My Wickedness

The musical Wicked was the inspiration for this colorway. My friend and I had seen the play together in 2006 and it was such a wonderful evening.

I love my Wicked Socks! I've had these finished for awhile but Christmas madness has had kept me busy enough to keep me from my blog.

Name of Project: Wicked Socks
Yarn: Knit Picks Bare Silk Fingering Weight hand-dyed by me
Yardage: one hank, with leftovers
Yarn Source: KnitPicks.com
Needles: Size US 1 (2.5 mm) Knit Picks circulars
Estimated Time to Complete Project: 3 weeks
Pattern Notes: I started with Judy's Magic Cast-on using 12 stitches on each needle. Then worked up the foot to the heel, using a short-row heel so I wouldn't interrupt the striping pattern. I started the Ruffled cast-off by knitting 3 stitches into each stitch around. Then I worked a couple of more rounds and cast-off.
I've used my warping board three times to make self-striping sock yarn. The Wicked yarn was my third yarn I dyed. I'm working with the first yarn right now for my Mermaid Socks, but have yet to try out the second. I've resolved myself to knitting them all up so I can see the different results of the stripes before dying anymore yarn. They were all made slightly different and I want to know what looks best.

This is the second Linen Market Bag I've finished. I like them, but not really for groceries. The first one I made has stretched out so significantly that if I put anything heavy in it, it just goes all the way to the ground. This one is a little smaller, so I'm hoping it won't be as bad. The bag works really well for other things, like yarn or diapers. Things that don't have a lot of heft.


I have more pictures but I can't post a couple of projects I've finished until after the recipient gets them.

Putting Autumn Away

I had an absolutely great time out at the desert this past week. The weather was mostly beautiful, except for some wind that came up for awhile on Thursday and Friday.

I got the whole foot of my Wicked socks done, and am now ready to start the short row heel. I'm going to use the Japanese short row technique that I learned. It uses little pieces of yarn to mark the change of the row instead of wraps, and it makes the change in direction virtually invisible, and there are no holes. I've tested it before, just never in an actual pattern.


So now that I'm home I need to put all the fall decorations away and get ready for Christmas. So I thought while I had them out, I would document them for Ravelry. Here are some pictures of my Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations I crocheted about 6 years ago. I love to have special things to decorate for the holidays, so I tend to gravitate towards these kinds of projects, although I haven't made anything like this in a long time. These are from an Annie's Attic Book called Pudgy Autumn Characters and are crocheted. These are my witches.

This is my pumpkin. That's doll hair and ribbon on her wooden ball head. I used a transfer for all of the faces.


This is my Turkey. I think the ribbon is a bit much so he might get a makeover next year.

This is my scarecrow. That's natural excelsior under his hat and around his sleeves, which I didn't even know what that was until I made this. It's just hay.

These are my Pilgrims. They are helpful when I'm doing my Mayflower re-enactment for my sons.

This is my Indian. She gets played with a lot, so her face is wearing off a little bit. I love her braids.

Now onto the Christmas madness!