Major Knitter

Red, White, and Blue

It's been a long time since I've knit a pair of socks for myself.  I'm of a certain age where I'm hot all the time, so the idea of wearing wool socks just hasn't been very appealing.  But I enjoy knitting socks.  

 

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Here's my classic inverted sock pose.  It's not pretty.  I'm lying on the floor with my legs in the air, holding onto my phone and contorting myself to get a good picture.  

That first "ballet" pose looks the best.  This pose looks a little awkward.  

Sometimes it's fun to be a little silly.

Did you ever imagine so much went on behind the scenes when taking a selfie picture of hand knit socks?

Now you know!

 

Valentine's Day Gift

I finished this pair of cashmere socks for BF for Valentines Day.

US Size 5 needles
2.5 skeins of Zageo 6-ply cashmere
CO 44 stitches
K2, P2 ribbing - top down socks. 

I’ve got two more pairs on the needles because next week is our wedding anniversary x2. We got married by the JP on Feb 20 and celebrated with our family and friends on Feb 23. So he gets 5 pairs of socks each year - Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Anniversary 1, Anniversary 2 and birthday. It makes it easy as he’s impossible to shop for.

Hope you all had a very nice Valentine’s Day.

 

 

How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Stitches...

Every year, for every gift giving event, I knit BF a pair of cashmere socks to keep his tootsies warm at night.  They're made out of Jade Sapphire Mongolian Cashmere 6-ply for the sole purpose of wearing around the house, not for outside wear.  They take me about 10-15 hours of dedicated knitting to complete.

Tonight I decided to pick up the bag of odds and ends of cashmere remnants from socks gone by to create a new pair of socks.  I randomly selected the deep purple, cream, sage and gray yarns to create a hodgepodge striped sock.  It's a great way to use up leftover yarn, because you would never want to let luxurious cashmere yarn go to waste.  

So do I count the stitches?  No, not really.  There are probably about 5,000 stitches per sock or 10,000 per pair.  Do you think that counts as my 10,000 steps for the day?  My step counter thinks so.  

No matter how you count it, it all adds up to love.

Cold Feet, Warm Heart

I just mentioned the other day that I always have a pair of socks on the needles.  But now that I'm a quinquagenarian, I'm usually too hot for socks.  But not yesterday.  For some reason, I had really cold feet.  I tried everything until finally caving in and getting a pair of hand knit socks out of my hand knit sock drawer.*

I started these socks summer of 2014.  I finished them summer of 2015.

As I age, I'm too hot for socks.  I've only made 3 or 4 pairs for myself in the past 3 years.  I still knit BF his cashmere socks.  He's not suffering any hot flashes.  

Funniest part of all?  I think this is the first time I've worn this pair of socks.  They had that brand new look (in my house that means I didn't see any dog hair in them).

*Doesn't everyone have a drawer dedicated to hand knit socks?

Knit Picks Felici Yarn is Back (for a limited time)

Felicity knows no bounds.  Why you ask?  Because Knit Picks has reissued their most dazzling bold and beautiful Felici yarn for a limited time.  I just love the thick stripes in bright sassy colors.  They make the most stunning socks and therefore are pure happiness.

I was so utterly happy with the news that I immediately purchased enough yarn to knit six pairs of socks in different colorways.  I cast on for my first pair of Teacup Stripes as soon as my package arrived.

And this afternoon, in less than one week, I have another pair of socks to show you.  Felicitations Felici yarn.  We love you!

Stripey Stripes

I'm using up my leftovers to make some projects.  This is one that I've been working on this weekend.

Pros

• I get to use up leftover remnants of yarn
• The stripes are aesthetically pleasing
• It looks like it was planned this way as a design element and not just a way to use up leftovers

Cons

• Look at all those ends I have to weave in

Stay tuned for pictures of the FO later this week.

Christmas Knits in Review

Now that Christmas has come and gone I can finally share photos of my knitting projects from this past month.  It was killing me not to share the photos as soon as I finished my projects, but I didn't want to spoil the surprises for the recipients.  

I made two pink bulldog washcloths using Peaches N Cream from my stash.  One is for our friend Virginia.  The other will be given away next week... so I cannot spill the beans just yet. The pattern is by Lisa Millan and can be found on Ravelry.

I made one black bulldog washcloth using Peaches N Cream in black for our friend Matt.  I think I'll have to make a lot more of these because they're really, really cute.

BF got his traditional hand knit cashmere socks for wearing around the house like slippers.  He really feels the cold, so these puppies help a lot.  

And speaking of hand knit socks, Primogeniture made my day on Christmas by wearing these hand knit socks I made for him during his surgery in 2009!  He's not a big fan of handknits, so I rarely make him anything, but I insisted on making him some socks, if for nothing else, than for one day to open his sock drawer and see some handknit socks and think of dear old Mom.

Maggie's favorite color is orange, so everything she got for Christmas was orange.  I like to go with themes.  I knit her the Galicia hat that was featured on the front page of Ravelry three weeks ago.  I had plenty of yarn, so I knit up an infinity cowl using the same stitch pattern.  I think it looks great on her!

And last but not least, in keeping with the orange theme, I knit Maggie her very own penguin ornament wearing an orange hat.  I just love this Penguin Popper pattern by Jill Arnusch and have made ten of them already.  This orange one is so bright and cheery that it is definitely one of my favorites.

There you have it.  Some knitting progress and FOs for the month of December.  I already have some gift knitting for next year in the works.  Afterall there are only 362 days until Christmas!

Santa's Elf is in Business... Again.

Remember all the work I put into making a Scout-themed Christmas tree for our fundraiser this past spring?  Well, I'm doing it again, but the tree is going to be at our Connecticut Yankee Council office and the ornaments will be sold individually so you don't have to purchase the entire tree!

I've been very busy knitting up my miniature vintage Boy Scout socks.  Since March, I have knit these little guys when I have some extra time, nothing on the needles that is good social knitting (e.g. every WIP involves paying strict attention to the pattern and does not work well in a social setting); or I'm just on a mission to add to my miniature sock stash.

I have been knitting mostly Cub Scout blue and gold socks as those seem to be my biggest seller.  Next I'll make another batch of Boy Scout vintage red tipped socks, followed by more Tiger Socks in orange and blue and then more Venturing socks.

Yes - I think I have 38 Cub Scout socks; 12 Boy Scout socks; 5 Venturing socks and 2 Tiger Scout socks.  

It's time to get working!  Hopefully, I'll have these and my handpainted wooden ornaments at the Connecticut Yankee Council office next week ready for sale. 

They make perfect gifts for the den leaders, Cubmasters, ASMs, Scouts, Scoutmasters, Crew Advisors and more.  

100% of the proceeds go to support the Scouts in Connecticut Yankee Council!  Please consider buying a gift for your favorite Scout or Scouter while supporting our 10,000+ youth.

 

12th Anniversary Already?

Wow!  It seems like just yesterday (or at least three days ago) that we were celebrating our 11th anniversary.  Today we're already celebrating our 12th anniversary.  

Time really flies when you have two anniversaries each year.  It's a good thing, though, because since we started our life together later in life, with two anniversaries a year, we can reach the 25th and the 50th anniversaries at about the same time that others are reaching them. 

Don't you like the way we do our math?

For our 12th anniversary, I knit BF a matching miniature sock ornament to go with the full sized socks he got for our 11th anniversary.  Awww.  Everything small is cute.

Happy Anniversary BF!

He Loves Them

It was Netflix night and while I was busy knitting away on my Boy Scout blanket, BF was snuggled up all nice and warm in his new anniversary socks.

Wilma was also watching TV with us.  

Seriously, could that tongue be any cuter?