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First up, the WONDERFUL cable twist sock. I was inspired by Grumperina to knit this one, although I would have missed it completely without Donna posting about it in her Del.icio.us links. She always finds the best stuff, so I troll her feed often.

Pattern: Hello Yarn Cable Twist Socks
Heel: Modified by me to continue cables down the back for wearing with open-back shoes
Yarn: Mountain Colors Bearfoot, Rich Red

I love this pattern, and once you get going on it, it is very easy to remember. I’ll write up the heel directions after I finish the other sock.

In case you ever wondered, photographing the back of your foot? Not so easy. Just so you get a good mental image, I was outside in my back yard in a nightshirt, one partial sock, and my crocs. Never mind the fact that it is November, the mosquitos were still attacking me. This whole photo shoot of the sock was a very, very interesting balancing act. Good thing I am well versed in shooting without using the viewfinder!

If you look close, you can see that I don’t have the whole foot done yet. The perk of knitting with the Magic Loop method? It is easy to photograph socks while they are still on the needles!

Next up, we have the “To be Frogged Sweater” also know as the Babies & Bears for Grown-ups sweater. I have to go back now and check, but my gauge must have been really off when I got to the garter stitch body. This sweater fits Katy Blogless (although a bit too short), and she is, uhm, several sizes smaller than I am. So there is no way in hell that it will ever fit me, plus I don’t like the garter stitch part of the body. No miracle of blocking will ever help it. Ever. So it will be frogged and become a cardigan sweater, and I’m ok with that. The yarn is a delight to work with, so it is worth knitting with it all over again.

Last but not least, we have the Fetching mitts from Knitty.com. These are truly a one skein wonder, and if you knit the pattern exactly you will use all but a few feet of the skein. Scary close actually as you knit in the thumbs. This was another interesting photo shoot, since I don’t have the left mitt finished yet – it still needs a thumb – so I was wearing the right one and taking photographs with my left hand and the camera upside down. I swear, I do have fingers, I just had them curled under too far in the one shot. Oops. Too many mosquitos out there to take this shot again.

Pattern: Fetching
Thumb: Modified by me to be symmetrical
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran (yarn called for in pattern), one ball in dark brown. (Looks lighter in the photo than in person.)

All photos can be viewed larger over at Flickr.

Now we should all do a “cold weather dance” – much like a rain dance, but, well, you know, hoping for cold instead – so I can wear the Fetchings and the socks at Kid & Ewe this weekend!

It is always amazing what a lot of good sleep, soup, and medicine can do for you. Today, for the first time since Friday, I feel somewhat normal. I have a voice. (I owe my Mom a phone call or two!) I don’t cough every time I speak. Yeah!

I’m about to photograph my latest projects, including the soon-to-be frogged sweater. I will be bringing it to Kid & Ewe too, for those that want to see it in person. I’ll be posting the photos later today.

I probably should have taken a photo of my latest sock last night before I did the heel. I did an Eye of Partridge heel, which was lovely, but I didn’t like how it looked with the cables. Because the start of a new round becomes the center back of the sock, if you looked closely, one cable column ended before the other one did. Things like that bother me. I also really wished I had continued the cables down the heel instead, since I almost always wear shoes without a back. I realized this, of course, after I turned the heel and picked up the stitches. Oops. I tried to rip it out, but it was almost impossible to get the stitches picked back up. Instead, I frogged the whole thing and started over. Fortunately, I am knitting it in Mountain Colors Bearfoot nearly-solid Rich Red, and I loooooove this yarn – so I don’t mind working it again. Plus the pattern is fun and easy to remember once you get going. I’m already done with two repeats out of seven. (I decided that six wasn’t quite long enough.)

Photos to come this evening!

I spent yesterday hunkered down with my Noro sweater project (Lucy, from the Naturally Noro book by Jane Ellison, in case you wondered) and made good progress. Most of the left side is done. After the other sweater, I couldn’t handle doing the whole back only to discover I didn’t like it – so I am doing the front first. 59 stitches wide is less daunting than 88.

As for the other sweater, not even blocking would help it – plus it can’t be blocked yet, it would need the band of edging around it first. What happened is that I thought I knew better than the pattern – so I shortened the sleeves, but now they are too short. So to get them in the right place, the body is all wrong. Plus my gauge was slightly off – although that should have made it larger, not smaller. In the end, the Brooks Farm 4-Play is a *beautiful* yarn with lots of softness and drape. The sample that I saw was knit with a stiffer yarn, something more like Cascade 220 maybe? The pattern is part stockinette and part garter stitch, and the stockinette part is lovely. It shows off the yarn really well. The garter stitch part? Looks very blech next to the stockingette. All in all, I just don’t like it.

I already have a nice, plain cardigan sweater pattern picked out for it. It will be reborn into something that I love.

Sometimes, you just have to know when to let a project go and move on to something better. Even if it means ripping out half a sweater.

As for the throat – today I have moved on to the dry, hacking cough whenever I talk. Lots of liquids are being consumed. Sucrets are my friend.