Fo: Baudelaire Socks

I finished a pair of socks.  I'm in love with them.

They are the Baudelaire, a free pattern from Cookie A via Knitty.com.  Yes, I am a timely knitter- these were published in 2006.  I've been wanting to make them since they came out, but there are so many socks I want to make.  So very many.  I will get to them all eventually, and then I will demand that sock designers everywhere stop designing once I'm caught up.  

The yarn is Skinny Bugga in "Rose Weevil" from Cephalopod Yarns.  It's my favorite shade of red.

 The pattern, although there is a lot going on with both cables and lace, is not terrible to work out.  It's easy to memorize.  While I couldn't really work it out after a glass of wine, the pattern pretty much flew along and I finished these in no time.

Speaking of a glass o'wine, I found a few nice groups of knitters in the London area.  There are lots of options here and people are chatty and sweet, and I can just casually drop in and have a glass or a cup of tea and knock out some long sections of plain boring sections of knitting.  It makes for good inspiration as far as the knits go, and I'm finding knitting to be a good gateway into making friends wherever I end up.  

To gift, or not to gift?  I have plenty of socks.  Can I cram another pair in the sock drawer?  I love these so much.  They are just too pretty, without being too precious or delicate, and the yarn is so luxe and heavenly.  It's a little thick to cram into socks, but perfectly warm and comforting.  

I have a feeling these will see a few Maine winters to come.

FO: Roosimine socks

Socks!  They are still my favorite thing to knit, and I almost always have a pair on the needles.  The current pair has been neglected while I find time to concentrate on lacework, but eh.  They are getting there.    

These were an interesting knit, although not easy.  They are the Roosimine socks by Caoua Coffee.  It's the same designer who did the Porthos socks, and I really love her patterns.  The technique on these requires some skill- at first glance they might look like fair isle or stranded knitting ( in fact, you could do them intarsia if you were so inclined) but the contrasting yarn is carried across the front of the sock in pattern, and then loosely looped in back to be picked up again for the next round.  It's kind of like combining weaving with knitting.  Not the most practical or easy way to go, but I thought they were pretty and it was something I hadn't done before.

The blue yarn is a leftover skein of Skinny Bugga from this sweater I made.  The color is bomber worm.  The contrast yarn is some leftovers from Silver Moon Farm from this pair of socks.  I thought the combination worked out nicely.

Once the roosimine pattern was done with, there was some really fun shaping on the instep that makes for a more elegantly shaped foot.

The only thing I would have done differently would be to make the cast-on edge stretchy.  I usually don't have a problem, but by the time I was done with the pattern, the socks were long enough to hit the part of my calf that starts to not be ankle-thin.  They just bunch up a little bit where the cuff can't really stretch over my leg.

They took a little time, but I love them.  It's a good use of scrap yarn to do the patterning, and the abstract climbing vine will look nice peaking out from a pair of cropped pants.  

FO: Clockwork Scarf

Oh, All these Gray Skies! The monochrome, the dreary undertones, the gray-on-gray low clouds, the fog, and an unearthly amount of rain. It rarely drizzles for more than a couple hours. All the rest of the time, it downpours or hails.

I have embraced this color palate as my own. Goodbye to sunshiny summery brights or warm autumn tones. Let us immerse ourselves in a muted, w'ntry mix.

Hence, the lovely grays, purple-grays and white I chose for my Clockwork Scarf/Shawl.

Quick, mostly-garter stitch. My favorite kind of mindless knitting that goes to see films with me.

Another great pattern from Stephen West. Just when I think I have enough things to wear around my neck, he publishes another pattern that will leave you wanting more. I love this one lots. You can wrap it around your neck a few times, or drape it gracefully.

The yarn is Sanguine Gryphon Skinny Bugga- a skein of undyed and a skein of the David Attenborough colorway. I could have kept going and made another repeat of the clock, but decided to put the extra yarn aside for some upcoming colorwork mittens.

FO: Memories in Lichen

Hey, remember that time I went to Iceland and I ate lichen? Great story. Good memories anyway.

I finished something kind of big and time consuming. I brought a tote of lace and sock weight yarn with me when I moved and I'm forcing myself to knit it all. Sweaters on teeny tiny needles! No more of those instant-gratification projects of yesteryear, I have space and shipping constraints to think about. This sweater has been done for a bit, I was just waiting and waiting for a somewhat not rainy day out to wear it out. Who wants to be sodden by wet wool anyway? Still, it was on the needles for quite a while.

The pattern is called "Memories in Lichen" by Elizabeth Rislove Etler. Despite it being a little complicated, I loved the details and the fit and just had to make it.

From my stash, I had three skeins of Sanguine Gryphon Skinny Bugga in a precious blue "Bomber Worm".

For the underskirt, a skein of Gaia Lace in "Cobblestone Mazes".

I cast this top on way back in June. I wanted a pretty summery top to traipse around in. Ah, but the rain came and didn't stop until August, and by that time I was most definitely sick a big pile of wool on my lap, so it went into the time-out pile. The lace panel skirt was not hard per say, but it did take your full attention. I just don't really spend too much time fully attuned to my knitting, so it seemed to drag on forever.

The underskrit was easy, and well worth it. I contemplated just picking up stitches and doing a ruffle at the bottom edge, but then you would always have to wear a cami underneath anyway, so I slogged through a mile of lace-weight cashmere/silk blend stockinette stitch to make it. I remember sitting in a sweltering movie theater (true fact: going to the movies here in July means you will probably be cooler outside) and trying to figure out just what the hell was up with this batman character and exiting the theater with a great deal of underskirt done. Magic, I tell you.

Once that was done it was all easy-peasy. The neck has an i-cord edging that I really liked- it gives it a very fished look. The sleeves I fudged a bit as I couldn't really figure out the instructions, but oh, short row sleeves never hurt anyone, so I just stuck to my tried-and-true method. I don't think I have enough of the gaia lace yarn leftover to make ruffled sleeves, so they are plain for now.

So here we are, finished and blocked. It would probably be a little warm for a summer top with all that lovely cashmere and silk against your skin but it could easily be layered. It doesn't get terribly hot in Paris anyway, but it seems like this fall doesn't get brusquely cold either. I will eventually go ice skating in this and I won't fall once and it will be glorious.

I love it.

It fits, it drapes, it's warm and pretty. Both layers pilled up a little bit where my cross-body bag hits my hip, but I snipped those off quick and it seems to have mellowed out with the pills. It's soft and cozy and I will wear it a lot.

FO: Isabella D'Este socks

Crafting rut begone!

I don't know if it was because it was summer, or I just have a bunch of tiny-gauge make-no-visible-progress projects on the needles, but gah. I need to get working on some woolies. It is autumn, and the chill in the air means I'm going to be needing a few wooly layers to get me through.

The fact that we have a skylight jammed open isn't helping. Oh, that skylight. It's killing me. We opened it on the first day we moved in because that is what they are for. AM I RIGHT? Yes. You move into a place with skylights, you should be able to open them because they are fantastic for ventilation when you don't have AC and you live on the top floor of an ancient walk up. It was a little alarming that once said skylight was open, we couldn't get it to close again. The problem here being that it rained all of June and most of July, then I was away for a while and now it's getting cold. We told the landlord pretty quickly about this problem. "You shouldn't have opened it", he informed us. The skylight repair people didn't get around to fixing it before they went on summer holiday, and to this day, the skylight remains jammed open. I go to bed at night fully clothed and with a hoodie up, and I generally sleep in a flannel bathrobe for good measure.

So yes. They are pretty. They are warm. I am happy. I knitted these all throughout my travels this summer, so they are also a sort of reminder of that. While I was too knackered to try to knit on the trail in Norway, I did have lots of plane and train rides to get started, and then I got to the heel at some point in Prague, and was almost finished by the time I was leaving Hungary. A travel journal of the most practical sorts.

They are the loveliest socks ever. The pattern was a wonder to knit. A picot hem on the cuff, an easy floral motif.

Then a graceful arc of twisted stitches that travel and cease the floral pattern above the heel and concentrate it at the front of the foot...

Once the heel is turned, the gusset decreases are hidden in the final touch: a pretty medallion to wear on your foot.

Voila! My new favorite pair of socks, in a bright sunshiny puckery lemon color.

Isabella D'Este socks from the Knitter's Book of Socks. Made with one skein for The Sanguine Gryphon Skinny Bugga in the Oleander Nymph colorway.