Ending Socktoberfest on a pretty note.

I didn't think I was that far along w/my first Kew sock yesterday. But it's done in time for the end of Socktoberfest! One down, one to go! Woot!

Counting my second KP Simple Stripes sock and my first Kew sock, my Socktoberfest count is 2 pairs of adult socks and one pair of toddler socks. Not bad. Not bad at all. :)

and continuing my STR list. Here are colors #151-190:
Boysenberry
Bronze
Carnalite
Celestine
Chicabiddy
Clay
Cock-eyed
Coral
Double Dutch Canyon
Downpour
Falcon's Eye
Gold Nugget
Gunmetal Gray
Heart Throb
Hornstone
In the Navy
Mermaid
Meteorite
Midnight Stonewash
Mist
Ms LaRock
Mudslide
Neptunite
Panzanite
Pastels
Peridot & Periwinkle
Periwinkle
Petrified Wood
Petroglyphs
Prickly Pear
Rhode Island Red
Rock Candy
Rock My World
Savannahlite
Scaponia
Spot Rock Two
Stoner
Thunder
Torridon
Yosemite

Thank you knitty.com board members and blogland knitters. Keep them coming!

Add to my Socks that Rock list!

As I told tapmouse, I had a slow moment last week and proceeded to list all the STR colors in an excel spreadsheet. (To clarify, I only own 8 of their colors.) Not being technically savvy enough to link that simple spreadsheet here, I decided to just list them. I'm sure I missed lots as there are supposedly 250+ STR colors and I've only found 111 so far. Want to help me?

24 Karat
Alina
Apple Valley Road
Atomic #6
Autumn
Azure Malachite
Azurite
Banded Agate
Beryl
Bleeding Hearts
Blue Brick Wall
Brick
Carbon
Carbon Dating
Carbon Dioxide
Celedon
Chanticleer
Chapman Springs
Cherries Jubilee
Christmas Balls
Citrine
Cobalt Bloom
Cobblestone Country
Copper
County Clare
Covelite
Cracked Canyon
Dreidel
Dust in Terra--
Dutch Canyon
Fairgrounds
Farmhouse
Fire on the Mountain
Flourite
Fred Flinstone
Gypsum
Hard Rock
Harlotty
Harvest Moon
Heartstone
Heavy Metal
Henpecked
Highway 30
Hot Flash
Hurricane
Hurricane Kaci
Jail House Rock
Jasper
Jewel of the Nile
Jingle Bell Rock
Kiwi
Kryptonite
Lagoon
Lapis
Lemongrass
Love In Idleness
Lover's Leap
Lucy
Lucy in the Sky--
Marbles
Mesa
Metamorphic
Mica
Midsummer's Night
Moonlight Revel
Moss Agate
Nodding Violet
Obsidian
Olivenite
Peaseblossom
Pebble Beach
Pebbles
Philosopher's Stone
Playground
Pop Rocks
Prism
Prove It All Night
Puck's Mischief
Purple Rain
Rainforest Jasper
Red Rock Canyon
Rhodonite
Rock Star
Rocktober
Rocky Horror
Rolling Stone
Romancing the Stone
Rooster Rock
Rose Quartz
Ruby
Ruby Slippers
Sandstone
Saratoga
Scottish Highlands
Seal Rock
Sherbet
Siren Song
Spinel
Spot Rock One
Spring Fling
Star Sapphire
Tanzanite
Terra Firma
Thistle
Tiger's Eye
Titania
Tornado
Two Can Rock
Velvet Moon
Waterlilies
Watermelon Tourmaline
X-mas Rock

ETA: I just saw this posted on the STR KAL as their new sock club color:

112 Pink Granite

Edited (Again) to add more:

Amber
Amber Waves
Amethyst
Auquamarine
Barney Rubble
Black Onyx
Blarney Stone
Blue Boo!
Blue Moon Rock
Blue Moon Stone
Cotton Candy
Crazy Lace Agate
Emerald City
Emerald Isle
Garnet Dream
Iolite
Musk
Onyx
Opal
Peacock
Pixie Park
Plymouth Rock
Queen Rock
Rare Gems
Rock Salt
Ruby Tuesday
Sand
Sapphire
Seastone
Sedona
Smokey Topaz
Sun Drops
Terra
Tonalite
Turquoise

That's 150! Only 100 (plus or minus) to go!

(progress on my Kew socks in STR Nodding Violet)

Medium well

I didn't work to much more on my Kew socks, but I did finally finish the sash on my Kyoto sweater. Technically I am done according to the pattern, but like all other Kyoto knitters, I want to make it longer. So I'll be adding in another "panel" of the sage green after the sash.

I did have monkey1 take a pic of me modelling this sweater, but I've come to realize it could've done w/a bit of short row shaping. Apparently this sweater really looks best on those below a B cup.

Four Meme

Because I got tagged by tapmouse:

Four jobs I’ve had:
1) babysitter – and not just my much younger sister
2) errand runner for a lawyer
3) Summer Fun student aide
4) Civil Engineering student assistant

Four movies I can watch over and over:
1) Lord of the Rings trilogy (I am a LotR geek)
2) Lilo and Stitch (my children get a kick when I slip into pidgin w/the characters)
3) Pride & Prejudice (both the latest version & the A&E mini-series)
4) The Last of the Mohicans (cause I had a thing for Daniel Day Lewis & Eric Schweig)

Four places I have lived:
Quezon City, Philippines
Honolulu, HI
Oakland, CA
Oakley, CA

Four television shows I love to watch:
Lost
Project Runway
Heroes
House

Four places I have been on vacation:
Vancouver, Canada
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Indonesia
Phoenix, AZ

Four of my favourite dishes:
Profiterole from a time share restaurant in Puerto Vallarta – nothing ever beat it
Linguine w/clams
Prawns anything
Prime Rib end cut

Four websites I visit (almost) daily:
Face Online board
knitty.com board
Yarn Harlot
Flickr.com (I do a lot of knitting pic searches)

Four places I would rather be right now:
Hawaii
yarn stores (stolen from tapmouse!)
My favorite Nars counter or Sephora
Library or book store

Four bloggers I am tagging:
a potty mouth among the puritans - a crafty jeweller & fellow mu addict
In the Shadow of Space - another crafty jeweller & fellow Nartian
Kel
and I don't know, whoever else finds my blog

Jaywalkers are done!

The silly cutesy Jaywalkers pic:

Thank goodness monkey2's daycare likes me, otherwise they'd be thinking even stranger thoughts about me draping socks over their little traffic signs. And the modelled shot of the fraternal pair.


So now tapmouse and I are doing our own little KAL for knitty Kew. I'm doing mine in STR Nodding Violet. I like this pattern cept for the annoyance that is keeping track of yo's at the end of a needle.

But before I cast on for Kew, I decided to give the Fancy Silk Sock from Nancy Bush's Vintage Socks a try in CTH supersock solid in Turquoise. Too bad I messed up halfway through the cuff. I somehow shifted the stitches over, so I need to either frog back and start all over or tink back to the error. I'll probably frog back all the way 'cause it'll be faster than trying to figure out what repeat I messed up on and get the stitches all on the needles correctly.

And the Kyoto progresses with it's endless rows of double seed stitch. At least I'm halfway done w/the sash.

I am whack

I didn't realize how much of a spendy mood I was in when I went to the grand opening of a new yarn store, Purlescence Yarns in Sunnyvale this weekend. As you can see from the pic, I had a blue-ish theme going here. Left to right, all lightweight Socks That Rock from Blue Moon Fiber Arts 'cept the last one which is Sock Candy (cotton/Elite): Peaseblossom (seen online as the STR Club Hippy Crunchy pattern), 2 of the Midsummer's Night Dream themed colors - Nodding Violet (Purlescence owner Nathania named this one) and Love-In-Idleness (ironically I did not grab the last Puck's Mischief, tapmouse's named one), Chapman Springs (this is the first one I grabbed out of instinct), Seal Rock (a tapmouse fav), and Hurricane. And thanks to tapmouse's cool idea, here they are opened up minus Peaseblossom 'cause you can see lots of pics of it knitted up on the STR KAL.

(Heh, monkey2 won't stay still enough for me to take a pic of her in the toddler socks, but she somehow manages to sneak her hand into this pic.)

I got to Purlescence 15 minutes after they opened and a lot of the STR stock was gone already. All the Fire on the Mountain went quick. There was one X-Mas Rock left, but I didn't pick it up. If there was any Watermelon Tourmaline it was gone 'cept for the one in the Fair Isle kit. Felt up the Bambu (very soft stuff) and merino/tencel, but will wait on those 'til November as I got a 10% coupon in my bag good for the beginning of November. Hopefully, they get restocked in the Socks That Rock by then.

And to prove that I am doing something w/my sock yarn, I finished the toddler socks. It's a good thing I only made 2.5" cuff/legs 'cause I didn't have very much left over when I was done. It's still a little big for monkey2, but she ran away while trying to take the socks off when I busted out the digital camera. Apparently, she prefers the sneaking her hand in a stash shot to be more fun. (See above.)

Pattern: His, Hers, Ours toddler socks from Rainbow Knits for Kids
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Supersport in Winterberry (discontinued) - sold as a half hank from Trash & Treasure
2T-3T size (40 sts)
modifications:
size 3 needles instead of size 5 called for in pattern, tighter gauge as a result
2.5 in cuff - using lace pattern

I also managed to finish my first Jaywalker this weekend and am gearing up to cast on the second before I get sidetracked w/all my other new sock yarn. So my thoughts so far on my Jaywalkers are:

- I may need to be one of those knitters that need to go down a needle size on my k2p2 ribbing since it's so much looser than my stockinette or other pattern stitches, 'cept maybe lace?

- I like Grumperina's pretty way to pick up gusset stitches, but I purposely neglected to pick up the extra stitches a la Charlotte Schurch's (Sensational Knitted Socks) method and ended up w/ honkin' holes in my socks. I can either call them design elements or fix them on the second sock. Still debating w/myself.

In which I refuse to answer the underlying question of how much of a sock yarn stash I have

So this week's Soctoberfest short meme is about one's sock yarn stash. Since I've slowly been posting pics of my sock yarn as I've gotten them, I've decided to go into denial about how much I really have in such a short time and not take a pic of them all together.

Do you have certain patterns planned for some of the yarns? Do you buy yarn and then choose a pattern?

I’m finding as a new sock knitter that I’m buying yarn because I find out about a sale on certain yarns that I remember having good reviews and I respond in a positive way to the colorway. Then I look for a pattern. This is very opposite of the non-sock projects I’ve made so far. Usually I see a pattern then find the yarn to go with it. The only exception has been the Elsebeth Lavold Silky Tweed I bought from the Article Pract summer sale where I went looking for a pattern (Knit & Tonic’s Not So Shrunken Cardigan).

Does a certain sock yarn you have in your stash take you back to a certain event? (where you were when you bought/received it? what was going on in your life at the time!)

I just started sock knitting so it’s too early to give a substantive answer to this question. Well, I think all the sock yarn I've acquired so far will get remembered as Socktoberfest yarn 'cause apparently that's been my excuse to get them all. ;)

Oh, and pic info:

Top right pic - progress on my Koigu Jaywalkers & a re-start on the CTH supersport toddler socks, this time on size 3 needles. This time I'm doing the lace pattern (Rainbow Knits for Kids).

Pic directly above - STR Rainforest Jasper leftovers on a mini-sock keychain. Waves to tapmouse! The sock blocker key chain was looking awefully nekkid after I frogged the STR Rolling Stone off of it. I didn't remember where I stopped so I'd have to start all over again anyway.

Medium rare

You can't put a fork in me yet, but I'm slowly getting there w/the Kyoto sweater. I finally finished the top half and seamed the sides and sleeves together late last night, obviously after I snapped this pic. I'm hoping to finish this sweater this month so I can start my Simple Knitted Bodice next month.

And because I was working on my sweater this weekend, I didn't have very much progress on my very first Jaywalkers. I will say that I absolutely love love love this Koigu 123A colorway. This colorway, more than any of the commercial ones w/"Hawaii" in it's name or theme, reminds me of all things Hawaiian. The deep blue of the Pacific, the shallower reef water, the lush colors of the tropical flowers, the lush green vegetation. Just love it.

As for the Jaywalkers pattern, it's rather fun though I'm debating w/myself if I should rip all the way back and redo the cuff on smaller needles or tink back just to the cuffs and knit the rest on larger needles since the cuff is comfortable but the leg is a wee bit snug.

Socktoberfest questionnaire

When did you start making socks? Did you teach yourself or were you taught by a friend or relative? or in a class?
I just started the weekend of Sept 15. After petting tapmouse’s Socks That Rock (STR) WIP’s and reading a few threads on the knitty.board, I bought a copy of Sensational Knitted Socks by Nancy Bush and followed her “class sock” instructions.

What was your first pair? How have they "held up" over time?
My first pair which I just finished earlier this week is made from Knitpicks (KP) Simple Stripes that I bought from their clearance sale. It’s too early to tell how they’ll hold up yet.

What would you have done differently?
Too soon for me to say yet ‘cept maybe ignore the self-striping color and stick to only a 1-1.5” cuff. 2” is a little too long for my taste. But in essence, I probably should’ve used a non-self striping yarn, despite my beginner’s luck of the stripes matching on both socks.

What yarns have you particularly enjoyed?
Well, from my little swatches so far, I love Cherry Tree Hill (CTH) Supersock, Fleece Artist, Koigu, and the STR samples/left-overs tapmouse gave me. Is it me or are the solid colored sock yarns a hair thicker than the variegated, specifically for CTH and Fleece Artist?

Do you like to crochet your socks? or knit them on DPNs, 2 circulars, or using the Magic Loop method?
So far, I’ve knit them on DPN’s. But I’ll try 2 circs as soon I put in and receive my next KP order. I suppose I will at some point try the Magic Loop method but that would require adding longer circs to my KP order. (Yeah, like that's going to be a hard decision.) And despite knowing how to crochet since I was young, I currently have no desire to crochet a pair. Am not fond of having to do a lot of single crochet.

Which kind of heel do you prefer? (flap? or short-row?)
Too early to tell yet. So far I’ve only done a flap heel, but I’m looking forward to trying the short row since a couple patterns I like have that feature.

How many pairs have you made?
Including the class sock pair (which can be considered toddler socks), so far I’m at 2.

I have another toddler sock on the needles in CTH Supersport, but it needs to be frogged. It's too tight for monkey1 and way too big for monkey2. As for adult sized socks, I think I'll start w/Hedera in Fleece Artist Lily Pond and maybe Jaywalkers in Koigu.

eta: Well, actually I've started my Jaywalkers in Koigu and may do Hedera in a different solid colored yarn.

Beginner's luck

Specs:
Knitpicks Simple Stripes Snapdragon
size 2.50 mm (KP size 1) dpns
cast on 72 sts for my 9" ankle
pattern - a take off of Sensational Knitted Socks 4-stitch pattern section, but ended up going straight St st.

I finished my first pair of adult socks last night! Woohoo! Well, I kitchenered it this morning after all the made knitting I was doing last night through Heroes (only dropped 2 stitches!) and the usual background noise of the news. I didn't want to take the chance of really screwing it up when I was so close to the end. And amazingly there's almost identical twins. They're maybe 1-1.5 rows off w/the self-striping and different splotches of brown from where the dye mixed here and there. Of course, that means my sock knitting karma will now be filled w/lots of pooling and other challenges.

And in the good timing department, my second half of my Little Knits Fleece Artist order and my Brooks Farm Four Play in Brown C (pics of that later) came in last night as well. I had originally wanted Woodland but she had sold out so I chose Forest, but luckily for me I got a skein marked Woodland/Forest but it looks much more like the Woodland I wanted. Sweet. And that other skein in the pic is the very pretty Wild Flower.

So while I have tons of leafy/vine-type patterns to chose from for the Woodland/Forest, there doesn't seem to be much in the way of more floral patterns unless I pic a lace pattern and go for it. Off to inundate myself w/all the free sock patterns floating around as I now go off to swatch my new sock yarns.

Seconds

To avoid the second sock syndrome, I cast on my second KP Simple Stripes sock immediately and am madly knitting away, and not just 'cause of Socktoberfest. I only have one set of size 1 dpns currently (need to place another KP order!) and am also itching to swatch up all my new sock yarn brands to figure out what my next sock pattern will be. I had knit up a swatch in KP Dancing on size 0's and got a whopping 10 sts/in! If I want to knit monkey1 a pair of socks in Dancing, I'd have to cast on 72 sts! So it's a no go there. Will need to swatch up Dancing on size 2's (the KP 3.00 mm variety) and see if I can get closer to the 8 st/in range.

I'm also continuing my Kyoto sweater w/my second sleeve and in a moment of knitters AADD, the collar trim on the body. One of these days I'll be done w/this project, but not before my second sock is done. ;)

And speaking of knitters AADD of the sock variety, I started the todder sock from Rainbow Knits for Kids called something like His, Hers, Ours, and Theirs. The pattern calls for Cherry Tree Hill (CTH) Supersport yarn on size 5 needles w/a gauge of 6 sts/in! Since the size 2T-3T instructions call for casting on 40 sts, I figured by the time I knit a gauge swatch I might as well knit the sock itself. And if it's a little big, I figure monkey1 can grow into it. Heh. And to test how much growing room I had, I had monkey2 (grudgingly in toddler of terror style) model the sock in progress w/a lot of help from monkey1.

Clearly we have a lot of growing room. And to figure out how much room, I had a more cooperative monkey2 try on the sock. Heh. So it looks like the "toddler" socks w/a 2" twisted cable cuff/leg will now be socks in the 5-7 yr child range. Since the pattern suggests a 5"(!!!!) leg for the 2T-3T size, I should have enough yarn in the half hank to make the foot part long enough to fit monkey1. Besides, the Winterberry colorway looks better w/monkey1's skintone.