What a busy month!

After Christmas I seemed to get into a knitting mood. I have completed almost all of the projects that I had planned for my Sister's new baby boy. (he is due in April) I have also completed a pair of socks for a friend to give, an edging for a shawl, a hat for a friend and a purse for a little girl's birthday. The friend liked the hat and the girl was extatic with the purse. She likes little things (pads of paper, pens, Polly Pockets, cute little things you can put in a purse). I have many things planned for the coming months and hopefully I will have time to complete them. I am sorry not to post pictures of the things I have made for my Nephew but my sister looks at this blog and I don't want her to see them yet. (So Sorry Sis)

Some of the things I have planned for the coming year will stretch me as a knitter. I want to do several lace shawls, some socks for myself, two fair isle shawls, and a sweater. Some of these are for me and some are for others. I also have planned a sweater for a friend's baby. This is number two and will be a girl so I have let myself go wild looking at frilly, lacy cardigan patterns for the baby.

I learned something with the edging for the shawl. Good thing it was for me. I learned to add more rows of knitting than there are stitches in the shawl sides. If you don't then you end up with a bunched effect that even blocking can't remove. Oh Well, back to the old drawing board. One of these days I will go back take it all out and do it right. Until then I will just have to Grin and Bear it.

Christmas Socks and more

Well I finished just in time for the holidays. I even was able to finish the hat I was giving to my friend for his birthday. It fits!! Isn't it great when something works out just right. All the recipients loved the socks that I gave them. I even have a picture with them on their feet. All of them fit and I am happy to have that worry out of my life.
I have since made another pair of socks for a friend (worsted weight so they knit up fast) and a little bag for a little girl. I am now starting on all the projects that I want to do for my new nephew coming in April. I am working on a blanket and some burp clothes and wash clothes. I also have planned a sweater and a stuffed animal. Maybe I might even throw in some socks to keep his feet warm and a small hat. Have to see what time I have to complete the projects.
I also have the Mystery KAL project from Knit Picks that I was working on. I know what it is now but I set it aside to do Christmas presents. So it is time to pick it back up and finish it. I am changing the back side a little but still keeping all of the background colors. Then it will be time to (Gasp) Cut (Gasp) my (Gasp) Knitting! (Gasp)(Gasp)(Gasp). This is the first time I will be doing a steek so pray for me. (I really don't want to go crazy from this, hehe)

I hope you have fun knitting.

Christmas Socks

I have almost finished the socks I am making for Christmas. Here are some of the other socks that I have finished. I have had a lot of fun with the sock making but I am already making plans for next year and thinking about what I could give to my family. What are your opinions? I have also included the hat I am making for a friend's birthday. Poor guy, his birthday is two days after Christmas. I am also making him a pair of socks. I am almost done I only have to complete the leg. Only one day left to work so I must get them done tomorrow. Work work work or is that play play play. Anyway it is knitting however you put it.

Christmas Socks

Well, here is another pair down and only four more to go. I used the Shifting Rib design from the Sock Cocktail pattern from Knit Picks. I made it with a gusset heel and finished it off with a picot cuff. They look so cute.

I am having so much fun working on the different socks for Christmas. It is teaching me so much about sock construction. I just hope that they all fit. 

I like the yarn for these so much that I am going to try to make a pair of fingerless gloves or gauntlets out of the leftover yarn. 

Hats

Hats are cool things. They help keep you warm by traping the warmth normally lost through your head. I recently made a hat for a friend with cancer. I fell in love with the hat and have started another one only for me in 'girly' colors. I also plan to make on for a friend of mine for Christmas. (he recently cut his hair so short he is practically bald so he is a bit cold right now.) I learned making the one for my friend that the cuff was a bit long in my guage so I downsized the needle and I am going to work less rows for the brim. What happened to the  hat for my friend with cancer you say? I shrank it till it fit. That is the wonderful thing about working with wool. It shrinks. Of course that is also the worst thing about working with wool. Oh well my friend now has a warm hat to keep him warm and I have a new pattern to add to the favorites pile. I think that is a good trade off.

Christmas Socks

Finished another pair of Socks for Christmas. I started out using the Berry Season pattern from 2-at-a-Time Socks by Melissa Morgan-Oakes. However, about half way up the foot I realized that the pattern on the front was much shorter than the back stockinette. So I switched to the Twilight pattern from the same book. I used the short row heel and a twisted rib cuff. The yarn is Felici from Knit Picks in Cochineal. I used the leftover yarn from the sweater I made for my neice. These are made for the daughter of a friend one of my 'adopted' nieces. She is a girly girl so the pattern and the color are just right for her.

Frog and learn and knit again

As I said in the second post, I am making a pair of socks out of Felici from Knit Picks. I was using the Berry Season pattern from 2 at a time by Melissa Morgan-Oakes. However, as I knitted the pattern gauge was shorter than the plain stockinette stitches of the sole. So I had to frog and redo the sock with another pattern. I used another pattern from the same book, Twilight. The socks are coming along well. I am going to use the short row heel instead of a gusset heel.

I learned that sometimes socks do not always turn out the way you think they will. Sometimes they take on a life of their own. I set out this year to make socks for my family and adopted 'family'. When I started out I had certain ideas about how the socks would turn out. Boy, was I wrong. As I knitted sock after sock, I started to understand sock construction better, and I also started to use parts of one sock pattern that I had learned in another sock that was completely different. It has been a stretching experience. I have learned more about knitting and have loved every minute of it. I have now added sock knitting to my knitting 'arsenal'. Next up colorwork and lace.