Weekend Knitting

I am recuperating from the flu and now that it is allergy season, I just hadn't felt like knitting much the last week and a half. This weekend however, was the "Knit Off" for Socktopia Momma Monkey designed a sock for the competition and released it on Sat. afternoon and the knitting commenced. We were divided onto teams and who ever gets the first pair of socks knit and posted, wins the prize....Koigu yarn, stitch markers, sock project bag...what more could you ask for. I knit these socks in 14.5 hours. I started at 1 PM took a two hour break so we could take my MIL out for her B-day dinner and continued knitting until 3:30AM and they were finished. DD1 says now that she knows I can knit a pair of socks in 14.5 hours she would like all of hers to be finished that quickly.... I don't think so. These are knit in Trekking XXL, size 2 DPN's.

I am also counting these for the Loopy Ewe Challenge. I answered the questionnaire and apparently I am a "Frank", so I had to Knit a pair of "Martha" socks. Anyway, I think these are Martha socks, they are pretty neutral and very different from my usual colorful socks.

I have been test knitting for the Socktopia group, Momma Monkey said it is OK for me to post the pictures of the sock patterns that have been released to the group already. If you want to knit these socks, click on the Socktopia button on the right hand sidebar and join the fun!

This weekend I started a baby dress for a girl at work. She is expecting in June. It is a Debbie Bliss pattern from the Special Knits book. It is really more of a very pale pink than the peachy color it appears to be in the picture. It is a 60% Cotton 40% acrylic blend. Size 3 circular needle. I am almost to the bodice decreases and then it will go super fast, that is until I cast on for the front and start all over again. I was going to knit it in the round to the armholes, but my longer cable size 3 is already in use, so I will knit it as the directions say. And since I don't have enough WIPs, I started another pair of socks today. I am knitting them in ArtYarns fingering wt. I don't have the ball band any more so I don't know the color number right off hand, but I do know the name is Girlie Camouflage, or something like that. The picture was blurry and I am too lazy to go out and take another one so I will share a picture of it later.

And on Saturday the mail man brought this to me all the way from Australia. ChocolateTrudi was having a blogiversary contest and I won one of the prizes. It is an Italian brand, lace wt, Kid Mohair blend yarn. I have never knit with it. She sent "9, " yes that is right... 9 balls, with 656 yds a ball. I think there will be some shawls knit this year for Christmas presents. Thank you very much ChocolateTrudi!

I have my "scarf exchange" scarf done. I need to get the little points that appeared during blocking out of it. I need to buy some blocking wires so I don't have to worry about those pesky little needle made points. I will share a picture of that after she gets it. I don't know if she visits my blog and I don't want to spoil the surprises

Caution ... woman knitting ahead

I have been knitting, knitting, knitting. A friend of mine and I, and her dear husband took a road trip on Friday to Morgantown to the yarn shop . She was in search of a cotton/ wool blend for a cable project. I am going to be teaching her to cable soon. She surprised me by buying me a ball of Tofutsie. I have not knit with this yarn before, and was interested in how it would knit up. I cast on Friday night and this is what I have so far. It is very soft and the finished sock feels really nice. That whole Chitin thing kind of scared me though. It does have a "different" aroma to it but it is not too bad once you get used to it. The label says Chitin is fiber from shrimp and crab shells and is naturally antibacterial. Interesting , huh? Thank you again Henrietta and Smith for a lovely day.
And for the UFO resurrection. I am frogging a sweater I started years ago and have completely ignored. This sweater is from the Classic Elite Book Knitting the Classics. I love the sweater and the pattern, but I lost interest in knitting it ... and I found a mistake in one of the X & O's cables so I was going to have to do some frogging anyway. So off to the frog pond it went and is now going to be this sweater. A Fiona Ellis pattern, I think it is called A Gathering, I don't have the pattern right here, but I am pretty sure that is what it is or very close to that anyway. Hopefully I won't lose interest in this one. I am going to knit it sans I- cord gathering, much to DD1's dismay.
I am making some progress on the baby blanket, even though it feels never ending. I must be making some progress since the yarn is disappearing from the ball. With it being all bunched up on the circulars it is really hard to tell just how big it is, but I would guesstimate about 24" across. It is 400 stitches around , and seems like it takes an eternity to get around. Why, oh why, did I pick a sport weight yarn for this project. I am going to crochet a white shell border around it when it is done. I still am searching for the yarn for the baby dress she wants.

And for no other reason than because I had an empty set of needles, I started another pair of socks last night. Just a pair of plain jane stockinette stitch socks. These will go out into the van for the expected and unexpected waits I may encounter. Trekking 133 pastels. Well, I need to finish a pair of socks I am test knitting so I can get them in the mail. It is sunny and warm and beautiful here in South Central Indiana ... I hope it is where you are too.

Edited on March 12, 3:03 PM to add a lovely picture of some yarn my sweet, sweet, sister sent to me.. Just to brighten my day. Fleece Artist in the Hercules color. No one could possibly have a better sister than I do! Isn't it lovely, I took the ball band off to show all the hidden colors. I will have to wind this ... I do have another set of empty needles.... but what does it want to be???? Thank you Karen!