Spring = Felici

Flowers are blooming and trees are blossoming, I am sneezing, and knitters’ thoughts turn to spring-y socks and accessories made from sock yarn.  Kris, Julie, and I placed a joint order (29 balls!) that is molto felici (very happy): Mmmmmm.  Only a bit of this is mine.  2 balls of Stream Bed:2 balls of Monochrome: And 4 balls of Sunny Day:That was actually a goof.  I meant to get 2 balls of Sunny Day and 2 balls of Too Cool, but clearly I erred.  There is no Too Cool here.  Gettysburg knitters, holler if you’re placing a Knit Picks order soon and I’ll add my Too Cool to it!   I can make S1 a pair of socks from Sunny Day and then make a BSJ out of the remainder.  It takes me slightly over 2 balls to make the BSJ, and I can definitely finish it using sock leftovers.  So I won’t plan to return or trade those extra balls.  Hey, maybe I should add “perfect yarn for BSJ” to my Ode to Felici list…

Speaking of Felici BSJ, my colleague’s baby has been sporting hers about town and getting lots of compliments.  But who wouldn’t get compliments on a baby this adorable!And while we’re on the topic, I’ll share a photo of my current office knitting project, an older colorway of Felici called Matador: You can see I’ve just put in waste yarn for an afterthought heel.

Hope you’re having a felici day!

Baby Boy BSJ

While out of town, I managed to knit another BSJ out of a more boyish colorway.  This is Knit Picks Felici Sport yarn in color “Ecology,” from which I already have a pair of socks.  Doesn’t the resulting fabric look different? The baby jacket has a tweedier effect, I think.  Just as before, I used slightly over 2 balls of Felici.  The buttons are understated, but not quite as neutral as the ones I used on the Neapolitan version: Also note how that diagonal line looks.  I used a different increase technique on this BSJ –for the double increase, I did LRinc – Knit – LLinc (LRinc = Cat Bordhi’s Leaning Right increase and LLinc is obviously the Leaning Left increase).

For the girlish version, I used the double increase specified by Elizabeth Zimmermann: Slip 1, K2tog, PSSO. The diagonal line looks very different, see?I can’t decide which one I prefer.

In other knitting news, I’m almost done with Boy 1’s soon-to-be-electrified socks – I should be able to share those in the next day or two.  And I popped into three LYSs in North Carolina.  I only bought one skein of yarn, though – this lovely Bearfoot from Mountain Colors.This colorway is called Thunderstorm, and it is mostly a deep purple with bits of greyish teal and olive green.  Very moody.  I’ve knit with Bearfoot twice before and really like it.  In fact, the very first pair of socks I made for myself was out of Bearfoot.  They are lovely socks, though a bit large (because I was knitting on – gasp! – size TWO needles then).  This yarn makes EXTREMELY warm socks – it is a 3-ply composed of 60% superwash wool, 25% mohair, and 15% nylon.  I wear my pair in the deepest days of winter, over another pair of thin cotton socks (because the handknit socks are roomy).  I don’t see Bearfoot in shops that often, so I didn’t think too long before deciding to purchase it.  Mmmm, take a closer look: Next: I want to whip up a quick hat to take to Sock Summit for Eloise’s baby shower.  Will dive into stash for that…

Baby Girl BSJ

I was done knitting this weeks ago, but I finally seamed the top of the arms and found some buttons.  All done!The buttons are kind of light brown and cream, like chocolate and vanilla ice cream swirled together – a perfect match for a yarn called Neapolitan.  Because the stripes are fairly bold, I didn’t want buttons that would compete with them.  Lord knows there are plenty of cutesy kid buttons on the market – little bugs, butterflies, legos, etc – in every shade of pink imaginable.  None looked right.  I’m happy with this subtler choice!

Just a reminder – this was knit with Knit Picks Felici Sport (on a US 4 needle) and it took me slightly over 2 balls to do it.  So if you buy yarn for this, buy 3 balls!  I’m going to make another one using my Ecology colorway.  I only have 2 fresh balls, but since I’ve already made a pair of socks out of it, I have some leftovers that should be enough to finish the project.

OBX stripes (or, FO: Beachy Felici)

Finished the Beachy Felicis today!  These were a quick knit with only 48 stitches around and speedy stockinette.  A short row heel probably would have been more attractive with the striping yarn, but I don’t have that construction memorized and I didn’t have notes with me.  These are done – and I only used 1 ball of yarn (so I have a spare).

I’ve been spinning the Polworth top on my spindle.  I know that seeing singles pile up on a spindle isn’t super exciting, but here’s how it looks now: I started a pair of socks with Jacob sock yarn, which is a little thicker than fingering.  I’m using 2.25 mm needles.  The stitch pattern is a 10-stitch repeat and the cast-on number is 60 – but this thick yarn made the sock too big so I backed down to 50.  We’ll see how this works out. Today Boy 1 and I climbed the tallest brick lighthouse in the world – Hatteras Island Lighthouse.  It’s 12 stories tall.  Great view at the top!One last shot of Beachy Felici (I just like saying that):

Felici, di nuovo

I was at a conference last weekend so of course, I took my knitting along.  When I travel, I always worry that I’ll run out of knitting (doesn’t everyone?) so I cast on for another pair of simple socks and threw them in.  I didn’t touch them at the conference, but they’ll be perfect for my next travel knitting.

A plain vanilla pair of socks for Boy 2 out of Felici: When I was knitting the pink Felici socks recently, Boy 2 frequently petted them and talked about how soft they were.  (Felici is unusually soft for a sock yarn that includes nylon.)  I promised him a pair of Felicis and showed him the colors I have in stash.  He picked this one.  This is one boy who’s not afraid of color!  This is one of their older colorways, called Aurora, that has stripes of differing widths.

Boy 2 responds strongly to softness and texture.  I have a tiny yarn cake of cashmere laceweight yarn out in the living room right now which he immediately asked me about.  “Mama, what is that blue yarn? It is soooooooo soft!”  It was fun to be able to tell him about cashmere and let him rub it on his neck.  This is the first laceweight yarn I have ever purchased.  Lace normally isn’t my thing.  But was I entranced by one of Anne Hanson’s latest creations, the Campanula Scarf, and thought I’d give it a try.  I actually cast on and knit a few rows of this, but I struggled so with the slippery metal needle I had.  I think I need a different needle to work this.  I ended up goofing and frogged the whole thing.

But this scarf will be MINE – lacy cashmere scarves should NOT go to kindergarten!

In faster than out

I’ve been making good progress on my current socks, but somehow the yarn keeps coming into my house faster than it’s turning into socks.  Motivated by an impending visit to a little girl who loves pink, I wanted to order the new Felici colorway called “positively pink.”  And then several other colorways came along with it:

Positively pink will be fast knitting, I think – probably just a simple ribbed cuff edge and the rest stockinette.  Round and round and round…

I finished the first Retro Rib sock in Bearfoot.  This isn’t a great photo, but it’s proof that it’s done (and look! spring plants!): I’m about 2/3 down the leg of sock #2 now.

And since I finished the possum socks, I needed another office knitting project.  There was only one left in my personal sock club basket, the Diagonal Rib Socks (free pattern!).  I’ve had 5 hours of webinar and 5 hours of workshop this week so far.  That doesn’t equal 10 hours of knitting, but it equals a fair amount.  So now I have this:This sock alternates the same type of diagonal rib stitch I used in Night Gulls with a 7-stitch panel of 1x1 rib.  Easy breezy.

Positively Pink will be another good office/travel knitting project, but I need to line up some more patterns for subsequent office knitting.

And that’s it for now!

…and we’re back.

Long time no post!  I won’t bog you down with a ton of details about our trip.  Here are the highlights:

On our unexpected snow day at home (13” before it stopped), I knit two more Deck the Balls.  I tried to pick manly colorways – these ended up on Steven & Jeff’s tree in Austin. The blue striped one is Regia yarn from the arch-shaped socks I just finished: This is Austermann Step from a pair I made several years ago:

Steven and I visited his LYS, The Knitting Nest, while I was in Austin.  What a fun shop!  It was really neat to see so many shades of Cascade 220 in one place (particularly those yummy heathers).  I left the shop with some spinning fiber hand-dyed by Stephig of Spinning Colors (this is 4 oz of Corriedale in color “Amethyst”) and one of those cool multi-compartmented boxes with the store logo on it (I had admired Steven’s in Portland): Also while in Texas, I finished the Cochineal Arch-Shaped Socks I started at home (sock #1 finished in Austin, sock #2 finished in Georgetown).  The yarn is Knit Picks Felici in colorway Cochineal, one of the prettiest color combos they’ve produced (imho):The photo shoot in my parents’ front yard was kind of silly: I also started the Christmas Charade socks and finished up the final toe decrease on January 2 at home.  The yarn is Wollmeise (a prize) and the pattern is Charade.  This photo makes the yarn look a little more orangey than it really is. Now Sharon should be all set for red socks for a while.

What’s next?  Hmmmm.  The only other WIP I have is the Butternut Scarf, which I’m considering ripping back.  The yarn isn’t quite soft enough for next-to-neck wear, so I’m thinking of making it wider and calling it a shawl.  What holds me back is that I’m not really a shawl wearer.  Thoughts?

I’m anxious to get spinning again.

And there must be a new pair of socks – soon.  Gotta have office knitting when I go back to work in a couple of days!

Progress Report

There has been relatively little blogging lately due to holiday preparations and general busy-ness!  But there has been some knitting.  Here’s my update:

Big news first: Sharon’s Bada Bing sweater is done.  I had to rip out the neck and redo it because following the same seed stitch pattern I used at the waist just didn’t look right.  I did a standard stockinette stitch neckband and used Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off (JSSBO), and it looks pretty good.  Also, does anyone remember that this was supposed to be a v-neck?  I followed the more conservative v-neck instructions (for a less plunge-ful version) but it turned out to be a conservative scoop neck instead.  Well, live and learn!  I also had to rip out the sleeve cuffs because somehow, even after much measuring and fitting, the sleeves were several inches too short.  When I redid them, I followed the same edge pattern that I used on the neck.  The cuffs roll up a bit right now.  We might be able to make them behave by blocking – or we might not.  She doesn’t mind the rolling so I’m calling it done.  I’m terrified the whole thing will change size in the wash so we’re just not thinking about that right now.

I also finished this pair of socks, which is very plain (mostly stockinette) except for the arch shaping on the foot.  Look carefully – do you see the unusual lines running around the side and to the top of the foot near the toe?  This is a very interesting construction, and I cast on for another sock that uses it right away: Ahhh, Knit Picks Felici sock yarn.  I love you so.  This self-striping yarn will be perfect for a relatively simple sock (just the unusual arch shaping to content with, but it’s my second time with the pattern) to knit on my journey to Texas.  The colors are so warm and cheery – but not too dark.  Dark yarn is always difficult to see but especially so when traveling.  I think the person who picked Knit Picks circular needle cable color designed this Felici colorway – they coordinate perfectly!

I planned to knit Amy King’s Guernsey Socks pattern (from The Knitter’s Book of Yarn) using the 100% Icelandic yarn I got at Knitters’ Day Out last September.  I wound the yarn and did some swatching at knitting group on Wednesday.  I don’t think it’s going to work out.  Perhaps not at all, but definitely not for travel knitting.  So I’m putting aside that pretty grey yarn (for now) and I wound up this Wollmeise that I won in a Loopy Ewe contest a while back.  Sharon says she is always wishing she had red socks in a more pinky-red rather than orangey-red, and this yarn fits the bill.  I will reknit a simple pattern that I’ve done before with this yarn – remember my green zebra socks?  Charade is the official name of the pattern.

So that is 2 sock projects for the trip.  The other thing I decided to take is my spindle and some fiber.  Now that the holiday knitting is done, I want to focus more on spinning.  I know I need to log 15-30 minutes a day with the spindle to develop the fine muscle control I need to become natural at this, and I thought the vacation might be just the time to start my new exercise regimen. And now, we just hope that the snowstorm headed this way doesn’t delay our flight out.  I’ll be knitting my stress away!

Ode to Felici

Felici sock yarn is one of my favorites. Knit Picks produces it in "limited editions," and there have been three so far.

The first edition featured stripes in four colors, varying widths. When I realized that the second edition would have stripes of equal widths, I rushed to buy 4 colorways from the first edition. And that's nothing, because my friend Neil bought 2 balls each of all 8 colorways! You have to admire that. In for a penny, in for a pound.

I have knit 3 of my original Felici yarns so far:

1. I meant to knit this colorway, "Coastal," for myself, but I was tinkering with a new toe-up pattern, and they ended up fitting S instead. Doh! Still, it was a great office knitting project. I recall working furiously to finish the short row heel one night before going to an all-day meeting the next day. I had to be prepared for primo knitting time.
2. Next I took another colorway on a trip to Colorado last summer, as my airplane/travel knitting project. It's called "Clay," which seemed very appropriate in the dusty high mountain landscape of western Colorado.
3. Finally, I knit these for myself - the colorway is called "Pebbles" but I called them "Cocoa Pebbles." I wear these almost every week, as they match anything with khaki or brown in it.

I never did buy any second edition Felici, because I didn't care for the stripes of equal width. But now the third edition colorways are out, and we're back to unequal stripes. I got a bit carried away. I bought five, including three balls of "Cochineal," because I plan to use one of them for really large Deck the Balls ornaments (my sock yarn leftovers aren't enough to cover the biggest ornaments).

How do I love Felici? Let me count the ways...

1. It's really soft. This isn't a dealmaker for me, though, as there are tons of super soft sock yarns out there, and many of them fall apart the first or second time you wear them. 100% merino is not always the best choice for sock yarn. This is 75% merino and the micron count is pretty darn low (19.5, I believe). Touch it - you'll be surprised!
2. It's really sturdy. The 25% nylon really holds up its end of the bargain. The three pairs of Felici socks in our house get worn often, and they still look great. No thin spots and no excessive pilling.
3. It's reasonably priced - $5.29 per 50 g ball. This is nothing to sneeze at!
4. Generous yardage - 218 yards per 50 g ball. In one of my geekier moments, I created a spreadsheet listing all the yarns with which I have ever knit socks. I included the following data: name of yarn, yardage per 100 g, yardage per ball, weight per ball, who knit for, man/woman/child, how much yarn required, and notes about wear. Then, based on that information plus a personal judgement call on how long my socks were and how much yarn was left (or not), I made a final assessment of "skimpy," "adequate," "plenty," or "over the top." In each of the three pairs knit so far, I am happy to report that Felici was deemed "plenty." I never ran out. I never ever worried about running out. And my Felici socks have fairly long cuffs.
5. I like stripes. Self-striping yarn entertains me and is ideal for office knitting. A simple rib pattern, or something a little sassier in the rib family (like uneven rib or shadow rib), shows it off to its best.

Maybe I should have saved this lovefest of a post for Valentine's Day...

Come on, what are you waiting for?!? Start a Felici sock today!