Looking through rose colored glasses

Just in case Kel or any other sock club member hasn't gotten their kit and doesn't want to be spoiled , don't scroll down past the first pic. (Though hopefully the Big Isle postal workers aren't so slow this time.)

First off, I have officially made my Socktobefest goals of knitting 2 of my Yarn4Sock club kits. My 3rd sock pair should've been Monkey2 or DH socks, but I took a slight detour with my Firestarters. Bad mommy. :p

Deets:
Yarn4Socks June sock club kit - sorta
yarn: Seacoast Panda (superwash merino/bamboo/nylon)in Melon Balls
needles: KP 32" size 1 (2.50 mm) circs
made for: Monkey1

The big modification:
Only used the Giotto pattern for the cuff. I got to the leg section and the leg lace pattern was horrible to do with the Panda yarn. So did like many other knitters and switched to Go with the Flow (Summer 05 Interweave Knits and/or Interweave Favorite Socks w/errata).

And of course, just in time for Halloween, I got my STR sock club package yesterday, a day later than some of my fellow Bay Area sock club peeps. Loads of other pics online of the rest of the kit so I thought I would have fun w/my gargoyle. (My post title is my ball band saying, btw.)

I think my gargoyle is less than pleased with the way I styled the opened skein on him. I was more concerned about capturing the red & black variations that I was making gargoyle dude look hip. Not that I did a good job with that either.


Love this first color of the Raven series and I'm looking forward to seeing the rest. Also looking forward to knitting the pattern too, though I probably won't do the poetry contest. Creative writing not being my strong point. I leave that to my non-knitting buddy. ;)

All over the place

There's something about our funky weather that's making me feel out of sorts and just unfocused.


I finished the first Giotto with the Flow sock, but I cheated and made them short/long enough for Monkey1. For some reason, I was so over this sock this weekend, but Monkey1 was loving it, so now they're for her. I also realized that I better get going with the kids' knits since Monkey1's feet are now 8" long. Her socks are soon going to take longer to make than mine since I foresee her feet being longer than mine before she even hit her 'tweens. Well, maybe I'm exagerating, but still. No wonder she's been bugging me for new shoes. And here I thought it was just the whole Imelda Marcos shoe gene that skipped me and went to her. (Although the whole joking about the Marcos gene may bite me in the @ss one day and I'll find out we're actually related to them, even if it would be several times removed.)

Slightly amused that in knitter's math, I am halfway done with Monkey1's Cabo Hoodie when all I have are the sleeves & hood to do. It's been hard to get motivated to finish this sweater ASAP when the weather climbs back into the 80's. Also, Monkey1's soccer practice is down to 1x/wk so I mostly have that golden hour (2, if I'm lucky) after the kids fall asleep before I poop out to work on my knitting every night.

But what do I do instead? I swatch for a sweater I loved when I saw it at Purlescence Yarns 1 year birthday party. Leave it to me to buy a pricey pattern ($11! I totally didn't pay attention to this 'til after they rang me up.) and yarn not on sale during their event. My excuse is that in the long run, it did end up cheaper than buying a sweater's worth of Dream in Color Classy I was initially gunning for.

I hope I didn't bite off more than I can chew with this lace sweater pattern. I also realize I'm in a rut 'cause I bought yet another empire waist sweater pattern. Well, I have liked and bought other non-empire waisted patterns, but the only one that's come to fruition was the Ribby Pulli. In any case, this'll be a long term project for me 'cause the potential to muck this one up is high.

Of course, now that I only have one sock-in-progress, I immediately cast on for my Wollmeise Rhabarber Firestarters. This in spite of 1 more Yarn4Sock kit (knitspot's Merlot Vine socks) and Woolgirl sock club kit (Waterfall) I still have to get through. Not to mention our October Rockin' Sock Club kit that'll be arriving soon and my Fratello kit I'm dying to start.

Although sock clubs are fun, I realize I put a lot of pressure on myself to get them done. So despite enjoying my sock clubs, I'll probably limit myself just to STR next year when the others expire.

Siren Socks

Yarn4Socks August sock club kit

Pattern: Siren Socks by Designedly by Kristi
Yarn: Fleece Artist Sea Wool in Sea Foam
needle sizes: size 1 (2.25 mm) and 2 (2.75 mm) KP dpns
pattern size: medium

Mod - longer heel flap

Comments -
Love the yarn, don't love the little silk slubby bits here and there, but they weren't as big or bad as tapmouse's bad skein of Apple Laine yarn she got once. Not fond of the k3tbl's in the cuff, but it got better once I got used to them. Also, the lace panels once you get into the leg are offset by 1 row due to centering the heel. Had to keep track 'cause I was paranoid I'd screw that up, but it wasn't too bad after awhile.

And I loved the Zero markers that came with the Yarn4Socks August kit and their anniversary kit so I ordered more. So pretty.

I know it's not YPF yet, but I was so excited to receive the Fratello kit in the mail Monday. Talk about fast shipping! I had just ordered from Yarnissima last Thursday. Talk about a loaded package! Love the moo stickers. Love the laminated card and the pattern is printed on heavy glossy paper. This'll wait though as I want to knit this next month as my birthday knitting.

I decided to finish

... since I plan to make another pair of Firestarters anyway in my Wollmeise.

Monkey1 decided that my sock blockers wouldn't do and decided to stuff kleenex into the socks for "better" modelling.


But here's what they look like on my feet:


Pattern: Firestarter by Yarnissima
Yarn: Socks that Rock medium weight mill end in Marbles (but color isn't on the label)
needle sizes: 2.75 & 3.00 mm KP circs (aka size 2 & 2.5 needles)
modifications due to yarn substitution:
54 stitch count
1 less cable repeat on foot (differing row count)

Thoughts:
The heel turn is a little loose. I either need to add 1 more short row repeat or switch needle sizes on my next pair.
Once I got used to the chart notation and how the pattern's written, it was fun to knit.
The doubled yarn bind off was interesting, but with the thicker yarn I was using, might not have been the best choice.

YPF courtesy of Yarn4Socks

In celebration of Yarn4Socks 1 year anniversary, I bought their anniversary kit #2. I love Donna and Valerie's service and quick shipping.

And I have Nell to thank for helping me decide to get the Phoenix Fiberworks Briar Rose after I saw her post hers last week. (She's got a much better pic of it too.)


In a bit of AADD knitting, I started Monkey1's Cabo Hoodie in between doing the second Siren sock and Firestarter. (Yes, I did bind off the first Firestarter.) The Lanas Puras Melosa I'm using seems not quite a fluffy as the Malabrigo I used for Monkey2's Cabo Hoodie, but it still gives me a lovely soft fabric.


I'm basically going to make the same mods as the first one I knit, but Monkey1 wants me to add blue plastic beads to the cuffs and one smack in the vee of the neckline. My sense of "no bling on clothing" aesthetic is fighting my desire to give Monkey1 some creative input on her hoodie.

To bind off or not to bind off

So much for the earlier mental gymnastics and knitting voodoo to get the foot to not do that wide striping thing 'cause it totally didn't matter for the leg.

I even went down a needle size (2.75 mm) once the ribbing started on the front side when I noticed that the wide striping was going to happen on the first 5 rounds of the leg. It didn't matter.


I should've known and/or paid more attention to Yarnissima's picture here of her Firebird Firestarters. She's got that fat striping going on the leg on hers.


So now I'm at the point where I can bind off but I'm still deciding on what to do. I can:

1) let the handpainted patterning be and bind off,

2) frog the whole bugger with the intention of knitting a pair of plain stockinette stitch socks out of this yarn and cast on a new Firestarter with another yarn,

3) or frog to the start of the leg and change the ribbing to St st. The only issue there would be the transition from the ribbed heel to St st would be rather loose and "poofy."

So for now it'll sit as an UFO for awhile. I think I'll come back to it after I finish my 2 other socks-in-progress.

Take 2!

(Almost the same content as my post on the Firestarter KAL)

I frogged my first attempt on size 2.75 mm needles using the original 60 st count and casted the STR medium weight back on size 3.00 mm needles using a 54 st count. No fat pooling. I can see my twisted stitches so much better. (And it's really, really looking like the Marbles colorway now.)

After googling what other knitters cast on (& on what needle size if they mentioned it) and the resultant color patterning they got as well as looking back at my STR Sock Candy Broadripples, I realized that a 54 st count might be my magic STR medium weight number (64 being my STR lightweight magic number). The fact that it was also a 6 st variation of the original 60 st count also had the potential to work in my favor. The only question was if a size "2.5" (3.00 mm) or 3 (3.25 mm) would be better.

Once I got used to the chart notation, I could cruise through the travelling stitches. The experience of knitting Cookie A's Twisted Flower pattern made this sock pattern's one chart seem comparatively easy.

Keeping my fingers crossed that I didn't just jinx myself just now. Don't want to get too cocky and have this pattern bite me in the @ss. I still need to get through the gusset section. I hope that it works out, especially since I don't have the same row gauge.

And assuming I get through this pattern unscathed, I'm going to do a second pair in my Wollmeise Rhabarber.

She wanted the half-fingers too

But first, the usual specs:
pattern: hand warmers in Debbie Bliss' Junior Knits book
size: "5-10"
needles: size 4 bamboo dpns
yarn: Cascade Cherub Collection DK in a pale pink & fuchsia - much less than 1 skein each
modifications from the pattern:
- Didn't use the recommended 6 different shades of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino
- Knit it in the round instead of flat (so deducted 2 sts) while carrying the 2 yarns up. Seriously, who would want to seam it while matching the stripes and then have to weave all the ends in after?


I told her I'd make her a pair w/half fingers after I make her Cabo Hoodie. I also have to find a free pattern somewhere 'cause I'm too lazy to do the math.

But she does like her hand warmers enough to ask for 10 pairs in green & white for her soccer team by the last game (mid-Nov). Hah! (Even funnier was her request to also make them for her coach & 2 assistant coaches.) I did however contemplate how quickly I could do them (the ones for the girls) if they were all solid green. I also contemplated how quickly I'll want to poke my eyes out w/the dpns if I did 10 pairs in a month.

So on to a little YPF. Here's my Wollmeise Rhabarber opened up:

Here it is all wound up:


I'm going to swatch to see what kind of gauge I'll get on size 0 (2.00 mm) and size 1 (2.25 mm) needles. This may be my replacement yarn for my Firestarters.

Or second yarn since I'm going to re-try my STR mill end on size "2.5" (3.00 mm) needles with 54 sts to see if I can avoid the "fat" striping.

WIP's Socktoberfest-style

My Giotto-with-the-Flow hybrid sock is looking very cute. Slow going as other projects get in the way, but still cute:


Uh, I'm swatching. Yeah, yeah, that's it. I cast on my Firestarter sock using my STR medium weight mill end, but the fat striping that's starting to happen is unfortunately obscuring the cable twist patterning.

I should finish a full repeat just to confirm, but my mind is already wandering to the rest of my sock stash to figure out an alternative yarn. My STR medium weight in Tanzanite? My Wollmeise in Rhabarber? One of my Dream In Color Smooshy's? Drat. I'm fraught with indecision.


In the meantime, Monkey1 has requested that I knit up her hand warmers before I start on her Cabo Hoodie:


I'm using 2 pink shades of Cascade Cherub Collection DK that I bought from a store in Escalon that had closed. I had no idea that there was a yarn store in Escalon 'til we saw their yarn sale sign out on the highway. Not that it obvious since the store name was in line with the country-style home decor assessories that filled the front of the store.

In any case, I felt that the 2 shades of washable acrylic were more practical choices than the 6 shades of Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino called for in the pattern. I'm knitting it in the round so I don't have deal with lining up the stripes if I had to seam it as written. Ugh.

Cabo Hoodie #1

Pattern: Cabo Hoodie by Wendy Bernard
size: 4
yarn: Malabrigo worsted weight in Indigo
needles: KP size 7 & 8 circulars

mods:
- added 1.5" more to the hood to make it longer though it could've been made wider too.
- attached the pocket while knitting the body a la Ribby Pulli so I wouldn't have to seam the top & bottom
- accidently continued the garter stitch edge of the pocket all the way down, so won't seam the pocket sides. Though from a practical perspective, it'll make for a better hand warmer for Monkey2. It's not like she's going to store stuff in there. Not that it's a good idea from a parental perspective.

Next up, Monkey1's Cabo Hoodie in Lanas Puras worsted weight in her choice of Cornflower.

Went to TKGA on Friday lunch time without either of my yarn buying partners in crime, but with Monkey1 who had the day off since it was teacher work day. I should know better since she's just as enabling at tapmouse and blogless L.

One of my TKGA splurge buys since the company whose booth I wanted to visit was a no-show was 4 skeins of Argosy Luxury Yarns Haiku 4 ply in Blackberry. I hope to make a small shawl at some point out of this yarn. Monkey1 tried to get me to buy some of their 100% cashmere, but I didn't bite. Aside from the fact that she wanted it for her. I believe I'm teaching her too well as she went for the softest, squishiest yarn there. I think if she went for the darker, deeper fall colors I might've been sunk, but luckily for me she aimed for the more cutesy pastels.

No, not new yarn. Just the STR medium weight mill end that I really am leaning towards for my Firestarters. I've got it opened up and soon will have it wound up for casting on.

eta: At first I thought it might be a chicken series color like a cross between Cluckers & Cockamamie, but someone on flickr thinks it looks like Marbles instead.

Attempting to stay focused

Finished seaming the hoodie (though I need to even out a few of the stitches) after extending it out 1.5 more inches (read on Ravelry that the hood is on the small side) and started a sleeve. I'm trying to finish this by the end of the week to meet the end of this year's Project Spectrum.


I did finish my first Siren sock though. I'm happy it fits and I didn't have to rip back along the way. Although I would have no excuse if I needed to since I can do it.

Love how the colorway knits up. (And I like it beadless, tapmouse. Thank you very much.)

And the one finished sock gives me the excuse to swatch my STR yarn from the stash for my Firestarter socks sometime this week, but I'm stuck on what color to go for.

I initially wanted to use my Fire on the Mountain (all colors discussed left to right), but it's in lightweight and the Firestarter sock calls for a 60 st count with a gauge of 8 spi. This would make for a really, really snug sock. (This also rules out the Wollmeise I just acquired based on what I've read being knit up by all the Wollmeisaholics out there.)

Then I thought about the variegated medium weights in my stash that would benefit from the Firestarter pattern and fit my foot with its larger gauge at the 60 st count. First there's January One. The colorway's almost fall-like in it's theme which I'm kinda in the mood for. Then there's Thistle which I forgot that I had bought in medium not lightweight, but it's more spring themed. Finally, there's the mill end that I bought off of Tapmouse's Camp Cockamamie stash. It's got that whole chicken and fall theme going too which makes it on par with the January One. It may even edge it out when I make my decision.

Oh, what to do, what to do.

Wollmeise bandwagon

It seemed only fitting that I pull tapmouse into my Wollmeise lemming urge. We managed to get our combined order in before Claudia closed shop for the month of September.

Gotta love that packaging:


Our combined order with samples of Pfauenauge and Campari Orange (We asked for medium intensity but that little note in Veilchen said she was out and gave us medium dark):

My loot (l to r): Zenzi (since tapmouse got Spice Market), Raku Regenbogen (great colorway!), Rhabarber (love, love, love this), Poison No#5 (yay!), and Veilchen (gorgeous, gorgeous blue).

Tapmouse's loot (l to r): Dornroschen, Raku Regenbogen, Spice Market (I so want this too! But sometime after her new online shop opens. )

Since I got both packages (sharing shipping with friends is fun), I'm also outing both tapmouse's and my latest STR buys due to certain colors being shelved for the season (all lightweight):

Olivenite (not as green as the minerals I once collected as a kid on a school hike, but still nice and unusual for me since I don't normally go for yellow):

Spring Fling:

Tapmouse's Foofaraw (more interesting than I remembered) and Gingerbread Dude (on my wishlist for later):

It's Random Wednesday

Most of my chest congestion has loosened up enough, so I headed back to work. But before that I got a lot further on my Siren sock. It clouded up today so my lighting sucks, but it's looking much better. Happier with it now and I love the Fleece Artist Sea Wool.

I also managed to start my other Yarn4Sock club kit (June). The yarn is Seacoast Yarn's Panda (merino wool/bamboo/nylon) sock yarn in Melon Balls. Love the color, love the yarn. The pattern that came with the yarn is Anna Bell's Giotto socks.

Love the cuff detail. Don't love the lace pattern for the rest of the sock. The 3-stitch twist isn't too bad, but the kfb into a double yo is a total PITA. I totally have to fight the yarn to make that double stitch. I've only done one repeat of the 4-row lace pattern and I can't see fighting the yarn and pattern for 2 entire socks. I have a feeling that the Koigu yarn Anna Bell originally used will mean that if I do attempt this pattern again that I will need to use a similarly sproingy yarn like STR or Colinette if I don't use Koigu. So, I am going to happily rip back those 4 rows and re-knit the increase row to the correct stitch count and shameless steal her idea and do the Go with the Flow pattern for the rest of the sock.

Because the Giotto sock frustrated me so and the weather's cooled way off, I also cast on for Monkey2's Cabo Hoodie in the Malabrigo Worsted in Indigo I bought from Stitches West last year. The yarn is so, so, so yummy. Monkey1 will get a Cabo Hoodie too, but it'll be in Lanas Puras Melosa Worsted (she picked Cornflower). I'm enjoying the process of knitting of the Malabrigo so much I may make this my focused knitting for the week.


But I suppose it's a good thing I cast on my last 2 Yarn4Socks club kits 'cause my October one came in early with my eagerly anticipated Ann Hanson (knitspot) Merlot Lace sock pattern.


This kit'll have to wait though 'til I'm done with the Siren sock(s) at least.

Ribby Pulli

C'est fini! The ends are woven in, but no washing and/or blocking done yet. Which probably makes taking modelled shots (in my pajama pants no less) not the wisest thing. But I'll blame this horrid cold which has settled oh so wonderfully in my chest.

Unlike tapmouse, I went for the more fitted Michelin Man look 'cause my gauge tightened up way more than I thought it would despite swatching up 2 needle sizes. But I'm hoping blocking will help a little as I wasn't inclined to frog and start way over. Besides, that would mean I would need to buy more Cascade 220 as I don't have much leftover from the last skein.


Deets:
Ribby Pulli by Bonnie Marie Burns
Size: 37 lower body, 39 uppper body (sleeve count was the same for both)
Needle sizes: size 6 & 7

Modifications (aside from sizing up):
Added 2 inches of length to the body.

Omitted the bind off at the neck before starting the hood because I didn't want to eat up yarn doing it as I was concerned about having a yarn shortage. Luckily, I was proved wrong on the yardage, so I hope I didn't create any structural issues by not binding off the neck before picking up and adding stiches back in for the hood.

Omitted detaching the yarn and re-attaching the yarn after the first picked up row for the hood (again for yarn shortage concerns). I just moved the overlaping stitches onto a spare needle so I could shift the yarn over to the correct position.

Math interpretation challenges:
There was a typo in the sleeve count for the size 39, but no biggy. What I couldn't figure out was why I was 1 stitch extra in the fronts and 2 in the back despite the sleeve count being correct by the time I finished the raglan sleeve decreases & neck shaping. Since Tapmouse also had a count error in her size for the back when she was done with her raglan shaping, either we had interpretation problems with the pattern or there's more math typos. In the end, I decided to stop trying to figure it out and decreased the extra stitches away before doing the hood.

eta: I forgot to say I had plenty of CTH Twister left over for the hood. In fact, I accidently added 1" to the hood length before checking since I mis-remembered what it was supposed to be. The extra 1" made the hood long enough I think, so the leftover yarn will be made into a newborn hat for Hats for Alex. If you have any spare baby hats or want to use up some leftover yarn, consider Trillian's cause.

My first Wool Girl package didn't arrive in time for YPF, but it doesn't matter 'cause it's awesome.

I love extras! The little journal, pen, stitch markers, and the chocolate mint balm all with the Wool Girl label are great. I'll have to give the chocolate mint balm away however. While it's a great flavor in the mouth, the mint does a number outside my lips. Last but not least, the Waterfall yarn and same-named pattern are really lovely. I know tapmouse thanked me for leading her to Wool Girl, but it really should go to Carrie (and eventually Zonda) for introducing me to her in the first place. Awesome online store!


And all this focused knitting means I only have 1 WIP on the needles. A rarity indeed. But not for long. ;) In any case, I'm not sure if I like how the Fleece Artist Sea Wool in Sea Foam is looking in the Siren socks pattern. (The pattern is by Designedly by Kristi for the Yarn4Socks sock club.)

I hate to frog since all those k3togs & k3tbl were such a pain to do, so I'll plug on and see how the rest of the sock goes. The only reason I will frog though is if the sock doesn't fit when I try it on after the heel.

Battle to be this Friday's FO

The socks won of course. However, it did have the distinct advantage of being a smaller, more easily portable project to take to Monkey1's soccer practice:


Summer of Love Lace by JC Briar, the August Rockin' Sock Club pattern
Socks that Rock lightweight (currently my holy grail of sock yarn) in Flower Power
size med
KP size 1 (2.50 mm) circs
gauge 8.25 spi
no mods otherwise to pattern

Not too thrilled I didn't get the cuffs to match, but not annoyed enough to rip and start my cast on all over again. And apparently sitting on the ground, even w/one of those stadium cushions, does weird things to my tension in the eye of partridge heel on the right sock. But again, too lazy to rip and re-do.


Contrary to all my worries before, I may, just may have enough CTH Twister to finish the hood. We'll see. This will get done something this weekend, but not today. Monkey2 gave me her cold and I am too congested and pissy to crank through the hood today. Even after a nice esoteric discussion with tapmouse on the yarn placement on slipping the first stitch on the hood edging, I still made the mistake of having it on the wrong side 4 times. Thankfully I made the effort to fix those offending spots.

No YPF today as I didn't get my Woolgirl package yet. Maybe tomorrow. And tapmouse & I got our combined Wollmeise order in before she closed for the month of September so I'm looking forward to that package arriving State-side.