(That’s the last of Peaches & Herb that you’ll ever see on this blog.)

For those of you who missed the update to last week’s post, my missing sock was found and mailed back to me, so I was able to finish the pair this week!

Pattern: Jaywalker by Grumperina

Yarn: Vesper self-striping sock yarn in “Autumn Sky”

Needles: two 2.75 mm (US 2) Knitpicks 16″ circs

I think these are the socks that officially sealed my fate as an honest to goodness sock knitter. Not only are these knit in fingering weight yarn (The only other pair of fingering weight socks I’ve knit were my very first pair of socks, over 2 years ago, and they took me months and months and months to knit. These only took 2 weeks!), but I tackled 2 different techniques that I never thought I’d master: toe-up and short-row heel. I have Adriana to thank for that as she pointed me to her favorite tutorials and talked me out of giving up several times, fully confident that I could do it, and answering my countless stupid questions while totally ignoring my pathetic whining about how hard it was. I used Judy’s magic cast-on for the toe-up portion (way easier than it looks!) and Alison’s tutorial for backwards yarn-over short row heels (also known as the PGR heel). Look: no holes!

I put off knitting this pattern for a long time due to all the fit issues that people seemed to have. The pattern does not have a lot of stretch to it, so many people found it difficult to get this snug sock over their foot. I too had fit issues, but in the opposite direction! It was Adriana’s idea to knit these toe-up so I could try them on as I go and that was a good idea. I was planning on knitting one of the larger sizes, but as I increased up to the smallest size, it was already looking a little big…I figured this might be due to the stockinette sole, so I left it at the smallest size on the foot and increased up to the next size for the leg, which ended up being unnecessary as the leg is also too loose! I’m glad I stopped the legs where I did or they’d really slouch down and annoy me, but with the length they’re at, it’s just fine. I did run them through a hot wash and dry cycle in the hopes of snugging them up, but no dice…so yeah, they’re a little loose, but on the plus side, Vesper self-striping is totally is superwash! No shrinking, fuzzing or fading, at least on that one cycle!

More on the yarn: It’s nice. I’m not the biggest fan of knitting with self-striping sock yarn. I know a lot of people love it, and while I like the looks of it, I find knitting with it so boring! With a variegated or semi-solid, you never know exactly how it’s going to knit up, but I totally knew exactly how every stitch of this was going to knit up before I even started knitting which made it a little dull for me, but I do love the way the Jaywalker pattern looks in self-striping yarn so it was worth it. I found the yarn itself a little splitty, but I seem to find EVERY yarn a little splitty, so perhaps it’s more my needles or knitting technique that is to blame. I would use it again!

Overall, I’m really happy with these socks and they’re even more special to me since I almost lost them! Never again! I’ve also successfully completed my summer of socks! My goal was 3 pairs of socks in 3 months and I did it! Woo hoo!

Last seen at the Eventide Motel in Wellfleet, MA. The above is the last known picture of Jay Walker, but he’s said to have been completed at this point, containing also heel, leg, and cuff. He’s also traveling with a half-completed companion. Also missing: 1 brand new, super cute sock pouch with notions tin, 1 brand new, super cute needle gauge, and one expensive bottle of Lush shampoo which is totally unrelated but nearly as maddening. The staff at the Eventide motel has said they will call if it turns up, but nothing has materialized yet. If you have any information on the whereabouts of these socks, please contact the appropriate authorities.

(ALWAYS DOUBLE-CHECK YOUR HOTEL ROOM BEFORE YOU CHECK-OUT! ARGHHHHHHHHHH)

8/13 UPDATE: THE SOCKS WERE FOUND! The pouch had fallen in-between the crack of the mattress and headboard! They are mailing it back to me so I should have it before the end of the week!! I am confident that it was all your good thoughts and wishes that brought the sock back home to me, so thank you!!  

When I found out my friend Andrea was pregnant with her second child, I knew I wanted to knit her something. She had made me this adorable onesie when June was born and we’ve only gotten closer since then, so a handknit was in order. When I found out she was having another girl, I knew just the sweater I wanted to knit!

Pattern: Eyelet Yoke Baby Cardigan (rav link) by Sarah Hoadley

Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton-Ease, 1.5 balls in Violet

Needles: US 8 KnitPicks 24″ circs

There’s not a lot to say about this sweater! It’s a cute and easy knit. Andrea is due at the end of this month, so I made the 6 month size in the hopes that it will fit the baby in the fall/winter/spring. Since it’s a cotton-blend, it should be a good seasonal piece. I really love Cotton-Ease for baby clothes. It stands up to scads of machine washes/drys which is key when dealing with someone so leaky.

I love the magenta flower button that I found at my LYS! The only thing I’d change about this sweater if I were to knit it again (and I might for June!) would be to modify it to be knit in the round somehow…there was so much seaming and so. many. freaking. ends. to weave in.

Seriously? For a baby sweater, that is way too many ends. But anyway, it was worth it as I am sure it will look cute on the baby when she finally emerges from her very-tired-of-being-pregnant mother. Hurry up little one!

Andrea has another beautiful daughter, Laurel, who is a few months older than June. I didn’t want her to feel left out, so I whipped up a little dress for her:

I picked out this great Kaffe Fasset fabric for her since it was fun and bright, and not too prissy. She can wear it as a sundress now, and I think it will look cute with a long sleeved t-shirt and jeans in the fall too. I like this dress pattern because with the adjustable shoulder ties, it should also fit as a shirt when she’s bigger.

I’m so happy that you liked everything Andrea and hope your new little one joins us all soon! I can’t wait to meet her!

Pattern: Duckies by AquaKnits

Yarn: Miss Babs Yummy 3-Ply sport in Plum

Needles: US 3 (3.25 mm) Addi Turbo, magic loop

Duckie: On loan from June

Remember a couple weeks ago when I knit the Rainy Day socks, and I remarked on how I couldn’t believe I knit a whole pair of socks in only 2 weeks? Well I knit this entire pair of socks in four days. I started Saturday night and finished them Wednesday afternoon.
Yeah. I’m totally a rock star.

I can’t take all the credit, this is another sport weight yarn, though I think in reality, it’s a little finer than sport weight. These fit comfortably in shoes.  I think the real genius is in the pattern, it seems to knit up lightening fast. According to Ravelry, I’m the first person to knit a pair of these (other than the designer) and happily I encountered no errors in the pattern. I was a little confused about the heel flap construction at first, but the designer (the talented Samantha who is also the mastermind behind sKNITches sock yarn!) clarified for me and it worked out fine. I really like the back of the socks:

The Miss Babs yarn is nice. I really love her semi-solids, the colors are beautiful! I didn’t love knitting up this base yarn as much as I did the Mama Blue sportweight; it’s not quite as soft and squishy as that, but after blocking they did really soften and plump up, so no complaints!

I’ve really loved knitting these last 2 pairs of socks, so maybe I’ve finally turned the corner towards my goal of becoming a real sock knitter! We’ll see if the love affair lasts as I’m about to start a pair of Jaywalkers in this stripetastical (and fingering weight) yarn. If I can finish them before September, I will have successfully completed my Summer of Socks goal! Onward and Sockward!

First, I want to talk about this great kit I got in the mail. Jane has lately been designing some fantastic mittens and socks (rav link). Apparently when test knitting the socks for a couple of her patterns, she lost a little steam after the first sock of each pattern (don’t we all?). So she decided to sell these single socks, with their patterns, and the remaining yarn required to finish the socks in her Etsy shop. I jumped on this chance! I had been planning on buying the Yukari pattern anyway (this pattern is specially formulated to get a pair of socks out of a single skein of Jitterbug. Jitterbug is a beautiful yarn, but it’s a little light on yardage, so sometimes knitting top down socks can be a bit of an adventure!) so now I’ve not only got the pattern, but the remaining Jitterbug and the original Yukari sock! Now I’ve only got to knit myself 1 sock and I’ll have a pair! Fantastic! I think I’m going to have to try to get involved in some sort of single sock swap at some point…I love the idea of only having to knit 1 sock of a pattern! I’m probably going to wait to knit these until after Summer of Socks is over since already started socks don’t count, but it will be so quick that I don’t mind waiting! Thanks Jane!

And now I’d like to talk about another friend! My good friend Phoe is having a blogiversary contest! There are 2 amazing prizes up for grabs. One is a skein of impossible to get Sundara sock yarn (for realz!) in possibly my favorite Sundara colorway ever, and all you have to do is send her an email to be eligible for that prize. The other prize includes Socks that Rock along with some other goodies, and for that prize, Phoe has requested that you take 3 or more pictures of something that inspires you and post them to your blog. This was hard for me because I am inspired by SO many things (probably too many!), so instead of photographing the most obvious things that inspire me (June, yarn…), I tried to pick a few slightly less obvious things…

1. Shoes

My love of yarn is only rivaled by my love of shoes and bags. I’m not much of a girly girl, but I’m totally a typical girl when it comes to the shoes and bags thing. My shoes inspire my clothing choices. When I go shopping, I think about what shoes I’d wear with a certain article of clothing, and if I don’t have shoes that I think would look great with it, I won’t buy it. I have many, many, many pairs of shoes, but even with so many pairs, it’s very easy for me to pick a favorite, which are the shoes above. I have a black pair also, but the brown pair gets the most wear. These shoes are 10 years old, and barely showing any wear, despite the fact that I wear them at least 5 times a week in the fall. I keep thinking about buying another pair in case they are discontinued someday, but given how long these have lasted, I don’t think I’ll need another pair.

2. Well-worn paperbacks.

I’m sure that reading is a source of inspiration for a lot us, but I find that I am most inspired by books when I’m reading an old, well-loved copy. If I’m looking to buy a book that’s been out for a while, I always look at yard sales, or used book stores, or eBay before resorting to Amazon because I’d much rather read an old copy of a book that’s been through many hands before me. I love the way they smell, I love the yellowed pages…I feel more drawn into the story. Of course I can be inspired by new books too, it is the words inside them that is important, but I will always pick a tattered paperback copy over a new hardcover whenever I can.

3. Dreary days

I think I was born to live in a place like England or Newfoundland or Seattle because I never feel more inspired or content than I do on a cool, dark, dreary day. Now, I need sunny days for taking pictures and for wearing summer dresses and for lovely crisp fall days picking apples and such, but I’m never inspired to be creative on a beautiful sunny day (probably because I’d rather be outside). It’s days like this that I want to knit, and sew, and draw and create (summer’s almost over, right?)

4. Blogs

I couldn’t get a good picture of my computer screen, so here’s a shot of the keyboard I’m typing on right now. Nothing has been more inspiring to me over the last 4 years than blogging. Not my own blogging, which I could take or leave, but everyone else’s. If there was no blogging, I can guarantee I’d have never started sewing or knitting. Before I discovered the world of craft blogs, my hobbies were pretty much limited to reading and purchasing expensive new musical instruments every few months in an attempt to learn how to play them and failing miserably. Crafting has stuck and enriched my life in so many ways, including through the friendships I’ve made in the blogging community. I’m kind of a dork and very shy and socially awkward/anxious so I’ve never been much good at making friends in ‘real-life.’ The magic of the internets has allowed me to connect with so many incredible people that I’d never have had the courage to speak to in real life, many of whom I now feel that I could be actual real friends with instead of just ‘internet friends’ (as my husband calls you all…). You are a constant source of inspiration to me every day, internets, and I love you.

***

I’m 90% finished with my secret knitting, which means I should be able to mail off that secret knitting this weekend and can blog said secret knitting next week once it’s arrived in the hands of the recipient.

Once I finish this secret knitting, I will be starting my next pair of socks, in this yarn. Hopefully those will go as quickly as the first pair so I can get back to my Lady Sweater!

I was going to wait for a rainy day to photograph these, but I decided I’d rather not get my feet wet.

Pattern: Rainy Day Socks by Yuliya Sullivan

Yarn: Mama Blue Troika (merino/cashmere/nylon) in Trifle

Needles: US 3 (3.25 mm) addi turbo, magic loop

These flew off the needles. Sport weight socks go quickly, yo. I knit the pair in less than 2 weeks which is insane for me (being on vacation for a week helped, but still! fast!). The pattern is very simple and easy to memorize. I love the picots especially. Being sport weight yarn, I’m not sure I’ll wear these with shoes. They fit into my roomiest clogs, but I’ll probably save them for around the house. The yarn is incredible. It’s soft as anything to knit with, but after blocking it was downright kittenesque. It’s also the exact color of a rainy day. Perfect.

Mama Blue herself was wondering if 250 yards was enough for a full size pair of women’s socks. With this pattern, for my not-particularly-petite size 9 feet, it was! I was a little nervous on the second foot, but I had a nice little dumpling leftover so the worry was for naught.

Summer of Socks is off to a successful start! Now to decide on the next pair…

There’s no better way to ease into the work week following a vacation than blogging said vacation on company time. There’s only so much I can write about going to the beach every day, so I’ll let the pictures do most of the talking.

June had her first ice cream cone at the Cape Cod Creamery. Here she is telling Matt to get the hell out of her face, because she has the ice cream situation under control…

…as we see here.

Surveying the landscape at Marconi Beach in Wellfleet.

She wasn’t a big fan of the huge waves at the Cape Cod National Seashore beaches. There are more kid/baby friendly beaches on the inner arm of the cape, but those lots fill up really quickly in the morning and we’re fans of sleeping in.

She LOVED being buried in the sand and making sand castles (or “san casas” as June likes to call them).

More sand playing…

She likes wearing mama’s sunglasses…

…as you can see, she’s not sold on her Elton John frames below.

For the 4th of the July, the weather was kind of crappy on the Cape so we went up to Old Orchard Beach in Maine for the day. I had never been there, and this particular visit did nothing to impress me, but to each their own. At least the weather was nice and we stayed on the beach for the fireworks in the evening. I am not very big on displaying patriotic spirit or whatever myself, but there is something about a baby with a flag…she was waving it at everyone we passed, melting the cold hearts of even the angstiest teenagers.

Watching some kids with sparklers, waiting for the fireworks to start, which she enjoyed immensely, except for the finale which kind of made her a little nervous (she kept saying “whas happenin!?” in kind of a panicked voice, but she toughed it out!)

I even managed to get some knitting done! I finished my first Rainy Day sock (I’ve since grafted that toe) and am halfway through the second. Hopefully those will be finished this weekend. I’m also working on a February Lady Sweater, but that’s going to be pushed aside for a couple weeks while I work on some super secret gift knitting to be revealed at a later date.

Bye bye vacation! See you next year!

Thanks for voting in my sock poll last week! The Rainy Day socks won in a landslide, so that’s what I’m working on now that I’ve finished the Clapotis!

Pattern: Clapotis by Kate Gilbert

Yarn: Sheep 3 by Sheep Shop Yarn, 70% merino/30% silk, color G043, 1.66 skeins

Needles: US 7, 4.5 mm KnitPicks circs

Notes: I’m really, really proud of this. Not because it was a difficult pattern at all (I am kind of amazed at how simple and intuitive it is), but because it’s the biggest thing I’ve ever knit. Being a product knitter and not a process knitter, I don’t usually knit large projects because large projects take a bunch of time and I want it NOW. But I really, really wanted a Clapotis and it was actually a fairly quick and fun knit so I managed to plow through it. When I started, I honestly thought I’d probably give up halfway through. It’s mostly stockinette so I thought I would be so bored with it, but those drop stitch rows really kept me motivated to keep going! I didn’t use stitch markers after the first few rows and purled the stitches to be dropped - so, so much easier than dealing with a zillion stitch markers. It took about a month from start to finish.

The colorway I chose to knit this in, while very pretty, doesn’t read “dressy” to me, so I’ll probably be wearing this more as a scarf than a wrap. For this reason, I omitted 2 repeats during the straight rows to make it a little smaller, and I’m glad I did because it blocked out to be even bigger than the pattern called for. It measures about 23″ wide and 60″ long.

The yarn is lovely, it’s incredibly soft without a trace of itch, and because it’s plied I don’t think it will pill as much as a single-ply merino/silk. It seems pretty strong. It definitely did stick to itself though, so dropping all those columns of stitches took forever as I had to pry every single one apart. The yardage is fantastic too; at 325 yards each, I was able to get the whole thing out of 1 and 2/3rds skeins.

I know that there’s some interwebs backlash against this pattern, due to it’s incredible popularity, but…I really don’t give a shit. If it makes me a sheep to knit something so beautiful, useful, and versatile, then I’m pretty happy being a sheep.

We’re off to the Cape, so I’ll see you in a couple weeks! I hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

I’ve nearly finished the straight rows on the Clapotis, so I just have the decrease rows and final rows left. Which means I should be able to finish it this weekend in time for the June 21st kickoff to Summer of Socks! The orange socks are on hold until I’m done with SoS since I can’t participate with socks started before 6/21. As I’ve mentioned, my goal is to knit 3 pairs by September 1st. In order to give myself a little bit of a boost, I’m going to make the 1st pair in sport weight yarn.

One of the “problems” that comes with having quite a nice bit of yarn in one’s possession and an overwhelming availability of sock patterns, is that I’m often paralyzed with indecision about what to knit.

Enter you, my faithful homies.

Which socks to knit first?

Rainy Day Socks in Mama Blue Troika, color “Trifle”:

Citrine Socklets in Pigeonroof Studios Sport Merino, color “Green Ocean” :

Quill Lace Socks in Union Center Knits Sport Merino, color “Plum-Delicious”

Make your vote count in this crucial election year! Thank you!

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk stitch markers! I love pretty stitch markers as much as the next person, but I’m not usually a fan of stitch markers made with standard jump rings. I find that no matter how tightly you close the ring, at some point, the ring comes apart slightly and starts snagging on the knitting. I still use ‘em, but I’m always looking for a better (and still pretty!) solution.

I recently purchased some sock yarn from a fellow Raveler and when she sent it, she included a sample of a new style stitch marker she was making. The stitch markers are made with Swarovski crystals (sparkly!) and soft flexible jewelry wire instead of jump rings so they don’t snag! Brilliant!

I loved the one she sent so much that I bought some more from her store…

…but mentioned that it would also be cool if she made ones with smaller loops for socks. She said that was in the works, and included some with my purchase (shown here on a US 2 needle)…

…but explained that the reason the others came with larger loops was so that you could use them to mark individual stitches. You just pinch the ends of the loop and thread the wire through a stitch, then pull the bead through to secure it! Super brilliant!!

So much prettier than using safety pins or split ring markers! These kind of markers would be perfect for crochet too! Thanks Stacy! I love these!

And finally, I was tagged by my friend Emily for this meme:

What were you doing 10 years ago?

In the summer of 1998 I was living with my parents (I graduated high school in 1997), dating my ex-boyfriend, and working at an art gallery in Rockport, MA. I had to pre-screen artists for display in the gallery, manage gallery openings, train new hires, sell, sell, sell, and other filing/office type duties. This was my first non-restaurant job and while I loved it at first (ooh, commission! Fancy cheese and wine parties!) the owner of the gallery was a real piece of work (aka DOUCHEBAG EXTRAORDINAIRE). The owner (who also owns a gallery on Newbury Street in Boston) wasn’t there often, but when she was, she was a micromanaging, snobby, catty nightmare. She thought I was too young to be working there, didn’t know enough about art, didn’t sell enough, and constantly asked my boss (who ran the gallery from day to day) why she hired me.

I left there in the fall and started my new career in the illustrious field of t-shirt sales! I worked in one of the little tourist t-shirt shops, also in Rockport. Since it was the off-season, we weren’t very busy so I was always there alone. The owner owned a million other stores and was never there, but was very particular about the music playing in the store. He’d call at random times and make sure that the store CD was playing (Negotiations & Love Songs - Paul Simon) instead of my own CDs or the radio or whatever. So of course I just always made sure to turn on the Paul Simon CD anytime the phone rang. While this was the boringest job ever, I got to read all day and was paid under the table in cash, so it was also the best job ever. Funny story: One day a woman came in and asked if she could use the bathroom. We didn’t allow people to use the bathroom because it wasn’t part of the main store, it was upstairs in an apartment/storage area and there are a lot of public restrooms around anyway. The woman pleaded with me and told me she was pregnant and REALLY had to go. So I said fine. She was up there for a few minutes and left. About 20 minutes later, water started POURING through the ceiling, all over the clothes in the store! I ran upstairs and found the toilet completely overflowing EVERYWHERE. I got the plunger out and finally the source of the clog cleared….IT WAS A TAMPON! She wasn’t even pregnant! GAH! It took hours to clean up the gross toilet water, I was so mad! But not as mad as my boss who lost a few hundred dollars worth of toilet watered merchandise.

I left that job in the spring and went to work at my first REAL job, at a software company, where I later met Matt.

What are 5 things on my to-do list?

I actually have a to-do list today! Non work related items:

- June - Doc 9:00 (just a checkup)
- blog
- Pay car insurance
- post office
- check on matt’s b-day gift (his birthday is tomorrow)

Where have I lived?

Beverly, MA, Merrimack, NH, Gloucester, MA, Salem, MA, Danvers, MA

What would I do if I was a billionaire?

Pay off my debts, buy a house, buy a summer house on Fire Island, buy a couple new cars, quit my job, buy our parents new houses, give money to children’s hospitals and animal shelters, buy some yarn, visit the west coast, visit the UK, bank the rest.

I should be back next week with a finished Clapotis! Hopefully that billion will arrive soon.

I’ve already reached the summer blogging doldrums and it’s not even summer yet! This does not bode well. I’m gonna blame it on this:

That was the temperature when I left my office on Tuesday. It’s cooled off slightly since then, but I am still totally over summer and setting my sights on fall.

The heat also means I haven’t really had the desire to hang out with wool, so my knitting progress has been slow, and neither of my current projects make for exciting WIPs as they are both mostly stockinette. Nevertheless, here’s the progress on my orange sock:

I’m just about to turn the heel and then begin my most hated part of sock knitting, the gusset. I really am not a fan of the gusset. Do short-row heels eliminate the gusset? If so, I’m definitely trying that next time. Hate you picking up stitches and decreasing forever!

Here is the progress on the Clapotis:

I’m 1/3rd of the way through the straight rows. I was hoping to finish this before we go away on vacation at the end of the month, but I don’t know if it will happen. Maybe if it cools off a little I’ll be more inspired to work on it!

In that vein, it’s time for Ali’s annual summer knitting goals contest! I actually won a prize in this last year, so here’s hoping I do again this year! I have my eye on that delicious orange raglan kit! All you need to do to enter is post your list of summer knitting goals on your blog and then leave a comment & link yourself on her contest page. Easy!

My summer knitting goals are as follows:

1. Finish Clapotis

2. Knit 3 full pairs of socks between 6/21 - 9/1 for Summer of Socks (and the orange socks don’t count since I already started them so it’s going to be hard!

3. Knit some sort of market-type bag like Everlasting bagstopper or Saturday Market Bag

4. Start a February Lady Sweater in the hopes of it being finished for early fall

5. Something for myself to wear this summer like a shrug or tank

6. Something for June. Cardigan? Dress?

That’s about it!

In closing, random crappy cell phone picture of June from last weekend.

Blogging will probably be a little lighter this summer, but I’ll try to update at least every 2 weeks, even if I have absolutely nothing interesting to say, because that’s just how I roll. You’re welcome!