My favorite baby gift

I've given away quite a few of these combinations, and here's another package that went to one of our favorite local farmers, from whom we buy raw milk.. The yarn is Meilenweit Multieffekt by Lana Grossa... typical sock yarn chosen for the bright colors. I won't mention from whom it was purchased because I was extremely irritated at how long it took to arrive, no response to my email query, and then an excuse that ...... but, I babble on.

Here's a shot of the finished socks. I call them the Terrible Twos Tootsies. I loved the way the striping turned out. I knit one sock with thread pulled from the inside of the ball, and the second sock from the outside, thus reversing the striping order, and switching the order of the red and yellow stripes.



The bird is a special treat and you can see the entire collection at Ouray Toys where I buy them. Great service from these people. You can order online. The birds are by the Audubon Society and have authentic bird calls built-in. Just squeeze the back-end. My favorite, of course, is the Meadowlark, since they're our backyard bird around here.

Learning socks

Sometimes, one gets good enough at a few things, that it's time for some new learning. I made a few pairs of socks recently that were such learning projects. I decided the wool wasn't risky, and I wanted to try some new stitches, so I experimented on each sock. Neither match each other in stitch pattern, but who will notice? Here are some peeks:




These are cable patterns that don't require a cable needle. You'll find them in any stitch pattern book.

I like this variation of the baby cable best, and I think hubbo will get a pair using this stitch sometime in the future. Best of all, no cable needles required.

The best shoes

Knitters often quiz each other on what shoes they like best to show off their hand-knits. Well, I don't know if these really show things off in a big and bold way, but we love boiled-wool Haflingers especially in the winter months. These shoes are enormously warm, lightweight, and offer fine sole-support. We wear them indoors and out. Here are the Haflis we got for Christmas presents:

I think they show off enough of the sock to call it a good presentation, don't you?

In the pink

Lovely pink tulips to brighten up the dreary winter skies.

It got me inspired to start a pair of socks in this luscious pink hand-dyed yarn from Spruce Dragon.

Not that Sassy is a bit interested in any of this discussion about the color pink. He is, after all, an orange cat. Excuse me, please, a ginger cat.

Identical Twins

Yes, at last I've knit a pair that are as close to identical as I can imagine self-striping socks to ever be. To say "we are pleased" is an understatement.

I knit these straight, because I've decided that boldly self-striping yarn doesn't do any justice to a pattern at all. Why bother? Even ribbing can be too visually annoying. Problem is, I 've never gotten a pair to fit my leg very well without ribbing. So this time I stepped down to 52 stitches and knit the cuff with #2 needles, then dropped down a size to #1 on the foot. They fit loverly! I now have the formula for my own foot, and will plan on more of these socks for my idiot-proof-riding-in-the-car-holding-up-my-end-of-the-conversation projects. Hard to believe so few stitches for such a monumental foot. I must be a really loose knitter. I won't argue with results though.

Steinbach Wolle Aktiv Effekt, a typical sock yarn but slightly softer than Opal and even Trekking.

Socks for the Royal Gardener

These are knit in Opal's Hundertwasser and the colorway is perfect for a gardening sort of person. The socks are great inside of a pair of Crocs, and even if your feet get wet, they'll stay warm because wool is that way.

Hubby doesn't like posing for pictures and this photo pretty much says it all as he prances through the offices after posing a few seconds too long by his standards. Har!

Hey, you want new socks, you model them for the Queen's sock blog. It's the rule!

Finally some socks for me!

These out of Trekking knit up in a baby cable. When I saw the photo, I thought I'd goofed and knit K2 P2 on the foot of one sock, but it turns out I had one sock on inside-out. Whew!

The models

A few pictures of knitted gift recipients. I was very surprised that the kids were as pleased as they were. One niece was really thrilled down to her soles. I didn't expect that. Considering that a pair of socks takes, on average, twenty hours to knit - well, it was very gratifying!

Christmas loot

All the frantic knitting is done! Here are pictures of a few of the gifts I made.

Knucks for various friends and family members - the first two are made using the Fetching pattern from knitty.com.

Here's a shot of various pairs of knucks and wool socks for nieces and nephews. All of them were pretty thrilled, which was rather heartwarming. We always worry, don't we, that the gift will be a dud? So disheartening after all those hours of work. I have to say that the knucks were lifesavers in getting the projects done by Christmas Eve. They only take about six hours to knit up compared to around twenty hours for the socks.

Knitting and writing

Here's how my spot at the dining table has looked most of the month. The SIP changes, the coffee cup, and maybe the tablecloth. I've been trying to stay focused on National Novel Writing Month, so the basic set-up doesn't move. The knitting helps me with imagineering, the coffee is for my muses (yes, I have two and both are java fiends), and the Alphasmart is my constant companion. I can write an entire book on three double A batteries. So how is it going? I'm on schedule with Christmas socks. I'm 24,000 words behind on the book. I have until the last day of November to cough up a total of 50,000 words. I wonder how many stitches a sock has. And I wonder why I'm writing at the dinner table instead of in my office where I have a desk. Not that I have a choice about it. The muses are in control of that.

Next week's project

I'm going to card up some merino with angora, hopefully enough to ply with straight merino for a pair of homespun socks. I love those subtle Fair Isle socks in the Twisted Sisters Sock Book and at least want to have the yarn on hand to give it a try. We'll see how much knitting I get done in November. It's National Novel Writing Month, so I'll be trying to get in my 50,000 words along with thousands of other writers worldwide.

Trekking

This was my new weekend project, a pair of socks tentatively for a Christmas gift, although I like the way they're evolving enough to consider them for myself. I've never tried Trekking (XXL) before, being a die-hard Opal fan, but I have to admit I might like this yarn a tiny bit better for its softness. The label reads "SchurWolle" which is new wool, and I speculate that this results in more loft and a softer yarn. The fabric has a lovely feel. I like the subtle striping, too. Plus, I've decided to add a little burgundy to my life, so that's just an added excuse to tuck them into my own sock drawer. I'm going to try to finish these by the weekend.