Pattern PDF

If you're having trouble getting to the Diamond Lace Socks PDF, please bare with me. It took me so long to figure out how to get a PDF onto Blogger. I ended up uploaded it onto Geocities, and linked to it, but now Geocities has temporarily shut down my site because it was visited by too many eager sock knitters. If I can't figure out how to fix this soon, I'll just end up posting it not in pdf form. Sorry !

My First Pattern!

Hooray! I've designed my first pattern! Yes, it's a very simple sock, but ya got to start somewhere!



It's a top-down, picot cuff, with an eye of partridge heel.



I've posted the PDF at the side. This being my first, I would appreciate any constructive criticism. And please let me know if you catch any mistakes!



Hope you like it!

New Project

I love the whole process of choosing a new project. I love it so much that I actually get butterflies in my stomach while doing it. Flipping through books and magazines, finding patterns online, digging through my stash to find the perfect yarn...I love it! I've been wanting to make a sweater out of my Malabrigo before winter is gone, and I've finally decided on a pattern:



Refined Raglan from Interweave Knits Winter 2006. I love this yarn so much. I usually pick soft, girly colours, but I've been feeling olive lately. This yarn is called Dark Earth, and has olive, browns and tans, and is the softest thing ever!



As for my diamond lace socks, they're washed and dry, pictures have been taken and the pattern is written up. I'm just waiting for after the kids go to bed tonight to work on the charts and figure out how to convert to PDF. With fingers crossed, it should be posted very soon!

ISE4

I stumbled upon the site for International Scarf Exchange 4, and had to immediately sign up for it. It looks like it's going to be a lot of fun! They said ISE3 had 225 people, which is amazing!
Can't wait to see who I get!

On anther note, can I please get your opinion on free patterns: do you prefer to see patterns just normally written out, or in PDF form?

Sneak Peek

Finished the first diamond lace sock! Here's a sneak peek:



I wrote up the pattern, and am test knitting it with the second sock. I should have the pattern available for you in a few days. I think I even figured out how to chart it as well! Unfortunately because of the pattern, there is only one size. I cast on for the second sock:



This was the fourth time I did the picot cuff, and learned a lot from all of it. I'm sure many of
you know all of this, but here is what I learned anyways:

Picot Cuff Notes:

The first try was with a long-tail cast-on, k 7 rows, turn, k7 rows and knit sides together.I learned from this tutorial. There was a seam on the inside which I did not like, and the cuff flared out a little too much for my taste.

The second try was with a provisional cast-on, k2p2 rib for 7 rows, turn, k7 rows and knit needles together. This made the inside seamless, which was nice, but it was way too much work for me. Also, it didn't flare out as much, but the rib made the picot bumps all uneven. For those of you who actually enjoy working with 9 dpns at the same time, there is a great tutorial here for the cast on, and here for the cuff.

The third try turned out best. I used a single cast-on (aka backward loop cast-on), k2p2 rib for 6 rows, knit 1 row, turn, k7 rows, and knit sides together. Normally I would never use this cast-on, but it made only one loop to knit through (not 2 like in the long-tail), so the inside was just as seamless as the provisional. And since the cast-on was on the inside, it didn't matter that it wasn't so pretty. By knitting the row before the turn, the picot bumps weren't uneven any longer.

I tend to knit too tightly. For the turning row, and the knitting together row, I went up a needle size to 2.5mm, and it made things look more even.

Hopefully this will be of some help to somebody. Now I'm off to finish my socks!

Broke My Promise

Yesterday I went to Mary's Yarns to return some extra balls of yarn. But I would never return yarn, so I exchanged it. Except I couldn't spend the exact amount, and spent more. So basically I broke the promise I made to myself last month that I wouldn't buy any more yarn 'til November. You know what? I don't feel bad about it at all!



Fleece Artist Merino Sock
My reasoning for buying: This stuff is hard to get. If I didn't get it then, it wouldn't be there the next time.



Barbara Walker Knitting Pattern Treasury Vol. 2
My reasoning for buying: How can I call myself a serious knitter and not own this in my personal library?



Filatura Di Crosa Zara
My reasoning for buying: Zara yarn at 50% off; it would be a crime if I didn't!

Third Time's A Charm!

Yeah! I figured out my sock pattern!



I'm happy with the picot cuff now, and the diamonds are behaving in the round. I still couldn't figure out how to chart it, so I'm just going to write out the pattern. Can't wait to share it with all of you!

Corazon

Here are my warm, new Corazon mitts:

I've been using them for a few days now, and they're nice and toasty! The wool I used was called Smart Superwash. I did a little mistake on the second mitt, which you can spot on the second pic. I was so eager to finish that I forgot to knit in some waste yarn for the thumb. I ended up cutting open a space, which stopped my heart temporarily, but it ended up okay. The mitts aren't identical, but I'm letting it go.

First and Second Attempt

I'm no sock expert. I've knit four pairs of socks. I don't know why, but I feel compelled to design my next pair. The yarn I'm using is Fleece Artist. I first charted my design (a simple diamond lace), which is pretty hard to do if you don't know how to read charts in the first place. Then came the knitting. Attempt #1:





I've never done a picot cuff before, so I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be a little flared out. Plus the diamonds needed a bit of tweaking. I'm so confused on how to write out the pattern at the join. The beginning of the round changes for a few rows. Anyways, I ripped it and here's attempt #2:



The diamonds are fine, though I still don't know how to chart the join part. I think I'll just have to write out the pattern instead. I tried using a provisional cast on, and knitting together the folded part of the cuff. Man, that was a lot of work, and I didn't notice much improvement. The inside was nice and smooth, but the cuff was still a little flared. I also tried ribbing the inside of the fold, which just made the picot bumps all wonky. Oh, and the sock was too big.

So, I'm off to do some frogging. Like I said, I'm no sock expert, but at least I'm having fun!

Goodbye Fun Fur, Nice Knowin' Ya!

Chemo hats for Children's Hospital Boston, complete and shipped out:



There are 25 of these little beauties. I averaged about 1 per day, at a little over an hour each. That's about 30 hours of knitting with Fun Fur. The beginning was easy; I was knitting out of the goodness of my heart. During the middle, I focused on the kids going through chemo, gritted my teeth and kept knitting. At the end, it was tough. I'll be honest, the only reason I got through this was pure selfishness. I didn't care about the hats for the kids any longer. The only reason I knit so many was because I wanted to rid my stash of this stinkin' yarn forever. I can confidently say that I will NEVER knit with Fun Fur again. Now that this project is done, and that yarn is out of my sight, I hope the hats put a smile on those children's faces. My prayers are with them.

Snow, Snow, Go Away, Come Again Another Day

Aaaarrgh! I'm cold! I just finished shoveling the driveway and I can't feel my face. Being a True North Canadian, I should be used to the weather by now. But seriously, who can get used to -13 degrees. For all you Fahrenheit people, that about 9 degrees. Brrrgh! Kids have been begging me since they got up to go play outside, but I'm not interested in treating frostbitten toes today. I know our winter had a late start, and it's worse in other places in Canada, but I'm REALLY ready for spring. Don't feel like homeschooling right now; maybe later. That's what I love about homeschool; school fits around our life, and not the other way around. I can't imagine having to get up early on a day like today and walking the kids to school. Instead, I'm gonna curl up with a blanket and some tea, and knit. I picked out my next sock yarn; it's Fleece Artist:

Phildar

I was cleaning out my knitting stuff the other day, and found this magazine that I had forgot about:



It's the Phildar 2006/2007 winter catalogue. I've been on a small-project kick lately, but I think it's about time for something bigger. Yeah, I have about 3 unfinished sweaters somewhere in my closet, but lets just forget about those. So I was thinking about this:





which reminds me of the Rusted Root sweater from Zephyr Style. Or this:





and






I'm loving those covered buttons. But I think the one that stood out the most for me was this one:





especially after recently seeing this. The only dilemma is the that I promised myself I wouldn't buy any more yarn. I don't have enough of anything in this gauge, but I do have some yummy Malabrigo. I wonder if I can make that work...

Time for new mitts

It's cold, cold, cold these days, and here is what I'm using to warm my hands:



These gloves are old, ratty, pilling, faded and just plain sad. Time for an upgrade, so here's what's coming:



Corazon mitts from Knitty, in colours that match my coat. First time doing fair-isle too!

Kiri Cast On

I cast on my Kiri shawl yesterday:

I'm a love, love, lovin' it!!! It's sick how I can get so much pleasure and relaxation from knitting something as stressful as lace, but it's true! This is my first shawl, and I got lots of help with the cast-on from See Eunny Knit. I tried knitting while the kids were in the room...big mistake!! This darling needs total concentration! My husband asked me, "What the heck is that green thing you're making?". I didn't think he would appreciate the beauty of a shawl, so I just told him it was a scarf. Can't wait 'til the kids go to bed, so I can knit some more!

Jaywalkers

Amidst all the coughing and sneezing yesterday, I was able to finish my Jaywalkers:



So what do I think of them? The pattern was awesome, the yarn was incredible, the colours beautiful, the fit is not bad. But all put together, I'm not so sure. It was someone on the Knitter's Review board that came up with the name "clown vomit". I think my socks could be classified as that. Still, I like 'em, but maybe just to wear at home. I'm going to post these on a new KAL I joined: Sock A Month Knitalong 3.

Under The Weather

This is how I feel today:



The only good thing about getting a cold, is you're allowed to sit in bed and knit all day. I'm off to bed...

No More Doctors!

Yesterday was hopefully the last doctor's visit for a long while. To celebrate, I treated myself to some yarn:



There's some Manos in the beautiful Wildflowers colourway, some Alchemy Haiku in Vintage Jade and Lantern Moon needles for a Kiri shawl, Nature's Palette sock yarn in Ice Blue, and some Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca/Silk in Slate. My stash is just nuts now, so I've made a promise to myself to not buy anymore for a long while. The date I set is my birthday (Nov.29), which is so far away, but let's see how I do!