Work-in-Progress Wednesday

It's a virtual rainbow of baby booties. Call it obsession if you want. I'm calling it "stash-busting" ... once I finish the last two pairs in periwinkle blue that'll be every inch of baby weight superwash wool in my stash knitted up! And then I'll be foraging through my sock yarn scraps to knit the sock legs that finish these booties.

You see the end of the month is fast approaching, and I'm part of a Ravelry group called "Surmount the Stash". At the beginning of February I'll be updating my progress on working through my stash and I'd dearly love to report that I'd worked through the ALL baby yarn. That's a little unrealistic though; once I finish these baby booties I'll still have about 125 grams of acrylic baby yarn left. That should be enough to make a couple of newborn hats for the local hospital. Let's see if I have the willpower to apply myself and work through it all!

Here in Toronto we're enjoying spring for a day with temperatures in the double-digits. The snow - what little there was - has all melted and today at lunch I was walking around outside in shirt sleeves! Hopefully you're enjoying your Wednesday just as much. Have a look at the links at Tami's Amis to see what everyone else is furiously working on!

at the halfway point

I'm sure I've mentioned how much I dislike scarves and blankets for the fact that they seem unending. But today I'm celebrating a milestone on this Lace Ribbon Scarf. I've come to the end of the first skein which makes me officially at the halfway point. My plan is to knit the second skein and then call it done. It's 38" long now - unblocked - so it looks like the length will be pretty much perfect.

Maybe my boredom with this project is what's been pushing me to knit instant gratification booties in my home knitting time? Could be. And it could be the stash-busting aspect of it too. There's still another pair on the needles now, this time in fire engine red.

Finished Object Friday

It's late in the day, but better late than never! I've just finished up another pair of booties ...

Pattern: Baby Moc-A-Soc, knit at size 6-12 months

Yarn: The periwinkle blue is leftover superwash baby wool and the ivory is left over sock wool - SRK On Your Toes, I think - both from my stash.

Needles: size 1 (2.25 mm)

Modifications: None :)

It's Finished Object Friday and it's snowing to beat the band. The roads are dreadful and the police have just closed the main highway home in both directions for a multi-vehicle crash, so it's going to be a long night and a slow, white-knuckle drive. As usual I'm linking up with the group at Tami's Amis. Have a look to see what everyone else finished - there are always a few surprises!

Work-in-Progress Wednesday

The Lace Ribbon Scarf is my at-work project. In my job there are often extended periods of time where I'm awaiting the upload, download, transfer or copy of files. Rather than stare at the computer screen impatiently and stress out about how long it's taking, I knit. This scarf has proven to be an ideal at-work project because it's easy to pick up and put down; the knitted pattern is so easy to read that I can tell where I left off at a glance. The project is a special request from the office manager, so there's been lots of interest from my coworkers in how it's progressing. I'm using Handmaiden Sea Silk and I have two skeins, so when I come to the end of the yarn, we'll call this scarf finished. I'm about 2/3rds of the way through the first skein and the scarf measures about 24" unblocked so far.

In the evenings I've been making these Baby Moc-A-Socs. The pattern is just adorable so I'm really enjoying them. Each pair of boots take about 16-18 grams of sock yarn, and the cuffs take even less in a contrasting colour, so it's been a nice little project to use up some of sock yarn scraps. You wouldn't normally use wool for booties, however I intend to donate them to the Warm Hands Network for distribution in the prenatal clinics and new Mom groups in the Northern reserves and they actually prefer superwash wool for warmth and insulation value when damp. The next shipment leaves at the end of the month for Moosonee - we'll just have to see how many I can complete in time for that.

And finally, it occurred to me yesterday that there might be just enough Shelridge Farms DK leftover from a pullover I made last year to put towards Summer Flies. That would be an awesome birthday present for my sister - a June baby - so I want to look into that further. But before I cast on anything new, I'd better get moving on all my WIPs!

It's Wednesday so I'm linking up with the gang at Tami's Amis. Go on and check out the links!

Booties

On Saturday at the knitting club at the Public Library the ladies were talking about booties. I guess they're having a bit of a KAL. The pattern they're using is a very traditional one - something like this - but I've always thought this Moc-A-Soc pattern looked just darling. And now I have a reason to knit it.

It's knit flat and seamed, which took me aback when I first looked at it, but after knitting a few I think I'll continue that way rather than adjusting to knit in the round. After all, it's a pretty small seam to sew up and it does mean there are no jogs in the garter pattern. And it's surprisingly not too fiddly - I'm not even fed up with it yet and I'm already on number 3.

I'm using sock yarn leftovers from my stash with a plan to donate them to the Warm Hands Network. They provide items to a number of prenatal clinics and new Mom groups in the northern reserves, so these will definitely be put to good use. Because of the cold temperatures - it's -35°C in Moose Factory today - they specifically request superwash wool. Knitting the boot part of the pattern with fingering weight rather than sport weight results in a finished product that's on the small side. Essentially, when I knit the pattern as written for the 6-12 month size I end up with a 0-6 months size bootie, measuring 4" on the length of the sole. I might play around a bit with the numbers to see if I can make some a little bigger, but for now I'm just having way too much fun knitting these as written.

Year of Projects 2: French Sock

Folk Knitting in Estonia: Aino's Gloves • Anu's Christmas Gloves • Anu's Mittens • Anu's Stockings • Avo's Mittens • Ellen's Stockings • Helgi's Mittens • Hilja's Mittens • Ilmar's Socks • Juta's Stockings • Kalev's Mittens • Kristi's Mittens • Laila's Socks • Landra's Gloves • Liidia's Gloves • Liivi's Stockings • Maarja's Socks • Maimu's Mittens • Marko's Mittens • Meida's Mittens • Merike's Gloves • Rita's Stockings • Sander's Mittens • Tiit's Socks • Ulla's Gloves • Virve's Stockings

Knitting Vintage Socks: Gentleman's Shooting Stockings with Fluted Pattern (1887) • Gentleman's Sock in Railway Stitch (1889) • Gentleman's Socks with Lozenge Pattern (1895) • Bed Sock in Lemon Pattern Fancy Knit Stripe (1896) • Cycling or Golf Stockings with Fancy Cuff in Trellis Pattern (1897) • Heelless Sleeping Socks (1897) • Child's French Sock in Citron Pattern and Diaper Knitting (1898) • Child's First Sock in Shell Pattern (1899) • Gentleman's Half Hose in Ringwood Pattern (1899) • Gentleman's Sock for Evening Wear (1900) • Evening Stockings for a Young Lady (1900) • Fancy Silk Sock for a Child of 5 or 6 Years (1900) • Gentleman's Fancy Sock (1901) • Gentleman's Plain Winter Sock with Dutch Heel (1901) • Child's Sock in Miranda Pattern (1904) • Baby's Bootikin (1905)  •  Little Child's Sock (1907)  •  Ladies Useful Stockings (1913)  •  Ladies Silk Stockings with Clocks (1914)

My first sock from the pattern Child's French Sock is done. All that worrying about size and it fits me fine. In fact, it couldn't be any better - well, after adding a bunch of stitches, changing to smaller needles and lengthening the heel flap, that is. I read somewhere that a heel flap should be roughly square, but for my pointy heels I need a heel flap about 20% taller than it is wide.

In the acknowledgements for this book Knitting Vintage Socks, designer Nancy Bush thanks a group of skilled knitters who knit "sock mates" for her. Imagine, someone else knitting your second sock?!! How awesome would that be? Oh well, there's nobody to do that for me ... particularly as I'm lousy about writing down my mods and haven't met anyone yet with matching tension. Nothing else to do but cast on a second sock. Let's see if I can't finish up this sock before next week's post. My lingering case of start-itis is trying to goad me into casting on some scrap yarn stripey socks to finish out the month.

Work-in-Progress Wednesday

Last night I turned the heel of my first Child's French Sock. I'd been a bit nervous about that - having increased the primary stitch count I wasn't entirely sure how I was going to fudge the numbers at the heel turn. Like so many things I worry about it, as it turned out it was easier than I thought and worked out just fine.

I'm battling a terrible case of start-itis though. I did give in and cast on a Lace Ribbon Scarf, but I am counting on every ounce of my willpower to avoid casting on another pair of socks until these are done. There are No Purl Monkeys calling me - especially after Dee's blog yesterday and especially as the perfect yarn arrived in the mail yesterday. And there is the pattern Ensnared that I was gifted from Wandering Cat Yarns, along with another gorgeous yarn, Alley Cat BFL in a gorgeous pine green called "Anne Boleyn". It almost feels like I need to be curled up on the sofa watching The Tudors DVDS while knitting that!  <<< The PERFECT weekend !!!

The yarn is a prize from a 2012 KAL over at the Wandering Cat Yarns group in Ravelry. There are plans to run more KALs with similar prizes this year, so run over and join the group! Aren't these skeins gorgeous?! And it's so nice that Rhonda and Valerie remembered my favourite bases - BFL and MCN - and sent me one of each. I know, I'm spoiled :) Thanks ladies!

It's Work-in-Progress Wednesday over at Tami's Amis so take a few minutes to have a look at what everyone else is up to ... if you dare. It's a bit dangerous if you've got start-itis though. There's almost certain to be more temptation waiting ....