A sock a day

I rarely have more than 2 projects on the needles at a time, but this past weekend saw a total of four different projects. Thankfully, one of those is already completed.

Saturday morning I decided to do some stash-busting, and by Monday afternoon (though it would have been Sunday night had we not spent the majority of Sunday away from home) Sage had a pair of socks.



I am using a smaller photo than normal because my camera is sucking so much lately, almost every photo is shit, and Sage didn't want to hold still for more photos that probably wouldn't have been any better than the above.

Details:

universal toe-up with a 2x2 rib cuff
black is Kraemer Yarn Summit Hill
plum is Moda Dea washable wool

Yes, these socks are worsted weight superwash wools. Yes, she was running around in them in the middle of summer. Thankfully, she loves them, complete with their barely fitting heels and insane warmth. I doubt she will wear them outside the house, so whatever.

Building a Log Cabin

Been working on the Log Cabin Baby Blanket almost daily - it's too hot to have a wool/alpaca sweater sitting on my lap, so Rogue progress has slowed for now, and instead, the blanket, in it's Lion Brand Cotton Ease, has become the main project. Knitting is still slow due to the carpal tunnel, though, but at least I don't feel totally useless since I've not even been able to draft a pattern or cut fabric in two months.

I am now stalking ebay for lots of the Cotton Ease in black (Licorice). I had 4 skeins of it a year or so ago when they discontinued it, and I sold it, but now, after actually knitting with it's newer release, I want more. I am thinking of making a Log Cabin Blanket for Chris and my bed in black, dark gray, light gray and white. So very spooky goth it will be.

I also finally finished up Bubby yesterday...



He was only half a bear before, but yesterday he got his legs and a little drop-stitch scarf with yarn leftover from Harley's Voodoo wristwarmers. She adopted him when he didn't even have arms, so his scarf had to match something I'd made for her. I still have a wee little bit of the blue yarn left, I think he needs either a matching hat or booties too.

Socks on the brain; Nalgene cozy

I've looked at possibly hundreds of sock patterns in the last 24 hours. I have to say that this is possibly my favorite of all those that I have seen recently. OMG pretty cables.

I've also looked at countless sock yarns trying to find the perfect one for my new Hogwarts Sock Swap pal, who happens to be a Ravenclaw who prefers book colors. Wow does that sound familiar. ;)

I think before I do any online yarn/pattern ordering I am going to finally venture into one or more of the local yarn shops, which I have yet to set foot into.

Unrelated to socks, I whipped up a cozy for Chris's new Nalgene bottle (he lost his last one several months ago, we finally replaced it last week). Details are at the Ravelry project page, here's one photo of it post-felting:



It took less than a day of knitting... I forgot how quickly things knit up with larger needles.

Hogwarts Sock Swap Questionnaire - Second Year

I decided the other day to sign up for round two of the Hogwarts Sock Swap. The first one was a lot of fun, I enjoyed making socks for someone I don't know (especially since they were my first socks) and I am glad the swap is continuing for another round. If you didn't make it into the first swap, have no fear - sign-ups for First Years starts on the 14th.

Now then, on to the questionnaire for round two:

What Hogwarts house have you been sorted into?
I took all three sorting quizzes this time and still they have decided that I am truly a Slytherin at heart.

Shoe size? Foot length? Foot circumference?
I wear usually somewhere around a women's US 8 to 8.5, sometimes a 9. My foot is 9.25" long, 9.5" around the ball, 10.5" just before the ankle, and my ankle is 12.5" around when the tape measure is 6.5" above my heel. I fully admit to having terribly wide feet and thick calves from years of bike riding.

List your three favorite sock yarns.
Since I've only made the one pair of socks so far, this is moreso based on what's in the stash and others I've petted.

a. Regia - currently have their 4-ply wool in the stash, would love to try the silk and bamboo ones as well
b. Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock - I've only petted it to date, would love to finally knit with it
c. KnitPicks Essential - the Bare version, which I hand-dyed for the last swap was a nice all-purpose sock yarn, easy to knit, felt good as a finished sock too.

Would you like to try a new brand of sock yarn? If so, which brand?
I am open to trying out different brands of sock yarn - I always lust over the pretty variegated hand-dyed ones on etsy, but I really want to try some non-traditional fiber blend sock yarns (cotton blends, silk blends, etc.).

Do you prefer variegated or solid sock yarn?
While I do love some of the gorgeous variegated yarns I've seen out there, I personally prefer solids or subtle gradations for actual use.

What colors would you like to add to your sock yarn stash?
Well, what stash there is on hand of sock yarn is limited (and can be seen at Ravelry), so adding other colors would be nice. I like black, deep reds, deep purples, deep greens (jewel tones, anyone?) and silver.

What kind of sock patterns do you gravitate toward? Lace? Ribbed? Fair Isle?
For now I have been sticking to simpler designs, but I love cables, and would love to eventually splurge on some of the patterns by Cookie A. *lust*

Do you have any allergies? (smoke, animals, etc.)
The only things that really bother me are overly fragranced items, such as soaps, perfumes, incense, candles, lotions and the like with strong scents, most often derived from perfume oils and man-made fragrances. Essential oil fragranced items are usually fine, though there are some specific oils that bother me as well - those include gingers, musks, ambers, cinnamon, clove, bergamot and the like.

Will your socks be exposed to cigarette smoke or animals as you knit them?
Smoke, absolutely not, but we have a cat and a guinea pig, neither of which play with the yarn but they do occasionally leave hair lying about.

Are you willing to have an international Hogwarts Sock Pal?
I said no last time, and then I saw all the lovely goodies people were getting from their non-US senders. I think this time I will have to say sure, I can ship internationally if needed.

An Owl has landed!

Our mailman arrived earlier than usual today and he was loaded with packages galore. The best one by far was a big green envelope. I ripped into it before I had a chance to grab the camera, so no photo of the envelope, but when everything tumbled out of the hole I had shredded into it, this was the result:



Those crinkly bits are recycled from another package, they all have Harry Potter quotes from various books on them. When I first saw them posted by the original recipient I thought they were very clever, and now they are mine.



After unwrapping all the goodies, but before Sage was up I got that photo - as soon as she was up the candies were gone. She only likes the grape jelly, blueberry, cherry, grass and soap flavored Bertie Bott's beans, so she saved me some of them - mostly rotten egg, vomit, sardine and booger flavors. *blech*



The original sock photos I took sucked horridly (mostly because of the current state of our living room), so I tried again outside a little bit ago. Photographing one's own feet isn't easy, but it can be done, and having a camera with a lcd screen that rotates helps immensely. ;)

They fit perfectly (though the bind off is a wee bit tight, I think I may undo it and replace it with a sewn bind off instead), and they are very soft and squishy and I love them.

Thank you, Jenifer! When you originally posted the photos of these on the blog I had a hunch that they were mine, andI am very glad I was correct!

One skein

One skein of Jaeger Shetland Aran will produce one gauge swatch of roughly 4" square and 31 rows of actual sweater (counting two for the hem, one before the purl row, and the purl row).

I finished the first skein earlier, just before the end of row 29 of the first cable chart, and will be joining the second skein tomorrow.

Surprisingly, even with the diagnosis of carpal tunnel in my left hand/wrist, I've still been able to knit, though much more slowly than before. Wearing a wrist brace almost constantly has been helping immensely, but my hand is still rather weak and numb. Hopefully it will continue to improve though as I've not been able to cut fabric or draft patterns for several weeks and I was already far behind with the sewing.