Are you Ready for 2016?

Hi everyone......Can you believe that 2016 is just a few days away?  I hope you had a fabulous Christmas, I know I did!  I will share some pictures at the end of this post.

Fair warning...this post will have lots of pictures!

Okay....lets start with something super exciting for me.....I think most of you know I have a few patterns here on my blog that are free.  Well one lady made my Toe Up Double Gusset On the Bottom Sock pattern and she tagged me on Instagram!  I know, that is probably not very exiting for you, but it is super exciting for me.  That pattern has had almost 7,000 hits and there are 62 projects....so for little ole me...that is a pretty big deal!

Okay, on to the knitting.....let me start with stash enhancements...I got the yarn for the Converse socks/slippers I am going to make my aunt that I told you about last week...now from the black and white, only 1/2 the skein is mine because I am splitting them with Darlene.

Then,  one of my LYS was having a sale before inventory and my friend was going there...she picked me up a skein of black sock yarn by Vice....it is their Paradigm and it is 150 grams and 500 yards....I am always wearing black, so I can always use this as a contrast in socks or in a shawl or anything!

It was $21.88 on sale from $31.25 but there was another percentage off and it came out to $15....you cannot beat that!

I also got a rock....Yup, a rock.  The same lady that crocheted the hippos for me and Darlene showed me a picture of this smooth rock that she crocheted around...I loved it, so I bought it from her...it will be a paperweight in my office....I really love it!

Lastly, I got this awesome cowl/wrap from a great friend in Indiana...it has the cutest Dachshunds on it...her name is Shawna aka KNIT4BEER....Darlene, Shawna and I are like the 3 crazy Musketeers....so like the 3 stooges!  Thank you Shawna!

Okay....on to the knitting

I finished the socks for my niece!

I also finished the last project for my Loopy Academy 1st semester of my Sophomore Year....the Smushion pillow:

Then, I worked on Chris' socks....now these socks started because of a pair of black socks I made like this for Paige....now that I am making the grey for Chris.....Paige says now she wants a pair in grey too....so I will start another pair soon...not sure when as I have lots going on...but soon.

I think that is it on the knitting front....I have lots going on and I know I will be casting on lots in the new year.

1.  mitts for my cousin in Germany
2.  mitts for Antonio in rainbow color
3.  DVD sock of the month (I will use the Flintstones colorway)
4. the Karee Shawl...this will be a KAL in the Bags by AwesomeGrannie ravelry group
5. the grey socks for Paige.

I think 2016 will be a big sock year for me!

Speaking of socks....I wanted to share a picture of my sister's socks....meaning my sister is knitting these socks!  I knitted the toes for her, but you can see she has almost one one stripe on her own.

Now that we are saying good bye to 2015, I wanted to check on my goals....all in all, I pretty much sucked at meeting my goals, but as my MAIN goal for 2015...I met it.  The goal was to knit more than I did in 2014 and I did that.  I knit 10.1 miles in 2014 and I have already knit 11.2 miles this year and that does not count Chris's socks or the yardage I have done on the Doodler (that I still want to finish).....so my goal for 2016 will be the same...to knit more than 2015...we will see if I can do it!

Okay.....Here is your picture overload from the holidays!  I did not get to see Alexxis or Baby Mario, but I saw the other grand kids!

Antonio spent the night with me Wednesday evening...and I woke up to him telling me he loved me....so sweet!

My Nephew and Niece, Sean and Grace:

My beautiful daughter, Paige:

Celeste:

Cataleya (with Precious and Baby too):

Antonio:

Happy New Year and Happy Happy Knitting Everyone!

Double Gusset on Bottom - Toe up pattern, Perfect for Self Striping Yarn

I had been hearing a lot about TurtleGirl76's Double Gusset heel tutorial.  I wanted to try it toe up so when I use self striping yarn, I can do a toe up sock and just keep knitting to use all my yarn.  So, I made a toe up pattern with the double gusset at the bottom of the foot....I hope you love it as much as I do and thanks to TurtleGirl for the awesome tutorial cuff down!

Double Gusset on Bottom Toe Up Sock Pattern (Perfect for Self Striping Yarn)

Supplies:

100 grams Sock Yarn

Size US#2 (2.75mm) needles (or size necessary to obtain gauge of 9 stitches = 1”)

Knitting needles 2 sizes larger to bind off with.

Abbreviations

k – knit

p – purl

pm - place marker

sm - slip marker

tbl – thru the back loop

p2tog – purl 2 together

ssk – slip 1 knit wise, slip 1 knit wise, put them both back on left needle and knit tbl (thru back loop)

k2togfb – knit 2 stitches together from the front but do not drop those stitches off needle, then knit same 2 together thru the back loop to create second stitch.  Now drop the 2 stitches knit into off the needle.

M1L – Insert left needle under the strand of yarn that runs between the stitch just worked and the next stitch from front to back, now knit the stitch into the back.

M1R – Insert the left needle under the strand of yarn that runs between the stitch you just worked and the next stitch from beck to front, now knit the stitch into the front.

Sizes S (M, L)

Cast on 24 stitches using Judy’s Magic Cast on with 12 stitches on each needle…. After cast on, k all stitches once.  According to Judy’s Magic Cast on, the second needle of stitches should be knit thru the back loop.  I am not sure what I do wrong with my cast on, but I do not do this because it actually twists my stitches, so do this first round whichever way your stitches look best to you.

This pattern is written out as if you were using magic loop with 2 needles.  It can easily be converted for DPN’s or 9” circular.

Increases:

Round 1:               Needle 1: k1, M1L, knit to last stitch on needle, M1R, k1;

    Needle 2: k1, M1L, knit to last stitch on needle, M1R, k1

Round 2:               Knit all stitches

Repeat rounds 1 and 2 till toe reaches 56 (64, 72) stitches;  28 (32, 36) on each needle.

Knit in round until sock is approx. 3 1/2” less than desired length.

We will start increasing for the first gusset now.  Since we want the gusset on the bottom we need to place some markers in this next round.  You will place markers and remove them 3 times…..

Next round

Needle 1 will be the instep stitches and the stitch count will not change, knit all stitches.

Needle 2 will be where we work the gusset and the heel, k13 (15, 17), pm, M1L, k2, M1R, pm, k13 (15, 17).

Increase rounds

Round 1:               Needle 1: knit all stitches

    Needle 2: knit to marker, sm, M1L, knit to marker, M1R, sm, knit to end of row

Round 2:               Needle 1: knit all stitches

    Needle 2: knit all stitches

Repeat rounds 1 and 2 above until there are 38 (42, 46) stitches on Needle 2. **You can remove your stitch markers on Round 2 of your last increase, you will need them again in the next round.

Next round

Needle 1: knit all stitches

Needle 2: knit k18 (20, 22), pm, M1L, k2, M1R, pm, k18 (20, 22).

Increase rounds

Round 1:               Needle 1: knit all stitches

    Needle 2: knit to marker, sm, M1L, knit to marker, M1R, sm, knit to end of row

Round 2:               Needle 1: knit all stitches

    Needle 2: knit all stitches

Repeat rounds 1 and 2 above until there are 48 (54, 60) stitches on Needle 2.  **You can remove your stitch markers on Round 2 of your last increase, you will need them again in the next round anymore.

Heel Turn

Knit across Needle 1

For the rest of the Heel Turn you will only be knitting back and forth on Needle 2

Row 1:  k10 (11, 12), pm, k27 (31, 35), sl1, pm on left needle, bring yarn to front, put slipped stitch on left needle, turn work

Row 2:  bring yarn to front, p to 1 st before marker, sl1, put yarn to back, put slipped stitch on left needle, turn work

Row 3:  move yarn to back, k to 3 sts before the last wrapped stitch, sl1, bring yarn to front, put slipped stitch on left needle, turn work

Row 4:  bring yarn to front, p to 3 sts before the last wrapped stitch, sl1, put yarn in back, put slipped stitch on left needle, turn work

Repeat Rows 3 & 4 above until there are 2 (6, 4) unwrapped stitches in the center (end after a purl row…a row 4)

Heel Flap

Still knitting on only Needle 2

Row 21  sl1, k to 1 st before the marker, be sure to work your wraps with their stitches as you go (to do this, you knit the stitch that is wrapped and the yarn that is wrapping it as a k2tog), sl1, remove marker, put slipped stitch on left needle, k this stitch, its wrap, and the next st all together tbl, turn work
Row 2:  p to 1 st before the marker, be sure to work your wraps with their stitches as you go (to do this, you purl the stitch that is wrapped and the yarn that is wrapping it a p2tog), sl1, remove marker, put slipped stitch on left needle, p this stitch, its wrap, and the next st all together, turn work

Row 3:  *sl1, k1* repeat to 1 st before gap (created by the slipped stitches), ssk, turn work

Row 4:  sl1, p to 1 st before gap, p2tog, turn work

 

Repeat Rows 3 & 4 above until all of the stitches on the sides have been worked ending with a purl row.  You should have 28 (32, 36) on Needle 2 once again. 

Knit all stitches across Needle 2 and now you can go back to knitting in the round on both needles.  However, here is a SIDE NOTE:

SIDE NOTE:  I found that just starting to knit in the round created a small hole next to my heel flap so this is what I did for the very next round after your heel flap, I have tried to word it so it is not too confusing:  knit all stitches on needle 1 to the last stitch.  For the last stitch, borrow one stitch from Needle 2 and k2togfb the last stitch from Needle 1 and the first stitch from Needle 2.  Now, take the second stitch created from this k2togfb and put it on Needle 2 to replace the one you borrowed….you are basically making two stitches from two stitches, but the reason for this weird way of doing it, it just so you pull the last stitch from needle 1 and the first stitch from needle 2 together and avoid a hole.

Continue to knit in the round until your sock leg is desired length minus ribbed cuff.

Knit in a *k2, p2* repeat for as long as desired ribbed cuff, bind off with larger needle, weave in ends and love the way this pattern ‘Hugs’ your foot!

Enjoy!!!

Happy Happy Knitting!  I have a friend testing this pattern right now, but if you have any problems, please feel free to tell me...I want to get any errors corrected.

Happy 101 Post....Blogiversary is a coming!!!

This is my 101st post....wow, I cannot believe it.  I looked at the calendar and I am also about to hit my 2 year blogiversary....I am not sure what the technical name is, but I will hit 2 years on June 7th!  Now I am going to have to think of a great prize give away to do or something!  Stay tuned...and better yet, give me some ideas.....what should I do?  A giveaway?

So I think I got a lot of good knitting time in this past weekend....I enjoyed it at least.  I mentioned last week that I started Spire for a new KAL with my SNB group along with the awesome bags that Darlene will gift as a giveaway for that KAL.  I have not gotten too far, but I did get to chart B.

Then I finished the Silver Fern Scarf on Thursday but was not able to block it till Saturday...It is pretty long...after drying it is about 88" long and almost 10" wide....do over 7 feet, it is very nice.

Mid week I hit a bit of a sock kick....I was reading the MustStashPodcast forum on ravelry and SupaSteph has been talking about this double gusset on the bottom of socks that she has been doing lately.  She got the instructions from TurtleGirl's blog....and has talked about how wonderful they are.  Well, I have also been on a self striping yarn kick lately so I wanted to see if I can do the double gusset on the bottom of the foot with a toe up sock (not cuff down) and use up all my awesome self striping yarn.  I think I have figured it out...however, I am not completely done with the sock, and I know this is not self striping yarn...I just wanted to give it a try with the awesome orange yarn Darlene gave me back in February......I am also moving along on Celeste's second sock...I really want to get that one finished too....so this may be a week of socks.

Stay tuned and I may have a pattern written up for you guys soon!

Speaking of socks and self striping yarn....I could not help myself....I got another skein of Stacie's Perfect Sock base yarn in the colorway Happy Snowman.....her shop has an update tonight at 6 pm...check her out...I have heard she will have some awesome self striping rainbow yarn....look at this awesomeness!

During SNB this past Saturday at my house I decided to pull out the Strickmich!Club Package number 2 project and work on it for a while....it is called Samadhi....It kind of got forgotten for a couple of weeks because it does not really have a set deadline......I got about 3 or 4 repeats done.

Then on to the project that sucked up my weekend.....the 12 foot Dr. Who Scarf.....you would think I would be at least a foot or two done.....nope!  I got to the point where the scarf should have been a foot.....and it wasn't...it was barely over 7 inches.

So I cast on another one two needle sizes bigger and when I finished the second color, it should have been 4 3/4" but tit was only 3 1/2" (This means it could have the potential of being 3 1/6' short...yes, I am a math geek)....so I started another one again 2 needle sizes too big and only did 25 rows and when it should have been 3 1/2", it was 3 1/4" so this was the closest.....however, the 3rd one was the most 'hole-y' (is that a word)....more airish and less dense.

I sent a bunch of pictures to my friend to see what she wanted (since the scarf is for her son) and we both agreed on number 2....she wants some denseness, and I think the sheer weight of the completed scarf will make up for the 3 foot shortcoming......I ended up frogging number 1 and 3......then went to end of the second color with number 2.

 So while I should be much farther, I am not.....My nephew has his confirmation this next Saturday, and Saturday is usually one of my biggest knitting days....so I may not get too much knitting done this next weekend, but we will see.......

If you are still reading.....thank you for reading my blog....I really appreciate it!  I had no clue I had hit 100 posts and this is my 101st....and in about 40 days, it will be 2 years since I started the blog.....wow, time does fly!  Now to think of an awesome give away!

Have a great week!

Happy Happy Happy knitting!