The 2nd pair of rocky butte socks are coming along nicely. I finished the first one last night.

This photo was taken right after I finished the gusset. I’ve moved on to sock #2, finished the ribbing and one pattern repeat.

I had lost my sock knitting mojo for a while. I hadn’t finished a pair of socks in ages. I’d start..and frog, and start….and frog. I think I’ve gotten my mojo back though.

I found out about the Lime & Violet Fitness Challenge via a post by MissV on twitter I think, and then heard it on the podcast. I joined up since I have a hugemongous case of recliner butt and I need to do something about it. The challenge starts March 1 so you still have time to join if you’re interested, but for the month of February there is a Pre-Start Sock KnitAlong. The sock is called the Rocky Butte and was designed by MissV. It’s written for STR medium weight yarn so the knitting goes VERY fast.

Rocky Butte Socks #1

I did this first pair out of Cherry Tree Hill Supersock. I forget the colorway. I had to add 8 stitches to the cast on (making it 56 cast on instead of 48) because this yarn was not quite as large as the STR. I started these socks on the 1st and finished the pair on the 10th. I’d have finished sooner but there were a couple of days I didn’t knit at all.

Yesterday I cast on for pair #2. This time I’m using the STR mediumweight that the pattern calls for in the colorway “Backstabber.”

Backstabber!

This is working up nicely and I did the as written cast on of 48 stitches. I had forgotten how much I love STR since I’ve not knit with it in a while. I’m LOVING it!

On a side note, we had snowpocalypse 2010 here yesterday and today. Check out my flickr set for some pics. This is totally unusual for my part of the world, but it’s nice to have it once in a while.  Have a great weekend!

Wow! I think I have beat a personal record. I cast on the Traveling Woman Shawl(ette) when the KAL started on Wednesday. I cast off on Saturday evening. I blocked it on Sunday and this is the result.

Traveling woman

Isn’t it pretty! She’s made from Madeline Tosh Sock yarn (I think the color is Plum Tree) I added one repeat to Chart A and probably could have added another.

Next project? Hidcote Garden (yes I’m insane) from this.

Malabrigo Lace - Mariposa

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMalabrigo lace. NOM!!

I’m participating in a knitalong over on Twitter. We started on Wednesday and the pattern we voted for was the Traveling Woman Shawl.

I grabbed some Madeline Tosh yarn from the stash and set to work. As of last night I had finished up to one repeat if chart A. I think I have my mojo back!!

I have taken better pics of my handwoven scarves. I think this shows them off just a bit better. The other pics were taken with my iPhone camera, and while it’s good, sometimes it doesn’t show things off in the best light.

(this will be a bit picture heavy)

This is the two scarves together. The green one is approximately 80 inches long, not including the fringe, which is about 6 inches long on each end.

It is woven from a KnitPicks Donegal yarn that was handdyed by a friend of mine. The warp and weft were the same yarns, but dyed slightly different colors.

The reddish scarf is about 86 inches long not including the 4″ long fringe on each end. The warp for this scarf is Opal Memories sock yarn and the weft is KnitPicks Risata. The Risata has an elastic content so it has a slight bit of stretch from side to side.

Here are some closeups of the scarves so you can see the weave better.

I love the twisted fringe finish on the scarves. It was kind of a pain to make, but my mom and I bought a Le Clerc Fringe Twister and that sped things up quite a bit!

Please stay tuned for an announcement about a team up with me and another indie designer. This ought to be fun.

After much hemming and hawing and being scared about it, I’ve finally opened an Artfire shop (well…I’ve had the shop for a while, but I finally put something in it) and my Etsy Shop After my posts here and twitter I’ve had lots of good response for my woven scarves that I thought I’d try to sell them. Right now I only have one listing. It is for a custom made scarf using your own sock yarn. This is great for someone who has so much sock yarn they’ll never be able to knit it up, since each scarf takes the same amount as to make two pairs of socks.

As soon as I get more scarves woven here, I will list those as well. My mother and I have been working on different designs for handbags, totebags, knitting bags and other types of bags. As soon as we get those worked out we’ll be listing those as well. There may also be items that have been machine embroidered as well as offering custom machine embroidery. No telling what you may find in my shop!

I hope you like it!