Waving Lace at Dusk

I realize that I was absent from blogging for weeks on end, and then in the span of two days I posted my completed Thelonious socks and now the Waving Lace socks, but it's only because I want to get another "credit" for SAM4.

Pattern: Waving Lace by Evelyn A. Clark
Source: Favorite Socks
Yarn: Knit Picks Risata in Dusk
Needles: Knit Picks 24" circular size 1.5 US (2.5 mm)

This is the first pattern I've knit from Favorite Socks, and I am more than pleased with the pattern. There's two options for the cuff, either a basic rib, or the designers scalloped edge. I obviously chose the later and I'm very pleased with the result. The waving lace pattern is comprised of 8 stitches over 20 rows, but it's very easy to memorize.

I ordered the Risata yarn the first week it was introduced by Knit Picks. I'm such a sucker for "new" yarn. The jury's still out on whether I like it or not though. It's not super squishy, or super soft, but I'm sure the nylon content will help these wear a lot better than my squishy soft socks too. I absolutely adore the color and this was a pleasant surprise because in my opinion, I've never been a huge fan of the Knit Picks colorways. After seeing their fall yarn lines though, I think they may have figured it out.

I lucked out and caught the Loopy Ewe sneak-up on Wednesday, so I was able to acquire a few new items for my stash, but you'll have to wait until they arrive for the details. I also decided to hop on over to Amazon.com and pick up Cat's latest book, New Pathways for Sock Knitters. I blame this purchase solely on the influence of Judy's blog posts taunting me with the fabulous-ness of the book.

I'm halfway through the Twisted Flower socks and I must admit that if you cannot devote full concentration to this pattern, do not purchase it. I'll go into more details why when I post the finished socks, but I will say this ... I love them!

My mystery stole is completely finished and a blog post will come soon regarding that. Thanks to everyone who submitted suggestions for what cardi to knit with my new Skye Tweed yarn. For now, I've purchased the ChicKnits Ariann pattern and will be swatching soon to see if it will work. I think my biggest problem is I didn't purchase enough skeins to knit most of the patterns I wanted, but I have been eyeing Ariann for awhile now, so maybe it was meant to be.

Have any of you signed up for the Secret of the Stole KAL? I loved the Mystery Stole KAL, but am unsure of signing up for a secret stole KAL when I've not seen any previous stole designs from the designer. What do you think?

The-what-ius?

Does anyone have any idea why Cookie named this sock pattern Thelonious? Does it have something to do with Thelonious Monk?


Pattern: Thelonious by Cookie A.
Pattern Source: www.cookiea.com
Yarn: Louet Gems Pearl in Sage
Needles: Knit Picks 24" circular size 1.5 US (2.5 mm)

Thelonious is one of the patterns I purchased when I took the sock design class from Cookie in July and it's one of the few patterns I didn't convert from cuff down to toe up. I figured I'd knit a pattern as written (for once) mainly because she designed them cuff down and I wanted to knit it as she designed it.

I made a few errors and had to tink back here and there, but overall, things went smoothly. The yarn was wonderful to work with, and I'm glad I chose a solid colorway yarn so that it shows off all the details of Cookie's design. I would definitely recommend this pattern to anyone who loves knitting socks, but be forewarned, you need to be able to knit from a chart.

These socks are being mailed to mom for her birthday, although I must admit, I'm almost a week late in sending them to her. I'm sure she'll forgive me though since her gift to me was a few weeks late also.

I've already cast on for the next Cookie pattern, Twisted Flower, and it's taking my full attention, although I'm starting to itch to make something other than socks.

In yarn collecting news (because I can't not), I picked up 13 skeins of this Classic Elite Skye Tweed for a future cardigan for myself. I'm not sure what pattern to use, so I'm wondering ... does anyone have any recommendations?

I rock, but you rock more!

I just saw the most surprising and amazing thing! Lara at Yarn It nominated me for a Rockin' Girl Blogger award. I'm completely in awe that she did this for me (since my blog only seems to "rock" once in awhile), but I'll accept the honor anyway. I know I'm supposed to nominate others for this award as well, but honestly, I just can't narrow down the list of awesome bloggers that I frequently read. I also know that quite a few of you have already received this amazing award.

I know it's been almost a month since my birthday came and kicked me in the arse, and I'm yet to share with you some of my birthday treasures and since they are knitting-type related, I thought you might be interested.

First, my sister in Pittsburgh has only ever acknowledged my birthday with a card, but this year, I received a gift certificate to The Loopy Ewe. I chose to spend my money on something I would have forever, so I selected the sterling silver Eternity shawl pin from Designs by Romi. Although I only have my Clapotis shawl to use it with, since I'm still working on the Mystery Stole, hopefully this pin will work well with it.



Second, my baby sister at Bits and Pieces gave me a gift certificate to Amazon.com, so I picked up a couple of books from my wish list. Favorite Socks from Interweave Knits has been on my list since before it even released. I've already knit the Embossed Leaves Socks before and loved them, so next up I think is the Waving Lace Socks by Evelyn A. Clark.

And, since my sister is a crocheter that I taught to knit, I chose the Teach Yourself Visually Crocheting book so she can claim she taught a knitter to crochet. It counts. I've already started with a few practice swatches in this orange cotton yarn and the book has great step-by-step photo guides for everything. There are 14 chapters of over 273 pages of information regarding everything you ever wanted to know about crochet, so I'm giving this book a huge thumbs up!

In other news, I've been meeting with contractors and handymen the last few weeks for some desperately needed work on my home. Hopefully most of the work will be completed by the end of the month and hopefully I may even have some money left over for food when it's complete!

I'm off to Salem, OR for a few days, so I'll try to catch up with emails & blog reading and all of that when I get back, since I've decided to make it a computer-free getaway. Until then, I leave you with photo evidence of what happens at a family party when my dear husband feels it necessary to harass our son-in-law.

Feathery Socks

Yes, it's another sporadic blog post, but I wanted to get these posted this month to show that I *did* knit something in July.


Pattern: Feather and Fan by Judith Sumner
Source: Socks, Socks, Socks
Yarn: Regia Silk 6-ply; color 0005
Needles: Knit Picks 24" circulars size 2.50mm (1 1/2US)

Modifications: I knit these from the toe-up (like that's a surprise to anyone who knows me) using Judy's magic cast-on because really, there's nothing better. I also omitted the "purl one round and knit one round" section right before you start the heel. My personal opinion is that the sock looks better without it.

I was very surprised at what an easy pattern this is, but the sock looks very intricate and difficult. It's a 16-stitch repeat over 4 rows, so it is easily memorized and it was a very quick knit. I liked the yarn, I loved the pattern and even though I love handpainted yarn, I'm glad I chose a solid color to really bring out the beauty of the pattern.

I know I mentioned a few posts ago that I was going to rewrite the Monkey pattern toe-up, but I ran across this little gem awhile back and thought I'd share it with you all. Momma Monkey has developed a conversion tutorial for how to convert a sock from top-down to toe-up, and she has also designed 3 Harry Potter Soctopia patterns (Nagini, Fawkes, and Bellatrix) that you can download for free! Now if you want to convert a pattern, you can refer to Momma Monkey's guide!