Crazy Colors

I always gravitate toward semi-solids, but there is something about Tina's dye choices at Blue Moon Fiber Arts that makes me want the CRAZY stuff. Here are two crazytown colors that just arrived in the mail:

Frankenhen

Cattywampus

 

 

Talk Amongst Yourselves

I'll give you a topic. Does winding sock yarn help take the edge of Startitis or does it make the dread condition worse?

(From top left, Cozy Fierce Scummy Girl Socks that Rock for the Breaking Hearts KAL in the Socks that Rawk group on Ravelry, Dream in Color Smooshy in Tea Party for the Eiki Japanese Relief shawl, and the current Rockin' Sock Club colorway.)

Discuss.

Don't forget to comment on my Bringing Home Baby issue to win a skein of sock yarn. Leave a comment by 6:00 PM Eastern, and I'll pick the number via random generator on Tuesday.

Stash!

I've been lucky to obtain some really interesting non-commercial yarn lately.

I couldn't go to Rhinebeck this year, but I sent Yvonne off as my personal shopper, and she came back with this gorgeous skein of Sanguine Gryphon Bugga!, a yarn I've been wanting to try for ages, and this super-cute Jessa Lu box bag.

Lisa also went to Rhinebeck and brought back a skein of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Geisha in Manly But I Like It Too. Geisha is a light fingeringweight blend of mohair and silk.

This year, I joined the A Verb For Keeping Warm's Pro-Verbial Club; the club is dedicated to unique fibers accompanied by triangular shawl patterns. The yarn for October is Luster, an indigo-dyed blend of tussah silk and BFL fibers. 

My September Rockin' Sock Club from Blue Moon Fiber Arts arrived. It's the most gorgeous shading of olive greens.

Finally, I jumped on the bandwagon and ordered some of Brooklyn Tweed's new Shelter. I have three skeins of Sweatshirt that I'm thinking will make lovely mittens.

Not that I'm bitter or anything

A customer and friend once asked, after looking at my Goodreads feed on Facebook, asked me how I have time to read so much and knit so much. Here's the secret: I neglect my child. No, seriously, and I don't know how this happened, but The Preschooler has always been remarkably self-entertaining. Right now, he's lined up his Toy Story figures on the windowsill to watch the landscapers and is having his Buzz Lightyear, Tickle Me Elmo, and two baby dolls act out this elaborate game based on something he saw on Dinosaur Train. I am not allowed to play. I know how lucky I am.

So, Summer of Socks and Lace. I lost. I'm okay with that. Really. Steven is a worthy competitor. I finished eighteen projects:

• Six shawls
• Nine pairs of socks
• One pair of baby booties
• One lacy baby cardigan
• One semi-lacy scarf
• 9539 yards total

My mistake? I knit from stash, which wasn't always Natural Stitches yarn, which counts for double.

I did, however, get through at least some of my Socks that Rock stash. I finished my Ten Shawls in 2010! Overall, it was a pretty good summer, knitting-wise. Now on to knitting something in plain stockinette!

Has anyone seen my sock mojo?

Socks used to be a pretty reliable project for me. I could cast on 64 stitches on a size 1.5 Addi and away I would go. But this summer, I've had a devil of a time with socks.

It started with the Yarn Harlot's Lenore, which calls for Socks that Rock Lightweight, casting on 60 stitches on a size 1.5 needle. If anything, I thought they'd be too tight. But no! Too loose! I ended up going down to a 1.

Then, my March Rockin' Sock Club Socks, Slip Jig. Socks that Rock Mediumweight on a size 1.5. Okay. My gauge has been loose lately, so this should work. No. The sock was huge and the fabric stiff enough to walk away on its own. So I went back to my usual Mediumweight needle, an Addi 2 (2.75 mm) and cast on for the smallest size. I can barely get it over my ankle, but it worked.

Next project, Cottys, by the same designer of Slip Jig. Same process: Mediumweight (the color here is Valenscummy, which I love), 60 stitches on size 1.5, as the pattern calls for, way too big. Finally cast on 48 stitches on a 2, but I'm not happy.

And it's not just Socks that Rock or Sock Club patterns. Everything is turning out too loose or too big. I don't know what has changed. Here, let's look at my finished Kai Meis, in Dream in Color Smooshy in Lipstick Lava, from Cookie A's Sock Innovation. It took a year to finish the first sock; a week to finish the second. But they turned out fine!

Campaign of Intimidation

So it's Summer of Socks and Lace again over at the store. Last year I got kind of....competitive and ended up wiping the floor with my co-workers, one of whom got pregnant and the movement of her knitting needles made her sick, so that wasn't exactly fair. This year, I said I wasn't going to be that way. But I am. I persuaded Martha and Kelli to make a new category called "Doublethreat" so I wouldn't have to choose between socks and working on my 10 Shawls in 2010. In my defense, this has proven to be a really popular category, and I think everyone is really enjoying it. Then I vowed that I was going to WIN, and in a really twisted move, my two main competitors, Steven and Yvonne, and I started making things for each other. Steven made me a new February Lady Sweater. I made my new go-to pattern, a Traveling Woman, for Yvonne, out of Pagewood Farm Alyeska:

What else have I finished that I haven't shown?

A slightly modified Helena for a dear grad school friend's new baby:

After many, many, many false starts and a nasty tangle, my March 2010 Rockin' Sock Club Slip Jigs:

In the Land of Oz shawl, out of Malabrigo Sock in Rayon Vert. I'm calling it my "Wine and Thunderstorms" Shawl because I made it mostly during a spate of bad thunderstorms around here recently. It's also so simple that you can drink a lot of wine and watch chick flicks while you knit it.

And finally, these baby booties out of leftover STR Garden Daze from last year's sock club. I keep telling myself I made them to test out the Signature Needles DPNs that I got at Maryland Sheep and Wool, but really, I have to confess, I am building up a little hope chest. It's been over two years since my miscarriage, and I'm hoping for something good soon.

 

Why I Won't Win Summer of Socks and Lace

I was feeling all kinds of smug about finishing these Lenore Socks in Socks that Rock Lightweight in ST-2.

After several false starts, I was able to get some momentum going on my March Rockin' Sock Club Slip Jigs. Then this happened:

Shetland Triangle

Although these weren't on my original list of things to do to Expand My Fiber Comfort Zone in 2010, I think completing a lace shawl and blocking it myself certainly count as developing new skills. This is the Shetland Triangle I cast on for the Once in a Blue Moon Cast On in Socks that Rock Mediumweight, colorway Winter Solstice.

Unblocked:

On the blocking wires:

Finished!

Blue Moon

My Rare Gem Mill Ends from the BMFA Blue Moon sale finally arrived. These are Earth and Fire. I love the Earth; I'm not wild about the yellow in the Fire.

Inspiration

It's hard to single out the most inspirational thing on Ravelry, but one of the best, knowlegable, and enthusiastic groups on there is the Socks that RAWK! group. Every quarter, they host a KAL of two sock patterns. Each member is encouraged to use a different colorway of Socks that Rock in order to showcase the amazing diversity of the yarn. It's a fabulous group, and I've gotten lost for hours looking at the photos.

For the first time, I'm participating in the quarter's KAL for the Edwardian Boating Socks. Mine are in the Flower Power colorway. I just cast on yesterday and can't stop knitting!

I think I won

I think I won the staff portion of the Summer of Socks and Lace contest. Here are my entries from the second half of the summer.


Top left: No Purl Monkeys in Creatively Dyed Calypso.
Top right: Yarn Harlot's Plain Sock Recipe in Mini Mochi
Middle left: Completed "Don Draper Socks -- Kristen Kapur's Ampersand in Socks that Rock Mediumweight.
Middle right: Synesthesia Socks in Pagewood Farms Denali.
Bottom left: Completed Waving Lace Socks in Pagewood Farms Denali.
Botton right: More Circle Socks in Socks that Rock Lightweight.

Plus:


Slip Stitch Rib Anklets from More Sensational Knitted Socks in Socks that Rock Lightweight, July 2009 Rockin' Sock Club colorway.

Overall, I completed eleven pairs of socks and made a little progress on three more pairs (two of which are Cookie A patterns, hmmm). My total yardage, including the double scores for using Natural Stitches yarn, was somewhere in the 4000 range.

Can you O.D. on Socks that Rock?

Warning: Rockin' Sock Club SPOILER AHEAD!


I've been running around like Cornholio all morning because I received not one but two packages from Blue Moon Fiber Arts.



No, this isn't all mine! After sorting out what Lisa and Michelle ordered, I was left with this.


The Lightweight: Gingerbread Dude, Flower Power, KawKaw, Downpour, Jubilation, and Oma Desala


The Mediumweight: Treehugger, Oregon Clover Honey (which I don't even remember ordering, so my subconscious must have clicked the button), Rook-y, and Rauen.


The September Rockin' Sock Club: Tide Pooling!

It's all I can do not to cast on for anything new, but I'm making myself finish up at least three WIPs first!

Picking myself back up

I'm not part of the Ravelry Olympics, but I cast on for these Spring Forward socks on Friday night as I watched the opening ceremonies of the 2008 games. The yarn is the July selection of the Rockin' Sock Club -- these are really not my colors, but I'm enjoying the yarn and making peace with the blue spiral pooling, which seems is what the yarn wants to do. It's a fast, fast knit and the lace is easy to memorize and read as you go.

As for my online silence, well, all I can say is that it was so much worse after all. We've been battling moths of all kinds for weeks, and I've lost a lot of finished objects and some stash. The upside is that it's really, really made me reconsider my yarn buying habits (yes, again) and I realized that I need to enjoy what I have. Yet I wouldn't wish this on my worst knitting nemesis, if I had a knitting nemesis, that is. Wish us luck in getting rid of this problem for good. I'm already on a first name basis with half the employees of Terminex already!

Speaking of color

WARNING: ROCKIN' SOCK CLUB SPOILER AHEAD




The latest shipment of Socks that Rock certainly didn't skimp on the color. The colorway studies continue, this time in purple.



Check out my Flickr photostream for better pictures. I love this and was saddened to read in the Dyer's Notes that this is probably the last color study for the club this year.

Maryland Sheep and Wool Wrap-up

Happiness is an armload of Socks that Rock yarn.

Standing in line at The Fold was not how I planned to spend MDSW, but I finally understand what all that chatter about “yarn fumes” is about, because I was high on something when I got swept into that line. How could anyone resist the colors, the smooshiness of it all?

It’s a testament to the general good hearted nature of knitters that the line to pay for the STR at the fold went out of the barn and stretched outside down past the next barn and no one seemed to be just grabbing an armful of sock yarn and making a break for it. Instead, everyone got her yarn in an orderly fashion, took it outside, and stood patiently in line. Some people knit, other people had their arms too full of sock yarn to knit, but everybody was in good cheer and chatted pleasantly with their neighbors in line. It was a surprisingly lovely experience.

As for the rest of the haul:

From Brooks Farm, assorted colorways of Solo, their wonderful DK single ply

From Tess, well, a lot, two skeins of sock yarn, two skeins of laceweight merino (dude, I don’t even knit lace), and two absolutely divine skeins of Silk and Ivory, a gorgeous silk and merino blend.

From Just Our Yarns, some green cashmere laceweight (again, dude, I don’t know how to knit lace).

From Cloverhill, a bunch of indie dyer sock yarn

From Spirit Trail, two skeins of beautiful sock yarn

And from the Barefoot Spinner, a stunning skein of handspun, hand dyed sock yarn (and if anyone has a tag from her yarn, please weigh in on the comments, as I don’t know how much yardage I have).

It was a great time, if not a bit overwhelming. Ideally, I think the perfect day would have been to have Saturday’s selection with Sunday’s crowds, as Saturday was a mob scene, but things looked pretty picked over the next day. But in short, A++++ would attend festival again!!!

Jumping up and down like a little girl

WARNING: ROCKIN' SOCK CLUB SPOILER AHEAD


Perhaps this is a sign that I need to get a life, but the feeling I got when I read that the March '08 Rockin' Sock Club shipment had gone out sent a little thrill through me. Because I received my January shipment a few days later than everyone else, I didn't get my hopes up too high that I'd get it this week. So when my husband brought in a package yesterday from the mailbox, I started jumping up and down and clapping like a drunken Paula Abdul on American Idol finale night.

If the package alone got me that excited, you can imagine how I felt when I actually opened it. This colorway is a gorgeous study of greens, and if each shipment is going to be a study of color (January was red/orange), I am beyond thrilled with my membership.

So happy.

In other knitting news, I decided last week that I wanted to set some completion goals for myself. At the risk of making my fun leisure activity too much like homework, I decided to try to finish a sweater vest for The Toddler by Easter. I finished last night and wove in the ends this morning; all I need to do is find suitable buttons.

I have two secret knitting projects I need to finish by the beginning of April, so those are up next. I want to have Flair completed so I can wear it to Maryland Sheep and Wool at the beginning of May. And I MUST finish that *$_#_&% Christmas knitting, so the Clapotis will be finished by Mother's Day. I swear.

Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate it!

Best. Knitting. Day. Ever.

WARNING: ROCKIN' SOCK CLUB SPOILER AHEAD

Yesterday morning I started reading Ravelry and various blogs and realized EVERYONE had their January Rockin' Sock package but me! How could this be? I paid, right? I gave them the correct address, right? I even started pacing a little bit by the doorway and peered down the street for the mailman. But no package.

But Beth, Lisa, and Not-So-Blogless Michelle were coming over later that day to knit, and I needed to go to the store, so I bundled The Toddler up in the stroller and off we went. To my great surprise, when we got back, I found not one but TWO packages on my porch!

The first package was from Plimoth Plantation and contained a kit for Square Heel Tudor socks, which I volunteered to knit for the interpreters at PP. (You can read more about that here.)

The second package, of course, was from Blue Moon Fibers. I don't even know what to say, I am so delighted with it. I adore the colorway and am looking forward to learning how to do a short row heel. I'd been starting to worry that the club was just too much money, but now that I see everything that you get, I am really pleased.

Look! I can finish projects and blog about them, too!

Long time, no blog. I'm going to have to do an Amy-style list to catch up.

My new knitting rule is that for each project I want to start, I have to finish a WIP. My hope is that this will combat Startitis; if I have to slow down and make myself finish something before casting something else on, this should (ha ha) prevent me from starting projects on a whim.

So, SOCKS! Here's what I've learned:

• Socks are so much fun to do, with the magical turning of the heel.
• There's pretty much no finishing whatsover, which means that I can complete them and not have them stuffed in the bottom of my knitting bag for over a year like certain projects we will not mention.
• One can purchase all the sock yarn one wants because sock yarn doesn't count in a yarn diet*.
• Socks should be knitted on needles much smaller than you think because loose socks will wear out.

* In a fit of madness, I joined Blue Moon Fibers Socks that Rock 2008 and the Chewy Spaghetti Blue Plate Special Club. So that's $300+ worth of yarn that "doesn't count." Hmm.

ANOUK!
I still think this pattern is the cutest thing going in knitting. But I have to say, I am disappointed with the yarn and have my doubts about how well this sizes up. I'd knit it again for a newborn, with something with a little bounce in it like Cotton-Ease, in a heartbeat.

Many thanks to Lisa for doing some of the finishing work for me, and anyone who wants to join our Finishing Club, in which we trade projects we're tired of looking at, is welcome!