Luck Go With a Lady Last Night....

The Lucky Socks are done! Annnnnd, they've already been wrapped up and gifted so you don't get a final sock picture.

It was my friend Katie's birthday last week. Katie asked me a while back to help her learn how to knit socks and while we've started, we've both been so crazy busy that progress has been really slow.  I thought this might inspire her again.

Imagine that the needles are gone and there's a toe:



Now it's been all Rainbow Stripe Socks all the time. I'm through the gusset decreases on Sock 2. I broke it out at a couple of social events this weekend--not the wedding or reception, but at a post official wedding festivities bar the following day and at a rousing round of Rock Band. We discovered that using a size 0 knitting needle is a much easier way to get the tambourine sounds for the vocals than smacking the mic against our hands, legs, etc.  Easier on the mic than banging it on the table too.  

The Philosopher's Belt has gotten no love, the black socks that I started for my mum have gotten zero knitting time. The afghans I keep meaning to finish are sitting gathering dust.  So what have I done?

I've volunteered to test knit a sweater by the end of September. A sweater in fingering weight. On size 3 needles. I've gone through my stash virtually (thank you Ravelry!) and figured out which of two yarns I think will be most appropriate and where I have enough yardage. I'll swatch in the very near future and see what I can do with them. 


Tomorrow finds me in an eight hour meeting (then I get to go back to work for three hours! Yay). Hopefully some of that time can be knitting time. I have a sock to finish. 

Down the Stripes

I was charging right along through the summer, knitting up a storm, and then I hit some brick wall.

Part of it came from a sore right hand. I knit through the fourth of July weekend unceasingly. The definition of a process knitter, I knit because it's soothing and keeps me from fidgeting in other, less socially appropriate ways. Just leave me in the corner to knit, really. Only, I'd overdone it and knitting for very long began to hurt. That's never a good sign. 

A lot of it has been just being really overwhelmed recently. The Philosopher can attest that of late I've been incredibly frustrated and grumpy mostly because I don't feel that I've got a good handle on everything that needs to be done, I don't have enough evenings at home, and I don't have enough reading/knitting time. Not being able to step back, step out and allow myself the recuperation time is really wearing on me. 

So mostly I've just been carrying knitting around. There hasn't been much progress, just yarn a few inches away waiting on me.  And today the few stitches here and there are finally starting to feel as though they add up.

I'm just ready to turn the heel on Sock 2 of the Rainbow Stripes.  Everything is still fine with these socks, size 0 needles, KPPPM yarn, my standard vanilla 2x2 rib. I'm still amused watching the stripes coil around the leg and, thinking about the person they are intended for when done, hoping that they will like them. 

Knitting's my detox time and my escape and too little of that makes for a really sad and frustrated hedgehog. Hoping to fix that soon.

A Pair of Needles at Rest...

(Image borrowed and linked from La Crosse Public Library Flickr Account, taken by my sister, click through to see lots of other pictures of Joyce from that day)

I heard via Facebook that Joyce Williams passed away today. It was news that brought a huge wave of sadness.

Right after I moved to La Crosse, I was tasked with hosting the Knitting in Public Day. They'd done one, a Knitting for Peace Day, to such success that they wanted to repeat it. While enthusiastic, I didn't know very many Wisconsin knitters yet. (That would change!) Local Knitting Maven Betty Kendrick suggested that we call her friend Joyce and ask if she'd be willing to speak.

Joyce's acceptance was prompt and gracious. And she asked for as many mannequins as I could round up.

When Joyce arrived she brought a huge trunk show of knitting: sweaters from her books and recent projects she had made. She gave me prizes from her own stash to add to our door prizes for the day. She hauled in copies of her books, which Betty would sell for her throughout the day. In retrospect, I wish I'd had the funds to get them and have her sign them.  

Her evening presentation, given only partially from behind the lectern that was nearly taller than she was, explored her adventures in knitting. She chatted about her love of wool as a tool, preferring it over all other kinds of fiber for it's reliability and flexibility. She painted beautiful pictures with her stories of sitting by a fireplace during a harsh Wisconsin winter, turning laceweight into beautifully stranded sweaters. She evoked gasps when she casually flipped open the tea length jacket she was wearing to reveal how the yarn was carried across the inside of the entire jacket.

After the presentation Betty and Co took her to dinner. I went home and had a little lie down.  My blog post from that day is over at Hedgehog Librarian--it predating this blog.

Joyce was welcoming and inspiring. I will miss knowing that she's up in Wisconsin working on a new project. I hope she's found a new cozy place to sit and knit on...

 

If It's July, Then I Must Be Knitting Bulky Wool

What is it about July and extremely hot temperatures to send me into my stash for whatever the bulkiest wool I own? Two years ago it was that green and tan afghan that still isn't done, this year it's the super bulky yarn that I bought in Milwaukee with the Master Sergeant.

Liz Abinate of Feministy posted a quick squishy bulky cowl the other day and finally, I found a project that I thought was right for this yarn. 

There's not much of it, only 130 yards and knitting it up on size 17 needles means it's going to go fast, assuming I actually knit on it.  And then I'll have a new cowl for winter! I've been living in cowls for a couple of years so this will be another welcome addition to the pile. 

It's seed stitch and I'll seam the ends together when I'm done, hopefully that will be soon.

I'm glad to be getting this yarn used, I felt guilty having it just sit in my stash after having made said Master Sergeant climb on a chair and rummage on the top shelf of a small and very squished yarn store in order to retrieve it for me.

About the Belt

I gave you a quick and dirty shot of the belt that I'm working on for the Philosopher. It's only progressed slightly, mostly because after I put up that post, I found a different stitch pattern that I wanted to use and ripped it all out AGAIN.

Anyway, I'm finally finally finally happy with the density that I'm getting for the belt, it has been Philosopher approved, and I'm making progress. Snail-slow progress but still it's something.

The belt is being knit out of hemp.  Here's the pound of hemp that I got in the mail.

This is a single ply of light laceweight, which, while very flexible, is not quite dense enough for a man's belt. After some trial and error, I decided on chaining the yarn first with my trusty crochet hook and then knitting the crocheted hemp.  That seems to be working out pretty well.

Ultimately I decided upon using the linen stitch. It's wrapping in on itself just smidge but once I washed a section of it, it lay out flat. So I think as long as I aggressively soak and block it before I give it to him, and give it with a) clear instructions and b) the offer that I'll reblock it if need be, I should be okay. 

I've got about 14" done. I need about 50"  And I can only do a little bit at a time or my hands absolutely start screaming--this is not an easy knit. 

Wherein I Do Not Actually Slack....

Occasionally I feel like I'm not accomplishing very much on the knitting front.  I don't churn out lace like my sister, designs like several good friends, or various other large quantities of projects like some of the bloggers and pod/videocasters that I follow. However, I do have my little triumphs.

I realized the other day that the two pairs of socks that are currently on the needles are pair 11 and 12--for 2011.  Someone asked and I counted in Ravelry.  Since the beginning of the year I've knit

New Green Socks
Languishing Socks
Corn for Cristy
Indulgent Green Socks
What New Socks
Ugly Work Socks
Subtle Stripe Sunday
Purple Pond Socks
Footsies
Summer Sky Socks

Now, granted, I had been working on the Languishing Socks for a while and there is one pair of footies in there--but none of those are infant sized. 3 pair are for a size 9 shoe, the other 7 pair are for a size 7 shoe. Considering we're only in July (granted, August is soon upon us), I think it's fairly safe to say that I'll have finished at least a dozen pair of socks in 2011.  Quite possibly that number will be on the far side of 15.  Considering I've knit a few other things and I do work, that's quite a hefty amount of knitting I think.

So, those 11th and 12th pair

Rainbow Stripes is being knit out of the KPPPM in what I'm calling Easter Basket.  I finished the first sock a week or so ago, haven't cast on the second sock yet. I've been having some soreness in my hands, leftover from blowing them out in Michigan (knitting nonstop for about 36 hours) and size 0 needles really seem to exacerbate that.


The pictures are a little fuzzy---the colors are really painfully obnoxious with the flash so I went with fuzz over obnoxious bright.

And then there are the Do You Feel Lucky Socks.  *pause to praise, yet again, BMFA Medium weight for all it's squishiness* These are less than 10 rows from done.  I'm working on the toe of sock 2 and then they just need a quick wash/block.  So close....

And of course, because 12 pair can't possibly be enough, I now have a pair of basic black 2x2 vanilla rib socks that are intended for the Incredibly Patient Mother. No picture at the moment but imagine about two and a half inches of cuff on my size 1.5 needles. 

I'm hosting/attending a two day conference this Thursday and Friday, so hopefully in between taking lots and lots of notes and presentation summaries, I'll have some extra knitting time. Maybe. 

My Hands Hurt....

The Philosopher asked for a belt. I, apparently not being of sound mind, thought this would be a relatively easy undertaking.

I'm not going to learn anytime soon am I?

This 8 inches of knitting is all I've accomplished in three hours yesterday evening. What you don't see is the 5 ripped out attempts and the sad realization that I have to crochet the hemp thread into something approaching a sport weight before I can knit it on size 0 needles to get any kind of density close to what I'm looking for in seed stitch.

My hands ache and the skin on my index fingers feels sore and abused.  But it's started and hopefully it won't be deemed too girly.  I'm not sure I have the strength to rip it out again.