Manly Man Socks

And now for something completely different. I just finished a pair of socks for my husband. He prefers wild and bright colors to really showcase his loud personality.*

These are made from Knit Picks Stroll in the Jack Rabbit Heather colorway. What can I say? They make good mindless T.V. knitting at least. In fact I think we watched the second season of Orange Is The New Black while working on these. Have you seen Orange Is The New Black? If you haven't, then what are you doing reading a blog post about grey socks? For real. Go watch it.

*I lied. There is no truth in that sentence.

Lucy's Booties

I finished these up last week, but as they were a gift for a baby shower I held off on sharing them until now.

I love this pattern. They are fun and simple to knit up and they do actually stay on. Cute and useful. The holy grail for baby knits. I also enjoy playing with the space on top of the bootie and duplicate stitching patterns onto it. To do this I just grab some graph paper and mark a rectangle that matches the size of the top of the booties (9 x 12 if memory serves) and then grab some colored pencils and have at it.

I tried a few different designs but decided to keep it modern and simple with a pink chevron pattern (the color is less red than the photo shows). I'm happy (and/or slightly disappointed) that I didn't end up with any obscene designs like the last time I did this. 

Kindling AKA My First Shawl

Today I'm going to share one of my favorite knits from this past winter. My first ever shawl.

It's the Kindling pattern by Leila Raabe from one of the Brooklyn Tweed Wool People collections. I've never knit a shawl before because, to be frank, I've never been sure I would get very much use out of a shawl. I had noticed, over the past few years, quite a few textured shawls making their way into my Ravelry favorites. So what pushed me over the edge to cast on?

1. It was cold. A lot. I decided that even if I didn't care for it as an "outside the house" garment, I would surely appreciate it as a "not freezing to death on the couch or in the bed" piece.

2. A quick perusal of my stash revealed enough Brown Sheep Nature Spun Fingering in this Limestone colorway to get the job done. I don't know how many years I've had this yarn. And here, I'll just say it, I'm one of those people who gets anxiety about stash without purpose. Stash with no plans is not how I roll. So you can imagine my delight that I would get to scratch a textured shawl itch without having to go out to explicitly buy yarn for a clothing item that might never see the light of day.

But oh. Oh ho ho ho. Turns out I've been waiting my whole life to wear a shawl and I just never knew it. I wear it all the freakin' time. I wear it like an oversized cowl and it's delightfully comforting and warm.

And if it gets too cold, boom, I'm rocking it granny style.

And if I ever have a moment of sublime joy that can only be expressed by stretching out one arm to let my shawl catch the breeze as I stand before a stone wall?* I've got that covered too.

*That's totally a thing right?

A Fine Line Between Draping and Delusion

Remember when I said that I was in the midst of a knitting disaster? Yeah. I really wasn't joking.

I aspire for all my clothing to resemble a bell - or a Christmas tree. 

I checked my gauge. I even blocked my gauge swatch. I think what got me was a combination of knitting a size too big and the pattern increasing needle sizes to create a "gentle A-line shape". I also especially appreciate how I randomly stopped knitting a good three inches before my torso ends. My thinking was that after blocking and wearing, the yarn over bits would stretch and I didn't want it to end up too long. I think we can all agree that this top is not too long. I fully believe what was actually occurring was that my subconscious was leaps ahead of me and screaming, "This will not fit. Let's just end this so we have less to rip out later." 

And please, can we just not discuss why I, having tried the thing on, actually picked up and knit a few rows of the sleeve?*

P.S. I checked the gauge on the thing - it was different than my original, good girl, following all the knitting rules gauge swatch. 

Have I failed at knitting a sweater...

or succeeded at knitting the most impressive, and accurate gauge swatch?

 *Why? Really, just why?