Vested, I mean Gifted!

I finished the Mangyle vest for Jorge the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. He was thrilled-- I don't think he realized how much I did NOT enjoy knitting this vest. It was a total chore. I did already assure him (selfishly) that I will not make another no matter how much he likes his vest.

I also gifted the Fleegle socks to my mom who LOVED them. She went on and on about how much she loved then, how soft they were to wear and how she would like more in different colors. Of course, I created a monster!

No more WIPs...now what!? I want to knit for me but my sister and brother both requested knitted items and I'd like to make my dad a hat to match the mittens that I knit him last winter. My sister wants a pair of Convertible Mittens in black (she wants to blind me apparently). My brother wants a hat with ear flaps, though I couldn't tell if he was just kidding about the ear flaps. Maybe this one? I dunno. I still haven't picked out a pattern for my dad's hat but that should be easy-- something simple to show off the beautiful hand-painted variegation of the yarn. Maybe this one? It's simple enough, right!?

We'll see. I didn't plan on all this holiday knitting. And I'm sure that the fam has no idea how long it will take me to knit them all goodies. What a PIA. What can you do, ya know. If they're all done by the time Christmas rolls around, great. If not, they'll get them when they get them. I'm not going to worry about it. They would be extras at this point since I bought them all gifts already!

Sock it to me!

My Fleegle Socks are done. They aren't perfect but turned out pretty decent. I never wanted to knit socks, but it everyone else loves them so I wanted to see what the big was. Once I figured out the heel turn and gusset (with help), I felt like I could understand why knitters like socks. Though I'm not sure if I really even want to knit more socks but they are a great take-with project.

I don't know what to do with them now that they're done-- keep them, give them to my mom? Would someone else even want "fraternal" socks? Are they thin enough to fit comfortably in a shoe? I did knit them on size 3's afterall. We'll see, but at least I can cross this project off my WIP list.

Progress!

I have been making progress on my 2 WIPs this week but color work....I'm not so sure about it! Any tips? I haven't done very much of it and I'm afraid. So far, I don't feel like I'm very good. The color-work portion seems to be lumpy and tight in comparison to the stockinette body. Ick. I don't know how to fix this. Is this normal? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

As far my socks (sock) goes, I'm almost done with the foot of the first sock and will be forced to turn the heel. Ahhh...a lot of scariness with my projects lately. I have very specific instructions on how to make a basic heel, so I think I've got it under control for now...you'll probably hear me whine about in the next day or two ;-).

I have to say, I don't know why anyone wouldn't knit a sock toe up. It's awesome to be able to try it on as I go. I guess knitting a sock cuff down is like knitting a bottom up sweater. I always feel like I'm taking a gamble when I do that because it's hard to gauge fit when you can't actually try the piece on.

As I knit on the Mangyle and the sock, I daydream about swatching for my February Lady Sweater or my Central Park Hoodie. I'm not even exagerating when I say dream-- I'm literally dreaming that I'm winding my skeins of yarn to begin swatching. I know, I'm totally crazy! Oh well, I'm just selfish and want to knit sweaters for myself! I'm the only one who truly appreciates my knitted FOs. Well, that might not be totally true but I can appreciate all the hard work and time that goes into knitting them.

Good enough to wear!
So, last night, while watching True Blood, I decided to cut the bound off stitch edge of my Hey, Teach! I re-bound off with needles that were a couple sizes larger than what I used to knit the project and it seems to have fixed the problem. This morning I sewed on the buttons, with little reinforcement buttons on the back of the button band to anchor them down. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out!
I also started my very first pair of socks! I used the Magic Cast On with the Magic Loop method to start. I'm following Fleegle's Toe Up Sock pattern. Finally have a use for that lone skein of KPPPM that I had in my stash forever. Of course I had to buy a second skein to knit a complete pair. Hopefully, I don't get too bored and actually finish!