Jofrog is Knitfrog!
January 31 2007
The Regia Silk socks were completed last night! Woo hoo! The first Taos RPM sock was finished yesterday! Woo hoo! Pictures to come of both soon, really! My feet are cold. Boooo! Somehow, my hand-knit socks just do not keep my feet warm. It's a really sad sad thing. Mike has some thicker, DK weight, socks that I've knit for him, and I keep thinking of them and being jealous. Rather than stealing (borrowing) his, I'm going to make my own! I've been cranking through the simple stockinette socks lately, but I'm ready for something a bit more involved. I went into my sock pattern binder and came up with this one from 3 Trails Handknit Designs. I went into the yarn stash and came up with this yarn: It's Sheep's Gift in the color "Claret" from Joslyn's Fiber Farm. It's not superwash, but it's the best I could do without going out and buying new yarn. The mostly solid colorway will work well with these socks also I think. So, a question to the thicker sock knitters out there: The pattern says to knit DK weight yarn on US 2s, getting 6.5st/inch in stockinette stitch and cast on 64 stitches. I usually knit fingering weight yarn at ~8st/inch on US 2s and cast on the same 64 stitches. When I make Mike's DK weight socks I cast on 52 stitches with DK weight yarn on 4s... If I follow the pattern will I end up with HUGE socks? Please weigh in. While I'm waiting I'm off to chart the design, line by line written instructions are just not going to cut it for me!More Socks???
January 22 2007
I'm going through UFOs like a crazy woman these days! I can't believe how many I have that are so close to being done! Red Set Go was embarassingly close. The Peapod Sweater is too (although I have to locate my pattern before I can finish that). Do you remember Flore? I last worked on this months ago and left it half way through the second to last section. Late last week I pulled it out, finished the yellow section and knit the green one. I even did all of the finishing (which included a ton of ends and tacking down each petal to the layer below it). Check out what it looked like before the finishing work! Silly little hat. ...and then after: Kaya's worn it every day since, and it gets compliments everywhere we go! The Specs: *Check out Claudia's Photo-a-day Gallery (January 20th) for another Kaya picture.A Bit of Late Nesting
Thanks to Claudia* for the fabulous picture!
January 21 2007
Friday night Mike and I had a nice, healthy, chicken dinner. Warm, tasty, a new recipe, but quick and good for us. Dinner was over, my mind (about half way through dinner usually) goes to what's for dessert. I hadn't planned anything. The oven was cold. Nothing was picked up at the grocery store. Not even cookies around. Then I remembered seeing a "viewer tip" on Rachael Ray's new daytime show:
Enter theSix-Minute Cake. This is a bad recipie for me to know! It had an amazingly nice texture for a cake that is made in the microwave, and from going into the kitchen to warm cake on my plate it took less than 15 minutes! A little bit of easy confectionary sugar frosting, and mmm mmm cake.
Go ahead, try it tonight, but don't blame me when you love it! It's a dangerous recipe!
Tip:It came out very good, but the inclusion of some chocolate chips in the batter before "baking" would be great, and the frosting really adds.The Perils of Daytime TV
January 17 2007
Saturday morning I pulled out a long neglected project. Looking back at my archives, the last time I touched the "Red Set Go" sweater was February 2006... that's before Kaya was even on the way! This sweater was all knit, and more than half seamed, and then sat in a bag for 11 months! Alison's surprise baby shower was just the push that I needed to finish it... afterall, Kaya needed something new to wear! The booties are from Bouton d'Or book 12, and used Koigu and Matchmaker 4-ply and were knit while nursing of course! Hmmm, how long do you think until the Peapod baby set is done? That one only needs one sleeve to be knit... definitely before the spring when I want her to be wearing it, but wouldn't it be refreshing to get change another WIP into a FO?A Long Neglected Knit
You'll also notice that she's modeling, on her feet, the booties that I knit for Alison's Wee One. Only a few months before Wee One can model them herself! We can't wait for her to arrive.
January 16 2007
After the overwhelmimg cry for Taos socks, how could I dissapoint? Kaya had a bit of a growth spurt on Friday, and was hungry ALL DAY LONG... the sock had a bit of a growth spurt too! I LOVE how the Taos yarn is making perfect swirls in the opposite direction of the RPM pattern swirls! I couldn't have asked for this yarn to behave better! Another awesome showing from Sunshine Yarns!. I also kitchnered the toe of the first Regia Silk sock. The yarn didn't feel amazingly soft as I was knitting it, but then, when I went back to sock yarn without silk I could feel the difference. I'm interested to see if the silk content makes them any warmer. I wore this one around for a while yesterday and the foot with it on didn't feel any warmer than the foot with a store bought sock on. I guess time will tell. I'd planned on starting the Hedwig socks also, but somehow the second Regia Silk sock jumped onto the needles last night, so now it's a race. Which will win out, the second silk sock, or the first Taos one? I guess it all depends on what chair I'm feeding Kaya in, and which sock is closer!Growth Spurt
January 11 2007
I just finished my first Regia Silk sock! I think I'm ready for a bit of a change though, so I'm going to start another pair, and then go back to the silk. I went into the sock stash, and narrowed it down. I'm between two Sunshine Yarns colorways. Can you help me decide? It's either Taos with the RPM pattern from Knitty... Or Hedwig with contrasting heels and toes in black. Both could definitely be knit in the dark in the middle of the night, so it's up to you guys to help me decide what to knit. Help this indecisive knitter out! ETA:Hey, speaking of socks, did you see the Sockapalooza 4 news?Best Foot Forward
January 9 2007
My Regia Silk socks are racing right along. Kaya wakes up usually around 1:30AM and 5:30AM to eat. I hear her, I groan a bit, stretch, think "there is no way I can get out of this bed", and then I do. By the time we get to our glider chair, and she's happily eating, I'm ready for some sock knitting! As much as I love the sock knitting though, I'm dying for some "real knitting", so the Nantucket Jacket is back out and the second front is almost half way done. Yeah for getting my knitting groove back. So, I could show you pictures of a half knit front, or I could go and knit it. Guess what I choose! Socks By Night, Cables By Day
January 4 2007
It has been a real tough month around here. Tadpole has had a tough time catching on to the ways of a well nursing baby, and it's been full time feeding, and trying to feed, and doing everything to get this baby on the right track. All in all, it's been exhausting! Despite that, I finished up a pair of socks. Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in the "Flames" colorway to be exact. This is an old skein of yarn given to me from Thea, back from when they were hand writing things, and the colorway is a bit different than it is now. These were my "labor socks". I started the second one the day before Kaya was born in preparation for labor... just in time I guess. I did get to knit some during labor and in the hospital, about half of the leg, but then it took a few more weeks to actually finish them! I've recently been practicing my tandem nursing and knitting skills, and now that my "labor socks" are done, it's time for the "nursing socks" to begin... and what better yarn to knit with than Regia Silk sock yarn? Mmmm, silky goodness for the mama! **Can you see where the second skein of yarn started? Just before the toes on the second sock! That means that I have almost a full skein of this yarn left, certainly enough for a kid's pair of socks, or ankle socks for an adult. Do you want it? Leave a comment and I'll send it your way.**I So Deserve Silk Socks
