placeholder, sort of

Just letting folks know that I haven't closed up shop. I have WIPs but nothing finished, except for a pair of socks that were lost but now are found. :)

I'll work on taking pictures of that pair, as well as doing some finishing on other stuff. Until then, I'll leave a riddle:

Thirty white horses upon a red hill
Now they champ, now they chomp
Now they stand still.

What are we?

clown colors

I couldn't get rid of the desire to modify the heel on the Intuitive Shell sock pattern. So here is another go, using up some yarn that had been waiting for such a time as this. :)

This time, I did the heel completely separately and whipstitched it in when I got to that part of the foot, heading up towards the cuff. It wasn't quite what I had in my head, but it didn't do too badly.

I'll be doing this pattern again for the sake of the heel. ...The slight obsession with this pattern amuses me a bit. Happily, it is a fun pattern to work with. I do enjoy the variations that are possible. :D

bias work

I was stashbusting again, and here is the result. I did have to buy some more yarn to finish this up, which means it wasn't totally stashbusting, but my end result was less yarn in my closet than when I started. Which means the goal of managing the stash before it manages me, is a bit closer. :)




The blanket was worked on the bias, using Caron Brites, and my trust J hook. That hook is a great tool; I love it!

Simple color changes along the way, and some random color bits thrown in for good measure. It is a cheery lap blanket, and I hope it makes the recipient smile. I certainly enjoyed putting it together.

eleanora of toledo

I started this project in January, and finished it a couple of weeks ago. It was long going, but I enjoyed the journey. I'd do these again, but not immediately. :)

Here are the finished Eleanora stockings:

With the cuff turned up, full length.

On my foot, cuff turned down as will be worn regularly.

And for those curious about the foot detail, I offer the following shot:



One reason that it'll be a little bit before I do these again has to do with the sizing. The stockings fit, however I like my footwear to be just a tad more snug. So before I do them again, I'll have to do some math to drop the initial stitch count a bit and then have that decrease continue proportionately.

This pattern is not for the faint of heart, and I would suggest very strongly that you already have some knowledge of sock knitting/construction before starting. That being said, if you like what you are seeing, grab needles and yarn and do this thing; it is definitely worth it!

mental exercise

Ahh, the joys of stashbusting!

I had some lovely washable wool left over from a previous project that was calling out to be knit into some socks. So I gave in to the call.

This is the post washing picture. The socks are soft and squishy, and if they were an inch shorter in the foot, it would have been so much harder to send them to their intended recipient. :)

The neat thing about this pair of socks (generic formula) is the heel. It's an afterthought type of heel, but not from steeking through a tube. Instead, I marked where I wanted the heel to be and knit in a different piece of yarn. Then I continued down to the end and finished with the normal toe. Once that was done, I went back to the stitches and the extra piece of yarn, pulled that yarn out and did another toe for the heel.

It's different, but I like it. I'll have to try it again, most definitely. :)

unexpected

To follow up on the last post here, I used the pattern Intuitive Shell Socks to make the socks for the Sock-CAL at the 'Ville. I used the yarn I got from The Loopy Ewe (wonderful, beautiful yarn!), and the hook suggested by the author of the pattern.


I modified the amount of sc's before beginning the motif stitch so I could start it earlier, and all was going well until I hit the heel. It's an afterthought-type heel where you put the heel in after completing the rest of the sock, and it gave me absolute fits. So after a couple hours of messing around, I found a solution that worked.

I made the heel using the same stitch pattern as the foot, but I decreased in the round to make the heel cup. It worked, but was really messy, so I plan on using it again to see if I can make it more logical, or... intuitive. :)

The Sock-CAL was a blast, and I enjoyed the conversation during the process. Once again, a big hurrah for the organizers at the 'Ville. You ladies are the best!

bit o' yummy-ness

I got sucked into a Sock-Crochet-A-Long over at the 'Ville, sponsored by The Loopy Ewe.

Here's the yarn I chose:

Isn't it beautiful? It's Schoppel Wolle, and the color is "Cranberries." The reds are so deep and rich! I'm very excited to be using it for the first time and to be crochet-ing socks with it. :D