Starting Honeytree

Last weekend, I started the Honeytree Vest. 

As you can see, I haven't made it very far.  In fact....it's kind of boring me.  While I full expect to enjoy the finished object, right now, there is a lot of monotonous knitting going on. 

      Knit to end.  Purl back. 
      Knit to end. Purl back. 
      Knit to end. Purl back. 

See what I mean?  This week I got distracted and ended up watching all of Season 3 of Downton Abbey.  I might need to start a second project to take the edge off.

I love mail

I exchange weekly letters with several friends and pen pals and I always enjoy having something special in my mailbox when I come home from work.  My pen pal Sharon sent this cute tea wallets to me this week. 

Isn't the sheep fabric cute?  The one with owls is for my mother.  I adore them and have added mine to my knitting bag - thank you Sharon!

I've decided what's next on the needles: the Honeytree Vest by Tanis Lavallee.  I have 5 skeins of The Plucky Knitter's Primo Worsted in a one hit wonder khaki color that I'm going to use.  I think it will make a good layering piece for work and casual days.  Lots of winding to do!

Pallisades

The Pallisades socks are done!  They're the second pair of socks I've completed on the sock machine.  My 'sock recipe' is still not perfect, but I'm getting there and these were ten times easier to complete than the Summer Moss ones.

I ended up using close to 225 yards of The Plucky Knitter's MCN Fingering (wonderful to work with) - which is a lot less yarn that I would have used if I had knit these by hand.  A few things I've learned:

1. Tension.  It is a lot different on the machine.  Normally, I am a tight/very tight hand knitter.  With the machine, it forces me to rethink the tension.  I set the vcam higher on this pair, which made the stitches slightly smaller, and therefore changed my gauge a bit.  They are still a bit too loose but not much.
2. Loose stitches on heels and toes.  Although you can't see it in the photos too much, the stitches near the heels and toes are a bit loose when I am increasing.  I've watched a few YouTube videos and I have some tricks up my sleeve for the next pair.
3. Weights.  On the machine, you keep the stitches on the needle by attaching weights to the sock in progress to keep them from riding up on the needles.  When I ordered weights, I ordered a set of three for the heel when I really think I need a set of 4 to keep weight more evenly distributed across all of the live, working stitches.  One more weight is currently on the way, and when it arrives, I think I'll try another pair then.

It's been a learning experience and I think I still have a bit more to go...

Indian Summer Beret

 

I wore this little beauty out and about town this weekend.  The beret made its knitting group debut on Saturday morning to applause.  I agree with the rest of the group.  The pattern is the Frick Frick Beret by Pamela Wynne and it had been in my queue for quite a long time.  I used The Plucky Knitter's Primo Fingering in the colorway Indian Summer and used close to 225 yards on US 3.

 

Although it appears, quite red in this photo, it has an orange tint to it in real life - much like the leaves at that time of year.  The hat is actually quite light (weight wise) and I think it will make a very good transitional piece for the spring and the fall.  

It is also the first of the 13plucky2013 objects - only 12 more to go!  Not bad for the last week of February?

Beret's anyone?

The Mayrose hat came off the needles on Saturday night.  The pattern by Woolly Wormhead was well written and easy to memorize.  I ended up changing the brim from the original garter stitch one to a standard ribbed one because those tend to stay on my head better.  All in all, a success.

My knitting mojo was absent for most of the month of January (I blame the weather), so I was surprised to find myself itching to start something new as soon as I blocked the Mayrose.  I took at look at the queue, dug through the stash, and cast on the Frick Frick Beret by Pamela Wynne. 

 

I'm using The Plucky Knitter's Primo Fingering in the Plucky Classics colorway Indian Summer from August.  It'll be my first project out of Plucky this year - a good thing because I need to get going on my 13 finished Plucky objects in 2013 since we're two weeks into February already!