Major Knitter

Finishing Friday - Pierce's Ribbed Socks

 

I managed to finish Pierce's Ribbed Socks just in time for Finishing Friday. 

As a matter of fact, I also managed to finish them just in time for the Summer of Socks to start tomorrow.  I'm not going for any record for summer of socks.  I'd like to finish a few pairs of socks, but I'm not going for most socks completed or anything.  I'm also not sure that finishing a pair of socks in two weeks is such a good idea.  It just screams "Repetitive Motion Injury" to me.  So, I'll knit at my own pace on socks all summer long. 

Basic Prayer Shawl

I did it.  I really did it.  I managed to finish the Basic Prayer Shawl in time for Finishing Friday.  That's 9 FOs for the month of April.    I haven't finished a prayer shawl for my Church's ministry in a very long time.  They're so quick and easy.  I wonder what took me so long?

• US Size 13 needles
• 2-3 skeins of Homespun yarn
• Dimensions - approx 2ft by 5 ft (minimum 20 inches by 50 inches!)
• CO 60 sts
• BOTTOM EDGE - K across for 10 rows to form the garter stitch edge
• MAIN BODY -
• 1st Row and All Odd Rows - Knit across
• 2nd Row and All Even Rows - Knit 6, Purl across to last 6 sts, Knit 6
• Repeat rows 1 and 2 until piece measures approximately 55 inches.
• TOP EDGE - repeat BOTTOM EDGE
• Bind off.  Weave in loose ends.

 

The gauge is not terribly relevant for a prayer shawl.  The important thing to know is that your prayer shawl should be somewhere between 20x50 inches to 24x60 inches.  This one actually ended up being a bit on the small side

Here's the prayer shawl hugging the back of my chair in the Knit Nook.  Sock Monkey and Little Lamb seem happy to get a bit of comfort from this handknit bit of love.

Finishing Friday - Gracie's Girly Socks

I managed to finish my niece's socks.  Now I can ship a pair to Gracie and to Pierce.  I've already made 2 pairs of socks for their older brother Conor.  This time the younger siblings get their chance to shine.

1 skein Sockotta Yarn Bold Stripes color 5612

US Size 1 turbo addis - Magic Loop method

Basic Sock (Knit from the cuff down with heel flap)

Cast on 48 sts

I hope you like them Gracie!

love,

Aunt Jennifer

Finishing Friday - Pierce's Plain Socks

My nephew Pierce doesn't like handknit items because they itch.  His older brother adores all things handknit.  But recently Pierce asked when he was going to get some handknit socks.  So I took the rest of the Regia Stretch self-striping sock yarn to make a semi-matching pair to older brother's socks.  I hope Pierce likes these.  If not, I'll make him some out of Sockotta yarn.  I think it's a little softer for the no-wool types.

That means I've recently finished 2 of the 13 projects on my Photo Inventory list.  Yeah!  Of course, with the entrelac class and the April installment of the Knitting Central Sock Club socks... I'm still at 13 WIPs.  Sigh.

Finishing Friday - Argyle Socks

After much work and lots of weaving, sewing and generally finishing, I am proud to inform you that I have successfully finished the argyle socks from my class at Knitting Central with Sally Ijams.  I can't tell you how pleased I am to bring them to you before midnight on Friday so I could reinstate Finishing Fridays

The argyle origami of this sock means that you have to sew the back seam of the sock, plus two little gaps along the gusset.  No problem. 

The sock on the left shows the argyle before sewing up the seam using the Mattress Stitch (something new I learned from this class).  The one on the right is a successfully sewn argyle.  I must say I'm quite pleased with my progress.

But there is the little matter of this gusset gap that needs to be sewn shut. 

And all these loose ends that need to be woven in.  If you know anything about me, you know that I hate finishing a project.  All this tedious weaving and sewing is enough to make me lose my mojo.

 

But never fear, there was enough interesting political happenings this week to keep me entertained with various MSNBC talk shows which kept me weaving and finishing for hours (literally).  I managed to weave in all the loose ends and sew the gusset gaps closed.  Now for the moment you've all been waiting for...

THE INVERTED SOCK POSE A LA TWINKLE TOES

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Click to enlarge the pictures of my latest FO.  I can't tell you how relieved I am to have finished these socks.  I am now down to just a mere dozen manageable WIPs.  I'm trying to determine which to finish next - the ones that can quickly and easily be finished (thereby allowing me to cross them off the list) or the ones that are really more important.  Decisions.  Decisions.

Thanks Sally for this great class!  I don't even think you know how long I've wanted to learn argyle. 

2007 Knitting Pictorial Review

It's that time of year when I share pictures of my FOs from the previous year.  It allows me the opportunity to see what I knit, what trends I had, and where I want to go in the future with my knitting.

.

.

.

That's just a preview.  I also knit the following.  Hmmmm.  There wasn't a single scarf knit in 2007.  That might tell you something about my feelings about knitting scarves, or my surplus of scarf stash.  

  .

.

.

.

.

So it's safe to say this was the Year of the Sock, followed by charity knitting (which is always high on my list).  In my zest to abide by the Knit From Your Stash 2007 rules, I only bought sock yarn, which meant, I primarily knit socks.  I made 10 pairs for myself, 2 pairs for BF, several pairs for Primogeniture, Secudogeniture and nephew Conor.  Here is a list of my knitting categories for the year

• Dulaan Knits - lots of hats and socks
• American Girl Doll Shawls and Sweaters
• Charity Squares for Pine Street Inn and other charities
• Chemo Caps for a friend
• Hats and Scarves for Jackson Recovery Center
• Prayer Shawls for my church
• Miniature Sock Christmas Ornaments (and key chains) - only a fraction pictured here
• Fair Isle Dale of Norway knitting class project
• Baby gift - Heart Sweater - and the ONLY finished sweater of the year!

In 2008, I hope to knit the huppah, some sweaters including at least one for me, my sampler blanket, and more socks (maybe not so many, though).  I also hope to finally finish, or frog, some very old, long forgotten UFOs.

Finished...

BF and I were in the car today and I decided to finish the Pink Proliferation.  I spent hours and knit, knit, knit that long neverending pink wonder.  It took one skein to knit one row and purl the next.  Really.  I tested this.  I didn't take into account that binding off would require more yarn than merely knitting across.  So when I got about 2/3 of the way across the scarf, I ran out of pink yarn.  Oops!  It looks great.  I'll call the yarn store on Monday and ask them to set aside a bit more yarn for me so I can stop the madness. 

Finally! Finishing Friday Produces Results

The Denim Blue Socks are finished. Yeah.  Sing. Dance.  Flash those Finishing Friday socks.  I'm so excited.  I'm wearing them right now.  The kitchener stitch looks great.  Whew.  Finally.  I got it.  I really got the knack of knitting socks.  I'm so happy.  Now I'll be able to knit all manner of socks without having a mental block.  I've conquered my fear of socks.  I can't tell you how happy this makes me.  I've done short row heels and heel flaps.  I've knit socks on dpns, two circular needles and with the Magic Loop method.  I'm not sure, but I think I still like dpns the best.  I'll get back to you with a definitive answer on that once I've knit up about another half dozen pairs or so.  I can't decide which color to knit next.  I think I'll knit the red socks.  I've always been fascinated with red socks. 

P.S. Did I forget to mention that we went bowling?  Just for the record I bowled a 140.  OK, I was in the same lane as Primogeniture and Secundogeniture and we had the gutter bumpers in place.  Bumper bowling is great fun.  Who knew?  And it vastly improves your score.

Secundogeniture Socks

OK - it really happened on Sunday, but I was so happy to finally finish these socks, that I had to put them into the Finish Friday category.  While I was searching for my other skeins of Lorna's Laces sock yarn in my yarn stash, I stumbled across these long forgotten UFOs.  Socks for Secundogeniture.  They were actually FUFOs.  (Forgotten Unfinished Objects). 

Here's a stolen picture of Secundogeniture trying on the sock.

Now that Secundogeniture's socks are done, I get to start on my next pair of socks.  Look at all this lovely yarn to choose from.

Finishing In Florida

BF and I are in Florida.  I brough my Magic Loop socks, more Knit Notes to knit, and some US size 2 circular needles and some fingering weight yarn to make a miniature version of some of the baby blankets (to test the pattern).  I wanted something small as I didn't want to pack an extra carry on bag just for my knitting.  Don't laugh.  It's been done.  C'mon.  You've done it, too.  Confess.  Anyway, I needed 2 skeins of yarn, so I made a striped baby blanket.  I'm almost done and will be posting the pattern upon my return.

Finishing Fool

Well, the holidays are upon us and I'm using this month to finish up all those projects that I didn't quite manage to finish throughout the year.  Today, I finally finished knitting the mohair cable scarf for Suzanne that I've been knitting since January.  On the ride home tonight, I'll tack down the cables (which are gargantuan and don't lay correctly without a little "tacky" help).  I'm so thrilled to be on this finishing frenzy.  Yeah!  Here is the list of WIP (some are featured in the WIP photo album at right)  that I hope to finish over the next few weeks:

• Coco Marie-Claire Angus's purple matinee coat in Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino
• Anonymous Co-worker's grey mohair scarf
• Knit & sew Emily Jackson’s Jazzed Up Denim Jacket
• Craft Store:  Buy white buttons, plastic canvas and glue gun for Santa ornaments
• Mini Sweater ornaments - embellish with beads
• Tamson at Kismet – interested in selling my felted evening bags
• Judy Lobo – blue felted derby
• Red cross stitch ornaments - finish sewing them
• American Girl Fashions - make something pink and purple for Michelle and Alison Partner
• Sew the toes of all those hand knit socks
• Finish knitting my felted knitting bag from Spring Break...
• Tote around
• Pink lace poncho
• Andrew's sampler sweater