Knitting Stuff

There will be tassel...

2008-01-09T19:54:00.000-05:00

...tomorrow.

For now, I am here to tell you that from now on, I will be posting at http://www.dittenknitten.blogspot.com.

That is, if I can get this blogger stuff worked out. Hahaha.

my blog is the clown car of the knitting world

2008-01-07T20:37:00.000-05:00

I wandered away from the thrummed mittens for a bit, in order to participate in some knitting... not fiascos, not adventures, not abominations. What, then? Well, situations.

Situation 1: Crusoe socks: in which I learn that tennis ball green + reddish purple are not really my colors.

This is some long-stashed Sunshine Yarns Soft Sock in Dragonfly. For Crusoe, I scoffed openly (scoff scoff scoff) at the idea that a 48-stitch cast on would be in any way relevant to my foot. I picked up some 2.25mms and cast on 72. And that worked out well, because this yarn is thin. So thin that while I was still working on the gussets, I decided rather grumpily that with a thicker yarn I'd be to the toe by now. But I am forging ahead, and generally like how these are coming along.

Situation 2: That Stocking Cap I Mentioned Before: I run out of yarn and follow the pattern directions way past the time that I decide that the pattern directions are not giving me what I want in terms of this particular Stocking Cap.

Actually, my capsule summary pretty much says it all. I bought more yarn -- the store had a big old pile of it, even though I'd gotten it months ago. Months ago on sale at half off, actually, so I got the honor of paying over $20 for a skein, which did not feel so great, but I do like the yarn more than I thought I would. Knit up it got a bit quieter than it seemed in the hank, and the second skein (of exactly the same dyelot) is somehow softer than the first.

As for the problem with the directions not giving me what I wanted: I frogged and re-knit.

I finished the knitting a bit ago, so now it is time for me to get my tassel on. The tassel is, in my opinion, the best part.

Situation 3: Felici Arugula Stockinette Socks, most of which I knit in the total dark and which, being 72 sts on size 0s actually are probably a bit too small but hell if I'm going to rip an entire cuff knit in the dark.

Situation 4: Fingerless Thrummed Mitts, which, it being above 50F so consistently these days, I haven't even given a thought to. Well, no, actually, I'm about to the thumb of mitt #2. Making thrums has gotten a bit old. But, these are a nice antidote to Crusoe, because a few rows of knitting actually do make a difference in how it looks. I need near-constant positive reinforcement, apparently.

If I am being good, my next post will not be about the Way Easy Legwarmers (or whatever they're called - from LMKG) and Thraven Pomatomi I've just cast on. At least not unless I've got some finished tassel to show you...

Thrummed Mitts Progress Report; or, How Many Pins Did They Use to Set Your Arm?

2008-01-02T21:22:00.000-05:00

The temperature today was 7. Degrees Fahrenheit. I could REALLY have used some thrummed fingerless mitts when taking the dogs out and scraping off my car this morning, but have only finished one, and haven't even woven in the ends on that yet, and even I was not ready to take that fashion plunge.

I started off, as Ravelry would give the impression most people do, making the thrums too large.

Here's a crappy in-progress by-lamplight shot, on the assumption that poorly lit pictures are slightly better than no pictures at all:

Not really understanding the instructions for how to place a thrum that came with the kit, I relied on the Yarn Harlot's excellent FAQ (linked in the last post). She says you should knit through the back loop of the thrum and the stitch it was placed with on the next round, so I did. Unfortunately, as I am finding with the one-row scarf (which I just realized is hers as well - what is it with the YH and those ktbl-s?), when I ktbl, the left side of the resulting stitch sits there all bloated and bulky, while the right side fades away. With enough yanking, I can kind of even them out, but it is not pretty.

To get back to the too-large thrums thing, I eased off of them a bit once I ran out of the ones I had industriously made before starting. I wasn't increasing the number of stitches nearly as drastically as the pattern called for (which happens in accordance with the thumb, which I was needing to be a little tighter because with the top open, I would only be placing thrums near the bottom, as I did not relish the idea of creating some kind of thumb-sized sockyarn flap, hoo boy is this a long digression) um, so, laying off on the thrums and keeping about the same number of stitches as the cuff should, I hope, allow for blood circulation to my fingers. Which is right up there with being swathed in roving for keeping them warm.

I hereby apologize for that paragraph. And I'm not even done yet.

So ANYWAY, the too-large thrums at the bottom of the mitt, plus the nice, gentle pastel palate, kind of gives the impression that my entire hand is in a cast.

About once a year, a freshman guy walks into his English classroom with a hand wrapped up in tape and maybe plaster, after having put his fist through some plate glass as the culmination of a fight or at least confrontation concerning either a woman or a guitar. Sometimes both. With these mitts, I will be rocking the "I got drunk and put my fist through a plate glass window at about 4am last night" look.

Not any of this is to say that I'm not completely in love with these mittens. I love them. The one that's done is so freaking warm. And soft. And pretty, if medical-looking.

To my surprise, 4 rounds past the last thrum plus a bindoff row was enough to keep the thrums from spilling out the top of the mitt, so I can stop fretting about which sockyarn to pillage for a flap on the inside. Now if I can just go back to knitting on them rather than writing about them for pages...

A spinner I am not.

2007-12-31T15:15:00.000-05:00

So, after some involved and self-centered calculus, I have determined that the answer to one small problem of mine (namely, freeeezing hands in the morning as I'm trying to make my car legally drivable) is: Fingerless Thrummed Mittens.

Stay with me here.

My Hurry Up Spring armwarmers are the right shape - long enough over the hand to protect from snow, short enough to offer dexterity required for car scraping, key using, and putting on the second mitt - but wind cuts right through them. Also the right one tends to stretch out of shape pretty quickly. Also Noro Kureyon doesn't belong right next to skin.

Clearly, the answer is something more substantial. While I love the idea of mitts in sock yarn, I can't imagine that sock yarn is thick enough to really block out the cold. I also have a very nice pair of fleece mittens that, due to the elastic around the wrist, will never be put-on-able enough to be comfortable. And I haven't ever met a pair of straight-up gloves that were warm enough.

Enter Fleece Artist Thrummed Mitten Kit in Wildflower:

My reasoning is that ridiculously warm mittens - tops = warm enough fingerless mitts.

I'm not a spinner, and though I know the words that go along with spinning, like fleece, and top, and roving, and carding, and spinning wheel, and drop spindle, and ply, and etc, I do not really have a true understanding of what those things mean. I smile and nod politely and even admire the beautiful colors of all the objects that fall under the aforementioned words for pre-yarn, but really I'm just waiting for the conversation to turn back to knitting.

Though I've contemplated buying some of the stuff before, this is my first time dealing with roving at all, and I started off being a bit suspicious of it. It seemed so delicate at first. Then, following the Yarn Harlot's FAQ, I tried to simply pull a bit off. Hahaha. If this is the strength it will take to make thrums, screw the thrummed fingerless mitts, I'll just carry my car to work, I thought.

Then I remembered that adage (or is it more like a law of physics?) that it's easier to break single sticks ten times than it is to break ten sticks all together. So I kind of spread the roving out and completely stopped caring how much came off at a time. Much better.

So, my tentative plan for the pattern for these (by which I mean, barring a better idea) is to do about 2" of ribbing instead of an open cuff at the bottom, because I'll be able to put them on easily. Then I'll knit and place thrums up until I reach about the top of my pinky finger. I'm not sure yet how I'll finish the tops up; right now I'm considering a flap of sock yarn on the inside to prevent the thrums from spilling out over the fingers. Not sure how/if to tack that down yet.

I'm off of work tomorrow and they're predicting 20 degree highs for the next week, so I will be working hard on these.

wo0t, 100 posts!

2007-12-30T12:04:00.000-05:00

I hope your midwinter gift-exchange holiday was as frickin sweet as mine was.

yarn yarn a thousand times yarn

2007-12-18T18:45:00.000-05:00

It's been awhile since I've written about a specific instance in which I was an idiot, and hey - the topic happens to have presented itself again, so what the heck.

About a year ago (I think - I can't find it again), I was reading KnitSpot and saw the red stocking cap that she'd knit out of her own handspun, and it immediately went into my queue, the pre-Ravelry one in my head. If anything could make me take up handspinning, it would be seeing things like that. She mentioned (maybe in the next post) that it was being test-knit and would go into her pattern shop. I bought yarn for it oh, nine months ago and have been waiting oh-so-patiently to buy the pattern. About once a month I'd consider e-mailing her to ask when it was going to go up, and with the glut of Christmas knitting my future project planning is going full blast, so I decided I wanted to cast on for it right when I finished all this other stuff.

(I basically only have one hat. It's black (coronet in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino aran) and I really like it, but really, a knitter should have more than one hat.)

So, finally I got around to finding her e-mail address and composing the inquiry, when I came across the link to her pattern shop. Where I immediately found the the pattern for the stocking cap.

So I guess whenever Knitty publishes Shedir and Elizabeth Zimmerman comes out with Ganomy, I'll be ready to go.

knit knit knit blah blah blah

2007-12-17T22:30:00.000-05:00

Unoriginal hat is done and given:

I did the old bait 'n switch when I gave it to her - she knows I'm making the house beret for her (she requested it, picked out the colors, and approved the yarn), and was expecting that to be her birthday gift. I had to explain what the colorway was (see "bonus matching accessories," below) but the color does look a bit different in the chunky yarn. We immediately marched upstairs and did a preliminary try-on with her scarf, and it matches well enough to wear them together.

So I'm counting that one a success. My Mom is the world's single best receiver of knit objects and other handcrafted gifts - she wore it for most of the day.

Oh hai

2007-12-06T10:04:00.000-05:00

With application season in full swing, classes (well, class) winding down, and knitting deadlines looming and then passing unmet, the knitblogging has fallen by the wayside. But it's not all panic attacks and final projects at chez orooni; there has been some knitting, too.

There have been FOs:

Hoofle Foofle Uptown Boot Socks - I didn't run out of yarn, yay!

Dragonfly Seasilk Montego Bay Scarf - ready to block and give by the slightly modified deadline of tomorrow. (ETA: is now blocking.) I'd suspected when I finished the first one that I hate making braided fringe. This confirms it. However, I love how it looks, so there's likely more braided fringe in my future, grumble grumble.

Can I also say how much I love the combination of pattern and yarn? The seasilk doesn't roll past the 3 or 4 stitch stockinette edges at all. Whereas regular fingering-weight is all like AAAHHHH why am I shaped this way?!?!, seasilk just lounges on the chaise, all like Dahling, I don't want to move to the verahnda... let's just stay here, shaaall we?. And then collapses in a faint.

There have been Started Os:

House Beret in Ravenclaw colors - a Christmas gift for my Mom. She requested it and approved the yarn (by which I mean I practically had to do that thing where you pry each finger off the skein individually to get it back - it's Malabrigo worsted weight), but she won't see it again until its been fully hatified.

Unoriginal Hat in Titania, a birthday gift for my Mom. This will be a surprise -- she's making a chevron scarf in Titania and Midsummer's Night, and she's working really hard on it and it's gorgeous. Nothin says happy birthday like bonus matching accessories, right?

And, finally, there have been knitting fugues:

which is to say, I have no idea where this 60 stitch 3x1 rib cuff in MW Corvid STR came from. Uh, or the identical one on bamboo needles, either. With all the mandatory deadline knitting going on, I could not possibly have cast on a mindless no-deadline project for myself. Bizarre.

The second you stop worring about running out of sockyarn...

2007-11-21T23:15:00.000-05:00

...is about 10 seconds before you run out of sockyarn. In the grander, more general sense, I am not out of sockyarn. Nowhere near. In the specific sense of the two pairs of socks on the needles, I am very much in danger of being out of sockyarn. I've probably made more than a dozen pairs of socks, and each time have had copious amounts of yarn left. With the first two pairs of STR socks I've made, I've been very careful to guess on the conservative side for yardage, and those turned out fine. So I guess that means throwing caution to the wind and not thinking about yardage at all. Good plan.

The Hoofle Foofle (yellow STR Mediumweight) I think I might actually be okay on, though it will be close. The black sock (Earl Gray, because black shows cables so well (Doh)), I will almost certainly run out of yarn for. Because that one's a gift on a timetable, of course. I have some more Risata in burgundy that I could easily use for the toes, but the larger problem here is that I've likely used so much yarn at this point because, as with Cascade Fixation, I knit the beginning of the sock WAY too loose to compensate, subconsciously, for the stretchiness of the yarn. And I can't really ask Other to try it on because it's supposed to be a kind-of surprise. (I mean, he probably noticed when I tied a bunch of the yarn around his wrist as an allergy test, he's observant that way, but there could at least be a big reveal, right?) So I guess the plan is to wait until I run out of yarn, then give in and have him try it on. Probably the cuff will be way too loose and the foot will be tight enough to cut off circulation. Merry Christmas, Other! Sorry I tried to maim you!

effed oh, calico

2007-11-08T22:27:00.000-05:00

Yarn: Socks that Rock, Lightweight
Colorway: Calico
Pattern: plain stockinette, shortrow heel
Needles: Crystal Palace Bamboo, 2.25mm

LOVE! Socks that Rock has lived up to the hype - there's no halo that needs to be repeatedly maneuvered out of the joints of my toes, and it turns out I vastly prefer that. They're very warm and clearly durable. Yay. I have some Metamorphic in the medium weight that will probably be cast on soon for more plain socks.

However, I actually should probably not cast on anything else until one of the four not-insignificant and immediately pressing projects gets done. Which leads us to a question: Am I insane to think I might be able to knit my mom a pair of Clessidras before Christmas? When I don't technically have the yarn yet? And when I need to get a Montego Bay Scarf* done by Dec. 5, and a HP house scarf also done by the 25th? As well as another pair of socks? Hmm? Yeah, that's probably insane. Sigh.

*

Dreidel vs. Pomatomus

2007-11-06T08:49:00.000-05:00

Yarn: Socks that Rock - Lightweight
Colorway: Dreidel
Pattern: Pomatomus
Needles: Knit Picks 2.75mm metal
Modifications: Knit the stitches constituting last half-scallops instead of working them in pattern, so that the pattern appeared to bleed into the toe

While knitting the first one of these, I had high hopes that the second one would come out spiraling and pooling in the same way. By the time I was done with the first one, it wasn't even spiraling and pooling in the same way as itself, so I decided to be happy if the second one didn't turn out red.

The fit of the pattern is wonderful, the yarn itself is nice to work with, and soft and warm on my feet.

The, ah, problem if we want to frame it that way comes in with this specific combination of colorway and pattern. Dreidel is powerful. Lots of light vs. dark, yellow vs. blue turmoil going on here already. Pomatomus is a hungry up-and-comer, and its twisted stitches, yarn overs, and non-rectangular pattern repeats give Dreidel a pretty good thrashing. Dreidel wins, in the end, but neither leaves the ring looking good.

By the time I realized that this wasn't going to work very well, I was already pretty invested in it, too invested to frog. When this pattern came out whatever winter that was, I looked at it and thought, pshaw, who the hell would ever want to do something so complicated? Why spend a year on a pair of socks? So I'm pretty proud of their existence, if not exactly their appearance.

Grrr, Blogger's still not getting along with my server. Maybe I can add the pictures later.

Like a stuck pig.

2007-10-29T20:16:00.000-04:00

Wash One:

Wash Two:

Wash Three:

Having noticed that my Uptown Boot Socks had turned my toes the tiniest bit green, I decided to give them a quick dip in some lukewarm water and dish soap before tossing them into the laundry with every other pair of socks I've ever handknit, just about. And hey - that was a good decision.

They don't look all that faded, but then again they're not completely dry yet. I was surprised at how dark the color was compared to how it looked on the Lisa Souza site, but maybe it'll be about where I was expecting now.

I am knitting on the same stuff I have been. Knit knit knit. Maybe one day I will finish something. And then I will show it to you.

and I can read the warning label on that can of crazy

2007-10-20T22:04:00.000-04:00

This is where the sweater stands:

The yarn is what's called for in the pattern: Naturally Harmony 10-ply. And, if it weren't right there in the name, I'd have no idea this is a 10-ply - it feels as though it's felted. Not at all what I was expecting, but it's nice and light, sproingy, and not splitty at all. I think I'm about ready to start the part of the pattern with cables, and have temporarily abandoned this to tend to the roving bands of socks stalking the house. And re-find the issue of IK that the pattern's printed in.

My goal is always to have several socks at different stages of completion, so I can pick things up to fit the time I have. In reality, I end up places like here:

Start-o-rama = graftastic. I like grafting, though, so it's okay. I grafted (graft? grift? Wha?) these three toes today, and started each pair's mate. Also started the Tanzanite Silkie Uptown Boot sock for Mom, which is just ribbing at this point. Here's the Tanzanite, though:

The silk strand stands out more than I'd envisioned, but I like how it's knitting up just fine.

And to get philosophical about socks for a second, I've been thinking about toes recently. And realizing, now that I'm wearing these socks I knit up over the summer on a regular basis, that I don't really like the typical toe. It's pointy, and my feet are so not pointy - or, rather, the pointy part is not in the middle. I've taken to starting the decreases later and then leaving more stitches to graft (14 or so), but even that isn't really the shape of my foot. I think I'll try the short-row toe soon, but even that gives the same basic shape.

What my brain keeps veering toward is the idea that my feet are not identical, so why should my socks be identical? Hence, why don't I make a Righty and Lefty sock?

I'm already a bit - specific, let's say - about my socks, in that the left one always goes on first. I considered it a big step when, after knitting my first pair, I was able to put one on the left foot and one on the right foot without checking to see which one had a smidge bigger blue stripe at the top, which meant it was knit second, which means it belongs on the right foot. (See how uncrazy?) So the knitting two different socks seems like it might be a step down that slippery slope.

How do your toes fit?

...in fact I may be smooshing it a little bit right now

2007-10-15T22:02:00.000-04:00

Ho-kay, so, Dream in Color Smooshy*? Is freaking awesome. If I didn't have four (FOUR) socks on the needles - and not a one of them second socks, all first socks - I would be casting on some of this right now. Recently I've been finding myself more drawn to semi-solids - or perhaps I just mean unusually frustrated with variegateds - and both the November Muse and Giant Peach colorways have such a pleasant, gentle color variation. My general attitude is that life is too short for solid-colored socks, but the variegated yarns are probably actually making my life shorter at this point, so semisolids it is. (My head knows that there are some really good uses for solid-colored yarn, but my heart says zzzzzzzzz...)

Over the weekend I made some good progress on the OSU house scarf (while AT an actual sports bar with my parents, watching the Buckeyes win - if that's not injecting good karma into the scarf, I don't know what would). It looks about the same as it did.

*Oh nooo... as I was linking this, I saw they've added new colors. Chinatown Apple, I want you! Deep Seaflower and Beach Fog: will you be mine?

Socks that what? Socks that ROCK.

2007-10-09T21:39:00.000-04:00

Oh, Socks that Rock. First I had no socks in you and now I have three socks in you. Perhaps I could use to learn some moderation.

Here we have Uptown Boot Sock #2. Or the beginning of Pair #2, so Sock #3. Hopefully soon you will be seeing some Uptown Boot Sock #5 and #6 action too, because I've got some Silkie Tanzanite winging its way here to become a Christmas gift for my Mom, who love-love-loves purple. I'm ready to turn the heel of #3, but didn't have the book with me today.

Here, in kind of a weird shot, is Dreidel Pomatomus. In repose.

Dreidel Pomatomus, aside from a minor setback in which I completely just did the pattern wrong on the row to pick up gusset stitches and then proceeded not to notice for five more rows (for I am smooth), is going well.

(The third is a plain stockinette sock in Calico, Awesomest Colorway Ever.)

My main knitting problem right now is that I don't have time to knit, despite carrying my projects with me wherever I go. Every morning in my sleepy haze, I imagine some freak scenario that will give me no possible way to actually work (as in "my job, the one that pays the money") and hours of time to knit. Like... I have no idea. But remember when those people got trapped in their cars for like 10 hours when it snowed in Pennsylvania last year? My first thought was like, damn, that's a sock right there.

I am being disciplined and working at least a couple rows of the Buckeye House Scarf a day, although it's not going to go traveling with me any time soon. If you've ever worked with Cascade 220 Superwash, you've probably learned that the balls really need to be re-wound, despite looking all pretty the way they come. I didn't re-wind, and the ball exploded into a tangle of almost-knots and loops in my project bag, and I'm coaxing a few feet at a time out of the angry yarn nucleus.

Oh, yes, and with Christmas coming up and me being a kindhearted, generous knitter and all, I've decided that the time has come...

...to attempt knit myself my first sweater.

FO: Uptown Boot Socks

2007-10-04T20:07:00.000-04:00

Yarn: Lisa Souza Sock! Merino
Pattern: Uptown Boot Socks (From IK Favorite Socks)
Needles: KPs 2.75mm, Brittany Birch 2.75mm
Modifications: Made the leg a little bit shorter and heel flap a little bit longer - nothing major.

Once I decided to cast these on next, I dragged my feet a bit - they for some reason felt onerous and complicated to me before I started them. Once I got going, though, I loved them. The repeat is a nice four rows (eight, but four if you consider that the one cable row is just offset every other time), which makes it a nice I've-got-20-minutes-to-knit project. The fabric it makes is just delightful - you can't really see the pattern until you put it on (no amount of stretching your hand out inside the sock makes the cables pop the same way).

The toe of this pattern fits better than any other toes I've knit.

I didn't really like the Lisa Souza Sock! Merino - It's thin, doesn't take frogging too well (and really, if you happen to be my sockyarn, you need to take frogging well), is splitty, and isn't horribly soft, at least in the skein. These needles were probably too big for the yarn, because if you look closely at the sock, you can see right through it. I'm wondering how it's going to wear, too.

I think Lime 'n Violet mention that one LS Sock! is a lot better than the other, and it must be that the Sock! is better than the Sock! Merino. Leave it to me to guess wrong.

Anyway, I'm really really happy with how these turned out, and I'm hoping they'll hold up.

fight the team across the field

2007-10-01T19:31:00.000-04:00

This is a take on the Year 3-4 House Scarf from Charmed Knits. It's for my brother, who, the DAY before Christmas last year said casually to Mom, "I sure hope [orooni] knit me a scarf." This while I was in the middle of knitting a pair of Fetchings for my other brother, screwing up every possible part of the project and eventually presenting him with Fetchings about 3 sizes too small, which he seemed to like because they looked more "hobo" like that. ("Hey, pretend to warm your hands over a fire in a barrel. Yeah, there you go.") I also gave him a scarf, which actually did fit and didn't imply that he lived under a bridge.

But, so, Middle Brother wants a scarf. Middle Brother happens to be fanatically obsessed with the Buckeyes, so picking colors is never difficult.

I'd been kind of dreading 83 miles of single rib, but really, it's nice to be able to completely zone out. It's four moves: yarn back, forward to knit, yarn forward, forward to purl. Which turns out to be a great 1-3 kind of motion. Slap on an iPod, slouch a little, and voila, there goes my lunch break. Since my socks, which are supposed to be my meditation projects, are giving me lots of trouble right now (I'm looking at you, Koigu P1052), this is perfect.

I may be able to finish the Uptown Boot Socks tonight... with such a long gusset I've found myself surprisingly close to the toe. Here's hoping!

Start-o-rama, it's start-o-riffic

2007-09-24T21:54:00.000-04:00

Uptown Boot Socks!

Pomatomous!

I've felt a bit like a jerk, noting in Ravelry the difficulty level of each of my projects, not a single one of which has broken the medium-easy mark. WELL.

It's not purling seven together through the back loop in chunky weight, but it takes just about all the concentration I've got. And there's little in life that's more fun than sitting in a coffee shop, zoning out for 45 minutes (or maybe that was 3 hours... hard to tell) with your iPod on and digging in to a 22-row repeat. Well, okay, little in my life.

Koigu Socks!

Koigu is nice. I'm hatching plans to try some more in solid colorways.

And to bring up the rear in this cast-on-a-thon, I now have a big stack of Cascade 220 Superwash in scarlet and gray. For a year 3-4 house scarf for Brother #1. Pictures of that tomorrow.

Three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three

2007-09-21T19:40:00.000-04:00

Start-o-rama it is! I am holed up with yarn and a laptop, and almost done with Uptown Boot Sock #1. I would show you a picture, but I have no camera with me, or way to get existing pictures onto the computer, so, no pictures. Just words today. Maybe pictures later. Crappy incandescent-light pictures. Maybe.

I grabbed four additional sets of DPNs on way way out the door, and not a damn one of them is what I need for pomatomous, which is what my Dreidel has decided it wants to try to be. (I do, however, have three empty sets of 2.25mms. Want some 2.25mms? I am your lady.) However, I really want to cast on for Pomatomous, and my brain figured out that my Uptown Boot Socks are on 2.75mms, which is what pomatomous needs. I am not crazy enough to take a sock off the needle, unfinished and mateless, in order to cast on another sock. I *am* crazy enough to be carrying two extra (wooden) 2.75mms around with me, for use as cable needles. (I found that one under the desk in my bedroom. How it got there from the couch, I haven't quite pieced together yet. Perhaps it was one of the dogs.)

Soooo... I could use the wooden 2.75mms as stitch holders and co pomatomous with my 5 KnitPicks dpns. Or I could bust a serious move and get UBS #1 done, and cast on with a slightly cleaner conscience. That would require pouring it on, and, as you may have surmised, I'm typing right now rather than knitting. Hm. But, I'm well past the abnormally-long gussets, so that might be possible.

I also plan to use one of my many 2.25mms to cast on a plain sock.

In my defense, last night I finally finished the broken garter stitch socks in my Watermelon Tourmaline Silkie STR. Wove in the ends and everything. Un-did the co of the first sock, bound it off a little tigher and everything. Much time and cussing that took, but it's better - not as floppy - and I'm very happy with how the yarn performed. (Oh, and also? It was 90 freaking degrees today. It got down to 60 last weekend, and I took my Meilenweit Mega Boot Stretch socks from awhile ago out for a spin, and I love them.)

Also in my defense, the plain socks are a looong-term project.

For the prosecution, the second those were off the needles last night, some Koigu jumped on. And, to go off on a bit of a tangent here, did you know that Koigu is not magic? It is nicely spun, sproingy, with a bit of backbone to it, and richly and complexly colored, but is not immune to flashing. Why did I decide it was? Why isn't it? Grrr. So I'm pulling from both ends of the ball. We'll see if this time I'm able to figure out how to wrap the yarns around each other in such a way that there's not a seam. Which is possible, right?

Pulling from both ends renders the Koigu socks something less than the mindless stockinette it was meant to be, but oh well. No flashing for me, not this time.

friend activity, like the stock exchange

2007-09-17T20:10:00.000-04:00

What I hope is the last order of Job Distress Yarn arrived today. (I changed jobs in the middle of last week, which might very well put BMFA out of business -- you guys should probably help pick up the slack.) And because I got home from class and the grocery store having gone from Relatively Cheerful to Ready to Bludgeon Strangers, it was very nice to sit for the last hour typing and kind of unconsciously clutching three very nice skeins of lightweight.

For all of my crazy ordering, I've never actually *used* lightweight, so, ah, I sure hope it's nice.

I've used the medium weight (in the Chevron Scarf that Will Not Die) and the silkie (pictured below) and like them very much.

I also recently ordered my first Koigu. When I was first starting to knit, I made the baby blanket from Stitch 'N Bitch, which suggested a Koigu handpainted yarn, if I remember correctly. I remember being floored at the idea of an $80 baby blanket that you couldn't even machine wash (though I realize now that it was probably superwash...) and ever since, Koigu has seemed to me to be a little too extravagant.

But, doing the rough math, it's little more than any of the other sockyarns I'm buying so voraciously, so I decided to poke around on Ravelry. And would you know, the people in the Koigu group like Koigu? And recommend it?

So, here is yet more yarn burning a hole in my stash. I'm resisting start-itis, although I've been seriously contemplating renaming it Start-a-rama and just going to town. Still might happen.

Uptown Boot Socks

2007-09-15T00:09:00.000-04:00

In the process of knitting this sock, both a (second) wooden size 2 dpn (being used as a cable needle) and my metal yarn needle (being used as a backup cable needle) have managed to slip through some kind of knitting wormhole in the universe. Seriously, I do not understand where they could have gone. They were right there. I suppose they must be buried in the couch, yes, but after having searched the non-nether parts, and then enough into the nether parts to have found a poker chip from at least the early '90s (the couch used to be my parents'), it seems impossible that these things could have gotten further into the seams than something that has been there for FIFTEEN YEARS.

So, I grafted the toe of this sock:

with one of the gigantic blue plastic yarn needles from the learn-to-knit kit Mom & I got four years ago. And that was not a good idea, but in the name of knitting progress, it was either that or a safety pin substitute for a needle.

The top of this sock is a little loose, but I'm liking the silkie yarn very much, for both the texture and color. So much so that I'm considering buying more of the silkie in the same color way. Is that weird to do?

FO: Picot Storybook Socks

2007-09-10T22:38:00.000-04:00

Yarn: Gypsyknits (on Etsy) BFL fingering weight in color Storybook
Pattern: basic stockinette (co 72 sts)
Needles: Size 0 Crystal Palace bamboo DPNs

This was my first attempt at shortrow heels, and while I will not go so far as to say that they were fast, they were no slower than heel flaps. And without entirely grasping the physics of it all, I remembered reading somewhere that doing the heel on more than half the stitches creates a deeper heel and thus a better fit, and I did, and it did.

The BFL is nice and soft, though with a different kind of softness than merino has. But after a day of wearing these socks, the heels are pilling badly, and the whole bottoms of the socks have a dirty kind of halo. Admittedly, socks would have to be made out of unicorn mane and pixie dust not to have some dog hair problems after being worn around my house, but compared to my other handknit socks, this is definitely more pronounced.

And then there was this:

Not being a spinner, I do not entirely understand what this is. But I kind of don't think it's good.

So the verdict on Gypsyknits BFL is: it's pretty! Make a scarf with it!

In which I knit through the pain

2007-09-09T21:06:00.000-04:00

I subscribed to Interweave Knits at the beginning of August. If you're the only other person in the world who hasn't subscribed to Interweave Knits, know that the first issue will take 4-6 weeks to reach you. That's why I've been checking the mailbox hopefully for the last three weeks, and why I can keep checking it hopefully for another one. (Oh, that and the massive boxes of yarn I tend to order during moments of emotional distress at work. I'm not saying it's healthy, but it sure makes getting the mail fun.)

New finished socks tomorrow!

Uhhhhhhhhh.... hi.

2007-09-07T22:31:00.000-04:00

Oh, wow. Okay, so I turned on the comments -- mostly because Ashley told me to, but also because I've been feeling like comments work kind of differently in the knitblog community than in the regularblog community. A lot differently, actually - that's one of the many things that is very very cool about Ravelry - everyone is so freaking nice. And helpful. And by everyone, I don't even mean "you know, the 95% of people who don't view the internet as a place to be mean to strangers because your family's stopped speaking to you" - I mean really everyone. The fact that two people just decided to dedicate their waking lives to creating a community like that forms the basis for this overwhelming niceness.

So, please. Say hi. Point me to your blog. And be nice, because honestly, and I acknowledge that this is ridiculous, but honestly I'm a little afraid of you.

FO: Montego Bay Scarf in Cornflower. Corn. Flower.

2007-09-05T20:36:00.000-04:00

The finishing, fringeing, blocking, and dragging Other out to the nearest cornfield finally came together today, and I show you: Montego Bay Scarf.

Some other knitting stuff is happening, but it is not so very interesting. Although I will say, Lantern Moon DPNs are an absolute dream to cast on with. Light and grippy as all hell.