Eris: Not Quite

So here is a photo of Eris on the night of November 30. As you can see, I finished the body on November but not the sleeves. Even though my goal was to finish before December, I am still really happy with how much I accomplished.

Eris, divided.

Just divided the body and sleeve sections. It looks a touch small but I tried it on and it seems okay; I think that if it does turn out a tiny bit small I can probably block it bigger.

Eris, take two.

So after several days, a lot of chocolate, and a little bit of alcohol, I finally felt (mostly) not upset about my mistake and was able to re-start Eris. Here is the collar, half done and with the stitches picked up to start the second half.

Irritated as I am, I really am glad that I re-knit this. The first try had several small mistakes that bugged me but not enough to make me rip it and start again. Once I discovered I'd used the wrong gauge, though, I obviously had to re-do the thing. This time around I was more familiar with both the chart symbols and how it looked on the needles, so I caught mistakes right away and could fix them.


I'm much happier with this collar.

Knitting by the seat of my pants

Scene: The girls are napping. We have a birthday party to attend in less than 24 hours, and I haven't come up with a gift idea that I like. I am suddenly seized with knitterly inspiration.

No pattern.

No gauge swatch.

The exact size of the recipient is unknown to me.

I cast on anyway.

12 hours before the party, and I have this:



They're fulling in the washer while I have my fingers crossed. Update tomorrow. (Assuming I remember to post; I've been forgetting every little thing this past month.)

Works-in-progress Wednesday

I finished my first Sockapalooza sock yesterday evening. (Click on the picture to enlarge it.) Here it is being worn on one of my blockers from Leggy Creations.


Naturally, I immediately cast on for two different socks.


On the top, Claudia Handpainted in Carousel that I got for my birthday. (A colorway which I just discovered has been discontinued, which makes me want to buy out all I can find. Too bad I'm on a yarn diet.) I love this yarn. It's dreamily soft and the colors are so vibrant that just looking at it makes me feel happy.
On the bottom... I'm not sure. However, it is the Very First sock yarn I ever bought. Many moons ago. I started to knit it up once but it turned out too small so I ripped it and it's just been sitting in the yarn basket ever since. It's the only self-patterning yarn I own.
I didn't take any pictures of my progress because I neglected to take photos before the natural light faded. But I only have the cuffs done, so it's really not that exciting anyway.

Works-in-progress Wednesday

Let's just pretend that I didn't miss Wednesday, shall we?

The only thing I've worked on over the last few weeks is the second Midnight sock. Honestly, I'm surprised that I've been able to knit as much as I have lately (which isn't a lot, but still, I'm dealing with a newborn and a toddler here). All done with the heel flap and ready to turn the heel:


I love the way these socks are turning out and I'm sure that I will love wearing them (which is good, because I just discovered that two pairs of my store-boughten socks have holes in them and need to be thrown out). The pattern is the Lichen Ribbed Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks. It has a Welsh heel which has been very interesting to work, but I'm not sure how well it will wear; it seems thin somehow. Perhaps that's because the seam stitch is continued all the way through the heel.

I had grand plans to knit socks for sister M, who is here visiting this week. I finally decided to scrap the kid mohair socks and start over, so I ordered some Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport. I got fifteen stitches cast on the other night while I was waiting for a prescription (they were very, very quick) and that's as far as I've gotten. She is leaving tomorrow night. Sorry, M. The poor girl even lives in Chicago, where she needs wool socks right now.

For those of you who use a smaller size needle on just the bottom of the foot to lengthen the life of the sock, when do you switch needles? When you start the heel flap? I've been thinking about trying that.

Works-in-progress Wednesday

Yes, I'm late, but I just didn't feel like posting on Wednesday. I've had false labor twice, on Sunday and Wednesday, and it is so exciting to think that you are finally going to get to meet the baby and then so depressing when they tell you that you're crazy and send you home. Okay, well, maybe they don't use that word exactly. But you know they're thinking it.

At any rate, here is the new work-in-progress:

This is the Fleece Artist merino in Midnight that I got on sale from Simply Sock Yarn. I love this stuff and I now know why so many people rave about it. It's soft, feels like it'll hold up well, and the colors are just gorgeous. The pattern is Lichen Ribbed Socks, another one from Knitting Vintage Socks.

I'm not going to post a picture of the Blueberry Pink Lemonade socks because a) they're packed for the hospital and it would just be a hassle and b) they're not that much longer than they were last time I posted. I did finish all the calf decreases, though, so now I can work on them without thinking (until I get to the heel flap).