I guess this is a lesson learned...

I love knitting socks. I taught myself to make cuff-up socks on four DPNs, using the indescribably helpful Silver's Sock Class. After happily churning out cuff-ups for a couple of years, I finally decided it was time try a toe-first pattern. I had two small hanks of handpainted merino sock yarn in my stash which I pulled out to make my first toe-up socks. Purchased via mail order more than two years ago, I'd simply tossed these hanks into my stash drawers, thinking all was well.

I balled one hank and got to work. The first toe-up sock went well, after some initial missteps and ripping back. I then went to ball the second hank. About 1/3rd of the way through - I found a break. Then another break, and then another and another. The final 1/3 of the yarn was pretty much unusable, with breaks every few inches.

@#$%^&!!!!

And at this point, what can I do? I bought it more than two years back, but hadn't discovered the problem because I hadn't tried to wind it. I guess today's lesson is to ball purchased hanks within a month or two. That way, if there is a problem, I have a chance to get an exchange or return.


Too annoyed to work out a solution right now (I have one lovely, striped, but mateless toe-up sock...), I instead cast on another pair of socks entirely.
Here's my start on Cookie A's Pomatomus Socks, using Zitron Trekking in the "Brazil" colorway:


So far, so good. The chart is excellent. You can see the upper half of the first round of "scales" taking shape.

Entrelac Socks

I finally finished these #$%&&$ socks! Their completion marks a triumph against the longest bout of dreaded SSS with which I've wrestled.



I used the Buttercupia Noro Entrelac sock pattern, downloadable on Ravelry. I sort of like entrelac. I don't exactly love doing it, but I like the way it looks enough to do it anyway. Noro sock yarn works perfectly because of those long color runs that enhance the basketweave effect. I have a pattern in my queue for a matching bag. I don't know that I'd go to all the trouble of making another pair of entrelac socks out of a single ply yarn like this, but I may give the bag a try soon.








































The completed socks aren't perfect, but good enough for me. There was an error (or more accurately a typo) on one line of the pattern in the ending round of triangles. When I first started these way back when, I was not as good a fudger as I am now. The sock I made nearly two years back has these weird bubbly spots in that round where I was trying to work my way through. The second sock looks much better. I briefly considered frogging the foot of the first sock back to where the triangles and reworking it...but after finally getting these off of my needles, I couldn't do it. Live and learn.

Molly Weasley Sweater

Here I am again, updating after far too long. Instead of blathering on about why it took me so long to get back to my knitting blog, I'm just going to talk about this sweater.

I've not been a big fan of crochet over the years, despite the fact that my only published pattern thus far has been crochet. Amigurumi aside, I generally shy away from crotchet projects. I'm in a rare minority that finds knitting far easier.

My crochet phobia was what made me put off making the Molly Weasley technicolor housecoat from "Charmed Knits", even though I loved how it looked. This past fall, I decided to give it a go.

A firm believer in taking the bull by the horns, I started with the crocheted sleeves. I worked them simultaneously, doing one or two rounds on one before switching to the other for a couple of rounds. I found that worked best for me. Since my crochet knowledge is a little shaky, doing the sleeves in this manner made sure that techniques were still fresh in my head from one to the other.



These are the shoulder caps and top sleeve portions. I used the suggested yarn, Knit Picks Shine sport.
















Close-up on the sleeve stitches. I had some confusion on the magenta stripe of triple crochets, right below those lime green clusters. The directions on the PDF I downloaded from Ravelry weren't clear. Thankfully there are some great project photos posted from other users, and I was able to figure it out by looking at those.
























Here are the finished sleeves! They took me about a month for the pair of them. I made some minor alterations to the pattern. I'm a short girl, and made as written these would have been ridiculously long on my lil arms. I skipped three rows at the top (where the lower sleeve joins the upper piece). I also trimmed the three rounds of magenta trebles to one round of half-doubles and one round of trebles.

There are some minor errors in the PDF version of this pattern. Specifically, the end of round stitch counts are off. I've been meaning to send a note to the author. The directions otherwise seem great. IMO, if you're like me and not an experienced crocheter, the PDF version is written a little more clearly than the one published in the Charmed Knits book.

All that's left is the stockinette stitch bodice, trim and buttons. I need to place another order to Knit Picks. The holidays slowed me down for knitting much more than socks, but I need to make sure this is finished before Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 comes out in July!

PS, if you're wondering about progress on the October for Spinners scarf, it is temporarily hibernating. You would think the spider would have been the difficult part of that one. It wasn't. At least for me, the hard part is afterwards, trying to work a complex pattern where every line is different. The results are gorgeous, but much like trying to make that ruffled mohair scarf, it can't be put down and picked up easily. I've set it aside for the present, until I clear my queue of easier, quicker projects.