Finished and Half-Finished

More knitting has been done! On Sunday, while trying to keep my mind off food because it was Fast Sunday, I finished a dishcloth I started for myself before vacation. Isn’t it pretty?

Pattern: Ballband Dishcloth from MDK and the ballband on PnC

Yarn: Peaches ‘n Cream in white and peppercorn ombre

Needles: Size 7 KnitPicks circular

Time to knit: Started sometime in mid-July… I forget exactly when, and finished August 5, 2007

Places knitted: My apartment and the beach and pool in Myrtle Beach

Here it is in action on my faucet!

Of course I’m knitting socks, too.

A finished Monkey sock! The other is being cast on as we speak.

They fit great and I love the pattern. I really love the square-ish toe on this sock, too.

Before handknit socks become socks, though, they begin as yarn. And this is how the second Monkey sock began:

Lorna’s Laces Spaghetti. No, that’s not the colorway… it’s what the yarn looks like in this picture! WHAT a pain to untangle. I told Paul he needs to make me a swift this weekend. He didn’t sound too enthused, but as evidenced by this, I really need one!

Even though this doesn’t look like I’ve made any progress, this is Lorna’s Laces Spaghetti in it’s untangled version. All ready to be wound on the ball winder.

And now it’s ready to make the second sock… finally! It was a 2.5 hour journey to get to this point!

And some eye candy:

I went shopping today! I bought two skeins of Cascade 220 for a hat for Dad for Christmas (and maybe Jimmy for his birthday), 9 skeins of Hempathy for the Hip in Hemp skirt from Knitty, and since I couldn’t resist, 2 skeins of Claudia Handpainted in blue terra cotta. It was too gorgeous to leave at the shop! I also bought some needles for the hat: Brittany birch in size 6. That was all from Knitch, a LYS in Atlanta that I really like. The Favorite Socks book was purchased at Borders (I had a coupon!). I LOVE the socks in that book!

Today was a good day

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.

First Order from The Loopy Ewe

My order from The Loopy Ewe arrived today! I ordered it on Monday around 1pm and it was delivered to my mailbox about 4pm today, Wednesday. Now that’s quick shipping!

Here’s everything I got:

And, specifically:
Cherry Tree Hill in Turquoise (for some socks for Mom for Christmas)

Cherry Tree Hill in Sugar Maple

Lorna’s Laces in Lakeview (SO much prettier in person!)

Stone Barn Fibers in Ice Cream Sundae (my favorite!)

The pictures aren’t great, but they’re roughly true to color (other than the turquoise, it’s brighter and prettier). I got the little Loopy Ewe postcard to take on vacation with me (I have two vacations this summer! Which is nice, since I had zero last year), some needle inventory cards, and little samples of some other yarn (one of which I’m totally in love with).

Paul already about had a heart attack (Kristin: “I spent about $150 on yarn today” & Paul: “HOW much?”) when I told him I bought all this (and some other stuff which hasn’t gotten here yet). I wonder if he really would die if I bought more…… it’s probably not worth it

I’m definitely casting on for some socks tonight. I’m so excited! I love this yarn! And I will totally order from The Loopy Ewe again… probably sooner than later.