Monday, August 13, 2007

August and July Projects

I've been busily knitting - I know that's a big surprise to most of you! Here are some finished projects:

This is the luxury sock of the month club offering from The Knitter As always, Judy has such wonderful patterns and yarns. Judy designed this one herself - it's fairly simple (a cable each fourth row). The design lets the yarn do the talking. The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in a colorway called Chocolate Raspberry - yummy, no? I was a little distressed - dweeb that I am - to have "fraternal" socks (aka socks that don't quite match) but others assured me that this is normal for this particular yarn. I love the way the socks feel when I wear them.


Speaking of Judy, this is the July SOTM club offering. The yarn is - I think - Sockotta (I've managed to lose the band from the yarn). It's a cotton blend and it was SO fun to knit! I knitted a bunch during the allstar games so these socks will remind me of then.


And here's the Knitter's June SOTM club offering - so patriotic! It's a design by Adrienne Fong called Betsy. It's knitted using Regia yarn.


I also finished the pieces for a cable sweater by Tahki Stacy Charles using Bunny Print yarn. I haven't sewed it together yet (that's for a cool, inside day) but I'm pleased with it


I have one sock finished with a really complicated pattern below called Fanning the Flames Socks. The pattern is a modular design - each triangle is knit either by itself or by picking up a row of stitches from the last triangles. It's pretty complicated but once I got started, I have the hang of it. The yarn is a new to me yarn - by Seacoast Handpaint My LYS (that's local yarn shop to you muggles) carries it. The woman who owns Seacoast Handpaint lives in NH and is a Dartmouth grad - what's not to like? The colorway for this yarn is Joyful. It's a lovely yarn to work with and I love the way it's working up with these socks.


(the heel looks better IRL = in real life - I need a pair of sock blockers!).

I'm working on the toe of the second sock of this pair. Oh - this pattern is a toe-up pattern which is new to me.

Based on Colin's suggestion (he's on a couple of knitting listserves I'm on), I got a skein of Online and LOVE it! It's another cotton blend and it working up nicely in this chevron pattern from the Sensational Knitted Socks book. I'm trying a different heel for this sock - each time I try to learn something different. The sock is showing off my new-to-me "walk around"knitting bag. It's perfect for socks!


I started the second sock just yesterday.

I'm so pleased that Adrienne asked me to be a test knitter! I was so thrilled that she asked me. As you know, Adrienne is my favorite sock designer so I feel like I've hit a new peak in sock knitting. I can't tell you more about it since I'm sworn to secrecy. Suffice to say it's just gorgeous. It's been a lot of fun for me to see how it all unfolds. Not unlike testing software!

I'm also tackling the infamous Kauni sweater. Take a look at the finished product here. Isn't it beautiful? It's not as difficult as it looks - you're only knitting with two colors at any given time. I'm about halfway up the body of the sweater. The biggest challenge so far has been unwinding the giant hanks. Oh, and sitting with all that wool on my lap when it's been so hot.

Off to knit!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

You knit??? Who knew! *grin*

Very very nice. You do excellent work.

Unknown said...

You have been busy! Okay, the Fanning one,the light green one and the Online one are my favourites.
They all look very well knit.

BarbaraME said...

I keep meaning to tell you guys I knit *snork*.

Colin - thanks! I really wanted to wear my light green socks today but I can't find a top to match and DH said people would laugh at me. Guess I'll have to go shopping...

adrienne said...

"fanning the flames" is beautiful! i may just have to try knitting that one myself. i love something different.

i didn't realize that you knitted THAT much

noallatin said...

Barbara,

I really like the triangle sock. I think it's beyond me at this stage but I really like it. How do you find time to knit so much and read?

noallatin

BarbaraME said...

The Fanning the flames socks just look hard - they really aren't too bad although they are my first stab at toe-up socks. For whatever reason, I love cuff-downs.

I haven't been reading as much because all I want to do is knit! But books on CD work for me- then I can do both.