FO: Garter Rib Socks

Pattern: Garter rib from Sensational Knitted Socks
Yarn: Knit Picks' Felici in the Pebble colorway
Needles: Knit Picks' DPNs size 1 (2.25mm)
Started: October 3
Finished: November 2
Modifications: Maia's toe-up gusseted heel, eye of partridge stitch carried through the heel turn and up the back of the heel.
What I learned: 1) Love the look of EOP instead of a slipped stitch heel. 2) I don't work well on deadline. These were initially my October entry for the SAMKAL4 and, well, you can see when they got finished.

When I first started these, the garter rib pattern was great; interesting enough to not be boring, but simple enough that I could work on the socks anywhere. After I finished the first sock though, SSS hit hard. I could barely stand to switch from knit to purl every other row. I see some straight up stockinette stitch socks in my future.

The same thing happened with the yarn, on the first sock, I loved it, the feel of the yarn and the colorway; I kept anticipating each color change. However, with the second sock, the yarn (and needles) just seemed too fine/small. At times it felt like I was working with sewing floss instead of wool yarn. Don't take that as a knock on the yarn though, I suspect it may have to do with the colder weather and lack of humidity (or something like that).

The socks fit well enough, but I think I made the feet a little too long. I started the heel flap sooner, and thus made it longer, than on the twisted tweed socks and it messed things up. The foot being longer made the leg shorter, they're just barely long enough for me. I'm still experimenting to find the perfect equation to fit my feet, but with all the variables, I'm afraid it may take a while. Unfortunately, I don't have it in me to knit the same pattern over and over again until I get it right.

P.S. Check out the blog contest over at Fine Martial Fiber. Can you guess the smiles?

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's been too long

First a clerical issue... The response I posted below was not my own, but someone who had commented on Debbie's blog post. I simply agreed with what he had to say. Thanks for all the comments, it's good to know there are people out there with their head on straight. :) Enough of that, it's been up too long. Back to knitting.

I've picked up progress on the Garter-Rib Socks. It kind of puts me back on deadline to get these done by the end of November, which was the reason I gave up on the SAMKAL4, but I think now that I'm past the heel, I can just finish them up and be done. I won't be able to wear them to Thanksgiving, but I definitely plan on wearing them for Christmas (it's one day before Thanksgiving, I suppose it's alright to mention the C-word).

I've also started adding the black lines to my Rock 'n' Roll Argyle Socks using duplicate stitch. Holy crap these are a lot of work. All the intarsia was bad enough, but I left most of the ends unwoven because I couldn't tolerate weaving them in when I was done. When I started the duplicate stitch, I was catching a lot of the ends with my needle, so I had to stop and weave all the ends in before I could continue. I'm almost done with one sock, but I'm afraid SSS is going to creep in again before I can start the other. Who knew you could get SSS twice on one pair of socks?!

The Baby Shedir is finished, it just needs to be blocked and photographed. Speaking of, there's practically no good photography light anymore. I really hate winter. I know as a knitter I should love it because I get to more easily wear hand knits, but I'm not at a stage where I can whip out a sweater in 2-3 weeks and I don't have one already done, so it doesn't really do much for me.

If you've scrolled down past my most recent entry in the past week or so, you've probably noticed some lovely progress bars. I was lucky enough to get in as a Ravelry tester for this particular feature. It pulls the progress on your project straight from Ravlery, so you don't have to update it in more than one place. Pretty neat. So far, I've learned two things: 1. I have a lot of projects that are in the home stretch and I really should finish them up. 2. I need to start some new projects! I'm just not sure what yet.

After finishing the Baby Shedir and Aww Knucks! I realized that other than one ball of Wool of the Andes, all I have is sock yarn. I do plan on knitting at least one more pair of socks for December, but otherwise, I'm not really into knitting socks right now. I really want to use some heavier weight yarn. But I'm on a self-imposed yarn diet until after Christmas. I did think about making the WOTA into a hat, but I'm not sure one skein is enough. I'll have to find a simple top down pattern.

I have been yarn shopping though. I want to make a brown cabled sweater with some worsted weight wool yarn, but I'm realizing that I know next to nothing about yarn other than KnitPicks. They were the first yarn supplier I bought yarn from since the price is right and I've been scared to take a chance on more expensive yarn. I really like the look of tweed yarns, so I've been browsing WEBS for good deals.

Wow....just...wow...

Men, the New Women, Alert: No, Balls of Yarn Are not Cojones
Could you be any more close minded? My favorite response to this so far?

I am a 36 year old male who knits. It has given me much enjoyment and have met several friends through knitting groups. I ahve traveled the world and knitted in public in several contries. I have found that it is Americans who just can not get over knitting being a hobby that belongs only to the female gender.

I will give up knitting if YOU make the following sacrifices in your life. They are as follows:

1. Give up your career ambitions (attorney,columnist), they are "masculine" jobs and belong to "men only". Women should not have jobs, or much less an opinion.
2. Cancel your blog site. No one should listen to the opinions of a women for we all no women have no intelligence.
3. Take a match to all degrees recieved. Its a "mans world". Women should not be educated.
4. Stop voicing your opinion. Women should not have a opinion. They should be quiet,passive and ALWAYS agree with their husbands opinion.
5. Stop voting, women should not be allowed to vote.
6. STAY AT HOME! Womens place is in the house and not in the work force. Cook, clean, and always have dinner on the table.
7. If your not married, give up all hopes of finding a man. Convince yourself that no man would ever want a woman over 25.
8. If married, submit to all demands and requests of your husband.
9. Give up birth control. Women should have as many children as their spouce demands. Oh, and submit to him sexually as much as he wants. Sex is for men, not women.
10. Cancel all credit cards in your name. Close all bank accounts in your name. If the man brings home the bacon he should decide how you should spent it!
11. Last and not least, be "pretty" for your husband at all times. Don't dare gain a pound or change your appearance. Ask for your husbands permission when changing your appearance. Always remember you are his property.

Now, follow these simple steps to a more "feminine" Debbie! Your starting to demasculate this 36 year old male.

Debbie, step out of your prehistoric cave (with the cavemans permission of course) and begin to accept that both men and women have come a long way since the dawn of time.

I encourage you to let this ignoramus know how you feel.

I've Been Busy

So I haven't blogged in over two weeks. So what? I've been busy knitting, and that's really the point isn't it? I've finished the Fibonacci Ribs sweater, it just needs to be blocked, modeled and photographed. So I should have that done in another year or two. :-) The other good thing about finishing the sweater? Leftover yarn! I ended up with two whole skeins of Asparagus Merino Style left, and so I knit the following over the last two weeks:

Aww Knucks!


Pattern: Knucks from Knitty.com
Yarn: Knit Picks' Merino Style in the Asparagus colorway, 1.2 skeins (approx.)
Needles: Bamboo DPNs size 4 & 3, Knit Picks options size 4
Started: October 22
Finished: November 2
Modifications: Made the fingers longer, magic loop instead of DPNs - much easier

These were a quick and easy project, only took me a week to complete. Love that instant gratification! Don't mind the color, it's really a lot brighter green. That's what I get for indoor photos at midnight. I'll be making more of these, hopefully refining the design along the way, they're a little loose after the thumb gusset. I started the textured cuff and I liked it, but I couldn't complete the crab stitch edging since I couldn't find the right size crochet needle. I frogged and worked a ribbed cuff with smaller needles. I'd like to unvent a cuff up (?) version that eliminates the gaps between the fingers. Still haven't come up with anything to embroider on the knuckles yet (P*SS OFF!, F*CK OFF!... I'm an angry driver :-) ), suggestions are welcome. My wife asked for a pair, but she wants a different color, so you know what that means...yarn shopping!

Baby Shedir


This is the Shedir pattern from Knitty using the modifications found here. I got the idea from Ravelry after browsing other patterns knit with Merino Style for ideas. Again with the color... I started it on Saturday to have something to work on during the Michigan vs. Michigan State game, Go Blue! I know, wrong color, but it didn't jinx the team. I've knit this pattern before and it's just as enjoyable this time around, even more so working on two circs instead of DPNs. I have to say, even thought it's my first, I LOVE knitting baby items. They're so quick! I'll definitely be making more of these in the future both for us (we're all talk for now) and for friends that are expecting.

Not much else to report on in the knitting world, Ravelry still consumes much of my internet time (more than it should), and the October (now November) garter-rib socks get a row longer here and there. I'm just not feeling the tiny needles right now. (Maybe it's the DPNs?) And I decided I'm not totally giving up on the SAMKAL4, just skipping October. I figure I have one pair 65% done, I can finish those sometime this month, then have a month and a half to knit a December pair. Four out of five isn't bad in my book.

P.S. - Had to do a little surgery on one of my Options needles. The end came off the cord - cleanly, not broken - and I used super glue to reattach. I must've waited too long after applying the glue though, the cord wouldn't go all the way back in. It's usable and it doesn't snag yarn, but I'm not happy about it.