Dad's birthday socks

Mr. Kitten models my dad's birthday socks:
The Details:
Ann Budd's sock pattern from her handy book in Fleece Artist merino on Crystal Palace size 1s. Leg is 2X2 rib, carried onto instep. The friendly girl at my LYS showed me how to divide a skein in half without a scale: count the wraps, then wind until you've only got half as many wraps left. This removed a lot of the anxiety over whether or not you have enough to complete your socks!

Lessons learned:
1) Even with the yarn divided in half, I made the first sock too short and had lots of yarn left over, so I picked out the cast on, picked up the stitches, and worked in a 1X1 rib upwards from there. The slight jog in the rib wasn't really noticeable (really, it's under your pants anyway), and luckily the yarn pooled the same way above the join.
2) I used a sewn 1X1 rib cast off from the Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook. It worked really well, and wasn't nearly so scary as you'd assume a sewn cast off would be
3) I love socks!

Olympic Success!

Unlike the Canadian men's hockey team, I achieved my Olympic Goal:
The Details:
Interweave Knits Flower Basket Shawl, made from 4 balls Elann baby cashmere on #7 Boye circs. Cast on during the opening ceremonies, and frogged one ball in because I hated the slip 1, K2 tog, psso decrease. Started from the beginning again with slip 2 tog Kwise, K1, pass 2sso decrease. Completed Tuesday Feb 21 while watching the womens figure skating short program. My shawl has two more repeats than the pattern calls for.
Lessons Learned:
1) Make a big enough swatch that you can see whether or not you hate the decrease
2) A lifeline is your best friend in the world
3) Using the cable from your Needlemaster set is a bit fussy for the first couple of rows, but is great when you rip back and your stitches are already on your needle.

This lace got frustrating way too many times. If it hadn't been my Olympic challenge, I definitely would not have finished it so quickly!

Knitting Olympics!

I swatched today for the knitting olympics. I'm making the flower basket shawl in Elann baby cashmere. The swatch is done with two different sized needles, but the photo's so crummy you can't see the difference. I think I'll stick with the smaller needles (bottom half of swatch)

first post!

Here's my version of the ubiquitous cabled bag
This was a birthday gift for a good friend. It was also an experiment in thrifting the supplies for a project. A trip to Value Village scored the yarn (mostly acrylic, with enough wool to make it fuzzy and a slubby white thread of something firmer running through it) and the damask napkins that became the lining, for less than $4! Unfortunately, there were no handles to be found so I had to pay retail for those.
Here it is before assembly:
And finally, basking in the sun:
The details:
thrift store acrylic blend worsted on 4mm 16" Aero circs
Lessons learned:
1) acrylic hurts my hands
2) this should have had side seams. I did it in the round to avoid that, and used a 3-needle bindoff for the bottom, but in future I would just knit a rectangle and seam the sides
3) I hate sewing linings!