Return of knitting talk

The past week has been busy and filled with many emotions. We had to deal with the loss of Mom and all the things that accompany it: notifying people, planning the services, hosting my brother and SIL at my house, seeing friends and family I haven't seen for MANY years, helping Dad to understand what happened, packing up her apartment, and oh so many things. Before anyone worries - I'm doing great. Mom had a good, long life and she's busy celebrating with God. You can't ask for more than that.

One person I saw that totally surprised me was Vivian Skoog. She was the owner of the Yarn Shed for many years and the person who is responsible for heading me down the path of knitting that I took. There's so much to tell about her I'll save it for another post. But - it was so wonderful to see her and I'm incredibly grateful she came to the services.

While Mom was in ER and later in the hospital I always had knitting with me. The socks below are what I worked on most often. They are Opal and a simple garter rib - my favorite for simple socks. I'll give you more details when I get them completed.

There was other knitting in the evenings and some crocheting. I made another Rust Goes Green market bag. This one was made from Sugar n Cream cotton - 3 balls of 3 different colors.

The base and bottom third is a beige/white combination. The middle is a beige/white/green combination and the top is a white/green combination. I thought changing the colorways like this would be fun and I was right. I like the way to turned out. Of course, as usual, I still need to sew on a button.
Other knitting that took place the past week was the "Socks that will not get finished". Not their real name but more an attitude I had about these. I started these socks back before Christmas for my SIL who is a fire captain (stop me if you've heard this story before). Anyway - she requested tall basic socks for under her fire boots. Tall to help prevent boot chafing. I ended up getting Maizy because the corn fiber is supposed to wick away the sweat. These socks took 3 balls.

I started at the toes and did my basic sock.For the body I decided on a 3x1 rib. Once I got up a bit on the leg I started adding a few stitches by making the back ribs 4x1. Every 10 rows I'd add and couple stitched until all the back ribs were 4x1. Once I used up and entire balls and started the second ball (each sock 1 1/2 balls) I started to decrease back down to 3x1 ribs the same way. This gives a little extra width for the calf but make the top tight enough to stay on.

The last 2 1/2 inches were 2x2 rib to help pull it in. You may notice the yarn look a little squishy. It looks like it is 3 plies with each ply being 3 plies. The strands are not totally even which gives is a bit more texture. I did have a small problem with splitting not it wasn't too bad.

I'd make another pair of socks out of this yarn but 2 things would change. I'd pick a color that I liked and I'd make them shorter out of a pattern that wasn't so boring!

Currently I'm working on the bag I said I'd design in honor of Mom. It's looking pretty good and I can't wait to be able to show you!

Rust Goes Green

Every once in a while I dig into the 20 year stash and pull out a half knit items or some yarn and figure out how to get this thing out of my life! This last week I dug into it and found 3 balls of rust colored Sugar 'n Cream cotton yarn. I thought it would make a fairly nice reusable market bag. I wanted a bag with a solid bottom for strength and somewhat open sides (to save on yarn). It should have handles that are sturdy and comfortable to carry. Finally, knowing that the top would like to stretch open, I decided it should have a closure that wouldn't be in the way when not needed.

Here's what I came up with -

I made a couple solid bands on the top for extra strength. It still needs a button for the loop closure on the top but, I'm pleased with it.

I also kept crocheting rounds until I was done with 2 balls then stopped to make the handles. After that I just kept going on the bag until I was out of yarn. I ended up with about 8 inches when all was done. That should be about enough to sew in a button.

I'll be working on writing up the pattern over the next couple weeks. I have a few people testing the basic pattern before I rewrite a final version.

So, now I have a reusable market bag that used up 20 year old yarn and in the process I found out that Rust can indeed go green.