Knitting 40 shades of green

Finished Socks

I finally finished my sister's socks.  I am very nervous about the fit. You may remember that I knit her a pair before and they didn't fit so I gave them away. So I worry...I could have made the cuffs a little longer but I was afraid I would get into the calf shaping issues as the calves in my family are quite shapely (read freakishly large).  I do hope they fit, I wonder if I should make her wait until her birthday in August to get them? she isn't very patient about surprises. She shakes and rattles presents and does everything she can to trick you into telling her what it is. When I was pretty young she talked me into helping me wrap my Christmas presents. She would even help me wrap the one for her and keep her eyes closed the whole time...so without further ado, here are my sister's socks.

Pattern: Wendy's toe up sock pattern

Yarn:  Trekking XXL color 77 from Springwater Fiber Workshop

Size:  to fit my sister's 9.5 size foot (I hope)

Started:  February 4, 2006

Finished:  June 14,2006

Notes: 

• Increased needle size from US1 to US2 after the heel turn.
• Added 6 stitches to the ankle
• Used 3X2 rib

And because she mentioned on the phone that she is excited about her daughter getting a knitted gift: more on that later this week.

Slowly Progressing

I mentioned in an earlier post [insert here] that I was in a bit of a funk. Well, because my mother reads and she worries, I thought I would report back. I paid the bills (including the tickets for not having a current safety inspection on the car). I got the car inspected (even waiting until the second week of the month I had to wait half an hour for the inspector -- good thing I had my Socks that Rock!). My knitting ennui seems to have lifted a couple of weeks ago when I found myself hand balling sock yarn: this and this
soon became neat little center pull balls ready to be cast on and while I wanted to start knitting right away, I thought maybe the satisfaction of a quick finish of a mostly completed project was in order so I pulled out Vera and joined the shoulders, and then went on a search for a #6 circular to pick up stitches for the collar. I found it hanging out with the sleeves and back of Ronnie. I grabbed the smaller #4 and cast on the bottom of the front and then took the #6 to pick up stitches before I tied it up in the front of this sweater. I soon had this to show for my effort:
I am not sure how I feel about the little bit of openness at the V but it is starting to grow on me. However, before I picked up for the arm holes, I found myself with a meeting that needed mindless knitting and Ronnie was ready to go on the larger needle. Well Vera was put on hold until I could free up another US6 needle which I solved by buying one, except you remember my nieces birthday that I missed? I am knitting her a quick cotton dress on, you guessed it a US6 circular.

Following the crowd

I sent the club a wire stating, PLEASE ACCEPT MY RESIGNATION. I DON'T WANT TO BELONG TO ANY CLUB THAT WILL ACCEPT ME AS A MEMBER.

Groucho Marx
US comedian with Marx Brothers (1890 - 1977)

Several months ago I ran into information on a sock club for Socks That Rock! and while I clicked over and checked it out I decided not to order at that time. Then when Cynthia posted her package, I had to have one too. I love surprises in the mail, even if it is just a handwritten card. I went to the Blue Moon Fiber Arts site and they were not accepting any new members. Apparently this was an exclusive club. So, I said in my best Groucho Marx voice "I wouldn't belong to any club that would have me as a member" and signed up on the waiting list.

Well, sometime in May, I get an e-mail announcing they were accepting more members to the sock club. Well, Groucho Marx be damned, I wasn't going to be left our this time. Before I knew it, a box of goodies landed on my doorstep. As you have probably seen around the blogosphere, it is a binder for storing patterns and useful information, a bumper sticker, a pin, a mini emergency sock yarn key chain, two post cards, a pattern and a skein of the medium weight Socks That Rock! sock yarn in color "fairgrounds". Here is a close up of that skein. This kit sat on my couch for about a week as I finished some things up and weekend before last I found myself hand balling sock yarn and then casting on for the Rock and Wave pattern included in the the kit.
That is linen stitch -- I first used it on a Manos vest that I was designing as my fourth or fifth project and halted when I wasn't sure what to do for the arm holes -- I should dig that out. Here is a closer shot.
I have finished the cuffs and need to pick up stitches for the foot of the sock. But that takes paying attention so in the mean time I have been knitting on Ronnie -- updates later this week.

Secret pal strikes again

In the middle of a very crazy week, I come home late from some meeting or another in the evening and what should be on my front porch stoop but this cheerful package.  Yes, it was another package from my secret pal.  Well, of course being a person of restraint, I waited until I was 3 feet inside the house before ripping it open.  Inside were more needles from Gracie & Company.

That is size 11, 13 and 19.  I think I will have to get a vase to display these needles in they are too pretty to be put in a drawer.  As I dug further into the package ripping and grabbing at the tissue gently removing the various gifts, I encountered a gorgeous bookmark made by a local artisan in Connecticut.

Isn't it just beautiful.  The photo doesn't do it justice.  The glass bead hanging from it is absolutely stunning, not the dark blob sphere it came out in my crappy photo.  But that is not all, deeper in the cheerful pouch was this: 

It is hand deodorizer for cooks.  (Sorry about the glare).  What a great package my Secret Pal sent.  Thanks, Secret Pal!!

Little Pink Squares

A few months ago Cynthia made a request for pink blanket squares for her niece Grace who is suffering from Leukemia.  I have a soft spot for knitting for cancer patients as much of my stash was acquired while in a difficult time dealing with my father's cancer. The response to Warming Grace has been heart warming and many, many, many sick children will benefit from the love of the knit blog community.  I quickly posted to Cynthia's original plea for squares.  I dug through my stash and choose some pink yarn and then learned that it had to be 100% natural fiber and that the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino wouldn't do.  I dug a little deeper and came up with two lovely skeins of yarn. (Classic Elite Attitude in cotton and mulberry silk).  I wound them into balls and started knitting.  I quickly finished these 5 squares but did not mail them off since I wanted to finish off the yarn.

Then I was struck by the malaise that kept me from accomplishing just about anything.  But in my knitting bag those squares were looking at me every time I went to pull out my purse.  So, I pulled the needles back out and started knitting -- I came up with this square:

With just a bit more knitting I finished up the two skeins of yarn for a total of almost 8 squares.  Yeah, almost.. .

See that one in front with the needle sticking out?  It needs about 4 more rows but I am out of yarn.  I know that I have some more of this yarn and have found the other colors but I will have to do some stash organizing to find it because it just isn't showing up.  I hope to mail these out this weekend.

Finished Socks have arrived

Here I present you with my finished Sockapaloooza socks.  They are knit from hand dyed singles bought on cones from The Green Mountain Spinnery and then dyed at a workshop I took with Kathryn Alexander at her home and studios in upstate New York.  The pattern is my own devising based on the techniques that I learned from Kathryn when I took a surface design class with her at The Studios at Cannon Hill a year ago April. The studios are now closed while Georgeanne recovers from cancer but she hopes to reopen them in 2007.

Here is a slightly wonky picture where I tried on the socks (which are huge on me).

The surface texture of this entrelac style makes the ankles (cuffs) kind of loose and this held true for my sock pal Dana.  When I make another pair, I will consider going down a needle size and then making the cuffs on a half to a full size smaller.  I thought about this at the time but without being able to measure -- I just wasn't sure.  But I figure, erring on the big side is better than erring on the small side. 

I balled up a couple of skeins of sock yarn this weekend and pulled out some projects that need some finishing in an effort to clean things up a bit around here.  So if all goes as planned there will be more finished objects soon.

Thanks, Secret pal!

h I have had a very busy week this week between work and meetings and social obligations and I came home late on Wednesday to find a package on my front porch stoop.  How exciting, and I haven't even ordered anything in the mail.  Maybe it was the good karma of finally getting my sockapaloooza package mailed. The return address was in Maine.

Inside the shipping carton was a box.  It was sealed with a sticker that read Gracie & Company.  Inside was blue tissue paper and this note:

It reads The enclosed gift has been sent to you from Your Secret Pal.  Enjoy!! (Sorry about the blurry photo) . 

You can bet I quickly ripped into that tissue paper and what did I find?

Beautiful wooden needles.  They are hand crafted of Birch in sizes 8, 7, 6, and 4.  And another picture out of their protective plastic sheaths.   

And a close-up of the beautiful wooden beads on the end of each one.

What a wonderful gift!!  But wait, there is more... in a second bundle of blue tissue were three skeins of Knit Picks Shine  in Butter which will be perfect for some lemon hats for shower gifts of co-workers (yes, it is true, more people that I work with are pregnant  -- that will be 6 work baby showers this year.

Thanks secret pal!! It is just what I needed.

black holes

I feel as if I have been in a black hole for a couple of weeks.  I really haven't been knitting.  I haven't been blogging and I haven't seemed to have gotten anything else done either.  I guess I have had some things to sort out which have kept me distracted from just about everything. 

• The bills -- well they have barely been paid.
• The car's inspection is over due -- 2 tickets in the same day.
• the knitting deadlines -- all ignored.
• I even missed my niece's birthday good thing at 2 she didn't notice too much

I did finally send my sock pal her socks.  As the worst sock pal ever, I stuffed the box with a few extra goodies in hopes of forgiveness for her patience but I know that I don't deserve it.  I feel so bad about letting her down and not getting the socks out on time.  I wanted to send chocolate but the weather has turned so much warmer that I had to find something else.

That is Virginia Peanut Brittle, kiogu, Jelly Belly jellybeans, some self striping jacquard yarn from Elann and a pin from MD Sheep and Wool.  I do hope she likes it.  Since she mentioned on her blog that she knows who I am and she hasn't pictured the socks on her blog I will wait to show them here.  Here is a picture of the box ready to be closed up and shipped.

I am really nervous that the socks aren't going to fit (and that they are *too* fun).  I did enjoy making them and can hardly wait to make myself some.  I guess this is one of the problems with knitting for others -- you never know how your work will be received.  I hope she likes them.  I will post pictures in the next couple of days.