Monkey Socks Finished

Finished the monkey socks this morning:

Yarn: Artyarn Ultramerino 4 Color 137

Needles: Brittany Birch size 2 dp's

Pattern: Monkey, from knitty.com

This was a fun and refreshing knit. I followed the pattern except for the heel. The socks are kind of big and if I were to knit this pattern again I will use size 1 needles.

I am now knitting a pair of "Tidal Wave" socks from a SouthWest Trading Company pattern. Yarn is "Tofutsies" color 720, Sweep You Off Your Feet. The peace fleece sweater is on hold until this weekend when I can knit in the day time.

Monkey Socks and Peace Fleece Sweater

I have been knitting the Artyarn into Monkey socks. The Tofutsies was getting lonely so I bought a friend.

I have progressed on the Monkey socks. I have finished sock 1 and knit a couple of pattern repeats on sock 2. Very soft, this yarn is a pleasure to work with.

I am still on the back of the Peace Fleece sweater. I have used 1skein of yarn and have knit 3 inches from the second ball. Progress is slow. I find that it is hard to knit without natural sunlight.

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Peace Fleece ReDo

I have started the peace fleece sweater over. I went one size down, a twelve stitch difference. I also switched from the Brittany Birch walnnut needles to Plymouth brand 32" size 8 circular. The walnut needles seemed stressed and I did not want to hear snap. I have used these circulars before and the join is awful. There is a little bump that all stitches have to go over and the stitches need a little push to get over the bump. The good part is my hands and arms do not feel the strain as much with the circulars. I ordered 10 skeins for this sweater and I think I will be calling kpixie to see if they have a couple more in my dye lot just to be sure, if not I may switch patterns.

These were in my yard this morning.

Baby Kitty Helps

With the help of Baby Kitty I have decided the peace fleece sweater is way too big. Off to rip this out and start again. The pattern, from a Plymouth Yarn booklet, is named Family Cardigans. I chose size 34/36 but this is way too large. The sweater seems oversized to start with. I am going to start again one size down. The peace fleece must be a heavier weight than the Galway that is called for.

Three, three sizes of yarn, three sizes of needles in the third month ..................

I have not started the Rockin Sock of the month yet. I have a couple of things I need to do first.

Here is the progress on the Aran "Peace Fleece" sweater. I started the sweater on March 3rd. I took this picture this morning but have since done a couple more rows. The pattern is 16 rows and I have completed these 16 rows twice. I am just hoping that I have purchased enough yarn to complete the sweater.

I am also working on "Monkey Socks" from Knitty. I got the yarn a while back. I am using Artyarn color #137 and brittany birch size 2. Even though the pattern has nothing to do with monkeys I think the yarn has a monkey look to it. I have worked one time through the pattern (kept on after taking picture) and find the pattern a joy to work.

The other project that I am working on is a "Ribble Stitch" scarf. I made ribble stich fingerless gloves back in December? and am making a scarf in the same yarn (chocolate brown, Ultra Alpaca). I really love this stitch. I have made a few pair of ribble stitch socks. The pattern stitch, which is a cable stitch, is the same on both sides so there is no wrong side. Very hard to see because the yarn is so dark.
And if all of this kniting is not enough to keep me busy, I went for a hike with my son on Saturday. We hiked up the New Jersey side of the Deleware Water Gap. Bare booted, not so much snow and others had gone up before us. The views were beautiful.

Dalarna Finished

I finished the Dalarna socks last night. We had our first real snow storm yesterday so I left work early to finish the socks. Now I can work on the aran peace fleace sweater. Hoping the plow does not come for a while.

Dalarna

Regia 4 fadig - color 2002

size 1 crystal palace dp's

Dalarna pattern from "Knitting on the Road"

Not really excited about this pattern. It was quite boring with all the knit stitches. Alot of knit stitches. I found myself forgetting where I was in the clock pattern and lots of frogging was done to make this pair. I did not do the toe listed in the pattern I made a regular toe, kitchner finish. The pattern suggested a 8 1/2" leg, I knit to 6". Awaiting next vote for April/May. I hope it is Canada. I found the perfect yarn in Maine last weekend.

I guess I need to go out side now and shovel. One door we kept clear but the other door will not budge. Lots of drifting snow and the plow has not been by. Paper delivery person got stuck this morning on our hill. Dan's car is pretty much stuck in the driveway; we had to push it up the hill last night. I have a 4 wheel drive truck, truck not stuck.

Short Trip North

On Friday Jim and I drove up to Maine. We stopped in Worcester, Mass to see a college friend of Jim's. Next stop was Bob's Clam Hut and the Kittery Trading Post and then the Yarn Sellar. Finally got to my Mother's house where we of course ate, pizza and a bomb, watched t.v and got caught up on all the gossip.

On Saturday we drove to Wells Beach, parked at the "Forbes" parking lot and walked to the end of the jetty and back to the parking lot. Beautiful day although very windy on the Jetty and the walk back.

Drove to Kennebunk and visited the Custom Shop for more yarn purchases. Federal Jack's for lunch. Back to my Mother's house and then off to Ted's Fried Clams for my Aunt Gaby's 79th birthday party.

Sunday we drove to Boston, checked in at the Parker House, consumed a beverage at Kennedy's, ate dinner at the Black Rose - at "our table" and then it was off to see the Pogues. The boys were great. We had gone to the Orphium last year, March 14th the day of our 25th wedding anniversary. We figured if we started our 25th year with the Pogues we should close our 25th year with the Pogues.

Just so you won't think there was no knitting, here I am working on Dalarna at the Parker House and progress on the 'Dalarna.

Dirty Old Town

Rainy Night in Soho

Finished Socks and WPI's

First up finished items

Here are:

Dad's Easy Cable Socks, from "Socks, Socks, Socks"

Yarn Used: STR, Mediumweight, Carbon

Needles: Brittany Birch, size 2 dp's

Not very happy with thee socks. First off there were many small knots. The first sock, the one on the left, went along just fine. The sock on the right has the knots. Another thing the sock on the right has is areas of white. There is no dye. So not a matched pair. The foot came out the same on both. I adjusted tension to make sure at least part of the sock matched. These are for my son and hopefully he will not mind.

Next up:

Ribble Socks, from "Socks, Socks, Socks

Yarn: STR Rhodonite, medium weight

Needles: Lantern Moon, Ebony, size 2, dp's

Again, there was a huge knot in the yarn. You can view this know in the blog below. It kind of messed up the swirls on the leg of the sock on the right. The foot came out okay, kind of opposite of each other.

Neither of these is a huge problem, the result is a warn sock with lovely colors, but when you pay more than $20 for a skein of yarn, you do not expect this to happen. This does happen in Patons, Classic Wool, but the cost is $6. Just more than a little dissapointed.

Now for the beginnings of the "Peace Fleece" sweater. I got cast on and the ribbing finished. This will need to be worked on in the daylight. Dark yarn, dark needles.

Update on Ribble Sock and Dan's Easy Cable Sock

I really do love this ribble pattern. With this STR I really have to pay attention to tension. It causes the swirling to get crazy.

What the heck is this................ a knot. There goes the pretty swirling.

Dan and I really like these socks. The colors are beautiful.

Unfortuately no more projects can fit into my knitting bowl. Three pair of socks are presently sharing the bowl. The red socks are Dalarna. Not much progress on these as I have been very busy at work. Not physical work but mentally draining headache work.

On Tuesday I ordered some Peace Fleece yarn. I am going to make an aran sweater. I will post a picture of pattern and yarn when I receive the yarn.

Then today this came........................................................Rockin Sock Club kit. It sure is beautiful, but toe up and short row heel. I have never tried toe up so this will be interesting. I have done short row heel but do not prefer them. This will be a challenge