Casting On

I finished a rather large secret project and figured it was the cue to begin one of my phases of frenzied casting on. The truth is, I hate casting on. I'd much rather knit and knit and knit some more, so when I feel like casting on I like to run with it. And run with it I did...

We all know I've been waiting years for the Ribby Cardi, and I even swatched already, so I cast on and left it in the "yarn room" by my DVD watching chair. It's on a cone so I don't anticipate taking it anywhere. Instead I've surrounded it with all my knitting accoutrements and left it in a convenient place to grab while I'm watching Bones on DVD.



Of course that wasn't enough so on Saturday I headed over to the bead store, bought some beads, and started Ice Queen.



Ok, not that impressive yet, and I haven't even started the beading. But a provisional cast on of 156 stitches! I haven't worked with Kidsilk Haze before, and I'm not sure I'm a fan - I actually really don't like silk but it belonged to a friend who is allergic to mohair and was up for grabs. I figured I could use it to knit something for a gift and I had just seen the Ice Queen pattern... But it's kind of like knitting with fuzzy dental floss.

Of course, when starting lots of new projects it's important to finish older ones to free up needles.



Pattern: Gentleman's Shooting Stockings from Knitting Vintage Socks
Yarn: Universal Yarns Ditto
Needles: 2.25mm
Started: 11/12/08
Finished: 12/1/08

This is a nice relatively mindless textured pattern. The texture is much more visible in real life than in the picture. I modified the pattern for a 72 st cast on and no calf shaping (because of the shorter cuff) for a woman's L size.

So if I were sane that would be the end of it, but I'm not so I went on a mission into the garage to try to find that Christmas stocking I was knitting for my mom last year and finish it. The mission was unsuccessful - unfortunately I think I put it "somewhere safe". I have a tendency to do that with things and then forget where that safe place was. In fact, during the search for the stocking I found some great cherry print fabric I bought to make a sundress with and put "somewhere safe" over a year ago - I've been looking for it ever since.

But I think you've had enough for one night so we'll talk about the rest of my new projects another day.

Thanks!

Thanks everyone for the scarf suggestions. It got me thinking and looking, and I decided on one which no one mentioned. It is, however, in Scarf Style which Toby mentioned. That got me looking through the book where I found the Here and There Cables (Ravelry link) scarf. It's just what I was looking for - something with a lot of textural interest that is also reversible. I might take out one repeat and make the scarf a narrower, though.

There were also a couple of other topics in the comments, which I decided to revisit. By "not boring" I meant I didn't want it to be boring-looking. I'm actually perfectly happy knitting boring stuff because it allows me to pay attention to a movie, and I have a very long Netflix queue. (And Ravelry queue, for that matter, good thing they're complementary.)

Patterns like Monkey and Jaywalker are probably so popular for just this reason - they're relatively easy to knit, but produce nice non-boring socks. My current one is a modified version of the Gentleman's Shooting Stockings from Knitting Vintage Socks.



It's a simple textured pattern, but it adds some interest to this yarn. Although if I had known originally that the yarn was stripey, I might have done something a little less fancy. In any case, I think they're turning out well.



The closeup of the stitch pattern is a little blurry, sadly winter light isn't great for taking photos.

And thanks to Cindiluhu and Chris for validating my sock-knitterness. The truth is that I want to knit other things. I'm not planning on stopping the sock knitting - not even close! But I do want to knit a few things that aren't socks. And the actual process of knitting a sock vs. a sweater doesn't make that much of a difference to me. The problem is more that when I go to cast on a new project I don't grab the yarn for that sweater I want to knit, I grab more sock yarn. (There's a lot of it, it's in exciting colors, I don't have to swatch!) But I *do* want a Ribby Cardi and a new scarf, so I should really get to knitting them.

As for sock leftovers... I have tons. This problem is compounded by the fact that I have small feet. I was actually thinking I should find someone with a loom and get them to weave me a scarf with black yarn for the warp and stripes of all my crazy sock yarn leftovers. I think it would be cool! Maybe in exchange for a pair of socks... ;)

Not at Rhinebeck

I'm on the wrong side of the country for Rhinebeck this year, and it's sad. It's the first year I haven't gone to Rhinebeck since the first time I did. And then I didn't make a Rhinebeck sweater, either! But I hope all my yarny friends are enjoying Rhinebeck anyway. :)

I did, however, finish some socks:



Pattern: Gentleman's Fancy Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks - highly modified to make a woman's small
Yarn: Yarn Pirate Merino / Tencel in Dogwood from Alyson
Started: 9/25/08
Finished: 10/18/08

Lately it seems like I want to knit simple things while watching Netflix. So I'm powering through the simple socks and leaving the less simple ones to languish. Maybe it's a lesson I need to learn about myself, or maybe I need to catch up on podcasts and knit some of the more complicated ones!

Catching up on reading.

Since the cross-country road trip I've been shuttling between Salem, OR and Seattle, WA and knitting here and there. Actually I haven't been doing as much knitting as I expected - and my spinning wheel is still in pieces on the living room floor. Mostly I've been reading lots of books. Nothing knitting related.

Most of my yarn is packed along with my sock blockers and all my knitting books save Knitting Vintage Socks... and my swift and ballwinder which prevent me winding the two skeins of yarn that have appeared at this address. Whew.

I've learned I can be a single-WIP girl when I'm forced!



Pattern: Oak Ribbed Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks
Yarn: Meilenweit 100 Colortweed color 1004
Started: 8/8/08
Finished: 9/24/08

These socks are the twin socks pictured in that entry. MJ and I have a collection of matching yarn with which we plan to make matching socks, and - once she finishes hers - these will be our second pair.

Since I was out of accessible projects I grabbed some Yarn Pirate merino tencel and started another pair of socks today. I'm beginning to be very glad that I packed so much "emergency yarn" for the road trip.

Listening to: Walls of Jericho ~ Fair to Midland

They've been a long time coming...

When I met Lynn and a bunch of other knittyheads at WEBS she gave me some lovely sock yarn as a gift. I knit so many socks, she said, and she doesn't - obviously I would use this yarn in no time.

Well, that's not exactly true. It was October 2006. When I did finally get around to knitting the yarn the socks took me a month to finish!




Pattern: Yarrow Ribbed Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks
Yarn: Dicentra Designs in Abalone
Started: 7/1/08
Finished: 7/31/08

I'll pretend that I artfully posed the socks on the pile of moving boxes, but that is actually where I'm going to let them sit to dry. This moving thing is crazy!

The fact that the socks took me forever to get around to is actually because I kept having ideas (and ideas, and ideas) about what to do with this particular yarn. I wound it ages ago and then started being indecisive about my pattern choice. I think the Yarrow Rib, which I finally decided on, was a good choice. The yarn is fairly high contrast - yet strangely harmonious! - and any patterning would be lost in it.



So thank you Lynn for the fabulous yarn which will finally get worn as its intended object - just as soon as it gets colder.

Listening to: Wicked Game ~ H.I.M., September Sun ~ Type O Negative

I already posted this in my head...

I finished a pair of socks, finally!



Pattern: a highly modified version of Gentleman's Half Hose in Ringwood Pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks
Yarn: ONline Supersocke Savanne-color
Started: 5/25/08
Finished: 6/18/08

I'm still working on my goal of knitting all the socks from Knitting Vintage Socks, but from the start I decided that modified versions were fine since I have very few males to knit socks for. This is one of those cases - I took the Ringwood stitch pattern and plugged it into a pair of socks that is me-sized. The yarn is one that I bought on my trip to Seattle for sock camp and also a new one for me. While I was knitting I got a lot of comments on these socks - the color combination really is gorgeous!

The yarn itself is a fairly standard wool/nylon blend, and it's a bit scratchy compared to the 100% merino hand dyed yarns I've been working with lately. But - like the Noro socks - I think it will be perfectly comfortable on the feet and almost certainly hold up very well.

Knitting In Public

Saturday was WWKIP day. Since this post is a bit late I'm sure you all already know about it. I was working so I couldn't attend the Boston gathering, but I managed to KIP on my way there and back - it ended up being great for my trip home which was complicated by some sort of subway issues.

Quite a bit of knitting is being done but nothing is getting finished. And some of it isn't blogable at the moment, but these socks are:



I can't believe how many comments I've been getting on them! The yarn is ONline Supersocke Savanne, and the colors are very nice. The stitch pattern is from Knitting Vintage Socks - the Ringwood socks in the book are mens' half-hose, so I just made a regular sock size with the stitch pattern.

Yesterday I finished the gusset and have about 2 inches left to go before starting the toe. Hopefully I'll finish up this week.

What? It's the end of the year?

Well, it has come to my attention that the year is almost over. In fact, I got my STR club package and it was the last package and I think that's when it really hit me. Um, 2007 is practically over! (You think the fact that it's December and I am frantically trying to finish this knitted Christmas item would have clued me in, but I guess not.)

Right! Well, I was just talking to Catherine about knitting resolutions for next year. This year I didn't really start with any resolutions. I did pledge to try to buy only 1/3 of the yarn I used. I didn't completely succeed with that, but I did use more yarn than I bought this year, which I think is pretty good.

In April I decided to knit all of the socks from Knitting Vintage Socks , which I'm still working on. But I never said I would do it this year, and it hasn't been a year since April quite yet anyway.

So what about knitting goals for 2008? Well I do want to continue working to get the stash under control. I also would like to work on trying more of the different types of yarn that I have in the stash. As much as I want to try new yarns, I tend to knit with the same ones over and over.

I was thinking it might be fun to do a little sort of "sock club" with my stash - maybe throw skeins of yarn in brown bags and write months on them blindly and then open one each month and force myself to cast on socks with it. That would be interesting...

I also want to knit a sweater in 2008. Maybe start my Rhinebeck sweater a little more than two weeks ahead of time. ;) I have yarn for a couple of sweaters that I've been thinking about knitting for a good while but haven't actually started yet - the two foremost in my mind being the Ribby Cardi and this Adrienne Vittadini sweater. Well, that and Durrow.

Now back to the grindstone - I'll keep brainstorming about knitting goals for the new year.

More Swap Socks

My pal Suemoon got her socks, so now I can post them! (She has pictures on her blog too!)



Pattern: Child's Sock in Miranda Pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks
Yarn: Sunshine Yarns in Sweet
Started: 8/19/07
Finished: 9/2/07

I'm going to leave it at that for now as I'm pretty busy, but I'll be back later with more content, promise!

KBSX2

I'm part of the Knittyboard Sock Exchange - actually I'm one of the people running it - and since my swap pal received her socks I can post them now!

My first pal was Jenneke and I knit her these socks:



Pattern: Little Child's Sock (with modifications) from Knitting Vintage Socks
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Camouflage
Started: 7/31/07
Finished: 8/13/07

Of course she took an even more beautiful picture:



Now to finish the socks for my other swap pal!

Listening to: Intolerance ~ Tool, Cryin' ~ Aerosmith

Sockapalooooza Socks Done!

I had a nice long knitting day and finished my Sockapalooooza socks!



Tomorrow they'll be heading off to their new home. :)

Pattern: Gentleman's Sock in Railway Stitch (with modifications)
Yarn: Knit Picks Essential in Fawn with random black for contrast
Started: 7/21/07
Finished: 8/5/07

After the initial pattern confusion these were a nice knit, although with a few more purls than I usually like. I really like how the texture pattern turned out!

Up next on the needles... more socks!

In other news, I had the opportunity to participate in a knitting round table tonight for the Knitting Time Together podcast. We discussed many knitting-related topics including stash guilt (I totally have it!), LYSs, and knitting stereotypes. Lots of fun!

Listening to: Anyone, Anywhere ~ Anathema, Leaves ~ The Gathering

Amanda's Jaywalking now!

Well, I finished and mailed off my Secret Solstice socks finally. The original pattern gave me fits (and never would have worked) so I ripped it out early the morning of the gift exchange and started a pair of Jaywalkers per Amanda's request.



Pattern: Jaywalker
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock
Started: 7/4/07
Finished: 7/21/07

I really enjoyed working with the Cherry Tree Hill yarn, which stood up well to the frogging it encountered in the first incarnation. The colors on the sock look even more lovely than in the skein or ball, and it has a surprising amount of stretch (great for this pattern!)

Now, after finishing these socks I started another pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks (Gentleman's Sock in Railway Stitch) and had huge amounts of confusion about it. Now, I don't think I'm being conceited in thinking that I'm a pretty smart cookie, so the fact that I had to read this pattern multiple times to understand what in the world Nancy Bush is talking about is a little odd.

Here's a quick recap:

The pattern has you cast on some stitches, knit some rib (so far so good), decrease one stitch, then start the pattern. Here's where the problem comes in. The stitch repeat is a multiple of five, after decreasing one stitch the sock is also a multiple of 5 stitches. Strangely enough there is a seam stitch, you are told "this is the 'seam' st and will be knitted every rnd unless otherwise specified" no other instructions are given. Now, after racking my brains I have decided that even though this is the "seam" st it should be counted in the pattern repeat before the decreases, because it just doesn't make any sense otherwise. But why would you call it a "seam" stitch when it is in pattern? And why would you have a multiple of 5 stitches and still have a "seam" stitch - especially when you actually just went to the trouble to decrease an extra stitch after the ribbing?

And yes, I've already checked the corrections, nothing there.

I was just going to devise my own way to do it when I read further in the pattern and discovered that decrease rows give very specific instructions for this stitch. Can I just have a chart, please? And then after the shaping is complete the seam stitch disappears. Now, I really want to know what the point is of having a disappearing "seam" stitch when the first stitch of the stitch pattern is always knit. And the pattern tells you to place a marker. Now, if I have a marker and this stitch eventually disappears, why in the world do I need a seam stitch?

The big problem here is after the disaster with Amanda's socks, I'm a little afraid to continue with this pattern. These socks are also not for me and also on a deadline. Well, wish me luck!

Grow Up and Blow Away ~ Metric, Bodies ~ Smashing Pumpkins

Wow!

I got home today to find my belated birthday package from MJ. Now, let it be known that she did actually send me a package near the time of my birthday but due to address confusion it was returned and she sent it again - this time with a few extra goodies.



Yes, she knit me socks! Waving Lace from Favorite Socks - and they fit great.



The starry thing is an awesome circular needle holder - and on the back a zippered pocket. She pointed it out with a note:



Thank you so much MJ!

In other news, I finally got a picture of the sock I knit a while back.



Pattern: Infant's Fancy Silk Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks
Yarn: Tofutsies

I knit a single sock because it was a store sample, but I've decided to count it in my KVS goal.

In other news, here's a picture of my Secret Solstice package from Cassandra - she has better pictures of the goodies on her blog including some awesome skull wristwarmers!



And last but not least, a little word about the podcast. Thanks to all of you who have gone and listened to it so far! As of this moment we've had 72 listeners - not bad for the first couple days!

I've heard some positive and some negative things so far - I know the sound quality is a bit echo-y (hopefully the addition of the couch to my living room will help with that!) and that the editing is not perfect. Unfortunately Audacity got mad at me during editing and made a few parts of the original file silent, so the editing was a little more severe than I had hoped. Oh, and next time we will make sure to put Amanda closer to the microphone! Ah well, live and learn right?

Thanks for everyone who has given us kind words and encouragement!

Listening to: Endless Dark ~ H.I.M. , Rocks Tonic Juice Magic ~ Saves the Day

It's been a while!

Another pair of socks was kitchenered yesterday!



Pattern: Gentleman's Plain Winter Sock with Dutch Heel from Knitting Vintage Socks
Yarn: Sockotta
Started: 5/30/07
Finished: 6/13/07

I modified the pattern to fit a woman's foot and made the cuff a little shorter as part of that. I also used a traditional heel instead of a Dutch heel, and used a wedge toe.

As far as my KVS goal goes, I had a bit of a dilemma. I knit a single Infant's Fancy Silk Sock for a sample, and I couldn't decide whether to count it or knit two more. After talking with some other knitters at WWKIP Day I decided to count it - the goal was to knit all the patterns and the consensus was that knitting a single sock still counts as knitting the pattern.

So, with that decision, this pair brings me to 3/24 on my KVS goal!

And some socks I didn't knit:



Java is the fashion police, but Amanda says handknit socks are always in style- matching or not!

Sheep On a Leash

I woke up this morning bright and early (on a Sunday!) with Korn's song Freak On a Leash stuck in my head. It's an old song - I do have the new version with Amy Lee, so I'm assuming that's why it was stuck in my head.

So I showered, dressed, grabbed some coffee on the way to the ATM which refused to give me money (!) and got on the T to meet bryghtrose and Patrick and head to New Hampshire. (Don't worry, we stopped at an ATM that did give me money on the way.)

I got the front seat and the job of navigator, there were muffins, and before too long we were there and contemplating how lucky we were that it was not freezing cold, pouring rain, and flooding like last year. :) Of course I brought my camera and didn't take any pictures, although there is one of me that I have to retrieve from my co-S&Wers.

Now back to the title. I had that song hopelessly stuck in my head to the point that I was actually singing it aloud (quietly) in public, the original radio edit version complete with the abrupt pause when they edit out a bad word. And then we started talking about cute little lambies and I remembered the sheep I met last year or maybe the year before - a very small pet sheep. A Sheep On a Leash. Bryghtrose was nice enough to join me in singing this new rendition of the song.

I bought a bit of blue sock yarn:



Left to Right: Van Cal Car Acres ~3oz, End of the World Farm, Ball and Skein, French Hill Farm's French Twist - none of them have color names

I've also finished two pairs of socks, as you can see in the count and progress icons. Here's a flat picture of the blue ones - the others were a test knit so I can't show you just yet.



Pattern: Lichen Ribbed Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks
Yarn: Peruvian Quechua from Elann
Started: 4/25/07
Finished: 5/4/07

I knit them as written in the book. I was a little weirded out by the strange heel and toe, but I guess the recipient loves them so it's all good.

On the needles now are *two* pairs of toe-up socks - one test knit and one for a sock swap. I don't even like toe-up socks, how did this happen?

Listening to: The Outsider ~ A Perfect Circle, Heresy ~ Nine Inch Nails

Maryland Sheep & Wool - Part I

Thursday night Rachel picked me up and we headed to her house in Connecticut to spend the night. Her family has a very old house, especially for a west coast girl like me, so I was rather fascinated with the oldness of it all.



Above is the barn and outhouse, and below is a keyhole in one of the floorboards.



We got up Friday morning and headed down to Maryland via Philly where we stopped at Rosie's Yarn Cellar and got lunch - I had a vegetarian cheesesteak!



Rachel dropped me off at the airport to meet Amanda, and then headed into Baltimore to meet her friend. Amanda and I went to the Nautilus diner to meet Trillian and Turtlegirl for some dinner. Since I had finished socks in the car (and I didn't bring my blockers - I'm not that crazy!) I decided to make them pose with the socks. The other patrons quite possibly thought we were totally nuts.



The socks are Lichen Rib from Knitting Vintage Socks (1/24 for my goal). I'll post more project details when I have a better picture of the socks from the recipient.

We had a lovely dinner and got a group picture before heading back to Amanda's for the night.



Coming soon... Part II!

Listening to: Wicked Game ~ H.I.M., Weaken ~ God Lives Underwater, Dose ~ Filter

A brilliant plan

At Knitsmiths yesterday Dani was talking about her newfound hat obsession, and it gave me a really good idea. Since it seems clear that I will never fulfill my goal of knitting less socks, how about knitting a whole book of socks?

I've decided that Knitting Vintage Socks is the one. There are some simple rib patterns for my more exciting yarns, and plenty of fancy stuff to keep me busy. Now, I'm not promising to knit the socks as written - there are two pairs of bed socks that I'll probably modify to use the stitch pattern in a normal sock since I don't wear socks to bed. In addition there are a few pairs of mens' socks. As I am certainly not a man (and I have tiny feet!) I might change those to be smaller. That or I'll have to find some male sock recipients! I'm sure I can find some young feet for the baby ones. ;)

Speaking of socks, I actually didn't get a ton of sock knitting done at sock camp (shocking, I know) but I do have a pair that I started there that's almost finished - a plain ol' pair of Trekking socks for me. Although I've knit with Trekking before I don't own any socks knit with it, and I have quite a few balls in the stash because of all those good blues.

And now a thank you to my knitting buds for some lovely fiber-related presents:



Cathy gave me some superwash Spunky Eclectic roving, Catherine gave me the light up scented pen (!), and what's that on the right?



Oh, a very very tiny book from Amanda! Rumor has it that the actual book is on the way.

Thanks ladies!