Socks, Dishcloths, and Blankets, Oh My!

It’s been a while since I’ve written about it, but I have been knitting!! There’s proof in pictures!

I started the Hedera sock from Knitty, which was supposed to be for Mom for Christmas (I thought it a good idea to get started early). I was worried that it was a little too small since it was my first time using US size 1 DPNs. Turns out it kind of was (my calves are bigger than my mom’s, but I think it still would have been small on her, even though they technically “fit” due to the stretch of the lace). But that, unfortunately, was not the biggest problem I had with that sock, as evidenced here:

My brand-new Lantern Moon DPNs broke! TWO of them! One of them broke when I leaned over my knitting bag in the airport on the way to Puerto Rico (bad timing, huh?), and the other one broke on my second-to-last day in Puerto Rico when I tried the sock on. The first time no stitches dropped, but the second time I lost about 5 or 6. Since I don’t know how to pick up lace when stitches are dropped, I just frogged it. I was kind of angry about the needles breaking ($20 down the drain!) and my gauge being all wrong, so I quit hedera and decided to start these for mom:

They’re Breeze socks, also from Knitty… the newest issue, no less. I’ve actually finished the first sock, a couple of weeks ago, but I had to take a break from the second sock because I couldn’t take it on vacation to Myrtle Beach for fear Mom would see them. I’ll show finished pictures when the second one is done.

Never fear that I’m only knitting socks! Look:

I got Mason-Dixon Knitting from the library and started my first ball-band dishcloth with some Peaches ‘n Cream.

Here’s the first finished one. And the start of the second:

The second happens to be the inverse of the first.

They were quick knits and I’ve finished both. They’re for Kim for a wedding present. She gets married August 10th.

Pattern: Ballband Dishcloth from MDK and the ballband (hence the name) on PnC

Yarn: Peaches ‘n Cream in white and shades of green (I think)

Needles: Size 7 KnitPicks circular

Time to knit: Started and finished the one with MC green on July 9, 2007 (I think) and started the one with MC white July 10, 2007 and finished July 11, 2007

Places knitted: My apartment

And for the end of the pictures of works in progress…

I started the Log Cabin Blanket featured in MDK. It’s not perfect because I’m not great at picking up stitches, which is essential in this type of knitting, but it looks pretty good.

I’m knitting it up in Caron Simply Soft in a variety of colors. I’m going to do the warm/cool contrast on each side, with all these colors:

It should be a really nice blanket when I’m finished! And, should we get pregnant any time soon, I’ll make it a little smaller and it’ll be our baby’s first blanket

Non-pictured (at the current time) items I’m knitting include some toe-up socks (my first!) in Trekking XXL and Monkey socks in Lorna’s Laces, as well as another dishcloth for myself.

One Down, Lots To Go

I finished the Saturday Market Bag! This is perfect timing as I was hoping to use it at the beach for my family vacation at the end of July, but then Paul and I decided to go to Puerto Rico next week, so I wanted it for that, too. I also leave Friday for Portland for Paul’s brother’s wedding, and I think this bag will be nice to stuff my smaller bags into to make my one “personal item.” That way I can cheat and take more stuff

Anyway, this project went well. It was pretty simple, except the seaming threw me for a loop at first. I’ve never seamed anything before, so having lace be my first seaming project was a bit of a challenge. I ended up using a whipstitch-type deal to do it. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than I was expecting!

Here’s a picture of the bag all finished:

And here it is with four rather large books in it, to show it’s stretching capabilities. I’m very pleased with it’s stretchiness!

Pattern: Saturday Market Bag with this variation

Yarn: Lily’s Sugar ‘n Cream, color Rose, 100% cotton, worsted weight, less than one skein, and something like $4

Needles: Boye aluminum, size 15 (10mm) straights and KnitPicks Options, size 10 (6mm)

Time to knit: Started June 13, 2007 and finished June 27, 2007

Places knitted: It was all done from the comfort of my apartment!I’ve also been working on my second pair of socks. I’m using Knitty’s Hedera pattern and the Cherry Tree Hill turquoise yarn I just got. I really like them so far. They’re for Mom for Christmas. This is the first sock, and I’ve done the whole cuff and a little bit of the heel flap. It’s going well so far and will be a great project to take to Portland and Puerto Rico, especially since I’ve heard there have been problems with taking metal needles through airport security, and the only non-metal ones I have are DPNs!

Finally, I cast on yesterday for the Peppermint Twist sweater from the first Stitch ‘n Bitch book. I’m using KnitPicks Shine Sport and I’ve got about an inch of ribbing done, so there’s a lot more to go!! This will be my first sweater so I’m excited. It’ll probably take forever though!

Hopefully I’ll finish those socks over my vacation and make some progress on the sweater when I’m home!