Socktober, the end of the month

Well, it's the end of Socktober. I wanted to post a NICE picture of the finished baby socks, but the daylight savings time light is not cooperating, they come out too green. So...just wait... when I have more light I will post the finished socks.

Socktober was a fun knitalong, even if I didn't get around to adding the button to my sidebar. I finished the baby socks. I used it as an excuse to start back on my mother's Christmas socks (although I don't know how long to make them!) and pick up socks I started last Socktober and almost finished (but the yarn got tangled)... I am in the foot part of the second sock. I also did a lot of thinking about socks. Somehow, my interest in socks has gotten re-sparked. I have some pretty Opal yarn I want to make picot-topped socks for myself with. I want to make some knee socks for myself from the Selbustrikk book, after making the baby socks. And Ingi needs some new cashmere socks... so it looks like I may end up with socks as a permanent bus project from now on. So people can say, "What are you making now?" and I can say "More socks."

Pictures next time....

My sweater dilemma

So, the finishing instructions on this sweater are not that detailed.... I feel like I am missing something. Basically it says to start at the open end and knit back and forth for 2,5 cm. So I have this neckband that is open at one side. Then it tells you to pick up and knit a button band, and the buttons go on the back side of the sweater.

But.... doesn't it look weird? Is it just the lack of baby inside the sweater that makes it look weird? That neck is really bothering me. It just looks strange.

So... do I leave it alone, finish sewing in the ends and sleeves? Or do I do something different with this neck thing? And if so, what? I want to hurry up and finish so I can send it off to Iceland.

More knitting than blogging time

Somehow I am finding time to knit and not to blog lately. A lot of it is not finding time to take pictures. And the fact that I am taking the bus to work. I was so happy to be on the bus today because there was some big accident, so I pretty much finished Ingi's scarf and ended up reading the Nick Cave bio that was in my bag on the way home, because I ran out of knitting.

It got really cold last Saturday, so in addition to finishing his hat:


I decided to make myself a headband thing to keep my ears warm (I hate wearing hats most of the time, although I'd love a Fay Wray style one)


The headband is a free pattern at Garnstudio. You can get it in Swedish or Danish too, if the Norwegian is hard to follow. I was so happy because I shopped my leftover yarn stash for some Brown Sheep Lambs Pride yarn (and purple even!) so it was a completely free headband. And it was fun and easy to make.

Now I have a dilemma with that baby sweater which I have to solve soon, I will post pics of that and explain later. She will be induced Monday if he isn't born by then.

Islendingurinn minn er með ofnæmi fyrir ull

My Icelander is allergic to wool. There is some funny irony in that.

Anyway, he needed a hat and a scarf. I figured, ugh, I have to knit with acrylic, but I love him, so it's OK. I asked, so what kind of yarn do you want me to get? Not acrylic, he says, yuck. Definitely cotton. So I called up the LYS and got some Blue Sky cotton yarn in black and white to make a hat. I used one of the free online Garnstudio patterns for a similar weight yarn, and it came out really nice. (No pictures, I just finished it). The only problem is it is maybe a little big. So we may wash it first. It's my own fault, for not measuring ahead. (I DID do a gauge swatch, though.) But I love this yarn. It is really soft, and works up fast. I want to make a sweater with it for myself. It's a little pricey for a sweater. But it's great for small projects like this.

Then we went to Michaels to return a thingie we got to stack the cakes with that we didn't end up using because the chocolate cake would have sunk into the vanilla cake (the big one in the picture). So we perused the yarn there, and we found some decent acrylics. We ended up getting Patons Rumor, which is an alpaca acrylic blend (apparently alpacas are usually fine for people with wool allergies, and he does OK with cashmere so we should be fine), for the scarf, in a colourway called Spanish Heather.

Here's what that looks like so far (not a very exciting project!)


The baby for whom the bear sweater is intended was due to come today. I have to finish that sweater. I cut the armholes open last night but I need to knit the neck band first before sewing in the arms. I wanted to use a small circular needle instead of sock needles (too awkward) but nobody near me wants to carry small circular needles! LYS#1 only has 3,5 mm ones. Michaels doesn't get smaller than say 5mm! So I may try one other place, but I had better hurry. I wanted to mail her gifts before the baby came. Luckily, I always knit baby gifts at bigger than newborn size (because I don't work well under pressure. Or maybe I work too well under pressure.)

Nokkrar Brúðskaupsmyndir

I still haven't gotten my stepfather's, which I am sure are lovely. But here are a few (I put them into Flickr so if you click the top one you can go to my Flickr page and see them). I'll add my stepfather's later so you can check back at Flickr. So here follows my long wedding post. :)







I took off the day before the wedding from work, and went with my friend Rená to the florist to pick out flowers for the church and for my bouquet. I knew exactly what sort of roses I wanted, the slightly ivory shade ones that sometimes have a touch of pink and which are very common for weddings. Well, we went to three florists looking for them (because stupid me didn't order them ahead). The third had them but wanted $75 a dozen! So I decided to wait until we bought the food at Whole Foods, and just got church flowers. I was in tears by the time I got home, because here it was the morning before the wedding, and I had no bouquet.

So Ingimar and his mom and I went to Whole Foods to get our food. We were making pork tenderloin wrapped in puff pastry (I don't much like pork, but she made this for me in Iceland and it is just wonderful) and roast beef, and assorted fancy cheeses and crackers, and couscous salad with cranberries, oranges, and pecans, and a regular salad, and my aunt was bringing some more vegetarian food. My mother-in-law fell in love with Whole Foods, it's just such a nice supermarket. And since the puff pastry came in packages that were different than the ones she was used to, the girl let us open a package to check the size of the sheet AND said "Oh, you don't have to take the open package." And as we were walking around, what did I see but THE roses I wanted ON SALE for $9.99! (I was so glad I hadn't bought those $75 ones). So we bought all our food and went back to the house to finish cleaning and ironing napkins and bring the dog to the vet to be boarded for the weekend and all the other preparatory things.

We then went to the church to go through everything ahead of time so everyone knew where to be when, and Ingi and I stayed so I could do the altar arrangements. I am so glad he had stayed, because they were in these giant brass vases where I stuck flower dishes on the top to arrange in, and right when I was about to put them onto the altar I discovered I had arranged one with the front of the vase turned to the side (they were monogrammed). So he helped me rotate and re-secure my arrangement, we put them up on the altar and went back home for the reheated kjötsúpa that I had made the other night to feed everyone after. Well, when I got back we decided we didn't have enough room in the fridge for all the wedding food, so out I went again (starving) to bring extra food like jams and whatnot to my friend's fridge to store for a few days. I finally got home and we stayed up late once again doing who knows what to make the house look beautiful, like I decorated the food table with pink tulle and artificial roses, and put out the napkins tied in pink ribbons, and so on.

The morning of the wedding, Ingi's niece Elísa, my mother-in-law, and I went to get our hair done. So he was left behind to roll out puff pastry and make salad with my mother while we were being girly. We picked up the cakes (there was a small chocolate one too that didn't make the photo) and the bread rolls, and I was amazed at what a great price they cost. I knew I wanted to use this particular bakery because they are the only bakery near me that makes good cakes, so I hadn't asked the price ahead of time.

Then I did my makeup and went off to the church to get dressed. On the way I remembered I had left my bouquet at home, so I called the guys and asked them to bring them (they were delivered by one of the kids to me at the church). Other than forgetting my bouquet, the service went beautifully. My mother did a bible reading in English and my mother-in-law did a bible reading in Icelandic, and we had great music that we had selected with the organist, and it was just wonderful. Then we went off to have our photos taken at the picture studio (and those came out really nice, we saw them yesterday, but I don't think we get electronic ones) and then we came back to the house for the party. We were pretty hungry at this point, so I got a little stressed over wanting to make sure we had our Veuve Clicquot for the toast (we splurged on a special bottle of champagne for the two of us, since I never get to have fancy champagne), and making sure everything was where it was supposed to be, but I managed to get some crackers and cheese, and everything was fine. The meal was (as expected with my mother-in-law cooking) wonderful, and everyone told me they had a great time. After things wound down, Ingi and I went off to stay in an Inn in Northampton, Massachusetts, which is a small town that has a fun city centre. Then the next daz we took a drive around Western Mass to a town called Shelburne Falls, which is just lovely. And then it was back home that night, since I had to go back to work on Monday, and we still had our houseguests anyway. All-in-all, it was just great.

Socktober

(We interrupt this waiting for wedding pictures to bring you a knitting content post.)
I decided to join the Socktober knitalong, because I have to get back to my mother's Christmas socks, and I have these baby socks I started for my sister-in-law (see below for the socks).

So, I thought I'd answer a few questions from the knitalong:
When did you start making socks? Did you teach yourself or were you taught by a friend or relative? or in a class?
I honestly have no idea when. It was at least a few years ago. Probably 4 or 5. There was a pattern for striped socks in an issue of Knitters (I think the issue was from 2001, so maybe that's about when) and I thought, I can make that. So I did.

What was your first pair? How have they "held up" over time?
Stripey green and grey socks in Lion's Brand Woolease. I have no idea how they held up, I gave them away.

What would you have done differently?
Keep them. And make a prettier colour arrangement. ;) And not use acrylic-blend yarn.

What yarns have you particularly enjoyed?
I am an anomaly in that I don't like sock yarn. I don't like knitting on small needles. My favourite sock yarn was assorted worsted-weight mohair blend yarn from Green Mountain Spinnery in VT. Those were fun to make, and pretty, and comfortable. They are in my basket to be fixed, though, because the heel did not hold up. I also made socks for my mom in some pretty worsted wool black heathery yarn.

Do you like to crochet your socks? or knit them on DPNs, 2 circulars, or using the Magic Loop method?
Knit on DPNs, preferably 5 if I don't lose one. I find the 2 circular thing to be irritating, although it does seem faster. (See below for more on circulars.)

Which kind of heel do you prefer? (flap? or short-row?)
Oh, flap, definitely. The only short-row heels I made ended up with holes along the diagonal. Maybe I should try it again sometime.

How many pairs have you made?
I think I have 4 that I kept, and 3 that I gave away. This doesn't include failed sock experiments (or abandoned sock experiments): My first 2-colour design socks that I knit way too tight and can't put on my foot. (Some day I will rip those and start again). A pair of 2 circular socks in which one sock is done and I got bored and stole the Addis from the second sock for some other projects. Yeah, I should finish those some day. Highland dance socks (beautiful Argyles) in which I realised after knitting the complicated part that those socks would only fit a 4-year old. (Pattern did not specify measurements). A pair of tweed-looking Shetland yarn socks where something happened to the wool in storage (moths? who knows) and it got really brittle, so I was afraid finishing them would have been a waste of time, which is a shame because they were lovely colours. Oh and socks I started last fall and really need to finish, those are lovely black and purple with a flower on the cuff. Maybe I will go back to them after I finish the ones I started for my mother.

So...now for the socks-in-progress. I will try to take a picture of the pair during the day, so the shade of blue comes out right. It's a really lovely blue. I told him "Buy me some blue yarn at that store near 10-11, not too light or too dark" and he picked the absolutely most beautiful shade.


The pattern is from Selbustrikk. I decided to make them blue and white instead of the traditional black and white, and I really like it like this. The yarn is Lanett.

We got an old Cadillac, well really it's Ingimar's dad's car but we are holding onto it and can use it until eventually we send it over. Well, the Dadillac is off to a bad start. Ingi replaced the battery and then weird electrical smoke was coming out of the dash. Now he managed to lock the keys into the trunk while looking at the fuse box.

OK, OK, some progress pictures

So, as promised (although somewhat late) here are a few pictures (no wedding pictures yet, I am waiting for my stepfather to email me the ones he took).

Here is the front hall. Doesn't it look nice? The bannister is finally dry, I have NO idea what was up with that.


And here is Hálfskák. I am most likely the world's slowest crocheter. At least I am past the half way point. My crochet hook broke on the bus this morning (while I was using it). Small wooden crochet hooks are about as bad an idea as small wooden sock needles.


All the houseguests are back in Iceland now. It's kind of weird, not having a house full of people. Should I put wedding stories with the pictures when I post them?