good-natured ribbing

Yay!!! I got my Sockapalooza socks today, too! And I love them! The fit very well and I just love the colors. My pal, Elizabeth from geeyouknit, dyed the yarn herself (she also sells her yarn on Etsy).

This picture is most close to the real-life socks. Sorry about the only-at-home comfy pants.

And this is the what was in my package. The socks (Charade, if you didn’t recognize them), a skein of her sock yarn in green and brown, and a cute hand-drawn card. Ava always snatches cards away from me and she loved this one. She thought the picture was great but after she unfolded the paper, she said “Why didn’t she draw on this side?” I told her she could finish it off!

And her is a nice close up of the toe. I love how the toe looks and it fits very well. Thanks so much, Elizabeth!! These are really special socks and I love them.

Ok, I guess that’s a can of worms we don’t even want to open, but maybe we can just start with “Why can’t Dharma blog consistently???” Sorry it has been a while. I’ve been all wrapped up in summer and it just seems like there is never enough time to do it all. I got my socks from my sockapalooza pal! They’re awesome! I love the color and they feel great on my feet. In addition my pal sent some other goodies. How sweet is it to get gifts from strangers?! Thanks Pal!

Bringin’ socksey back. ha. ha. ha. Sorry, I had to use the bad knitting word play.

This whole experience has actually made me like knitting socks. This is terrible, but I’m only just today finishing my spoilee’s socks. I’m sure she’s wondering if they’re coming. They are! I will post ‘em before I ship ‘em.

I finished my Pal’s socks a while ago but since I wasn’t very discrete with my “anonymous” identity, I didn’t show them here. Well, there was a sneak peak when I finished the first sock, but I didn’t mention who they were for. Here is the finished pair:

This is the Mad Color Weave pattern and Claudia Hand Painted sock yarn. Today, my pal blogged about her new socks so I know it is safe to post them now.

In other news, I received a fun package today. No, it wasn’t my socks… it was yarn from Kristy.

She held a contest on her blog a while ago and I didn’t win. Well, I had the right answer, but I was not the randomly chosen winner. Kind Kristy took pity on me, however, and sent the remaining yarn from her Sidewinders.

Those Wollmeise skeins are so huge there is almost enough for another pair of socks (84g).

I got my socks! They’re Monkey socks from Catherine, and she also sent me a lovely Lantern Moon silk bag in emerald.

Green is my favorite color! Catherine hand-dyed the yarn, partly with KoolAid and partly with Wilton’s And the yarn is Henry’s Attic Kona Superwash — very soft and light. I didn’t know about this yarn, so it’s a new-to-me yarn. Thank you, Catherine!

My sockapalooza socks, that is. And they are great. They are from Allison L., and made with Socks that Rock yarn, color Midsummer Night. I need to find out what pattern she used — seems like a ribbed basket weave.

I’m impressed with her knitting. She did a perfect short-row heel, perfect on both sides, which mine never are.

It’s hard to take pictures of one’s own feet, so I set the timer for this one. In the 10 seconds it took to go off, Sam decided he wanted his dainty paws in the shot, too.

I took the day off on Friday and finished the socks for my Sockapalooza 4 pal:

Whew! I’m really happy with how these socks turned out.

When I was in Seattle in January, I found this little sock monkey in a small gift shop and decided to put it aside for my next Sockapalooza pal:

Do all sock monekys look so worried? It did come down to the wire, a bit — maybe that was making him nervous. And he’s headed to another rainy climate…but he’s well prepared.

Now I just have to pack it all up!

I just finished sewing in the ends of my Sockapalooza socks! It feels good to have that off my plate. I’m not going to show pictures until they are in the hands of my pal – I was less then discrete about my identity (accidentally) and I wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise.

On to the next….

I’ve been a big sockapalooza procrastinator this round. I’ve actually *thought* a lot about what I want to make for my sockpal and have been keeping up with her blog. Did I actually start knitting? No. Did I freak a little last week when I realized the date? Yes. Here’s a chart to illustrate my process:

The most excellent news is that I did settle on some socks I already had in progress. My sockpal and I have the same size feet and share some color preferences, so I decided to finish up the Spearfish socks already underway. I am now 1/3 of the way through the second sock, and should finish in a few days. I love these socks, and hope my sockpal does, too!

Spearfish Socks pattern from Designedly, Kristi
Lang Jawoll wool in red, with reinforced heel and toe. One pattern repeat in the cuff.

Woo-hoo! I finished!

This Year’s Socks
Pattern: Mock Wave Cable Socks
From: Favorite Socks; pattern by Ann Budd
Yarn: Regia Stretch Yarn, in color 87, Jeans
Unique fact about these socks: I don’t think I made a mistake. Usually I catch myself making one or two errors, but can convince myself that one or two wrong stitches won’t show. As far as I can tell, all of these stitches are a-okay.

My sock pal’s feet are long and thin, she says, and she likes blues. Hope these suit.

After finishing these, I started another pair. I won’t say that I’ve gotten caught up in Harry Potter mania, but I re-read the 6th book and am looking forward to Book 7 showing up on my doorstep next Saturday. It also happens to be my birthday which makes for a perfect excuse for not doing anything but knitting and reading. Why am I talking about Harry Potter? Because these next socks are Horcrux Socks, available as a free pattern from the “I’m Knitting as Fast as I Can” blog.

So here are my predictions:

1. Is Harry the last horcrux? Of course! But he won’t die.
2. Who will die in the last book? Mrs. Weasley. And then everyone will realize how much they miss her handknit sweaters and scarves.

June was a month of travels and July will be a month of visitors. Therefore, not as much knitting accomplished as I anticipated, but I’ve visited a yarn store or two, and even managed to find a book that reminded me to start knitting again. At the vendor exhibits at the American Library Association conference, where I was last week, publishers hand out copies of books left and right. I looked at one when I got back to my hotel room, and the review said, “Readers will have fun and learn a great deal about alpacas. Well-done.” Well, I know how to knit with alpaca, but I don’t think that’s the point of the story. But, thanks to this book I’ve picked up my needles again.

In doing so, I finished a sock for my sock pal! I chose light blue Regia for her, and after some consideration, chose the Mock Wave Cable, from Favorite Socks. I had originally thought I would use a Nancy Bush pattern, since my pal says she has long narrow feet, but this pattern seems like it suits. It is, if I say so myself, an elegant sock. One done, one to go.

And, one sock for my hubby. My goal for my family is for all of us to have 7 pairs of handmade socks – one for each day of the week. Slowly, slowly, I keep making progress. This is the latest, again using Ann Budd’s MANLY sock pattern:

I started knitting and the face of Marilyn Monroe appeared.

Well, I lie. I was following a chart and hoping that the face of Marilyn Monroe would eventually appear. This will be a bag for Emily, based on the Poster Boy bag in Stitch N’ Bitch Nation. It’s hard to tell when you’re looking at it stitch by stitch if it resembles anything, but I think I see it emerging.

In other knitting news, I was looking at the Sockapalooza blog, and saw that some people were worried because they hadn’t heard from their sock pals yet. We’re supposed to get in touch?! I thought it was radio silence until we sent the socks in August. So, I created myself a new, untraceable email account and sent a message off. My sock pal says she likes blues, and has rather long feet. So the first thing that comes to mind is either a Nancy Bush sock (NB patterns = long and skinny, in my experience) in Schaefer Anne, or Merino Lace Socks (from Favorite Socks) in baby blue Regia.

(In an aside, there is now a link from the Sockapalooza blog to “the knit pligg.” Somebody tell me what a pligg is and why we would use it…)

I have other socks going. Not as many as Kristen, but enough. I’ve been traveling, and working, and stuff, and so am making slow progess on these, my Knitting-on-the-Road Along socks. The last time I posted was a month ago, and they’ve hardly grown since then. The other knit-alongers are already voting on the next sock, and I may have to sit out the next one.

And I finished this one on the plane to NYC, and half of its mate.

In New York, Kristen and I saw this exhibit at the Museum of Arts and Design:

We were going to try to get to the knitting speed trials on while there on May 17, but had already made a commitment to go to Noodle Pudding in Brooklyn, a place I love and which I have written about before. It’s still great. But I haven’t yet been able to find out who the fastest knitter was.

No, wait — it’s not a contest. But I feel like I won because I got these excellent socks today from Jill in Pittsburgh:

As you may have guessed from Nigel’s bulletin below, I have been eagerly awaiting their arrival. I wouldn’t say anxiously, but certainly with eager anticipation (“They’re green! They fit! They’re really great!”). They are lovely – made with Socks that Rock yarn, in Beryl, which is just exactly the right shade of green. The pattern is from Sensational Knitted Socks, which I just bought 2 weeks ago because I liked all the patterns in it. Coincidence? All in all, high-quality socks. I am very pleased.

Anyway, one more picture since I like them so much. Even though I am not usually prone to taking pictures of my cats, especially Sophie grouchy-pants, I had to take this one because she jumped up and started purring when she saw the socks. The last time this happened was a year ago when she took over the rug that Kristen knitted for us. A rare occurrence, and a sure sign of approval.

I was thrilled to get my Sockapaloooza socks yesterday – they’re from Peggy in Alaska! They’re Jaywalkers in Opal Handpainted Color 22. They fit perfectly and I love the blues and grays — the color/pattern combination reminds me of waves on a choppy sea.

Almost as fun as receiving the socks was learning that Peggy has family who live very close to me. Sock fate!

Thanks, Peggy — I love my socks!

Just a quick note to say that I mailed my sockpal socks today. My sockpal is not of this country so I had to mail the socks today in order to make sure they arrive next week. Because my camera batteries died, Nigel helped me take an action shot from his new Mac this morning.

Afte loading my camera with new batteries, it turns out I also got one “fancy picture” at home.

1. This has nothing to do with knitting, but I started out my vacation by taking my daughters to see The Strokes. I kinda like them, too. You can read a review here, written in the inimitable Michigan Daily style: “Not surprisingly, the Strokes covered their bigger hits, including ’12:51′…” “Not surprisingly” — because isn’t that what groups usually do in concert? (12:51 is, of course, Michael and Christina’s song.)

2. Slept in the next day, and then finished my Sockapalooza socks! Here they are: before, during, and after blocking. The second pose is with a hyacinth from my garden, because it is finally spring.

     

3. I read 2 books about Brooklyn, because our colleague, Susan, took us there a couple of weeks ago. I told her I had read a review of Noodle Pudding in the New Yorker, and it turns out it is only a couple of blocks away from her house. It was great.

   

4. My plan to knit the Gentleman’s Socks while we drove to and from Chicago was thwarted because I could only find one skein of the black yarn. There are obviously 2 in the picture I took before, but I can find no trace of the second anywhere in the house. I suspected feline foul play at first, but the felines usually leave traces. It remains a mystery. So, instead I took the pumpkin-colored yarn and knit one Canal du Midi sock from Knitting on the Road by Nancy Bush, for me. I liked the process of knitting this pattern, and I liked the spiral toe a lot, but the sock has some odd features, most noticeably a weirdly narrow little heel. I have to decide if I like it well enough to make the second one.

   

5. We went to Chicago. Here’s what it looks like from the Hancock Observatory:

    

   Apparently, the police in Chicago ride Segways. This reminded us too much of Arrested Development.

   

6. In the touristy book in our hotel room I saw an ad for a yarn store, “We’ll Keep You in Stitches!”, located within walking distance of our hotel. It turned out to be a very small space upstairs in a building on an upscale street (most of other stores had doormen who watched me go by). Three elderly Eastern European women were inside flashing away on their knitting needles, and I was the only other person in the room. It was crammed with yarn, all still in plastic bags along the walls, and not really in any particular order that I could tell. It turns out that they finish items that other people start, knit entire outfits for their customers, and teach knitting, so this was more of a workshop than a store. When I asked if I could look around and they said, “Yes, yes! You can even go behind the counter!” So I did. I also felt conspicuous enough to feel like I had to buy something, so I purchased some green Zarina Merino.

   

   As I was checking out, one of the women asked what I was going to make and I told her socks. She said, “Socks are too hard for me!” Then she asked me a lot of questions about how long it takes me to do a pair, and how many have I done. I guess the lesson is you shouldn’t be intimidated by Elderly Eastern European Knitters.

7. And my new plan is to knit the Gentleman’s Socks in green Zarina merino.

   

But I like them very much! And I only have half a sock to go. The Embossed Leave socks had me troubled. The cuff was too tight, and the gauge I needed to make them fit my Sock Pal didn’t fit well with the thin Schaefer Anne yarn. They were loose, foot loose. As much as I liked working with the yarn, I found myself looking at patterns again, and from the trusty Vogue Knitting on the Go series, Socks Two, found another pattern I liked. I also had the exact yarn it called for: Jawoll Superwash. The socks are called Lavender Lace in the book; mine are more of a classic gray.

It’s turned into all socks, all the time at my house. I finished my sockpal socks on Friday, whee-ha! I’m going to wait on a full picture until I can block them, but here’s a closeup of the cables:

The colors are much deeper than this photo shows, but I couldn’t manage a very good picture this morning.

After finishing the sockpal socks, I started new pair of socks for my mom:

This is the toe-up pattern I received for the March S-o-t-M, in Trekking XXL, color 105, size 1 needles. I love this pattern so far — it’s easy to memorize and even though the yarn is variegated the lace is showing up nicely.

I also purchased some striping yarn that is begging to become knee socks for my neice (with ladybug buttons for accents):

I ran into a problem with the first pair of sockpal socks. The yarn I was using was Knit Picks fingering weight merino, and I loved the color I got with the Kool-Aid. Unfortunately, the yarn was really too fine for the pattern and the sock leg turned out to be very, very narrow:

Even the ribbing didn’t give it enough stretch, and going up a needle size made the cables look sloppy. Since my sockpal is not a Tim Burton animated character, I decided that I’d better look for different yarn. Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock, and the Schaefer “Anne” felt great, but were again too fine for the pattern. Increasing frustration led to putting the sockpal socks aside for a while. Instead, after admiring Sherry’s work on the Embossed Leaves socks, I decided to make a pair for myself in Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Merino (color “Java”) that I picked up last fall in Charleston:

I loved working the Embossed Leaves pattern. The socks have a bulkier fit than I expected, but the yarn makes my feet feel like they’re at a spa. After finishing these socks, I realized that the Supersock might also work well for the Celtic Braid pattern. I picked up a skein last weekend in the “Potluck – Blues/Greens” colorway. I’ve completed one sock, and I think the density and stretch are much better:

I do love the blues and greens in this skein, very peacock-y. One sockpal, back on track.

Beth pointed out to me, after looking at the Sockapalooza updates, that there may be some confusion about the socks that Kristen and I are knitting. This is probably due to the fact that we’re part of a shared blog, and an easy mistake to make. However, Kristen is doing the blue Celtic Braid socks, and I’m still working on the Embossed Leaves Socks. I have only 1.75 repeats of the pattern and the toe left to do before the first one is finished. Here it is, with a piece of white cardboard inside to show the shape.

It’s also true that I haven’t reported much progress on them lately, due to the Olympics and to taking the time to knit a couple of pairs of late-in-the-season handwarmers for Emily and her friend. I confess that I love having her friends ask for something knit by “Emily’s Mom,” so I always make time to churn them out. Here are the latest pairs and, if the weather holds, probably the last until fall:

It’s a little hard to picture the one on the left when it’s empty, so I took a picture with a hand in it. They’re from Weekend Knitting, made from leftover Noro sweater yarn.

After I finished my sweater yesterday, I decided to try the pattern for the Celtic Braid socks I have been considering for my sock pal. Here is the beginning of it in the blue sock yarn I dyed last week with Kool-Aid:

I was planning to just test the pattern in this yarn and switch to the navy Lorna’s Laces for my sock pal. But I’m kinda loving this pattern in this yarn. And I’m thinking that my sock pal might like it, too. The braid is showing up very nicely in the lighter blue.

The pressure is on. I’ve finished 2 sleeves, and at the point when I took these pictures had 7 inches done on the body (since then I’ve added a couple more, so I’m really up to about 9″). When I get to 15 inches, I’m supposed to do something else, but right now I’m living in the moment.

I have to do some planning, however. I have to go to New York for 3 days, and need to decide if I want to pack up the sweater and take it to work on, or take my sockapalooza socks. Probably both. I can knit the socks on the plane, and the sweater in the hotel. So much for packing light.

I’ve made progress on the socks, too, during a lunch hour or two.

There’s a heel emerging. I’ve not done one like this before. It’s just stockinette stitch with a garter stitch edge. I’m getting ready to turn it.

I’ve had a bit of a slow start to Sockapaloooza — since kickoff, I’ve been either sick or preoccupied (obsessed?) with the Knitting Olympics preparations. Today, however, I was feeling much more myself and I was happy to be able to start looking for yarn for my sock pal at my favorite yarn store, Threadbear. (I think that Sherry can confirm that I was very excited to be matched with a sock pal outside of the U.S., as I’ve been yapping about it constantly. I feel like I’m getting a second chance as a penpal — as a teen, I had very bad follow-through with a penpal in France. But I’m reformed now!)

My sock pal has left my options wide open…so, since the socks I’ve made in the past have been fairly practical, I’ve definitely decided that I’d like to go with something more luxurious/fancy for my pal. While I haven’t made a final decision yet, these are the two primary contenders:

1. At the moment, the leading yarn and pattern are Lorna’s Laces in navy and a Celtic Braid sock from Cabin Fever:

And, um, since I was at Threadbear anyway, I picked out a little Schaefer yarn for myself….and my lovely mom treated me to a skein for my birthday!

Unlike those sporting Olympians, I have no photographers taking pictures for me. But I have to stop and take some time to record my progress, even though it takes me away from knitting.

Before the Olympics began on Friday, I managed to get through the first leg (ha!) of the Embossed Leaves Socks for Sockapalooza.

This sock pattern is fun to knit, and goes fast. Since we don’t mail them off until May, I think I can safely put them on hold until I finish the Olympics.

Speaking of which, I got off to a rough beginning on my Rosedale sweater Friday night, and had to restart three times. This was mainly me being stupid, and somewhat distracted by the odd 80s music that was chosen for the opening ceremonies. But since then I have made it through (ta-da!) the first sleeve:

Does this remind you of anything, Beth? That’s all I have time to say – back to knitting!