Completed Socks

With the weather on the warm side, it got too hot to continue working on the heavy wool sweater that’s 2/3 done; I completed these socks instead. Pattern: my go to generic toe up sock, this time on smaller needles (size 1, instead of 2) up through the heel, then when a point broke, changed to size 2. It was my first venture doing two at a time on one circular needle; once I got going it was really easy. Yarn: something anonymous, gifted by a friend, soft and woolly – and in spite of the purple in it, I like the colors. It was completely unlabeled, but divided neatly in two in more or less the middle when I wound the skein into two balls, so it was probably intended to be sock yarn. The design was a combination of patterns from The Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible, my go to when I want something not boring to knit. I played yarn chicken, not wanting to have yarn left over – and had to find something in stash that was close enough in color to finish binding off the last two inches!

Now I’ve started knitting a monster for the great-grandson, small enough to not overheat me.

Storm Clouds at Sunset

Ha – did that fake you out? These are the colors I saw the other night, as storm clouds cleared, and the evening sun was setting – orange blushed clouds, with some very bruised looking ones. But I was driving the highway, and didn’t stop for the photo that would match these colors. Stitch pattern for the cowl from the Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible; yarn from stash – very, very old stash – Mary Maxim Mohair Glitter (acrylic, wool, metallic – not a breath of mohair!), of which I used about 35 grams.

Another Completed Knitting Project

This is the second cowl completed as thanks to another of the nurses who cared for Mom in her last months. It’s a very different yarn, chosen for the color name (No. 2 Pencil) from Dirty Water Dyeworks. It’s a merino and nylon sock yarn, on the heavier side for socks. Again, I used a design from The Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible, although I shortened the repeat by one row so I could offset the columns. The repetition was easy to memorize, the yarn a delight. I used all but a couple of yards of it, so another Yarn Haul yarn out of my stash!

Knitting Completed – Cowl

It’s been raining on and off all day – well over two inches so far here in northern Vermont. An excellent day to sit and knit – and that’s what I’ve been doing, finishing the above cowl. It is destined to be gifted to one of the excellent nurses who cared for Mom in her last months. I don’t have the yarn info with me; if anyone cares enough to ask I’ll hunt down the label when I get home! The stitch pattern is from the Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible, one of my favorite sources to build designs. I found a repeat that would come out to the 120 stitches I wanted with eight repeats, and knit six vertical repeats, using 40 grams of the 55 I started with. It is as light and fluffy as it looks!