meet leif “aaron”-son

you’ve heard of warrior dash.

yes of course i’m running it.

no, i’m not crazy.  no, really.  shut up.  NOT CRAZY.

we signed up for the run then, POOF!, twist collective winter 2010 came out. it was inevitable that i would  knit up mascots for us. jennie eveleigh lamond created leif & astrid, an adorable pattern for knitted viking dolls. look at that picture!  so cute!  (i can’t remember bloggy etiquette…am i allowed to save that picture and serve it up on my blog?)…

meet *my* creation (in the likeness of my husband…with a more yellow-peachy complexion and sans hair).

 

leif aaron-son (rav project link)

he comes complete with a smirk and badly stitched facial scar.  i love the shoe lace detail…and the cape…i mean cloak (hubby insists that he will NOT fly, so it must be a cloak, not a cape).

you also know not to mess with him because of his tell-tale tatoo

 

don’t mess with this bro-tha

[gotta forgive the picture editing...no photoshop on my computer and the online tools provided by adobe kinda suck...better to blog and regret than to never blog at all]

new wip – socks for my dh

first 2011 wip – hp socks for dh
looks like more frequent blogging will commence at the expense of picture quality
…look for more “lap pictures”…i’ll try for better photo shoots later

my husband’s love for knitted socks has evolved over time.  at first he wasn’t too keen on the wild colors and wooly feel. but i slowly added hand knitted socks into his drawer (and he truly appreciated the time i put into my quest to keep HIS feet warm).

anyway, knitting production dropped drastically in 2009-10 and as a result, the wool socks in his rotation were starting to wear out.  i pulled a pair with a large hole at the toe and put them in my darning pile…imagine my surprise when he pulled his foot out of his shoe – wearing the offending sock!  when asked why he was wearing them, he sheepishly replied, “my feet were cold and i HAD to wear my knitted socks!”

suffice it to say, i’m amping up knitting production on his socks.  these are knitted in a special edition harry potter colorway in hedgewig of opal.  i’m leaning toward nylon blend yarn these days since the all merino sock yarns tend to wear rather quickly.  (don’t you think so too? in fact, i’m knitting in wooly nylon into toes and heels of that yarn since i’ve had so many sock fails…er…holes…recently).

knitting notes: cuff down, co72 using long tail cast on, k2p2 cuff, start cable pattern (my own)

goodbye 2010….hello 2011!

currently on vacation visiting our besties. the eight hour drive allowed me to finish my watermelon clown vomit socks. imagine this… dusk was quickly approaching as I was finishing up the toe (and we were almost there!)…about to kitchener…but my darning needle was stuck in my luggage in the trunk! the horror!

kitchenering without a needle? dammit, I was finishing the sock before we arrived. I closed the toe by ‘hooking’ the yarn through the loops with another dpn!

this is sam…what a handsome model!

happy new year to you and yours. may your next 365 bring you much joyous knitting and yarn!

my knitting life has taken a back seat to other things that have piqued my interests. but with less yarn and needles there is a little black hole growing. i miss my knitting friends, online and in RL. truthfully, we have all developed other interests…and ravelry (awesomest knitterly website ever) has quieted the blogging knit world a bit.

in 2011 i’ll have to devote some real time rediscovering online knitting destinations and finding new knitweb treasures. link it up in the comments if you wish (a head start would be nice).

First 2010 WIP and Post!

<eta…I found this post marinating in my drafts and decided to post it.  yes, i realize that this was a *january* post…but, i decided to just let it out there.>

Yo.

I’m here!  I actually managed a post! (And my photostudio is still not fully functional…so I’ll be limiting the pictures initially).

As I’ve mentioned before, most of my current projects have been socks.  (Duh.)  I’ve found that I’ve settled into my favorite sock recipe…toe-up, JMCO, with wooly nylon, short row heel, JSSBO.  When I see a pattern I love, I cringe because inevitably it is missing a piece of my “goto” pattern. (Wow, that sounds pathetic, do I need out of this rut?)

<insert photo here…that is, if i ever get around to it.

the yarn is very cute, folks.  use your imagination until i move my lazy a$$>

Soxie Socks

Pattern: my own

The Great Adirondack Yarn Company Inc. Soxie in Bahama Mama

1 skein  | 360 yds : 100 g | 100 merino superwash wool

Started: January 2010

Needles: US #0 knitpicks nickel plated circulars

Notes: JMCO 12 st, inc to 30 st (60 total, cat bordhi method), navy wooly nylon knit into toe and heel, JSSBO

This is a lovely simple pattern for the yarn – a find from my most early days of knitting.  (In fact, this is the FIRST sock yarn purchase I made in person outside of my lys.  I was visiting my BFF and she took me here to support my newly found obsession.  Get this.  They only had 2 kinds of sock yarn.  Soxie and some yucky old & pilly louet gem fingering. This was of course on the cusp of the sock knitting craze).

Soxie is a beautiful 100% merino superwash.  It’s somewhat thinnish with a good twist. .  I like the yarn but doubt that I will purchase again, I don’t imagine it will hold up well because it is so soft!  In the Ravelry comments, many have mentioned bleeding – I haven’t experienced this in the least.  Nothing on my needles or fingers!  However…the first soak and wash (and wear) will tell the true tale.

I’m almost to the heel of the second sock…knit knit knit.  I will post FO pictures when I’m done!

<oh!  by the way, i’m done and the socks did NOT bleed.  i have other FO’s but i’m not sure they’ll get posted…all in due time, i guess>

see, I still knit!

I really miss blogging….but between work and knitting and exercising…where is the time. I thought that my ne phone would help me post more…but the photos taken by it are uninspiring, ugly even!

But regardless, here is proof I am still knitting (mostly socks…at a rate about a pair a month). This is knit in Soxie…a skein that has been aging in the stash. More details to follow. Bye for now!

eet iz feeeneished.

it’s nice to have something easy peasey on the needles. since my brain is currently full, partly of school stuff, partly of work stuff and the other part full of snot (i’m having this awful, awful mid-winter allergy thingy), i found myself reaching out for these babies! i like them.

double wrapped short row heel

matchey matchey!!

simple socks
pattern: my own (my ravelry link)
knitpicks simple stripes in vineyard
2 skeins | 231 yds : 50 g | 75 wool : 25 nylon
started: january 10, 2009
completed: february 25, 2009
needles: US #1 2.25 mm knitpicks nickel plated options
notes: figure 8, toe up cast on 10, increased to 64. basic 2×2 rib. a little baggy on the ankles…but not too bad.

more sock mojo…a photo vignette

i love it when you find the right combination!  this was attempt #2 with the variegated yarn on the right.  i have been dying to knit with the sundara yarn, too.  my records say i bought it from ebay, but i don’t remember buying it.  anyway…a photo story:

lovely yarn.

lovely pattern.

lovely start.

grey spot socks
pattern: spot check socks by beth parrot (my ravelry link)
in knitting socks with handpainted yarn
sundara sock yarn ochre over lime & cth supersock in african grey
started: january 28, 2008
needles: US 2.5 and 2.75 mm knitpicks harmony dpns
notes: started with the smaller needles…my guage gets smaller with two colors.

look! new wip!

beep! beep!!

hey you! don’t look!!

(ha! made you look!) drive by posting….

simple socks
pattern: my own (my ravelry link)
knitpicks simple stripes in vineyard
2 skeins | 231 yds : 50 g | 75 wool : 25 nylon
started: January 10, 2009
needles: US #1 2.25 mm knitpicks nickel plated options
notes: figure 8, toe up cast on 10, increased to 64.  basic 2×2 rib.

this is a discontinued yarn.  i loved the old knitpicks sock yarn.   very durable and not squeaky like the new essential.  the new essential is just okay.  and i would knit with it if i *loved* the colorway, which i do in the kettle dyes.

i happen to love knitpicks.  yarn snobs be damned!!  the lace yarns (gloss and shadow) are fantastic and while in the past the color choices were not to my taste, they are now becoming more sophisticated.  add to that the pointy and inexpensive options needles….and an obsession is born.

wooly nylon

hooray for the ability to schedule posts!!  this allows for more regular content and takes the pressure off.  it actually feels nice to be consistent with this thing.

ANYWAY…have you ever had a sock that wore thin in places?  i have.  and was i upset!  i barely even used the socks.  (sniff).  i think the problem was a combination of too loose a guage and super soft merino yarn.  the stuff is like crack but doesn’t wear like it’s nylon-blended counterparts.  (yes, i could knit in a tighter guage…and i do now!).  but there is also another solution.  wooly nylon.

wooly nylon is a a type of serger thread, i think.  you can buy it in craft stores like joann fabrics and the like.  it is relative inexpensive and comes in a multitude of colors.  i did a quick search on ravelry to see what people had to say about the stuff and i found that many sock knitters use it for their 100% merino sock yarn (the short staple and softness lend to its propensity to wear through more quickly).  it is a very thin and airy thread that you use as a carry along (or weave in) for added strength and durability. i heard that people knit it just into the soles with long floats – then cut out the floats and NOT weave in ends cuz they fuzz and stay in place!  i even read somewhere that people ply it into their handspun yarn for some elasticity!

wooley nylon still life
the purse was the most convenient back drop at the time.

now i chose this color for no particular reason.  i think i was going for neutral = will go with more yarns.  however, in the two applications that i have tried this particular color, i have been unhappy.  the first was with the knotty or knice socks.  i chose to attempt to weave it into the finished toe of one of the socks.  i found i hated this technique…too fiddly and i did not have the patience to reinforce every stitch.  plus, although it was hidden, i found it to be very ugly looking.

this time i chose to carry it along with my heel stitches.

it looks marled and messy!
see the little fuzz bug?

i’m not happy with the result…but i’m not UNhappy, either.  i just didn’t want a marled look.  hmm. if i get around to it and i like the end result, maybe i’ll buy more colors.  well, my ultimate goal was to extend the life of my socks (i LOVE the yarn and feel of the finished product, you see).  so we’ll see how that works out.  more details to come on this sock…

what have your exeriences been with wooly nylon?

adding to my fo pile…

i’m still lacking in the camera department.  (my old camera is a bit cumbersome since the manual focus requires at least 100 button pushes and some magic pixie dust to work).  to make matters worse, it uses compact flash for media and my new laptop does not have a built in reader AND i can’t find my card reader.  my mom’s point and shoot that we *cough* aquired this past weekend uses xd for media leading to the same above problem….so, i’m using our old point and shoot.  it works…but one wishes for something a little more flexible, ya know?  plus, the color it captures leaves much to be desired.  not a problem most of the time; alas, there is no photoshop installed on the laptop either.  soon, the technical difficulties will be fixed.  but in the meantime my photo essays will be a bit bland and uneven.

ANYWAY.  meet my new socks.  (hi socks!)…they have made a new friend today 

“baaaaa!” “{insert sock greeting here}”

they made friends very quickly (but we know how nice wool socks can be, don’t we?

knaughty or knice socks
pattern: knotty or knice socks by chrissy gardner (my ravelry link)
from interweave knits, autumn ’08  in shibuiknits sock
2 skeins | 191 yds : 50 g | 100 merino superwash
started: december 9, 2008
finished: january 23, 2009
needles: US #1 2.25 mm knitpicks nickel plated circs
notes: the bind off is just meh…if i would do again i would do a tubular bind off.

in the end, the cables got a little fussy.  and i think i would go down another needle size if i were to use the same yarn.  i want the socks to wear well, but the soft yarn feels like it may just wear through rather quickly.  i may weave in some nylon if i get the energy.  all in all good looking socks….i like them.