12/12/12 assortment

I have knit several items to make the minimum required yardage and have probably knit about 400 yards for this entry. I decided to use the colors and all of one skein to keep track and then went into more for fun. The little avocado dishcloth is for a friend who owns an avocado orchard.

The original December project of socks is still on needles. I'm waiting for new glasses to finish them. Might save them for a Valentine's present for Fred. The night shade color way has red in it so that works, right? :)

More little things on the 4mm needles and I will post as finished and photographed.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you and I look forward to another year of sharing knitting with all of you thanks to our generous and valiant leaders. Hugs from way down under--Tunie

PS. Happy Birthday to Adrienne on Christmas Eve! xoox

12/12/12 for November (finally!)

Simple Skyp socks by Adrienne Ku made with Wollmeise yarn in Pfefferminz Prinz colorway which looks just like the parrots in our yard so we call these "Parrot socks". I wish my camera could show the gorgeous color of the yarn. It is a vivid green, blue green, with a bit of blue in it. I had 24 gms left from the 150 gm skein.

12/12/12 October socks finished

Macho socks knit cuff down with plain stockinette below ankle in Skinny bugga "Blue Orchard Bee" until I ran out of yarn and then added "Southern Green Stinkbug" to finish the second sock. Love knitting with this yarn.

Peacockdaddy socks for 12/12/12 Sept entry

Simple Skyp Socks by Adrienne Ku which is free on ravelry. I used Cascade Heritage paints and had just a tiny bit left. I've misplaced my notes on color and amount left. 2.25mm needle, size large. Great pattern to use many more times.

Yankee Fox Mike airshow socks

I am finally posting the socks I knit to match the bottom of our plane. They are part of Fred's red, white and blue birthday socks present. The yarn is Dream in Color Starry in "Romeo Blue" and difficult to do justice in my photograph. The sparkles are much prettier in person. I used almost the entire skein. The pattern is by Traci Heiner and called Great Gansey Socks. The yarn softens a lot after washing and it is nice to wear.

12/12/12 July 4th socks for Fred

I didn't finish these in time for his birthday due to a massive brain fade mistake of skipping the heel turn and going directly to the gusset section. I was shocked when I realized the error (after thinking the sock was funny looking and decreasing most of the picked up sts) and had to frog back to the top of the heel flap and do the turn. I had been knitting in the middle of the night to finish on time and did finish a few minutes ago which is still July 4th "up over" and July 5th here down under.
I used 2 full skeins of Crystal Palace Panda cotton in delft blue and 25 gms of the red ketchup skein + a bit of cream. At least he will be able to wear them mid-July when he teaches in the tropics in Darwin. :) Thuja pattern for the cuff and plain stockinette below the ankles.

Mini-mochi rainbow socks finished

Mini-Mochi rainbow gridiron socks finished today. I now know I'm officially obsessed with knitting socks. I stayed up very late last night and finished these today on our 42nd anniversary for Fred. Now I need to knit some panda cotton socks for him to wear in Darwin mid-July when it might be in the high 80-low 90F temps. He will wear these as well since he requested them representing the rainbow coast where we live. :) I have a second pair of rainbow mini-mochi to knit with some blue bugga yarn which I might be tempted to do before the cotton depending on which yarn and pattern calls to me. It is winter here and knitting with wool is lovely. Hard to capture the jewel tone colors in this yarn. The pic with just the cuff is more true to the pretty colors. The fraternal twin look was done on purpose since I didn't want a near miss in trying to match them. It was a lot of fun making these and I will definitely make more in the future.

progress pics I forgot to post for June

June 12/12/12 projects

This is my 3rd Land of Oz shawl and has been gifted to my friend who chose the color. The yarn is Cascade Heritage paints and it used almost the entire skein with enough left
for the stripe in Andrew's alpaca hat I made for his bald head due to chemo. I'm happy to say he wears it all the time. The camera washed out the colors and I hesitated to include 3 pics, but it is a wonderful pattern and I encourage you to knit it. Jacques Cousteau Hat available free on ravelry.

I also made 2 pairs of Aran bed socks. The first was going to be a gift and I somehow measured 1/2" short for my friend so I kept that pair for moi and made another pair for her. For a person with raging SSS, it took a lot of discipline to knit 4 matching socks in a row! It was fast pattern and I will make another pair for her in cotton for Christmas when it is hot here.

I made the Japanese Feather Stitch cowl for her birthday out of 5 ply alpaca using a free pattern designed by Gale Ulvang on ravelry which Cheryl kept on almost all weekend during her visit.

socks for May + gift started

Fred was walking out the door and I realized he was wearing the David's socks and I hadn't posted them yet for May. I had 33 gms left from the 6 oz Unique Sheep foot prints in sport wt yarn. I've been working on several gift projects and hope to post them in June. One is a hat using alpaca from a friend's farm for a friend who lost all his hair to chemo recently. It is the Jacques Cousteau hat found on ravelry. Here is a start for Andrew's hat. I will take a pic of him wearing it (soon, I hope). I have 6" of the 8" knit before the decreases. Fred has already told me he'd like one, too. :)

12/12/12 April entry: Haruni in my fav ultramarine CPY Panda superwash

Pattern by Emily Ross (free on rav) was very well written and a joy to knit with my favorite yarn for shawls. I had 26 gms leftover from the 3 balls =150 gms. The only change I made was to use a 2mm crochet hook and single chain 8 sts instead of 6 between the leaf tips for the crochet bind off (which was easy and a clever method). The drape of the yarn in this pattern is perfect and I love the way it feels. :)

Roger socks for month of March

I finished the Anne Hanson Roger socks which fit Fred perfectly thanks to Adrienne's help. The cuff section fits fine as written for the 64 sts, but I had to add enough after the heel flap to get to the usual 72 stitch size for Fred. The cuff pattern stretches enough and perhaps if I had continued in the pattern, the below the ankle part would have fit as well, but Fred has decided he prefers plain ("not lumpy") stockinette below the ankles. I had to frog back to the heel flap when it wouldn't go over his foot. That's when Adrienne rescued me and saved the sock for Fred. I will knit another pair just like them in another medium weight yarn in my stash. I would love to get some more of this yarn. It is a joy to knit. Just the right firmness, but soft at the same time. :)
The yarn is "dyed in the wool handmade" from Canada and "fingering sock medium weight". I got 7.5 st/inch with 2.5mm needles. I love this yarn and also enjoyed this pattern very much. I have 59 gms left from a 115 gm skein. The pic with the skein is closer to the true color, but is much prettier in person.

March sock started

This is another knitspot pattern by Anne Hanson called "Roger". I needed to get started on these so Fred can wear them in March. I'll get a pic of him wearing them with bermudas on and peachicks at his feet to post in March.

Feb socks finished + Olympic project

I finished the 2nd Rainbow CPY bamboo cotton sock last night. My most fav socks ever for fit, softness of the yarn and enjoyment knitting. Adrienne Fong's pattern. Wonderful combo of the pattern and yarn. I've already decided to make many socks in this yarn when I can get some sent to me. :) Taking a break from the other pair of Rainbows in the Amerika yarn for the Olympics KAL.
I'm showing a pic I just took of my Olympics project. The restraint and discipline needed not to begin early has caused a lot of "reward" chocolate to be consumed. I took an insert from Fred's suitcase and have had this "package" on our sofa table ready to go and not get "lost in a safe place" which can happen around here more than I'd like to admit.
The afghan shown is one I knit for our anniversary a couple of years ago. It still hasn't been blocked since Fred loves using it so much. I DID take off as many corgi hairs as I could in honor of the pic, really! Our own Dr. Laura designed it and it is one of my most favorite knitted projects. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/warm-hearts-comfortghan
When it gets a bath and is blocked, I will show it with another finished project.
Happy knitting up there from way down under here at the peacock palace in paradise