The Hockey Count Begins!

This is what I do, honestly pretty much year round, but more intensely September through March. I take Chandler to hockey. Practice, games, lessons. It fills a lot of time. A lot of time in the car talking, a lot of time watching, a lot of time at the rink waiting.

It's a great time to knit, and much like I kept a tally for "The Summer of Socks", I'm going to keep a tally for hockey 09-10.
First finished project is Spring Forward Socks by Linda Welch. I made these with Pagewood Farm Yukon in the colorway Crayon. I basically liked working with it, but I did have to be careful that I didn't split the yarn. The finished socks are very soft and I think that I will ultimately really enjoy wearing them.
I have cast on two new projects. The first is the Amanda Hat by Gina House. I made one of these for my favorite neighbor kidlet with Manos Del Uraguay last year for her birthday, but there was "an incident" involving the washer and dryer and well....... it now doesn't even fit her American Girl doll. This time I decided to use Dream in Color Classy in Pansy Golightly which is a nice superwash merino. Hopefully this will avoid any laundry disasters :-) I am using a smaller gauge so am making adjustments to the pattern to accommodate that. I'll share the modifications when I finish and know what worked.
I also cast on The Purple Rose of Loopy by Wendy Johnson. This was the consolation kit for those who did not get into The Loopy Ewe Sock Club 2009. The yarn in the kit is Handmaiden Casbah in the exclusive colorway W(h)ine with Roses. This is the first time I've used Casbah and I'm IN LOVE. I'll definitely be adding more of this to my stash :-) The reason that this moved to the top of my queue is that one of the choices for the Sock Knitters Anonymous Group on Ravelry this month was any pattern by Wendy. Perfect. I just need to finish the pair by October 31 to be eligible for prize drawings, but the real prize will be to have another pair of socks complete by Oct 31:-)

What are you working on now?

I'm Dorothy Gale from Kansas

The Woolgirl Oz Sock Club for July was Dorothy. This is most of the fun that came in the kit. Bookmark,stickers, magnets, luggage tag, a pen, a wonderful reversible project bag by Sheila D which I don't have a good picture of,
Dashing Dachs sport yarn, a Dorothy stitch marker by WeeOnes, and a pattern by Bethany Whitney.
This was a great pattern in that it fit the theme fabulously! The body of the sock is a basket weave check that so reminds me of Dorothy's gingham check dress. And the sock has a single cable that runs down the outside of the sock which reminds me of Dorothy's signature braids.
Check out my sock model :-) I gave him the choice of modeling or taking the picture.
He wanted to model and thinks that the sock is pretty comfy!
I may have to make him his own pair of socks!

Woolgirl Sale!

Woolgirl had a sale recently and they had a great discount on Miss Babs Sport! I may have bought a few :-) And a few other fiber goodies as well. Clockwise from top left is Miss Babs Fingering in colorways Denim, which I have been coveting for a long time, and A Day at Powell's which makes me think of the Twilight book covers. Next is Miss Babs Sport in Lilac, Rose Garden, and Merlot. And the last skein is Hazel Knits Artisan sock in Chuckanut Drive. Love this one! It's such a fun color and I have a pair of Monkey's planned for it. Even my husband thinks "it will knit up beautifully" hehe. Of course he immediately followed that with "I can't believe I just said that" :-) Rose Garden is destined to be a pair of Cotty Socks. No real plans for the rest of the yarn, just lots of fun!

Happy Birthday Grammy Pete!

I have a wonderful mother-in-law and she celebrated her 77th birthday this week. She is an incredible quilter and I am lucky enough to have a home filled with beautiful quilts made by her. So for her birthday I decided to make her a pair of socks. She loves them! The pattern is Summer Lovin Socks by Knittingnonstop. I used Hazel Knits Artisan Sock Yarn in Cabbage Rose. It was the first time I have used it and it won't be the last! It's a great yarn!

Happy Birthday Mother! I hope you enjoy the socks and wear them often :-)

Summer of Socks Ends

The Summer of Socks 2009 officially came to an end September 1st at 10pm. I'm pretty pleased with what I got accomplished. I have 3 completed pairs of socks.......

Four single socks...............

And 3 more socks started. Two of these started socks are second socks, so I will have 2 more pairs completed before long.

I had set some goals at the beginning of the summer and I had mixed results. I had hoped to keep up with my sock clubs. Well, that was a fail, although I do have the yarn wound for the 2 that arrived at the end of July. I had wanted to start working my way through Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Sock Knitters book. Well, I've looked at it several times, but that's it. I wanted to make a pair of socks from the toe up. Didn't happen, although I do have the Loopy Ewe Consolation Kit which is a toe up design by Wendy Johnson, and the September SKA Challenge is any pattern by Wendy Johnson. That will definitely be going on the needles sometime in September. I also wanted to try some sock yarns that were new for me. This I did have success with! I tried Claudia Handpainted, Zen String Lotus Toes, Pagewood Farms Yukon, and Hazel Knits Artisan Sock. That was fun and I will definitely keep trying new yarns this fall!

Now the question is.... do I keep knitting just socks for a while or is it time to give a shawl a try? Or pick up one of the sweaters that have been resting over the summer?

Summer Lovin

I have a new love in my life and her name is Hazel! Hazel Knits actually. I had bought a couple skeins of the Artisan Sock Yarn a while ago and I've been wanting to give it a try. I cast on the Summer Lovin Sock by knittingnonstop this weekend using the Cabbage Rose color and WOW do I love this yarn. It has a great feel to it and it makes a beautiful fabric. It's sturdiness and twist remind me of Socks That Rock, but Hazel Knits has some nylon in it as well. I wonder if the nylon actually makes a difference in how the yarn wears?

I also tried a new cast on. Turtlegirl76 mentioned on her blog last week that she had used a super stretchy cast on for some knucks that she learned in a cast on class at Sock Summit. It is the Twisted German Cast On. I found this handy video tutorial on You Tube and decided to try it myself. LOVE. IT. It is in fact super stretchy and it is very uniform and sturdy in it's appearance as well.
See what I mean???
Give it a try. I think you'll love it too!

Give me an A!

These socks get an A all the way around! I started them in April and finished them in August!

Pattern: Hedgerow Socks by Jane Cochran
Yarn: Socks That Rock lightweight
Color: Tanzanite
Needle: Addi turbo 1 (2.5mm) magic looped
Mods: I changed the toe to a wedge toe

Edited to Add: Oops! I intended this post to go on the Sock a Month blog! But I'm glad to share them here too!