Pattern: Baby Cabled Baby Slouch by Stacy Mar
Needles: US 5 DPNs and US 7 DPNs
Yarn: Rowan Calmer in 493, one skein
Date Started: November 3, 2009
Date Completed: November 4, 2009

This yarn is left over from making my skull cap, and I planned to make fingerless gloves with it. But I found this pattern which called for this yarn, and I thought I would use it. I thought it would be nice to make a baby gift that wasn’t in a traditional baby color.

I’m very happy that these two recent baby projects were true stash busting projects!

Pattern: Heritage Booties by Jeanne McCanless from Interweave Knits, Holiday Gifts 2009
Needles: US 0 DPNs
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy in Giant Peach
Date Started: October 29, 2009
Date Completed: November 3, 2009

I made these booties for one of my colleagues who had her first child, a girl, a few weeks ago. The baby was born early and is still quite tiny, so she won’t be able to fit into these booties for a while yet. I wanted to make something special for my colleague, but I expected to have more time. After the baby was born I started looking through baby patterns that would work with the yarn I have, and I didn’t find anything that struck my fancy. Then I looked through the preview of Interweave Knits, Holiday Gifts 2009 and found these booties. I thought these would be perfect!

Thank goodness the good folks over at Dream In Color decided that their sock yarn would come in 450 yard hanks. I had this yarn left over from the Twisted Tulip socks I made for my mom for Mother’s Day 2008. I had no idea what I would do with what was left over, and luckily it was enough to make these booties. And I think it’s appropriate that yarn that was left over from a project I made for the best mom I know (my own!) would be used to make a gift for a brand new mommy.

I’m working on my second pair of toe-up socks. The first one is finished.

Can you spot where my tension changed on the leg? I love the pooling that I’m getting. I cast on the second sock yesterday and so far it appears to be doing the same thing. Maybe the socks will be similar.

Starting the second sock was just as difficult as starting the first sock. Judy’s Magic Cast On is tough for the first two rows if one is using DPNs. I kept dropping stitches, and I wasn’t always able to pick them back up or I would find them after I overcompensated by doing an M1, thinking I missed one somewhere.

So I did something I usually don’t do. I put the socks away after only completing one and started more projects.

I know two people who have recently had their first child, so I made baby gifts. I will take some pictures over the weekend. My colleague will get a pair of booties, and my hair stylist will get a baby slouchy hat. These two projects took approximately a week or so to do, so that meant I finished one sock and didn’t cast on the other for a week. That’s a long time for me. In order to avoid second sock syndrome I usually cast on as soon as I finish the first one, usually in the first sitting. Second Sock Syndrome didn’t beat me, as I’m now well into the second sock.

I was lucky to make it to Yarn Con this year as I was out of town from work and didn’t fly back until that morning. I went straight from the airport to Yarn Con. My fear was that the best stuff would be sold out by the time I got there. What I wanted most of all was Sophie’s Toes yarn in Candy Corn. Luckily my friend Angela arrived early and had a hank put on the side for me. When I arrived at Yarn Con I went straight to the Sophie’s Toes booth where there was still a lot of Candy Corn yarn, but I was happy mine was reserved just in case.

Then the confusion started. I knew I wanted to buy another hank of Sophie’s Toes yarn, but which one? I wanted to try some of the yarn with cashmere, or the yarn with the sparkles. But I also wanted additional colorways of the traditional sock yarn. What to do? I easily could have spent my entire Yarn Con budget at the Sophie’s Toes booth, but I really didn’t want to do that. Ultimately I decided upon the same type of sock yarn. Then I had to pick a colorway. I was holding Pumpkin Spice and Handsome Park Ranger for a long time. To be honest I don’t remember how exactly I made my decision, but I chose Pumpkin Spice.

I had been at Yarn Con maybe 10 minutes and had already bought 2 hanks of yarn. My goal was to not buy anymore yarn until I had visited every booth. I did good for a while. I went over to the Yarn Hollow booth to show them my Rivendell socks which I had made with their yarn, but I didn’t really look at the yarn there. I moved on.

I made it about halfway through the first room before I failed upon arriving at the Turtle Cove Farm booth. The yarn was so pretty and had such awesome names! I bought two hanks of sock yarn. First I chose a color for my boyfriend who has only wanted me to knit white socks for him. I thought the Major Tom colorway of the Terrapin Toes yarn was perfect for him as far as dress socks are concerned. He will wear darker socks when he goes somewhere nice. Plus, I liked the yarn too, so if he decided he didn’t like it I would be more than happy to wear it myself. Also, since “Space Oddity” is his favorite David Bowie song, I thought that a colorway called Major Tom would be perfect for him.

For myself I bought the Terrapin Toes yarn in Punk Rock Girl. And as of last week I think I know what I am going to make with it! I probably won’t get around to knitting with it until after the new year, but yes, it’s already spoken for. I then went around with the song “Punk Rock Girl” by the Dead Milkmen in my head.

I did manage to make it all of the other vendors before buying more yarn. I went back to the Yarn Hollow booth. I looked at some of the other types of yarn, but decided to go with the Chrome again since that was the yarn I used for my Rivendell socks and I liked it so much. I considered a few colors, and decided upon Chai, which I thought was absolutely beautiful and appropriate for the season. It is their most popular colorway, and I can see why!

I spent slightly more than my budget, but I chalk that up to my generosity in buying yarn for my boyfriend. Yeah, that’s it!!

Pattern: Curry Spice Hat by Kathy Zimmerman from Knitted Gifts
Yarn: Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Bulky in Maple Grove, 1 hank
Needles: US 10.5 and US 10
Date Started: October 21, 2009
Date Completed: October 23, 2009

The only reason why this took two days was because I started it one day and messed up, frogged it, and made the entire hat the following day. This was a really quick project. The hat turned out better than the scarf did, at least in my opinion. Again, this was made to match my brown wool coat.

Next up will be the Texter Gloves, made out of Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sport in Maple Grove. Unfortunately the dye lot was really different for the sport weight yarn than it was for the bulky, and it’s much lighter.

All of the colors appear to be lighter. Oh well, they will still be pretty gloves. Now I just need to get a smaller crochet hook than I already own in order to get started.

Pattern: Curry Spice Scarf by Kathy Zimmerman from Knitted Gifts
Yarn: Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Bulky in Maple Grove, 2 hanks
Needles: US 10.5
Date Started: October 9, 2009
Date Completed: October 21, 2009

I made this scarf to go with the coat I’m wearing in the photo. I love this colorway and its 1970s vibe. I still need to block it, but I’ve been too lazy. At first I liked that it looked handmade, then I thought that maybe it looked too handmade. I liked the hat (which I’ll post tomorrow) better, even though it was the same yarn and stitch pattern. But I grew to like the scarf too.

The other day I was walking past Urban Outfitters and a scarf very similar to this one was in the window. I guess I’m cool now.

Pattern: Whisper Cardigan by Hannah Fetting from from the Spring 2009 issue of Interweave Knits
Yarn: JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool-Silk 2/18 in Emerald, approximately 1.3 skeins
Needles: US 2 and US 7
Date Started: June 28, 2009
Date Completed: September 20, 2009

Neither my boyfriend nor I noticed that the strap from the camera was in the photo until way later. Oops!

Unless I wear this with a long sleeved shirt I won’t be able to wear this until next spring. I was freezing as we were taking these pictures!

I finished my first Christmas Lights sock last night, and cast on the second one last night.

At least I tried.

It took some time for my hands to get used to Judy’s Magic Cast On again. Once I got that down, I started knitting. For some reason, no matter how careful I was, no matter how many times I counted the stitches, I was always off. I think I tried four times. One time I thought I was in the clear because I was off because I dropped a stitch. I picked it back up and went along my way. It messed up again. I don’t know how. And then, the last time I tried, a stitch had dropped, but I had the right number of stitches on the needle. It was at the bottom of the toe, and the stitch slipped out, and there was a hole. I had to frog it. Again.

Hopefully I will have better luck tonight.

Although I’m focusing on the scarf I cast on over the weekend, I did start a new sock project. Socks are easier to pack when traveling, and since I’m traveling this week, I figured I should get started.

I decided to start my second pair of basic toe-up socks, using a different toe and heel than I did last time. The first toe is finished, and here is the result:

Originally I was going to use the figure eight cast on, but that didn’t work out so well, so I used Judy’s magic cast on instead. I love the cast on itself, but working the rows after it was difficult on DPNs. I can see why casting on with two circular needles is recommended for Judy’s magic cast on and the figure eight cast on. You really need the flexibility of the cable. Although I love knitting socks on DPNs, I may have to buy some circular needles just to cast on.

Anyway, the toe is finished, and I’m onto knitting the foot.

Pattern: Rivendell Sock by Janel Laidman
Yarn: Yarn Hollow Chrome (fka Merino Tencel Superwash), 1 hank
Needles: US 1 DPN
Start date: 9/20/09
Finished: 10/10/09

The colors are actually brighter than they appear to be in these photos.

I made a rule that I could not buy yarn at Yarn Con unless I used some of the Yarn I bought at Yarn Con last year. One week to the day before this year’s Yarn Con I finished these socks.

I loved working with this yarn. The colors were beautiful. The yarn was soft and amazing to knit with.