Soup is served - piping hot!

I'm referring to this soup:

Project details:
Socks Pattern: Magknits Jaywalker by Grumperina (except for the toes).
Toes Pattern: Spun Magazine's Geisha sock by Kate Atherley (only the toes).

Yarn: Lang Jawoll Superwash 75% wool, 18% nylon, and 7% acrylic from Yarn Market
Gauge: 38 sts over 4 inches / 10 cm in zigzag pattern stitch, 32 sts over 4 inches / 10 cm in circular stockinette stitch
Needles: 2 of Addi Turbo US #1 circs 16"

What I might want to change the next time I knit this:
- more number of stitches for thumb toe and fewer for the rest of the toes.
- fewer rows in the toe-section for the 4 toes.
- US#0 (a size smaller) for the ribbing and heel flap.

What I like about this pattern: The fit is good and the chevron pattern looks great on socks.

What I dislike about this pattern: For someone with a cranky shoulder, the chevrons in the pattern induce much strain and pain too, need I add? The knitting is slow owing to the chevrons grabbing more rows and stitches than stockinette gauge. The knitting is painful in the increases and the decreases.

Notes on knitting technique: Knitting 2 socks on 2 circs rocks! There is no scope for the second-sock-syndrome, and the symmetry is to die for.

Notes on split toe: I used the instructions of the Geisha socks without tweaking any of it since my gauge matched with that in the pattern. To achieve this with 2 circs, I first moved the non-thumb-toe stitches of both socks onto stitch holders and completed the thumb toes of both. And then I resumed with the other segment of toes.

Goodies

..churned out of the stand mixer. These 'chocolate white chocolate chip cookies' (Ina Garten, Food TV) were baked last weekend:


Rasgullas boiled in rose and cardamom syrup today:



If only I had bought this delightful piece of machinery earlier!

Preview

Thumb toes are ready. Let me get back to knitting up the rest so I can post the completed project. Kicked is not the word!

A soup of 3 ideas

When 3 ideas converge, it can look like this:


A pair of socks jay walking to completion, hand in hand. But wait, a pair? That's the second ingredient here - 2 socks on 2 circs. The third element is the splitting of toe which is designed and will soon be knit in.

Psst: this is my first with any of the above. Is it the first timer's luck that's brought me this far this safe with such an endeavour? I'm excited to find out.

Rose Twilight unveiled

Project details:
Pattern: Original, inspiration derived from 1000 Sweaters, Square Neck Ribbed Sweater for the ribbing pattern, and sleeve designed using the principles from The Advanced Knitting Architect

Yarn: Handpaint Flake Cotton from Just One More Row used in double strand
Gauge: 20 stitches and 24 rows in stockinette per 4"x4"
Needles: US size 5 circs

What I might want to change the next time I knit this: nothing!

What I like about this pattern: A neck reinforced by crochet, the length of the sleeves, the lightweight yarn, the 100% cotton, the ribbing on the sides for clever contour and the color! Love all this! Pictures follow:

waist shaping without shaping waist

A clever way of achieving a contoured waist without using decreases and increases is to have a few columns of rib on the sides. It doesn't show conspicuously from the front and yet, the top looks shapely and un-boxy. Take a look:



The waist of the top was more prominent this morning - this top has taken the wear of a day at work. And it's 100% cotton which explains the stretching.

This is the Rose Twilight - finished, ready to wear and lovely to wear! YAYYYY!!! My first ever knit thingie that I made for myself. This is just so precious!! Have I told you yet how much I love knitting?

I'll post the project details in another post. What I'm most proud about though is the reinforcing of the neck with 2 rows of crochet. No picot, just plain ole crochet. Love how it added to the look.

What a week and a half!!

Wimbledon men's finals was nail biting. I was nervously working on my socks-on-2-circs endeavour, trying to channelize my irritation into creating something. Federer's victory seemed almost apologetic and really the hero in the match was Nadal. He made Federer sweat for the cup alright!

So getting back to my socks, I have a skeleton in the closet. Since then, I've learnt an immense lot on yarn, gauge, needles, techniques, stitch patterns. Heck! The number of cast on methods themselves can throw one in a tizzy, if one were to document all. So when I now took up socks, I did a lot more reading than usual and found this tutorial on knitting 2 socks simultaneously. Seriously, who wouldn't want to complete a pair together? And get them to match row-for-row in pattern and gauge. That's too much of a treat to pass by. I might be talking too soon though - I'm yet to get to the heel maneuver. Well anyway, I'm making a jaywalker pair for my mum-in-law who herself is a knitter. Now, do I need to declare that I love to sink my teeth into a juicy challenge? :)


The July 4th weekend warrants a mention here for many reasons. First, it was my birthday on the 4th. Has anyone noticed how the day of the birthday just flies by? Never mind that you're just lazing, doing nothing - which typically would end up a slow day - it just flies when it's a birthday. When one is already dazed about how quickly a year passed, the day tries to pull a practical joke on you. And gets the last laugh. This birthday, I had to mentally prepare myself for the new number corresponding to the 'Age' field in bureaucratic forms. I had to mentally prepare starting 3 months in advance. Sigh.

Move on girl! My team at work treated me to a Vietnamese feast on the Friday before the 4th. And on the 5th, more friends got together at work and suprised me with a birthday cake. My DH gifted me a stand mixer for my birthday - it had been on my wishlist for a long time. It was put to good use today, to make some whipped eggs for a scrumptuous omelette and also some dough for rotis. I'm a happy girl. Happy happy girl indeed!