May Day, May Day: Lifelines and Socks

I had hoped to show progress on a shawl I’m knitting using Knit Circus Opulence Yarn in Turquoise Pool.

But a dropped stitch meant I had to rip back an entire lace repeat. Quite frustrating, but I did learn a new skill – putting in a lifeline. I could have ripped back a lot more if it hadn’t been for that trick. Moving forward, I’m going to use lifelines for remaining lace.

Since my last post, I’ve also ventured outside the sock realm. I signed up for a sweater class at my LYS. I’ve selected Purl Soho’sSweater Sweatshirt for my project. I must say after the first class, I was a little discouraged. I assumed that sweater knitting would be the same as socks or shawls: as long as I got gauge, I would be good to go. But no. Because my gauge is different than the pattern, I will need to make the smallest size, and the cast on number as well as the decreases will also be adjusted. The instructor says it takes two or three classes before you understand how to modify patterns for personal fit. So I’m hoping…

But in the meantime, I did finish my May socks in the colorway Angela’s Cats, inspired by the TV show, The Office.

Canon Hand Dye's Charles Self Striping

This wasn’t the most interesting knit. Neutral vanilla stripes left me underwhelmed and struggling through Second Sock Syndrome. But I also know these will get a lot of wear because they go with everything.

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Spring Cleaning – Whipping Out Shawl WIPs

I decided it was time for a little spring cleaning. I had two shawls in different states of finishing: my Drops of Honey Shawl not started and Claire Randall Fraser one-quarter knit. The Drops of Honey shawl is the first installment of Indie Untangled’s Where We Knit Club, and since I knew the next installment was shipping May 1, I was motivated to cast on-cast off. This is my first time using merino-silk yarn. It was quite the treat! The golden-honey hue is not one I would pick for my blue-grey-turquoise loving self, but I couldn’t be happier with the finished product. It’s a great neutral and can be paired with anything. My son, who was fascinated with this project, compared the shawl to honeycomb. Sounds like something an aspiring knitter would say. Besides the merino-silk fiber, this is also my first time knitting a Janina Kallio pattern. But it won’t be my last. In the meantime, I’m woefully behind on my Among Friend’s Outlander Club knitt

There’s Nothing Plain About Vanilla – Another Set of Stockinette Stitch Socks

It’s been a few weeks since my last post, but I’m proud to say I’ve survived a stint with strep throat, my son’s first birthday party (with 24 of his kindergarten classmates), and Easter, complete with a visit from the Bunny, an egg hunt in the backyard, and a trip to see Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey’s circus. It’s been a whirlwind, to say the least. But in that time, I’ve been sneaking in some knitting when I can. To feel creative and productive (which don’t always co-exist happily), I find it best to have a pair of plain vanilla, stockinette stitch socks on my needles at all times. I can trot them out of my project bag and knit a few rounds while waiting for folks to shop our yard sale, like I did this past weekend, or while I watch the kids play outside in the front yard. The first time I saw the Regia Jacquard sock yarn was on Susan B. Anderson’s blog. I was saddened to learn it’s since been discontinued. But during my Google search, I found it discounted a

Trying to Find Purls in a Pile of Knit

It’s been a rough week in the Crud Household. We went through a bout of hand foot mouth disease last week. And like all the illnesses I haven’t had since I was twelve (I’m looking at you strep throat and pink eye), this knitter didn’t stand a chance. My body abhors being sick, but not for the reasons you might think…the headaches, the fevers, the chills. Trust me - I’m not a masochist for viruses commonly associated with infants and children. The reason I hate being sick is because I’m incapable of doing it well. Most people take two or three aspirins, pull the covers up over their heads, and wait – wait for relief, wait to feel better…they lie and wait. But my body? It rejects these verbs. It cannot process their meaning. Lie down? Wait? And adding a conjunction between the two does nothing for clarity. The phrase is not only incomprehensible, but it borders on the irrational. Simply put, I CAN NOT sit around, lie down, kick back without doing one or more things at

Bon Tricot

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