Crankin' Out Socks

The last two Saturdays I've gone to sock machine get togethers. That means that I've been crankin' out socks! A small group of us get together about once a month to keep ourselves going on the sock machine. Funny how when you don't have some accountability you "just never get around" to using your machine. I hadn't actually touched it since way before Christmas! I made 2 pairs of socks at our small group get together a week and a half ago and one of them was for a commission. Woo, hoo, I got paid to make a pair of socks. My friend bought the yarn and then I made them on the machine for her. The yarn is Tye dye socks and it just happened that it matched like that. The other pair is from a cone of brown sheep sock yarn that I got last summer.


Then last Saturday we had the St. Cloud sock machine get together that Deb organizes. Deb showed us how to make cording or i-cord on the machine. Basically you remove all but 3-5 needles and crank it around and around with the yarn in the heel spring. I made a little coaster with my cord. I can think of lots of uses for this, but the drawback is that it's time consuming to sew the cord together. Then I put all the needles back in and made another pair of socks. Many of the people that come to this event are new sock machine knitters and Deb and Pete are always busy helping everyone.



























The machine that I used in St. Cloud is a new one to me. I bought it last fall from an ad on the sock machine list and I'm very happy with it. Both of my machines are 1922 Gearharts so the parts should be interchangeable - as much as antique parts are. This means that I can have one of my machines set up with a 72 slot cylinder for fine sock yarn and the new one set up with a 60 slot cylinder for heavier yarn. The machine made some fine looking socks! These are made with yarn that I dyed with easter egg dye. I haven't mastered the ribber yet so all my socks are made with hems. But I like them that way. The few times I've used the ribber it seemed just as fiddly as when I've made hem top socks. And yes - they do stay up without ribbing!

That Hat

I've been knitting away here. It seems to be the craft of the month for me. But I signed up for a weaving class that starts next week and I'm hoping they get another student so that the class will happen. I've had my floor loom for many years now and it's time that I put it into use. It's been taking up space for long enough. I took a weaving class a long long time ago - maybe 20 years ago - and I can't remember much from it. Any way, if the class goes, then weaving will have to take over from knitting for a time because it's an intensive class.

I've started several projects and finished a hat. I'm teaching a class called "knit along with Ann" at Double Ewe and we're all making the Rambling Rows Afghan (ravelry link) a Cottage Creations pattern. I didn't look at the finished sizes before starting mine in the size large and so I'm going to end up with an afghan that will fit the top of our bed! My first clue should have been the large quantities of yarn required but I was on a mission to bust some stash and didn't think about it. I even had to buy more yarn than what I had because I'm making it in acrylic so it's washable and I just didn't have as much of it as I thought. I gave away a lot of it over the years. This one better get finished, otherwise I'll have actually added to the acrylic stash! I've also started a super secret project. It's something I'm test knitting and all I can tell you is that I'm really enjoying knitting it. And I'm making it blue.

But I can show you the hat that I made.


I've been getting a lot of use out of it with our waaaay below zero temperatures this week. The yarn is Ivy and it's alpaca and merino so the hat is very warm and it has just a little bit of glitter. Kelly designed it and the pattern is free at the shop or online. It's the kind of hat that stays on your head but doesn't mash your hair down. Perfect. And it was fun to knit besides.

Let's Talk About UFO's

Or also known as unfinished objects. Actually I’d rather not but ever since I mentioned the possibility of me working my pile of them down, the Compadre has been cackling with glee! He’s been trying to interpret my rash statements in his own way for his own purposes. He of course doesn’t see any reason to start another project when you haven’t finished the one you are working on. He just doesn’t understand at all. So let it be known that I have been getting things done – you’ve seen that in my previous posts and also let it be known that since that last rash statement everything that I’ve started I’ve finished. And I’ve resurrected a very old sweater project and am making progress on it. But I reserve the right to make my own rules. That means that when I’m working on a big, long term project, I can start something else – a girl has to stay sane you know. I made a list of as many UFO’s as I could remember (and I have kept running across more since then) and the number is awesome. And some of them are unfinished quilts!!

So, here are some more knits that I finished for Christmas. I actually made three of these Bulky Cable scarves. They are so cool – you can tuck one end through the “hole” that’s made by the cable crossing and then the scarf stays on. And made with bulky alpaca and merino yarn they are so warm. I hope the nieces like them and that they keep them warm on the cold treks between classes. This pattern is one that I got with a kit that I bought from Bella Lana, a yarn store that was demonstrating at the Knitter’s Guild. I don’t know if the pattern is available elsewhere but it’s just an easy braided cable done with bulky yarn on size 17 needles. Fun and fast. Oh, and the third of these scarves – it’s mine and it's done.

The Third Knit of Christmas

Well, Christmas is long past now and so I need to get busy and show you the rest of the knitting I did. This project was requested many months ago and in fact I originally intended to give it to Peter for his birthday last fall. That didn’t happen and so it moved to urgent Christmas knitting since a winter ski hat needs to be used for the ski season! Peter chose the colors and the pattern and so he knew about the project but didn’t see the finished result until Christmas – that was why I didn’t want to blog about it. I knew that Peter reads this blog.

This was my first successful project with stranded knitting. The St. Moritz Hat made with Brown Sheep Nature Spun sport weight yarn. The hat is made from a Dale of Norway pattern and let’s just say that there are not a lot of words to explain what to do (it is in English though). I think that the main reason that I procrastinated so much was that I was intimidated by the idea of doing colorwork. I shouldn’t have been. I had a lot of fun knitting this hat and learning the new technique of two handed color work knitting. I used the video at Philosopher’s wool to learn the technique and the gracious help of Mary (knittingchemist on ravelry). I did catch the floats every other stitch on most rows – exept for the pesky 3 color row – so that there aren’t many long floats to catch on things. Once I got the method down I had lots of fun – but I noticed that my tension is a little wonky in places. I got better as I went and the wonky tension did even out with blocking. I hope you don’t mind Peter that you basically got a beginner project with this hat! My sister reports that he is enjoying wearing it on their ski vacation.

I’m looking forward to making more projects that involve stranded knitting. Maybe not a sweater quite yet but mittens are looking good.

The Second Knit of Christmas

This is the second Tulip sweater that I’ve made and I’m sure it’s not the last. I love this pattern as do many, many, others. Ravelry has 678 listed and it’s in 584 queues. And that’s only the ones listed on ravelry. I enjoyed knitting it both times because of the ever changing colors and its amazing cuteness. It’s also very easy to knit which is a big plus. I’m not against knitting challenging things but I love mindless knitting too. I bought a kit for this one at Yarnover – the big knitting extravaganza that the Minnesota Knitting Guild puts on every spring. The kit came from a yarn shop that I’ve never been to – The Coldwater Collaborative in Excelsior MN. So I used the yarn that the pattern called for in this one – Dream in Color Classy. The yarn comes in huge hanks and the pattern uses many colors so it would be very expensive to make this sweater if it wasn’t for the availability of a kit. My previous one was made with a substitute yarn but still – I had to buy 8 skeins and didn’t use all of any of them so it would be an expensive sweater too. But I will use the rest of those 8 skeins and reverse the order of the colors and make another tulip. Hmmm, maybe with a purchase of one more skein I could make the next size (size 2) for Abigail. I told you I like making this sweater. This one is size 12-18 months and I made one small modification. I used the rest of the blue yarn to add length to the sleeve – the instructions said to just continue on in the purple. I thought that would look strange. I wish that the kit had had more blue because I would have added length to the body of it with blue if I had had some. When I make the size 2 I’ll definitely be adding length in the body.

We took pictures of Abigail wearing this sweater at the last minute before they left for the airport. She was distracted and not very cooperative. I was feeding her cheerios one at a time to keep her happy. What is it about little ones and cheerios? Abigail sure loves them.