August 13, 2007

Undulating Rib Socks

I'm sorry I've been gone so long. I don't really have an excuse. I've been here and I've been knitting, I just haven't been blogging. The undulating rib socks made it to my sister in time for her birthday - 10 days ago. Initially I waited to blog about them because she's taken to reading my blog on a fairly regular basis. What's up with that? I mean I'm glad she's taken an interest, but why did she have to do it right about the time I was knitting her socks? Murphey's Law I suppose.

Project Details:

Yarn: Piece of Beauty Bluefaced Leicester Superwash in Ocean Minerals

Pattern: Undulating Rib from Favorite Socks

Needles: Lantern Moon Ebony Sox Stix in 2.25mm. I absolutely love the 5" needles but I wish they didn't warp as bad as they do. I suppose you can't have everything.

Thoughts: I was a little disappointed when I saw that Piece of Beauty had switched from merino to bfl sock yarn, but mostly just because I loved the merino so much. I have to say that I was very, very happy with the blf. After I knit these socks can honestly tell you that this is great sock yarn. The colors are wonderful, I love that it is superwash, and there wasn't any pooling! The undulating rib pattern has enough going on to keep you interested, but is fairly mindless - just what a sock is supposed to be.

My sister was very surprised, which makes me so very happy. I gave her the very first pair of socks I ever knit and she says these are soooo much better. I should hope so.

I started the Myrtle Leaf shawl from Victorian Lace today, but after ripping it out 3 times I decided that it wasn't the right time for that project. So instead I've cast on Rogue in some Skye Tweed I had in the stash. It's really coming along nicely and I'll have pictures for you this week.

There's been a lot going on in my life and I think I'll try to get my thoughts together and tell you all about it. Nobody gives better advise than my blogging pals. You guys are just smart and insightful. For now, have a great day and I promise I won't be gone so long before my next post.

Posted by Stephanie at 4:46 PM | Comments (21)

July 25, 2007

Actual Progress

It's always nice to see family, but when you aren't expecting them it throws me for a loop. My uncle was in town over the weekend and he stayed with us. We had a lot of fun, but I didn't really get much productive done. The good news is that because I've been working too many hours, I have today off (I have to flex my time rather than getting paid overtime)! An entire day to myself. I started the day off by sleeping in and now I'm drinking some tea and catching up on my blogging - again. Just as soon as I resolve to post to my blog every afternoon something happens and blogging goes by the wayside. Ok, enough whining. Sheesh.

We watched Shooter Saturday night and I took the opportunity to work on the very neglected Undulating Rib sock. The second one hasn't been getting a lot of action and I need to get it finished so I have time to send it off to my sister for her birthday on August 3rd. Translation - I need to get off my lazy butt and work on it. I managed to turn the heel and make some progress on the gusset during the movie and then I've worked on it a little bit more this week.

I've also been working on the muslin for the dress. I'm learning a lot about the way clothes are put together because this dress has been hard for me. Right now I'm working on getting the sleeves put it and thank goodness I have experience with set-in sleeves from knitting or I'd be lost. And thank goodness for my Vogue Sewing book or I'd be in a world of trouble. Fabric is not exactly like knitting. I'm easing the sleeves in and the basting makes it work pretty well.

My plan for today is to catch up on my blog reading (it's bad, I promise you) and work on my sewing for a little while. I'm sure I'll have to watch a little bit of television, so the sock will get some attention too. Have a great day.

Posted by Stephanie at 9:40 AM | Comments (9)

July 9, 2007

Where Does The Time Go?

I had drug school again for 10 days the week before last and the beginning of last week and let me tell you, being out of the office that much makes for an interesting return to work - even if you only work part-time! The good news is that I learned A LOT at drug class. I can honestly tell you that I've led a sheltered life. I didn't even know a lot of that stuff existed. And now that I know I'm not sure I'm better off. Oh well, what can you do. Besides drug school I've been busy. I'm not exactly sure what I've been doing, but I've managed to fill up the hours of the day.

I've been knitting on the Undulating Rib socks. The first one has been done for a week or so.

The second one is about 4 inches into the leg. I need to get these socks done by the 19th so my mom can take them to my sister when she goes to visit. I'm going to have to stop messing around if that's going to happen.

I've also been spinning! Shocking, I know. I actually pulled out my spindle and have set it in the living room. When I have a minute I pick it up and spin a bit. Thanks Carole for the great suggestion!

I've also been sewing. In fact, I may be a bit obsessed with sewing right now. Spinnerella will be happy to know that I've made 3 pairs of pajama pants for Christmas gifts. I still have one pair to make, but I'm quite pleased with myself on that front. So, as a reward I bought some patterns and fabric for projects for myself. First up is the simple a-line skirt from hotpatterns.com. I ordered fabric from Gorgeous Fabrics (fabulous stuff and wonderful customer service!), but it isn't here yet. In an effort to get a skirt that actually fits me that I like, I did what everyone is always telling me I should do, and I made a muslin.

Ok, so that's actually a really cool thing. I ended up taking in the hips just a bit - taking out a little bit of the curve and it's a lot easier to do that on fabric you don't care about rather than on the expensive stuff you really like. Go figure. The "real" fabric should be here today or tomorrow and I'm ready as soon as I can wash it. I'll let you know how it turns out. And depending on the outcome of this project, I have plans for a dress next. Oh, and the lady at the quilt store gave me a dress form. For Free! They had it in their basement and weren't using it! I had to wash the cover because it was really dirty from years in storage and the cover shrunk, so I need to figure out something else for a cover because it's really hard to get things on and off it with the t-shirt I put on it. I also need to figure out a way to pad it just a bit. It's perfect in some measurements but an inch or so too small in the hips and the bust. Anyway, it works pretty great for free.

Happy Monday.

Posted by Stephanie at 6:47 AM | Comments (15)

June 21, 2007

Another Sock

The next sock in the basket is the Undulating Rib sock from the ever-popular Favorite Socks book from IK. The yarn ... well the yarn is the Ocean Minerals from Piece of Beauty.

The yarn isn't as blue as it looks - it's greener. Greenish turquoise I suppose. Piece of Beauty switched from a superwash merino to a superwash BFL sock yarn and I was skeptical when I ordered it. Not because I have anything against BFL, but because I loved the merino so much. I have to say, I'm very impressed with this yarn. It's soft (I was worried about it's softness), yet feels like it will wear well. All in all, a great sock yarn.

I'm using my new Lantern Moon Sox Stix for this project. Size 1 - 2.25mm. The pattern called for a US 3 and 4 and I was stumped by that because the gauge is 18 sts to 2 inches. That's 9 stitches per inch. I measured my gauge on the Retro Rib socks and it was about 17 sts to 2 inches. I know this is different yarn, but not that different. I just can't imagine a fingering weight (which is the weight specified in the pattern) sock yarn knit on size 3 needles. Am I crazy? Anyway, I don't know what my gauge is for this sock, but it looks to be about the right size and the pattern is super stretchy. So I'm pretty sure it will fit my sister.

Yesterday was a big baking day at my house. I made more Oatmeal Toasting Bread. I'll save you from a picture because it looks just about like the last batch. And since I was on an oatmeal kick I decided to make oatmeal raisin cookies too. I tried a new recipe - more of a refrigerator dough - and I really, really like them.

They're large, which Travis likes, and very soft and chewy. I don't like oatmeal raisin cookies that get hard and these definitely aren't. I also like that they didn't get really flat, which is a common problem I have with cookies. So, I made a mark in the cookbook and will make these again.

Posted by Stephanie at 5:57 PM | Comments (20)