Through the fog...

Allergy fog, that is. Ugh. Either I can't think straight when my head is all stuffy or I feel drowsy and out of it on allergy meds. This allergy season is brutal. You can see the stuff flying through the air. Our porch had a lovely yellowish blanket on it until Dwight washed it off last week. I think it's already covered again.

I have gotten a few things done since my last post. These Marie Antoinette socks were finished earlier this month, but have waited a long time to be photographed. Even then, I tried to dash outside quickly to avoid the pollen. Most of the pictures of me wearing the socks turned out blurry. :-( I'll try to get better shots of the sock on my foot. These socks were a lot of fun to make. I've put them off for a while because I thought they were too complicated. The top edge is knit first in one strip, you sew it into a circle, and then pick up stitches to work the sock down to the toe. The directions are very clear (as always with Anne's patterns). The socks were surprisingly fast to knit.

The yarn is a new one to me. It feels a little rough, but softened up after a wash. The yarn feels on the thicker side of most fingering weight sock yarns. The semi-solid colors are perfect for patterns like this one.

Details:
Pattern: Marie Antoinette by Knitspot (Anne Hanson)
Yarn: Araucania Ranco color 103 (used 70gms)
Needles: size 1 (2.25) Knit Picks Harmony dpns for the top edge and Classic Circulars for the rest
Start: May 3, 2008
Finish: May 8, 2008

I've also finished two lace scarves and I'm working on another one. For one of the scarves, I found a great stitch pattern that I liked. I drew it in excel, mirrored it, flipped it, and it came out great! I plan on trying to write that one up as a pattern. I've known how to make a chart in excel, but I've now figured out how to get the charts out while still looking decent.

I've joined the Summer of Socks again. It's going to be different than last year. I'm not going to try to knit the most socks. Instead, I'm trying to make a few new patterns. I've searched through my stitch dictionaries and I think that I have a few stitch patterns that would look great on socks.

I've also joined the 52 Pair Plunge. I saw that last year and didn't think that I would want to knit that many in one year. I did knit more than that last year. I've gathered together most of the sock patterns that I want to try into one binder. Between this and Summer of Socks, there should be a lot of sock knitting this summer.

The end at last and I won!

Here they are, all 42 of them. I won the most socks contest!

I want to send a big thank you to Jessica for hosting the Summer of Socks. My blog reader was Jen. I want to send out a thank you to her too for commenting here and for her entertaining weekly summaries. It has been a lot of fun. I took me out of my sock comfort zone. Previously, I was stuck with toe-up plain stockinette socks with the occasional pattern knit out of Sensational Knitted Socks. During the SOS, I bought my first sock pattern (Thelonious), tried a different construction technique from New Pathways for Sock Knitters, and tried many different patterns from More Sensational Knitted Socks.

A few things of note:

• No, my hands aren't that sore. I'm currently knitting a sweater for my daughter--out of sock weight yarn.
• I couldn't have done it without the help of Dwight. He watched the kids so I could have uninterrupted knitting time in the evening. He even washed dishes a few nights to give me more time.
• I knit during E's homeschooling lessons, especially while she's reading aloud.
• Dwight asked how much this has cost him. I told him I couldn't remember. ;-)
• SOS did push me to knit with some of my older yarns.
• SOS got me to be more comfortable with knitting socks for others. It helps that my Mom's and sister's feet are similar in size to mine. They will be getting a lot of socks this holiday season.
  

I'm off to knit again. It's the Dancer's Wrap from Not Just Socks for Kids. It's easy so far, but the 32 inches of 9 stitch wide garter strip seemed to go on forever.

SOS #42, the final sock

Well, here's the last sock for Summer of Socks. I didn't think that I would finish it this evening, but I did. Phew. I can truly say that I'm tired of socks. Despite that, this last pair is one of my favorites. I love the yarn, love the stitch pattern, and the fit came out perfect.

I used my stitch pattern that I came up with for the Ruby Redmond Fly* Dyed socks. I changed the stitch pattern from a 7 stitch repeat to an 8 stitch repeat. Then I had to figure out how to get an 8 stitch repeat into a 72 stitch sock. It worked out when I knit with 32 stitches on one side of the loop (magic loop) and 40 stitches on the other side. On all of my other socks, there were an equal amount of stitches on either side. I've found that it doesn't really affect the sock much to have an uneven amount of stitches on either needle.

Details:
Yarn: Yarntini in Fig & Plum
Needle: size 0 (2mm) Addi Turbo
Method: magic loop, two at once, toe up with Turkish cast-on, short row heel
Pattern: my own that I call Star Flower
Start: September 19, 2007
Finish: September 20, 2007

Up next...I don't know. I do have a few things that I need/want to do.

• work on E's Halloween costume-try to figure out wings
• add more details to D's old pirate costume
• sew a new bag to carry around my sock yarns(not happy with current one)
• sew a handbag large enough to hold my camera, regular stuff, and a knitting project
• knit D the cabled vest from Not Just Socks for Kids
• play around with leftover yarn and knit a few things from Knit a Fantasy Story. By the way, this book looks like a lot of fun. I can't wait to try to knit some knights or princesses from it for E and D. D would love the dragon too.
  
• knit some lace--possibly the Bee Stole, Inky-Dinky Spider stole, or wait for the Secret of the Stole to start
  
• Sometime from now, I want to knit some socks for E and D from the leftovers from all of the SOS socks.
  

The list could go on and on, but right now I plan on resting my hands.

SOS #41 or some very comfy socks

I've read on the internet, about people knitting bed socks. What are bed socks and why would I need some? Why would I knit socks in "luxury" fibers? I found out and boy, do I love them. These socks were knit with Jojoland's Quartette yarn which is 80% merino and 20% cashmere. It's listed in the cashmere blend section and they colors are only labeled by numbers. This is #502. With all of the uproar about yarns supposedly having cashmere in them last year? earlier this year? I forgot. This yarn definitely has some cashmere in it. It's fuzzy soft and feels like fluffy clouds. It's also super slippery on Knit Picks metal needles. The only drawbacks are that the yarn is not as vibrantly colored as shown in the auctions and it's handwash only.

I bought a bag of 10 in an auction sometime last year. I used 4 of them to make Clapotis last year. That didn't turn out very pretty, but it makes for a very nice and warm wrap to wear around the house. The colors sections are not very long in this yarn. That shawl has started to pill. From that, I decided to knit these socks very tightly. Knitting it with just one strand very tightly, my hands weren't going to last long and the fabric was awful thin. I decided to knit with two strands together on larger needles and that worked. These socks are thick, very cushy, and warm. I plan on leaving them by the computer to wear when it gets cold in the winter.

Details:
Yarn: Jojoland Quartette in color #502--held double
Needle: size 2 (2.75mm) Knit Picks Classic Circular
Method: magic loop, 2 at once, toe-up, Turkish cast-on, short row heel
Pattern: my own
Start: September 18, 2007
Finish: September 19, 2007

Notes: This is not a superwash yarn, but it's soooooo soft and fluffy. You could probably knit it on larger needles, but I wanted to make sure that I was knitting these tightly.

Up next, I'm reworking one of my very own sock patterns with thinner yarn. The yarn is another nice one--Yarntini's Fig & Plum.

SOS #39 and #40...Is the end near?

Summer of Socks is over on Friday. Can the week pass any slower? I'm really ready to move onto something else. At this rate, I might not knit for a while. ;-) I'm in a bag mood and I have a few bag designs floating around in my head. I should probably get those down on paper before I forget them.

Anyways, here are the next two socks. The left is UrbanGypZ twisted sock yarn in the Koi Vey color. I love the color. I used a pattern that I made up. A written sock pattern or at least a chart for the stitch pattern will be up on my blog later---sometime after SOS is over. This yarn is very soft and really nice, but not superwash. Because of that, I'll probably not buy it again unless I had a non-sock project in mind for it.

The socks on the right are Fiesta Boomerang in Sedona. I initially bought this yarn for Dwight. After he wasn't completely happy with the last few socks that I knit for him, I took this yarn for myself. Boomerang is the most springy, squishy, sponge like yarn that I've felt. Dwight can stick with his Smartwool socks and I can keep the yummy yarns for myself.

Details for the UrbanGypZ Koi Vey socks:
Yarn: Urban GypZ twisted sock yarn in Koi Vey!
Needle: size 1 (2.5mm) Addi Turbo
Method: magic loop, 2 at once, toe-up with Turkish cast-on, short row heel
Pattern: my own
Start: September 16, 2007
Finish: September 17, 2007

Details for the Boomerang Sedona socks:
Yarn: Fiesta Boomerang in Sedona
Needle: size 2 (2.75mm) Knit Picks Classic Circular
Method: magic loop, 2 at once, toe-up, Turkish cast-on, short row heel
Pattern: Cross Stitch Block (p. 97) in More Sensational Knitted Socks
Start: September 17, 2007
Finish: September 18, 2007

Up next, I'm knitting with a yarn that's 80% merino and 20% cashmere. It's soooo soft compared to any of the sock yarns that I've been using. It's also very slippery on the Knit Picks metal needles that I'm using.