May wrap up

Yardage Totals 2010

January: 1884 yds
February: 2850 yds
March: 2893 yds
April: 777 yds
May: 856 yds

Year to date: 9260 yds or 5.26 miles

So May's yardage was not too much better then April's. I've been feeling more "into" my knitting, but since most of what I'm working on is socks, the yardage isn't exactly impressive. Regardless, I'm still averaging just over a mile month being knit.

In June, I plan to focus on finishing up what few WIPs I have the first half of the month. Once we move in two weeks, I'm not sure what I'll be working on yet. I'm still contemplating car/travel friendly projects.

Wordless WIPing

WIP it Wednesday!

Whoo! I'm going to actually blog this one, kittens!

And it will not be a sock today. Ahem.






On needles is a gift for The Boy. He'll be 4 on Sunday and I'm knitting like crazy every night to get this finished in time. He's a rather observant little thing, so working on this while he's awake is out of the question. For months, he's been bugging me to knit him a, "blue and green monster." He picked out the pattern and yarn ages ago. He reminds me that I have not, in fact, knit his monster yet...oh, pretty much every day when he sees me working on something else. It becomes more then once daily when I'm working on toys for gift knits.

Anyone who is not familiar with Danger Crafts and her patterns should check them out. There are a lot of monsters, but many other toys as well. In fact, this pug is next up on my list to go with the bunny rattle I blogged a little while back.

So many of my favorite toy designers are getting book deals these days; I keep wondering if/when Danger Crafts will be offered one. It would be a must-buy for sure!

A Tale of Two Socks: Sock One

Things are still crazy here as the number of days until the movers come gets smaller. We have 28 days--closer to 27 really, since Monday is almost over--and all of our things will be packed up, stuck on a truck, and we will not see them for about 3 weeks. As such, I'm pretty sure I can not stick to my usual WIP it Wednesday. Instead, I'm going to grab whatever chances I'm given to blog about my WIPs and, hopefully, an FO or two before my internet is cut on the 13th of June.

First, I think I'll blog Clue 2 of SKA's May Mystery sock, courtesy of Cookie A.





How pretty is that?

I'm using Wollmeise 80/20 Twin in Turkis and so happy with the choice. WM is fabulous for stitch definition and socks with patterns like this. A lot of knitters complain that WM, thanks to its tight twist and many plies, is too much like cotton and not soft enough. It's, "rough on the hands." But really, soft isn't the best thing for socks. Not in my opinion, anyway. I want pretty and long-wearing. I suspect there will be many more intricate, WM socks in my future. (After I clear out what my current "duds" are and have the room.)

The pattern itself is pretty interesting--clue three is actually out but the second clue is taking longer then the first, so I'm still on the second sock. It has this spiraling bar thing going on. Clue 2 calls for three repeats on the leg, but thanks to my calf size, I could just eek out 2. Even that is a tight fit. I suspect to get three, I would have had to go up quite a few needles sizes and there's no way the fabric would have been dense enough. As it is, these socks are taller then most of the others that I knit. I just like "short" socks.

If I were to try this pattern or another like it in the future, I might try casting onto larger needles and as I work my way down the leg, decrease needle sizes to get a better fit.

It's looking like I may have a good chunk of this WM left when all is said and done. Good thing I have plans for some Stashbuster Spirals to use up all of the .4 skein bits of sock yarn I have left over. (Ravel it to see some pretty ones!)

Ack!

No WIP it Wednesday, kittens. I was so busy getting things set up for our move, that I forgot what day it was until I saw a fellow blogger post up her WIPs. Yes, I figured out it was Wednesday 100 minutes before Thursday starts. WIN.

I'll try to get a post out in the next couple of days.

Let there be WIP!

It would seem that my measures to bring back my mojo are thus far working. This week, there will be a WIP post. And there will be pictures!

I'm still not moving very fast, but I am moving again.



This week, I found inspiration in Sock Knitters Anonymous' mystery sock, designed by none other then Cookie A! I'm a huge fan of her designs, so casting this on was a no-brainer and I even pulled out some Wollmeise for it. Cookie's designs are often great for variegated yarn, but based on the cuff pattern, I thought something more solid was called for.

The first clue was super quick and I'm hoping the next one will be the same. There's just something about a quick project to perk up the spirits. I'm not participating in the actual contest for the KAL, so I'll be able to alter and make the leg on these whatever size I desire. Since I cast on the large size, I may be able to get away with a slightly longer leg.

This is actually a decent segue for my next project...





Tadpole socks.

Since I cast these onto a smaller needle size then I usually do, they're a tad snug unblocked. I know that superwash wool will loosen a bit and I'm hoping it will be just enough. (After the move, I'm going to invest in some size 2s: 2.5s result in a sock that's a bit too loose, 1.5s in a sock that's just a touch tight.) Because of this, what is pictured is the actual leg height for this pair; any taller and they definitely will not fit. I'm not complaining: I like my socks on the short side. In a perfect world, I would have liked one more pattern repeat.

And that's it kittens! The theme for this week is socks. PRETTY socks.

Finally, an FO post!

Now that it has been gifted, I can blog one of the baby gifts I've been working on. This one I had to make twice, because as you can see...




The first one was way too open and mesh like. I loved the size of him, but not the openness. I found a pattern for this little guy over at BearBuns Studio. The Husband has claimed the larger one and wants a WWI Flying Ace costume for it.

There isn't much else to say about the pattern. It's pretty straight forward and even a crochet noob like me could figure it out. If I had more experience, I would have attempted to make the second Snoopy larger like the first. I'm very happy with how it turned out...so, all's well that ends well.

April Wrap Up

Oh my, I know I'm stressed out when I forget to do my yardage tally! Sorry kittens, my life is a stressful mess at the moment. It will clear up in the next couple of months. (Is it crazy of me that I am upset about writing April's wrap up post on the first day of May?)

Anywho.

Yardage Totals 2010

January: 1884 yds
February: 2850 yds
March: 2893 yds
April: 777 yds

Year to date: 8404 yds or 4.78 miles

Less then half a mile this month: ouch. Oh well, it's not terrible--I am still averaging over a mile per month knit--and I'm hoping to have an upswing in May. I spent the last couple days identifying factors that were messing with my mojo and ruthlessly eliminating them. We'll see what happens. (And I should hopefully soon have some pictures, as items I've been working on are getting ready to be gifted and then I can post about them!)