FO: Leyburn Sock

 (I meant to do a  lovely outdoor photo shoot, complete with leaves that matched the yellow socks, but the daylight just doesn't wait for me to get out of the office, it seems! So, I give you my blue bathroom.)

Whew, this was a tough one for me!! I frogged this sock at least 4 different times, frustrated that I couldn't get the stitch to look quite right. In the end, I decided to forge on regardless, and hope that blocking would work miracles.


You may recall that this sock is part of a very fun sock swap with Eliza, who knit the first sock, and then sent it to me with the yarn for the 2nd sock. You can't have second sock syndrome if you don't have to knit two identical socks!!  A brilliant idea. Until I started to fight with my sock. 

Pattern: Leyburn Socks 

Needles: 2.75 mm dpns 

Yarn: Koigu Painter's Palette Premium Merino  

Mods: none

Once the sock was blocked, I realized what was driving me nuts while knitting it- I wasn't getting row gauge. Usually, I don't care about row gauge, I'm more concerned with how wide the item turns out to be, and I add length to pretty much everything I knit, using other favourite items as sizing templates (and I swatch!) But I never gave a fig about row gauge. But you know how the knitting gods are- they never forget a slight. And they lie in wait to wreak their vengeance! The sock I knitted is on the left in the photo below:

Although if a lovely sock (albeit a very challenging knit for me) is vengeance, then I admire the knitting gods in all their wisdom. Damn cute, socks, no? Even if they are slightly different.

The Endless WIP, and a Quick FO

I've been quietly working away on the Apres Surf Hoodie for a couple of weeks now, after I joined the mini KAL that started on Ravelry recently. I've also been working on the Leyburn sock. Although in a fit of cleaning I tucked it somewhere safe and cat-proof, and when I was taking photos, I couldn't find it. You know how it goes. I knit, every day. So you'd think I'd be making some good progress, right? WRONG. I have no idea what's up with my knitting at the moment. I was having a lot of difficulty with the Leyburn sock, so I frogged it, decided to give it a couple weeks so I could cool off, and then I'd try it again. I've recently cast on for it again, but it is currently little more than a toe pocket. As for the Apres Surf Hoodie, which I'm calling my Reading Hoodie (I don't surf, but I have read 5 books so far while knitting it...), I made the decision to knit it in the round instead of separately front and back. I figured I'd save myself an evening of seaming in lace, which seemed so clever at the time. But then my brain decided to have tremendous difficulty in adapting the pattern for working in the round (possibly because 4 of the 5 books I was reading were the Twilight series...bloody distracting books!), particularly when it came into increasing in the pattern. Le sigh. So in the mean time, I decided to churn out a quick knit just to keep my knitting morale up: Pattern: Mary Jane Booties Needles: 3.5 mm Yarn: Stash DK weight, fingering weight for embroidery details Mods: I went up .5 a needle size, since they seem to be very small. I'm glad I did, I think it helped a bit. And, of course, the embroidery- just a little extra detail to make them extra pretty. Notes: These were a very quick knit. I knit both booties in the same day, and then embroidered on the details the next day. buttons were harder to find, but ta-da! I'm really pleased with how they turned out. With all the people I know who are pregnant, one of my goals this summer/fall is to stockpile some baby knits, as I know of three new babies that will be coming into my circle of family and friends between August and October of this year. Hopefully one of them will be a girl, so they can receive these lovely little mary janes. And if not- well, I know that these are not the last babies that will be coming my way. I'll just stockpile!

Leyburn Love

Eliza and I had a little mini sock swap with ourselves- we each a) secretly picked a sock pattern from the other's Ravelry queue, b) knit one sock, and c) sent the one sock, pattern, and the rest of the yarn to make the matching sock. No more second sock syndrome!! Eliza chose the lovely Leyburn sock by Pepperknit: (Look at that- a perfect fit!) Which is utterly fantastic. I love the gorgeous Koigu that she used-a lovely springy yellow. I'm so excited to knit the other sock with this scrumptious yarn! I got a kick out being sent Koigu from the States- Koigu is produced about 4 hours away from me, so it's pretty local, as far as Canadian yarns go! She also tucked in a cute little squid (who now doubt had very comfy ride to Canada with all that Koigu), and a CD mix of awesome tracks! Below is a sampling of a couple of the great tracks she included: The Blow- True Affection Of Montreal- Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games Awesome package. Thanks so much, Eliza!! P.S- I've been on a butterscotch kick lately- probably from making Eliza's Butterscotch Monkey sock. I recently made a vanilla and chocolate bundt cake, complete with butterscotch sauce (from scratch) and pecans. So. Damn. Good!!! I'm going to make this again, for sure.