FO: Bluebell Boatneck Pullover

Another sweater, complete. I am hoping that I will get to put this away now for a few months now that it's finished, but alas. Paris. Optimistically, I will hope to keep it out of wintertime clothes storage for a trip to the arctic, pessimistically, I will keep it out because it's Paris and I'll probably need it on a freak day in July.

Actually, this is a gift, so I won't be wearing it at all. Oh, and the recipient is a bit smaller than me, so the sleeves will be more likely to hit their wristbone, and I'm wearing it with negative ease.

It's a really simple sweater- From the "Fitted Knits" book. The columns of waist ribbing gives it structure and shape without too much fuss. I made a couple of small mods in the sleeves (like working them in the round and not letting the sleeve flare too much at the end) and it's just a cute, functional sweater. I might tinker with the neck a bit, as even after blocking it rolls out and just looks unfinished.

It only used 4.5 skeins of my beloved Cascade 200 Tweed- 990 yards for the 36" size. I can not get this yarn to die, as this is the second sweater I've gotten out of a bag of this yarn, plus a hat. I am so sick of it, but I'm really honestly trying to use up what I've got instead of having odd skeins of leftovers uninspringly take up room in my stash for eternity.

I'm totally laughing at this guy helplessly crashing his boat against the side of the pond. Which I considered him doing okay, granted I've seen a ton of people rowing their boat backwards in this lake. The pointy end of the boat is meant to slice through the water, and somewhere in their nautical training, they failed to notice this design feature.

FO: Elm Socks

Well Hello There! Remember when I used to knit, and spin, and make all sorts of crafty stuff? Yeah, I don't either.

I did take a moment to sadly mourn the last traces of my spoiled New York lifestyle.

That last little bit of red polish? My bi-weekly pedicures and manis are all just distant memories now. New York has so many nail salons. The competition that comes with having a nail salon on every block drives the prices way down. You can get a mani and a pedi for less than $20 and do so while you let the massage chair work out your knots and get caught up on the latest Cosmo and not feel the least bit guilty about it because it's cheaper than buying a sandwich for lunch. Here, not so much. Every salon I see, I run up hopefully and press my face to the window to check out the prices. Pedicures average around $60, manis $30. Sigh. I guess DIY is in right now. I won't even begin to discuss how much I miss my waxer.

Since I'm not coordinated enough to perfectly splosh my nails with jewel shades of paint and not look like I let someone in preschool do it, I am left with one option. I guess I could just cover my damn toes up!

The weather has been improving lately- we actually got a weekend where we spent time outside! I still am paler than I've ever been in July, but I do appreciate getting a little sun every now and then. Lazing around in the park is much nicer when you aren't lying in a swampy wetland of gloom or having hellfire and hail beat you down.

These are the Elm socks by Cookie A. It's from a great book called, "The Knitters Book of Socks". I only brought a couple of books with me to France, and this is one of them.

Alas, this pattern had a few issues. The undulating rib pattern was easy and fun, but as written, the cuff of the sock is incredibly long. So long, I left out the last 2 pattern repeats it calls for because I knew this sock wasn't going to fit any higher up my calf if I kept going. A quick glance at other people's projects reveal they had the same issue. It's hearbreaking to work so long on a pair of socks to not have them fit. It was also good I stopped because I almost ran out of yarn. Once I turned the heel, I realized I dodged a bullet there and by the time I kitchnered the toes up, I was down to just a couple of yards. 400 yards is not enough for this sock the way it is written!

I am loathe to put patterns on the actual sock foot. 1. You can't see it when you are wearing shoes, which is what I usually do when I put on a pair of socks and 2. Patterns with a cushier sock yarn like this will irritate the tops of my feet and I will never ever wear them, and I hate irritated feet more than I do my unpedicured toes. So I guess we can call this my Half-Assed Elm Socks.

The yarn is String Theory Caper Sock. 80% Merino, 10% Cashmere, 10% Nylon, this is very soft. I picked this up on sale when Gotham Fine Yarns in New York closed down.

Time and wear will tell, but I'm not quite impressed with the yarn. It pilled up and looked fuzzy while I was working with it. I'm hoping it's just the short cashmere fibers working their way out and not a structural issue.

I've actually had these done for more than a month now. I like to photograph things outside, in good light, and These would have wicked up a puddle if I would have done it any other time. I guess all that rain is making me appreciate this sunny day all the more.

I made socks and then I pranced around a meadow in them. The end.

FO: Spey Valley Socks

I love having a pair of simple socks going for my daily commute. As soon as I finish a pair, I cast on for the next, usually with no one particular in mind. They are small and portable and I can usually zone out and knit away while packed into a train car or standing around in line at the post office or at Shake Shack. It also ensures that my friends and family will be swathed in handknits come holiday-time.

I found this nifty pair of socks in Nancy Bush's "Knitting on the Road". They were all travel-inspired patterns and some very good ones at that. Right away I cast on for the Spey Valley Socks. I had such good memories of the place and they were such a neat-o pair of socks anyway.



Strathspey has the highest concentration of Scotch distilleries in all of Scotland. It's gorgeous countryside- hilly and green and rugged. Also, there are sheep everywhere. Mostly Scottish Blackface.











The cows are fed the extruded barley from the distilling process, and the cheddar if known for tasting like whisky because of it. Truly a wonderful place.





It was nice to walk around all day in the mountains and come back to a civilized and warm evening of Scotch and good hospitality.

Anyway. Here are the spey-inspired socks:



I made them for Bry, so they are manly man sized. There are three different ribbing patterns and two rows of decorative braid, and that's it. Simple.



They are sport-weight, so more like house slippers than socks. It would be hard to shove them into a pair of shoes unless they are your big winter boots. All that ribbing makes them extra cozy as well.





I'm really pleased with them, and so it he.

The specs:
These took almost an entire skein of Socks that Rock medium weight- close to 380 yards. The color is "Lucy in the Sky", which looked kind of denim-y to me.



The original pattern called for skinnier fingering weight yarn, but since they were for size 10.5 feet, I didn't have to tweak the pattern to get a good fit. I used size 2.5 mm needles and did these two at a time, cuff-down.