CMS/Colloquium knitting

My garden socks are almost done! I just need to finish the second cuff and weave in all the ends on both socks. I'm happy with the length of the legs, and I used up just about all of the purple yarn.

I don't think it's very clear in the pictures, but I tried to do a ruffled cuff/bind off. One of the issues with toe-up socks is that cast-offs are often not as stretchy as cast-ons, so you have to be careful that you'll be able to get the bound-off edge around your heel to get the socks on and off, and that it won't be too tight around your leg while you're wearing them. I also wanted the cuff to echo the waves of the feather and fan lace. What I decided to do was knit into the front and back of every stitch on the second-to -last round before the bind-off, so I had twice as many stitches as in the body of the sock, which creates a bit of a ruffle. I think it solved both problems pretty well.

FNSI results

Last night I drafted out a pattern for a pair of shorts for myself and made a muslin. I have some really cool giraffe fabric that I'd like to make a pair of PJ shorts from, but I only have one yard of the polka dot fabric I'm going to use for the lining (and I don't want to waste any giraffe fabric), so I need to make sure the pattern is right before I make them.

Unfortunately, the pattern is not quite right yet. The general fit is okay, but there's not really enough room in the butt, so need to adjust the pattern and make another muslin. On the next round, I'm going to try out the waistband and hem also.

Last week's CMS/Colloquium + FNSI

Here's where my socks were at the end of colloquium last week. I'm running out of yarn, but I think the legs are just about long enough. My plan is to see if I can squeeze one or two more pattern repeats out of the purple yarn and then finish off with a green garter stitch cuff.

Tomorrow night is the Friday Night Sew-In over at Handmade by Heidi. I'm going to do some of the sewing projects I've been thinking about: my giraffe shorts and maybe altering some of my old t-shirts.

A Robert Project

Robert and I were on spring break week before last. We went backpacking with some family friends. Robert spent most of our daylight non-hiking time working on a beautiful hiking stick - removing the bark on the upper part and smoothing the surface with his knife. None of my pictures show him hiking with it, but I think our friends have some.