Frankensocks

This month I've been participating in the Frankensocks KAL on Ravelry. The idea: use up some scrap stash yarn and knit yourself some socks! And, if you're into Mary Shelley, read-along in her Frankenstein. Now, for someone who enjoys knitting socks, I don't seem to knit very many of them despite the fact that I have a seemingly endless stash of sock yarn, so this KAL instantly appealed to me. Reading a little Shelley was just a plus. Admittedly, I've completely slacked on reading the novel. There's no excuse. It's right up my street century-wise, and is a very good and interesting read. I just never got around to downloading the Librivox audiobook and couldn't motivate myself to dig out my copy. Some of this has to do with a conference paper I wrote some years ago on an alternate point-of-view novel that was really quite bad (the novel, not my paper, lol), and the rest was being busy with other things. But I had time to knit!

I chose the Hat-heel socks from the Fall 2009 Knitty since I've been wanting to try this construction out and I figured I could use up quite a few of my leftovers in the process.



I used up nearly all of the Patons Kroy sock yarn I still had left in the heels, as well as the Four Seasons Gründl Hot Socks Othello I have in that blue-green jaquard colorway for the foot and leg. The toe and tip of the cuff I knit in Bernat Sox Multi and still have a bunch leftover.

At first I thought the heel and gusset flaps/hat flaps would look funky in the finished sock, and, admittedly, they did take a bit of getting used to. The heel, though, is very comfortable and form fitting. I wish I'd taken a picture of the little basket of heel and flaps grafted together, but I forgot--it's really cute! My only annoyance with this pattern is the amount of ends I had to weave in, what with all the breaking and rejoining yarn on the heel, leg, and gussets. Of course, I had a few more ends than normal with the different yarns used, but still, many more ends to weave in than I tend to like for socks. That doesn't mean I won't use this pattern again, and I'm going to see if I can find a way to remedy all that end weaving, but otherwise, this is a very nifty way to make socks. I even learned the figure-8 cast on for the heel, though I think I'll see how the magic cast on works out on this heel next time. Might be less fiddly.

Next on the knitting agenda is to finish sewing the sleeves in the Point Gammon (at least I finished knitting those sleeves!), and to get cracking on the baby gifts for my SIL since her baby shower has just been announced .... and I've got til just after Thanksgiving to knock out a baby blanket and hoodie cardy. To keep me sane in all that baby knitting, I'm going to take part in another KAL, this time Woolly Wormhead's Mystery KAL. I've always wanted to do one of these!

the long and windy yarn!

In my rambly zeal yesterday, I forgot to mention an exciting piece of knitterly news! I am now the proud owner of this:



I am very excited! It's a medium sized bamboo swift and I got it on ebay so it hasn't arrived yet. I've purchased from this seller (bambooimporter) before though and have been quite happy with their products. I ended up paying less than what Knit Picks charges for theirs, BUT, of course, with shipping it came out to almost as much as Knit Picks charges. I still paid a little less though. I'll let you know what I think of it once it arrives.

The Circle Socks continue to come along. I'm on the leg of the first sock and am, once again, finding purling on small needles a pain. Having several slipped stitches continually slipped for several rounds is also making life interesting. It makes for a visually interesting leg, and I have a feeling they'll help keep the leg of the sock from slouching down when worn, but it makes things tight and fiddly as I knit. Oh well, I think it'll be worth it in the end.

Roll on 2010

Happy New Year (16 days late)! How have you all been? I made it through to the other side of Christmas Knitting with another Rusted Root top finished just in time for gifting. This went to my SIL since top-down, no seams trumps seaming every time, imo. In any case, I've started this year on another small projects kick. I've finished the toe socks I'd started before the holidays and replaced my sleeping cap with a new one. And now I'm working on Circle Socks, only I'm working them toe-up and with a short-row heel.

Once again, this year I'm aiming to shop the stash first for yarn, which, considering the number of projects I've already got queued and planned with stash yarn, shouldn't be too hard. I'm starting to get a little over zealous about my knitting though. I've got these socks on the needles and I already want to start swatching for KD's Heather Hoodie Vest KAL. Not only that, I've signed up for two teams for Ravelympics next month and I plan on making the Star Crossed Slouchy Beret and (finally!!) the Blooming Cotton Scarf. I'm triply excited cuz these will all use stashed yarn--nearly 2400 yards of it actually! I can't wait! And I'm finishing my dissertation this semester! I'm so giddy I can't stand it! *g*

Well, I'm starting to ramble now so I think I'd best take my grasshopping ways off to my knitting. TTFN!

it's October already?

I can't believe it, but autumn is finally rolling into SoCal. Or at least it's trying to. The temperatures are starting to drop (hurray!) and I'm finally into the writing of my final content chapter. As usual, building momentum through writing angst has been a bit of a challenge, but it's starting to feel a little better. I'll spend this weekend at a dissertation bootcamp, writing among fellow dissertators so I hope to make better progress on that, and maybe finish the chapter intro by the end of Sunday.

Knitting-wise, about a week or so ago I finished my first toe socks!


Pattern: Toe Socks by Sandi Rosner (with modified toe construction)
Needle: US2.5 (3.0mm)
Yarn: Four Seasons Grundl Marathon Miro in colorway 607

I changed the toe construction by not casting on extra stitches at the between toe gaps since they ended up looking huge and sloppy. Instead I worked with the existing stitch count and worked the toes that way. They're snug, but considering the need for negative ease in socks, I'm hoping this will work. A fellow toe-sock loving friend saw these on Flickr and fell in love with them, so I'm going to make her her own pair in Knit Picks Felici as part of Socktoberfest. Since she likes bright, happy colors and works at an aquarium, I chose the Aquarium colorway naturally. This time though I'm going to follow the toe construction instructions in Sherbert Toe Socks and see how I like that. I think that picking up and knitting 2sts in the toe gaps rather than casting on four might work better. I'm hoping anyway!

In the meantime, I'm about midway through my mom's Rusted Root top, just before the waist shaping. So far so good! I'm making her the L size.

Well, it's back to Napoleon for me. Toodle-oo!

of socks and sizes

I submitted my 3rd content chapter yesterday so took the day off today. :) What better way to pass the afternoon watching a little baseball but to knit? I'm working on the first of the toe socks and as I started knitting the foot, it hit me that this is the first pair of socks that I'm making where I don't have the person they're for at hand to make sure the socks fit well. So, I went off in search of a handy chart and I came across this one by Catherine Goodwin of Knitting Anyway. It looks very useful. But it occurred to me to ask if any of you have a favorite way of sizing socks for absent feet. Feel free to share!

waiting for Henry to stew

I'm stuck in the middle of a paragraph discussing Henry Tilney's use of the phrase "voluntary spies" in Northanger Abbey so I'm updating here while my brain works it out. Funny how multi-tasking has been helping me write this week. I feel like I've spent more time writing about knitting this week (via email with TheBlackSheep) than I have on my actual chapter but I know that's because I've had about three different ideas spilling out of my head simultaneously making things go slower than normal. Today, after some driving and yarn shopping (more on that in a sec), everything fell into place. The section that had been bugging me all week finally smacked me and it's been moved down a few pages, showing up in a much more natural spot, no longer interrupting its old paragraph. Huzzah!

Sock knitting's been on hold this week after I spent three nights last week working the short row heel on the first On the Fly sock (I call mine Flitter Toes). Note, this is my first toe up sock. The pattern is fabbity; not too tricky and interesting enough to keep you going. But Ugh. That heel drove me a little batty. I like the ease of the short rows but I first tried Priscilla Wild's 'no wrap' method which isn't supposed to leave holes. Yeah. I had a holey heel. I think it may've been because of my yarn (cotton blend), so I ended up ripping it all out and using misocrafty's pass-the-wraps-over method. It got a little tricky on my tiny needles, but the result is fab!

Ta-da!



No holes!! Not bad, eh? I'm quite happy considering this is my first try at short row heels. The first sock's done (after fighting my yarn to make the loose cast off loose enough!), and I've already cast on the second and finished the toe increases, but I'm taking a break from it. In the meantime I cast on the Not Quite Straight Scarf as part of a KAL. Easy pattern. This is one of three gifts I need to finish by April. The other two are a pair of socklettes in pink (I have no pink yarn!) and a felted bag in green. Hence my yarn shopping today. I got some Paton's Classic Merino in Leaf Green for the bag but struck out on pink sock yarn. Will have to keep looking. I also got some storage drawers at Big Lots! for $11!! That beat JoAnn's 40% off clearance price! So, this weekend I plan on getting control of my sprawling stash and reclaiming space in my small room. Oh, and also swatching and casting on for the Yaquina Bay cardigan FINALLY! I used my gift certificates and got some Patons Merino in Cognac Heather and Dark Grey so I'll get to finish off the rest of the grey sitting in my stash as well. So what brought on this cardigan decision, you ask? My office happens to be in the coldest room in the house--great in the blistering SoCal heat, but not so good in winter. I tend to be cold regardless of the season and the significant difference in temperature between the great outdoors and my office (20 degrees F easily) is killing me. I've had to dig out the space heater plus bundle up in cardies, gloves, and blanket. It's pretty ridiculous. I'm hoping a wool cardigan (instead of my standard cotton ones) will help.

I think Henry's percolating so off I go!

an FO and a holy cow!

Columbines are DONE! I took the Subway series weekend opportunity to finish that second sock.



Oh, and please to note today's temperature.



And I got the visiting fellowship to England! *does funky chicken* Guess I better finish Charm Wrap. :D

crawling out from behind the books

OMG I cannot let the knitting blog languish like this. I've been deep in the mires of the dissertation and haven't been online much other than for email and library use. I have made progress on my various WIPs though!

As predicted last time, The Black Sheep has long outstripped me on Eris. I'm here:



now with yoke stitches finally picked up (thanks to my longer cables arriving today!). And she's way over here:



(as seen on her blog). CORRECTION!! She just told me she finished it! *falls over*

LOL! Ah well. I thought the Knitting Gods had taken their vengeance when they killed her cables (I put her replacements in the mail Thursday). Meanwhile, I forgot my cousin's birthday was coming up so had to stop to knit these:



That's Peaks 'n' Valleys from Knit Socks! which I *finally* got right! I've now got Cat Borhdhi's Columbine Peaks on the needles (at the gusset) and am at the armholes on Charm. Hey, I had to do something while I waited for those cables.

Oh, and I finally broke down and bought one of those wraps-per-inch tools. It was driving me slightly nutzoid that my stock socks knit up a bit loose:



I used US 2s since those are my fave sock needles lately, but while I was knitting I kept thinking I should've been using my 3s (which I tend to avoid because of the kinky cables). Today I checked the wpi on that lurvly Valore and it came up to sport weight, so definitely size 3 material. I really need to start trusting my instincts. No matter. I still love those socks and am itching to cast on the rest of that yarn for another pair. I've definitely decided to have at least one pair of socks on the needles at all times. They're so addictive and enjoyable.

Fried

Gawd I'm so tired. My next door neighbors decided to get drunk and argue all night last night. And I was really looking forward to getting a good night's sleep so I could straighten up the flat and run some errands before sitting down to knit.

Instead, I'm walking around like a zombie (well, sitting actually, heh). I woke up to a cold and rainy day (no errands for me then; I don't feel like lugging around groceries etc in the rain), a missing potted rose from my balcony, and the other knocked over. My foggy brain tried to figure out if the roses had been victims to the drunken neighbors or the wind. This meant going downstairs to ask another neighbor if my rose was in her garden. Luckily, I stopped to get the mail first and my potted rose was in the foyer so I guess it had fallen downstairs and she wasn't sure which of the flats above her it belonged to. So I got fully dressed for nothing (as opposed to comfy, rainy day clothes). Ah well. Mystery solved. I've now got a load of laundry in, and I plan to at least move things off the couch; the rest of the flat will have to wait til I'm more awake.

In knitting news, though, I've finished my socks, hurray! Actually, I finished them last weekend but haven't had a chance to come ramble about them. No mistakes with the second sock and I was able to work in a whole bunch of scraps of left over yarn into the leg of this one. I also tried a different method for adding in a new yarn. Rather than slip knotting the new yarn on to the end of the strand that's finishing, I held the new yarn against the old and worked the two strands in together for a few stitches before dropping the old one. This is probably not a new method for anyone else, but I was well chuffed with it. Huzzah! Thank you Betsy McCarthy! (I found that trick in Knit Socks!) The socks are now in the machine being washed after their first week as sleeping socks.

I've decided my next project will be Sesame by Melissa Wehrle. At first I had thought of doing the stripes, but I changed my mind when I realized, hello! first sweater here. I don't need to worry about weaving in umpteen ends on top of seaming the whole thing together. Seaming is my biggest fear as the only time I seamed anything was my legwarmers last year. The result wasn't too heinous but it was tedious as all get out. TheBlackSheep suggested I knit it in the round and if I could figure out how to convert the pattern I would (*failz at knitting math*). Part of me thinks I should do it in pieces though so I know how to do that if needed later. I can always figure out how to knit sweaters in the round later. (Heh, that's kinda like my 'I'll figure out how to do fair isle knitting later.' :p But that's a long story better left off for another time.)

Oh! I almost forgot. TheBlackSheep sent me kewl socks for my birthday. Columbine Peaks by Cat Bordhi. Tres nifty and so friggin soft!
Aren't they purty??

Well, I'm off to find comfy rainy day clothes and start casting on my first sweater. Wish me luck!

More on the socks .... and felting!

What do you know? I got sucked into Harry Potter and all things related. I went down to London the week of the book release and attended Sectus, an HP fandom conference, and was there for the madness of a midnight release party! I've never done that before as I usually just order from Amazon. Aside from getting sucked into the book and trying to keep my bearings in the fandom aftermath, I also visited John Keats' house, Charles Dickens' house, the British Library, and St. Paul's Cathedral. It was a lot of fun but would someone please tell me why I forgot to take my knitting?!

The second sock is now in the gusset stage (finally!) so I'm starting to think ahead to my next project. I brought yarn with me for two known projects and also sock yarn for boredom/emergency purposes, as I've said before. One of these projects is a Lucy Bag which requires felting. This is all well and good except that my washing machine here is not top loading. And I've never manually felted anything in a sink or bucket or anything. Has anyone got any tips? Can felting be done in a front loading machine?

Death to Socks

I finally finished the first of the Sleepy Socks last night. I should probably inform you that this is version 3 of socks knitted with this yarn. And, no, that doesn't mean I'm using up massive amounts of skeins of the same yarn. I mean I'm literally using the same yarn for the third time. Version 1 was an attempt at toe socks, modifying two different patterns and morphing it into my own. It worked fine, I even finished the sock. But it was way too loose so I decided I'd rip the whole thing apart and start over on smaller needles. Sock duly ripped. Attempt at reknit on smaller? Never happened. I then switched to a different pattern, a pretty lace pattern called Peaks and Valleys from Knit Socks! Enter version 2.0.

All was going well until I remembered I tend to knit socks inside out through the leg and heel flap and end up having to turn it right side out to finish it as I'm too lazy to try and figure out the backwards version of a pattern written for right side out. :p So, I got to the heel flap and realize that something is just off. Waiting to turn right side out after the heel flap just won't work, says I. So I turn it out and continue. All is well until I get to the gusset and foot and realize the pattern is now not going to match what's on the leg. *sigh* I soldier on thinking, who cares, I'll just wear them to sleep. But as I near the end of the foot section the pattern inversion is just too much for me. So I rip the sock apart again. I'll start over correctly with a different yarn or switch to a different pattern again. Not.

Enter version 3, the current version. I traveled to the UK for my six month sojourn and packed my sticks with me and a three projects worth of yarn, including the recycled sock yarn. I unpack and realize, I've left my bedtime socks back in the States. Well, here we go. This time I decide nothing fancy, just your basic Starter Sock out of Cat Bordhi's Socks Soar on Two Circs book. I've got the smaller needles with me and away I go. Last night I was cruising along the foot nearing the toe decreases and kept measuring to make sure I wasn't making the sock too long. Despite repeated measurements, I was so engrossed in whatever I was watching that I knit an extra five rows in the foot portion. Bother. As I didn't feel like taking the time to tink 5 rows back (hahaha!) I decide to rip out carefully and reinsert needles. Good plan, bad execution for 8 of 60 stitches. That's right, 8. Eight bastard stitches that unraveled and in a very bizarre way. I fixed all but three of them correctly since they were just doing their own thing.

Dude. I cried. My first crying over knitting experience in the two years I've been at this. Granted I've gotten mightily frustrated before but have always been able to calm myself down and fix everything. This, however, was just ridiculous. In the salvage process I also increased 1! Well, I finally decided there was no way I was ripping out everything when I was so near the end, so I k2tog, left the funkiness in--there were no holes, I'll deal with sleeping in irregular socks. Hrmph. And so the first sock is complete. Bastard.

I'll cast on for #2 today as there is no way that bastard sock is staying alone.