in knitting news

I’m behind. Way behind. So much so that I have an unfinished post from a month ago. A while back I bought another skein of Dream in Color Classy in the Happy Forest Colorway. Green is definitely a hot color for me right now.

During the break between Round 1 and Round 2 of Sock Madness, I started on the second sock of my Jitterbug Pomatomus Socks. Everyone loves the Jitterbug and I get compliments on that sock wherever I go. I was trying to continue a trend of finishing projects. First, I finished the Sock Madness Round 1 Zombies and then I finished my plain Socks That Rock Socks.

The arrival of Round 2 of Sock Madness thwarted my attempt to finish a third pair of socks (in a row) in three weeks. I’m not planning on finishing the Sock Madness Round 2 socks. They just weren’t for me. I’m wondering when I’m going to start the Round 3 socks.

They are intriguing, but the pressure is off now. I bet you want to see the yarn for those though. I nearly forgot! It’s Tess Yarns. It’s really pretty. I’m going to have to get some for lace projects some time. It’s an effort not to develop a lace weight stash though. I hardly think my small amount of lace weight counts as a lace weight stash. (I’m crossing my fingers.)

I got the Earth Day Swap going and a very nice knitter (Doulton on Ravelry) sent me a bonus package of applewood bacon flavored chocolate and Silkie Socks That Rock in Pallas Athena. I REALLY want to play with it but I have a lot of other projects in the works. My package arrived but I’ve got into more trouble with registered mail and my husband may need to pick it up.

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.

backyard leaves scarf

Here is the first completed Pomatomus sock. I will get to the second sock soon, but I needed a break to work on something a little less challenging.

 

 

The Backyard Leaves pattern isn’t exactly simple, but since I had finished the first piece already (the scarf is knit in two equal length pieces so that your leaves are the same when wearing your scarf) I knew I could manage the pattern. This is definitely one of those cases, where blocking seriously improves the overall look of the finished project. It also significantly increased the length. I probably should have blocked the first piece – I would have shortened the second piece somewhat. However, it will look terrific doubled up and will keep my neck warm in Minnesota. Or my sister’s neck if she wants the scarf.

Backyard Leaves was completed 6/2/2006 on U.S. size 8 Needles (5.0MM) and rendered in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in “Pea Green.” I think it took between 13 and 23 hours. I started it a long long time ago, but finished the second half of it this week in about 8 hours.

As a a reward, I got myself more sock yarn. Am I a glutton for punishment or what? Maybe just a glutton. This is Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in Green Mtn. Madness. Apparently I got 470 yards for $22.05 (US) and I have little feet. Not bad. It’s 100% Merino.

completed sock

Does something about this picture look familiar? I did the kitchener stitch and then I finished the first sock! It’s a bit loose around the foot , but I think the fit is pretty good!

Here is the completed sock, drying.

Also, I just want to show you a picture of the most shameless cat ever. No knitting involved in this one.

more on pomatomus socks and other things

Oh my god was I sick. I started to feel a little better Monday night so I went out and got a little sushi with friends, but that just made everything worse. This is because I had stomach flu… I finally broke down and went to the doctor on Tuesday and he put me on a liquid diet for 48 hours. And then I could have soft foods (think tonsilitis foods, but no dairy). I had real food for the first time for dinner last night and I overdid it a little, so I think tomorrow I will take it pretty easy. At least I won’t overeat again. My stomach seems to have shrunk a lot. I lost at least six pounds, but I wouldn’t recommend this diet. It’s far too painful. And it will probably all come back by the end of the week.

Of course, I tried to knit during this time and proceeded to screw up the gusset of the sock over and over and over again. I think maybe the sick part was screwing with my concentration, but it was hard to resist getting knitting done. Anyway, I’ve fixed all my errors and have safely made it into the foot. There are some funky things you have to do to keep the lace pattern rectangular over the top of the foot, but at least I haven’t left them out this time.

I finally understand why row 1 of pattern B has a stitch that you don’t use the first time you knit pattern B. This is because pattern B results in an increase of one stitch.

I did one job application, so I was able purchase a skein for my stash! I got a skein of Cascade Pastaza and I plan to make the PDA holder in Alterknits. Unfortunately, my local yarn shop is really nice and they wind a lot of the yarn for you. So the photo is not of a skein and doesn’t show the color as well.

Today, I got an advance on my next application. It’s a skein of Noro Kureyon, but it’s not for anything exciting. I lost a mitten from a pair I made and so I’ll make a new one. Still I have a lot of things to finish in order to fulfill my promise of getting four of my incomplete projects done.

I also got some more yarn packed into boxes and selected a few things to go to Goodwill. I’m not sure if they’ll take yarn without the label, but it’s worth a try. I tried to throw it out, I really did.

 

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!