Tag: Malibrigo yarn

Posted in knitting, Living Life Well

Reunited

Posted on by Laura Kate

Earlier this month, the Oklahoma sock was reunited with the Wisconsin sock in a rustic cabin at Shell Lake, WI. There was jubilation from the affected parties.

That was a few weeks ago. Life has been out of the ordinary for most of the month. The passing of my dad on August 10th brought about an eight-day visited to Ohio, where I spent time with my mom, siblings and assorted relatives while celebrating Dad’s life. Upon returning home, we were immersed into rental house repairs, as we continue selling off our Oklahoma real estate. Our plan is to leave Oklahoma for the more temperate climes of the upper Midwest. The presence of grandchildren is a powerful motivator.

Getting back to the socks, pictured above. Readers may recall that the pattern is Mary Delany by Kate Davies, and the yarns are Hawthorne by Knitpicks and Ultimate Sock by Malibrigo. The red is a leftover pulled from my stash along with the other two yarns.

Socks from the right side
Socks turned inside out

I’m so pleased with the look and the fit. Next week is the county fair. This project will be entered, along with the little knitted new-born jacket and the Japanese knot bag.

My only entry in the quilting category this year is the Migration World wall hanging.

Thanks for stopping by. As I get back into a normal routine, I will have more objects to write about. (Hint: I expect that there will be a resumption of watercolor painting.)

Posted in knitting

Finished Object or no? A Tale of Two Socks

Posted on by Laura Kate

Yesterday I got to the top of my second Mary Delany sock. Today I cast it off. While technically, I am finished knitting the pair, there is a small geographical glitch.

Sock no. two hanging in the garden, clipped to a tomato cage. It looks pretty good.

One foot cozy and warm, one left out in the cold.

Sock no. 1, found under a chair in the living room of daughter’s house in Madison.

(sigh)

The fault is my own. I had pulled out the completed sock to compare to the one in progress while I was visiting our loved ones. Apparently, I failed to stuff it back into my project bag before packing up.

There’s good news on all fronts. It was found and daughter agrees to mail it to me. If the U.S. Post office fails to deliver it, I have enough yarn to knit sock no. 3.

If you have a hankering to make a pair like this, the pattern is by Kate Davies, and can be found on her Ravelry site here.

Posted in colorwork, knitting

Hat Alert!

Posted on by Laura Kate

The message came in over the week-end, with a tone of some urgency. It seems that the baby toddler girl had outgrown her hats, and the carefully saved wool hat of #1 grandchild was no where to be found. With the onset of cold weather, there was no time to waste in meeting the need.

The criteria was pretty simple. Earflaps were desired and a cord to tie the hat under the chin. Consulting my stash I found an almost full ball of Cascade 220 Superwash in a pale yellow color. I had purchased this yarn two years ago when I first learned of the baby’s expected arrival. I was excited to try out some stranded patterns using this yarn and various bits and bobs left over from other projects.

First I consulted my knitting stitch dictionary (750 Knitting Stitches – The Ultimate Knitting Bible.) For this project I needed a pattern with a fairly short repeat. I also needed a motif that would fit on the ear flaps.

These two will do nicely. Cosmea will work for the earflaps and Aubrieta can circle the body of the hat. I also liked that the pattern repeat was six stitches. With my gauge of 5.5 stitches, a multiple of six will help me achieve the 18 inch diameter I needed. Here is my chart for the earflap and body, and my calculation for the cast on. I came up with a total of 96 stitches, which is divisible by six.

Ear Flaps done.

After casting on, I completed a modified version of Aubrieta, stopping when the hat body was 4 and 3/4 inches tall from cast on. Next I consulted the pattern I had used ten years ago for grandchild #1’s hat to figure out the crown decrease rate. I added a few rows of dots in the first three rounds of decrease, then completed the rest of the decrease in the solid yellow yarn.

Ear Flap hat in the blocking stage.
All Done.

This was a fun and quick project to make from one’s stash. I was pleased that I could use up some yarn scraps of a beautiful Malibrigo yarn that was left over from my blue ribbon vest.

UPDATE: Hat was received, and put into use quickly. Not only does it cover the ears, it covers the cheeks as well. It’s so big that it will still fit her next winter.