Obsess much?

This is only 7 of the 10 scarves that I've woven between January 13-23. Yeah, some might call me crazy. I'm calling it a necessity. In the grand house remodeling project, my computer, craft, and homeschooling room will turn into my daughter's bedroom. That means all of my yarn, fabrics, and books will have to be relocated. In an effort to ease that relocation, I'm trying to use up some of the things that have been sitting around for a while. And this includes my variegated sock yarns. I'm designing with mostly solid yarn or semi-solid yarns now. Plus, variegated yarns look pretty cool when woven. A few of them will give an automatic plaid effect. I'll post more details about the scarves and the yarns they're made out of when I can get better pictures. I would like to have a little sunlight, but it's snowing again.

I've finished the Threaded socks that are pictured in the post below. I will be writing up that pattern soon. The Mullion test knit is moving along. There have been sooooo many missing symbols on the charts. The test knitters have once again been awesome in catching them. Yesterday, I put a call up for test knitters for my Taglioni socks(over there on the left). That has been filled quickly. These were originally called emaNoN, but I've changed it to Taglioni because of the way the cables look like the ties on ballet shoes. I like the emaNoN name and it will be back on another pattern.

Another thing that has been hanging around for a long time is a quilt for my daughter that I started over 5(?!) years ago. The top is pieced flannel, with flannel back, and a layer of batting in between. I had a crazy idea to hand quilt it since it wouldn't fit in my sewing machine. Well, it's thick and hard to hand quilt. I did about 1/4 of it before I stuffed it in the closet. My daughter has asked me many times if I'm planning on finishing it. I've decided to just tie it and be done with it. I started tying it last night and I like the way it looks so far.

Because I don't have enough to do around here (haha!), I've started a cross stitch pattern for my son. My daughter has one of those birth record frames that a friend of ours made. My son has asked why he doesn't have one. We picked one out and I'm working on it. I'd forgotten how slow cross stitch can be.

I'll end with more house remodeling pictures. The picture on the left shows the wall that we had to build. That's where the refrigerator used to be. The picture on the right shows the other side of that wall. You can see the rectangle on the floor of where the box around the refrigerator was. See that mural wallpaper? That's gone. We'll be putting up more cedar wall planks on that wall to match the rest of the house. That wall will also be covered with bookshelves when we're finished. This will be my new computer, craft, and homeschooling room.

Complicated Testing

The testing itself isn't complicated, but Complicated is the name of the sock. The sock isn't that difficult, but I do like the "It's complicated" quote from The Count of Monte Cristo. Sadly, I've never made it through the whole book . I do like the movie a lot. It's one that I'll actually listen to while knitting.

Complicated is a toe-up sock with a gusset and slipped stitch heel flap. I have a call for test knitters in the Free Pattern Testers ravelry group. If you'd like to test, come on over and join the group.

Cough, knit, cough, design, repeat

Ugh. I have a cold right now. I hope that I'm just getting it out of the way and will be relatively healthy for the rest of fall. I usually love this time of year when the temperature starts to drop, but I haven't been able to enjoy it because of this cold. I have been knitting a lot lately. I have new designs, more designs being written, and more socks being completed.

The first one is Decorated Diamonds. It's not written up yet, but probably will be. I have the different sizes all charted out and just need to write up the pattern with the correct numbers. You would think that after writing so many patterns that the numbers would coincide with something already done, but there's always something different.

Details:
Pattern: Decorated Diamonds by me
Yarn: Opal solid
Needle: size 0 (2mm) Knit Picks Classic Circular
Method: magic loop, 2 at once, toe-up, Turkish cast-on, short row heel
Start: August 13, 2009
Finish: August 24, 2009

This sock was knit for the Solid Socks group on ravelry. September's color is red and I love red! I had to knit some socks for this month. This sock is called 12 Legs. It was going to be something along the lines of spider until I counted out the "legs" correctly. ;-) I see this sock as one that I would wear inside of a mary jane type shoe, so the toe was done with more stockinette.

Details:
Pattern: 12 Legs by me
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll Kettle Dyed in Wine
Needle: 2mm for the foot, 2.5mm for the leg
Method: magic loop, 2 at once, toe-up, short row heel
Start: September 1, 2009
Finish: September 14, 2009

And this is the sock that is keeping me busy right now. Yellow was September's challenge for the Sock Knitter's Anonymous (SKA) group on ravelry. I've had this neon yellow yarn in my stash for a while just waiting for the right pattern. I found one! These twisted stitches show up really well with the brightness of the yarn.

There was a huge response to this sock and I started writing out the pattern right away. The pattern is finished and it's being test knitted. I was overwhelmed and surprised at the number of people that offered to test knit! I've sent out the pattern to those that said they could start right away, instead of waiting for October. Why October? Because that's I'm the designer of that month at SKA. I want this pattern to be ready by then and October is coming soon.

Organizing test knitters isn't as easy as I thought it would be. I've tried setting up the pattern on ravelry and then sending out free links to it. But that gets complicated when I have to send out new links for the updated pattern. ugh. I think that I might have to set up a yahoo group. I wanted to keep everything on ravelry since that's where everyone is.

Back to the yellow sock. I'm calling it Everything's Connected. My husband and I have been watching the season 2 dvds for the now canceled Life show. We enjoyed it and it's sad that it won't be back this fall. The main character is trying to be all zen and "everything's connected" is something that he says often.

Details:
Pattern: Everything's Connected by me
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill solid in yellow
Needle: size 2.25mm for the leg and heel, 2mm for the foot
Method: magic loop, cuff down, heel flap with picked up stitches, grafted toe
Start: September 15, 2009
Finish: September 20, 2009

Sample, test, sample

I've been busy. The title says why and that's all I can say. I've been doing some of my own knitting too. Ever since knitting the sample for Bex, I knew that I wanted to knit a pair for me. The problem was that the size it was written for is slightly too small for me. That pattern really draws in and is quite fitted. I could get the sample that I knit on my foot, but it wasn't comfortable. To fix that, I added 4 stitches to the round. This isn't as simple as adding a stitch to the stitch pattern, since this pattern shifts over after finishing each repeat. I had to add in the stitches and also take them out to move them whenever the pattern moved too. It was fun to figure it out.

My sock is knit with Flydesigns Lacewing in Lavender. It's such a squishy, pretty yarn. The yarn is a semi-solid and works really well with this intricate pattern. This sock has been put on hold by the projects in the title.

I have finished a pair of socks. This was started last month for the March Sock Knitter's Anonymous challenge. I've wanted to use this stitch pattern on a sock ever since I saw it, but knew that it would be too large at the written stitch count. I went ahead and used it anyways thinking that I could find someone with larger feet than me (my sister).

I made each sock a mirror of each other. The stitch pattern was easy to convert. It's also easy to memorize. I didn't need the chart after the first repeat. I used two lines from the pattern and repeated those for the cuff. After finishing the socks, I tried them on and they fit. Weird. This stitch count usually only fits my foot if the sock is heavily cabled and has no lace on it. I guess those tiny cables do pull it in enough.

Details:
Pair #41 in the 52 Pair Plunge II
Pattern: Shifted 8 by me
Yarn: Regia Line Step-green
Needle: size 0 (2mm) Knit Picks Classic Circular
Method: magic loop, 2 at once, toe-up, Turkish cast-on, short row heel
Start: March 30, 2009
Finish: April 16, 2009

I'm still hacking away at the 52 Pair Plunge total. I'm up to pair number 46. I number the socks as I cast on and that's why they sometimes appear out of order. So far, all of the numbered socks have been finished, except Bex. Still 6 more to go. It's still a reachable goal....

Ah, much better...

Things started looking better right after I posted on Monday. E finished off her lessons writing a great page all about herself. At first, she found the task a bit too open ended, but I did give her some suggestions. Soon after that, she had finished writing the whole page.

To answer Nancy/Iowa's question, yes we are homeschooling. This is my third year homeschooling E and D is just starting. Yesterday and today's lessons went really smoothly. D is still enthusiastic about his lessons. He doesn't want to stop when I do. E was like that when we started kindergarten. From my experiences with her, I know to cut him off before he gets burnt out or tired.

Back to knitting news...the shawl is moving along. The designer got back to me and things sped along after that. Now, I'm waiting for the next section from her. While waiting, I've gone back to knitting socks. I started and completed a pair of socks for D using leftovers. I used around 40gms for his socks. Now, I'm knitting a pair for E. Her socks have gotten to the size where I can no longer use the leftovers from my socks. They're just not enough. For the sock that I'm knitting for her right now, I've added in toes and heels in a solid color to stretch other yarn. After this pair, I'll have to dive into the new yarns to make socks for her.

The kids need more socks for this winter. Just about all of their other socks fit perfectly or are too small. I should be able to easily complete my 52 pairs in a year goal while knitting socks for them. I need to knit each of them more pairs to rotate through for this winter too. Some of last winter's socks have died and gone to sock heaven. ;-) All of the socks that D and E have worn through were 100% wool. I'm going to stick with wool/nylon blends for them in the future. Sure they're not as soft, but the kids don't notice or comment about it. They just like having the colorful socks.

Both of my test knitters have gotten in touch with me this week. It's so encouraging to hear from them. They did have a few questions about the same area in the pattern. I've added some clarification to my pattern that will hopefully help when it's released as a mystery sock.

No pictures today. It's nice and cool in the house and hot outside. Okay, it's warm. But 80 degrees does feel hot if it's only around 70 degrees indoors. I love the cool evening and night temperatures. It keeps me motivated to knit because it feels like fall is already here. I have a few other things that I want to knit for the kids for this fall and winter. I need to get moving if they're going to be done in time to be useful.

Back to school time and...

I'm feeling drained already. It's only 1pm and what a morning! D started his kindergarten lessons and did great. He wasn't very enthusiastic about starting, but he didn't want to stop once we started. That was encouraging for me. E started the the day off great, but hit a bump in the road. It was pretty much down hill after that. sigh.

In the knitting area, I'm testing knitting a shawl and I hit a bump with that too. I can't get my next row to line up properly. That's frustrating. I've checked to see if I made any mistakes and everything looks good up until this line. I'll have to wait to hear from the designer.

I'm also having my mystery sock test knitted by two people. So far, so good. I did have an error about the way I referred to the multiple charts. oops. I did it one way in the file with the complete pattern, but had to change it to accommodate the pattern being separated into four clues. I'm happy that the charts do seem to be correct.

Beyond that, I'm still working on writing up other sock patterns. I think that I have most of the pattern portion written for a few of them. Now, I'm trying to figure out the best way to get the big charts into the pdf without making the file size huge or the charts looking blurry. I'll probably have those test knitted too before I let them out.

I have no socks on the needles. Yikes! I think that I'll start a plain stockinette sock to work on while the kids are doing lessons. That's all that I can manage right now. ;-)

Details for the sock above:
Pair #15 for the 52 Pair Plunge II
Yarn: Lovesticks in Count Sockula
Needle: size 0 (2mm) Knit Picks Classic Circular
Method: magic loop, 2 at once, toe-up with Turkish cast-on, short row heel
Start: August 7, 2008
Finish: August 10, 2008