More Socks

I know, it's been a little while since I last posted. I've been a little busy with school and have been a little lazy too. I have done some knitting, though not as much as I would have liked.

I made two pairs of little baby socks from the pattern over on Rachel's Ramblings. It is a really easy pattern, and knit up quickly (when I worked on them).

The pair to the right is the feather and fan following Rachel's pattern. The pair to the left is the blueberry waffles pattern which I found an easy pattern as well.

I used a skein of Bernat Sox (60% acrylic, 40% nylon) in the Crazy Hot colourway. I still have enough yarn left to make at least one more pair of baby socks, and possibly two. Not sure what pattern I will use for the next pair, but I'll have a look-see through the patterns I have and ones on the net to see if something strikes my fancy.



Off to do more homework - have three chapters to read, a small 2 page essay to write on the three chapters, an exercise for the TESL class (it's making up grammar sheets that could be used for a certain class level and can take awhile to do), some grammar work, a 6-10 sentence essay as well as read over several essays and do a critique/edit on one of them. Fun stuff, but it's interfering with my knitting time, LOL! Just kidding...sorta.

A New Addiction?

The problem with having an addictive personality is that when I find something I enjoy doing, it is very easy for me to get addicted. Such is the problem I am now facing. A new found addiction to making stitch markers. Sharon is so right, she said in the comment section of the previous post that it is addictive.

Here is more proof of my new addiction:


You might have to click on the picture to enlarge it so you can see them better. I made these last night, and I'm using one of the ones to the right on the current baby sock that I'm working on (should have the second one done tonight or tomorrow and have pics of it soon). The ones on the right are made with smaller rings, and I find they are a good size for the smaller dpn's used in the making of socks.

I need to find more creative ways of taking pictures of the markers (and my knitting things)...I wish I was more creative in a lot of things, but I'm not so my pictures and whatever will likely be boring - unless I "steal" ideas from others. I'd like to try to be original, but it doesn't always turn out. Oh well.

Here's the final picture, Kitten Yarns & Crafts resident kitty herself, Tinker Belle. As you can see she's not overly impressed here, for two reasons: 1. I interupted her bath time in the sunbeam, and 2. I wouldn't let her play with the stitch markers - not that she didn't try, because she did when I was trying to take pics. Silly kitty, those aren't play toys (at least for her)!

Stitch Markers

Ok, I have finally given into the hand made stitch marker craze. I admit, I was jealous of all those knitters and beaders out there who were making beautiful stitch markers. I wanted to belong (isn't that always the way?) so I Googled 'how to make sitch markers' and found some sites. The one I used was from Sheep In The City blog, with the link to her method of making stitch markers found here.

Now, keep in mind that this is my first attempt at making stitch markers, so they might not be as gorgeous or glamerous as more experienced stitch marker makers (say that ten times fast!). Yes, I know they aren't all uniform in length - a fact I only thought about after I finished making each individually and didn't think to measure the needle part first. Oh well, they varying lengths (though they aren't off by a whole lot) just add to creator uniqueness or something like that.

Ok, so to the right you will see the red ones (or would garnet be a better shade to call them?). I used a larger ring for those, but I think it would be better if I used a smaller ring (I only have two sizes really, and I wanted to have a variety of rings to be used on different size needles. The bigger rings could be used, I suppose on the larger needles. I used a 6.5mm bamboo needle to display them on, and there is plenty of room left over. I don't know if that would be too annoying to a knitter or not...I will let you know though.

To the left, you will see the other set of four I made. The rings on these are smaller and fit the 6.5mm bamboo needle fine. These would obviously not be able to be used on needles bigger than this size though, but I was thinking they might do for something like socks or mittens or lace scarves - some small project like that. Again, I have no idea but time will tell. Sorry that both of these pics are a little dark, but they were in shadow, and I didn't want to use the flash because I didn't want it to bounce off the window and create a glare or make it so the markers couldn't be seen so well. For the picture at the bottom I thought I would hold them up in the sun to make them look a little brighter.

I will be making some more of these (right now they are the only beads I have for making stitch markers) later today. Does anyone have any idea how many stitch markers are usually put into a set? The reason I ask, is that I want to make some to give away (along with some wool) as the September prize for the Knittin' Mittens KAL and I'm not sure how many to put as a set.

P.S. The Knittin' Mittens KAL is still open to all knitters, no matter your skill level. You still have a little over half the month to get your mittens/gloves in for the September draw. Also, the grand prize (a pattern, fleece and wool package to make thrummed mittens) requires that each knitter completes a pair of mittens or gloves for each month in order to get their name entered on this fabulous prize. If you don't want to enter the grand prize, but would just like to make mittens or glove a few times, that is fine as well because I plan on having a prize for each month as well.

Reid and Bess

Ok, I think at some point I promised to show pics of my progress on Reid and Bess so that is what this post is about. Let's start with Reid.

As you will remember I started Reid but it wasn't looking anything like the picture of the finished cardigan. I was assured that blocking would probably fix that, but in all honesty I just had a bad feeling it wouldn't.

I went and bought some Patons Grace (the kind used in the sample) and decided I would start over since I wasn't too far into it anyway. Just in case though, I left what I had on the needles. Here is what I've got thus far with the new venture in Reid:

This is about 38 or 40 rows of the back. I know the picture isn't all that great but I wanted to hold it up so you could see the "holes" of the lace. It's still kind of squished together because I didn't want the stitches to fall of the end of the needle. Here's a close up of the stitch (and please don't point out any mistakes - I know there are some in there but I can't figure out how to tell when I do make one (I know, that's what life lines are for, but at this point I wouldn't know how to begin fixing the mistake anyway being new to lace). The following picture is a close up of the stitches.

The colour is, I believe, lilac but here (at least on my screen) it is looking on the blueish side. Again, the stitches are somewhat scrunched up still because I didn't want them falling off the end of the needle. You can't even really see the pattern yet in the pic, but when you look at the real thing you do see more of the pattern there - a lot more - than last time.

And as for Dainty Bess, I found out what I was doing wrong! It was the yarn overs that had me thrown for a loop. I had done some blog surfing not long ago, and came across Heather's blog and saw that she was doing this same scarf. I had asked if she could show me a picture of her work on it so I could see if I was doing it right. Mine looked nothing like hers, so I knew I must be doing something wrong but had no idea what.

A few emails later she said she couldn't see my yarn overs, but they were there. It turns out that on the purling side I was purling it wrong. I tried the way she said it (in Reid) - at least I think I am doing it the right way because the holes are showing up.

However, I decided since I had about half of the length of the current picture above shows completed, I decided not to rip out and start over. I decided that I would just continue on my merry little way with what I was doing. At least there is some sort of diamondy looking pattern showing. I will do this pattern again, and the next time I will know how to do the yarn overs and my next attempt might turn out right.

In the mean time, I am renaming my version of Dainty Bess. With no disrespect to the author of the pattern, I am naming my version "Messy Bessy".

Hats Off To You...

Well, still taking a little break from the lace projects though to be honest, I am still doing work on them as well. One little project I knit up pretty much last evening was the hat in the pic below.

I made it with Lion Brand Suede (it's 100% polyester - but no polyesters were killed or injured in the making of the hat). I used size 5.5 mm needles and follwed the pattern from Knit It! which was displayed until April - didn't say which issue it was though, other than when to display it until.

The hat is called "Cloche Topper" and has a "flower" type thingy on the side. I didn't like the "flower", so I decided not to make it. The hat is looking kind of squarish - but that's because I have it hanging over the square post at the top of the stairs on the back deck. The colour is teal, but it looks a little bluer in this picture.

I ended up casting on a tad bit too tight and I think when I drew the end piece through the last few stitches before sewing up the seam, I pulled that a bit too tight. Other than that though it looks fine. Here is a close up of the stitches:

I will make this pattern again, but I might try it on 4.5 mm needles (the pattern calls for that but mine were in use so I used the 5.5 mm that the yarn wrapper calls for). Also, the needles I used were some "cheapish" plastic ones and I think if I had used aluminum needles it might have been a little better.

And finally, a picture of the cat in the hat...or cat under the hat...or maybe I should title the caption for this picture as "Tiny Cat; Giant Hat"...

Taking A Break

I've taken a break these past couple of days. I've taken a break from knitting lace. Why you may ask? Well, it's not because I'm not enjoing it (even though I've been doing it wrong), because I do like lace and I am liking it.

Since September has arrived, I wanted to get a pair of mittens done for my Knittin' Mittens KAL. So, I hauled out a skein/ball/whatever you want to call it of wool and got one of the patterns I have for a kids pair of mittens. Actually, the book is an old one that I borrowed from my friend Kristina and haven't given back yet because I wanted to learn how to do mittens on four needles. She'll get the book back eventually - especially if she asks for it LOL!

I do have more of the scarf done, and restarted the Reid sweater in the right kind of yarn - this time with more knowledge on how to do it. I have one set of the back section done and part way into the first repeat of it. No pictures yet though.

I'll work some more on the lace and get a pic of both the scarf and Reid up soon. But for now, click here to see my first pair of mittens made for 2006.

Oh, and for those interested, you can still join the KAL (it runs until March of next year) by sending me an e-mail to let me know. Details are on the Knittin' Mittens blog - the links are in red above. C'mon and join in the fun!