Laila's Socks

A few years ago I bought a ball of black and a ball of variegated sock yarn, with the idea of using them together to make a pair of colorwork socks. The yarn sat in my stash, waiting for me to design or find the right pattern.




Laila's Socks

Yarn: Regia black and Regia variegated, fingering weight sock yarn

Pattern: from Folk Knitting in Estonia by Nancy Bush


Right now I'm working on the 2nd sock but it doesn't have to be done until Christmas so there's no rush. I'll likely work on it until it's finished this week anyway, I don't have a specific new project in mind.

Blogger Beta allows labels! I should be able to edit previous posts and add labels to everything else, I apologize to the three people on bloglines if you see a large number of "new" posts from me.

Dog Booties for Baby (or Snoopy)

The cuffs can be unfolded for extra warmth:

Yarn: Reynold's Lopi (brown body), Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted (black cuffs), Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted (red tongue).

Pattern: from the book Knit Baby Heads & Toes! by Gwen Steege. These booties were designed by Bev Galeskas of Fiber Trends.

Speaking of Fiber Trends, I made these FT slippers for myself last month:



Betcha can't knit just one (pair). This is around the 10th pair I've made from this pattern.

Gratuitous cat photo:

Acorn Hat . . . FOR MY NIECE (!!!)

I have a niece! Katherine Anne (Katie), born 10/10. Is that a great birthday or what? Pretty hard for friends and family to forget. ;) I'm thrilled beyond measure. I would've been just as happy with a nephew too, but there was a tiny voice inside me saying I hope it's a girl.

My brother surprised me last week. I told him the cable baby hat was in the mail and he asked, "Didn't you say you were going to make a hat that looks like an acorn?" How did he remember that? It was around 6 months ago that I told him about the acorn pattern and I thought it went in one ear and out the other (you know how non-knitters tend to drift off if you talk about knitting stuff). Apparently he was looking forward to it! So I cast on for the adorable hat. I told him it would be a little big right now but it'll fit eventually. The smallest pattern size is 19" and I adjusted the gauge so it'd be a little smaller, but I didn't want it newborn size (so it'd fit longer).



The rolled brim uses 4 strands of fingering weight yarn (or two strands worsted), the rest of the hat uses 2 strands (or one strand worsted).


yarn: Patons Kroy sock yarn


Here is Snoopy's little sister Belle in Katie's blue hooded sweater (it zips down the back). I can't wait to see her in it:


yarn: Plymouth Encore

new buttons, why needle size matters, and new soles

The perfect buttons for Baby K's green and blue sweater were found at Pacific Fabrics. I'm not sure if it's obvious in the photos but the buttons and green yarn are the exact same color, it's like they were dyed to match. (I can't get the colors in this sweater to look accurate in photos, not even in natural sunlight -- argh.)

It's hard to get across how cute this is without including something to indicate its size. I'm not at all baby crazy but little baby clothes are so sweet, there's something about them that makes me go awwwww.

I've already posted photos of the two pairs of booties I made for Baby K but this time they're shown together and the soles are revealed. The following is a photo I'll show beginners when I'm teaching them about gauge. The bootie on the left was knit with size 0 needles, the bootie on the right used size 1 needles. Both were made with fingering weight yarn following the same pattern (but I made the green bootie's leg twice as long so it'd fold over).


Left: about 3.75" long (size 0 needles)
Right: about 4.25" long (size 1 needles)

click here for larger image

This is the improved sole, I took it from the Fiber Trends Felted Clogs pattern. When I changed the pattern a few years ago it occured to me that I needed a sole with 84 sts and the women's medium sole ends with 85 sts, so I simply ignored a M1 in the 6th row. If you've ever made a clog from the FT pattern you'll also be amused that it can be used for something so tiny -- those clogs before felting (knit on size 13 needles using bulky weight yarn) look like giant floppy clown shoes.

Speaking of the FT clogs/slippers, I just finished another pair and I hope to have them in the washer this afternoon. Pictures of before and after once they're dry. Ha, I'll put a bootie in the before picture to illustrate how goofy it looks.

Newborn Hat for Baby K

This hat for Baby K (my niece or nephew due in 2.5 weeks!) looks like it was meant to match the socks in my last post, but the cable and yarn are both different. I used the blue leftover yarn from the Ullared hat I made in March.

Yarn: Brown Sheep Naturespun Sport - 100% wool (color: Bit of Blue)
Pattern: from the book Knitting for Baby by Melanie Falick and Kristin Nicholas

YO Cable Socks

socks for grandma

pattern: based on the YO cables from Sensational Knitted Socks (by Charlene Schurch)

yarn: Cascade Fixation (98.3% cotton / 1.7% elastic)




I wasn't crazy about the yarn at first -- it's a little too nubbly for my tastes -- but it sure makes a comfortable stretchy sock. Even better, the elastic allows me to knit for hours without pain. Knitting with other cotton yarns makes my hands ache.

I want to mail these off tomorrow (grandma's birthday was last month) so I steam blocked them instead of doing my usual wet block. First I made a blocker using a wire hanger, which makes a lot more sense than dropping $25 plus s&h on commercial blockers. I found easy instructions here (not my page). Blockers aren't really necessary though, I've always found that gently patting the fabric into shape works too.