Mince Pie Mayhem

I finished my first pair of socks out of Socktopus: 17 pairs of socks worth showing off by Alice Yu: the Mince Pie Mayhem socks. Actually I finished them a couple of weeks ago, but anyway.

The result is pretty cool

I actually had some trouble knitting these because there was smaaall typo in the pattern. These are knitted leg down and you’re supposed to increase stitches for a gusset. The pattern says to turn the work, which makes no sense at all and doesn’t work – mostly because it’s supposed to be done in the round. Heh. Actually this got figured out just as soon as I went on Ravelry and asked about it in the group for the book. Someone suggested it was a typo and then the author herself came on and gave me advice! How awesome is that. When I get help so easily and the author herself is around to take care of her customers, as it were, I don’t even mind the typos.

 Also, now that I’m knitting another pair of socks from the book (Rumpled, Ravelry link) I just assume that if there’s anything I can’t figure out, it’s probably a typo. Nothing like that’s come up yet, though.

I used 1,5 balls of Garnstudio Drops Fabel with 2,5 mm needles for these socks, and it worked pretty well. I’m glad the stitch definition came out good even though the yarn is very soft and a bit fuzzy.

So far the book has been just as amazing as I had hoped. The patterns are different and interesting but not tedious. Even though there are a bajillion crossed stitches in these socks, for instance, these were a quick knit. The pattern was so easy to memorize and crossing stitches is easy and quick when done without a cabling needle.

I’m Changing My Mind (‘cos that’s what I do)

I’m a bit silly. I got me a pile of Garnstudio Alpaca with my Christmas gift card to my favorite LYS, having already decided I wanted to knit Zora. It’s a cardigan with a subtle lace pattern and some rib at the waist. With its generous positive ease, it looks quite comfy.

Here are the reasons why I’m changing my mind about knitting it (damnit):

It’s not necessarily the first thing I would go for because it doesn’t come with buttons, and I like to be able to button up my cardigan if I feel like it. I once had a cardigan with only a belt for closure, and frankly it stressed me right out. Considering that, it’s odd that I was so adamant that that’s the cardigan I want – nay, need. Until now.

I started looking around Ravelry, and found another, much more intriguing option. It’s the Paulie cardigan.

It’s knitted top down and seamlessly with raglan sleeves, all features I’ve realized I love. It’s also been designed for alpaca yarn and it’s always a good idea to stay with the same fiber when changing the yarn for a pattern. It’s stockinette stitch which is good. I have learned the hard way (hello 180 cm x 100 cm alpaca lace shawl) that alpaca has zero stitch definition – not a problem with stockinette. It’s pretty fitted, and it is known that I really just don’t like baggy clothes.

The Paulie cardigan also reminds me strongly of another stripy cardigan (Freya, Ravelry link) I’ve been dreaming about all week long. This one has seriously captured my heart, probably because I can’t knit it! It’s being test knit but I don’t have time to do that, and when it’s published, I won’t want to buy it because that way madness lies.

I thought the stripes would be a problem, but then Ravelry very helpfully reminded me that I have those three balls of the same yarn in another colorway that I just can’t make work as anything. They’ve been a beginning of a shawl and another shawl and a hat and now have been at the bottom of my WIP bin for six months as an unappetizing cowl. But they could work with the green.

And yet… I can’t quite shake the feeling that I should knit the Zora because that’s what I had in mind first… baroo?

Silly brain. It’s like it got stuck on the Zora idea, got comfy in its groove, and is now hanging on out of sheer bloody-minded stubbornnes. Now, if there’s a problem with the Paulie, my brain’s going to be all “Told you so…”, I just know it.

It’s a Bike Mask

Having had my eye on this Ninja Bike Mask of Awesomeness for a while, I was inspired to start knitting it now by some seriously uncool weather we’ve been having. And by uncool I mean cool, and by cool I mean cold.

Isn’t it great? And not freaky at all.

This mask doesn’t look anything like the pattern.

The pattern is fantastic! The construction is just so elegant and beautiful and perfect. It’s just that I didn’t want to knit my dk weight yarn (Lima from Garnstudio, 65% wool, 35% alpaca) with 2,25 mm needles (like the pattern suggests). The resulting gauge was so tight that it really hurt my hands, and I switched to 4 mm instead. 4 mm for no other reason than that I didn’t have 40 cm circs in any other size.

And so, having already doomed myself to not getting anything resembling the original finished object, I began following the pattern very loosely. I’m practically winging it.

I’ll knit a little bit of neck and then bind off. I’ll still be wearing a scarf with it so it might actually be bad if it went all the way down to the shoulders. I’ll probably run some elastic thread through the cast on edge at the top so the mask will  stay put better and maybe even cover my cheekbones. I look at those pictures and I see my cheeks getting cold.