ink n paper, hooks and needles

On October 25, I managed to complete the Mistake Rib socks for my Mom and they fit and she loves them. Yay! This means two things: 1) I don't have to make another pair. 2) I have four skeins of that awesomely soft yarn that I can use for socks for me or some other cuddly item.

I finished one of the socks that has been pushing me over the edge. Another week or so and I'll have a pair! Hooray!!!

A while back, I made a hat with an open leaf pattern on it using James C. Brett Marble Chunky yarn. I loved the way it turned out. I like how it looks on my head even and I do not have a hat face! As an added bonus, the hat is very soft and the skein of yarn is huge so I had quite a bit left over. I adapted the leaf pattern and made a Foliage Scarf that I just pinned down for blocking tonight. (Note: our cute tabby enjoying the towel.) It was pouring down rain today and that really put me in the mood to make some Foliage Wristwarmers . I like how they are turning out so far and this picture is fun because 1) KnitPicks Harmony Wood DPNs are beautiful and 2) The DPNs make the wristwarmer look like a weapon. I am still working on the doggone Mistake Rib socks but I needed a break from them and the wristwarmers will only take a few hours to finish up.

These socks really are my bane! I've never done the heels and toes in a contrasting before but it didn't seem like it would be too difficult.  I had just finished picking up the stitches along each heel flap for the gusset and did four rounds when I realized something was not quite right. I forgot to switch to the main color to knit across the top of the foot so now there's a pink band across the top. Sigh. I am NOT going to fix it! I am going to knit until I'm out of pink or within four inches of the end, whichever comes first, then I'll switch back to blue. I don't expect it to look good but I just want to get these off my needles!!

So, I've named these socks "Soft Mistakes" because they are a pair of Mistake Rib Socks made with really soft yarn. Yeah, I know, I'm not a very clever name-giver. I am now thinking of changing their name to "inknpaper's Bane" because this has been one of the most frustrating projects I've done in a long time. To start this little project, I chose a yarn that I didn't have enough of but I didn't notice until I had finished the heel flaps. I decided to save the project by working the heels and toes in a contrasting color, which meant I had to frog the heel flaps. And order some contrasting yarn. When the new yarn arrived, I switched to it and flew through the heel flaps and ONE heel turn. While working the second heel turn, I got lost and had to rip out a few rows, which, unfortunately, happens to me often and is no big deal. Except, when I was done with the heel turn, I noticed I dropped a stitch on the first row of the heel turn.

The Kirsche colorway yarn showed up yesterday.  It's a lot more pink than I expected from the product photo but I like it. I also picked up a color called Papgei to make another pair.  So, I'll post pics when they are done and let my mom choose which pair she wants.

I am was making my Mom a pair of socks using the Mistake Rib Pattern by Barbara Breiter.  I've used the pattern to make myself a pair of socks already.  I like the roomy fit and they're a pretty quick knit. I'm making them using the two-at-a-time on one long circular method and was about to begin the heel turn when I noticed how small the balls of yarn looked.  I jumped on Ravelry and looked on my projects page for the details for the first pair I made.  I used about 345 yards to make a pair of anklets. I checked my stash page to see how much yardage was in each ball of Sapphire Regia Softy Color.  Holy yarn balls, Batman!!  I only have 272 yards of yarn!!  I cannot believe I did this.  I am NOT a new knitter.  There is no excuse for this sort of oversight. So I've frogged out the heel flap and ordered some Regia Softy yarn in a reddish/pink color called Kirsche to work the heels and then I'll work as much of the feet as I can with the Sapphire and the res

I started knitting a few years ago and now I am obsessed. So much so that I am starting to put my projects and my yarn stash on a site called Ravelry ( http://www.ravelry.com/ ). I'm inknpaper over there, too - for consistency. I signed up for the site more than a year ago but my obsession had not fully bloomed yet. It's in full bloom now! There are baskets of yarn throughout my house. I've knit almost a dozen pair of slippers for family and finished an afghan last week. I'm thinking about a sweater so much so that I bought the yarn for it!