Halloween Socks

It has been nearly a year since I’ve knitted a pair of socks, it isn’t because I don’t wear them or like them; I just seem to stall as soon as I reach the heel. There are several pairs of socks sitting around my house in various stages of completion, mainly at the heel or just before. I was determined to beat my sock slump and knit a pair of Halloween socks to wear on Halloween as I passed out candy. Several years ago I picked up a skein of Vesper Sock yarn in ‘Witchy Woman’ that was begging to be a basic toe up sock.



After doing short rows on my little owls I was confidant that I could pull off a short row heel that would actually fit! I began knitting them on October 14th and took them to Chicago as a simple project to knit on the plane and trains. They were finished by the 29th and are completely perfect!







We didn’t have many trick or treaters this year; being that it was the first time we were in the house for Halloween I’m not sure if that is the norm, but it was still fun wearing them around the house to get into the mood of Halloween. I also loved playing with Picnic from Flickr.







I wish my all of my Halloween photos came out, these are just the few that weren't so horrible.   I was lazy and didn't grab the tripod, but our house was decked out in creepy ghouls and goblins

4 years old

I just realized that today is my blog's 4th birthday! With that said I present you the last pair of socks knitted before the end of 2009:



Edwardian Boating socks (if you purchase this pattern before Jan 31 the proceeds go to Doctors without Borders to aid Haiti) knit from September's shipment of the Rockin Sock Club called River Rocked. I loved this color and couldn't bear to see it pool so this pattern was a perfect fit for what I wanted.

January's Socks

One pair, in the loosest meaning of the word, of socks down for January! I want to try to knit down my WIPS and single socks while also finishing two socks a month with hopes that by the end of the year I will have knit 24 socks and hopefully have some matching pairs that I can wear. Scott had commented a few weeks ago that his feet were cold and that he wished he had another pair of wool socks to keep his feet warm. I began to feel a bit guilty because it has been so long since I finished anything for him. Before everyone begins to judge me he does wear a size 12 shoe so I could almost knit a pair of socks for me in the amount of time it takes to knit one for him. For our first anniversary we went to Boston and I picked up some yarn for socks for both of us, almost two years later I finally finished one sock for him.



This is retro rib sock in Claudia Hand Painted knitted on size 2 double points. I really do like this pattern but the yarn was a poor choice for this pattern. I knew that going in, I was desperate to find a man approved sock pattern. I really should have knitted a plain stockinette sock but that would have driven me to madness. He likes it though and that is all that matters, he would however enjoy the other sock.

I also have been feeling a bit guilty that I have yet to finish any socks from last years Rockin Sock Club so while I knit the current club socks I also wanted to finish the ones I started last year. Leafling was the closest to being finished so I whipped that one off the needle. I’m not sure how I like the toe:





I modified it so the leaf pattern comes to a point but I started doing so too late and by time I finished and needed to finish shaping the anatomical toe it was too long and I needed to decrease too quickly. I may rip back in do a standard toe instead or just rip out the kitchener and decrease a bit more so it looks a bit better.

100th post/2008 wrap up

I love how my 100th post also coincides with my 2008 wrap up.



I knitted/crocheted and or finished 5 pairs of socks, one of which is from my own handspun, 1 pair of mittens, 5 toys, 2 washcloths, 1 blanket, 1 scarf, 1 hat, 1 shawl from my own handspun, and 1 Christmas tree ornament.

I am very proud that I was a bit more selfless with my knitting this year. The duck was for a coworker before I left for my full-time job, the elephants and washcloths were for my cousin's babies, the crocheted toys were for Scott and my brother and the shawl was for my mom. I think I was most proud that I finished the Saffron Cables blanket and my mom's shawl. I never thought that I would finish something so large; it is the most used knitted item in our home. My mom's scarf was the most beautiful thing that I created from the almost very beginning to a completed item.

I also improved on my spinning throughout the year.


The most important thing I learned this year with my spinning is to make sure that I spin all that is needed to finish a project at the same time. I did not spin enough "Walking on the Sun" to finish my shawl, the second attempt at this yarn is a bit thicker than the first sitting but that is fine with me.

There were also some items that were not finished:


I finished 3 single socks (one of which is a knee-high from my own handspun) which are still waiting for their mates, 2 sweaters, 1 which only needs half a sleeve and the zipper, 1 shrug and 4 shawls, 3 which are not pictured (Lily of the Valley, Peacock Feathers and Ene's Scarf), also not pictured 7 socks various stages of completion.

My 2009 plans are to spin one skein of yarn a month to decrease my fiber stash. Now I know that by doing so I will only be increasing my yarn stash, but let's ignore that for the moment. I also want to start finishing my lingering WIPS, especially the sweaters. I would also love to knit a pair of socks a month, but I know that is a lofty goal. I did not finish a single sock from the 2008 Rockin Sock Club, I would love to be able to do so, along with knitting down my sock stash. This will probably not happen, but I would love to try to at least keep up with the current club that will be shipping out soon.

Well there it is, my 2009 goals out in cyberland for all to see and for all to keep me honest. This might be the first year that I set actual goals that I can keep track of so December will be interesting.

Catch up part 3

I finally finished a pair of socks from the 2007 Rockin' Sock Club, the colorway is Firebird and the pattern is Fawkes. This colorway and pattern fit so well together that I could not pass up making these.


They were finished the week that Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was supposed to be released. Which by the way I'm still ticked off that I have to wait until July to see.

Fall is in the air and on my feet.

Wow I completely suck at blogging. I’ve had a few posts in my mind for a while now and I have yet been able to sit down and write them up. So how about another finished object!

Right before Rhinebeck I finished up Embossed leaves socks so I could wear them to the festival. I started these on my way to Rhinebeck last year in the car and when I got home they sat in the back of a draw waiting for a heel. I couldn’t decide what kind of heel I wanted, did I want the pattern to flow down, or did I want to do a slip stitch heel? Good thing I did wait because when I tried them on again they were a bit snug getting on so I ripped them back to the first pattern repeat and switched to a size 2 needle instead of 1s.



I knit the heel as written except for breaking the yarn; I didn’t feel like weaving in more ends because I’m lazy. I love these socks! Ever since I saw Kristy knit these, I knew that I wanted a pair exactly like hers. I waited until Autumn was available from Blue Moon Fiber Arts to knit this beautiful pattern. I was lucky enough to finish just as the leaves started to fall so I could do a similar shot to hers. At first Scott though I was a bit insane sitting in the middle of a pile of leaves but then he got into the photo shoot. The first shot is his.



Pattern: Embossed Leaves
Needles: US size 2.5 and 2
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock lightweight in Autumn.

While they do slouch a bit, which is what I was trying to avoid with the smaller needles, I prefer the fit much more where the gusset is. These were my only successful pair of Socktoberfest socks. I had such grand plans but they faltered into a mess of half finished socks. At least these beauties are finished!

Head over heels

I finally finished spinning up the last of my Pigeon Roof Studios SW Merino in Blossom and felt the urge to knit it up into something beautiful. Since I bought 8oz knee high socks seemed to be the best way to use this pretty roving. Originally I was thinking of plain stockinette knee highs, but then I was browsing through some of my Interweave magazines and found the Spiral Boot Socks and thought that it would be a perfect match.



I used a size 2 needle and decreased when my leg narrowed instead of following the instructions this paired with the fact that my handspun is slightly thicker than the sock yarn called for I was able to get this knee high to fit my shapely calf perfectly. Although as I was wearing this around the apartment (yes only one is done but I didn’t care, I love this more than anyone should love their knitted socks) it started to slouch. When the other is knit, I think I’ll add a cute ribbon to the top to make it stay better.

While I do love this sock so much, almost enough to cast on right away for its mate, the need for wool knee highs isn’t so great in the 90 degree heat. My attention has turned to the Apres Surf Hoodie that I am under the delusion that I can knit quickly, quick enough to beat the chill from the air conditioning at work. More on that the next time, along with my mom’s shawl.

Putting out the F.I.R.E.

Despite the fact that I’ve been ill on and off for two and a half months I have managed to get some knitting done. I am trying to knit at least one pair of socks in one of the three Project Spectrum colors for each of the elements. The months of February and March was designated FIRE, focusing on reds, oranges and pinks. Within this color scheme I was able to finish three pairs of socks:



A basic toe up short row heel sock knitted from my very own handspun. These socks, bumpy and rustic were my favorite to knit because they allowed me to see the transformation of fiber into yarn and finally into something wearable. It pleases me to no end knowing that I was involved in almost all the steps to create this piece. The yarn was spun from Spunky Eclectic’s Superwash Merino in the colorway “Ravelry.” I thought it was very appropriate to have my first knitted piece in the “Ravelry” colorway since Ravelry armed me with enough information to start spinning.



The next pair was knitted as a gift for my mom’s birthday out of Socks that Rock Silkie in Hard Rock. She picked the color and yarn while I decided on Charade, a pattern that I felted would ever so slightly break up the stripes.



The final pair I knitted in the last two weeks of March in anticipation of going down to D.C. for the Cherry Blossom Festival. The pattern is Merino Lace Socks from My Favorite Socks, in Fleece Artist Sea Wool “Rose.” I had started this pattern a while back using Socks that Rock in Midsummer’s Night but didn’t think that the combination of the dark yarn and pretty lace pattern worked. I love the way that the pink makes the lace look more delicate.




I couldn’t spin much these past few months but I did manage to spin up some beautiful Superwash Merino/Tencel blend in “Walking on the Sun” from Spunky Eclectic with my new Very Fast Flyer that my sweetie gave to me for Valentine’s Day. I have begun to knit this up into the Woodland Shawl by the Thrifty Knitter. It was hard to find a pattern for only 470 yards (4 oz) of lace weight yarn, but I finally settled on this pattern because the yarn and leaves together remind me of what I always pictured the leaves of the Mallorn Tree in Lothlorien would look like.

My E.A.R.T.H. plans are less ambitious because surprisingly I lack the colors green, brown and metallic.

40 years or Momma told me there would be days like this

It is cold and gray outside which makes me long for the days spent at Binghamton University what seems like eons ago. The few days that I have had off this past week were spent under blankets with kitties, tea and knitting or spinning, watching one of my favorite detectives. I don’t mind my tendencies towards being a hermit; after dealing with a practically rough week answering what should be obvious, and I mean blindly obvious, questions I don’t need to see more people, especially when they ask me stupid questions. Before you say that there are no stupid questions, there are those questions where you have to fight the urge to smack them and ask ‘Have you been living under a rock all your life?’ As a children’s librarian I understand and am okay with children asking me questions because they are young and are just learning; however when an adult asks me whether or not Martin Luther King Junior was African American I just stare blankly and wonder where this person has been. What kills me inside just a little is what a colleague of mine pointed out, I will be eligible for retirement at 65, I did the math, and since I turn 25 in a few weeks I have 40 years to truly learn how ignorant people can be about the world around them. That night I called a friend I met in Library School to tell her my little story because I knew she would get a laugh. I mentioned that 40 years was a long time, people have wandered the desert for that amount of time looking for the promise land. She replied that it would be all worth it in the end, to which I reminded her that Moses never made it there… she laughed.

All dramatics aside, I do enjoy what I do and find it very rewarding. However those of you who have the pleasure to work with the public understand that there are just days like that where it is hard to see the silver lining in it all.

While I do love the gray days, it does make it hard to photograph your hand knits. What makes it even harder is the fact that I haven’t been home during daylight (gray or not) hours for quite some time. I was finally able to photograph a pair of socks that I finished a few weeks ago.



Pattern: Waving Lace Socks by Evelyn A. Clark from Favorite Socks
Yarn: Crystal Palace Yarns Panda Wool Print in Rosewater sent to me by my sockapalooza pal
Needles: US1 2.25 DPN set of 5.
Modifications: I only knitted two repeats on the leg instead of three because I was afraid that I may run out of yarn and I nearly did.
Started: August 2007 on my way down to D.C.
Finished: January 2008.

I was never big on pink growing up but lately I love this color, I have also found that I get a lot of compliments when I wear pink. These socks remind me of Cherry Blossoms which is why I grabbed this yarn to knit on my way down to D.C. I am hoping that maybe this year we can get away for the weekend to see our friend and walk the streets admiring the beautiful cherry blossoms. I have never knit with a bamboo mix, while I found the yarn to split if I wasn’t playing attention, I really love the way the dye took to the yarn. The Bamboo provides such a lovely sheen and takes the dye a little lighter than the wool.

I Read Banned Books

This week is Banned Books week. I strongly believe in the Freedom to Read, nothing should be censored. As a librarian I do have to keep in mind the community that my library serves but at the same time I do not and should not keep a title out of the collection because it might upset someone. As S.R. Ranganathan says ‘every read his or her book and every book its reader.’

These are some of my favorite books and they have all been challenged or banned. Click on the picture to read the titles.

Yesterday my Yarn Nerd order came and I’m in love.



These two colors are beautiful and after much consideration I think I finally decided that I am going to keep the Pine Green for myself, the Cable Net will look better in red.

The weather finally cooperated with me and I was able to take a picture of my Bayerische Sock.





I love how the pattern looks in this color yarn (STR lightweight in Sunstone), it also matches Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
~C

Socktoberfest

Well if it is October then it must be Socktoberfest! Normally I set these crazy goals for myself that I could never dream of reaching, so for this socktoberfest I have four main goals:
1. Finish the second sock for my Hogwarts Sock Swap Pal.
2. Finish one crazy (Cable Net) sock for another pal.
3. Finish my Norbert socks and write up the pattern for everyone.
4. Knit a pair of knee highs.

Here’s a peek at my sock for my Hogwarts Sock Swap Pal:


I’m waiting on the yarn for my other pal. I ordered some yarn from Adam for this swap; I think that I’ll use the green for my pal and the red for a pair of Baudelaire.


This will be used for the knee highs. I’ve been sitting on this yarn since last Socktoberfest, is it a 500 yrd. skein of Scout’s Superwash Merino in “Socktoberfest.”

If I can finish any of these I’ll be happy.

“Fawkes” in STR “Firebird”


Merino Lace Socks in STR “Midsummers Night”


Bayerische socks in STR “Sunstone” which is actually finished but I haven’t been home when it has been sunny. Hopefully tomorrow afternoon I’ll get a good photo.

She’s in love… She’s got a new man… Well no… What’s his name?

Before we went down to DC I went to the Spinning Study Group of Long Island to see if spinning is really something I would like to try. A few months ago I bought a spindle and have been playing around with it (I know I’m a bad blogger I should have blogged about this a while ago) but I wasn’t sure if I had the hang of it. Well I met Ann there and she let me try her Lendrum double treadle wheel with a WooLee winder… I’m in love. I just could not believe how much fun I was having working on that wheel. So I’m starting to put some money away little by little and hopefully should have a wheel by my birthday. I still need to clear out a spot for it in the apartment and show my sweetie that it really won’t take up too much room in our already overcrowded one bedroom apartment.

On the way to and from DC I finished this

Waving Lace socks by Evelyn A. Clark from Favorite Socks in Panda Wool Rosewater. I was originally knitting this sock in STR “Queen Rock” but the yarn was a little too busy for the pattern. I think Queen Rock would look better as “Summer of Love Lace” the new pattern from the Rockin Sock Club.

This year I have been really slacking on knitting the sock club shipments. Last year I finished all the socks in the patterns they came with before the new year started. This year I haven’t finished a single one! This month’s shipment (don't click if you want to be surprised) looks more suited for Monkeys. Firebird is destined for Fawkes; Inside outs in Monsoon are hibernating for a little while and I think that I will make a shawl from Walking on the Wild Tide. I think that I will have enough to knit Elann's Luna Moth Shawl.

I have a FO to show off tomorrow when it dries and some sweater progress to report.
Ps. Don’t worry those finger prints on the wall is just paint.
Pps. I’m trying to see how long I can keep up using Rent lyrics as titles for my posts.

Take me out

What better way to spend a 100-degree evening than at a baseball game with wool in your lap? Scott and I went to the first (annual maybe?) Stitch N’ Pitch at Shea Stadium on Wednesday night.

(Click for bigger)



I originally wanted to work on a sock that I’ve designed myself called “Norbert” however I forgot to bring the size needle I needed for the heel, I blame the heat.

This pair of socks has seen quite good time lately; I brought them along to Rent with me for the train ride but forgot the needle (I see a theme here) and then they went to Shea. One of these days they will be finished and I will share the pattern with everyone.

Thankfully I threw another project in my bag before I left:




These socks were more a more appropriate color anyway. I absolutely love the way that the yarn (STR in “Sunstone”) and the pattern (Eunny Jang’s “Bayerische sock”) look together. Even Scott always says that these are a cool pair of socks every time I work on them.

Here’s my sweetie having a good time.


This was the first game I’ve been to where the Mets have won! We both had a great time together despite the fact that it was so hot. We also received some nice gift bags with some interesting yarn and great magazines that I did not have. The weather has been disgusting so I can’t get a great picture, maybe this weekend I can get one up of the goodies.
~C

Connection- in an isolating age

I’m still on my little high from seeing Rent the other night. My being smitten with Adam Pascal is an understatement. I could not believe how close we were and how amazing the show was.

I finished my Sockapalooza socks and will be shipping them later today. Working two jobs (I never mention that during the spring I picked up a second job in another library) makes it hard to get to places that close by 5pm. Since I knew that I wasn’t going to make it to the post office on the official sent out date, I made some stitch markers for my pal. I hope she likes everything, she wanted something short and lacey and this pattern just screamed to be made.




Pattern: Meida’s Socks from Favorite socks
Yarn: Lorna’s Laces in “China Blue”
Needles: Addi Turbos in US1
Modifications: Since I used a lighter weight yarn than the pattern calls for I only decreased to 18 sts which makes it even with the lace design. Otherwise I followed the chart which as Grumperina pointed out creates left cross cable instead of a right cross cable.

Here’s a close up of the stitch markers I made for my pal:




Everything is packed and ready to fly its way off to my pal. I hope she enjoys the package.