Despite only 14 days left until I need to leave my job and having a huge project to finish, I had to sign up for the Ravelympics. Of course this event provides great blog fodder so how could I not. I had not been around much when the 2006 winter games took place, but I have been training hard over the past two years and felt that I could be a contender. Read the rest of this entry »
The second round of Sock Madness went fast. Way too fast by half. In a week where I moved my out of my home away from home (a small 10′x10′ bedroom) to a much more spacious apartment, I tried to faithfully knit on my socks, whilst furnishing the new place with things ferried from home number one. It didn’t work. I got about half a repeat into the socks before I got home last night where I saw, to my dismay, that the Tennessee Vols group had 19 completed pairs. Even had I stayed up ALL night, there was no way in.
These aren’t my favorite pair of socks so far, even though I find the stitch pattern intriguing, so I’m going to toss these and participate at will. And I’m going to save that Sweet Georgia Concord for something else. I do have the coveted laceweight yarn for whatever round they are in, so I’m certainly going to be knitting that pair of socks. But now I can go back to finishing some other projects and having a more normal knitting life.
I think I knew I was going to be out earlier this week when I thought, ‘Crap, this is keeping me from working on x, y & z.’
Picture to come soon.
Be still my competitive beating heart. I just found out that Sock Wars II (which I think should be called The Sock Strikes Back) is going to take place in the middle of October! Will I make it past round 2 (previously I made it past round 1)? Will I receive a beautiful pair of socks? Will there be a repeat winner? Stay tuned to find out.
I’m supposed to be asleep. That is, it’s 10:32 PM and my plan departs Minneapolis-St. Paul at 6:40 AM so our alarm clock is set for 3:00 AM. I’m packed, but I have essays to write for a job I really really want, so I’ve been playing with Ravelry. It’s loads of fun. I’m an administrator now, so I’m helping to clean up patterns. My application is due next Friday. I am now, once again, the Alumni Class Vice-President, which means I lost the election again. I think that’s pretty funny. What this means is, four years from now, I will be going to reunion, working the tables and helping with whatever needs doing. I’m introducing our cluster (classes of ‘96, ‘97 and ‘98) speaker, David Orr, which is a bit of an intimidating job, but at least his CV makes it easy on me. Hey, did anyone else attend a college with it’s own disco? Oberlin has one in the student center, so I’ll be dancing to early 80’s music on Saturday. At the risk of embarrassing myself completely, I made the last minute suggestion that everyone dress early 80’s to early 80’s. This got published at the very very last minute and so I’ve had to pack an extra long-sleeved button down white shirt and I’ll have to stop for some hair spray, just-in-case.
I started a second Chevron Scarf. I frogged my RPM socks and my Mad-tini socks. I’ve come to realize that I’m just not going to wear socks made with medium-weight STR. I’m not sure how I feel about the color combinations, but I’m enjoying working on the scarf. Read the rest of this entry »
I love these socks. Just how I like ‘em, which is the whole point of knitting them yourself right? (Kind of.) Actually, next time I might make ‘em a little taller. I finished them on Wednesday, but I needed to finish writing about New York.
My favorite thing about these are the Lucy Neatby garter stitch heel I used. No holes and no gusset!
Also great is that these are my Project Spectrum 2.0 socks, my May Socks for the knit a sock a month KAL and count towards the Lime and Violet Sock Marathon. (I’ve down about 900 yards so far.) Next I’m going to finish up my Koigu monkey socks.
By the way did you know there’s a knit 52 pairs of socks in a year KAL? Check out the 52 Pair Plunge.
Pattern: My Own
Style: Toe-up on two circular needles
Stitch: Used continental style knitting! Yeah!
Heel: Lucy Neatby’s garter stitch heel
Yarn Source: Three Bags Full
Yarn: Sweet Georgia – Afterglow (temporarily discontinued)
Needles: 32″ Size 0 Addi Circular (two pairs)
They are the best fitting pair of socks I’ve made for myself. I had 56 stitches around at the beginning, but after the heel I’d increased it to 62 so they’d feel nice around my leg. I might make a taller pair sometime.
Well, when we took Sparty to the vet to have her teeth cleaned, one of her blood tests was slightly abnormal. So, we’ll just work on the assumption that she does have CRF. It’s not from contaminated pet food, but thanks for asking. She eats Newman’s Own Organic normally. Thank goodness for small favors. Now she’s on a special diet, which she loves. I would bet she’s going to gain a pound.
Here’s an update on my Project Spectrum 2.0 projects.
Some more socks coming up.
Author’s Note: I started to write this post on Saturday, had a poor internet connection, and decided to take a nap instead of finishing it and posting it.
I feel like death warmed over. I’m just plain beat. I think I’ve got a fever and I’m exhausted. Fun huh? I spent the last two days of the work week at home. Tomorrow I’m going to go to work and I am feeling better, so I hope it will be okay. It’s only for a few hours. Since there don’t seem to be any visible symptoms other than a mild fever and exhaustion, I’m guessing the antibiotic the doctor gave me on Tuesday for my sinus infection knocked me for a loop. You take three pills and get hit for a week drugs. But I’ll have to go back to work. I can’t afford to be out any longer. I’ll just keep getting extra sleep. I seriously hope it isn’t the antibiotics; at least then I’d stand a chance of getting better prior to my trip.
In the mean time, my couch bound self was knitting up a sock madness storm with the new madtini socks. Didn’t go so well. I missed Rounds 3-7 of the directions for the pattern and knit something completely different. It was okay looking, but strangely, not what the pattern described (an oblique spiral). Then I looked at some of the other madtinis inprogress and started to realize something was wrong.
I felt like a bonehead, but I ripped out the heel and the leg and am now back to the beginning of the second repeat of the pattern. Anyway, you can look at my wonderful technique of picking up heel stitches.
Some feet for Jen La’s contest. Read the rest of this entry »
I admit I didn’t get very far with Head Games. I got wrapped up in my CPH Hoodie project and so had barely done anything when my new hat appeared. It’s great. It’s a bit deep for me, (so it’s rolled up so you can’t see the cable properly) but someday I’ll fix it. The yarn is very soft. It’s Classic Elite Yarns Waterlilly and 100% merino. Thanks to Nephele (Liz) for doing such a great job. There’s always Sock Madness and KnitOff with which I could redeem myself.
There was some snow today, so I missed my LYS knitting group. I’m so sad, but my cold is still pretty bad so being at home is probably good for me.
But, first a quick Sock Wars update. I just didn’t have time yesterday. Heraldis won! In the spirit of fairness, the Yarn Monkey changed the rules for the final round. Rather than being targeted with a pair of socks, she had people send her a note, postcard, or other mail. In a stunningly brilliant move Heraldis used Interfloral to tag the Yarn Monkey. Congratulations to all the Sock warriors out there. Everyone else out there should be finishing up their last pair of socks so that everyone gets a pair of socks out of sock wars. Not bad. I know mine are keeping my feet toasty.
On the way up to our friends’ lakeside cabin, we went stopped the 3 Kittens Needlearts Yarn sale (formerly known as Three Kittens Yarn Shop). All I can say is OMG.
That sale rocked! Read the rest of this entry »
I am pleased to report that there are a couple of Sock Wars spinoffs in the works. Check out Head Games on Yahoo Groups and Sock Madness, which won’t start until February 1, 2007. Now onto my sock wars report. Read the rest of this entry »
I am now among the fallen. They are a nice fit, but they were really cold when I put them on. I guess they sat in the mailbox for an hour or so. My feet are warm now, but it was cold going outside to photograph the socks. I guess revenge is a dish best served cold. They are a little darker than in the picture, but I love how they look black or blue in different light.
Killed by Vautrey77 on October 12 at 2:45 PM. I’m not entirely sure whether the yarn came from Sunni or not, but Yarn: Jo Sharp DK Wool. 100% wool.
She also sent me a nice California magnet, which is now on my fridge with a few other magnets that I have gotten with yarn purchases. How’d she know I needed a magnet? Lucky Vautrey, the yarn your next victim has will be really nice to work with and your assassin is TurtleKnits. Go get your next victim, I’m rooting for you.
I’m really happy that I got to knit two pairs of socks.
Here’s a little statistical information for you all.
| Sock Wars Participants | no status | 26 | dead | 389 | living | 241 | deserters | 25 |
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I’ve noticed that I’m having a very hard time closing up the many boxes I have dedicated to my knitting projects and yarn stash. I’ve got nine days until the moving company comes and puts everything into their van and drives off to Minnesota. When they come they plan to tell us how long they think it will be before they show up at the house with all out crap stuff. They have a maximum of three weeks to get it to the house. The reason the number is so high, they say, is because they only make promises that they can keep. The implication is that other moving companies, who promise to deliver within ten business days, are lying. The margin here is small since it is supposed to be unlikely that the movers will take the full fourteen business days (which at least include Independence Day in the US). So putting the yarn in a box to be moved means that I may not see it again until July 20th.
Another issue is figuring out what can I do in the last nine days before we move and I’m ambitious. Actually, I don’t make choices well if presented with too many. I’ve got nine days to make good on my promise to finish up two more projects and I could probably get the sleeves done on my sweater pretty easily if I would just go ahead and start. I’ve also got a lot of lovely tempting sock yarn lying around and so I don’t wish to close those boxes either.
Solution: I’ve used most of the clothing in my dresser as packing material so I put the sock yarn in the dresser. Then I can get at it any time I want before the moving company comes. I can also rearrange it to my heart’s content. Yeah accessibility!
That leaves two open boxes for knitting projects. They contain knitting needles and accessories and all the projects I promised to do.
I’ve noticed that I’m having a very hard time closing up the many boxes I have dedicated to my knitting projects and yarn stash. I’ve got nine days until the moving company comes and puts everything into their van and drives off. When they come they plan to tell us how long they think it will be before they show up at the house. They have a maximum of three weeks to get it to the house. The reason the number is so high, they say, is because they only make promises that they can keep. The implication is that other moving companies, who promise to deliver within ten business days, are lying. The margin here is small since it is supposed to be unlikely that the movers will take the full fourteen business days (which at least include Independence Day in the US). So putting the yarn in a box to be moved means that I may not see it again until July 20th.
The other issue is what can I do in the last nine days before we move. I’ve got nine days to make good on my promise to finish up two more projects and I could probably get the sleeves done on my sweater pretty easily if I would just go ahead and start. I’ve also got a lot of lovely tempting sock yarn lying around and so I don’t wish to close those boxes either.
Solution: I’ve used most of the clothing in my dresser as packing material so I put the sock yarn in the dresser. Then I can get at it any time I want before the moving company comes. I can also rearrange it to my heart’s content. Yeah accessibility!
Though – I’m not supposed to be knitting – I’m supposed to be packing!
What should I knit in the car? It’s a fourteen-fifteen hour drive. This is nearly the length of time for the Knitting Olympics, so if I knit constantly I could even start and finish a whole project. Granted, my fingers will probably cramp up. Color knitting will probably make me car sick. Lace knitting will probably make me car sick.
Let me know what you think.
 | Miriam on helena part two |
 | Katie B. on helena part two |
 | Lacey on iron and woolcraft |
 | moraie on iron and woolcraft |
 | stariel on iron and woolcraft |
