Knitting Pictures

Today I finally got around to taking pictures of my Sockamania socks for May and my KAL for mid May. Here they are.

The socks will be gifted to a friend, who I know will treat them with love. The cloth has already been used by the princess and is currently in the laundry (with all the other cloths I've made).

Since it was 100 F today, it will be quite a long while before I can wear any of my wool socks, so I'm really planning to focus on making "croc socks" out of Fixation. It knits up nicely, and since we like to wear them as shortie socks, they don't take too long. I make them in a plain stockinette, so I can work on them anywhere (and since they're small, they don't add any heat). The perfect summer knit.

New Socks and a new cloth

I finally finished DS1's birthday socks. He was the one who originally requested socks (Christmas '07), requiring me to learn to knit socks. The first pair didn't fit quite as well as I would have liked, so I decided to make him some birthday socks.

Since he's a UT alum, I wanted to knit him some Longhorn socks. I found some wonderful burnt orange sock yarn and ordered it - forgetting that he would never in a million years want to line dry socks. Soooooo, I lucked out and found some Cascade Fixation yarn in burnt orange! DH loves the socks that he has in this yarn, and they're supposed to be machine dry, so I gave it a go.

I got the bright idea to put a "UT" on the sock. Unfortunately, the Fixation yarn is so nubby that the details don't really show. I'll show him where it is, and point out the UT, but since it's so subtle, he'll probably never see it again. At least he'll have some mom-knit burnt orange socks that he can throw in the dryer.

I also finished the mid April cloth for the Monthly Dishcloth group. It wasn't supposed to be finished yet, but it's a repeating pattern, and I just got carried away. Actually, I got lost on where I was on the lines for today, and just kept going. It's a pretty pattern, and dd has claimed it.

Knitting Hurrah's

First, here is the picture of the April dishcloth. I used a camel color that I had two partial skeins of, and kept my fingers crossed that I wouldn't run out (I had just a teeny bit leftover!). I don't mind doing bobbles, but they don't really work for us since we use the cloths as napkins.

Next, whoo hoo, I won the yarn from Anni for the Sockamania sock group for March. Now I just have to figure out which of her wonderful yarns to pick! I'm so excited :o)

Also, I wasn't going to knit the Sockamania socks this month. They're Fair Isle and I was totally unsure of my ability to knit them. Here's a picture - aren't they beautiful? Also, due to the nature of fair isle, the socks end up being double thickness, and since it's hardly ever cold enough here to warrant thick socks, I didn't think I'd ever wear them.

Well, along comes Anni to save the day - she said that we could do the socks with only the top color work. I can do regular socks on the foot part and do the fancy part on the leg. That would make them wearable!! Now I just need to find two sock yarn colors that will work. Oh no, that means a trip to the yarn store! Although, I just saw a posting on SAM5 where someone used Bernat baby yarn. I have some baby yarn leftover from the fishy afghan that might just work. The problem is that baby yarn probably won't wear well at all. I'll be up near the LYS this afternoon - I'll have to give it some thought.

DS1 is getting socks for his 24th birthday. I found Cascade Fixation yarn in burnt orange at the LYS, and it was 30% off - so that was the yarn I chose. I knit dh's socks in Fixation and it's soft, stretchy and really easy to work with. Since I liked it so much for dh, and since it was on sale, I got burnt orange for ds1, dayglo yellow for ds3, and dark blue for dh. I'm ready to turn the heel on ds1's second sock and will only end up using 2 skeins. So, ds4, who's also a Longhorn fan, might just get some burnt orange socks. I haven't made my little ones socks yet because they tend to run around outside in their socks - but their feet aren't as big as dh's so I may give it a go.

Finished Knitting for Today

First, my Simply Cable socks from Sockamania's March pattern. They're wonderful, but won't be worn again for many months due to the heat!

Next is the illusion cloth from the Monthly Dishcloth KAL.

When you look at it straight on, it just looks like stripes...

But when you tip it, a picture magically appears! See the bunny?

More Knitting and a Drive

First, here's my March cloth for the Monthly Dishcloth challenge. The suggested color was something tan or cream, but since I'm stash busting, I did it in purple. The pattern is "The Empty Tomb" and it caused a ruckus on the group. The moderator told the group that it was "Christian" and a lot of people were offended. I have a feeling that if she hadn't told anyone what it was, not many people would have guessed. DH thought it was a sunrise. It reminds me of a partial eclipse. DD doesn't care what it is, it's purple and she wants it.

We went on a spur of the moment road trip today. Last week we finally decided to stay in our house instead of trying to move up and become more material. In the spirit of staying put, we need to put a fresh coat of paint on the house. So, dh wanted to find a paint sprayer and the closest one was at a Sam's 50 miles away. I put the three youngest in the car and we set off. They were excited because we got to eat at DQ and get ice cream. DS 2 was happy because he got to spend the day alone (and btw he made us a roast for dinner!). DH is happy because now he can have some hope of actually getting the house painted. All around, a great day!

Knitting Pictures

I finished my mid-month cloth for February. I like the way it turned out. Since it was a two color cloth, I decided to use up leftover yarn.

I also made a Jayne Cobb Hat for baby Brigid. The kids have been asking me to make them Jayne hats, and it seemed wise to make a baby one first. She wasn't awake when I gave it to her mom, but I hope we have a cool day soon so I can see her in her new hat.

Knitting posted today

I finished my Monthly Dishcloth KAL. It's a box of Valentines Candy!

Pretty cloth, lousy picture.

And I finished my November socks from Sockamania. These things have been hanging over my head since November! I had the worst time with them. The pattern is easy to remember, but I somehow got my world all twisted up when it came to the heel of the first sock. By the time I'd finally finished the first one, I needed a break. Then when I went to finally work on the second one, I realized that I really like doing a different heel, and actually toyed with the idea of frogging the first one AGAIN! I didn't, and just kept going, trying to get them to match when I didn't really remember what I'd done for the heel in the first pair. They are a beautiful turquoise blue (but look more green in the picture).

Always something new to learn

I finished my January mid-month cloth and love the pattern and the colors (although the photo leaves something to be desired).

Also, thanks to Andi at the MonthlyDishcloth group, I am no longer such a slave to bloggers placement of my pictures.

I'm getting close to turning the heel of my Ripples sock. DD tried on the completed sock (over her nice, warm footie jammies) and asked if they could be for her. I will have enough leftover yarn to make her a little matching pair. I haven't knit socks for my little ones yet - they all tend to walk around in socks and wear them out, so I've been really reluctant to knit socks for them. But - since I've been wanting to try an afterthought heel, I may knit dd a little pair as practice.

Today all of the kids have their art classes. The boys are all taking guitar together, and have promised to teach dh what they've learned every week. We bought dh a left handed guitar on Friday. He's thrilled. I told him that he should just learn to play right handed, and he had pretty much agreed - but we found a left handed guitar on craigslist. Happy birthday, honey.

Monthly Dishcloths 2008

I'm on the Monthly Dishcloth Yahoo group, and they do a KAL twice a month. Quite a few of the members have made a commitment to do all of the KAL's this year - that's 24 cloths.

Here's the first one - it's a football. I had to grab a picture quickly, as ds4 decided it was his cloth and was trying to take it as I was binding it off.