The Slouched Tuva Hat

Obviously (by all the more frequent blog posts) I've been on a knitting kick.  More specifically, I've been on a hat knitting kick.  This project is no exception.  It's called the Slouched Tuva Hat.  I wasn't really sure what to consider it.  It's not really a beret.  It's kind of like a beanie.  Whatever it was, it looked like a nice knit and the model on the page was a child wearing this gorgeous red color.  I remembered that I had a red like that, and it just so happened to be in the right weight of yarn too.  I was going to knit up a hat for Bear.

The pattern worked up so easily.  It's just a four row repeat with some plain knitting and some yarn overs and decreases.  It gives it this pretty mesh look to it.  It's so simple I could easily work on it in the dark, while watching television, or as I have been, while doing school work with Bear.  I think it was a little shorter than the pattern recommended, and it seemed tighter than I would have wanted in my yarn, but I think a lot of that could have easily been changed by changing the yarn weight or the needles.  Of course, that doesn't matter because I was making it for a preschooler.

The best sign of a good hat is when the recipient refuses to take it off.  I'd call that an instant win on anything I knit up.  I love the way it looks, and it was a mark of pride that had to be shown off.  Bear wanted at least a million pictures in the new hat.  Now I'm getting requests for more hats, but not for Bear.  That one hat is enough because it's perfect.  Everyone else needs hats just like that.  At the very least, look at that face!  It really says it all!

I'm very much a beret and slouchy hat wearer, so it was really nice to be able to share my favorite style of hat with my mini-me.  I loved the pattern so much that the request to make them for everyone doesn't seem like a half bad one.  I've already decided it's going to be the pattern I use for the matching hats my mom, sister, and I are all getting from yarn my mom got me at the farmer's market.  We each picked out our own color.  It'll be interested to see the changes as Bear's hat was done out of Plymouth Yarns Dream Baby DK.  The yarn I'm going to be using is a lovely baby alpaca.  It's certainly going to have a lot more drape to the slouch, and it should make for some really nice warmth.

I've got to admit, this yarn wasn't something I ever thought I would use for a hat.  It's an acrylic microfiber/nylon blend, but it doesn't feel like acrylic usually does to me.  It's got this nice softness.  Plus, it's washable, which is great for a child.  I could have used superwash, but this is cheaper and I had it on hand.  If it gets lost, it's not a huge deal.  Given it's for a preschooler, getting lost is a reality I have to face.

I've noticed I'm on a hat kick lately.  It all started with the Leaving Cowl, even though I know that's not a hat.  There was something nice about an easy, quick knit and the feeling of a larger yarn and needles in my hands.  I ached less when I was working it up.  That was followed by my Lullula Beret.  Now I'm going to be making three more Slouched Tuva Hats.  I'll be honest, I was looking in my yarn stash to see what else I could dig out to turn into hats.  I seem to have some pretty good options.  I'm sure you're going to be hearing about those soon.  I forgot how much I like knitting hats and how incredibly wearable they are.  Unlike socks, I don't have to worry about my weirdly thick calves, my high instep, and my narrow feet.  Instead I can just knit it, and if it doesn't seem slouchy enough for me, add more repeats before casting off.  A simple hat is perfect travel knitting.  It's a small enough project to throw in my bag, and it works up quickly so it feels like I've really made progress, even if I only had a few minutes to work.  Best of all, it's a project I don't have to pull off my shoes to show off!

Little Knitter and the Sparkle Yarn

What's this?  Tacky craft store yarn that sparkles?  When do I ever knit with that kind of stuff?  Well, the answer is I really don't unless it's requested.  This Stitch Studio Sparkle is 100% polyester, which didn't sound at all pleasing to work with, but note the children's knitting needles with it?  That's because it's not for me to knit.  It's for my four year old, Bear.

This was the answer to Bear suggesting I get every set of needles AC Moore had to offer, and being disappointed when I said I only needed two sets.  Exasperated, I finally said, "Look at these needles.  They look like they have bears on them.  Would you like to learn to knit like Mama?"  The answer was an emphatic yes.  We searched the racks for some good yarn to teach my little Bear to knit, and, of course, the answer was all the expensive yarns, in blue, Bear's favorite color.  I finally spotted this gem sitting there, priced at all of $2.  For a beginning knitter that may not stick with it, this was the perfect price.  Next came the sell, which was surprisingly not a hard sell.  "Look, Bear!  This one is blue and has sparkles!"  Sold.  Bear handed back the other ball of yarn that had been carried around and snatched up the pretty, sparkly stuff.  For a whopping $2, that's quite the deal!  It's the perfect yarn for someone who may not stay knitting much past the first few stitches.  I was pretty happy.

Of course, when we got home, Bear wanted to cast on right away.  I was busy with doing, you know, mom things.  We also had a guest over, so that didn't help with my eager little knitter.  Frustration ensued as I took the ball and needles away to work on later.  I'd started to worry.  Maybe I missed my window of opportunity.  Would Bear still be as interested come morning?

Looks like I had nothing to worry about!  First thing in the morning, before I'd even really started my day, the ball of yarn and needles were found and shoved in my face.  "Mama, can we do knitting?" Bear asked with excited eyes.  "No, Bear," I answered sadly.  "We have some stuff to do first.  You promised me you would do some of your preschool work when we woke up."  So off it was to preschool work, which was flown through.  Yarn and needles were shoved back in my hands.  "School is done," Bear stated, very matter-of-fact.  "We can do our knitting now.  Do it, mama.  I want to knit!"

There I sat, squirming preschooler in my lap, casting on for hopefully a good number of stitches.  I started with 25, but realized that would be too many for the small needles and they would likely fall off the end.  20 seemed to be just perfect.  On the stitches went, with constant asking, "Are you done yet, Mama?  You're going so slowly!"  As soon as the cast one was done, we were off to the races.  Bear sat in my lap while I guided small hands to do the motions.  "Hold your needles like this," I suggested.  "Now poke your needle through this way.  Very nice!  Wrap the yarn this way.  No, that's the wrong way.  Yes!  Like that!  Hold the needle and the yarn together.  You need tension so the yarn won't fall off.  Now pull your needle through, and pop the stitch off the end!  You've got it!  Do you remember for the next stitch?"

On we went like that, me guiding hands, Bear speaking each step as we went along.  "Now the needle goes this way!  And now the yarn goes that way, not the other way.  The other way is the wrong way.  Now I have to hold my needle and yarn, all together so they don't fall off.  The needle goes through, and pull the stitch off, just like this!"  I was beaming at my little knitter's skill as stitch after stitch were worked with painstaking care.  Bear was very careful to do everything just right, and was very pleased with the first little row of stitches when we were done.

One row of knitting required a lot of focus and concentration, so after that row we needed to take a break.  Bear said, "I'm done for the day, Mama.  Knitting is really, really hard."  We set the work aside.  I expected this would be it.  I would get one little neat row and that would be the end of our knitting time.  Bear is little enough to get bored easily with a craft and not stick with it.  I tucked the ball and needles aside, waiting for Bear to come to me and ask to knit.  I wasn't going to force the issue.  I want my kids to love knitting, not feel like they have to.

To my surprise, Bear came to me the next morning, looking up at me with the biggest smile.  "Mama, we need to knit now.  Can we knit?"  Once again we did preschool first, then on to my lap to work through a second row with care.  This time went a little faster.  There was just as much pride in Bear's face when we were done.  We put the needles aside for a break and Bear said, "I think we need to do more knitting tomorrow.  I want to make a scarf."

So here we are, working our way slowly through a scarf.  I can't promise how good it will be.  The stitches will be uneven, but Bear is working at it very hard.  Even if we're done in summer, I get the feeling this will be worn every single day.  My little Bear is a knitter!  Perhaps Bear will be the only one that takes up my hobby, but at least I have one.  Maybe they'll all be inspired by what Bear is doing and want to learn too.

For four days now my little one has been working hard, one row every day.  Each day is followed by an inspection of the work, just so Bear can make sure it's all good.  Each day we put on extra invisible sparkles, just in case it needs more.  Every day we work together, as Bear's small hands fall into the rhythm almost without my help.  It may take us a long time to work through this whole piece one row at a time, but we'll get there.  Maybe as this becomes easier and Bear's focus gets longer we'll add more rows at a time.  Until then, we've got plenty to keep Bear busy, at least until we're ready to start on a bigger project.  For now this suits us just fine!

Knitting with Sleeping Kids and Knitting in the Sunlight

Last week was a week full of disaster.  Pretty much everything I did had to be undone before any progress could be made.  It was a disaster.  I'd done all this work just to have to start all over again!  I thought it was going to be one of those things where I just didn't want to pick it up again and keep going, but I did, and sure enough, I'm back on track.

As I'm sure you can see by the picture, my Nutkins are redone and looking pretty.  I'm back up past the heel, and they actually fit!  They're looking pretty good and I'm happy with the way they've turned out.  I'm not making fantastic progress because I've been working on another project that comes with a lot more of a feeling of instant gratification.  Socks take so much longer to get done and there are two of them.  That means twice the knitting fun, but also twice as long to get the project off the needles.  It's great, unless you want something to bolster your ego after a miserable failure, like the ones I had the week before.  These have kind of been thrown on the back burner for a while and only get a few rows thrown in here and there.

Instead of finishing my socks, I decided it was time to work on my Leaving Cowl.  This has been quite the project.  After tearing it out three times, I finally decided the needles it was on were intolerable to work with, so I had to start over, this time on smaller needles.  It went up much quicker this time, and because the pattern was so easy and familiar, I didn't even need the pattern as a reference.  I just worked the whole thing up from memory.  I suppose that's a good thing, because now Little Bear wants one too!

The thing I loved most about this project was working on it with the sunlight spilling over my shoulder.  It's not the traditional fall leaf color, being more brown and gold than reds and oranges, but I think it's a beautiful yarn.  It's not really the feeling of fall that most people think, but it does remind me of Thanksgiving, which at this rate is going to be the earliest I can bust this thing out!  It hasn't been as cold as I feared it would be, so I haven't had much want for a cowl to this point, save for a few days, but I suppose that's soon enough to change.

The hardest part about knitting this week is knitting with Little Bear.  It's been a while since Little Bear has wanted Mommy Lap Naps, but we've been back to that.  The benefit to this is that it means I have to sit down and do nothing else until the Bear wakes.  Unfortunately, knitting isn't always easy this way, and my feet fall asleep so easily!

It's not as simple as it once was.  It's easy enough to let a baby sleep on your chest while your arms wrap around and knit, or sleep draped across your arms leaving your hands free.  Toddlers tuck well enough in laps, allowing someone to knit over them, or twist around to get a good angle without too much effort.  Again, sleeping on one arm is an option.  Once you hit preschool age, even with a preschooler as bitty as mine, it's really tough to make sure there's enough room to knit.  Enough twisting and turning can add to the degree of challenge.  It's almost like a knitting obstacle course.  Eve with the challenges, it's worth it.  It's something I've missed lately, in spite of how difficult it can be to work that way.

The best part about having Little Bear with me is always having a model to show off my projects.  This one couldn't even wait until it was finished.  Little Bear was very insistent that it had to be tried on right then.  Now I have to make another one.  The order came down, "Just like yours, but, blue, blue, blue!"  Can you guess what Little Bear's favorite color is?

Yeah, it's a proud mama moment, look how cute Little Bear is in that cowl!  I think I may need to pattern hunt for the perfect cowl for Bear.  Maybe I'll do something with an ice blue and white, or maybe I can find one with snowflakes.  Frozen is still a favorite in this house.  I also might do something pink and/or purple, because that's what Princess Rapunzel would wear.  Tangled is also a frequent watch around here.  Little Bear even insisted on getting a "short hair Rapunzel" hair cut, which could stand to be updated again soon.  It's just as much fun to knit for my kids, especially Little Bear, as it is to knit for myself.  Little Bear's the only one of the kids that really appreciates the hand-knits like I do.

So the cowl is finally finished, and I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out!  I went all crazy and decided to do a fancy bind off that I'd never heard of before, but decided would be easy.  I got the idea from the Nutkin socks.  They have this way of knitting in the cast on edge to create a folded over cuff.  I did that for the picot hem on the bottom, so I figured I would make it match by doing something similar on top.  That may not have been the best of ideas.

Here's what I did for this insanity.  I took the concept of the Elizabeth Zimmerman sewn bind off, but instead of just binding off the edge, I picked up and stitched in the coordinating stitches from the folded over fabric.  I know it sounds complicated.  Maybe some day I'll do a video of what I did, but it was a hassle and time consuming.  I swore I would never do it again, especially after taking the whole binding out twice because it wasn't working out right and everything looked twisted, but grim determination (and people liking the photo of what I was doing on Instagram) kept me going.

Once I figured out where I'd been going wrong, it wasn't all that bad.  It looks nice and neat, and fell into a pretty decent rhythm, so in the end it didn't take all that long to work up.  It was just the first few tries that looked a little wonky.  I honestly don't even think you can tell what I did on that bind off just by looking at it.  It looks pretty sharp.

I'm pretty proud of myself for this one.  I don't take many bold steps with knitting, at least not without the confidence that everything will turn out just fine.  I tend to leave things be and follow the instructions, or to do an alternative that I'm confident will work.  It's not common to see me just whack away at something like this with reckless abandon, just diving in and doing something that I don't know will work, and no one's given me any instructions on how to complete.  It's terrifying, but at the same time, it was a lot of fun.  It gave me confidence as a knitter, and that's something that's always fun.  It's a new technique that I think I want to practice and perfect.  I've really learned something with this, and I didn't expect to.  It was a lot of fun.

The best part of the whole project, of course, is the finished product.  There's something so uplifting about being able to put on the finished piece and show it off.  I mean, look at this, it's beautiful!  The picot edge (which no one else seems to have done, even though it's listed as "option 1") gives it a unique style compared to the other projects just like it.  The dark, warm color goes well with just about everything, not to mention my hair.  (Speaking of my hair, it looks so incredibly good in this picture!  Why doesn't it always look this way?)  The fit is just perfect.  This is exactly what I needed.

For being a project that I wasn't at all in love with, and was just doing so I could have a little KAL with Sable, this has turned into a favorite.  I won't lie, I wasn't inspired to knit this at all after the Seasons Fall/Winter Shawl and the Tuscan Sunflower Shawl kits I got from KnitPicks, both with the same leaf shaped pattern.  I couldn't help but feel like this was just another leaf, but it looks really nice and will serve me well this fall and winter.  It had enough unexpected and challenge to make it something I'm proud to show off.

So Very Busy

A Minion, Madeline Hatter, Ash, and Rainbow Butterfly Princess

Man, it's been a crazy week!  Last weekend was Halloween, which was a blast.  We went trick-or-treating at a friend's house this year, which worked out incredibly well.  The kids all looked great!  But it was colder than they expected it to be.  It wasn't a huge haul of candy, but I'm okay with that.  A mountain of candy is fun, but with moving and everything, it's so much better to have an amount that can be gone before we've got to move it to a new house.

Next year I hope to get even more creative with it.  I'd love to get to the point where I can make all the costumes for the kids.  That would be exciting.  I remember my mom making costumes for my sister and me.  It was always the best part of the year, picking out the patterns and watching them come together.  It was so much better than shopping for a costume from a store.  I've always missed that part of the holiday, but time and energy have really kind of gotten in the way, especially with four kids!  That's a lot of costumes to make!

Over Halloween weekend I did a lot of knitting, and pretty much anything to distract from the writing I should be doing.  I knit in the car on Halloween.  The next day I sat down and focused as much as I could between shopping for the new apartment and trying to get the house organized.  It was crazy chaotic.  All of this moving stuff has me run ragged.  It feels like I have no time for anything else!

And that second sock was no dream.  I kept making silly mistakes, like using the wrong decrease for half of the heel.  I had to go back and fix it.  It was going to drive me nuts if I didn't.  There were so many parts of that sock I swear I went back and fixed two or three times, which was funny because the first sock went together like nothing, aside from the endless rows at the end.  The second sock was complication after complication.  I was so proud of myself when I finally got past the heel and was able to move on to the next phase of the sock.  In comparison to the rest of it, the leg and cuff I could practically knit in my sleep.  It was easy and relaxing, even with all the crazy going on in my life.  That was exactly what I needed.  I honestly think that may have been what caused me all the troubles before, settling in and viewing it as easy, relaxing knitting.  I lost focus and made silly mistakes.

Over the weekend I wanted to check out best buy, look at options for games for the kids.  I found some great ones, but I also found a new Yoshi game for the Wii U.  It was awesome.  It was epic!  It involved yarn!!!

Of course, most of this stuff looks crocheted, not knit, but it's still super cute.  I'd never before seen a game so tailored to me!  You know what I want for Christmas, don't you?  Yup, my mind has been made up.

Then again, gaming would take away from my knitting time, and would cut into my writing time.  That's a challenge I really don't want to face right now.  I've got enough on my plate.  Still, there's nothing wrong with dreaming of the perfect life, one where all of my games are made with woolly goodness!  I think I would be in heaven at the perfect unification of my geek life and my crafty life.  I think that's a fantastic blend right there.  I could play that game for hours!  At least until I realized it was just a regular Yoshi game, and therefore still incredibly frustrating to me, but it would take longer because of all the cool yarn stuff.  It's a brilliant idea!

And finally, just today, I finished that pair of socks.  I still have two more pairs to knit, even in the middle of this insane move.  I'm not sure I'm going to get it done in time.  I may need to rethink this plan, or to leave lovely notes.  It's just to my kids, who know how hard I've been working this season to get everything done.  It's positively exhausting!  I'm even considering blowing off writing so I can crawl into bed early.  I'm completely wiped.

To think, I've got all of Christmas in front of me still.  As hard as it's going to be, I'm going to have to survive the Christmas season.  That means family events, Christmas lights and the whole nine yards.  I think I might  just drop before Thanksgiving and stay down until well after the new year has begun!  It definitely more suits my speed these days!

Well, That Went Not Quite As Planned

The first Time Traveler sock is done!  I was so excited as I bound it off that I had my son (who was 99% ready for school) take his shoe and sock off to try it on.  The result?  Failure.  His foot won't fit.  He can't get them past the heel.  I've got the gauge right, the measurements right.  The sock fits wonderfully on the foot, but the heel just causes a problem.  I forgot that while his midfoot is a normal size for his age, just like me, he has a problem with a really high instep and an unusually large measure around the heel.  It was tragic.  I began to go through my head to figure out how I could get it to be the right size.  The conclusion?

The socks are awesome, but they're not enough to get him excited.  As you can see, all was not lost.  His brother now gets a pair of new socks that somehow fit him perfectly (no idea how that worked out!) and I'm now casting on the second sock.  It's not terribly far along and certainly won't be done before the end of Halloween unless I knit like a beast, and since I'm moving, ,that's not going to happen.  Still, I'll have one boy happy to wear them all year round.  I know the next one up will love them too.  Is it wrong that I've got no problems with handing down socks?  They steal each other's socks all the time.  I'm creeped out by doing that with underwear though (even though, little secret?  My sister and I shared all our socks and underwear when I was a kid...)

And just in case you were wondering how I'm able to enjoy a movie with my kids while knitting?  Well, apparently you have no need to fear!  Little Bear has made sure I can enjoy all the proper fun of a movie while knitting.  The story is retold in exhausting detail (in case I missed anything by counting or looking at charts).  I even get popcorn hand fed into my mouth so I won't get the yarn buttery.  Who wouldn't enjoy a deal like that!  It's too funny because I put my knitting down once I was done with the heel turn and I was told I couldn't eat it myself.  I had to keep on knitting!  No, that one's not addicted to knits, not my Little Bear!  We thoroughly enjoyed it.  I hope you all have a wonderful holiday, and don't eat too much candy!  I'll be enjoying it myself, after some moving.  It feels good to be getting stuff in the new house!  Finally home!

Dashing Back to Double Points

As if it hasn't been made obvious in the past, my preferred method of knitting is by magic loop.  I've heard people talk about the whole "two circs" thing, and it boggles my mind.  The whole two at a time socks thing, I love the idea of each sock being perfectly matched to it's mate, but being realistic, I think that would be far too fiddly for me.  I have a hard time with fiddly things.  I tend to get frustrated.  One of the reasons I like socks so much is the ability to just go until I'm done, and in a reasonable time, I've got a sock popping off my needles and into use.

Unfortunately, finding circulars in a small enough gauge for socks at the local craft store (because I'm on a budget and there was a sale) wasn't going to be a thing.  I worked with what I could get.  I've always been petrified of using wood or bamboo sock needles (because I tend to bend the metal ones, so if I bent those, what would my grip do to wood?)  However, metal needles hurt my hands so bad.  I find myself aching, which leaves me unable to knit.  Having little other option, I chose to take a chance and go with bamboo double points.  I picked up US 0 and 1.

I will freely admit that I didn't cast on the first chance I had.  I looked at them a few times and thought, "Screw that, I'll just break them!"  Then I realized I really had nothing else to knit, so it was bust out those needles, or sit around with nothing to knit.  I decided empty needles would totally prevent me from getting my Christmas knitting done, so there I was, finding myself casting on.

A crazy lock kneed spider of a sock toe.

This project was definitely a learning experience.  The first thing I learned was that I'm really just not a toe-up kinda girl.  I suppose if I were to be knitting from two balls, and were making socks for myself, that might be advantageous.  I could knit them as tall as I wanted, or just knit until I was out of yarn, probably making for knee socks, if not longer.  However, if length of yarn isn't an issue, I'd rather just go with top down socks.  I actually like grafting toes, and I'm definitely not all for the fiddly start of toe up socks.  I'd done toe up socks on DPNs before, but I'd forgotten how much it makes me crazy at the start.  I can't help but think how much it starts out looking like some sickly spider with some kind of lock knee disease, keeping it's legs out straight in all directions.  If it were a spider, I can bet that would be painful.  That works for me, since casting on toe up socks with DPNs is pretty painful for me.  You'd think I'd learn by now, but I keep deluding myself.  I'm hoping this is going to be the last time I make this mistake.  I'm confident it won't be.

The socks in question are the Time Traveler Socks by Liz Sedmak.  She said they were named both for the colorway of yarn she used, as well as for the way they flew off the needles.  I knit these out of the recommended yarn (which is a new concept for me) KnitPicks Felici in the Spooky colorway,  I'd seen some knit up in the same colorway on the project page and loved them.  I have to admit, while working up the foot, I felt the same way.  They seemed to simply fly along.  It was simple and exiting, perfect for watching Frozen, The Lone Ranger, or Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy with my kids.  I listened to a good bit of CraftLit while knitting recently as well.  It's great for stuff like this that almost seems to work up like magic.

The pattern side of this sock is a simple rib, nothing fancy.  Once you get the first row down in pattern, it's easy to see exactly what you need to do without referring back to the pattern.  I could probably knit the pattern in my sleep now, which is wonderful for knitting on the bus, while watching television, you get the idea.  At the end of the first night, this is how far I got, and I'd started knitting pretty late.  I was glad not to need a test toe because everyone was asleep.  As a result, this is the first one of the Christmas projects that wasn't obvious as to who it was for.  No one asked about it, so I said nothing about it.  Having started so late, I was a good way into it before the kids even had a chance to catch me knitting.  The really fun part is the sock is wide enough that it could probably fit my narrow foot.  This means they may not catch on to this not being knit for me, talk about sneaky!  They had no way of knowing that I hadn't forgotten who this sock was being knit up for, and maybe I was making these for myself, since I loved the colorway so much.  Of course I'm not a Halloween person (aside from it being the final marker for the start of NaNoWriMo (and that's a link to my profile, so feel free to add me as a writing buddy!)  I never would knit these for myself, but that doesn't mean I can't play at it.

The gusset of the sock was written a little less than clearly.  I have to admit, part of the flaw was that I've been exhausted.  The heat in my house has been working, well, less well than we would like.  As a result, I haven't been sleeping well, due to cold and aches.  This led me to not really following the instructions as well as I could have, which means the problem may be on me, not the designer.  Everyone else seems to get it just fine.  At the same time, the end result is kind of fantastic.  The whole gusset is a lot more invisible than it would have been if I'd done it the way called for in the pattern.

I have to admit, the sock does look a little strange to me without the obvious gusset.  The heel used (it's called a fleegle heel) is really easy and requires no picked up stitches or wraps.  It does leave a funky line up the side of the heel.  I'm not sure if I like the finished look o this heel, but I've already gotten several compliments on it, which is wonderful.  It's such a funky little heel pattern, which is something I totally love, funky designs that don't look like every other sock out there.  I'm all about having a unique result!

It's been a wonderful day for sock knitting.  I made two women's eyes bug out at how tiny the needles were, and how beautiful the finished product was going to look.  One woman's mom was a knitter.  The other woman was her mom!  I had to smile at that.  So many people are full of compliments and comments when they see me knitting socks.  It's so intimidating to so many people.  I find it funny because what socks are to people who fear the complexity of socks feel is exactly what I feel about sweaters, compounded with a bigger investment of time and money.  I just love how people react to my knitting in public.  I should do it more often.

The whole thing was capped off with a movie (sadly, not a Halloween movie) and pumpkin spice cookies.  Okay, to be fair, I didn't get to eat any of the cookies.  I'm not allowed to eat cookies, or at least that kind of cookies.  I can't handle the wheat and would be one hurting puppy if I ate them, but I could at least enjoy other people enjoying them while I knit away.  It definitely made for an awesome end to the night.  I've got a lot of errands to run tomorrow, so I'm not sure if I'll have much time to knit, but I'll at least be able to get the first sock done.  I'm really excited to see both finished socks paired up and tucked neatly in the box of Christmas goodies.  (I know, Halloween socks for Christmas...The Nightmare Before Christmas, anyone?)  Then I'll only have two more projects that absolutely must be done before Christmas, maybe three.  I need socks for one more kid, fingerless gloves for my mom, and maybe a pair of socks for my sister.  Given I've got a whole month left to do three projects (before the #grinchalong with The Knitmore Girls starts, at least.)  Then I'm done with my obligation knitting for the year, and I'll finally have attained my goal of knit gifts for everyone I'm gifting this year.  That would be a fantastic accomplishment!

The Other MineCraft Socks

Okay, I'll admit it, I'm on a Minecraft kick.  I had just finished knitting Little Bear's Minecraft socks when his older brother asked if I could do socks for him next.  Frog Buckets (yes, that's what he likes to be called) picked out his yarn from the big box of yarn.  I've been gifted a lot of yarn lately, thanks to some wonderful people, so we've got some options to work with.  He chose this yarn, kind of earthy, and with shades of green and a hint of blue.  It's Comfort Sock by Berroco, a nylon and acrylic blend.  I can personally say I wouldn't have chosen it because I don't do acrylic for my feet.  My kids, on the other hand, do just fine with acrylic on their feet, so it's a perfect choice for my son.  My next challenge was finding a pattern.

I'm not entirely sure what I was going for when I started searching patterns.  I knew I was looking for something free, knit in fingering weight, and had a picture with the pattern.  Somehow I came across the pattern for what was called MineCraft Socks.  Given my son is obsessed with Minecraft, I wanted to check it out.  I must admit, I didn't see why these were called "MineCraft Socks".  I didn't think they at all looked like anything Minecraft.  To me, it looked more like a hex pattern on the Ravelry page.  It didn't make any sense, but my son decided he had to have them, so that's what I made.  I started up my MineCraft Socks for Frog Buckets.  He was super excited.

At first I didn't get it, but it wasn't long before I started to see what the designer might have been getting at.  A few rounds later and I started to notice, yes, that's kind of how the pixel pattern on the blocks kind of looks, at least when you're building with constructed stuff.  It doesn't scream Minecraft to me, but knowing it was Minecraft, it did make sense.  I just don't think I would have figured it out if I didn't know that the pattern was named for the game.  Most importantly, my son likes them, and that's what truly matters.  I'm actually finding I love the pattern too.  I might just have to try this again for the other kids.  It's easy enough to modify for various foot sizes.

Not long after I started these socks, they came on an adventure with me.  It's been a while since I've had a project to knit on the go, at least to easily take with me.  I've taken my knitting with me before, but it's not the easiest to take knitting along with me when I'm working on projects that are too quick or require too much paying attention.  These were perfect to knit on the bus.

Actually, I was really surprised because I not only was able to knit them on the bus, but I knit them on the walk home too.  It was about a thirty minute walk from the bus, so I was able to get a lot done.  The only down side was that I ended up knitting it too far!  I had to tink back an entire pattern repeat in order to put the toe on.  I guess that will teach me to knit while walking!  I should probably reserve that for things like knee socks.  Then I can knit for rounds without having to worry about it.

After the toe was finally done, it looked pretty sharp.  In fairness, I can't really review the pattern completely because I didn't use the recommended heel.  I prefer a short row heel for my kids' socks because it's easier to recalculate the heel than with a flap and gusset.  I also didn't use the toe in the instructions.  I'll be honest in saying I didn't really understand it.  I might have gotten it if I had knit it as I was doing the pattern, but I just didn't feel like it.  I decided I'd rather go with something I both knew and was certain I enjoyed.  The pattern and the yarn actually work out pretty well together.  I love how it turned out.  If it wasn't an acrylic yarn, I might consider making some up for me!  I might just use a different yarn and do it anyway.

For the longest time I was stuck on the idea that I had to constantly progress with my knitting.  I had to do something harder, something more challenging and new.  Now I'm finding I'm knitting a lot of very basic socks, which is better than I thought it would be.  I thought I'd be getting bored, but I'm feeling pretty good about these.  I'm knitting up some fantastic socks for my kids, stuff I can stick in a box of Christmas stuff for my kids.

The second sock is going up quickly enough, which is almost sad because I really like knitting them, and now I'm going to have to find a new pattern to knit.  I know socks go quickly enough, especially when they're for small feet, but I never anticipate them going this fast.  I would joke that I'm going to run out of yarn at this rate, but I know there's no chance of that happening.  I've got plenty of yarn for once.  I'm just hoping I can get some bigger patterns started soon, that way I won't have the disappointment of knowing it's all over much too soon!

The Unexpected Minecraft Socks

When I received this yarn I just thought it was a pretty blue.  Being blue, it was no surprise it ended up being slated to knit a pair of socks for my Little Bear before anyone else got a stab at it.  I'd looked at how the yarn knit up in general on Ravelry, and it seemed like a pretty basic self-striping kind of deal.  I figured it would work out just fine.

It took me a while to figure out what I would knit, but I decided on doing a smaller version of my Dunharrow Socks.  I love the pattern, and I think it's seriously not getting the attention it deserves.  It's perfect for my needs, simple enough to modify, yet complex enough to keep me occupied.  I'm not a vanilla sock kind of girl, though I may find that I need to be when I go back to school.  The best feature for me is how adaptable it is.  I can easily make it into socks for the whole family with just a bit of guess work instead of a lot of effort.  It also serves my obsessive need to have the socks match in length to the very row, since I can easily count the pattern repeats.  These have quickly become my favorite socks, but I digress...

When I started working the pattern up, I wasn't far beyond the ribbing before I noticed something, the dark splotches in the fabric had come out to make a perfect association in my mind.  It looked like a pixilated blue.  Just to be sure, I asked the rest of the family what they thought of when they saw the socks.  For an accurate study (to satisfy my scientific mind), I asked each one independently what they thought of the sock.  Each one of them, even Little Bear (at only 3) said the same thing.  "It looks like Minecraft."

After that they were named "The Minecraft Socks".  Little Bear was super excited that they were for him, but I had a growing problem.  Everyone now wants a pair of Minecraft socks!  I may just have to get creative on future pairs.  The yarn is discontinued, and I'm not sure I'm going to be able to work out buying up every last ball for sale on Ravelry.  It's a wonderful idea, and I really do love the yarn.  I'm just trying to be realistic.  Helping people destash right now just isn't in my budget, and I'm not sure how long that yarn will continue to sit around.

As I got to the heel on the pattern the great debate began again.  Did I want to spend the time and energy crafting the same kind of heel as I had last time?  That would undoubtedly involve some level of math, and I'm not sure it's really worth the effort to spend that much time on a special heel turn for a sock that a three year old will wear for a year, maybe two, before his feet are too large for them.  If the fit wasn't right I'd have to rework it a few times, and I really wasn't feeling that kind of effort.  Instead I just went with a simple short row heel, which was probably for the best anyway.  Simple is better, and it just looked so pretty!  Surprisingly I was able to throw on a short row heel from memory!  I really impressed myself there!

From that point on it was the race into the toe.  As much as I want to knit these socks for a Christmas present for Little Bear (and the surprise was kind of defeated anyway by letting him see me knitting it), I needed to be sure they would fit.  What was the point in putting together a fancy sock if I knit the toe too long or too short.  I didn't expect his little foot to be anywhere near as long as it was, so the toe was a much longer slog than I thought.  What is it with kids and their fast growing feet?  I honestly can't keep up with them!  I really miss Little Bear having his tiny baby toes, in part because I could whip out a bunch of socks for him like they were nothing!

I've got to admit, I'm getting better about the dreaded second sock syndrome.  As soon as I finish the first sock, I start up the second sock right away.  That way the sock is taking up my needles, which means they can't be used for anything else.  I've learned this about myself.  If I'm allowed to slack off and not get the other sock started right away, I'll leave it for pretty much eternity.  When I come back I won't remember any of the notes I've made along the way.  If I'm wise (which generally I'm not), I'll make notations on my Ravelry project page.  Generally I'm not.  Of course, that trend is changing as I've got all the changes listed for my Minecraft Socks right there on the page.  I'm learning!

The second sock knit up like a dream!  I found myself thinking, Oh, wow!  Another pattern repeat down already?  How did that happen so fast?  It seemed like they were finished and done before I realized it.  Given how busy and chaotic my week has been, I was surprised I'd managed to get it done so fast, especially with realizing my Little Bear's feet aren't as little as I'd thought them to be!  I had a lot of errands to run this week.

Now that they're done (and I mean really done, ends woven and everything), I'm having one of those moments of not knowing what to knit next.  I have plenty of socks to knit.  I need to make a plain yellow hat before Halloween (we've got a minion in the house!)  I've got a lot waiting to be knit up, but I'm finding I really just want to sit down and knit another pair of these truly awesome socks.  They've become meditative, in a way.  They're stretchy, so I don't have to worry about getting the gauge just right.  I can just sit there, knitting away.

At the same time, I'm kind of proud of myself.  I have another item down to be tucked into the box of goodies for Christmas.  That's one more thing I can check off my list.  If I keep up at this rate, I'll have plenty of gifts for my family come Christmas.  It may not be as much as I'd like (my mom and my sister probably aren't getting knitted gifts this year, though that may change).  I started a bit late in the year.  My stash was too small to be ready for holiday knitting.  Still, it's a start, and next year I can start sooner (especially for the people who won't have changing sizes!)  I'm pretty proud of myself for even doing as much as I have this year.  Progress has definitely been made!

Little Gloves and Christmas Coming

I know, it's not even Halloween and I'm talking Christmas.  Well, to be fair, I'm not a huge fan of Halloween.  It's a lot of money to spend just for one night, and it's a more overwhelming night for me.  Spooky and scary isn't really my thing.  Besides, for crafting, there's not enough time to start on Christmas gifts after Halloween is over.  It ends up with stressed out knitting and a rapid struggle to get finished in time for Christmas.  For me, this starts with big plans to make handmade gifts for everyone, and ends with me finishing the stitching on a doll, deciding it's just not worth it to wrap the package before Christmas morning because that will mean not sleeping at all.  This is why I've stopped doing handmade gifts.

This year I don't have a lot of money for gifts, but I do have a small stash of yarn.  My kids need socks, so I want to knit some for them.  The kids haven't had any socks I've made for them in quite some time, so it's definitely time to knit up some more.  If I start working now, I should have a pair for each of them in plenty of time for Christmas.  But the most wonderful thing about sock yarn is it always leaves scraps.  Unless I were to do toe up and measure them out, there's no way I would finish off a whole ball of sock yarn.  Because of this, I've got scraps to do other cool things with.

Little Bear laid claim to my last sock yarn, from the pink socks I just finished.  He wanted me to make him socks, which would have probably been perfect a year or two ago, but now I think his feet are probably too big for making socks with my scraps.  Instead I decided to go for another project I'd made for him before, which was always fantastically successful.  I can whip them out in no time.  They're almost perfect take along knitting, but they really just knit up too quickly to be good for travel.  I knocked out a whole glove in the short bits of time I was knitting at this weekend's game day.  They're small, cute, and incredibly easy to make.

I did modify the original pattern quite a bit to make his little gloves.  I increased the number of stitches in the hand and the gusset since I'm using a smaller yarn than called for (sock not DK) and smaller needles (one size smaller) because that's what I have on hand.  I suppose I did have size 3 needles on hand, and I could have doubled the yarn to give it a thicker weight, but I decided it was a nicer finish to have them smaller and tighter.  It just more suits the knitting I like, and the tighter fabric will just be so much warmer for my kids as the winter rolls in.  It makes for a nicer product in the end, or at least that's my opinion.

I finished the first gloves while sitting in the parking lot of Walmart, waiting for someone to run in and pick some stuff up for the weekend's game day.  I hadn't expected to finish them before I'd arrived, nor did I expect to have much time to knit, but they worked up so quickly that they were finished before we even arrived.  I'd forgotten how quickly simple little projects like this can whip up.  I'm really happy with the way they turned out.  The real challenge was keeping them away from Little Bear, who wanted to wear them as soon as they were off the needles!

I was glad I'd packed additional yarn for the trip.  I knew I was going to finish these quickly enough, but I hadn't anticipated needing to cast something on as soon as I got in the door.  I'd thrown in some green yarn I'd used to make some fingerless gloves for Frog Buckets a year ago.  He'd loved those gloves, but they've since went the way of his other pairs, undoubtedly eaten by the void.  He always seems to find them at some later point, sometimes together, sometimes not.  Over the summer he found one glove of an earlier pair and insisted on wearing just that glove to his summer care for months.  Now that he's in school he's been begging me to make more gloves for him to wear.  He wants to show them off to all of his Kindergarten friends.  This meant he was next up on the list, since I wanted to make sure his got done.

His were yet larger, and they look far more simple because of the plain green coloring.  They're not as fancy looking, and they're a little bit lighter, since the sock yarn I'd made them out of is a little less heavy.  I cast the first one on at game day, and had expected to maybe clear the ribbing.  I ended up just watching everyone game, so I was able to knock out the first full glove during the event.  I even threw in the bind off.  This reminded me why I really need something a little more lengthy, like socks.  I wasn't thrilled with the idea of casting on twice at one event.  Next time I'll definitely plan better and leave the gloves for television knitting at home!

The second glove was cast on after we got home.  The kids were exhausted and dropped off to bed, but I stayed up to start on the other glove.  It was done early this morning, after feeling like somehow it must have been magically knit on during the night.  There was no way it was as close to finished as it was!  I'm still astounded at how quick and easy these gloves work up.

The only down side is I'm not used to knitting for my kids enough that any of this can be a surprise.  I want to check it to make sure the fit is good.  Nothing would disappoint them on Christmas morning like gloves that were too small, or socks that they couldn't wear yet.  This means the kids are going to know what their presents are ahead of time.  They're even going to have tried them before Christmas.  That's the down side to this process, but the up side is I know they love them!

Next year I think I'm going to plan on doing things differently.  I'm hoping I can have multiple projects going at once, so I can knit the kids projects after they go to bed or when they're not home and I can do the projects for other people when they're around.  After a year of getting better in the swing of fitting, I should have enough confidence to knit them a few things without having to worry about trying them on.  I can be the good gift knitter then.  For the time being, they're just going to have to deal with knowing what they're getting, and knowing it's going to be something they'll truly love!