April 30, 2006

Round and round and round

Despite the fact that I have now been caught in a few situations with no knitting to do, I have succesfully avoided casting on for a new pair of socks. New socks have to wait until either the FLAK cardigan is complete, or else I get so sick of cables that I get desperate for something small and portable to do.

Speaking of the FLAK cardigan, this morning I did the second cuff, which means that the sleeves are finally done.

Ignore all those ends hanging out - I tend to leave all end-tucking-in until the very last because otherwise the knitting goblins always manage to set up pitfalls where I then have to undo carefully tucked in ends, and really, I'd rather avoid that if I can.

Technically, if I am going to be completely truthful, the sleeves are not actually 100% done. I discovered after I'd bound off both cuffs that one is slightly longer than the other. I know why - one has one more pattern repeat of the cables - so it's going to be easy to fix, but I am going to leave them alone for now in order to focus on the finishing the body. Once there is enough body to comfortably try the entire thing on, I'll see how the length of the sleeves looks, and may have to do a little bit of tweaking with both sleeves at that point. For now though, they're at least out of the way, and as you can probably see, I've already picked up all the body stitches and have worked 8 rows already. I decided to see if picking up stitches along a hem in moss pattern would actually work, and what do you know, it does. I'm quite happy with how well it worked, actually, since picking up the stitches all in knit stitches would have left a visible line I was hoping very much to avoid. This way the line between the top moss stitches, which go from left to right, and the bottom moss stitches, which go from top to bottom, will be much harder to spot unless you're looking at it close up.

And because the cardigan is a bit too bulky to be project for discreet knitting, I dug out the Pacific Northwest shawl this morning, figuring I could be quietly ripping out the offending rows of the lace in order to get back to a point where I don't have anything weird going on. But as I started looking at it more carefully, I realized that I was off only one stitch, and if I was careful about how I picked up an extra stitch to take its place, the shawl was actually going to turn out just fine and likely no one would ever be the wiser once it's blocked and on display. So instead of tediously ripping out row after row, I actually managed to add on a number of rows and am feeling much happier about the entire thing. After all, it is not so amazing what elminating the prospect of having to unknit upwards of ten rows of lace knitting (about 200 stitches per row) will do for one's mood.

Posted by Jenipurr at 06:28 PM | Comments (3)

April 26, 2006

Sockpal000za-done!

Finished waterfall rib socks, using Socketta something-or-other (I lost the ball band along the way, unfortunately). I actually ripped out the toe of the first one and redid it with one less pattern repeat, and then worked the pattern itself an extra repeat into the toe decreases so that it appears to taper off more, instead of cutting off rather sharply like I'd had originally.

Of course now this means there is no excuse for doing anything but working full tilt on the FLAK cardigan. I've only got a few inches left on each of the sleeves, but there's less than three weeks left and I really do not want to be working on it on the flight to Ireland (that honor is reserved for the Pacific Northwest Shawl, and also for many, many socks).

Posted by Jenipurr at 06:51 AM | Comments (7)

April 23, 2006

Oops

When i drove down to the TKGA show in Oakland yesterday I swore I was going to be good. I stated with firm conviction that I could get through an entire knitting show without purchasing a single skein of sock yarn. I had one thing I needed to purchase - a set of US size 7 DPN's - and I found those right off the bat at the first booth we hit after we walked in the door. And at every other booth, even though I saw sock yarn, I deliberately stayed away from where it was displayed. And even when I did let myself go fondle a little sock yarn here and there I told myself that I did not *need* to buy sock yarn; that I have plenty of sock yarn at home and no more needed to come home with me.

This was working just perfectly for nearly the entire time my knitting mom and I were at the market. But then she spotted the display of Cherry Tree Hill Supersock, which I'd seen earlier but to which I had successfully avoided giving more than a brief glance of longing until then. And once she went over to it and started plucking skeins off the rack and we both noticed the big 'Sale' sign which noted that all of the Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn was $4 off if you bought two or more, and it occurred to me that there is no where in my area to buy Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn (and if there is DO NOT TELL ME because ignorance is bliss, people), and, well, I think it is safe to point out that if I was a stronger woman I would not be a member of the Sock Yarn Addicts Club, and after all, we *do* get one free day a month, and...um....did I mention that you had to buy two to get the discount price?

And then as we were leaving the market, I spied a rather nondescript box of yarn that turned out to be a sizable stack of Trekking XXL, in colors perfect for Richard. It is actually harder than one might think to find yarn that is boring dull subdued enough for his tastes, but with enough excitement to keep me from nodding off in boredom or stabbing myself through the eye with one of my DPN's as I slog through a pair of man's socks, which take me twice as long as the ones I knit for myself. So I was only thinking of my wonderful husband and his poor cold feet when I bought those two balls of blue and purple Trekking, I swear. What kind of wife would I be if I'd left them behind?

Posted by Jenipurr at 07:57 PM | Comments (5)

April 17, 2006

A little bit Nauti

Having to sing in two services for Easter morning, and then a two-hour car trip down to the in-laws for Easter dinner makes for lots of time to knit, such that I have turned the heel and now have only to pick up the side stitches and finish the foot for Sockpal000za sock #2, and I will be done.

But I did take a break from socks this weekend. Yesterday I whipped up a Nauti out of some self-striping green sock yarn and some random green acrylic that just happened to match perfectly.

I'd bought a pile of this stuff (the sock yarn, that is) a while back and even though it says it is superwash wool, a rather unfortunate experience involving three ribbed scarfs with curliques and three hats with pompoms made of identical yarn in brown and cream, and an encounter with a washing machine which felted the aforementioned hats and scarves suggests that the label, it lies. So ever since I have been trying to find ways to use up the remaining not-remotely-superwash-wool sock yarn, and making a cute little spiral-shelled nautilus certainly helped! In fact, I suspect I will need to make at least one more of these little critters, because they are very easy, and also pretty cute, and hey, using up stash yarn!

I also decided that now that I have made such great progress on my Sockpal000za socks, I could return to working on the FLAK cardigan. I brought it with me to the Yarn-Stricken meeting on Saturday afternoon and actually made some pretty good progress on it. I'm working on the sleeves now and I'm doing them both at (nearly) the same time, so that I can be trying them on as I go, in the hopes of avoiding any huge amount of frogging in my future. Basically this just entails having a ball of yarn hanging off either side, and doing 12 rows (or 4 pattern repeats and 2 decreases) on one sleeve, then swapping my needles over (hooray for Denise interchangeables) and repeating the same 12 row-4-pattern-2-decrease set on the other sleeve.

I managed to do some stash acquisition this weekend, without once setting a foot into a yarn or craft store, or spending a dime. One of the ladies who comes to Yarn-Stricken has been clearing out her stash and arrived with a large bag stuffed with crochet cotton - some of it not even opened. I tried to foist some of it off on other people, especially the other doily knitter in the group, but with one exception, no one wanted any. So I suspect that when I return from Ireland I am going to have to sit down and pick out a few doilies to make, if only to start chipping away at my ever-growing stash of crochet cotton (most of which, rather amusingly, I have obtained for free).

Posted by Jenipurr at 06:35 PM | Comments (4)

April 15, 2006

Splish-splash

This past week hasn't had as much knitting as it could have had, primarly because I made the mistake of dragging out Civ III again and that game really does have a tendency to suck me in. But I did at least manage to finish my first Sockpal000za sock. I'm using the Waterfall Rib pattern from Sensational Socks, which I think is working really well with the colors of the yarn.

I realized last night that the amount of time I've got to finish my FLAK cardigan before we leave is quickly dwinding, and all I've done lately is the side increases on both shoulders til they're joined for sleeves in the round. Which leaves me with slightly more than half the sweater still to finish (plus the second Sockpal000za sock, plus a baby sweater for my coworker who is due in May) all in four weeks. Eek.

Looks like no more Civ for me, until we come back from Ireland. Ah well.

Posted by Jenipurr at 07:48 AM | Comments (2)

April 08, 2006

Socky

I finished Richard's slowly striping socks. Despite the offers of several very nice people for remnants of yard that was a similar colorway (but still different enough from mine to be obvious, alas), I finally gave up and decided to give him black toes. I've had this black sock yarn for a while (it's from Tess Designer Yarns) and it was originally earmarked for a windowpane tank top, but I lost the pattern and I suspect I would never have gotten around to it anyway. And it occurred to me that Richard usually prefers darker, duller colors in his socks and black tends to go with all of those, so....the black yarn has now been designated Richard's Sock-Extender Yarn, and I'm fairly relieved that it looks almost like I intended to do it anyway.

The pattern is based on Polly's Limbo Socks. I used Lana Grossa Meilenweit Mega Boots Stretch in colorway #705. I went down a needle size from the last pair I made for him, and it seems to have been a good decision because he says they fit him better.

So now that his socks are done I no longer have any excuse not to be working on my socks for Sockpal000za. This morning I got up, fed the cats, and then immediately cast on for my sock pal's socks. I'm using some Socketta in shades of light to medium blue, which looks so much like water that I think the Waterfall Rib pattern from my new Sensational Socks book is just the thing.

Posted by Jenipurr at 09:51 AM | Comments (2)

April 02, 2006

Searching for Sock Yarn!

Remember the sock that is 'budding' at the top of my Stash Flash picture? I decided that I would make a really good effort to get the second one finished, so I've been busily knitting on it, on and off, all day. However, I have run into a bit of a problem. I am 30 rows away from finishing the mate and I have run out of yarn!

The yarn is Lana Grossa Meilenweit Mega Boots Stretch, and the colorway is #705. The yarn has a dark olive green base, twisted with the dull red, yellow and orange that create the gradual stripes (it kind of looks like a slow burn). My dye lot is #9159, but at this point I'm not really concerned with exact dye lot if I can at least get close.

I don't need a full skein. But if anyone out there has made socks with this yarn and ended up with yarn left over that you'd would be willing to pass along, please let me know.

I know I could do the toes in a different color, but I'd really rather avoid that if I can. I have already determined that any socks I knit for Richard in the future will be done toe-up, to avoid this problem (I never run out of yarn when making socks for me, but of course, I have smaller feet). Sigh. But right now, that doesn't help me much.

Posted by Jenipurr at 04:26 PM | Comments (1)

April 01, 2006

Look what sprouted

I guess all that extra rain we've been getting the last few months in our area had some effect. When I came home today, even the cat trees were blooming....with sock yarn! And one of the sock 'buds' has started to flower, producing a slowly striping sock up there in the right-hand corner.

Okay, so this isn't an April Fool's joke - it's my Stash Flash for the Sock Yarn Addict's Club, which kicks off today. So here is my entire stash of sock yarn - well, minus 10 balls of a superwash pink wool in sportweight that wasn't actually sock yarn but which I have determined now is, since it's the perfect weight and color for those Breast Cancer Ribbon socks I'm going to be making later. With those ten, I've got 40 balls of sock yarn in my stash...and that doesn't count the 3 skeins of Lorna's Laces that are earmarked for a baby sweater set. It seems like a huge pile to me, but I've been seeing skein numbers more than twice that being flashed around by other SYAC members, so maybe it's not as bad as it could be (heh).

Richard's been making comments about his poor, cold, neglected feet lately, so I guess I'd better spend a little more time finishing up the mate for that one lonely sock sitting atop the cat tree of stash. Maybe tonight we'll put in a movie and I can focus on sock knitting. After all, getting all my stash in one place and remembering everything I've got has inspired me. Must. Knit. Socks!

Posted by Jenipurr at 07:12 PM | Comments (4)