These actually came off the needles on Monday but between work and midwife appointments I didn’t have a chance to photograph them until now…. but it was a great reason to wear them today. :)

On the second sock I used my standard toe pattern instead of what the pattern called for and I was right — ‘my’ version was far more comfy so I ended up frogging and reknitting the toe of the first sock which didn’t take me very long.

I love how these socks feel. They are soft, warm and comfy which was exactly what I need on a cold wet day. Comfy socks, comfy dress (which totally doesn’t go with the socks, but since it was my day off I simply didn’t care), a comfy fleece and a cup of tea. Who could ask for more??

I noted that the yarn seemed to have quite a few knots in the skein. There were about 7 knots total, but they all seemed to be a one end of the skein. I only came across 1 knot while knitting the socks, so the other 6 knots are somewhere in the leftover bit. I’m disappointed in the number of knots, but I was quite pleased that they didn’t cause me a huge problem in the end.

• Pattern: Simple Sock pattern (size 42/43) on the ball band of the yarn with modifications for a S1 K1 heel flap instead of an all knit heel flap and toe modification so that I alternated decreases in one row, and knit even on the next
• Yarn: Colinette Jitterbug 100% easy care merino hand dyed sock yarn. (100g skein, 267m) 1 skein with about 7g left over.
• Needles: Inox DPNs 2.5mm
• Started/Finished: 16 – 23 July 2007 (travelling project)

I’ve seen this going around on several blogs, and thought it would be neat to actually see what I’ve done. The bolded items are the ones I’ve done….

• Afghan/Blanket (baby) (does it still count if it needs to be blocked??)
• I-cord
• Garter stitch
• Knitting with metal wire
• Shawl (yeah, this needs to be blocked, too)
• Stockinette stitch
• Socks: top-down (wearing a pair now!) :)
• Socks: toe-up
• Knitting with camel yarn
• Mittens: Cuff-up
• Mittens: Tip-down
• Hat
• Knitting with silk
• Moebius band knitting
• Participating in a KAL (knit a long, this where a group of people knit the same thing and talk about it)
• Sweater
• Drop stitch patterns
• Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
• Slip stitch patterns
• Knitting with banana fiber yarn
• Domino knitting (modular knitting)
• Twisted stitch patterns
• Knitting with bamboo yarn (but will soon!) :)
• Two end knitting
• Charity knitting
• Knitting with soy yarn
• Cardigan
• Toy/doll clothing
• Knitting with circular needles
• Knitting with your own handspun yarn
• Slippers
• Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
• Continental Knitting
• Designing knitted garments
• Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
• Lace patterns
• Publishing a knitting book
• Scarf
• American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
• Knitting to make money
• Button holes
• Knitting with alpaca
• Fair Isle knitting
• Norwegian knitting
• Dying with plant colors
• Knitting items for a wedding
• Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cozies…)
• Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars
• Olympic knitting
• Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
• Knitting with DPNs
• Holiday related knitting (12 sweater for one Christmas)
• Teaching a male how to knit (my hubby!)
• Bobbles
• Knitting for a living
• Knitting with cotton
• Knitting smocking
• Dying yarn
• Steeks
• Knitting art
• Fulling/felting
• Knitting with wool
• Textured knitting
• Kitchener BO
• Purses/bags
• Knitting with beads
• Swatching
• Long Tail CO
• Entrelac
• Knitting and purling backwards
• Machine knitting
• Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegating yarn
• Stuffed toys
• Baby items
• Knitting with cashmere
• Darning
• Jewelry
• Knitting with synthetic yarn
• Writing a pattern
• Gloves
• Intarsia
• Knitting with linen
• Knitting for preemies
• Tubular CO
• Freeform knitting
• Short rows Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm warmers
• Pillows
• Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
• Rug Knitting on a loom
• Thrummed knitting
• Knitting a gift
• Knitting for pets
• Shrug/bolero/poncho
• Knitting with dog/cat hair (not a chance)
• Hair accessories
• Knitting in public (always)

I found this pattern over on The Purl Bee Blog and thought it would be great for doing groceries…. and it would be, although the opening (or at least MY opening) certainly wouldn’t fit the super-jumbo box of cheerios that I’d imagined. (I usually pack all my groceries into a rucksack to avoid mountains of plastic bags… but I always end up with 2 grocery bags anyway — one for breads and one for cheerios, so I want a greener alternative that packs small and looks nice)

Needless to say, even though it doesn’t fulfill my original need, I still love the tote and will find a suitable use of it. However, I really love the lace pattern of this bag… there’s just something about it that is simple and beautiful. I’ve redesigned this bag into something that will hopefully fill my needs (and cheerios) using this stitch pattern or a close approximation thereof. I plan to start this as soon as I’ve finished my current charts for MS3 and will post the results as soon as there are some to be had.

Pattern: Eliza Nest Tote via The Purl Bee
Yarn: Patons (UK)100% cotton (mercerised cotton, DK, 210m per 100g)
Needles: 5.5 mm Susan Bates straights, 4mm Aero DPNs and a 3.5mm crochet hook
Started/Finished: July 2007 (1 day)

Woohoo!! Another finished object. :) This came off the blocking ‘wires’ today:

This is such a nice simple to knit, and other than having to frog back a few times because I forgot an eyelet yarn over it was also a really quick knit — cast on to cast off in 2 or 3 evenings.

The pattern itself calls for 2 balls of Rowan Kid Silk haze, but I followed the designer’s directions for cheating to be able to make it out of a single ball and had quite a lot still left over so I probably could have knit the pattern as written without running out of yarn.

Looking forward to wearing this come autumn. Actually, with the way the weather has been of late, I probably could have worn it today. Summer will get here eventually… I’ll just keep repeating that to myself.

Pattern: Wisp off Knitty
Yarn: Rowan Kid Silk Haze (1 ball)
Needles: 5mm straights of unknown origin
Started/Finished: July 2007

Beyond the mundane things such as going to the market for our weekly groceries and getting two loads of laundry done, I managed to finish up Chart D of the Mystery Stole today which means I’m caught up to the group and anxiously awaiting tomorrow’s clue to start up again. I think after this Chart I will have to do detail shots of the stole because I’ve run out of cushion to pin this puppy out on… unless I can come up with another brilliant idea because the shadow over the stole in this photo is driving me mad.

I’ve also got stuff blocking out on the guest bed, so I should have a finished object to report tomorrow. Yeah! :)

As my reward for finishing the weaving in of about 50 ends on a striped blanket last night at knitting group I allowed myself to work on my Jitterbug sock…. and the first one is done. I love this yarn. It just feels so lovely. I’m not sure on the toe I used on this sock, so I’m going to do the next one slightly differently to see which one I like best and I’ll redo the toe of the sock I like the least…. but otherwise I’m quite happy with my half a pair of Jitterbug socks and am really looking forward to being able to wear them. :)

It also seems that my worry about running out of yarn and having to knit the second toe on fumes was never an issue. I weighed my ball of yarn when the sock was nearing completion and had only used a quarter of the ball.

Maybe I can get a pair of baby socks out of this ball as well?? :)

I’ve just finished Chart C for the Mystery Stole and this is how it’s looking, albeit badly pinned out. I’m having a hard time making the pinning look good when I can’t pull it out to full width, but I really like working on the small circulars so I can either be frustrated while photographing the stole or frustrated while knitting it…. the latter definitely not being a good option.

This means I can now work on this week’s Chart and that I’m essentially ‘caught up’ to the group. I think I’m going to put it down for a couple of days but I should still be finished the next chart by Friday when the next clue is released… albeit the printed version doesn’t get here until Friday evening when Joey comes home with it. (He’s so good to print them out for me) :)

Meanwhile, I cast on my new Jitterbug socks. I think I needed some colour in my life…. I’m so not an off-white person so all these off-white projects are starting to melt my poor little brain so I thought these would add a bit of colour to my life. Besides, I was in need of a new travelling project and this wool has been screaming to worked.

I’m really liking to Colinette Jitterbug yarn so far. It’s a nice weight (I’m knitting on 2.5mm needles), I love how it’s spun, I love the colour and the fabric is knitting up really nicely. I’m not quite so pleased with the number of knots I found when winding the ball, but I’ve heard other knitters have had the same issues with this yarn. It’s a pity… I think it’s this yarn’s only downfall so far.

Chart B is done, which means that so is Clue 1… and that means I’m only one week behind. Here’s how it is looking so far:

This stole will block out to about 20-inches, but since I’m using 16-inch circulars I can’t pin it out to full width, but you get the idea.

Off to clean the house before I begin on Clue 2….

In some very exciting news, the Kiri shawl came off the needles last night. I’m so excited. This is it in all its unblocked glory…. kinda looks like the ramen noodles I had for lunch. I have definitely decided to dye this puppy and the winner is…. something close to olive. I’m going to dye and then block the shawl in one go, so I’ll keep you updated as to its progress. Fingers crossed it all works out.

And because Kiri is now off the needles, that means that the Mystery Stole has been cast on. This is its current state which has been knit up to the end of the first chart. I’ve got two more charts to do to catch up and another chart comes out tomorrow so I’ve got a bit of knitting to do. The first chart didn’t take me long, so I’m hoping that getting caught up won’t be a problem.

Although the MS3 pattern calls for beads, I’ve decided to forgo the beads on this one. If I decide I love the pattern and it must have beads, I’ll knit up another at the end of the KAL. At this point, I’m not even sure what colour the stole will be at the end of this episode so I certainly didn’t want to add beads that would end up being wrong for the final piece. I may keep it natural, but for some reason baby blue has crept into my head of late….

The yarn itself is the same yarn I used for the Kiri Shawl… a 2/15 merino laceweight. Although I’m not an off-white kinda of person I bought a kilo of this yarn with the idea I could dye the final pieces to whatever colour I wanted. Besides, I really don’t need 4 off-white shawls. ;)

In other yarn related reports, I happened to pop through John Lewis on my trek into town today. They had a sale on yarn. They had a 50% off sale on yarn. They had a 50% off sale on good yarn. :)

I got myself some Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran for a pair of fetchings. I only bought a single ball the last time I attempted a pair of fetching and I ran out of yarn… seriously I needed another 2 feet but tried to squeeze what I could out of the yarn and they just weren’t quite comfy. I’ll frog those fetchings and make a baby hat or something (cause like I’m gonna waste good yarn). Needless to say, I’ve learned my lesson and this time I bought two balls…

I also bought some Debbie Bliss Cathay which I’m going to use for a Luna Moth shawl The yarn is quite different than what is called for in the pattern, but I think it will work. We’ll know as soon as I swatch. This will definitely be a lacey work of some description. I’m going to love this colour with my black wool coat… I’m not a type of person that can really wear black and always need a bit of colour to ensure I don’t look like I’ve just risen from the dead. This will be perfect.

And finally I got some Jaeger Aqua to make up a couple of Grrrs. I seriously love this pattern, so I’m going to make a couple of them for the little one. Even if she doesn’t love them, it’ll make bathtime fun for mum (and I’m sure dad will have fun with them, too).

Meanwhile, I’m going to continue working on the MS3 and see if I can get myself caught up. :)

I squeaked in at the last minute for the cut off deadline and joined in on the Mystery Sole 3 KAL (knit a long). It’s not something I’d planned on doing, but I was really liking what I was seeing on other people’s blogs and decided to give it a go. I’m going to use the same laceweight Merino I’m using for my Kiri shawl I mentioned the other day which means I have a bit of a dilema. I need to finish the Kiri shawl before I start MS3 and I’m already starting 2 clues behind. The Kiri is currently about half way through the row count and I only started it the other day so I’m hoping that I might be finished (or at least cast-off) by week’s end.

I’m really liking the Kiri shawl. I’ve totally fallen into the rhythm of the pattern so it’s going much faster now. I’m thinking of dyeing it when it comes off the needles…. maybe a light mossy green of a light blue?? Haven’t decided yet.

I’ll get that blog button for MS3 in the side bar and post about something non-knitting releated when I get home from work. I’ve got a backlog of scrapbook pages to post and lots of photos from my current round robin, too. Lots of eye candy… and since they are ready to post I can dedicate more time to getting Kiri off the needles. :)