bubbleknits

Sockapalooooza Socks are done

I used the Uptown Boot Sock pattern by Jennifer Appleby from the Favorite Socks book. Yarn is Gems Pearl Merino in Carribean Blue. I used 2 circular needles to knit both socks at once and did the cables with no cable needle following Grumperina's excellent tutorial. I changed the heel to a short row heel and used Lucy Neatby's toe chimney technique to graft my first toes ever! I usually knit socks from the toe up to avoid grafting but this technique made it so easy that I wouldn't hesitate to graft again. This technique was amazingly simple and nothing to memorize...my favorite kind of technique since I suck at memorizing anything!

Now to find a good postcard and get them ready to send out on Tuesday!

Cece

I am horribly behind in taking and posting pics of FOs, but I feel I have to do that before I can start posting regularly again.  Here is a pic of my finished Cece (pattern from the amazing Bonne Marie of Chicknits!).  Mine was done with Classic Elite Provence.  The pic was taken by Amy at the Yarn Harlot's Represent event at the Imagine mosaic in Central Park.

I love the construction of this sweater so much I'm changing another pattern to work the same way (one piece to the armholes, sleeves to the armholes, then join and knit yoke in one piece).  Thanks B Marie!

Finished Mom's Sonata Gloves

Just in time for the snowy easter yesterday. These are from Heartland Knits excellent pattern, this is the second pair I've made. The gloves seem fussy but the instructions are very clear and error free. I'm trying to catch up on photographing FOs...just because I haven't been blogging doesn't mean I haven't been knitting!

Represent!

Yes, I've been a very bad blogger....but I have good reason to reawaken the blog!  March 22nd is the Yarn Harlot's Represent event at FIT.  A great list of yarn crawls has been posted.  I am on a yarn diet, but not a beer diet so here's my list of Manhattan beer bars that I have knit in!  I am planning to go to Hop Devil Grill after the event and hopefully some of you will join me.  Depending on your group and plans you might want to go somewhere else so here's the list!

• Hop Devil Grill: at 129 St. Marks Place at Ave A.  Closest subway stops are 6 train Astor Place, or L at 1st Avenue.  Hop Devil has great beer but also has a full bar and great food (burgers, salads, sandwiches, Mexican entrees, and Mussels and Frittes from the Belgian Room next door, plenty of choices for vegetarians).  They have lots of tables.


• Burp Castle and Standings: 41 E 7th St and 43 E 7th St between 2nd Avenue and Coopers Sq (aka 3rd ave):  Closest subway stop is 6 at Astor Place.  Not a long walk from Union Square either.  Both are small beer bars, very friendly.  Burp Castle is my regular knitting hang out and they specialize in Belgian beers.  Standings is a sports bar that specializes in American microbrews. Both of these bars are pretty small so don't show up with 50 knitters!  Neither has food or anything other than beer, but they have a large stack of take out menus and you are welcome to bring in food.


• Collins Bar: 735 8th Avenue at 46th St.  Full bar specializing in beer and Single Malt Scotch.  Narrow so it gets crowded at happy hour but it would be great between the Sock Shoot and the FIT event.  They have a few tables that are usually available before 6pm.  The lights are up until 4-4:30 so it's easy to knit. Closest Subway is any westside train to Times Square (A,C,E,1,2,3,Q,R,N).


• Luca Lounge: 220 Avenue B (between 13th and 14th Streets).  A fun Italian restaurant and lounge, great pizza. Not really a beer bar, they have a few beers on tap and a full regular bar. My regular Wednesday knitting group Booze and Yarn hangs out here.  Lots of comfy chairs and sofas.  It's kind of dark so knitting lace with black Kid Silk Haze might not be wise but it's been done!  Closest subway is L at 1st avenue but it's an easy walk from Union Square if you don't want to transfer.

If you're from out of town (or not!) and need help with directions just ask.   I'm hoping to get out of work for the afternoon and will post here on any plan updates. See you on Thursday!

Update 3/20: Click Here for a link to HopSpot directions from FIT to Hop Devil.  It is not a horrible walk either and it's supposed to be a beautiful day.

News Flash! Tomorrow (3/21) is The Point's Anniversary and they are celebrating by having a BIG SALE!  If you're in NY tomorrow, go check em out.

Sockapaloooza Socks are done!

Yay! I have finished the Mermaid socks. This was a great easier than it looks (best kind, right?) pattern. I made no changes other than using 2 circulars instead of dpns. It went amazingly fast. The spiral toe is a little fussy, but well written out so you just have to keep track of where you are.

And of course started something new...this is the Houndstooth felted bag from Nicky Epstein's Fabulous Felted Bags. I got the kit from Two Swans. This is my first attempt at Fair Isle. I figured something on largish needles that will end up being felted was a good choice. It's going pretty well so far. I am knitting with the pattern color in my left hand knit continental and the black in my right hand knit throwing.

Spiraling towards the toes

As usual, not getting enough time to work on knitting project, but I'm making slow steady progress towards the toes of my Mermaid socks. 

 

One of the things interrupting knitting time this past weekend was a trip to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens.  It was a little cool, but I always regret not going early to see the magnolias and cherry blossoms. Here are a few of my favorite pics.

 

 

 

Mermaid Progress

The Mermaid socks are now my transportable project for knitting on the subway and the easy to memorize pattern is lots of fun. It's even easy to unknit and fix mistakes as I found out yesterday when I was inexplicable short a few stitches on one leg. I unknit a round and found my stitches. I will definitely have to make more of these socks. I think they'd even look nice without the stripes!

Mermaid love!

I finally started my Sockapaloooza socks! It just wouldn't be right for a sock sister to be late with her socks! I did decide to stick with the Mermaid sock pattern for now, and I'm loving it! The pattern is the same on every row so it looks harder than it is (always a plus!) and the Regia stripes are working well. Here are the socks after a few wavy cuff rows.

And after the pattern really starts to show itself

I decided I like them starting on different sock colors, kind of works given the pattern and the silly colors. What do you think? My pal had no color or pattern preferences so I wanted to make something that I know I would like to wear.

No I'm not done yet!

Yes I know the Olympics is over, no I haven't finished my Olympic sweater, but it's getting there! I decided that reversing shaping and lace would make me nuts so I decided to knit the fronts separately. The left is done, the right I just started yesterday, but it's going faster now that the lace pattern is memorized. I changed the shoulder shaping for short rows, but other than that I'm leaving the pattern untouched. So hopefully another week and I'll have a sweater! This is going to be some seaming job though, given the brittle, non-stretchy and dark nature of the yarn.

I also went out yesterday to buy sock yarn for Sockapaloooza at The Point. My pal has no preferences and I like neon! I'm thinking of doing the Mermaid socks from Lucy Neatby's Cool Socks, Warm Feet

After leaving the Point, I walked over to Knit New York on 14th St and ran into none other than Sock Mom Alison herself! She was down in NY for some shopping and visiting. I thought it was her and finally went over to say hi and it was her! It's always fun meeting another knit blogger in real life for the first time. Well I better get back to my knitting if I want to finish my sweater sometime before the next Olympics!

Olympic Progress - Sleeves

I'm knitting both sleeves at once after finishing the lace trim one at a time. So it seems like I make progress slowly but when I'm done they'll BOTH be done!

I met Jon of the Jon Blog yesterday at Knit NY, go check out his beautiful orange Olympic sweater!