Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Knitting Plans

I have once again lost my mind, though at least this time I'm doing it well in advance. Last Christmas, the pink fluffy hat and Spider-Man hat for my niece and nephew were very well-received. I came across this pattern the other day and decided I really needed to make this sweater for my niece and nephew. It's a straight-forward pullover with some cabling and a stripe at the neck, hem and cuffs. My sister helped me pick out the colors. It'll be in dark green with cream and blue for nephew and pink with cream and blue for niece. I should cast on for them soon. I'll be knitting at a larger gauge than the pattern calls for, so some serious swatching is in order.

Boy Sock Progress:
I am halfway through sock number one. I started the heel flap. Haven't touched it in two days. The evenings seem to be getting away from me. About the time that I am ready to get some knitting done, it's actually time to go to bed. Of course, by that time, I'm also probably too tired to knit without mistakes.

Monday, May 05, 2008

The End of the Shopping Spree

My fiber shopping activities seem to go in spurts. I picked up three fleeces last month. Then I road-tripped back north and just *had* to stop by my favorite yarn store. (Actually, I really did need to go. I've finally decided to knit a male friend of mine some socks and thought he ought to pick out the yarn so that he might actually wear the finished product. Conveniently, he happened to be in the same town at the same time so he could shop with me.) In addition to the aforementioned sock yarn, I also picked up sufficient yarn for two pair of socks for me and also some royal purple lace weight yarn.

Now my purchasing activities will probably go dormant for another six months.

On the other hand, I have nearly finished my first Slippin' Stripin' Sock. Just finishing up the toe shaping. The toe of this particular sock is solid green, matching the cuff. I didn't think the hand spun merino singles would wear very well in the toe. With any luck, there will be sufficient green yarn for the second toe.

I really need to post some pictures. Here are some photos of the purchases:

The "boy socks". Just a plain 2x2 rib pattern in Trekking XXL. I really wouldn't have picked this yarn for SockBoy. I think it's pretty yarn, but much more brown and purple than I thought he'd select and he said he thought it was too boring!!

The yarn for me. The yarns on each end are a lot more purple than the photo shows, especially the yarn on the right. That's really a brilliant royal purple with nothing blue about it.