actual knitting and uh…crochet

I finished the BFF socks on Monday night. Finally. One year and a couple of days later…

Pattern: BFF Socks by Cookie A.
Start Date: November 10, 2006. Finish Date: November 26, 2007
Yarn: Green Mountain Madness in Cherry Tree Hill
Needles: Addi Turbo Size 2, 12″ Circular and Clover DPN Size 2
Pattern Review: This is a nice basic sock; however, a couple of the directions aren’t entirely clear. If you are an experienced knitter, you should be able to get through the trickier bits around the heel and toe without too much trouble. I made the size mediums and I’m not sure I did the right number of cables down the front of the foot. I did three because there wasn’t quite room for four. Four would have looked nicer and been a better fit.

I think the yarn must have been cursed. I cast on for at least one other pair of socks with it and then it got tangled and then and then…

I was also at work at my Larger Than Life Bag over last weekend. Now I’ve lost the pattern of course. I think I’ve finally arranged the blocks in pairs that I like. What do you think? There are a couple more blocks that need polishing off. And then I need to do the actual bag. Now where did I put that blasted pattern!

my awesome monkey sock swap three package

My package came from the Monkey Swap Three from the Swap Hostess, Rebecca of Socks For Mum. The paper was really cute and the address label had monkey stickers on it as did the note! This package included a huge pile of my favorite monkey things.

The socks are lovely and even have the picot edging I so coveted. I’ve been really good not checking out Rebecca’s blog. It’s hard when you know who your partner is. Anyway, she solicited information on what stuffed monkey to send and you guys definitely picked the right one. Although, you can’t see his red tail in this photo.

second sock september, pair one

The first pair of socks that I’m trying to finish for Knit Your Second Sock September are the BFF socks by Cookie. Cookie and Kristi’s website, Knitter’s Anonymous went kablooie and while it will be up again soonish, there is no link available to the pattern currently.

I freaked myself out because I’d misplaced the final page of instructions. So I cleaned house a bit and put away all my newer knitting patterns and it surfaced.

The first task on these socks was to trip out the foot of the finished first sock. The leg of the second sock has been done for a while, but when I got to it, I noticed that the way the cables were placed over the foot didn’t match on both socks. I realized that I did it wrong on the first sock and ripped it all the way back. It’s a bit unfortunate, because that sock fit beautifully and I fear that I’ve already misplaced the notes that I made detailing the number of rows in the heel and the number of cables made before I did the toe.

I didn’t like the toe on this sock, so I will probably redo it. The only other change that I made was to do a five-row cable instead of a six-row cable. I read a good suggestion somewhere about throwing odd numbered cables into patterns knit in the round just because you can. It probably came out of Cables Untangled by Melissa Leapman.

I keep forgetting that I did this though, so I keep ripping out the cables. And then of course I lose count. It’s a simple sock. Really.

I am resisting the temptation to redo the heel on this sock. I’ll know if I did it wrong if I run out of yarn!

A Beached Cat or Monkey See, Monkey Too

My second pair of Monkey Socks.
Yarn: Koigu
Yarn Source: Needleworks Unlimited
Needles: Size 1 1/2 Addi Turbo DPN
Pattern: Monkey Socks by Cookie A (available from Knitty)
Finished: June 14, 2007

zzzzzzz…

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.

socks in snow

Must knit faster.

I woke up earlyish this morning to a winter wonderland. Then I went back to bed.

I really would like to finish the sock depicted in this photograph soon – I’m nearly down to the toe and I’m a bit worried I won’t have enough yarn left. I’m not even sure how this is possible. You can’t see the sock right now, sorry, it’s not done. You really shouldn’t stretch your uncompleted sock over the handle of a shovel without expecting some stitches to come undone. And the big stripe in the photograph? I had to leave the ball of yarn in my pocket.

It’s a BFF sock in Cherry Tree Hill (by Cookie). There are several possibilities as to why I am worried about the amount remaining yarn. One is that the cables eat yarn and I mean EAT. Another is that when I divided the yarn into balls I did so unevenly. A third is that 420 yards isn’t what it used to be. We’ll see.

baudelaire socks, needles & saffron cables

Baudelaire

Let me start with the Baudelaire socks since they’ve driven me crazy six ways of sideways. I was having some trouble again and I decided that the yarn has been reknit a few too many times. So, I wound the other skein and started over on that one. I will “refurbish” the old yarn by unraveling it, wetting it and hanging it to dry with a weight, as recommended by Vogue Knitting. It’s just been stretched too many times from the frogging and I’m afraid my socks won’t match unless I do this. The new sock is going well.

In the proces I realized that some of the trouble is due to the fact that I was using my Addi Turbos for these socks. Now they say they are US #2 on the package, but they also say they are 3.0 mm. My Brittanys are 2.75 mm and the pattern calls for 2.5mm. All of which claim to be US Size #2.
I actually have never really considered this before because I do gauge swatches. As long as you do the gauge swatch it shouldn’t matter. It just means more tools in your arsenal. FYI, US #2 knitting needles are 2.75 mm, 3.0 is nothing in US and I think Cookie & Knitty just dropped the 7 in the 2.75mm.

The real trouble stems from the fact that this is a toe-up pattern in a yarn I’ve used before on Addi’s. I used the toe-up as sort of a rough swatch since I generally know how Lorna’s Laces knits up with Addi’s. But the toe didn’t really fit on the Addi’s so I did the toe on the Brittany needles. Oops. This explains a lot why the sock part seemed a little loose. Normally I use the Brittany’s to finish off the sock and if it’s a little tighter around the toe it doesn’t matter because I have little feet.

I’ve switched to the Brittany’s for this pattern and now it’s going much better. I love my Addi’s but from now on I’m going to be more careful.

Saffron Cables

I’m trying to do about 5 rows a day. I’m about fourteen rows behind, including today’s five rows. I’m at 6 1/4″ including the 3″ border (skein 3/18 and on row 19). I’m using a whole host of the stitch markers I made recently and they are doing their best to slow me up enough to recognize what graph I’m on. I’m sort of wishing I’d made some alphabet stitch markers so I could have an A in front of chart A and a B in front of chart B and so on. (Although, how would that work on the reverse side?)

The cables are going well now that the cable rows and seed stitch patterns are set up. I don’t have to look at the chart as often as I thought I would. This is because there are only three elements to these cables, all of which can be determined by looking at your work as you go. The cables are either four-stitch or six-sitch cables. They go either left or right. In the four-stitch cables the 1-sitch part of it is either a knit or a purl and you can tell this because the reason it’s either a knit or a purl stitch is because that fourth stitch is part of a seed stitch pattern. Finally some of the cables are part of an increasing/decreasing V and some are vertical. If you know what’s what, it’s not so bad.

In short it’s going faster now and I’m not unventing and redoing cables from previous rows anymore (fingers, toes and eyes crossed).

Another Shopgirl is also knitting Saffron Cables. We’re both crazy.

I hope my battery will be here next week. I miss being able to illustrate my blog.

socks, socks, socks, socks, socks

What would be a vacation without some sheep? These are Mountain School sheep. The school was selling some yarn, but in somehow in all the confusion, what with the dark (the power kept going out) and the talking with old classmates I forgot to ask whether the yarn they were selling was made from Mountain School wool. (Note: none if it was sock yarn.)

The completed Potomatomus Socks. Note that the colors are much better in real life; they are more red and blue. I hate to say it but they are almost Spidey like.

Finished on June 12th. Knit on Size 1 12″ Addi Turbo needles using Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Worsted. The pattern comes from Knitty. That was the most challenging pattern I’ve worked on in a long time.

I bought some more Lorna’s Laces last week sometime in the Watercolor colorway. I haven’t figured out what I’m going to do with it yet. I could do the Straight-Laced pattern, but then I’d have to buy another circular needle. I like the pattern though. We’ll see.

Have you ever started on something that you think is just awful? I’m not sure how I feel about the Lace Knee High pattern from the Interweave Knits Winter 2004 issue inthe Cherry Tree Hill Green Mountain Madness. There’s something very loose about the entire thing and I’m not sure I think it’s appealing. Maybe this is something that shouldn’t be done in variegated colors.

Here is the picture of the Koigu I bought in Exeter at Charlotte’s Web. I’ve been playing around with the Magic Loop Method for the piquant Falling Leaves Socks (pattern available at Knitty). It’s kind of neat, although the Koigu is so dense that I find doing “p3togtbl” a bit tough. The question is will it pay off after I finish the toe?

Can you say addicted to socks? Who’d ever have thunk? I don’t wear socks very often. Socks are for the gym, really snowy days, padding around the house and going to work in (if I can’t get away without them). Maybe I will want to wear them in Minnesota though. I’ve got small feet so these are speedy projects I should probably enter the Knitty 2007 calendar contest with my socks (assuming I finish the Knitty ones). Only…doing what?

The finished iPod holder will have to wait until tomorrow for display.

pomatomus socks

Piquant my left !@$#%$^. This is only a “piquant” rated pattern if you remember to read the directions with a ruler. I’m seriously afraid of an “extra-spicy” pattern and I’m usually not daunted by anything. This pattern does sneaky things. For example, it never tells you (while you are working on the sock gusset) that you don’t need row one of chart B in this part.

Other than that, the sock is going beautifully. I highly recommend using the circulars though. It’s kept the lace from falling off all the time. It may mess with your gauge. I got gauge with normal size 1’s so I expect the sock will be big. I also think it will be big because the pattern is probably for an average woman’s foot. I’m a bit small and my feet match pretty well at size 4 1/2 – 5. But I couldn’t resist the pattern as written. On the other hand, I think the leg and heel are right, so maybe I’ll just do something funky in the toe area and then the socks will be mine.

Otherwise, my Mom will score once again.

pomatomus sock heel

On a personal note, still have a nasty fever and my stomach still hurts somewhat. I clocked the fever at 101.2 and I absolutely can not sleep because I’m too hot, despite some ibuprofen. That’s why I’m working on the sock and posting at 2am.

I finally got my sock heel together. I don’t think it shows very well, but I did the heel flap finally with the brackets in the correct order and then turned the heel on the same needle. Aah, such satisfaction. I’ve actually finished the gusset (that’s the easy part), using the technique of picking up the stitches by knitting them through the back loop. It looks good. Now onto the foot!