Finished Apple Harvest and Coriolis in progress

This weekend I started a Coriolis sock. I had seen Cat Bordhi demonstrate this sock construction on Knitty Gritty and although at first the design of the sock didn't appeal to me I became interested in trying it after so many on the sockknitters forum said how much they liked the pattern. I had picked up some Trekking Pro Natura on my vacation to San Diego that I thought would be nice for this pattern. I used some kool-aid dyed yarn for the toes and heel because I have rather large feet and I was worried that the Trekking wouldn't be enough.


I love the way these knit up and I love the colors in this yarn as well. Before I started the Coriolis, I finished the Apple Harvest Socks. They were a fast knit and perfect for the Lisa Souza Sock! yarn.



Here is the lace detail that runs up the back of the sock of the Apple Harvest Socks.

Jamie is doing GREAT!

This is one of our sweet little Budgies named Jamie. We've had her for six years and we just love her so much. She has so much personality and has become such a source of joy for us. Last Friday she gave us a little scare. She became very ill and had to stay at the avian hospital for 3 days. We were so worried about her, but I'm glad to report that she has made a full recovery and is home with us again. Isn't she a cutie?

One project done, and other WIPs

Last weekend I put this little pillow together. I had knit two panels of aran knitting with some gorgeous Patons SWS in shades of pink and green. One side was a braided pattern and the other a honeycomb pattern. I crocheted them together and made a cute little addition to my futon.














I've also been working on my Tilted Duster. I finished the back, two front pieces, and now I'm knitting the two sleeves simultaneously.
















At the same time I am plugging along on my Apple Harvest Socks. I hope to finish them Saturday and then I will cast on a Coriolis Sock by Cat Bordi.

My Reversible Knitted Blanket

I often look at my finished knitted projects and wish the back looked as nice as the front, but knit stitches look different on the back side. Most of the time the back is not very attractive, which is why we end up with the "right" side and the "wrong" side.

Lily Chin has designed a Nine-Block Baby Blanket or "Lapghan" that is reversible, that is, it looks just as beautiful on the back as the front. She demonstrated how to make this blanket on an episode of "Knitty Gritty". I was very interested in trying her reversible stitch techniques. The blanket is made with Lily Chin yarns that are knitted into three different patterned blocks-the reversibly cabled braid block and bi-colored brioche rib block—with a diamond brocade block.

There are so many lovely Lily Chin yarns in tons of colors to choose from, it was fun picking out the yarns for my blanket. I knew I wanted shades of green and pink, which would go well in either my bedroom or my spare room. I picked my yarn and quickly learned each blocks pattern, which were really easy to memorize. The blocks were knitted and then each block was finished off with a row of crochet and then stitched together. It really enjoyed making the blanket and is really soft and lovely. It ended up at the foot of my bed, ready for me to curl up with any time I need a little nap.


Here is my finished lapghan. It looks great in our bedroom.

Podcasts

I started listening to podcasts a few years ago, mostly nerdy ones, about tech things and mac computer news. I found that I really liked them and as time went by I kept finding so many more interesting ones to listen to. In fact, I was inspired to pick up knitting again by a podcast. I had searched for knitting podcasts on iTunes and found one named Cast-on by Brenda Dayne. Brenda has a great voice, which is what hooked me immediately. She mixes fantastic storytelling with music. She's funny and really has a way with words. She also has written some patterns that I adore. The wrist warmers pictured at the top of this very blog were designed by her. The pattern is Mrs. Beeton. She also designed these beautiful Pembrokeshire Pathways Socks that I knit with Wildfoote in their Columbine color way.



Go over to Cast-On and check out Brenda. I'm sure you're going to love her.

Over on the right side of my blog there are links to my other favorite knitting podcasts. If you've got an ipod, you really should go check them out. If you don't have an ipod you can still listen from their websites, in most cases.

Flight of the Conchords

Have you looked at the video strips at the bottom of my blog? There are four hilarious videos from my latest obsession, Flight of the Conchords. In case you haven't heard of them, they are a band (duo) who do comedy. They also star on an HBO show by the same name, Flight of the Conchords. I think they are incredibly talented musicians and actors with great comedic timing. I hope you'll check out the videos here on my blog and then go on over to YouTube.com and watch some of the others they have over there.

Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros, Business Time, If You're Into It, and Jenny are just a few of the videos that I can't stop watching.

Next Friday, September 21st, HBO2 will be running all the Flight of the Conchords episodes in order starting at 7:00 pm.

Venturing Out

I love sock knitting! I always have a sock on the needles. I have lots of sock patterns I can't wait to knit. I have skeins and skeins of sock yarn I can't wait to cast on. But until recently, I hadn't attempted to knit a sweater for probably 15 years. The last sweater I knit that many years ago was stitched up with Red Heart Acrylic Yarn. Uh, I can hardly stand to type that, let alone admit it. At the time I didn't know anything about wool yarn or gauge.

That poor sweater turned out so large and just kept on growing. In fact, it was so bad that I don't think I knit anything for quite some time. A month or so ago, I heard about "The Sweater Workshop" by Jacqueline Fee. This book teaches all the techniques needed to make knit-in-the-round raglan or drop-shoulder sweaters in several different styles. In the first part of the book, you are taught how to knit a sweater sampler. In this sampler you get to practice all of the techniques needed for making the sweaters in the book. Here's my sampler. It's about 2/3 done. I knits up in quite an odd shape, sort of like a leg warmer.

I am learning so much from this sampler. The book has been around since 1983 and is now printed in it's second edition, with more up-to-date pictures and additions. It has given me the confindence I needed to start a new sweater as I posted about a few days ago. I highly recommend this book for anyone who would like to learn some great techniques for sweater knitting.

Apple Harvest Socks

I am also knitting socks with Lisa Souza Sock! yarn. The pattern is from Northern Sunshine Designs. It is really just a plain vanilla sock with a nice lacy strip up the back, which is perfect for the color way in this yarn. If you haven't tried Lisa's yarn, you really should. It is my favorite sock yarn.

Tilted Duster in Progress

I have finished the back and now am knitting the right front of the Tilted Duster. It is knitting up so quickly! I'm very pleased about that! I love this Peruvia yarn . The color is so rich.

Tilted Duster KAL

The Webs yarn store is doing a Knit-A-Long with their Ready, Set, Knit Podcast. They are going to knit the "Tilted Duster", which is the cover sweater on the Fall 2007 Interweave Knits. The designer, Nora Gaughan, will be on the podcast on Saturday, September 15th.

I have already started mine using the same yarn (Berocco Peruvia) in the same color (Purpura). The yarn is so nice to work with, very soft and the knitting is going so fast. I haven't knit a sweater in years and I'm really looking forward to the finished project.

I picked up this issue of Interweave Knits at my local Borders and decided to subscribe after finding so many great patterns inside. If you haven't picked up your copy, run, don't walk, and get one.

Mamluke Socks

Welcome to my first blog! After a year or so of knitting inspired by the internet, I've decided to be an active participant too! These Mamluke socks from Folk Socks by Nancy Bush are my most recent finished object. I loved this pattern and it was my first foray into color work. I used Wendy 5-ply Guernsey as the pattern called for and although it was slightly stiff and coarse when I cast on it did soften as I knit and washed up beautifully.