Since I have all this extra time now, I started knitting. Two projects! The first of course is new socks. After finishing the pink spiraly socks for my girl, I was itching to start something new. I literally feel anxious when I don't have a knitting project, and I can't just watch tv. It makes me feel like I'm wasting my life. So I reached way back into the yarn stash and found this beautiful Claudia's hand painted sock yarn. This is my "evening knitting" project.
I started out by making Roza's socks from IK Spring 07, but I'm a knit-tard when it comes to brioche stitch. (I can't slip purlwise in a way that creates a brioche.) So after I followed that pattern for the ribbing I was left with my imagination. I really liked making the spiral boot socks from IK Summer 07, so I came up with a variation on that pattern. When I made the spiral socks, I wanted each sock spiral to spin in opposite directions. I figured out how to reverse the pattern by basically just doing everything backwards, and instead of doing K2tog's, I did SSK's. So for these socks, I do 5 repeats of the spiral pattern in one direction, and 5 in the other, which creates the zigzag. Fun! Here they are "in the field":
I also (accidentally) invented a new, ruffly cast on. I usually cast on twice as many stitches as I need, then *K2* the entire first round for a stretchy edge. I always knit on my stitches when I cast on, but this time, I did the cable cast on, which resulted in a cute little ruffle. I love accidental inventions!The other project, the "morning knitting" is in the very beginning stage:
This is a little t-shirt from Knitting Lingerie Style. I think it is SO cute - the kind of shirt that makes you feel cute the moment you have it on. I love working the lace. The books explains the stitch patterns in both words & charts - 5 yelp stars right there! The specified yarn is Cascade Sierra which I could not find around here (and I went to 2 stores), so I'm substituting Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece. I usually try to avoid knitting with cotton, for all the reasons we know, so I'm glad the Cotton Fleece has 20% wool in it. Also, it is very affordable, a big plus for me right now. I'll try to post some progress on this one. Unfortunately for me, the pattern comes in finished sizes 33-1/2, 38 and larger, but not in "35" but luckily my swatch came out a little smaller than gauge, so I should be lucky.Well, it's time to move on to my other coping skill (besides blogging) - baking. Cherry pie for dinner! YUM!
