Socks, Socks, Socks!

Have I ever expressed my love for knitting socks? Possibly, but I'm sure it's apparent from my blog regardless. Today I have.. more socks to show off! They're just so easy and quick.. and functional, too! Especially now that I live in a cold climate.

So way back in January, I finished some socks made of Fiesta Yarns Baby Boom. And they are awesome and quickly became my favourite socks in the winter. So soft and so very warm. Earlier this summer I picked up some more of that yarn, and now I have a completed second pair:

See this project on Ravelry.

Pattern: my own basic sock
Yarn: Fiesta Yarns Baby Boom in Tequila Sunrise
Needles: US 1

There really isn't a whole lot to say about these socks other than that they are awesome (like their predecessors) and some of my favourite colours. I will probably buy even more of this yarn in the future.

My other finished socks are way exciting because I made them for my mum's birthday.. which in is October! Look at me, all finished two months ahead of time!

See this project on Ravelry.

Pattern: Waving Lace Socks (Rav link) from Favorite Socks
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Aslan (an oddball dyelot I bought ages ago)
Needles: US 1
Modifications: The only change I made was to knit a short-row heel instead of whatever's in the pattern. Because I just think short-row heels are prettier and easier (and my mum prefers them, too).

Otherwise, I knit this pattern exactly as written. It's a really great pattern: the lace repeat is easy to memorize, and the socks are extremely fast if you just sit down and knit one repeat at a time. I would knit this pattern again.

My final pair were only started last night. They will grow up to be Angee, from Cookie A.'s Sock Innovation book. I have been staring at this red yarn since January, and I think it's going to be fantastic in this pattern. Sadly, my camera will never capture the beauty that is this color.


The yarn is Colinette Jitterbug in Vatican Pie. And I can't stop drooling over it!

In other news, I'm about to head home for a week and a half! I always get very excited when I get to go home. I might have to cast on another pair of plain socks for the trip. And when I get back, I'll be starting The Boy's birthday socks.

A Lazy Summer Day

I thought for sure that I had given up lazy summer days when my summer class started, but I managed to snag one today just the same. (No reading for Thursday's class and I stayed up late last night working on my long-term project, so I deserved not to do work today.) So today I slept late, ran some errands that (naturally) included purchasing new fabric, and now I'm just kind of hanging out and watching the world go by outside my window. Today is a beautiful day: there are just enough sparse clouds in the sky and a very light breeze, enough to keep my (usually silent) wind chime busy. My bird feeder now gets regular visitors, and it provides hours of effortless entertainment for both me and Minou:

Sometimes she seems to think sitting on the chair will help her get closer.

The other day I ripped out the waist of my circle skirt (which is technically a half-circle skirt, if you must know) and redid it with bias tape, and it has made a world of difference. So today I shopped for fabric and notions to make another one, because I am in love. This is the fabric I picked, along with three shirts I already own that will go nicely with it:

If you're thinking that those colours look awfully familiar, that would be because they're awfully similar to the colours in my Tequila Sunrise socks. Pinks, corals, and oranges are one of my favourite colour groups (the other being blues, aquas, and greens).

So it should be no surprise that I jumped at the opportunity to buy some "Ginny" yarn the last time it was available at Sunshine Yarns, considering that it's those same colours (but paler) and Ginny is one of my favourite Harry Potter characters.

This yarn isn't sure yet if it wants to be socks or a scarf. The colours are a good deal lighter than the ones I usually wear (see above), so I'll have to sit on this for a while before I make a decision.

To jump back to sewing: I think I'm kind of aiming for a project a week. That will only last as long as I keep doing simple projects, but whatever. Last week's project was this, the world's easiest skirt:

(I wasn't really trying to hide my face, but the easiest place to set up the camera using the self-timer couldn't fit my whole body into the picture.)
I bought a length of pre-shirred fabric, sewed a seam up the back, hemmed it, and had a skirt. I don't care for the length of the shirred part but didn't want to deal with trying to cut it and rehem the top, so I just fold it in half to the inside when I wear it (you can't really see what I'm talking about in this picture). And, ta-da! Instant skirt! Much awesomeness. I wish I could find more of this fabric that isn't overwhelmingly childlike. I think the cherries are OK for an adult, but the other fabrics with butterflies and lady bugs and the like were just too much.

My mum and The Boy both have birthdays in late October (two days apart, actually), and I think they'll both be getting socks again this year. But that actually means I should start said socks sometime soon in order to guarantee that they are finished in time. That means time to start digging through sock patterns! Always fun!

Socks and Rice Bags

To prove that I have not forsaken knitting for sewing, I can show off The Boy's socks! These are the ones that started life as Nancy Bush's Gentleman's Fancy Socks and ended up plain 2x2 ribbed socks (heh). But I think they look nice (especially on the sock blockers my mum got for me! yay!). I think I tend to underestimate the appeal of plain ribbed socks, but these have me wanting some of my own... In pretty colours, of course. I refuse to wear camouflage.


See this project on Ravelry.

Pattern: my own.. 2x2 rib over 72 stitches
Yarn: Koigu Painter's Palette Premium Merino in P315
Needles: US 1



I mailed these to The Boy yesterday, but he saw the pictures and gave them his approval. I finished the first one when he was here, so I at least know that they'll fit him. This brings his handknit sock collection up to three pairs. But that's lagging far behind my own collection, so I should probably pick out some more yarn for him ASAP and start up some more. Not sure if I have anything appropriate in the stash -- in stereotypical male fashion, he is uninterested in anything even remotely like colour. -.-

But I'm definitely keeping up with the sewing. My back has been giving me problems lately, so I needed some rice bags! They are awesome. I have fabric (and rice) for one more, but I need to finish some reading for class before I can make it.



These are more or less based on the pattern at Sew, Mama, Sew, although I just cut one piece of fabric and folded it in half. And the blue one is (clearly) not the right dimensions because I apparently had some sort of out-of-body experience while cutting it. I scented the rice in the green one with some Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab perfume that smells like apples, cranberries, and cider. Yum!

Death by Cute

I don't know about you, but I am a slob when I clean and wash dishes. You might think cleaning and washing are meant to correct being a slob, but I always manage to get dust all over me or water all down my front. Thus, I needed an apron. Not to mention that making aprons can be a really good way to practice all sorts of sewing techniques. So the other day I picked up these fabrics:


Now, I knew these would make a cute apron. Apples, pears, and subtle butterflies. Obviously a recipe for cuteness. But I was not prepared for the level of cute that happened when I added the (pink) rickrack. Rickrack just has that effect, I guess! So once I started this last night, I couldn't stop until it was finished, even though that meant staying up a lot later than I should have! I was on the phone with The Boy while pinning on some of the rickrack, and kept telling him, "This is SO cute! I am dying of cuteness!" It is (clearly) with great pleasure that I show off my finished project:


LOVE!! Love, love, love. (It's OK if you don't love it as much as I do.) And we can't forget the pocket, which is probably my favourite part of the entire thing:


I don't have any needles appropriate for hand-sewing (I'll pick some up this week), so I haven't whipstitched the back of the waistband to the apron skirt yet. That's why the waist looks sloppy in the above picture. Otherwise, though, it was overall a fairly quick and easy pattern (McCalls 5825, View B). One day I might go back and make an oven mitt with my extra fabric.

Now that I've gotten that out of my system, I really need to do some homework!

Caught the Sewing Bug

So. It has happened. I have officially caught the sewing bug. Here is my first attempt, my skirt:



The skirt fits well, but it's not ideal. The pattern is Simplicity 4236, and there's no waistband. You just turn down the waist and stabilize it with some twill tape or ribbon and that's it. But because the waist is a circle, sewing the waist down like that makes the waistline bunchy. That's not exactly flattering under a slim-cut shirt (and the skirt doesn't go well with a loose, flowy shirt), so it makes a complete outfit a little bit difficult. I'll make this pattern again, but I think I'll probably use bias tape instead. Or just make an actual waistband.

Once I returned to Michigan (by the way, I'm back in Michigan), I dragged The Boy to the fabric store to help me pick out some fabrics to use in projects from Bend the Rules Sewing (I know, I'm two years behind the bandwagon). These are the ones I picked out:

The first two (white-on-white polka dots and stripes) are going to be placements, the second one has already been turned into coasters, and the rest will be napkins. (Actually, the last one has already been turned into napkins, but small ones. Whoops.) My apartment is all aqua blues and greens, so the orange is a nice contrasting colour.

And today I went to Hobby Lobby, where all McCalls patterns are $1! So I picked up three:


I haven't bought fabric for them yet, because I want to look more closely at the instructions and make sure I feel confident I can figure them all out, but I couldn't pass them up at a dollar!

Other things happening in my life: Back in Michigan, as I mentioned above. My summer class starts tomorrow, which is exciting. I've been trying to make my apartment homier; I don't like Michigan much, so I have to do all I can to make my apartment my little sanctuary. So I bought a bird feeder and a wind chime for my balcony. Here's the wind chime:


It's from Etsy user Swooziestuff, and it sounds so pretty! But go figure that the wind hasn't blown ONCE since I hung it up! I might have to move it inside so the AC will make it chime. Speaking of inside, I've been hanging some artwork and pictures, which actually just made my [giant white] walls look that much more barren, so now I'm on a constant hunt to find MORE stuff to hang. My apartment finally WILL be a happy, cheerful place when I'm done.

I've also been following the turmoil in Iran, and I recommend that you do, too. If you haven't been keeping up, CNN is a good place to begin; they've stepped up their coverage from when it all first started. I've been wearing green and/or a green armband in solidarity with the protesters and keeping up with the daily reports. I know that's not really bringing about any earth-shattering change, but I feel like it's the least I can do.

Clapotis and More!

I'm alive! I have a Clapotis to share and, of course, some socks in progress.


See this project on Ravelry.

Pattern: the one and only Clapotis!
Yarn: Malabrigo Silky Merino in London Sky (3.5 skeins)
Needles: US 6



I could knit so many more of these! This one is going to my grandmother. I followed the pattern exactly except for using the size 6 needles and purling the stitches that would later be dropped. What else is there to say about this project that hasn't been said before?

I'm also working on two pairs of socks: one for me and one for The Boy. Mine are in some yummy Fiesta Baby Boom that I picked up at knit night at Stitching Memories:

The colourway is "Tequila Sunrise" and it's some of my favourite colours all mixed together! So pretty!

The Boy's socks are actually being reknit, although I apparently never blogged about the first version. They started as Nancy Bush's Gentleman's Fancy Socks, but I didn't like the seam stitch, and when I restarted them I didn't have the pattern with me. I'd done maybe two inches when I realized I wasn't doing the correct ribbed pattern, so I just decided to make ribbed socks! The yarn is some Koigu that's been sitting around for.. a long time..


Lately I've been craving cute summery skirts, but I can't find any in stores that I really like. So today I went to the fabric store and bought myself a pattern and some fabric to make my own. Now, I haven't really sewn anything since I was about 15, so it's a good thing I'm starting this at home where my mum can help me! And if this goes well, maybe I can make this pattern again by myself once I return to Michigan (because this time my sewing machine is coming with me!).

I realized while shopping for fabrics that I am drawn to things that kindergarten teachers might wear! You know, prints like multi-coloured paw prints or the alphabet or other cutesy things. But I decided to go with something tamer for my first foray, and I picked this navy with polka dots:


It's washing now, so maybe I'll be able to start it tomorrow! But first I need to take all of my measurements and figure out exactly which size I am.. I was able to guesstimate well enough to figure out how much fabric to buy, but I should probably be a little more precise for cutting out pattern pieces. :)

Note to Self

The magic number for knitting socks for me on size 1 needles is 68! I always forget and then have to dig through my completed socks on Ravelry until I find one that mentions the number of stitches cast on!