Sock Wars has begun

Sock Wars started off with a fizzle yesterday when Hurricane Gordon decided to play havoc on the power and network infrastructure in Belfast where the Yarn Monkey is located. There were over 700 knitters anxiously waiting to get their final weapon... the pattern! Finally at 4:30pm my time it arrived. It was the middle of the night for knitters overseas.

The pattern was fun, a really neat ribbing, called the Rib of Doom. The pattern is on Yarn Monkey's blog if you want to try it out, even if your not in battle.

I casted on at 5:15pm (in the car on the way home, I wasn't driving). Had a break while I went out for supper, then knitted all night long. Completed both socks at 3:30am (yes I'm insane). I had not received my target yet because Yarn Monkey is still having emailing problems, so I made them a size 8 since that is pretty average and would fit almost all size feet. When I woke up this morning at 9am our targets were posted on the blog. Of course, my quivering target Ted takes a size US 11 so off with the toes for the socks. It took me another couple ours to frog the toes and reknit them again. They are now in the mail but won't go out until Monday. Ted lives in St.Louis and the mail lady said it's going to take 2-3 weeks to get there! I hope she's wrong, but if Ted is reading this, you got plenty of time to finish your socks before mine will arrive. Kind of anti-climatic after rushing to get them finished, but now I can move on to other things.



In other sock news:

Cape Cod socks are finished, sort of. One is too small by a lot! I have to frog the toe (seems to be a new trend) but I'll get to that later.



One Autumn sock is completed. This is made from the Knit Picks Simple stripes yarn. Just a plain ol' sock.



And here is the pair I've made lately. Well not really a pair. I started the Autumn sock and this Father and Son sock at the same time and have been knitting a bit of each. Now I have one of each completed, hope this doesn't cause a case of second sock syndrome! The Father and Son pattern is from Interweave Knits Fall 2006 and the yarn is Essential Tweed in Inca Gold from Knit Picks. I'm using 2.75mm needles for these, but next time I'd use smaller needles. I'm getting the correct gauge but it's just not tight enough for me. I should always rememeber, the smaller the better when it comes to sock needle sizes.



Just so I don't get pegged as an exclusively sock knitter, I have started the Green Mohair cardigan that I wanted to knit up for myself for the fall. More to come on this project soon. Fall is here so I'm going to see if I can complete it this season. Christmas knitting might need to take a back seat temporarily.

Lucky me!

First I have to start with an apology... I haven't continued my Knitting weekend in Halifax story and it's been 6 days. Time has flown by.

I think it's going to be like this for a little while, infrequent posts only. I have started by to classes for my MBA and between work, class, homework and squeezing knitting in, blogging is losing out.

I had to write this quick little post to tell every one how lucky I am. Tammy had a contest for her Blogaversery and I commented and won! Tammy was my SP8 hostess too! She must be one of the most generous bloggers out there. I'm so thrilled and excited to receive the sock kit!

What a great day... and tomorrow is Sock War day... this week is shaping up :)

Pacafiesta Weekend

Last weekend was Pacafiesta Weekend for my friend, Line, and I. We made plans to have a knitting weekend in Halifax which consisted of visiting the Pacafiesta event, all the yarn shops in Halifax and lots of knitting.

Started off first thing Saturday morning heading to Halifax with mapquest maps in hand. Line was driving so I was lucky enough to be the knitting navigator (knitting Lavendar Jaywalkers).
We arrived at Pacafiesta at about 10:30am and couldn't leave until close to 2pm! It was fabulous! I was in heaven surrounded by amazing animals and tons of natural fibers and yarns... what more could you ask for. I'd never realized how great alpaca is, and after meeting a few of them, I liked the yarn even more. And the angora goats! Wow, they have the best natural perm I've ever seen! Alpacas have the funnest head ruffles that just makes you want to reach out and ruffle the hair on their head.

And the colors! WOW! The colors of browns and beiges are just fabulous. Line and I bought a pattern from Lucy Neatby for a Falling Leaf scarf and some Alpaca to go with it. We are going to make it as a memento project to the knitterly weekend we enjoyed together.

After the exhibition place we headed out to Peggy's Cove and had lunch there. Of course I knitted on the way there and couldn't resist knitting on the rocks.





Back to Halifax we went, following our handy mapquest map that was going to lead us directly to our hotel across the bridge in Dartmouth. We were navigating like pros when we arrived at the bridge, where our hotel was directly on the other side, and there was a huge sign saying "Bridge Closed". Now what?! I quickly mapped out a new path to the other bridge way out of our way and off we went. At one point I said lets turn left here... It was Younge Street. We both realized at the same time that Younge street was where LK Yarns was, one of the Halifax knitting stores we thought we wouldn't make it to because it closed at 5pm on Saturday and was not open on Sundays. It was 4:30pm when we drove right up to LK Yarns, the knitting gods were actually on our side and had closed a bridge for us to arrive at this small, but packed, knitting shop. There was so much to look at it was overwhelming. Luckily, Line had a goal of buying sock yarn so that kept us focused. But there was so much sock yarn! How to pick just one brand and colorway? Well once again, luck was on our side, and there was some on sale for $5 for a 50g ball and it was self patterning in all sorts of colors. I left with 6 balls (3 socks worth) and Line left with 4 (this will be her first fingering weight socks so it's best to stay reasonable).
Off we went to the Hotel, making a short stop for a nice italian bottle of red wine. We checked in, opened the wine and relaxed with some knitting. Line cast on her first pair of socks! That was really exciting!
Here is the piles of loot we bought that Saturday:

Note the purple needle holders.. they matched my travelling sock kit.



Line's purchases:

Falling Leaves pattern from Lucy Neatby, sock yarn in cotton and wool, chocolate brown Huacaya alpaca, and some really nice bamboo 2.5mm double pointed needles

My loot:

Creative merino in Expresso from Lucy Neatby, Needle holder, Scarf pattern from Ilga Leja, 1 skein of chocolate brown Huacaya Alpaca, 6 balls of self patterning sock yarn

So much more happened after our relaxing knitting session at the hotel room, that I think I will wait until tomorrow to write more. I have to go cast on some new socks tonight... Until tomorrow...

FO - Jaywalkers & Fetching

For those that don't know, the previous post has a comment from YarnB, as in Yarn Botanika, who dyed the hand dyed yarn that I made the jaywalkers with.

YarnB, thanks for checking out my pictures and to answer your questions, it said Lavendar Blues on the label and I LOVED my present!

I've finished the socks now and they turned out terrific in my opinion. I ended up liking the pooling and the bottoms really look interesting. The sheen to this yarn is really nice too! I couldn't wait to put them on.




Pattern: Jaywalkers, magknits.com
Yarn: Lavendar Blues, Yarn Botanika
Needles: 2.25mm
Date: Aug 30-Sept 10

Another small project I've worked on lately were these fun fingerless mittons. They are a pattern from knitty.com and I found some interesting Patons wool that worked great for them. This was a fun project and I'm going to make them again.



Pattern: Fetching, knitty.com
Yarn: Soy Wool Striping, Patons, Natural Earth
Needles: 4mm
Date: Sept 5-6

As a side note, I finished the jaywalkers Sunday on my way back from Halifax where my friend Line and I went to Pacafiesta, an Alpaca halter show and fiber exhibition, and had a 'knitting' weekend away. Much more to come about this amazing weekend!

Half finished

This is the first time ever I've finished a Christmas gift so early. Hope that's a good sign that I won't be maxed out right until Christmas eve (not likely).

Here is Mom's white lace scarf. This is the scarf I started in January and it would not have taken really much time to knit up but I set it aside for months. I'm not thrilled with how it turned out, I don't think I picked the right lace pattern for the yarn. I've seen this scarf knit up and it's beautiful. It's called Kim's Lace Scarf but it's supposed to be knit in an angora/alpaca blend from London-Wul farm. I would highly recommend the pattern, but use a different yarn than me. The yarn I used was not nearly as luxorious as it was bought at a yard sale for 25 cents and I have a ton of it... all for 25 cents, seriously. I'm not sure what it is but I did some tests (thanks to my Knitting Rules book) and I think it's a natural fiber. I'm going to try to find a better lace pattern for it but for now, at least I have one gift made. Luckily Mom likes her scarves short :o)



Half a pair of Cape Cod Memories 3x1 Rib socks which is a gift for my step dad.



And half a pair of Lavendar Blue Yarn Botanika Jaywalker socks for ME :o) The next jaywalker is already casted on. I figure I might as well finish the socks for me first since I can wear them right away and the others will just sit around until Christmas.



Does anyone have any pointers on avoiding pooling? I was loving this colorway while knitting the leg and even the heel, but when I got just past the instep it started to pool. It doesn't look too bad, but I loved the leg pattern so much more. I tried four times to break the yarn and position it so it would stop pooling but I didn't have any success. Now I'm kind of wondering what the next sock will look like!

Knitting on Labour Day

Knitting is so not labour so I figure it's a great way to spend my Labour Day!

This weekend started off with my fourth and final package from my Secret Pal 8 Spoiler, Deirdre. She has been an amazing spoiler and has sent me such wonderful packages. This time she sent me homemade socks by herself in a beautiful soft green color using the staight laced pattern from knitty I believe. And the Knitting Rules book from the Yarn Harlot! I've been wanting that book for a while now and it has made for perfect reading over this long weekend. The dog picture is no a card where Deirdre wrote a beautiful note to me.



There is a story about the socks that is very sad. I mistyped my foot length in my SP8 questionnaire and mistakenly said my feet are 6.5" long when actually they are 9.5" long. This is a huge disappointment to me and Deirdre. She has offered to knit them longer but I don't know if I should let her. It was my mistake and it's a shame to put her through that. It's a bad situation all around. I would like to find someone they would fit who would appreciate them as is, but it's hard to find kids that appreciate hand made lace socks!

On Saturday the Green trellis baby sweater finally was completed blocking (I had left it to block with too much water apparently) and I sewed the buttons on. I just love these baby sweaters and this color is so beautiful from Mission Falls. I've given it to the new mom for her little baby boy Nathan and she really liked it. It's going to take some time before he can model it though.







Another great accomplishment on Saturday was to finish knitting a white lace scarf that has been on the needles since January. It is blocking now, pictures to come, and it is my first completed Christmas gift.

Speaking of Christmas gifts, the Icarus shawl is coming along nicely. I've finally gotten past the repeats of Chart 1 and with almost 400 sts on the needles now, I've also completed Chart 2 and am onto Chart 3. So far so good.

Start to Finish

I've managed to finish one toddler pair of socks this past week using up some left over Fleece Artist merino. Finished in time to count for SAM2 August socks so that made 3 pairs of socks for August.



Unlike me, I've started a lot of projects this week. I don't think I've ever had so many on the go at the same time. I blame this on my new ball winder. Once the yarn is wound there is nothing preventing you from happazardly casting on projects constantly. In the wings from before I'm still knitting the blue Icarus shawl and a while lace scarf as well.

To add to those items and my knitting craziness, this week I've casted on:



Lace for Pillow edging. Pattern from Weekend Knitting, yarn being used is Cantata Cotton Crepe DK. This will either be a wedding or Christmas present if all goes well with the first one. I need to make a set for a present I feel.



Felted Purse using a new varigated colorway from Patons in Classic Wool. I can't wait to see how this felts. I like the way Patons wool felts from using it before, and these colors are cool.



First Christmas sock made with Memories from Knit Picks in Cape Code colorway. Just using a regular sock pattern with 3x1 Rib. Probably for my step dad so I'm happy with how manly (and like army colors) it is knitting up like. I'm really liking working with this yarn.



Jaywalker sock for me with the yarn sent from my Secret Pal. I'm loving this sock so far. The colors and feel of the yarn are very satiny and shiny. And it matches the bag so well! Now I'm going to want a bag to match every project :o)



And a swatch for a sweater from Big Girl Knits. I bought this Mohair a long time ago and it has been sitting on my shelf for too long. Probably a bad time to start a sweater for myself with all the Christmas knitting I have planned, but I've already purchased the yarn so might as well start planning. The swatch turned out finally with 7mm needles (and I've now added 7mm Addis to my collection). I've never used Addis but here they are quite additive. I'm thinking of using a dark brown for the contrasting color (in the picture to replace the red). What do you think of dark brown merino with this green? It is going to be a fall sweater but to wear all winter long.

That's enough for this week. Now what am I going to knit on tonight? Too many to choose from...