Although flashy socks are fun, they don’t quite go with the office chinos and polo shirt. Enter the plain rib, or ‘boring enough for work’ socks. These socks have a bit of wear already, because John absconded with them as soon as they were off the needles.

I’m finding that I don’t hate making ribbed socks as much as I thought I would. They are great car knitting, because I don’t have to think about them. Endless rows of garter stitch, though, still drives me around the bend. What’s up with that?

Details:

Started:	12 Mar 2009
Finished:	4 May 2009
Pattern:	Improvised. 2×2 rib at top; 3×1 rib for the rest of the sock. Slipped stitch heel. Worked top-down with a heel flap. I’ll add specific notes when the slip of paper I wrote all the stitch counts and measurements on surfaces.
Yarn:	ShibuiKnits Sock, in ’sand’.
Needles:	US 1.5 (2.5 mm) knitpicks metal dpns.
Notes:	Ravelry link to project.

Hi all,

I received a question about the house socks pattern last night. In working a swatch to answer it, I realized that the numbers in the heel turn section of the pattern are slightly off. The new version is available here: download now

If you just want to change the heel numbers, I’ve added them at the bottom of this post.

In other news, I’ve wrecked the timing on my sewing machine by sewing that honkin’ thick jeans charity quilt. The last time I did this to my old trusty machine it cost me around $150 to fix. I’m contemplating trying to fix it myself; wish me luck!

—
Heel
For now, ignore your instep stitches and work only with your gusset / sole stitches.
Join your contrasting color yarn, and knit across your gusset, sole, and other gusset (48 sts).
When you reach the end of the second gusset, turn and work as follows:
WS – p36, wrap & turn
RS – k24, wrap & turn
WS – p23, wrap & turn
Continue in this manner until you have 12 stitches still unwrapped in the middle.
Sanity check: 12 in the middle, 7 wrapped on each side, then 11 unwrapped on each end.

WS – p12, then p6 picking up wraps and knitting them together with the stitch as you go.
Purl the next stitch, wrap, and unwrapped stitch together (p3tog), turn.

RS – sl1, k18, k next 6 stitches picking up wraps and knitting them together with the stitch as you go. Knit the next stitch, wrap, and unwrapped stitch together (k3tog), turn.

WS – sl1, p24, p2tog, turn.
RS – sl1, k24, k2tog, turn.

Continue in this manner until all gusset stitches are worked. You should have 26 heel stitches. Cut contrasting yarn.

I can never find a purse small enough for me! I’m one of those wallet, pen, phone types of people. Don’t get me wrong - I’ll stuff any size purse I decide to carry around, eventually. Then it hurts my back and shoulder to lug it about! So, smaller is better.

After scouring the ‘net for a pattern, I ended up with this wristlet. Turns out the lady who made the pattern lives all of about 30 minutes from me - small world!

The fabric is two fat quarters that my sisters gifted me with years ago. They haven’t made their way into a quilt yet, so they were fair game. I made plenty of mistakes putting this together, but I’m not about to show you what they are! It’s serviceable, and the fabric hides a lot. Whew.

Started:	1 Feb 2009
Finished:	13 Feb 2009 (ish)
Pattern:	Boxy Wristlet from Sew Spoiled. Link to pattern in Etsy store here.
Materials:	100% cotton quilters fabric. Interfacing that I had lying about. Zipper from the local sewing store. Hardware bought in a kit from Tantalizing Stitches on Etsy here.

I’m a sucker for a nice celtic cable. I was immediately drawn to Rogue - what celtic cable-lover wouldn’t be? When I purchased the pattern, I knew I’d be in for some new techniques. That is half the fun, after all. What I didn’t know at the time is that the pretty hood braid is grafted - right in the middle, in front of God and everybody. Oh, my.

Regular old grafting / kitchener stitch is something I learned with glee a few years ago in order to close the toes on my socks. Grafting knits and purls, I thought, would be in an entirely different league. Luckily, many have walked this path before me. If you want your very own cheat sheet for Rogue, look here. I didn’t opt for this route, though, because I wanted a solution I’d be able to apply to *any* cable or braid. I’m stubborn like that.

What I stumbled upon, thanks to Ravelry, is Lucy Neatby’s ‘chimney’ method (see it here.) In essence, you knit and purl in pattern for several rows using waste yarn. Then, you pop the waste yarn rows (the chimney) inside your garment, and use the waste yarn as your road map on how to sew your grafting seam. Brilliant! The best part, for me, is that the waste yarn is holding what would be your live stitches. If your grafting isn’t as pretty as you want it, rip it out and do it over!

The Chimney	During the graft	The underside after grafting

I ended up grafting it twice. On the second graft, I cheated and didn’t follow the waste yarn path exactly. When you’re grafting, you end up with each side being a half-stitch off. In stockinette stitch, this doesn’t show up much, but it sure does with a cable! I didn’t see any clear way around the half-stitch offset, so I just fudged the leading edge of my cable each time I came to one. The trailing edge didn’t seem to be as noticeable, so I left it as-is. I’m hoping blocking will help even everything out. I could do it a third time, but I won’t without a clear idea of how I could make it better.

First Try	Second Try

So, what do you all think? Do you have another way to attack a cable graft? I’m all ears!

I tried on my sleeveless Rogue, and it mostly fits. It’s a little long and a little big around, but I’m okay with that. Next up is the weaving in and blocking of the main body before I steek this sucker. Yeah, I’ve never done that, either. And this is superwash wool (hello, sewing machine!) I’m steeking it before I knit the sleeves on the theory that if I mess it up, at least I won’t have wasted all that time knitting sleeves. I’m an optimist like that.

Somewhere in the bowels of my mother’s house lies yards of carefully folded blue fabric, half cut into a prom dress that never fully materialized. She had the best of intentions when she started the project, just as I did on the many projects that languish in my own home.

This one was never completed, and I’m aiming to finish this one in time for the little tyke’s third birthday. Ahem.

That said, this weekend I polished off a pint-sized pair of procrastination PJ’s that particularly please me. My sis started this pair of jammies for her eldest, now almost a teenager. He grew too fast, and somehow her second son blew by them, too. She gave them to me over a year ago (two? I’ve lost count) when my boys were still ridiculously small for them. She is wise. They languished in a bag for a long time, came out for a weekend of quick sewing, languished again… repeat as needed. They’ve been complete but for their buttonholes and buttons for over a month. It’s crazy! I finished them up this weekend, and I think they’re cute as can be. They are reported to be “comfy!”

Earlier this year I wrote down every half-finished project I have that I have any intention of finishing. The list isn’t quite so bad as I thought it would be - thirteen projects, two of which have since been completed. If the list is smaller every year, I’ll be happy.

Details: Started: Who knows when?! Finished: 18 Apr 2009 Pattern: Simplicity 6131 size 7 Fabric: Gifted flannel. Notes: Buttons are La Mode, 5/8″ (16mm) Style 33550. Three left over for the button jar.

I’ve been meaning to post about a charity I’m working with, and as they just issued an urgent call for knitterly goodness, now is a good time. The charity is Operation Quiet Comfort. They send support packages to military hospitals to comfort wounded soldiers and those who care for them. One of the wonderful things about this group is that they basically “fill orders” from their hospital contacts. You can be sure that whatever you send is needed where its going.

Please note that whether you craft or not, and whether you have money or not, Operation Quiet Comfort can use your help. Some projects are put together so that people who have time but no funds can receive material to work with from other members of the group, and vice versa.

In addition to the usual fare (personal grooming kits, cool ties, etc.) Operation Quiet Comfort has some unique things going on. The first is quilts. They have a ‘Four Freedoms Gratitude Quilt’, where 96 people send messages of gratitude and well-wishing written on well-worn denim squares from old jeans. The messages are sewn into a quilt that is given to a wounded soldier. Quilters that prefer a more traditional medium can make ‘litter quilts’. These quilts are the size of the litters used to carry wounded soldiers. Another clever thing they do is send bread machines and mixes to the hospitals. What a morale booster the smell and taste of ‘homemade’ bread must be (and is, from comments sent back to the group from the hospitals.)

Right now, the group’s supply of knit hats is running low. They are basic hats, knit from a specific pattern in the round in black yarn. If you would like to help with this project, please contact Operation Quiet Comfort. You can join the Yahoo group and then contact the knitting/crochet project coordinator and let her know how you would like to help.

I’m in the midst of a Four Freedoms quilt right now, but I’ll be knitting hats later.

Here’s the gal the coffee-dyed yarn went into. I whipped her up as a fertility totem for a friend who was trying to get pregnant. She was more potent than I realized… my friend was pregnant before I finished the bunny. So now she’s a happy spring / healthy pregnancy totem. We are nothing if not flexible! This little one was fun to work up, though I had to give myself quite a pep talk before attempting to embroider the details - I’m trying to keep in mind that it’s better to at least *try* to do things that aren’t my forte. How am I ever going to learn them, otherwise? Have a great weekend!

Details: Started: 16 Mar 2009 Finished: 25 Mar 2009 Pattern: Elizabeth in a Rabbit Costume by Mia of Owlishly Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash in Gray (don’t know the exact color) and Plymouth Galway worsted, coffee-dyed by moi. Bunny tail is a smidgeon of Sirdar Foxy ’silver fox’. Hook: D / 3.25mm

Notes:

Since the photos appeared ‘inside out’ to me, I worked all the pieces inside out. I like the look, but it was kind of a pain to do that way. The designer is left-handed (well, so am I, but I crochet right-handed), and that might account for the difference. Link to Ravelry project

Have you ever noticed how hard it is to find *just* the color of yarn you want right when you want it? This time, I was searching for wool in a skin tone. Now, finding this online is easy - it’s finding it in person and quickly to whip up a small project that’s the bear. After spending a few minutes in my local yarn shop, I sighed defeat and grabbed a white skein of Galway. I figured I’d soak a bit in tea and call it good.

A quick perusal of tea dyeing on Google caused me to believe that it really is that easy. Tea (and coffee, for that matter) stain so very well. I wonder what red wine would look like on white wool? Hrmmm. I *know* pizza sauce would work. Hrmmm, now I don’t know whether to be hungry or go do my laundry. Back to tea!

After reading about how the tannic acid in the tea weakens fibers, I started to lean toward coffee dyeing. But, I have some undrinkable nasty old tea bags hanging about in my pantry (why clean out the pantry when you can knit?) I wasn’t sure I wanted to waste COFFEE on dyeing wool. I decided that tea would be fine; after all, this is a lark sort of project, not a hangs-around-for-generations knitted heirloom.

I grabbed my thrift-store dyeing pot and spoon and wandered into the kitchen. Lo and behold, there sat about a third of a pot of coffee that had been on the burner too long that morning. It sat neglected all day, and was fairly begging to be poured over wool. Who am I to argue with the fates? Coffee it is.

I’m sure there are as many methods to this as there are posts on the subject, but I’ll just tell you what I did.

Combine 1 2/3 C coffee, 2 C water, and 25 g wool in the dyepot. Bring to a nice, steaming, almost-simmer. Keep it steaming for about 5 minutes. Add 1/2 tsp alum; stir gently. Turn off the heat; add lid. After a while, drain the water and let the wool cool down. Then, rinse with tepid water.

If I’d been going for a darker brown, I’d have steamed the wool for longer, and I’d have let it sit in the dyebath overnight to cool. As it was, I was aiming for a light brown, which is just what I got.

Last week my mom had her birthday. I finished her vest in time, due in no small part to dogged perseverance and the last-minute ability to ignore a few issues and just “make it work”. Once again, the issues were not with the pattern but rather with my ability to count repeats. I’d love to give you an elaborate reason why I can’t count to ten reliably, but I’m drawing a blank.

At any rate, she likes it (I admit, near the end, I didn’t really care if she ever wore it so long as it got off my needles and stayed off my needles.) I don’t have a nicely set up shot of the finished vest, because it has been on her back since I gave it to her. The edging hasn’t even been blocked yet!

If you see a nice lady walking around Ohio in a coffee-colored beach lace vest with the edging flipping up in the back, wish her a belated happy birthday. She deserves it.

Details:

Started:	18 Oct 2008
Finished:	11 Mar 2009
Pattern:	Beech Leaf Vest by Dorothy Siemens, Fiddlesticks Knitting. Ravelry link to pattern page.
Yarn:	Fiddlesticks Knitting Ecoknit Organic Cotton (plied worsted weight cotton.)
Needles:	US 4 / 3.5mm ‘options’ metal circulars from Knit Picks. Love ‘em.
Notes:	Lovely pattern. I had issues reading the chart to begin with, but that became clear in time. Mine was finished without buttons by my mom’s request. I like that we can always add them later, since the edging doubles as the buttonholes. Ravelry link to my project.

Meet Knitty Kitty - so named by one of my sons, and gifted last Christmas to an exuberant toddler. If you’re looking for a baby-safe easy knit that can stand up to some serious loving, this pattern may be for you.

Everything on Knitty Kitty is knit flat and then seamed, and it’s all stockinette. All color changes are at the edge, so no need to get fancy with the one-yarn-in-each-hand trick. I just carried the unused yarn up the sides, and left all of the niggly ends inside with the stuffing. Easy peasy!

This pattern is so forgiving that I ended up using two different weights of yarn (it was what I had on hand), and it worked out just fine. Just be sure that you attach the arms, legs, and tail to the correct end of the cat. It’s no fun to go to embroider the ears and find out that the whole thing is upside down. Or so I’ve heard. Ahem.

Knitty Kitty currently resides in a posh crib, where he’s been known to wake up his new bud from his afternoon nap. “Knitty Kitty woke me up. He was being pouncy.”

Details:

Started:	10 Dec 2008
Finished:	21 Dec 2008
Pattern:	Knitted Cuddlies by Louisa Harding. Ravelry link to pattern page. The pattern also has variations for a teddy bear and rabbit. This pattern is free, though you need to sign up for the Knitting Daily website to download it (also free.)
Yarn:	Knit Picks Merino Style (DK) in color Hawk (dark gray), adn Lion Brand Wool Ease (worsted) in Gray Heather.
Needles:	US6 / 4.0mm trusty old straight aluminums.
Notes:	Features embroidered with the same yarn I used to knit him with. He’s stuffed with ‘Airtex premium’ polyester fiberfill. Ravelry link for this project.

Here you can see the back and tail… and my cat checking out the competition.