Plain Vanilla

Lots of "vanilla" sock-knitting going on here the past couple of months.













left to right:
Koigu PPPM (merino)
Cherry Tree Hill Supersock (merino superwash) "Blueberry Hill"
Fly Super Sport Monarch (merino superwash) "Petrol"














left to right:
Apple Laine Apple Pie (50% wool, 20% mohair, 20% silk, 10% nylon) "Godiva"
Regia Bamboo Color (45% bamboo, 40% superwash wool, 15% polyamid) "1069"
Knit Picks Main Line (75% pima cotton, 25% merino) "Dusty Lavender"

The top three have been worn and washed numerous times, hence their slightly fuzzy appearnace; the bottom three are new and unworn. The Main Line sock is much heavier than the others, but I thought a very thick sock would be good for wearing in my boots. I ran out of yarn (one ball per sock, and one 50g ball is only 82 yards) before I could get the top ribbing done, so I just grabbed a little ball of left-over sock wool to finish the top.

I knit all my socks on two Addi Turbos, size 2mm. The pattern is You're Putting Me On, which I've rewritten very slightly to change it from dpns to circular needles.

Turkenstein

Isn't she a beauty? Her mom is a Turken, her dad is an Ameraucana. She has the long bald neck of her mom and the cheek puffs of her dad. She hatched last summer, so should get serious about laying this spring.

'Lana of the Lake

Allana the llama/alpaca mix strolls through the seasonal "lake" at the bottom of the llama field. We are enjoying some gorgeous weather right now in the Fraser Valley.

Snow Day

yet another sock photo

... or at least the top of it. I lifted the stitch pattern from Grumperina's Shifting Sands scarf. Sock #1 is finished, just have to get #2 done (i.e. started).

White on White

Vita thinks Traveler makes a fine pillow.

New Sock

Latest sock-on-the-needles is this half-mock rib, half-skinny cables sock. Wool is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Periwinkle. Needles: Addi Turbos 2mm. Much as I love my Addis, pointier needles would be welcome for working these tiny cables.

Sock shaping is borrowed from
You're Putting Me On. The stitch pattern on the foot is a slip stitch, the same one I use for the heel flap. The cabled bit is a three-stitch wide ribbed cable, worked by dropping the first stitch off the left needle, picking up the next two on the right needle as if to work a K2tog, then quickly scooping up the dropped stitch with the left needle before it disappears in one long horrifying ladder (this is where a pointier needle would come in handy). The two stitches on the right needle are then transferred back to the left needle and the three stitches worked as they present themselves, K1, P1, K1. (I'm sure I just "unvented" a stitch pattern that's in half a dozen books. )


Here's the view out my kitchen window today.

Entrelac

Lorna's Laces Lion & Lamb "Somerset" on 5mm needles, front and back views. I don't care for how this looks at all, so I took the photos for posterity, then ripped it out. I need to find a stitch pattern for this yarn that doesn't make it look like candy stripes.

Traveler

Here he is, keeping my chair warm for me.

Felted Clogs

Pre-felting:









Post-felting:









Pattern: Fiber Trends Felted Clogs
Wool: 100purewool merino, two strands held together

I used about 1.5 hanks of the main colour and almost an entire hank for the soles. This is a fun pattern to knit, and fast too. I knit each slipper in an evening.

One Mitten Done, One to Go

I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. I worked some short-rows on the palm, thinking they would improve the fit, but I don't think they make any difference, so I doubt I'll bother with them on Mitten #2. These two photos show the colour quite accurately, lovely Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport "Tahoe".

New Project

Fingerless mittens, knit in Lorna's Laces Sport "Tahoe". Pattern, such as it is, is my own. Sixty stitches for the arm/wrist part, then a few increases at the base of the thumb. I'll do a little tube for around the thumb and finish low on the fingers with a few rows of garter stitch to match the cast-on edge.

One of these Socks is not like the Other....

Can you spot the difference? I realized I'd reversed the SSK's with the K2tog's more than halfway through sock #2. I was not in the mood to start over, so these are my unique blue socks.

Stash Enhancement

Lovely new sock wool arrived in the mail today. This is Fly Super Sport Monarch 3-ply in the Petrol and Rainier colourways. On my monitor, the Rainier isn't as saturated as it is "live". What appears light blue here is actually bright turquoise, and the purple doesn't show up at all in this photo. The Petrol reproduced accurately though. It's 100% superwash merino. Mmmmmm.

New Additions

New chicks hatched a couple days ago. The one with the bald neck is supposed to be that way, as he/she is half Turken, which is the "naked neck" chicken breed. The Muscovy duck hatched them, but she is proving to be a poor mom, so I've taken them away from her and have them brooding in a big box in the garage.







Vita says, "Mmmm, something sounds tasty, er, ahem, I mean cute and cuddly."

Oh Boy!

The excitement never ends around here. Yet another new sock.




Charis says, "What the ....???"







The sock interacts with Charis. Kindly disregard the pasty white leg attached to the sock. The owner of the leg wishes to inform all viewers that the leg is actually a deep and sultry shade of tan in real life.

Frosty wishes to inform viewers that in real life he is a large and manly dog of herculean proportions, and not the shrimp-like creature he appears in this photo.

Sock #2 is going to be tricky. This sock's shaping is based on Knitty's Widdershins, but I added a bunch of short rows before the heel flap shaping and used a different number of stitches to accommodate the simple stitch pattern I substituted. And I did something different on the gusset decreases too....

Falling Leaves have left the building

Pattern: Knitty's Falling Leaves
Wool: Koigu PPPM, 2 skeins
Needles: Addi 2mm circular (2)
Modifications: 3x2 rib
The usual disclaimer about them looking much better in person, yadda yadda, etc.

I sent them to live with Bridget, as they fit her feet a lot better then mine. My next socks will fit ME!

Model: Bridget Photographer: Bridget

les poulets

Here's what the chickens look like today. The young grey pullet is becoming very beautiful, the turken is still the homeliest bird on the planet, and the newest chicks have started to grow tails.

Koigu Falling Leaves: Done?

I'm not feeling the love....

After getting off to a great start with the magic cast on, I had a hell of a time with the short-row heel. I ripped it out three times, and I'm still not happy with how it turned out on one side (the side not photographed), but I don't think the wool can take another trip to the frog pond. I tried kind of a ruffly (super stretchy) cast-off, and I'm not very happy with it either! So I think I will rip it back to before the ribbing, do another repeat of the lace pattern, then rib again and finish with a flatter bind-off. Then we'll see about Sock No. 2....

Exciting Sock Update

Frogged. It was too skinny to fit over my foot or my mother's narrower foot.



Reborn. Knitty's Falling Leaves. It's going great. Maybe I'm starting to feel just a little love for the sock...