Socktoberfest Socks – second attempt

  So I was moving right along on my Ice Cube Socktoberfest socks – I’ve got about 3″ done in this very flash washed out photo.  And I realized I didn’t follow my own note I had written on the pattern the last time I made them — and I’m making the wrong size.  Drat!  Plus, the pattern is not showing up in this yarn since the yarn is so busy.  I think it would look better in just a plain jane sock or maybe some kind of slip stitch pattern – but probably wouldn’t look good in any of the patterns I picked for Socktoberfest  So they will be unraveled and put into hibernation for a little while..  In the meantime, I grabbed some yarn that hadn’t made it into the storage tubs yet so am off to wind it and restart my socks again.  The yarn is Three Irish Girls Adorn Sock – I love that sock yarn so lovely and squishy.

My swap blocks

I’ve been working on my Halloween swap blocks this morning.   I want to get them finished so I can put the pile of Halloween fabrics I have strewn  on the floor away.  I have several piles spread out of different projects I need to finish the cutting for so I can put the rejects or excess fabrics away.

 Here’s my blocks so far.  It’s had to see the focal fabrics from a distance.  The one on the right has ghoulies and mummies and werewolves and vampires in the center.

the middle group has this section fussy cut from a stripe fabric

And the ones on the left are brightly colored spidies.

I also just found this bat print that was stuck in with just the regular green fabrics — need to figure out what block to use them in.

Halloween Block Swappers….

 

    Halloween Block Swappers….. How are you doing on your swap blocks?  Remember, they are due to me by October 11.  Mailing address is on the blog swap page and I’m updating that page with packages as they come in.  Haven’t checked today’s mail yet tho…..

Socktoberfest Challenge correction and some other stuff…

If you subscribe to my blog  you may not have seen the correction – the Socktoberfest challenge does not end October 1 – it’s November 1.  The original blog post has been corrected.  While it could be done, I think one year I did start and finish a pair of socks that quickly but I wanted them for a gift and I happened to be on vacation at the time and spent many hours knitting.  So no – you do not need to knit your socks in three days. 🙂

I decided on the sock pattern I’m making and actually have about an inch of my ribbing done.  I was going to make Porthos but then as I was looking for the right needles, discovered I still have a pair in that pattern that I need to finish off.  I know I’ve got House  Targaryen on the needles because that’s the pair I just brought home from the office – just part of the foot to finish and they’ll be done.  There’s also a pair of basket weave that need to be finish (so maybe I shouldn’t be starting more? – naw – eventually those will get done now that sock wearing weather is approaching.)   But then I just decided whichever pattern I came to first in my stack of printed patterns, that would be the one I make — and it was Ice Cube.  It will be interesting to see if this yarn pools or how it knits up.

I had hoped to start on a fall wall hanging today or get some strip sets sewn and cut for the Asian design on my design wall but spent most of the day  puttering with other things, but these fabrics I recently got from TLE are calling to me.

The fall colors will get used with a group of fall tone on tones I previously got – greens and golds and burgundies – I love fall colors.

The light blue at the top is a swirling snowflake print for a different project.

 

And, on my search for grays in the right tones/shades, I have found a few more to add to my pile.

 

The three on the right side came from TLE and the other ones I ordered at a different on-line shop.

It will be one of those projects where I need to see them all side by side to decided if I’ve got the right shading from dark to light among the various gray fabrics but so far I’m finding ones I like.  They all look lighter due to the flash – the corner of the gray you can seen at the left of the top photo is actually true to color for that print.

Eventually when I get enough of them collected I plan to use them in this design I call Gray Matter.

Back to my socks…… and talking about fall colors made me remember I have a leaf wall hanging I probably started last fall that just needs a border or two added. So I shall finish that one first before starting another — really I will!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Socktoberfest Approaches – CHALLENGE TIME!!

I can’t believe it’s nearly the end of September already!   October is just days away and that means some Socktoberfest knitting to be done.  I can’t remember the last time I touched a pair of socks I was knitting.  I have one pair that stays at the office in case I forget my bus knitting  – at least I’ll have knitting to grab for the bus ride home those days.   But I finally brought that pair of socks home so I could get it finished…. soon… but in the meantime – a Socktoberfest Challenge must be made!! 🙂

If you’re a long-time blog reader, you know there have been some crazy Socktoberfest challenges in the past (crazy but fun — some successful and some not so successful). Multiple pairs of socks finished, some unfinished, lovely sock yarns purchased for the challenges, lonely socks got mated up as I finally finished those second socks, more lovely yarn purchased for challenges.  And if you’ve never tried sock knitting, perhaps Socktoberfest is the time to give it a try!

For those of you who have just been anxiously waiting to see what sort of Socktoberfest Challenge I might be making this year (you know you have you crazy sock knitters you!) ….well here it is…. and no, it does not entail making (or attempting to make) some crazy number of socks in a month.  It does not involve having to buy specific yarn (but if you feel the need to tell your spouse that I said you absolutely positively had to buy new yarn for this challenge — well I would not deny it, just don’t let them see this blog post — I’m all for enabling). 🙂    All you have to do for this challenge is knit one pair of socks using one of my favorite sock patterns – and I’ve give you several to choose from.  I shall be using my  newly arrived Socks That Rock, Rainbow Reindeer colorway,  the hank on the far right in the photo below.

Here it is wound into a cake.  

If you want to join me in Socktoberfest knitting, and be entered into the random drawing to win your very own hank of Rainbow Reindeer, here’s what you need to do.

1) Knit a pair of adult size socks using one of my favorite sock patterns listed below.  These are my “go to” patterns and I love each of them for different reasons (the stitches, the textures, some of the heel touches that are a bit different, etc).

2) You can start on your socks as of today, 9/27/14.  The pair must be completed and a photograph emailed to me of them no later than noon CST on October 1, November 1, 2014, to be eligible for the drawing. I will post the photos to my blog.  (yes the October 1 date was obviously a typo – even I’m not crazy enough to plan to make a pair of socks in three days – or hmm…. maybe a challenge for next year!) 🙂

3) The socks must be basically knit according to the pattern with a very few exceptions:  (1) If you prefer making toe up socks and can figure out how to do that with the patterns I’ve chosen, that is fine to do.   (2)  If you need  fewer or more stitches to fit your foot, or a different needle size, than the pattern calls for,  those changes are fine.   But you cannot: (1) shorten the leg length to ankle socks and (2) if there is a stitch pattern across the top of the foot, you cannot do just stockinette stitch across the foot – the pattern stitch must continue per the pattern.

Here are my favorite patterns  in no particular order (and there’s no affiliation with any of the designers – some patterns you have to purchase, some are free downloads – they are simply my favorite patterns) and they are all available through Ravelry.  If you aren’t a member of Ravelry, you can sign up for a free account.  If you know the basics of sock knitting, I don’t believe you should find any of these difficult.  Remember I do lots of sock knitting on the bus and for that reason I generally choose patterns that have an easily memorizable pattern — I hate having to actually read lines of a pattern while bouncing along on a bus — and you know I don’t like making cables so there are none of those involved. 🙂   Links are below the photos.  If you follow the link and then click on the photos on the Ravelry page, you can see more close up images of the patterns.

Tesserae Sock by Anne Hanson

House Targaryen by Avalanche Designs

Ice Cube Socks by Debbie O’Neill

Nine-to-Five Socks by Nicole Hindes

Basket Weave Rib Socks by Sarah Ronchetti

Porthos by Caoua Coffee

Gravel Grid by Jessica Baird

 

So, will you be joining the challenge?  Which of the patterns do you think you’ll use?  Have you made your yarn choice?? Details I want details! LOL   Now I have to decide which one of those patterns I will use!

 

Too much to do

I think I need a few more hours in the day – not like that’s going to happen – but things have been hoppin around here.  Work is busy; the past couple weekends have been busy but today – despite the fact that I do have several things I need to get to – 9 am. and I’m sitting in my s at the computer sipping coffee.  Ahhhhh the weekend…..

First up – my on the needles report which I didn’t do last night – just could not face looking at a computer screen any more. LOL

There are simply way too many knitting projects in progress — now I’m not even counting the box of lonely single socks that need their mates made — I’m talking about other projects I’ve been hopping back and forth on for the past six months or so and new projects I’ve added in during that time.

I am nearly done with the first semester projects for Loopy Academy.  I started on my second mitten last night and it’s more than 3/4s done.

 

I think this has become my new favorite mitten pattern.  Just love the way they fit so I’ll be stash diving to find some more worsted weight yarn to make more.

And because there were not enough items in the works on needles (or maybe because I really wanted to see how the color changes looked on this yarn as it was knit — it has gold glints throughout it that aren’t showing up in my lovely Sunny Saturday photo.  It’s going to be just a simple cowl and will be very lightweight yet cozy in this yarn.

There should have also been some new yarn acquisition that arrived earlier this week.    Looks like I’m thinking sort of fall colors doesn’t it — well except that one on the right — that one is Socks that Rock Rainbow Reindeer.  It has such fun colors in it – even more shades when you flip it to the other side.  The colors in this photo are washed out a bit by the sunny day – they are all a bit darker and richer looking in reality. the Rainbow Reindeer I have plans in the near future for – more on that later.   Two two on the left are Socks that Rock also in River Rocked and the middle ones are Jilly Dream in a color dyed exclusively for The Loopy Ewe called Big Box of Crayons.  I would love to have a sweater made out of that one but a sweater quantity of fingering weight yarn — that’s a whole lot of yarn, and makes for a rather expensive sweater.  Haven’t decided for sure what I’ll make with those – Sheri at TLE made a pretty cowl from some of it and it is so pretty – very simple texture in it to show off the mass of colors in the yarn so I’m leaning towards that.

I have still been working on my blue lace panel sweater and I think I am just a couple rows away from the armhole bind off — once I get that far it’s like the home stretch to finishing either a front or back.   My other CF KAL sweater – I haven’t made much more progress on the front after starting over once because the original cables weren’t really showing up so changed the stitch pattern.  I’m not sure I’m totally in love with what I switched to instead but need to knit a bit more to see for sure.  That has been put aside to work on my Loopy Academy projects.

I was also busy with quilt designs the last two weeks or so.  Quilt Market is approaching so the folks at Hoffman California Fabrics are busy getting ready and that means I was busy with a quilt design for them.   I won’t show you the actual full design and the new fabric line it’s for yet but I really love how it looked (of course I’m biased).  It’s for a gorgeous Asian/Oriental themed fabric line and it got me to thinking about my stack of fabrics of that style.  So despite the fact that I was super busy I decided I’d treat myself to a break –  cutting out patches for this quilt.  The actual quilt pattern I did for Hoffman has some applique in it – I opted not to do any of the applique in the quicky version of it I’m making  but may need to make a second one later from the actual fabric line with the applique on it since the applique really does make the quilt and show off the fabrics well in the design.

Anyway – in searching through my stash I knew I had some larger pieces in shades of blue that I had been given as gifts by a dear friend.  She knows I like the fabrics with a bit of gold glint in them and these are so pretty.  She also had given me  a panel piece that has been waiting in the stash for just the right project — and it fit in perfectly with this.

Check out the Koi and Pagoda blocks – those I fussy cut form the panel and was able to get two of each.

So here’s all the fabrics I pulled for this project from the stash — can’t wait to see how it looks with the framing and sashing pieces that get added.  It will definitely be a “plainer” version of the original quilt design without the applique but it’s a great use of those stash fabrics – I can’t believe I found enough  in blues and golds for it.

Okay time to get busy around here.  As for my plans alluded to for the Rainbow Reindeer Socks that Rock — stay tuned for my next blog post with my Socktoberfest plans…. yes… Socktoberfest is nearly here did you forget???……no my Socktoberfest plans for this year are not as crazy as past Socktoberfest challenges I’ve had….. so you may want to join in. 🙂

Two Day Say on Pieced Quilt Block Patterns

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Loopy Academy Cowl done

My Loopy Academy Slipstream cowl is finished.  This yarn is so pretty.

 There’s four difference stitches used in this cowl and I love them all.  In the second photo you may be able to see the dark brown beads in the center of the mock cable stitches.  This is a great pattern to use a variegated yarn – all the different stitches really keep it interesting but I’m thinking about making a very plain one with some pretty beads too.

Today, while out running errands, I stopped at Wisconsin Craft Market which has really expanded their yarn selections and have many I like that I can’t get at the local yarn shops — that could be both a good thing and a bad thing that some of them are available without having to order on line. 🙂  I stopped in because I wanted some yarn to make a sweater for a friend’s little girl and I didn’t really have any yarn that could be tossed in the washer and dryer.  So I found this pretty little color – and it’s so soft.

and then I spied this and for some reason it was calling me – a bit of mohair, a bit of sparkle – but I see the pizza delivery guy headed round to my door so you’ll just have to wait to see what I’m going to make out of these. 😉

One mitten done….

  I love this pattern.  It fits perfectly.  Definitely need to make more of these — well at least one more anyway. 😉

 

My Loopy Academy Cowl is about half way done and is looking great but I’m too lazy to go take a photo.

Loopy Academy Mittens

Things are going much better now that I have the needles I wanted and found a pattern I like — despite the fact that there are cable stitches in it.  🙂

Actually, the cable area knits up quickly and it’s fun to see those ridges appear and merge.  I didn’t make my cuff as long as the pattern called for — I think it said to make it seven inches long, mine’s a couple of inches shorter — but the fit around my hand is absolutely perfect.