Creeping Socks

My two pairs of socks are creeping along. Tonight, I did the math so I know how long to make the body of the foot before creating my gusset increases for both pairs.

I had planned to do this in MS Excel, because I can put in formulas and add enough words and reminders to keep myself on track. I don't have this software at home, so I tried to use Google's new documents & spreadsheets feature. Didn't work so well for me. I can't figure out how to put a formula in the stupid cell, so I just used it to record the specifics of my math. It has down my foot measurements, and his foot measurements, and the specifics for each sock of my stitch and row gauge, and the number of stitches per needle. I think I can make a link to it here. If not, and if you want to look, the name of the spreadsheet is SWORDave and SWORLori. (That stands for Socks WithOut Rules, in case you didn't get it, the name of Judy's excellent sock instruction booklet. I sure hope she's looking for a publisher, hint, hint.)

I'm almost ready to start the gusset increases for my socks, the pink ones. Husband's, being smaller gauge will take longer. His feet are about 1 inch longer than mine, but are also larger in diameter. Very interesting.

I'll keep knitting.

My stash of Blue Moon Fiberarts

Following an interesting discussion among opinionated knitters at Tangle this afternoon, here is a photo of my stash of Blue Moon Socks That Rock yarn.

Clockwise, at the top we have lightweight in the colorway Footzey-Foo. I was thinking that this might be a good almost beige type of color that I could use for husband socks. Not so. More beige-to-green range. And on the yellowy side. Perhaps this one might be up for trade, should the occasion arise.

At the 3 o'clock position, we have another lightweight in the colorway Watermelon Tourmaline. I love it, but it is rather pink. I'd call it an easter-egg colorway.

At the 6 o'clock position you see (lightweight) in the colorway Obsidian. Fabulous. A chocolate to black range. Yummy yummy yummy. Will make terrific socks for husband and I must order more. This was the only 'home run' skein that I got in the order for three skeins that I sent to Blue Moon Fiberarts. I think I ordered in January and got my yarn in middle-February, before the Sock Club box.

At the 9 o'clock position is the Monsoon skein, mediumweight, from the February 2007 Rockin' Sock Club. Terrific, but I'm not ready to knit it up just yet.

I'm still figuring out how to knit socks that I like. The Tofutsie is lovely, very soft, but feels rather thin to me. I don't know if I will enjoy wearing it on my feet. I may have knit the foot too long.

But, this is all one big experiment. You try this yarn, that pattern, these needles. Next time, you try something a little different.

I'll probably order again from Blue Moon Fiberarts, but I won't re-order the Footzey-Foo colorway ever. Probably would re-order the Obsidian. Probably not re-order the Watermelon Tourmaline.

Little Knitting

I haven't been knitting much. I've been struggling with pain this week, so my evenings have been taken by the Percoset fairy.

Opiates are not conducive to good knitting. Imagine that!

Did a few rows on the socks. I will soon have to do the math to set up the gusset increases for the heel turn. I might have to go to see Judy for that. Better take the pill AFTER we do the math, right?

It's slow going, though. Maybe two pairs of socks on two pairs of needles is too much small gauge knitting all at once. I knit two rounds on each pair tonight.

I'll go sleep now. Knit later.

Socks in progress

The sock on the left is for me. It is Blue Moon SocksThatRock, although I've forgotten the colorway.

The sock on the right is for Dr. Parts. It's Lorna Laces Shepherd Sock in Black Watch.

The pink is on size 1s. The blue is on size 0s. I'm also trying a 2x1 rib in the foot portion for the green.

Dr. Parts says, "Why isn't mine done yet?"

Does he not realize how many pointy sticks I have in my hands?

I figure they'll be ready by next fall.

Satisfaction

I got the STR package. Don't want to spoil anything. No photos here. There are plenty of spoilers elsewhere, which I have already seen. I don't mind a small peek ahead.

I've glanced at the sock pattern, and am just so impressed with myself. I am impressed with myself because I understood the pattern. I read it, and I understood most of the terms and how it would work to create a wearable sock.

My knitting education is coming right along. I owe it all to Judy. She only taught me one way to create socks, but she also gave me the confidence to proceed in all circumstances. Knit on!

I am now thinking about short-row toes. It might work. It might not. I could always do the standard toe that Judy taught me (although garterstitch in the round is not something I have attempted). We shall see. I'm probably going to save the RSC skein for socks for my husband and use a purchased STR skein for creating the RSC pattern socks for me.

I'm also thinking about the crochet cast on for those first stitches. You have to go back to them. Hmmm. Isn't there a cast-on where you cast-on around a piece of waste yarn, or, perhaps, around an unused circular needle cable? Then you wouldn't have to move the stitches back onto the circular needle. If you use it. I'll have to poke around (maybe some place like this) and find that one again.

The Ebay people still owe me the Mon Tricot book. Perhaps tomorrow.

I'm much less antsy now. You could get in my way and I wouldn't scream.

You see, I'm working on courtesy and positive emotional environments. It's my little pitch to improve the world.

Tuesday-No Deliveries

Curses.
Where is my yarn?
Where is my book?
I'm beyond antsy. I'm pouting now.

Postman Beware!

I am waiting for two knitting related packages, and you should not bother me. I am antsy.

I am waiting for my Rockin'SockClub package. I am very frustrated. They are in Scappoose. I live in Kenton, a nice neighborhood in north Portland. This is a distance of about 18 miles. Yahoo! Maps thinks I could drive it in about 35 minutes.

Others in the Portland metro area have gotten their packages. On the Rockin'SockClub blog, people in Texas have gotten their package. People in Minnesota have gotten theirs. On the club blog, they speculate whether the distribution of packages was alphabetical, geographical or what.

IT'S NOT GEOGRAPHICAL!! (Sure, my zip code starts with '97'. And that's a larger number. But hey, Judy's starts with 97, also.)

I can tell because I don't have my package. I'm thinking it's in order of having joined the club, because I was a later joiner.

Do you think they'd let those of us who are close geographically come up and pitch in when they have to send out their stuff? I am a BlueMoon addict! I live so close and yet I've never met them and I cannot get enough of their product!

I am also waiting for a Mon Tricot stitch dictionary, which I won on Ebay. I searched on "mon tricot (1030, 1100, 1300, 1500, 1800)". I don't know when they last produced these. It seems to be a much more european distribution. Many of these are from Australia or England. I won a 1030 stitch dictionary from the East Coast. I WANT a 1500 or 1800 dictionary. But I don't want to spend $95 for it. That seems high. If I were going to spend that much money all at once on stitch dictionaries, I would go to Schoolhouse Press and order the Barbara Walker Treasury.

And, realistically, sometime in my knitting life, I'm sure I will go to Schoolhouse Press and order them. But not this week.

I don't think I can handle waiting for another delivery. Can I call in sick to work so that I can get my hands on these packages a few hours sooner than otherwise? Yarn fever?

Oh, and about that Cascade Magnum, I have one piece of advice: wind it by hand. The yarn is so massive that it does not work well on the standard size ball winders. It comes in a skein, just take it home and wind it by hand into a giant ball. Your small toddlers will be amazed at the scale . If you take a photo, it will look like you have lost weight. The scarf I knit took one skein, but, at the store, we decided to wind it using a standard ball winder, which meant that it ended up in three balls and I had to manage two joins. Follow my advice, if you're going to make this scarf, or use this yarn; wind it by hand into a giant lumpy ball and avoid unneccessary joins. I got my Cascade Magnum at the LYS Close Knit. That's one big advantage of local yarn stores: no waiting for delivery!!

Two Scarves

Well, I'm displaying my novice level status at blogging and computer stuff, since I cannot rotate the photos.

I've made two scarves to go with my nice green coat.

The multi-color is BeSweet's Magic Ball yarn, knit on size 15 needles, 24 stitches, straight garter stitch. Or was it 26 stitches?

The green is Cascade Magnum, a wonderful color (9336? they didn't give me the skein band), which I'm not sure shows up well here. It is rich and deep with threads of turquoise and of red to enrich it. I worked it on size 17s, cast on 16 stitches. Then, every row, knit 1, *yo, knit 2 tog, repeat from * until last stitch on needle, knit last stitch and turn your work.

I suppose that's officially lace. Can it be called lace if it's so simple and so big? I love the softness of this yarn and the diagonal pattern that was created. It's reversible, too.

So, here it is, Spring. It's raining in Oregon, and I have two great new scarves, perfect for winter. Oh well, so I knit out of season.