March Squishiness

My needles have been super busy this month. I'm amazed at all I've knit so far and it's just the first week of March!

I cast on and finished once sock of the pattern and yarn that just kept poking at me and saying "Cast me on NOW"  The yarn is super awesome to knit, but not forgiving when you frog back.  It becomes friable and breaks - so I've had to take extra care when I'm knitting to make sure that every stitch is correctly on the needle and I didn't do a baby split of the yarn.

This yarn is Debbie Bliss Rialto Luxury Sock yarn in colourway number 02.  There's nothing on the label other than that, but some searching online says 02 is Roskilde.  I weighed the yarn and split it in two separate balls so I'd know how much yarn I'd have left.  This is the yarn I won on Instagram at Christmas from a company in the UK called Brownberry Yarns.  Included in the prize package were, HiyaHIya US2 needles, HiyaHiya Kitty Snips (these things are so freeken cute!!), Hiya HIya tape measure, HiyaHiya stitch markers that look like little yarn balls, and a printed pattern. I am in love with all the accessories and used them constantly.

I picked a pattern called Socks of Kindness, well more like a recipe - although at the time I didn't know what the pattern was - I fell in love with the stitch pattern and it wasn't until I had already cast on I found the pattern - didn't help me much as it's in French LOL  I found a translation later in cuff down version.  I'm doing toe up, so I am so glad I didn't waste my time figuring it out.

For the foot part, I'm using the Super Sock Calculator which I've found gives me a perfect fit on my foot every time!  The designer has included tutorial videos on her website to help.  The section on the shadow heel is awesome and that's now my go to heel.  I'm in love with it!

I was getting ready to bind off when a nasty gremlin reared it's ugly head and the battle was on!  I have NO, and I repeat NO idea what happened or what I did, but it was a bloody mess!  It took me 2 nights to tink back 4 rows, and then I was finally able to fix it and then redo the 4 rows of ribbing and bind off.

There's still a 'hole' in the ribbing that I wasn't able to fix no matter how I tugged a bit here and there or even hauled away at it.  Even when I tried it on, it didn't go away.  I'm hoping that blocking them or washing them will help get rid of it.  If not, ah well ... I'll have a not so fond memory of the sneaky gremlin that invaded my ribbing LOL

The kid mentioned to me (nicely) last month that he would love a pair of fingerless mitts for when the steering wheel is cold when he first gets into the car.  Since he asked nicely, I said I would knit him a pair and had him pick out some yarn.  He grabbed some yarn from my mum's stash.  I warned him it's wool and that it just can't be tossed into the washer / dryer all willy nilly - he'd have to wash them on gentle and then lay them flat to dry - otherwise they would felt and shrink.  He gets it - I hope so, otherwise they will be ruined.

I found a pattern that uses very little yardage called 75 yard fingerless mitts.  Based on the weight of the yarn, and a formula I found on Interweave, I would have more than enough yarn.  When I half out the cakes of yarn, they come to approximately 43 - 55 yards each.

I cast them on last night and would have had the first one done, but the kid was sleeping so he couldn't try them on for fit.  I just wanted to be sure that they didn't pull awkwardly and the thumb gusset felt right - and that the opening for his fingers would be sufficient.  He tried them on earlier today and the fit is perfect.  I did a stretchy bind off as he's got some big hands as you can see.  Once I get these done, it'll be back to my Must Cast On socks :)

Now, off I go to cast on the second mitt!