Friday, June 08, 2007

This 'n' that

I actually haven't gotten much knitting done this week, despite having more "free time" than usual. Part of the problem is that I've been playing around in Ravelry (which eats up so much time I wonder if it's some kind of hitherto undiscovered black hole).

The other problem is that I spent a lot of time searching for the right pattern for my next pair of socks. A few weeks ago, my mom asked me to make a pair of purple socks for a friend of hers. I've known this friend all my life, so I'd like these socks to be a bit special. I had even found a pattern I thought would be perfect, but after knitting a couple of inches, I knew it was not to be. (I won't mention the pattern, because I still have hopes for it in another incarnation.) Rip, rip, rip. I tried another pattern, but it was painfully boring. Rip, rip, rip. (Shepherd Sock frogs like a champ, by the way.) Finally I settled on this.

It's Cassie's recently released Loksins! I think I'm in love. The charts are easy to memorize, but still interesting. Plus, the two stockinette sections make it easy to modify the pattern to suit any gauge or foot size. Love!

By the way, the DPN protector in the photo is from Three Owls Knitting. Thanks to Jersey Shore Deb for pointing them out to me. (Get it? "Pointing"? Yuk, yuk.) These protectors come in sets of two. One of mine has a black sheep, and the other one has a white sheep. They're too cute for words.

Print O' The Wave is coming along nicely too. The second center panel is aspiring to grow as big as its older sibling.

I'm knitting this on the recommended US size 4 (3.50 mm) needles, but I sort of wish I'd gone up a size or two. With the pattern's stated 17 repeats for each half, there's no way this would come out as long as I would like, even with the most aggressive blocking. Since I don't want to rip everything out and start again, I'm adding two repeats to each half. I've done the math for the border, but I hope it works out as well in practice as it does in theory.

9 Comments:

At 6/8/07, 6:12 PM, Blogger Jodi said...

Lovely Lokskins! You're making fast progress on Print o the Wave, too.

Ravlery is quite the amazing new procrastination technique.

 
At 6/8/07, 8:50 PM, Blogger mle said...

Oooo, that is a pretty sock pattern! and I'm loving your Print O the Wave! it's going to be gorgeous.

 
At 6/8/07, 9:25 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh, I'm so excited to see another pair of Loksins out there - yay! (a little obsessed here, sorry about that). They look great - what yarn are you using?

And ... Ravelry? A brand new black hole in the universe. No doubt about it. But oh, how wonderful it is...

 
At 6/8/07, 9:54 PM, Blogger Jeri said...

Thanks for the link to Loksins. I may "need" to get that pattern.

And can you get your new Sisters Of the Wool in ravelry?

 
At 6/8/07, 10:12 PM, Blogger Jersey Shore Deb said...

Thanks for the shout-out about the referral for the DPN protectors. Glad you like them as much as I do!

Deb
http://rather-be.blogspot.com

 
At 6/10/07, 8:42 AM, Blogger Deb for Fearless Fibers said...

I'm so jealous that you got your login for Ravelry! I'm waiting for mine and am really itching to get in and check it out!

With the Print O' The Waves I made, I thought the same thing about the length of the center pieces, but I was really surprised at how much the inner and outer edging added to it and how it did in fact grow quite a bit with a good blocking. I stuck with the 17 repeats and ended up with a blocked piece that was in total somewhere around 75 to 80 inches long. I wish I could recall how large my center pieces were unblocked, but I just don't remember :( I just recall that they looked way too short and narrow, but it all turned out fine. You may have a tighter hand than I do though, so perhaps you will need those extra repeats. Ahh, the mysteries of lace!

It looks great so far! Will be gorgeous!

 
At 6/11/07, 9:15 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Both this and that are lovely! I'm really digging the Loksins that I've seen out on the internets.

 
At 6/12/07, 3:20 AM, Blogger ~Kristie said...

You're right... Ravelry *is* a black hole ... but it's fun to be in there with all my knitting friends so who cares?

I'm glad you finally found the right pattern. I'll be looking forward to watching your progress on it. It looks like a beautiful pattern.

Tha shawl is looking stunning! I hope your math skills are better than mine, otherwise you'll be ripping. I so suck at math.

 
At 6/12/07, 8:39 AM, Blogger knittingphilistine said...

Love that new sock pattern... the purple is perfect for them, too.

 

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