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.

Aaah...

That's better.

A River in Egypt

There are certain truths in knitting. Truths that I hold to, and which shape the choices I make. Usually. There are certain uglinesses that I avoid unless absolutely necessary. The main truth, one of the first I discovered about myself in relation to my knitting is: The Dutch Heel Is Not For Me. It's not that I find it aesthetically unpleasant. It's not that I find it difficult to achieve. I do not find it sloppy, icky, or dumb. It just plain doesn't fit my foot. I discovered this while doing several sample knitting gigs, making socks with Dutch Heels. They p-u-u-u-u-l-l-l-l-l across my instep, distorting the stitch pattern, making for a tight, difficult fit in one area, where the rest of the sock fits just fine. So, from that moment on, I just threw a standard round heel into any sock knit for me, or the DH. Until yesterday.

A few years back, I knit the New England socks from Knitting on the Road for myself. I knit them at a gauge that was too loose, and, sadly, I knit them out of acrylic sock yarn. I have come to the point where I am wanting to replace these seldom worn socks with some knit from, well, wool. Fair enough. I was plugging along, heel flap knit, on to the heel turn. Wait. It's a Dutch Heel. Maybe you should throw in a round heel. Nah. I'll just follow the directions. What's the worst that could happen?

A-yup. Too tight across the instep. I hear the frogs a-callin' from the banks of Denial. Sigh. When will I really learn?

Everything Old is New Again

FO: Spring Forward Socks
Needles: US 1
Yarn: SR Kertzer On Your Toes! Bamboo
Notes: Fast, fun pattern! Ran out of yarn just before closing off the second toe. Used a scrap from the stash to finish it up.





















Those of you who are regular readers (who am I kidding? I last posted 5 months ago. That's not regular under any circumstances) might remember the DH's love of a good zippered cardigan. In an attempt to capitalize on that love, I set out to knit him Avast! in a really lovely cordovan brown wool.

It was the most boring thing I have ever knit. I was therefore certain that he would love it. Maybe even more than he loves the Cambridge Jacket I knit for him which ignited his passion for items that might be found whilst raiding Mr. Rogers' closet. I knit and knit, seeming miles of stockinette... I picked up for the facings/zipper placket. I seamed the arms, and










It didn't fit. Enter the ball winder. Skippy, while watching me unravel an entire completed sweater remarked, "Couldn't you find someone it does fit?" Well, that's not the point, is it? I was making this sweater for the DH. It doesn't fit him, so I must knit something else from this yarn. Pretty obvious, if you think about it. Starting over doesn't have to be painful, it's only yarn! So, Cambridge Jacket 2.0 is in the works. Back is finished, fronts started. This one will fit him and will get worn on a regular basis. So everyone's happy.

Along the theme of starting over, turning something that wasn't working into something that will work, I am in the process of a career renovation of sorts. The position I was working underwent some major budget-related cuts, and, being low on the seniority end of things, I was laid off. After about a week of panic attacks and crying and what-am-I-going-to-do-now? I have decided to return (very briefly) to school, reinstate my teaching license, and, ultimately, get my ESL license.

So, transitions all around! It's on 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).

Not Much, You?

As in, not much left around here to get rid of, and not much left to pack for a while.

So, where's the knitting, you ask?

1. The Ghost of Christmas Past
Those of you with looooong memories will recognize this as Skippy's Christmas scarf. The one that I finished half of in time for gift exchanging. I'm finally getting this monkey off my back and cranking out the second half. It was Skippy, after all, who deemed 2007 the Year of the UFO.




2. The BFD (as in "Big F---- Doily" big fancy doily, get your mind out of the gutter, potty mouth! )
Mommes Lysedug. This is another knit for Skippy. Skippy has a lot of lovely older furniture on which a doily would look right at home. This doily, however, may find itself more at home as a cozy for Delaware. It just keeps getting bigger. Funny how that works, eh? You knit more rounds on and the thing gets bigger. Genius.



3. I Swear, it's Not What You Think!
Unless, of course, you were just benignly thinking, "Oh, it's a Baby Surprise Jacket!" Because that, it is. It is not, however, an announcement as to why, other than the move, things have gotten so quiet around here. In other words, it's a gift. For Mrs. Feezy. (Yeah, Feezys!)

















4. Separated At Birth?
You be the judge. Here is Hugh's sock hanging out with my terrible reenactment (not a judgment, that, I just think terrible reenactment sounds more exciting than historical recreation).

I think we may have a pattern by mid-September!

Socking It Away...

In more than one sense. First off, wooly carps do we have a lot of junk socked away! (well, junk to us, anyway) Every load I haul off to be donated has become like a deep, renewing, cleansing breath. I seriously feel about two inches taller! Of course, there's still more to do, but the aim is to make this move our first that is totally free from the ubiquitous box(es) of miscellaneous crap. I'll let you know how that goes.

In the other sense, I have been socking away on my sock pal's Sockapalooooza socks, and here they are in all their glory:












Pattern: Anastasia Socks by Pepperknit
Yarn: Trekking XXL color #100
Needles: Knitpicks size US 1 (2.5mm)
Modifications: Knit as written until the rib, which I did as a 1x1 so that I could do a tubular bind off. Worked tubular bind off in Rainbow Elastic.
Thoughts: I'm really pleased with the Rainbow Elastic bind off! Stretchy and resilient! These socks were a fun knit, and I hope my pal likes them!

So, what's next? Take a look at this:

This sock was knit by my friend Emily's grandfather for his sweetie, the woman who would later be Emily's grandmother, many years ago. Isn't it beautiful? Emily has agreed to allow me (okay, I offered and she accepted) to examine the sock, knit a replica and write a pattern for said sock! This is really an exciting project to me, I think I'm pretty close to having the whole thing figured out! The plan is to sell the pattern as a CFA exclusive. If there's interest, I'll suggest she make it available for online purchase somehow. Please leave a comment if you are indeed interested in purchasing this pattern once it's ready.

...And the Angels Sang...

When last we saw my Sockapalooooza socks, sock #1 had been bound off with a modified tubular bind off and, quite frankly, I, for one, was less than satisfied with the end result. Yes, it was still not pulling its weight, so to speak, and was (albeit just a tiny bit) too binding a bind off.

There was some mention of a possible toe-up epiphany of sorts, and my friends, I think I have seen the light!












(If you think the modified tubular bind off is a pig, try undoing it!)












Original bind off taken out, and stitches ready to give it another go...













But, what's this? Who is this hero on the horizon?


Why, yes, it's humble old Rainbow Elastic, available, oddly enough, in a rainbow of colors!













Will it work?

Yes, my friends, it does! It does leave you with two extra ends to weave in, but this really does seem to alleviate the binding bind off. I used the good ole modified tubular bind off, but this would also work with EZ's sewn bind off or even a standard bind off (colormatching would be more of an issue with this option, as you'd actually have basically a round knit in the elastic) knitter's choice!

I know I can't be the first to have thought of this, but it really has opened the previously self restricted door to all those lovely toe-up patterns out there I had been avoiding due to my picky-ness about achieving just the right bind off!

I hope my sock pal is as happy with it as I am!

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.

Set Adrift

One of the things I love about knitting samples is, other than the big pluses of getting a "sneak peek" at a spankin' new pattern and often getting to use yarns I wouldn't otherwise drop the cash for, it gives me focus, direction. The deadline charges my knitting and I actually get things done. I recently finished two sample socks for Gardiner Yarn Works, and once they were out of
the house, that old feeling crept up on me again.









Lazy River Socks











Walk in the Woods Socks


I feel I've been set adrift in a round boat with no rudder and no oars. Just spinning and drifting and listing this way and that. No focus, no looming deadlines. It's a strange feeling.

In an attempt to combat the perception that I never knit for myself, I've been plugging away at a couple of things for me, namely the Fire Monkey socks and Bianca's Jacket. But I keep getting torn away by one temptation or another... Not stuff for me, just flashes of brilliant gift ideas for others and the like.

The Shetland Triangle, last seen as an expanse of fluffy peaks, was gifted to the lovely and talented Emily (LYS owner extraordinaire!) for her birthday. Tears were shed and, as expected, it looks wonderful on her.














Pattern: Shetland Triangle, by Evelyn Clark
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpacas sportweight in ? baby pink (leftovers from some sample knitting)
Needles: US 6
Modifications/Notes: I think I knit one more full repeat than called for. It was a pretty easy pattern to memorize and a lot of fun to block since it knits up SO LUMPY!

I'm also plugging away on my pal's Sockapalooooza socks:

First time using Trekking, first toe-ups (successful toe-ups, there was a toe-up of which we shall not speak, and one toe-up sample that I don't count), and first shortrow heels (for an adult) Any suggestions on a stretchy bind off? Don't say EZ's sewn bind off, I've used it and I don't find it to be elastic enough (ie: it stretches, but doesn't have much memory, KWIM?) Should I do a tubular bind off, or are there any other suggestions out there? I'm almost ready to start the ribbing for sock #1, so any suggestions would be welcome! Thanks!

Jumping in With Both Feet

In an attempt to broaden my horizons a bit (and to liven up my languishing sock drawer) I signed on to participate in Sockapalooza 4. I have never participated in a swap of any kind on the internets. I guess I had a fear that my "pal" would flake on me. I have set that fear aside, as my pal has already contacted me and seems really geared up to knit some socks! As am I.

In celebration of trying something new, for my pal's socks, I have decided to crack into "The Museum." What's "The Museum?" you ask? Well... I have this little problem.

(no, not sock yarn in general, that is a little bigger problem, due to my belief that "sock yarn doesn't count")






I Love Trekking.












I love it a lot.

I want to take every ball of it I see home.

And put it in "The Museum."

You see, despite my heralded affection for the Trekking, I have not yet brought myself to crack into a single skein of the stuff. Not. One. Hence, "The Museum" was born. We loves the Trekking, we hoardes it, we pets it, but we do not knits with the Trekking. Yes, it's a sickness.



Until now. Today I have decided, as executive curator of "The Museum" that my pal will have socks. She will have socks knit from Trekking XXL color #100. And in the knitting, may my neurotic affliction pass.