Tiny Trees

These are too cute: Pint Sized Pines

Have a bag of green and greenlike scraps with me as we travel today to give it a shot.

Run Up Cowl

My husband is riding a cyclocross race tomorrow, and the kids are planning to go watch. It's going to be really cold, so knitterly logic leads me to knit something today. Pulled a skein of Malabrigo Rasta out if the stash and one gymnastics lesson later I have this snugly cowl.

Pattern is LTYC Super Bulky Cowl, free in Ravelry, and perfect for this yarn! Would be an excellent last minute holiday gift.

Love at First Sight

One of the tasks in a current challenge in the Stash Knit Down group that I frequent on Ravelry is to take an impulse buy from the stash and make something with it, which is why you bought it in the first place.  Spent time today swatching and working out a chart for a shawl design.  Have cast on now in some blue-grey Malabrigo Sock that I picked up on our vacation to Cambria last year, in the spirit of using up some of the too-nice-to-use stash. May have overdone the knitting today as my elbow is complaining, but it's hard to stop when I want to see how it's going to turn out.

Knit or Treat

This is how much 2x2 rib I got done walking with my trick or treater, before the cold and dark increased too much.

Second Sleeve Saturday

Have pulled my Vitamin D sweater from the WIP cabinet after a run of making baby gifts. Finished the last bit of the first sleeve last night and picked up stitched for the second before going to bed. This morning the second sleeve and I are watching the girls practice balance beam. 

Why do I have yarn for three more fingering weight sweaters when I haven't ever knit one before this? 

Crafty commuter

Happened to come up behind this cozied spare on a day when husband was driving, so I was able to take a quick pic.

Insulated wall

Daughter snapped this photo for me while we were browsing at the Knit Stop yesterday afternoon. 

Baby Bath Sets

Little project from the summer; three baby bath sets of a washcloth and hyperbolic crochet scrubby each.

Saturday

I should probably be starting the laundry. Or making a grocery list, or cleaning up from last night's slumber party. I also have work to do today since it's budget season pretty soon, and camp forms to fill out, and dinner to plan. But instead I've opened the blinds to let in the late summer morning light, turned off the TV and the radio, and am sitting here with my coffee and a blanket for a baby, knitting her a warm welcome to the world.

New Year

School for my kids started in the middle of last week, and that always seems like the real beginning of the year to me. Even though it's August right now, some leaves are beginning to show their fall colors. The mornings have been a bit foggy and cool, and I can tell that it won't be long before I start pulling out the shawls and wraps and cowls. I haven't been knitting much over the summer due to lots of evening work sucking up my free time, but there are some pending babies at work that will need presents before long. I even had a dream the other night about knitting knee high socks and going to a wedding.

Bright Stripes Blanket

Making a baby gift for my daughter's teacher. I am modifying the bright stripes blanket pattern from More Last-minute Knitted Gifts by casting on fewer stitches on a slightly smaller needle and making the white stripes a bit smaller.

State of the Stash

Kids helped me pull out stash for a photo earlier today. Pictured: everything, my WIPs, and theirs.

Sock around the (Disney) world

Took a trip to Florida with the family last week. In lines, on boats, on trains, on the monorail, at restaurants, or just sitting down, I worked on a sock. Here it is waiting for the park to open.

Entrelac

Only three tiers into this entrelac project but semi-addicted already. Using Knit Picks Chroma fingering I got for Christmas.

Misnomer

The "short rows" at this point in my Vitamin D are anything but short.

Math!

Sock and I await the beginning of elementary math bowl.

Scraps in situ

The small one and I placed my nine-sided crochet rug in her room today. Used up lots of worsted leftovers and random acrylic/blends from the stash.

Modern Boy

Working on a baby blanket for a friend as my TV knitting. Pattern is loosely the Moderne Baby Blanket patter from the first Mason-Dixon Knitting book. It's becoming my go-to baby blanket gift.

Speaking of books, a very talented member of my family has written one.   Everyone ever should buy two copies.  Less than $6 for the Kindle version, and also available in hardcover.

Tulip Rib Socks

This sock is constructed from the top down with a ribbed cuff and heel flap. A lace pattern grows out of the ribbed cuff and and forms columns of tulips down the leg and foot.  The lace and rib pattern will stretch to fit a variety of sizes.  

Materials

Needles: Set of 5 doublepointed needles, size 1.5 (or size needed to obtain gauge)

Tapestry needle

Yarn: 350 yards sock/fingering weight yarn. Solid or semi-solid yarns will show off the lace pattern.  Recommended yarns: Koigu Knitter's Palette Premium Merino (2 skeins, 350 yards); Collinette Jitterbug (1 skein, 400 yards)

Gauge: 8 stitches per inch in stockinette stitch

Size: Women’s medium

Abbreviations:

K - knit

P - purl

ssk - slip, slip, knit slipped stitches together

K2tog - knit two together

yo - yarn over

* - repeat between * until indicated otherwise

Cuff

Using long tail cast on, cast on 64 stitches. Join to work in the round, taking care not to twist stitches. Tail from cast on will serve as a marker for the beginning of the round. 

Arrange evenly on four double pointed needles (16 stitches each).

Work K2, P2 ribbing for 10 rounds.

Before beginning the leg, knit the first stitch of the round with the fourth needle. Slip the first stitch on each of the other three needles to the previous needle so that there are still 16 stitches on each. First and last stitches on each needle should be a knit stitch.

Leg

Work Tulip Rib pattern 7 times or to desired length of leg, ending with row 8 of the pattern.

Tulip Rib pattern:

Row 1: *K1, P2, yo, ssk, P2, K2, P2, K2tog, yo, P2, K1* four times

Row 2: *K1, P2, K1, yo, ssk, P1, K2, P1, K2tog, yo, K1, P2, K1* four times

Row 3: *K1, P2, K2, yo, ssk, K2, K2tog, yo, K2, P2, K1* four times

Row 4: *K1, P2, K2, P1, yo, ssk, K2tog, yo, P1, K2, P2, K1* four times

Row 5-8: K1, P2, *K2, P2* to last stitch, K1

Heel

Heel flap is worked back and forth on the 32 stitches in the last half of the round. The stitches on the first and second needles form the instep and will rest while the heel is fashioned.

Slip the stitches from the third and fourth needles on to one needle.  Turn the work to begin working the heel on the wrong side. 

Row 1 (WS): Slip 1 purlwise with yarn in front, purl to end of row

Row 2 (RS): *Slip 1 purlwise with yarn in back, K1*, repeat to end of row

Repeat these two rows 15 times. Repeat Row 1 once more.

Heel turn begins on the right side of the work and incorporates short rows to form the three-dimensional heel.

Row 1 (RS): Slip 1, K16, ssk, K1, turn.

Row 2 (WS): Slip 1, P3, P2tog, P1, turn.

Note the gap that is evident between the unworked stitches on the needle and the last worked stitch in the short rows.

Row 3 (RS): Slip 1, K to one stitch before the gap, ssk, K1, turn.

Row 4 (WS): Slip 1, P to one stitch before the gap, p2tog, p1, turn.

Repeat Rows 3 and 4 until all heel stitches have been worked. Knit across all stitches.

Gusset and Foot

Rearrange stitches as follows. Slip half of the heel stitches (Needle 1) to a free needle (Needle 3). Slip instep stitches on to a single needle (Needle 2). Needle 2 now has 32 stitches. 

Beginning with Needle 1, which has half of the heel stitches, pick up 16 stitches along the heel flap. Work across Needle 2 in next row of Tulip Rib pattern. With a free needle, pick up 16 stitches along the heel flap and knit across the remaining heel stitches.

Needle 1 now holds half of the foot stitches, Needle 2 has the instep stitches, and Needle 3 holds the other half of the foot stitches. Beginning of round is at center bottom of foot.

Gusset Row 1: Knit to last three stitches on Needle 1, K2tog, K1. Work across Needle 2 in established Tulip Rib pattern. On Needle 3, K1, ssk, knit to end of round.

Gusset Row 2: Knit Needle 1. Work across Needle 2 in established Tulip Rib pattern. Knit Needle 3 

Repeat these two rows until there are 16 stitches on Needles 1 and 3.  

Work even on Needles 1 and 3, maintaining Tulip Rib pattern on Needle 2, until foot is 1.5 inches shorter than desired length, ending with Row 8 of Tulip Rib Pattern.  (On my sample socks I had 13 repeats of Tulip Rib from cuff to toe)

Toe

Toe Row 1: Knit to last three stitches on Needle 1, K2tog, K1. K1, ssk, knit to last 3 stitches on Needle 2, K2tog, K1. K1, ssk, knit to end of Needle 3.

Toe Row 2: Work even.

Repeat these two rows until there are 28 stitches remaining. Repeat first row until there are 16 stitches remaining. Knit stitches on Needle 1 to bring yarn to side of toe for finishing.

Finishing

Slip stitches from Needle 3 to Needle 1. Use kitchener stitch to join toe stitches together. Break yarn. Weave in ends.

Weekend Vitamin

Making slow progress on my Vitamin D. Almost to the end of the first skein of tosh light. Only one more row to separating for the sleeves.

The pattern calls for knitting the sleeves flat, before the body. I think I will do the body first and come back to do sleeves in the round to avoid seaming them up.

Pictured here is current status, with the fuel for making it and the process improvement homework that is cutting into my knitting time.

Vitamins are Healthy

I'm about to attempt my first fingering weight garment, from the Vitamin D open cardigan pattern. I bought this Tosh Merino Light with Xmas credit to the LYS and just wound it up to start swatching.

Out with the old

Happy new year! My worsted scraps are resolving themselves into this.