Baby stuff!

No socks, just baby stuff. I have a friend who is due for a week, and I gave her her baby gifts today:

That's the Vine Lace Baby Hat that Knitting Daily just released. It's knit in the Coton Microfibres that I used for the Dauphin top and modeled by my brother's Cabbage Patch Doll, Lionel. It's an incredibly quick knit - I knit it Sunday evening while watching "Snakes on a Plane" and "Without a Trace."

This is the Little Lambs blanket from Vogue Knitting On the Go - Baby Blankets. It doesn't appear in the sidebar, because it was knit in 2001, and has been waiting for a baby ever since. The color is totally off in the picture - it's really a lovely creamy color. Here's a closeup of the sheep:

Oh so cute.

Nothing else of importance to report.

Current and Future Projects

I meant to post earlier, but I forgot to take pictures of my current projects when I took my recent acquisition pictures, and the weather didn't cooperate until today. (The window in the computer room is blocked with stuff since we moved the treadmill in, so my photos will be done outside. If the neighbors didn't already think I was strange, this would do it.)

In the sidebar order, first up is Sarcelle.

This is the Seasilk I bought in October (my guess is that the color is Nova Scotia, but since they don't label stuff, I could be wrong). I tried to create my own design, but it just wasn't working. Blogsurfing one night turned up this pattern (again - I'd seen it before and thought "Pretty"), and it tempted me. It's working well - complex enough to keep me interested, simple enough to do at sit and knit (it's my yarn store knitting, since I try to use yarn I've bought there) and I think it will end up being gorgeous. I'm doing fewer repeats, since the Seasilk is heavier than the yarn used in the pattern, and am assiduously weighing after each stage, so I can try to calculate where I'll need to stop the straight section. Progress is going to slow down a bit, since it will be solely yarn store knitting at this point (I had been finishing sections at home so I could weigh the yarn.)

Next, Dauphin:

This is from Phildar Ete 2004, a simple short-sleeved summer sweater (why she calls the color Smurf blue is beyond me, unless North America got darker Smurfs). This should be a quick knit, since I started last Saturday and have finished the back in a week and started the front. I thought about knitting the body in the round, but the stitch pattern might have been distorted with the spiral effect. I don't love seaming (witness the poor abandoned Bias Fair Isle!), but I'll deal.

Last, and sort of least, the Chinese Leftover Socks:

This is the two sides of a plain-vanilla toe-up knit from Tofutsies in "One Foot in Front of the Other. I'm not terribly fond of knitting with this yarn - it's loosely plied, and my technique tends to lead to ply blob creation. Couple that with the pooling, and it's not something I would buy again. I do like the fabric it makes (although I wouldn't mind knitting it tighter if bamboo needles came below 2mm.)

As for recent acquisitions, let's start with books:

The Vogue Knitting was bought so I could make fun of examine the onesie pattern by Annie Modesitt, since there weren't any pictures on the web that I could find. Now I know why. That said, the other baby patterns are very cute, and it was worth buying for those. "Knitting Without Tears" and "Knitted Toys" were bought at a book sale for a pittance - I don't think I would have paid retail for "KWT" because I don't find it as mindblowing as others, but that's me. "More Sensational Knitted Socks" and "Lace Style" are from my LYS, and "No Sheep For You" is from the local big-box book store. That I needed to buy because I bought this on eBay:

Fourteen balls of Rowan Calmer in Chiffon. If you (a) "know" me, either IRL or virtually and (b) have seen Morrigan, you'd know that that sweater was SCREAMING my name. The Chiffon color (lavender) was chosen mostly because that and Laurel were available at a steep discount from Janette's Rare Yarns, and I liked the Chiffon better than the slightly odd green that is Laurel (at least in most of the pictures I found on the web.) So, after I finish Dauphin, I will copy out the relevant charts and get cracking on Morrigan.
I've already done a little practice:
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That's Shedir in Tinkerbell. I started it in a fit of reading non-comprehension. Teri at Stitch-n-Snitch was my Bloomin' Feet recipient, and her father was diagnosed with cancer. Moron that I can be, I read it as her mother, and started the Shedir pretty much immediately. Tinkerbell is not a terribly manly color. So, I finished Shedir, and made an attempt at a different hat in a more masculine/less feminine color:

(The grey on the left - the orange is just because I have a strange fondness for neon orange, and it was on sale.) It didn't work, so I tossed the idea, since Teri made several lovely hats for her dad. I couldn't post pictures of Shedir until now, since it would have been a total giveaway as to the identity of who I was knitting for.

That's enough rambling, don't you think?

Surfacing again

This has not been a stellar year so far for blogging. I blame it on Saturn's retrograde period. (As good as an excuse as any.)

This post will be finished objects. I promise to follow with current knitting and recent acquisitions in the very near future. (Oy, the acquisitions. Must. Stop. Shopping.)

First up, Day Two of Round Three of Sock Madness:

I was definitely out by 1 pm Thursday, and I was probably out earlier than that, but I wasn't sure who my opponent was on Flickr. I was OK with it, because I really didn't like those socks. The pattern was too wide for my feet, and the gauge given was far too loose for the Socks that Rock. I'm not a fan of cuffed socks - I find them too bulky. I might have been happier had I used the STR and the specified needles rather than the specified gauge (which goes against everything I've been taught about gauge), but I don't think I would have been happy. The yarn will wait for another pattern. Other lessons I've learned from Sock Madness is that (a) I'm a control freak (I kept thinking, "But why? I would do it [this way]." and (b) I like a VERY tightly knit sock. That said, I loved the fourth round pattern, and will be knitting it at some point in the future.

Now, some pretty pictures of the Bloomin' Feet socks:



Look - spring blossoms! (Especially incredible considering we had snow two days before that picture was taken.) My package was mailed off today, and should get there next week. I hope the recipient likes it!

Random family knitting. The now seasonally-inappropriate (knock on wood) Esther Williams Hat:

The pattern called for crochet trim, but I seem to have a very short head, and the trim would impede my vision. I have two fresh balls of Mission Falls in Raspberry to knit another one for my mother, who has a hard time finding hats that cover her forehead as she likes.

I'm back to knitting socks for Mom, since she's been neglected this year. At the end of March, my LYS finally received the long-anticipated shipment of Koigu (it was due in originally "end of October, early November). Two skeins had to come home with me:

Since I pilfered the STR that I had intended to use for Pomatomus socks for Mom, and in hopes that the Koigu would not stripe like the Lorna's Laces I used for mine, I wound up the Koigu and knit away:

Oh well. They not only striped, the stripe reversed direction on the foot. They're still cute, though.

Owwwww.

My wrists hurt. Yet another reason I wouldn't want to knit for pay. But I did finish the first pair of socks for Sock Madness:

(Yeah, I know there's holes at the ankles. I prefer the Sherman heel for short-row heels, because it's much easier to compensate. But, I had to use the heel in the pattern. I did my best, but it wasn't quite enough.)

Now, off to shower (what? - it's not like I went anywhere!) and watch "Rent." And rest my wrists. Back to Bloomin' Feet later in the week.

More Finished Stuff

I've been spending my time knitting, not writing, clearly. Still no pictures of the Slayer socks (but they did accompany Mom to the sleep clinic.) So, here are the Sleepy Toasty Toes socks:

Just a cute little pair of anklets, whisper light and toasty warm. And currently covered in flannel-sheet pills. I was really concerned about how much yarn I had, since my little digital scale told me I had 50 grams or so. The remaining ball weighs about 27 grams, so I could knit another pair in the future. Thank you very much for the yarn, Rachel!

Then, I knit up the Whiskers and Paw Prints socks by Theresa Walunas. When you have kitty-cat colored yarn (Koigu KPPPM P313), knit kitty-cat socks! (Clicking on the photo will take you to a larger version, which better shows the detail.)

These were an easy knit for me, and would be an excellent introduction to lace. These are currently my mother's socks (with a possibility of defaulting to me if there's any laundry shrinkage.) When I managed to find more kitty-cat colored yarn, I will knit another pair for whoever doesn't have ownership of these. (I also bought the Here There be Dragons sock pattern.)

I also finished up the knitting tote and knit a little bag to hold wallet/cell phone/lip gloss/assorted other things that were always getting lost in my knitting bag (note use of baseboard for approximate scale):

The tote was based on the Southwestern Style Bag in Paton's "Fabulous Felting" booklet - I just ignored all the beads/bobbles/color changes and knit 10 round stripes (the total number of rounds for the sides was 110, which worked out perfectly.) The base and I-cords for the straps were done in the Chestnut Brown. The little bag was knit from the Sophie pattern from Magknits, but modified to be a buttonhole bag. I cast of 21 stitches on the long sides on row 46, and cast them back on on row 47, and then bound off all stitches when the pattern directed me to bind off most of them. The Classic Wool felted easily, although I think there is probably room for it to shrink some more.

As for new projects, I've wound my Seasilk, but am missing the pattern that came with it (which I wanted for a rough starting stitch count). I'm knitting a pair of Broadripples with the Fourth of July Esprit Print I bought from Elann eons ago (I'm slightly disappointed, because the red on the ball mysteriously becomes hot pink as soon as it leaves the ball - so much for my Canadiens-colored socks!) and the Desperation socks progress slowly, because I want to leave them for knitting group knitting.

In addition, I'm looking for the right yarn for my Bloomin' Feet socks. I've spotted several online options, but am sort of hoping to find something locally. Mostly because ordering will end up being "One for pal, two for me, one for mom - good grief, look at that total!" Couple that with my recent perfume find/addiction, and it does add up. Especially when you order sweater kits in blue just because. (I ordered it from my LYS, but this was the first link I found that gave the alternate colors.)