A post for sharing my pictures, subject to change.

Baby blankets for some precious twins, there are three blankets because one is always in the wash (and I had more yarn then I needed for two blankets);

Ta daaa, finally a pair of socks.

I finished them. My first pair of socks. They are not particularly pretty nor fancy but just getting this generic pair finished was a huge accomplishment for me. You might have realized by now that I am someone who hates following instructions for knitting so the minutia of a sock's heel tab, heel and toe were torture for me.
They are ribbed, k1,p1, at the top and for those who 'do socks' I used the k1, s1 bit to start the heel and a Kitchener stitch to close the toe. They are really a pretty generic accomplishment but for me they were a rather big deal. I lost count of the many incarnations of my first sock, but when the first of this pair was finished, the second one was easy!
Now I can happily get creative on the next pair. :-D

Socks, my final attempt at a first pair.

I suppose you may be wondering what my needles are into these days.

I have been, it seems forever, trying to complete a pair of socks. It's that thing that I have about following patterns, it's just not my style. I just get a pretty yarn n it inspires me to create something great.
So of course, for me, socks do not come easily as the sock making process is very much dependant on following directions exactly. My first sock has had too many incarnations to mention, I lost count.
So far I have finished one sock, when I have a pair I will post a picture and heave a huge sigh of relief.
I have a few creative ideas that I want to incorporate into the next pair but first I thought I should know how knit a basic sock. It may be a while but I will get there.

My capella, a longer version

This garment was inspired by a short sweater on Ravelry, the pattern was titled a, "capella wrap". I thought, why not make it longer, like a car coat? It would be that much warmer.

Here is the result of my work on that idea,




A back view of the collar,


And how the entire back looks.



I worked a panel first that was long enough to go from one knee, round my neck, and down to the other knee. It was about 20 inches wide, ribbing K2, P2 on the starting edge, then knit to define the lacy row of wrapped stitching with a blue yarn added, the rest is done in seed stitch.

After casting off, I crochet-grafted a panel in the middle of the piece making the grafted piece as wide as my back. I knitted it, K2, P2 ribbing, for about five inches and then added four inches onto either side of the ribbed panel for ease under the arms. I continued to knit entirely in ribbing until the back panel came down to one inch beyond the knee of the 'knee, round the neck to knee panel'.

I added a blue stripe to turn up as a hem then I cast off n hemmed in the same operation using the sewn cast off. I stitched up the sides and you see the results here. The hem on the back panel keeps the ribbing from pulling in to much at the bottom. A bit of blocking will fix the 'sway' in the front sides.

There is very little shaping involved, just two rectangles; other then adding to the sides for ease under the arms.

A Shrug, no matter how you wear it

I was inspired to create my shrug by this website; http://www.stitchdiva.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=SDS-055.
I did not use the pattern that is offered on this site but I used the pictures and the video as a jumping off point for this shrug;
front and back


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This is how it looks when you turn it the other way up (I do not want to call a it upside down becuse there seems to be no right side up, it is right both ways).

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This is a peak under the collar to see how it is seamed up.

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It is done mostly in seed stitch with a ribbed edge and two rows of wrapped needle stitches. It is knit from side to side the long way, not from end to end. It is warm, interestingly fashionable and so versitle, everyone who sees it loves it. I used Wenseydale yarn from Crimson Shamrock in West Virginia. A lovely long staple yarn that knits up beautifully.

The dreaded purl curl, fixed :-D

As you may have guessed from my header, my grey wrap, after much blocking and steaming, still had the dreaded purl curl at the hem. Then Holly suggested making an hem to stabilize it. Thanks again Holly, you are pure genius.



I picked up the stitches from the inside edge of the hem and knit them with a very fine glittery mohair. Three rows later on huge needles, the fine yarn produced a net like lacy bit, about an inch deep, at the hem. I cast it off using the stitched castoff incorporating a row of the grey stitches from the inside of garment that had the curl issue.




The end result was a flirty, very slight, red edge along the bottom that only shows with movement.




The best part of this neat 'Holly's Hem Trick' is that there is no curl left at all, it hangs nicely.

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Many thanks Holly, you rock.

Snug n warm a cowl that doubles as a snood

This is a cowl/snood that I just finished blocking. It was done with some lovely Wenseydale yarn that I acquired access to up at the Rhinebeck Sheep n Wool Fiber Fest. The sheep that produce this particular yarn are raised in West Virginia, they have the most amazing long staples. I just love working with their wool and, due to those lovely long staples, it is very strong.


I used a smart sewn cast off that came out very nice n stretchy as promised. It was the first time I tried this castoff and you can see in this pict, it stretches nicely. This is a link to the cast off instructions that I used;
http://www.woolywonder.com/classpages/sewncastoff/sewncastoff.htm
It's an easy one, just do not tug too hard on your sewing yarn or you will loose the stretch. You need to leave enough of a loop on the edge of the casted off piece that, the yarn you pull through with the sewing needle, is left looking like a, "purl stitch bump."

This piece was done with a 100% Wenseydale wool three ply yarn, it yielded about 4 stitches per inch in stockinette.

With long tail method; casting on 72 stitches, work in the round k2, p2 ribbing for 1 1/2 inches.

Then work 1 1/2 inches of stockinette stitch.

Do a basket weave with k2 p2 creating 1 inch for each of 3 woven basket straps (that's two switches going from purl to kint n from knit to purl in a row).

Work 1 1/2 inches of seed stitch then finish with 1 1/2 inches of the same k2 p2 ribbing.

Cast off with the sewn cast off shown in the link above.