More socks, and sock frustration

So perhaps I need to be more careful about reading directions?  Or maybe not?  Perhaps I need to knit a bunch of sock swatches.  Here is my dilemma.

I've started knitting Jeff a pair of socks, since I'm ignoring the sweater I should be knitting for him.  The yarn is from Schachenmayr Regia, and it's called "Pairfect" because you get a perfect stripey match from the two socks.  The ball band says use size 1-3 needle, so I'm on a smaller size 2, and I've cast on 72 stitches because Jeff has big feet.  Also on the band, there are instructions on the back that talk about using Color 1 for the cuff and then Color 2 for the sock.  I thought it was just one ball for all the sock, so I've forged ahead.  My sock looks like there's a lot more non-stripey parts than the sample sock.  I suspect that I need to go down a needle size, although there is still no Color 1 and Color 2...

The cool thing about the yarn is that you can start from the inside of the ball or the outside, so in theory, I could pull from the middle and test it out on smaller needles to see if I like that better.  That way, I don't have to destroy the current sock until I decide what to do.

Other than that, it's been some blanket work and some shawl work.  Not a lot going on!  Easter was nice, there's been a lot of dance as well.  Smallest has been accepted to the dance program at the Performing and Visual Arts high school that Middle goes to.  She is super excited!  

I may get to help Middle with a seat cover for a chair she made at school.  I've loaned her a quilt pattern book and she's chosen a design and bought some fabric.  I hope she'll let me play too!

Catherine is currently in Japan.  We may never hear from her again!

Margie

Socks away!

I finished the Swirl socks for Middle.  Making the correction to the first sock took no time at all, and I gave them their bath last night.  I don't think she's wearing them today, but she likes them a bunch and I am sure they'll go in rotation soon.  They fit me as well, so I can steal them sometimes.

With the socks done, I've reverted to working on the Sunwalker shawl.  I stopped by the post office and they let me use their scale to measure 1.5 oz of yarn, which should be about 200 yards.  I need to use less than that, but I figure it's safer to have a little extra.  I've finished the first textured block and now am on the lace portion, so I'll put the stripe in soon.  There are three blocks of 24 rows, so I'm trying to decide between the first block and the second.  Here's my little ball of yarn, and the remaining skein:

I did some work on Middle's blanket as well while we were watching Valerian and the City of 1,000 Planets.  A decent movie, and I got four or five rows in?  They're rather long now.  The shawl is getting big too.  I think next will be a pair of socks for Jeff, and maybe a quick sweater for Smallest.  This is the plan, the Uncomplicated sweater, with a pocket made with the pompom yarn.  Pompoms at the collar, cuffs, and bottom as well.  Should be cute!

Looking forward to Easter this weekend.  We're getting our bad weather now, so the weekend is supposed to be nice.

Margie

So behind!

Oh my, I didn't realize I hadn't written anything in so long.  Here's a quick update.

Catherine has now moved from Hawaii to Tokyo.  Her travel adventure continues!

Since January, I've been working on the green swirl socks for Middle.  I finished the first, had to re-do the bind off because it was too tight, and then start the second.  I've now almost finished the second, and I ended up making it a little longer than the first, so I'll need to go back and correct the first.  For some reason I didn't "get" the pattern with the first sock, but now it's super easy for me and much more enjoyable to knit.

We went to a ballroom competition in NYC and Jeff and Smallest were kind enough to accompany me to Purl Soho.  I picked up some yarn to make Smallest a sweater, a Threadfollower kit for Smallest, some fabric scraps for Middle, and that might have been it.  It was lovely to be there and pet all the yarn in person.  We got tiny pom-pom yarn to use in the edges of the sweater and to make a pocket.  The one we picked is a different color, but this gives you the idea.

I've been working intermittently on the Sunwalker shawl.  I realized that I wasn't going to have enough yarn, so I've been looking for something that would substitute.  I ended up with something too dark, something too bright blue, and now instead of trying to match it, I got some plain off-white yarn that looks to be about the same thickness and ply, so they should match pretty well.  I'll do a stripe in the lace part and hopefully it won't be awful.  Here's the yarn with the bright and dark.

There hasn't been a lot of TV watching lately, so not much progress on the blanket for Middle.  I think that's about it!  We're driving up to Dallas this weekend for Jeff's younger daughter's 18th birthday, so that means lots of knitting time for me!

Margie

Tiny Sweaters

I mentioned previously that I was making a sweater for a friend's baby.  The baby is one, but big like The Boy was, so I made a larger size sweater that I think will fit.  We shall see!  It took me a while to sew the pieces together, but I finally mailed it off on Tuesday.  Yay!  Here is the finished product.

Now that the sweater is done, and Christmas knitting is done - I finished the fingerless gloves for Smallest as well - I started working on something fun for me.  I bought some pretty blue sock yarn in Savannah when Middle and I were visiting SCAD and I thought it might make a nice Polka Dot scarf.  I was on a business trip in early January and made a test swatch that seemed okay, so I forged ahead.  I got about six inches or so in and decided that this was not the right pattern for the yarn.  Boo!

(Where are the polka dots?  Plus it's too narrow.)

I tested out another pattern, but decided that the yarn was too dark to nicely show the stitch pattern, so I scrapped that one too.  No picture of that one.  After some time spent searching Ravelry, I found Sunwalker (which keeps making me think of Skywalker) which seems to be made for sock yarns with lots of speckles.  I started on the plane home and out of the 24 repeats of the textured part, I've just finished 20.  The yarn and the pattern are playing nicely this time.  I would add a picture but I've left it at home today.  I'll add one later, along with Smallest's gloves.  I don't think I got a picture of the Christmas scarf and cowl.  Alas.

While Smallest was getting her braces on this morning, I turned the heel of the Swirl socks I'm making for Middle (I forgot the Sunwalker shawl at home).  They use shadow wraps on the heel and that was something new to me.  It was pretty cool and I'm looking forward to doing it again on the other sock.  I feel a bit like the first sock is a bit of a practice sock, so it's a shame I'm not making three!

I can't think of what else is going on.  Jeff is in Dallas this week with his younger daughter while his ex is taking their older daughter to Madrid for a semester abroad.  Pretty cool!  

Oh - and I get to see Catherine in person in just a few weeks at a science meeting in San Francisco!  Yay!

Margie

Unhappy Cat

This is Ginny McSqueakins yesterday when I took her to the vet.  She was generally silent and unhappy, stuffing her head into the corner of the carrier, perhaps in an attempt to reach another dimension where there are only sunbeams and couches to sleep on.

Margie

A Tale of Two Sleevies

A friend of mine had a baby last year and the baby has been my balm to the political woes and distress on Facebook this past year.  I decided I wanted to knit him a sweater (because a baby sweater is a lot smaller than an adult sweater!) and found a super cute pattern and some fun yarn as well.

I like to knit sleeves first so that I can test the gauge without knitting a swatch, and because they're easy.  However, after knitting most of the first sleeve, I carefully read the pattern and discovered that I had made several errors in increasing along the way.  I decided it really wasn't such a big deal and went ahead anyhow.

Then I did the second sleeve properly and after blocking, there is a clear difference.  Bummer.  On the left below is the second sleeve.  On the right is the first.

I don't want the little one's arm to be constrained in any way, so I've decided that since I have an abundance of yarn, I'll just make a third sleeve, and do it properly like the second one.  It won't take too long once I'm able to sit for a little while (Middle School Dance Workshop volunteering, I'm looking at you!) and then I can sew everything up, put a button band on and send it off to an adorable little guy.  I am thinking about a little hat too, to match the sweater.  I wonder if I can make a smaller version of the hat I made for Jeff back in 2014.  Hmmm....

At any rate, after the sleeve, I am back to Christmas knitting in earnest.  I have three things planned.  Two are underway for Jeff's girls - an Alexandra's Airplane Scarf and the Purl Soho Lovely Ribbed Cowl in worsted twist.  The third thing will be Gully Gloves for Smallest.  I am hoping that with the school break next week, I can make a fair bit of progress on these.

Margie

Knitting, Unknitting, and Reknitting.

I think I've already used that theme in a post before.  Oh well.  It comes from the speech the University President made our first week at school.  He was talking about building, unbuilding, and rebuilding something.  We found it very amusing.

At any rate, Jeff and I went away for the weekend as the girls had gone other places and it was our anniversary weekend.  I took his sweater to work on, since I had finished Middle's hat and felt guilty about neglecting the sweater.  One the way home, I was working along and I stopped to look more closely at the sleeves.  I held one closed, the way it would look all sewn up, then I looked at Jeff's arm, and I looked back at the sleeve.  I had Jeff put his arm out, and there's no way that sleeve is going to fit comfortably on his arm.  Sigh.  So I unraveled the sleeves.  I will do some careful measurement and then start again.

In the meantime, I'm still working on the Bright Stripes blanket for Middle when we watch TV (up to season 5 of Game of Thrones), I still have the Swirl sock in the car for when I'm waiting for things, but I need something else to work on during dance classes and the like.  A friend of mine has an Extremely Cute Baby, who is huge and lives in Seattle.  Clearly he needs a sweater!  So through the magic of Facebook, I got his nanny to send me measurements and I bought some yarn.  With the Jeff sweater out of the way temporarily, I think it's a good time for a baby sweater!  Especially since the yarn for Xmas presents hasn't arrived yet.

Here's the pattern: the Kris Sweater, and the yarn is Schoppel Wolle Edition 3 in the Strandcafé colorway.  It was less expensive than the yarn recommended for the pattern, and I thought it looked cute.

I started on Sunday while Smallest was at her YAGP dance lesson.  I worked about an hour.  Today (Monday) I've worked about 18 rows during lunch.  It's fun to work on something cute and tiny, and on straight needles!  I'm curious to see what happens to the stripes when I get to the body of the sweater.

2 hours on this one.

Margie