Socktoberfest sock takes a trip

Sock takes a trip to visit beloved daughter at university

Starting the zipper

The Frankenstein stitch using cotton DK yarn. I basted the center fronts together so that the zipper can be sewn in from the back and centered over this seam. The pattern says to do all the seaming and then put in the zipper, but I thought there would be less distortion this way - so I am putting it in before all of the seaming is finished. I dunno, here I go.

Happy birthday to me...

Lantern Moon knitting tote; the perfect size for an on-the-go small project like Socktoberfest socks.


Pansy wanted to be involved in the photo shoot.

Cherry Bomb (aka Green Tomato)

Pattern: Big Girl Knits, Cherry Bomb
Designed by: Joan McGowan-Michael
Yarn: Cascade 220, a heathered green

I did this top to practice shaping and garment construction. My brain disconnected between my guage swatch and when I started knitting, and I went down in my needle size instead of up (!!!!), but I was trying to make it a longer than the pattern and so it came out pretty close to pattern size. The shaping on the sides is also kind of wonky - like when you sew a dart too deep and end it too soon - so I just need to figure out how to do that better next time. All in all, it was a good introduction to shaping garments to fit me. The book 'Big Girl Knits' has wonderful information about shaping garments and I felt this in itself made the book worth buying.

October blocking and seaming and seaming and...

Two things I like about knitting in the round: (1) less purling and (2) less seaming. The sooner I learn to convert patterns to knitting in the round the better. In the meantime, I can learn some skills in which I am deficient.

A brief interlude while the needles are clicking

(slightly out-of-focus tri-color dogwood)