As you might be able to see from the picture, these socks are a very simple 3×3 rib on the leg. The heel is also quite standard. The fun part comes in on the foot, with the design swooping over from the outside of the foot to the inside. The stitch itself was new to me. Basically it involves yarn overs on several rows, each of which is dropped on the succeeding row, until all of these are picked up and knitted with a purl stitch, creating a really interesting butterfly-ish pattern. Here’s a close-up of the pattern stitch:

I love almost all of the patterns in this book, so don’t be surprised if you see quite a few more blog posts this year about socks I’ve knitted from it.

I’ve got a couple other things on the needles right now, but am not terribly excited about any of them, so I may just go back to doing some spinning. I haven’t done any in a couple of weeks and am starting to miss it.

For some reason, I had a hard time with this pattern. At several points, I had to rip back because I’d messed up the eyelet rib pattern. I blame my lack of concentration for this–a problem I’ve had with a lot of things lately, not just knitting–and not the pattern or the designer. I also had a hard time getting the stitch count to come out right when shaping the sleeves.

If I were to make this again, I’d make the following changes:

• I’d make the bell sleeves a little less wide. You can’t tell from the picture since I’ve folded in the sleeves, but they are at least 2 – 3 times as wide at the bottom as a fitted sleeve would be. Although the look isn’t bad, as a practical matter, I could set myself on fire if I tried to do any cooking on the stove while wearing the sweater.
• I’d make it slightly shorter in length, just because I think a shorter length would be slightly more flattering on me.

Since finishing this, I’ve decided to take a break from knitting for a while and do something I haven’t done in a while: crochet.

So I started yet another project, and I’m actually making some headway on it. Here it is:

For those of you that are Knitty.com fans, you’ll probably recognize it instantly–it’s the Decimal Cardigan from the Spring ‘09 Knitty.

This seems like the perfect project for me right now. Although it’s an interesting knit, since the gauge isn’t that fine and the lace pattern repeat is fairly easy to memorize, it’s something I can easily settle into knitting while I’m relaxing in front of the tv. Also, I’m knitting it out of the Shine Sport from KnitPicks, which is a cotton/modal blend that’s really a nice weight for spring or summer wear. And best of all, I think it will be pretty easy to finish since it doesn’t involve a lot of seaming.

The pattern calls for the body to be knit in one piece up to the underarm, which I like–no side seams required! And once you get to that point in the pattern, you knit the sleeves separately to the underarm, then you join them all together, and finish knitting the sweater raglan-style. After that, you just pick up and knit for the button band and collar. The only seaming involved is on the sleeves.

Hope you’ve all found an inspiring spring project to work on…

By the way, in case you haven’t heard, the new Spring Knitty.com issue went live yesterday. I’ve already put the Decimal Cardigan in my queue!

I used Crystal Palace’s Panda Silk yarn for this. It’s the second time I’ve used this yarn for socks–I really like it. It’s a light fingering weight yarn made from 52% bamboo, 43% merino wool superwash, and 5% silk. Because of its light weight antibacterial properties, it’s a great yarn for socks that’s you’re planning to wear in warmer weather.

Speaking of WendyKnits and toe-up socks, did you know she’s got a book on toe-up socks coming out in April? It’s already available for preorder on Amazon.com, and it sounds like it’s going to be a good one. It includes 20 patterns as well as information about various methods for casting on, making toes, making heels, and binding off.

The book into chapters by the style of the patterns: Romantic and Vintage Inspired, Rustic with a Gypsy Edge, Innovative and Unconventional, and Streetwear with Style. Although I didn’t like every single pattern in this book (when do I ever?), there were at least a couple of patterns in each section that I would consider making for myself or someone else. My favorites in this book are probably ‘Sophia’–the cable-edged cardigan shown on the cover, and ‘Wrenna’, a short-sleeved, leather-laced cardigan knit from the top down.

But the patterns are not my favorite part of this book. What makes it stand out, in my opinion, is the techniques described in each chapter. For example, in the Romantic and Vintage Inspired chapter, the side-to-side seamless construction method is covered in fairly good detail, including a basic overview of how the technique works, and tips for constructing a garment with this technique. I particularly liked the discussion of top-down seamless raglan construction in the Rustic with a Gypsy Edge chapter, because the author gives some great tips on how to avoid the baggy, ill-fitting look that some top down raglan sweaters seem to have.

All-in-all, I’d definitely recommend this book to anyone that is interested in seamless construction techniques or is just looking for some beautiful, interesting and feminine sweaters to knit.

I was looking for something a little fun and different, and this fit the bill. The cables kept my attention while knitting, and the final product is a bit more stylish than a lot of knitted hats.

Overall, I’d say this was a success!

These are kind of on the thick side; much thicker socks than I typically make. But on the positive side, I do like how the yarn turned out, other than the weight – the colors are great, and the yarn is squishy and springy.

I think my spinning goal for the year is to work towards spinning the perfect fingering weight yarn. Right now, I’m waiting to get this – ar superwash merino top – from Zarzuela’s Fibers – that’s going to be my next attempt.

It’s the first sock of a pair I’m knitting for my husband from some yarn that I spun on my wheel, from a ‘Sheep to Shoe’ kit I got from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. Spinning details can be found here if you’re interested.

I’m going with a very basic pattern here – just a 1 x 1 rib, with a short row heel. It’s going really quickly because the yarn is quite a bit thicker than I would normally use for socks. I’d say it’s on the heavy side of DK, whereas I’d typically use fingering weight. They’re going to be too heavy to wear in shoes, so I told him that they be his ‘around the house’ socks. No matter – he seems to like them so far anyway.