Wednesday, March 30, 2011

March Socks

Spring has yet to make an appearance in northern Indiana, but these colorful socks added a bit of springtime to my days. Well, actually, to my evenings, since my days are occupied by work.

I only knit one pair of socks this month. I chose Wendy Johnson's Ribbed Ribbons Socks, from her book, Socks from the Toe Up. I modified the socks to fit my narrow feet by removing the first stitch of the pattern repetition. I also chose to repeat the pattern on the back of the leg. The socks were knit in Dream in Color Smooshy, in the Giant Peach colorway. I started these socks on 06 March and finished on 18 March, but due to the weather, which was grey and overcast, I was unable to take a decent photograph of them until the 25th. (As always, click on any photo to enlarge.)

In addition to these socks, I have nearly finished---I'm in the process of binding off---a large shawl, and have knit the body of another one, and begun its knitted-on edging.

What are you knitting to encourage spring to make an appearance?

Susannah

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

February: Two FOs and an Almost Finished One

February is a short month, which I usually think is good, since it is the depths of winter, but this month I could have used a few more days. I did knit a pair of socks---and most of a second pair---and have continued sporadically working on a shawl.

The first pair of socks was Wendy Johnson's Riding on the Metro Socks, from her book, Socks from the Toe Up. The socks were knit in Dream in Color Smooshy (my favorite sock yarn) in the Visual Purple (VS180) colorway. (As always, click on any photo to enlarge.) I had to modify the socks to fit my narrow feet, so instead of having parallel "columns" of stitches on the sides, my socks have only one column. They were fun to knit, although the pattern didn't make my "top five" list of Ms. Johnson's sock patterns. I started the socks on 01 February and finished on 25 February.

The second pair of socks, Ms. Johnson's Sportweight Socks with Gusset Heel, were knit with Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport yarn, in the Lakeview (504) colorway. The socks are an easy, fast knit. This pair, like the previous pair, is knee length. I started these socks of 24 February, although I didn't knit past the toe increases until I'd finished the previous pair. I finished these socks on 05 March. Technically, that makes them February-March socks, but I'm counting them for February, since I was unable to take a good photo of them until this morning.

I am also plugging away on my third shawl of 2011. There is no pattern to speak of, only the center and edge increases. The absence of a pattern makes the shawl a good project to carry around and knit on, but it's also rather boring. The shawl is about two-thirds complete.

I have not  yet blocked the first two shawls (Multnomah and Gaia), which I knit in January. I could not block the shawls when I finished them because I still had pins in my foot from surgery right before Christmas. But the pins have been out for nearly a month, and this week is Spring Break, so the shawls will be blocked this week.

After finishing the Sportweight Socks on 05 March, I started my March socks on 06 March. More about the March socks in a future post.

What are you knitting this month?

Susannah

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