Impulse Buy

I have been really good lately about checking knitting books out of the library instead of buying them but I heard a review of this book on the Knitmore Girls podcast and something told me I should order it, sight unseen:

 

(Sorry for the fuzzy photo…)  I am so glad I did — what a terrific book!  I’m especially drawn to the simpler designs.  Will someone have a baby, please?  I want to make this and this (love the color, especially) and this and this and this and this and this…

 

Sock Club Re-Cap: Three Thumbs Up, Three Thumbs Down

So while I’m working away on some hat designs, I thought I’d post an update on the socks from Cookie A’s 2012 sock club.  Ultimately, three socks have worn great and three were complete losers.  First, the winners:

 

That’s April (grey), August (green) and December (blue) — also known as the Nanaimo, the Kai-Mei and the Thuja socks.  The all-time winner is the green Enchanted Knoll yarn. When I’m ready to spring for some more sock yarn, that’ll be what I buy.  It’s comfy and hard-wearing.  Assuming the blue Thuja socks continue to hold up (I knit those last so it’s too soon to tell), they will be a close second — very soft.  Now for the losers — and there are some true bummers here:

 

That’s February (red), June (turquoise) and October (brown) — also known as the Business Casual, Reykjavik and Hedgerow socks.  The red and turquoise ones felted within one or two washings.  And in case you can’t see the problem with the brown ones, here’s a closer look:

Um, yeah.  No bueno.  And that happened on BOTH socks during the exact same washing!!!  It was BIZARRE.  And let me tell you, I am not hard on my socks.  I wear them around the house only and I wash them inside out, separately from other clothes, tucked safely in lingerie bags and in cold water — and they air dry.  Needless to say, this was a huge disappointment to have HALF of the socks from the club become unwearable so early in their lifespan.  (Actually, my 10-year-old happily wears them now but that was not the point when I signed up for the pricey club!)  That said, I truly enjoyed the club — I made many of the cookie recipes and it was fun awaiting the packages every two months.  And I used a couple of the patterns that came with the yarn.  Also, I did discover a couple of yarns that I wouldn’t have otherwise. So overall, I don’t regret it.  But I don’t plan to join a yarn club again.

 

Blog Friends Who Met in Real Life

This week, I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Joan from Wool Free and Lovin’ Knit, someone I’ve “known” for many years through the knitting blog world but finally got to meet in real life.  We met at Imagiknit, our local yarn store.  I say “our” because Joan moved to San Francisco from the East Coast awhile back.  Here we are in Imagiknit’s enormous room devoted entirely to non-wool yarns.  It’s tailor made for Joan because, as you might guess from her blog name, she’s got a big-time wool allergy:

Joan is wearing her gorgeous Sothia shawl, one of the many beautiful wool-free knits she’s made.  I especially love her impeccably made toys and I copied these booties after seeing her version.  When we met, Joan (a budding designer like me) told me that Craftsy has a great program for selling patterns so I went right home and uploaded a few of mine. I also did a little shopping while we were together — I bought some Cascade 220 for the design project I’ve been noodling about for months and months.  It’s a collection (!) of hats.  I’ll be making them for the next couple of weeks until my friend Sarah is ready to start our personal KAL of the Grown-Up Hoodie, a pattern we both bought at Stitches this year.  She’s waiting for her yarn to arrive.  The design collection has a fall theme so my goal is to have it finished by mid-August.

 

 

FOs (But Shhhhh!)

I went on a Teeny Tiny Mochimochi binge!  I’ve seen these over the years but didn’t quite “get” them — until I saw a friend’s mini sushi and other teeny tinys.  They were just so…goofy and fun.  I decided to make a bunch to hide in my kids’ duffle bags when they go to sleepaway camp.  I also knit little pouches to put them in.  (My son’s pouch is in 49′er colors!)

In that batch, there is a cupcake, a bunny, a fish, a chicken and a dinosaur.

In that batch, there’s a squirrel, a football, another bunny (which may be cut off in this shot), a rat and my personal favorite, a bat.

I used size one needles and lots of little scraps.  The only one I modified was the cupcake — the pattern has you do this weird seaming thing that I knew was going to turn out horrible so I just picked up stitches for the frosting and continued on.  It worked great.

Oh, and tomorrow is my four-year blogaversary!

 

Some FOs

So I finished a few small projects.  First, some fingerless mitts:

I used Cascade 220 leftover from my Entangled Vines Cardigan and size 6 needles.  These will be a gift for a teacher beloved by both of my kids.

Next, a small flower.  I’ll be bringing it as a hostess gift next month — I’m thinking it would make a perfect book mark.

I’ve also been working on some Teeny Tiny Mochimochi — more on that soon!

 

FO: Socks

I finished these socks using Stricken Smitten, the yarn from the final shipment of the 2012 Cookie A Sock Club.  (It looks purple on Cookie’s page but the yarn I got is definitely blue.) I adapted the Thuja pattern for 64 stitches — it’s a terrific pattern.

 

FO: Entangled Vines Cardigan

I finished my Entangled Vines Cardigan.  I like it very much.  For once, I knit the right size (though if I got 1/4″ bigger all around, that would probably be ideal).

I used Cascade 220 and sizes 5 & 6 needles.  I knit the third smallest size.  Part way into it, I realized the color was nearly identical to my Diminishing Ribs Cardigan.  It is, in fact, so similar that when I was sewing on the buttons (man, I hate sewing buttons, by the way) my husband asked if I was fixing something on that sweater, not realizing that it was an entirely new, different sweater.  Oh well.  I guess that’s why the yarn color appealed to me.  (More photos on my Ravelry page.)

Speaking of old sweaters, I decided to donate this one and this one.  I never wore them and the yellow one was just way too big.  I felt kind of bad about leaving all my hard work in bags on the sidewalk for donation pickup.  It just seemed so dismissive of my time and money (in yarn).  I fretted about it as I went out to walk my dogs that morning.  Interestingly, though, by the time I returned from my walk, someone had pawed through the bags (as always happens whenever you leave stuff on the sidewalk in the big city).  I peered inside and the ONLY two things missing — amidst old clothes, toys, household goods — were my two hand knit sweaters!  In a weird way, it made me feel better about getting rid of them — obviously SOMEONE liked them.  I’ll keep my eyes peeled for purple and yellow sweaters on the neighborhood’s homeless people.

Onward — to socks!  This is the yarn from the last shipment of last year’s Cookie A sock club.  As I mentioned, I’m making my version of the Thuja socks (ignore the white lifelines in the photo).  So far it’s quite enjoyable!