Almost Finished Object, and Some Yarn ...

Baby sweater, almost done. Kathy was right (but of course!), it looks very sharp with the white border. Auden and I went button hunting yesterday and I couldn't find anything perfect ... the blue buttons they had were too shiny, or something. We ended up with this (her choice):
but I am not committed. I am also wondering if the buttonholes, what with the yarn being cotton and bulky-ish and SO soft, are going to stretch like crazy. Should I sew around them, somehow? Or should I get little toggle buttons, which might stay put even if they do stretch? I had also thought of sewing the buttons OVER the buttonholes and using snaps ... I'm not sure.

On a separate note, any non-yarn-buying resolve I may have had was completely wiped away by knit2purl2.com's Going Out of Business sale (pretty much over now; aren't you glad I spared you the temptation?) Lorna's Laces and Malabrigo at 50 percent off ... I am far too weak to resist that. From top left to bottom right: two skeins of Malabrigo in Emerald Blue for a so-called scarf (I'd never used Malabrigo before! and it was on my list! And I have a purpose for it! How much responsible can you get?), two skeins each of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Fresh Stripe, Periwinkle and Denim, and one skein of Malabrigo in Paris Nights.
That last single skein of Malabrigo is the only thing I'm not sure what I'll do with. Originally I had ordered two of Paris Nights, but there were only two left from different dye lots, so I switched to the Emerald Blue (which I think I may like better anyway: the Paris Nights is VERY dark, though perhaps not as dark as it looks in the picture, where you can't even see it!) But I couldn't resist getting one skein of the Paris Nights anyway ... I'm sure I'll find SOMETHING to do with it.

And there may, just may *cough* be another shipment from knit2purl2 on its way ...

Socks for my Dad

Done! Never again, size 1 needles AND plain yarn AND miles of stockinette. However, I think they look pretty good. They are a little big on me – hence the lumpy toes in the picture – but I'm hoping my dad's feet are enough bigger (but not TOO much bigger) to make that work out.
I love the fabric size 1 needles make. And I even did the ribbing and heel in 0's. But damn! it takes forever ...

Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock, color: Pewter (9ns). 2 skeins
Pattern: Thuja, from knitty.com
Needles: US 0s and 1s dpn.
Modification: This pattern is written for heavier yarn, so I followed the directions in Sensational Socks for a 5-stitch pattern. Cast on 80 stitches. Went down a needle size for the ribbing and heel.
In Sensational Socks, Charlene Schurch recommends picking up extra stitches after knitting the heel flap to avoid holes. I believe she recommends one extra stitch, but I think I picked up like a bazillion. No holes! but it did make for some interesting math.

Gray Sock

This isn't the greatest picture (no, really) but you get an idea of the pattern ... you can see it a lot more when it is slightly stretched, which in theory it will be on the recipient's leg.
I think I am going to end the ribs when I get to the heel, even though the pattern calls for them to continue all down the top of the foot. Maybe because the gauge is so fine, and there's just one purl instead of a wider rib, it feels slightly beady inside the sock to me. And while I'm hoping the above-mentioned slight stretch will take care of that, I don't want to risk it being uncomfortable under the shoe.

At least it is progressing far faster than I had feared, due in part to a nasty virus that kept me from doing much besides sitting on the couch all week.

That's all I've got. Blog posting doesn't get much more exciting than this, does it?

Billions and Billions of Stitches ....

I see them stretching far ahead into the future. I'm doing the ribbing on Size 0 needles, which I've never used before – maybe that will make the Size 1s seem pleasantly large when I get to the leg. But probably not. These are for my dad, and it may not be the wisest move ever to be trying new yarn gauge and needle sizes when the intended recipient is 3,000 miles away. (I wonder what the math is on how much longer it will take the same knitter to finish a sock on 1s instead of 2s.)

To motivate myself, I have signed up for Socktoberfest 2006. It's my first knitalong, and it seems appropriately undemanding. But since I was casting on for these anyway last night, and I have another pair of socks in progress, it seemed like a good fit.