Category: monthly wrap-up

January was a quiet, unsnowy month. (Unlike right now,with an honest-to-goodness blizzard outside!)

RON NEW YEAR’S SOCKS

Pattern: Plain Stockinette sock
Yarn: Opel Harry Potter sock yarn in Ron colorway
Needles: US1/2.25mm
Notes: How much fun were these? I had my eye on this colorway for a while, and happened upon a vendor at Vermont Sheep & Wool last year who had one skein hiding in her wares. It became mine very quickly, and I threw it in my bag on my way out to visit Melissa and her husband over New Year’s. And then I remembered the superstition that the way you spend New Year’s is the way you’ll spend the coming year. So at twenty minutes to midnight on New Year’s Eve, I cast on these socks. I think it worked, because January was full of lots of yarn and knitting.

AESTLIGHT

Pattern: Aestlight Shawl by Gudrun Johnson
Yarn: Wollmeise 100% Merino Superwash in colorway True Love, a gift from Melissa
Needles: US6/4.0mm
Notes: Oh, wow, this came out amazing, didn’t it? I’m so so happy with it. The pattern is great, just complicated enough to make me pay attention, but easy enough that I didn’t have any frustration. I knit the large size, which grew with blocking into a generous length that works as either a shawl or a scarf.

I wore it to my knit night on Monday, and the cashier in Starbucks complimented on it as soon as I stepped up to order. She just made my day with that.

I love the Bird’s Eye Lace, and it looks so dramatic and impressive once it’s blocked. (Actually, it looks dramatic and impressive even before it’s blocked.) This is my first project with Wollmeise, and after a wash and blocking it softened up and gained a wonderful drape. The color is really outstanding, and the vibrancy of it really is a wonderful antidote for that monochrome feeling you get in midwinter.

It’s cold and blustery out there:

so I am curled up with a new sock project and a toasty fire keeping the cold of the snow at bay. Curl up with your yarn and stay warm!

2009 was a great year for knitting. I didn’t plan for it to happen, but I knit a sock a month: 12 socks, all for me.

The BSG socks (March) were also my first test-knit, an experience that helped me an awful lot as I started designing my own patterns:

And I knit beautiful beautiful things:

I think, knitwise, I had a very good year. I’m really excited to see what I can make out of yarn next year. And maybe, even, what kind of yarn I can make.

And now I’m going to go ring in a new year by casting on some socks. Happy New Year, everyone!

November’s a strange month for blogging about knitting: Lots of knitting happens that has to stay secret, at least for a few more weeks. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t have things to share:

First off, the HOLLY & IVY SCARF & WRAP:

which I’m so happy with. I’ve been wearing the scarf everywhere, and the wrap I have tucked away ready to wear to a wedding at the end of December. Now I just have to figure out what else I’m wearing with it! Project write-up here, and available on Rav or my Patterns page.

And the MAPLE SOCKS:

My love of Lorna’s Laces grows stronger with every pair I make. No stash is safe. Project write-up here.

And new to these pages, my ATACAMA MITTS:

Pattern: Dragon Scale Gauntlets, by Annemarie Pearson
Yarn: Araucania Atacama, colorway 503
Needles: US5/3.75 mm
Notes: These are to match a cowl I finished all the way back in July. I knit the first one, put them down, picked them back up after Thanksgiving and decided I didn’t like how long it was. So back it went, and I knit them much shorter. Modifications: I only knit two repeats, and then compressed all the decreases into the next repeat, and then went directly into the thumb. It’s a great quick pattern, easily adjusted for fit, and goes extremely well with the cowl. I am thinking about doing a headband to match and make a full set, as I still have a pretty decent chunk of yarn left.

And now we’re on to December. I’ve started my last of the year’s socks, and the Christmas presents are proceeding very well. I’m hoping to end the year on a high note!

October was a work in progress.

(That’s me, knitting on the Big Sock at Rhinebeck.)

I finished one, count ’em, one project:
Autumn Socks

But that doesn’t mean I wasn’t knitting my little heart out in between Rhinebeck’s moments of sheer awesome. On my needles currently are living:
-one half-completed pair of Jaywalkers
-one half-completed Ivy sweater
-one ready to de-hibernate February Lady sweater
-one half-completed set of armwarmers in Atacama, to match a cowl

And that’s not counting the Christmas presents I am trying to crank out (knit early, knit often?).

And then there’s that little designing thing. I’ve been hard at work on a new pattern — see, I have an event to go to right after Christmas so I wanted something nice to wear, and I think maybe other people might like a nice warm squishy thing for holiday events. So I’ve been working on that, and it’s currently with a test knitter and I should have it ready by Thanksgiving. You can be sure it will be warm and squishy, because I knit it in Malabrigo:

Now I suppose I should get cracking on that to-do list, huh?

September is a watershed month for me, with Baby’s First Pattern Released For Sale. And on top of that there was one of the most complex sock patterns I’ve tackled yet, and half of a sweater that I haven’t gotten around to photographing.

OCTOBER LEAVES FINGERLESS MITTS

Pattern: October Leaves Fingerless Mitts
Yarn: Knit Picks Gloss Fingeringweight in Pumpkin
Needles: US1/2.25mm
Notes: Written up here and available for sale here on the blog and on Ravelry. As of writing this, there were 14 projects in Rav, and it’s in 200 queues and has been faved 483 times. Those numbers are both gratifying and making my head spin, and I’m so pleased at the reception my little mitts have gotten.

JADE SLIPPERS

Pattern: Glass Slippers
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy in Good Luck Jade
Needles: US1/2.25mm
Notes: Writeup here.

Also on the needles: An Ivy sweater that might or might not be done in time for Rhinebeck. At this point we’re closer to “not”, sadly — but it’s not like I don’t have plenty of other things to wear!

August was a slow month. I had lots of things on the needles, and then a ridiculous heat wave hit and all I wanted to do was move to the Yukon. (Summer is colder in the Yukon; you can still knit.) Since I am writing this post instead, you may safely assume I am still here.

SWALLOWTAIL SHAWL

Pattern: Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn Clark
Yarn: Malabrigo Lace in Pagoda, 1 skein
Needles: US4/3.5 mm
The Swallowtail is written up here.

FLOWER POWER SOCKS

Pattern: Thuja socks by Bobby Ziegler
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock in Flower Power, a destash from a friend
Needles: US1/2.25mm
Story of the socks is here.

And now we’re into September. I have a sweater on the needles, and some socks that are so beautiful I can hardly stand it, and there’s yarn coming my way that will be turned into Christmas presents. And, I am making a valiant effort at keeping my excitement over the upcoming fiber festival season down to manageable levels. It might not be an entirely successful effort, but it’s an attempt. I think that should absolutely count, right?

July was a month of traveling hither, thither and yon. I had several professional conferences to visit, so I was bouncing from DC to Chicago back to DC. Lots of time on planes and trains, including a delightful seatmate on Amtrak who decided he would try to use me in lieu of getting an actual New York guidebook. (He didn’t get very far.) My favorite part was when he asked me, after three solid hours of traveling alongside it, if that big river was the Hudson. Good times.

NETBOOK SLEEVE

Pattern: Self-designed
Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Lake Ice Heather and scraps of blue and gold left over from my Muggle-Proof Scarf.
Needles: US10/6.0 mm
Notes: So. I splurged on a netbook for all this traveling, because so much information for these conferences exists online, and trying to find a computer can be a real struggle. (I’m typing this post up on it right now, actually! So tiny and adorable.) But cases cost extra and I have lots of yarn, so I made my own. I have an entire container of leftover WotA from old projects, so I went stashdiving and came up with a vaguely Harry-Potterish design. I added a pocket in front to hold the power cord, and lined the works with a cute little teddy-bear printed fabric I swiped from my mom’s quilting stash.

It’s lightweight and cushy, fits easily in the lovely messenger bag swag I got from SLA (hands down, best swag of the summer) and does exactly what I wanted it to. Couldn’t ask for more from a last-minute stashdiving experiment.

PANOPTICON JAYWALKERS

Pattern: Jaywalkers by Grumperina
Yarn: Lorna’s Laces Shepard Sock in Franklin’s Panopticon
Needles: US1/2.25 mm
Notes: All written up here. Even Franklin gave them a thumbs up, which made me extremely happy.

ATACAMA COWL
Robbyn Kenyon
Pattern: Alexstraza Cowl by Robbyn Kenyon
Yarn: Araucania Atacama
Needles: US5/3.75 mm
Notes: Stocking up warm things for winter. There will be no modeling of this, however, because right now it is not winter and there is no wearing of warm things in this weather.
Pattern is easy, cute, and can be done in the round or flat and seamed. The only thing it lacks is a chart, but I could always have charted it out myself,. The finished product is warm and the dragon-scale pattern shows off the variegation of the yarn very well.
I am puttering around with matching handwarmers, but it’s been too hot the last week or so to even think about handling alpaca.

August will be a month of things like lace. Lots of lace. Swallowtail lace, even.

What better way to spend my Fourth than in my personal pursuit of happiness — that is to say, with yarn! (Also happiness: engaging in my annual re-watch of 1776, because, really, can it get any better than singing, dancing Founders harmonizing about the amazing powers of Jefferson’s violin playing? No. No, it cannot.)

Here, have some Finished Objects. June was a busy month:
SUMMER TANK

Pattern:Basic Vest Pattern by Ann Budd, from The Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns
Yarn: Pucker Brush Farm Cotton/Flax/Rayon Blend
Needles: US3/3.25 mm
Notes: After letting this yarn marinate in the stash for a year or so, this was guesstimated based on Budd’s vest pattern from my Favorite Book Ever, and came out pretty darn well, if I may say so myself. This will be a nice basic summer top and I am utterly in love with the color.

CONFUSED SOCKS

Pattern: Forward and Back Socks by Ruth Greenwald
Yarn: Fox Hop Sock Yarn in Wine Country, picked up in a Ravelry trade. Fiber content 55% wool, 25% Nylon, 20% acetate.
Needles: US1/2.25 mm
Notes: These socks got to do a bit of traveling while they were on the needles. They was a new pattern for me, but I think it might be a keeper. I like the effect on the variegated colorway, and I’m always on the lookout for patterns that will work with my stash of hand-dyed sock yarns. It’s written for two circs, but it was easy enough to do on DPNs. I’d recommend to anyone doing the same to use four needles, and divide each chart between the second SSK and the YO-K1-YO, but leave at least one stitch on the right needle so your YOs cooperate. You’ll have to shift a few stitches to your left needle every few rows, but you can just knit them onto the left needle without any fuss.
The yarn itself I picked up in a Ravelry trade; I don’t usually work with sock yarns with such a heavy acrylic content, but it seemed to work out pretty well here. The yarn was a little stickier, but it has a great hand once it’s knit up and those stitches aren’t going anywhere.

GRADUATION SOCKS

Written up in this post for your entertainment.

DENIM SILK LUTEA

Written up here, for even more entertainment.

July promises to be just as busy, and there should be some traveling sock pictures for you all when I venture to Chicago for the ALA Annual in a week. In celebration, I wound my Franklin’s Panopticon sock yarn yesterday, all ready to go in case I bump into Dolores. Hey, a girl can hope.