Knit or Knot » 2008

Archive for March, 2008

Happy Easter!

March 23rd, 2008

Good evening and happy Easter! It was cold and snowy today, but we enjoyed spending the day at church and with family, then came home to spend the rest of the evening quietly together. I did take a bit of time to reflect on the wonder and miracle that makes this day so special to us who are Christians. To know that Jesus Christ died for my sins then rose again from the grave in triumph still strikes awe in me. He died for each and every one of us, in order to reconcile us with God. I hope those of you who read this can rejoice with me on this wondrous day!

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Just had to share the pattern-love…

March 14th, 2008

This is one of those days when one post is not enough. I just had to share! I just discovered that the new Knitty is up, so I took a minute - um, a few minutes - well, several minutes…. Okay, I will ‘fess up: I just lost the last 30 minutes to browsing Knitty, then Ravelry, then Knitty again. I found a pattern that I absolutely love! The best part? I already have the perfect yarn for it! The worst part…which knitting project do I push aside to create room for it? I am currently working on the Syrian Shawl, with the Cobweb stole from the latest IK was in line next. The new Laminaria might just jump ahead in line and push the Cobweb back a bit.

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FO: Sea Monkey Socks

March 14th, 2008

Another finished pair of socks is added to my ever growing stack. This time it is another pair of monkey socks in Sunnyside Ellen’s Mermaid colorway. This sock yarn is one of my favorites, and the pattern is easy-peasy to knit, especially since I replaced the purl stitches with knit stitches. {ravelry}

A fellow blog buddy, Tammy, also recently knitted these socks with some of Sunnyside Ellen’s yarn. Check them out, they are so cute!

And, because I cannot go one moment without a sock project on my needles, I immediately cast on for the Twisted Tulip socks from the current IK. I started out with a size 2.5 mm needle, but changed to size 2.0 mm after the first seven rows because the cuff appeared to be too loose. I will see how that turns out. If they become too tight I may have to start over from scratch. I do have 2.25 mm needles, which would probably be perfect, but that would mean knitting them on DPNs, which would be slower. I am going to be optimistic and hope for the best!

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Winter weather and hand knitted socks…

March 4th, 2008

…a great combination for my feet, but not so great for the part of me that longs for spring breezes, sunshine, green grass, and fresh flowers.

It is amazing how much can change in 48 hours. We have had cold weather, ice, and snow for weeks. Finally we got a break on Saturday when we had a nice 60 degree day. Then on Sunday we got a little taste of spring when the temperature reached 75 degrees! But it was too good to be true. Yesterday the temp began dropping. Today the temperatures are back in the 20s. We received ice first, and now snow. Grumble, grumble. I am so glad my husband decided to work from home today. All of the major interstates running through St. Louis have been jammed all day long. Some people have been stuck on the jammed highways for four or more hours. The newscasters talk about traffic speeds at feet per hour, rather than miles per hour, and say the wait for a tow truck in the event of an accident is about four hours. I am ready for winter to be over. It does not help that my sister taunted me with an email today stating that she was in Alabama wearing a T-shirt and flip flops. Hmmm. Since I cannot have spring weather outside yet, I decided to put a cheery template on my blog and warm hand knitted socks on my feet. Maybe I can pretend it is warm and sunny outside.
Now…I will answer all the questions I posed about socks and sock knitting!

My favorite sock yarns are those made from superwash merino wool that both looks nice and wears well. I especially like Sunnyside Ellen’s sock yarn (as seen on my jaywalkers and my sea monkeys), Mama Blue’s yarn (as seen on my Loksins!) and Louet Gems fingering weight (as seen on my stripey socks). I like only fingering weight yarns for my socks; anything heavier is not practical to wear with my shoes.

As for colors…I love color, so sometimes it is hard to rein myself in when it comes to socks. I prefer to wear colors that are practical for work and that match my pants: dark blues, charcoal, black, brown, beige, etc. I do like some striping and variegated yarns, but I am picky. When I am doing an intricate pattern I prefer solids or semi-solids.

Needles…I will knit with either DPNs or two circulars, but I prefer to use circs. If I have two separate balls of yarn, I will knit two socks at once; otherwise I will knit them one at a time on two circs. When using DPNs, my favorite ones are Crystal Palace. ChiaoGoo are not to bad in a pinch. Addi Turbos win hands-down in the circular needle category. I almost always knit with size 1 needles, but sometimes I use size 0.

When I first learned to knit socks, I learned on size 2 DPNs. My sister and I took the class together and we both learned quickly. I have smaller feet than most women, so I quickly switched to size 1 instead. My sister still prefers size 2.

I did have a reason for asking all of those questions. I am now teaching all of the knitting classes at the shop where I work. The previous sock instructor used size 5 DPNs and worsted weight yarn. I have contemplated using size 2 DPNs and regular sock yarn for this class. I want to say thanks to everyone who answered my lengthy list of questions, I really appreciate the input!

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