Socks, and Yarn, and Spoilers, oh my!

It’s tax time again, which means I’ve been spending more time itemizing receipts and less time knitting. Yet, amazingly I managed to finish a pair of socks in less than a month! 17 days, to be exact, which is a record for me.

Let me introduce you to my Leyburns, which I knit as part of a KAL on Ravelry.

They were my first toe-up socks, knit toe-up in lightweight Gypsum. I love the colors, and the pattern looks much more complex than it actually is. I enjoyed trying out a short-row heel, but I’m not sure I’m sold on toe-up socks… yet. I’ll give ‘em another try in the future though.

I am terrible at forcing myself to knit swatches so I knit these on blind faith, hoping they would fit… and I was lucky! I did have a tighter gauge knitting the second sock so it feels noticeably more snug on my foot, but not uncomfortably so.

Knitting a swatch, however, would have been wise before I started on my Queen of Bead socks from the first installment of the Rockin’ Sock Club. I’m almost done with the first sock and I realize they’re probably going to be too small for my size 9 feet. I hate ripping out so much progress (slow knitter, remember?), but it looks like I may have to if I want to enjoy these socks by actually wearing them! So now I’m taking some of the leftover yarn from my Leyburns and knitting a swatch that I can use as reference for future lightweight projects. Sigh..

In other news I received the 2nd shipment from the Rockin’ Sock Club! The yarn and pattern are gorgeous! I’ll be posting some pics in a bit, so consider yourself warned!

Before I get to that, here’s some pics of some other lovely yarn I have acquired.

The first I was compelled to buy on St.Patty’s day (can you tell?)

It’s Socks that Rock lightweight in the colorway Lucky. I intend to make these:

Not my pic

Absinthe socks from the latest issue of Knitty. It looks super-complex so that will probably go on the back burner for a while, until I complete another KAL that is starting in April: Shur’tagal socks!

I’m going to knit these for my husband. But, shhh, don’t tell him that the pattern is named after dragon-riders in the fantasy novel, Eragon.

I’ll be knitting them with lightweight STR in Haida, a raven colorway.

I thought I would get my cat Rainbow to help model with the new yarn since she likes watching crows out the window.

It’s weird to call Rainbow “my” cat, because for the longest time my husband and I affectionately referred to her as “temporary cat”. Our next door neighbor was evicted and basically abandoned his cat. I took pity on her and began leaving out food. And after a while, I decided it was easier just to bring her inside until we could find her a new home. You see, we already have two dogs who do not want to share their house with a feline (They’ve tried catching her in the past, when she still lived outdoors) Plus, my husband, for as long as I’ve known him, has claimed to be severely allergic to cats…

So basically, I’ve been keeping the cat in a separate room where I ply her with many comfy sleeping spots, cardboard boxes, and toys, to make up for the fact that she can’t live in the rest of the house.

But it struck me the other day that we’ve had the cat living with us for almost a year now!! And, needless to say, I’ve gotten rather attached to her. So now she is “our” cat, but we still need to work on integrating her with the dogs. After all this time they don’t seem quite as eager to catch and kill her, but I still don’t trust them completely…As for my husband’s allergies, it seems they were a bit of an exaggeration. He’s grown to like the cat as well (even if he won’t quite admit it!).

Anway, I digress! Onto spoilers!

I think this month’s shipment is gorgeous. When I first saw photos of it online, I was a little hesitant because pink isn’t my favorite color. But seeing the skein in person changed my mind. The colors are really quite lovely, and complex. And a pattern by Stephanie Pearl McPhee! I already know these socks are going to be gifts for a special someone who I won’t name because they might lurk on this blog!

So that’s it for now… time to get back to taxes!

Extra Extra! Slow Knitter Completes projects!

I have finally completed my jaywalkers!

I consider these my first real socks – made for me! (The practice acrylic socks don’t count) I’m not sure why these took me so long… maybe it was the method of knitting two on one circular (which was definitely awkward for the first 3rd or so, but became quite efficient once I figured out the process and became more comfortable with it). Maybe it was the pattern itself that slowed me down… I dunno, but I worked on the damn things every day and it still took me 2 months to finish them.

Well, no matter, they are done! And they fit! And they’re knit with “Long Ears”, a  colorway from Indie Dyer’s World of Warcraft sock club! I may play a horde character, but even I can appreciate the lovely night-elf inspired colors!

Well, as I said, at first I was a little bummed at how long it took me to finish these and my general slow-knitting style, but I have been cheered by the fact that I have started a new pair of socks on Tuesday and I’m already almost done with the first sock today. The socks in question are my Leyburns, knit with Socks that Rock in Gypsum. I can’t believe how fast they are flying off my needles… maybe because the sock is basically stockinette stitch with a few slipped stitches. Here’s an earlier shot of  when I first started them:

These are my first toe-up socks and I’m also trying a new technique, using two circular needles to knit one at a time (though I realized later I could have done two-at-a-time this way). Anyway, I’m not sure how I feel about toe-up socks just yet… we shall see when I’m done!

I haven’t made much progress on my Queen of Beads socks, I’m afraid. I think the problem is knitting them on one tiny circular… it hurts my hands to knit that way.  I think I just need to move it onto DPNs or an extra long circular and I’ll feel much better about it.

My insecurities about knitting slow were also put to rest somewhat by a hat I knit for my husband’s grandfather. He’s not doing so well at the moment… he’s in the hospital so I wanted to knit him something that would show him that I’m thinking of him. My husband said his grandpa likes hats and the color brown so it made sense to knit a brown hat (plus, he’s in Wisconsin where it’s still nice and chilly). My husband also stressed that grandpa has a BIG head and most normal hats don’t fit him, so I made an effort to make the hat extra large. I used big needles and double stranded the yarn (Berroco Chunky, which is so cozy and soft). I followed the Basic Cable pattern in Stitch n’ Bitch Nation and finished it in just a couple TV-watching knitting sessions! I know it was chunky yarn and fat needles…. but maybe I’m not as slow a knitter as I feared!

The problem is… it may be a bit TOO big. It was even kind of loose on my hubby’s head when he modeled for me. But either way, it should keep grandpa cozy… I hope he likes it.

In my next post I’ll be mentioning some lovely awards I was given by some of my bloggy friends and I’ll be passing them on! So stay tuned!

Is it March already?

They say March is in like a lion, out like a lamb, but this year, for me, February was all lion.

The entire month I had something going on, so I’ve felt a little disconnected from my precious internets and have been trying to catch up on all my favorite blogs!

The reason for my absence? Well, as I mentioned previously, we had a friend visiting and my husband’s gallery show. Then, the week after that, my husband’s mom and dad came to visit and we spent the week showing them around LA. Then, following that I went snowboarding for a week with some friends. I felted my mohawk hat and rather liked how it turned out, so I was excited to wear it on the slopes…

I wore it the first day of snowboarding and it kept me nice and toasty (as well as visible!) and I received lots of compliments on the slopes. But, after falling and hitting my head, I ended up buying a helmet for the remainder of my trip. As a novice snowboarder I fall A LOT, so I’m glad I switched to a helmet even if it meant I couldn’t make as much use of my knitted hat… oh well!

I’ve been so busy I haven’t been able to get as much knitting done as I would have liked, but I did work on my Jaywalkers a fair bit during my snowboarding trip (they’re almost done!).

I also FINALLY finished my husband’s socks… I swear it felt like they would never end! They’re so big… even too big for my large sock blockers. You can see where I had to change the yarn to a new ball… one of the toes looks like it’s been left out in the sun!

But the most important thing is, my husband likes the socks and they fit him! I’m already looking forward to making him another pair!

Pattern: Mr.Pitt’s Socks (aka Dad Socks) by Kaitlyn Wong

Top Down

Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rocks Medium Weight in Beryl

Size 1 Needles

There they are, my first socks of 2009! I better get crackalackin’ on some more!

Back from a crazy week

So, it’s been a little over a week since I’ve posted, but it feels like forever because I have hardly had any time to work on my various knitting projects! My husband and I barely got any sleep during the week leading up to his show – there was so much to do and we were up until 4 am or later every night! The show itself was a great success, and to celebrate we spent the weekend in Vegas with a friend. I brought some projects along and worked a little during the car trip, but the rest of the time I too busy enjoying Vegas, and was in charge of driving back. Vegas was fun, though… our room on the 53rd floor had a great view of the strip, we ate at a delicious (but expensive) buffet, saw Blue Man Group, and I won $50 at roulette on my first go. But I stopped right after that, which seemed to surprise the guy manning the table. I did have fun losing some dollars on the 1 cent slot machines (next to the old ladies… I guess I’m not what you would call a high-stakes gambler, myself!). It was a good time overall, but I was happy to return home to some normalcy and knitting time.

I haven’t made much progress on my husband’s socks or my jaywalkers, but I could hardly wait to cast on for my Rockin’ Sock Club socks: Queen of Beads.  I’ve heard of some people having problems with knotted or slubby yarn so I took my time when winding the ball… and didn’t see anything. (Phew!)Before I could dive in, I just had to take some more pics:

I’ll post progress pics later… but let me say the tubular cast on is amazing!! I’m knitting the socks one at a time on a teeny-tiny circ. Which, on one hand, is nice and convenient… but it’s almost TOO small… it kind of strains my hands…

I’m going snowboarding in a couple weeks, and since I don’t really have a warm winter hat, I decided to make one. I whipped up a Thorpe hat with some colorful Burly Spun by Brown Sheep. It was a quick project, but the final result isn’t quite as snug as I woud like, though I can tell it will be warm!

I then decided to do another hat that’s been on my queue for a long time… The Punk isn’t Dead Mohawk hat. Another quick knit and this one fits perfectly. It’s supposed to be felted in order to make the mohawk more fuzzy, but I didn’t want the cap itself to shrink. So I’m gonna hand-felt the fringe. Here’s some pics pre-felting:

Well, that’s it for now. I need to get some socks done….

Show and Tell

Phew! I’m still insanely busy… our friend Atom comes in tomorrow and will be staying with us for a week, both for leisure and for helping my husband set up his art show which opens this week. (Atom is a talented furniture designer and he helped make some frames, display cases, laser cuts, etc. for the show). I’ve been cleaning alllll day and my back is aching. I swear, sometimes I feel like I’m 60 years old and not 29. And it’s amazing how antsy and irritable I get when I don’t have a chance to knit. It really does relax me and put my mind at ease – even if I only do a couple rows here and there. But today, I was so busy I didn’t even complete a single row and I can definitely feel the difference. It’s late and I’m exhausted but I may try to get a little knitting done before bed just to help me sleep easier!

Anyway, both my husband and I are really looking forward to seeing Atom again and showing him around LA….. but is it horrible of me to fret that I won’t get much knitting done while he’s here? (So selfish, I know!). Well, I’ll be sure to carry some projects around with me wherever I go and hope for some downtime!

Koto-Chan asked about my husband’s show:

It’s his first show and it will feature some of  his work which can be seen at www.wilhelmstaehle.com and www.silhouettemasterpiecetheatre.com. He’s big into papercuts, Victorian style, and macabre humor! I’m very excited for him, but there’s still much to do! I’m helping him print some booklets which we worked on together (www.dollardreadful.com) and I’m working on some stereoscopic images which we’ll display with an old-timey viewer.

Like the View-Master, only old-school! (Remember those? I used to love mine!)

Anyway… heading off to bed now. But just for the heck of it, here’s a couple pics of my Jaywalkers in progress. I’m knitting them with yarn from the WoW sock club in the Long Ears colorway. I love how the yarn looks with this pattern so far!

I still have to finish my husband’s socks. After running out of yarn I ordered a new skein of Beryl… but the new skein is noticeably lighter in color. I’ll have to tink back a few rows and begin alternating yarn to blend them in better. I just haven’t felt very motivated to do so yet…. but I’ll try to get around to it soon.

Rockin’ Sock Club shipment #1! Spoiler Alert!!

I finally received my first shipment from Blue Moon Fiber Arts Rockin’ Sock Club! I thought the wait was going to drive me crazy…after hearing about people from Japan, Canada, and everywhere in-between getting their packages I seriously began to stalk my mailman. When it comes to mail I am not a patient person!

Luckily, the contents of the package were well worth the wait. Check out all the goodies! In addition to the luscious yarn; a keychain, sticker, button, mini skein, dyer’s notes, and binder pages for keeping notes. And, of course,  the pattern, Queen of Beads, which looks super complex but I’m excited to attempt, nonetheless!

And beads! LeGasp! Color me intimidated. I’ve never worked with beads before but I do love learning new skills so I’m ready to give it a shot. I neglected to take a close up pic of my beads but they are a lovely iridescent teal color.

But the most wonderful thing is the yarn itself… blue is one of my favorite colors and this yarn is gorgeous. It’s dark yet vibrant and is swirled with turquoise and teal. Looking at it makes me think of water rolling and tumbling…

I’m excited to get started but unfortunately this is a crazy week for me. We have a guest staying with us next week so I’ve been cleaning the house and moving crap into storage and I’m been frantically helping my husband prepare for his 1st gallery show which opens next week. The socks may have to wait….(we’ll see how long that lasts!)

Yarn Porn

Yesterday was a happy day for me as I received 2 packages in the mail full of yarny goodness. The first was from Indie Dyer’s World of Warcraft Sock colors with my chosen November and December colors (along with an additional accent skein from November). Prepare for a bunch of yummy pics!

I got Something Finney, a murloc inspired colorway:

I love the autumn-like colors. But I had a hard time turning down the other choice: Rezzing Again, so I got an accent skein of that as well:

And my selection from November: Long Ears, inspired by Night Elves.

I was tempted to pick the other color which was inspired by Taurens, but I couldn’t pass up these luscious hues.

Then, I got a package from Blue Moon Fiber Arts containing a skein of Beryl so I can finish up my husband’s socks. Of course, I wasn’t able to just order the one skein I needed. It just so happened that a couple others jumped into the shopping basket as well!

Fire on the Mountain:

And a skein of Gypsum, which I think I’ll make into Leyburns eventually.

After receiving all this yarn I was excited to cast on for something, so I chose Long Ears and decided to start some Jaywalkers.

Unfortunately, last night I was made of fail. It took me forever to cast on… I had so many problems. I decided to do two-socks-on-one-circular, but it was so frustrating at first… I was using the long tail method and didn’t use enough yarn a couple times. Then I completely lost my ability to simply count the number of stitches I put on the needle. Then I kept joining and twisting, despite my best efforts not to do so. After this happened about 4 times I cast on each sock onto DPNs, joined, knit 3 rows, then transferred them to the circular needle (which, in itself was a feat).

After that, things went smoothly until I realized the socks would be waaay too big for me. The cuff itself was about twice the width of my ankle, and the rest didn’t look too promising. I had decided to knit the medium size based on the measurements given in the pattern. The problem is, my feet are big (size 9), but I have twigs for legs and bony ankles. So I chose the medium size to accomodate my feet, not realizing the cuff would be so loose.

So it looks like I’m gonna start over with the small size and maybe find a way to increase when I get to the foot.

Sigh… it sucks not making progress after wasting a whole night.

Blog gripes

First and foremost, I want to apologize to anyone who had to sign up for a Vox account in order to post a comment on my previous blog. My blog was originally on Livejournal, then I moved it over to Vox without really researching it much, and I didn’t realize that this was the case.

That said, I got kind of annoyed with Vox… it has some cool features but it’s missing some crucial elements I really want (the ability to add custom html content, for starters). I’m really regretted not being on WordPress… almost all my friends use WordPress, including my husband. I was debating making another move, but right now WordPress only allows one to easily import blogs from Livejournal and a couple others, but not Vox. Similarly, Vox does not have a feature where I can export or back up my entries (another annoying thing). So I basically either had to start fresh or manually copy and paste each entry into WordPress…. which actually turned out not to be that bad considering I only have like 17 posts to date. In fact, it only took me about an hour to get everything transferred!

I’m going to make this blog’s look different than my last one. The pink was starting to annoy me. It’s so weird… I go through such strong “color phrases” where I’ll love one color one month, and can’t stand it the next.

There was one year I wore almost nothing but blue. Most recently I was on an orange kick. Right now I’m totally digging purple, which is weird for me because that’s never been one of my favorite colors before.

In other news, I’ve ripped out all my progress on my two-at-a-time Belle Epoque socks. I can live with a few flaws in my knitted work, but the mistakes were starting to pile up – particularly in the sort of lacey-cablely part of the pattern. But now that I have a “feel” for the pattern I’m going to start again and go more carefully this time.

I also went to my LYS last night for their weekly Stitch N’ Bitch and somehow found myself walking out with this:

A Namaste Zuma bag in peacock! I’ve been wanting a good knitting bag for a long time and I think I’ve finally found it! I am a total bag-a-holic. While I don’t own any bags that are “designer” or pricey, (this Zuma is probably the most I’ve paid for a bag), I do have a closet full of them. But out of them all, there isn’t one that really works for holding my projects when I’m on the go. The big ones all have zippers or too few pockets, and the small ones are… well, too small.

The Zuma is deceptively small on the outside, but it really holds a ton of stuff. I love the magnet closures and the front pocket has mutliple slots which are perfect for holding my circular needles and iphone. Right now it’s holding my dreaded Avalon hoodie and my Noro striped scarf!

Now I need to plan more outings so I can use it more. (One of the setbacks of working from home is that I don’t get out very much…)

The Never-Ending Socks

I had one goal for this weekend: finish my husband’s socks because I am really sick of knitting them and I want my sock-plate clear for when I start the Rockin’ Sock Club. (Sock plate…. ewww)

But…….

That’s right, I ran out of yarn. I can’t say I was that surprised, but I was in a stubborn state of denial until the bitter end. Even before I turned the heel I began to have that sinking feeling that I didn’t have enough yarn to finish, but I preferred to look the other way and say “I’m sure it’ll be fine – a little yarn goes a long way!” (Let me just say I am terrible at guessing how much yarn is needed to complete something and I was hopelessly optimistic).

Well, a little didn’t go a long way at all. I still have about 5 inches left to knit:

So I’ll have to order another skein and hope that it looks semi-similar to the original skein, which I purchased about 2 years ago. The most painful thing is knowing that the socks still aren’t done. I swear, they are testing my patience and are making me more prone to falling victim to Second Sock Syndrome again. I wish I hadn’t knit the leg part so long because then I’d probably have enough yarn to finish. But mostly, I wish my husband’s feet weren’t so big! Uggh… they will be completed though, mark my words!

In which I find myself with more time on my hands, hence the lengthy post.

Every other Tuesday morning, my LYS has a thing called “Breakfast Club” where, for $5, you can come in a couple hours before the store opens to knit and enjoy good company, coffee and bagels. It’s sort of become one of the highlights of my, well, fortnight. And it’s pretty much the only time I go to my LYS to sit and knit for a couple (or few) hours and spend time with other knitters (and crocheters).

Seeing as how I’m fortunate enough to work from home, I realize I could, hypothetically, go to the LYS like every day of the week and hang out, especially since it’s only a 15 minute bike ride away. But, of course, that wouldn’t be very productive – especially since the yarn store also doubles as a black hole where all time and space becomes distorted. Therefore,  what feels like an hour and a half is actually more like… uh, 5.

5 hours is what I spent there today I’m somewhat shocked to admit. But I think it’s ok because I’m sort of in job-limbo. (More on that in a second). Anyway, I enjoyed myself as always but I did not get an inch of progress out of my dreadful Avalon Hoodie. It wasn’t for lack of trying. I had to rip back 3 times because, no matter how closely I tried to follow the directions, my collar was not turning out at all like it was supposed to. And looking at the photo of the finished product, I can not conceive of how the corresponding pattern could possibly result in that same look, because, believe me, I’ve tried. I do find it mildly suspcious that in ALL 4 photos of the finished product, the model’s hair or hand just so happens to be covering up the crucial part of the pattern upon which I am stuck. (I could just be paranoid and delirious, however.)

What are you hiding, woman?!

As of right now, I am screwing the pattern and just improvising something that I (hope) will work. But I have to say, I am getting dangerously close to loathing this project and wanting to rip it all out and never speak of it again.

I should have just spent those 5 hours finishing my husband’s remaining sock.

I was so frustrated I had to buy some yarn to soothe myself. I bought some beloved Noro to make a striped scarf. I wanted to use Silk Garden but there were no colors available that I liked. So I went with Kureyon. And instead of colors mixed with dark stripes, I’m going to try a light-striped version.

I also picked up these cute and teeny little circs. I had no idea they came in this size! I’m gonna try to knit a sock on them, because double pointed needles get on my nerves sometimes (although they are quite efficient).

Anyway, back to the job-limbo. For the past 5 years I have worked for a certain comic book company as the writer and illustrator for one of their monthly books. It has been a most satisfying run, but alas, all good things must come to an end. Last week I completed my final issue. And for the first time in years I find myself without a deadline.  I do have other projects lined up but nothing as reliable as that first one, and those are still in early-stages. So right now I’m sort of in project limbo and have a bit more time on my hands until things pick up on my other projects. Part of me is like “woo hoo!” because I suddenly have some time to get some personal projects complete (I’m trying to write a novel), and of course, knitting! But another part of me feels a little adrift and sad at losing such a big part of my regular work routine.

Right after I finished my final issue, I felt a little melancholy and decided that I needed both a pick-me-up as well as some kind self-congratulatory prize for my 42 issue run. And what better way to acheive  that than with a little retail therapy?

In what was clearly a haze of desperation and sorrow, I found myself signing up for Blue Moon Fiber Art’s Rockin’ Sock Club. I can’t be held responsible for my actions, really.

I must be crazy because I have only completed ONE pair of worsted acrylic socks to date. But, when I’m learning something new I ususally like to just dive right into it and tackle it head on. So what better way to learn to knit nice socks than to subscribe to a sock club that will surely have patterns that will drive me insane? Of course, the yarn is main draw to the club. BMA has some of the most gorgeous colorways out there. I ordered two skeins of their yarn back in my early knitting days (when paying more than 5 dollars for yarn was ghastly and risque!), and I loved and treasured them so much I couldn’t bear to use them. As a result, they have been sitting in a bowl on my coffee table as decoration for the past 3 years! Of course, for my husband’s socks I finally relenquished one of them (Beryl) and used it. And I love the yarn so much I am totally sold.

One last note…. it seems I have been wearing my aforementioned acrylic socks a little too much. (More like slippers than socks, really. I only washed them once, but I swear they don’t smell!). It is a little painful to see a gaping hole in something I spent hours on… but it kinda just makes me love ‘em even more.