Shut Up & Knit!

WTF! It's Wednesday!

Or...

WTF!  She's knitting socks again!

Because it is and I am.

They are Trekking XXL... colorway #106.  The yarn came from the fabulous and evil Stacey.  I used my usual 2.75mm dpns for this pair of boring 2 x 2 rib socks with short row heels and toes.

They are comfy, fab and fraternal. 

I recently found out that I can get Trekking XXL locally, so I'm seeing more of their yarn in my future.  In fact, I'm wondering if it's possible to make a pair of man socks out of a single skein of Trekking XXL.

What do ya'll think?

Cat Sock Sunday

It's a baby sock that's not.

The yarn is Scout's.  Colorway is Cookie.  I love how it striped up.

I used US 1 needles and forty-ish stitches.  Short row toe and heel, of course.

Inside is a smaller catnip stuffed foot part of another sock.  I figured kitchenering it shut would keep an excited kitty out.

She loves it, btw. 

Sadly, it's not for her.  Not that she'll miss it.  She's not much of 'nip head at this point.

So there it is... the sock that wasn't.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go celebrate the Steelers' win over the SeaChickens.

Look! A post.

This was last night.  I think.  This whole week has been a blur on the emotional roller coaster that seems to be my life.

I'm still trying to figure out what I think about what happened on Doctor Who last night.  I know it had to happen, but damn...  /sci fi geek

My mother has decided that she wants to knit a sweater.  A simple sweater.  She likes the one that I made last winter and wanted the pattern.  She didn't quite understand why I just stood there blinking at her. 

However, after telling her how I redid a pattern that I liked, but really didn't, she was left blinking at me.  We'll make it work, but she's going to be learning how to knit without a carved in stone pattern.  An important tool for us knitters, I think.  Not that she'll see it that way.  *L*

Tomorrow a sock that isn't!

Nuppilious

See those darker almost pea shaped things lined up together?  Those are nupps.

Nupps are made by doing the following in the same single stitch on the right side:

Knit, YO, Knit, YO, Knit

On the wrong side, you purl all of them together and you get a nupp.

Loose is the magic word when it comes to nupps.  Tight compulsive little nupps will be a challenge to purl together and much tinking (and swearing) may occur.  As me know how I know this...

And this concludes today's episode of Learning to Relax and Love the Nupps.

Swallowtail Unveiled

Pattern: Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark published in Interweaves Knits Magazine Fall 2006

Yarn:  Misti Alpaca lace weight color #3105 (a slate blue color), three skeins

Needles: Options US 7 circulars

Time Served:  Started 09-21-07.  Finished 09-30-07

Mods:  Yes! 
I doubled the yarn and used a larger needle size. 
I did 19 repeats of the second chart rather than the 14 called for in the pattern. 
I did not do the cast on as called for.  I always have bad luck with that cast on in the past and did my own thing for this shawl.
I was off by four stitches after the nupps and had to knit another row to get back to where I needed to be before starting the last chart.  I'm not sure what happened there, but you can see it in the first photo.  I'm just thankful I have an adding machine because I reached the point of not being able to trust my own math after a while.  Don't ask.  It wasn't pretty.

Lessons Learned:  Nupps!  Knit and YO loosely.  This will make purling them as one unit much easier on your way back.  Trust me.  I had to frog the first nupp chart because of how bad they looked. 

I've also gotten better at relaxing and not knitting as tightly as I do when knitting socks.  I can see the difference in this shawl vs the Leaf Lace I knit earlier in the year.

Again?:  Maybe.  I'd love to do a version with another chart of nupps.  I feel like this larger version of the shawl would look better if it had more nupps to help anchor down all the repeats of the budding lace.  I love Evelyn Clark's patterns and this is no exception.

Finished/Blocked size:  Seventy-eight inches across and thirty-six down the spine.  Yes, I do like a larger shawl.  How did you guess?  I also blocked the hell out of this shawl.  *L*

Knit for?: I think it's going to be a gift.  I think...

After a long warm bath in lavender scented Eucalan, a good rinse and some time in a towel, I used wooden dowels and T pins to block this shawl.  Oh, and the top of my bed.  So much nicer than shoving pins into carpet padding.  It dried in a few hours and I'm very pleased at how it turned out. 

While blocking wires are still on my list, I do like how the YOs look along the top of the shawl.  That's from the dowels and the way I block.  Good thing I don't knit sweaters, isn't it?  *L*

Oh, and it's a lumpy lawn.  Not a lumpy shawl.  I'm still having my now traditional photo issues.  Part of my charm, right?

Shut up!