The knitting

Sourpatch for DD2 DD1

This is now done, but it turned out weird. What happened was that, before starting, I looked at the needle, yarn and gauge requirements for the pattern, and, in my arrogance, decided that they wouldn't do.

The pattern calls for 3.5mm needles and sport weight yarn, and says quite clearly that we are supposed to be getting 22 sts over 4 inches in stocking stitch with all of that. But of course, 22 stitches over 4 inches with sport weight yarn in stocking stitch is what you're supposed to get when you use 4mm needles, not 3.5mm. And I have always gotten 22 stitches over 4 inches with sport weight yarn on 4mm needles in stocking stitch, so I used 4mms instead of the called-for 3.5mms and thought myself quite the clever knitter for solving gauge problems before even having them.

Some time later, quite a ways into the project, I started thinking, gee, this looks kinda big. Some time after that, I decided to actually measure things, and discovered that I was inexplicably getting 19 sts to 4 inches.

WTH?

Not wanting to rip out my work (or admit that my gauge was suddenly different), I kept going. And at the end, I had myself a really lovely little sweater for my four-year-old...



...that didn't actually fit my four-year-old.

But it fits my almost-eight-year-old just fine, with growing room, so hey surprise! DD1 has a new sweater.

Fortunately, DD2 was very understanding when I explained to her that (in a nutshell, but not using these exact words of course) Mummy had screwed up. :) I'm sure it helped that I promised her...

Sourpatch, take two, for DD2

I hit my LYS with DD2 on the weekend and bought way more than I had expected to because there were some good sales. But among the things I actually meant to buy were the yarn and needles for this project. And I love it:



The only problem is that it turns out I didn't buy enough dark purple yarn (my own fault, I was perfectly aware that the yardage of the 50g balls I was buying was not as big as the yardage in the 50g balls that the pattern recommends, but I figured I'd take the chance). However, I'm not too worried since I'm going back to the shop tomorrow for Charity Knit Night.

Celtic Pennies for DH

DH is turning the big 5-0 next month, and I wanted his gift to be a bit more spectacular than the usual pair of plain "vanilla" stocking stitch socks. So I'm making him a pair of fancy-schmancy stranded socks with a Celtic motif (which he will love) in his two favourite colours. I think he is going to seriously plotz when he sees them. Here is how it looked as of early this morning:



And I'm almost finished the leg chart now.

The pattern is "Celtic Pennies" by Heatherley Walker. As you can see, the design is absolutely fantastic, but unfortunately I'm finding the pattern instructions to be lacking some basics. I can adjust no problem, but other knitters might have a harder time not knowing how much yarn of each colour is needed or what gauge they're supposed to be getting. A chart legend and labels distinguishing which chart is which would also help a lot of people, I'm sure.

But once you get all past that, I'm finding it really is a pleasure to make.