Off and on the needles

Happy Easter to those who celebrate it. And to those who don't a very Happy Sunday to you also.

We're off to my in-laws today where they are having a crowd of people. This is the take along I've made, an Orange Dreamsicle Cake from one of my favorite baking books The Cake Mix Doctor. For my foodie friends-if you have not checked out this book you should. I've had it for years and have yet to make a bad cake from it. With hits like "The Coca Cola Cake" and "Mississippi Mud Cake" no, it's not high culinary culture or something you'd want to make your wedding cake from. But everything is a crowd pleaser, and with the cake-mix doctoring methods, a lot of time it's like mix it up, bake it, frost/glaze/ice it and go.

While I don't have good easter egg or candy pictures to show you, I do have a good picture of some easter egg colored socks.

Pattern: Jaywalker Socks by Grumperina

Yarn: Trekking XXL and then leftover Kroy socks when I ran out of the Trekking

Modifications: Obviously there's the different colored toe-thing which was completely unintentional. I also made the heel flap a few stitches deeper-and they're still pretty snug.

What I think: At the moment I’m just glad these are done. Running out of yarn wasn’t the only issue at the end, somehow when I decreased & went to kitchner the toe I had more stitches on one needle than the other. Sorrowfully frustrated at that point I honestly just divided them evenly between the needles and grafted away.

Here is my thing-people shouldn’t complain about public television. They shouldn’t complain about the free samples in the grocery store or free knitting patterns on the internet. They’re FREE after all. We pay nothing for them. If you don’t like it don’t partake. That said I will now contradict myself and probably come out sounding like a total hypocrite. I have noticed some times there is a difference between that free stuff and the stuff you pay for. I don’t know why I had so much trouble with these socks. Maybe it was me, frogging this so many times in the beginning was hard. Definitely somewhat my fault-I chose to do a 'gauge sock' instead of a 'gauge swatch'. But still, the un-stretchiness of the sock completely surprised me and was difficult to work around. I just feel like I’m a little spoiled I guess. I’m used to getting my needles, getting my yarn, getting a pattern, and sitting down and knitting a pair of socks. At one point when I was knitting these I was whining about this to a friend who said "Yes, but now that you've frogged the socks, now you know what you're doing." And I continued to whine still more saying "Yes but I thought I knew what I was doing before I started them..." That said will I knit these socks again? Maybe. Someday. I do really like how they look. I like it that the stitch pattern was easy to memorize. After I had my sizing issues though, I’m wary to make them for another person as a gift. And there are already many more patterns in line I’m ready to try and I'm going to have to start my Christmas sock gift knitting sometime.

Cast on cast off, cast on cast off. Cast on is the Cloverleaf Mitts in Misti Alpaca, just ready for me to pick up the thumb stitches and finish it off.


I had bought the yarn for the Anemoi mittens in grey and green. It was a bad purchase. Not only is it almost impossible to tell the difference between the colors in anything less than perfect sunlight, I somehow managed to get 2 balls of sportweight in gray, one ball of sportweight in green, and one ball of worsted in green. Duh.

I came upon Knitspot when I noticed the Yarn Harlot knitting their pattern for the Delicato Mitts. Anne's catalog has lots of cute patterns for mitts that don't take a lot of yarn. Perfect for using up stash, and if you buy patterns from her you get the gratification of buying something knitting-related for yourself without adding to the stash too. The patterns are clear, well written and the photos are great. Again-possibly the big difference between some free patterns and the patterns you pay for. The Cloverleaf Mitts pattern is wordy. It is wordy and it is detailed. And that is wonderful-they’ve really gone above and beyond anticipating any confusion I might have along the way. And I think so far the mitt is looking great, I would really recommend purchasing this pattern!