Garland Lace Socks finished!

IMG_0349
Originally uploaded by mangokiwi.

Here I am modelling my new garland lace socks made from Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in the Purple Iris colorway. One sock looks more purple and the other more green but I like 'em anyway. I think I made the heel flap a bit too big on one. Please ignore my dry, awful looking legs.

YARN!

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Originally uploaded by mangokiwi.

I got some yarn in the mail today! 5 skeins of Koigu for my entrelac socks, 2 skeins of tofutsies and 4 skeins of Koigu for my mom's Charlotte. I'm actually really pleased with the solid Koigu for my entrelac socks, they will look like easter egg socks. The green is actually more minty than it looks in the picture.

Flowers from the secret latin lover

Flowers from the secret lover
Originally uploaded by mangokiwi.

My Valentine's Day gift! That came after Valentine's Day because of wintry mess on the 14th... Thanks secret latin lover! Maybe I should learn how to do flower arrangements too. Wouldn't that be fun!

How brave am I?

Today I unravelled by Artic Diamonds Stole because I had made too many mistakes in it and decided that I wanted to go one needle size down. I had made a gauge swatch, but I think i didn't realize that it was too "loose" until I started knitting the whole thing. I also unravelled my Pomatomus socks because they look like they are going to be too tight and I suspect that I might run out of yarn since I was using Koigu and the yardage of Koigu ius not as long as some other yarns such as Lorna's Laces. I wonder if what I should knit with this yarn now. I'll probably knit some sort of toe up socks but what should the pattern be? I wonder...

I also ordered light purple/light green solid Koigu for my entrelac socks and 4 skeins of some maroonish KPPPM for a Charlotte's web shawl for my mom. Her birthday is April 11th and then mother's day will be in early may. It'll be fun doing it again, because I haven't made a unicolored Charlotte before and I can't get enough of Koigu. Blah, I'm going to go BROKE! But at least I'll be happy and broke!

Second Sock Syndrome

Second Sock Syndrome
Originally uploaded by mangokiwi.

I guess I have second sock syndrome often! These three socks are missing their better half. The first one is the basketweave pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks in STR Watermelon Tourmaline (I was stupid and accidentally knit the pattern on the sole of the sock -- they were my first toe-up socks and first short row heel), LL Crazy Stripe Jaywalkers, LL Purple Iris Garland Lace Socks. The STR socks are for my roommate Peiqiu, the Crazy Stripe socks are for my sister (though I think they are going to be a bit long for her, I wanted them to fit perfectly -- oh well!), and the Garland Lace Socks are for me (I'm not totally loving the pattern, but I like the socks a lot still). I'm not allowed to start new socks until I finish these socks!!

Sock Patterns that are on my to do list...

I wanted to combine a list of sock patterns that really caught my eye (I guess they are all from Knitty!): Baudelaire, Cablenet, Diamante, Falling Leaves, Kew, Pomatomus (I will finish these I swear!), RPM (I've already done this but I will do them again, this time for ME!), Monkey (aren't these AWESOME!), and Rolling Thunder (I've never knit with beads before, but I really want to learn how).

I already did Hedera once, but I made a few mistakes the first time I knit the pattern and might want to make a pair that is mistake free!

I will also do some of the patterns from Favorite Socks, when it arrives! And of course, don't forget the two sock patterns in the Spring IK (the Entrelac socks and Grumperina's). Good thing I have so much sock yarn! hehe.

Happy Valentine's Day to ME!

STR - lightweight, originally uploaded by mangokiwi.

I got my STR in the mail just in time for Valentine's Day! From left to right they are stormy weather, carbon, henpecked and chapman springs. I didn't think that the Stormy Weather would have black in it, just that it would be various shades of grey. But that's okay, I think it will still end up looking pretty cool with a nice pattern and they will make for great socks to go with black pants. I do love the light grey at the bottom though. The Carbon is set to be zillionth pair of Jaywalkers (by zillionth, I mean fourth). The henpecked and chapman springs look fabulous no? :) The Henpecked is my favorite! You know, yarn is so photogenic!

So much for the yarn diet!

I broke down and bought 4 skeins of Socks that Rock in the Carbon, Chapman Springs and Henpecked colorways (I think I am the most excited about this one!). I also got a solid one in Stormy Weather, so I can do an elaborate stitch pattern. I actually think this one is very cool, it has many shades of grey and one shade of grey looks kind of silverish... hmm, I guess my friend Minh knows best since she just bought one of them! I guess its okay since I have my eyes on many sock patterns from the books/magazines that I own and from Knitty!

Colors for the Entrelac Socks

I am going to knit the Entrelac socks (in the new Spring IK), so I've been surfing the web, looking for colors that I like for them. I decided that I'm going to get the 5 skeins of Koigu Solids from the Knitting Zone because I like them a lot. I just wish they had a bit bigger selection of the solids...

Anyway, here are the candidates (feel free to tell me what you think):

navy blue (1002) + hot pink (1173)
bright teal (2130) + very light beige (2381)
light green (2331) + very light beige (2381)
light purple (1013) + very light beige (2381)
light purple (1013) + light green (2331)

It's also possible to substitute light pinky beige (1144) for very light beige (2381), above. Oh god, so many choices and it's so hard to know how it's going to look! And of course, if you have better suggestions, please let me know!

I am a sucker!

I just ordered Lace Style and Favorite Socks from Amazon. I know that I won't get it until April, but I have enough things to knit right now and plus I am a cheap grad student and Amazon has the cheapest prices that I've seen and free shipping, hurray! I wasn't originally going to order Favorite Socks, but it has some knee high socks which I think are great, especially in this cold cold weather and it has a lot of the nice sock patterns from earlier additions of IK (such as Embossed Leaves, which I don't have since I just started my subscription).

I got my Spring IK!

I got my Spring IK in the mail yesterday and I am super excited about the Entrelac socks, but they look kind of hard... I will also probably knit the pattern made my Grumperina. The stole pattern looks okay but then I found out one needs to do knit the two halves separately and graft them together and I HATE doing that, so I'm not going to do that!

My Clappy is DONE!

Here I am wearing my newly finished Clapotis. I absolutely love it! It's super soft and drapey... I don't think I will block it since it will stretch out from wearing. Was fun to knit though I doubt I will do it again...

Faves

I wanted to update my list of favorite yarns since I believe I tried some new things since I last made such a post: My favorites are Lady Godiva, Fiesta La Luz, Koigu, Socks that Rock, Lorna's Laces Shephard Sock, Artyarns Supermerino, Karabella Aurora 8 and Rowan Cashsoft DK. I don't think I've forgotten anything, at least I hope not. I also like Manos del Uruguay and Gems Perl, but not enough to promote them to my favorite list.

Things that I would like to work with are various Cashmeres (I have some Jade 2-ply in my stash), Lion and Lamb (I will probably not knit another Clapotis since it can get rather tedious), Helen's Lace, and various Artyarns products (I like modular knitting patterns and I have my eye on this pattern from Knitty).

Things that I want to knit next are the Lace Leaf Shawl, a Mobius scarf, the Artic Diamonds Stole (the one that I started but will have to rip out), Wine and Rose Mitts and various other fingerless mitts and hand coverings, and many socks of course!

Origami Pictures!

I know this is my knitting blog, but I wanted to share my origami pictures. I think that origami and knitting are similar in a lot of ways, I enjoy the process of it, I like the pretty finished object. I like trying new things, I like doing it while watching tv, etc. I think I just like making things with my hands in general. The top picture shows a sunken isocahedron, the next is, of course, flowers, followed by a cube skeleton, various geometric objects and finally a dodecahedron.

The Blanket is Loved!

I just got a thank you note from the friend who I gave the blanket to and she enclosed some pictures of the baby Lily with the blanket. It made me happy to see Lily with the blanket! Too bad I don't have a scanner to share the pictures.