Skew 2

I finished my February socks on Saturday, way early. I am totally in love with the Skew pattern by Lana Holden. In the above pic, you can see the inside part of one sock (left), and the outside part of the other (right). See how the chevron direction is different? It's so easy to knit, but so totally cool. All in all, a very elegant (and elegantly designed) project.

bottom of foot (top), top of foot (bottom)

 

They look odd and un-anatomical on the needles, but once they are on feet, they fit perfectly.

 I really like them in this yarn, too. Soxx Appeal is a great match. The elasticized wool is super-soft, and the elastic makes getting the sock on over the ankle much easier than the pair I knitted in Trekking. I was all set to keep them, but DD#2 claimed them at the last minute.

Dug in Shadow

I finished a Sonja Esbensen shawl on Monday night, the dug from this free pattern. Instead of cotton and size 1 or 2 needles, I used Knit Picks Shadow in the color Sunset. Kevin bought this yarn for me a year or two ago for my birthday. Knitted on size 9 needles and cast off with size I crochet hook, it is very open and lace, measuring 60 inches across pinned out on the bed. It'll relax to probably 56 or 58 when it's completely dry.

This is a 102 round pattern. If it were any smaller, it wouldn't work well for a shawl unless you used heavier yarn and even larger needles. I love how open it is, and it'll still be warm on my shoulders. Next time you see a doily pattern you like, take a chance and knit it large. You won't be disappointed.

 There was only one error in this pattern, a missing yarnover in round 81. There are 3 sets of what should be “yo, twisted stitch, yo”, but the center set omits the second yarn over and if you don't catch it, you'll find you are one stitch short on round 83.

So, round 81 should read:

(ssk, yo)3x, ssk, k5, k2tog, yo, (k2tog, yo)5x, ssk, k1, yo, k1twisted, yo, k1, k2tog, yo, k2, yo, k1twisted, yo, k2, yo, ssk, k1, yo, k1twisted, yo, k1, k2tog, yo, (ssk, yo)2x.

I'll take some more drapey pics when it's dry and unpinned.

Teapot Love

 This is my favorite Christmas present from this year, given to me by my son, Finn. Some crazy middle-aged woman showed this teapot to him in the thrift store and told him it. would make a great gift for his mother. She shall remain nameless. ;) Although it is nothing precious or overly fancy (stamped Teleflora on the bottom, so it originally held flower), I just love it. Makes me grin every time I brew a pot, which is now several times a week.

On that same trip to the thrift store, I bought one of those mystery bags of small textile goodies. Inside, hidden from view, was this lovely irish crochet doily with a startlingly similar motif. Was it fate?

Gosh, what a textile geek I am.

I made it!

Yes folks, I finished my Trekking Skew socks at 10:50pm MST. Ends darned in and everything!

 I was hoping they would fit Tara or Finn because they both liked the yarn and don't mind wool socks, but they fit me just great. I have a drawer-full of handmade socks, but these are a welcome addition. I don't have any others in these colors, and they look great with my brown corduroy pants.

Not that it would have made much difference to have finished today (or tomorrow for that matter), but I'll take all the little victories that life hands me. I even got to see Craig Fergusen, because I stayed up until midnight darning a hole in my favorite wool socks. I don't usually darn socks, but this time the hole was on the side of the foot, not the bottom, and I noticed it when it was just about 1 stitch gone instead of a gigantic, gaping mess. So now all my socks are finished and in good repair.

I pulled out a  new sock bag this morning, but the yarn weight didn't suit the pattern as well as I thought, so I did some rearranging. I decided the yarn in the bag (Soxx Appeal) would look great in Skew, so that'll be my February. The stretchiness will work well, too. I can make this pair smaller so as not to be a sock-hog, too.