Russet Lodge Custom Knits

Just a quick post today, since I can't share most of my current works in progress because they're holiday gifts and test knits.  This is my current purse knitting project, a pair of toe-up socks in a 3x1 rib using David's Toe-Up Sock Cookbook .  The yarn is good old Red Heart Heart & Sole.  What can I say?  It was in my stash and it wears like iron. What's on your needles this week?

In honor of my birthday in two weeks I am giving away copies of my knitting patterns! Enter below for a chance to win your choice of any of my designs available at my designer page on ravelry a Rafflecopter giveaway

I don't have a lot of time to chatter today, but I do have pics of my latest finished socks.  I cobbled together pieces of various patterns I liked to come up with this.

I have to admit, today I am as pleased as the cat that got the cream.  For all the years I've been making custom kilt hose for sale I have had the idea rattling around to make a universal pattern calculator for kilt hose.  I am a knitter who loves the freedom of knitting without a pattern to make something unique and well-fitted.  There is something thrilling in sitting down with paper and pencil and working it out every step of the way.  That said, I know not everyone's mind has the degree of math geekery and OCD that mine does, and I wanted to find a relatively simple way to help people who don't daydream about becoming an engineer to create something fully customized.  I've avoided this project for a long time because, well, pattern design is complicated.  It requires a lot of time and thought, even when you're not doing algebra that includes nineteen different variables (yes, really). I would first like to say a huge thank you to the kind folks over a...

Boy have I got a mess o' projects to share with everyone! First is a simple scarf I'm weaving in the pinwheel houndstooth pattern, also known as the friendship star.  This is 100% Peruvian Highland wool and will be heading to a dear friend in a cold place. Remember that SPAKAL (spin and knit-along) I'm doing?  I've spun 9 out of 24 ounces of the wool for my sweater.  It's still possible I could do this in 2012, though I'll have to work hard. I have just a few repeats of the last section on my Color Affection shawl before starting the solid border.  I should have yarn left over for hat/mitts too. And heavens preserve us, I've started an English paper piecing project.  I'm not sure how I'll put these together yet, right now I'm happily making hexagons, then I can lay them out and see what speaks to me. Come check out all the great projects at Idaho Etsy Team and please make sure to say hi and check out what everyone else is ...

I have been working up a storm and haven't posted any works in progress for two weeks, so I pulled out the camera and took a mess of pictures for y'all today! Last weekend I got out the dye pot and dyed 8 ounces of white merino spinning fiber so I can make the Nymphaea shawl by Becky Herrick  (click the indie patterns link at the top of the page to purchase/download).  She was kind enough to give me a copy of this pattern, which she just published, after I told her I thought it would be lovely in handspun.  I considered the gift a challenge, and when I realized nothing in my stash would work, I got down to business. I dyed the fiber using Wiltons' Icing Dyes.  I don't like acid dyes because they're so toxic, and you can get some amazing color variations from simple food coloring.  To me this still counts as a WIP because I still have all the spinning and knitting to do.  Yay! I have been doing a lot of drawing and doodling lately.  Ther...

I have been on a major finishing kick lately. I'm not sure why, but suddenly the sight of my big bin of unfinished objects (UFOs) is driving me batty.  Every time I finish something lately, I go to the UFO bin, and pull something out.  Half the projects I pull out have been frogged or even thrown away because I don't like them or the yarn any more.  Most of them wound up abandoned in the UFO bin for that reason in the first place.  The other projects, though, have been getting quickly finished up.  It is so satisfying! One of the ones I resurrected and finished is Cookie A.'s Wedge sock pattern from her book Knit. Sock. Love.   The yarn I used isn't anything classy or pricy, it's just Premier Yarns Serenity Sock Weight that I bought on sale at Joann's.  The colors are pretty and it's actually very soft.  The yarn is 50% merino, 25% bamboo, and 25% nylon.  The bamboo gives it a nice shine, and I'll report back on how it wears.  The ya...