The All-Sock Post

I had a few minutes of sunlight last Sunday to snap some pictures of the sock Works In Progress, and one Finished Object. Much as I try, I'm not monogamous to my sock projects; these are only the ones that I have in a basket on my desk.

First, the Andromeda socks from Knotions online magazine, in Knit Picks Essential Kettle-Dyed sock yarn. I'm enjoying these (although you wouldn't know from the lack of progress); the lace pattern is only three working rows, and the yarn is very soft. It has just enough variation from the kettle dyeing to have a little dimension, but not so much that you can't see the lace:

Next is Cachoeira from Knitty, in Wisdom Yarns Poems Sock. I'm nearly ready to graft the toe on this and start the second sock. The yarn is a soft single, which means it splits readily if the needles are too pointy; but since I'm doing traveling stitches, I need the pointy to get it done. I have no illusions that these socks are going to wear well; some stretches of yarn are nearly threadlike, and others are almost worsted weight. Add in the lack of abrasion resistance because the yarn is unplied, and I have to seriously wonder what I was drinking when I started them. But they're pretty, and like many pretty things, that's enough reason for their existence:

From the ormanmental to the utilitarian, these are finished bedsocks in WoolEase. Simple twisted cable, flap heel. Before you scoff about wearing socks to bed, keep track some cold winter night how long it takes for you to get warm enough to fall asleep. Bedsocks cut that time by a serious margin, and keep me from waking up in the middle of the night because I'm cold. I've even convinced my husband to start wearing them. This pair is for me:

And one more Finished Object, the Christmas Stocking Mark 1. Michaels store brand Impressions yarns, my own cobbled-together pattern, still drying on the blocking board for the sixth day:

Christmas Stocking Mark 2 is in progress already, and it would be a lot further along if I hadn't forgotten the book with the 31-row chart when I left for Knit Group last Tuesday. Since I planned to work on just the CSM2, I didn't take any other projects with me. See? Project monogamy is a bad idea. I had to rip out five rows of the big chart and start a pine tree chart I had with me. My goal for today is to finish the pine tree chart, then start the huge chart again. I just hope this doesn't make the stocking too long.

Dammit x 2

As expected, I'm out of yarn for Aeolian. Knit and Caboodle doesn't have this color anymore. Evidently neither do any other stores; Wisdom Yarns Poems Sock color #952 is now mostly purple with some blues. I am trying to scrounge enough yarn to finish the last four rows and cast-off. I found one Ravelry member who just completed a shawl in the same color and PM'd her to ask if she had any leftovers. She responded, but I can't open any of my Ravelry messages. Nothing else but the main navigation menus are working for me either, so I can't even attach my blog entries to my projects. I've restarted my computer and restarted Firefox a few times; I'm not sure what the problem is, or if I can even send a message to Casey to ask for help.

So, I decided to finish plying the Corriedale singles on my Fricke wheel. I've worked my tail off all day, and I was finally going to take a break, listen to the most recent Lime & Violet podcast, and finish off this 3-ply at last. Everything went okay for about ten minutes...
That's the connector that holds the treadle on the footman. It snapped in two. I unscrewed the two ends and sent an email to Fricke Enterprises to see if they have any spare parts for sale. I have no idea what this is (other than plastic) or where to go to buy one locally, or how I'd manage to drill the two necessary holes in something this small and rolly. So, the Corriedale gets put on hold as well.

At least I managed to wax my Reeves wheel today. I can't spin on it until the Wood Beams has a chance to soak in, but it's one more thing (very nearly) off my List. I think I'm going to take the CPH (resurrected from Mr. Greenjeans) into the living room and knit for a while. The Significant Other is on his way home from work in a bad mood, and I think I'm going to need the tranquilizing wool fumes this evening.

Short skeins and other knitting disasters

I think I should be worried now:



That's the Aeolian Shawl(ette), row 43 of 46. Note the meager pile of yarn. That is not scrap yarn from another project. That is what I have left to knit 3 more rows (at ~525 stitches per row), then bind off with yarn held double.

Yeah. I'm not going to make it. So tomorrow I will buy another skein of Wisdom Yarns Poems Sock, to knit the last two rows and the castoff. Silver lining: I'll have plenty left over for a pair of socks.

Speaking of catastrophes. I haven't posted much about my Mr. Greenjeans sweater, knit in a very, um, hearty tweed cone yarn from Webs. (It was so rough, I actually split the skin on my index finger while knitting with it.) I finished this sweater, hunted down the perfect pewter Celtic button for it, tried it on and looked in the mirror.

Then I took it off and stuck it in the "do something with this" basket of crap in my office.

The sleeves are huge. The neckline would fit a Packers lineman without strangling. The less said about what the ribbing at the bottom did when I buttoned it, the better.



I think I'm going to like the Central Park Hoodie much more. It calls for worsted weight tweed, at 18 stitches to 4 inches. What a coincidence.



Sweater: "Um, isn't that the ball winder? Why is it sitting next to me?"

SpinningPhoenix: "Oh, no reason."

RTFD.

First, a cautionary tale.

Charts are good. Lace charts are great. It's quite helpful to have a visual display of just what is going on when you do that K2tog, k1, yo, k3, yo, ssk. So much better than trying to follow written directions for a 24-stitch repeat over a 300+ row shawl. Finish a row, check it off, move up. Finish one chart section, groove on to the next--

AFTER you check the written directions.

I forgot this on the Aeolian shawl. I went straight from the final Agave chart to the Edge Setup Chart without checking the written directions. The ones that say to use the Right, Left and Center edge charts, and not just make the center Edge Setup Chart work by use of creative decreases and increases. It didn't occur to me that I should be concerned that the number of stitches didn't work out, and that the edges looked wonky from missing yarn-overs. I didn't think to stop and check the directions until I was 23 rows into the chart, with over 270 stitches in each row.



I wasn't feeling well last Saturday, and it didn't help my queasy stomach to sit at Starbucks and rip out four weeks of work. See the picture above (with bonus helper cat)? Everything that's wrapped around the working skein was ripped out, including 50 beads. I managed to get everything back on the needles without sobbing or distributing fistfuls of hair into other people's coffee. I even re-knit the first three rows (correctly!).

It's a good thing that I love this yarn and these beads.

In spinning news:

Still working on the Blue Moon sock yarn. I'm almost finished with the second bobbin of singles. Yeah, trying for the Tour de Fleece was pretty much a waste of time.

In baking news:



That's one loaf of Oatmeal Maple Pecan bread and one loaf of English Granary bread, baked last week and now nearly gone. The Maple Pecan is for my breakfast during the week, and the English Granary bread is for dinners. I substituted honey for the golden syrup called for in the recipe; wonder how much it would cost to get golden syrup imported to the Midwest?

I baked another loaf of Oatmeal Maple Pecan today on my "day off". I'm hoping that as I get into practice, soon it won't take the entire morning. The taste is worth it, though. Dense, nutty and filling; toast a slice, add a spoonful of unsweetened peanut butter, and I'm good until lunch.