LollyKnitting Around » Booties / Socks

Albers Cowl: Complete

lolly — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 00:02:02 +0000

My friend Em said that this Albers cowl is “how Lolly got her [knitting] groove back”… and she is right. Not that I totally lost it, but my knitting production has been a little slow. This project’s simplicity, modern design elements, and history was the perfect match for my desire to stash bust some of my fingering weight yarns. It really appealed to me, and it was such a great knit – can’t wait to make more! Ann Weaver of WeaverKnits (Ravelry link) had this great design idea, inspired by the “Homage to the Square” body of work by Josef Albers.

3 squares – made up of other squares. It’s just so meta! Choosing the colors from my stash was just as much fun as knitting the simple garter stitch squares. Row upon row of, building a wearable accessory. Lolly the builder. I didn’t pull out my T-square, but I did use the tool of my trade: yarn and needles!

I choose my yarns on texture – I went for 2 or 3 ply yarns with a sheen and sproingy quality. I wanted to play with some palettes, so I used the following yarns for each block (inside out)

Block 1: Cherry Tree Hill – Louet Gems, Louet Gems, Koigu KPPM

Block 2: Louet Gems, Cherry Tree Hill, Three Waters Farm

Block 3: Shibui Sock, Louet Gems, Claudia Hand Painted, Koigu KPPM

There will be more squares in my future. This project refined my “picking up stitches” technique, and now I am itching for more. A larger scale version (worsted weight on size 6 or 7 needles?) would make a great baby blanket… or even a rug…

This project was a rainbow of colors and fit well into this year’s Project Spectrum time frame. Today is the last day for reds and oranges, and with some of the leftovers (a stashbust within a stashbust!), I whipped up this pair of orange baby booties for my as yet-to-be determined nephew/niece, due in October. It would be great if I find the fortitude to make a color-themed pair a month for the new baby… my own personal challenge.

Better plan my GREEN pair next!

Socktoberfest: For the Little Feets

lolly — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 11:59:59 +0000

Fall Harvest Knit Baby Booties

Originally uploaded by saganaga

Experts say that if you do a task a certain number of times, it becomes a habit… and I have to agree, as I am beginning to feel that way about Socktoberfest! When the air begins to chill, my mind automatically – habitually – turns to socks. So funny! Especially since I have not even knit one sock this year…

The *fifth* celebration of Socktoberfest is just a few weeks away (seriously, can you believe it – we started in 2005 with over 1000 people!) and the buzz is already starting over on the Ravelry Socktoberfest board! People are planning designs, new techniques that they want to try out, talking about yarns… just general sock talk

Initially, I was planning to do a pair of stranded socks for myself… but the more I think about it, the more I want to stick to my theme for the past several months of gift knitting. And it just so happens that I have a little pair of feet that will need to be adequately covered “joining” the world smack dab in the middle of October! SO, why not switch things up a bit and make this Socktoberfest my chance to celebrate the little feet of this world, specifically the ones of my new niece-on-the-way, who we are calling “Baby V”. (By the way, look how cute my sister Mimi looks!)

Baby knits are like a huge knitting well that I only peered in to previously… but now that I am knitting for one on a regular basis, I am finding endless supplies of inspiration. So many innovative and adorable patterns! The booties posted above are a wonderful modification of the well-known Saartje’s Bootees knit by saganaga- but seasonally themed for autumn. Since Baby V will be joining us in the autumn, it seemed just right! I loved them at first sight!

Other favorites and potentials for my Socktoberfest selections:

…and there is a whole lot more where that came from! I am hoping to use up some of the leftover sock yarn and make them extra special with little touches. I especially love the Moccasins with the little embroidery!

So, are you up for another year of sock celebration? Would you care to join me?

I would love to hear about any plans you have for socks!

A Rarity

lolly — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 21:12:19 +0000

We don’t see many babies ’round these parts… so when one of my friends at work had a baby a few weeks ago, it was a nice opportunity to experience the quick fix that is baby knitting. I originally planned to make a pullover (I even started it) but after pulling it out again, I realized that it just wasn’t an enjoyable knit. So, I regrouped, and did the simplest thing. I knit some baby booties.

I used a simple T-strap pattern from the Summer 2007 issue of Knit Simple magazine. Matched it up with the cornflower blue cotton (Sugar ‘n Cream) and after one night of hockey, I had some finished booties. The little sailboat buttons seemed like a nice match! Little did I know that my button choice was the perfect match to Adam’s outfit at the baby shower today!

That’s right. His little outfit has a sailboat on it!

They seemed to be a hit. “Huh, Lauren made those?” “Lauren from the Archives?” “How cute!”

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There is another meeting of the DC Namaste Knitters this weekend! We will be knitting, snacking, and doing yoga:

Sunday, April 20th
2:00 – 5:00 pm
Capitol Hill Yoga
SE DC

Join us if you can!