Summer Knits
I know it seems a bit early to be thinking about summer knits, but I can see from all of the knitting E mails I am getting that everyone seems to be headed in that direction. Not wanting to be singled out from the herd, I have started thinking about summer knits. Last week I started this thinking it would be a simple item to finish. Being that short sighted knitter that I am, I started this project knowing that I would not have enough yarn to finish it. The fun part comes when I show up here and tell them I don't have enough yarn (like don't screw up your face and laugh-we all have done this). So they are looking for more of this yarn. If they don't find it, I will have to frog this project and start all over. The down side is, I have to start all over. The upside is...I have lots of practice on this piece and I think I will know how to get started.

This is a pattern from Lilly Chin. I haven't used one of her patterns before. I picked this one nearly a year ago when I was feeling cocky about knitting lace. I have since eaten some crow over that by failing at this project. I am not really that great at reading charts and I have the attention span of a gnat. I get frustrated when I think I have done well and then a mistake is spotted. I think some times I look at my knitting through rose colored glasses.

Since my shawl is stalled, I have moved on to more socks, of course.
I only have one of these on the needles and only the cuff done so far. I wanted a very plain of socks so that I can see how the pattern of the yarn plays out. So I am trying this out to see how it goes. Hopefully I will have another nice pair of socks to wear this coming fall.

I am still working on this pair. I have to work the toes and then they should be finished. I won't get much use out of them because I think that the weather is trying to warm up and then I can go barefooted, which is my favorite way to go.
I have been cruising the finished projects on Ravelry to see what other have made hoping for some inspiration for my summer knits line up. If nothing comes to me, then I will start back knitting on the Preemie hats. I have neglected them long enough and lord knows, I have enough yarn to knock out my 75 remaining hats.

Done, Done, Done
I haven't been posting because I wanted to show some finished projects. I have been using my time wisely, I think. I bought myself some sock forms so that the pictures of my finished socks look much nicer than just laying around. I have four dogs, so laying a pair of socks anywhere in the house in an invitation for disaster.

Here are my two latest finished projects. This person beat me to getting this one done! I didn't tell her that I was making one and sure enough she has already started hers and it's done. Looks pretty good!


This is my Clapotis. I finished it the other day and I am so glad that I did and it's done. This is pretty much mindless knitting. I like that kind of knitting while I am knitting socks. I don't have to think very much. It did give me some fits, but as usual when I frogged it I had forgotten to kfbl so that was totally my fault. It doesn't cover as much on my back and I thought it would but I didn't make it any larger than the pattern called for. So for some of you larger gals like me, you might want to add some extra rows in there so that it hits your waist. I did wash and dry it and decided not to block it. I just use it while sitting in my chair at night so no need to fuss with blocking. I did knit most of the hat this weekend and decided that it was a bit too large for me. I am not a huge hat person, so I am thinking that I will just frog it and use the left over skein for a hat of another kind to give away. It was a learning experience.
I have had these finished for a while but wanted to take a picture of them with the new sock forms. I never did get all the strips to match but it's close enough.

So this is it for now. I am working on two other pairs of socks and will be starting another pair in a week or so. This may be my summer for socks. We'll see.

Moving on...
I think that moving on is good in so many ways. It's a journey that involves choices both in one's personal life, professional life and hobbies.

On the road to educating myself in knitting, I have set mini goals. Last year one of those goals was to learn how to knit socks. I tried the Magic Loop. I failed because I missed a class and I really didn't get that spark that would carry my interest on further. I wanted to learn how to make socks so I tried a second time. I learned how to knit on dpns. Low and behold, it stuck! I have enjoyed learning how to make socks. They are a pretty quick project that I can work in both warm and cold weather. My wool socks are so comforting when I get out of heels at the end of a day. They are soft and cushy.

So now that I have mastered a few things about socks, it's time to move on to plan B where socks are concerned. I love my beginners pattern, but ti's time to take a chance. My taking chances are baby steps, but I did do it and it's been going well so far.

This is my first venture into knitting outside my sock "comfort" zone. I was thumbing through this book and found a pattern that would fit into my 72 stitch requirement for my foot. I also looked in this book and found that one of their patterns matches the pattern for these socks.

I have been trying to get these socks done as quickly as I started them, but hit a snag when I ran out of reinforcement thread. I was in here last night and have gotten my thread and hopefully soon will finish my socks.

I am pretty close to getting my newest pair done. I was going full guns on these and then I noticed that my socks were getting skinny. Well, after further inspection I noticed that when I did the gusset, I forgot one repeat row and that my the foot of my sock at K2P2 pattern. The pattern should have been Row 1-k2p2, Row 2-k every stitch. So the leg of the sock is the correct pattern, but the foot is different. I was a bit put out with myself, but when I tried the sock on, I thought it fit nicely. I will know better after they are done.

Feeling really inspired to strike out a try something new I cast on another pair of socks knowing that the first pair is very close to being done. Here is the next pair wanna be. It's Opal. I wanted some fun socks so I picked a red reinforcement thread/yarn to give it a little more color. I can't find the label to tell you the colorway, but when I find it, I will let you know. I purchased this yarn from The Haus of Yarn in Nashville at Christmas.

I am in the process of taking another class and will talk about that in a later post. Hopefully I will stay healthy long enough to get all of these things done.