So…

The owner of Family Pendragon contacted me a while back, asking if I would make her three pairs of socks from her yarn. I agreed, and received the yarn shortly afterwards. The yarn looks really yummy in the skein! I could hardly wait to get started!

The yarn itself is not handspun, and is in fact similar to many other sock yarns that are available places like Etsy - it’s been hand-dyed, but was obviously purchased commercially from somewhere. It’s nice to work with, doesn’t fuzz up, seems like it will wash well, and appears to be a good quality. It’s superwash merino, which is my favorite for socks.

The colors are all very pretty, though I don’t think they’re things I’d choose to purchase for myself. I think my favorite is the top pair (red and peach), though I would never wear them because I have nothing in my wardrobe that would be complimentary. (That pair was knit with the Socks 101 guide from Knitty.)

The pair directly above (pastels) was my first pair of socks knit entirely without a pattern! I’m actually pretty proud of myself. I remembered enough of the guidelines from the Knitty Socks 101 guide, and just went with it. I really like this color scheme, too - for someone else. I’m not much of a pastels girl.

And, to be truthful, I don’t like this pair at all. There is too much going on there. Too many colors. But keep in mind, I’m not a multi-color girl, either.

I will say that after three pairs of socks in a row, I need a break from socks. I’m glad I did not decide to knit everyone socks for Christmas!!

First up, this totally awesome hat I made for Randy. It’s my first project using two-color stranding. I’m very very pleased with how it turned out, and I think he likes it, too. The pattern is Xs and Os by Elinor Brown. The yarns are Alpaca With A Twist’s Baby Twist in Charcoal, and Camel yarn by Nomad Yarns. Camel is remarkably soft - much softer than I would have ever dreamed.

So after I finished the hat, Randy asked if I could make him a pair of matching fingerless mitts. Ha. Well, I’ll have to get more yarn…

And next, the first of three pairs of socks for an Etsy customer. This woman asked me to knit her three pairs of socks using yarn she had dyed, to check to see how it looks when knit up into socks. The yarn on the skeins looks completely yummy. I’m not entirely sure I like how this first pair turned out - the colors just aren’t me, I guess. The pattern’s a bit strange, too - the sock foot looks completely monster. But - I tried them on, and they fit just fine. The pattern is Africa’s Socks. More about the yarn in a wee bit.

All of my nieces are in dance classes, so this year for Christmas, I decided to make them things that might be useful for their classes. I decided to start with knit legwarmers for two of the girls. Quick, easy, and useful. Each of these projects were about 4 days, all told. And woot!! That’s at least a start on the Christmas crafting!!

The top pair (the brown ones) were knit with Lion Brand Wool-Ease. It’s washable, and it’s at least part wool. The pattern is “Flared Legwarmers” by Desiree Pelletier. The bottom pair (the purple ones) were knit with Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Superwash. The pattern is Winter Legs by Rebecca Velasquez.

This can’t get much easier, really.

You’ll need:

Yarn. Any weight. Less than 1 ball, typically.
Needles, double-points, appropriately sized to your yarn.

1. Swatch your yarn with your chosen needles. Make a 2 inch square.

2. Count how many stitches you have in one inch.

3. Measure around your baby or child’s thigh. Subtract 1/2 or 1 inch.

4. Do some math. (stitches per inch) x (inches around thigh - 1/2-1 inch for ease)
Example: My yarn gets 10 stitches per inch, and my baby’s thigh is 9 inches around. After I subtract 1/2 inch, I have 8.5 inches times 10. I get 85.)

5. Cast on the number of stitches you got in step #4. Join in the round. Of course, don’t twist your stitches.

6. Make ribbing for an inch. You can do whatever ribbing you want. k1p1, k2p1, k2p2, k3p1, whatever.

7. After that inch, you have a decision to make. You can make the body of the legwarmers in stockinette (knit every round), or you can make the body of the legwarmers in the ribbing pattern you started with.

8. If you opted to knit the body of the legwarmers in stockinette, keep knitting until your legwarmers are one inch shorter than you want them to be. Then knit another inch of ribbing.

If you opted to knit the body of the legwarmers in ribbing, keep knitting until your legwarmers are the length you want them to be.

9. Cast off. Choose one of the stretchy cast-offs here. I prefer Elizabeth Zimmerman’s sewn cast-off.

10. Make another one.

Do you crochet? Adapt this pattern to crochet by swatching in whatever crochet stitch you think would work best for your legwarmers. I don’t crochet, and I have no idea what would work, but if you DO crochet, you ought to be able to figure something out, I would think.

Hat to match her mittens

Alright, so I made another pair of longies. Actually, I started these when we were on vacation in July, and then hibernated them for a bit while I waited for another skein of yarn - this particular pattern just EATS up yarn. It’s the Itchy Fingers pattern, which I’ve used once before. Both times, even though I follow her directions as far as measuring, etc., the end result is really kind of big. I felted these down a bit, but they’re still really roomy.

The yarn is Philosopher’s Wool. (Well, the brown is just leftover Paton’s Classic Wool.) I love this stuff. It’s got some lanolin left in it, plus it’s just kind of yummy. You can see that it kind of fuzzed up on me when I washed it - I should’ve turned it inside out, but I forgot.

I improvised the design on the legs. I knew my next project to cast on was going to be a hat for Randy in stranded two-color work, which I’ve never done, and I wanted the practice. Happily, the stranding turned out to be much easier than I realized.

I only took a washcloth, as my other project at that time was a bit bulky to drag to the game, but it was nice to have a chance to enjoy a game with a sleeping baby and be able to get some knitting done.

Ok, I seriously LOVE the felted DNA. I hate the way acrylic feels, but wool feels so, so nice. I’ve never felted anything stuffed before, but it worked out. I just lightly stuffed it, and then kept rearranging the stuffing during the felting process to keep it even and lump-free. Awesome.

I hate to admit it, but I’ve started the winter knitting.

Wally’s mittens are just a variegated blue wool. Simple. They knit up pretty fast. I made a long crochet chain to fasten them together so they don’t get lost.

Genna’s mittens are pink and brown. Also fast. Faster, of course, since they were smaller. Same crochet chain to fasten them together.

Both knit with just leftovers - unlabeled, but in the Superwash Leftovers bag, so they should be OK in the laundry - using the mittens pattern on this page from Sandy’s Needle Nook.

Wally doesn’t need a hat - the hat he’s been wearing for the last 2 years still fits him. Genna kind of needs a hat. She has three, but only one of those has a tie under the chin, which she definitely needs. The one with the tie is the Yoda hat.

Randy gets a hat. It’s double knit. I’m scared to start it, lol.

Alright, I’m pretty disappointed with the DNA. It’s HUGE. It’s just…. too big. I should have made it from wool and felted it. In fact, that’s what I’m doing right now. I’m making a second one from wool and I’m going to felt it. I’ll like it much better. I hate acrylic yarn anyway.  Anyone want a giant acrylic DNA?