PB & J

I love the name of these socks.  For many years in elementary school I would only take PB&J sandwiches.  My mother said I was adamant about nothing else.  Probably had a lot to do with the amazing array of homemade jam that I had to choose from to put on those sandwiches.   I even received the book Bread and Jam for Frances as a gift one year.
I remember it well, as we owned very few books, using the Public Library instead.  I still have a fond affection for that particular sandwich, so was tickled when this pattern came as a club selection with this name.  The color of the yarn is gorgeous also, very reminiscent of a berry jam.

I finally finished these socks on our little trip.  They have been washed, and are being reserved for me, as nobody else would give the proper acknowledgement of how much time went into them each time that they were put on.  They did take quite awhile to finish.  I ended up making the small size, for my 9 1/2 sized foot, which is really crazy.  The test knitter must have been an extremely tight knitter.  Her gauge does not match that of any of the other socks in the CookieA books.  I had no interest in trying all of these cables on size 0 needles, and bending them in the process.

Pattern: PB & J
Pattern Source: CookieA sock club, April 2011 pattern
Yarn: Lorna’s Laces Sock Yarn; new type with Outlast, custom color
Needles: US 1 dpn’s
Date Started: 4/3/11
Date Finished: 5/26/11
Finished Dimensions: Directions for the small size, ended up being a Large

T he color is much more accurate in this photo, also shows the meandering cables along the side of the sock.

Now, off to the Farmer’s Market to get some Rhubarb, Raspberries and Strawberries.  It is jam making weekend.

Spinning and Knitting

Still working on my second PB&J sock from the CookieA sock club.  The pattern has 2 different columns of twisted rib stitches that travel down the leg and cross over each other.  One side, the Jelly side I assume, with squiggles, looks the same on both socks.  The angled traveling stitch pattern, the peanut butter, looks very different form one sock to the other.  I started with the left sock first (got all my papers mixed up).  And am now on the right sock, which most people started with first.  I understand the desire to mirror image these socks, but it just does not work with the angled pattern.  There is a very different effect with the twisted stitch traveling to the right versus the left.

The sock on the right was my first sock (the left foot according to the pattern), and I am working on the opposite foot (left in the photo below).  The curvy pattern looks fine from both, but the angled pattern is very different.  I showed it to my knitting group last night, and the comment was that they do not even look like the same stitch.  I prefer the left hand photo, others liked the right.  Hard to tell from the photos in the pattern if the test knitter had the same issues.  Clearly much more stitch definition in the sock on the left.

On the spinning front, I finished plying and washing my 3ply Louet yarn.  I am not real pleased with the pastel colors, they got very washed out and muted.  I got 400 yards of a 3 ply out of 8 oz. of pencil roving.

No Deadbud any more

Over 10 years ago, we planted a Redbud in our front yard.  I love the beautiful pink flowers that run the length of each branch in the spring.  I was so excited the next year, waiting to see all of those gorgeous blossoms.  Only leaves the first year, a couple of buds the second (and by that I literally mean 2 or 3 clusters).  By the 4th year I was very frustrated, called arborists and tree clinics. My husband joked that they thought we said “deadbud” not Redbud when we bought the tree, and we not-so-affectionately called it the Deadbud tree.  I was told that the tree probably had some fungus known to the Redbud, break off a branch and you will see dark circles inside. Nope.  Finally, I think that I got the correct answer.  The tree was planted in an area where the stump of a huge cottonwood tree had been.  We had removed the stump (the tree’s demise predated our arrival), and waited a couple of years before planting a tree. Mushrooms would pop up in the area every spring.  I do believe the correct call was that the acidity of the soil was preventing the tree from blooming.  Mushrooms have faded away, and each year there were a few more blossoms.  This year, it was finally the whole tree in bloom.  I was elated.

And I finally finished the first of my PB&J socks.  The pattern was tedious, but I finally got in the groove, and I think that the second sock will go much better. I ended up making the size Small, which is crazy since I wear a 9 1/2 shoe.  The test knitter had to be one of the tightest knitters around.  I could have gone down to size 0 needles, but I did not really want to do that, and I still would have made only the size Medium.  I think that this pattern would be difficult to execute for a tiny foot.  I love the way it turned out, except for the K2tog every 6th row.  It has a lumpy jog that I am not happy with.  The mirror SSK decrease is quite smooth.   The yarn has Outlast in it, a phase change material which is supposed to help both cooling and warming your foot.  But it is 90 degrees today, so I don’t think even that would help me to want a pair of socks on my feet. On to the mate:

Socks for Dan

I received this yarn from my first installment of the CookieA sock club.  It is String Theory sock yarn.

I wasn’t wowed by the colors, but set about knitting up the pattern included.  The yarn is incredibly soft, and I love the subtle color changes.  This is a mix of greens and browns (although some of the photos of others from the sock club have a more blue-green hue to them).   While I was working on the first sock, before I had determined the calf length, my husband commented to me on what beautiful colors those were.  Now mind you, he is extremely supportive of my fiber addiction, goes to yarn shops and festivals with me, and encourages me in all my knitting and spinning pursuits, but he usually gives no comment about colors or yarns.  So, problem of my not loving the color solved!  I asked him if he would wear the socks with the cable panel down the front, and he enthusiastically answered yes.  So, I extended the calf length a bit and made the Haleakala without the traveling rib.  The yarn is knitting up incredibly soft, most likely due to the cashmere content.  There are occasional small slubs on the yarn, but they are easily pulled off.  I am almost finished with the second sock on which I reversed the center cable here to the back, not noticeable by most.  I am waiting for the next club shipment to arrive (I have already peaked at the spoilers, and am very excited about those socks), and should have these complete in time.  Perhaps tomorrow.

Manning surprised me at SnB on Monday with this beautiful roving, aptly called “Lady of the Lake” that she got while at a sheep farm in Wisconsin.  I can’t remember the sheep breed, help Manning?  Love the colors, and I will get back to spinning shortly.

Spider socks

I finished these spider socks a couple of days ago.  I am not sure if I am keeping them for myself, or giving them away.  I made them with Malabrigo sock yarn, color Leaf.  I really like this yarn, it has great colors, is the fine gauge that I love, and knits up beautifully.

I really like the gusset increases at the bottom of the foot.  I am, however, still not a fan of the toe-up sock.  I find it much more difficult to calculate the desired foot length, and even when done, it never seems to be exactly right.  The only advantage that I see is that you can knit the leg of the sock until you run out of yarn.  Hope you can make out the gussets between the photo above, and this one:

It was really hard to photograph these myself.  This is why I need sock blockers (or a foot mannequin)!  I should have put them on my Christmas list:

Libby on the Label

Remember the song from the 70′s for Libby’s canned food.  “If it says Libby, Libby, Libby on the label, label, label, then you will like it, like it, like it, on your table, table, table.” That is one of those advertising limericks that always seems to be buzzing around in my head (and not all are welcome, I just can’t figure out how to delete them).  So, when I met a real Libby a few years ago, it was front and foremost.   Libby is needing to take better care of herself these days, so I made her a pair of socks, naturally.  I started by doing a cable down the sides with straight ribbing, and that quickly became mundane.  So, I made cables that cross over and around each other and travel across the front of the sock.  My first “pattern”, and I am calling them Libby on the Label. I need to figure out how I can write these up these on a program.  I found one online that would have worked, but was a bit cumbersome to use.  Does anyone know of a good knitwear design program for a Mac?

Here are the socks, knitted with Panda Wool by Crystal Palace Yarns.  (46% bamboo – 43% wool – 11% nylon), it is a very soft yarn.  And of course, that tune kept playing over and over in my head as I knit these for her.:

Gardener Socks

My Gardener Socks are coming along nicely.  I am almost finished with the first sock.  The vine pattern at the front did not seem to “pop” as much as the one in the photo, but looks okay, and better when on a foot.

And I like the way that the gussets are increased at the bottom of the foot.  My major complaint about toe-up socks though is that you can never really measure your foot accurately, especially when doing a gussets.  Look at the V increase in the foot, I probably should have started it 4-6 rows earlier, but they will still fit.

And the spider at the back is turning out nicely:

The spider motif is from one of Barbara Walkers’s Treasure of Knitting Patterns book.  I used the same spider many years ago on a sweater that I knit, which was designed by my 12-year-old son.  What pre-teenager wouldn’t like spiders on their sweater.

And I am still trying to find leg mannequins, hand mannequins and a torso so that I can better photograph my projects.  In the meantime, I remembered some antique shoemakers molds that I had in the basement and used that for my sock photography.

Old unwanted sweater

What do you do with an old, but perfectly good sweater that nobody wants any more?  I made this for my daughter when she was about 12 to wear when she was practicing figure skating.  It has a slit bottom so that she could do jumps and not be constricted.  She has been cleaning out her closet and brought this up to me.  I am reluctant to just give it to the local resale shop.  Hard to see that good work go to waste, but I do not want to store this sweater.  I think that I have much improved in my kntting abilities, and this is not one I would hold onto for a long time.  I had washed it and blocked it a few months ago, and thought if I blocked it bigger she would wear it.  No such luck.

It has pretty cables at the top and bottom, and is a nice heathery 100% wool sweater.  Any suggestions?

Harmony guides

Years ago, I purchased 2 of the original Harmony guide books.  I am not sure why I did not purchase them all, as they are a great reference.  Might have been because I already had all of the Barbara Walker books, and thought it might be overkill.  I seem to have gotten over my fear of having too many knitting books.

These are the 2 that I purchased, and used the Aran one the most:

The other knitting volumes in the series were:

• Knitting Techniques, Volume 1
• 450 Knitting Stitches, volume 2
• 440 More Knitting Stitches, Volume 3

So, when Interweave Press was having their big sale, I chose to purchase all of the new volumes in knitting that I could get:

And the following “deck of cards” with stitch patterns that you can carry around individually:

Now, when I compare the new Cables & Arans book to the older Harmony Guides, I must admit that I am preferring the older version.  In that one, the Aran patterns are grouped by the number of repeats in a pattern, making it much easier to group them together in a project, and have all of the repeats finished.  The new book seems to have less total cables and Arans than the 2 older versions that I have.  Also, although the knitted samples are bigger in the new book, the patterns are still small, and they are not as crisp and black as the originals.  I found sticky markers identifying the pages that I used to knit my husband an Aran cable panel sweater many years ago.  This is the sweater that I designed for him, using the Harmony Guides:

This is one of my favorite sweaters that I have made, and I designed it myself.  I love the intricate cabling on this, and it would have been much more difficult without the cables being grouped into repeat row numbers.

The other books look like a fine reference, but make me wonder if I should not have purchased more of the original.

Don’t break the rhythm

I started the Cables Sweater by Vivian Hoxbro in the Fall of 2008.  I thought that I would knit it up quickly, but set it aside last winter with only the back collar and one sleeve to go.  That was a mistake.  The pattern is very well thought out and designed, but I got out of the rhythm of the knitting, and found myself rereading and studying the pattern for what seemed like hours.  Probably didn’t help that each time I tried to pick it up was in the evening with a glass of wine.  I have knit the collar twice now to get it perfectly balanced, and think that I am back in the groove of understanding this pattern.  Here is where I am at:

And Ella was trying to help me photograph:

We went to the PING! fundraiser last night, and the music was from all over the world.  Very fun.  My baby sweater sold, not for as much as I would have liked, but to the Treasurer of the organization who has worked on this board for years, and cleaned up my bookkeeping nightmare that I gave her.  She has 2 new grand-babies, so I hope to see a photo in a couple of years of them wearing it.