Friday, September 25, 2015

Friday Mishmash

I have been on a roll with knitting lately!  I finished a pair of socks, started another pair, and frogged a shawl in favor of a more interesting one.

First up, the finished socks:
Sock pattern is my basic toe-up formula, yarn is Painted Tiger, colorway is Grand Old Flag .

The socks look a little different from each other because I used the Fish Lips Kiss heel pattern for the toe on one.  It worked, but it was a little more challenging than I'd like - half of the stitches needed to be kept "live" on a separate needle and while it feels and fits fine, I didn't want to mess with that for the second sock.  For that one, I used Judy's Magic Cast On for the toe, which is fast becoming my tried-and-true way to start a sock.  I don't mind that they are fraternal, rather than identical twins - keeps it interesting!

Here's the start of my new pair of socks - I have to knit to the 7.5 inch mark on this ruler before I can start the heel:
The yarn is Shibui sock - I bought it over three years ago.  As it turns out, I really like it, but naturally, it's been discontinued.

The other project I started this week is the Brickless shawl, designed by Martina Behm.  I was knitting a Yowza Weigh-It shawl with this yarn, but I lost interest in it, and the project had languished for about six months before I finally admitted defeat.  Luckily for me, in the meantime I'd come across the Brickless pattern, so I frogged the original shawl and cast on the new one:
 
After just a few hours of knitting - there are three different sections that should keep me more interested in finishing this.

Here's what the Yowza shawl looked like:
Row upon row of garter stitch, with just an increase at each end - and I was supposed to use that entire skein of yarn!  It was a little too boring for me.

I read someone's project notes on the Brickless shawl, and they recommended putting each section of the pattern on an index card, so it would be easier to focus on that particular part - I did that, and it's working out great:
Secret language of knitters written here!

Between these projects and the new fall television season, I'm getting a lot of knitting done.  And one of these days, it will be cool enough that I'll get to wear my new treasures!

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Not a lot going on this weekend - we have nine miles to run on Saturday.  I think I'm going to approach it like I'm running three 5K's in a row.  We'll see if that makes a difference, mentally.  The weather isn't looking particularly cool, so it's still going to be more of a challenge than it has to be.  But the good thing about running nine miles first thing on Saturday morning?  Guilt-free lazing around for the rest of the day!

Have a great weekend!

15 comments:

  1. Love the Grand Ol' Flag socks! Good luck on your run!

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  2. Cute socks! I like the yarn your using for your shawl it will be
    interesting to see it finished. Some patterns are boring to knit
    good you figured it out quickly and moved on.

    Good luck on your run tomorrow I hope it goes well.

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  3. You have challenged me! I love that idea of GUILT FREE lazing around for a Saturday. I am going to make myself go to the gym tomorrow MORNING and have an extra long session, so I can laze around tomorrow afternoon. No matter what I do, though, I'm pretty sure it won't be as hard as running 9 miles in humid and hot weather. Good luck!

    Its amazing what a difference it makes in the two shawl patterns. Love that new brickless pattern. I think starting a new shawl might be on the books for my lazy afternoon tomorrow! I used to do that on the cards when I was doing a cable sweater. But my cards did not look as professional as yours!

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    1. Good idea on the Saturday challenge! :)

      Oh, and my first batch of cards did not look that nice - I handwrote them. But I could barely read my own chicken scratch (sad but true) so I printed out the pattern and made the cards that way.

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  4. I wish I could gift you some of our cool air - it's been in the mid-50s all this week when I got up. Perfect! I like your running strategy! :D

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    1. I'm inwardly crying at your mid-50 degree mornings!!

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  5. Let us know how the mental game on the 9 miles goes!! :-)

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  6. You are very crafty. I could never knit! You will have great Xmas gifts:) I always look forward to lounging around the rest of the day in my compression socks after a long run. Goodluck with it. Hopefully the weather isn't too hot.

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    1. Actually, I don't give a lot of knitting Christmas gifts...maybe to two or three people, but not much more. Even though I love my handknit items, I know not everyone has the same affection/appreciation for them, so I try not to impose my will on them with a handknit hat or something similar.

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  7. Every time I read your blog, I want to start a pair of socks.

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  8. I have to say, that knitting language is very foreign to me. I can't even get the gist of it. Frogging just seems like some video game or something. The end result, though, very cool! I like those shawls.

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  9. You have become such a talented knitter. It has been fun to see you make your first baby steps with knitting and look at you now! You make such pretty things.

    Hope you had a great run last Saturday but I'm sure the breakfast club afterwards was fun as always.

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  10. Those RW&B socks are so fun! LOL @ them being fraternal twins!

    Isn't it a bummer when you don't end up liking a pattern like you thought you would and get bored and start over? Ha! But that is just what your post was about the other day :) Sometimes you know...

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