Finishing March

I finished all three pair of socks that I had on the needles the last time I posted:

Vegetable Thin Socks

Pattern: Basic Sock

Yarn: Noro Kuryeon Sock in color 255

Needles:  Size 2.25mm dpn

Notes: these actually took longer to knit than I liked because I started getting a little too much “muddiness” in sock 2 and had to keep trying different reds until I got enough contrast.  There is a lot of red in this colorway.

Sunday Swing Socks / April Selection Personal Sock Club

Pattern: Sunday Swing

Yarn: Creatively Dyed Steel in Kino Fuji

Needles: size 2.25 mm dpn & ML

Notes:  The original pattern was Cirque, but the cables got lost in the patterning of the yarn and there also seemed to be a bit too much ease in these and I really didn’t want to go down a needle size.  I started them out on dpn, but didn’t like the division of the stitches for the pattern so I switched to circ and finished them ML.

March Mystery Socks / SKA group Ravelry

Pattern: March Mystery sock

Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock in Lauma

Size 2.25mm ML

Notes: this was my first mystery KAL and I have to say that it was a great experience. I love this pattern and really had so much fun knitting it.  It knit up so fast that by the time I finished the second clue in the first sock, I knew I wouldn’t be able to wait a whole week to work on them again, so I cast on sock #2 and knit it through the second clue so I could do clue 3 on both socks and have more knitting time with the pattern.  They fit great too!

I also started a couple of other projects in between.

I found this Shamrock and Four Leaf Clover Pin (by Cheryl Andrews) pattern on Ravelry and made up a couple in worsted, then I made up a couple in fingering; just a little March fun.

I also started a shop sample for the class I will be doing in April … this is actually a baby blanket pattern, but it will end up on the back of my couch … to protect the spot currently covered with Saucey hair.

Inside out square in Cascade 220 superwash

 Then I cast on for a KAL at work that I’m helping with, I don't have a pic of this project since I barely got past the gauge swatch, but I think it will be a fun KAL.  I'll post more about it when there is something to show.  The project is the Desert Vest from the Rowan Savannah collection.

 

As you might guess, I didn’t make much progress on the sweater or shawl due mostly to letting myself get distracted by the new projects and other ideas. 

I’ve got a lot going on knitting wise and hopefully something will make for good posting in April.

Happy Knitting,

Nana

PS.  Baseball season opens this weekend!

Sox-a-lot

What do we have here?

Three bags full of sock projects in varying stages:

Project 1 (far right) is the Vegetable thin socks that I started at the end of February, just a basic top-down, 2 row striped sock made possible by the lovely colors of Noro Kuryeon Sock yarn.  These are my lug around and car knitting socks.

Project 2 (bottom left) is the March Mystery Mock from the Sock Knitter’s Anonymous group on Ravelry.  This is my first “mystery” project.  I got clue one on March 1^st and whipped it right out.  So far so fun; if sock project #3 wasn’t being such a big PITA, I would probably start the second sock from the other end of the ball, because I’m feeling sort of like a slacker with so many other people posting two sock cuffs already.

Project 3 (top left) is my Personal Sock Club selection for March.  This started out as Cirque.  Right away I started to worry that they were knitting up a little on the big side.  But I tried to give it a chance after all cables pull in right?  Well 3/4s of the way into the cable design, the yarn is very stretchy and they are definitely biggish for me.  I decided to try a different pattern rather than opt for smaller (read size 0) needles.  I poked around in my pattern book but really didn’t come up with something simple enough not to get lost in the yarn colors.  (This yarn is VERY busy).  So I dug up a pattern I need to chart and decided to give it a test knit with this yarn, ha! Not so good.) That got ripped and restarted twice because I am not really happy with a couple elements in the pattern and again, the yarn is overwhelming the detail in the pattern.  Right now I have actually come back to Cirque on the size 0 needles for lack of a better idea.  (Next up is probably plain vanilla socks, but I’d like to do something interesting here.)

The shawl and the sweater are holding their own against all of these socks, but will have to wait their turn for a blog post.  We’ll see what the weekend knitting yields.

 Happy Knitting,

Nana