Officially Fall...

... and officially finished! The first pair in my Socks for Sarah project, that is. These are in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock, colorway Gold Hill. 64 stitches around, toe-up, short row heel, double eyelet rib and double rib leg.

Lookin' good, for a first pair of socks. Things I learned: work more rows plain after the heel before beginning leg patterning. Work tubular bind-off LOOOOOOSELY!

Here they are on my fat, fat feet:


And I've cast on for my second pair. Top-down, this time, still 64 stitches around. These are in Knitpicks Felici in colorway Schooner. I'm going to try a different heel this time too.


Meanwhile, in other knitting news, the body of my mom's Radcliffe Cardigan is finished and blocked, with button bands and everything, and ... it's too small. I've got to rip it out halfway and increase under the armpits. And take out the waist shaping -- it is my style, but not my mom's.

Lessons learned with this project: while aiming on the small side for superwash projects is the way to go, non-superwash yarn does not grow nearly as much in blocking. I measured my swatch ruthlessly, but I should have rounded up instead of down, because a difference of a tenth of an inch a stitch can make a difference of an inch or more in the final product. Oh well -- at least the gauge on this one is big, so it won't take too long.

100th post!

That's right, today's post is a mini-milestone. And to celebrate, here's a lovely rainbow of yarn that just came in the mail. I've had so much fun arranging it all to take photos!


I'm planning to use this Knitpicks Telemark yarn to make Floral Fair Isle Gloves for my... sister? Mom? Aunt? ... unclear... for Christmas. Which purchase puts me in a bit of a gray area as far as my newly pledged membership to Ravelry's Selfish Knitters group is concerned. Because while I am knitting for others, I bought yarn that I know will pill (as Knitpicks yarn always does), because it was cheap, and if I were to knit myself fair isle gloves I'd pick something pricier and better quality.

Man, it sure is pretty, though...


And at least when the gloves are actually given, they will not be pilly. A selfish gift indeed! I will get all the glory of beautiful handmade gloves, then not be around when they stop looking as nice after a few wears.

Meanwhile, here are not one but two Radcliffe Cardigan yokes in progress -- one for my mom and one for me (selfish knitting again!). Both in a color that is impossible to photograph accurately:
I'm glad that I'm knitting them both at the same time, because it's been a real lesson in yarn qualities and gauge. The big one is in Reynolds Candide, a hairy, hard-finished, two-ply (?) woolen-spun wool that's knitting on size 7 needles at a gauge of 4.125 stitches an inch (after a bad sweater-growth episode I have been gauge swatching and measuring assiduously); and the little one is in Lana Grossa Cool Wool 2000, a soft, springy multi-ply merino that's knitting on size 3 needles at a gauge of 5.8 stitches per inch. I am finding myself preferring the way the Candide looks in this particular pattern, though, as I said in the last post, it's been rough on my wrists. This is a kind of vintagey sweater style, and the fuzzy finish and larger gauge of the Candide are a nice compliment. The seed stitch, however, in the Cool Wool is just so crisp and nubbly and neat. I hate working seed stitch, as it takes twice as long as stockinette, but I do so love the look of it. And while my mom doesn't mind itchy wool, I do, and like to wear camisoles under my sweaters instead of turtlenecks, so Cool Wool it is for me. I'm just hoping it holds up better than the last Radcliffe Cardigan I knit for myself!

one year.

Today is my one-year blogiversary. It's been a great time -- keeping a knitting blog has been even more fulfilling and more edifying than I thought it would be: it's kept me connected to other great knit-bloggers, and often it lit a fire under me when my interest or energy was flagging to know that I hadn't posted in a while. To everyone who has commented or knit one of my patterns, thank you so much! It makes me feel so great to hear from you all, and to see your wonderful work!

This has also been a year of firsts:
first adult sweater
first set-in sleeves
first original adult design
first experience with having other people knit my patterns (and here, here, here, and here)
first kool-aid dying
first figure-eight cast-on
first successful experience with customizing sizes
first reversible cable
first lesson in the necessity of swatching (and here)
first friends' baby! (and here, here, here, here, and here).
first year of my graduate program!

And, as seems entirely fitting, I begin my second year of blogging with a post about the same sweater with which I began my first year: the sheep yoke baby cardigan. I've been working on iteration #3 of this same sweater, perfecting the pattern and knitting up the girl's version so that knitters can see what they both look like. With a charted fair-isle pattern instead of verbal instructions, this has been my most successful original pattern, both in terms of people's seeming to want to knit it, and in terms of nobody's discovering any errata. Unfortunately, the one pregnant person I know is having a boy, so this will be one for the choir auction.


Here's to new year of blogging! And here's a nice little blogiversary (well, actually Christmas, but close enough) gift to end the post: does my Aunt know how to pick presents, or what? Super-fine tipped pens in a great spectrum of colors. Perfect for sketching out fair isle patterns!