Tuesday, October 16, 2007

I Love Mondays ... at least until the end of 2007

Due to bad recordkeeping on my part and an earlier miscommunication from our payroll person, I discovered a couple of weeks ago, to my surprise, that I still had nine vacation days left! Since vacation days cannot be carried over to the next year, I decided to take off every Monday until the end of the year.

Yesterday was my second such Monday off and I am thoroughly enjoying the long weekends ... although I don't want to think about how difficult it will be to go back to regular weeks in January.

I'm afraid there isn't much else going on but, as usual, there are socks:

Cloverleaf Eyelet from More Sensational Knitted Socks in Dream In Color Smooshy. Color is "Petal Showers".



Bordello Socks (pattern on ball band) in Fleece Artist Sea Wool. Not sure what the colorway is ... there was no name anywhere on any of the tags.

This is pretty much the same pattern as Jaywalker socks except that there is garter stitch instead of ribbing at the top of the leg. It is just as unstretchy as the Jaywalker, but as the recipient has very slender feet and legs, I am sure it will fit properly (she says hopefully).



For those of you who think I only ever knit socks ... I started a scarf!

Yarn is one of my all time favourites: Jo Sharp Silkroad DK Tweed. Colour "Berry". Inspired by the Irish Walking Scarf pattern, but I have added some smaller cables on either side of the centre one. The small cables are crossed every fourth row and the larger one every eighth. I am about half way through.


Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Déjà vu

These socks - my first completed Christmas present for this year - were a lovely knit. This was my first time with Dream In Color Smooshy yarn and I am so very happy that I have four more skeins of it waiting in the sock-to-be drawer. The name Smooshy says it all and the lovely non-pooling colour (Beach Fog) is a joy to behold.

I've used this stitch pattern before (Cross-Hatch from More Sensational Knitted Socks) and it is definitely a favourite.

I was finishing up the second sock while watching the movie Groundhog Day on TV yesterday morning. I love this movie. I own the DVD, but I always watch it whenever it comes on the tube. I was knitting along merily and was sure I could time the end of the sock with the end of the movie - this appealed to me for some reason.

I was pretty pleased with myself when I finished the grafting of the toe along with the rolling of the movie credits. I basked in the glory of the finished sock for a few minutes before hoisting myself off the couch to go unite the just completed sock with its mate. I am holding both socks up by the cuffs, smoothing them together to admire my handiwork when, instead of perfectly twinned socks, I am horrified to see that the second sock is longer than the first! It seems I had done 10 repeats of the pattern on the instep instead of the 9 done on the first sock.

So I spent the next hour and a bit undoing and refinishing sock number 2 ... my own little Groundhog Hour!



This pair, also finished last week, is done with Wooly Wonka BFL Superwash in the Wasatch colour way. I like this colour so much that I ordered more of the yarn to make myself a scarf.

Stitch pattern is "Stems", again from More Sensational Knitted Socks. A very nice stitch which would be much better suited to a plain coloured yarn, but it nevertheless gives the sock a great texture.