels differently and also do some more decreases when I get to the foot part. The heels look a bit funky in the picture, but they aren't quite that weird in "real life."

They haven't been washed yet, but since they are acrylic, they most likely won't shrink or change shape much. But what's so cool is the way the striping works out. I used two separate skeins and fussily started the two at the same point in the yarn pattern, but they really do match quite closely.

The Sharpe Socks

Well okay, since I don't use this one for much, but apparently I use it to comment on other blogs, I'll start using this one for my knitting projects. I hear you saying "woohoo" all the way over here, so just calm down and don't get too excited quite yet.

I've been knitting for nearly 30 years, but sort of got away from it to quilt for a few years. I also took some time off to do thread crochet. (hmmm maybe I need pics of that stuff too sometime) But anyway, I'm back to my needles with a vengeance and have recently fallen in like with doing socks.

Yes it's true what they say, "once you do socks, you never go back." So I have been collecting really cool sock yarns and am on my 4th pair.

I feel that the first pair needs a bit of explanation. I used a pattern from the internet called "mini training sock" and it was only supposed to be small and cute to enable practice on heels and toes, etc. The rest of a sock is pretty straightforward knitting, but heels and toes require a bit more concentration and manipulation of the yarn and needles. Let me tell you, the first time I did a Kitchener stitch toe, I was thinking "wow-this is way cool and it worked!" (simple things for simple minds, eh?

Anyway, I didn't see the sense of using the "good" yarn for a practice piece, so found some variegated/camo Red Heart worsted weight yarn and used that. Well, as I did more and more, I thought I might as well make the sock to fit me. I have small feet so it wasn't that much more knitting. But by golly, they *do* fit and even though they are butt ugly, they are my first pair of socks. The Bean buds call them the Sharpe socks, because they look like they'd match up with Richard Sharpe's Green jacket. ;)

Here they are, for what it's worth.