An Unproductive WIP Wednesday...

Today is just a yucky day.  I got up this morning knowing that I had hours of free time to be spent sewing.  I was so excited, until I moved and realized my neck was protesting my sleeping position.  Why does something always come up just when you're about to be productive!

Anyway, I tried to power through, and even laid out these beauties to see where I was.  There's 26 of them now, so two more would bring the total up to a nice number to lay out.  I'm thinking of squaring them up and adding a border of white or black to bring them to some uniform measurements so they'd look like they were floating.

It might be too boring for these crazy blocks, or it might be just the right amount of boring to let them sing.  I clearly need to stop thinking about it and make some more blocks.

But that's about as far as I got this WIP Wednesday.  I did a little bit of knitting on my socks in the car waiting in the school pick up line.  (The pattern is Charade, which is available for free on Ravelry, though I modified the pattern from a top down to a toe up.)

I did have one moment of crazy where I thought that a heating pad would be nice, and thought that I should just whip up one of those sleeves of rice.  Makers are crazy sometimes.

Linking up with Lee for WIP Wednesday!

 

Adventures in Sock Knitting

Behold, the most exciting pair of socks I've knit.  I've been going by patterns and doing as I was told, but these were the first that I felt confident enough to go off book.

I really set out to make those bigger socks.  They're a Christmas gift for my grandmother, but because Christmas is such a crunch time for handmade presents I didn't have time to knit them.  Instead, I gave her the yarn, then asked for it back so I could immediately cast on some socks.  I made them with a really great pattern from On The Needles.  It's the best pattern for just learning how to do it.  And when you use the sock number method, the socks really do fit without any guesswork.

When I finished with Grammy's socks I had leftover yarn that I figured would be enough to make a second pair for Isaac.  And since I had a finite amount of yarn, I did a toe-up sock.  I've had a pair of socks in the works from the book Toe-Up 2-at-a-Time Socks by Melissa Morgan-Oakes, but that meant my super-long circular needle was in use, and all I had was my double points.

So I just combined the toe-up method in the book, with the sock number method of the On The Needles pattern, and voila!

The other bit of excitement was with the rib knit.  I've never been able to get it to look nice.  See that gaping knitting on the right sock?  That's how it always looks, but I learned the secret to nice ribbing... twisting and untwisting your purl stitches!  The left sock turned out much nicer, and is so much stretchier.

So that's my last Christmas present crossed off the to-do list!  I might start working on some generic handmade presents just to have them on hand for next Christmas.

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday!

A Cozy Sock Finish!

I'm so excited to have finished up my first pair of socks!!  I had a little trouble deciding on what pattern to use, but finally settled on a really basic sock pattern, Socks by the Numbers from On The Needles. There's no need to get really fancy on your first pair, especially when the yarn stripes itself. 

I'm kind of in love with knitting socks now. They're pretty quick, but so comfy to wear!  And I can make them just how I want them, wide for my giant feet and calves, but not too tall. These are perfection. 

There will definitely be more of these in my future, and there's just enough yarn left to make a tiny pair for my daughter!

Linking up with Amanda Jean for Finish It Up Friday!

A Super Productive Long Weekend!

Finally, just got down to it and got some stuff done over the long weekend!  There's just been a bunch of little things piling up, but I finally started crossing things off.

Like these little snack bags for a friend.  They don't take long, but they just kept getting pushed to the back of my mind.  So I decided to take an afternoon and just do it.

They're two different tutorials.  The ones that lie flat are from this tutorial from Owen's Olivia.  And the stand up ones are from a tutorial at Mauby's.  We use both constantly, so I'm sure they'll get plenty of use.

And I got to use one of my favorite fabrics.  It's from Robert Kaufman.  I love it, but it just never seems like the right project for it, but this is perfect.  I might end up making a few more for myself.

After the bags were so quick and checked of the list, I then finished another gift quilt top, made pants for a friend's kid, tidied the area I've taken over with my sewing in the dining room, and cast on some socks.

Why knit socks?  Because I don't know how.  Can't wait to get these done because they're super warm and I keep trying this one on and loving it.

Here's hoping that the rest of the week is just as productive!

Linking up with Blossom Heart Quilts for Sew Cute Tuesday!