FOto Friday - August 17, 2007

Thanks for your patience during the recent hiatus and technical difficulties. Yesterday, I plugged my camera into the USB port and it loaded right up. My printer works now, too. So who knows. (Digital gremlins?) On to the FOtos!

Sockapalooza 4!!

The socks:

Note the excellent fit and stupendous stripiness. I love stripes. Not shown: the toasty warmness.

The treats:

Clockwise, from top left: Zen Party trail mix by Archer Farms. Envelope from cute enclosed card (oops, no photo). Supercute yarn-printed emery board from Knitters Mercantile in Columbus, Ohio. Three samples of Soak. Ohio State University coasters.

The coasters, hmm. Well, I live about 30 minutes from the University of Michigan, sworn enemy of Ohio State. We have a little saying:

Oh how I hate
Ohio State
Yes, we are nothing if not clever here in Michigan. However, in honor of fabulous knitter Lola, we used the Ohio State coasters until the kids decided they made excellent mass-onslaught mini-frisbees.

The amazing Zen Party matchiness:

I love that the socks and the snack mix matched! I don't know if that was planned or not. But I love it. (Did I mention the love? I did? Ok then.)


What I Did On My Summer Vacation, or, Two Things Michigan Should be Known for Besides Amazingly Clever Rhyming Couplets Disparaging Rival Universities:

This bridge (more impressive when clicked):


The Mackinac Bridge (say MAK-in-aw) connects Michigan's two penninsulas (penninsulae?). It is 5 miles long, and is the longest bridge in the Western Hemisphere, 3rd longest in the world. The road level at midspan is 200 feet above the surface of the water. The water depth at that point is 295 feet. (Something you don't really want to think about while you're driving over it within recent memory of the events in Minneapolis.) Happy 50th Anniversary, Mackinac Bridge!

Lighthouses:

This is the Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse, one of Michigan's many, MANY lighthouses. If you like lighthouses, this is the state for you. Very helpful when your landlocked sock pal loves lighthouses!


Ball Band Madness

Cocoa and Country Stripes. I like the purple one better, after all:


Used the leftovers from the first Nettie bag, plus the end of Country Stripes:


The top one, I was trying to be clever (you know us Michigan people and clever), so I held both yarns together while casting on and binding off. I hate it. I'll use it anyway. I made both of these in one week. For me, that's pretty fast.


Not So Fast

Ok, Nettie should not take this long to knit. I am stuck on the base garter stitch section. It's not hard, not at all. Just sloggy. A decent TV night should take care of it, if I just do it.


Sadly, I took this photo before I left, and it doesn't look much different now. Please don't tell Dreamy.

Happy Dance

Guess what I got in the mail today? Guess! Guess! Guess!

(No, not my Ravely invite. Still 178 ahead of me. Soon!)

My socks!! Already! I am so geeked. My secret knitter is "Lola" from Two Black Sheep. Here is a link to the socks' life story so far.

They fit great! They are warm! They look very well knit! (Toe-up on circulars with short row heels! I will never have another pair knit like this!) Stockinette on the instep and a 3x3 rib on the cuff. The colorway is Pistacio from Cider Moon, and I love how they snuck a little pink and purple in there. The color went into a stripe effect on the cuff - perfect.

(ACK! Arguing with peripherals again. Pictures to follow.)

Thank you, Lola!

(Ok, I gotta take them off. It's 85 degrees in the kitchen at 9pm. Ugh.)

FOto Friday - 8/3/07

Mini Sock:
I wanted to try one, but couldn't find a free pattern. So I just used the Yarn Harlot's general sock rules* to make a bitty one. It's not great, but this went in my pal's Sockapalooza package, which is...

...sent!
We have the finished socks on DIY sock blockers, the sock pattern (which will be published here once I know she has her package), a mini calendar on a topic I know she likes, some of the extra yarn in case of "shortage" or future holes, and the mini sock. I added a bunch of Michigan postcards, and the socks are wrapped in mad caterpillar's lovely official Sockapalooza 4 sock band, which you can download in PDF form from her site.

Stripey Goodness:
This is a Ball-Band Warshrag from Mason-Dixon Knitting made from Lily Sugar 'n Cream Stripes in Country Stripes and original in Hot Purple. Once I got going, I was afraid this would look too Easter-y, but I like how it turned out. Then, I was afraid to use it (too purty), but when it is wet, the colors deepen and it is really beautiful. (The yarn is beautiful, not my knitting. In fact, there is a major mistake on the topmost slip-stitch section, which I left since it was for my use anyway. Click to make it bigger.) I originally wanted to use a chocolate brown instead of the purple, but couldn't find any at that store and couldn't wait to start until I did. I think it would have looked more sophisticated in brown. Maybe for another day...

In order to put my money where my mouth is with the Make-A-Bag-Along blog, I picked up the second Nettie again. I got a lot done last night (the mesh sections knit up SUPER fast), but forgot to take a picture today.

This coming week, I'll be working on finishing Nettie and some other WIPs. Boy1 has been quite patient with his slow-going toe-up socks, and I'd like to finish my Chevron Lace pair before I start something new.

*Support your local bookstore, kids!

Sunday

Quick update: I've decided to hold off posting the sock pattern until the Sockapalooza socks are finished. Last night I knitted my first tiny sock from the extra yarn.

In the meantime, here's me as a Simpsons character:

Presenting:

Twisted Grapevine Socks for Sockapalooza 4 and the Tour de France Knit Along:

Dyeing

Testing

Newly dyed yarn

Roadblock

Success

Progress

Halfway

Complete!



Apologizing again for my cruddy camera. I'd say the actual color is closest to the "Progress" picture above. Depending on the light, the color will vary within the entire range represented above. I'm working on the pattern and will post when ready. Click here to see all posts on this project!

Done!

Sockapalooza socks are finished! Photos to follow. (Promise.)

Time Trials

Yesterday's leg of the Tour de France was a time trial segment. Now, I'm not sure what this means or why they do it, but it inspired me to do a little time trial of my own. I knew it was taking about 1/2 hour to do one repeat of my Grapevine socks, but I wanted to get an "official" time and see how long each round took.

A breakdown of each round:
Round 1 - pattern round
Round 2 - all knit stitch
Round 3 - pattern round
Round 4 - all knit stitch

Here are the results:

First Trial (results scrapped due to tinking incident; see Round 3):
Round 1 - 7 mins
Round 2 - 4 mins
Round 3 - realized I should write this stuff down, got up for pen and paper, then realized I missed something somewhere and had to tink needle #2. Twice.
Round 4 - 5 mins
First Trial total - 29 minutes (so round 3 took 13 minutes??)

Second Trial (official results):
Round 1 - 5 mins
Round 2 - 4 mins
Round 3 - 5 mins
Round 4 - 5 mins
Second Trial total - 19 minutes!

I think a typical repeat takes me a little longer because of children distractions, admiring the yarn tinking, etc.

I have another inch or so on the instep and then I can start the toe. Woo hoo!

***

In other yarny news, there may have been a recent stash enhancement expedition at Knit Picks. Details are sketchy; we'll keep you updated as the story unfolds.

Also, if you are participating in Sockapalooza, hie thee over to Knitting Ewe and design your own Sockapalooza project bag! These are super cute, made up in "official" Sockapalooza fabric. She is selling the bags and also gift certificates so your sock pal can design their own later. I just ordered one, so I can't vouch personally, but Host Allison raved about hers recently.

And, Mad Caterpillar has designed a PDF label to wrap around your Sockapalooza socks in when you are ready to send. I've printed one out, and if my magenta ink was working, it would be very cute!

Peace of Mind

I've made a decision about the Tour de France Knit Along.

I am not withdrawing from the race! Rather, I will change tactics and strive to finish my Sockapalooza socks during the tour. Remember their name from early on, even before I made the final-final FINAL decisions on color and pattern, was Grapevine. Well, grapes... wine... France... you know.

Anyway, not sure of the "rules" on this. The TdF mods seem pretty easygoing, so I hope it won't be a problem. But I'll email them to be sure.

I turned the heel on the second sock tonight, narrowly avoiding a major frogging disaster. I was knitting along on the heel flap, thinking about short-row heels (which I've never done) and how hard are they and what do they end up looking like, la di da, picked up the stitches along the side for the gusset, hmm hmm hmm, knit across the top in pattern, concentrate concentrate, picked up the other side, tra la la. Uh, I forgot to TURN THE HEEL.

Good thing I had only done one round when i caught it. Tinked back with no major issues. I gotta try it on purpose some time tho - I think that would make one crazy looking sock.

And does anyone else keep wanting to call it the "Tour de Force"?

P.S. I fully intend to post Nettie, but should I have some people test it first? Testers? Volunteers? Guinea pigs?

Angst and the Art of Flunking a Knit Along

How I am flunking the Tour de France Knit Along? Let me count the ways...

1. Sockapalooza - I committed to this project back in April, someone is actually counting on me for socks, so it is quite high priority. Socks are to be mailed August 2 (or is it 7 now?), so there are only 20 (or 27?) days left to finish that last sock.

2. Kids' classes - I committed to these back in May, so also prior to Tour de France. Each week I need to prepare both the lesson and a project sheet for the kids to take home. There are four girls plus my daughter signed up, so again, people are actually counting on me to get the prep done. In addition, I'd like to keep my teaching options open after this, so I'd better do a good job!

3. The progress thus far - I have the first portion of the market bag done, the first solid band at the top. Honestly? This was already done before I even signed up for the TdF KAL, so does it even count? Realize this: I have not worked on my so-called TdF KAL project since the TdF KAL project began one week ago.

4. This cold - Another goal of mine during the actual Tour, was to dig out a working bicycle from our trash heap of storage and ride it every day. I haven't blogged about this, which was probably better anyway, because it Has Not Happened. At all. I did go down to the shed and look at the bikes, but I don't think that quite counts. This cold is finally going away after two full weeks, and now I don't know when I'll have time to even go visit the bikes.

5. Work - I took the part time daytime job, so I just filled up two days a week there. Plus I haven't worked up the nerve to fully quit Major Retail Store. So I'm working two part-time jobs, plus the knitting classes, and oh yeah, I still have 3 kids and a husband, and...

oy.

Can you flunk a knit along?

1/2 FO!

Halfway done with my sockpal's socks!


On the foot, the pattern still wants to spiral, but in order for the sock to fit correctly, it HAS to stay straight up the instep. Also, the edging is curling a bit. These are things I'm hoping will block out.

I cast on immediately for the second sock, like a good girl, lol. Not too far there - just the CO and first row. Nothing to see.

Oh! I forgot to take a picture (yet), but I found an old wooden sock blocker at a yard sale today! It even has the former owner's name written on it - L. Mollot. It has a crack in it, tho. I don't know if it can be used like that or if some wood glue is in order (or would wreck it entirely).

And then I went to Target and got a couple placemats to make a new pair anyway. I have one I made from a wire hanger that works pretty well, but I don't tend to keep wire hangers around (haaaaaaate them), so I can't make a second one. Plus, I want to make a pair for my sock pal. She seems to be rather experienced sock knitter, so she may have sock blockers already. But hey, it's fun and homemade, so why not?

I hope to get the Nettie pattern up later today. No one signed up for the class, probably because I never made it to the yarn store (gasp!) to give them the sample. I do have 4 kids plus my Girl signed up for the Kids Club that will run on Saturdays, so that's good. I hope they enjoy the class and learn a lot!

Show & Tell

After committing a drive-by posting, I guess I owe some explanations about the things I claim to have "unvented".

Thing 1 - The weird pattern.

The "real" Vine Lace stitch goes like this:
Row 1 - k1, yo, k2, k2tog, ssk, k2, yo
Row 2 - knit all (if in the round; purl if flat)
Row 3 - yo, k2, k2tog, ssk, k2, yo, k1
Row 4 - same as Row 2

Well, because I am lazy and stubborn, I decided I didn't want to have to start or end with a yarnover on the needle. It's too haaaaaarrrrrd. (waah)

So I figured I would knit in the same pattern, just adjusting the whole thing over a couple stitches to avoid the starting/ending yos. Like this:
Round 1 - k1, k2tog, ssk, k2, yo, k1, yo, k1 (repeat 8 times)
Round 2 - knit all
Round 3 - k2tog, ssk, k2, yo, k1, yo, k2 (repeat 8 times)
Round 4 - knit all

After a while, I realized I wasn't getting the pretty lace ribs in a straight line down the cuff like I'd imagined. Instead, the whole pattern spiraled around as I went.

Top

Side

See the spiral? My camera tends to take blurry pictures, so bear with. (What is this "user error" you speak of? Also, "sunless tanner"?)

I debated for a while about whether to keep this going or to frog and start over. The thought of frogging was unbearable, given how long it took me to start, so I decided call it pretty and give it a name. Twisted Vine Lace. Please feel free to (nicely) correct me in the comments if this is a well-known stitch. I don't want to take credit away from someone who actually set out to invent this stitch!

(Sudden scary thought - how do I get this to spiral the other way for the second sock? Or do I decide to just not care?)


Thing 2 - The makeshift needle marker

No photo yet, sorry, but it's pretty self-explanatory. I'll try to take a pic when I do the second sock.

Usually, I just use the cast-on tail as my round marker when making socks. However, because the pattern was spiraling, it gradually moved the tail around as I went. So to mark my first needle in a round, I took a teeeeeeeeny hair rubber band in bright yellow, wrapped it around the non-working end of the working needle before I started a round. Then when I got back to that needle, I knew it was a new round and what pattern to do for the next round.

These rubber bands also make great stitch markers. They are easy to find, and cheap. Worth it even if you don't have little girls. Maybe if you have a kid with braces, you could use some of their bands instead (new ones, please. ew).

WARNING: Obligatory Cat Photo



And One More - Unintentionally Arty Version


I mean, really. What's a knitting blog without cat photos?

Drive-by Posting

Just a quick update on the Grapevine socks. They are coming along great; I am working on the heel flap of the first sock.

I did something weird to the pattern tho, and I think I may have unvented something newish.

I also did a fun thing to mark the beginning of my rounds that might also be newly unvented.

The yarn is still pretty, although I think it looks best in full sunlight. I'll be sure to let my sock pal know to only wear them on sunny days, lol.

Yes, I know I owe you a Babs for July - be patient! We had a busy weekend and the next day or two will be busy as well.

Nine? NINE?! oy

The swatch I posted (rather emotionally about) yesterday for Sockapalooza was on size 2s and a bit loose for socks. So I did another one on size 1s and got nine stitches per inch.

Nine. NINE, people!

I don't even knit that tightly!

Using Wendy's method (scroll down to "Detailed Toe-Up Sock Pattern" and download the PDF), that means 75 stitches around for my sock pal's socks! That's a lot of stitches. The Yarn Harlot likes to calculate exactly how many stitches she has ahead of her during a project. My theory? That way crazy lives. No WAY do I want to know how many stitches I have to put into these things!

On the happy side, the stockinette swatch was pretty stretchy, and lace tends to be stretchy, so I can probably fudge these down a bit further to 72, and use 8 repeats of Vine Lace pattern around the cuff, and 4 across the instep. So that works out. I am very happy that I'll be able to use the Vine Lace. Otherwise I'd have to decide on a different pattern, and then all the dyeing drama would have been for nothing!

Another happy thing is that my sock pal likes her socks on the shorter side. Whew!

WANT: Ball winder & swift

I knew this would happen:


I worked on balling this skein from 11 p.m. (after work) until 4:00 a.m. (before work). This is the tangled mess at 1:30 a.m. Oy.

But then, at lunch today, I cast on a swatch, and almost cried. I am so happy with how it turned out. That last desperate, random dousing with the blues was the BEST THING EVER - the blue comes through in random speckles like little sapphires.


How am I going to give these socks away? (What socks?)

Because if I don't, I won't have time to knit another pair, and then I will be the biggest fink weasle ever.

Promises Update * Meet Nettie * Houston, We Have Purple

Warning: Randomness ahead, but, hey! Pictures!

If you donated to Gleaners of Southeast Michigan, email Tracy at Tracy -at- gmail -dot- com (you know the drill) and let her know. She is giving away a GORGEOUS prize to one donor.

***

Meet Nettie...


Nettie II, she is done! Mwah! I am going to make the bag body a little longer and the handle a little shorter. (Note to self: cotton stretches. A lot.) I'll post the pattern once I'm done teaching the class. That just seems more fair to those who pay to take the class. Confession: I'm nervous that no one will sign up! In that case, I'll post the pattern here sooner.

Look how cute - she matches my ironing board cover!

Yarn: Lily Sugar 'n Cream in colors Hot Blue (solid) and Summer Splash (varigated)
Fiber: 100% cotton
Needles: Straight size 8 (US) and 15 (US)
Pattern: Mine! (proud mama) Will be posted here by August if not sooner.
Started: June 9 (ish)
Finished: June 16
Learned: How to make a pattern that makes sense (we hope).

***

Houston, We Have Purple Sock Yarn

I am out of my Sockapalooza denial and have dyed the yarn! It took way more time and Kool-Aid than I thought, but I'm sure that's due to lack of experience dyeing multicolored yarn. I used 6 packs of Grape, two packs of Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade, one pack of Strawberry Lemonade, and one pack of Berry Blue. I can't even walk you through the process because it got pretty random by the end. The "planned" stage ended up WAY more red-purple than I wanted, so in the end I doused the whole thing with the two shades of blue and called it done. It's on the drying rack right now. If it's ugly, I'll keep it and use either my pretty Trekking or some Louet Gems for my pal. (Probably the Louet Gems. Probably sportweight.)


The dyed yarn - still damp. I think it will lighten up when it dries.


There's the Trekking on the upper right. I HAD to pull out the center as soon as it was officially mine. (It's an obsession.) The two brighter cottons are what I used for Nettie.

Lack of SockaProgress

But we have a plan...

I still want to dye my own yarn for Sockapalooza. I still want to do a purple-blue sort of combination. Still want to do Vine Lace.

If I quit with the dyeing experiments now and just use the purple portions of the Experiment, that will work. I'm not sure about the striping portion, tho. Should it stripe or should it just be mottled shades of purple? I liked how the striping worked out, but not sure if it works with the vision in my head for these socks.

Also, now that I know I can make the self-striping yarn, I am leaning away from using it for Sockapalooza. This is pretty typical thought process for me. One personality profile for my type said that once we think through a process, that can be as satisfying as actually having done the project. So true.

The Backup Plan: Trekking! I couldn't stop petting it in the LYS last week, it had to come home with me. It's #184, shades of blue and green, which my buddy likes. I haven't worked with Trekking before, but it seems to get much love from the blogosphere.

The Backup Backup Plan - Louet Gems Sportweight. Louet Gems is soooo beautiful. I hadn't seen it before last week in my LYS. Sportweight because it will knit up faster than sock weight, AND I should only need one skein of sportweight vs. two of sock weight. I hope I am figuring that right - it doesn't seem to make sense, but there it is.

The LYS lady told me they had a customer come in and buy two skeins of every Louet Gems color in fingering weight. They thought she was going to knit a WHOLE BUNCH of socks, but no. She said she just likes them! Must be nice...

Last night I was bored and a little cranky, so I started a worsted weight sock for me. It is knitting up super fast - here's the pattern.

So rare that I have (or can afford!) the exact yarn specified in the pattern. But Hubs bought this for me for our anniversary last year (along with my first Alpaca blend that I am terrified to use, lol). I even have it in the same color as the photo.

Caitlin gave me some nice compliments about this blog. Thanks! It's nice to know at least one person is out there reading. But even if not, a blog is a nice place to work out some thoughts on things.

Happy Happy Joy Joy

Yow, I'm so excited! Here are some photos of the self-striping Grapevine Test Yarn...

Draining in the sink after washing:


On the drying rack (a little tangled, but no felting, thank goodness):


Blurry ball photo (adding ball winder and better camera to wishlist):


Swatchy joy:


The swatch is done in two repeats of vine lace with 3 stockinette stitches on either side as a border. We likes. We likes so much, we knits new scarf. (Super-long swatch = scarf. I just can't stop knitting it.)

And I have to plug the Paton's Classic Merino. This yarn has behaved so well, through the unwinding and the balling and the skeining and the dyeing and the reskeining and the overdyeing, and especially the poking with a spoon when the dye wouldn't absorb. I was sure it would felt after that, but no. It is lovely and soft, easy to find, and not very expensive.

Still not sure about the colors tho. My sock pal likes jewel tones, and these are a bit subdued. The green is rather mossy, even muddy in some lights. I may have to mix up some more Kool-Aid and try again. In the meantime, I am keeping my eyes open. If I see the *perrrrrrfect* sock yarn at a reasonable price, I may pick that up instead.

And I am totally going to make more self-striping yarn.

It Worked!

In my frustration last night, I left the yarn-filled dye containers on the kitchen counter to figure out today. Guess what happened overnight?

It exhausted! All the yarn soaked up all the dye. I am so happy.

The green is still not what I was hoping for. It is green, but it's kind of icky green. We'll see how it looks when dry, but I think I just need to reduce the amount of purple in the dyebath.

Will try for photos soon. (so happy!)

Dye-lemma

Moving on to stage two of the experimental yarn dyeing. It's not going so well.

I am trying to make self-striping yarn (see here and here). I am not worried about the length of the stripes at this point, since the experiment is mostly about color. So I took three kitchen chairs, made the biggest triangle I could with them in the kitchen and wrapped the purple-dyed yarn around. Retied the yarn at the three points, soaked it, and strung it into separate containers.

Then I added 1/3 cup of prepared Kool-Aid dye to each container, filled the rest of the way with water and started microwaving.

Now, several nuke/rest cycles later, the grape/purple container has completely exhausted, while the blue and the green both look like they have a ways to go. The purple had the most yarn in it; the green had the least.

Do I keep nuking and hope they exhaust? Will this ruin the purple?

Do I assume they have absorbed all the color they can and that's it? The blue is close to what I wanted; the green is nowhere near what I was hoping for.

What to do, what to do?

Purple Yarn Experiment

Wouldn't that be a fun band name?

Before I even signed up for Sockapalooza 4, I decided that I would dye my own yarn. The big kids and I had tons o' fun last fall dyeing yarn with Kool-Aid, and I've been itching (I didn't say dying!) to try it again. In order to be sure I could get the colors I want for my Sockapalooza Grapevine Socks, I am experimenting using Paton's Classic Merino Wool, color = Aran.

I wound off a 1 oz. ball of the Paton's, then skeined it using the backs of two kitchen chairs:

I wanted a loose skein, so I used two chairs instead of one. (I don't know if that made any difference or not.)

I tied off the yarn using some crap acrylic I had laying around. (You know you have some, too.) Then, I let the yarn soak for a bit:


While it soaked, I mixed up one packet of Kool-Aid with one cup of water in some used water bottles. The color/flavors are: dark blue = Berry Blue; purple = Grape; green = Lemon-Lime; light blue = Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade; dark red = Black Cherry.


I did some painting on paper to see what color mixes I liked (not shown due to iPhoto's continuing uncooperativeness). I'll use that info when I do the overdyeing. For now, I decided to just use purple as a background color. So, I mixed another packet of Grape and a cup of water and added it to my yarn soak water. Stir gently, gently, gently.

Microwave for two minutes, let rest for two minutes (not shown due to boringness). Repeat until you have this:

See the color in the spoon? No? Good. That means your dye has "exhausted," or completely soaked into the yarn. (Also, a little too much flash.) Some flavors of Kool-Aid will turn more milky white than clear. This seems to be more common with the lemonade variations than with other flavors.

The purple yarn resting and cooling off before washing.

I had a great caption for the above photo - "Stewing in its sickly broil" - which I thought was a quote from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams. Wanting to have an accurate quote, I looked it up. The actual quote is "The creature stirred in his sickly broiling vapor." Rats. I will try to work that into another post later.

I miss Douglas Adams. (Also Jim Henson. But I digress...)

Coming soon... overdyed in stripey goodness (we hope!)