Felici

FO (finally!) – the minkeys

On June 25, 2010, in FO2010, daughter, knitting, love it, socks, by Lori

Finally! Finally! A finished object I can share! Yippee!! This is, after all, my knitting blog. I can knit this pattern in my sleep, and the yarn is great fun for socks, but I started them during an extremely busy time so several days would pass without a single stitch. The bulk of my knitting time for these socks was subway commuting, so a row here, a row there, you know how that goes.

Anyway. I proudly introduce you to the Minkeys …. pink monkeys, get it? (the word minkeys makes me giggle because I hear it as Inspector Clouseau — Chief Inspector Clouseau — would say it.)

the top/left sock hasn't been blocked yet - the other one has

oh, you minkeys

i love socks.......

The yarn is the incredibly soft Felici, from KnitPicks. The first pair of socks I knit with this yarn still looks great, after a couple years’ washing. They get a lofty halo, but they’re very hard-wearing. And they don’t need any special care at all, double good for busy people.

These socks are for the bride-to-be, my daughter Marnie. When my older daughter Katie got married, she gave Marnie a t-shirt that said “I’m a worm farmin’ power liftin’ bad ass” and that really says it all. Since Marnie has this photo in her Facebook photo album (and therefore it’s public) I don’t think she’d mind my posting it here.

Marnie and Tom, getting married in a few weeks - taken at Katie's wedding rehearsal

It’s such fun finishing something, if only because I feel a little less guilty about casting on a new project.

snob

On May 25, 2010, in big picture stuff, knitting, love it, socks, by Lori

I go around thinking I know a thing or two, especially where words are concerned. I was one of those funny little kids who spent all her free time reading the World Book from A to Z, the Child Craft from beginning to end, the dictionary from AA to Zygyzy….read and repeat. Read and repeat. Then embroider a little pillowcase. Then back to the obsessive reading. I still love to read, and love dictionaries and reference books. My graduate research – and my dissertation – were all about the psychological import of the specific words people use. I love words and think about them a lot.

So imagine my surprise to listen to a great little TED Talk, by Alain de Botton, in which he defined the word snob in a way I’d never heard: a snob is someone who takes a small part of you and uses that to come to a complete vision of who you are. At first, I kind of jumped back a little and did some sassy back talk to Senor de Botton: IS NOT! That’s too simple, and anyway, that’s the definition of stereotype, so there. Ha. You’re wrong and I’m right.

But he’s right. That’s exactly what a snob is, isn’t it. It’s a topic of conversation on Ravelry, here and there – people self-identify as ‘yarn snobs’ and if someone talks about having used acrylic yarn, the yarn snobs sometimes come out of their dark corners to say unkind things. So those who don’t want to use acrylic yarn have decided that people who do use acrylic yarn are … well, a whole bunch of things. It’s very interesting to think about the word snob in this way, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since I listened to the podcast in line at Starbucks 2 hours ago. Here’s the talk – it’s very nice, and is more about success and failure than about snobbery, though snobbery does have its place in the mix:

Today has been a really shitty day, there’s no other way to say it. One of my authors has decided that I personally betrayed him because of the way we had to price his book, and he has spent an awful lot of energy and pixels writing me the same email a dozen ways, emphasizing the personal nature of the betrayal. To soothe myself a little, since I am working at home today, I cast on 15 stitches and knit a few rows of stockinette in this luscious madelinetosh pastoral, colorway terrarium. I have to say, it did make me feel better:

such pleasure

And I’m nearly finished with one sock, will knock out the toe tonight and cast on for the other one, so I can work on it in the subway tomorrow:

at the toe now, sock #1 will be finished tonight

I’ve decided to name this pair of socks “minkeys” – a play on pink monkeys, and also I hear it in my mind in the Inspector Clouseau voice and that just makes me giggle.

I hope you’re having a better day than I am!

let me count the ways

On May 22, 2010, in daughter, joy, knitting, love it, silly, socks, by Lori

I guess I read a little too much Elizabeth Barrett Browning when I was an impressionable young teenager, because “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways” came to mind when I was looking at the beginnings of these socks, No Purl Monkeys in KnitPicks Felici (colorway positively pink, as if they had to say that). So let me go ahead, then, and count the ways:

I love thee for thy bright pinkness

p!i!n!k!

I love thee for the pleasure of dpns and clever-feeling fingers

I love thee for thy springy feeling

I love thee for the one who will wear these when I finish

Pretty Marnie, in her senior year at Smith

PLUS: We bought a new mattress! Yippee! Hallelujah! Boy did we need one, that’s all I’m saying about that.

Finished in 2010

On May 10, 2010, in , by Lori

If 2009 was the Year of Cowls, I’d have to say that so far, 2010 will be the Year of Socks. Let’s see them (for complete project details of all the 2010 FOs, see the rav page here).

Begun at the end of 2009, these were my first FO for 2010: Fools Rush Socks by Cassie Thoreson. I’d always wanted red and white striped socks, so I used two colors of KnitPicks Risata – buttermilk and spicy. I didn’t enjoy working with the Risata very much, and they’re not soft to wear. But dang if the color and stripes don’t make me happy! Tin Drum, by Gunter Grass, is one of my favorite books and red and white are important colors in that book, so I call these my Tin Drum Socks:

Fools Rush Socks by Cassie Thoreson, in KnitPicks Risata

Aren’t they cute? I made a 3rd pair of socks for my stepdaughter Anna, whose feet get cold in her dorm. She picked out the yarn and color – KnitPicks Felici, in the cochineal colorway, and I chose the pattern: Hedera by Cookie A. It was a nice mix of yarn and pattern:

a pair of socks for a cold dorm room floor

I realized I’d knitted a lot of socks for Anna, but none for Katie, my oldest daughter, so I presented her with a range of yarn choices and asked her to pick. She’s a pretty Irish girl, so both yarns had green bits. With the Lorna’s Lace Shepherd Sock Multi, I knitted Holes in my Socks! by Nicole Okun. It was a fun pattern to knit, and the fit was comfortable:

Holes in my Socks! by Nicole Okun (Lorna's Lace Shepherd Sock Multi, colorway Beverly 209)

Her other yarn choice was Knit One Crochet Too Ty-Dy Socks, colorway meadow 1518. I returned to my old standby pattern, Monkey by Cookie A., which I could knit in my sleep. Katie liked these, too:

Monkey by Cookie A.

I made a new pair of socks for ME, using this beautiful madelinetosh sock yarn in the crow colorway. This pattern, Kai-Mei, is in her new book titled Sock Innovation, and it was loads of fun to knit. I just plowed forward, not quite understanding what was going on, but it turned out wonderfully:

Kai-Mei, by Cookie A. - madelinetosh sock, crow colorway

A pair of pink socks for my worm farmin’ power liftin’ badass daughter Marnie: No-purl Monkeys, knit with KnitPicks Felici (colorway Positively Pink, and they’re not kidding about that).

i call these Minkeys - pink Monkeys

These Circle Socks, designed by Anne Campbell, in a Kaffe Fassett colorway:

Wowie Zowie Socks (Circle Socks, by Anne Campbell)

Inspired by this truly gorgeous skein of yarn by madelinetosh (tosh merino light, colorway tern), I knitted the Traveling Woman by Liz Abinante. I looked through the project notes of other knitters who made the pattern, but didn’t quite take seriously enough the caution to bind off loosely. If I make it again, and I think I will, I’ll investigate different bind-off techniques so I’m sure to make it elastic enough to be able to pull out the points. Still, it’s pretty!

Traveling Woman by Liz Abinante, in tosh merino light (tern colorway)

And this lovely little Baktus scarf, my subway knitting project knit with Noro Silk Garden Sock and a skein of KnitPicks Essential:

wearing the baktus scarf

A very meaningful project – an heirloom project – was a wedding shawl for my daughter Marnie. I learned a lot, making this, and while I’m not sure how many more cobweb-weight shawls I want to make, I am very happy with how it turned out.

placeholder shot of blocking - will replace with full shot after I give it to her

…..MORE TK!

Finished in 2009

On May 10, 2010, in , by Lori

In 2009, I knit one pair of mitts, 4 pairs of socks, 4 hats, 11 cowls (!), 3 scarves, and two Ishbels (which are considered scarves, but since I made 2 I’m setting them out specially). I guess I’d have to say that 2009 was officially The Year of Cowls. I don’t know why or how that happened – I think I had single skeins of really luscious yarn (madelinetosh, primarily), and needed quick and portable projects. I wasn’t confident enough yet to take on big projects. Anyway, I really enjoy the projects I made in 2009:

MITTS: I made these Gasteropoda by Kristi Geraci for my daughter Marnie. She doesn’t like anything clinging to her wrists; she’s an artist and carves and draws a lot, so she needs to be able to make fine motor movements; and she doesn’t have good heat in her apartment in Chicago, so her hands get cold. I thought this pattern just fit the bill, in every way. It was also a lot of fun to knit! I used Sunday Knits Nirvana 3 ply, in a rich espresso color. Soft, light wool.

Marnie's Gasteropoda mitts, pattern by Kristi Geraci

SOCKS: Since I’d never made socks before, I started with the very popular No Purl Monkeys by CraftyPancakes, which is a slight tweak of Cookie A’s monkey sock pattern published in Knitty. I made three pairs (two for my stepdaughter Anna, and one pair for me) using Felici, the very soft self-striping yarn from KnitPicks. Mine have held up beautifully to a lot of wear, and to a lot of washing and drying in industrial machines. Good stuff.

Anna's green monkeys

Anna's taupe monkeys

my blue and purple monkeys

And one more pair of socks, using a beautiful skein of madelinetosh sock in Scarlett – Nutkin by Beth LaPensee. It was fun to knit, and while the yarn requires more care than the Felici, I never mind.

my Scarlett Nutkins

Even though it’s hard for me to wear hats since I get such ridiculous hat hair, I made four hats in 2009, only one of which was for me:

Felicity by Wanett Clyde – made by me for me, using madelinetosh DK, in a gorgeous colorway called Iris. The reason for the name is obvious.

my Iris Felicity

And for Marnie, to accompany her mitts, I made this wurm by katushika. I used the same yarn I used for her mitts, and it was glorious:

Marnie's wurm

I want to make another one for me! Then a hat just to have around, the Beaded Braided Hat by Lee Ann Bonson. I’ve made a bunch of these, they’re fun to knit because you get to do cool braiding, some colorwork (and you could easily draft a new pattern for the band), and a beautiful decrease on top:

see the beautiful flat top?

Then one more hat, a Marsan Watchcap by Staceyjoy Elkin for my soon-to-be son Tom, who is marrying Marnie this summer. Somehow I never got a photo of the finished cap. My bad!

Tom's Marsan Watch Cap - I really did finish it!

And cowls, I made 11.

1. helechos cowl, 2. Marg’s spiral cowl, 3. attabi cowl, 4. brown and blue attabi cowl, 5. marg’s attabi in progress, 6. candle flame cowl, 7. destroyed cowl wrapped, 8. holland cowl on, 9. madelinetosh pastoral – spiral cowl, 10. noble cowl finished, 11. Venetian Grassy cowl closeup

So many beautiful cowls, such beautiful yarn. Silky malabrigo, Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca and Silk, Berroco Pure Merino DK, madelinetosh DK (in fig, tart, and venetian), madelinetosh bulky cashmere, and madelinetosh pastoral (in chamomile and bosphorus). The Attabi Cowls were all gifts, and I want to make one for myself because it’s fun to knit. Maybe in 2010.

Three scarves in 2009 -

Queen Anne's Lace Scarf in Noro; Lengthwise Cable Scarf in madelinetosh dk; and Lace Ribbon Scarf in madelinetosh sock

And finally, the last 2 FOs in 2009. ISHBEL – I fell in love with this pattern, as did thousands of others. It has been knitted 7,000 times and it’s in more than 3000 queues. You go, Ysolda. I knit it once in madelinetosh wren, and once in a beautiful purple wool from Sunday Knits.

By the end of this year, I was a considerably better knitter than when I began! I also enjoyed making several items for a set, as I did with Marnie’s wurm hat, attabi cowl, and gasteropoda mitts. I want to do more of that.

sku-wheel!

On May 5, 2010, in yarn, by Lori

squeal! joy! rapture! What is more fun to a knitter than getting new yarn? NOT MUCH. (Sure, there are the children and husband, yay them we loves them, of course….) But new yarn! That makes me clap my hands and do little jumps up and down. Pretty! Soft! And pretty – gotta say it twice! Want to see?

Of course you do.

madelinetosh pashMINA people - colorway: mineral

You know I talk a lot about madelinetosh. I love her yarns, her deep and rich colors, the yarn bases themselves. So I’m a member of the yarn club, which means that in a 4 month period, I get three surprise packages. I know what kind of yarn I’ll get, I just don’t know the color. This time I got three skeins of pashmina (pashmina, people! merino, silk, and cashmere!) in this beautiful color she calls mineral. It’s yummy, and I can’t wait to have enough time to knit with it. What should I make?

Even though I don’t like Noro, I took one more chance because this was on sale. And boy am I glad I did – unlike the sock yarn, which might as well be made of straw, this one is s-o-f-t. Soft soft soft. It’s 45% silk, 45% mohair, and 10% wool. Soft wool. I got 2 skeins each of these gorgeous colors:

noro silk garden - nothing like silk garden sock!

like a pile of jewels.

And now let’s turn to KnitPicks. I promised Marnie a pair of socks; I’ve knit the other daughters a couple of pairs of socks each, so now it’s her turn. Felici is not just incredibly soft, it stands up to a lot of wear! My pair just might be my favorite socks — I definitely wear them when I need comfort. Marnie graduated from Smith College and knows her way around feminist thought, so why not pink!

Felici positively pink

Felici green vegetables anyone?

And one more from KnitPicks – Stroll Tonal, fingering weight. Two skeins of this golden beauty:

Golden Glow - a perfect name, right?

Why oh why do I have to waste all those hours in sleep? Think of all the knitting I could get done.

socks and snow

On February 27, 2010, in FO2010, NY stories, knitting, photography, socks, by Lori

Finally, I finished the Hedera socks I’ve been knitting all month, just in time for the daughter to arrive home for spring break:

Hedera, in KP Felici, colorway cochineal

a pair of socks for a cold dorm room floor

my rav project page here

The snow has been really amazing here in Manhattan – yesterday we got just shy of 21″ of snow in Central Park! We’re knocking on the top 10 list of biggest snowfalls since 1869 or something like that. Here are some newer shots from my neighborhood…..

CLICK to continue reading socks and snow...