The hot days of summer are slowly becoming a thing of the past and cooler days are approaching. Yes! That means it's knitting time! Knitting in the summer is surely quite possible, but not very pleasant if working on anything that covers a lap.
My summer knitting break is over and I've picked up my needles again over this past Labor Day weekend. I had a few goals for knitting this year, and toe-up socks and two-at-a-time sock knitting were both there. So I started knitting a pair of socks, toe-up and two-at-a-time. I also started knitting a jacket for my husband. While there was a sale at the local Joann's I picked up enough yarn for two more pair of socks.
First the socks I have started. I am using a pattern found on Ravelry.com called Diamond Waves Socks. For the yarn I am using Patons Kroy Socks FX yarn. I am using a size 1 circular needle. The yarn is self striping and 75% Washable Wool and 25% Nylon. It is not the softest yarn out there, but it should be warm, durable, and very importantly washable. I have not yet decided if I will make the socks to fit me, or make them as a gift for Christmas. I am leaning towards them being a gift since I have so many gifts to make in just a few months. Here are the pictures of my progress thus far.
My summer knitting break is over and I've picked up my needles again over this past Labor Day weekend. I had a few goals for knitting this year, and toe-up socks and two-at-a-time sock knitting were both there. So I started knitting a pair of socks, toe-up and two-at-a-time. I also started knitting a jacket for my husband. While there was a sale at the local Joann's I picked up enough yarn for two more pair of socks.
First the socks I have started. I am using a pattern found on Ravelry.com called Diamond Waves Socks. For the yarn I am using Patons Kroy Socks FX yarn. I am using a size 1 circular needle. The yarn is self striping and 75% Washable Wool and 25% Nylon. It is not the softest yarn out there, but it should be warm, durable, and very importantly washable. I have not yet decided if I will make the socks to fit me, or make them as a gift for Christmas. I am leaning towards them being a gift since I have so many gifts to make in just a few months. Here are the pictures of my progress thus far.
This last picture the lighting is off, but it shows the pattern quite clearly.
I used the Magic Loop cast on, and have been working on the socks since Sunday. It is rather slow going because the size 1 needles make my finger tips sore rather quickly. If I am going to be knitting a lot of socks I may yet invest in some support gloves to help with fatigue and protect me from blisters.
Thank you to my awesome Mother-in-Law for helping me get started on these socks! :)
The other project I started is the long-planned jacket for my husband. I had previously picked out the pattern to use, the Scarlow. I picked out yarn for the project and the price was over $120. I tried again, looking at discounted yarns and got a price of $97. I don't have $100 to be spending on yarn right now, but wanted to start the jacket for him. I ripped apart a huge afghan that I had started years ago and never finished. I have plenty of yarn to work on the jacket and they are colors that he should be okay with. The major problem is that the yarn is cheap acrylic yarn (Red Heart Super Saver) and is worsted while I need a bulky weight yarn. I am doubling up the yarn and using two strands to gain the thickness and gauge that I needed with the size 10 needles. The jacket won't be as nice as it would have been if made out of nice wool yarn, but if this turns out fairly nice and he actually wears it then I will make another one for him out of nice yarn later this winter. Hopefully by the end of the year he will have two jackets :)
I just started the jacket Monday night, so haven't been working on it much so far. I work on the socks, then switch to the jacket when my hands start hurting. I am working on the side panel and here's a picture of my work so far.
The stripped panel is achieved by alternating colors every two knit rows. My main color is two strands of dark green, and my contrast color is a strand of tan and a strand of sage green.
I have several projects planned to make as gifts for Christmas this year, so I've got a lot of knitting ahead of me these next couple of months. I will be making at least 4 pairs of socks and a few scarves, hats, and such. When the family and I stopped by Joann Crafts on Labor Day I stopped by their yarn section to look for sock yarn. I didn't find anything really great there, but did get a couple yarns. My husband likes the idea of having some socks made for him so he picked out the yarn he wanted. He picked out a green color of the Patons Kroy Socks FX. I have a fancy sock pattern in mind as a gift for a specific person that calls for a white yarn, and I actually found a yarn that I thought would work. Red Heart, Heart & Sole yarn is 70% Superwash wool and 30% Nylon. The Red Heart is a bit softer than the Patons yarn, perhaps due to the "with aloe" bit. Here is a picture of the yarn I got, three skeins of each.
On a last note for today, I am in need of some new knitting needles. I only have one circular needle in size 1, and it is on the short side. I am going to need at least a size 0 and a size 1 needle with longer cable if I am actually going to complete the projects planned for gifts (most of them are made using fingering yarn). I need to look around for what needles I'd like to buy.When my husband's parents were here visiting, my mother-in-law let me look at her KnitPicks needles. They seem very nice, with soft flexible cables (one of the main things I am looking for in new needles) and they have a nice feel to them. I will definitely keep the KnitPicks needles in mind, but I will look around more before deciding for sure what to get.
I hope to get the socks done this weekend, start on the next pair and make some progress on my husband's jacket. It is great to be knitting again!
No comments:
Post a Comment