First Juta's

If I never showed works in progress photos you'd see very little knitting on this blog. Here, then, is the beginning of my first Juta's Stocking from Nancy Bush's Folk Knitting in Estonia. One of my knitting goals for this year is to knit at least one Nancy Bush pattern from every one of her books that I own. This sock was in my queue and I was pretty excited when I saw that Pat was knitting the same socks. The pattern is very simple - much like the Dublin Bay pattern - and easy enough to memorize after the first pattern repeat. Right now, however, I'm not entirely sure I'm happy with how the lace is coming along on the foot. The leg turned out quite nice but for some reason on the foot the right side yarn over holes are much, much smaller than the left side yarn over holes. They're made the same way on both the leg and the foot so I don't know what's changed but it's not making me happy.

I bought this yarn at NH Sheep and Wool from a company called Times Remembered. It's from their Nantucket Heather line in a color called Wild Strawberry. The yarn is 100% untreated wool and is a but more "rustic" than what I usually use. It's not rough and it doesn't have any "stuff" in it but it definitely has a sturdy, rustic feel. I'm enjoying it.

Mexicali Peppers

Yarn: Mexicali Peppers by Perchance to Knit
Pattern: Gentleman's Fancy Stockings by Nancy Bush in Knitting Vintage Socks
Needles: Size 1 US Knit Picks circs
Modifications: Cast on the number of stitches she had decreased down to



I finished these socks yesterday morning in time to photograph them and wear them to book group. I just squeaked in under the wire to finish my April socks for SAM 3. I haven't missed a single month in SAM 2 or 3 yet and I didn't want April to be my first.

I almost lost the faith folks. I was sure I didn't have enough yarn to finish the second sock. You know how it is once that center pull ball falls in on itself and starts looking all floppy. Once I abandoned the Whitby I took another look at my second Mexicali Peppers. I wound the yarn into a ball and it started to look better. I decided to just knit and see what happened. As it turned out I had more than enough yarn - I've still got a small ball left (should have taken a photo of that, too).

This yarn is wonderful. If you have a chance to check out Perchance to Knit you really should. All her yarns come with a handmade Swarvoski crystal stitch marker. The yarn has good yardage and is very soft and nicely spun. I can't wait to knit with it again. I now have another Nancy Bush pattern under my belt. My goal this year is to knit at least Nancy Bush sock from each of her books that I own.

Baseball season is really in full swing now. Although the weather did not look promising yesterday with thundershowers all afternoon and pop up showers throughout the evening, we were able to get in all our baseball. The oldest had school practice from 3:30 to 5:00. That practice ran late by 15 minutes which created a small problem as he needed to be at his Babe Ruth game in another town by 5:15. I rushed him to his Babe Ruth game only to find that he was the starting catcher (13 year olds don't normally catch in Babe Ruth) AND that his school coach had "borrowed" his catcher's mitt and not put it back in his bag. He was able to use the team mitt and caught a beautiful, hard played, slug fest game. He got hurt in the last inning - took a pitch to the hand - and we'll see how he feels when he wakes up this morning. In the end, they won 11 - 10. It was an exciting game.

The Red Sox are looking great. They won 2 out of 3 games with the Yankees this weekend and 5 out of 6 in the last week. Woohoo!! It's early in the season but wins against the Yankees should count twice because they're that much more satisfying.

First Mexicali Peppers sock

The first Mexicali Peppers sock is done!
I used the Gentleman's Fancy Sock pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks. For some reason it cracks me up that this is a Gentleman's Fancy Sock. I doubt that Nancy Bush imagined these socks in these colors. And yet, I love the yarn and pattern together. I followed most of the pattern. The socks are sized for a man and I don't have man sized legs so I started the legs with the number she had decreased down to. I also left out the purl stitch in the middle of the heel. I don't have a scale at home and I'm very nervous I won't have enough yarn to make the second sock. I cast on for the second sock right away and I'm hoping for the best. I didn't graft the toes of the first sock just in case I have to rip the toe back.

These socks will be my April entry for Socktopia for the Sunshine on My Shoulders theme. You can't imagine how much I miss the sunshine. Spring is coming very, very slowly to my part of the country. We still have 6 inches of snow on the ground. Baseball practices have had to be canceled and tryouts for the school team will have to take place in the parking lot. More snow is predicted for later in the week. I've had enough. Really.

Cable Rib Socks

Pattern: Cable Rib from Interweave Press Favorite Socks
Yarn: Yarn Pirate's merino/tencel blend in Malamute
Needles: Size 1 & 2 Knit Picks circulars

I was so happy to finish the Cable Rib socks this morning that I went right outside in the below zero temps to try to get a good picture of them. I have found this colorway difficult to photograph and I wanted the pattern to show up too. I just parked my butt in my driveway and took some photos.

I don't usually worry about running out of yarn on my second sock but I started worrying as soon as I finished the first sock. I made these socks longer than my "normal" socks (a little over 7 inches from top to heel) and the ribbing and cabling use lots of yarn. Thankfully, the worrying was for naught as I had a nice ball of yarn left over.

When I first started knitting with the merino/tencel yarn I wasn't too fond of it. It felt kind of stringy. As I got used to it, however, I came to love it. I'm not sure what the purpose of the tencel is but the socks feel wonderful. The cables and ribbing make these very leg hugging socks - no worries about these puppies slipping down. I really enjoyed the pattern. It was simple to memorize by the first repeat. I love so many of the patterns in this book but I was looking for something that would work with this yarn. I think I made a good choice.

This will be my last Project Spectrum project for this triad of blue, gray and white. Truth be told, I am bone tired of these icy cold colors. I'm ready for SPRING and some new, brighter colors. My current sip is not very colorful but it is greenish in a khaki sort of way. I'm using Claudia Handpainted and going toe up because this time I know to be worried about the yardage. I'm almost to the heel of the first sock. I'm feeling confident that this short row heel will go much more smoothly than my last short row heel that had me pulling my hair out.

Just wait until you see my new yarn for my next project. I promise it's bright and cheerful and very, very springlike. It's made by Perchance to Knit - I bought it when The Loopy Ewe had their giant update a few weeks ago. It's certainly not like any yarn I've knit with before but I needed to make a drastic change to chase away these winter blues.