FO-a-day, Day 2: Margarita Socks
Quite possibly the fastest socks I've ever knit!
The stripes didn't line up very well on the second sock, it seems that the repeat was a little shorter on the second sock than on the first so the stripes aren't the same. This is most visible around the heel, you can see in this picture that there is a lot of purple around the ankle of the right sock but not as much on the left sock. I'm ok with this, though, socks do not have to be perfect in my world!
If you want to knit these socks, here's what I did:
- Knit toe-up socks with fingering weight yarn, with whatever stitch count you want, then after turning the heel knit 6 rows while increasing/decreasing to a stitch count of 66.
- Pattern row: * K2tog 2 times, (YO, K1) 3 times, YO, K2tog 2 times, repeat from * 10 times more.
- Knit 3 rows. Repeat last 4 rows until socks are desired length. Make sure to bind off on what would have been a knit row, not on the pattern row.
That's it! So simple I couldn't justify working it up into a "pattern".
By the way, this yarn goes FOREVER. I have tons left over, easily enough to make knee-highs. I am kind of shocked at how much is left over! And as Dave pointed out in a comment last time I talked about these socks, Twisted Fibers now sells their yarn from their own website, www.twistedfiberart.com -- I think I need to get some more!
Project specs:
Pattern: Toe up socks, figure 8 cast on and feather and fan legs
Yarn: Much less than 1 skein Twisted Fiber Arial in color Guardian
Needles: US size 1
Started: April 26, 2008
Finished: May 3, 2008
FO-a-day, Day 1: Ruffle Socks
I've been on a finishing binge over here! I have at least 4 FO's to show you, and with any luck there could be even more!
These socks are so silly, they make me smile every time I look at them! The color is so gorgeous, and of course they're made from KOIGU so I have to love them. It's in my contract. (JK, I love Koigu of my own volition. I certainly wouldn't mind a contract that paid me to love Koigu, though . . . )
If you want to add these ruffles to your own toe-up socks, here's what I did:
- Knit to about 1" short of where you want your socks to end, making sure you have about 3x as much yarn left as you would use to knit that inch in stockinette.
- Knit into the front & back of every stitch around. Knit one row plain. (you may need to add an extra DPN at this point since there will be so many stitches on the needle)
- Knit into the front & back of every stitch around. Knit one row plan.
- Bind off as follows: * BO 2, YO, bind off YO, repeat from * to end.
After you bind off you'll probably have to shape the ruffles by hand to make them look even. That's it!
Project specs:
Pattern: Toe up socks, figure 8 cast on and ruffle cuffs
Yarn: 2 skeins Koigu KPPPM color P221
Needles: US size 1
Started: February 14, 2008
Finished: May 2, 2008
FO: Gathered Pullover
I did it! I made myself weave in those ends even though I really can't see myself getting much wear out of this one now that spring is here. Mind you, I'm not complaining about Spring, don't get me wrong! I really am ridiculously excited for spring, actually. But my project timing kind of sucks, honestly.
I knit this sweater in about a week, sewed it up, and then got distracted. It took a month to make me weave in the ends and block it, but now it's done, and I love it!
Even though it looks pretty true to the original, I actually made lots of modifications on this one. Having seen many a Gathered Pullover on Ravelry (there are 363 of them in progress there as I type this), I had noticed an unfortunate side effect of that cable panel between the boobs: on several people's FOs, the panel fell too low between the girls, resulting in (for those of us who are well-endowed on top) was a general saggyness that clearly didn't reflect the person's body accurately. I, being an odd bra size and a total bra-freak because of it, knew there was no way I would wear a sweater that made it look like I forgot to put my bra on in the morning! So I had to address that problem before it cropped its ugly head.
I ended up starting the cable 1.5" higher than the pattern directs, which moved its center to about the height of the armholes. Which brought about an interesting challenge: the front was a good 4" narrower than the back at this point, because the cable pulls in A LOT. I, and I'm confident all women, am bigger in the front than the back (I happen to be significantly bigger in the front, actually). So I knew there was no way I would knit a sweater where the back was wider than the front. I ended up moving the armholes back, so that the front had 2" more stitches than the back, to make the width equal. This meant all kinds of changes had to happen to the armholes, so that the front armholes are shaped completely differently than the back ones.
Moving the cable up also meant I had to move the v-neck start up, which was fine with me. I also omitted that weird decrease/increase in the center of the cable because I knew I didn't want the sweater to pull tight over the girls (see, I told you I'm obsessed) and I couldn't see that it had any purpose whatsoever. In hindsight, I believe that row is meant to pull the cable pattern open more by distorting the neighboring stockinette . . . but I think you can see in the picture that the cable looks just fine without it.
I also changed the neckline decreases (had to since my v is shorter) and the neckline finishing. I tried to do the called-for edging but it looked dumb and made the v too shallow, so I went with one row of single crochet to finish the edge. Oh, I also added back neck shaping, although to be honest I didn't even read that part of the pattern since I knew I had to adapt it, so for all I know the pattern calls for it, too!
One modification I should have made but didn't was shortening the sleeves -- I can't explain why I didn't do it, since I knew they would be too long, but there you have it. They're too long. It's ok, I can roll them up like they are in the picture and it doesn't bother me one bit.
The yarn, Classic Elite Princess, is gorgeous by the way. It did grow a bit with blocking, so I would caution everyone to wash and block a swatch before they knit with it. I would absolutely knit with it again and am considering using it for a very big project I might take on after my wedding . . . and buying it from Webs makes it kind of a steal, so to me this is a win-win-win yarn. Soft, easy to knit, good stitch definition, amazing yardage, and not expensive! What's not to like?
I'm probably going to wear this sweater as a jacket this week, just so I can get some use out of it before summer hits! NYC springs are notoriously short, after all.
Project specs:
Pattern: Gathered Pullover from Winter 2007 Interweave Knits
Yarn: 7 skeins Classic Elite Princess, color 3403
Needles: US size 7
Started: March 24, 2008
Finished: April 27, 2008
FO: Watermelon Socks
I'm on a finishing kick over here! (not that you'd know it from my Ravelry page)
Last night I finished the second watermelon sock and I LOVE THEM! They're ridiculous and bright and happy, and therefore perfect socks.
The fit is a little off on these, I probably should have short rowed more on the heel to make it narrower and taller, and these do not have a gusset so they are quite tight across the heel. No matter though, I will certainly wear them! In fact, I'm wearing them to work today!
The bind off I'm also unsure of - I did a sewn bind off and while it looks great on and is stretchy enough, it looks strang OFF the foot and is kind of bothering me.
Project specs:
Pattern: Toe up socks, 60 sts around with short row heels
Yarn: Yarntini Strawberry Daquiri and Koigu P539 for heels
Needles: US size 1
Started: October 2, 2008
Finished: March 21, 2008 (actual knitting time: 10 days)
Up next in socks:
Vesper Sock yarn in Neopolitan! I'm starting these today!
FOs and resurrected projects
I did promise FOs upon my return from Dallas, and here's the first one! Forgive the awful picture, my sister does not like having her picture taken so I kind of stealthily sole this shot at dinner. . .
I knit this for my Adriana's birthday present, this is my 3rd Halfobi and I wouldn't be surprised if I make more of them in the future. It's so easy and quick, and it goes with everything!
This one used Koigu in color P432 held together with Karabella Lace Cashmere in color 88. Here's a much better shot of the true color:
Sis loved it and I'm sure she'll get tons of wear out of it!
I also finished something else . . . .
This is the big one, folks. I ended up using 10.5 skeins of yarn and I'm hoping it blocks out to 6 feet square (it might be a little less but that should be fine) . . . the blocking won't happen for a while, but I sure am relieved to know the chuppah will be done before July!!
As for the resurrected project, I wonder if anyone will recognize this:
That's right, I picked Katherine Hepburn back up and almost finished the 2nd sleeve. Amazing how much I got done, actually, makes me wonder why I let it sit for so long . . . oh yeah, cuz it got really BORING after not much time! Hopefully, since there's only one front and the rest of this sleeve to do, I'll manage to get this one off the WIP list in no time . . . we'll see.
I'm going to try to post more frequently again -- I haven't been feeling well lately and even though it hasn't affected my knitting output, it makes me want to zone out on the couch which doesn't lend itself to blogging . . . hopefully this will clear up and I'll be back to my old won't-shut-up self.
