Monday, June 05, 2006

Berries and Butter

I just spent the past week and a half in the land of misery, first accompanied by a painful sinus infection, which later in the week traded places with a wheezing cough. It is said that you’re supposed to stay positive because mental anguish keeps your immune system down, but that’s not so easy when you can’t do any of the things that make you happy! I did manage to finish a pair of socks I’ve been working on though, toe-up with a k2, seedstitch 2 pattern in lovely Sundara yarn which I snagged while it was available from Pure Knits.
BerryStainSocks
The color is called cupid, but I’ve named my socks Berrystain Socks because they look like they were stained by smashed blue-, rasp-, black- and strawberries. Hmmm, berries…. I also started the back of Buttercup after I received my exchange yarn, pale grey-blue Ripple. Kim Hargreaves does have excellent customer service, they didn’t charge me for shipping (I only paid shipping the yarn back to them) and my yarn got here so fast. So nice. But (oh why does there have to be a but), the pattern leaves me with questions already. It’s a bit vague sometimes. When you’re supposed to do a k3tog for the armhole decreases (at beg and end of one row), why would you not do k3togtbl at the beginning of the row and the k3tog at the end? I mean, I know I don’t have to follow the pattern exactly, but is there a reason for doing it this way? And when it says: continue in pattern after the k3tog, is the pattern only the pattern repeat, or does that include the k2 with which you start and end the row? And if it does include the k2, wouldn’t it be better to k1, then k3tog, then k1 before going into the repeat, to make seaming nicer? Have I confused you yet? Maybe I should wait until I'm off the medicine.
Here is the back so far:
ButtercupBack
If you're thinking of ordering a kit from her website, check the size diagram closely, you might be able to save some money by ordering your right size. I ordered the medium but ended up casting on for the small, thanks to a lucid moment where I compared the back measurements to a fitted cardi I have. My gauge was so spot on I measured twice just to make sure.
Thanks for all your input on the quilting! It's been very helpful and I've decided to make a baby quilt first, that way I can approach it with a different eye. My sewing machine is in the repair shop right now, the weekender bag left some scars and it refuses to stitch anything other than straight stitch. But until it gets back home I've got plenty of time for fabric shopping. My eyes are glazing over at the very thought.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

awww I remember when I packed up your order, the socks look cute and you're right they do look like berries.

sorry abour your sinus infection though, I used to get those a lot so I know your pain. get better soon!

buttercup is looking great but uhhh I can't help you out in the pattern :(

HPNY KNITS said...

its not the medicine. I find also that many patterns don't dive you the "best" way to do it, but rather a more simple way, for fear of confusing people, and they rely on advanced knitter to figure it out. I always K1 before decreasing, and dc before last stitch. I think its a better edge for joining.
Feel better.

Anonymous said...

Awwww! Get better soon. Maybe it was good that we didn't end up meeting up last week. But your socks do look great and like berries, too!

Knittypants said...

Your socks do look rather berry stained. Good name. I like the new color you chose for Buttercup, much more soft and subdued.

Anonymous said...

Love the new color for Buttercup. Hope you're feeling better soon!

Anonymous said...

Bummer about the sicky-poo!

Socks are adorable! Can I steal the photo (saved to my server) to add to my gallery of things people have knit with my yarn?

I've heard Kim Hargreaves patterns are somewhat lacking, I think the decreases you've chosen will work better.

maritza said...

Love your socks! Great start on Buttercup, too. Can't wait to see what fabrics your pick for the baby quilt. Hope you feel better soon.

Anonymous said...

The new socks are gorgeous!! Wonderful fruity color:-)
And they seem to fit SO well! Is that a sewn cast-off or which method did you use?
Hope you're feeling better now, take care!

Stacey said...

Beautiful Berry socks! Glad you are feeling better, and it looks like you have a great start on Buttercup!

Beth S. said...

Those are some gorgeous socks! I love your interpretation of the color. It makes me wonder if you could, in fact, dye sock yarn with berry juice. The stuff never wants to come out of T-shirts, after all. ;-)

I'm going to have to browse a bit through your posts to see if I can track down the pattern you used. It's a lovely, simple texture--doesn't fight with the yarn at all.

Krawuggl said...

Das hast du wunderbar erklärt mit der Anleitung, ich meine, daß ich auch oft nicht richtig verstehe, wie das jetzt exakt gemeint ist. Und ich hab grad die letzten Tage beim Zusammennähen gemerkt, daß es viel besser wäre, die Zu- und Abnahmen weiter weg von Rand zu machen (vielleicht so 2 Maschen weit), dann sehen die Nähte auch besser aus. Mit Ripple liebäugle ich auch schon länger, ist so eine schöne neutrale Farbe. Mmh, muß glaub ich nochmal meine Anleitungen durchforsten.
Den Wärmflaschenbezug find ich sehr nett - erst auf deine Frage hin, hab ich überlegt, und vielleicht, wenn der untere Teil ganz in Pink wäre? Ich hab mal irgendwo gelesen, man soll für die Farbauswahl einfach alle Stoffe am Boden ausbreiten, und dann wegnehmen, was das Bild stört, bis die ideale Kombination übrigbleibt. Ich hab´s immer so gemacht, wenn die Dekoration fürs Fenster herzurichten war, einfach alles was man denkt auf den Boden legen,wieder was weg und was andres dazu, dann ergibt sich die beste Zusammenstellung ganz von selbst. Na ja, halt für den ganz eigenen Geschmack. Aber du hast ja recht, erst mal muß man schon die ganze Stoffauswahl zuhause haben.
Liebe Grüße,
Suzi

Anonymous said...

I love the simplicity of your socks! I've got to try that. KH patterns and Rowan ones on the whole are written kind of sloppily, they always leave the thinking to the knitter. However, I can't agree with you more on KH's stellar customer service, she even called Hong Kong personally to smooth out an order earlier on.

Unknown said...

Thanks for the headsup, Steph. My kit is still not here yet. Hopefully I won't screw up this one like my previous FO. Take care and feel better soon.

Anonymous said...

The sock pattern really show off the beautiful colors. Great job!

Anonymous said...

your socks are berrylicious! they look so nice. and your buttercup... now i'm not regretting so much that i haven't ordered one. reading your questions about the directions sent my eyes spinning and blurring and... it seems too complicated for me.

Theresa said...

Those socks look like the cure for all that ails . . . sorry about the blurring.

Krista McCurdy said...

Ooh, pretty socks! I love the colour.

Chris said...

I hope you're feeling better. Sounds miserable! Indeed, how can you keep positive for your immune system under such conditions?!

The Berrystained Socks are stunning!

Heh, I think you're thinking about the pattern more than the designer maybe did. :)

Anonymous said...

Poor thing, that sinus thing that's going around is pretty bad. Sending health vibe your way.

-Ashley-

Anonymous said...

vibes, I mean vibes!


Darn sticking keyboard s.

KnittenKnots said...

Mmmm...those socks almost made my mouth water! They really do put in mind of berries... Buttercup is going to be beautiful...what a great pattern and I really like the new color too.