Hogwarts Sock Swap Questionnaire 2nd Years

I've joined the second year Hogwarts sock swap (signups open tomorrow 7/14 for first years) and need to post my questionnaire here for my pal to read and to earn my first house points.

You can see the results of the first swap in my last post. I haven't received my swap socks, but I've been told they are coming soon, all the way from Harry's homeland (I guessed). I might have to wait to see the new movie until I can wear the socks to the theater! Maybe I'll just bring my newest Hogwarts project. I ran several of my name combinations (nickname, real name, maiden name) and came up with my 2nd year Hogwarts name (it's supposed to be a secret until the swap is over). My first year name (Penelope Clearwater) was not available as a Gmail account, so I chose another name.

I've been taking a break from sock knitting this week and working on a lacy cotton top, a free pattern from Elann. This is what it looked like on Monday, before I divided for the sleeves. I am knitting the lace pattern all the way through instead of making most of the top in stockinette.

Sock Swap Questionnaire

Second Years

1. What Hogwarts house have you been sorted into?

Ravenclaw

2. Shoe size? Foot length? Foot circumference?

Shoe Size 8.5 US Wide (D width) Foot length 9 3/4 inches Foot circumference 10" (ankle is 11", as is calf)

3. List your three favorite sock yarns.

a. Wool/cotton blends from several companies (Opal, Regia, Meilenweit, Lang Jawoll), or Tofutsies

b. Socks that Rock Lightweight

c. Shelridge Farms Handpaint Ultra and Heathers (limited colors)

4. Would you like to try a new brand of sock yarn? If so, which brand? I really want to try the great Fleece Artist Sea Silk sock yarn, Adirondack Yarns Silky Sock yarn, or the new Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome. I'm always willing to try a new cotton blend yarn. Aside from being soft, the yarn must be machine washable, that's my sole criteria.

I've tried many sock yarns that I like, but they didn't make the top 3 (which I had to augment). In no particular order, I present more choices:
d. Cherry Tree Hill Supersock
e. Hand Jive Nature's Palette
f. Claudia Handpaint
g. Louet Gems Merino
h. Koigu KPPM
i. Lorna's Laces shepherd sock
j. Colinette Jitterbug
k. Regia Bamboo
l. Fleece Artist Merino sock
m. Lisa Souza Sock Merino

5. Do you prefer variegated or solid sock yarn?

Variegated, if you look at my stash, or semi solids (like Lorna's Laces). Heathered yarns are my absolute favorite, but they are hard to find in superwash, which I have learned (the hard way) that I must use for socks. I like to combine a variegated and a solid yarn in stranded or slip stitch designs, so both are good to have on hand.

6. What colors would you like to add to your sock yarn stash?

I LOVE color, but it seems I gravitate towards blues, greens, teals, purples, rosy reds, cocoa brown. Orange is my absolute least favorite color. Black is good as an accent, dark navy is better. I've even used plum.

7. What kind of sock patterns do you gravitate toward? Lace? Ribbed? Fair Isle?

I love to do lace and fair isle, also mosaic or slip stitch. Textured socks are fun too. Plain rib drives me crazy but it does fit well. Cables are not a favorite, since they combine ribbing and a cable needle, plus they pull in the sock and also add bulk.

8. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, animals, etc.)

Smoke, cats, dogs, birds, dust, perfume, MOHAIR, shetland wool bothers me too

9. Will your socks be exposed to cigarette smoke or animals as you knit them?

NO

10. Are you willing to have an international Hogwarts Sock Pal?

Yes

Why I Haven't Posted Recently

I haven't been knitting much lately. My DD rented an apartment nearby and is moving out this weekend, plus I have been packing up books so I can move the bookcases and paint the living room next weekend. I also got my invitation to Ravelry almost 2 weeks ago and I've been busy scanning projects, listing yarn stash and chronicling my knitting odyssey over the last few years. It's been good for me to have everything in one place, and the way you can see what other knitters are making with yarn you might have in your stash is really great. If you aren't on the waiting list I'd advise you to sign up and be patient: it was worth the wait for me. The program has crashed my computer a few times, emphasizing the need to purchase a new one. Mine is almost 6 years old, and was already telling me it needed to be replaced before I got into Ravelry, so it's not Ravelry's fault. It's good to have a system that tells you what pattern you are using to knit a particular yarn with, in case you forget and misplace the pattern but still have the half finished project in a bag. I also like the feature that lets you queue up your dream projects, along with yarn you might already have. I like having things organized, so this is right up my alley.

I did get inspired to knit a feather and fan alpaca neckwarmer from seeing someone else's project on Ravelry. I got 2 skeins of incredibly beautiful turquoise heather Cascade Baby Alpaca Chunky yarn in December and was going to make a long scarf, but I saw this cute collar and cast on immediately. I finished it the next night, luxuriating in the softness of the alpaca yarn as I knit. However, as soon as I put the thing on my neck it started to itch me ever so slightly. Alpaca has guard hairs which bother me, even though the yarn feels so soft, but I thought the baby alpaca would be free of them. This may wind up being a gift. The neckwarmer took one skein, so I have enough yarn for a hat or some mitts. The pattern is in Knit Two Together by Tracey Ullman, a book I passed on buying originally but couldn't pass up when it was only $5.50 on Amazon. There are several other projects in the book that are really nice too.

I had to frog my solstice socks. I made the toe too big and then tried to decrease it away. Alas, this resulted in a rather large bump on each side of the toe, which would have rubbed in my shoes and caused blisters. The foot of the sock was still slightly too big as well. I had knit about 4 inches, but I wasn't happy with the look of the toe. Last night, after trying it on one more time at my knitting group and getting the same opinion from my co conspirator in the Rockin Socks Club (her sock is past the toe and halfway up the foot!) I frogged the sock. I did not take a picture--it was too sad.

This is what the sock looked like right after I made the fateful decreases and began knitting in the slipped cable rib pattern. I cast on again but this time I am knitting top down. The pattern allows you to do it either way. I've got about an inch knitted again, but no picture yet.

Edited to add: I've almost knitted as much yarn as I frogged, and here's the proof. The top of the slipped cable ribbing curls out a little, making the sock flare, but it's okay.

Marble Arches FO

I have another FO! I finished my Marble Arches socks today. These were started back in the fall when I got the kit from the Rockin Sock club. I was past the heel on sock one when I decided that the top of the sock was just too ruffled for my foot. I ripped out the sock in February and reknitted it with about 1/3 less stitches at the top, and just finished sock two. I had to postpone knitting the second sock to work on the Sock Madness socks and the new Inside Out socks from this year's first Rockin' Sock club shipment. I also knit a pair of swirly girls, mosaic stitch socks and finished two other pairs which had been single socks for too long. I've been on a sock knitting roll, which is good thing, because I signed up to knit a pair every week for a year. This pair counts for week three's finished socks.

The socks are really warm and very different. The pattern was not hard at all, and I'm sure that I'll use it again. I can't figure out why the striping pattern on each sock is so different. I used the same needles, the same ball of yarn, not even wound into two separate balls, and the same number of stitches. The sock on the right was knit first, so maybe my gauge was a little tighter on that one. I did make a slight boo boo and forget to knit the band heel on the second sock. It's not too noticeable and both socks fit fine so I will keep it like it is. I do plan to use the band heel again. I like it a lot, and there are no gusset decreases. I've also got a pair of socks with two different toes and can't see the difference on or off my feet.

UPDATE: DD (now 26, pictured in the next post on the swing set covered in mud at age 7) saw the socks and liked the first one but not the second sock. Seems like she is one of those identical twins sock people. I don't mind having fraternal twin socks. Luckily the socks are for me and not her, and I'll know next time what not to knit for her!

Toe UP Socks

I've made exactly two toe up socks. Actually neither one of them is done yet but I am past the (short row) heel already. Notice I said socks, not pairs. They are two entirely different pairs of socks. One has been on the needles for about 5 years. It's made of Fixation using DPN's and I JUST HATE KNITTING CUFFS ON DPN'S. I have about an inch to knit on the cuff before I bind off. One of these days I will get out that short circular needle and finish the sock. Then I'll have to make sock TWO. The other one is my Inside Out Sock from the new Rockin Sock Club shipment. After frogging the toe and the heel at least once, I may finally have mastered the garter stitch short row heel & toe. The stockinette short row heel is another story.

Luckily the Sock Madness Mad Cow sock pattern which arrived in my inbox last Saturday morning for the time trial competition gave you the option of knitting toe up or cuff down. I chose to go with my comfort level method and knit cuff down. THEN I came to the short row heel directions. Like others in the competition, I had to go back and check the rules. No changing the pattern! OH NO. I had just recently taken a refresher course on short rows and had completed the heel on the Inside Out Sock the week before, but I still don't really like short row heels. I don't like to do them and I don't like how they fit my foot. I haven't bothered to pursue the adjustment suggestions I've read from other sock knitters because I don't like to do them anyway.

I think the provisional cast on at the ankle, knit down to the toe, then removing the cast on and finishing the sock cuff is the right idea. A lot of my socks have different colored toes because I run out of yarn at the very end of toe two.

Rockin Sock Club Inside Out Sock

I'm working on the new SOTM design from Socks that Rock, Inside Out. I ripped out the garter stitch short row heel I did last night and redid it on a smaller needle. This is my second ever short row heel and I didn't quite get the directions. The heel I ripped out had some holes, and the replacement looks great. I'm ready to start the cable pattern. The pattern is still striping regularly, and the colors were only slightly interrupted by the heel. I think I like it. We'll see how it feels on the foot, but at first glance it looks promising.

UPDATE: After doing one round of the cable pattern, I tried on the sock tonight. I knit the sock onto two long circulars so I could get it over my ankle without losing stitches. It fits!

AARGH! I just saw a place where I purled when I should have knit halfway down the toe! Probably no one but me will ever notice it, but still. With the short row heel there's no way I can ladder down and correct those two stitches.

Problem averted. The wayward purls were on the top of the sock and. luckily, on the top of the cable turn. I frogged one stitch down through the cable and half way down the foot, hooked up the stitches again and it's perfect. Huge sigh of relief!

I still don't have a camera so I scanned my in progress sock. I'm using two circular needles, size 2.75 mm, for the leg. I have thick ankles so I am using a larger gauge. The cable repeat doesn't allow me to easily add stitches to make the leg bigger. EDITED to add: I switched to a 3mm needle, a 12" ADDI, further up the leg. STILL tight!

New Socks that Rock Project

I finished my Swirly Girl socks last night, so I had a free needle to transfer the toe from my new Rockin Socks that Rock Monsoon socks onto. I prefer to use a 12" long ADDI turbo to knit my socks. I tried using the Magic Loop and double points, neither of which worked well. I don't yet have two size 2.5 mm circulars, so I had to finish the SG socks before I could start knitting up the foot of the new pair. I knit the toe on double points but they are not my preferred method of knitting socks.

The short row toe went really well. I love garter stitch! I'm not so fond of ribbing, though, and that's what the rest of the foot is in this pattern. Two different kinds of ribbing, no less. I'm going to try and stick to the pattern on this pair, though. After all, that's what I'm paying the big bucks for, isn't it? I didn't follow the pattern completely on any of last year's socks from the club, so I procrastinated on signing up again this year. Eventually I gave in and bit the bullet, though. I'm not good at following patterns. I want to do my own thing.

I watched Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters and knit away on the socks. I finished the 2nd Swirly Girl sock just as DH was ending. Actually I didn't finish it, but I knit off onto double points halfway through the toe decreases. They'll be done tonight, I promise. I want to wear them tomorrow.

Update: I'm almost ready to start the heel now. I've never successfully done a short row heel (or toe) so hopefully this one will work. Of course, I only tried the heel once before. Flap and gusset heels fit me well, so I didn't see a reason to change. The toe went perfectly, although where I started the ribbing pooches out a little before the ribbing compresses in again. My stripes are working out very nicely, with just a little spiraling. I am using a size 2.5 mm needle. Knitting the ribbing isn't too bad, either. The yarn is so smooth it knits like buttah.

Sunday Seven Part V

The title sounds like a Shakespeare play, doesn't it? Henry VI, Part II

Seven Things I am grateful for this week.
1. I missed last week due to Stitches West, so we'll start with that. I had a great time and learned a lot
2. My mom is home from the hospital less than two weeks after hip replacement surgery.
3. My Rockin Sock Club shipment arrived, and I completed my first short row toe successfully. I love the little keychain with emergency sock yarn attached. Last year I had to use the yarn to complete the toe of my second sock, so it's good to have.
4. Books on Tape
5. Joyce Williams, who unvented knitting small circumferences on two circular needles
6. Cat Bordhi, who made it fun
7. Knitting at KNoon's great videos and free patterns

Rockin Sock Club

It's here! The first shipment of the new year. I was just reading about the trials and tribulations of Kaci and crew and I heard a thud at my door. The mailman had dropped off my package of sock yarn. Hurrah Hurray Kalooh Kaleigh!

It's a beautiful spring day here but I am suffering from acacia allergies so I'm home from work. I also got a new DVD from Netflix, based on Rosamund Pilcher's book Coming Home. I've been a little dissatisfied with the first two parts of the mini series. This disc is called Nancherrow and may redeem my disaffection. Something to watch while winding my new yarn!

UPDATE: Nancherrow was pretty good. Invented out of whole cloth, except for one bit, unless she wrote another book called Nancherrow, which I doubt. I have to finish another sock (I'm halfway down the foot!) before I can switch needles to start knitting the STR sock. I tried Magic Loop but the points on my long needle are too long, and I just can't get behind double points for too long. I did the short row toe on the double points, but now I want to fly!

Stitches West/ I succumbed

I had 4 days of classes at Stitches West, met someone for lunch on Saturday (no shopping that day until after class at 5:00), and yet I still managed to buy yarn. It was a good thing I brought a bag lunch on Friday because I spent my whole lunch break (2 hours) at the Woolstock booth looking for another bag of some Louisa Harding Aran weight cashmere blend. Everything at the Woolstock booth was 1/2 off but you had to buy the whole bag. I also got some Noro Kochoran for $10.00 a skein there.

Sock yarn purchases:
Sock Candy from STR (stretchy cotton, hand dyed) plus the Fairisling on Blue Moon book.
Shelridge Farms Ultra in heathered purple (never mind that I already got some in another color two Stitches ago and haven't knit it up yet). I am almost finished working on another pair in rust heather and it is wonderful.
Fleece Artist in parrot, which has blues, greens and roses, plus lilac
Sol Joy in a dark blue/multicolor
STR light in Hen House (rainbow)
I also tried to buy two skeins of STR that I already owned but haven't knit yet. Luckily they could tell me at the check out table that I did own it, so I saved some money there.

I resisted buying anything at Webs and was glad I had ordered some sock yarn from Astrid in Holland the week before so I wasn't tempted by the bamboo blends. I almost bought more Hand Jive Nature's Palette in a pinky grey burgundy odd duck dye lot but there was only one skein. Next time. That was at Carolina Homespun and they are a somewhat LYS. That's not all the yarn I purchased: more next time.

I also got Lily Chin to sign my French Madeline book. She was dressed as Madeline at the student banquet Saturday. She thought that was a hoot and said I made her day on Sunday afternoon, after a long four days. She even signed en francais.

New Sock Projects

I started a new sock last night after finishing my Socks that Rock Pink Granite Marble Arches design. I got some Tofutsies yarn and the Swirly Girl pattern by the Knitiot. I am not using the the Tofutsies yarn, though. I had some Nature's Palette naturally dyed yarn from Full Thread Ahead in my stash, screaming to be knitted up. It is a pale sea green with dots of dark navy and bronze. The texture of the yarn is a lot like the Fleece Artist or Cherry Tree Hill super sock yarn. It feels so wonderful and is easy to knit with. The only problem (and it's minor) is that the yarn leaves my fingers blue from the indigo residue.

The pattern is so easy to knit, looks great and is perfect with the yarn. What more can I ask? The Tofutsies yarn will be next on my list. It is WONDERFUL too! I need a different pattern for the yarn colors I have, though. I have been browsing my sock pattern notebook for the perfect stitch pattern. The colorways I got are too dark to show off the Swirly Girl design. I'm getting ready to go to Stitches West on Thursday. I have a little bit of homework to do for Lily Chin 's class on reversible cables. No homework for my other classes.

Socks that Rock Rockin Sock Club

What a great present for V-Day. I got an email from Socks that Rock letting me know about the new blog they have set up. I was a charter member of the club last year but only knit one pair of socks. This year I hope to do better, and post pictures here. I was inspired to go home and rip out a sock I started from one of last year's kits and start over. I made a mistake at the beginning and it flared too much. Marble Arches is the name of the pattern. I was past the heel but it was bothering me so I bit the bullet and ripped it out. It's the pink granite colorway, very appropriate for Valentine's Day. It looks like they might have renamed this color Little Bunny Foo Foo. My DD loved that song when she was little. UPDATE: I finished one sock of the pair and it looks much nicer. I used a new heel for me: the Band Heel. Nancy Bush included it in Folk Socks. It works well for striping yarns instead of a short row heel. (My nemesis.)

EDITED: The band heel which eliminates the long stripes can be found at this great site. I still use the EOP slip stitch, which means I have to add a few rows to the heel flap before decreasing. Then I have a few decrease rounds after picking up the gusset stitches. Thanks to Nan for this great pattern and tutorial, and to Nancy Bush for the band heel.

I finished the two entrelac bags and felted them. They are almost dry, time to sew on the handles. I have a pair of woven handles for one bag and a pair of black plastic handles for the other bag.

Sunday Seven Redux

1. I am thankful that my mom is having hip replacement surgery Tuesday so hopefully she will be able to walk without pain. (Update: she had the surgery and it went well.)
2. I am grateful that Marguerite is a knitter who shares.
3. I am thankful the GUI interface was invented.
4. I am grateful that I have a top loading washing machine and was able to felt some bags this weekend.
5. I am happy that this fabulous sock yarn exists.
6. I am thankful I learned to cook as a vegetarian many years ago.
7. I am happy that I found a new pattern to use up little bits of sock yarn. They are the sideways knit gloves, from Not Just More Socks by Sandy Rosner. They use a provisional cast on, so I used a new idea I read about on the Knit List.

I love linen stitch!

I've been knitting my new Socks that Rock SOTM, which uses linen stitch on the cuff. Having a great time, and remembering how much I like linen stitch. Here are some links I found using Google. If you use this link to search my local school district gets a little bit of moolah.

Applied I-Cord AKA I-Cord Bind Off

Stitch of the Month Website with Great Photos

Linen Stitch

Video Clip on How to do Linen Stitch (this takes a while to download, don’t try it if you have a dial up service)

The same site has other video clips on how to knit, etc.
The wonderful woman who made the videos also sells great patterns

Linen Stitch Pillow Pattern

In the Round Linen Stitch Beret

Linen Stitch 101