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.

Phoenix Rising Here

Warning: SPOILER ALERT: Don't scroll down further if you still haven't received your Rockin' Sock Club package, although since I am on the West Coast my package was in the last shipment, so hopefully everyone else has received theirs already.

I came home after a frustrating day to find a nice flat package on my doorstep (not crammed into the mailbox.) I knew it was coming, but it was still a nice surprise to open the latest shipment from the Socks that Rock Rockin'Sock club. I hadn't looked at any other sites to see what was in the kit. Of course, even though I have quite a few other sock projects in the works, I had to cast on right away (after I wound the yarn into a ball.) I've finished the toe and started the stitch pattern, and it isn't bad at all. The socks are knitting up quite nicely, and the bright colors are merging into an unexpectedly nice fabric. There aren't any double decreases, either, which is a nice change from the last few patterns I've worked on. The cables are very simple and don't pull the fabric in much at all.

Shameless Plug: I've discovered a new favorite fast cooking grain to serve with meals. It's Trader Joe's Harvest Grains blend (not available at all of their stores yet, unfortunately.) It's orzo pasta (rice shaped), baby garbanzo beans & quinoa, with grated carrots and spices. It cooks in 20 minutes even though there are beans and whole grains, which is really quick, and tastes wonderful. I'm posting about it here to encourage everyone to ask for it if they like this sort of thing and have a Trader Joe's near them. If the demand is there they'll keep it in stock. I bought 5 bags on my last visit. I have to drive 20-30 minutes each way (depending on traffic) to go to Trader Joe's, otherwise it would be my choice for the weekly grocery run. I have no affiliation with the chain, I just like their prices, stock and attitude. I'm not wild about the way they package the produce, but I understand the reasoning behind it.

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

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.