Step Stripe Socks

If you're a sock knitter and you haven't tried Austermann Step Sock Yarn yet, you're missing out! It is not only wonderful to knit with, it's GREAT to wear. One ball of yarn makes a pair. I knit these with 2 x 2 rib, size 0 dpns, with 72 stitches, resulting in a firm and tight fabric that will wear well.

To make an identical pair out of one ball, I wound the ball into a "cake" with my ball winder. Then I put the "cake" onto a scale, noted the weight and figured what half would be, pulled out the piece of yarn coming from the center of the "cake" and started winding again. When the "cake" remaining on the scale was half of the original weight, I stopped winding and cut the yarn. Then I pulled out the center yarn from each "cake" and laid them out until I had found the matching pattern repeat. I only had to waste a little of the yarn and I had plenty to make the socks (I wear a women's size 9 shoe). I even have a little left over. Some people don't care if their socks match, but I can't seem to get away from the "matching" and "symetrical" syndrome, so therefore, all my socks match.

Did I say that these wash well, also? They do! I wash all my socks by hand in the sink with a little bit of shampoo. Rinse in clear water, gently squeeze in a towel and lay out to dry. It only takes a minute and the socks come out great!

Springtime in Paris

I think this is going to be one of my very favorite pairs of socks! I've held on to this yarn in my stash for a long time, waiting for the right pattern. It's Claudia's Handpainted Sock Yarn, a yummy 100% wool. The pattern for this sock actually calls for it to be knit from the toe up and then turned inside out when completed, as the pattern makes little "Eifel Towers". However, I prefer to knit from the top down and wear the sock right side out. Since I am knitting from the top down, I reversed the order of the stitch pattern and I love the way it looks, like raindrops falling down the socks. Thanks Six Sox KAL for the great patterns you share.

Chain Link Socks

I waited so long to start these socks (December/January project from the Six Sock KAL), that I'm still trying to finish them, even though the new project has started. I fiddled with several different yarn combinations until I finally hit it - Lorna's Laces in "Jeans" and Jawoll Superwash Wool in "Cornflower Blue". Using size 0 dpns and a stitch count of 72, I'm getting a nice firm, tight fabric that should hold up well. Love them!

My First Shortrow Socks

I was determined to learn to do shortrow heels and toes on socks.
After seeing someone recommend the book, Simple Socks
Plain and Fancy, by Priscilla A. Gibson-Roberts, I decided
to order it from Amazon and patiently waited for it to arrive.
I pulled this yarn, Austerman Step, from my stash and went for it.

It's really not hard, and I'm pretty pleased with how my first
pair of socks came out. I'll definitely try this again! By the way,
in case you haven't used this yarn yet - it's really kind on the hands
as it has Jojoba and Aloe in the yarn. They washed up nicely and
dried quickly - however, it's about 80 degrees right now here in
Southern California. When will I get to wear my socks????

Candy Corn Dishcloth

I love these handmade 100% cotton dishcloths. This one is particularly sturdy and has a great feel - besides being fun!

We are given 10 rows each day for 5 or 6 days until the dishcloth is done. After we changed to the orange on this one, I pretty much had it figured out. However, . . . we're not allowed to make a public guess to the rest of the group in the Monthly Dishcloth KAL (see my sidebar) until the last day's rows have been given.

Fancy Washcloth

I was able to keep up with the day by day instructions on this washcloth, so when the last day's instructions came out - all that was necessary was a short knitting session, and I was done! This was the mid-month September washcloth for the monthly dishcloth group I belong to (see the Monthly Discloth KAL button) on my sidebar under Knit - a longs. I changed the pattern only in that I did a seed stitch border rather than a garter stitch border. This cloth took most of a ball of Peaches and Creme, on size 7 needles. It's almost too pretty to use, but I'm a very practical person, so most likely will be using it!

They're Done!

They're done - they're finally done!  My Maple Leaf Socks are done!!!  With an anticipated trip to Durango, Colorado, for Thanksgiving, I just had to make myself finish these socks.  It will be quite chilly, I'm sure, in Durango at Thanksgiving, these socks scream "Thanksgiving Holiday" to me, so there you go . . . .  The first time I will wear them in on Thanksgiving Day as we prepare and have Thanksgiving Dinner with our daughter and son-in-law.  By the way, she has NEVER prepared Thanksgiving Dinner before, so it should be fun helping and teaching her the ins and outs of a traditional Thanksgiving meal preparation.  I only wish that our other daughter and her family could be there, but due to scheduling, etc., they can't.  Perhaps another time.  We have tickets to ride the steam train the day after Thanksgiving - can hardly wait! 

These socks were knit with Lorna's Laces in the colorway called Glenwood.  The pattern was written by Jeanie Townsend who makes her patterns available to the Townsend Sock Yahoo Group members.  See my side bar for a link to the group. 

Snake Skin Socks Progress

I almost didn't do this sock - the KAL pattern for August and September for the Six Socks KAL (see button on side bar for more information). Then after I saw some of the progress photos on the group site, that inspired me to search through my stash until I foundt this yarn - a beautiful colorway from Koigu - shades of brown, a bright peach, purple and lavendar, and olive green. Now these are probably going to be my favorite socks so far!!! I learned from this that I shouldn't rule out a pattern until I've at least given it a try with a swatch or something. I ordered some plain brown from Koigu for the heel and toe of the socks to give a little contrast and interest and make sure that I had enough yarn. Also, since the yarn is100% wool, I am adding brown "Wooly Nylon" to the heel and toe to give it reinforcement. These are going to be warm and very comfortable socks for this winter! Many thanks to the group designer for this beautiful pattern!

Washcloth Collection

I promised I would photograph my first attempts at washcloths and here they are . . . The round peach and cream one is the first one I made. Almost too pretty to use! I've used the multi colored one and the blue/green/white one, but just made the starfish cloth last night. I'm going crazy with ideas for these - color combinations, etc. Although I enjoy knitting other things like socks, socks, socks, felted bags and more, these are such fun as one can be finished in a single evening and "wala" you've got a FO!

Washcloths, washcloths, washcloths . . .

I've been bitten by the handknitted washcloth bug. OUCH! So far I've done 3 of them - two I have kept for myself to see how they wash, wear, etc., and one I've sent to my daughter who just moved to Colorado. For the next year anyway, she won't have a dishwasher - so she'll need lots of dishcloths. I've been remiss in not posting pictures of completed cloths, but will do some soon! Promise . . . .

Mauve Ruffle Bag

This bag turned out so much cuter than I thought it would! The color in this picture is not exactly true - it's a bit more mauve than this, more like the unfelted version a couple of posts below. However, I'm extremely happy with how it felted - really fast and really thick and firm. When it came out of the washer - both DH and I said, "it smells like a dead animal in here!" I've never had anything I felted smell like that before. The woman I purchased the hand spun yarn from didn't know what all was in it as she won the fiber at a fair and spun it up. Could have been anything, I guess! But magically, when it was dry, the smell was gone! The pattern is called "Romantic Ruffles" by Kate Lemmers and you can get it free off the internet from here.

Maple Leaf Sock Progress

I never thought I'd like this sock as much as I do! For the first time I'm knitting two at the same time on separate sets of size 0 dpns so that when I'm finished, I'm finished! I altered the pattern just slightly and added 10 rows of 4 x 2 rib between the maple leaf motifs and will add another few rows at the bottom of the second set of maple leafs to snug the leg of the sock a little. Yarn of choice is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in the colorway Glenwood. Sock pattern was designed by Jeanie Thompson and is available by joining her Thompson Sock KAL - see button on my sidebar. 150 of us all over the world signed up to start this pattern on July 1st and it's really fun to see how different the socks look with the different yarn and needle choices. Thank you, Jeanie, for another wonderful pattern!