Last post, I showed the finished toes of the Gentleman’s Fancy Sock from Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush. At first, I thought the Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Potluck in Blues/Purples I was using looked better in the skein than in the sock, but it grew on me. I’m quite pleased how well these turned out.

To make these for me and not a gentleman, I started at 72 stitches and decreased to 64, which I further decreased to 60 when working the gussets. I also did a slip-stitch heel flap instead of stockinette; I also did a wide toe, but I don’t know if that was part of the pattern or not (which is upstairs, and I’m lazy).

Half-way down the foot of the first sock, I realized I had changed the instep pattern to one knit row instead of two between the alternating sets of 2×2 rib. I couldn’t see a real difference, so I kept on going and did the second sock the same way. I also made sure I made these long enough before starting the toe: 1.5 inches from the total length not 2 inches, like many patterns suggest.

I liked this pattern stitch for an easy sock as it was more interesting than just 2×2 rib (doing 8 row sets of rib seemed to go faster than just measuring length), but I obviously didn’t need the pattern to keep going. I like having such a sock in progress: not too dull but not requiring a lot of mental power to stay on track. Once these were done, I didn’t feel like knitting the second Retro Rib Sock yet, so I looked for another such pattern. Luckily, Anne had just offered the Roger Sock for sale, and I knew it would look great in some BFL superwash sock yarn from Little Dog Designs. I really like the BFL yarn; it has a nice luster, and the dye job is great! The colorway is called Poseidon, and is richer than this photo suggests (it’s a billion degrees outside–I’m not going outside to photograph anything much less wool today–see lazy comment above–I am doing laundry in a 90+ degree garage).

Well, that’s enough computer time for today, as tomorrow I’ll be referencing a manuscript, which will try Archie’s and my patience to the limit. But I need to point out that M has been diligently blogging at Cocktails with M this summer! He’s had no comments. The Side Car is one of my favorite cocktails. Cheers!

As for knitting, my sore first knuckle of my right index finger is taking its own sweet time to heal completely. I’ve resprained it twice now, thinking it was all better when it was still feeling a bit piqued. Once was while knitting on the raspberry throw I started early in the year. It was just too heavy. So it is lightweight knitting for now. Luckily, it isn’t the process of knitting that causes pain just the weight of the knitting (and knitting too much through the backloop). I can knit the sleeves from my La Gran Cardi (if you want a visual refresher, it’s in the same post as the raspberry throw above), as mohair weighs practically nothing. I was certain I would have to make the sleeves shorter than the pattern specified, so I blocked the body pieces, seamed the shoulders and then tried it on. Making the sleeves exactly as the patter dictates will work just fine. My Tudor Grace scarf is done and blocked, but I haven’t been able to take a good picture of it on yet, so that will have to wait.

But I have been able to finish some socks. This is important, as my feet love handknit socks and hate purchased socks. Last winter I had to rely more on the latter than the former, and my feet decided to be drier, itchier, and colder. I finished the stockinette socks in CTH Champlain Sunset:

I tried a cable pattern with this yarn first that were staggered rope cables with no purling between the ropes. It was too subtle for this busy colorway and not stretchy enough for socks. I tried something else too, but I can’t remember what, but the yarn finally convinced me it just wanted to be stockinette. In the end, I agree it was the best choice. Moving along, I also finished the Nodding Violet socks in STR medium weight.

I have these socks on as I write, and the medium weight STR will work in some of my shoes, but I think these will be best as I am wearing them now–with my fleece-lined slippers when my feet and ankles are like ice cubes. In addition to finishing these two pair, I have two single socks also completed: a Spring Monkey and a Gentleman’s Fancy Sock.


I love everything about the Monkey sock: yarn, pattern, colors. I’ll definitely be knitting this pattern again. I have the second sock started. The Gentleman’s Fancy Sock, which I’ve slightly modified from Nancy Bush’s pattern in Vintage Socks, is more of a disappointment. The colors knit up aren’t as pretty as the yarn in the skein. The duller shades of grey-blue stick together and the more intense purple-blue is then left on its own. This remained consistent though the leg decreased from 72 to 64 stitches, and the foot has only 60 stitches. I’d like better mixing. Oh, well. I will knit the second sock, but not just yet. Since I feel a desperate need for blue socks, I started a Retro Rib Sock from Favorite Socks in Knit Picks Essential Tweed in Blue Ox. That is going much better.

I also started a shawl in some stashed Sea Silk I had on hand, as I realized we are going to an evening wedding in June in the mountains by the ocean. But that will have to wait for another post. I should go clean out a closet of things that I don’t really want to take to a seventh state. M is at work; I can throw more things away when he isn’t around.

Socks knit in Seacoast Merino/Tencel in the Baltic colorway:


I made up the pattern using a yarn-over “cable” and a beaded rib, which I deem so-so. I also made the heel flap a little short for my instep and the sock circumference a little small for me by accident. However, these will fit my MIL very well, I think, and they are colors she loves. Voila!–one pair of socks for Christmas 2009 done. The yarn and colors are superb.

But I did end up with hand knits for me! The grey tweed pullover has worked out very well. It’s roomy, but I got the sleeve length perfect, and I modified the rolled neck of the pattern to stockinette with purl ridges to better match the detailing on the sleeves and body. I’ve worn this sweater A LOT.

I also knit myself a hat with leftover yarn with the same rolled edge with purl ridges. I like this hat! I usually hate hats.


You can see the machinations I go through to photograph myself. Glare is not kind. But you can see my final FO–the Malabrigo cabled brioche scarf. Wow! So soft! So cushy! So warm! This might be my favorite hand knit so far. It was wonderful in Wisconsin. I didn’t block it as it looked good and was the perfect width for my short neck without blocking. I went beyond the neckwarmer I originally planned, and I was glad for the extra warmth. It’s about 42 inches long, as seen on the couch-o-meter:

Well, that’s it for 2008 FOs. 17 in all. A goodly number. Onward!

Bad News: Good golly my hamstrings are sore!
Good News: I started yoga again after an eight year hiatus. I found a great teacher who is fun and smart, and I’m still scarily flexible.

Bad News: The Lucky 7 Hat I knit as a Christmas gift for my SIL will be too small for her.
Good News: The hat turned out well, and it fits Meghan, a grad student in lab who is petite. The hat was not knit in vain; it has a head!


Bad News: I have to knit another hat. I hate knitting hats. I especially hate 16-inch circular needles.
Good News: I have 8″-long dpns. I can make up a simple hat pattern good for skiing (must have fold over brim). I knit a gauge swatch and found out the head measurement of my SIL. 96-st around will work fine.

Bad News: I didn’t have enough dark green yarn left over to make a second hat. The green matches SIL’s ski jacket.
Good News: I can buy yarn online! Above is Wool of the Andes in Ivy Kettle Hand-dyed. To get free shipping, I “had” to buy enough yarn to knit a sweater for me. Below is Wool of the Andes in Fern.

Bad News: Some knitters complain that their Wool of the Andes is scratchy and the skeins full of knots.
Good News: Not scratchy to me. One knot in the first skein. Colors seem very good.

Bad News: I could go on and on with this Bad News-Good News thing.
Good News: I’m stopping now.

While knitting the first pair of Christmas socks in a 4×4 rib, I realized that if I didn’t get any sock blockers, I was going to have awful photos.  The socks were too narrow for my feet, so I asked Cristi, the turtlegirl, if she’d make me a pair of  blockers.  Cristi usually puts rulers on the blockers, but I didn’t need that, so she asked if I wanted anything else.  Well, I had a ladybug tape measure and a beehive pincushion (see below), so I thought something keeping with the “good bugs” theme would be cool.  Cristi did dragonflies, and I couldn’t be more pleased.

So, the first pair of Christmas socks, which I finished in August, can now have their FO pic on the blog.

The yarn is Fleece Artist Merino in Lily Pond. I knit on 2.25 mm (size 1) needles, which with my tension the FA yarn made for a very durable fabric. I don’t think I’ll do that again. Plus, on size 1 needles, the Eye of Partridge heel took 42 rows for 21 picked up stitches. I’m somewhat surprised that the gussets worked out as well as they did. But they are DONE!

I also finished the second pair of Christmas socks in a K3,P1,K1,P1 rib for the leg and a stockinette foot. These turned out nice in Fleece Artist Seawool in Burgundy.

I wasn’t enthralled with the Seawool; it felt a little artificial, but the knit fabric turned out very nice. So that’s IT on the Christmas socks. I have one hat to knit for a gift. I already knit a hat, but it is too small for the recipient, so I ordered new yarn. The too small hat should fit a grad student in lab who is a size 0 and grew up in Phoenix, so she finds northern California cold. She’s agreed to a photoshoot if the hat fits, and then she can keep it.

I have to show you my bottle cap pin cushion (the support is a bottle cap from a 2 liter soda bottle) made by Very Big Jen, which I bought at her etsy shop, Schmaltzy Craftsy. It is so cute! (and I’m usually pretty immune to cute) I haven’t been able to stick any pins in it yet. So it currently functions as a objet d’art. With the dragonfly sock blockers and my ladybug tape measure, the trio makes quite a nice little “good bugs” grouping. Good bugs, of course, are those bugs that eat the bad bugs that bite me (or provide the world with food by pollinating plants and eating crop pests–I suppose that’s almost as important as eating the bugs that bite me).

As for bugs biting me, let’s just say that when asked what sort of insect repellent he uses, M says, “I stand next to my wife, and they are too busy biting her to bite me.” Nice.

I finished Nelosys (Never-ending Left-over Sock Yarn Shawl) way back in June, and just didn’t get around to blogging about it. I kept thinking I could get in a modeled photo shoot. However, that hasn’t worked out, and the blocked shawl lying neatly folder on my work counter finally shouted, “Just take my &*%#%@* photo and blog me!” All-righty then.

Those of you who don’t remember my posts of last April (if you do, you need help), Nelosys is a shoulder shawl of my own design, which I knit using left over sock yarn. I chose my cool-colored leftovers, transitioning to a new color through 3 rows of garter stitch so that purl ridges formed on the right side (row 1 in old color, rows 2-3 in the new color). Each new new colorway has at least one color in common with the old. This caused a shift from blue-purples to blue-greens and back ending with purple-greys on the outside edge (the shawl is knit top down from the center with 4 increases every right side row).

From the top:
1. Claudia Hand-Painted, Walk in the Woods: stockinette
2. Shibui sock yarn, Midnight: seed stitch
3. Fleece Artist Merino, Midnight: crossed stockinette
4. Cherry Tree Hill Supersock, Peacock: rice stitch
5. Fleece Artist Merino, Nova Scotia: fleck stitch
6. Fleece Artist Merino, Hercules: moss stitch
7. Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock, Black Pearl: garter

I knit the shawl with size 5 needles, but bound off using size 7 needles. I didn’t pin for blocking, just laid it out nicely after a nice bath in my shampoo for color-treated (cough! cough!) hair. It is 54 inches along the top hypotenuse, and 27.5 inches from the bottom tip to the top edge. I was out of cool-colored sock yarn at this point, so I’m glad I got a shawl of a usable size. All in all, I’m quite pleased with how it turned out. We keep our house very cool, and I wanted something to keep my neck and shoulders warm when knitting or reading. This should fit the bill!

I’m not ready to start a second Nelosys, but I’m getting a good collection of leftovers in bright colorways…

Happy Autumn!

But even with all the book craziness, I do have a FO: the Stansfield 27 socks are done! These are for my friend Nancy, who takes exquisite care of her hand knit socks, but also wears them regularly. She also notices fancy toes, stitch patterns, heel architecture, etc. So, she is definitely a good person to knit socks for.


The photo of the socks on my feet show the Raspberry color of the Fearless Fibers Superwash Merino the best. Charlene Schurch in More Sensational Knitted Socks includes this 10-stitch repeat pattern from Lesley Stanfield’s stitch dictionary. The only thing I changed was to change needle sizes from 2 to 1 part way down the leg for some pseudo-shaping, and I used the Star Toe of Three Points from any one of Nancy Bush’s sock books. That toe is a little longer than a standard toe, so I was able to end the pattern where I wanted, so it starts at the top and ends at the bottom of the sock at the same place, but I was still able to get a sock the right size for Nancy.

It is a nice stitch pattern to knit. Every other round is just knit, and it’s easy to count the garter ridges of the basketweave pattern. Here’s the pattern stitch up close.

So, now after a wash, I’ll be able to give them to Nancy for her birthday which was July 31st, and she’ll tuck them into a drawer until the end of October when it might get cool enough for her to wear them.

Well, August 27th was my second Blogiversary, and I plan to have a belated contest to celebrate, but I’m still working out the details. I the meantime, while I dither, knit on!

The Twisted Flower Socks were part of the Single Sock Swap, and Jean of Golden Purl knit the first sock, and then sent me it, the yarn and the pattern. The yarn is Lana Grossa/Meilenweit Seta/Cashmere (65% wool/15% silk/16% polyamide/4% cashmere) in a lovely light navy, and of course the pattern is by Cookie A. I managed to knit the second sock so that it is identical to the first!

Even up close!

So this swap was a long time ago blogwise (but not so long when considering earth plate tectonics), and I received the package from Jean last November. I put off knitting until after the holidays, and then things went pretty well until I got to the heel flap, which had SSPs on the wrong side rows. The sock asked for a time out before I killed it. That purling two together through the back loop after twisting the stitches was, shall we say, unpleasant. After a couple months rest, I went back to the sock in a fit of guilt, and now all was easy. Even the twisted motifs, which had been doable, but I was looking at the chart almost every other stitch, now seemed logical. How could I have ever been so confused before? My brain did something in that intervening time; I don’t know what, and I’m not asking. I did check, and I can still do long division of two digit numbers into 4-5 digit numbers in my head, so that wasn’t what went in gaining understanding of what twist goes where. I can still sing the alphabet song too, but I’m sure something vital has flown the coop.

Anyway, I’m even contemplating knitting another pair of socks with twisty patterns in the future. I was going to also post the Stansfield 27 socks today, as they are also done, but they need a little bath and some blocking to be camera ready.

Plus, NELOSYS the first is done and blocked, but it has been too hot for modeled shots, so that has been on blog-posting hold too. And I have made several acquisitions, and I have a couple more on the way. But Archie, my computer, is again sick! It is something different this time, which even M doesn’t understand (this is very hard for me to understand as M thinks like a computer–he usually makes Mr. Spock seem overwrought with sensibility). Archie, when running on his battery, knows he has battery power left, but he shuts down anyway. He’s not overheating, he just goes to a black screen. Sigh. And then he won’t restart unless he’s plugged in. I’ve calibrated the battery and both his battery indicators indicate that he still has battery power. I fear Apple will want to see Archie again, and then I’ll be away again from the blogosphere. Good thing I have a lot of yarn…

I call this the Stained Glass Scarf for what I think are obvious reasons. The yarn is Artful Yarns Portrait in Weeping Woman. The Potrait series of colorways are all based on famous portrait paintings, and I assume this colorway is for the Picasso Weeping Woman painting. This drop stitch pattern was the third stitch pattern I tried–yes, I did rip mohair but very, very carefully. It was the best for the short stretches of color.

Garter Drop Stitch:
Row 1: knit
Row 2: knit, wrapping yarn 2X around the needle (I used US 9 needles)
Row 3: knit, dropping extra wraps
Row 4: knit

While my computer was on the fritz, I won a prize! I won a skein of sock yarn in Claudia’s Bike for MS fundraiser. I got sent a lovely skein of CTH supersock in the Simply Sock Yarn Company Anniversary Colors.

I have a twisty-ribby idea in mind, but I have other socks to finish first. More on those socks in another post. But I do want to mention a new series of historical mysteries (the first two are out) that I have enjoyed very much. They are the Lady Julia Grey mysteries by Deanna Raybourn.

The setting is mid-Victorian period in Britain. Silent in the Grave is the first novel, and it deals with the death of Lady Julia’s husband. Lady Julia assumes her husband’s congenital heart problem has killed him, but one of her dinner guests, Nicholas Brisbane, a private detective to the rich and famous, is sure it is murder. When Lady Julia realizes Mr. Brisbane is right, she decides to solve the murder, and asks for Mr. Brisbane’s help. Mr. Brisbane prefers to work alone. Lady Julia insists on helping. Sparks fly, and the culprit hasn’t a prayer of escaping.

The plot is clever and the characters are a great deal of fun. Furthermore, Ms. Raybourn is a good writer. She has an ear for dialog too. I am a very picky reader. My dad, a literature professor, taught me to recite from T.S. Eliot’s and Gerard Manley Hopkins’ poems when I was in grade school. I learned a love of words from this which led to an aversion of flat, lackluster writing. I am happy to report that I didn’t groan once while reading these two mysteries. I liked the first so well, I had to go out immediately and buy the second. Now I wait in loneliness for the third. Good mysteries are hard to find; I highly recommend these.

First, I made the knit even portion of the sleeves 1.5 inches shorter than the pattern called for, and I still ended up with 7/8- and not 3/4-sleeves. Since my row gauge wasn’t off, and I don’t have horribly short arms, I don’t know why this happened. But you can see that these aren’t 3/4-sleeves at all, even if I do have my t-shirt sleeve hanging out on one side. Therefore, without thinking about it, I keep pushing the sleeves up when I wear it, and now the sleeves are getting baggy (or is that because all the sleeve increases were done in one row–the last row of ribbing). I wish I had knit the ribbing on smaller needles even though the pattern didn’t call for doing that. I didn’t pin out the ribbing while blocking, but to me it looks like I did.

I’m wearing jeans that fit when I weighed 40 lbs more than I do now, and I didn’t wash my hair this morning, hence the cropped photo. Also, I could only find the 2 second delay on my camera and not the custom-set delay, so I didn’t have much time to pose. Sigh. But I couldn’t wait to get this post done and to get it marked finished on Ravelry. It just didn’t seem really done until all that was completed.

The body length, although not as cropped as in the magazine photo, is fine with me, as I’m really not cool enough to wear cropped tops. I was aware that the body length wouldn’t be cropped, as I had measured other cardigans of mine, but I did knit the length given in the pattern. I’m 5′ 6″ tall, so I don’t know how tall the magazine model was for the sweater to look as short as it did, but she must be pretty darn tall.

All in all, this was my third sweater and a definite improvement in both knitting quality, finishing and fit than my first two sweaters. So, even though it’s not perfect, I’m pretty pleased. I really enjoyed the moss stitch, and I like how it looks, especially juxtaposed with the stockinette. The bright navy color and the quality of the Cascade 220 are also big pluses in my book. I learned a lot with this sweater, including that cap-sleeves aren’t a big deal to seam properly, and I hope this new knowledge keeps my sweater making skills on the ascent.