The story of a little skein
(Quick note: My dad’s health has declined since his long illness a couple years ago. This past summer, he was accepted as a candidate for a heart transplant, and last week, he was admitted to the hospital and is now waiting for a new heart. My cousin up north is also in the hospital with kidney-related problems. Wish us luck and healing!)
This cute little skein in lovely blues and greens was given to me by my parents after a trip to Michigan for a family reunion in August. Grandma liked the colors, so I decided to make something for her, and I knew just the thing.
A new take on the old
Way back in April, I was skimming threads in the Ravelry group, Sock Knitters Anonymous, when I saw a post announcing a sock design contest by Lorna’s Laces.
After reading the rules, I remembered I had some leftover Shepherd Sock from the Slytherin socks. It seemed like a perfect project to work on during the forthcoming weekend’s trip up north. So I packed myself a “design kit” plus one extra project (you never know, right?).
You see, ever since I knit the English Crystal Design from Kinzel’s First Book of Modern Lace Knitting, I’ve thought it would be interesting to rework this motif for socks. So I decided I’d try and give form to my visualization during the long weekend.
It took a while; two challenges I struggled with were 1) not second-guessing myself (should I let the stitch pattern spiral, or not?), and 2) figuring out a nice transition between the large and small motifs. Much tinkering, knitting, tinking, re-knitting, and frogging ensued until I achieved the result and look I wanted.
This. more »
New shoes, new socks
If you’re a Raveler who belongs to a sock knitting group, you’ve probably seen these shoes already.
Summer 08 Socks
June always gets busy for me. Since I last blogged, I’ve been to a school reunion (fun!), celebrated my birthday (goodies!), formatted my computer (finally!), and finished two pairs of socks (woo!).
Summer of Socks 2008 more »
Two and a half
That’s how many pairs of socks I knit while writing/testing this pattern! You’ve already seen the green and gray pair I knit for my Hogwarts secret pal last year. Here’s a better picture of the stitch pattern that I didn’t show you at that time. Amelia’s socks were size Medium.
I used the leftovers (Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in Pewter) to test the Wide size. What you don’t see in this picture is that I ran out of yarn. No surprise there, since I didn’t have an entire skein to work with. Only the toe needed to be completed, so I had my Mom try them on, and they fit very well. more »
English Crystal
With this little tablecloth or lace square, I completed my personal February challenge for Stash Down 2008: the Logan River Wrap, and something lacy with the Omo.
ILY, Logan
The Logan River Wrap was such an enjoyable project. Everything went smoothly, the pattern repeat was easy to memorize. I did have yardage issues, but the wrap gained length during the blocking process, which made up for that.
And now we return to…
Omo. Once the knitting on Logan was complete, I was able to pick up this yarn again. I’ve been working steadily on it since. more »
Omo, Take 3
After the Jeanie fiasco, I perused my copies of Victorian Lace Knitting and Kinzel’s Modern Lace Knitting for ideas on what to knit next. It took a while (there are many lovely things to choose from!), but I finally decided on “English Crystal,” a square design from Kinzel’s first volume. more »
