Socks Come, Socks Go

I have learned a very valuable thing about myself: I am not a lace sock-wearing sort of girl. I think lace socks are beautiful, and I don't think less of women who wear them, but they are not for me. I wish I had known this before I knit nearly one complete lace sock and a cuff of a second (different pattern). Below you see the nearly complete lace sock in some Tofutsies on the left and the antidote to the Lace Sock Disaster of '07 on the right.


Disclaimer: No Tiki glasses were harmed during the making of this blog entry.

It was while trying on the Tofutsies Tidal Wave sock that I made my awful discovery. "I'll never, ever wear these socks," I thought. It was lowering. I hadn't thought a "tidal wave" lace sock would trip my frou-frou alarm, but it did. The other lace sock (Sundara's Petals Collection Lenten Rose) is already ripped; it was too big in addition to too lacy. Sigh.

In addition to this lace mishap, the other Tofutsies sock I showed earlier in the month, with the zig-zag twisted stitch pattern, bit the dust. Right twist = no problem. Left twist = royal pain in the butt. I could finish the socks, but I would hate them.

In desperation, I turned to Nancy Bush's Rib and Cable Sock from IK (Fall 2005). I had made it last summer to great success. I thought it might be fun to play with the rib and cable motif while maintaining the Welsh heel turn (a favorite of mine) and the star toe of three points.


The amber Tiki mug really wanted to model the sock-in-progress.

So I have a yarn-over mock cable (in Sensational Knitted Socks and BW Vol. 1) with some regular ribbing. The scrumptious yarn is Claudia Handpaints in Walk in the Woods. Anyway, I am very happy so far. So happy that I am thinking of doing a series of variations on this rib and cable theme: creativity within limits. Stay tuned.

Happy Knitting!

Overheard: A FO Story

Saturday evening I finished up the knitting on the much anticipated Fleece Artist Merino Parrot socks. Today I grafted the second toe (Knitty directions work more than once!) after lunch so I could get them into the light-colored delicate load of laundry. But first the socks and I had a little photo shoot out on the back patio, and I overheard this socky conversation.



Second Sock: Well, we are a pair now, and I must say we are stylin'. Of course, we are knit from the best sock yarn in the entire universe!

First Sock: Perhaps not in the entire universe. But I do like how our kind knitter used a simple pattern so that our lovely parrot colors are shown to their best.



Second Sock: Parrot, my Aunt Fanny! We look like guacamole! Really good, home made guacamole, not that nasty store bought "guac." Say, did you hear the news going round the sock basket, that the Tofutsies yarn may still not be behaving? Our knitter thinks it may be too big.

First Sock: I'm sure our knitter will solve the problem. She is thinking of switching to a smaller needle after the first repeat of the pattern. If that fails to satisfy, she is contemplating using a different ball of Tofutsies and knit it up in the Rib and Cable pattern from IK Fall 2005 by Nancy Bush. She has had excellent success with this pattern before, and she knows how it behaves.

Second Sock: I think she should just stick to yarns made from the fleece of Nova Scotian sheep. That's what I think.

First Sock: Well, having been out of the sock basket longer than you, my dear twin, I happen to know that she has plans for two skeins of our Fleece Artist Merino brethren: Burgundy and Woodland. And they won't be knit into socks.



Second Sock: What's she going to knit?! It's sock yarn for cryin' out loud!!

First Sock: If you don't know you'll just have to wait and see.

Second Sock: That's not fair!

First Sock: You know what our knitter's M says about fair.

Second Sock: What's fair?

First Sock: Pigs in a park.

Second Sock: Why you big meanie! You better keep your foot away from me! I'm gonna tell our knitter that you're a big bully.

First Sock: She's the older of two sibs herself. I'm certain she'll see things my way. Oh, and M is also the older child. Face it, you're doomed.


At this point, I decided to end hostilities by a trip through the washer. We'll see if that makes them better friends. In the meantime, the second sock will be trying to figure out what I plan to do with the Woodland and Burgundy FA. It shouldn't be too hard to figure out. ;)

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Swamped

First, thanks for all the wonderful compliments on the VLT scarf I knit for my Grandma Adeline! Now if I could just get it packaged up and mailed off to her.

Work has been very busy this past weekend and week, and I have had to do quite a bit of work at home. This seriously cut into my knitting time. It wasn't until Wednesday evening that I thought I could knit without making a mistake. Last Saturday, I procrastinated with the work stuff and managed to finish knitting the piecrust basketweave scarf. It still needs blocking.


Mmmm....soft alpaca...

I also started a sock in Tofutsies. Since I hadn't knit with this yarn before (and because my brain was goo), I decided on a simple 4x4 rib, but after 8 rounds I had two needles of pink/purple (16 st each) and one needle (24 st) of blue/purple. I wasn't getting pooling, I was getting vertical segregation! I can be OK with pooling in some instances, but this was goofy looking. So I ripped. Last night while paging through Vogue Stitchionary 2: Cables I found "zig and zag" (#10), and I thought the twisted stitches might fix the color segregation problem. I think it might be working. It appears to be spiraling the hot pink; it's on all three needles. I'm keeping my fingers metaphorically crossed.



Last Friday I tried the Lenten Rose pattern from Sundara's Petal Collections while watching Monk and Psych. That proved a mistake. After two repeats of the pattern I wondered why it didn't look like Sundara's picture. My double YO eyelets did not line up like Sundara's. So I ripped. I tried again last night. I think this time I got it right. It helped for me to chart the pattern!?! That is so unlike me, I don't know what to think of that, so I'm just knitting instead.



The Fleece Artist Parrot (guacamole) sock is waiting patiently for my hair appointment on Saturday afternoon. I've promised to work on it then, and get it done very soon.

Sock Stories

I am very happy to report that the errant second Gingerbread Cable Sock and I have completely reconciled. In fact, the GCS have gone from a WIP to a FO! We are both very pleased.


"I can't believe she finally finished you, my lovely sock mate!" First Sock.

OK, I don't have cute kitties like Chris, so I have to make my socks talk. It's sad, I know. The completion of the GCS means that only the Fleece Artist merino socks in Parrot are still on the needles. I think FA misnamed this colorway; it should be called Guacamole, but maybe I'm just hungry.



Actually, I do have two other pairs of socks on the needles, but they are soon to be frogged. Both annoy me. First, I don't like the colors in this yarn. The gold with the pink, blue, grey and white just doesn't do it for me. I want my needles back, so it's going to be ripped.



Second to go is this cuff; it's the third pattern attempt with this yarn (Fleece Artist for Simply Sock Yarn's first anniversary), and I don't like the striping. It's too jarring, so back into the stash it goes.



All this frogging leaves me needles to finally cast on for the Lenten Rose pattern from Sundara's Petals Collection. I plan to use the lace pattern Sundara provided. I'm very excited by both the yarn and the pattern.



I received the next installment in the Petals Collection today: Birds of Paradise. I'd show you, but Flickr won't let me upload the picture. It's very bright and cheerful. I'll save it for the Easter season.

I also want to get a pair of the Tofutsies M bought me as described in my last post on the needles. My friend Elsie has knit a couple pairs of Tofutsies socks, and she really likes the yarn. She machine washes and dries her handknit socks, and she reports that the Tofutsies yarn holds up well to this laundering routine, and the socks get even softer with washing (it's really soft in the skein). I'm hoping the soy silk/wool blend will extend the handknit sock wearing season here in California.

It's time to play with Sundara's yarn!

Have a great weekend!

I did it. Finally.

I finally successfully "Kitchenered" the toe of a sock (you thought I was going to talk about the Landscape shawl--that's waiting for a nice daylight photo-op). I have grafted the toes before, but have usually ended up with some loop I can't do anything with except hide on the inside. There was also the time I ended up with a beautiful row of purl bumps (3 attempts), when I swear I was doing stockinette grafting. This time I was determined to get it right. I went to the Knitty Kitchener tutorial and followed the big pictures for every stitch. The test subject was the first Fleece Artist Merino Parrot sock.

Before


After

The result isn't perfect, mostly because I kept fussing with it, but it is grafted with no extra loops (or knots!), and the grafting is stockinette. Mission accomplished.

I usually don't graft because I do a variety of pointed toes that I have learned from several of Nancy Bush's excellent sock patterns. I intended that with these socks, but I knit the foot rather longer than I planned, so it was graft the toe or rip back. I have pointy feet so a pointed toe is a good choice. I also generally choose a square or Dutch heel because my heel is pretty square shaped. While the rest of me is all curves, my feet chose to be all angles.

I am eager to start my pink sweater, however, M's parents are visiting us this weekend en route to a 10-day cruise among the Hawaiian Islands (retirement is a real killer). I need to dust, tidy, and bake a chocolate cake. This is a recipe to die for. It is very easy, and sensationally delicious. The only drawback is the requirement for 2 10-inch cake pans (no cake pan sizes are not easily interchangeable). M's Dad has lost most of his sense of taste, but he can still taste chocolate, so chocolate he will get! However, this limits my knitting time. I think I shall concentrate on my socks and other UFOs, and I'll cast on for the sweater next week. I also have a lot of swatching for learning purposes and my periwinkle sweater to contemplate. So much to knit!

Well, it is time here to watch House and then Boston Legal and do a little sock knitting.

Green

It's all Landscape Shawl all the time here at Molecular Knitting. Well, there's a little work on the FA parrot socks, too. I'm almost done with the first sock! Here it is relaxing on our faux black mink throw.



Progress on the Landscape Shawl is up to 67%. Two-thirds done! It was only a little over a week ago that I had just started the moss stitch chevron. Now I am into the final stitch pattern of reverse stockinette. Because each row is one stitch greater than the previous row, I can calculate my percentage completed after each row with the formula:

R/2 x (R+1)= S
S/T x 100= percent completed
Where R=last completed row #; S= # stitches knit; T=total stitches in completed shawl (can be calculated with the first formula, using the total number of rows in the shawl for R). This does assume that you started with one stitch in row 1, so it works well for triangles. I cast on three stitches to begin, but I figure the two extra stitches won't change any percentage value considering the entire shawl is 47,600 stitches.

All the green of the Parrot yarn in the socks, and the Green Mountain Madness of the shawl led me to determine what color green I am.

You Are Teal Green

You are a one of a kind, original person. There's no one even close to being like you. Expressive and creative, you have a knack for making the impossible possible. While you are a bit offbeat, you don't scare people away with your quirks. Your warm personality nicely counteracts any strange habits you may have.

What Color Green Are You?

Hmm...I haven't done the 6 Weird Things About Me meme, but perhaps I should.

Now I must get ready for my weekly phone call with Mom. She lives in Wisconsin. This afternoon it was 3 degrees in Oshkosh, WI (Farenheit) and 63 degrees here in Davis, CA. We also have daffodils and almond trees in bloom. I think I'll lead with the weather.

Happy Knitting!

The Antidote to Punky

Punky was the word the doctor used to describe how I've been feeling; I wasn't so polite. Her antidote is lots of liquids, especially unsweetened cranberry juice, and a 10-day course of cephalosporins (10 days, that's Punky with a capital P!). My antidote is much more colorful and fun.


Fleece Artist Merino in Parrot

What do you knit when you need something easy and cheerful (and you don't have your husband around to do swift duty with the STR yarn)? Fleece Artist Merino socks in an easy (4x4) rib with an Eye of the Patridge heel flap. This photo is pretty punky, and really doesn't show the vivacity of the colors, but FA merino is perfectly dyed for the Eye of the Partridge heel flap. I've said that before (also with a punky photo), and I'm sure I'll say it again. There is nothing better than knitting a cheerful sock when the microbiological world wreaks its havoc within one's person.

And when the fingers need a little rest there is always a good mystery to pick up and enjoy.



This is the third Masie Dobbs mystery. This is a series that really benefits from being read in order. The first book is Masie Dobbs and the second is Bird's of a Feather. Masie is a psychologist/investigator in post-WWI London. She served as a nurse in France during the war. The stories are very well written, and the character of Masie is pretty engaging. The pace is a little slow and methodical, but since Masie takes "inquiries" that have a psychological bent, the pace fits the stories. Sometimes Masie seems too perfect to be real, but then she is supposed to be something of a genius at psychology and empathy, so that isn't a major criticism. She's a pretty good antidote to punky.

As soon as I am feeling better, it will be back to finishing the Landscape Shawl and swatching for the periwinkle pullover. And when I am feeling miraculously good, I'll get that final gingerbread cable sock done.

Happy Knitting!

Sock Futures Rock!

After hearing about all the banking angst Blue Moon Fiber Arts went through, I decided to do a little shopping there, especially since I have never knit socks with Socks that Rock yarn. Shocking, I know. I was delighted to find a color scheme that reminded me of my new blueberry tea-for-one.


Socks that Rock in Nodding Violet and Henpecked.

The Nodding Violet doesn't have any white, but I think the blue-violets and greens are a great match. Yay! The Henpecked results from blog envy. I saw Kristi's marvelous wool/silk fiber from BMFA in Henpecked, and I had to have the color. Now I do. The only question is which one to knit first. I think I may reward myself by knitting a pair of these socks right away to help drive away sock ennui. I think these yarns deserve a whole skein shot.



In further knitting news, the Landscape Shawl is now over 50% complete! To celebrate here is a close up of the moss stitch chevron.



In 24 more rows I get to start the final chevron in reversed stockinette. I know I have complained a lot about how boring this shawl is to knit, but the CTH yarn is really working out nicely. Alison left me such a nice comment about the LS that I felt very encouraged to continue. She is knitting up an amazing Hidcote. You should go check it out.

Happy Knitting!

More Plans than Progress

Due to errant, painful sinuses, a busy social schedule, and a misbehaving sock, I didn't have a big weekend in terms of knitting progress. While the gingerbread cable sock sat in time-out until Sunday evening (all is back now on track with it), I did restart the ice cream sundae socks on smaller needles in a broken, lightly twisted 2x2 rib, and I finished the first border of the berry sea silk scarf from Victorian Lace Today (page 80 "scarf with wide striped border").



I did have some time to do some planning, thinking and perusing. I had asked for suggestions for a sweater pattern to knit using Lamb's Pride worsted, and I looked up all the suggestions. Thanks to everyone who answered my questions! Rogue and Samus were my two favorite choices, but Rogue seemed a bit beyond my current abilities, and Samus, although very beautiful with its wide horizontal celtic braid, would put that braid right where I wouldn't want it. I generally try to pretend that my hips do not exist, and the horizontal braid of Samus would destroy that self-delusion. Several people assured me I could design my own if I chose a drop shoulder style, and I think they may be right. I also remembered a pattern from Knitters (Fall 2001) that I liked.



And then I started perusing some of my stitch pattern books, which leaves me with some serious swatching to do.



It would be nice if I could fit some swatches in among my other knitting, so that when I get the Landscape Shawl done, I could be ready for the sweater. I'd cross my fingers that this will all work out, but I don't know how to knit with my fingers crossed.

So, I have a bit of a plan. Now it's time for some more progress. Happy Knitting!

The Good and the Bad

The good news is that I have one mitt done of the pair for Karen. I successfully adapted the pattern from chunky to DK weight yarn.



The bad news:



I had a "little" sock knitting mishap.

Note to self: don't knit with a headache.

At least I found all 60 stitches after ripping a third of the gusset and the entire heel (I mis-centered the heel flap by 3 stitches--quite noticeable in a cable-rib pattern, at least noticeable after knitting the entire heel and a third of the gusset).

I'm going to bed.

In the words of the immortal Scarlett O'Hara, "Tomorrow is another day."

Victorian Lace Cast-on and a Sock's Disgust

Last night I taught myself the crochet cast-on and started the first striped, wide border of the "Scarf with wide striped border" from Victorian Lace Today. I knit two repeats before I needed to switch to more mindless knitting so M and I could watch Inside Man on DVD (I really liked the movie BTW).



I started with the specified size 7 needles; the yarn is Sea Silk in Berry. The Sea Silk is working pretty well for me on these Clover bamboo needles. Grumperina found Sea Silk sticky and used addi turbos, and others have found it slick and used bamboo. Well, it's neither sticky nor slick to me. I don't remember who the slick-finding people are, but I wonder if it is all climate based. It's dry here but not arid dry. However, I am wondering if I should use size 6 needles instead. I've decided to finish this first border before making a conclusion. Any readers opinions are quite welcome!

All this Victorian lace knitting has made the Gingerbread Cable Sock quite peeved. When I said I planned to make its mate my exclusive sock knitting project, it thought I meant exclusive knitting project period. It was very annoyed to find me with the VLT scarf and knitting on the Landscape Shawl (that I can knit while watching a movie). I have passed the 200-stitch row on the LS, so now that seems all down hill as 308 is the number of stitches in the final row before binding off (even though I'm only 44% done).

I did make, what I thought, was significant progress on the second GCS. Here you can see the first sock checking out my progress (8 repeats of 11 done in the cuff).


The GCS was so disgruntled that I was going to work on the LS, that I decided it couldn't stay in my open sock knitting basket. Rather, it needed a "time-out" in my sock travel bag. Here it is trying to get out before I could zip the bag closed.



I really like the bag. It's from Target (purchased many moons ago), and it is really a make-up bag. But for sock knitting, it's perfect. The length is exactly right for my dpns, and they fit in the pocketed top compartment quite nicely.



Finally, I got the bag all zipped up and the GCS into time out.



Perhaps this evening I could take it out and finish the cuff, if it behaves.

First WIPs of 2007

2006 was my most knittingest year so far. I completed 14 projects, including one sweater. However, not everything I started in 2006 I finished, and I am carrying some things over. As I have a lot of knitting I want to do this year, I have been knitting furiously the last several days to turn some of these WIPs into FOs.

First, I have made it to the moss stitch chevron of the Landscape shawl. 37% done! I really like how the yarn variegation looks in the different stitches. At the very top, you can see the green stitch marker sticking up indicating the start of the moss stitch chevron. I'm on row 188, and on row 244, I get to start the final chevron of reverse stockinette. When I get to row 308 I get to bind off.


As I mentioned in my last post, I had to wear store bought grey socks earlier this week, and I think my lone gingerbread cable sock noticed. I decided I better get its mate started before it rose up in rebellion. I really, really like how this cable pattern is working out on the socks. I will have to use it again.

I would have finished this pair much earlier, but I am using metal needles and I didn't want to risk having them taken away by airport security when M and I traveled over the holidays. So, over the holidays, I started a pair of Jaywalkers in Trekking XXL (color 159) on my new 6-inch Crystal Palace bamboo double points. I love these needles!! They are by far my dpn favorites: slick, pointy and warm to hold. The sock isn't bad either, but it will have to wait for the gingerbread cable sock.


Finally, I am knitting a pair of mitts for Michael's college friend Karen, who with another friend, will be coming out to California from Chicago to visit us next month. Karen saw my screaming red mitts on the blog and wanted a pair in blues and purples. M promised her a very soft, warm pair of mitts and totally vetoed! fingering weight yarn, which the fine cabled mitt pattern calls for. I was a bit disgruntled at first until I realized I needed to go to my LYS, and then I perked right up. I found a skein of Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb Swirl DK in purple club. The merino/silk blend is really soft, and the DK weight should make a warm pair of mitts. My only problem was a complete lack of pattern. I am adapting the twisted cable mitts pattern I used in a chunky weight alpaca on the fly. So far, it seems to be working.


Once these become FOs, there's a second sock to knit for my mom, a new scarf for my Grandma Adeline (she confessed over Christmas that she lost the scarf I knit her a couple years ago, which she loved), the Aran Pocket Shawl, a scarf for the Victorian Lace Today KAL, the ice cream sundae socks...Why am I still blogging? Back to knitting!

Alice Starmore and Citrus

First up, if you have always wanted a like-new copy of Alice Starmore's Aran Knitting, I am selling my copy through my parents on ebay. They are mingmags37, and the auction ends Thursday at 10 pm PDT. I bought the book new, looked at it a few times, and that's pretty much it. Just thought you might like to know.

Second, Sunday afternoon was glorious here in Molecular Knitting's little corner of California. I took myself outside for a tromp around the neighborhood to admire all the citrus trees heavy with ripe fruit.


Grapefruit tree


Lemons! Sidecar anyone?


Fabulous oranges

Many people don't pick the fruit from their trees, which I think is a shame. I was very tempted to knock on a couple of neighbor's doors and ask if they wanted to fork over a dozen or two lemons, but I feared that would be considered too rude. So, I just coveted them.

After my walk, I put in some heavy knitting on the Landscape shawl. 34% done! 4 rows from starting the next chevron, which is moss stitch. Once I get my chuck roast braising in the oven this evening (I'm still rendering some bacon to brown the roast in the bacon fat--evil, but oh, so yummy), I'll get to that next chevron (and pretend the Christmas tree still isn't up). So pictures of progress soon. I was very relieved to make the 34% mark with some of my first of three balls of yarn left. I bought what should be 200 extra yards, but the first ball seemed to be shrinking fast and I was stuck in the 20 -something percentage-complete for a long time.

Did you see the letter Trek's black sweater vest sent her? I hope my gingerbread cable sock didn't see it, or I think it may get some epistolary ideas of its own. It's been a single sock for a long time. I even had to wear grey store bought socks today, and I think it noticed. I know the Harlot's UFOs have also occasionally written her. I hope no one reads our UFOs, A Tale of Two Cities, or they may start a revolution. I'll have to get to its mate soon.

Where to Go From Here?

M and I returned yesterday to California from visting family in Illinois and Wisconsin. Today I wondered how to get back into the blog. Recap the vacation? Show the holiday knitting loot? Sum up the year in knitting? Look forward to 2007? What to do? What to do? So, here is a bit of everything.

First, I did almost NO knitting over the vacation. I was very tired on the flights to the Midwest (through LAX not Denver, thank God), and so I slept. I did finish the screaming red mitts at my in-laws.

The fit is great. I did mess with the pattern a little. I used less repeats of the cables as my fingers are short, and I reversed the cable on the left mitt for symmetry. I'm not into the whole symmetry in socks gig, but I thought I would give it a whirl in the mitts. I plan to knit more! Actually, Anne at Knitspot, where I bought the pattern, has made a lovely lace pair of mitts that I saw today, and as soon as she makes the pattern available, I'll be snatching it up. Anne designs a nice thumb gusset, I must say.

I also started my first foray into the Jaywalker sock pattern from Grumperina. I didn't photograph it yet as I only have pretty nasty artificial light right now (as the mitt pic shows), but soon. I'm using some Trekking XXL, and I like the colors and the patterning, but I'm not enthralled with the yarn. It's a little scratchy and thin.

But on the subject of yarn, I must gloat: M proved himself the absolute best of husbands this Christmas by signing me up for the second sixth months of Sundara's Petals Collection. Yipee!

That's Lenten Rose with a lacy sock pattern. I'm so excited! Oh, and the little bauble? That's a sterling cuff from Thailand that he bought me through Novica (he picked it out completely on his own). And to answer a question I've heard often: he's NOT available. I get to keep him.

To finish the 2006 FO list, I finished the Grapevine scarf in Black Purl Shepherd's Sock.

This scarf was a learning experience. I could not memorize the 12 row pattern, possibly because I knit on it off and on and it was my first lace other than feather and fan. So, the knitting was a bit tedious. The colors were lovely though. I learned a new cast-on (backwards loop), which was elementary. I also used Eunny's IK tutorial on lace cast-ons and bind-offs and used the Lace or Russian bind-off. It was slow to do but easy and really quite fabulous in terms of strength and elasticity. The problem is that the lace curls. I did not include an edging. I knew I could have a problem with that, but I pretended all would work well. It's a stockinette lace, and it curls. Lesson learned.

I could rattle on longer, but M has almost finished cooking dinner (NOT available!), and I am famished.

Happy New Year! May everyone have a wonderful year of knitting!

Screaming Red Mitts and Ice Cream Sundae Socks

Christmas Knitting. Check.
Christmas Beading. Check.
Christmas Shopping. Check.
Christmas Laundry (we travel). Check.
We fly Thursday! Must leave home by 5:30 a.m. to make flight! Ack!

M cut out a few of my Christmas beading gifts as too much (they were for his relatives). M's mom did not need handknit socks and beaded jewelry. He also suggested one piece for his sister for Christmas and the other I had designed for her March birthday. So, we did a little shopping at amazon for her. But now I am back to knitting and beading just for pleasure. No longer worrying about foot sizes vs sock sizes. No longer fretting that an elderly grandmother will find a necklace too heavy or not be able to manage a clasp. Now it's just deciding which sock yarn I want to knit first and how long I want to make a scarf.

In anticipation of flying and wanting small things to knit, as M is 6'4" tall and broad shouldered and I am invariably a little squished in my seat, I started a few small projects. First, my hands have been freezing, and the mitts I made earlier from chunky alpaca are too thick for other than reading (and sleeping!). I love Eunny's Endpaper Mitts, and I nearly swooned when I saw the lovely green/cream color combo that Diana of Streets and Yos knit up. However, I have never done stranded work before, and my hands are cold now. So, I went over to Knitspot and ordered Anne's pattern for Fine Cabled Mitts. I'll save the Endpaper Mitts for 2007 (my neighbor knits and has offered to teach me how to do stranded knitting, yay!). Unlike Anne, I did not have any cashmere sock yarn lying around, but I did have enough left over Wildfoote sock yarn in Jazz Time, or screaming red, as I like to think of it. I am almost done with the first mitt.

The pattern is pretty easy to follow and I really like how Anne designed the thumb gusset. I did make my usual cabling error of doing the second cable one row too early (cabling one row of a 6 row repeat means cabling every 7th row, not every 6th), but here it turns out to be fortuitous, as I have short fingers. There is no way I can do all 10 repeats of the cable pattern and not turn the mitt into a mitten (I had to do less repeats in the chunky alpaca mitts too), so cabling every 6th row instead of 7th lets me get more cables in. The nice thing about the Wildfoote is that it is machine washable. My gauge is looser than the pattern calls for (also contributing to needing a shorter mitt) by a little bit, but my hand width was just over the size max for the smaller mitt size, and the mitt seems to fit as great as it can with dpns sticking out all over.

I also started a new pair of socks, which I now think of as my ice cream sundae socks. The yarn is Fleece Artist Merino in the colorway dyed specifically for Simply Sock Yarn Company's first anniversary last June. The colors look to me like rich vanilla ice cream with hot fudge and raspberry sauce.

Looks tasty but a little dry.

The pattern is garter rib. I tried a few others that were more complicated, but they were too much with the huge color contrasts in the yarn. BTW, the sock is leaning up against my favorite mineral from my collection of minerals, which has long, cylindrical, hexagonal aquamarine crystals in it. That's a long non-gem quality aquamarine crystal to the left of the sock. This sock is so proud; I usually don't lean them up against something so pretty and valuable.

Last week while using an old scarf, I realized that I don't like to wrap a scarf all around my neck so both ends hang in the front. So I tried on the Grapevine scarf to see if I had knit enough if I didn't plan to do so much scarf wrapping, and I have. Tomorrow I hope to block! Photos will follow.

Now I have to go debate which sock yarns from my stash to take over our trip. We fly 2300 miles each way, and then we also have two 450 mile car trips between our parents' homes. I used to drive that and let M be passenger (let's just say he refers to me when he is driving as his "onboard navigation system" I'm a horrible backseat driver), but last year I had learned to knit socks, so M got to drive while I knit (which nicely cut down on the "navigation"). I think it's a wonderful tradition. I want to make a pair of Jaywalkers, as I am the only knitter on the planet who hasn't and I have some striping Trekking XXL, and Cookie's Monkey socks, which look fantastic. Now, which yarn for those...

Christmas FOs!

First off, no one who I know reads this blog can accidentally see one of her gifts, so reading on cannot spoil any surprises.

Second, today we had 9 hours, 29 minutes of daylight; I spent 10 hours at work. The photos are on my work table, and therefore, functional, not scenic. I did use the tripod and my Ott light, so the colors aren't too bad. Therefore, on to the FOs! In order of completion:


Diagonal Rib Scarf in Misti Alpaca Chunky

M's dad gets the scarf. It was a weird one to block. The pattern, such as it is, was a free download from the Misti Alpaca site, and it said to pin the scarf out dry and then mist it with water (hence the name Misti Alpaca?). The ball band did specify that hand-washing in warm water was OK, so I was a bit perplexed by the whole dry pinning idea. However, I decided to try that first. Blocking wires proved essential to maintaining my sanity, but all worked out well. The pattern said from one skein of yarn to expect a 6" x 40" scarf. I got 6" x 45" without stretching lengthwise. M's dad is a tall man, so the extra 5" I managed to get is good.

Next up, we have beaded snowflakes, each is going to a different person.



These were very fun to design and a total bitch to make. The snowflake wire forms, were made of spring tempered steel. For those not overly conversant with metal tempers, the temper indicates how soft or hard the metal wire is. For example, you can't go to the hardware store and buy a spool of copper wire, wind it around a dowel and then use it as a spring, as soon as you push or pull on the ends of your "spring" it will collapse; it can't bounce back. Spring temper is tough to bend. I broke several forms trying to bend the loop at the end to keep the beads from falling off. It wouldn't have been so frustrating if the packaging hadn't shown children making snowflakes, and the instructions hadn't ended with "Have fun!" But these are done, I like them, and I think I have figured out how to transport them from California to the Midwest branches intact.

Finally, last night I finished the socks for M's grandmother.



The leg pattern is the 5-stitch repeat yarn-over cable from Sensational Knitted Socks, but I didn't want to make a toe up sock, which is what all the 5-st repeat socks are, I made up my own heel flap, heel turn and toe. I like the heel flap. It's a hybrid of carrying down the YO-cable into a 3x2 rib, except I slipped the middle stitch of the 3 knits on the right side, similar to the 3x3 slipped stitched rib in the 6-st repeat section of SKS.


Fleece Artist Merino in Renaissance

The color didn't pool too badly, and I somewhat liked the idea of a busy pattern in a yarn colorway named Renaissance. Simple lines do not appear to have been a Renaissance aesthetic. I hope they fit M's grandmother, who, I am told, has long narrow feet. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

As soon as I finished the socks, I cast on a new pair for myself. My grey marled gingerbread cable socks are going to have to wait until after the holidays for me to knit the second sock. I used metal needles on the first, and M compared my metal to bamboo size 1 needles, and they are not the same size. Since I am flying next week, I think it would be best to have all bamboo needles. I know I am supposed to be able to take metal needles, but last time I flew they took away my craft scissors with 1" blades, and up to a 4" blade is supposed to be acceptable. I need to get into the pattern I've picked for the new socks tonight, and then I hope to show them to you tomorrow.

New LYS! and a Sock of a Different Color

Saturday my friend Nancy and I set up a beading afternoon, and we needed to go to our LBS, which is in a small complex of restaurants and shops built around a courtyard. At the entrance to the Courtyard stood a sign telling everyone to go up to the third floor to the new YS, Knitter's Playground. I had to go (Nancy is a soon-to-be knitter; after all she wasn't a beader until she met me either). So after the bead store we took a look. I didn't have my camera with me, but believe me when I say it was fabulous. The owner, Rebecca, was smart enough to specialize in yarns and knitting that wasn't being carried well at the other LYS. So she had a lot of sock yarn and LACE yarn. She has all the Fiddlesticks and Fiber Trends shawl and scarf patterns. Wanting to support her business venture, I made a little purchase.


Jaeggerspun Zephyr in Admiral
She also carries Fleece Artist (but not the sock yarn) and Hand Maiden Yarns. They are expecting a shipment of Sea Silk: every colorway, over 100 lbs of Sea Silk! I am psyched. She also carries all the Brown Sheep yarns, which are some of my favorites for sweaters.

Last time, I showed a sock WIP for Michael's grandma for Christmas. I was hoping I was knitting the right size. I was not. But no matter! Grandma has very narrow feet, and last July I knit a sock that I thought would fit my medium-wide foot, but the yarn over cable pattern made it too narrow. I can get it on, but the fabric is pretty stretched, so I think it will be perfect for a narrow foot (we are both size 8.5 luckily). So now I am over half finished.


The yarn is Fleece Artist Merino in Renaissance. I can't say enough good things about Fleece Artist Merino. It wears well, keeps its shape and colors, and is very soft and warm. Pooling is also limited in the medium size women's socks I've been knitting. At Simply Sock Yarn Company, Alison has procured FAM in some of the Hand Maiden colorways.

Next time, I hope to show a FO, which is waiting for blocking. Until then, happy knitting!