Recent Projects

Here are a few finished projects from the past two months. I knit this pair of socks for my dad for Christmas. He received the first sock on Christmas Eve and the second sock on New Years Eve.Some neighbors had a baby girl just before Christmas. I knit this sweater during our travels and gave it them in early January. I've seen it on the baby a few times, apparently its a good weight for going out in the car seat. I made this pair of pillow covers for my Grandma Ginny's birthday.
The back has two flaps that overlap so the pillow slips in. I decided to make the corners purple like the front.
I finally finished the curtains in our living room. I got the fabric in August and made one or two panels this fall. Other projects were more exciting and side tracked me but when we returned from Christmas I got the other two pairs done. At the end of January I finally hemmed them to be the same length.

Jaywalker Socks

Ever since I joined Ravelry back in April, I'd had the Jaywalker sock pattern down as one that I wanted to try. I just needed self-stripping sock yarn for the pattern. After making 9 pairs of mini-mittens, I had most of a skein of green, white & grey self-stripping sock wool left. As I knit the foot, it seemed baggy to me after making so many of the Francie socks, but it turned out just fine. The sock pairs turned out similar in their pattern because the yarn happened to be close in the pattern repeats when I started the second sock.
The past a pair of socks has taken me about a month. I started these on Christmas day, and finished them less than a week later, on New Year's Eve. I knit them so fast because we had lots of time sitting and visiting with family, and traveling in the car. In fact, I've finished up all the knitting projects I brought along and we haven't made it back home yet. Next Christmas I'll bring more knitting.

Here is a detail of the zig-zag pattern.

Sarah's Francie Socks

Sarah's Christmas present was these purple Francie Socks. I made them with Knitpicks Essential Kettle Dyed Eggplant. One sock has more of the kettle dyed look than the other, but it's not too noticable. She knew she was getting socks, so I asked her to measure her foot. She replied that she didn’t have a ruler yet and so she measured her foot on college ruled paper. She was 32.5 lines. :)

It turns out that I just have to knit the socks to where the arch shaping stops and then it’s time to shape the toe. When I made them for myself I was fearful of them being too long since I have rather small feet. I ended the arch shaping early. However after trying on my sister’s socks, I find that it would still work for me too. Next time I’ll finish the arch shaping for myself.

Since she's in China and can't model them for me, I modeled them for the picture below. I'm sure they'll look great on her feet too. The picture below is a more accurate representation of the color than the one at the top.
These took me exactly one month, I started them Oct 15th and finished Nov 15th. I think I'm becoming a faster knitter, and I'm also devoting more time to it during the week so that I can get projects done. I've waited until now to post them because I didn't want to spoil the surprise for her.

Mom's Francie Socks

I knit these socks for my mom's birthday this month. I did straight ribbing on the legs and the Francie pattern on the sole of the foot. They are knit with Plymouth Happy Feet in a cranberry color on size 1 needles. I started them on November 15th and finished them on December 12th. This is my 4th pair of socks using the Francie pattern on the sole, and it's become almost automatic. I enjoy the extra detail it gives to the socks.

Peony Socks Completed

Peony Socks
Started: Aug 22, 2008
Finished: Oct 11, 2008
Yarn: SockPixie Vegan Sock Yarn Peony
Needles: Size 1 double pointed
Pattern: Harris Tweed

I finished my second peony sock. I'm very happy with the results and looking forward to wearing these. These are roughly based on the Harris Tweed pattern, but you can see in my previous posts about these socks that I made quite a few modifications. Surprisingly I still have a fair amount of this yarn left. It might be enough for a third sock, but not two more. I'll probably end up using it to make lots of Magic Slippers.
I've already ordered yarn from KnitPicks for my next project. I'm going to attempt my first sweater.

Peony Sock Progress

I've successfully completed the first of the pair of socks. I modified the toe, to decrease on the sides and to continue the pattern all the way to the toe. I thought a switch to the stockinette stitch at the toe would look incongruous. Now the trick is to complete the second in a timely manner so I can wear them.

Peony Sock Progress

I've made it past the heel on my first of the peony socks. After reading through the Harris Tweed pattern and deciding that I liked the heel I just did on the Francie Socks, I modified the pattern. I made the heel flap *SL1, K1* and the the following row SL1, then purl the rest. After turning the heel, I worked it out so that I not only followed the pattern on the top of the foot, but got it to continue around the sole. I used the decreasing at the sole that the France Sock used to manage my decreases. Now I'm continuing the foot with the pattern all the way around. I didn't want just a plain stockinette stitch on the sole. The colors are a little odd in this photo because of the combination of the sunlight and the flash. I'm actually farther along the foot than this picture shows because I took it earlier this week.

Peony Socks

I bought this beautiful skein of Peony vegan sock yarn from SockPixie with some of my birthday money back in June. I wound it into a ball and waited. I had to finish my Francie socks before I could cast on and start another pair. I choose a simple Harris Tweed pattern because I knew intricate patterning wouldn't show up well with the beautiful variegated yarn.

Here's just the beginning of the sock. Hopefully this pair will come faster than the last.

Francie Socks Finished!

Inspired by a friend, I decided to finish my Francie socks before school starts. So here they are!
I'm very pleased with them. I had to end the pattern early to fit my short foot and ended up with some errors as I finished the toes. If I make the pattern again, I'll choose a solid color yarn so that the patterning is more visible. But overall, they came out well. The part I like the best is the bottom of the foot and it is unfortunate that it's the part few people will see.
Started: April 7, 2008
Completed: August 20, 2008

Francie Socks

I started this Francie Sock Pattern back at the beginning of April. I'm using It took a month to knit the first sock, but then I took a hiatus to use my #1 size needles to knit Magic Slippers. You can see the magic slippers I made in this post. I was really taken by the patterns that are created on the leg that look like branches and especially the shaping on the foot that is like a tree grown. Unfortunately my short feet meant that I had to end the pattern early to make them the right length. I still like the way the bottom looks.
Also I'm using using Plymouth Happy Feet yarn, and the patterns in the color tend to disguise the patterns in the knitting a bit.

I cast on the second sock about a month ago, but knitting time hasn't presented itself since my attention is mostly on the garden these days. I'm taking the second sock along on our vacation and maybe I'll make some progress while we're in the car. Maybe I'll finish the second sock in time to wear them for fall. I try to avoid wearing socks at all during the summer.