Pink Promise Socks finished!

The Pink Promise socks have been finished and will hopefully be up for sale in the next little while.

All proceeds from this pattern will go to benefit the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

This is a toe-up sock pattern featuring ribbon detailing in cables up the sides and on the heel flap. It features a short row toe, a toe-up heel flap with gusset and a lace ribbon detail around the ankle.

Hopefully this works and the pattern will be available here shortly. If not, it will be available through Ravelry as soon as I get my designer pattern store working.

Designing

So, it's been awhile. I'm not going to bother updating you on everything that's happened since I last posted since I promised I would do that last time and never got to it.

I am posting here though for a specific reason. I'm in the process of designing a pair of socks. I was driven to do this thanks to the Sock Knitter's Anonymous group on Ravelry. They have a monthly challenge that I've been joining in on for a while and this month's challenge is a man's sock, a holiday stocking, a design by Jeannie Cartmel or Socks for a Cause.

Now I haven't mentioned this here before but I come from a family that's been fairly affected by breast cancer. Both of my grandmothers have had it in the past and one is currently undergoing treatment for a recurrence.

So I thought, what better to knit than a sock that benefits breast cancer, both for the SKA challenge and since October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. But I'd already knit a couple of the breast cancer supporting socks out there and the rest don't really appeal to me, so I've dove in and I am currently designing a pair of socks!

That's what I have so far, and I do have the rest of the pattern written out and tested on a mini prototype sock, but I just want to get past the heel flap before I send it out to test knitters.

Thanks to some helpful suggestions on Ravelry I've decided to name them Pink Promise Socks.

As soon as I get the pattern finished and the test knitting done, I'm going to be posting it for sale here and hopefully on Ravelry and all the proceeds from the Pink Promise Socks will be going to support the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, so stay tuned!

It's Been Awhile...

Sorry about that! I did survive exams, yay! But posting was a bit difficult over the summer, between working full-time and having dial-up internet at home. So I'll try and get caught up a bit and try to update again soon. (P.S. - if the weird music is bothering you, scroll down a few posts and mute the "Horton Hears a Who" widget, hopefully in a few more posts that won't show up on the front page anymore)

Knitting

Well, I did finish Jaden over the summer. Since you last saw it I realized that my row gauge was way off and ended up having to rip back large amounts to make sure the sleeves weren't 4" too long and that the neckline didn't fall below my boobs. I had a really tough time after I had finished to actually get the crocheted neckline as nice as I wanted it, and I definitely didn't sew in the ends very quickly. But it did get finished, and I quite like it. So far it's been cool enough a couple days to wear it this fall.


I also finished my Forest Canopy Shawl the second time I started it. I probably could have done more repeats because I ended up with yarn left over and it's a bit small. But it's a nice enough size to just throw over my shoulders while I'm sitting at the computer and getting cold, so it's nice.


Socks, Socks and more Socks
Socks were pretty much all I knit over the summer, and I didn't knit all that many, I've started a pair for Mom, and have one sock finished. I'm also doing a pair using Grumperina's helix striping method to use up some of my leftovers, and I like how they're turning out.


I've also started a February Lady Sweater (yes I jumped aboard that bandwagon...). I wasn't sure how much I would like the style so I'm knitting up a test sweater in Red Heart Soft Touch, instead of dropping $60+ on yarn. So far I really like it, and depending on how much I wear it I could see knitting another with some really yummy yarn, and maybe a different stitch pattern.

There have been a few other projects over the last few months, including a Diamond Fantasy Shawl for my Nana who is starting chemo today. If you're interested check out my projects page on Ravelry here (if you're not on Ravelry yet, go check it out now - really!)


Baking
I actually haven't done a lot of baking so far this semester. I've been pretty stressed out with a few of my courses and especially advanced Japanese seems to come with a ton of homework. But I did just buy a new cookbook - Small-Batch Baking - which basically has baking recipes to make for 1-2 people, so hopefully I will find some inspiration there and there will be baking to show you soon!

Getting all caught up has been great! I've been a bit out of it for the last few days, Saturday evening the guy in the apartment next to mine managed to light his kitchen on fire so there was quite a lot of excitement there... and not of the good kind. Luckily there isn't any damage to my apartment and the smoke smell has mostly cleared out of my place and my lungs - the hall is a different story though. Luckily I knew where my fire extinguisher was - do you know where yours is and how to use it? Please think about it and be fire safe!

Till next time!

What a close one...

Ok, so it's Friday, yay, and the weekend and all that, but I'm a bit stressed because my parents are coming up to visit for the weekend with some friends. They're not staying here (there's no way they would all fit in my very small student, studio apartment), but it's stressful none the less, this is the first time they will have seen my place, so I spent most of today cleaning. Then just to add to the stress I accidentally threw my ring in the garbage, and didn't realize it until after I had taken the garbage out. That was a fun 20 mins of running between my apartment and the garbage room in the basement trying to figure out where it might have fallen off, and was so relieved when I did find it.
Anyways, that's about how my day has gone. Not much knitting to report as of late, mostly just knitting on a sock in class. I did start a new pair of socks with the Tofutsies I received in the Holiday Tea Swap, they're going to the Monkeys, but from the toe up, so the pattern will be upside down, because frankly I'm too lazy to try and reverse it.

I did get a picture of my progress on the cardigan I'm trying to create. So far so good, although I can see multiple problems upcoming with connecting the sleeves, the hood, and the button band. The fronts ended up a lot skinnier than I thought they would, so I'm hoping a very wide button band will make up the difference. I wanted big buttons to start with, so hopefully this is a good thing. I'm thinking of attaching the sleeves in the way you would with a raglan sweater, just because I've done that before, but I'll deal with that once I get there. I still have to do the entire back, and it will be 2x2 ribbing, so I can see some project boredom kicking in there.
I am also signed up for Secret of the Stole ii, but still awaiting yarn (long story short, DHL is stupid!) so can't start yet, even though the first hint has come out. Hopefully I can get my yarn early next week and catch up so I won't be too far behind, although I can see this taking major time away from the sweater, hmm...

Finished!!

Well, thanks to an unbelievably long wait for a doctor (I guess I really should expect it now), they came in and said hi to me and then went to look at my MRI results - took them 1/2hr, couldn't they do that before hand?
Anyways, these got finished as a result! Kind of a letdown almost - this was the only project I had in progress, I guess there's nothing left to do but study! (yay?)

Again, these are in the Lattice Stitch pattern from More Sensational Knitted Socks in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock "Icehouse" colourway.

Yay! 1st sock done & still more yarn...

So I just finished my first sock, I'm really disappointed that my yarn for the sweater didn't come today, but hopefully early next week. And this is how much yarn I have left in the half of the skein I divided up.

And this is what my sock looks like
I would post a close-up picture of the detail but it was too dark and it didn't show up well. But the pattern is Lattice Stitch from More Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch in the Icehouse colorway of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock.

Baking is on hold...

Among other things. I tried my oven for the first time over the weekend, and it heats up but then doesn't stay hot - so after a week of trying to chase my landlord I finally caught up with him, he says he's called the company and they should call him back sometime next week, but they're going in prioity sequence - and apparently my oven is not a prioity. Oh well, we'll see how cookies bake up in the toaster oven - could be a fun experiment.
The scrolls socks from last post are also on hold - I've decided to work with my other skien of Lorna's Laces, to see if I can get two ankle socks out of one skien - and then we'll see what happens with the scrolls sock.

Too tired to come up with anymore right now, but I'll try to post again over the weekend - really hoping my yarn for the Wheat-ear Cable Yolk sweater comes in today so that I can start soon (very excited!!)

Current Knitting and such

As I mentioned in my first post, I love to knit socks, so I normally have a couple on the go at a time. Right now I just have one, and have just discovered I only have enough wool for one sock(!!), which is really too bad because I am loving this pattern.

It's "Traveling Vine" from Charlene Schurch's More Sensational Knitted Socks, a book which I bought when I wanted to advance from just stockinette stitch to more advanced socks. The yarn is Lorna's Laces, Hawaii colorway - I'm not sure I like how it's pooling, but I guess that may be irrelevant if I can't afford anymore yarn to make a second one and have to frog this one...

I went yarn shopping today for yarn for the Wheat-ear Cable Yoke sweater from IK Summer '07 (scroll down, it's on the 3rd line). I ended up walking about 5kms, so I guess I should do my research more before I venture out into Montreal again. It may just be me and the fairly newness to knitting, or the communication barrier here, but I didn't really end up with something that will work. I went to this awesome yarn store, Magasin de Fibre L.B., which has bins and bins of all types of, well, string, and you can pick out what you want, even mix and match a little and they will custom wind the weight and amount that you need. It's super-cheap too! I ended up with a cotton yarn which I really like, but the swatch is turning out a bit too see-through for this sweater I think, so it will be used sometime later.


For the sweater I'm thinking about ordering some KnitPicks Swish Superwash, either in Jade, Marine Heather or Deep Ocean, but I'm still not sure about ordering yarn online that I haven't been able to feel, but I think I'm about out of options for LYSs, so I may go ahead and give it a try.
Off to put a casserole in the oven for supper, and maybe squeeze in some studying (ugh...)