Italian Dish Knits

Archive for 2011

Two Socks on One Circ

April 8, 2011

I hate having UFOs lying around. I really am pretty good at not starting too many new projects before other things are finished. I like having one mindless knitting project and one more focused, chart intensive kind of thing going at the same time so I can pick which to work on. So I don’t like having a third thing lying around, which is what these socks were. These socks were from a class I took a few months ago where we learned to do two socks on one circular needle, a technique I wanted to learn and immediately knew I disliked. As much as I love Magic Loop, I don’t like doing two items at one time – too much fiddling with the cables.

But the class did force me to learn to make socks, which I had never done, mostly because I just don’t wear socks. I go from sandals in the summer to my UGG boots in the winter, with no socks. But knitting my own socks may change my mind! Plus I wanted to start making socks for gifts – I do know that other people enjoy socks.

The instructor taught us how to make socks without using a pattern, which was a great lesson. These are toe-up socks, with an afterthought heel. We got to pick which kind of heel we wanted to do (I did a wedge) and which kind of bind off we wanted to do (I did a double crochet bind off).

picking up stitches for the afterthought heel

The afterthought heel was easy for me, because I’ve done so many afterthought thumbs with my mitten knitting.

picking out the waste yarn

grafting the heel with kitchener stitch

double crochet bind off

I like these socks a lot, although I made them a little too large for my feet. When you aren’t working from a pattern, you just have to go by feel. I forget to take into consideration that the socks would grow a little when I blocked them.

Pattern: None!
Yarn: Abundant Yarn & Dyeworks 100% Merino Wool
Needles: US#1 Circulars
Ravelry Page

Posted in finished objects, knitting, magic loop, socks/footwear | 3 Comments »

New Yarn and Blazing Needles

April 7, 2011

I just got back from a skiing trip out in Park City with my family but because my poor old knees don’t let me ski, I did a lot of knitting when I was out there. I also drove to Salt Lake City to drop in at Blazing Needles, recommended to me by Susan Lawrence via Ravelry. What a cute shop. It’s in a residential district and I just loved the feel of the place.

Check out all the Koigu Yarn that they carry! I had to hold myself back. Such a great selection:

And they had a lot of Malabrigo. Love.

Do you need buttons? This is just a part of their incredible button selection:

I bought some Cascade 220 Superwash along with a stripey Shibui Merino Worsted in order to make this hat by Jared Flood.

And I also bought this incredible silk yarn with glass beads by Tilli Tomas. I just couldn’t help myself. And guess what? It’s called Rock Star! How great is that? I can’t wait to use it. I bought a little cowl pattern at the store that I may use for it. Look how gorgeous this stuff is:

And here is a sneak peek at a project I’m working on that I just love:

Posted in yarn | 4 Comments »

Pea Pod Baby Sweater and Hat

April 4, 2011

I just found out a short time ago that a food blogger I know, Maria, who writes “Two Peas and Their Pod” is having her first baby. I knew I would get to visit her in Utah on spring break, so how could I resist knitting her a little baby gift? No way! I love this cute little baby sweater from the Knitter’s Book of Yarn and I thought this was the perfect opportunity to make it.

I sewed a little hat to match from this pattern on Ravelry. I’ve made it before in different colors and I thought in greens it would look adorable and keeping with the “pea pod” theme:

I knit the sweater in a “pea green” color – how appropriate – and it’s good because it’s gender neutral. I used Berroco Vintage, which is a great blend that is machine washable and very soft.

I sewed a little label into the sweater. I got these cute little labels at this Etsy shop.

There is errata for this pattern, which I didn’t learn about until after I had knit for a while. For the smallest size, you need to cast on 36 stitches instead of 38. It didn’t seem to make much difference for me – I just took in the back seams a little when I assembled the sweater.

Pattern: Baby Soft Cardigan
Pattern for Hat: Berry Baby Hat
Needle for Sweater: US#9
Needles for Hat: US#8
Yarn: Berroco Vintage Fennel & Douglas Fir
Ravelry Pages: Sweater, Hat

Posted in baby stuff, finished objects, gifts, knitting | 9 Comments »

Nola Slippers

April 2, 2011

I just finished knitting these slippers on the plane on our way to Utah. The guys will be skiing, but my bad knees and I will be having our own fun off the hill. I will be driving into Salt Lake City one day to hang out at Blazing Needles and then I am excited to be meeting up with my food blogger friend, Maria, from Two Peas and Their Pod for lunch one day.

I read a post where Adrian Bizilia, one of my favorite knitting designers, wrote about these slippers and I wanted to make some. I thought they were so cute. They are written for a man’s size so I thought I would go ahead and knit a pair for one of the men in my family (Barry has claimed them) and see how they measured out. I could then adapt them later to make a pair for myself, possibly.

The pattern calls for these to be knitted in a worsted weight, held double, which is what I did (although I saw a few people on Ravelry knit these with bulky weight yarn, single). I used Ecolana, a beautiful alpaca/wool blend from AslanTrends. I did change the pattern a little – I did stockinette stitch on the top, the tongue part, instead of garter stitch. I just thought it looked nicer.

The slippers are knit flat, on a circular needle, in one piece and then sewn up at the end to make the slipper. I used kitchener stitch on the bottom to knit up the sole and that created a nice flat seam that is comfortable.

They were so fun and a very quick knit. It was fun to use #9 needles with big yarn after all the fingering weight yarns I’ve been using and tiny needles. I can see in the future if I knit these again it would be fun to knit the tongue in a completely different color – I’m definitely going to do that! Maybe even a variegated yarn. Oooh…. the possibilities.