It’s cooling down here again, though, so I do have photos of one project. Two more projects to photograph, and then I should be all caught up on FOs! WIPs, on the other hand…

In the meantime, let’s make some goals:

1. Finish Froot Loops
2. Start and finish a pair of fingerless gloves
3. Finish at least one chart for Lotus Blossom
4. Start a sweater

I know, I know, I’m referring to two projects you haven’t seen yet, but I promise they exist!

To start off, let’s look at the socks I finished back in June.

Pattern:
Baudelaire by Cookie A

Yarn:
Koigu Premium Merino in color 2400

Needles:
US1 / 2.25mm Crystal Palace DPNs

 
This is an instance of my knitting three socks to get a complete pair. Or rather, three and a half socks! I knit the foot of the first sock, realized it was coming out too small, and restarted on larger needles. Then I finished the sock on said larger needles, only to find that the leg was too small. (The foot, however? Totally fine.) So I ripped back to the top of the heel flap, added more purl stitches between the cables and leaves, and finally got a finished sock.

It wasn’t as terrible as it sounds, though. I enjoyed this pattern, so I didn’t mind all the extra knitting for this pair of socks.

Also? I think it was worth the effort. I quite like these!

I didn’t make goals for last month, but let’s look at my June ones and see how I did in that month:

1. Finish Shetland Shorty - Done!
2. Finish Baudelaire - Done!
3. Swatch for a sweater - Not done
4. Do something with Mountain Peaks! - Done!

The posts for all those projects should be coming soon…

In the meantime, this month’s goals:

1. Finish Catherine
2. Start a new pair of socks
3. Start a sweater

Not too many, because I know it’s going to be a busy month for me, and I’ll be lucky if I get even these few goals done.

Believe it or not, I really did finish my Eleanora Socks. I just haven’t had a chance to take pictures. (Oh, life.) Until now!

Pattern:
Eleanora Socks by Miriam L. Felton

Yarn:
Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Lightweight in Star Sapphire

Needles:
US0 / 2.00mm Crystal Palace bamboo DPNs

 
I chose not to use smaller needles for the facing at the top. I do own US00s, but I was afraid that they would make the socks too tight at the top. In retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have worried; I think the facing could stand to be more snug.

As always, I knit fewer leg repeats than called for.

The facing was kind of a pain, but that was pretty much the only hiccup. I flew through the socks once I got past that part. I found the pattern pretty intuitive. Very enjoyable, too!

Also, I like how the patterning goes all the way through the toe.

Finally, I’d never worked with Socks that Rock before, believe it or not! Now I wonder what took me so long! I really dig this yarn. It’s a bit tightly spun, which I like in sock yarns. It’s also soft and just springy enough for my tastes - very lovely to work with! I may even love it more than I love Koigu. Though I’m postponing final judgement until I see how these socks hold up over time.

1. Finish Rudyard - Not done
2. Finish Shetland Shorty - Not done
3. Finish Eleanora Socks - Done! (Pictures to come!)
4. Start a new pair of socks - Done!
5. Swatch for a sweater - Not done
6. Do something with Mountain Peaks. Anything. - Not done

I’m giving up on Rudyard because my niece grows way faster than I can knit. At this rate, I’m just going knit something sized for a two-year-old, and hope she can still wear it by this Christmas. (No, I am not exaggerating. She’s only 3 months old, but she was wearing 9-mo old clothing as of two weeks ago!)

Or maybe I’ll just knit her toys…

Any recommendations for toddler knits?

While you’re thinking of those, let’s move on to this month’s goals:

1. Finish Shetland Shorty
2. Finish Baudelaire
3. Swatch for a sweater
4. Do something with Mountain Peaks!

I only have the armhole edging for Shetland Shorty left, so this is totally doable as long as I bring it to knit night sometime this month.

And as for Mountain Peaks? It’s gone on long enough. Granted, part of the problem is that it’s my “home” project, and I haven’t been knitting much at home because it’s Stanley Cup playoff season. And lace doesn’t make for good hockey knitting.

But even so, it’s still ridiculous. So if I don’t work on Mountain Peaks at all by the end of the month, I’m frogging that sucker.

Wish me luck!

1. Finish Mock Wave Cable Socks - Done!
2. Finish Shetland Shorty - Not done.
3. Start and finish Rudyard - Not done.
4. Start Eleanora socks - Done!
5. Start a sweater - Not done.
6. Work on Mountain Peaks - Not done.

On the “so close, and yet so far!” front:

I haven’t actually touched the Shetland Shorty in a couple of weeks, but I only have the neckline and armhole edging left.

With regards to Rudyard, I visited my sister and niece again earlier in the month and decided that it wouldn’t fit. Again. Because it turns out that not only do babies grow fast, but also, my niece is in the 90-something percentile as far as length as goes. Amazing, considering the rest of the family’s lack of height! Luckily, the width is still fine, so I just have to lengthen the pieces.

So, new goals:

1. Finish Rudyard
2. Finish Shetland Shorty
3. Finish Eleanora Socks
4. Start a new pair of socks
5. Swatch for a sweater
6. Do something with Mountain Peaks. Anything.

As far as that last goal goes, I’m seriously this close to frogging Mountain Peaks. I’m just so sick of the edging! But we’ll see how that goes.

Pattern:
Mock Wave Cable Socks by Ann Budd, published in Favorite Socks

Yarn:
Louet Gems Pearl in Baby Goldilocks

Needles:
US0 / 2.00mm Crystal Palace bamboo DPNs

 
I literally ran out of yarn - one sock is actually two rows shorter in the toe than the other because of this. That’s never happened to me before. After all, I’m quite short, so my socks are a few inches shorter in the leg than most patterns call for. And this usually leaves me with at least some yarn, so that I can darn the sock down the line if needed.

However, this particular sock pattern is 80 stitches around. Yes, 80. That kind of makes a difference over rows and rows of tiny stitches. There was no reducing the number of stitches, either, because this is the thinnest fingering-weight yarn I’ve worked with to date. (In heavier fingering-weight yarns, I’d usually use 64-72 stitches, and 72’s kind of on the large side.)

Oh well. I’m not sure if the current Louet Gems fingering weight is any heavier than this older skein of the Gems Pearl. If it’s the exact same weight, I probably won’t use it again for socks. (Well, beyond the last two skeins remaining in my stash.) It’s nice yarn, but it’s so fine, it takes too long to knit.

As for the socks themselves, I like the finished product, but the process was a pain. I am never knitting this pattern again. Mostly because of the purlwise M1s.

Awhile ago, my newer Tubey looked like this.

Yes, this is the same photo I posted last year. I did keep working on it for some time after that photo was taken, but I never posted another picture because honestly? It looked pretty much the same, just a bit longer.

But, as I may have mentioned before, I later realized that it wasn’t going to fit the way I wanted it to. I went into denial for quite awhile and kept it on the needles anyway.

Last month, I finally sucked it up and frogged the whole thing.

I already have a new project in mind for this yarn, but I probably won’t start it for awhile. So all of this yarn is just going to sit pretty for awhile.

As a side note, turning frogged yarn into skeins is so much easier with a swift!

1. Work on Mountain Peaks - Done
2. Finish Mom’s convertible mittens - Not done
3. Start and finish at least one Eleanora sock - Not done
4. Start a sweater - Not done

Although I technically achieved my first goal, I actually made negative progress. (More on that in a future post. No, seriously. I have a draft of that post saved.)

I’m going to postpone goal #2 until later in the year, since now it’s too warm for Mom to use them. As for the other two, I’m keeping them for this month.

This month’s goals:

1. Finish Mock Wave Cable Socks
2. Finish Shetland Shorty
3. Start and finish Rudyard
4. Start Eleanora socks
5. Start a sweater
6. Work on Mountain Peaks

So, what about the other two FO posts I promised last month?

I ended up frogging Kipling because it doesn’t fit my niece. I’m going to make her Rudyard instead, because a) it’s bigger and b) the construction will annoy me less.

As for the Mock Wave Cable Socks, I made a gigantic error in the leg, and I didn’t notice until I was already halfway through the gusset. (No, I don’t know how I managed this.) And then my perfectionist streak kicked in, so instead of shrugging the error off, I ripped back to fix it.

Ugh. I really want to make positive progress this month!

I wore it around on the Friday, although it wasn’t very noticeable, as I wore either a jacket or a shawl over it most of time. Actually, I inadvertently served as a walking MimKnits and Sensual Knits ad for part of the day, since I wore my Cleopatra Wrap.

Anyway, back to the camisole. It’s comfy, and cute, and I love it despite its little quirks!

(Wow, my wall looks really bright here. That’s not too true to color. But at least the camisole is! Okay, not quite, but it’s fairly close.)

Pattern:
Demeter Camisole by Miriam L. Felton (published in Sensual Knits)

Yarn:
Brooks Farm Acero, unspecified color

Needles:
US2 / 2.75mm Knitpicks nickel-plated circulars

 
My row gauge was spot on, but my stitch gauge was different - I really liked the fabric at 28 stitches/4 inches! However, the pattern calls for 23 stitches over 4 inches. So I used the stitch counts for the large size and the row counts for extra-small (due to my height, or lack thereof).

Due to how the pattern’s written, this worked really well for the most part. But, I forgot to account for my gauge difference when I knit on the edging. So the edging’s too long for the bottom circumference, giving me more of a ruffled effect. I actually like it, but it’s not what the pattern called for.

Speaking of the edging, it also curls a bit. A couple of other knitters on Ravelry seem to have this problem as well. I’m not sure how that could have been avoided - any ideas?

Also, there’s an error within the large size. (Although it may just be in my edition of the book, because as far as I’ve seen, no one else has encountered it.) The error is either the number of stitches to bind off for the armholes, or where to split the neckline in front - I’m not entirely sure which.

If you bind off 32 stitches for each armhole, and do the appropriate decreases, you end up with 84 stitches in the front. However, the pattern then tells you to divide for the neckline after slipping two and knitting 47. This would be appropriate if you bind off 18 stitches for each armhole (which the three smaller sizes call for). But if you’ve bound off 32, 49 stitches total would take you off center.

Given my build and my gauge, I definitely did not want to bind off only 18 stitches for each armhole. So for the neckline split, I slipped two, then knit 40.

Finally, I probably could have made the straps a tiny bit shorter, but I can definitely live with them as they are.