A Big Pile-O-Knits

I'm home from my travels and I have a big pile of knits to show for it.



The first one up is the Brat Sister Hat in Swan Island worsted, Robin's Egg Blue...



The second completed is my pair of Kaibashira socks, made from Tofutsies yarn. They came out so cute and fit perfectly.





The next project finished was the Fish Socks (my design). I love these! They're made from Crystal Palace Panda Silk and are so soft. They hold my feet like a foot massage!





Aftre that I completed the Puck's Scarf in Quince & Co. Osprey yarn in Honey and the Kelpie Helmet in Quince & Co. Puffin (same colourway):



The Pucks scarf is super long and wraps around my neck twice and still hangs down on both sides:



and the Kelpie hat is very cute on! I tried to take a picture of myself in the mirror, but my iphone camera is just not sharp enough for a reflected image...



and - finally - I knit yarns and yards of this beautiful cashmere sock yarn (from SockcandybyMelissa.etsy.com) and finished a Balaclava for myself!



Do you think I'll be warm enough this winter???

Oh... I also brought home a little head cold. Does that count as a souvenir? Eh, I don't think so. My favorite healing tactic - lying on the couch watching Mapp & Lucia videos on my laptop and knitting. Works every time.

On the Needles

It seems like a good time to talk about the current WIPs! It happened this way:

I have a certain kind of summer socks that I really like. They're not, I'm sorry to say, hand knit socks. They are a cotton and elastic combination that are very soft and stretchy and good with my Merrell summer sandals. I found a store when I was in Bar Harbour that had several pairs of these in their sale basket and I stocked up. Recently, as I had my ankles crossed and propped on the hassock, my bf remarked "why is the Knitter wearing holey socks?" Yes, they had split at the gusset seam and my entire heel was un-socked! I switched to the next pair - same problem; and the next - same thing happened within a week!

Finally I awakened to the ultimate truth: I should knit some summer socks for myself.

So here they are:

It's A Fish, in Crystal Palace Panda Silk, my own pattern:



and Kaibashira, in Tofutsies (I thought it was ironic and funny that the yarn has an element of Chitin - a fiber made from shrimp and crab shells - in it, and the pattern is styled after the scallop used in sushi):



I have to say that I rarely knit for myself so I'm having trouble finishing these. One of my tricks on myself is to knit two patterns at the same time, alternating socks, so that I don't get bored. Consequently, I have two different finished socks and two different half finished second socks. At the same time, I'm knitting a winter hat, a summer sweater, a lovely silk scarf, and a long, high-investment shawl (vintage pattern).

Have any of you started your Holiday knitting yet? I have plans - oh yes, I have plans. But my plans are always much bigger than my time, so we'll see what happens.

The Fish

Yarn: Panda Bamboo and Soy
Needles: Knitpicks steel DPNs Size 0
Style: Toe up (obviously), 64 sts around
Pattern: My own

These are another pair of socks that I'm knitting when I need something mindless. Yes, that means I'm knitting more than one project at a time. I don't really finish one project before I start another, ever, but I have been making an effort lately to make sure that I do finish the projects I start! That means that I only have two or three projects going at a time now instead of so many that I lose track of how many I've started!

This yarn, with it's little bit of elastic stretch, makes a really nice finished fabric, but is difficult to knit with - which is why I'm using my pointiest needles! Even so, many stitches have split and I've needed to tink back 3 times to pick up the splits.

I meant these to be very short summer socks - socklettes, so to speak, and am just now doing the heel. As soon as the back heel flap is finished, I'll do a few rows of K1P1 and that will be that (for sock #1). If it weren't for the splitty yarn, these would be done by now!