AtomicKnits

I completed my 2nd PIF gift!

I completed my 2nd Pay It Forward gift a while ago, but I didn't want to post about it until it reached it's recipient.  I knit this scarf for Cecile from France.  She has a blog called Obsession Scrap and she just gave birth to a baby girl.  She told me her favorite knit garments are scarves and she really likes the color brown.  So, I chose to knit the Best Friend Scarf in Filatura Lanarota Puno which is a DK weight alpaca yarn.

I love the way simple lace scarves look in alpaca DK weight yarn, and I LOVE how they always block so nice and flat and snuggle right around your neck.  I hope Cecile enjoys this scarf!

Best Friend Scarf
Pattern Source: Free pattern available on Cindy Bajema's blog Snidknits.
Yarn: Filatura Lanarota Puno colorway camel
Needles: US 7

Socks that fit my feet, my favorite kind!

The Summer Daze socks are all blocked and finished!  I love when they are all flat like this.  I think I am ok with the spiral-pooling that the colorway produced as I knit these.  I am very anxious to try out Magic Loop on my next pair of socks!

These socks also fit perfectly, which is awesome!

This weekend I also pulled out the Wavy Gravy scarf and finished it up.  It had been hibernating since early last year.  It didn't take me very long to finish, it was just a matter of buckling down and doing it.  I really love the colors of this yarn, and I realized that I have a shirt that exactly matches it!  This weekend was pretty productive knitting-wise.  I also cast on and made pretty good headway on a new sweater.  I'll have pictures of that tomorrow.

More FO's and Swap Complete!

Today was a beautiful day, and I while I was outside, I took some nicer pictures of my new FO's.  Here are the Wild Kat socks all dry and pretty.  The Tofutsies yarn feels really great after it has been washed and dried.  I am really glad these are out of the way.

I love my Argosy.  The color is one of my favorites, and it is so soft and drapey after it has been blocked.  It also wraps around my neck twice, which I like a lot.

I wore it during my errands and walk today.

During my errands, I made a trip to the Post Office and sent out my Valentine's Day swap package!  Hopefully the recipient does not read my blog, but if she does, she can see that her package is on her way!  I had a lot of fun shopping for it, and I hope she likes it.  I am excited to get mine too! 

Because I gave blood yesterday, I'm not supposed to be too active this weekend.  I did go for a long walk, and then I did some cleaning around my apartment.  I took down my little Christmas tree (finally) and put it all away.  After doing those two activities and not drinking enough water, I felt a little light headed and run down.  So, this evening I'm looking forward to just sitting on the couch, knitting my dishcloths, and watching figure skating.

Argosy almost offically done!

Last night I finished knitting Argosy.  I washed it and laid it out to block.  It's such a cool scarf!  I don't think it will be that great for the colder months, but as spring approaches it should be great.  I LOVE the color of this yarn SO MUCH!  I also started on some Ballband dishcloths for Justin's folks to give to them when we go visit them next month.  They have already been very sweet and generous towards me even though I have not spent a lot of time with them.  I hope they can use the dishcloths.  It is a small gift, but for me, knitting something for someone is probably the most significant way that I can express appreciation, so it will make me feel good.

Ugh, finally done.

I FINALLY finished these babies up last week.  I made some ghetto sock blockers out of some clothes hangers and washed and hung these up to dry.  I was pretty happy, because they did seem to stretch a lot as I was blocking them that I thought they *might* be big enough to actually fit around my heel when I tried them on.  They are all dry now, and they STILL don't fit.  UGH.  I am definitely knitting my next pair of Tofutsties on size 2 needles (that is a whole size larger that what the pattern calls for).  However, they look pretty good despite being too small.

I knit a whole bunch of Argosy over the weekend, and I am very close to being finished with that as well. That will fit, because it's a scarf.  I will probably have a blocking picture of this tomorrow.

I took a trip to Plattsburgh over the weekend to attend my brother's early birthday party and see him before he heads off to China for another several months.  It was really fun.  My mom, grandma and I took a trip to a new yarn store in the North Country - Orchard Hill Fibers in Schuyler Falls, NY.  They only take cash and checks, so their prices are a bit cheaper than most other yarn stores I have been to.  I bought 6 skeins of Cascade 200 to knit the Carolyn sweater and a couple of skeins of Brown Sheep Wildfoote to knit a pair of socks at some point (socks that fit).  It was a great weekend with my family.

Purple Makes Me Happy

I cast on for Argosy a couple nights ago, and it is so fun to knit!  I love casting on and off the little squares on the sides, and the size 5 needles are kind of refreshing after knitting an entire sweater on 13's.  I am using the skein of Skeintilly Clad sport weight that I bought at the Bazaar Bizarre back in December.  I think this is only like the second real indie dyed yarn that I have ever used.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE how the color is turning out!  The purples are a bit lighter in real life than they are in that picture.  Patterns like this also get me excited, because they turn out all curly and lumpy as you are knitting them, but then when you are all done and block it, it gets all flat and beautiful and perfect.  CAN'T WAIT.

My mom sent me a gift in the mail this week.  It's a vintage sock pattern book that she bought from ebay.  She has a similar one for gloves and mittens that she made me a copy of and I use it ALL THE TIME.  Best mitten patterns ever.  This book has all kinds of socks in all different sizes for all different weights of yarn.  The different sizes and weights is key.  It also has two needle and four needle socks.  I think I will try out one of these patterns when I learn magic loop.  I really want to finish my STUPID Wild Kat socks, so I can start knitting some enjoyable socks.

The original purpose.

The original purpose of this blog was for me to show off my knitting projects - in progress and complete.  Let's get back to that, shall we?

I recently finished the Chevron Scarf from The Portable Crafter: Knitting.  I used 3 balls of Filatura Lanarota Puno in Denim Heather.  I wasn't anticipating making this scarf.  At the beginning of September, I went to Oregon with my family for my cousin Emily's wedding.  I was (and still am) in the middle of knitting a hemp bathroom set, and I just wasn't feeling it.  While we were there, my Aunt Di, Uncle Toby, Gram, Lacey, and I drove out to the coast to do some touristy shopping.  We found a yarn store, and I took that opportunity to start a new project.  This yarn was kept in a glass case by the register (weird), but wasn't overpriced.  I picked up the yarn, a needle, and the book containing this pattern.  They didn't have the right size Addi Turbo I needed, so I settled for a Susan Bates Quicksilver circular needle to use.  I have accepted the fact that I am pretty much done with straights for the rest of my life.  I was disappointed that I had to settle for the Bates needle, but I was really impressed with it actually!  This is definitely a solid fallback option.  I'm so glad I choose this yarn.  Given the nature of the lace pattern, this scarf was a lumpy mess until I blocked it.  Now it is so flat, soft, and beautiful.

I also finally got around to blocking these socks I finished before my move to Brighton.  I used Knitty's Universal Toe-Up Sock Formula, and these socks fit PERFECT.  I used a ball of self-patterning Plymouth Sockotta.  To the n00b eye, these socks look very complicated, but they are not.  Knitting a plain old sock pattern was a relief.  The last few sock patterns I've done have had lace or purl patterns and have progressed SLOWLY.

I also made an awesome discovery today - ravelry.com!  I have been wanting a website like this FOREVER, and I am bursting with excitement!  It is still in beta, so I have to wait for an invite!  I CAN'T WAIT TO BE A PART OF THIS.  I could go on and on about all of the wonderful features and how excited about it I am, but you should just see for yourself.