On the needles...

sock for ME!
Originally uploaded by evilsciencechick.

I got my mom's socks off this week - hopefully she got them today, as tomorrow is her birthday. Sorry no final picture - I literall finished them on the way to work and then mailed them from there.

I started taking the shuttle in, as I refuse to pay for a parking pass ($100 increase over last year) as I'm only going to be here for a few more months. Anyway, I've discovered the joys of knitting on a bus - a little bumpy, but it's a nice way to start and end the work day. Plus, I'm probably known as "that weird girl who knits and makes faces."

I started a pair of socks for ME. I bought this yarn at my LYS, and for the life of me, I can't find the label. I think it's called "socktastic" or something like that. A superwash wool/cotton/something else combo. Anyway, I don't remember ANYTHING on the lable saying that it was self striping. I started on my standard easy toe pattern, and noticed...hey...STRIPES! I had to take advantage. I ripped out the 3 inches I had started, and began knitting the chevron pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks, which was designed for self striping. This isn't a toe up pattern, so it'll be my first grownup socks knitted this way (the baby socks weren't toe first, but they were teeny tiny). I can't be nervous about running out of yarn, though, as I have 450 yards of it. w00t! Also, it calls for an "afterthought heel," which makes me nervous. I am DOWN with the short row heel, but I think it only works for the toe up patterns.

It's hard to see the chevron pattern so early in the process. There were two other chevron type patterns I could have chosen: one was too lacey for this yarn, IMHO, and one called "welt fantastic" which I REALLY liked...and almost tried...except it was a 12 row repeating pattern. No way would I be able to knit that on a bus or watching tv without starting at the chart. So the standard chevron it is - a 2 row pattern.

procrastinatorial FO's

I like making up words.

Dude, it's been so long since I've posted anything on a blogger blog, I almost forgot how. HA!

OK, so TECHNICALLY I have some UFOs. There is the infamous shawl, which I haven't touched in almost a year. There is also Knitty's Branching Out, which I started and stopped after repeated frogging, ripping, and angst. It LOOKS so easy...but it's not.

So Aimee was right - I knit in the evenings instead of write. BAD ME! But there ya go.

A peaches and cream washcloth, pattern from this site, in the "open stars" pattern.



I made some toddler sized socks for when I visit my friend Elizabeth this week. I had made the pinwheel blanket for her newborn Lily, but felt guilty for never having knitted her son, Dylan, anything. These are just out of cotton.



I made a little hedgehog from my Family Circle knit toys book - same one I got the pink pig pattern from. He's done in Caron simply soft and lion brand fun fur yarn.




And finally, my WIP - a gift for my mother: uhh...a knit elf condom.



No really! It's a sock! There will eventually be two.
Pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks, the best sock book ever. The Easy Toe pattern, which I like because:

1. it's knit toe up, so you can make the most of what yarn you have
2. there's no toe seam to get caught between your big toe and your shoe, making a painful blister. OK, maybe only I have this problem with socks.