Michaela Made Me Do It....

OK, the Brits finished their April socks early and now they are hinting at our being behind the curve.  I needed to post something this month anyhow, I'm not being prodded by Michaela, yeah, no way I'm competitive...my socks for this month are the most beautiful blue, Malabrigo sock yarn.  These socks are super soft and springy, really I can not wait to slip my feet into these babies!

Watch this space

I'm 2 inches into the second sock. Needless to say, I chose the plain foot, for speed. I'm traveling this weekend, which usually is good for making sock progress, but this time I'm the driver!! So 8 lovely knitting hours lost. . .

April ends one week from today. It occurs to me that Pat and I are the bosses of this project, and we didn't specify any penalty for missing the deadline, but I'll be so disappointed. . .

Watch this space. . .

--Elizabeth

Note to self...

We are half-way through the month and I haven't mention the yarn I'm using or the pattern.  I haven't posted a photo or discuss my knitting thoughts...tomorrow, I must take sock knitting pictures and post them.  On top of that I only have half a month to finish this pair of socks, ouch!

Monkey mind

I think I have spring fever. We're halfway through the month on Thursday, and I've just barely started the heel turn on sock #1 (on 68 stitches, for big feet. . .)

It's not that I haven't been knitting! But I am frighteningly easily distracted in the spring -- look at this yarn, wouldn't it make a pretty scarf? Let's cast on and see. Oooh, it would be so much fun to knit something for Sarah's baby. I should work on that white blanket for the hospital -- it's halfway done. But all these family weddings must mean I should be knitting presents. . . and it's been a long, long time since I made myself a sweater. Oooh, I have this great idea for an afghan block based on a traditional pattern, and I really need to try it out right now. . .

Help!

(No pictures, because in the unlikely event that any of these get finished, they're meant to be surprises.)

Morning glory

For April's blue socks, I finally chose the yarn from The Woolen Rabbit. The colorway is called Morning Glory (not currently available on her web site) -- I'd say the blue is more like hydrangeas, but both are lovely, so that's not a problem! I'm finding this yarn impossible to photograph -- there are brief intervals of green in it that just don't show up. They're the same value as the blue, and with a blue rather than yellow tint, so the color is defeating me. I will persevere and eventually post a picture that shows reality. (Obviously, I should fool around with the background.) Meanwhile, here's what the sock will look like (it's already several inches longer, though):



The pattern was immortalized in the early days of the Socknitters group on Yahoo as the blueberry waffle socks, but it's a pretty basic rib.

I started (because I like to) with 8 rounds of k1, p1 ribbing, and then began the pattern:

rounds 1 and 2: *k2, p2* around
rounds 3 and 4: k all stitches

If I'm feeling ambitious, I'll continue the pattern down the instep after the heel turn, but I may just need the feel of the open road (ie, speedy stockinette) by then.

What I did with the rest of my month...

Yes, after I finished my socks I had time for some other knitting.  I made a pair of baby booties for a new dad at work.  I love this pattern and have been using it for years.  Each bootie takes me about an evening to make and you can vary the size by using different thicknesses of yarn.

 My young neighbor came over and helped model them.

I continue to knit scarves, they are the most mindless knitting and sometimes that's exactly what I need.  This month I made the Petits trous de printemps scarf.  My knit buddy Gina translated the pattern for me.  I made it using Kid Silk Haze...I love that stuff!

Hot Dog...I finished my socks!

Please tell me you can see the color similarity between hot dogs and my socks...these hot dogs are fresh out of the freezer and are the upscale, all beef variety, stretch your mind and think about fairground dogs, floating around in a vat of greasy water, come on you know the ones.  Having an "ah ha" moment?  Want to admit that I was right?

I'm glad I finished these socks and I will find a family member to wear them but they are too thick for me.  I am a bit disappointed with Socks the Rock yarn.  I have a skein of the thinner STR and I will try that but the colors pooled and weren't outstanding not what you expect from high end yarns.

Birthday Blues

No, no, no -- I've always loved my birthday. But April is my birthday month, so I get to pick the color. Perhaps you think I don't have much blue sock yarn? (Sorry, Linda, hope you're sitting down.)


3500 g right there, and I know there's more in Deep Stash. My aunt always said the family motto was "Any color as long as it's blue." You'll notice that many of those blues look quite similar -- in my defense, I plead that the texture varies quite a bit.

Pat, Lisa, Linda, Michaela: let me know if there are any that strike your fancy, and they're yours!

Semifinalists (narrowed down from 35 to 12):


The Final Four: Ray at Knitivity; Black Bunny Fibers; The Woolen Rabbit; Artyarns Supermerino

Bonus spring socks

As has become traditional, I spent the remainder of the month, after the "assigned" socks were done, finishing up a pair that had been languishing for some time. These were started last year -- I'm really not sure when.


They make me think of daffodils. They do look baggy around the slender ankles of the wooden blockers, but that's the drawback to the plain stockinette sock. They look considerably better when worn by a 3-dimensional leg.

Please observe the very nifty eye-of-partridge heel:

the yarn is Online Savannah 1034

Tomorrow: new month, new challenge

In like a lamb

The March socks are finished! I wove in the last ends Sunday night (today is Tuesday), but although my camera does have an underwater setting, I elected to delay the photo shoot until the rain stopped.

The colors didn't come out the way I'd expected them -- well, I don't know what I expected, exactly, but it didn't involve large patches of purple and white stripes. These socks are definitely festive! And they feel incredibly luxurious on my feet. The minute I put the first one on I was committed to knitting the second one as quickly as possible, so that both feet could be happy at the same time.

For my next adventure with Socks That Rock, I think I'll choose the lightweight, and use a colorway with less vigorous contrast. There will definitely be a next time.

Just Enough Ruffles

Another scarf finished...if I keep this up all my Christmas presents will be knit before summer!  This is the Just Enough Ruffles scarf knit in Manos Silk Blend.  I can't say enough nice stuff about both this pattern and this yarn.  The yarn is soft, floats through your fingers, feels great and it really warm.  The pattern is fun; you cast on a lot of stitches, knit in short rows for awhile creating the curve that hugs your neck and then you increase like crazy and cast-off just before you want to give up on the darn thing and some how all those increases becoming charming ruffles.  Just enough for a not so girlie-girl like me.

I don't usually model my own work but with my daughter off to college...who else?!?  I ran outside between raindrops and did a quick session in front of the camera.  I needed to pop a little flash in my face to open up my eyes but come on, ya'll came to see the knitting!
Micheala - I've now shown my mad modeling skillz...come on girl, I need to see you!

They're here!!

Note to self: knit socks this color next February. . .

Baktus Scarf

Last month Elizabeth and I knitted socks in worsted weight wool and they went pretty quick. I was finished with my pair of socks half-way through the month and so I turned my attention to the Baktus scarf I had started in January. I finished it up and yesterday I washed and blocked it. This scarf turned out really cute and I love it. I knit this scarf on size one needles using Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock Yarn. It took a lot longer to knit than I anticipated but it's fun to wear and feels just right.

Note to self

In next life, have smaller feet.

Pat and I actually got together today, in person. We realized that every row in my socks is a whole inch longer than one row in her socks!! I am not going to do the math on this one, but -- sheesh! There are a whole lot of rows in a sock. It's 1,000 or more extra stitches per sock for me. One of my reasons for starting this project was to make a whole bunch of socks to keep, but I am sorely tempted to switch to knitting for my size 6 friends. . .

Closer to finishing March SOM...

Two Steps Forward

I've made up the ground I lost by ripping out a few days ago. These socks are going to be pretty vivid! Indoors, at night, they don't look as interesting, but in the daylight the colors really pop. It's quite an adventure waiting to see what will happen next -- and the second sock will probably look entirely different.

Every color but blue is represented -- and I still don't know why it's called Christmas balls, but I sure would like to see the color namer's tree.

Here's something interesting that happened with this sock. See how it looks as if I intentionally managed the colors so the first inch would have that distinct straight edge, after which the colors begin spiraling? It had nothing to do with any planning or manipulation -- that's what happened when I had to interrupt my knitting to accommodate the first knot in the skein. It's fascinating how the simplest thing can affect the way the colors fall. I suspect that once I do the heel flap and pick stitches up again for the foot I'll get yet another change in patterning.



I'm using a slip-stitch rib for the leg -- very stretchy, and fun to do. One row is k3, p2 all the way around; the second row is k1, slip 1 as if to purl, k1, p2, and follow that all the way around. The picture above shows the sock unstretched, as it looks while I knit. See how the slipped stitches emphasize the column effect of the ribbing? I especially like that section where the white is dominant. And here's what it looks like when stretched out, as if being worn:


Tonight the heel. . .

One Step Forward. . .

I'd love to post a picture of my socks in progress, and this time yesterday I could have. . . but last night, just as I was about to start turning the first heel, I decided the sock was too small and ripped out the whole 7 inches I'd finished. Unless I stay up VERY late tonight, no progress picture tomorrow either, but by the end of the weekend there should be plenty to show again. My skein had 3 knots, which did not make me happy, but the knitted fabric is very bouncy and feels great. The slip stitch rib doesn't show up as well as I'd hoped, but in sections it does very, very interesting things with the colors. Stay tuned. . . .

Clown Barf?

 

 Elizabeth asked me about how the Socks That Rock yarn was knitting up and what I thought of the color and when I complained she asked if it looked like clown barf...I think that's a fair description.  This colorway; Fairgrounds,doesn't have any light, light colors or any dark, dark colors, just very pretty mid-tones.  Just one very dark or light color running through the skein would make the entire colorway pop but instead the pinks and oranges fade into one another creating a muddy looking color similar to a hot dog.  There's nothing super exciting going on within my socks.

  

 The yarn itself is really nicely spun and knits up beautifully.  No splitting, no poorly spun stretches, excellent yarn.  I'm using my toe-up cast-on then Cat Bordhi's Houdini Sock construction with minor changes by me.  One of my changes is to knit in some waste yarn where I want to open up the ankle of the sock.

 

Centerpull Balls...March Sock Knitting

 

Elizabeth assures me that it is OK to wind my March yarn in February.  I love to wind the yarn, it's peaceful, easy and no real thinking is involved.  I'm using Medium weight Socks That Rock yarn...can't remember the colorway but I will look for the label.  I believe it's prettier in the ball than in the skein.

  

Winding center-pull yarn balls is an individual endeavor, my mother doesn't do it the same way I do and my grandma had yet another way to do it.  I use a pill bottle, I shove the yarn end into the bottle and put the cap back on.  I wrap the yarn around the outside of the bottle, a few wraps and then turn, a few more wraps and then turn.  My kids tell me, I wrap five times before I turn each time and that I count under my breath...I'm not sure that's true.  The pill bottle gives the yarn plenty of room to expand, yarn does love breathing room.

My goal, my mom's goal and even my grandmom's goal is a nice round ball with the yarn coming from the center.  I think I've succeeded.

If you are wondering about the postal scale; I divide my yarn when I ball it - half and half for both socks...then I knit.

Rock Around the Clock

On our original schedule, March was to be devoted to knitting for afghans for Afghans. But -- the due date turned out to be March 1, making that a bad plan, and we bumped it back to February. Because knitting for Valentine's Day in March seemed an even worse plan, we needed a new category. Ta da! We'll be knitting with Socks That Rock, the original "luxury vehicle" of sock yarns. Delicious.

I had several colorways to choose from, and it was hard to make up my mind. In the end, I decided to go with Christmas balls (why is it called that?):



I'm hoping that using the medium weight will at least partially counteract the curse of the Bigfoot. I'll be using a slipstitch rib to try to keep the colors from pooling:

round 1: *k3, p2* around
round 2: *k1, slip 1 [as if to purl], k1, p2* around

Picture later this week; casting on tonight.