More Baby Hats

Two dozen baby hats delivered to the local hospital yesterday. Here they are all clean and ready to be folded and bagged. Most of them were k2p2 rib this time. They look tiny and plain, but there's a lot of stretch there. It's cold in this part of the world, and all babies need hats. Come to think of it, even big babies need hats in this weather. I knit a new one for myself, and maybe J. will take a picture of me wearing it. I put a new pattern on tatt3r's geocities site, with 6 ribbed baby hats. The decreases have all been tweaked and tested so they make a pretty good looking hat, IMO. Here's the pattern

Socks for me, and a picture I forgot

I forgot to upload the picture of my Christmas knitting. I was asked to knit a pair of slippers - 2 strands of worsted weight acrylic and #8 dpns. My wrists survived, and I tackled another pair. It seemed that my knitting mojo was on its way back, so I knit 2 pairs of wristers and 2 hats. Then I added 2 pairs of booties and 3 bibs, and it was all done in time for the holiday!
Now I've power-knit a pair of birthday socks, and am taking it easy on a pair of socks for me. My sock drawer needs some refreshing, a new pair of warm, toasty socks will cheer up my toes.



The Knit Picks tweed is very soft, and my k2p2 instep doesn't pull in the way it did for the Opal birthday socks. As I knit, I am thinking of stopping the rib after the heels, and working the cuffs in plain stockinette. I don't care if the cuffs are a little slouchy, but I like my sock to have a good fit inside my shoe. If the rib doesn't work in this yarn, why bother? It would look strange if I stopped in the middle of the foot, but I think I could live with a pair of socks that had plain cuffs and ribbed feet. We'll see.
Baby hats #22 and #23 are tucked in the side of the picture. I've got #24 OTN, should finish it today, wash the load on Monday and deliver the batch sometime this next week. I think of 24 warm babies and I smile. It's good to be knitting again.

Birthday Socks are gone, but I forgot a picture

The Birthday socks are done, and two days early! DWE and A came by this afternoon, and she was happy to have them. She doesn't say much, but she knew her feet would be warm in these socks.

As I worked the cuff, I had a little knot in the skein and I cut it out and continued. When the color changed to the next stripe, I was amazed to see the progression had reversed! I cut the yarn again, unwound yarn from the outside of my skein till it matched, and then finished the sock. The cuffs now match, but instead of just two ends to finish off, that sock had six ends to weave in. I had heard stories about Opal yarn reversing direction but had never seen it in action. It was fixed easily enough, but still was a pain.

I'm working on baby hats again, and will make a delivery soon with 24 hats. I have just 4 more to go. With the cold weather predicted for this weekend and into the next, I will have lots of time for knitting. I have discovered I can knit baby hats while I walk on the treadmill, and get an inch or two done during my 30 minutes of torture. It's my own fault, after my broken wrist, I am extra cautious about walking on ice or snow on top of ice.

It's been a year since I knit any socks for myself, and these socks went so quickly, I decided to start another pair. I'm using Knit Picks Essential, Dune Twist, and #0s. Diametrag and DWE gifted me with a Knit Picks sampler of sock yarn for Christmas 07, and I'm stash diving with enthusiasm. Dune Twist is dark brown and caramel twisted together, and it's pretty and knitting up soft and smooth. A little splitting with the increases, but nothing terrible.

The plan is to balance baby hats with socks, and work in a little tatting, too. But that's another blog.

Birthday Socks - Update

I finished the gussets, turned the heels and each sock has 20 rounds on the cuff. I have a few days before The Birthday, so I can relax a bit and pick up my baby hats again. I figure as long as I get 15 - 20 rounds done per sock, per day, they will be done in time.

I am not going to make extremely long socks, but they should be at least as long as the foot. They sure look skinny, don't they. It's the k2p2 ribs, plus her feet are narrower than long, not the usual square unit most feet are. I wasn't as accurate as I usually am with matching the stripes, but it's pretty good. As long as I can end in the same color stripe, I won't worry about it.

It's been about a year since I knitted real socks. I've knitted booties and baby socks, but nothing toe-up. I finished turning the first heel, and realized I had an extra stitch added in from somewhere. I looked but couldn't find my mistake, so I ripped it and reknit the heel turn. I was more careful when I turned the second heel, but when I started knitting the heel flap, I ended my first row with 1 stitch missing. This time I didn't rip, but tinked 2 rows, and started again. Whew. Now I'm on the home stretch, and don't expect any more problems. I had one tiny knot, which I cut out and now I'll have 2 extra ends to hide.

I plan to start another pair of socks right away when these are done. No rush, but the socks in my drawer are looking a bit tired. Time to increase the population, and extend the wearability of the old ones.

Birthday Socks

I'm working on a pair of socks for a birthday on January 9. I probably won't give them to her on The Day, but I'd like to get them done pretty close.
Jake's gf has very cold feet, a birthday in January, and likes green. The yarn whispered her name as I looked through my sock yarn stash. I wasn't planning to knit a pair of socks, but now I am. Baby hats are on hold as I speed knit the socks. Fortunately she has skinny feet which aren't much longer than Diametrag's.
I started the socks Sunday night, but took a couple days off because I got a little cold. The socks are almost ready to start the gussets. The right sock, showing the instep, has 6 more rows to go, the left sock shows the sole, the stockinette side.
I'm making them in a plain k2p2 rib, Opal Chameleon. It was an impulse buy at my LYS, and I never liked it enough to start a pair for myself. Now I've gone through one color cycle, I like them a lot, and almost wish they were for me. I have sock yarn from last Christmas, thanks to Diametrag and Jake, and I think I will get started on pair for me when these are done. I can alternate between baby hats and socks, right?
Knitter's details: k2p2 rib, Opal Chameleon, #0 dpns, 68 sts, 50 rounds to the gussets. Toe up, 2 at a time on dpns, easy rectangle toe, heel flap and gussets. My gauge is 9 spi, 12 rpi.