A Song of Socks

There are things when you dress
That you put on your toes
There are boys who wear tubes
And girls who wear hose

If you wanna keep me warm
When the freezing cold wind blows
Don't give me your love and forget it
Just give me a pair of those

I want your socks
I want your socks

I'll wear 'em on my feet
I'll show 'em to my friends
'Cause I like the feel
Of those hand-knitted trends 



The second in my series of socks for myself are the Rainy Day Socks made from MadelineTosh sock in the lovely Wash colourway. They were fast and the pattern was easily memorizable and they are perfect for spring wearing. I made size small on US 1.5 dpns. I did adapt the pattern, which called for a kitchenered toe, to a star toe. I'm all about the Easy!

But I found it hard to continue to knit things for myself. After all, the little guy needs socks too - he is growing like a sunflower! I just bought him two new pairs of shoes, because his toes were bumping the ends of his old ones and there were absolutely no handknit socks in the drawer that fit him! I think the last time I made him socks, his feet were only 3.5 inches long and now they're 5.5 inches! Oh no, that's not right! I did knit him these Sherlock socks a year ago, and they were 5 inches long - but they were no where to be found.

And besides, I'm impelled to create for those I love, so I've switched my attention to making as many pairs of little socks as I can before Camp Loopy starts on May 27th. So far, I've managed three socks and I hope to finish 3 more in the next week - all stripey:



I have my own method of toe-up construction and they are fast, fast, fast and easy, and fit so well! 



And because the little guy's socks take so little yarn, I'm left with a fair amount of widowed and orphaned skeins in colours that don't suit me (but that he loves). Should I save them for the next growth spurt?

Oooooohhh baby, I'm tired!

I finally finished the little things I had planned and, as promised, here is the last sweater, Baby Snowflake, based once again on the wonderful Baby Sophisticate pattern... as so many of my baby sweaters are. This pattern is so endlessly versatile and looks great in almost any yarn and with all modifications. Here are mine:



I made it to match a pretty little Christmas dress that I got from Hanna Anderson:



and I embroidered black thread and red bead snowflakes on it to make it extra festive!





Next up... a fun, bright, pullover for the little guy!

Oh Baby Girl

I've been knitting, knitting, knitting for a baby girl due in December. Some things have worked out well, and others have ended up in the frog pond never to be mentioned again. So far its 4 to 5 (4 completed successfully and 5 frogged).

The first is from the lovely pattern Autumn Leaves, easy to knit and fast. I used Swans Island Organic Merino Worsted in the Coral colourway, and followed the pattern exactly. Blocking makes a big difference to the finished look of this baby sweater, especially because of the lace yoke.



I thought the shape looked like a butterfly's wings, so chose this button:



Next, I made a little bassinet blanket, or stroller robe from the Purl Bee's enticing pattern, Chevron Baby Blanket:



I got a bag of mini-balls of worsted weight wool - Pick Up Sticks Small Balls Yarn Candy - from KPixie.com and one bag was just enough for this tiny blanket. It turned out a lot smaller than it looks in the pattern photo, and I can't tell if it's the perspective in which they took the photo, or if I somehow missed a crucial point. In any case, I'm happy with my result and it's the perfect newborn bassinet size, or to use with the carseat. I'll probably use this pattern again as the baby grows.

I embroidered a rose on it to brighten up the baby's room. I createded this free-style, just sketching the flower hastily on a scrap of paper to get the shape of the petals right before I started in.



The last baby item that's ready to show is my Oh Baby Girl Dress:



This is my own design and I can't wait to write it up and post it in my Ravelry pages. I used Bebe Lang washable wool - very thin and soft - and it was wonderful. My friend Nad in Germany gave me two bundles of this when the little guy was born so I don't know if it's available in the US. I'd love to find more though. Its fabulous to knit with and comes in a clever little bag that threads the yarn through while you're knitting - no tangles! I'm using the leftovers to make a tiny pair of stockings to match the dress.



The final item just off the needles is another variation of the Baby Sophisticate sweater that I've adapted so many times before. This is currently blocking, so you'll see it in a future post!

Baggage

I have baggage.

Knitting baggage. Crochet baggage too. So much baggage that I feel stranded at the station, unable to go forward or back, unable to carry my baggage onto the train and grab a seat that will take me…. Somewhere else.

Here is some of my baggage:

Quince Chickadee in Glacier, Bark, and Twig and
a hand-dyed skein from the Portland Fiber Gallery & Weaving Studio


Hand Maiden Flaxen (Linen & Silk) in Smoke


Primrose's Long Locks handspun from Dillner Hilside Farm


Earthhues Naturally Dyed Silk Boucle and Prime Alpaca mix


Persimmon Tree Hand Spun and Dyed


Acadia Yarn Festival Hand Spun


Exclusive colourways in Kouigu Mori (Silk & Merino) and Madeline Tosh Cashmere from STRING, NYC


Alisha Goes Around, Panoply of Peacocks fingering in Deciduous, Thrace, and Estuary


Feeling overwhelmed? I am! And that’s just from this year – the year that is rapidly coming to a close. Why is it so much easier to “collect” yarn than it is to use it?

I had plans for every skein I bought. Yes – specific, concrete plans and I even have the patterns for each one and sometimes I put the pattern with the yarn in a little paper carry-bag and place it carefully on top of the bookcase where I can find it when I’m ready for a new project.

But when that exciting way-station of possibilities happens – called “after finishing one project but before another begins”, I always have a Brand New Plan. Sometimes these new plans require new yarn. And so there I am, with more baggage to stack upon the rest.

Now I am happily ensconced in the skeins knitting up little new baby things. Knitting baby projects is like eating chocolates – very little commitment required because they knit up so quickly and each one can be entirely different form the last. So… lots of instant gratification. They are like day trips, not journeys – picnic afternoons.

I am 5 rows from finishing a sherbet-coloured blanket, one half front side and a button from finishing a little coral wrap-sweater, one lace torso from finishing a tiny green vintage vest, a whole skein from finishing a tiny white picot sweater, and a couple of hours away from finishing two pair of STR booties with cunning little pompom ties.

Yup. The colours and the short knitting time lines make baby knitting so, so seductive.

Someday I will settle and unpack my bags. Not today.

Sophia knits Sophia

Once again, I've used the wonderful template that is the Baby Sophisticate sweater to create something unique. Sophia's Sweater:



My friend has had a new baby girl, and her name is Sophia. I was so inspired to knit for her! And it was so much fun to make something a bit girly.



I used Debbie Bliss Rialto (2 skeins) and my own fishy chart. The first picture is most accurate for colour - it's almost a pond scum green with a rose contrast yarn and real pockets of course.



Please remember that the Baby Sophisticate pattern runs very small, so always judge your size by the chest measurement - under the arms - and this will tell you how much to increase before putting the arm stitches on holders. A good standard chart for baby sizes is here:



This is from the BBC Homepage, England. These are body measures, and don't include ease, so I recommend adding an inch or even two (I like to be generous with baby sweaters so that they can be used for a long time) to the chest measures.

I have to say, I really enjoy knitting baby sweaters. Who wouldn't? They are fast and usually simply put together, and can be customized in infinite variety.

Invisible buttons

See? I told you the little beige buttons wouldn't show much!

Daisies on the Inside

The final Spring baby sweater for the little guy is finished and I'm pretty pleased with the result!



This is the Lazy Daisy Jacket from Pickles.no, a great knitting blog for anyone with little ones. I know I've given this link more than once before, but it's just full of really cute and colourful patterns for kids and babies so I go back to it again and again.

Sweater Stats:
Size: 18 months - 22 inches under the arms; arm length from neck 14 inches; sweater length from neck to bottom 12 inches
Needle size: US 6 circular
Yarn: E. Lavold Baby Llama (109 yds) from the Lamb Shoppe in Denver, Colorado
A) Colour 024 Sand 4 balls (and I used every bit)
B) Colour 027 Flaming Red 1 ball
C) Colour 025 Dark Brown 1 ball
D) Colour 031 Warm Blue 1 ball
E) Colour 028 Cloudberry 1 ball (this is the yellow colour)


One thing I've found about Pickle's patterns is that the sleeve constructions are often pretty complicated and usually require lots of piecing together and/or seaming. I plan to make this sweater again, but I'll modify it to be top-down and seamless, which is pretty easy to do. I'll post the modifications when that happens.

You'll notice right away that the design of the coloured part of my version doesn't look like the original pattern. That's because I put my daisies on the inside! I like the inside of the pattern stitch better but the sweater is perfectly reversible and this is what it looks like with Daisy Stitch the way it's meant to be seen:



My other modifications include more rows around the neck to make the shawl collar more prominent - and I used short rows instead of cutting the yarn and piecing the collar as called for in the pattern; and ribbing on the cuffs and the waist. I wanted this sweater to have a long useful life - and sleeve cuffs can be rolled up and then down as the little guy grows.

My buttons:



The little guy loves dogs! As you can see, I only put two buttons at the top, thinking this would be the way he'd wear it most times - just a quick fasten and we're good to go! But now I'm thinking that maybe I should use some little beige buttons down the front; they won't show, but the sweater could be completely closed. I don't know, what do you think?

Finally, I'd like to send a BIG thank you to the ladies at the Lamb Shoppe in Denver who were knitting beautiful patterned mittens from Piecework magazine while I was there and took the time to help me think through my sweater yarn and colours and generally encouraged me! Kindness to knitting strangers is a gift that just keeps paying forward.

Oh Handsome Boy!

Just finished blocking the Oh Handsome sweater and had to show it off:



I love Pickles patterns! The set-in sleeves are not really my thing but the finished sweater is so cute! I used Rowan yarns Lima, which is a woven alpaca yarn - very soft and vibrant blue.



I can't wait to see this on the little guy! He'll have to roll up the sleeves, but if the yarn wears well he'll probably be able to wear this for a couple of years. I made a combination of the 1 year and the 18 mos size, so you can see that it runs large - but only by a little.

Baby Sherlock

I posted here a little while ago, when I finished my Sign of the Four cashmere socks. I loved them so much and had so much yarn left over, I decided to make a pair for the little guy. I'm almost finished with those, and can't wait to show them off:



They might look kind of big for a baby, but his feet are only 5 inches long and mine are only about 8.5 inches long so they just look big by comparison. He really is just a little squish!

These socks (his, not mine) are going to have suede moccasin bottoms on them, so that he can wear them around the house to keep his feet warm now that he's toddling - or even at friends' houses. He really motors when he has a goal in view!

I just can't describe how incredibly soft this yarn is once it's blocked! The cashmere really makes a big difference - they're divine on the feet! The yarn is Zen Yarn Garden Serenity Sock. I want to find more of this in my favorite colours - greens and blues. I only have it from kits: one had a bright gold/yellow and this one with the nice reddish brown (called Hound of the Baskervilles). I do love the brown, but would be crazy about about a blue-green.



My goal this weekend is to finish up some projects that are almost done, so I can start some new projects. I have two Pickles sweaters on the needles for the little guy, and of course the Miss Marple Shawl. But I'd love to make many more pairs of baby socks!

Little Guy's Little Owl

What is it about owls? I just love them (especially barn owls!) and have this thing about incorporating them into knitting. I remember visiting all those rescued owls over the years at our local Audubon society and how we would be fascinated by their funny antics (dancing on their perch branches!) and wild ways.

Well this owl is a little more tame - a Christmas stocking with the owl graph from Spilly Jane Knits' owl socks used as the motif. I have several of her patterns, but haven't (until now) dared to try them!

I devised the actual stocking myself with a cast on of 48 stitches on size 8 DPNs (cuff down with a short row heel). The yarn is Jared Flood's new SHELTER pure wool. It's quite wonderful to work with on patterns like this and gets softer as you use it.



My stranded knitting on this Christmas stocking is obviously not perfect, but I learned a lot about stranded knitting by working on this over the past month - like how to carry the yarn invisibly across the back so I didn't have long "floats". I'm now inspired to try many more stranded patterns - like those beautiful Latvian mittens!

Two Fails and a Win

The needle arts have been struggling around chez Sophia recently - in fact, they've been flopping like a fish on shore. It's not often that something you're completely familiar with flops up and smacks you in the mouth, but that's what my knits have been doing!

The first fail had to do with a skein of yarn that I've had in my mental knitting hope chest for a few years. This skein of Koigu PPPM has been sitting in the front and center of my glass-fronted bookcase, holding out the promise of some happy, bright summer anklets.



I think I originally got it as a single skein at the Patternworks summer sale. I was attracted by the cherry red mixed with lake blue and its small bits of green, orange and yellow shades for contrast. I had it pegged for the stranded Crusoe Socks, the original was made in this very yarn, and one skein has always worked for short socks for my narrow feet.

The pictures of the original pair of socks are so appealing!

My first fail was the size. The pattern calls for a cast on of 44 stitches. When I got past the heel, I tried them on - or attempted to! I couldn't pull them past my toes. My usual cast-on of 60 sts would have been better. I ripped out and restarted from the beginning. This time I made it to mid-foot - almost done with the first sock (they are cuff-down). I just couldn't stand it. The yarn, when knit up, revealed that it had LOTS of pink mid-tones hiding behind the red and blue. When knit, the colours blended in such a way that the fabric was mostly greyish-pink with flecks of the other colours here and there. I hate to say it, but it looked like clown barf. I ripped the socks back again and put the skein in the rejected bin.

Well, it's no fun rejecting a project - especially one you've pinned hopes on for so long! But, there is another. I've spent innumerable hours on a little pair of vintage-styled baby pants knit in soft Pima Cotton - Classic Elite's Premiere cotton and tencel. This is the same yarn I used for the vintage wrap undershirt and these pants where meant to make a set with that shirt. This pattern is from Vintage Baby Knits by Kristen Rengren (the pants are the third photo on the top row), though I modified them to be knit in the round, turned them from shorts to long pants, and changed the stitch pattern quite a bit - even adding cables to the legs. It has been a very slow knit - splitty yarn on very tiny size 2 needles - but I persevered because they were so very cute and would be so very useful for summer.



You know that back part, where you add short rows so that the bulkiness of baby diapers is contained? Look at the right side of these little trousers, and you will see that when I began the legs of these charming pants, I folded them with the back waist on the side. Fail!

My dilemma is whether to rip out completely (at this point the yarn is looking a bit exhausted) and start over, or whether to persevere and see if it really makes much difference to the fit. After all, these pants are likely to be shortly grass-and-sand stained from the park. Ah, well, I think these pants are already too small. I'll rip them out completely and re-make them into a pair of summer of shorts according to the original pattern.

I do finally have have a successful knit! I created a pattern for cotton summer cap for the little guy - something that will be cool in hot weather, but protect his sensitive noggin from sunstroke. This cap, my own design, was knit from Habu A-184, Natural Cover Cotton, colour 5: natural with a navy wrap.



What looks like a hole by the foot of the Owl cable is actually a spiral eyelet, folded under which made it look a little bigger. I hope soon to have a modeled photo.

This spiral eyelet pattern took a skein and a bit (each skein of this Habu yarn is 47 yards). It does have little ties that I tucked inside for the photo, because Frankie is now pulling his hats off as fast as they go on.

Now I am trying to resist any more experiments. I have a few project possibilities to start and a couple of long-term projects to finish up. And it's July, which means it's time to start knitting for the winter holiday gifts.

Cheeky Monkey

Another sweater for the little guy is finished. I just can't seem to stop making these, and he's growing like a sunflower, so he needs a new size every couple of months!

This one is called Cheeky Monkey:



Yarn: Louet Gems (100% washable merino) Sport weight, 2 skeins (Used 1.5 of the skeins)in Chocolate
Madeleine Tosh Sock (100% superwash merino) Fingering weight, 1 skein (I used about 1/10 of the skein) in Rhubarb

Needles: Hiya Hiya interchangables in size 4; Brittany DPNs in size 4

Size : 1 year (22 inch chest)

Buttons: Monkeys!!!



I love the little pockets. I like to put pockets on all my sweaters, even infant sweaters. It gives you place to clip a little toy or other tiny necessity.



My bf liked this sweater so much, he wanted me to make a big size for him! It would be cute for a guy with a shawl collar....



My next sweater for the small guy is going to be a Doctor Who style sweater... can't wait!

stripey string beans

Remember the String Beans, from the knitting zine?



I made another pair!



This time, they are made from light fingering weight in self-patterning yarn. This is a skein that my friend Nad sent me from Germany a few years ago. This skein goes on forever! I made a pair of socks for myself out of it. I used it for a winter hat, mixed with some jaunty tangerine wool. And now it makes a pair of baby knee socks! and... there is a whole lot left (which I am sending to a Ravelry friend).

But, back to the Stripey String Beans:

You can see that in this pair, I made a little modification - a rolled cuff! I love this tiny detail... Even though these socks don't look vintage with their modern colourful striped yarn, the rolled edge is so very ancient! (and perfect for holding up with garters). In fact, in my late 1800s and early 1900's pattern books, many - or most - of the baby shirts have little knitted garters attatched to the bottom hem. These were actually supposed to tie through or button to buttonholes in leggings (the trouser type of leggings, with or without feet, not the half-a-sock type leggings of the 80's), which had two holes in the front and one in the middle of the back waistband for this purpose.



But, you could use them for thigh high stockings too! Many baby socks were made extra long, and in this modified pair of String Neams, and my saffron Carrot Sticks pattern, I have a row of tiny buttonholes for potential, imaginary, perhaps-future baby garters.

Ripping Yarns

In the words of an old ballad,
otherwise completely lost,
Life's a recipe-less salad
that's forever being tossed.
~Edward Gorey

The knitting zine is finished!



There is a ripping yarn, of course, two baby stocking patterns, one of my original recipes and various illustrations. There's a bonus third pattern in this one too!

Here are the stockings, String Beans and Carrot Sticks, made from Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock mediumweight. (What can I say? I'd ingest the stuff if I could!) The green is their colourway, "Lucky" and the gorgeous deep orange-red is the new colourway, "Saffron Jungle".

Now looking for knitting stores in Portland, Oregon who might like to carry it.

The next edition - the summer one - will have patterns for adults, again with BMFA yarns, this time in silks. The words and pictures are dancing around in this unruly amusement park I call a brain.

A soft and rainy Spring

A Ladybug is moving slowly on my windowsill, making her way over to the one plant I have here - a large and pretty jade plant in a purple blown-glass bowl. Outside, 2 or 3 inches of rain is accumulating in the streets. Usually, at this time of year, we get the last Hurrah! of a pretty significant snow storm. But Nature has decided to pass softly over us this time, and let the water come down as 3 days of rain instead. It's a cold rain - like water that's been chilled in the great white refrigerator of the upper atmosphere - but rain all the same.

An early Easter is coming, next weekend! I'm packing up my Easter boxes to send out to my little family that I love, and that means that my knitting fingers have been working until midnight most nights, trying to get things finished!



This bunny is missing his tail, and a really nice neck ribbon, but that will all be remedied by tonight. I love him. He's soft soft soft and just the right squishy-ness for little fingers to clutch onto.

The yarn is Baby Bunny, a Plymouth yarn that has a little angora in it, and the pattern is Cashmere Baby Bunnies, also from Plymouth Yarns. The pattern calls for 100% cashmere, but the yarn I used is washable, which is a plus for a baby toy, I thought...

In case you're looking for a quick spring knit, this baby bunny took me only one afternoon and evening to knit, sew up, and embroider. It's knit flat with increases and decreases to make the shaping, and then sewn up the back.

At the same time, I'm working on a salad of patterns that I hope to finish designing all at once. Colour!