Just finished my second sock! If you look at the pictures you can see that the colors in the second one aren’t quite as bright as in the first one I did. I noticed this right off and quickly checked the labels horrified that I had bought two different dye lots, but they were the same. This was of course frustrating but I bought the yarn almost a year ago and so wasn’t sure if I would even be able to find a skein that would match my first sock. So, they are similar but not quite the same. But I am pleased that as far as the knitting goes that they turned out so well. The coloring is close enough that you won’t really notice when I am wearing them.

Well, on to the next project!!!

My first pair of socks! I own the book Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch and have knitted her “class sock” to get used to how the gusset and heel construction works. I made that little sock in December of 2011. I can’t remember exactly now, but I believe the book was a Christmas present from my dad who was hinting that he would really like me to make him socks!

Class Sock from Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch

I truly had the intention of making him and others socks after trying that little sock I just got busy with other projects and activities that this project I am attempting with my Knits magazines seems to be what will get me started! I noticed flipping through many of the issues that almost everyone of them had at least one sock pattern. Not that I will knit every single one but if I like the pattern it will be a good excuse!

For these Uptown Boot Socks I am using Patons Kroy Socks FX yarn in the Cascade Colors. My gauge was a little funny for this. The pattern calls for size two needles but when I knit up my gauge swatch I wasn’t getting the right numbers. So I knit another swatch with size three which was closer but I figured out that if I knit the smallest size the sock would come out to the dimensions I wanted.

Here you can see me knitting my swatch on size three needles. I only have two skeins of yarn so I had to rip out and reuse the yarn from the swatches in the sock.

Gauge Swatch

A few other changes to the pattern. I decided (mostly because I am worried that I won’t have enough yarn for each sock) to knit only an inch and a half of the rib stitch at the top instead of two and a half. I also knit the leg section to six and a quarter instead of eight inches.

Here is a picture of my progress so far on the first sock! I just finished the gusset and am knitting the top of the foot section until it measures five inches from the gusset. Then I will work the toe. I think I should have just enough yarn.

So far no major problems. Because it is my first true sock I did get a little confused with the heel gusset at first because the pattern gave three rows and the said “continue in this manner” and it took me a second try until I understood exactly what that meant. But all turned out well which made me quite excited.

Below is a more up-close picture of what I have so far. I really like how the coloring of the yarn has worked out. I picked the yarn because it almost has every one of my favorite colors in it! I really love blue/greens, grey and kahki colors as I wear those colors quite a bit.

Knitters Talk has been on the web for 5 years now? Maybe longer I don’t even know. It has gone from being a forum to a blog and now is just sitting idle because I haven’t really had any inspiration. I have been knitting like crazy but I just always forget to write about it. Well, I am going to try again. New design, new layout, and hopefully I will get better.

I decided that if I was really going to do this I need a plan. I recently saw Julie & Julia and was inspired to come up with an idea that would keep me both knitting, designing and blogging. I fear that practicing, rehearsals, concerts, and cooking will be daily activities that will continue to slow me down not to mention the hundred other random things that pile up on my To Do list each day. But I am hopeful that there is success for me in the future.

The Plan: I have subscribed every year to Interweave knits since my very first issue back in 2003 when I received the Interweave Knits, Winter 2003 issue as a Christmas gift in my stocking. (Just did a quick search and back issues seem out of print and I couldn’t even find it on ebay).This issue is not as vintage as some, the magazine Knits was 8 years old itself when I received my first copy. But, I like to think of it as vintage in away, for one thing, Pam Allan was still the editor at that time.  I really enjoy Eunny Jang as well, the magazine definitely underwent a bit of change when she took over but that is ok, I think they both have done a great job respectively.

My copy is permanently bent in half from being open to the Reverse-Bloom Flower Washcloths by Cindy Taylor and then shoved into a knitting bag or around balls of bright pink and orange chenille yarn. There are a bit of dog-eared corners as well, just some good signs of being well loved right?

In looking through the issue again I realized there are some really great articles in this issue and a couple patterns I really like. I thought it would be fun to read through the magazine again, perhaps blog about some of the articles that interested me the most, knit up those few patterns and even a design a pair of gloves that are forming in my minds eye after reading and thinking about thumb gussets.

If all goes well, I think I will continue to work my way through old issues up until I catch up and can knit myself to the next issue. (which will take me awhile I am sure as I just was reading through the Winter 2011 issue…that is 8 years worth of magazines which means 32 magazine in all!!! Yikes!)

Maybe the larger “plan” is overly ambitious but then again Julie Powell cooked her way through Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking and all 524 recipes and I am not trying to knit every single pattern, PROMISE!

We will see how it goes! Another reason for doing this is that I really want to build a kind of portfolio of my design work but to do so I need to really have a variety of projects. It is hard to build a portfolio when all of my designing up until this point has stayed in the sketch stage because of lack of resources for the materials or all pieces fall into the category of Personal & Practical. Well, for one, I have never knit a pair of gloves, I made the Thrummed Mittens by Jennifer L. Appleby from the Winter 2006 issue. What a perfect opportunity to try making a pair and put my creativity to work!

Interesting facts about this issue:

1. It is the first issue with “Web Watch” column by Amy Singer of www.knitty.com. This was interesting to me as it serves as a marker for when the knitting blogs and knitalongs were just starting to really take off. Also, this issue is before Ravelry, I can hardly imagine the world without Ravelry!

Posts for you to look forward to will be on the following: (I won’t necessarily post about these in this order)

1. Article: Knitting for the Red Cross (pg 6)
2. Article: The Ultimate Intarsia Technique (pg 74)
3. Design: Gloves
4. Pattern: Uptown Boot Socks by Jennifer L. Appleby (pg 100)
5. Pattern: Striped Fringe by Amanda Blair Brown (pg 106) (modified without fringe most likely)
6. Pattern: Reverse-Bloom Flower Washcloths by Cindy Taylor (pg 108)

Well, that is a start, I hope this will help me be better at posting. Feel free to follow project progress on ravelry http://www.ravelry.com/people/EmilyStumpf if you would like!

Until next time!

Emily

Well, I am apparently really bad at blogging. But I am going to try again. I have found in the past few weeks I had a lot more I could actually write about and up until this point kept forgetting to post it.

So! My newest project is learning how to spin my own yarn! I went to the Finger Lakes Fiber Arts Festival http://www.gvhg.org/fest.html back in September and bought a Schacht drop spindle and some alpaca roving. I gave it a try following instructions on how to use a drop spindle from a website. It didn’t turn out so well but I saw an add for a class this past weekend and took that. I am now making much better yarn though still catching the hang of it. Here are some pictures.

I am (trying to) make a two ply yarn. I am hoping that I will be able to make some mittens or something. We will see!

Goodness I am behind. I am behind on knitting Christmas gifts, updating this blog and well pretty much everything else that is not school work or music related. This is because I have been working towards a senior recital (which is now done as of Saturday, December 4th!) and Grad school applications which were all do December 1st not to mention trying to stay on top of my other school work. Not having time to knit makes me sad. I did get to knit some while I was home for Thanksgiving with my family but it wasn’t very much.

I am happy to say that I have knit about 20 rows on a scarf while I have been here at school. All of this was in the last few days because I had to watch a movie for a class and had nothing better to do with my hands. I started the scarf in the summer and it is to be a Christmas present.  I still have about half of the scarf left to do. Here is a picture of my work in progress. It is taking so long because I am using size 3 needles.

Herringbone Scarf

As far as other projects… well lets just say there are quite a few sweaters that my family will receive as “works in progress.” As in, “sometime after Christmas you will be able to wear this…”

All the best,

Emily~

There is a favorite used bookstore of mine that I stopped in early Sunday afternoon. It was a cool enough, gray August day that a cup of tea seemed necessary. In the same shopping plaza as my bookstore is a Starbucks and so I first made a stop for a Chai latte and then proceeded to browse the book store. Now this used bookstore has atmosphere, but nothing like some more quaint shops I have been in. It is arranged more like a Barnes and Noble Bookstore the only difference is that there is a sitting area with coffee always brewing and the price tags on the books is about 1/3 the cost.

I began browsing my favorite sections: Music, crafts (always on the lookout for a good knitting book!), and gardening. I wasn’t really finding anything and so began to wander to other sections. The most interesting ended up being the cooking section. I recently developed an interest in international cooking when I was inspired to cook a French meal after watching the French documentary To Be and To Have by Nicolas Philibert. Thus, when stumbling upon shelves full of cookbooks I excitedly began to hunt for cookbooks devoted to international cooking. The best one I found, and bought, was The International Cookie Cookbook by Nancy Baggett. If you have a sweet tooth, a love of Christmas cookie baking, or are looking for sweet treats to go along with your tea I highly recommend this book! I have made shortbread cookies (the recipe is from Scotland and Ireland) as well as biscotti from Italy. Both recipes are fantastic. I found her cooking time recommendations to be a little on the long side but other than that everything was clear and easy to follow and the flavor is great. I have many more recipes marked just waiting to be made.

I have long been a tea drinker. I have recently developed a taste for coffee but tea was always my first love. My favorite has always been any kind of green teas because I enjoy drinking a cup that is sweet enough on its own without really needing any sugar or honey. But I found, with sweet treats like shortbread or biscotti a flavorful black tea is best. What do you think tastes better?

Happy knitting, baking and tea drinking!

Emily

Knitting is very conducive to thought. It is nice to knit a while, put down the needles, write a while, then take up the sock again. ~Dorothy Day

Sorry this is taking so long to make the transition. I have been preparing for lessons with potential graduate school teachers, arranging and playing music at a friends wedding and participating in a music festival so I have let time slip away.

Just an update. I am rewriting my pattern for the “Basket Weave Tote” I just need to take some new pictures and set up pdf download. I am hoping to have this done by the end of the week so if you are coming to this site looking for the pattern bare with me for another week!

Also, I am hoping to start blogging regularly, I am a little new to blogging so it might be a rocky start (it kind of has been already… haha) So we will see.

Some projects I am currently working on (knitting is a wonderful break to practicing). I am making quite a few sweaters. Two are cardigans. I am making this with pure alpaca wool that my Aunt and Uncle gave me. They own a farm in Frederick, Maryland. It is a beautiful deep blue/green.

I am making this cardigan for my mom. As well as this pattern She really loves cardigans they flatter her very well.

I think those are my main projects. I have a few other random ones but I haven’t worked on them in a while. I have been looking for sweater patterns that include pockets. I have found that pockets are my new favorite little embellishment to any garment (knitted or not). I find them so cute on a dress or a pleated skirt. I just bought a knit sweater/shirt that has two small pockets on the front. I have yet to design a sweater and am currently working on implementing pockets into one we will see!

Emily

Hello everyone!

KnittersTalk has undergone quite a bit of renovation. I am changing the forum into a blog and a site to host my patterns and design work. I have been slow in getting this going. I decided to do this because the blog has been getting inundated with spam and I have found that there was not enough activity there to really justify it. I created the forum when Ravelry was just taking off and now find myself there more than working on my own site.

The majority of my visitors are from Ravelry, so for those of you who are looking for the tote or scarf pattern they will be up shortly available under the “patterns” tab. I am working on cleaning them up and having them available to be downloaded in PDF format. That way they should be cleaner, easier to print, and read.

Ok, I think that is all for now! Sorry for the mess!

Emily