Socks, Socks, Socks, Socks and Thermal

I haven’t finished the modified Artichoke socks yet.

I’ve been knitting as fast as my little fingers will knit to try and finish up a pair of socks for my sockapalooza pal that needed to be in the mail last week.

Oops.

The good news is that I washed them last night and they’ll be in the mail today. I used Socktopia’s Eleanor pattern, but added a slip stitch heel and lined up the gusset decreases to follow with the eyelet pattern. On the second sock, I knit the eyelet pattern going in the opposite direction for a little fun.

I wouldn’t feel so bad about getting my socks out a week late if my pal hadn’t been on time. I received my socks on Saturday.

They are the Undulating Rib Socks from Favorite Socks, knit by blogless Jodee. I have to say, she picked out the most beautiful yarn! Look at those lovely greens, blues and purples -

The yarn is hand-dyed by Sophie’s Toes in the Tapestry colorway. Simply stunning! And the socks fit wonderfully.

I’ve also been trying to knit up this ball of STR that is so bright. Insanely bright. But I LOVE the colors. I’m calling them my hippie Jaywakers. I think I’m the last person on the planet to knit these socks. Seriously. I’ve tried to knit this pattern before and struggled with the fit, but I’d never tried with STR. I’ve also tried several patters for this yarn and the pooling was unbearably fugly. It seems that the Jaywalker pattern and the striping nature of STR go together very well, making a pair of very happy hippie socks.

I’ve also been plugging away at a Thermal sleeve in Cocoa Gloss,

starting with a tubular cast on and a lot of thinking and tinkering to get the increases to line up the way I wanted them to. My fussiness gets worse with each project and I find myself modifying so many things - pretty much using the patterns as guidelines.

I’m going on a much needed vacation next week and am packing Thermal with me. I think it will be a perfect in-the-car project. And we’re going somewhere where the temperatures are lower than what I’m used to for mid-August - I don’t think I’ll mind a bit of wool in my lap. Just in case it’s warmer than I’m planning, the socks are coming with me too.

It looks like the shitty kitty is bored. I guess it’s time to go play. Mrawh!

Almost MIA…

With finals over, I’m getting ready to spend my first full week of my three weeks out of school backpacking in Bitterroot National Forest. Ya’ll know what that means, right? Even though I really only post once every so often, and it’s almost always fluff, I’m going to be MIA for the next week. The Mr. and I are going with some good friends, including Kally’s Uncle Freddy, aka the usual sitter. Kally absolutely adores her Uncle Freddy. She gets along with him almost as well as she gets along with the Mr., her absolute favorite BFF. Last year, around this time, the Mr. and I went to Cannon Beach. Uncle Freddy called to let us know how our little shitty kitty was doing. He told us that he had fallen asleep in front of the TV and when he woke up, he found Kally curled up on his chest. When her Uncle Freddy started to get up and she hissed at him. After all, he was there only to entertain her and she wanted to cuddle, dammit.

Moving on…

Anyone want a Print ‘o The Wave update? I received the second skien and the dyelot is way off. So I took Print ‘o The Wave off the needles (of course, I used some old cotton yarn as a stitch holder, I’m not going to tear the whole thing out) and retired her to the corner of the room. I’m trying to decide what to do. Right now, I’m leaning towards taking out both of the borders, casting off the provisional cast on edge and working the center panel until I run out of yarn. Another option would be to take the lace back by some multiple of two repeats which would reduce the number of border repeats. But, I’m leaning against that option. I’m not close to Margene tall, but I’m kind of tall (a very respectable 5′7″). If I make the shawl much shorter than it is now, it will be very disproportionate to my height and I doubt I will be able to wrap it all the way around my broad shoulders (kind of built like a linebacker, I tell ya ;o) ). So, I’m thinking longer is better… which would mean no border on this puppy. What do ya’ll think? Will some photographic evidence help with your decision? Okay….

The shawl in its entirety along with all the yarn I have left. The one long border than I have knit used up more than half of what I had when I started the border. I just don’t think I’ll make it.

Can you see the difference? Well, can you? The new skien has a very noticeable yellow tint when held next to the already knit lace. It’s just too much of a difference for me. The perfectionist in me will not let me use something so different. A contrasting color would look better. Besides, yellow and I, we’re not the best of friends.

While I go back and forth trying to make up my mind, I started on another lace project. I know it could technically be considered breaking the rules of having only one of each type of project on the needles, but my justification is that Print ‘o The Wave is “off” the needles and on a stitch holder. I know I’ve said it before, but I really don’t consider myself much of a triangle shawl person. Then, I saw this post and I fell in love. I pulled out my copy of Interweave and I dug though my bin of yarn and pulled out two skeins of Knit Picks Shadow in Oregon Coast courtesy of the most lovely and absolutely fabulous Teri.

Two full repeats of chart one down and part of a third. My favorite thing about this shawl so far, the subtle color in the yarn. Holy stunning, Batman.

A little more on rule breaking, eh? I have two pairs of socks on the needles right now. Remember the 92 stitch Jaywalkers? Yeah, I’m still working on sock #1. Because I don’t really feel that fondly about the pattern, I’ve started another pair of socks. Bad eliza, bad.

Kally knows we’re leaving next week. Clearly, she’s not thrilled.

Introducing Flora and other follow up

Not to long ago, I finished my Weekender Bag. Here she is sitting on the couch,

y’all can call me Flora

and she already has knitting goodies inside.

So what exactly is in the bag?

Print O’ The Wave stole by Eunny Jang. When I reached the half-way point, I noticed that the two pieces along the center seam would never line up perfectly. It would make me crazy. So, I decided to knit all the repeats in one direction. It’s growing very slowly.

The 92-stitch Jaywalker knit with Dicentra Designs Hand Dyed Yarn in Abalone. It’s quite lovely.

Kally managed to get to the sock and had her way with the working end. I think it’s safe to say that she also finds the yarn to be quite lovely.

Little Red Sox for a very little Red Sox fan.

And another pair of socks. Plain, plain socks.

2×2 rib in Socks that Rock, Carbon colorway.

That’s all folks.

Who’s got the zipper? Part 2

Now, I’ve got the zipper.

The Mr. and I were discussing the zipper. Alright, a more accurate portrayal of the discussion would be him listening to me whine about why I didn’t want to shorten a zipper and then telling me it would be okay - seriously, it would be okay. Then we both came up with the same brilliant idea at the same time. Not too far from where we live is a shop that makes springbar tents. They do most everything in-house and are the place to go when looking for little plastic clips/snaps, nylon webbing and duck cloth. I had them cut a zipper to the length I needed and they provided all the parts, including stops so I could decide where I wanted that bad boy to end and even let me choose the slider.

really - it isn’t too big relative to the whole bag

I stitched the zipper to the bag before I attached the slider - much easier to sew - then I slipped the slider on, tacked the two ends shut and what do we have here? One instant, custom zipper!

shitty kitty for scale

I’m getting closer to finishing this bag. I may have it finished before the month is out. But, I make no promises - this thing is seriously slow going.

But - I haven’t been just sewing the last several weeks. I also got some knit on. Remember the whisper Rib and Shepherd’s Lace sock from way back here - yeah, me too. I didn’t try that sock on after knitting the heel, finishing the gusset, and working all the way through the toe. I tried it on many times before I started the heel, but not after because it seemed stretchy enough. Just before cutting the yarn to close up the toe, I decided to try it on. Novel idea, eh. I could get it on, but it was stretched too thin everywhere but the calf. So, to the frog pond it went and, boy, there are a lot of stitches in single sock.

I’m thinking since I have so much of this yarn that I’m going to make the Jaywalkers; I’ve heard the pattern eats up yarn. And, I think might do the cute little picot edging. Picot is so in right now, see …

that would be whisper rib and shepherd’s lace take two in koigu

I’m calling the Koigu version my seven day socks because that’s how long it took to knit them, mostly while waiting for something - in line at the bank, for a professor to show up, at the doctor’s office - waiting, waiting, waiting and knitting, knitting, knitting.

the koigu goes well with the shitty kitty

So, when I do start knitting the Jaywalkers, I’m going to use a size 0 as the ball band recommends (9 sts per inch), but cast on more stitches per Grumperina’s recommendations (If my math checks out, it would be a 92 stitch round!). I think they might be the perfect project to take with me this weekend when I venture to Moab. My bike is tuned and I’m ready to go.

grrr…

Will there be a recap of a weekend full of drunken knitting and poker playing in the near future?

hmmm… what’s in here?

KADD is serious…

On Saturday, the Mr. was busy playing with a new toy of his - perfect opportunity to get my knit on. While he was drilling away and making all kinds of noise, I finished my Embossed Leaves socks, did a little happy dance and ventured into the office to show them off. A few minutes later, he made his way into the kitchen to take a few photos of his old toy… I begged him to take a picture of my newly finished socks, to which he replied: You know, your blog is going to start attracting the foot fetish crowd with all these pictures of your feet. Could he be anymore perfect!

so pretty and so hard to photograph!

With the Embossed Leaves off the needles and the Shetland Triangle ripped, I didn’t know what to knit on next. I had the Jaywalkers on the needles… but really wasn’t interested. The yarn is a little rough and I can only work on them a little at a time, otherwise my fingers totally cramp up and I become Capitan Ornery Pants. Nobody likes Capitan Ornery Pants. Y’all know what that means, don’t ya? Time to start a new project. I really tried to wait until my sockapaloooza pals’s yarn arrived to start another pair of socks, but I had a ball of Koigu calling out to me and Susan’s new pattern. I have to say, after a few repeats, I don’t think I like it. I like the pattern and I like the yarn, but together…

is it really is too damn busy? what does the internets think?

I took Cherie and the Jaywalkers with me to SLC SNB Sunday Edition. I’ve since made progress on both, but I’m rather bored. A little bit of a tangent here, I knit while watching Assault on Precinct 13 last night, and now I’m all “bad-ass motherfucker(s)” about everything. Kally, Cherie and Jaywalker #1 are sick and tired of being called bad-ass motherfuckers right about now, but the homework, like Ethan Hawke’s Sarge, loves the reputation.

cherie is sweet as pie

the heel is flappin’ but not turned

Would it be the knitting blahs or KADD? Or is it just a downright February funk? Could spring seem any further off? I’m trying my hardest to fend off the urge to start something new - STR should arrive in the mail shortly and I can get started on my sockapaloooza’s socks. I’ve finally decided on the pattern - yet another pattern that is floating all over blogland right now… any guesses…

ms. kally is waiting for your guesses… in my chair…

D is for…

DONE… finally, and on their way to SLC SNB!

My first FO of the year, half-way through February!

I seem to have a serious case of knitting ADD right now.

The Shetland Triangle from Wrap Style no longer sits at the bottom of my knitting tote. Since I used a lace weight yarn with a DK weight pattern, I figured I could just knit more rows. At 104 rows, each one takes forever - What The Fuck was I thinking? I don’t know when I’ll stop, but I do want it to be much larger than it is now…

I wrote the above paragraph last night just before I went to bed. When I woke up this morning, I really started to think about why I’ve stalled on this triangle - the pattern is easy to memorize yet still engaging, the yarn is beautiful, and it’s all coming together so nicely, so why am I not loving it? I realized that I’m not to fond of the overall shape, the triangle. I would much rather have a big ol’ rectangle like my pashima. So, internets, I ask: do I rip and start over? The yarn is beautiful and I want wrap myself up in it. Maybe a modified version of this shawl from Folk Shawls?

Moving on…

Embossed Leaves Sock #2 is waiting for me to turn the heel. It’s all “Seriously woman, would you turn me? I promise, I won’t be difficult… oh, come on!”

And that yarn I dyed with kool-aid a while back… Well, I’m joining the rest of the internets and making a pair of Jaywalkers.

Cherie has taken the place of the Shetland Triangle at the bottom of my list. It’s a shame, she’s so beautiful, but so boring. Without any mindless stockinette on the needles, I may pick her up sooner rather than later… but then again, I may not.

Another thing I accomplished… I purchased the sockpaloooza yarn and have narrowed my pattern choices down to two. I almost feel bad for the gal knitting my socks - compared to the pal I’m knitting for, my feet are huge! Monster feet! GRRR! However, the sale racks and lack of my size indicate that my feet are pretty much average, so maybe I just lucked out… the knitting powers that be must know how scattered my brain is right now and don’t want me to have to knit more than my attention span will allow.

And because I’m totally obsessed with my meow…

We like to call this one Over Exposed Shitty Kitty…