I finished the back of Paulina

Is it really fair to say I "finished" the back of this tank when I haven't woven in the ends or blocked it? Eh, why not. Check 'er out:


So now, as per the pact I made with myself, I shall make the second Baudelaire sock before starting the front of the Paulina tank. Seriously. I promise. In fact, in just a couple minutes, I'm going to go make supper, eat with Jon, wash dishes, put in another load of laundry, fold the current load in the dryer, and THEN, I will IMMEDIATELY cast on for that sock! ...if I don't forget by that time!

I hope to have at least gotten past the toe before the end of the coming week. Watch this blog for progress reports...

A Pause (in Baudelaire) for Paulina

I'm kicking myself. I went on and on about not being a sucker for Second Sock Syndrome, and how I was going to cast on for sock #2 as soon as I finished the first one... and look what I did instead:



Paulina! In Bamboozle! Ohhh how I love it so! Shame on me, shame shame shame!

But here's my excuse: I finished the first Baudelaire sock on Friday morning, and then of course I had to take a bunch of pictures of it. And then I had to eat some lunch of course. And THEN I realized that there was a big sale going on at my LYS, and I thought it ended that day (it actually went through Saturday, but I didn't know that at the time.) I didn't want all the other people to buy all the yarn before I even got a chance to go see the stuff on sale, so I had to rush down there to go shopping. My goal was to examine and possibly buy some Bamboozle. I knew the fiber content and was thinking it would be nice for the Paulina tank, but I wanted to touch it and see what it was really like before buying any online. And then of course I had to come home and blog about all that... and couldn't help but knit a gauge swatch with the Bamboozle... and next thing I knew, I was well into knitting the Paulina tank.

But let me tell you, this Bamboozle is just WONDERFUL and apparently slightly addictive! It's amazingly soft and springy, and it has a gorgeous drape and stretchiness, as weird as that sounds. One caveat I'll add is that it is quite splitty, and I've found that I have to pay a little closer attention to avoid splitting my stitches, but it's not terrible. I think Patons SWS is a lot worse as far as splittyness goes. The nylon content in the Bamboozle seems to help it spring back into shape when you give it a gentle tug. But I'm no expert - your experiences may vary. Bamboozle comes in lots of beautiful rich, bright colors, and if you just want to experiment with it a little bit, it is a perfect yarn for baby knits and hats.

I'm on my third ball of yarn and am just over halfway up the back of the tank top right now. I've been telling myself that I will finish the back in another day or two, and then get back to Baudelaire and do the second sock, which shouldn't take more than a week, and then I can do the front of the tank.

Then comes the seaming. I got some good practice with mattress stitch on a little eye pillow I made a month or two back, and I do feel more confident with it than I used to, but that doesn't mean I like it. No, not one little bit. I mean, I LOVE to see it zipping two pieces together practically invisibly, but I can't stand the tedious stitching to get to that point. Maybe I'll learn to enjoy it by the end of this project, but that's probably wishful thinking. I've got half a mind to alter the pattern, take out a couple selvage stitches here and there, and just convert it to be knit in the round next time I make it. We'll see.

First Baudelaire Complete

I finished the first Baudelaire sock this morning. It is REALLY hard to take a picture of your left foot while holding the camera with your left hand and not being able to see the viewfinder. Especially when you're not left-handed. And I'm not.

Anyway, here's a few pictures of the sock (all clickable for larger images). I'll be casting on for its mate within the next few minutes. (I'm wondering if I should have done the next size up - the leaf lace pattern is a bit stretched-out laterally... but still nice enough!)



Bonzo wanted to see what was going on, and thought he might catch a few cuddles as long as I was sitting on the kitchen floor. (He did, after these I took these photos! Isn't our dog a cutie?)


Want more Bonzo pictures? (I know I can't get enough!) I've got a photoset on Flickr just for him. :)

In other news, I just got back from my LYS with a little bag of happiness! There was a great sale on several different brands of yarn, and I got 8 balls of Bamboozle. I'd been really curious to try it out, because I'd never worked with any yarn that had bamboo fiber, and I'm not disappointed so far! I was so excited, I made a little gauge swatch as soon as I got home. This stuff is far softer than I could have ever imagined it would be, but it is pretty splitty. I'll have to be careful when knitting with it. The color I got is "Ember Glow" (kind of a pinky-orange), and I'm going to use it for this very pretty tank top. I'm sure I'll have leftovers, but it will be perfect for lacy little cap, or a baby-sized beanie (I still have several pregnant friends - but no, I am not part of that group!)

I also got a skein of Tofutsies with a $5.00-off coupon, so that was a great deal. I've been really curious to try this yarn out, what with its unusual fiber blend (wool/soysilk/cotton/chitin - yes, chitin, from crustacean shells!). I used to work at a vitamin company where we sold chitin pills for "fat absorption and lowering cholesterol"... like Chitosan, only generic. I had no idea it was also supposed to have anti-bacterial properties and be able to be spun into yarn!

I am not too big into posting yarn pictures, so I won't be putting any here, but sooner or later I'll probably snap a couple photos of the Bamboozle and Tofutsies and stick them in my Ravelry stash. (And yeah, I'm still kind of so-so on the whole Ravelry thing... I guess I like the Flickr integration, so that's nice. But I'm not totally obsessed and in love with it like some folks already are!)

On the 4th of July... I turned a heel

I spent the afternoon of Independence day working on Baudelaire. Not exclusively - I was knitting while spending time with in-laws at a family BBQ. I do like having something to do with my hands at events like that, though, so socks were a great thing to bring along.

I really love the heels on this pattern. I mean, REALLY. As the pattern description says, "...gusset increases, short rowed round heel, and genuine heel flap..." and WOW, it really all comes together nicely! I have an intense dislike of picking up stitches, and I never thought I could do any kind of flap-and-gusset heel without having to pick stitches up, but this pattern doesn't require it at all! It's wonderful!

I expect to finish this sock either today or tomorrow, and then I'll cast on for sock #2 right away (no Second Sock Syndrome here!) I am enjoying this pattern a LOT more than I even expected to, and I highly recommend it.

I'm having so much fun, in fact, that I think I'm going to start browsing my stitch books and see if I can't find something that I can make into my own custom-designed socks. Oh what fun these are! Why did I wait until summer to get back into socks?! I really need to remember that they can be knit all year long.