Tiny robot calculates that these socks are done

Another pair of socks from the great sock startup of 2010. I finished these in December and I must confess that I picked them out of the dirty sock pile to take these photos, gross! Though I think they look quite nice:



Pattern: Child's Sock in Miranda Pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock, color Poppy
Needles: size 0 bamboo

Full Disclosure: I made these socks a couple of years ago. With the very same yarn. I had thought I was quite clever by changing the way the leg part decreased so that there was no weird ankle bulge. But then I discovered that the %&*#ing socks would not stay up and instead puddled around my ankles in an even bigger bulge. Consequently, the socks did not get a lot of wear.

So after the sting of failure wore off, I decided to try again. This time, I made the leg shorter with only a slight decrease in the ankle.

Here are my notes: I cast on 68 stitches (holding 2 needles together for a slightly looser cast on). Followed directions until it was time to work the chart. Started at row 45, without decreasing, and knit 6 plain rows instead of following charted pattern, decreasing as written. Work row 51 as written. Skip to row 58 and work through row 65. Repeat rows 52-65. Followed rest of pattern as written.

Cat fort hat

Here's another finished project from last year, my Snapdragon Tam, proudly modeled by the kitties' g i a n t cat fort (last time it was modeled by a much smaller cat fort):



A better view of the tam:



It's kind of big and drapey, which at first I didn't like. But the extra fabric makes it quite cosy and warm, which is what I enjoy in a winter hat. The brim is a little loose, I would recommend knitting it with a smaller needle than the rest of the hat. I blocked it on a dinner plate as recommended.

Pattern: Snapdragon Tam by Isolda Teague
Yarn: Dream in Color Classy, color Grey Tabby
Needles: size 6

The yarn I was using was a little more than 3/4 of a skein of Dream in Color Classy, left over from another project, and I ended up running out of yarn right at the very top of the hat. Fortunately, I have some Dream in Color sock yarn in the same color, so I finished the tam by knitting with that doubled up.

How about some socks?

I finished these socks last year while visiting southeastern North Carolina (Wilmington, to be exact) over Thanksgiving:



Please visit this previous post to learn of my knitting saga regarding them. Once I had all those decisions made, it was easy and quick knitting.

I've been knitting more than I've been blogging. . .

And traveling, too. And being sick, boo.

I decided for the new year I would change my blog design, and have a new title to go with it. The title is a variation on the same theme (it's still an anagram).

I have some catching up to do, so get ready for some more regular posting! I'll leave you with this to ponder:

Number 9 Number 9 Number 9 Number 9

I ran into some issues while knitting Socks No. 9. The leg part was turning out to be too long. If I wanted to make the foldover cuff like the pattern, I would need to rip out some knitting. Then I thought that maybe I should have used reinforcement thread in the heel. So if I was going to rip back part of the leg, perhaps I should go back and reknit the heel. Then I thought maybe I should have used some reinforcement thread in the toe as well. Which would mean I should just frog the whole thing and start over!?!


I decided to take a week off from Socks No. 9 and instead I knit most of a Snapdragon Tam:


(proudly displayed on the cardboard box cat fort that Jimmy made a few months ago and that Pistol and Inky have slowly been destroying)

And then this morning I put Sock No. 9 on my foot and realized that all I needed to do was bind off. So that's what I did, using Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off:



So no foldover cuff. No reinforced heels or toes. I love it just the way it is. Now, on to the second Sock No. 9.

The Story of Sock #9

After finishing my Eunice socks, I picked up one of the neglected socks from my unfinished group, Sock #9 (Pattern Empoissonee, Yarn Lisa Souza Hardtwist Merino Petite). To my surprise, the yarn that I thought would be great for the pattern was not so great. I didn't realize that Lisa Souza's Little Devil colorway would be such a self-striper. And when I started increasing for the gusset, I got a big field of red that I didn't like:



So I picked up a different ball of yarn and gave it a shot. That would be the sock on the right in the above pic. Much better. I had been wondering what to do with that yarn!

Thank you Cookie A, for yet another brilliant sock pattern

Pattern: Eunice by Cookie A from Sock Innovation
Yarn: Crystal Palace Panda Cotton, colorway sprite
Needles: size 1 metal dpns, size 0 for heels
Mods: Other than using a different yarn, I pretty much followed the pattern as written. Oh yeah, I cast on holding 2 needles together to make the cuff a little stretchier.

Panda Cotton may not have been the best choice to use since it's not that stretchy for making cables. On the other hand, the finished product looks great and feels lovely and squishy on my feet. I had only a tiny amount of yarn left when I was done. So if you want to make these socks with Panda Cotton and your feet are larger than US size 5.5, I would recommend getting 3 balls of yarn.