Category: knitting

It only took me six months to finish the neutral pair of socks for myself, compared with a year for the pair before that. Such speed! Now, of course, it is far too hot to wear socks but they’ll be ready for me in the fall.

I was also able speed through the stripy sock below mine (thanks, chunky sock yarn). It’s another Sock For Doc’s Pop–it was his birthday this past weekend so I was able to get one sock done but he’ll have to wait a bit for the other one. (He hopefully said, “Father’s Day?” when I told him and I was all, “I’m probably not THAT fast, my good sir.”)

I’ve been knitting away on a Cline sweater since about January, but since it’s black and is knit in pieces I haven’t been taking a lot of pictures. Here’s way back when I was doing a gauge swatch:

Remember how when I was planning my last cardigan that I announced I hated seaming and would only knit sleeveless, top-down sweaters I could try on as I went? Yeah, this isn’t that.

But I really want this sweater. Every version on Instagram looks so cool–and I was really swayed by Karen Templer’s version, especially since she always has so many good construction notes.

Historically, I haven’t gotten a good finish on a seamed sweater, but everyone raves about this pattern’s instructions (and so far, so good). I’m also about 10 years older and wiser than the last time I tired a seamed sweater, so maybe I can follow instructions a little better, too.

 

 

When you mostly knit socks for other people, it can take a while to finish your own. Case in point: This pair, last seen in progress nearly a year ago:

Yarn was Opal brand, Sweet & Spicy 3 – Safran color and it was just your usual 64-stitch sock pattern. It was also a total accident that I got the stripes to match up on the feet (one leg got a leeetle bit longer than the other).

After I finished these and realized I don’t have a lot of pink and purple in my everyday wardrobe, I thought, “What if I made a neutral pair of socks to wear with ankle boots or even clogs?”

So I started some:

Yarn is Madeleine Tosh Sock in Modern Fair Isle; pattern is the Impossible Girl Socks by Madeleine Gannon, just to add some interest to all the neutrality.

Check in again in about a year and I should have these finished!

I did!

I got these done Monday with a week to spare for Christmas. I had to think of Farmer Boy, where Mother is trying to get socks done for everyone going off to “The Academy”:

“In the evenings Mother’s knitting-needles flashed and clicked. She knitted so fast that the needles got hot from rubbing together.”

(Full disclosure, I’m not that fast a knitter. But if you read enough Laura Ingalls Wilder growing up, you’re going to have a quote for nearly every occasion in your head.)

 

I’m making the traditional Socks for Doc’s Pop again for Christmas, but this year I added a pair for his brother. Because if you joke just once while you see me knitting about “is your pair next” and “how many pairs does Pop have and you don’t have any” well GUESS WHAT: you too get socks.

I finished the blue pair for Doc’s Pop (in some discontinued Regia Active)  in October and have made good progress on the gray pair for Brother (in plain old Pattons Sock from JoAnn, which is surprisingly nice). But I realized this morning that I have 19 days until the gift exchange and about 15 inches of sock still to knit. Time to get cracking!

I finished the latest Socks for Doc’s Pop this last week, two months later than his actual birthday. I don’t even have a good reason for the delay–looking back, I guess I spent July trying to keep the heat from wrecking the yard and also worrying about being in charge of the HOA? (Note to Past Self: Knitting would have helped with both of those anxieties.)

Anyway, they are done and he likes them. This is a thicker yarn, the Regia Active 6-Ply that I used in his first pair. He reports they’re the warmest so I found some more on eBay (it’s discontinued) and added stripes to make all the balls last longer. I used this Purl Soho pattern for a reference–I’m almost getting to the point where I don’t need to consult sock patterns, but not quite.

I finished a cardigan and it fits and it isn’t ugly! This is big news.

I gave up knitting sweaters for myself back in 2013 because they always fit weird or they were too itchy. (The last one I knit was also so ugly I was just demoralized.) But after the election I wanted acres of mindless knitting and I wanted a big cozy cardigan, so I approached this strategically: I hate seaming, so one piece it was; if it was a cardigan, I wouldn’t have to deal with itchiness; and it if was a big old oversized blanket, I could worry less about the fit.

I picked the Iba pattern and Brooklyn Tweed “Shelter” yarn and, as discussed before, they’re a good match. I really love how light and warm and wooly and soft this is–it’s almost like wearing a little creature.

I do have to fix the sleeves though. I guess I got carried away and made them about four inches too long, but that’s an easy fix. Plus it’ll give me a chance to keep working with that yarn

I mentioned I was making a big blanket cardigan back in December, but I never put up a picture because it’s looked like a gray blob since then. But now, the gray blob has sleeves!

It needs another 12 inches of the body and then a good blocking and shaping, but I like how it’s turning out. Granted, it’s not hard to get the fit right on a giant oversized cardigan, but I did have to rip back the yoke and get the armhole depth right (back in… January? It’s all blending together).

The wool is a delight to work with–Brooklyn Tweed Shelter, in “Narwhal” (aww).  I didn’t jump on the BT bandwagon for a long time, thinking the yarn was too coarse and rustic. Surprisingly, it knits up into a really beautiful, soft, light fabric, so you can get a giant seamless cardigan out of it with not a lot of weight or dragging.

I’m going to make it as long as I can until my yarn runs out. I don’t think I’ll have to resort to colorblocking, but I’m kind of intrigued….