So much to share!

I have so much to share! I love quick and easy projects! I finished this baby set while I was home sick yesterday.


A baby set I made yesterday. 

And on Monday night, I got to meet Jo Sharp! (And buy more stuff...) She is such a lovely person and so talented! And she's thinking of moving to San Francisco! Wouldn't that be cool?! I am so motivated to knit up one of her patterns! I'm more timid about starting yet ANOTHER project (though somehow, socks are a totally different story...)


I got to see Jo Sharp at ImagiKnit on Monday night! 

My spinning endeavors!

OK, before I get myself in big-ass trouble, let me first say that the coffee sleeve idea is not mine! I got the idea at MagKnits from Mariko Fujinaka's "Java a Go-Go" pattern.

I didn't follow her pattern because I was just not into the gauging idea. However, the idea is too cute and I decided it would be a perfect project for my tiny bit of handspun yarn, so I made mine by taking advantage of the increasing gauge of differing stitches. (Ribbing, stockinette, seed...)

Here is what I did:


My Not-so-Clever coffee cup sleeve 

Using my homespun (close to worsted wt) and size 3 DPNs (approx 4.25 st/inch), I CO 36 stitches and joined in the round.

Rounds 1-5 (5 rows) (K1, P1)* all around

Rounds 6-11 (6 rows) Knit. (stockinette stitch)

Rounds 12-17 (6 rows) in seed (moss) stitch

Round 18 Knit 9, increase 1, Knit 18, increase 1, knit 9next row, increase 1 (38 sts)

Rounds 19-20 Knit.

Bind off and weave in ends.

It will look a tad bit small, but once you put it over your first cup, it will fit perfectly and block itself! I think that any larger (given the stretch of the ribbing) and it would stretch out too much.



A coffee cozy I made out of my handspun yarn!  

I just gave this baby the booties she has on--what a coincidence it matched her outfit today! (Notice the appliqued pink flower on her jeans?...) 

And now, the finished Rock and Weaves!!!

Off the needles and buttons on! 


Interesting how the orange pooled up in the same place! 

I'm so impressed that I stayed the course and got these done! Though I still haven't finished the Cedar Creeks, at least I got the Hederas and these Rock and Weaves done! I was trying to use buttons from my already burgeoning collection, so only did one button for each sock. Being limited on my button selection, I ended up using these greenish-olive ceramic buttons. They work. Probably look better than the pic shown here--almost look a bit like jade.

Forget that last picture!

Since posting the last pic of my Socks that Rock KAL "Rock and Weave"'s, I tried them on and realized they were a tad too big. Frogged both back to the cuff and again picked up the stitches.

By now, I guess I could really substitute in that past pic for the present, as the progress looks close! Oh well...does frogging mean I'm a better knitter or bolder? Maybe more picky?

In the past, there was NO WAY I was frogging-I'd wear one bigger and one just right and that is just how my first pair of socks went! Now, I guess I'm getting a bit more picky about the fit. I think I am also realizing that tearing back to the cuff at 7 stitches per inch for socks is really not all that big of a deal. Now, if it had been 9 stitches per inch, I probably still would have torn back, but definitely would have been more disgusted and probably would have put it away for much longer before returning to the project.

So I find out that Little Knits is getting rid of their Lorna's Laces line, offering 25-30% off! Here I've been resisting ordering more STR. resisting ordering that Cherry Tree Hill that Simply Socks Yarn Company so sneakily included a sample of in my last order! resisting ordering the "Special Edition" Fleece Artist wool from them--though I DO hope to actually postpone this order vs. avoid it cuz I'm a sucker for limited edition stuff!...What can I say? I wasn't strong or disciplined today. It was all about me and I guess I was feeling deprived from all that 'resistance'. Can someone please invent a 'discipline pill', because I have none, whatsoever!

So, at $7.50 a skein, I ordered 8! What's an undisciplined sock knitter to do?

Don't Come a Knockin' Club-Kit #2

The latest Rockin' Sock Club pattern... 

And here, now, a pair I have started and actually feel like I'm making progress on! (Gotta love that medium weight!--AND the linen stitch!) The pattern is "Rock and Weave", the new colorway, "Fairgrounds". The linen stitch was really fun to knit and I liked the 'wrong side' (the one with the purl bumps) so much more that I used it for the outside of the cuff. I understand others are doing this, too. There are a couple of buttons I had in my stash that I thought would work, but I only had two of each, so I decided to do only one buttonhole per sock. I think it will look fine with a single button, but as for WHICH one, I will wait until the socks are actually completed, then try and figure it out!

A Knitting story...

So there I was, at the YMCA, ready to cancel my membership! I passed by one of the rooms where the Senior's were having a knitting session-I could see all the needles sweeping through the air...

Being my nosey self (and oh-so-obsessed with knitting), I struck up conversation with a couple of ladies as the session was letting out. They probably thought I was stalking them, since we were all leaving the building at the same time and I happened to be walking in the same direction. So I asked what they were working on, showed them my new Hedera's that were on my feet, blah, blah, blah...Their interest perked when I mentioned that if they were doing charity knitting, they should contact Coats and Clark for a yarn donation.

At any rate, we finally introduced ourselves (nice meeting you, Wendy and Jean...) and I showed Wendy my socks, she said, "Oh! I haven't knit socks in *ages*! I used to knit them for my boyfriends--every time I had a new boyfriend, they got a pair of argyle socks--that was the 'in' thing to do back then. I don't think I could even make them again--I don't know HOW I did that! But you know, in those days it was in and I was younger."

My gosh! Can you believe that? Notice the plural in "boyfriends"? ARGYLE SOCKS for your boyfriend? Unbelievable! Any of my friend's getting plain knit socks from me had better be pretty happy-I can't even phathom making ARGYLE socks for *anyone* but ME! (But, alas, I do not like argyle and shall not have a pair...**)

**though I understand it is a requirement to knit one for part of TKGA's Master program...that would be the only exception...