lostpurl

I think this will be my last pair of socks for the current campaign. The yarn is Ella Rae Classic something. It runs like mad. Five washes before it ran clear. But the socks still seem nice and bright. Winging Worsted Weight Socks from Stitches of Violet. But I broke out of the box and did Fleegle's short row heel. I can't tell you how proud I am of this heel. First short row heel that didn't look like Swiss Cheese heel. It is dead easy. And that is saying a lot from someone who only likes to decreases.
Cast on 40 stitches. 1/3% of the 40 stitches for the ribbing. 2/3 of 40 stitches for the leg. Short row heel. 40 stitches for the foot and decrease away for the toe. Done and Done.

Dawn's gloves. The glove pattern from Ann Budd's Knitting Patterns. Very basic. Only one change. Instead of casting on two backward loops between the front and back of the finger. I kfb in the last stitch and kfb in the first stitch. I am doing this with two circs. I think it makes a neater join. A lot of cheek since I have never knitted a glove before. The yarn is Opal Lollipop purple something. The band is long gone. I am using 2.25 needles getting 10spi. Since I have so much yarn, I offered to match the fingers up yarn pattern wise. Dawn told me to get over it. She likes the weird effect. She has been looking at glove patterns at Ravelry. This would have been much easier if I had some sportsweight yarn. Which I don't, but I will soon. They fit so far and she likes them. What the heck else could a knitter ask for :-}

Dawn has been asking me for fingerless mitts to wear when she is out photographing in the cold weather. She picked out the yarn from my stash. Fearless Fibers Hendricks. A beautiful merino in shades of purple. It is hand wash, probably not a clever choice for gloves of mitts. And it is fingering weight. The pattern calls for DK or Sportsweight. The pattern is Spirogyra from the Spring Knitty. If this patterns looks familiar it is very like the Tidal Wave sock pattern. What I had were hands that were larger then the pattern, and yarn that was finer then the pattern. Nothing like a bit of a challenge, right? I swatched a bit. Adding one repeat was still too small, adding two repeats made it too large. Instead I added a stitch to each repeat. This gave me 8 extra stitches around. Perfecto. It also made each repeat two rows longer. Also good for Dawn's larger hands. I cast on with the 3.25mm needles and did the ribbing with them. Then I switched to the 2.75mm for the rest of the mitt. This gave me a nicer fabric. The best part is they are done they fit and she loves them. I would like to give making gloves for her next. She always ends up having to buy mens gloves. And that is no fun at all. I think (hahaha) I can do fingers. We shall see.