mania

I’ve had kind of a manic day today. A lot of work and not a lot of work at the same time. I’m sure I’m just making my life hard on myself.

I attached the yoke to the purl buck sweater. I’m not entirely sure I’m satisfied with my sewing job so I might do it again. Or at least go over it a little and tuck some more pieces in. I think the fronts are too long also. And the shoulder is coming forward and not sitting on my shoulder at all. I’m going to sew on the second side and see if that fixes it. Otherwise, I’m going to have to solicit some other help. Suggestions, are of course, welcomed.

I found this really cool link to all fiber festivals on Knitter’s Review. In kind of a strangely dazzled moment, I imagined that I could have a food tv type blog and attend every festival on behalf of knit blog readers everywhere and report back on it to you. Sigh, what a lovely fantasy. Traveling from fiber show to fiber show. I suppose it would get old quickly. There sure are a lot of fiber shows out there.

On Saturday the Salem Area Ravelers had another S&B. We meet every week and alternate between Saturday and Sunday. Next Saturday is the yarn crawl, which unfortunately I have to miss as we have a house guest. But last Saturday we had a big swap and I traded some New Tweed and some Cherry Tree Hill Sock It To Me for 2 1/2 skeins of something. Guess what it is? I’ll try and get you some pictures over the weekend, but it’s in Salem and I’m not at the moment.

the blog is dead long live the blog

Bells and Whistles Socks

Originally uploaded by moiraeknitting.

The blog isn’t dead and neither am I, but I feel like it a little bit. It’s flu season, go figure and I picked up something that attacks your lungs. My lungs are unhappy with the smallest of bugs, so this thing has knocked me for a loop. These socks were finished last week some time and now you finally get to see them. A better photograph would just take too much effort.

So:
Bells and Whistles Socks from Holiday Interweave Knits 2006.
Dream in Color Smooshy
Clover Needles, Size 1
Notes took out one repeat. If I were to make them again I’d do the cuff and 1 repeat in Size 1.5 before going further. This is a lovely sock with a cool toe. Possibly needs two or three more rows before starting toe. These are my December socks for Sock Knitter’s Anonymous on Ravelry.

Happy New Year!

I got all the way down to the ankle of the second Bells and Whistles sock, but I don’t think I’ll finish it in time for the Socks In the Cities Knit Along as I’m throwing a party.  It will have to wait until 2008. Good thing that it will still qualify for Sock Knitter’s Anonymous (r).

r=ravelry link

actual knitting – bells and whistles

So here’s the sock I promised. I finished a bells and whistles sock. I have lots of works-in-progress shots. I just didn’t have the time to post about it before I finished the first sock. I’m about shot 3 into the second one now. This sock is my Sock Knitters Anonymous sock. It’s also my project for the Socks In the Cities Knit-Along, so I’ll have to post about it. Sock Knitters Anonymous is a Ravelry knit-along that a fellow Oregonian put together where you knit a different type of sock each month. Currently the assignment is a cuff-down sock OR a Miriam Felton (aka MimKnits) pattern.

@#$! early bed times

I am working very far away from home. Far enough that I have a home away from home, which currently does not have internet access. I got far enough on the Swallowtail Shawl today that I am binding off. It’s a an i-cord bind off as near as I can tell. Unfortunately, there are 323 stitches to bind off and because it’s an i-cord bind off it’s like binding off 642 of them or so.

I went home tonight so I could go out to dinner with a friend of mine (and my husband’s), so it’s an hour and a half commute to work in the morning. So it’s 10:30 and it’s bed time. Just as well as I haven’t got time to block it now. I suppose I can take it to knitting group tomorrow night, where I will be a brand new member. Then I can magically bind it off. So, expect to see a picture of one blocked Swallowtail this Sunday.

Since I’m here, I’ll also mention that I got more miters from Karrie (Girl on the Rocks) and that I do have some photos in the camera of the other miters. There will be internet access in the room I’m renting very soon I’m told. So until then, hold tight. Thanks for the pins Karrie! And the miters are gorgeous. They are going to look fantastic with the others.

I don’t have enough miters, so I’m thinking I will extend the deadline to December 1. Remember we like green cascade 220. They don’t have to be green, but some green is definitely appreciated.

And Sock Wars starts very soon. If you knit in the Salem, Oregon area and want details about the knitting group that is meeting this Sunday afternoon, please leave me a note.

second sock september prize

I haven’t been reporting on second sock September, because I haven’t knit much on my own second pair of socks. There are about 27 people signed up through Ravelry. It’s incredibly easy to start knit-alongs and groups there. I decided that people there needed enablement motivation so I’m ponying up some kind of prize, to be determined later. Chances are I’m buying it at Oregon Flock and Fiber. Let me point out that the Duet people and the BFF people are going to OFF.

To get an entry, you must finish a second sock of an uncompleted pair. You must have registered your first sock from an uncompleted pair by Sunday noon PDT either here or in the Ravelry group. You get an entry for every second sock that you have ‘registered’ and completed by Setpember 30th.

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!

knit your second sock september

Here are some of the pairs of socks I need to finish this September.

1. Kew
2. Jaywalker by Grumperina
3. Pomatomus (a second pair) by Cookie A

Jennifer is working on:

1. Yankee Jaywalkers
2. STR Paws and Whiskers by the Keyboard Biologist
3. Mandarin Cabled Socklet and a couple other socks.

Kelle says she will work on:

1. Dalarna from Knitting On the Road by Nancy Bush
2. Fanta Socks
3. Bazaar Socks

This page will be updated as more people sign up. You can sign up at any time until September 15th! If the sock pattern is available online, it would be helpful if you sent me the link!

my post blew up

My post blew up and I’m none too happy about it. Seeing as how I spent this afternoon, working on my machine, only to discover that all it needed was a new battery, I’m in no mood to rewrite it. So more expect more delays, while I’m in Walla Walla, Washington this weekend visiting friends. In the meantime, here’s a sock. I have to say, I love how the Colinette Jitterbug knits up. It’s so nice! I just hope it wears well. I’m saving the second one for my knit along, Knit Your Second Sock September.
That way, you can start Socktoberfest with a clean plate.

the perfect sock

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.

sox and travel

Wow, I’m down to the wire again with the whole packing thing. But first, let you know that Karrie won the contest. I’ve gotten her choice, but I’ll leave it to her to reveal it to you on her own blog when she gets it.

Oh dear.

Spartacus among the saffron

Spartacus among the saffron

Originally uploaded by moiraeknitting.

Maybe a skein a day is a tad ambitious. My slogging has come to a dead halt. See why? Maybe she’ll do a few rows for me? That would be great! The row I’m on, 27, is a doozy.

slog and other random things

I think I got sick of ribbing and garter stitch. That last sweater I made may have looked like a cable nightmare, but those cables are 16 rows apart. So it was a lot of ribbing.

I’ve been on my saffron cables blanket for the Mason-Dixon Slogalong. Yep, just in time for summer. I’m on ball 2 of 18.

I’d gotten stuck around row 25 or so for a while. I ripped back multiple times and I went down to 19 the other day and now have a mistake free (I believe) project. I’m up to row 26 of 225. There’s only 141 yards in a skein, so I’m wondering if I could knit a skein a day and still have time for my other projects. (That baby is probably getting too big for the outfit already. NEVER make newborn sized clothing.) And I’ve got some sewing to do on Lizard Ridge. And I want to make the second perfect fitting sock. I’m on the toe.

done with sock yarn purchases for 2007

This is my new sock that I’m working on. It’s just a basic sock, only I’m knitting it all continental style. I’m wondering if anyone wants to do a continental along. You could join if you were new to continental style and trying to switch or if you were a new knitter, learning continental knitting. Isn’t the Sweet Georgia heavenly? This is Afterglow and only one of many skeins that I will show you in this post. I’m adoring it’s utter lack of pooling.

socks to envy (rapid river socks)

1. Rapid River Socks, 2. in Lorna’s Laces, 3. Pattern By Sock Bug

 

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.

Completed 04/26/2007 (early in the AM)

Pattern: Rapid River Socks by Sock Bug
Yarn: Lorna’s Laces – ~1.2 skeins
Yarn Source: Needleworks Unlimited
Needles: 2x Circular Addi Turbos Size 1 (2.5 mm) 24″
Eye of the Partridge Heel: Size 0 Addi Turbo DPNs

eating your way through your fridge (project spectrum)

Warning: skip to the next page for actual knitting content.

Honestly, I’m trying to lose weight. But through exercise, not through dieting. Although, today I’m skipping my walk in favor of cleaning the bathroom and other similar activities.

Also, this is the time of year where one tries to eat the contents of their refrigerator. I don’t mean all in one go. I’m not Joey! Crud. Just listen to me. This is the time of year… What’s really going on is that this is the time of year where my husband I move. Even though we managed to stop in Colorado for four whole years, we still had three residences. No one wants to pack that can of beans you’ve been carrying around for the last four years. Or the prepackaged soup mix you were given for Christmas in 2001. It’s still good. You’d think we’d have picked up better shopping habits by now. But it’s no good. We enable each other through the Asian foods section. Ah well.

Wonder when I’m going to make the Beignets. My husband brought back a mix from New Orleans a few years ago from THE Beignet place. Someone remind me the name of it and I’ll post a picture. It’s the one on the corner in the French Quarter and I believe it’s still there.

Anyway, I’m getting plenty of exercise cleaning and moving stuff around to take Project Spectrum Photos. There are pink, yellow and green books. And then there are green books.

 

 

 

soon to be on diy

I really thought I wouldn’t have anything to blog about today. I thought maybe I’d finish my questionnaire for the swap. I will do it soon, I promise.

I am just finishing a monkey sock and redoing the back panel (yet again) for my Pearl Buck Sweater. And plotting something for next month’s Project Spectrum Colors of Pink, Yellow and Green. Plus, I’m waiting for tomorrow’s Sock Madness competition. Although, I’m not still in the competition, I have plans to maybe try and redeem myself a little by beating out those who are still in it.

Instead, I was wandering around the blog sphere when I saw a post from ScoutJ about her DIY episode of Knitty Gritty coming up about six months sooner than she expected.

knitters in my backyard

I’m moving. I’ve been reluctant to say anything about it, because no one at my job knows this and I’m writing from work! My husband received a tenure track position at Willamette Unversity in Salem, Oregon and will start teaching there this fall. I’m not quite sure when we’ll be going yet, but we started packing this weekend. I would love to be there in time for Black Sheep, but I doubt I’ll be able to convince my husband of that unless there’s an apartment we have to have or if I get a job out there early. We’re going out there next week to have a look around and so I can do a little networking.

I’m definitely going to miss the warmth of the knitting community here. I got a warm welcome. People were so friendly and willing to travel with a complete stranger to see the Yarn Harlot. I met people at the knitter’s picnic and was invited to a S&B right away. I checked out what now is my LYS and where I work part time. It made what was likely to be a short term move much more fun and bearable!

sunday update

I took a picture of a hat I made for my husband in 1997 (after he lost the orginal). It’s chenille of all ridiculous things and made on Size 2 needles. I’m at a loss for fiber for him. The chenille works because it’s knit at a tight gauge and it’s more or less meant to keep heat from escaping his head, although generally it goes on my head when we’re out because I haven’t got a hat made yet for me. In a way it’s the only pattern I ever wrote or adapted. I think I actually measured his head when I did it.

my pretend rhinebeck loot and yarn diet 2007 contest

I have to tell you that I never even knew Rhinebeck existed until sometime this summer. And now I know this, because the Internet is EVIL EVIL EVIL. I didn’t go to Rhinebeck and I missed Estes Park – too tired from a crazy week even though it was only a 1 1/2 hr drive so I yet again have failed on the fiber festival front.

my woolly death

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

saffron cables

I can’t help but notice that I’m getting a little traffic from people looking for others knitting the saffron cables blanket from Interweave Knits. I also can’t help but notice that only one other person out there (to my knowledge) is really posting about working on it. So as a little incentive, let me announce the saffron cables knit along.

Knit along with me and I’ll post a link to your blog and a link to a photograph of your blanket (when you have a photograph of your blanket in any stage) on the saffron cables gallery. Please let me know the brand of yarn, color of yarn and needles that you are planning to use. Also if you are planning any modifications let me know!

I think we lonely few could stand from a little encouragement from each other.

Have fun!

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.

low energy

Alas, the battery people tell me my camera battery is on backorder until August 27th, so I have no pictures to show you. I think this may be a ruse on their part, but we’ll see. I have some kind of chest cold so I’m running on low energy too. Going out for half an hour make me exhausted.

In the mean time, for no apparent reason I’ve decided to work on the Saffron Cables blanket from this fall’s Interweave Knits, despite the fact that I have a fever. I decided that I’m hot and I’m going to be hot and it doesn’t matter how hot… I’m using the Valley Berkshire from WEBS in Blue Ming. I can’t imagine what I’d do with the orange in my house, although it would be nice for a Bronco’s tail gate. It’s 85% Wool and 15% Alpaca. I’m also glad that I ordered the 40″ needles to go with it. The largest size I had were the 32″ needles and I would have had stitches slipping off the needle left and right. I can’t imagine what the project will be like when I have 10 square feet on the needles. (That’s half the blanket.)