May I Just State for the Record...

...that I find knitting heel flaps tedious? Truly. All that back and forth and back and forth. And the "eye of partridge" slip stitching makes it seem like you're not making any progress. Sigh.

No pictures at the moment, but I'm to the heel flap of sock #1 of my Jayawlkers. I'm using Wildfoote in "Rhapsody" and I added 8 stitches (2 to each repeat) to make it wide enough around for my beefy legs (and also to accommodate my gauge of 8.5 sts/1"). ;)

Fraternal Socks!

These socks are more fraternal twins, rather than identical, as the brown/blue self-patterning yarn was left over from a pair of socks that I made and gifted away pre-blog and it ran out sooner than I thought it would. I've given them to Marikal. :-)

Socks!

Can you believe that Jenn had to remind me to post these here? I think I'm losing my mind. :0

Anyway, they're socks, they're purple, the details can be found on my blog. :)

More little sox

OK here are more "Little Sox" to send to Germany......this brings my total to 8 pairs.All packaged up and ready to go!!!!

Sorry no more pics of sox as have not been knitting any adult sox lately...too busy knitting other things......but will soon be back to knitting sox.

Thrummed Socks - Take 2

Finally Blogger lets me post pictures again! This is the beginning of thrummed sock I'm making for a friend who is tied to a wheelchair and and needs something to keep her feet warm and protected. I'm using a 100% Merino yarn and Merino fiber. Now if I only had someone to make the thrums, that would really speed up the knitting.

Die Roten Herzensocken sind vollständig!

Aka: The Red Heart Socks are complete!

O.k....please forgive me if that's a poor translation. I was using a free online translator because I just found it and have been having fun playing around with it. :D Anyway, the Red Heart Socks that I posted a WIP pic of a week or two ago are now complete. I put in contrasting toes and heels (the heels were made as "after-thought" heels) and used Schachemayr Regia 4-ply yarn.

Wow, that's a lot of socks!

From a meeting of knittyboarders today. Check out my blog for details.

Also, my completed Dublin Bay socks:

Guess what I've gone and agreed to.

Teach a sock class for my LYS. Only one student, she wants to learn how to do them on 2 circs and the lady that teaches the sock class for the LYS hates that technique and refuses to teach it. So, after repeated requests to teach a sock class (geez, I've only knit 3 socks and a pair and a half of fuzzy feet) I gave in. The girls a beginner knitter, and we're not sure if she's ever done decreases or increases, but I'm gonna give it a shot. I'm nervous. I haven't taught anything since I was a camp counselor 10 years ago. I think I'm going to have a lot on my needles pretty soon. I'm going to have to figure out a lesson plan, get an example started, two really. One for the present class, and an example for what's next I think. Ahh! Any advice? E-mail me if you can help talk me through this a bit.

Now I can cross the street, illegally!!

Finally done with Jaywalker! Took me over a month. Not unusual for me but I have been able to get socks done much faster. My printer took a dump on me and so I couldn't print out the pattern to take with me when I went places. So. Jay remained a home-knitting project.

I know, the stripes don't match up. I don't care. :) They're nice and comfy and warm. And that's all that matters.


ETA: I'm now working on baby Jaywalkers for Toddlerbutt.

Now I'm one of the cool girls!

I was jealous of all the Pomatomus owners, so I started a pair of my very own. I made the cuff a bit shorter and knit a short-row heel. I'm using Fyberspates yarn which I got during SP5.

The colours are a bit darker than in the picture though. Someday I'll conquer the settings of my camera!

Done!

I was so ashamed at my sock progress, I went and finished it. I realized my Nephew's birthday is in a month though, and have to do a pair of fuzzy feet before I cast on for the second Jaywalker. These will be for my sister's birthday in May. So I have time, AND motivation. So there. =P

When the Jasminbush doesn't have leaves, it grows socks...

Yesterday I had a complete brain failure and continued knitting the cuff the way I had knit the foot. That is: lacey pattern in front, stockinette stitch in back. Having knit about 5 cms this way I suspected there was something wrong because it just didn’t look right. So I unraveled, gathered my braincells and finished the sock. It was just right in time for the wonderful sunny, though ice cold, day as they are like a first sign of spring. Another sock for the Babysock line also sneaked into the picture.

If you happen to read my other blog, you just discovered that I'm very lazy and post the same thing twice.

I wanna be like Bean

I wanna have cool Pomatomus socks like Bean, so I cast on for them last night. I'm using Trekking (love, love, love the Trekking!).





What d'ya think? The top picture is closest to the true life colors.

Slowly, but surely

Well, I finally got around to taking some progress pics of my Jaywalkers. I have been working on them - I swear! I didn't get to knit much of anything the past couple weeks except for a dishcloth or two. But, last week I was able to go to two knitting group meetings, and I worked only on the Jays at one of them (the other I knew I'd be talking a lot more and didn't want to screw up, so I picked a dishcloth).

So, Here's my excuse for not finishing even the first one yet. These were supposed to be for me. I started them out two on two circs, and didn't get past the 1x1 ribbing before I screwed that all to hell, so I ripped out, and started over. I did swatch, but what I didn't do was actually measure my ankle. They're too tight on me. I should have stopped when I was halfway down the cuff and noticed it. But I couldn't bring myself to do it. So they're for my sister, who has the right measurements for them. And now that they aren't for me, I'm not working on them as hard as I should. *sigh* Here it is:




And another reason, I'm not sure I like the colors as much as I did when I bought the yarn. It's that garish bit of browny-orange I think. If it weren't for the pink, that would be one fugly colorway.

Oh, and I wanted to show you this neat contraption I made:




It's a dishwasher detergent holder-thingy. I cut a slit in the top, and taped it all off with some masking tape so there'd be no sharp edges. It works so very nicely to keep the yarn coming without getting all tangly.

And cmtigger, you inspired me to flash my sock yarn stash. Mind you this Jaywalker is my 3rd individual sock EVER but I've already amassed enough yarn to make 21 unique pairs of socks:



Pardon Ripple, he has to be around every time I take the camera out. And now, as I looked at my stash, I see two colors that would be perfect for pomatomus. The bluey-green sockotta, and the blue Trekking XXL. *sigh* I'd better get the fit and gauge right on those.

Little boy socks

My little monkey has been begging for a pair of socks to call his own. Who am I to deny such a request? I whipped these up in 2 days, using a basic pattern from Lucy Neatby's Cool Socks Warm Feet book. They are made with not quite one skein of Koigu in blue and just a smidge of black, also Koigu, and size 1 dpns.

No pictures yet, but some progress made

As I'm not quite right in my head, I'm knitting on three pairs of socks at the same time. I hope to get 2 pairs finished this weekend.
My 2nd Opal petticoat sock just needs 4 inch of the cuff and I have to knit a 2nd baby sock. Once they are finished I'll concentrate on the thrummed socks I make for a friend. I'm using a navy 100% merino yarn and pink/white/purple merino fiber for the thrums. If the weather is a bit friendlier tomorrow I'm back with pictures.

Nyah Nyah

I can't believe it!! Becky sent me this: The pattern and yarn for the Tulips and Gingham Socks from Knitpicks!! I screamed when I opened the box. I'm sweating! But oh, not on the yarn of course. :D Now I'll be madly finishing off the Jay's and Pomatomus just so I can start these lovelies. And K, Guess what? The second Jay is NOT too long so :p. teehee. It's just right(which prolly means the first one was too long and I just said F it, huh?) Oh well, what' s done is done.

*breathe deep*

I'm still shaking my head in amused disbelief as I type this. Bec, you raging sock addict!(and I can just hear her going " Yeah well, it takes one to know one!") Teehee.. ThangQ soooo much!! Love ya hun!!

Little sox

I have started to knit "little sox" to send to Germany. (See previous post). I went searching in the sock stash for left over bits only to discover that most of my sock yarn is geared for boys and are all green, grey and blues, so I went to my LYS to see what they had on offer, but their colours were worse than mine! However they had some really nice cotton/wool/nylon mix in pinks and purples that will just be spot on for girls. (I will post some pics of them later.)

Please excuse the lumpy green sox, but they are stuffed with tissues so they will stand up!!!!!!

Red Heart Socks

This is my first attempt at true Fair Isle. I'm using Regia 4-ply. I'm thinking of putting red heels and toes on these. I did the color work with the socks on DPNs to make sure that the tension was correct and then switched to ML for the straight stockinet parts.

Monkee Socks, and more socks!

First, go check out Monkee's amazing socks.

Ok, now that you're in awe, you'll forget that I am posting a entry without pictures of my socks. But I did start a new pair of socks. They're purple. More to come. I'm almost done with this sweater and it has top priority.

Babysocks!

These are the first socks for the Opal "Babysock Event". I used Lorna's Laces Shepherd and it was a quick knit. I've already started a second pair, this time a bit bigger and in Opal Prisma in blue.
Some more information from the importer of Opal yarn in the US is here: http://sockenwolle.de/index2.html
at the bottom of the page is a link in english.

okay, a little late, but here's my stash

Sorry for two posts today......
First picture here is my Opal yarns. The one with the black lable is the silk blend. The rest are the wool/nylon blend.

Now, my random yarns- top left hand corner is lorna's laces, three skeins and two balls. Under that is a skein of regia, and a ball of Anne. On the right of the lorna's laces is a ball of jawoll cotton, a rewound ball of mellianweit (I don't feel like looking up the spelling), 4 skeins of Wildfoote, on the top right corner is jawoll jaquard, with a ball of magic stripes underneath.
Now, back to the bottom row. Next to the Anne is two skeins of koigu, a skein of CTH, 4 skeins of Elann's sock it to me Essential, two of sockatta and two bags of lang BeBe in the bottom right corner.
Finally, my knitpicks stuff.

I didn't get pictures of the yarns I've dyed myself.

Zebra socks!!!

Knit by Jenn, modelled by me!



Thanks Jenn, they fit great!

Oh, NO! a yarn is leaving us....

I've recently learned that Knitpicks is discontinuing Dancing
So if you want to use this yarn, you'll need to get it soon!

My finished Jaywalkers

Used almost 2 full skeins of Lorna's Laces in a "special for Purl" colorway (I think it's called pink blossom), and size 1 dpns. Did the pattern exactly as written, using the larger size. They're great. I love them. For more pics on the travels of these socks, go here.

Next socks on the needles, some 1x1 rib socks in Koigu for the little man. He likes ankle socks, and this is my progress for just over an hour's worth of knitting:

Sock Progress...

Finally! Got the system up and running again. Stupid me forgot all my passwords. You won't believe what I had to go through to remember how to get in here just to post this.

I THOUGHT I was ready for the heel flap of Pomatomus til I reread the pattern. Yep, you guessed it. Another chart repeat before I could knit the heel. No biggie. By now, I've practically memorized the pattern. Just a few more rows of the charf and THEN I can knit the heel. No kidding!! Jaywalker's sock number 2 is also almost ready for the heel flap. I've committed THAT pattern to memory and I had to stop for a bit to catch up on Pomo and because I didn't have my trust tape measure with me to make sure the leg wouldn't turn out too long. Since I'm home now, I can measure to see how much longer to make it.

So, on with the show! On the left, Jaywalker, on the right, Pomatomus. The Jays are on size 1's and the Poma's are on size 0s.



Whatcha think?

Finished Afterthought

Here is the first finished pair of socks with after thought heels. These are part of the sock swap with Ariel. Things I've learned:

1. When picking up the stitches for the heel and ripping out the scrap yarn, it is best to run a set of DPNs that are 2-3 sizes smaller than your working needles through the live stitches. It is best to do this before you begin taking out the scrap yarn. The smaller size helps keep the stitches from getting stretched out at the "gusset". A teeny tiny crochet hook to help pick out the scrap yarn is also useful.
2. When making socks with after thought heels, one must do a bit more planning to ensure that the overall length of the foot of the sock is correct. This is not hard, just something to remember.
3. People watching you KIP will never be able to figure out what you are making, since the sock is just a long tube until the heels go in.

My timid sockyarn stash

It's timid, because it's so terribly tiny compared to the other stashes. ;-)

OK, so the oddballs first. I promise I will get used to the way Blogger uploads the pictures.
This is all Opal except the pastel on top - that's ONline and the two orange/pink balls, which are Lorna's Laces.


I've been giving away sockyarn left and right recently, so there's not much left at the moment. But I'm pretty sure that a trip to the Opal factory store will take place at the end of April!


The two top rows are Opal, the bottom row is Fyberspates, Knitpicks, Helloyarn, Knitpicks Colour your own and Leion Brand Magic Stripes. I didn't bother to drag out the other hanks of Knitpicks Colour your own, which still are a boring white.

FO, WIP and sock stash

Robert's sox were finished at the weekend when I was away at SKIPnorth (see http://gourdongirl.blogspot.com for details)My friends daughter said they looked like elf shoes, so he calls them his Legolas sox!!!!


These are my current WIP on the sox front. They are knitted from Opal in zebra stripe pattern. They are for me, me, me, to wear under my big boots.



Oh well since everyone else has done it I thought I would join in too...only thing was DH caught me taking the pics and wondered how many pairs of sox one could knit!!!
These are all my OPAL yarns, the 4 at the front are left over balls for knitting kids sox.




These balls are a mixture of Regia, Lorna's Laces, Knit Picks, Lana Grossa and Sock it to me. I'm sure I have some more, but gave up looking before I got to the bottom of the stash!!

Get rid of your oddballs!

Shona encouraged me to copy a post I made on the knittyboard here, because some of you might be interested in it.

The Opal sockyarn factory will hold an international sock-knitters-meeting in late May.

Find more information here: http://home.arcor.de/lotta9/startseite_english.html

They are also calling all sockknitters to produce gazillions of baby socks which will be hung on a clothes line and maybe get into the Guinness book of world records. This is not the main purpose of all that knitting though. The socks will be donated to charity institutions, such as shelters for abused women and their children.

I'm not sure if I can make it there in person, but will sure be donating socks. So come join the fun and get rid of your oddballs! ;)

Answer the call

for baby socks! Thanks goes to Susann for posting this info. on the knittyboards and to Shona for pointing it out to me. This will be a charity event to 1) see if there can be a record breaking chain of sock knitters and B) knit baby socks for shelters. I'll be getting involved. :)


http://home.arcor.de/lotta9/startseite_english.html