Finished Object Friday: Tea Cozy

Pattern: Tea Cosy by Yasmin

Yarn: Northern Sport (White) and Bravo DK (Red)

Needle Size: US 7 (4.5mm)

Modifications: None.

Comments: You might recognize this pattern - I've knit it before. This time the yarns I've used are less slippery, and as a result the knit was far less unpleasant. After knitting the last tea cozy I had no intention of ever knitting another, however a coworker requested one for a friend so I cast on. Apparently knitted tea cozies are much sought after in some circles, so I may do a few more for a summer craft show. It is interesting to see it in different colours.

Using short floats to create pleats in the fabric is a very clever way to form insulating pockets on the inside of the cozy. From what I can gather this is quite a traditional tea cozy pattern - but I'm no expert on anything tea-related, so please don't quote me on this. The finished cozy is over a 100 grams of yarn ... pretty thick and puffy!

That's it from me on this finished object Friday. Why not head over to Tami's Amis to see what everyone else has been up to this week?

Year of Projects 3: Fiori Di Zucca 03

SOCKTOPUS: Totally Vanilla • Kandahar • V Junkie • Kwalia • Farmer McGregor • Shur'tugal • 2luvcrew • Vorticity • Rumpled! • Crowley • Om Shanti • Mince Pie Mayhem • Hundred Acre Wood • De Stijl • Fiori di Zucca • Caretta Caretta • Spring Shoots

Seems I always run into trouble if I leave an unfinished sock to hibernate for a few weeks, and this Fiori di Zucca sock is no different. When I left off I made a note to myself that I was ready to start the heel expansion chart, but after knitting 3 more rounds it was clear that something was very wrong. The pattern is now a few stitches off centre. Huh?

Re-reading instructions: stop 4 stitches before end of round before beginning the heel expansion chart.  ** sigh ** Later today I'll be ripping back to the beginning of the heel expansion chart and trying to recover all those yarn overs correctly. A time out of a few hours is definitely in order; I'm very annoyed! And I have no one to blame but myself.

Never mind, let's think happy thoughts. Remember that Pembroke vest that was almost finished last week? Ta Da ... now with buttons. The ultrasound has confirmed that it's a girl!

Still on the baby theme, we caught up with Matt and Sonja last night. Both parents-to-be were thrilled with our gift of an In Threes Cardigan. Funny; it took them several minutes to clue in that the little cardi was hand made. It was very sweet to see how touched they were. Sonja's a tiny little thing, and the baby bump is HUGE. Well, I guess that's not surprising; their baby girl is due next week. Fingers crossed that everything goes well for baby and Mom!

FO: Double Thick Socks

Pattern: Double Thick Socks (improvised)

Yarn: Kroy Sock in blue and Zarzuela Fibers MCN Sock Yarn - one strand of each held together

Needle Size: US 5 (3.75mm)

Pattern Notes:

Leg: With two yarns held together, cast on 40 sts and work 12 rds of K2P2 rib. Then work 18 rds in st st, stopping 10 sts before end of final round.

Heel: Work eye of partridge heel across 20 sts for 20 rows ending with WS row, then turn heel...
  Turn row 1 (RS) - sl1, k12, k2tog turn
  Turn row 2 (WS) - sl1, p6, p2tog turn
Continue short rows until all stitches are worked. Pick up 10 sts on each side of heel flap. Work gusset decreases every other round until 40 sts

Foot: Work 24 rds in st st, then work wedge toe. When 12 st remain, graft toe.

Comments: It's the same pattern as I shared a couple of weeks ago on my blog. This is the sixth and last pair of double thick socks I'll be able to complete in time for the January shipment of the Warm Hands Network, and these are my hands-down favourites. The combination of the two blues is really gorgeous in person. I nearly had to wrestle 'em off Linda when she tried them on! I've got a bag of knitted goods that I need to box up and get in the mail today.

It's Finished Object Friday over at Tami's Amis. Why not click through the links to see all the other FOs? You're sure to find more socks. It's -22° C with the windchill, so hand knit socks are exactly what the doctor ordered!

FO: Pembroke-ish Vest

Pattern: Pembroke Vest by Kristen Kapur

Yarn: Malabrigo Rio in Natural colour

Needle Size: US 5 (3.75 mm)

Modifications: 
The pattern is written to knit flat but I chose to knit in the round from the bottom ribbed band to the armholes. Also, most Raveler's commented about it knitting up huge, so I reduced the number of stitches I cast on to 108 for a newborn size.  As for the ribbing at the bottom, I changed the pattern to flow into the charts above it and I added a couple of rounds because ... well ... because I like ribbing.

Based on notes from other Ravelers, I switched the cable pattern at the centre to a braided cable. After working armhole decreases to 42 sts, I worked the rest of the armhole, v-neck and shoulders as written, although I did finish and bind off the ribbed bands after 3 rows rather than 5 rows.

Comments: 
Thank goodness for all the careful notes from other Ravelers! Isn't that one of the best things about Ravelry; seeing what others have done, seeing what worked and what didn't? It's been an awesome resource for me. I'm really happy with all the modifications. The size looks perfect - it's 16" circumference unstretched, and it's really stretchy. So stretchy in fact that I could fit my own head through if I had to!

It still needs blocking and buttons .... I'm waiting to hear confirmation of the sex of the baby before I commit to buttons. All in all, the finished vest took 74 grams of yarn, leaving me with 15 grams from the two skeins after knitting an In Threes Baby Cardigan earlier this week and now this little vest. Two skeins = two gifts with very little to leftover. I like that math!

FO: In Threes Baby Cardigan

Pattern: in threes: a baby cardigan by Kelly Herdrich

Yarn: Malabrigo Rio in Natural colour

Needle Size: US 8 (5 mm)

Modifications: I slipped the first stitch for a better selvedge edge at the beginning of each row and I added a 1/2" to the body length at the newborn size.

Comments: A lot of Ravellers commented that the cardigan was knitting up too large so I chose to knit the smallest size  (newborn). I haven't got any babies to compare it to, but it looks baby sized to me. Maybe 9-12 months size?

The pattern designer mentions that you can knit this from one skein, and had I knit it as written without adding to the length, that would have been the case. The first skein ended two rows before the bind off.

The pregnant parents are both surfers - in fact she's a sponsored Chick Sticks surfer - so I wanted some buttons that evoked their love of the water. These little translucent resin fish were the best I could do; super cute, huh? Gavin remarked that I had to be careful about making sure they were affixed securely - after all they'd be a choking hazard otherwise - so for the yarn that feeds through the button hole, I tripled knotted it at the back behind each button and then wove in the ends. Is there a standard procedure for this? How do you secure buttons on baby outfits?

It's a very cute and easy pattern. If I did it again, I'd stick with the smallest size and maybe even go down a needle size to make it just a titch smaller still. I'd also consider omitting the garter stitch detail below the armholes, as I don't think it adds anything.

Of course, using a second skein to knit the last two rows and the bind off leaves me with just less than a skein leftover. I wonder if I can sneak a Pembroke vest at newborn size out of that? Especially if I make the smallest size modified to be a bit shorter and smaller! I'm going to try!

Year of Projects 3: Fiori di Zucca 02

SOCKTOPUS: Totally Vanilla • Kandahar • V Junkie • Kwalia • Farmer McGregor • Shur'tugal • 2luvcrew • Vorticity • Rumpled! • Crowley • Om Shanti • Mince Pie Mayhem • Hundred Acre Wood • De Stijl • Fiori di Zucca • Caretta Caretta • Spring Shoots

I've made a good start on my first Fiori di Zucca sock. I've knit the entire leg and am getting ready to start the heel expansion chart. The chart spans a double-page spread in the book - which I find intimidating - but if the leg is anything to go by, the charts look harder than they are. The pattern is actually quite intuitive; I was able to knit the last repeat of the leg without even consulting the chart.

The cast on is a double strand long tail cast on. I've seen this cast on before in Nancy Bush sock patterns but I wasn't too impressed with it, until now. For a lacy scalloped edge like this the double strand gives a thick curling edge that makes for a nice finish on the top edge.

Oh, and this yarn! I couldn't be more pleased with my yarn choice for this pattern. It's Super Cash Sock from Studio June Yarn in a colourway called "Butterscotch". There's some subtle tonal variegation but not enough to obscure the pattern. And the stitch definition is great - something you don't always find hand in hand with the softness of cashmere.

I'm still knitting scrappy socks at the same time, so progress on these lacy socks isn't as quick as it might be. The KAL deadline for these socks is the end of February so there's no hurry. Besides, even though we're back to milder temperatures ... +3° today ... it's still not lacy sock weather. Meanwhile, I do want to complete as many pairs of the scrappy socks as I can manage ahead of the January 30th shipping deadline for the Warm Hands Network. Either way next week's post, I hope to have one finished sock to show you. I'm not much for taking notes when I knit, so I can't afford much time away from sock one, if I want sock two to match!

Finished Object Friday: Double Thick Socks

Pattern: Double Thick Socks (improvised)

Yarn: Kroy Sock Stripes in "Krazy Stripes 55801" and Loopy Ewe Solid Series in "Sunshine Yellow" - one strand of each held together

Needle Size: US 5 (3.75mm)

Pattern Notes:

Leg: With two yarns held together, cast on 40 sts and work 12 rds of K2P2 rib. Then work 18 rds in st st, stopping 10 sts before end of final round.

Heel: Work eye of partridge heel across 20 sts for 20 rows ending with WS row, then turn heel...
  Turn row 1 (RS) - sl1, k12, k2tog turn
  Turn row 2 (WS) - sl1, p6, p2tog turn
Continue short rows until all stitches are worked. Pick up 10 sts on each side of heel flap. Work gusset decreases every other round until 40 sts

Foot: Work 24 rds in st st, then work wedge toe. When 12 st remain, graft toe.

Comments: Last week I made a pair of socks with two strands of fingering weight held together using notes from another Raveler. Inspired by them, I improvised my own pattern for a larger size with as much length in the leg as I could manage while using every inch of a 50 gram ball of Kroy Sock Yarn. My resulting socks fit a small adult foot, and they're pretty comfy!

It's Finished Object Friday over at Tami's Amis. Why not click the links and have a look at what else got done last week? On the home front, it looks like both Gavin and I are finally getting over our colds. Feeling is finally returning to Gavin's fingertips after he went down to take photos at the Lake in -35° in fingerless gloves :( And the weather is finally cooperating too. After days of deep freeze, the temperatures are finally climbing back to seasonal norms.

Year of Projects 3: Fiori di Zucca 01

SOCKTOPUS: Totally Vanilla • Kandahar • V Junkie • Kwalia • Farmer McGregor • Shur'tugal • 2luvcrew • Vorticity • Rumpled! • Crowley • Om Shanti • Mince Pie Mayhem • Hundred Acre Wood • De Stijl • Fiori di Zucca • Caretta Caretta • Spring Shoots

January 1st was the start date for the KAL for Fiori di Zucca. I chose my yarn - Super Cash Sock in a colourway called "Butterscotch" - and I've rewound the skein, but that's as far as I've got. I'm still fighting a cold, although I think I'm finally getting the upper hand, so there hasn't been a lot of complicated knitting going on. 

Mostly, I've been making scrappy socks. The other day a fellow Raveler shared her notes for making childrens socks with two strands of fingering weight yarn held together. Socks like this are too thick to wear in shoes, but are ideal for walking on cold floors in stocking feet, or for wearing inside big winter boots, or even for filling up skates borrowed from an older sibling. The Warm Hands Network ships hand knit goods including socks to northern reserves; they specifically request thick, machine washable wool socks. And this pattern is ideal.

For my first pair I've combined Kroy Jacquard-patterning yarn in a discontinued tangerine colourway with Loopy Ewe Solid Series fingering in solid Sunshine Yellow. The socks are very bright and cheery; not too clown-barfy! I tried to match the stripes but based on the toe, it looks like I missed by a couple of yards. Oh well, close enough I'd say.

As soon as I publish this post I'm going to cast on another pair. After inventorying my yarn stash last week, I'm inspired to do more to use up sock yarn leftovers. For these socks I need about 40 grams of each colour ...  I just bet I've got the leftovers to do a couple more pairs in different colour combinations. There's a shipment headed out from Ottawa to communities in Nunavut on January 30th. Let's see how many pairs I can get done for then!