Finished...

Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise.

Knit from Rowan Purelife Organic Wool with Paton's Classic Wool trim. The buttons are from The Wool Station in Fairhaven. Once I sewed the buttons on I got inspired to do a crochet edging in brown and I really like how it pulled it all together. This is such a great pattern.

My only modifications were to leave out the increases in the back (modern babies don't have the bulky diapers they once did) and to shorten the body a bit.

I finished the Very Pink Socks today as well, but didn't get a picture before the sun disappeared behind black clouds - pretty picture to follow.

A long-term project

Here is a project that I finally got around to photographing. I started it this winter, and work at it in bits and pieces, because I find it a bit hard on my hands to work heavy-weight garter stitch for too long at a time.

It's Elizabeth Zimmerman's Garter Stitch Blanket, and the pattern is in her book, The Opinionated Knitter. Brooklyn Tweed made an absolutely stunning one a few years ago, which you can see here, and his is the reason I wanted to make one.

The wool I am working with has a good story. My friend Astrid has a colleague whose uncle used to raise sheep organically, and then spin their wool. When the uncle died he left behind multiple garbage bags full of this lovely undyed handspun wool, which his niece is now trying to get into the hands of knitters. She is selling it at a very reasonable price, and the proceeds will go to her aunt, who is elderly and in care. The wool is quite soft, spun rather firmly, and has bits of straw in it periodically, which I find charming given its story. There are two different weights of it, and I am using the heavier one, which is knitting up well on 8 mm needles in garter stitch.

I'm working the blanket on 36 rather than 24 stitches in each section because I want a substantial finished item. I am just about finished the first of the two smaller sections. It's already big enough to be a lap-warmer while I'm working on it!

About socks

I think that socks are my favourite thing to knit. I never get tired of them, and hardly ever suffer from second sock syndrome (or SSS). I love how portable a sock-in-progress is and I take one with me almost everywhere just in case I end up with time to knit a needle or two. I am currently working on my 45th pair of socks, which makes the half-finished sock in this picture my 90th sock, and I think that's pretty amazing, actually.

These socks are turning out to be rather fun to knit. I really like how the pattern is coming out, I love the picot cuff at the top, and the shades of pink in this yarn (Knitpicks Stroll Tonal in Summer Blooms) are really pretty.

I knit most of my socks from the top down because that way I can work them without having to refer to a pattern, and I can vary them by playing with the patterning that I use on the leg and instep. My standard heel is the traditional one with a heel flap and gussets, and I have a standard toe I use as well.

When I need some socks to work on that require hardly any thought at all I use a self-patterning yarn, and a knit 3 purl 1 rib pattern and they just about knit themselves without much input from my brain, which is good on-the-go or I'm-too-tired-to-think-after-a-busy-day-at-school knitting.

These socks are for Joe in California, and they follow the above recipe. They're a men's size 11 so there was quite a bit of knitting involved, but I really enjoyed this yarn with its changing greens (Fortissima Socka Mexiko Color - I don't think you can get this colourway anymore) and so they didn't really get tedious.

I have had a sock list for some time of people I meant to knit socks for, and I've pretty much caught up on the list. I'm always on the lookout for worthy recipients... I think that Dave may be due for a new pair to add to his rotation - he hasn't had any in a while, and I also have some sock yarn I want to knit up for myself...

Very pink socks and a book

This is the sock I started yesterday. I tried a picot edge at the top, which I've wanted to do for a while, and I love it!

The patterning is from a book that my friend, Harry, found at a thrift shop and passed on to me the other day. The book is Japanese, and is called 1000 Knitting Patterns Book and can be seen here. As you can see, it retails for $85! Thank you, Harry! There are some amazing patterns in this book, and the charts are quite easy to read, despite all of the text being in Japanese. 300 of the patterns are actually for crochet - and I'm not so sure about reading the charts for those, but the 700 knitting ones are great!

The yarn for these socks is Stroll Tonal from Knitpicks, in Summer Blooms. I got it on sale in a 4-pack for a really good price.  The shades of pink in it are very pretty.

A bit of colour to end the year...

The hat I knit for our young friend, Jasmine.  She's six and she requested bright pink. I think this will fit the bill.

The Baby Surprise Jacket I'm almost finished, and the sweet hand-painted alpaca buttons I found at The Wool Station yesterday to go with it.

And the very pink yarn I've just wound for some Very Pink Socks I'm going to work on next. I'm planning a picot edge at the top, and I haven't decided on the rest yet. I got the yarn on sale from KnitPicks.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Ending the long silence!

Here are a couple of knitting-related projects from the last few weeks.  I made this zippered boxy knitting bag following the tutorial found here. The instructions were very good, but I found some parts of the project challenging. Every so often I choose to sew something because I want the finished product, but I really don't enjoy the process much. That's why I'm a knitter and not a sew-er!

This is the matching drawstring project bag:

I followed the instructions found here. This was a fairly simple project, even for straight-line sew-ers like me! I'm likely to make some more of these.  It is also fully lined (even reversible), which I really like the look of. I think I will try some interfacing on the bottom on a future one, and I might change the placement of the hole for the drawstring.

I made this hat as a Christmas present.  I used the Star Crossed Slouchy Beret pattern but had to change the number of stitches to suit the yarn better.

In other knitting news, I've whipped up a Baby Surprise sweater in the last few days but forgot to take a picture of it in daylight - I'll post it soon. I'm also about two thirds of the way through the second green sock in the pair I started in November. There is no rush on these ones, and they're a men's size 11, so progress is a bit slow. I've also finished a couple of hats, but one didn't get photographed before it was gifted. I'll post a photo of the other one.

Photo Catch-up

Here is my finished Leaf Lace shawl.  It has taken a while to get enough light to photograph it in.  I have been wearing it a lot already - I'm really happy with it.  The beads worked out well.

I've also finished the socks for my young friend, Taylor.  He requested this yarn, and they've knit up very quickly - in about 10 days, actually. I'll get them in the mail to him today.