Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Shhhhhhhhh!

Robby spent the night with us again last night. He has a little cold and was up with a fever in the wee hours of the morning, but is cheerful in spite of feeling icky. I love this picture!


These are my first finished socks for the SocksForSoldiers Yahoo group. The yarn is Meilenweitt and the pattern is a basic rib. They're waiting for another pair to be finished before I mail them off.

I've joined another Yahoo group called
DeathBySocks. Everyone in the group knits a pair of socks for someone else. If the person who is knitting for you finishes your socks and mails them off to you, you've been 'assassinated' and must mail the socks you're working on to them to be finished and mailed to their intended recipient. The last one to remain 'alive' is the winner, and will receive a bountiful basket of goodies. I am donating a copy of our book, Friendly Socks, Volume 1 to be awarded to the winner. You can visit Laura's blog, Sirius Knitting, to find out how to order your copies of Friendly Socks, Volumes 1 and 2. Volume 3 is in the works!
Edit later that same day...Sarah says "no way you'll be assassinated..." I guess I forgot to say these socks ARE my assassination socks. They were delivered yesterday, so I have been assassinated, LOL! They are just lovely, knitted from Austermann Step with jojoba and aloe. They are very soft, warm, and beautiful, and were started for me by Marti and finished by SheriO.

These are the socks I knitted for my 'victim'. They've been mailed off and should be arriving any day. I had a little kitten incident just before they were finished...one of our kitties stole the ball of yarn from the knitting bag at my feet and ran off with it. By the time I caught him, he had the yarn horribly tangled. This was what I had after two hours of picking out the knots. There was another giant tangle just below the bottom of the picture. This yarn was either Fortissima or Meilenweitt...can't find the ball band just now.
Another edit, later that same day... this yarn is Opal, don't remember the collection or color numbers.
And last but not least, a pair of thumbless mittens for Wee Robby. Here's a rough pattern to fit a 3-6 month old infant:

Thumbless Mittens
I knitted both of these mittens at one time on two circular size 2 needles.
Cast on 24 stitches in DK weight yarn. Join in a round, being careful not to twist the stitches!
Work in K1 P1 rib for about an inch and a half.
Work in stockinet stitch until the mittens reach the tip of the baby's pinkie finger.
Decrease rounds:
Round 1: Beginning at one edge of the mitten, K1, SSK, knit across to three stitches from the other side, K2 tog, k1. 2 stitches decreased.
Repeat for the other side of the mitten. Round 1 complete.
Round 2: Knit all stitches.
Repeat these rounds until only 8 stitches remain on either side of the mitten (16 stitches total).
Work Round 1 every round until only 4 stitches remain on each side. (8 stitches total). Graft the remaining stitches together, and work in the loose ends. Repeat for the second mitten. Finished, and ready to warm those precious wee fingers!

I did not swatch for gauge, and don't have the mittens here to tell you what my gauge was, so you're on your own there! Feel free to contact me if you have problems with this pattern.