Another Sock

I have one more sock to add to the collection. A few weeks back I started Cable Rib Socks by Erica Alexander from Interweaves's Favorite Socks. I love having socks on the needles...the perfect little project to have while waiting in lines or offices. The problem was the sock started on my needles was less than perfect. The poor Basic Sock that was started as part of a neighborhood sock "class" was boring me to death. The pattern & the yarn...especially the yarn...was not making knitting a fun activity so I stopped knitting on the second sock. A shame really since I was past the heel, but a break was needed.

I'd recently wound a ball of Kathy's Scarlet Fleece It's Tubular x2 in the colorway persimmon & decided that another pair of socks was needed before the football season kicked off. Not sure the 2nd sock will be done by the time games kick off this weekend, but it'll be very close to being done.

FO Friday

What a productive week around here. I managed to finish up 2 count them 2 items that I have actually not had laying around forever...think Shaped Edge Sweater as my laying around waiting & waiting project. Anyway I got my Ruffled Edge Hokie scarf finished early in the week. I love this scarf...a new fav for sure. The yarn makes the scarf so soft and squishy it's sure to be the one I grab when it gets cold around here.

Thanks to Debbie at Mosaic for sharing the pattern. I just know I'll be using the pattern a ton for Christmas giving. It's super quick and so easy to knit up. A simple ruffle on the ends really help hold the scarf in place. What's not to like?

On to the details:
Pattern: personal pattern from Debbie at Mosaic

Yarn: Frog Tree Alpaca, Chunky weight, 100% alpaca, 100 yds, 100 grams...soft and so squishy
Needles: Addi Turbo, size 10 circular

Length: 65" long, 6" wide

Gauge: didn't matter, but the yarn knitted up to 4 sts/inch on size 10 needles

Onto the second finished item which pleases me greatly. I've been working on the Central Park Hoodie as part of the Mosaic Maniac CPH KAL which started back on July 12th. I worked ahead as I usually tend to do even thought I tried to hold back and work on my other sweater. The other sweater could not hold my attention long and wasn't as easy to knit so it's got left behind. Now the CPH is done. I'm happy with the end result...it fits which I must say is surprising. I must admit to being worried most of the way through that this wasn't going to fit. The back looked too tiny and the fronts looked like they were toddler sized. Anyway I perservered and seamed it together this week. I love it! Now I'm ready for the cool weather to get here.

I made few modifications to the pattern. I knitted the size 40 which I had tried on while at PJ back in June. That one fit well and hit the hips at a good spot so I didn't really change the length on the overall sweater. On the sleeves I only knitted 4" on the cuffs rather than the 5" in the pattern. I must say the the sleeves are plenty long if the cuff is down and fit perfectly when rolled back. Everyone commented about the sleeves being tight and they are right to a point. The fit is fine for my arms...I don't think I can wear more than one layer underneath, but then I tend to just wear a long sleeve tshit most of the time so it's not a problem. When I do this one again...and I will...I may move the whole sweather up a size to have a bigger looser fit to the whole thing.

I also did short rows at the shoulders on the back and fronts so I could do a three needle bind off for a more neat appearance. The short rows always sound so intimidating, but I find them easy and just look so much better than the stair step bind off. Another change was in the way I did the button band...picked up and knitted all in one piece from the right to the left side including the hood. I then knitted a 2 1/2" band rather than the 1" 1/2" called for in the pattern. Since I didn't want to add buttons anyway I figured the extra width would look better in the end. The only other "change' was the seaming for the hood ended up being more three needle bindoff...looks terrific!

Check out the seaming...it worked out very well for the most part. I had a bit of fudging going on around the sleeves, but most of the ugly part could be hidden in the pit area. I was surprised at how long the seaming took...mattress stitch for the whole project took over 4 hours. Not that I wasn't doing other stuff in between, but it was a time sucking thing to do. Rather than use the Lamb's Pride I used for the sweater to seam I used DMC Cotton Pearl in a chocolate brown which matched the sweater perfectly. So happy with that decision...no grabbing or sticking like the mohair would have done & it could be removed easily it if the seam didn't quite work without cussing. Perfection.

The details:
Pattern: Central Park Hoodie by Heather Lodinsky

Needles: Knit Picks Options, size 6 and 8 circulars, 36" & 48" cables

Yarn: Brown Sheep's Lamb's Pride Worsted in Cafe Au Lait, 85% wool/15% mohair, 190 yds/skein, 5 3/4 skeins used

Size Knitted: 40

Gauge: 17 sts/26 rows per 4 inches

Front view...notice I chose not to add buttons.

Side view with the hood up

Back on Track...for now

The cables are all fixed and back on track. I tried, really tried to fix the missed cables without frogging back. It just didn't work out too well for me. I started on the right side cable by dropping only the 6 stitches of the cable. I then reknit the section to include the cable...imagine that. I had big problem in how the stitches just looked too wonky along the edges...way too loosey goosey with no way to get the darn tension right. I tried to pick up the wayward loops and tighten each one as I worked back up, but I kept running into one that no matter what didn't want to follow the crowd.

The next thing to try was to drop off the whole section of 18 stitches that constituted the pattern to see if I could then get the stitches to sit better. It just didn't work well enough and was taking far to long. As I worked I had to drop off stitches repeatly to fix the tension along the edges as I worked back up the section. After an hour of mostly wasted effort I made the decision to frog the thing back. A much better solution and faster than what I was trying to do. Maybe next time I'll see the missed cable much quicker and the technigue will work with much less effort. I'd like to think I won't miss anymore cables, but who am I kidding...

Really Now...WTF

I mean really...how can I miss such a blatant error. Thankfully I did look at the progress as I laid it down tonight and what did I see? A skipped cable sequence on one of the sleeves a whole series back. How can I do that when I'm doing both sleeves at the same time in order to eliminate the stupid errors. Oh well I now need to figure out how I'm going to fix it. Maybe I'll try to take it back only at the cable area so I don't have to rip back 15+ rows. I'll have to sleep on it and decide in the morning. Shooot....

Follow-up Friday

The stuff I have currently on the needles:

1. Nicole Jacket*
2. Central Park Hoodie*
3. Herringbone Wrap*
4. Basic Socks*
5. Shaped Edge Sweater*
6. Cable Ribbed Socks
7. Ruffled Edge Hokie Scarf

*ravelry access required

Out of the above list believe it or not I have at least touched half of them...by touching I actually knitted a few stitches. This has been one of those unusual weeks in that I have not been working on home improvement stuff so you'd think I'd spend more time knitting, but really I was bored with most of the stuff on the needles. I guess bored isn't quite the right word...more uninterested. I wanted a bit of mindless knitting...no counting, no measuring, no anything and I had nothing on the needles that qualified until midweek when I took action.

What exactly I was after I wasn't too sure...looking at some yarn I had sitting on my desk it was decided. I had wound a couple of skeins of sock yarn a few weeks ago and just left them sitting out. At least one of these had sat long enough waiting for a pattern. After looking through my Favorite Socks book I decided on starting a pair of Cable Ribbed Socks using Scarlet Fleece's It's Tubular x2 in persimmon. So far I'm moving along pretty well and only have to "think" on row 4 for the cable...not too hard at all. The color is very fall like...oranges & browns and brings to my mind falling leaves & cool weather. We could use some cool air around here right now.

In fact the idea that fall is right around the corner led my mind to the upcoming football season. Of course that means I will need yet another Hokie scarf. The fact that I had 5 skeins of this fantastic Frog Tree Alpaca in the colorway Hokie popped into my head about the same time...can it get any better? That sealed the deal and I cast on for a Ruffled Edge scarf. A simple pattern that Debbie at Mosaic happily shared a few months back when I first laid eyes on her Ruffled Edge out of same Frog Tree Alpaca. At the time the shop was out of the Hokie colorway, thankfully that didn't last too long and I was able to get my hands on 5 skeins. The way I figured I could use 4 for the scarf and then the last one for a hat for my DH. He dissed the orange color...saying it "wasn't right" so now I get all 5 for myself. He'll get another hat out of Malabrigo or Ultra Alpaca in burgundy...who knew he was so particular about the orange.

So far this week I have knitted quite a few rounds on the sleeves for the CPH...doing both on the same circular so everything will be matchy matchy. I'm about halfway done with the sleeves. I have blocked the fronts and back to the skematic...looks good. I also finished off the shoulder joins by doing a three needle bindoff which looks pretty good as far as cables matching up.

Just couldn't bring myself to work on the Herringbone Wrap. The cast on of 350+ stitches just wasnlt going to happen this week...maybe next week will be a better time to do that one. The Nicole Jacket, Shaped Edge Sweater's one sleeve and the Basic sock are all sitting in my knitting bag and haven't been touched either...I'm bad oh well.

More Stash

Oops, I forgot to post pictures of the yarn I bought while at Purl Jam back in June. I really didn't go crazy...strange I know. I've more than made up for it these last couple of weeks though so don't worry that I'm running low on yarn anytime soon. So here's the stuff form Purl Jam...love the colors and have something in mind for each skein. I now just need to create enough time in the day to knit everything ASAP.

David Simpson of Green Dragon Yarns, a local Blacksburg dyer that Gina of Mosaic "discovered" just in time for Purl Jam had some very pretty choices in bright bold colors. I ended up choosing 'underwater' in a Kona Superwash Sport weight, 100% merino wool...a fairly good sized skein at 340 yards. I'll have more than enough for a pair of socks.

Classic Elite Alpaca Sox, 3 skeins of golds, blue-gray and green varigated yarn which is destined to become a Lace Ribbon scarf or wrap. Once again this is the yarn called for in the original pattern.

Farmhouse Yarns, Andy Merino II...colorway is Hokie and we all know I am a sucker for anything called "Hokie". I bought 3 skeins of the yarn...it did not last more than 24 hours in the Vendor room at PJ. I haven't decided yet what to do with the 600 yards...leaning towards a vest of some sort, but open to other ideas. Maybe I could 'steek' a vest...wouldn't that be cool?

Mountain Colors...Bearfoot in Moccasin Trail. Don't ya just love how Mountain Color's comes up with unusual names. So different and memorable...not sure how reds came to be called moccasin trail, but love it just the same. I need to look through my sock patterns and come up with something nice...love the feel & colors.

I do need to start my Christmas knitting pretty soon. This year I'm will not do the crazy thing I did last year and knit something for everyone. Not. Going. To. Happen. So I need to start getting myself organized and decide who is going to get a handknit. Maybe I should pull names out of a hat...

Stash Therapy

Sublime Cashmere Merino Silk Aran (30% off bag)...love this yarn. It's soft & squishy...holds cables well and I adore the color. Destined for a sweater and it's looking like Cassidy may be 'the one'.

Classic Elite Wool Bam Boo (50% off bag)...I'm really leaning towards the Wyvern Wrap...loved it when I first saw it last fall, but it it had been designed for kids. Now that's been corrected and Angela has a new designed based on the kiddos pattern!

Artyarns Beaded Cashmere (50 % off)...2 skeins. Can I just say OH. MY. GOODNESS. I have longed for these skeins for a very long time. Now that they are mine I am just overjoyed...I will knit a scarf for me. Did ya hear that? It's for Me!

Jade Sapphire's Mongolian Cashmere (50% off) in Cashoflouge...think Christmas for someone special. Now is there anyone who deserves a bit of cashmere around their neck? MMMMMMM..................

Rowan Cocoon (30% off)....will be used for Snezi found in Sensual Knits. Another Me project......

Jade Sapphire's Mongolian Cashmere (50 % off) in Wasabi...think Christmas present for another someone special. Whose left that I know deserves a bit of cashmere? MMMMMMM..................

Blue Heron Egyptian Mercerized Cotton...bought without any plan...just because it was 50%. I do love my Lace Ribbon Wrap knit out of the leaf colorway so it may be destined for something similar.