What happened to my post

I have no idea what caused this but the first post I wrote yesterday ended up on my other blog, Knitting New Scarves. That's a group blog. When I went to Blogger's dashboard my post was listed on my Knitdad blog. A little later it was gone. But I did get a nice email/comment from the author of Knitting New Scarves, Lynn Barr, that my post had shown up over there.

She also asked what it was like to knit with unraveled yarn. It was a bit off-putting at first. But I got used to it and let the yarn just behave however it wanted to. So some areas have a more pronounced texture than others. If you've ever worked with Cascade Fixation you'll have some idea of what it's like. The tension is irregular and it's tempting to pull the yarn too tightly. I haven't washed the new socks yet but I've been assured that once they're washed the uneven stitches will settle down and the surface will be consistent.

Socks for me!

(Grrr! I'm having to re-create this post since the one I originally wrote has vanished. No idea what happened.)

I finally finished a pair of socks for me. My first ever! My friend L (of L&H fame) gave me this Conjoined Creations Flat Feet yarn back in January or February. I've tried several times to come up with something that worked with the yarn. I finally decided to use the basic sock pattern from Folk Socks by Nancy Bush. Except I used a short row heel and a Kitchener stitch finish.



So, here they are. I really like how they feel. They're quite comfortable. I'd make myself some more socks if I didn't have such big feet. Well, my feet aren't unusually big but still those extra couple of inches are sort of discouraging.

I rushed home from the yarn shop on Saturday so I could catch the opening play of the OSU/USC game. It's a good thing I did because otherwise I'd have missed OSU's only scoring play. Still it was better than UCLA did.

It's a trunk show!

I've been away from the blog for a while. Mostly because I've been uninspired by what I've been knitting lately. That happens a lot when I'm trying to finish up projects that have been hanging around for far too long. They're no longer interesting but they're close enough to being finished that it goes against my Puritan ethic to not finish them. Anyway, I'm here for the time being to let you know about the Shibori Trunk Show that is at A Stitch in Time (the shop where I teach a couple of days a week, in case you've forgotten) from now through next weekend. And we have a lot of the Alchemy yarns that are used in the pieces. Really, the pieces are much better looking than my too quickly taken photo suggests.

We also have a few new yarns in so you could check those out as well.

Walking with dinosaurs and other stuff

Last night we went Walking with Dinosaurs. It was a lot of fun. I found this video link (it's probably illegal since the announcer specifically said no videos or cameras allowed). I can just imagine the number of nightmares this show caused. Lots of very young kids in the audience.

But that's not what you came for.



This is what I bought on Saturday at the Fishbowl Sale. I only got 25% off this time but it was enough to keep my purchases under $100. Some Addi Turbo lace needles, a couple of ceramic buttons, some short Brittany needles, a skein of Mountain Colors Bearfoot, the dark blue, and two skeins of Chameleon Bambino sock yarn.

It was a great afternoon, sitting around with friends, knitting and being silly. But the thing I'm most excited about is this:



A skein of Sundara sock yarn in a colorway called Bird of Paradise. The colors in the photo are not quite accurate. It's much more intense. This is going to be so much fun to knit. A gift from the fabulous and ever generous L (of L&H fame). She knows I like orange.

Gotta go.

"Fishbowl" sale

It's a yarn sale really. No fishbowls at all. Just in case you're not familiar with the concept - after you're finished shopping and all your purchases are rung up, you pull a number from the fishbowl. That number will be the amount of discount you get on your purchases.

Unraveled is having a one day only fishbowl sale. It's tomorrow, August 23. Discounts range from 20% to 75%. Last time they had one of these I got 75% off. So it does happen. The discount applies to already heavily discounted merchandise so it's really a great deal. I'm going with a friend who also happens to have some gift certificates. A sale like this is just enough to make me decide to get some yarns that I've been hesitating about buying. Store opens at 11AM.

Broken.

Tuesday is laundry day. Every other Tuesday actually. So I'm all set to get started but the washer is out of order. It usually takes a couple of days for the service company to come and fix things. So, laundry delay and another day's plans are messed up.

The display on my alarm clock is acting strange. Sometimes I get nonsense symbols, sometimes it says 12:00 when it's actually 4:00 and sometimes it works just fine. Looks like a trip to Target is coming up.

The batteries in my Walkman died this morning. Make a note to buy more batteries while I'm at Target.

And now it looks like my knitting group is disintegrating. Some people have drifted away. Some rarely show up. And our hostess has been having lots of scheduling conflicts that have meant we're not meeting on a regular basis. She's already announced that we won't be getting together until sometime after Oct. 15. I've already suggested that we just make it an indefinite hiatus. This is sad because we've been meeting for about five years on a pretty much once a week basis. I've considered having it at my place but that's pretty unrealistic given the small size of my condo and the limited amount of light sources I have. Not to mention how the cat freaks out when there are "strangers" present. And other peoples' allergies. And there's almost no parking available in my neighborhood because of the community college that's near my house. Etc.

I have options at least. I get to knit with a lot of my friends when I'm at work. I get together with one or two friends on occasion. It's just hard to let go of the group though. We'll see what happens in a couple of months.

An hour later.

Now the water has been turned off so one of the condos that is being remodeled can have some work done. I think maybe I'd better just go somewhere else for the day.

Window shopping

Not much going on at the moment. I did a bit of knitting yesterday on a couple of different pairs of socks. That's about it. The humidity is taking a toll on my joints. My hands hurt too much to knit for very long. Ibuprofen helps when I remember to take it.

So. Today I'm going with a friend to a couple of yarn shops. I've been to both of these shops recently and I'm not looking for anything in particular. Just window shopping. But my friend, a fairly new knitter, is curious to see what other shops have to offer and since she has to resume her teaching schedule soon we thought this would be a good time to go. I'll also be looking for some yarn for a couple of friends who put in their requests.

Some socks

If you're on Ravelry and have looked at my projects page sometime in the past month or so, you will already have seen these socks. I made them for a friend of mine for her birthday which was a couple of months ago. We finally managed to get together this weekend at Unraveled. There were lots of other people there as there were two rather large classes in progress plus many other people who just came to sit and knit. Anyway, the socks were a hit. They fit well and she was tickled with the colors.



And, I finished the Noro Silk Garden Sock Yarn socks. I had plenty of yarn. I made the legs about half an inch shorter than usual. Next time I'll know better. This yarn is so much more pleasant to knit with than the Kureyon sock yarn. And you get to use a bigger needle.



Now that those are out of the way I will attempt, for the fourth time, to get a sock that I like using the Flat Feet yarn that I got as a gift a few months ago. Have you seen this stuff? It's fun. I'm trying to make socks for myself. So far I've made the wrong size, twice, and changed my mind about the overall length at least once. I've settled on a 2x2 rib but there's not enough to photo as yet.

It's gonna be a long day

I have no photos today. Sorry. Nothing to show you that you haven't seen already. The second Noro sock is well underway.

So why is it going to be a long day? Mostly because I didn't get very much sleep last night. Only four hours instead of my usual six or so. I got home from Thursday night knitting later than usual and the cat woke me at four, as usual. I thought I'd find time for a nap before I go to work but that hasn't worked out. I may spend part of the day standing up in order to stay awake.

I have the Noisy Ladies group first thing in the morning. That's not an official title, just an observation. And then I'm supposed to start a newish knitter on her first pair of socks, including using dpns for the first time.

Fridays are fun though. I usually see several of my peeps in the afternoon. However, a couple of people are out of town so it may be slower than usual. But I'm looking forward to going to dinner with L&H (of L&H fame).

The Ram Club

A few weeks ago I signed up for a sock yarn club. My first. The yarns are being shipped now. I got mine on Monday. The spoiler alert is for anyone who may be in this club and who doesn't want the surprise spoiled. I don't think anyone in the sock club actually reads my blog but just in case, there it is.



The club is put on by The Unique Sheep. The owner is a member of the Men Who Knit forum on Ravelry. The designer is also a member of that group.

The premise of the club is that most sock yarn clubs do not provide enough yarn to make a pair of man-sized socks. And the patterns are usually not something most men would wear. This yarn certainly addresses the yardage part. There are 470 yards in each of the two skeins. Two skeins because the yarns are held together to make a heavy duty boot sock.

I'm not sure if I'd actually wear boots with these socks since all the patterning would be totally hidden. If I'm going to spend that much time knitting socks for me then I want to be able to show them off.

The picture that came with the pattern doesn't really show you much about how the pattern is going to look but it does give you some idea of how the two yarns kind of stripe. They're knit toe up, something I've only done once; they have a short row heel, which is my current favorite heel so I'll be okay there. I'll be making some minor changes is how the increases and decreases are done. But I'm not going to be able to start these socks for a while.

I'm still working on the Noro Silk Garden sock. The yarn is nice but not really designed for speed knitting. I hope to finish sock number one today.

Noro Silk Garden Sock Yarn

I wish I could get a better picture of this. It's actually a lot richer and more red than what you see here.

I'm really pleased with how this yarn is knitting up. So much better than the Kureyon version. It's more of a sport weight than a fingering weight. I'm using some 3mm Addi dpns. I could have probably used a 3.5mm. The label calls for a 3.6 to 4.7 mm. That's Japanese sizing, approximately US 4 to US 6. I do like the density of the fabric I'm getting.

There's silk, obviously, in the mix so the yarn isn't quite as springy as most sock yarn I've used. I'm getting ladders at all the needle change points and my usual technique of giving the first couple of stitches on the new needle an extra tug isn't working. So I'm going to rely on the old adage, time heals everything. I'm hoping the ladders will disappear when the socks are washed.

I'm still concerned about having enough yarn but I've already scheduled a trip back to the store where I bought it. I'll call and see if they still have this color and ask them to hold it until next week.

Saying no

I used to have a spinning wheel. I used to have a lot of the stuff that goes with having a spinning wheel. But I didn't use any of this stuff very often. I finally just gave up that particular craft and got rid of everything spinning related. I needed the room for the other addiction. So, you see, I really must say no.

This past Saturday I went to Unraveled where Janice Rosema was holding forth. I called my friend Thom to let him know there would be some roving available and well as a chance to view and try the Mach 1 wheel. (I don't have a link and I'm not sure there is one.) Thom has recently started spinning and has already purchased three wheels. He doesn't do things by half-measure. The Mach 1 is a fascinating wheel and has some features that would really enhance the time spent spinning.

Anyway, it was exciting to see all the rovings and batts and different fibers. Janice spins a lot of what she calls art yarns or fibers. They're imaginative and playful. She had a small drum carder with her and demonstrated how she uses it to combine a miscellany of fibers to create some very colorful rovings. She also demonstrated the wheel.

I did not give in to the temptation to try it. I don't want to get another wheel and start all over. But it was hard to say no. I finally had to walk away and go sit in another room and work on my sock. I'm just not going to spin.

But I did hear about a class for new spinners and returning spinners. It starts next month and isn't very far away and doesn't cost very much.

The boss is away sale

Every year when the shop owner at A Stitch in Time goes on vacation we have a short sale. This year it's this week. All knitting yarns, books and needlepoint canvases are 25% off from now through the 10th. I know. We just had a sale in June but there are yarns on this sale that weren't available back then, like this Claudia Handpaint Linen Lace. There are some other yarns as well, but I didn't take the time to photo them. There's also a sale in Hodge Podge, the gift store section. There's even some stuff there that's 70% off.

And I finished the Fast Fullerton Footies. Details on my Ravelry page.

Web weirdness

Strange things are happening. There are blogs that I read almost daily and many of these use Blogger or blogspot. Almost every blog I've tried to access today that uses Blogger cannot be opened by Internet Explorer. There are a few others that don't use Blogger that are similarly "blocked", if that's the correct word.

Blogs that haven't had recent entries, say within a week, will open, even if they do use Blogger.

I have no problem viewing my blog when I'm using Firefox. I haven't linked to very many favorites or bookmarks on Firefox but I guess I will now.

Is anyone else having this problem?

A couple of hours later:

Whatever it was, it's gone away and everything seems to be working again. I'm still moving to Firefox.

Fixation!

One of the first pairs of sock I made were these. I can't find my photo but if you look at the link you'll see what they looked. I used some variegated Cascade Fixation (cotton and lycra) and made a few adjustments to the pattern to fit a larger foot. I've used this same pattern several times with variations. The one in the photo is the current permutation. And they really are fast. That sock was done in a day. I'm stalled on the second one because I got side tracked and cast on for a bag. The second sock is started and I'll spend some time on it today while I'm at work.

I also got some new sock yarn. Noro Silk Garden Sock. Not sure how this is going to work out since there isn't as much yardage as usual in a 100 gram skein, only 300 meters vs. the usual 400 or more.

Harbor Cruise 2008

It was another sunny warm day after all. It started out looking like it was going to be hazy and cool but by the time we all left Monrovia the sun was out and the fog was gone. Yesterday we went on our third Alamitos Bay Harbor Cruise.

Alamitos Bay Yarn Company sponsors these boat rides every summer. The small boats are docked just behind the shop so it's an easy walk from the parking lot to the boat loading dock. We all bring a bit of something to snack on and some wine or sodas to help with all the cheese and crackers, and olives and wasabi almonds and cranberry orange bread and tapenade and on and on.

You can see some of the homes and boats that line the canals of Naples in this photo of Renee talking to Mario. We had a different pilot this year and we had a few new sights but we still got to see the "moonies", the slightly eerie jellyfish that live at the end of one of the canals. I didn't get any photos, unfortunately.

Each boat holds eight people plus the pilot. There were supposed to be eight of us but one person had a last minute thing that came up and couldn't go. (Sorry, Judy. Hope all those tests got done.) And we had one first timer. Andy, who has been signed up to go the two previous times but had to cancel, finally got to go with us. And he drove one of the two cars we needed to get to Long Beach.

Thom, looking elegant and worldly, and Mendy just barely in the lower left of the photo. We're just getting ready to go to the boat.

Another shot of Mario (and Mendy sneaking in yet another photo). In the background you can see the view from the front of the yarn shop. More blue sky and sail boats.

And one final snap. Sitting at the table, trying to get everything together. We've already been shopping. I didn't get a photo of Susan, except for this tiny bit of her head in the lower left. And her hand.

I don't think anyone did any significant knitting. It was more like a row or two or a few stitches here and there. Just too much fun in the sun. You know. Just the usual yarn gang get together.

PLYMOUTH ROCK(in' sox)

Who needs to shop when you have friends to bring you presents? Jane, one of my regulars, went on vacation and brought back this Plymouth Rockin'Sox yarn. She knows I like orange.

I think this must be a new yarn. I haven't seen it anywhere. It's 60% superwash wool, 25% bamboo and 15% nylon. The color number is 005.

I was curious so I cast on this morning and did a little sample. Not a project really. No, really. It's not. That would be silly since I already have ten or twelve other sock projects going. I just wanted to able to tell Jane how much I liked it and to let you know what I think of it. It's pretty nice. Soft and smooth. I thought it was going to be splitty but it seems to be fine one these bamboo needles.



I also wanted to see how the colors would play out. So far it looks like a long spiral. But who knows how it will look after the heel and gusset. Well, I'm not really making a sock anyway so I guess it doesn't matter.

ETA: It's a 100 gram skein.

Socks, socks and more socks

For the first twenty five years of my knitting career I avoided making socks. I'm not sure why but it was probably partly because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to do it. So I just said socks were not something I did.

Then, about seven years ago, the demand for help with knitting socks began in earnest. So I got a book, Folk Socks by Nancy Bush, and taught myself the basics. I still reference that book a lot as well as Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks. Not that I don't have lots of other sock knitting books. But those I use mostly for patterns. And I do find bits of helpful information in other books and on-line, of course.

I can't get enough. Here are a couple of my currently active sock projects. You will probably recognize the Annetrelac sock from IK's Holiday 2007 issue. I'm having some problems with it. I managed to mess up on the final round of triangles and in trying to fix that problem I dropped some stitches. And it got worse. I may end up ripping back to the ribbing before this is all done. I'm using some Schaefer Anne that was gifted to me a few years ago. I like the colors but I'm having problems seeing some of the stitches, especially in the dark purple areas.

The other sock is a newish pattern on Ravelry called Harris Tweed. It's pretty easy and straightforward. The Sockotta yarn doesn't have much give so it's a little hard on these tired old hands. But at least I can knit these socks while I'm working. I should be able to fix any inevitable errors without too much fuss.

Spring Forward socks

Happy Fourth of July! I love this holiday. I went out for a very early walk this morning and the flags were flying all along Colorado Blvd. which is near where I live. The streets were still quiet because it wasn't quite six yet. Very little traffic, unlike most Friday mornings.

I have been knitting even though I haven't been posting. Most of what I'm working on is for gifts so they can't be posted yet. But I did finish these Spring Forward socks.

The pattern is pretty easy and moves along quite rapidly, if you stick to it anyway. I could probably have done these in a few days if I hadn't spent so much time knitting with my friends. I don't really get much done when I'm at knit group. Partly because there's so much conversation that I want to hear and partly because I'm often helping someone. Anyway, there has been other knitting. I just can't talk about it right now.



Here's a detail of the stitch pattern. I can't find my sock blockers so I've stretched one of the socks over my hand. I'm not sure if blocking will help these socks to relax but they do flatten out and show the pattern when they're worn. Thanks, Mendy, for trying them on. I should have taken a picture then.

Socks rule!

I had a pair of socks that I needed to finish. They're for an imminent birthday. So I did that. And then I thought maybe I'd try to make a pair for someone whose birthday I missed. Those aren't done yet. But I'll have some photos once the two pair have been gifted. Socks aren't really all that interesting as photo subjects. Well, maybe Mr. Flood could make them interesting but I can't.

Now I'm back in a sock knitting mode even though I have lots of other projects in the works. I kinda blame it on Susan. She's been involved in Socks Wars and is now doing the 52 Plunge. (Sorry, I haven't taken the time to search for links.) Anyway, there have been lots of sock patterns floating around, including the new book The Eclectic Sole. And, as it happens, I have a bunch of new sock yarn.



A is Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in Champlain Sunset.
B is Cascade's Heritage Handpaint in 9926.
C is Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in Champlain Sunset. I think that one is mislabeled. The color looks more like Spring Frost. And the yarn may actually be a silk/merino blend.



A is Chameleon Colorworks Bamboo in Moss.
B is Chameleon Colorworks Footsie in September.
C is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Magnificent Meadow, a colorway dyed exclusively for Unwind Yarns for their Half the Sky Foundation fundraiser.

So much sock yarn, so little time.