Anniversary Socks

Pattern: Anniversary Socks by Nancy Bush, Interweave's Favorite Socks
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy, Chinatown Apple
Needles: US1 Harmony DPNs

I followed the pattern almost exactly as written (note the errata if you plan to make it yourself, also, the last round on the toe should be k1 sl1 k2tog psso k1 around). I don't mess with Nancy Bush too much, and she doesn't often lead me astray.

The yarn is a dream. Beautiful autumnal color, no pooling, and oh, so soft on the foot. The hype is deserved. Not to mention the yardage. These are pretty tall socks, and I had 39 grams left over. And it holds up well to frogging. If you remember, this yarn started life (more than once) as Scheherazade's Slippers. I look forward to working with it again.

I was worried, at first, that the variations in the yarn were overpoweing the pattern, even though they're fairly subtle. I think the socks look pretty good on, though. I like that the back is plain stockinette to show off the yarn, but the front is patterned for interest.

These are my first full pair of socks off the Harmony DPNs, and I'm still impressed. I may need another sock kit, or, better yet, just a few more sets of 0s and 1s. Are you listening, Santa? There might be some handknit socks in it for you.

Getting a decent picture was a bit of a challenge!

Untangled.

Part of me is afraid to touch it now.

Is it Friday already?

I have been meaning to post, but have been too lazy/busy/distracted to actually do it. So here's what I would have posted this week if I had gotten my act together.

Waiting for Godot.

The yarn for Mom's Cabled Cardi was backordered for about a month, but even though I've had it for a week or so, I still haven't swatched it. Why? I really want to use my new Harmony needles, and the size I want to start swatching with is the one size that is mis-threaded. Knit Picks is sending a replacement, but of course the tips had been backordered, too. They're on their way, now.

Deviating from the plan.

I've been pretty good at sticking to my Status and Priority list, but I do have two new WIPs that weren't on it.

First, new purse socks, and a new purse to carry them in. My old bag was really too small to carry a sock-on-the-go, and I was in constant fear of hanging the yarn in the zipper, but this one is just right. I even have a little pocket to place the rolled-up sock in so that it doesn't move around and come free of the needles.

I started these on size 1.5s and ripped because the gauge was way too loose and all the red/blue bits were lining up on one side of the leg and all of the green/yellow bits on the other. So I started over on 1s. Or so I thought. When I had the cuff knitted and was ready to start the heel, I discovered I still had a rogue 1.5 in the mix. EZ says that your fingers will compensate for different sized needles and maintain a consistent gauge, but my fingers must be stoopid, because once I got rid of the 1.5, I started getting these cute little skinny stripes on the foot.

I haven't decided yet whether to repeat my mistake on the second sock or to knit it on size 1s and then decide whether to rip this one and reknit it. I may even have enough yarn to knit three socks and pick my favorite two. We'll see how enthusiastic I am about that after I have two done.

Oh, who am I kidding? I'm already over it.

Second, more catch-up socks for my husband. He is now the proud owner of three pairs of handknitted socks, whereas I have at least three times that many and am churning out more on a weekly basis. So, I have decided that I should have a pair on the needles for him at all times until he gets to at least seven pairs. That should keep him warm this winter.

These are the Gentleman's Half Hose in Ringwood Pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks, except not half hose. The Cherry Tree Hill Supersock is 420 yards, and the pattern calls for 550 yards. So, instead of starting with 76 stitches and 40 rows of ribbing on an 11" leg with calf shaping, I've started with 64 stitches and 20 rows of ribbing and will do about an 8" straight leg.

I may try the pattern as written at some point in Wollmeise; a skein of her Sockenwolle has an astounding 575 yards. Perhaps that should be my Socktoberfest project. What better for Socktoberfest than socks in Bavarian yarn? These will be for me, of course. I'm not that good a wife.

After I took this photo, I thought I might prefer a photo of the wound yarn cake. Things went terribly wrong. After over an hour of untangling, the yarn is still in a mess all over the floor. :( I'll get back to it, but sitting on that hard floor and untangling was killing my back.

Updates.

Book club, in case you were wondering, is off probation. There was only one attendee this time who hadn't finished the book. And only 5-10 minutes of wedding talk.

Grandma finally stopped petting her socks and tried them on. The green ones, she said, were a bit snug, but the red ones were perfect. Which means that her feet are about the same size as mine. Which makes knitting socks for her much easier on me. This could work out very well for her.

As you can see on the sidebar, the Anniversary Socks are finished. More on that soon. Also, the Hex Coat and Lily of the Valley Shawl are missing from the sidebar because I marked them as hibernating in Ravelry.

Weekend in Review

I didn't have anything going on at work, so I took Friday off so we could get a head start on the drive to the ranch. We seem to be making the trip a lot, lately. This is unusual for us -- I've always felt it was a bit too far to be worth it for a weekend -- but we have both been enjoying it.

I finished my husband's plain trekking socks. I figured that the first one was finished on a trip to the ranch, so it was only fitting that the second one have the same fate.

Pattern: none; 72 stitch plain socks with round toes
Yarn: Trekking XXL, colorway 90
Needles: US0 nickel DPNs

They weren't very interesting to knit, but they sure did turn out pretty. I might have to borrow them some time. They fit me pretty well, too.

It was rainy on Saturday, which is bad weather for a weekend away, but rain is always welcome in west Texas. I stayed inside and finished listening to my book club's selection on my iPod. [I don't even delude myself that I'll put down the needles long enough to read a book that I haven't chosen for myself, and this 'cheat' is probably why I'm usually the only one at book club who ever finishes the book. Which I find annoying. Book club is on probation.]

Where was I? Oh, rainy Saturday morning, listening to a book and knitting this much of Anniversary Sock #2.

Once the book was done, we went into town to see my father-in-law, who had just received a Wii for his birthday. I'll admit, I had no clue what a Wii was, or even how to say it. W-2?? Turns out, it's "wee." But we started playing with it, bowling, tennis, golf, and four hours passed before I knew it. So. Much. Fun. It is a testament to our slovenly ways that my husband and I are both still sore from our interactive video game competitions. For the record, I kicked his butt at virtual bowling. I'm sure we looked rather foolish; my father-in-law just cackled as he watched us.

Grandma[-in-law]'s birthday was Sunday, and it was our job to get her out of her house while my mother-in-law set up the party. So we told her we needed to take her to look at this year's first calf heifers, and we had a good visit while driving around the ranch looking for them. I gave her her birthday socks, and she really liked them.

Once we got her back to the party, she made everyone look at what I had knit for her. One of the guests looked up at me and said, "Are you a knitter? ... Me, too." I must have donned a very eager expression, because she sure backtracked in a hurry. "But I don't knit any more, it puts me to sleep."

So much for that.

We stopped on the way home to visit my parents at my brother and sister-in-law's new place, and by the time we got back on the road for the long part of the journey, it was dark, and I was too tired to knit, anyway.

I think I'll work on the baby shawl tonight, while everyone's still tired from the trip.

Adult Tomten

Pattern: Tomten Jacket, from Elizabeth Zimmermann's The Opinionated Knitter
Yarn: Beaverslide McTaggart Tweed in Sweetgrass (6) and Fisherman Weight in Tamarack (1)
Needles: US 10 KP Options

Notes:
The Tomten is, most famously, a children's pattern. My husband caught a glimpse of Brooklyn Tweed's adult version and informed me that it had his name written all over it. I was pretty enchanted with the jacket, myself, so it didn't take much convincing. He picked the colors, and off I went.

This was the first time I've knit a large garment for someone else, so balancing the original design against modifications for an adult fit against his desires against my own opinions was a bit of a challenge, but I think it all worked out in the end.

EZ advises that you can adapt the pattern to fit an adult by knitting it at a gauge of 2-3 stitches per inch. I liked the fabric I was getting from the McTaggart Tweed at 3 stitches per inch, but I thought the pattern still needed some tweaking to better fit an adult. In the original pattern, the sleeve circumferences and the neck circumference are each 50% of the body circumference. While that provides an adorable fit and room to grow on a toddler, I didn't think it would be as flattering on my husband.

For the neck, I did two rows of k4, k2tog to bring it closer to the size of the actual neck. He decided against a hood, and these decreases created a mock-turtleneck fit with kind of a mod aesthetic. I think I would have preferred the look of a hood, but it would have added more bulk to what was already a horse blanket of a sweater, and I doubt he would have used it much, anyway. And I definitely would have needed to order an extra skein of the contrasting yarn. As it was, I was down to mere inches after sewing on the buttons.

For the sleeves, I left the armhole deep, but then added a wide mitered border to bring the sleeves closer to the body and accentuate the construction of the jacket. From there, I decreased on either side of the center slipped-stitch ridge after every fifth garter ridge to length and then k2, k2 tog across before joining the contrast color.

The antler toggles were my husband's choice, after weeks of indecision. I lobbied hard for a zipper, but it's his jacket, after all, and the antlers suit both him and the jacket. He asked for buttonholes rather than loops, and I was happy to oblige.

He seems to be pretty happy with the final results, and since he hasn't been shy about asking me to change things that he didn't quite like, I believe him when he says he likes it.

There was a lot of trial and error along the way, and I even took a much-needed break from it for a while, but I'm having some real separation anxiety now that it is finally finished. Good thing the yarn for my next project came in the mail today.

Previous Posts on the Tomten:
8/13/07 A Good Weekend for Knitting
8/21/07 If it's worth doing, it's worth doing three times?
8/23/07 Success!
8/26/07 Antlers and Toggles and Tomtens, Oh My!
8/28/07 This is the project that never ends.
9/20/07 Status and Priority
9/24/07 A Very Productive Weekend, Indeed

More pictures on Flickr.