Sock FO's

I've been promising some of these for months.

DH's Weird Science Socks

 These are from Yarn Forward, in a yarn called "Aurora" from Angel Yarns.  When I bought it off their website, the yarn shown was in jewel shades; I was disappointed to find it was the above muted/muddy colours, but I left it too long to send it back.  Anyway, DH said it would be OK for a pair of socks for him, so I made these.   I still have to take a photo of the back pattern, which was not shown in the magazine and was not related to the pattern shown on the front of the legs.

Jacquard self-patterning socks

 Yarn:  Regia.
Colourway:  Jacquard
Needles:  2.5mm DPNs

I enjoyed doing these so much that I promptly knitted a pair of use-em-up socks to finish off the yarn.

Jacquard Use-em-up Socks

They're a little shorter than my usual socks and, unlike other Ues-em-ups don't have the patterned heel - I'd finished the first one and got half way down the second leg when I realised that I didn't have enough patterned yarn do do the heel and the toe so had to rip back the first sock to make a semi matching pair.

I just love the toes.

In the end, I had a metre left of the Regia.  The other yarn is Lisa Souza Sock! in Ecru.

Zig-Zag Socks

One pair for Eldest Sis for her birthday, last April:

Yarn:  Cherry Tree Hill DK
Colourway:  Cabin Fever
Needles:  3.25mm DPNs
Pattern:  Zig-Zag Socks by Jocelyn Sertich

And one pair for me.

Yarn:  Mirasole Chirapa
Colourway:  Spearmint

Here is a close-up of the pattern, which is based on multiples of six stitches and is easy to remember.

As I mentioned in this month's SitRep, my pair knitted up shorter than the pair for my sister.  Also, I don't know how her pair are wearing but I've worn mine twice and the soles are felting:

- Pam

That was the week that was

What a week! In just over seven days, I have:-

1. Saturday. Australia Day, 26th January. Belated celebration of Howard's birthday with drinks, a tour of Hampton Court Palace (conducted by a friend who is a Warder), and dinner. Here is Malcolm trying to wish Howard "Happy Birthday!" :o)
   
2. Sunday. Attended an Asian wedding fair with my friend, Rima. Saw some amazing clothes and beautiful dresses. Oh. My. God. The work that goes into an Asian wedding outfit! I'm not sure if they are an embroiderer's heaven (the beadwork!) or hell (each dress is a labour of love). Rima will make a stunning bride.
   
3. Monday. Celebrated DH's birthday on Monday 28th January. His presents: a pair of socks made to the Yarn Harlot's "Earl Grey Sock" pattern; and a promise of the New England Patriots fleece of his choosing (since there was a chance they might win Superbowl XLII, it was worth hanging on to see if they'd issue a commemorative sweater). So that DH wouldn't think the socks were a present, I finished grafting the toes and sewing in the ends on Monday morning. (Got up extra early.) Not sure about the toes - the pattern narrows to 18 stitches, which looks rather pointed particularly on the one at the top of the picture. The yarn is by Lana Grossa. Here is a shot of the detail:
4. Tuesday. Hosted "the guys" for dinner prior to us all attending a games convention, Conception 2008. Fed them a modified version of the "sweet and sour pork" recipe from the latest Weight Watchers magazine. (instead of pork, I used 250g of the turkey frozen from Christmas). Recipe to follow sometime soon - not only is it low in points, the portions are massive.
   
5. Wednesday. Went to work, leaving a house full of sleeping guests. They headed off to Conception around lunchtime. The plan was that I would do a day's work and join them on the South Coast around 8pm. Was meant to finish work at 4.30pm; actually left the office at 7pm, having clocked up over 3 hours overtime in 2 days (I could have done with staying late on Tuesday, but it wasn't possible with everyone coming over for dinner). Nearly 2 hours and 100 miles later, I pulled into the "holiday village" and tried to figure out which cabin was ours.
6. Thursday and Friday. Played 3 sessions of Cthulhu; 1 session of Cold Cities; knitted a PAIR of socks(!). This is me, Max-the-GM and the sock: Cooked one supper for 6 guys who could compete in the eating Olympics (my version of Pipi-An, a Filipino "peanut chicken" dish - again, recipe to follow sometime soon). Made a horseshoe for a friend's wedding on the Saturday. And here is a shot showing the horseshoe and ribbon.
7. Saturday. Drove home, then into London to attend my first Black Tie wedding in two decades. The church was lit by candle-light, the bride was beautiful, the dress was by Vera Wang, the band was Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra. DH looked as gorgeous as ever (did I tell you that the first time I saw him, he was wearing a dinner suit?) and we had a ball. Here is a shot of Kim and I in our party dresses. And the bride and groom.
8. Sunday. Attended the christening of the daughter of Saturday's bride and groom. Beautiful church (still filled with the flowers from the wedding), nice vicar. 300 metre walk to our host's home to toast the baby's good health.
9. Sunday night/Monday morning. Hosted a Superbowl Party. Just six of us (oh, and Rob-the-Giant's-fan in New Zealand, via text). This was the first year I have managed to stay awake right to the very end. And what an ending. DH was distraught as the New England Patriots lost in the final minute of the game. Amy, I was thinking of you. It was heart-breaking.
10. Monday. No work, thank God! The Superbowl finished around 3.30am. I have to drive to Site tomorrow, but today is my own. Woke up at 8.30, cooked breakfast for the survivors and settled down to blog.
    

- Pam

Knitting to show off

Here is the gaggle of socks I've knitted since our first Proms concert in mid-July. I've made completed 4 pairs now, all knitted on buses, the London Underground, train journeys and at concerts.


They're all made using leftovers from 100g balls of Opal self-patterning sock yarn, mixed with suitable contrasts. Do you recognise the ones on the right? They were the ones for which I couldn't find a suitable contrast yarn (from this post). Lisa Souza came to my rescue (thanks for the referral, Tama).

Yes, the second blue sock is missing - this was taken before the NFL match.

I've also completed the snowflake sweater. No, I can't model it. It's too small! Even though I based it on the largest size given in a 1942 Vogue pattern and double checked my gauge, it is tiny. The original had typical war-time styling (narrow sleeves, fitted waist), but had been revised for a 1980s publication "Knitting in Vogue", edited by Christina Probert. There was no mention of the massive amount of NEGATIVE ease I've encountered. I knitted the largest size (36 inches) based on bust measurement. Just as well I've lost 18.5 lb so far on Weight Watchers - I think I'll need to lose another 12 before this fits nicely and I doubt it'll ever do up properly over my bust.



I followed the Vogue pattern for the shaping. My modifications were the v-neckline, changing the bands, the snowflakes and the Swedish Stars on the shoulders. The whole design was inspired by the grey and white bands on this sock.


- Pam

Prom Socks

I mentioned my "Prom Socks" in an earlier post. They are the socks that I knit at the Prom concerts at the Royal Albert Hall.

It's all the Yarn Harlot's fault! If Stephanie hadn't filled my (virtual) ears with the joys of knitting socks and then gone on to show pictures of The Sock at concerts, I might never have considered knitting at the Proms.

To minimise disruption to other concert goers, I knit the socks on bamboo needles and avoid knitting in the very quiet bits.

Here are a couple of shots of the socks I knitted at last year's Prom concerts.


They're made from left-overs. I only had 35g of the paler blue, so combined it with some scraps. If you look carefully, you can see that the toes and half of one heel are knitted in black, whilst the bands are in navy.

Yes, those are my feet and tracksuit bottoms.

To finish, this is a photo of this year's Prom Sock knitting kit, showing the Opal self-patterning yarn I've mentioned previously.

- Pam

Babies!

No, not mine. :o)

Two friends of mine were expecting babies in May, so I got busy with the knitting needles last month. Both sets of parents wanted the sex of their babies to be a surprise, so choosing yarn was limited to white, cream, yellow or possibly green. We went visiting the parents yesterday, delivering the results of my endeavours.

Baby Zoe was born a couple of weeks early. She’s tiny, red haired like her mummy and the photos didn’t really show her off, so I’m omitting them. I made her this:-

It’s the Five Hour Baby Sweater in Plymouth’s Encore, colour Aqua, (I got the yarn mail-order from the Yarn Barn of Kansas. Many thanks to Melissa for her help choosing it). The colour is a bit more bluey-green in real life - I spent several hours praying she'd be a red head like her mum, or a boy, since it looked much more blue in the skein. It turned out to be an exact match for the blouse her mother was wearing yesterday. (Yay me!)

As Tama says, the sweater really does only take five hours, but I’d swear there is an error in the increases since I got to Row 26 and didn’t have enough stitches on my needles (I had 92 at the end of row 25 and not 103). I ended up throwing in a load of increases at the top of the sleeves so that I got to the correct number. Am I the only knitter who’s had this problem? Incidentally, I only used 75g of yarn and not the 120g required by the pattern.

Baby Bump hasn’t been born yet but will get to wear this:-





It’s my version of the Baby Kimono from Mason-Dixon Knitting (I put in buttons). The yarn is Rowan’s Cashmerino from my stash. Again, it only used 75g or so. I'm now praying that Bump is tiny, since it knitted up smaller than the Five Hour Baby Sweater.

- Pam