AtomicKnits

Pomatomus

Here's something. It has been a while, but I have been knitting. It's been taking longer for me to finish projects lately, because I have been focusing a little on many things instead of A LOT on one thing. Anyway, here is a pair of Pomatomus socks. This patterns is one of those really popular ones that I hadn't knit yet.  When I started these I was ready for more of a challenge and a pattern that I had to pay attention to.

I received the yarn I used for these socks in a knitting swap package from hokkapokka. I'm not sure what the fiber is, but I *think* it's mostly or all alpaca.  She dyed it herself in this really nice green color that didn't pool at all when I was knitting it.  I really liked how the color turned out.

I have other projects completed that I need to take pictures of and post. I want to blog more about things in general, but I'm so out of the habit. I also want to give the blog a serious makeover. I have a lot of ideas for that too.  Now that the rainy season is pretty much here, I might have some more motivation to be at the computer while I'm home.

Pomatomus
Pattern Source: Knitty Winter 2005
Yarn: Hand-Dyed Mystery Yarn from hokkapokka
Needles: US 2

River Rapids

These are the socks I made for Emily for her birthday a few weeks ago. A nice, easy, straightforward sock pattern with really pretty yarn.  This pattern is called River Rapids, and I really love how the yarnovers and decreases really look like a winding river with little rocks.

At first impression, I thought the color repeats in the yarn were much shorter. I was a little surprised when this pooling started happening, but I really like the large color spiral I ended up with.

River Rapids
Pattern Source: River Rapids by Sockbug
Yarn: ShibuiKnits Sock, colorway Mulberry 229
Needles: US 2

Arthur's Dream Socks

These socks have been off the needles for a while, but I didn't want to post them until I gave them to the recipient. I knit these plainest, grayest socks ever for my cousin-in-law, Arthur. I used a basic top down pattern that I'm sure is an old standby for a lot of people, Priscilla's Dream Socks.

I'm not a huge fan of this color, but I do like how it knit up. I didn't pool too badly, and I think this color will look good with jeans.  The only mod I made to this pattern is that I omitted the short row toe with that weird seam along the toes. I did a traditional decrease toe with a grafted seam. Hopefully these will be cozy!

Arthur's Dream Socks
Pattern Source: Priscilla's Dream Socks from Favorite Socks: 25 Timeless Designs from Interweave
Yarn: Plymouth Happy Feet, colorway 18
Needles: US 2

Crusoe Socks

These are my first socks knit with the famous Socks That Rock yarn. People go nuts over this stuff.  I bought myself a few skeins and my first knitting experience with this yarn was a good one.  I really like the yarn base, and the colors are so vibrant.  This particular colorway had such bold changes, so I thought a slip stitch pattern would work well. I really like how they came out!

When the colors started pooling around the ankle, I started to get discouraged, but now I think it's kind of charming. The only thing about the pattern that I found to be misleading is that I think it is sized very small.  The pattern only has you cast on 48 stitches (for the large size!) one a size 1 needle.  If I was a beginner, I would have cast on the 48 and knit until I got around the heel, only to be completely discouraged that I was ending up knitting a sock for a child. This has happened before. Now, experience tells me to cast on 64 stitches right off the bat and I will be fine. And I was!  I also think that this is a good pattern to use if you have a smallish skein of sock yarn - 350 yards or under.

Crusoe Socks
Pattern Source: Knitty, Spring 2003
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock Lightweight, colorway Crabby McHappypants
Needles: US 2

The Neverending Baby Set

A couple of months ago, my cousin Emily asked me to knit her a little baby sweater to give to her friend who is due to have a baby in April.  She decided on the Yoda Baby Sweater and said she would pay for the yarn.  I saw a picture of this done in Manos Cotton Stria, and I thought the yarn and the color was perfect, so I went out and bought four skeins.  That was way too much.  This yarn knits up really nice and the semi-solid colorway is awesome, but, blech, it is not nice to knit with. I don't like cotton in general, and the nubblyness of this yarn was just not really that fun to have in my hands.  I really didn't want to have any leftovers of this yarn, so...

...I knit a bunch of accessories to go with the sweater, and used up about 98% of the yarn (I tossed the little leftover ball). I knit a bib with a penguin on it, a hat, and some booties. Every time I finished an accessory I would look at all of the yarn I had leftover and wish it was all gone.  But, I powered through the next accessory, and the next. I have a couple more babies to knit for. I think those will definitely be one skein projects!

The Neverending Baby Set
Pattern Source: Baby Yoda Sweater - Dogs Steal Yarn (Rav), Penguin Bib - Down Cloverlaine, Seamless Baby Booties - Pickin' and Throwin', and I just made up the hat pattern
Yarn: Manos del Uruguay Manos Cotton Stria, colorway 213 Mint
Needles: US 6 for sweater, bib and booties, US 7 for hat

Pink Ribbon Socks

First finished project of 2010! These socks were intended to be a Christmas present for Justin's mom, but I think they might make a good Christmas gift for this year, don't you think? My mom sent me the pattern for these socks, and immediately thought that they would be great for Justin's mom. His family has a history of breast cancer, and they do a lot to support finding a cure.

I also had a skein of pinkish yarn on hand that I thought would go great with this pattern. The yarn was kind of meh to work with, but the pattern knit up really quickly. Everyone at my knitting group went nuts for the little mesh pattern that runs up the sides of the cuffs. I'm not really sure why.  The cabling chart on the cuff was kind of tedious, but once I got to the plain old foot, I could sail right on to the end of the toe!  They fit me pretty well, and I hope Justin's mom likes them.

Pink Ribbon Socks
Pattern Source: Pink Ribbons - Lisa Lloyd Designs
Yarn: Stitch Cleveland 100% Wool Sock Yarn
Needles: US 2

Late finish for Socktober - Kai Mei

This year hasn't been a good year for meeting goals I set at the beginning of the year, but I'm giving myself a break, because I did move across the country.  My goal for Socktober was to knit three pairs of socks.  I didn't quite make it, but I am finishing late with a finished second pair.

Part of the reason I finished so late is that I had to re-knit the entire foot of the right sock.  This was the first one I did.  I don't know what happened, but I had a total brain fart and didn't decrease enough when I was knitting the gusset.  I knit the whole foot with 20 extra stitches each round.  What the hell!  Of course I didn't notice until I was at the toe.  I was convinced that the pattern was wrong, so I just went ahead and knit the left sock.  That one came out perfectly, so I took the first one out to the heel and re-did it.  That was the first time I really frogged anything that much.  It sucked, but I'm glad I did it.

I am really happy with these socks.  I love the color of the yarn and it feels really good on my feet.  I'm glad I picked this pattern, because it is interesting without being super complicated and getting lost in the variegation of the yarn.

Kai Mei
Pattern Source: Sock Innovation by Cookie A
Yarn: Mystery Yarn! I bought this at Maryland Sheep & Wool in 2008.  It didn't come with a ball band and I lost the receipt.  If you know what this is, please tell me!
Needles: US 2

Socktoberfest 2009 Pair #1 - Bartholomew's Tantalizing Socks

It's that time of year again! Time to knit socks!  This year, my goal for Socktoberfest is to knit 3 complete pairs of socks and to knit patterns by prolific designers.  I've completed my first pair.  This is a Cat Bordhi pattern.  I really wanted to try out one of her patterns, because of all of her different and cool ways of constructing socks.

I picked out this pattern, because I didn't really know where to start in her book (this is one of the first adult patterns), and because the linen stitch motif would go really well with hand-painted yarn.  Just to be clear, I did knit both of these socks from the same ball of yarn.  You can see that one is so much darker than the other, and the change happened almost exactly in between each sock.  I didn't bother me that much, but if I were knitting these socks as a gift, or if I was more of a product knitter, I would be really annoyed.  I guess one way to get around this would be to alternate rounds from each end of the skein, but seriously, who wants to do that?  I do really love the color of the lighter sock, and would have loved the entire skein of yarn to be like that.  I really enjoyed knitting this pattern, and trying out a new way of knitting socks.  I will definitely go back to this book again for sock patterns in the future.

Bartholomew's Tantalizing Socks
Pattern Source: New Pathways for Sock Knitters: Book One by Cat Bordhi
Yarn: Pigeonroof Studios superwash merino ORIGINAL sock, colorway Nighthawk
Needles: US 2

My Viper Pilots are finally finished!

After one hot summer and a cross-country move, I finally got around to finishing my Viper Pilots!  The weather is dryer and cooler here, especially at night, and that has renewed my motivation to knit and make things. I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out!

I knew when I picked this colorway that the cables and twisted stitches would be hard to see, but I thought it was such a good 'space fight' colorway!  The green stripes and purple/gray background remind me of the battles between the Colonial Vipers and the Cylon Raiders against a dark outer space sky!

This pattern was pretty fun to knit, but I have to say that the next sock pattern I pick out will have no twisted stitches in it.  I'm kind of sick of making those.  Now, I have a couple weeks of respite before I'm going to dig right down into socks for Socktoberfest!

Viper Pilots
Pattern Source: Knitting to Stay Sane
Yarn: Stitchjones Supersocks, colorway Dark & Divine
Needles: US 2

Viper Pilot Socks *pew pew pewwww*

After I packed my stash away into storage (yes, it's true :( ), I kept out this one skein of yarn specifically to knit the Viper Pilots.  I finally got to start them, and I'm having a lot of fun watching the birds take flight through the swirly maelstrom.  After Justin and I watched every episode of Battlestar Galactica, I wanted to knit these and now I want to knit more BSG inspired things!  The yarn is Stitch Jones Supersocks in the Dark and Divine colorway.  I thought this color looked like a space fight and I like making the Viper and Raider noises while I'm knitting these. Nothing but the rain!