Sunday, July 30, 2006

A Pair of Calla Lilies


I've finished... beautiful yarn makes beautiful socks.
Thank you Sundara!

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Moving right along

I am enjoying the yarn, it has a nice sheen to it and feels good on the hands. I just did the heel (after photo was taken). it was a new one for me, and interesting to see how it will fit when blocked. I find my colors do not stripe like the rest of the ones I see here at the KAL. wonder why.

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Am I wrong??

I just finishing the turning the heels, and I pick up the stitches. However, I think that I'm misreading the pattern. It says to repeat rounds 3 and 4, but there isn't instructions for round 4 under the 2 Circulars Knitters.

HELP???

Almost Finished!

On the last stretch of the second sock. You would think I'd be finish by now considering I only have size 4.5 feet.... I hope to post a socks in action photo by the weekend. I can't wait to wear them! Happy knitting everyone!

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Another pair done.



Finished up just now. Knitted top down, Addi 1's circulars, two socks at one time, size 9 feet.Need to wash and block. Liked the pattern and the yarn. Had to adjust so I didn't get holes at the heels, but not a problem. My skeins were dyed slightly differently, one with a little more white , so I ended up with fraternal twin socks. I added one pattern repeat and had enough yarn left I could have done probably 2 more . Wish they were longer but not ripping now. Thanks and awaiting next package.
Peggy

Done!


Okay, hot off the needles, my Calla Lily socks.

Ta da!

It's not like I need to tell any of you about the pattern, or where I got the yarn, or any of that, right?

Although, I DID modify it to do a short-row heel rather than the heel-flap in the pattern. Heel flaps and I just don't get along . . . I can and have made them, but they never seem to fit as well as short-rows.

Anyway, they're done, and they're lovely! I haven't even blogged about them on my regular blog yet, I was so eager to tell all of you!

--Deb
www.chappysmom.typepad.com

Friday, July 21, 2006

Turning a heel

I'm turning the heel on the first sock.


I love the look of them so far. I hope to finish prior to receiving next months offering. Usually my second sock goes much faster than the first.

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Calla Lily Ankle Socks


I'm finished: ankle socks as requested from my 14-year old daughter. I used Wendy's generic toe-up pattern from wendyknits.net. I used size US 1 needles and a CO of 60 sts. I'm am becoming more and more of a fan of short-row toes and short-row heels . After turning the heel I used a 6-sts lace rib repeat but then I worried the ankle wouldn't be snug enough to keep the socks up so I switched to a 1x1 rib. In the past I've used Elizabeth Zimmerman's sewn bind-off as a stretchy cast-off for toe-up socks but on this pair I used a different strechy bind off: K2, *(move both stitches back to left needle, K2tog thru back loop, K1) repeat from *.
I wanted to try this bind off since one can rip it out easier than the sewn bind-off.... and these socks were knit to please a teen-ager so I wanted to be able to rip easier. I would rather knit socks that please her and will be worn than socks that just sit in her drawer - even if that means ripping out and doing part of it over. This yarn is to pretty to sit in a drawer.
After the forced photo shoot DD is still wearing them so I guess they are a hit ! Normally she thinks wearing handknit socks knit by her mother are pretty dorky but Purly's colors proved too irrisistible - even for a 'cool' teenager. Purly should consider this a high compliment.

Sunday, July 16, 2006

Calla Lillies, imperfect but lovely

I won't regale you with all the small errors this knitter made while making these socks, since they were an absolute pleasure to knit. The yarn, the pattern, the experience of knitting these socks while being incredibly busy, having a house full of guests, and being in a bit of a knitting malaise, was just the thing I needed. Thank you so much, Sundara!

I have a bunch of yarn left over too! Perhaps some baby socks...

For a full accounting, check out the blog.

Now what will I knit? :(

I love my Calla Lily socks! There's a photo on my blog. I have enough yarn left over to do a little something, perhaps mixed with a solid color. I'm adding it to my little stash of extra-special leftovers, though, so it may end up being admired instead.

I'm really pleased with the way they turned out - they striped differently, but I love 'em anyway. I cast on 68 stitches and used size 1.5 dpn's, but otherwise I followed the pattern as written.

Thank you, Sundara!

Friday, July 14, 2006

Help out a fairly new knitter

These socks will only be my second pair ever made. I was wondering if someone could offer some tips because I have only made socks from the toe-up. Is there an easy way to change the pattern to knit them that way?

I'm dying to get start...

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Pooling and Flashing


Here are my finished Calla Lily socks. I love this yarn's stitch definition, the colors, and the soft finished fabric. I was sorely disappointed, however, with the pooling and flashing. I knit the legs on 64 stitches, as written, and used 68 sts for the feet. I needed to do SSK with the first st slipped knitwise and the second slipped purlwise, to get the left-and right-slanting decreases to match exactly. Does anyone have any advice for how to minimize the pooling? Are the skeins that different? My gauge was exactly on: 8.5 sts per inch. I'm looking forward to the next installment! These were completed in exactly 2 weeks--my fastest pair of socks to date!

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Cala Lily Sock 1 in progress

I so love Sundara's yarn and her Cala Lily pattern. Here is my progress so far. It is moving at a really nice pace now that I am dedicating the time. I can't wait to finish the first one so that I can move on to the second:)

Friday, July 07, 2006

Off to a great start!

This is my first KAL and I'm having a wonderful time knitting these beautiful socks. Now off to knit the day away..... heel flap here I come.

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Calla Lily Sock Meets Purple Coneflower


Here is the beginnings of my Calla Lily toe-up socks. To me the right way to photograph them is with actual flowers.
I put in a life-line after the toe portion because I thought I may try some type of lace motif in the instep and thought I may have to rip it out if I didn't like it but alas I ended up deciding against anything but stockinette- I just decided to let the colors be the star.
I did figure out how to upload a photo. Thanks to everyone who gave me advice on this. I am a Blogger-rookie.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

The Petals Collection Knitalong

A Different Pattern
Hello everyone, I, too, looked for a KAL once I received my yarn last week. I'm glad one was established.
I decided to make socks for my 14-year old daughter with this yarn since the colors reminded me of her. She likes ankle socks and dislikes grafted toes so I'll be using Wendy's toe-up sock pattern but skipping the leg portion of the pattern and going from turning the heel to an inch of ribbing. Maybe I'll have enough yarn left over to make a small pair of baby booties.
Can I ask a favor? Could someone e-mail me instructions on how to post a photo on a Blogger KAL such as this one? Or a link to instructions? I haven't figured out how to do that yet. Thank you, Sue

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Ready to Heel

( Okay, first thing? I don't know why Blogger rotated the picture. It WAS horizontal when I uploaded it, but . . . whatever!)

Anyway. Here are my two Calla Lily socks. I've got the cuff portion done and am ready to start the heels.

I am going to do my usual short-row heel, though, rather than the one in the pattern. Heel-flap heels just never seem to fit me comfortably, and while it sounds like a nice heel and all . . . I'm going to play it safe and do the heel that I know is going to work (grin).

--Deb
www.chappysmom.typepad.com

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Beginning to Bloom


Yah, so I couldn't resist getting started. (Why resist?!?) I have never knit with Sundara's yarn and so far I am really liking it. It is very soft and the needles (addi turbo us1) are slipping through with speed, like buttah. I like the lace bit of the pattern and it is going very fast. Hooray!