Just in time for next Halloween

I finished the Halloween socks on Sunday.



I wore them to school on Tuesday. I wanted to wear them to play the organ for convo but they were just a little too thick for my organ shoes so I had to go with basic black.


These aren't the leg hairs you're looking for. Move along.

The bobbles around the top are knitted on every other knit rib, increasing to five stitches by knitting in front and back of the stitch, then knitting five rows in stockinette, and then decreasing down to one stitch again. For this decrease I slipped one, k2 tog, passed the slip stitch over, k2 tbl, passed the slip stitch over again. The only tricky bit was what to anchor the bobble to. I decided to grab a stitch from the row below on the inside of the sock and knit the bobble stitch together with this picked up stitch. It seems to work fine.

I have Halloween knitting

There is something about the changing colors of autumn that makes me want to knit orange things.

I knitted a scarf


yarn: Zitron Trekking Tweed in "Casablanca" handpainted by Zauberglöckchen
--how does she do that, hand-dye a ball of yarn so the color changes
go from one end to the other without repeating?
pattern: Windsbraut Wintersturm from Klabauterwolle

and am still knitting socks.


yarn: Djinni in "Pumpkin King" from Dragonfly Fibers;
pattern: KawKawEsque by Yarnissima


The scarf is itchy, but hey, that's what turtlenecks are for. I'm knitting another Windsbraut in a silk blend. Should be more comfy. These little lace projects from Moni at Klabauterwolle are working out well for Miss ADHD here.

I will see if I have time to put little bobbles around the top of the sock this afternoon. In the meantime:

Happy Halloween!

I see too many holes

I have run into a problem with my beaded gloves.


Eve pattern by Julia Mueller (not available yet); Wollmeise in Jultomte

It's that line of holes running through the diagonal design. They happen when a right-leaning decrease (k2tog) is right next to a left-twisted stitch (ktbl). Other people knitting the design are getting them too, but mine are more noticeable.

Diagnosis: The knitting is too stretched becase my glove is too tight.

Treatment: Start over with the next size bigger needle--or the next size up in the glove. I kind of like the dense gauge, so the bigger size might be my answer.

I don't have all that much time to knit since I am taking classes this fall and practicing the organ more. It's sad to have a project crash and burn.

I try beading with dental floss

When I knitted Roxie this spring


Roxie by Lisa Grossman

I could not figure out the Tsarina's instructions for using dental floss as a beading tool. I put in all these stacks of beads one by one with a crochet hook.



Then someone on the Tsock Flock Ravelry group explained it a different way, and I got it. It goes like this.

First you need Oral B Superfloss.



This stuff has a a stiff nylon end intended for threading through braces or other dental obstructions while flossing. However, it also works as a beading needle.

When you string beads on it, they stay on because the middle section of the floss is puffy; it scrooches down as you slide the bead on, but then expands so it won't slide off.



Once you have a bead or two strung on, you put the stiff end of the superfloss through the stitch.



Fold the tip back so that you can slide a bead down over it like this:



Now pull the stitch off the needle using the loop for traction.



Slide the stitch from the floss loop to the stitch loop. Some beads are smaller than other, so if the bead won't go, you can just take it off the loop and try again with the next bead.



The bead can be put on before or after the stitch has been knitted. In Roxie the beads were put on after the stitch was knitted. In this swatch, the bead on the right was put on before the stitch was knitted, and the remaining bead was put on afterwards. They seem equally secure, but you would need to decide which method to use before starting and stick with it.

What I bought

This is what I bought when I had to reset the "not buying yarn counter":


Wollmeise: Top, Raku Regenbogen
Bottom, Arlene

I have wanted Raku Regenbogen ever since Claudia invented it, but for some reason it has been hard to find. And Arlene is named after the person I test-knitted for this spring, so of course I had to have it. Sadly my photo does not capture the real colors. It is brown and purple, not blue.

This came in today's mail, the result of a happy trade:


Bugga! in Buffalo Treehopper (left) and Goldenrod Crab Spider

I really like getting yarn in the mail; but getting it less often makes it more special somehow :)

Upcoming activities:

Thursday: picking up mom in Pocatello for a visit over Labor Day weekend.

Friday: taking mom to her uncle's funeral in central Utah--he was 90.

Saturday: making cinnamon rolls, one of mom's specialties.

Sunday: Wee I's blessing at church (like a christening).

Monday: taking a day off to relax.

Tuesday: taking mom back to Pocatello, where Robin will meet her and take her home.

Wish us luck.