Endings and Beginnings

No more Monkey socks on the needles.  I am so happy to have finally completed them.  I pretty much breezed through the second sock.  I had the pattern memorized and I was able to chat with a friend, watch a movie, and knit in the car.  None of which I could do while knitting the first sock.

After it's all said and done, it wasn't a bad knit.  I may even make them again sometime.  You know that I'm very careful about saying never, so I'll just say you never know.

Details:

Monkey Sock pattern by Cookie A.

My own hand painted sock yarn

Magic loop on size 3 circular needles

I've begun knitting for a new pair of capri pants that should be completed by the weekend.  I will show them again when they are done.

That's all I've got.  Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Here Monkey, Monkey

I had been thinking about my Monkey socks for a couple of weeks and decided to pull them out of hibernation. Initially, I cast on 64 stitches as stated in the pattern on Knitty, but the socks were extremely tight. I wear a size 6 1/2 shoe, and would not have thought that any sock pattern would be too small for me. I do knit very tightly and just had to consider the first knitting of the sock as my gauge swatch.

Anyway, I have now cast on 72 stitches and have gone through 3 full repeats. I lack about 5 rounds to complete the next repeat. I used a revision of the pattern that was provided in the Monkey KAL forums on Ravelry. This revision requires that you knit two additional rounds every repeat, and because of that it shouldn't take long to get the leg portion of the sock knit.

Because the pattern has lots of purled stitches, the sock is very scrunchy. The scrunchy-ness makes it look quite a bit shorter than it is. I'm anxious to get them finished and blocked to get a true picture of the pattern.

That's all I've got for now. Have a happy day!

Monkey Socks

After much procrastination and many deliberations, the knitting of my Monkey socks has finally begun. So far, I have no bad things to say. The lace portion of the pattern is easily memorized and makes for an enjoyable process. The Baby Ull that I dyed forever ago is very soft. It can be pretty splitty, but I sometimes don't mind dealing with the bad because the good is so good.

Now that I've started these socks, I have to admit that I was somewhat hesitant to make them...thinking that perhaps my skill level wasn't up to the task. If I had taken the time to read the pattern, I would have made a few pair by now. I can say that there is a thrill to completing one round of repeats with the anticipation of the next that comes along with knitting these socks. Thanks Cookie A and Knitty for a great pattern!

After over a month of no knitting, I am currently working on multiple projects. Pictures will be posted soon. Have a good day. If you are in Oklahoma and the surrounding states, BE SAFE!

Monkey See. Monkey Do.

This yarn is Dalegarn Baby Ull. It was purchased for the purpose of dyeing and so, dye -- I did. I used Wilton Icing Colors in Delphinium Blue and Juniper Green. The blue turned out much darker than expected, but I really like how the dye job looks overall.

Before dyeing, I changed the skeins into balls. Once that was done, I combined the yarn into one (so that the stripes could match exactly) and wound it around the footboard posts of my bed. After that, I measured 33 inches for each color and marked it with scrap yarn and began to dye.

I have wanted to make monkey socks for while, and this yarn will be used for them, but I will make the no purl version. The pattern is here. This intended project has been put into my Ravelry queue. Guess I will be mature and finish my mother's socks first. Have a good day.