Fleece Artist Merino Sock yarn in “Paris”. Purchased from my fave online yarn store, Little Knits. This will be socks for me. (I also got another color that will be socks for Kris, but that’s for next week)

And for Jenneke, the current state of her Swap Socks:
We’ve passed the heels and are working our way up the gusset. Woo hoo! (Mountain Colors Bearfoot in “Juniper”)

And I can’t believe I almost forgot this! If you like Kris’s yarnography… how about owning it on a mousepad, or a mug? He opened a CafePress store: The Digital Arcana Shop. More stuff will be going up all the time, and if anyone has ideas or suggestions or requests, let us know!

ETA: The establishing shot of the Fleece Artist Merino Sock yarn:

See - all of those colors in just one skein! It’s nice bouncy stuff, too. I look forward to working with it. Eventually. After my eight million other to-do projects. :D

Hi Jenneke!

Thought I’d post a progress pic of your socks, so you can see that I really am working on them. :D

Two toes, happily hanging out on the needles:

Obligatory pr0nny shot of the stitch pattern:
It’s a fun pattern* to work. I’m enjoying it, and I’ve got it pretty much memorized (I think I’ve done 4 or 5 repeats so far), so I was actually able to work on them during “Heroes” last night. (YAY for a continuing-arc show that I can love, since “Lost” now disappoints me so)

So, now I have another question for you: how tall do you like your sock cuffs? Obviously, I’m not there yet, but I want them to be the length you like.

*And Kir, yes, I know that Miss Berardi is cringing somewhere. I’ll just give myself a “D” for this post.

Oh - and I forgot. I mentioned it in the last post, but the pattern is “Small Capitals” from Sensational Knitted Socks.

I’ve been stealthily working on a project of late (I needed to step away from the log cabin blanket for a little while), and although it did pop up in the sidebar with its own progress bar, I never actually mentioned it here. I finally cast on my Simple Knitted Bodice! Turtlegirl scored the yarn for me ages ago (same as hers, different color), but I just hadn’t gotten to it yet. So, yesterday while she and I were working on the Knittyboard SP8 matches, I set Kris loose on it with his camera. (And for those who asked, it’s a new Nikon D2xs. And he’s in love.)

Waist lace detail:

Mmmm… raglan-y

Holy detail, Batman!

Sleeve, back, and waist lace section
The pattern is, of course, the Simple Knitted Bodice by Glampyre for Stitch Diva. It is being done on size US5 KnitPicks Options in Berocco Denim Silk in “Absinthe” (#1426). I’ve got most of the body done but will be lengthening it a little, so I’m pausing to do the sleeves and neckline so that I can lengthen to my heart’s content without worrying about running out of yarn. I have made a few… um… alterations to the pattern (some intentional, some not). First, I apparently can’t read, so when I got to the point where the arms are separated and you work on just the increases at the neck, I missed that you were supposed to increase EVERY row, and still did only EVERY OTHER row. So… that section is a few rows deeper (Yeah, that was the “not intentional” one). Also, I don’t usually like how raglan sleeves meet under my arms, so when I joined under the arms, I used a provisional cast-on and added about 10 stitches under each arm. The cast on was pulled out, and the stitches picked up for the sleeves when I went back to them. (I can get pics of that later, if that doesn’t make sense). It gives me a little more room, and I like the way it looks - no holes in the armpits!

Oh, and as Jenneke chose the Juniper (the one on the right), I cast on her socks Saturday evening. I decided to do the “Small Capitals” pattern from Charlene Schuch’s* “Sensational Knitted Socks“. I’ve had the book for a little while, but hadn’t done anything from it yet. I like it a lot, and I love her “easy toe” for toe-up socks (my preference). Kris likes the pattern and the yarn, so I had him look at the colors it comes in. He’ll probably be getting some at some point. :) And no, no piccies yet - not really enough progress for that. In the next day or so, I hope.

*I always want to call her Charlotte instead of Charlene. I think it’s because of Charlotte Church. Who, admittedly, has very little to do with socks. Or knitting at all, as far as I know.

… since I’m now a blogger with 200+ posts, but, yeah. Profound is not so much “me”. Silly, yes. Full of ridiculously bad jokes, absolutely. But profound, nah.

Aaaaaaanyway. I’m participating in the Sock Swap over on the Knittyboards, and the yarn I ordered for my swap pal Jenneke arrived yesterday. One of the advantages to getting (luckily) paired with someone who likes the same kinds of colors you do? You can order more than one and know that the one she doesn’t pick, you will like! Case in point:
Mountain Colors Bearfoot in “Steelhead” on the left, and “Juniper” on the right. Both great colors, and I think Jenneke will like them, but I wasn’t sure from looking online which she would like better. So… I got both. And since I like them both, I’ll happily add whichever she doesn’t choose to the, um, kind of large (although not as large as some people’s) sock yarn stash.

So, Jenneke, what do you think? Steelhead, which has some bits of nice sagey green mixed with blues and greys, or Juniper, which is more aggresively green with dashes of blue and purple?

The next question of course - which pattern do I make? Off to think about that!

And Jenneke has spoken - the Juniper is hers!

I’ll get to the photos in a moment, but first I want to say a big YAAAAAY! and congratulations to my dear, dear friend CBear and her hubby, who welcomed their beautiful little girl Elizabeth Noelle (”Zellie”) early this morning (Yes, it is still Thursday as I write this).

OK, on to the pr0n. You may be asking what is so special about this week’s pr0n. Well, first of all, it’s silk! But it’s not just any silk - it’s silk hankies that I will be spinning to make… er… something. That hasn’t been exactly decided yet. But the REALLY special thing? I bought these hankies from the Chief Knittyhead herself - Amy! She was selling off a few spinning things a little while back, and this was part of it. She dyed them, but they weren’t quite the colors she wanted, so she decided to find them a home with someone who would love them. :) So yes - I have silk hankies to play with that were dyed by the woman who created the magazine and messageboard that has been a HUGE part of my life for the last year and a half. I’m hoping that there will be something in “No Sheep for You” that will work with these.

And Kris got a new toy this week as part of his plan to eventually make this photography thing a paying gig - these were some of his very first shots with the new camera. I think they are amazingly detailed - that last one became my new wallpaper as soon as he showed it to me. :)

Happy Friday!

Oh, and did I mention, this is my 200th post? Wacky!

Heck, a non-fiber arts FO!

I picked up a copy of the Panera Bread Cookbook (because I loooooove Panera) last week, and last night, I made this:

Would you like a closer look?
That would be the Three Cheese Bread from the aforementioned cookbook. Possibly the easiest bread I have ever made, and so SO yummy. It’s got chunks of paremsan, asiago, and romano cheese all through it. :)

Yeah… I’ve run out of clever names for YPF posts. Maybe I’ll be inspired before next week. :)

This week, we have some of Kris’s very fave fiber to photograph (Hey! Alliteration!): sari silk. He did some shots a while back of a skein that was swapped to me by Margaret9, and they were gorgeous. So, when the delightful Mary Mary gifted me a bag (TEN skeins) of the stuff as part of her de-stashing, he was quite excited. (What can I say, we’re simple people - in many senses of the word - it doesn’t take much to make us happy)

And without further ado:

Mary also send me a lovely hank of mohair that she suggested I might want to dye and use with the sari silk in a throw of some sort. I’m still considering my options, but that is definitely a possibility.

So, like I said, I hate picking up stitches. OK, “hate” may be a little strong, but I really don’t enjoy it. And when there is as much in a project as in a log cabin blanket, well, I was going to figure out an alternative.

To start the blanket, follow the instructions as given here, on Mason-Dixon Knitting (or in their awesome book) and knit your center patch. DO NOT bind off the center patch - leave the stitches on the cable of your circular needle, and continue on to the first strip, picking up one stitch for each garter ridge along the side as described in the instructions. (Particularly for the floofy Crayon yarn, I am slipping the first stitch of every row on the strips to make picking up easier later. Yes, there will be a little bit of picking up. It can’t be fully avoided.)

Once you work the number of ridges you want for the strip, work a right-side row (this would be your bindoff on the original method), turn and pick up in each garter ridge across the end of the strip and in each stitch of the cast-on edge of the center, and continue making strips on the next two sides of the center, finishing each strip with a right-side row and leaving the live stitches on the needle.

You should have reached the top of your center patch, and have live stitches ready to go on your needle. When you have one stitch left on that last row, pick up the yarn for the next strip.

Work the last stitch of the row in the color of the next strip (light purple) - this will become the first stitch of that strip.

Pick up one stitch in each garter ridge (first stitch counts for that first ridge) across the end of the strip (light green), (I have 6 ridges, the MDK pattern uses 9) and then work across the live stitches on your needle (dark green).

When you reach the end of your live stitches,

Pick up a stitch in the top of the strip immediately below (dark green)- this makes up for the final stitch of it that “turned the corner” and became part of the next strip (dark purple)

And then pick up one stitch in each garter ridge of the edge strip (dark purple).

Now you should be ready to turn and work back (slipping the first stitch if you choose).

Voila! Almost pickup-less log cabinning!

Big thank-you to Kris for taking pictures for me!

Speaking of, Bezzie - re: the yarn pr0n - that’s all Kris’s doing with his camera and macro lens. He likes to work with a very narrow depth of field, which means that only what is in that narrow plane is in focus, and everything in front or behind is nice and fuzzy.

Oh, and Lila? Just because that hat was for Tom doesn’t mean you couldn’t bargain your way to one of your own at some point. ;)

Wow… THAT could be taken so very badly…

Anyway, welcome to the first YPF of 2007! This week, we feature some Noro Kureyon I picked up from Little Knits (We *heart* Little Knits!!!) to go with some purchased earlier for Lizard Ridge.

First, color #170

And three shots of color #164

Have a great weekend!

And SarahJanet - yes, I will get that tutorial put together this weekend. Great minds think alike!

ETA: And one last piccie - Tom sent this to my cellphone Christmas morning. He liked his hat! Yay! And he wore it to the salon and now half the staff want hats. :D

So, as we were packing to leave Pittsburgh after Christmas, Kris got a call on his cellphone that our friends Ed and Karin had become parents! Their little guy was born on the 26th. We haven’t been able to meet him yet, since we had to get back for Kris to be at work on the 27th, but I did start a little project to take up to him:

A log cabin baby blanket in Knit Picks Crayon in Lime, Periwinkle, Azure, Green, Blue, and Purple. Why that color combo? Because it is going to go with a trio of dragons! Specifically, Knitty.com’s Norberta, one each in the greens, the blues, and the purples. See, Kris and Ed used to play D&D together in college, and even once we moved up here (before Ed and Karin moved to Pittsburgh), we would play. My feeling is that we need to encourage the geekitude in the next generation as soon as possible. So, the little guy is getting an emerald, a sapphire, and an amethyst dragon to snuggle with, and a matching blanket. :D

I played a little with the basic log cabin premise from Mason-Dixon Knitting. In that book, they tell you to cast on, knit the center, bind off, and then pick up for the first band, knit it, and bind off.. and so on. Well, I hate picking up stitches with a fiery passion, and they are doubly a PITA with a floofy yarn like Crayon (which is soft and snuggly and will make a great blanket). So, I thought about it, and it ocurred to me that it was a little silly to bind off stitches just to pick them back up again. So, I tried something. When I finished a band, instead of binding off on the right side, I just knit across that row and turned my work to the right. I picked up the stitches in the end of the band I just completed, and then just knit across the live stitches on that next side, which I had held from the previous band on that side. You can sort of see what I mean here:

It does require a really long circular needle (possibly two, eventually), but I think it makes the log-cabinning go a bit faster. Plus, there are no lumps on the back from picking up stitches, and you don’t need to even attempt to find the stitches in the bindoff to keep your count consistent!

I suddenly realize that I’m possibly not explaining this all that well. If anyone is curious and wants a better explanation, let me know, and I’ll enlist the photographer (aka Kris) to help me put one together this weekend.

I finished my version of the Red Light Special hat that I mentioned in the post about Kris’s. I love this pattern - I did almost the entire thing on Jan 1 and 2. (And no griping - I was pretty much on the couch all day after a very long New Year’s Eve. And no, I wasn’t hung over…)

Here it is blocking on my patented upside-down-mixing-bowl-balanced-on-bottle hat blocker. I should really find an easier way… I call it my “Swamp Thing” hat, because although I love the colors and am very happy with how it came out, that is the only thing I can think of when I look at it.

Oh, and you know how everyone seems to be posting their New Year’s Resolutions? I’m not. Not only am I not posting them, I’m not making them. I’ve realized something in the last year or so - the best way to guarantee that I will do something is to tell me that I can’t, and the best way to guarantee that I won’t is to tell me that I have to. (That noise you hear would be my father falling out of his chair laughing. I’m pretty sure he and Mom figured that out YEARS ago) So, I’m not doing it. I’m not telling myself that I can’t buy yarn until such-and-such date, and I’m not telling myself that I will lose X pounds by summer. I am considering this 100 miles by April 1st thing, though. Mostly because I have doubts that I can do it, which pushes me to want to prove myself wrong. And yes, I know that I am a sick, twisted woman who clearly needs help. :) The debate is, of course, treadmill or stationary bike. I did 500 miles on the bike in 2005, but I’d like to push myself beyond that. And 100 miles by April 1 is just barely over a mile a day. I should be able to walk that. Hmm… Food for thought, anyway.

Note to anyone who reads this via Bloglines - you might want to check to see if you have the “Updated Items” option set to “Ignore”, or every time I update the “Finished Objects” or “Planned Projects” posts, they are going to show up as new. And I don’t want to annoy anyone.