Sockies

These are some impromptu little baby socks that I made up quickly after I wrapped up that pair for Meg. (photo coming later - they're in her dirty laundry, I think.) My friend Jennifer had a little baby girl, and I liked this yarn so much I thought I'd try to punt on a baby pair. They are okay, but I can never remember the right way to turn those hourglass heels, and I end up with holes. There's some kind of yarn-over at the end of the row , then a three-together at the other end, but I'm not getting it right, and one sock is pretty good, but one is holey. Also, I tried a comparison between the twisted sister's twisted rib and plain old 1x1 rib - kind of interesting to see the difference. Much more noticeable than I thought - the twisted rib is closest to the foot. In all, they're pretty cute. Can't wait to see if they stay on Alyce Grace's little feeties.

Thoughtless scarf

Working on the lace scarf made me realize how important it is to have at least one non-thinking, no-counting-required project going at a time. It's best if you don't even have to look at it while knitting it, but that may be stretching it a little. I have some unbelievably light roving that's equal parts of cashmere, yak down, silk and marino. The yak and cashmere are so light and fluffy that even though they are equal parts by weight, they dominate the fiber scene so much in this blend that you are hard pressed to find the other components. It's hard for me to spin - short, clumpy blobs of fluff that don't like to flow. I had so much trouble spinning it on my wheel that I started working it on the smallest hand spindle I have, and spinning a few yards before bed every night. It made a really nice, fine, tightly spun single that was wonderfly soft and bouncy. I decided first that everybody I know needs a neck gaitor out of this, but after evaluating the amount that I actually have spun (it goes pretty slow!) I chose a simple narrow scarf that could be worn inside all day, in moss stitch or seed stitch or whatever that one is where you knit your pearls and pearl your knits. I started doing a YO/k2tog at the ends of each row, thinking it would be an easy way to add a bit of interest, but I ended up hating paying that much attention, and they didn't show that much anyway with so much texture in the color variation, so I dropped the pattern. Maybe I better make it again for the last few inches on the other end so it doesn't looks so much like a goof. So this "no thinking" scarf is in my "grab it when I go somewhere" bag, but I better get some more spun up, because that little ball is going to make a pretty short scarf!

Still Branching

So, it's getting longer, but not very fast! Remember when I said it goes fast? I lied. It does go pretty fast, if you can sit and knit and think about it, but I'm getting about one repeat of the 5 row pattern in 30 minutes or so, and I just can't do it much longer than that. Short span of attention, I guess. So, rep an evening, max, and I don't work on it every night. It's no good at all for conversation knitting, TV or movie knitting, or even listening to an audio book knitting because you have to pay too much attention. I almost have the pattern memorized, and that helps not having to look at the little chart every few stitches, but you still have to think about what you're doing. How those ladies do those fancy big shawls I really don't know. This is as tricky as I want to tackle, for a while I think. The yarn is sure nice to touch, and it's fuzzing out quite a bit more than I expected it to. I'm anxious to wash and block it so see how it acts. Only another two feet to go!

Beaniemania 2

Megan asked for a hat, but after her incredible pickiness about the neck warmer I was reluctant to make any special hand spun for one. I had a bunch of donated yarn left over from the fiber class, acrylic novelty super soft fuzzy stuff, and a dark pink chenille. I put the two together and did a half double crochet version of the previous hat. She wanted ear-warmer flaps on it, so we did that. Now it needs big floppy tassel of some kind on top. I was thinking of using just one of the yarns, maybe the chenille, because I'm concerned about how that fuzzy stuff will wear. Shall I make it long and hanging down, or puffy and attached tight to the top? I'm up for ideas, so hit the comments!