Tough toes.

I can't think of anything clever to say about these socks. Some not-clever things: they feel too big. Not too worried - I am going to push forward, and leave the rest to giving them a good wash when they are done. and maybe a very quick dry. these are going to be some sturdy socks.

What's taking over most of my mind is moving. I just packed one big storage container full of stuff from my kitchen - specifically just one cabinet. I am thinking I'll need to have yet another garage sale, because i didn't comb through the kitchen at all when i had the first one. i have some leftovers from the first sale. So I'm trying not to throw up from thinking about how much crap I have to move and what happens if I don't get rid of it. Moving has never felt so stressful before - but I think it's because I've had two years to accumulate stuff, rather than my past moves, where I hadn't been in a particular place for that long. Whine, groan, moan.

Going to relax and watch some silly TV for a while before I prepare dinner.

Diamonds on the tips of her toes...

At the moment, as far as the green handspun socks go, I am back to where I was before I frogged them. No more hideous snarls of yarn to contend with. They just about cover my toes. I am almost finished with the pattern motif that I made up, so I am debating whether I want to repeat it, or just go stockinette, or do something different...
Word to the wise: Unless you really know what you're doing, chart a pattern first. I made my pattern up as I was going along, and as a result, messed up the pattern, so the socks are even more fraternal. Still, I am pleased with how it looks, and I am slowly understanding the yin and yang of lacy patterns.
It's Friday, and I am counting down the minutes to go home. I really do like my job, but there are times where I have zero work to do (despite imploring everyone I have contact with to give me something to do). So I knit, read useless online content, and from time to time, blog. I have just devoured a stale Twizzler, and I have a severe movie-theatre popcorn butter craving. (perhaps some pre-PMS...). Sadly, there isn't anything I particularly want to see playing at my local theatre. This means I will probably go home in 27 minutes and make some popcorn. I am determined to be ready for this upcoming move, and I am going to try packing up some of my kitchen. At my best guess, this is the breakdown of my "stuff":
30% kitchen
20% yarn
20% bedding
10% clothing
10% furniture
10% books/knick knacks

Sorry for the horribly boring, intimate details. I am off to meter some mail.

More socks!

Here is a bigger picture and a close up on the Sockotta socks. The poor ball of yarn has been tumbled around my purse for many months, so for the moment I've retired it as my "on-the-go" project. That, and my purse was just getting a little too heavy. They are really plain 6x2 ribbing, size 2 Addis, and the slip stitch heel you remember from a few posts back. I like the Sockotta more than I thought I would, it's not a tough to work with as I feared. It does have some wool in it, which balances out the cotton. I love the way it patterns up, and it has a nice sheen to it. I have a few more balls kicking around sockstashland, but I am not sure I'd go out on my own and buy some.
Here is a close up of the finished toe. Really neat the way the colors line up near the bottom!
That's it for this update... This weekend I accomplished zero knitting (actually not true - I did a little bit Saturday night on the Tsuki scarf before I got too engrossed in Jacob's Ladder - talk about vivid dreaming...). This week will be a little more tame (say I say now...) so I hope to get some more knitting done.

Don't eat the green sheep!

So what do you think? It's still sitting on a bobbin,
I am being lazy and haven't skeined it up yet.
But it's pretty snazzy! I can't wait to make socks- I think they'll be my first pair for Summer of Socks. And I am SO excited to see how they compare to Sheepspyjamas socks! There is a surprising amount of color variation within the yarn, it's not 100% green. I enjoyed spinning it, and plying was quick, too. I have a little left over that isn't plied yet - in case of a knitting emergency!
My house has little tufts of green spread throughout... I found some in my bed last week, there is some rolling around the dining room, bits in the living room... It's like the cat hair tumbleweeds that have taken over my house. I am looking forward to doing a good clean sweep - yard sale this weekend, and then I'm moving in less than two months. I am - gasp- parting with some inherited yarn this weekend (as much as Lopi is a great yarn, I'll never get around to making 6 sweaters worth of it....), so that should make moving a little easier.

I keep wondering what to do with the little left over ends of spinning projects.... Some of it I, err, recycled and used to tie my skeins up, but it would be nice to use in a slightly more productive manner. Hmmm... So here is my 4-plied handspun. It does look "chained" which fascinates me. Once again, no plans for knitting. I think it's too tightly spun and would make rather uncomfortable socks. Maybe a lacy scarf. I have more knitting news, but I will try and spread it out (i.e. give myself something to do while I am unoccupied at work).

Fuzzy suns....

Here they are in their fuzzed out glory! Note to self (and all others): Don't wear 100% wool socks in leather boots all day long, even if it says it's superwash! I haven't had any trouble with wool/nylon mix, but sadly at all the pressure points, there was some felting. The leg of the sock is just fine, but as you can see below, anyplace that is going to wear got matted. Not sure why this pictures is so washed out looking, but you can see the neat way the color knit up! One sock doesn't even look like it has any of the yellow in it. I knit them from inside/outside the ball, if you remember. Towards the top, I increased to a K3, P2 rib, and then switched to size 1 Addi lace needles in an attempt to keep them from falling down. My attempt failed.

Pretty little toes! See, it's matted where my wide boat feet rubbed against the shoe. Live and learn! They are nevertheless wonderful to wear.
I love this final shot. I had a little help (I am hiding under the covers in the background). Beautiful colorway, and a joy to work with. Looks like it's lunchtime, so that's all for now....

Knits from afar....

This weekend I will have the privilage of possessing a much better camera than the one I have, so I can truly show off my work. fun fun! but for now, rest your eyes upon....
Yah! Socks on feet! The lavender socks traveled far across the ocean and have landed on my Londoner friend's feet. I can't thank her enough for her wonderful picture, and it came in this great card!





I'm a sucker for bucolic scenes.... If I could have a
baby lamb for a pet, I would. Sadly, city living
severely limits the types of animals I can keep hanging around. I even looked at the agreement for the building I work in, no pets allowed! I had fantasies of having a puppy and bringing it to work everyday, but those dreams have been dashed. Instead, I'll rest my weary, monitor-strained eyes on a warm picture of cozy looking sheep. The picture and card made (and continue to make) my day, possibly week/month.

I will announce that the sunrise/sunset socks are finished, and due to a cold spell here, my toes were happy. Also, I have moved on to the plying stage of my spin to knit socks! It is amazing how fast spinning becomes with some practice. And with my trusty Ashford Book of Spinning, I am well on my way to actually knowing what I am doing at the wheel.

Speaking of spinning - I did get my package from the Woolery, which contained a MUCH needed niddy noddy. I skeined up my 4-ply yarn, soaked it overnight, then frantically wondered what to do the next morning when i realized it should probably be hung up to dry. With about 1 minute and twenty-nine seconds before I HAD to leave the house for work I spied something that would work perfectly as a weight... Just add water. I'll keep you guessing until I have a pic of my quick fix! I was incredibly pleased with my uncaffeinated quick thinking.

Spinning beginnings....

I wish I had a much better camera to show off this awesome fiber! My spinning isn't much to look at, but I am enjoying myself. Also, I am intimidated to have to go back and ply all this once it's done! SheepsPyjamas and I are finally having our sockspinalong - we bought the same fiber (same color, too!) and we're going to spin it and see what kind of neat-o neon spring green socks we get! I will invite anyone who reads to join us! Spin to knit socks! It's my first -along, so I hope to make it a good one.

What I am particularly excited for is trying out something in Favorite Socks, or More Sensational Knitted Socks... I am nearly done with my sunrise/sunset socks, and still plodding along on the Sockotta ones. Eventually all will be finished - I'll need needles!

The fiber came from Nick's Meadow Farm. I have some more than this finished, almost 1/2 a bobbin!

To give myself even more impetus to finish, I went on a spending spree at the Woolery and ordered all sorts of Ashford goodies. 4 more bobbins, a niddy noddy (so i can get my *other* spun yarn into a hank!), a repair kit, and The Ashford Book of Spinning. Wow. Yes, I really went all out and treated myself, largely for no reason. Sometimes it just has to happen.

Wheeee.... Pictures! But no sock knitting.

How come I didn't know that you could upload pictures directly to blogger... Can you tell I'm new at this?

Without further ado....
These are the yummy sherbet socks.

They were made from my own hand-dyed louet pearl yarn, on size 3 needles. The size threes were a mistake. i thought the fabric felt fine (not loose), but now that the socks have been worn a couple of times, the stitches have spread out and the fabric is thin. I will be gentle with them. I love them because they are extra long - and I still had lots of yarn left over (rats!) If only I had cast on more stitches to begin with so they would fit over my shapely (and oh-so-pale) calves.






This is a close-up of the fabric, the stitch pattern looks great with the colors of the yarn (if I do say so myself). I read in the current issue of Wool Gathering about a similar stitch, but instead of lifting the bar over the stitches, you make a yarn over and pull that over the stitches.




Meet the Lavender socks!




Close up of the left and right twist. They are not exactly mirror images of each other, but I'll settle for fraternal twins.
Lastly, the ever-popular Eye-of-Partridge heel. It's very subtle on this pair, now I know it probably won't work the way I want it to using Trekking XXL.




My very first darning project! I wish I had gotten the chance to take pictures as I worked, but these will do for now. There are another pair that need some mending.






In all her wisdom, Rena Crockett does recommend steaming the old yarn so it isn't kinky, in the way, and a little more of a pain to weave in. You're right, and next time I will.
The image above was taken at the same time as the previous one, i.e. not quite finished.









The bottom picture shows what it looks like now, after one wearing. The yarn looks a little newer, and the colors don't match up, but it is a pretty good fix. I highly recommend learning how to mend things, although this was a painstaking task that took an entire work day and also a few hours of carefully unpicking stitches and weaving in ends.

In this world, such a thing exists as a darning egg, but I found that a hard rubber street hockey ball worked just as well. A lightbulb wasn't bad either, but I was afraid it was a little delicate, and not safely portable.



It is still cold where I am, so last week I decided I needed fingerless mitts. Actually, I decided that a few weeks ago, but hadn't had any knitting time for them. I wanted to make them out of something very special, and I was sure that I had one skein of something that fit the bill....
And not that Malabrigo isn't special, it wasn't quite what I had in mind.
I pored over Barbara Walker, and after hours of swatching, I fell in love with this eyelet pattern. The actual construction was a little bit of trial and error, since I was making it up as I went along - I knew I needed shaping (decreases in the purl valley's), but I got a bit too excited and knit far too long without decreasing... Resulting in having to frog half the cuff. Thankfully, these babies knit up quite quickly. And yes, for some reason I decided I wanted reverse stockinette thumb gussets. Call me crazy. The bind off I found in Vogue Knitting, it's a cute pico edge without having folded over rows.

And finally,

A pair from more hand-dyed Louet Pearl? And ohhhh what to do. I was thinking of Pomatomus, after seeing some more close-up pictures of the pattern, I think it's quite neat.














Contender #2 - Solid Koigu for mosaic socks?
That would require actually owning the book, which I don't, yet. One day, someday, I am going on a book buying splurge on Amazon and buying that, Favorite Socks, and No Sheep For You (I want that fore more mosaic knitting in Intoxicating).

I guess if I want to tackle the mosaic sweater, I should first cut my teeth on a smaller project to learn the technique.

And I think that is enough pictures/mind-spew.
Back to something important, like video games....