New England 2.0

They're done! Second time around with this pattern. First time, I used some nasty acrylic sock yarn (!?) which made for some rarely worn socks. This time around, I used a wool/nylon blend, and I couldn't be more pleased with how they turned out!













New England Socks, from Knitting on the Road by Nancy Bush
Yarn: Red Heart Heart and Soles, Ivory. 2 skeins.
Needles: US 0's. Magic Loop.
Mods: Switched out the Dutch heel for a round heel. Deeper gusset=better fit for me.

The Journey of 1000 Miles

Yes. We're moved, and we all survived. Some of the highlights of the cross country junk-haul include: Skippy and I driving so long and getting so tired we were independently hallucinating (you haven't lived until you've "seen" a giant Bengal tiger crossing I-80 in the middle of Nebraska), arriving at our motel room to discover there was no handle on the toilet and being so exhausted it didn't phase us at all, we just took the lid off the tank and lifted the flapper that way, but by far, the highlight for me was spending two entire days (albeit in a confined space) with Skippy, my best and oldest friend.

The DH's job is going well, and I'm still trying to find a way to earn my keep. I've registered as a sub here in the district, and have applications in several places. We'll see if anything pans out.

I have finished some stuff, including the "Klapotis" in Kureyon 40:






















The "Po-mom-tamus" socks in Trekking XXL 147 (Christmas present for my mom):

















A ribwarmer in Reynold's Harvest Tweed Burgundy Tweed:


And, I've also done some spinning. One of the DH's students is a 4-Her and raises chickens and sheep. The DH told her I know how to spin (I love how he oversells me) and she brought a bread bag of fleece for him to give to me. I got around to cleaning some of it yesterday, and have been prepping and spinning some of it up today. The fleece is a beautiful grey with blond tips, and is spinning up really nicely with some great, subtle color variation in the singles. I am getting close to being able to say I no longer suffer from a drafting disability, and I actually had fun spinning this little bit up today (no, Emily, I didn't park and draft, I actually did it with the drop spindle. I must have been channeling my inner twit).

Flaming Monkeys and Glacial Anastasias

The Monkeys are, indeed, done. And not a bad use for a hank of Jitterbug!
Pattern: Monkey, by Cookie A
Yarn: Colinette Jitterbug in Fire
Needles: 2.5 mm (US 1.5)
Modifications: Mostly just the heel flap. I have a hard time reconciling a stockinette heel flap; makes me worry the socks will wear out before their time, so I threw in an eye of partridge heel flap on these. I think it works.











Speaking of socks, my Sockapalooooza socks are coming along. I swear this whole sock swap thing is feeding into my neuroses big time. I so want these socks to be special for my pal. So, first I busted out the Trekking, then I decided to do toe-ups with short row toes and heels (I am normally very much a top-down, flap and turn kind of gal). After worry-fest 2007 about how best to bind off, I did a modified tubular bind off which I will be taking out (not stretchy enough to satisfy) but, boy, do I have an idea! This could revolutionize toe-up sock knitting as we know it! Or, it could be something all you toe-uppers already know and just figured was too obvious to go crowing about. Or, it could end up being too big a PITA to bother with. I'll let you know.

Speaking of PITA, see that meager toe up there? See how the completed sock is ever-so-cleverly overlapping said toe? It is concealing a fatal flaw induced by commencing the spiral eyelets at Knit Nite and not paying particular attention to the pattern or my knitting. Ripping commenced mere moments after this photo was taken, and the sock is now back on track.

Fiddle-Fart: Techno Edition

So, after spending some quality time on the phone with Kodak, no dice. They are mailing me a CD to update the software. Meantime, I decided there must be a way to load new photos in absence of the "Easyshare." There is. You probably already knew that, but it was a discovery for me!

Without further ado:

Mrs. Feezy's second sock!
It will eventually get mailed to you, Feez, so Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday and all that jazz!

Pattern: Log Cabin Socks from Handknit Holidays
Yarn: Bernat Denimstyle in Polo, 2 skeins.
Needles: US 5
Comments: Yeouch! Denimstyle has no resilience, so was a total PITA to cable with, especially at this tight of a gauge. Worth it for you, though, F! And, another Holiday Hangover is done and gone! All that's left is the second half of Skippy's scarf!
















Here is a photo of the Monkey sock in Fire (ooh! Flaming Monkeys!)










The heel has since been turned and the gusset is decreased. I can't wait to wear these!

And here is the knitaround ad nauseum. The more I look at it, the more I think maybe I was thinking Seurat instead of Monet. Well, they're both good.









But not as good as this:
It even comes with patterns for a little afghan and throw pillows! I love how the cat on the cover seems to fully realize the humiliation of his situation.

Picture This...

So, there are a lot of things I would like to show you (including a real gem of a pattern leaflet find, and a couple of blue FO's), and the powers that be at Kodak have been contacted, so, perhaps by the end of the week.

The DH was not hired for the position he interviewed for. Back to the drawing board with ever-changing game plans. It would be nice if things could just be simple, but we all know they never are, so it's best not to dwell.

It's Official: I am Not Elizabeth Zimmermann (I know, I know, you were sure I was, but, nope!)
I have a great admiration for her innovative and creative contributions to knitting, but, I gotta tell you, I have a current project on the needles that is stockinette in the round and I. Am. So. Bored. I know I've said I like a lot of fiddle-farting around in my knitting, but, it turns out I actually need a lot of fiddle-farting around in my knitting. I need something to be thinking about. I'm knitting around and around and around and around and around and around on this thing and there is absolutely nothing to think about while I knit and knit and knit except that I miss home and I want to move back but now there are some people here that I would just have to sneak into the moving truck because I will miss them if we do end up moving. Do I really need extra time to think about all that? No, I say, I do not. So, it's a good thing the yarn is knitting up to look like a Monet painting, or I'd likely have chucked it across the room by now! Anyone have any suggestions of a pattern with major fiddle-farting that I could reward myself with upon completion of this one?

To ease the grumblemuck of the aforementioned project, and to remedy my pathetic sock drawer, I am working on a pair of Monkey socks in Jitterbug Fire. They are for me, and the first heel is turned with the gusset almost complete. I resisted the call of the Jitterbug for a while, but now that I've actually knit with it, I want to smuggle all of it out of the shop and take it home! I'd suggest you go out and get some, but, honestly, I want it all for myself, so I won't!

Tale of Woe/Tales of Whoa!

(giggle...homonyms...)
First, the tale of woe... I fmelted my Rogue. Fmelted because it was knit from Encore Worsted and it seems that it inadvertently got put in the dryer on High. It shrunk ever so slightly, and is currently covered in an inextricable veil of matty fuzz. Best I can tell is that the wool content felted and the acrylic just said, "Be my guest!" Sigh. At least it was a fun knit, and there were some issues I was too lazy to fix that I will make better when I make the new one. Yes, I will be making a new Rogue, since I have found it to be a very wearable sweater. This time I'll be knitting it in 22o, which I just so happen to have enough of, purchased to make the Sunrise Circle Jacket. Eh, I'd rather have Rogue right now.

Tale of Whoa #1: While working on the Succulent Socks (almost done!), I was using my Inox dpns, which were not so pointy as I usually like, but I was doing alright until, struggling to pull a stitch through one of the decreases, something slipped and my working needle dropped the 13 already worked stitches! After I got everything back where it belonged, I immediately switched over to the oh-so-pointy-they-might-just-attack-you KnitPicks dpns. Oh, so much better for socky lace!

Tale of Whoa #2: My dear friend (and LYS owner) Emily got me Blocking Wires! I couldn't wait to try them out, and so I reblocked my grandmother's shawl. Last time I used thread, but since this shawl requires rather, um, agressive blocking? I still ended up with weird peaks along the top edge in my attempt to prevent it from coming out U shaped. So, per Emily's request, here are some pics of the wires in action:

Coming Up for Air

Well, the set-in-stone-do-or-die deadline has been met, and now I have a couple more projects that need doing, but they have much friendlier time constraints, and they are things I can actually show you! I'm working up a couple of solid colored sock samples for Gardiner Yarn Works. As I look at what I've got done so far, I really think these will help sell the patterns. Chrissy really does come up with some gorgeous stuff, and I think the solid yarn will really highlight that. For instance, wouldn't you love to knit this:

(front) (back)
I get to, and the sooner I finish it, the sooner the pattern Succulent Socks will be available here. Note that I'm actually using DPN's again for the first time in about a year. I just needed to prove to myself I still could, and now I can't remember why exactly I was avoiding them. Silly.

Stuff for the shop is progressing nicely as well. The curlicue is about 1/3 done and I brought home some SWS to knit up a little Edgar, which should be done later today.

As for selfish knitting, the Klapotis is nearing completion of the increase rows, I have worked through the entire color progression in this colorway and so far found only one knot, which was easy enough to untie and spit-splice. And yes, the blue really is that electric. It makes me smile!

My finishing class went very well. I had great students who were eager to learn, and I think I sent them away with enough new knowledge to allow them to finish a project without fear, so that's good. Now, to figure out what to teach the cabling class!

Weak

I admit it... I am weak.






In many senses of the word.










Can you really blame me, though?


Meet Noro Kureyon Color #40. Current occupation: taunting me in my own home.
Final destination: Clapotis junction.

One-Hit Wonder

So, I installed a hit-counter on the blog, more out of curiosity than anything else, and in the last three days, I have had one hit. One. Uno. And I'm pretty sure that one hit was me. I know that Skippy and Mrs. Feezy are busy with tax season and all, but... The whole thing is just kind of depressing. Although it does account for the rather underwhelming response to my last post. It's not that people don't care to comment, it would appear that they just don't care to drop by anymore. In all fairness, I have been a very bad blogger of late, and, even at my best, I'm rarely enthralling, so. I'll just sit here in my little corner of the internet, doin' my thing and try not to get all hung up about it. It just feels a little lonely here.

The heart scarf is done. It needs fringe. I'd ask what a good length for fringe would be, but (see first paragraph)...

Skippy has declared 2007 The Year of the Unfinished Project. I'm inclined to join her. Looking at my WIP's on the sidebar tells me that I have quite a lot of knitting to keep me busy. Once I get all that cleared off the plate, perhaps I will knit something for myself. It's been a while. Perhaps deciding what that something will be will give me a boost of motivation to finish up the UFO's. Currently in the stash I have yarn for:

1. Sunrise Circle Jacket by Kate Gilbert
2. Union Square Market Pullover by Kate Gilbert
3. Weekend Pullover by Veronik Avery
4. Pearl Buck Swing Jacket by Kate Gilbert
5. Essential Indulgence by Leslie Scanlon
   

Any opinions?