Twinkle-y

I guess they are more like toe cozies at this point.



Close-up (you can just barely see the beginnings of a pattern):


The lace pattern is really easy so I only have to glance at the chart every once in a while to figure out where I am. Although I attempted to start with the Figure 8 cast on, it didn't look right and I couldn't get both socks started at once (I had to work a few rows of knitting before it felt stable enough to do the cast on for the second sock). I wound up frogging it and doing it over using the Magic cast on instead. It worked pretty well and I could start both at the same time. I can tell where I started since it seems to poke out a little there but I think after blocking you won't be able to tell.

The cables on these needles are annoying, they keep getting in the way as you can see in the picture. I tried the hot water trick and that straightened them out for a bit but they've started to curl again. I guess with time they will get better. It is very obvious that the stitches don't really slide along the needles but right now the excitement of knitting socks is enough to get over the hurdle. I'll have to see if I can find plastic needles in smaller sizes to try out as well.

Almost FO

OK, so they are currently blocking, but otherwise the Endpaper Mitts are done. Check out the insides:



I didn't know what to do with the float when I hit the purl stitch so I just ran the yarn along the back. Still I think it looks cool.



Since hubby isn't here (working the weekend, boo), you'll have to make do with just a photo of the finished mitts.



Look a little closer:



Why yes, they do look ever so slightly different. I switched which color I held in which hand while I was doing the stranded work and it makes the yellow ochre color stand out more on the second mitt. I guess its a good thing I ran out of yarn, now the fact that the ribbing at the thumb and fingers alternates looks like I did it on purpose. Even though they are different, I like them and I'm hoping the lucky recipient will like them too.

I also started on a sock. Just the plain socks according to the Yarn Harlot's recipe.



Unfortunately, the fabric is looser than I would like so I have already frogged this bit and need to start again with size 1 needles. (The pic shows the beginnings of a sock using Sweet Georgia yarn in Stillwater and size 2 needles.)

I blame it on Cookie

Cookie A. that is. I don't know what has come over me but the combination of stumbling across her website and her appearance on Knitty Gritty, I am completely obsessed with socks... at least in theory. I have not actually started any socks and my previous sock experience is limited to Fuzzy Feet.

I had purchased some Opal sock yarn without really knowing what it was destined to be. Well, last week I decided that the Caffe Au Lait color was destined to become some Twinkle Toes socks. OK, I had a pattern and some yarn, but no needles. Well, at least not the needles I wanted. (I find that metal needles are a little too hard on my hands so I *had* to buy new needles.) Since these are toe-up and the Opal has a little more yardage than the yarn in the pattern, I wanted to do them at the same time. For me that means two socks on two circs, except I don't have circs in the size I need. (Its not the point that I have never done two socks on two circs before....) I desperately contacted Pam to see if she could keep a look out at the Stitch DC sale this past weekend for appropriate needles. (Yes, I know she would still have had to ship them but that was besides the point. She understood the need to start the socks ASAP and would have shipped them to me.) Sadly, they didn't have any for me so I wound up ordering them from WEBS on Sat. They only just shipped today. argh. Do they not realize that I've been waiting to cast-on for days?!

In the meanwhile, I decided that perhaps the black Opal didn't really want to be a scarf and instead might want to be Clessidra socks instead. Let's ignore the fact that I haven't worn knee-socks since grade school. They are just so cool.

I'm also thinking that my Sweet Georgia yarn just wants to be plain stockinette socks. Gotta be able to show off the colors, you know? I'm so sad that I didn't order some more when I had the chance since she is now off traipsing the world and there is no more Sweet Georgia yarn to be had (at least not for quite some time).

I have actually been knitting. Let's just say that undoing the tubular cast-off has been a huge pain. It also looks like I don't have enough of the Peacock to do all the ribbing in blue either. argh. Well, I decided that I would do the ribbing at the fingers and thumb in alternate colors so it will look like I did it on purpose. Plus it will help tell the right from the left mitt, right? I should have those ready for a photo shoot this weekend.

Oh yeah, while inhaling those sock yarn fumes I also signed up for Sockapalooza 4. Not sure what I was thinking but at least there was a section where you could indicate that you were a novice sock knitter.

Bound to happen

OK, I weighed finished mitt #1. It came in at a healthy 22g. I weighed the remaining skeins, 27g, with 13g of Yellow Ochre and 15g of Peacock. Of course, I did not weigh the skeins when I first got them, simply assumed that I got the 25g on the ball band. So I should be good, right?



(I think mitt #2 looks longer because I haven't stretched it out width-wise by modeling it.)

What's wrong with this picture?




Yep, that's about a foot of yellow ochre left and the whole ribbing left to go. I was concerned early on that this pattern used more yellow than peacock but thought that with more than half of the yellow ochre to go, I would be OK.

Actually, I was concerned that I wouldn't have enough when I finished the first mitt and toyed with changing the color scheme. What I did not show you was my attempt to make the mirror-image of mitt #1. I got through the first repeat of Chart A when I decided it wasn't going to work. First, the colors didn't look as sharp, you know what I mean? Second, and more important in my decision to frog, the peacock is ever-so-slightly thicker. I imagine this has something to do with the dyeing/heathering of the yellow ochre vs. the peacock. Although I can't get a photo to show this difference, it became very apparent when I did 14 rows of ribbing in the peacock. It looked like I had used a heavier yarn or done more repeats. So, I went back to the original color scheme.

I'm thinking about taking out the last few rows of the ribbing on mitt#1 and then finishing with a strip of the peacock. That should give me enough of the yellow to start the ribbing on mitt #2 and then finish off with a strip of the peacock so that they match. I've also toyed with undoing the bottom ribbing of both and redoing them in peacock since that part of the mitt probably won't show as much as the top portion. Thoughts, suggestions, preferences?

FYI, undoing the sewn-off cast-off is a huge pain. At least the yarn made it through all the pattern repeats, right? I wove in the ends while I was knitting so undoing more than one row is also a real pain. Next time I'll show you the insides, I think it looks cool.