Noro socks

The Noro socks are finished:

• Yarn: Noro Kureyon Sock
• Needles: Size 2 dpns
• Method: Cuff to toe
• For: Me!
• Size: 8 foot (US) 6 (UK)

Pattern: I used a variation of my basic sock recipe, with the following modifications:

• Size 2 needle
• Cast on 66 stitches
• Stitch pattern: Rows 1-3: (K2, P1) repeat to end. Row 4: (CR2, P1) repeat to end.
• CR2 = Knit into the 2nd stitch on your left needle (and leave it on the needle), then knit into the 1st stitch on your needle. Slip both stitches off the left needle. (It's a baby cable without a fiddly cable needle)

And that's it!

Slow progress

So after a pretty productive week last week, knitting has almost slowed to a halt.

I'm still plugging away on the Debbie Bliss slimline cardigan. The plan is to try and finish this one whilst it's still cold enough to snuggle up in. And I'm also trying to finish the Koigu (oops I was having a brain freeze, thanks Wanda :) NORO socks, which are getting pretty close now:

Oooh and this lovely project bag was kindly gifted to me by Kelly. I love the little sheep on it!

And talking of new goodies, Bea tipped me off to check out NH Knitting Mama's yarn on Etsy. Oh yes, this could be dangerous. I went on the other day and purhased the following yarn that not only looks fab, but is also an Alapca blend. Yum.

Mission accomplished

It's been a week of hectic knitting to get the Shetland Triangle completed for my friend's 50th birthday today:

• Pattern: Shetland Triangle by Evelyn A. Clark (from Interweave 'Wrap Style')
• Yarn: Hand Maiden Fine Yarn - Sea Silk (1 skein/400m). This is an interesting blend of 70% silk and 30% seacell. It's nice and soft, but what I love most is the subtle change in colour throughout the skein.
• Needles: Size 6 (4mm)
• Modifications: The pattern calls for 8 repeats of the body pattern. However at 8 repeats this non-stretchy yarn would have been barely large enough to be a headscarf! I did a little research on Ravelry and found that you can get 11 repeats out of one skein of sea silk, together with the neck and edging section. This is a much better size. (IMO)

I do love this pattern -- if you need to whip out a quick gift it's a winner. A very simple, easy to remember repeat that knit's up quickly (especially if you get a yarn that would stretch more, so you could get away with just doing 8 repeats of the pattern).

Now to find a nice box to package it in...

Spring is in the air

Today was a gorgeous day in Colorado. Joe and I took advantage of the good weather to take the B&B team on a looooong walk. I'm thinking Buster enjoyed himself:


I also started a new project in Handmaiden Sea Silk in this lovely warm coppery colour. I'd bought the Sea Silk with the intent of making the Montego Bay Scarf. But after starting twice and ripping it out (I simply didn't enjoy knitting on it) I decided to go with a tried and tested favourite of the mine -- the Shetland Triangle from Interweave's Wrap Style. I'm on a mission to complete this one quickly... more on that later.


I also received my latest Spring Season's mailing from Sundara -- it's a silk merino blend in shade Robin's Egg. If you've been reading my blog recently you know I've got quite the thing for this colour right now. Oooh what to make with this yummy skein of yarn?

Thuja

The Thuja socks for Joe are finished:

• Pattern: Thuja on Knitty.com
• Needles: Size 6 (yes, they knit up much faster on these big ole needles)
• Yarn: Cashmere Merino from The Knittery

I love the pattern, and the yarn is nice. But to be honest this FO isn't much to write home about -- I think the yarn just simply isn't chunky enough for size 6 needles. I should have either gone with something a little more substantial, or gone down a couple of needle sizes and increased the number of repeats.

But Joe is happy and so that works for me. :)

Next!

Goodies

There was a parcel waiting for me in the mailbox today. I galloped home because I knew the parcel contained some yarny goodness from Bea. Wow! She certainly knows how to spoil a girl:


Isn't it beautiful. And it is so very soft too with an insane amount of yardage -- 560 yards!

You can read the story behind the yarn here on Bea's blog and admire some of her other colourways. On reading this particular post this colourway immediately caught my eye. And then to learn that I influenced it in some way, well I was giddy with delight and wanted to get my hands on it.

Now if the yarn alone wasn't splendid enough there's more... I also received a matching project bag. Love it!


There were so many thoughtful details in this package -- the matching project bag; the coordinated tissue wrapping; the stitch markers. And don't you just love her label 'Yarn Pig'. There's a story there too. As you can tell, I can't sing her praises enough.

Thank you Bea - once again you made my day! :o)

Love

I just returned from a long weekend in Vegas with Joe and some good friends. It was fab! The highlight of the weekend was seeing the Cirque du Soleil show 'Love'; a tribute to The Beatles. I think Cirque du Soleil performances are spectacular, and this was enhanced by a great compilation of Beatles tunes. Loved it!


Other than that, I walked my little legs off - up the length and breadth of the strip. I'd never been to Vegas before and everything is mind blowingly massive. The hotels are essentially mini towns all under one roof. So large in fact that it's easy to lose your bearings in them. But, they are amazing to see and experience. It was such a fun weekend and a great way to spend Valentines.

A little knitting content: I did have a Noro sock for company on the flight. I fell in love with the colours in this sock yarn a little while ago and was lucky enough to stumble across some in a local yarn store recently.


And last but not least - the new Rowan magazine was waiting for me when I got home. Yay! Love it, love it, love it! Soo many more projects to add to the queue. Not enough time to knit them.

Hope you had a great Valentines weekend with loved ones,
Sam

Dougie Dog Hat and Scarf

The little boy hat and scarf are done:

• Pattern: Dougie Dog Hat and Scarf from Lucinda Guy's Handknits for Kids
• Yarn: Berroco Comfort (I know it's aaarghcrylic, but it's washable, and the scarf is for a little boy. Need I say more ;o)

I did make a bunch of modifications to the original patterns:

• I used a thicker yarn than called for and adjusted the pattern accordingly
• For the hat, I decided against the square, patterned top with the tassels and opted instead for simple decreases in stocking stitch - you know like a regular beanie.
• For the scarf, I used the pattern from the hat headband and just kept knitting 'til it looked like it would be long enough for a little kiddo.

I do love the stitch pattern on the scarf. As does Joe, who has put in an order for one (I'm guessing in more 'manly' colours ;o). Which is the perfect excuse to go stash diving to see if there's something lurking in one of my baskets that would do the trick. Assuming I don't stumble across a yarn store in the mean time ;o)

Fantastic Flower Hat

How cute is this pattern:


It is the Fantastic Flower Hat from Lucinda Guy's Handknits for Kids.

I'm thinking about cranking out a matching scarf. But first I want to make the Dougie Dog hat. Then I'll see if I've got enough yarn, and time, left to make scarves before Thursday (the gift drop off day). In my favour -- it is Superbowl Sunday today, which equates to lots of knitting time for me.

Other good stuff: I received a shipment of Sundara sock yarn. I love the colours she creates and the 'Navy Purple over Salmon' was my achilles heel this time around -- it just jumped off her web page screaming 'buy me'. What's a girl to do? It's not like it goes bad ;o)

Navy Purple over Salmon:


Navy over Cerulean:


Sea Water (I didn't do a great job of accurately capturing the colours in this one -- it has more turquoisey greens than you see here):


And last but not least - the pink in the mosaic blanket has been vetoed. That it would be 'too girly'. Maybe I do just stick with the blues, browns and greens?

Have a great Sunday!
Sam

Purls of Wisdom

Stop 5 on the Colorado Yarn Store Tour is Purls of Wisdom in Parker.


Jen opened Purls of Wisdom a couple of months ago and it's become a bit of a local haunt for me. (Thanks Kelly for introducing me!) What I love most is how open and inviting this place is -- anyone and everyone is invited (heck I'd even say encouraged) to swing by and plop in one of the big comfy chairs and knit to your heart's content. If you live in the area I'd highly recommend it. And if you have young children, check out this great little area that she has set up for them to watch movies:


And she stocks some lovely yarns -- there's some wonderful cashmere on the counter that just begs to be stroked each time you walk by. And she has a good selection of Rowan too!


At Purls I picked up some Berroco Bonsai for the mosaic blanket:


Speaking of the blanket, it feels like I need to add some colours to the mix. Trouble is (and if you read this blog frequently you'll know that) I can be colour challenged. I think I do matchy matchy ok. But contrast colours... hmmm.... help is needed. So I tore through a couple of my old magazines to see if I could get some other inspiration ideas and I put this collage together of images that contained duck egg blue.


You can see that I'm thinking pink might get added to the mix together with some lighter green colours. Think Amy Butler.

Will I be able to pull this off effectively, who knows? But it will be fun trying...

I'm in love with Odessa

Got to love the self portrait shot, right? ;)

I finished yesterday evening and it's not been off my head since. Which is perfect timing since it snowed all last night; we don't have a tonne of the white stuff but it is cooooold!

• Pattern: Odessa by Grumperina
  
• Yarn: Rowan Calmer

I love the calmer yarn for this project -- it has a lot of elasticity. Even better, I dug it out of my stash! That and the beads were just laying around the house waiting for some much deserved attention.

And speaking about just laying around the house... check out how the B&B team spent the day:

You know you've got too many projects on the go when...

...you don't have enough of a certain size of needle to knit them!

It seems that I have a serious bout of startitis at the moment. And I've been convincing myself that they are all 'needed'. Yeah ahem, right.

1. Odessa Hat


As I was bundling up to go to Breckenridge this last weekend I swiped one of Joe's store-bought hats. Joe was in disbelief -- a knitter should own at least one handmade hat. So I cast on for Odessa yesterday. And I even delved into my stash to make good use out of some Rowan Calmer that I'd squirreled away for a rainy day.

Thuja was temporarily placed on a circular needle so that I could use the 6 dpns for this project.

2. Fantastic Flower Hat


3. Dougie Dog Hat & Scarf


A colleague has adopted a little boy and girl and I wanted to make a little something for them. I've had the Lucinda Guy book on my shelves for a while now and this is the perfect excuse to make a couple of the adorable projects in there. I did go out and buy some of the Berroco comfort that I'm subbing for the Rowan yarns -- because it's machine washable and was available in the colors shown in the book (yeah, zero creativity on my part). So before I cast on I'll need to figure out how to adjust the pattern from the dk weight that it calls for to the worsted weight that I bought.

I'm hoping to post some FOs soon....

Snow Sculptures

This weekend there is the International Snow Sculpture Championship in Breckenridge, Colorado. Fourteen teams from around the world compete to create mammoth works of art from 12-feet-tall, 20-ton blocks of snow.

Joe and I bundled up (it was verrrry cold!) and made the drive up to the mountains. It was well worth it -- the sculptures are amazing:




More pictures here.

My day was made!

I was giddy with delight when I logged on this morning to find out that I'd received the 'you made my day' award from Bea.

Quite the compliment indeed!

The idea behind this award is that you “...give the award to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blogland. Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times.”

Here are some of the blogs that make my day:

• 3 Sleeves to the Wind - A truly talented knitter. I learn something new with each visit
• Baa Baa Blacksheep - Gus and Abby's grinning chops beaming up at me; the beautiful hand dyed yarn and hand sewn goodies; the fantastic photos
• By Elin - Stunning, stylish and adorable
• Cashmere, Construction and Canines - Soo many great knitted projects, and the handsome hunds (I especially love Pedro!)
• Ishi - I can't read a word, but the pictures speak volumes. Amazing work!
• Joli House - Lovely projects, beautifully photographed (and a little taste of home aaaahhhhh)
• Kelly Girl Knits - Always a good giggle! ...ooh and there's the 'finds' that she shares
• Knit Eat Sleep - Knitting at the rate of knots -- there's always something new to admire
• Star Spry - She'll tell you she's a new knitter but her finished objects are perfection!
• Tiennie Knits - Soo many impeccably crafted knits, shared in beautiful photos

You should go check them out, I'm sure they'll put a smile on your face too!

Kicking off the Colorado Yarn tour

Nachaele had this fab idea to go visit all the yarn stores in Colorado in 2008, buy a skein of yarn in each, and make a Colorado afghan. We'd had grand plans of starting in Estes Park today but given the snowy weather decided to stay local and visit those stores that are open on a Monday. In hindsight I should have done my homework and figured out what I wanted to make before I headed out the door. But luckily when I walked into the first store I found my colour inspiration:

Duck egg blue, olive green, chocolate brown, beige, cream and copper. Yum!

So here's the list of store, in the order we visited them:

1. Yarn Arts, Parker
Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pics in the store. But I did get a good one of the outside -- it is in a cute location off Parker main street. The lady there was very helpful had some lovely local alpaca yarn. In addition to finding my colour scheme, I also picked up some Berroco Boho.

2. The Knitting Habitat, Aurora
Wow what a store! I had no idea that this was even in the neighbourhood. It is fabulous! It's a good size with a wide variety of wonderful yarns, lovely staff and amazing finished objects that are showcased around the store. (I think I'll be adding at least 2 more projects to my 'queue' as a result). And they have a movie night! That's definately going to get added to the social knitting calendar. Ooh and they also had a shop pooch sporting a sparkly knitted dress - too cute for words! I chose a kettle dyed Manos del Uruguay cotton in a duck egg blue/cream colourway. I'm wondering if this might be too chunky? We'll see.....

3. Colorful Yarns, Centennial
This is one of my favourite yarn stores in my neighbourhood. They have some beautiful and unique yarns and the folks I meet there are super friendly; there was a fun crowd in there today and we had a great time hanging out. One of the things I most love about Colorful is the range of accessories -- I've been drooling over some of the Amy Butler bags, for example, that they carry. I think I had at least 6 skeins picked out in this store and had a hard time narrowing it down to one -- the Tilli Tomas 'Disco Lights'! Love this yarn!

4. String Boutique, Highlands Ranch
String is another one of my local favourites. I love how Cassidy set up the yarn in the store -- each section a different colour. They also have a fantastic range of yarns and some very cute buttons. I was toying with picking something from the great selection of Koigu and struggled not coming home with some 'just because'. But see my previous post -- I'm really not going to make a dent in my sock yarn if I keep backfilling my stash! I was good and settled on the Tahki Luxury silk yarn for my afghan. Yum -- this is going to be a nice base colour. Oooh and Cassidy was there with her hubby and beautiful baby boy -- aren't they adorable!

By the end of the day I'd also decided on the approach I'm going to take -- to mimic the mosaic afghan from 100 afghan squares to knit. Oooh this might be pretty!

Socks and other ramblings...

I've started a pair of Thuja socks using the delicious cashmere/merino handpainted sock yarn from the Knittery. These socks are going fast on size 6 dpns. The yarn isn't as sproingy as Koigu, but it's certainly going to keep Joe's toes cosy!

I'm attempting to make a dent in my sock yarn and so yesterday I decided to give the Chevron scarf another try this time with different colours of yarn. My last attempt was frogged because there was too much pooling. This one's probably going to get frogged because it's seriously blah! I think I'm trying to coordinate too much instead of going for 2 contrasting yarns.

Despite my good efforts, the sock yarn is coming in as fast as I can whip FOs out -- yesterday I received by Seasons shipment from Sundara in colourway Tickled Pink. I love the name of the colourway. But I wasn't bowled over with this colour. Maybe I'll put it out on Ravelry for trade?

This afternoon I might put the knitting down to stamp and write some much belated Christmas thank you cards. Here's the design that I'm thinking I'll replicate:

And keep your fingers crossed for no snow in Colorado tomorrow. Nachaele had this great idea that in 2008 we should visit all the yarn stores in Colorado and buy a skein of yarn from each to make an afghan. Tomorrow Nachaele, Kelly and I are hoping to head up to Estes Park and visit The Stitchin' Den and Neota Designs. Otherwise the backup plan might be to stay indoors knitting and watching movies. Yep Plan B sounds pretty good too.

Enjoy the long weekend!

Basic Socks

Yesterday I finished a pair of handknit socks for my father in law:

• Yarn: Koigu Kpm
• Needles: US3 dpns
• Pattern: My own 'basic recipe'
• Start: December 2007
• Finished: January 2008

Handknit socks are a big hit with the men in my life. And even though there are many beautiful patterns out there, it seems that the men folk I know just want a basic sock. Nothing fancy. So here's my basic recipe for men's socks (foot size approx US 9=10, UK 8ish).

***Note that this is from memory - if you see any errors, please let me know.***

Basic sock recipe:

Ingredients:

• Size 3 dpns
• 350yds (320m) sock yarn

Steps:

Leg:

• Cast on 64 stitches, divide between your needles
• Work in the round for approx. 64 rows (In the example above I use a 2x2 rib pattern; K2, P2)

Heel flap:

• Put 32 stitches on one needle - you'll work these stitches back and forth for the heel flap as follows


• Row 1 (wrong side): Slip 1 purlwise, Purl to the end of the row
• Row 2 (right side): Slip 1 purlwise, K1, slip 1, K1, slip 1, K1... repeat this pattern to the end of the row
• Repeat rows 1 and 2 until heel flap measures about 2 3/4 inches (approx 35 rows), ending after a row 1/purl row

Turning the heel:

• Row 1: Knit 18 sts, ssk, K1. Turn work leaving remaining 11 sts unworked
• Row 2: Slip 1, Purl 5 sts, P2tog, P1. Turn leaving remaining 11 sts unworked
• Row 3: Slip 1, Knit to 1 stitch before the gap, ssk, K1, turn
• Row 4: Slip 1, Purl to 1 stitch before the gap, p2tog, p1, turn
• Repeat rows 3 and 4 until you have no stitches left unworked on both the knit and purl row

Gusset:

• Pick up 20 stitches up side of heel flap (needle 1), work across the top of the sock in pattern (needle 2), pick up 20 stitches down other side of heel flap (needle 3). I arrange half of my turned heel stitches on needle 1; half on needle 3. We'll be back to working in the round now.
• Row 1 (decrease): Knit to last 3 stitches on needle 1, K2tog, K1. Work needle 2 in pattern. On needle 3, K1, ssk, Knit to end.
• Row 2 (knit): Knit all stitches on needle 1. Work needle 2 in pattern. Knit all stitches on needle 3.
• Repeat rows 1 and 2 until there are 64 stitches on the needles

Foot:

• Repeat gusset row 2 until foot measures desired length. (For my men folk this is approx 40 rounds)

Toe:

• Row 1 (decrease): On needle 1, Knit to last 3 stitches, K2 tog, K1. On needle 2, K1, ssk, work in pattern to last 3 stitches, K2tog, K1. On needle 3, K1 ssk, knit to end.
• Row 2 (knit): Knit all stitches
• Repeat rows 1 and 2 until there are 32 stitches, then repeat row 1 another 2 times. 24 stitches left.
• Use the Kitchener stitch to close the toe

et Voila! You have yourself a simple sock.

Fun times with friends

I had such a fab night with some friends last night -- knitting, chatting, eating pizza, watching a movie... and having a pampering foot soak! Aaah yes this is the life :o)

(I know... all we are missing are the old fashioned hair dryers and our rollers! LOL)

A topic high on the chat list was yesterday's Knitting Daily post about the Sticks n Stitches game in Denver.

Why?

Well... It was only this last weekend that we'd dragged our hubbies out and gone to watch the game knit -- it was Sticks n Stitches night here in Denver. And would you believe it, the very lovely Sandi Wiseheart was sitting right next to us! That's right, a knitting celebrity right there in our midst!

Talk about a lovely lady. She's a gem. She chatted with us, oohed and aahed over our projects and even signed one of our magazines as a little tongue in cheek joke. She was a lot of fun.

Anyway, yesterday her Knitting Daily post came out about that evening, and there we were -- our beaming grins right there in the middle of her fab article! Whooooo hooo! We had a good giggle about it last night.

Thank you Sandi, it was a pleasure meeting you in person.

Tangled Yoke Cardigan

My Tangled Yoke Cardigan is finally finished:

• Pattern: Tangled Yoke Cardigan by Eunny Jang (from Interweave Knits Fall 2007)
• Yarn: I used Elsbeth Lavold's Silky Wool instead of the Rowan Felted Tweed. I love the weight and feel of this yarn, and the gauge was spot on
• Modifications: I made the body a couple of inches longer than the pattern called for -- I prefer my sweaters to hit a bit lower than the waist. Other than that I pretty much knit as-is.

All in all I'm really happy with the end result.

...but if I were to knit it over again, I'd probably do something a little different with the neckband -- the pattern guides you to knit a neckband that you fold over to create a double thickness. I think I'd prefer to have just a single thickness neckband. (I'm toying with maybe unpicking the neckband and doing this, but for now I'm just happy to wear it and move onto a new project.)

White Rabbits

"A pinch and a punch for the first of the month, white rabbits"

Happy New Year!

I wish you the very best for 2008.

And on the topic of rabbits, look at what my sweet friend had gifted me for the new year: Socks that Rock yarn in colourway "Little Bunny Foo Foo"!

I love browns and pinks together -- it's gorgeous. Thank you Nachaele :)