PumpkinKnits

Monday, November 26, 2007

All I've Got

So Kim was bemoaning that all she sees on the knit blogs lately is magically produced finished objects, with no work-in-progress posts. Well, my dear, if you want WIPs this is the place to be, because its all WIPs all the time here at PumpkinKnits! Apart from my Celtic Dreams and my Morning Glory Wrap, both of which are rapidly closing in on the one year mark for WIP status (a first for me) I have a really gorgeous sock in the works, and I think the color might appeal to dear Kim as well.


The yarn is from Heather of Serenknity and is aptly named Pumpkin Patch. The pattern is Mad Color Weave, which I've been wanting to knit since I saw it. I think they're working quite nicely together, don't you?


Up next - more WIPs for Kim, as I plan to bore you all with more photos of my Celtic Dreams and Morning Glory - like I said, they're all I've got!

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Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Big and Fast and Beautiful

I have be-hatted my son for the winter, but no hat for Dizzle yet. I decided I wanted a bulky, colorful yarn for her hat. But alas, none in my stash. Whats a girl to do? Spin her own. I grabbed "Lantern Festival", the offering from Hello Yarn's fiber club for the month of July. Here it is all pre-drafted:

And here it is all spun up. There are 2 batches, the first 2.5oz I did watching the Sox win game 7 against Cleveland, and the last 2.5oz was done during naptime yesterday afternoon.


Attention mothers who are spinners: Not only to babies (still) like watching you pre-draft colorful roving (please note: mobile babies REALLY love it, to the tune of grabbing and helping a little too enthusiastically), you can also spin up a whole bunch of yarn during naptime if you are content with big fat singles. Who knew I could go from roving to knitting in 24 hours. I may have a new favorite spinning method. Talk about instant gratification.

Specs: 5oz Corriedale, "Lantern Festival", really not too bulky, about worsted weight (?) I got 450 yards out of 5oz, which seems like a lot. It is so hard to make my hands spin fat yarn. I split the top lengthwise into quarters, and predrafted it as you see above. Slapped on my biggest whorl, increased the take-up so I had to keep my hands off of it as I spun, and even then I positively could not prevent myself from drafting it down further. I was shooting for pretty fat and while this is fat for me, its not quite as fat as I like. Regardless, its still perfect for a hat and is knitting up very prettily.

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Friday, September 07, 2007

I Knew I Wore them for a Reason

It was downright chilly yesterday morning. I had gotten us all safely out of the house and we were headed to daycare and work, when I had to pull over so that PumpkinBoy could toss his cookies in the parking lot of Wild Harvest. We were close enough to Miss Dizzle's daycare that it made sense to drop her and then head back home, with only one child to deal with for the day. My feet were freezing when I got home, and I popped on my new Sockapaloooza socks and I got a little twinge of glee, remembering how nice it is to wear handknit socks.

PumpkinBoy got progressively worse throughout the day, and when late afternoon had him rolling off the couch in a ball of agony before violently throwing up for the 3rd time that day, we were off the to pediatrician's office, with me realizing it was now too warm to be wearing socks, but whatever, who really cares about sweaty feet when your son is hurling his guts into his sister's carseat as you mutter curses at the lights that aren't changing fast enough.

After an exam that had him jolting thru the roof when his lower right quadrant was palpated, I got to carry my (still vomiting) boy across the way to the ER. Dan and baby Dizzle met us there while we were getting triaged.

I am happy to report that 6 hours later, after a dose of antiemetic and a couple bags of fluid, PumpkinBoy was perking up and said his tummy didn't hurt any longer. Oh, and he was hungry, and why do you smell like cookies, Mommy? (I had popped out to buy diapers to change the baby and snuck a granola bar snack before I returned).

As our very relieved but bedraggled family stumbled out of the ER back through the waiting room, feeling a little delirious with fatigue and relief, I spied a woman sitting knitting on a sock. "A sock knitter!" I blurted clumsily and kind of just stood there like a moron. She cautiously stated, "Yes." I flipped my bright orange Croc off and held my right foot up while balancing the baby on my left hip to show mine off: "I have some too - handknit socks that is". A pause, kind of brief but still a little awkward, she's staring at my foot, then her face melted into a smile and said "Oh those are just lovely. Nice work on the cables" (they're not cabled, but I can she why she'd think so given her distance and the shock of some loony in the ER showing her her foot).

I'm sure the other ER patrons were a little mystified, and maybe she was too, but in the end, she looked like it was perfectly ok for another knitter so do what I'd just done. I wished her happy knitting, oblivious to the fact that if she was sitting in the ER, she probably wasn't too happy for any number of reasons, and continued out the door.

So if by chance any of my readers were sitting knitting a lovely bluish-green sock in the Beverly Hospital ER last night around 9pm or so, I apolgize for getting my knit-freak on while you were no doubt worried about a loved one or perhaps yourself. I hope whatever brought you there had you stumbling home happy and relieved some hours later.

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Monday, August 20, 2007

Off the Needles

I finally finished the 9-month socks. I cannot express how glad I am to be done with these. I like them very much for wearing on the feet, but man I hate them for the amount of time they took on the needles (my fault, not theirs, but still I hate them).


Project Specs:
Pattern: Baby Cable from Sensational Knitted Socks
Yarn: Trekking somethingorother, ball band is long gone
Needles: #1 addi turbo
Notes: Begone, devil socks!

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Monday, July 09, 2007

Sockapalooza4 and a Chance to Win!

The Monkies are done and just waiting for some dry air so they can finish blocking. I'm glad I perservered with this yarn/pattern combo - they most certainly should fit my pal, and they meet her color and yarn-care requirements.


Project Specs:
Pattern: Monkey, by Cookie A.
Yarn: Fly*dyed Monarch Sock Yarn, colorway Fire
Needles: Addi Turbo #1
Notes: I've been wanting to try this yarn for a while, and this was a great excuse to get some. It is wonderful stuff - very much akin to Socks that Rock medium weight, a sproingy tightly plied 3-ply. It frogs and reknits withougt missing a beat (I know - these were frogged upwards of 5 times) and the colors are supersaturated. They also claim to be machine washable and dryable. There is most certainly more of this in my future, and there can be some in your future as well:

Go give Mindy a visit and some cash for her very good cause, and you may win my my second generous 6oz hank of this exact yarn (plus she has other fab prizes). Its a very good cause, and seeing all the dough we've all raised for the likes of the Harlot's MSF and Claudia's MS Ride, I'm thinking her modest goal should be easily met. She's on vacation this week, and I think it would be fun if she came home to discover she had met her goal, don't you? Her little one is the exact same age as PumpkinGirl and terribly cute, so go help them out.

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Saturday, June 02, 2007

I'm A Monkey!

All of your comments from my last post about struggling with my socks helped greatly. A couple in particular stood out to me: Yoshimi said " I can never get my socks over my heel when I only have 3 inches, I always have to wait until I have done the heel" and Rachel said " Okay, that sock yarn was born to be knit into Monkey over 64 stitches." It seems many of you agreed with her, loving the way the stripes were working with this pattern. So I re-cast-on for the Monkeys with 64 stiches, knit on with utter confidence that more pattern repeats and a heel would make it fit and Yoshimi was correct! Perfect fit. Monkies it will be for my sockpal!



Oh, and Debi, I did start your Scale Skin suggestion, and they were looking lovely as well, I may just keep them for myself, as I have 2 pairs worth of the yarn.


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Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Socks for Mom

The socks for Mom are complete, and I must say, she is lucky that I love her so much, because otherwise I'd keep them. I loved knitting these - of course the yarn is wonderful, but the pattern was excellent too. I could not help but think of a couple fellow bloggers who are fond of the blues each time I picked these up.


Project Specs:
Pattern: River Rapids from Sock Bug
Yarn: Socks that Rock lightweight, color "Midsumers Night"
Needles: Addi Turbo #1, magic loop
Notes: Great yarn, great pattern. Should make some for myself!

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