Monday, September 28, 2009

The Moment You've All Been Waiting For...

I finished my Nebula socks.

nebulapair

Pattern: Nebula
Yarn: Lorna's Laces in Lilac
Started: 4/14/09
Finished: 9/27/09

The detail in this picture is better:

nebuladetail

Yes, it's been a very long time. But, you see, I have second sock syndrome and it is a horrible condition.

You may have noticed that I almost always knit my socks two-at-a-time on one long needle. There are a couple reasons for this - one being that then the socks turn out with exactly the same number of rows and have the decreases starting at the exact same moment and all those lovely things that make my perfectionist self unreasonably happy.

The other reason is that I can crank through a single sock in no time at all, but once it is complete it takes me ages to finish the second one. My Conwy socks took well over a year, if I remember correctly.

I have also found my Leyburn sock and partial-sock and am working on that too. Time to clear out those WIPs!

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Saturday, September 19, 2009

Sock WIPs for Summer!

I participated in Summer of Socks this year, and my goal was to finish WIPs. Well, SOS ended at the beginning of September, but since I was under the impression that it would go until the end of summer, I decided I would work on sock WIPs through the end of the summer.

Yet another finished sock WIP - this one was from Labor Day Weekend, but did I blog it? Of course not!

Kai-Mei

Pattern: Kai Mei by Cookie A
Yarn: Dream In Color Smooshy in Go Go Grassy
Started: 5/26/09
Finished: 9/4/09

I just noticed those were started Memorial Day weekend and finished Labor Day weekend. Go figure!

And a little detail of the stitch pattern:

kmdetail

This is a wacky stitch pattern. Not hard, but definitely different. It turns out beautifully, though!

I made some really good progress and finished some socks that had been languishing for a long time, along with a few new pairs. My goal is to finish my second Nebula sock before the end of Summer (which is September 22nd, for those of you wondering).

So far I have this:

nebula1

I only have a few more repeats until the heel, and the foot honestly goes nearly twice as fast since the bottom is stockinette. Those little cable twists, while gorgeous, are very time-consuming. For some reason the spiraling isn't showing up on the left sock. Hopefully it will when the sock is being worn.

My other sock WIPs include my second Leyburn - which I would try to finish if I could find it... I'm going to do a bit more searching tomorrow.

I also started a couple pairs of new stockinette socks to work on while watching movies or riding the bus:

The Candy Corn socks - these were supposed to be self-striping, but I think they're cute even though they don't stripe.

candy corn

and my little sister's birthday socks:

bday socks

The yarn is Lisa Souza "Little Devil", which I bought a few years ago with my sister in mind. It's rough being a blue lover with family members that love red and black. ;)

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Wednesday, September 16, 2009

We have a winner!

Well, after putting up my little contest, I nearly forgot about it!

I had a lovely camping trip last weekend, spent some time knitting by the campfire (though of course I didn't get any pictures of that) and had fun hanging out with my sisters. And ice cream for breakfast, because that's always important.

But, without further ado, the winner of my 5 year Blogiversary contest is....




*drumroll please*




Thursday / Bex! - please contact me so we can discuss yarn / color / pattern preferences!

The winner was chosen using the random.org random number generator, because I was going to ask MJ to pick a number but she wasn't on IM and then I realized she was one of the entrants.

Well, the knitting isn't too interesting at the moment, I'm slogging through a couple of sock projects in stockinette that will hopefully be done soon so I can share them, but until then here's a camping picture:

P9120029

A camping tradition, roasting soy hot dogs over a campfire.

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Thursday, September 10, 2009

Blogiversary

Five years ago I started this blog. I was a fairly inexperienced knitter, and had just moved to Boston and discovered the wonders of knitting groups. I've come a long way!

The blog has gone on more or less that whole time. Some times have been more active than others, and the fact that I pretty much only post finished stuff doesn't help with that. But I feel pretty accomplished for keeping the blog going for this long.

So, in celebration, I'm having a contest. Leave a comment on this post by midnight on Monday September 14th telling me what your favorite thing is that I've knit. You can even cheat and look at my Ravelry projects page. I'll select a random comment and that person will win a pair of socks knit by me. I'll find out your general yarn and pattern preferences and figure out something fun. :)

I'll be camping with my sisters this weekend, so I might not be able to approve comments right away, so never fear if you don't see yours for a while.

Listening to: Serenity Painted Death ~ Opeth

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Sock Yarn

    A quest to use sock yarns:

    Yarns I've had:
    * means I really liked it

    4-ply Soft
    A Piece of Vermont*
    Alpafina
    Artsygal*
    Artyarns Supermerino*
    Austermann Step
    BMFA Sock Candy*
    Black Bunny Fibers*
    Brown Sheep Naturespun Sport
    Chinese Mystery sock yarn
    Claudia's Handpaints
    Conjoined Creations Flat Feet
    Crystal Palace Maizy
    CTH Supersock
    Dicentra Designs
    Dorchester Farms
    Fabel
    Fearless Fibers
    Fixation*
    Gloss (KP)
    handspun
    Inspinknity*
    Interlacements Beibi Seda
    Interlacements Tiny Toes
    Interlacements Toasty Toes
    Jarbo Raggi
    JKnits*
    Jojoland Melody
    Koigu*
    Kona Superwash
    KP Essential
    KP Merino
    KP Palette
    Limbo
    Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock*
    Macek Designs
    Madelinetosh
    Magic Stripes
    Mega Boots Stretch
    Microspun
    Nature's Palette
    Noro Kureyon Sock
    Opal
    Panda Cotton
    Paton's Kroy*
    Peru DK
    Peruvian Quechua
    Regia Bamboo*
    Regia Cotton
    Regia Strato*
    Ruby Sapphire
    Sockotta
    Socks That Rock*
    Star (Classic Elite)
    Stitch Jones
    Sunshine Yarns*
    Three Fates Cauldron Sock*
    TOFUtsies
    Trekking*
    Wick
    Wildfoote*
    Wollmeise*
    Wool Ease
    Yarn Pirate*

    In Progress:

    Perchance to Knit
    Regia
    Vesper
    Yarns in the stash:

    All Things Heather
    Ancient Threads
    Apple Laine
    Araucania Ranco
    Artyarns Ultramerino
    Autumn House Farm
    Baby Ull
    Ball and Skein
    Baywood Yarns
    Bearfoot (Mountain Colors)
    Briar Rose Fibers
    Brooklyn Handspun
    Cavyshops Handpaint
    C*eye*ber Fiber
    Cervinia Calzetteria
    CTH Superglitz
    Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks
    Chewy Spaghetti
    Classic Elite Alpaca Sox
    Colinette Cadenza
    Colinette Jitterbug
    Country Classic Yarn for Sox
    Crash Into Ewe
    Crown Mountain Farms Sock Hop
    Curious Yarns
    Done Roving
    Dream in Color
    Duet (A Swell Yarn Shop)
    Dye Dreams
    Ellen's Half Pint Farm
    End of the World Farm
    Fashion Trend Sportivo
    The Fiber Denn
    Fleece Artist
    The Flock Bransonas
    Fortissima
    French Hill Farm
    Froehlich Blauband
    Fyberspates
    geeyouknit!
    Gjestal Silja
    Great Adirondack Soxie
    Greenwood Fiberworks
    Jaeger Matchmaker
    Jarbo Mini Raggi
    Jawoll
    Jawoll Cotton
    Just Our Yarn
    Knit Purl Natural Collection
    Kona Superwash
    KP Dancing
    KP Essential Tweed
    Lime & Violet
    Lisa Souza
    Louet Gems Pearl
    Luxe
    Mama Llama
    Merlin the Cat
    Meilenweit Cotton
    Meilenweit Trend
    Mind's Eye Merino/Tencel
    Mirasol Hacho
    Misty Mountain Farm
    The Natural Dye Studio
    Neighborhood Fiber Company
    Over the Rainbow Twinkletoes
    Peterle
    Pigeon Roof Studios
    Pine Woods
    Posh Yarn Lucia
    Prism Saki
    Pucker Brush Farm
    Regia Surf
    Reynolds Swizzle
    Reynolds Soft Sea Wool
    Rio De La Plata
    Royale Hare
    Roz Houseknecht
    Schaefer Anne
    Scout's Swag
    Sheep Shop Wensleydale
    Shelridge Farm
    ShibuiKnits
    Sockenwolle Unipo
    Spirit Trail Fiberworks
    Spunky Eclectic
    Steinbach Wolle Sockenwolle
    Sundara Yarn
    Sweetgeorgia
    Tess Designer Yarns
    Twisted
    The Unique Sheep
    Universal Ditto
    Valley Yarns Franklin
    vanCalcar Acres
    White Oak Studio tvyarn
    Wisdom Yarns Marathon
    Wool in the Woods
    The Woolen Rabbit
    Yarn Botanika Radiance
    Yarntini
    Ysolda Yarn
    Zen Yarn Garden


    To check out:

    Pippikneesocks
    Sophie's Toes
    The Spinning Bunny Yarns BFL

WIPs and FOs