I finished my Fleece Artist socks!

Why do I not knit socks in winter? It’s too warm now for hand knit socks!
Twinkie gave them the rub test.

They passed!
Specs:
Yarn: Fleece Artist Merino Sock, I have no idea what colour. (The label just has a handwritten “736” on it.)
Pattern: Standard Stockinette Sock, with “Little Shell Insertion” panel from “365 Knitting Stitches a Year”
This was the first time I’ve used Fleece Artist sock yarn, and I love it. It’s a little thicker than a standard sock yarn, but it’s deliciously soft and squishy.
I also finished the Grape Hyacinth scarf. I soaked it to block it, and this is what happened.

That’s from one lonely ball of SWTC Karaoke. And it was variegated yellow, green, pink and purple. The water was dark, dark purple. I’d hate to see what would happen if you made an entire garment out of it!
Pics of the finished scarf next time.
It’s school holidays here. Does that seem to come around far too often, or is it just me? Due to that, and the sewing, and the fact that the Real Estate have sprung a surprise inspection for this weekend, I haven’t had any time or concentration for Spring Blossoms. I will get back to it soon, I hope.
Now, though?

Socktoberfest!

Well, don’t you all know how to make a girl feel good?
Thank you everyone for such a wonderful bunch of comments!
CeCe really is a great knit, and I thoroughly recommend that you all run out and make one. Off you go. Well, you can wait until the end of the post.
Saturday sky!

Look! It’s not a random blue square, there is cloud!
I even asked David last night if he would hire a skywriter for me so that I’d have an interesting Saturday Sky pic, but he wouldn’t do it.
So knitting wise, now what?
Spring Blossoms is still on the go, but I haven’t had much time to work on her this week. It’s school holidays, so I never seem to get a quiet minute. I’ve even picked up Icarus once or twice this week. At this rate, it’ll be done in 2010.
So, it’s

I’ve fallen off the sock bandwagon of late, haven’t I?
Let’s go with the socktoberfest questions.
* When did you start making socks? Did you teach yourself or were you taught by a friend or relative? or in a class?
I taught myself, and my first pair were knit in January 2004. We went to Canberra for a few days in late December 2003, and I spotted a ball of Opal that had glittery stuff in it. I’d always sworn I’d never knit socks, but that yarn sucked me in. Now I’m enjoying an ongoing love affair with collecting sock yarn. Sometime I even knit it!
* What was your first pair? How have they “held up” over time?
Here they are!

Considering that I’ve never taken particular care with them, they’ve been worn a lot, and they get tossed into the washing machine, the dryer, walked around in without shoes, they’re doing pretty well! Looking a little the worse for wear, but they’re two and a half years old, and have not a single hole.
* What would you have done differently?
Um, nothing? These were knit toe-up with a short row heel. I used the toe from a free Elann pattern, and the rest of the sock was done with Wendy’s generic toe up pattern.
* What yarns have you particularly enjoyed?
Lorna’s Laces, Mountain Colors and Fleece Artist are the current favourites, but that is subject to change at any moment.
* Do you like to crochet your socks? or knit them on DPNs, 2 circulars, or using the Magic Loop method?
Crochet? Me? I can barely manage a single crochet edging! DPNS all the way, baby! I did try the 2 socks on 2 circs method, but i just couldn’t get my head around it. I kept using the wrong needle, and had to keep ripping them out, so I put the socks in progress back onto DPNS.
* Which kind of heel do you prefer? (flap? or short-row?)
Flap heel, Sl1, K1 style.
* How many pairs have you made?
About 25, I think.
At first I only knit toe up socks, with short row heels. Now I seem to prefer cuff down with a flap heel, but either way is fine with me.
I’ve knit plain stockinette socks, rib socks, lace socks, toe up, cuff down, beaded socks and cabled socks.
However, yesterday I bought the Sole Solution software, so for Socktoberfest, maybe I’ll try to design my own.
The second Fleece Artist sock is nearly done, only the toe to go. So the next pair of socks will be knit with this gorgeous yarn.

It’s Lorna’s Laces in Somerset, sent to me by the lovely Lindy. She actually sent it to me a few weeks back, and it’s been sitting close by me where I can admire it. I got another wonderful gift this week from the delightful Donni.


It’s a KnitPicks chart keeper! This is a nifty little invention, I love it. It’s such a simple little thing, but it makes life so much easier. I have one tiny complaint, I wish it were a little bigger, but that’s because I enlarge my charts so i can see them. It still does a wonderful job.
Now I’m off to knit my socks.
Enjoy your weekend.
Now go knit CeCe.

Cece is done!

There’s a reason why I’m laughing in that last pic. Our camera puts a little square on whatever it’s focusing on when you’re taking the picture. David was taking the pictures, and in the second last one (the close up) for some reason, the camera had two little squares focusing. One little square perfectly focused on each boob. Of course, that set him off, I demanded to know what he was laughing at, and that’s the story of the laughing pic.
See the button bling?

Specs: CeCe by Chicknits
Size: 36″
Yarn: Cascade Sierra in Black, purchased from Yarns Online.
Oddly enough, when I soaked the cardi to block her, the water came out bright orange. It took quite a few rinses for the water to come off clear.
Overall, I’m very happy with the finished item, ripping it out and starting over was definitely worth it. Now I’m thinking I’d like one in pink, although I’m not quite ready to knit it a third time!

It’s a day late, but another random blue square.

Or a Saturday Sky. I try to include some treeline to break up the blue!
Spring blossoms to go along with the beautiful weather, anyone?

She’s growing nicely, thankyouverymuch. I’ve finished two repeats, and she’s behaving beautifully! I wish I could knit her all day every day. Here she is stretched out a little to show the lace a bit better.

Unfortunately, I can’t knit her all day every day. Family, housework, rabbit, sleeping, eating, all kinds of unreasonable demands on my time prevent me from doing so.
So occasionallyI do a row or two on something a little less time consuming.
I finished a Fleece Artist sock

I love this sock yarn. Absolutely love it. It’s a bit thicker than most sock yarns, and it’s springy, soft and warm, and cushy. Sock heaven.
But instead of working on sock number two, my fickle heart strayed.
And I cast on a scarf.

It’s in SWTC’s Karaoke in “Dipity”. The yarn is nice and soft to touch, but I’m not sure about the single ply yet. It’s thick and thin, which really seems to be achieved by overspinning the yarn in some places, and underspinning it in others.
But I love the way the colour repeats are knitting up in this pattern so far.
The pattern is the Grape Hyacinth Lace Scarf from pieknits.
I first saw it over on Gill’s blog, and fell in love with it instantly. Gill knit it up in Silk Garden, and it looks gorgeous.
The smallest scarf in the pattern can be made with just one ball of Silk Garden. (Or Karaoke).
We’ll see how big it finishes up.
Twinkie is not impressed.

Procrastinating, procrastinating.
I should be sewing. I should be doing housework. That’s a familiar song, isn’t it?
Spring Blossoms has me under her spell. I can’t put her down.

I’m off the DPNS and onto a 40cm (16″) circular. I don’t know which one I dislike more.
I love DPNS for socks, but I hate them for fine lace work with fine yarn. And I feel like I’m choking on a 40cm circ. But I shall persevere until it big enough for an 80cm circ, because I don’t have a 60cm.
Lace makes boring blogging for pictures doesn’t it? For the next few weeks you can expect to see pictures of a purple blob.
Bear with me, it’ll be worth it, I promise.