Home Stretch

Good Morning!

This past week has been very busy both at home and at work, so not a ton of knitting progress.

When I buy what I consider high-end yarn I want the knit item to be "right". Not even that, but moreso "just the way I like it", or "right for me". I think a lot of knitters are like that. Once I feel I've mastered a skill, or understand a project's construction I'm free to modify it to fit me or the person I'm knitting for.

I started heel flaps on these Quaere socks. I love heel flaps.

2 at a time, on 1 circular needle. Not an easy task.

My personal pattern for heel flaps are very comfortable and fit my feet perfectly.  I love heel flaps. I can knit heel flaps with my eyes closed. But I could tell I was not going to be happy with the way the stripes thinned around the front of the sock, then after the gussett, sloooowly found the striping pattern again.

So I frogged them back, knit in an after thought heel line, then a few stripes later opened the heel so I could continue to try on the sock as I knit.

I actually finished the heels last night while watching the Wild game with Big Daddy. I just need to stitch them closed. No photos of that as there is no daylight in MN after 3PM.

God, please let Spring come soon.

Have I mentioned that I love heel flaps?

I prefer the legs of my socks to be longer, and the foot to be snug. Floppy toes and loose legged socks are given away as gifts. <<wink>> These little puppies fit my feet perfectly. I'M SO EXCITED TO WEAR THEM!

 I also started  pair of socks for my son. At 17 (going on 47), I jumped at his first interest in hand knit socks.

I think my friend Dee bought this yarn for me. We both find skeins on sale online and just buy some to keep, and some to share.

He is a Type-A and is VERY concerned about the two socks not looking exactly alike.

I'm not sure whether I will respect his wishes to have matching socks, or challenge him to step out of the box and wear socks that don't match...

As you can see by the color, he's not the adventurous type.

Have a Happy Wednesday Friends! Linking up with Ginny again today.

Later!

M

Stripe-y Goodness.

I have an Etsy shop. There's not much on it right now, but I'm hoping to reload it soon. I have the itch to dye. Bad.

I have a couple color combos I want to work on, in both variegated and self striping.

Most, if not all, of my personal knitting is done with yarn from Etsy sellers. There are many large yarn producers out there cranking out high quality yarns, but I prefer the creativity of independent sellers and small companies. Like me!

I bought a few skeins of Quaere Fibre last year. One as a gift and 2-3 for myself.

Janel doesn't have many of these self striping skeins left. I believe this one is the Patchwork colorway. These 150g skeins allow me to knit a longer leg (8") and use as much of the yarn as I can.

The stripes are short and fly off the needles. So. Much Fun.

Hoping to finish these over the weekend. I'm almost to the heel flap now.

Looking to link up with Ginny in the morning.

Later!

M

FO Friday: Fluffy Cable Mittens

Oh, how I Love, Love, Love this yarn. Hikoo SimpliWorsted is my new favorite yarn.

My mission this weekend if to find a distributor of undyed yarn that is this FLUFFY. Everyone in my life would have yummy mitts like these and very warm hands.

As always, there is no daylight in MN at 5:30 AM, so once again the color in my photos are a little off. I took these pics right before I walked out to the garage this morning, thus, my dishwasher, pesto jar, and past due water bill are in the photos.

Don't judge.

They fit my hands perfectly.

I combined the basics from Susan B Anderson's Waiting for Winter Mittens, extended the cuff, thinned the hand, extended the thumb, and eliminated the 2nd to last round of plain knit at the fingertip.

Ugh. They're so soft I just barely stand it!

Have a fantastic Friday!

M

More Baby stuff

I'm swamped at work this morning so just a quick peek at the blanket I'm working on for Baby R due in July.

The color doesn't look so barfy in natural light, but when the sun goes down at 4:30, beggars can't be choosers on weeknights.

I love the simple, 12 row pattern. All I need is the first few stitches from the pattern row, and the rest my hands just knit automatically.

The yarn is a cotton blend so Mommy R will be able to just throw it in the washer & dryer.

Orange is Mommy R's favorite color. So I'm pretty sure I will be her Favorite Auntie of all time. HA!

Hooking up with Ginny today.

Later! Have a Happy Humpday!

M

Baby Steps

I have couple things in the hopper.

A Big Sister gift for Aubrey, whose baby brother or sister is due to arrive in July.

I found some mysterious Superwash in my Mom's stash and it was JUST enough to knit this (size 2T) TINY Leaves Cardi.

I love the mini-pools of color. Aubrey has dark hair and olive skin. This will be adorable on her next Fall/Winter.

This little gem knit up so quickly! I didn't write down my start date, but I'm pretty sure it took less than 2 weeks.

I had less than 2 yds of yarn left. Just enough to sew on buttons and keep the rest in case I need to fix the sweater at a later date.

Mmmmm...details.

I bought two skeins of Simpliworsted by Hikoo a couple years ago with plans for dainty, white, Lily of the Valley mittens. After several tries I finally gave in to the fact that aran weight yarn will never make something "dainty", no matter what the pattern is. Well maybe a blanket but...

So.

I settled on a modification of SBA's Waiting for Winter Mitts (aran yarn, smaller needles, smallest size mitten, and I extended the cuff), and a cable pattern from a pattern calendar I received a couple years ago.

The yarn is super squishy and luxe. The mittens fit MY hands perfectly, and I love, love, love them!

Joining Ginny today and looking forward to everyone's projects!

Later!

M