March Socks ... and more...

Happy St. Paddy's Day to you all and may the luck of the Irish be with you throughout the year!!! I really could eat Shepherd's Pie today and wish I was in my favorite Irish Pub on Beacon Hill in Boston. But it is not meant to be this year.

I am still on pace for completing a pair of socks each month...I know, I know it IS only March but by now I am usually already behind my self-imposed schedule. These Feather and Fan socks are really nice and I love this yarn. As I said in a previous post I found it in my stash and probably have had it for 5 years. An early ebay purchase. And probably one of my last ones...I don't do ebay anymore. I got burned by two vendors and ebay wouldn't help me out...so I'd rather pay a shop owner for yarn and know I am actually getting it.

I have fallen in love with the Feather & Fan pattern and am doing it in this oblong shawl from sport weight Frog Tree Alpacha in this gorgeous dark teal color that I bought at The Knitter's Underground in Centre Hall, PA. Molly has a lovely selection of all kinds of wools and as a very accomplished knitter she can help you make the right choice for the pattern/design you want to knit.

Once this shawl is completed, I am making another one...that information is for a later post...but I bought the yarn from Sheri at The LoopyEwe who is my very favorite on-line sock yarn merchant. Yes, the next shawl will be from a varigated sock yarn that she just began selling...Seacoast in the Autumn colorway. This yarn is a blend of merino wool/bamboo/nylon. It arrived in today's mail and has an amazing feel to it. No photo now...will save that for later.

What Will This Be?

A pair of socks of course! Aren't the colors gorgeous?! This hand-dyed fingering weight is from Perchance to Knit and I bought it on-line from The Loopy Ewe of course. Last week was a crazy ordering time from Sheri whose head must have been spinning. She posted 5 pages of new sock yarns and most were gone within the first hour of posting. She is getting more yarns this week and will be posting them asap. She has great selections and colors for the knitters.

This yarn is called Azaleas and as a nice treat each skein comes with a cute hand-made stitch marker. Very nice touch. The yarn is soft and should knit nicely. It is in purples, raspberry, orange, light pink and a little yelllow peeking here and there.

I think I know which pattern I will use but am going to keep that as a surprise for another posting.

I do need to knit the second sock in the Lorna's Laces Sportweight that I posted in my last message but the colors in Azaleas are just calling to me. It looks like Spring! The LL socks are dark and winter. They will be wonderful and will get finished but I think tonight I will experimenet with this new sock yarn.

Mid-Winter Blahs!

I haven't been knitting much lately. Seems I have been stricken with the mid-Winter blahs or perhaps it is just some other things I need to resolve that have zapped my energy and desire to do much of anything.

But, in the past couple of days I decided to "push" myself to knit these simple socks from Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in colorway Baltic Sea that I bought from Loopy Ewe who is my favorite on-line sock yarn supplier. Taking a break from the usual knit, knit, knit I did a simple k2, p2 cuff for 1 3/4 inches and then switched to an equally simple k3, p1 for the leg to a total of 6 1/2 inches. As you can see I have completed the heel flap and heel and am beginning the gusset decrease...which is my FAVORITE part of knitting the sock. These will be my March socks...and I will post a photo of the finished pair soon I hope!

See this other yarn...the pretty shades of blue from J. Knits...of course also purchased at Loopy Ewe. I am going to use it for one of the nice lace patterns in the new Interweave sock book Favorite Socks which I raved about in a recent post. Perhaps I will do the cover sock, I am enticed by the picot edging and the lace design.

I have knit lace socks in multi-colored yarns but (in my opinion) a delicate lace sock needs solid or almost solid yarn to really show off the spectacular pattern.

Moving Right Along

I haven't had much time to knit in the past 2 weeks -- or to blog -- but Barbara said she was going to catch up with me on the blog tomorrow so I decided I wanted to write something to keep her amused in this cold, snowy weather. Hi Barb!!! Hey...enjoy your trip to Arizona and your family visit...we will miss you at knitting group but really want you to go and have a great time!

The purple-ish hand-dyed sport weight yarn that has been in my stash forever (see last post) is knitting up beautifully in the Feather and Fan pattern. As you can see, one sock is done and the other is knitted to the middle of the heel flap. I expect it will be done by sometime Monday. Aahhh, speaking of Monday -- President's Day -- in all of my years of employment it will be my FIRST paid Monday holiday. How am I spending the day, well knitting and looking for office space. The latter is my choice as I want to get a list to my boss this week so a spot can be selected.

Look what I found in a knitting bag. I started this sock from Trekking XXL before Christmas and forgot about it. I love the mix of the dark navy/black with the brighter colors. And, this first sock is past the middle of the foot. What a bonus find!

I am still pondering the next socks on the needles -- many, many choices. I think on the size 3's (sport weight) will be one of the Lorna's Laces I bought from Sheri at The Loopy Ewe which has become my VERY favorite site for buying sock yarn. She is the best and her customer service cannot be beaten. She is always getting new yarns and has a fabulous selection. One the size 2's will be one of the Fleece Artist colors I also bought from Sherri...and more were ordered yesterday.

Finally am making myself spend an hour a day organizing yarn and eventually will have the project completed. Yes, I have a lot of yarn but it takes me so long because it is so disorganized at the moment and I am trying to make some sense of it. I am moving it to a storage area that I rent for the Golden Retriever Rescue -- there is plenty of space for my yarn boxes and having them out of the bedroom will make the cats so happy! More space to chase their little mousy toys...

Look at this book, Sensational Knitted Socks that I bought at Barnes & Noble with a discount coupon. All sorts of lace patterns and other designs for socks. Humm...this one is going to get a work out. Am waiting for the Spring issue of Interweave Knits to hit the newstand next week. The preview of patterns on their website looks interesting.

February Socks and More

As promised -- total sock content for this posting. I love knitting socks...anyone who knows me can attest to that. I do knit other things but socks are my favorite. They are portable, quicker to knit and those sock yarns that are on the market today are so yummy...everything from self-striping to hand-dyed to some nice solids.

Many of you have asked me where I get my sock yarns. Well, some I knit are from my stash while the Trekking XXL was purchased either at Knitters Underground in Centre Hall, PA or at Mad About Ewes in Lewisburg, PA. I love Trekking XXL. However, these days most of my yarns are from an on-line shop located in Missouri...The Loopy Ewe at www.loopyewe.com. Sheri continually adds to her available lines and colors. On Monday she is promising to add sock yarn from more designers and many, many colorways. I can't wait!

See the pink shorter socks in this post? They are my finished February socks. Yes, I started them in January but they WERE finished in February. My rule is when they are finished not when they were begun. These are a hand-dyed, soft merino wool in a DK weight from Black Bunny Fibers and I knit them on size 4 DPNs. I usually use size 3 DPNs for DK weight yarn, however these are not to wear with shoes or boots but rather to keep my feet warm while I am sleeping. They did a perfect job last night during their trial run. Soft, warm and cozy...just right for a cold winter night.

The socks from the purple-ish hand-dyed DK yarn are my first venture into knitting a sock design that I like in the yarn I selected! This is a top-down Feather & Fan pattern that I found on the internet via a Google search. I love it because it is 48 stitches...just the perfect number of stitches for my DK yarn. Speaking of stash yarn, I was digging through a yarn drawer the other day and lo and behold his gorgeous yarn that I bought on ebay at least 5 years ago. And please note the DPNs...a set of size 3 metal needles from Knit Picks. I also bought a pair of size 2's and am so glad I did. I was hooked on wooden needles but these pointy metal ones (that are not much heavier than the wooden needles) are quickly becoming familiar in my hands.

I am so excited. My new sock pattern book arrived today from Interweave Knits www.interweave.com. Their customer service is also outstanding. I ordered this book via phone on Wednesday and it came today -- Saturday. Favorite Socks is a gorgeous hard-backed sock book with 25 patterns, complete with color photos and very readable written directions and charts that have been printed in Interweave Knits (my FAV knitting magazine) in the past few years. Some use more than my usual 56 stitches so I will have to swatch and see what I think. Those with 60 stitches can still be done on size 2's but the others might have to be knitted for someone other than me. BTW, this book offered a nice surprise when I opened it...the inside pages are spiral bound and it lays flat. Woo-Hoo!

Groundhog Day

Today is Groundhog Day. That poor creature was pulled out of his sleeping quarters by a bunch of high-browed men in top coats and top hats. Poor little Punxsutawney Phil was quaking and shaking. He was so scared.

What did he do? Well, he didn't see his shadow...which supposedly translates into an early Spring. Well, I think he made a bigger joke out of those pompous guys in Punxie than they made of themselves. Right now it is snowing harder than it has all winter! You go Phil!!!

Knitting content tomorrow.

A Fiber-y Day

Today was such a knitting day in my mailbox! Woo-hoo!!!!!

Drumroll please...I am going to knit my first sweater -- well, that announcement just sent Billie heading for cover! Come on Billie, it is really an easy pattern...honestly....would I kid you??!! You betcha!

I love this Lorna's Laces Swirl DK in a great color combination -- raspbery-purple-gold. It is going to look great in this mock turtleneck sweater from the book Modern Classics. The yarn was supposed to be for a gorgeous lace vest but I decided that lace and this swirl really won't work well together. So, the sweater is plan B. But of course there is a little hitch...not enough yarn. This morning I quickly called GotYarn.com in Virginia and she had enough skeins of the colorway in this dyelot. So, as I write, the yarn is winging its way from VA to PA.

Also got some patterns in the mail from Annie's Attic so now I am searching through stash to find some yarn and match them up.

Check back tomorrow or Saturday for TOTAL sock knitting content. The February socks will be done. I proposed finishing a pair a month this year...I NEVER said they had to be started AND finished in the same month.

Flowers...What a Surprise!

Brandeis, Stratton, Teddy Bear, Patches and Lily sent me these today...with some help from their Daddy. Are't they gorgeous! In celebration of my new job which begins on Monday. I have worked at home for 6 1/2 years and now it is back to an office and being on the road. I was hired by U. S. Senator Bob Casey as a Regional Field Representative. What an honor to work for such a wonderful person. I will be doing a lot of the same things I did for him during the 10 months I worked in the region on the campaign.

This and That

We returned from Orlando last Thursday. Our luggage finished its vacation on Friday. All was accounted for so I guess I can't complain. Orlando was nice...but we don't do the theme parks. I think they are way too costly at $45 per person per day when we don't go on the rides, get tired of the same food and don't buy Mickey Mouse souvenirs. My husband had a conference there for a few days and the warm weather and some sunshine was a nice change of pace.

Didn't get a lot of knitting done but did finish 1 baby sock. Will post a photo when both are complete. Hope to get some knitting done this evening but a 2-hour phone call this afternoon cut into my plans for housework. I am trying to straighten up some things and will have to utilize some of tonight to do that.

Also want to get back to lace knitting. The photo is of a Fir Cone pattern used in a scarf. The yarn is a yummy Schaeffer Anne that I bought on-line at the Loopy Ewe...she is my favorite on-line shop these days.

Am now signing off and closing down the computer...otherwise I won't have any knitting time. Must learn to budget my time at home better since I will soon be returning to work fulltime.

Do Baby Socks Count?

I am making some baby socks for my new great-niece who was born in November at a whopping 2 pounds 7 ounces. She is now almost 6 pounds and came home from the hospital a few days before Christmas. But, she is still so tiny that she can't keep socks or booties on her feet. I found a cute pattern for some fitted ones so I have started them from leftover sock yarn and also will use a little of some full skeins. Look how little the sock will be (see the photo with the cast on). I do like the yarns I have chosen...can't wait to see what the yellow, white and black Opal knits like for her.

I think if I knit multiple pairs of these it should count at 1 pair of my size socks for my personal monthly sock knitting challenge. Don't you?

January Socks

The January socks are done. OK...I admit it they were started in December 2006 but they were FINISHED in January 2007 ... so they count at the first pair for the new year. What a way to begin sock knitting for the new year by someone who insists on matching socks. My first pair of fraternal twins. However, I really like them. Nice sturdy fabric from a heavier weight Opal knitted on size 3 needles. Goes quickly that way.

Next pair is on size 3 and is Trekking XXL...I think OR will it be the Claudia Handpaints from that wonderful yarn shop Knitting Sisters in Williamsburg, VA? Hummm....am heading to FL this weekend for 6 days and the colors of the Claudia remind me of flowers and warmer temps. Maybe I will get off my duff, get out the winder and swift and wind those 2 skeins. Stay tuned...

New Year's Resolution

Happy New Year! OK...I know it is January 7th but with my travels to Harrisburg and to Washington, D.C. this is the first chance I have had to post.

I rarely make resolutions (because I rarely keep them) but I am resolving to knit one pair of socks a month (at least) in 2007. I have so much stash sock yarn it is ridiculous and I am vowing to knit some of it...plus I need nice socks. Tonight I am almost finished with my first pair .... oh, alright I started them in mid-December but I am counting them as my January socks. They are a nice pair of self-striping "ragg wool" looking socks made from Opal. And, they are my very first fraternal twins. I am adament about matching socks, but these were knitting from 1 large skein and the repeat was so far into the skein that identical socks were not possible. So, they are really pretty. Will post the photo in the next chapter...have to kitchner the toe.

Also am trying to knit from stash but AM NOT making the current popular pledge to only knit from stash. I'm not crazy enough to think I won't be buying sock yarn from the Loopy Ewe or from Mad About Ewes. Their selections are too nice to pass up.

I can't wait to get to the PO tomorrow. A box from the Loopy Ewe arrived while I was away. I forget what I ordered but I think some of it is for a shawl. Not that I have finished the shawls or scarf (lace patterns) that I am working on. I think I will take one with me to FL this weekend and work on it. Also will only take along one pair of socks to knit. Maybe I will get something finished! Hold that thought, now will ya....

Weather is supposed to get cooler this week so maybe I can even wear a sweater and my new down coat. Guess that makes my decision...I will take along the lace scarf (from sock yarn) that I am knitting to go with the coat.

See that photo at the beginning of this entry? It is the Victorian Lace Today book that was a Christmas gift from my husband. The photos are beautiful, the patterns wonderful and it is just a delightful book to have in my knitting "library."