Sock Stuff

A little jaunt this morning yielded a skein of Opal handpainted sock yarn in an all green colourway to knit the hot tamale socks! I grabbed the red and green Fortissima for the chile peppers!

Other sock news . . . I think I have narrowed down the pattern and chosen the yarn for my summer sock pal. I am so excited to get started, but first I have to finish the last little bit of the 2nd lovely lace sock. I had every intention of having the lace socks finished for my June sock-of-the-month sock, but, this week, my life got in the way of my knitting!

It has been raining--downpouring--for 48 hours, with short breaks every so often, and the local weather says we can expect this for the rest of the week right through the weekend. ugh. I have been to the grocery store 20 times in the last 3 days, because it seems that
rain + world cup + family members = more food consumption, or at the very least the need for food items which are not readily available in the fridge.

Amongst all this rain, I have found some reasons to cheer . . .
First off: MamaE will be dying me some yarn for clapotis (remember, I am the only knitter who hasn’t knited this!!), and I am so excited, because I know the colourway will be beautiful!

Then: I was over the moon about Chrissy (my summer sock pal) offering to design a sock and have me test-knit the 2nd one, and now I am equally as thrilled to join her as a test-knitter for some of her other patterns to come!!! The only thing that is stressing me out, is that I am having a tiny bit of difficulty figuring out how to navigate through the Yahoo Group (that ought to tell you something--the yahoo group will be my demise!).

I love new yarn, new projects, and new knitting friends!!! Still wish it wasn't raining . . .

Little Things

Sometimes, it is the little things thast give the greatest pleasure.

Sock stitch markers, made for me by my love: keys, hearts and a dragonfly. . . use: immediately. Tape measure compliments of Purl at www.knitandplenty.typepad.com (thanks so much, Purl!) . . . use: today, tommorrow, the next . Sock, second of two.

Summer Sock Sisters

I received my Summer Sock Party Pal, Maggie of magKNITicent and after just a bit of confusion, emailed her to say hello--I emailed Maggie, after I had thought I read her blog, however I read a different summer party participant's (another name which began with "m" and they were both from Florida!!), so my whole email referenced stuff from someone else' blog: this is some way to kick off a party, eh?!

In the midst of my "which person in Florida am I REALLY emailing" dilemma, I recieved an email from Chrissy, of Knittin' Mom, host of sock-a-month KAL . . . yes, Chrissy, of "I am going on a sock cruise" fame! Now if this isn't wonderful enough, she's working on a sock pattern for us--she'll send it to me, with the sock and I get to test knit it by knitting the 2nd one! How fabulous is that?!!?!?!?! I am thrilled!

I am flipping through patterns, and looking at yarns for the perfect sock party stuff, and need to narrow down the options quickly! The best part of the summer sock party is that there is a "WE" in the process of knitting a pair of socks--we each knit a sock, we each get a sock, we each contribute to 2 pairs of socks and we share the work and the fun!

Second Sock Syndrome--it is not what you think

Somehow, the 2nd sock's picot was easier to do (and looks better!), the lace pattern knits quicker (and looks nicer) and I feel like I am just zipping along!

Lovely Lace Lilac Sock #1 and What’s Next

This sock is taking me forever to finish. I feel like I have knitted forever, and I am still not finished. No photo until I finish the sock.

The good:
*This is an easy lace pattern, and looks far more intricate than what it is.
*I love the heel construction.
*I still love the yarn.
*I love the picot cuff

The it could be better, but:
*The picot cuff I knitted down, pulls a bit to the right.
*I have made a few tiny mistakes on the lace pattern, mostly due to when a stitch slips off my toothpick-like doublepoints.
*I am getting 9 stitches and 11 rows to = 1 inch on size 1s. The pattern states 8 stitches and 10.5 rows = 1 inch on size 0s. I don’t think this is too big a deal.

Then there is the what to knit next question dancing around in my head--I am the only person on the face of the knitting earth that hasn’t knit Clapotis; I have enough yarn (I think!) for the Leaf Lace Pullover, and there is this shawl that is screaming, “BUY ME!!” at Morehouse Farms. All of these projects have some sort of “lace-base” but are not true lace projects, so I feel a little bit like I am cheating if I use them for my next Amazing Lace project. Now what . . .

And one more thing: I received my match for the summer sock party, which I am so excited about, but now I have to figure out whether it would be more fun to keep myself a secret or give myself up and have some fun by getting to know each other up front . . . another, now what!

Yippeeee!

When I got home on Sunday (we were away overnight), hot sweaty and generally frazzled, I found a box with this on my porch:

What an adorable basket: lined, and stuffed with a matching cloth, note, original pattern and one skein of Bamboo Yarn!

I am crazy about the colors, and it is BAMBOO (which I have never tried!). And the pattern was designed by my secret pal (wow!) for the skein!
I am so flattered, and I am so happy to receive such a lovely package from my one skein pal: thank you so much! You have made my day so bright!

PS: Secret Pal . . . please email me so we can chat . . . my most recent email to you came back undeliverable;0(

Picot for Me

I expected my lace shawl would take me all summer (seeing as I had tried twice before to knit the darn thing!), so I am a bit stupified about what lace project to knit next. So, until I figure out what the heck is next on the lace frontier, I started IK's lovely lace socks in lilac wildfoote. I like the yarn, despite that it seems a bit on the thin side. I completed the picot cuff--knitting the cuff down on size 1's took a bit of patience.

One Last Look

I promise . . . I won't be posting about this anymore . . .

because it is finished!

Aren't the flower baskets so lovely?!

Socks

Who wouldn't want to join a summer sock party swap?! I couldn't resist: not only did I love the summer theme, but I also loved the idea of knitting one sock for your swap pal, and then shipping it off for her to knit the other one! That's a fun for celebrating summer! Mosey-on-over and join--maybe, I will end up as your pal!



Speaking of swaps . . . I haven't heard a peep from my secret pal since we emailed introductions . . . and I haven't heard a thing from the pal I sent a skein with a nifty tag detailing everything you could do with a skein of Noro. I am wondering if I am out of the one skein loop?!

Speaking of sock yarn . . . a 25 minute trip in the car, yielded this--

There's a "bead store" that someone told me had some yarn they needed to get rid of, they are depleting the yarn inventory, and adding more beads! There was tons of sock yarn, and everything was 25% off. I had a difficult time choosing, but decided on the Brown Sheep Wildefoote in: master grey and black orchid (some "boy socks" for, well, the boys!), little lilac for the lovely lace socks (replacing highlighter yellow--I am serious, who wants me to send two skeins to them!?), and mums (which is chocolate and orange swirled . . . I have got to think about this one); and then there was the skein of Opal Magic I had to toss in the bag.
I bet you think I am a sock knitter, huh?

Yarn anyone?

The shawl has been completed, and will be blocked tomorrow morning!
In an effort to continue my lace knitting, I cast-on for the IK Lovely Lace Socks, with some Paton's sock yarn which I received in a swap. Love the pattern, but I have to say I hate the color--what I was hoping would be a lemon yellow, ended up knitting like highlighter yellow! I dislike it so much that II can't bring myself to continue. This so rarely happens, that I found myself knitting and praying I would fall in love--chemistry just wasn't there. If you could use two full skeins of highlighter yellow, please let me know . . .

WAaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Yes, that would be me you heard screaming, crying and throwing a knitting fit.

Yes, that is the bind-off of the Flower Basket Shawl. Yes, that is the tail of what's left of the skein. Yes that's the rest of the shawl which needs to be bound-off. No, I don't have enough yarn. No, my lys isn't open until 11:00 am tomorrow.

This is sooooo extreme. . .

Extreme Lace Knitting Anxiety

After finally getting into the groove, and seeing the relationship of the stitches from one row to another, I am down to my 3rd and last skein of yarn. I bought this blue sky alpaca last November . . . while I wish I had a 4th to make, I am not even going to attempt to drive myself over the edge to find the same dye lot. But my great debate is: should I go another 10 rows of the pattern, or should I just finish the thing off--which is another 10 rows . . . it is a huge gamble: if I don't have enough yarn to finish it off, it will mean frogging back.

This lace knitting IS extreme knitting for me!!!!!

Socklet Story

I wanted to knock out a quick pair of socklets (the little socks which your toes stick out of, which are rather pointless, but adorable and you wear them with flip-flop) for my daughter, so I grabbed some stash yarn (label gone long ago--I think it is regia denim tweed, or something like that) and began knitting. Now remember, I have all these beautiful sock yarns--chocolate covered cherries, garden party, safari, treckking in oodles of colors, as well as some bright solids), but I grab this. Well, the pattern it knits is so darn cute, I began to think “maybe I should make a full length sock for my son instead” and/or “Maybe I should do these socklets in a more summer-y, girl=y color for her”---I finally just resolved myself to finish it off, and it IS cute (free pattern from Regia), but there is absolutely no hope of achieving an identical socklet!

Mesh Market Bag

Instant gratifcation---that’s what I need sometimes. And here it is: The MagKnits’ pattern was fun, quick and an easy knit. For me, the trick with a project like this was to knit sections in 1 sitting: when I stopped in the middle of the pattern repeats, I ended up frogging the whole darn thing.

This cute bag took a skein and a half of sugar and cream. A couple of hours of knitting, two dollars and some change in yarn = a cute summer tote. Love that.

Amazing

I have vowed to take my time through this shawl, so I wouldn’t become frustrated by my forgotten yo’ers or whatever else I seem to forget. Repeat 5 of the pattern seems to have kicked me back to---why am I finding this so difficult(?!?!), as I knitted and frogged each row 10 times (hmmm, maybe not 10, but too many to count). But we passed repeat 5 and am on to 6. For me, it is a good to be knitting other things while also working on lace: going back to something stockinette is oh, so comforting. . . thank you, green gables.

Also pictured: the shrug---believe me it looks better on, but try as I might, I couldn't figure out the "take your own picture in the mirror thing!"

The Shrug

After a start, a frog, a re-order, a re-start, with a re-size I finally finished IK’s Streakers Shrug!

(I snapped a photo of the cuffs, and then my camera konked out, so you don't get to see the whole shrug today!)
Pattern: Interweave Knits summer '06, Streakers Shrug
Yarn: Malibrigo in Watergreen, 4 skeins
Needles: Addi 10s and 10.5s
Notes: With all of my troubles behind me, I still say, I love the yarn, the pattern was easy, the cuffs are beautiful, but the sizing was difficult to determine. I think this shrug is so lovely in the original Streakers Yarn, but the Malibrigo is a really fabulous and (economical) substitiution! It was a very easy knit, once I hammered out my issues! The only changes: I knitted the sleeve width 11" (not 12"), and thelace cuff = 5" (not 6).