July's FO's

July was a month that was filed with activities and not much knitting was done. Farmers' Market, Festival in the Borough, Hoedown, too many meetings, sitting by the pool, and my husband's and my birthday.

These socks were knit for my OSSP, Dianna. There were knit on size 1 Brittany dp's. The yarn used was Blue Sky Alpaca, Alpaca and Silk. The pattern used is "Fiber Trends" "Toe Jazz". I adjusted the pattern to make these ankle socks. Dianna lives in Texas, it is hot there. I really enjoyed the OSSP event. I met a wonderful woman, Dianna, we still e-mail back and forth. I hope the One Skein folks plan another. I think that the "Alpaca and Silk" is heavier than sock weight, but using the size 1 needles helped me to get the correct gauge, Dianna said they fit her feet perfectly.

Hunting season is coming up. I do alot of camping, hiking and biking during this time of year. During October my friend Heather and I like to camp at High Point State Park. Since we do not want to get shot, orange is important. The hats were knit with "Red Heart Super Saver" yarn. I used the "Needle Beetle" free hat pattern and size 6 Addi Circs. I knit 4 of them for our camping trip in October. Here are the girls with their hats on, mine was MIA when the picture was taken. Jim is taking the picture so you can not see his.

I knit these ped type socks with left over yarn. The dark color is Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool left over from a pair of Ribble Socks and the stripey yarn is Regia Jubilee.

Ruby Slippers, Grandpa's Gloves, Fingerless Gloves & August FO's

















I absolutely love the way these socks turned out. The purple swirls look like storm clouds and the "Ribble" cable pattern looks like the tornados that came and set Dorothy's house down on the witch. I did not use the entire skein of "Ruby Slippers", there is quite a bit left. As you can see Grandpa's gloves are not progressing. They are on a vacation while I knit other things. Some times I need a break from size 1 needles and fingering yarn.

Last week I also tried making fingerless gloves. I have wanted a pair for awhile, just could not find the right pattern. Since I love the "Ribble" pattern so much I decided to make the fingerless gloves with this pattern. I had some "Ultra Alpaca" in chocolate brown left over from my son's Leon hat and I am well on my way to having a pair of fingerless gloves. I wanted each finger to have its own space, like a true glove. I want to wear these gloves to knit when my hands are too cold, but I still need my fingers to work with the knitting needles. They seem a little thick but they are extremely warm. Now I just need to make the other glove so the left hand stays warm, too.


My feet were also telling me they were getting a bit cold so I knit up a pair of "Fuzzy Feet". Now, I have had only one experience with felting and it was not pleasant, the finished product was far from what it should have been. These "Fuzzy Feet" are perfect. I got the pattern from "Knitty". I used the Lamb's Pride worsted wool and sixe 10.5 needles. I had the purple yarn left over from my sisiter-in-law's purple cable socks and the blue was left over from the failed felting project. The only thing I would change from the pattern is DO NOT WASH WITH TOWELS. I have been shaving off the towel lint sisce they came out of the washer. Jeans would probably be better to felt with than towels.

August finished projects include these socks made from "Mission Falls" 1824 wool. These are very thick boot socks. Green pair is for my husband and the mustard pair is for me.

These socks were knit with "Lana Grossa" Inca yarn. I received this yarn in July from my One Skein Secret Pal, Leslie. The yarn knit up beautifully and I have enough left over for some peds.

Next up are socks that I knit for my sister-in-law Beth, her husband John, and their children Claire (3) and Jack (9 months). Beth and John's socks are knit from the Ladder of Life sock pattern. Beth's are the brown socks and they were knit in Galway in a brown heather, John's are the grey socks and they were knit with Patons, dark grey mix. Claire watermelon socks were knit with Fresh Isle Fibers, suffolk wool, in self-striping watermelon. Clare gets mittens to match. Both from patterns I made up as I went along. Jack's socks are made from Sockotta and the pattern was made up as I went along.

Linda Adam, an old college buddy of my husband and I stopped by for a visit on her way to Maine. She was going up to spent the summer at Acadia National Park. The couple she works for has a summer house there. On Linda's way to Maine, from Virginia, she stopped off for an over night visit. Upon her arrival to Maine she purchased yarn for me and Blueberry jam for my husband. The yarn was Plymouth Bamboo in the most beautiful colors of green and blue. Much like the sea water of Acadia must have been, and a pattern for me to make a hat.

I made this pair of the red "Toe Jazz" socks of Silk and Alpaca, Blue Sky Alpaca, for my One Skein Sectret Pal in August. This was the last leg of the OSSP swap. I sent her a skein in June, a skein in July, and a knitted gift in August. Dianna, lives in Texas and I am not sure if she will get much use of these but she may have to take a trip north in colder weather just to see how warm they can be. I wore mine on Saturday, 35 degrees, with my flip flops and my feet were the warmest part of me.

Blue Moon Fibers and Accessories

This was the set up for Sunday Night. The "Wizzard of Oz" is on the television tonight. I am working on a pair of socks. The yarn is "Blue Moon Fiber Art, Socks That Rock" medium weight, in the color of "Ruby Slippers". Who knew this would be a theme based project? OK, so the witch wore ruby slippers so the movies was a no brainer to watch while starting these socks. I love the "Blue Moon" beer, wonderful with a slice of orange in it. Then I found the "Moon Mountain" wine. It comes in merlot and cabernet, but I wanted something cold with ice and chose the cabernet sauvignon, it was perfect. The pattern that I am using is from the book "Socks, Socks, Socks" and is the "Ribble Socks" pattern, not to be confused with the "Ripple Socks" pattern in the same book. This is a reversible cable pattern and when folded over will look the same, on both sides. I think this sort of reminds me of the tornado that swallowed up Dorothy and plunked her house down on the poor Witch.


Here is a photo of "Socks That Rock". On the left is "X-mas Rock" in the light weight. This is destined to be a pair of "Wiggle Socks". You can download a free "Wiggle Socks" pattern on Jeanne Townsends yahoo group called Townsends Socks Knit Along. The skein on the right is the "Ruby Slippers" that I am using above. I had also order "Rocktober" but did not photgraph it yet.



Tonight is Knitting Circle. On the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month we get together at the local coffee shop, "Cocoon Coffee Shop". We are a mix of beginner to expert knitters, also have two, 10 year old boys in the group. Mary, the shop owner, has her Mother come in on Tuesdays so she can knit with us. We knit from 5-7 PM. Which also means we all eat dinner there. Mary does not eat meat so all offerings are meat free. There are an array of great soups, muffins, sandwiches, and salads. The real treat are the pies and cakes. Always fresh. Always huge slices.

OTN and September/October FO's

I am presently knitting a pair of socks for my sister-in-law. I am using Lamb's Pride worsted weight in the color of Clematis, a deep, dark purple. I am using size 4 dp for ribbing and size 5 dp for the rest. I am using the "Knitlist, Cable Sock Pattern". This is a free pattern and can be found through a search. The socks are thick and comfy. I am sure my sister-in-law will have happy feet.




Here are some pictures of items that were knit in the months of September and October.
The green slippers are for my son Dan I also knit my husband a pair but he would not take his off for the picture. He needed slippers immediately. I just cast on for socks with chunky yarn, 5 rows of K1P1, 2 rows knit, then started the heel.

Next is my son Dan's Christmas present. These were all knit with "Freshisle Fibers" black walnut dyed "Suffolk" wool. The hat was knit with the needle beetle free pattern hat. The mittens and socks are basic patterns knit on size 5 dp's. The scarf is knit 2 purl 2 with the sides alway knit 1 so the scarf does not fold under, it was knit with size 11 straight brittany's. I love this wool. It is worsted weight and everything knit up very quickly. Marian, the owner of Freshisle Fibers, dyed this wool with walnut hulls that were found in her parents yard. The scarf is made from 1 skein of the black walnut self-striping yarn. You can check out the yarn for yourself at http://www.freshislefibers.comeshislefibers.com.



A while back I had purchased a couple of skeins of "On Line Summer Color". I made two pair of flip-flop socks. One pair for me and one pair for my husband. I believe the colors were 788 and 787. I used the "Fiber Trends, Toe Jazz" pattern for both but did not do the cables on my husband's pair. I was not perticularly impressed with this yarn. It was hard to knit with and knit up rather loosely.

Now for my Mother-In-Laws Christmas Present. I have knit her a pair of gloves. These gloves were knit on #1 dp's with "Jamieson and Smith, Shetland 2 Ply", color FC15. The pattern is from the "Nomis" pattern book titled "Gloves and Mittens for the Entire Family". MIL's hands are small and I had to go down to a children's size and use the #1 dp's. These gloves took over 2 weeks of continued knitting to complete.


My Mother's friend Bea wanted a pair of slippers. My Mother has knit slippers for my brother and I and all of our children for over 60 years. Mom has Macular now and can no longer knit. The duty has now fallen to me. It does not take a long time to knit these slippers, they are knit holding 2 strands of worsted weight yarn together. The pom-pom was made by my son's girlfriend, I did not have the patience.




Last thing for today. I sometimes need mindless knitting and had about 4 skeins of Patons Classic Wool in Dusky Blue that I had gotten on discount. Only 2 were the same dye lot. I knit a scarf with the 2 same skeins. The pattern is "Knitted Openwork Scarf". I obtained this pattern from the "Canadian Knitwear Designers and Artisans" website. It is a free pattern. I cast on the number of stitches suggested in the pattern and used a size 8 straight needle. The hat again in "Needle Beetle" free pattern and the mittens are basic mitten pattern.

Getting Started

I created this blog earlier in the year to keep track of knitting that I accomplished. I did not realize that it would also be the year of my 25th wedding anniversay. So.... lots of knitting was completed, but no blogging.

So now I begin. The latest thing I finished is a pair of socks. I have been kintting things for Christmas but fit these in between a couple of projects. I received the yarn from my OSSP, Dianna, in August. I was to give her yarn and a hand knit gift in the OSSP swap. She loved my gift so much she purchased yarn so that I would have a pair of socks just like hers. The socks are knit from a most beautiful color of red. The yarn is Blue Sky Alpaca, Alpaca and Silk. I used 2 skeins and have very little left. The pattern used was Fiber Trends, Toe Jazz.


I had just finished a hat and pair of socks for my brother-in-law for his birthday (12-24) and christmas presents. The hat is from needle beetle, free pattern and the socks are just a basic cast on 48 stitches and make socks pattern. The socks and hat were made using 2 skeins of Patons Classic Wool, in blackI had a small bit left over but still made the toes in Patons Classic Wool in lt. grey. I have made this hat at least 20 times. I use addie turbo circulars until I have to use double points. I know black does not photograph well, the socks are just k1p1 ribbing 10 rows and stockenette stitch the rest of the way