YO short rows all the way, with zigzag BO

new knitting skills acquired this weekend: YO short row for socks.

after seeing so many knitters trying out toe up socks, i was extremely intrigued to get do it myself. at first i followed purly's tutorial, which is really helpful. then, i looked at wendy's and alison's toe up tutorial from knitty.com. but what really put everything in prospective, was the baby socks instructions from interweave. i made a little baby sock to learn all the techniques, which was the most satisfying thing this weekend, as far as knitting went.

that little red sock will need to have a partner, then they will go to australia to meet mia! i had finished the friday harbor socks for nikkishell, and i think it's only fair to let mia has her own pair of handknit socks too!!

yet another pair of friday harbor

knit project: knitting on the road - friday harbor
difficulty (1-5): 2.1
size: women's medium (50 stitches, long tail cast on)
yarn: mountain colors bearfoot in evergreen
knitting specs: US 3 cir.

Posted by blossom at 07:46 PM | Comments (13)

friday harbor in patons kroy 4ply

knit project: friday harbor socks
difficulty (1-5): 2
size: women's
yarn: paton kroy
knitting specs: US 2 cir.

so unbelievably relieved that the socks are now done. all it needs now is a bath and a bit of blocking! knitting socks for me is both fun and dreadful. i love knitting the first sock, the second one, however, becomes a complete torture! why is that? i need to get over it.

anyway, i found this pattern promotes a bit of sagging. i may try to cast on with needles only one size bigger (instead of three sizes) next time. is there going to be a next time? oh yes! and for a great reason, too! the talented nikkishell and i are undergoing a private swap. i knit her a pair of socks, she makes me a bag (total bliss!).

thanks alison for such a wonderful knitalong, i hope my sock pal will enjoy the friday harbor socks for many winters to come!

now, who is my secret sock pal? what socks am i going to get? can't wait...

Posted by blossom at 11:53 PM | Comments (26)

one complete sockapal-2-za sock

you are looking at a complete sock for the exchange. unfortunately the second sock is still as a ball of yarn. i am going to cast on for the second one in a couple days.

it really did not take that long to knit this pattern. i was overly multi-tasking when this sock was made. so, instead of having a pair of socks done, i finished the sleeves for audrey.

audrey's sleeves

as for butterfly, i'm still clicking away on the hem (therefore no pictures to show). however, after reading the knitalong on craftster, i've decided to knit it in round to avoid seaming the lace.

what else? a new project!! well, i had some linen drape sitting in my stash for a while and i was dying to use it up before the summer ends! so, grumperina's tivoli T became the perfect thing to make! with only less than four balls of linen drape, i'm hoping that it'll be enough to finish this top!! i do not want to buy another ball of yarn! one question, what type of cast on do you tivoli knitters do after the BO for yoke?

and when i'm not knitting, i'm constantly thinking how my self-designed sweater is going to turn out. i want to clear off my WIPs so i can focus on this project with full, undivided attention (adding on a brand new project kind of make this last sentence a bit phony!).

the beginning of tivoli T

Posted by blossom at 06:02 PM | Comments (12)

green friday harbor sock to be!

i knew that when i picked this pattern, i would be in for some new tricks. sure enough, so far i had learned how to cast on using the english method (posh!) so the edge resembling a purl stitch. first attempt: too tight. second attempt: up four needle size, this resulted a stretchy and firm edge. perfect! i am looking foward to using this method more, as stated in the KOTR book, combined the english CO with continental CO method, you can have a nice ribbed edge like K1, P1 or K2, P2.

this pattern used a very small number of CO stithes, 50, to be exact. my instinct told me that 50 stitches are not enough to stretch across the mid calf (my sock pal wants a mid calf length). but, i went with it out of respect for nancy bush. needless to say, when i tried it on, it was blood vessel constricting tight. so, i ripped it off, added 10 more stitches, and now, it can fit anywhere you want on the calf. perfect!

in all honesty, friday harbor did not have the most comprehensive instructions. after the first couple rows, i was utterly confused. then, i remembered that there's a book correction file at interweave's website, so i went a grabbed that. hey, what do you know, there it was, pattern correction notes for this book. it was helpful and allowed me to make the lace looks like lace, not some wonky, holey stitches. and what was the trick? you have to constantly shuffle the stitches every round so all the YOs and K2TOGs are aligned.

i particularly fancy the wavy lacy edge of this sock. it reminds me a bit of the victorian era garter you see in the brothels (is my sock pal going to think that i'm strange?) and i bet if i increase enough stitches to fit around the thigh, it'll be just like the garter stockings. but no! i'm not going down that wild path. still, i wonder why nancy bush named this pattern "friday harbor", i need to re-read her introduction.

front, nice, chevron shaped lace patterns; back, 2x2 ribbing for one size fits all.

Posted by blossom at 09:29 AM | Comments (17)