Jessimuhka Knits

My sock pal was Rachel. She knit me these great Pomatomus socks.

Thanks Rachel! I hope my sock pal likes the socks I knit her as much as I like these. The fit is great! The yarn is solid Koigu, which has great tone on tone varigation, which makes the pattern really stand out. My string of great luck with secret pals and swaps continues!

On my own knitting front, I've finally picked Rogue back up, and finished half the throat/neck/shoulder.

The reason for picking Rogue back up? I really want to knit a pattern from Big Girl Knits, Curvalicious Cardigan. You can see a picture of it here, third picture down. I'm not going to start any new sweaters until I finish Rogue, so it's time to get moving on it. This sweater uses Calmer, so I'm going to scope out Calmer colors in person this weekend, and maybe buy a ball to swatch with.

Speaking of this weekend, Krys and I are going on a mini yarn crawl, checking out Knitting in La Jolla and Common Threads tomorrow. Yay, pretty!

Posted by Jessimuhka at 04:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Pattern: Embossed Leaves from Winter 05 IK
Yarn: Schaefer Yarns Anne
Needles: US 2 Brittany Birch DPNs

Modifications: I made several modifications to this pattern. For starters, the pattern description claims the socks have a tubular cast on, but the instructions call for a strange cast on that isn't flexible at all. I decided to use a regular long tail cast on. The heel instructions called for cutting the yarn after turning the heel and reattaching, which I didn't do either. It just seemed silly. I also had to rework the toe decreases, as the pattern was dependent on a foot length that wasn't right for my pal. I only put the decorative purl stitches on the top of the toe, so there wouldn't be bumps under her foot.

Overall impressions: I loved the yarn. It was very soft on the skein, and even softer after a washing. (the socks are pictured on my feet pre-blocking, as my pal's feet are slightly smaller than mine and I didn't want to stretch them out after blocking to her size) I was slightly frustrated by the pattern, but am happy with the finished product. If I knit these again for myself, there are even more things I would change. I'm glad to be done well in time to get them sent out on Tuesday. All that's left to do is pick up a San Diego postcard and some nice tissue paper to wrap them in.

Posted by Jessimuhka at 10:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

First off, I finished the Peacock Feathers Shawl last night. It still needs blocking though, so pictures will be coming soon. After I finished it, I really wanted to cast on for another lace shawl (Creatures of the Reef), but instead I sucked it up and picked up my sockapaloooza socks. I finished the second one, and performed major surgery on the first.

When I blocked the first sock on a homemade hanger sock blocker it got these weird brown stains. I'm not going to send someone a pair of socks with mystery brown spots on them, so they had to go.

You can see I ran a lifeline before chopping the toe off. I'm not a *complete* idiot. I also cut a few rows above where I wanted to wind up, so I could pull the sock out stitch by stitch to get it back on the needles.

And we're back in business. Two repeats and a toe to go. I might actually finish early!

Posted by Jessimuhka at 11:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Ok, hat. I knit the Odessa hat last Tuesday and finally got a picture of it last night.

I like it. I wish I'd knit it a bit longer than the pattern called for (5.5" instead of my usual 6" - that will teach me to trust the pattern), but it blocked out alright. The yarn is rediculously soft. I'm sure it's not very hard wearing, but for a hat that should be alright. Knitting with the beads was fun too.

Stats:
Pattern: Odessa, linked above, by Grumperina
Yarn: Rowan Cashsoft DK
Beads: size 6 glass beads from Beverly's
Needles: Clover US4 16" circs for ribbing, Inox US6 DPNs for main hat. I really liked the Inox needles.
Start: Feb 21, 2006
Finished: Feb 21, 2006
No modifications. Oh, and I didn't swatch, because, hey, it's a hat. If it's off, you just rip it out and start over.

Now, socks in progress.

I have issues with how this pattern is written. When I finish, I'll do a whole post on what I did differently, and what else I would modify if I knit them again. They do knit up fast though, as I've only been working on them for 4 days. My sockapaloooza pal has smaller feet tham me, so these should finish up quick too! Hmm, two complete pairs of socks in February? We'll see.

I knit most of the second sock at Kris's, with Miyon, Kristin, Krys, and Marissa. Most of them were working on Olympic Knitting - check out their finished projects, they're great!

Oh, and Krys, ERIS SLEEVES!

Posted by Jessimuhka at 03:53 PM | Permalink

Long time no post. I have a finished hat to share, but need to wait for it to dry and someone to take a picture for me (no bathroom mirror shots here at Jessimuhka Knits). In the meantime, I started my Sockapaloooza socks.

The pattern is Embossed Leaves Socks by Mona Schmidt in the Winter 05 IK. The yarn is Schaefer Anne. So far I'm enjoying them, but just ran into a reading comprehension issue. I skimmed over the pattern (blah, blah, 1x1 twisted rib, 2.5 pattern repeats, OOOOH! CHART!) and jumped right in to following the chart. This picture is how much cuff I thought the pattern said to knit. It looked a little short to me, so I read back to check. That would be *3*.5 pattern repeats, so I still have one to go. Oops. I figure I'll start the heel during the Olympics tonight, if I don't get too caught up playing my own drinking game.

Speaking of the KO drinking game, now that we're nearing the end of the event, there are more chug worthy posts in the Blogosphere than ever. So buy a bottle of your favorite ale, cider, tequila (for you heavy hitters), or gin (for even heavier hitters - or people who really like Christmas) and play along at home for the last 3 days!

edited because I spelled the sock designer's name wrong

Posted by Jessimuhka at 03:52 PM | Permalink