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Wednesday, October 16, 2013

October

All 3 of my sisters visited in the last month.  No. 1 had not been home for almost 2 years.  No.4 visits about once a month and No. 2 come 2-3 times a year.  Dad turned 94 this month.  Mom will be 90 next month.  Living is getting more challenging for them.  No. 2 is still here and cooking up a storm!  She made the best corned beef.  Her secret is to glaze the corned beef after it has cooked with mustard, brown sugar and ground cloves and bake in the oven  @ 375 deg while the vegies are cooking. Yummy!  She also made brown stew and swears by the whole slow browning, caramelizing of the meat and vegies before the actually stewing.

For dad's birthday she had me make a Chocolate Zucchini Cake .  If you are like me you will say, well why zucchini?  I'm not sure what it added but the cake was very yummy and moist!  The mods are to use buttermilk in place of the sour milk and bake at 350 deg.  I would also increase the amount of chocolate chips to sprinkle on top so each piece had at least 3. 
Top with ice cream:)

On the knitting scene, I'm on sock number 5 of the new, improved sock knitting mojo.  Number 4 was another Finnish Sock.  Zeska, was nice enough to provide the pattern for free (in Finnish) but translate the pattern stitch to sl. 1, K1, YO.  Pass slip stitch over K1 and YO.  I'm calling this Furlough Sock, as much of this was knit on time made available by our country's budget issue.

Pattern:  Petäjä-sukat by Eeva SavirantaYarn:  Tosh Sock, Madeleinetosh
Needles:  size one Chiaogoo needles.  I'm on a roll with these nice pointy needles, using the the magic loop method.
Mods:  There is no English translation for this pattern so I adapted the pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks, 6 stitch pattern CO 66 stitches.  I added a purl stitch to match the beginning purl stitch to the patterned portion of the foot, working 34 stitches for the foot and 32 for the sole. 
Comments:  The varigated yarn did not show up the pattern as well as the solid color of my first one, but made for a nice snug fit.  The yarn was a bit splitty with these pointy needles, but not excessively so. They feel wonderful on.

No. 5 sock is Kellswater Sock in Tosh Sock, colorway Stormy.  It is knit toe-up.  So far I've knit one toe.

Another project was Red Hat.  Such a clever name, lol.
(oops, have to trim the tail after blocking)

Yarn:  Malabrigo Rios, color Ravelry Red
Needles:  size 7,8 short circs, and size 9 dpns
Pattern:  I'm sure this has been done before, but I didn't use a pattern except for the decreases.
CO 90, twisted CO. K2P2 5 inches.  I wanted this ribbing to fold up and cover the ears. 
Change to size 8 needle. Fisherman knit in the round. for another 5 inches or so. (I have a 22 inch head)
Decrease according to Fisherman’s Hat by Christina. The number aren't the same but easy to fudge. I changed to size 9 needles as recommended.
I've using the twisted CO for socks over two needles lately as it is stretchier and easy to do.
Warning:  Try not to drop any stitches in the Fisherman Knit portion.  It is a very challenging to fix!  I found tinking back as soon as a mistake was made the the best way for me. 






Saturday, October 05, 2013

Seattle/Camano Getaway

I had a wonderful little getaway to Seattle and Camano Island while Big Sister and the General were visiting the folks.  I knew they would be in good hands!

I finished Caamaño Socks
Pattern:  Katniss Socks by Rose Hiver, free on Ravelry.
Yarn:  Koigu, a light blue
Needles:  ChiaGoo size one.


I knit my flap 2.25 inch and had 17 end stitches. After picking up the 17 gusset stitches plus the additional two that are knitted together, I had a total of 59 stitches before doing the math for the clever ribbed gusset.  

There was some stash enhancement, but everyone knows sock yarn doesn't count, so I have no guilt and did not hold back.  



The first shop I visited was Bad Woman Yarns in Wallingford.  Free parking!  Yay!  They had a nice selection of Skacel yarns and others. I went for the good stuff.  

Barely seen in the photo is the Madeleine Tosh Sock in Tart.  It was love at first sight.  The second has sparkles and is 88% rayon but sparkles:)  Rayon Metallic by Blue Heron. 



The second yarn shop I visited was Pinchknitter Yarns in Stanwood, Washington.  Sirkku Bingham – Owner and operator, was very friendly and helpful.  I actually went twice since the Katniss sock required stitch markers and I did not bring any with me.  She had some neat HiyaHiya ones that work like safety pins.  They will work for crochet as well.  There were some wonderful samples in the shop.  I got the yarn to make the hexagon sock from Think Outside the Sox. 



Best Foot Forward, by Nashua Handknit will make wild and crazy sox!  When I went back there were some ladies gathered knitting.  Such a warm, bright place.  I loved it!

I'm thinking of Wave, by Skein Designs, for the sparkly stuff and Paraphernalia, by Taina Anttila
for the Tart.  

I stayed a few days with my snowbird friend and family on Camano Island.  Her Halloween/Fall decorations inspired me to come home and make a couple of pillow cases.  Well it started off with table runner, then Halloween dog kerchiefs and then pillow cases.  The pillow cases are a little habit forming to make!



I made mine 24 inches long since my pillows are a little short.