Still Knitting Rainbows

 Well, the household goods have been packed up and shipped out, so I'm left with the yarn I put aside.  So far, I am past the heel on my second attempt at the Mary, Queen of Scots by RedScot.  These socks require attention, however, as there are three sections that have different repeats.  It is a 24 row repeat overall, but one section repeats three times in those 24 rows, another every 3 rows, and I forget the third.  Which is to say that I have no idea where I am without a row counter, so the knit companion app has been proving worth its weight in gold. 

I am back to knitting plain stockinette socks as well, but the yarn more than makes up for the boring aspect of stockinette.  You'd think that having knit two pairs of rainbow socks for men with GIANT feet - size 10 and 12, US - I'd be tired of rainbows.  Nope.  Still loving the rainbows.  Yarn is Martian Rainbows by Must Stash Yarn.

Being me, I had already accepted I would knit the heel of the first sock twice before I even cast on the sock.  First time to figure out how many colors were used and over how many rows (though, I am SURE there is a mathematical formula to figure out how many rows will happen if you are doing short-row heels), second time to make sure that the number of colors is split evenly across the heel.  It does mean more ends to weave in, but it makes me happy.

If I were knitting socks for feet smaller than mine, I would seriously consider trying to do stripes of every single color over the course of the heel, but that would be a lot of ends to weave in later and use up a lot of yarn.  But it could be absolutely worth it.  

In other news, we took a long walk with the dog to a localish pub and had sticky toffee pudding and a pint or three in the garden, before walking the 3+ miles back home.  Hard to feel as guilty for that meal for lunch when it is bracketed by 3 miles of walking.

Georgia On My Mind

 I have been slowly plugging away on a fire truck scarf.  I am not enjoying the process, so I have to force myself to work on it.  It is the last of the Required GiftMoose presents, so I want it DONE.  I want to mail most of my GiftMoose presents back to friends and family in the states in the next week or so, which gives me a dead line.

Fire truck scarf is knit flat, garter stitch.  Color changes to denote the cab vs the rest of the truck, and small strips of white for the rungs of the ladder.

I think, if I ever knit a fire truck scarf again, I will knit a stockinette tube.  As written, the pattern has a VERY clear wrong side and right side and that bothers me because it is a scarf.  A fire truck scarf, so most likely for children.  Which means the wrong side is going to be seen just as often as the right side.

I have figured out how to manage the ladder for both sides, but the color change for the cab is bothering me.  It is two rows of grey in a sea of red and looks great on the one side, because that ridge of garter is grey.  Not so nice on the other side.  I might do an icord tube and sew it in place. 

I am about 75% done the ladder.  So close.  And yet...

I also started a sock for a friend a few weeks ago and then got measurements and realized the sock would not fit the intended foot for said foot is giant.  So the sock has been in timeout while I brain and math and accept that I will have to frog.

Today was a Good News Day and that seemed to require happy knitting, not a project I resentfully peck away at, so happy rainbow socks came back out of time out. 

I measured our Soda Stream bottles and they are about an inch shy of the intended's foot, so I figure if I can get the sock on the water bottle and get about an inch of stretch, they ought to fit.  Since the feet are across an ocean, I don't want to knit two socks and then have to start all over.  I also don't want to knit one and ship it over and then have them ship it back so I can make sure they match perfectly.

FO: Underwater Leaves Socks

 The Specs:

Pattern: Woodland Walk Socks by This Handmade Life
Yarn: Teton Yarn Company Handdyed Sock in Mermaid

Amount: 0.75 of a skein, or about 74gm, or about 324 yards
Needles: US 1, 2.25mm circular with magic loop
Size: Women's 8.5ish
For: me!

Start to Finish: Sept 20, 2020 to Oct 13, 2020
Notes: I started these on the drive to Scotland for our anniversary/my birthday trip.  They made excellent car knitting once I had memorized the leave pattern, which didn't take too long.

I, of course, knit toe-up, so the leaves fall up my socks instead of down, as the pattern is written for cuff-down.  Standard star toe with increases on right of first stitch on one sock and to the left of the first stitch on the other sock.  I admit that I have to look really closely to determine that there is a difference between the toes, but I still try to do that with every pair of socks.

I also either reversed the chart or I started halfway up the chart for the second sock.  

I had 66 stitches on the needles for these.  No idea what the pattern called for, but that's the beauty of socks with a decorative pattern up only part of the front - extra stitches do not need to be accounted for.  Standard shadow wrapped short row heel, 10 rounds of ribbing for the cuff before I used JSSBO.

If I were to knit these again, I'd add 4-6 stitches of plain stockinette between the pattern and the heel turn, to push the decorative part more to the top of the foot and not the side.  They are perfectly fine as they are, but it would make for a slightly more polished sock.

These knit up fast - I knit the first sock on the drive to/from Scotland, while finishing the cuff during a Zoom baby shower for a friend.  Second sock was started on Saturday the 10 and I just had to finish the last repeat and the cuff today, as well as weaving in ends. 

I really love the colors of this yarn and it knit up beautifully.  Super glad I like the yarn as I am fairly certain I have another 5 skeins of different colors in the stash...

FO: GiftMoose Socks

 The Specs:

Pattern: None
Yarn: Regia 4-Ply Color, sock yarn that is 75% wool and 25% nylon
Color: 03655, Fall, dyelot 188

Amount: 1.52 skeins, 349.6 yards, 76.95 grams

Size: Women's 8.5/8

Needles: US 0 - 2.0mm, Kollage square DPNs.

For: GiftMoose 2020

Start to Finish: 02Sep2020 to 09Sep2020

Notes: I have not knit with DPNs for a while.  I forgot how I can't have a hairband on my wrist because the DPNs will hit it.

Standard sock pattern for me - toe-up, cast on 6 stitches with JMCO, increase 6 stitches every other round til big enough.  In this case, big enough was 66 stitches.  Plain stockinette foot, short row with shadow wrap heel over 33 stitches, 22 of them wrapped.  K4P2 ribbing on the legs, JSSBO at the cuff.

Since these were self-striping, I went to my normal lengths to make sure they matched as much as possible.

I was pretty much exactly spot on.  I had recorded in my notes that I was 2 stitches into the start of the round where I increased to a total of 24 stitches when the red started on the first sock and the same thing happened on the second.  I also started the heel when I finished the blue stripe just before the heel, regardless of where I was in reference to the toe.  Same for the bind-off - I finished the black and started with the two stripe white section.  This confirmed that JSSBO takes about two rounds worth of yarn, which is not a huge surprise.

Regia is not the softest yarn, but I have found that it tends to wear very well, so I don't expect these socks to require mending any time soon.  I am slightly concerned about fit, but I think they will be alright.  I can get them on my feet, even if they are smidge too small for me and I don't find the cuffs super tight.  I often don't wash socks before giving them to their intended recipient, but I like to wash Regia (and Opal) socks with a bit of hair conditioner to soften them up a little bit.

This is the last Required pair of GiftMoose socks.  I might make one or two more pairs, just because it is September and I have some measure of time.

Party Pit*

 I've already knit about half of the list for GiftMoose this year, but it is suddenly September and I feel like I am way behind.  Admittedly, time is very weird in 2020, but I also need to worry about shipping times and well, 2020 is weird in multiple, BINGO-game-ending ways.  The goal is to have everything done by the end of October.  I just ordered yarn from WEBS this week for the last few things, so there might be some deadline knitting this year.

I just started a new pair of socks last night.  About a year ago, I was wandering around Caernarfon, Wales one morning while it seemed that the rest of the city was watching a ruby game.  I stopped into the British Heart shop, just to see what they had, and found two skeins of matching color AND dye lots of Regia sock yarn.  I think they were about £1.50 each, so these were an excellent find.

While I took careful notes of exactly where I started the toe (and where I was when the next obvious color change took place), I have little faith in my ability to make a perfectly matching pair.  

I also can never decide if K1P1 ribbing is better at keeping the look of the self-stripping pattern, or if something like K5P1 would be better.

Knowing that the intended recipient of these socks likes to have roomy sock tops, I've gone with K4P2 for the leg, since I have a multiple of 6 stitches. 

I also had Some Level of Concern last night about the length of the foot.  I was about halfway through the bigger band of white and blue when it was time to start the heel.  Should I continue and finish that before starting the heel?  Should I frog and start the heel on start of the blue/white? 

Obviously, I opted to not frog and I think it was the correct decision.  This is when I almost wish I had a cast of each of the 'normal' recipients of socks, so I could make sure things fit before having finished both socks.  

Also, that ruler sticker was one of my better ideas ever.  (And I am lucky to have a friend who agreed enough to buy it for me.)  I am still sad it doesn't fit on the inside of the laptop, but there's not quite enough room between the trackpad and the keyboard or the trackpad and the edge.

This is the first pair of socks I've knit on DPNs in quite a while.  I've found that a long circular and magic loop makes trying on socks a hell of a lot easier and using US 1s means the math is the same a lot of the time.  But Regia is a thin enough yarn that I wanted to use US 0s and I don't have a circular in that size.  The downside to using DPNs is that I have a lot of DPNs, so I don't have to finish this pair before I start another pair...

*the Hold Steady

Finished Object: Bittersweet Freedom to Be

The Specs:

Pattern: None
Yarn: See Jayne Knit Superwash Merino Nylon Sock (4 Ply)

Color: Freedom to Be

Amount: 314.8 yards, 68 grams, 0.68 skeins
Size: women's 8.5
For: ME

Needles: US 1 - 2.25mm, magic loop
Start to Finish: 26 June 2020 to 30 June 2020

Notes: Man, where to even START?

This colorway is meant to celebrate Pride and Ravelry and the freedom to be whomever you are.  Supposedly a freedom supported by Rav.

However.

The new design (NuRav) was released June 16th and it quickly became evident that what I though Rav stood for and meant .. is NOT what TPTB at Rav actually stand for and mean.  Oh, sure, they do some great lip service and say all the right things.  But when it came to actually Doing The Things, they have failed.  So hard. 

I know I am not the first person to post about this.  I won't be the last.  I am not alone in my anger and I am not the only one tilting at windmills by sending emails and bug reports and asking them to actually change the parts of the design that are actively hurting people.

But the excitement that I started this project with - I wound the yarn in the beginning on June - was completely gone by the time I cast on.  They are a memory of what I though Ravelry stood for, that it is now clear wasn't ever actually true and honest. 

But the yarn is awesome and I love the rainbows.  I did my standard star toe, starting with 6 stitches, increasing to the left for one sock and the right for the other.  Increased to 66 stitches, then did a twinned short row heel.  14 rounds of k2p1 ribbing before JSSBO.

I am in awe of how quickly I was able to knit these - 5 days!  for a whole pair of socks!  But I also wasn't on Rav as much because of the whole disaster that they are now.

Brand New Day*

Knitting goals for the year:

-fornicating reindeer hat for coworker's brother-in-law
-fornicating ______ hat for coworker's husband - thinking horny toads?  Not sure, may need to chart this
-socks for Tina
-socks for my sister
-socks for HWIA
-wrist warmers for ME, ALL MINE.
-wrist warmers for TSD
-sweater for me
-baby stuff galore!
-cowl for boss
-wrist warmers for A2
-socks for me
-repair all dying, holey socks on dresser

*Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog

Man, when I decide to forget about something, I manage to forget about it.

In other news, I recently spent some $3,000.00 on a three year old cat.  The correlation between the two numbers has not been lost on me, and I fear what his old age will cost me.  However, he's rather cute and lovable and snuggly and I suppose I can forgive him for his stupidity.

(This is not the injured party, though she would like to get some share of his reward for pain and suffering for her life was also disrupted and that is Clearly Not Allowed.)

For, you see, he injured himself jumping off the kitchen counter.  Well, falling off, if I am to be honest.  He made a mad scramble to jump off because he knew he was about to be scolded for being where he KNOWS he does not belong, and chose a piece of paper on the corner of the counter as his launching pad.  It failed to provide the support he required and evidently cats need at least four feet vertical distance to get their feet back under them.

The more you know, I guess?



In other news, I have finished my father's Christmas Socks.  I still need to weave the ends in, but that shouldn't take too long.  I've also purchased my mother's yearly calendar (www.despair.com - love their stuff, as does my mother.) and a welcome mat for their new home.  Three Christmas gifts done, way too many to go.

I have, however, started figuring out my Christmas Knitting.  In theory, it would be a good idea to do that a bit earlier in the year, but I work best under pressure.  Or something.

I have to say, the iPhone 4 takes some very nice pictures.  I'm very interested in what the iPhone 5 will be capable of managing.

Other random observations:
- Beer is a wonderful, wonderful thing.
- My mind continues to be as weird and random as ever.

If I Had More Time*

Last summer, I attended the wedding of a CPaAGer.  Some time in June, I think.  Shortly after the wedding, I put a sock-in-progress in a Very Safe Place, as the kitten had been finding it in the various hiding spots.  Hiding spots such as on top of the fridge (he's not supposed to be up there..) and behind the microwave (he's not supposed to be on the kitchen counters.)

Evidently, it truly was a Very Safe Place, as I have since looked in places such as the bread machine, the freezer, all kitchen cabinets, all closets, the oven, etc.  No dice.



Wednesday, I was cleaning and dusting and vacuuming and filing and other boring, adult like things that I should probably do a bit more often, and found the sock-in-progress.  In a lunch box.

Incidentally, that lunch box was borrowed from a friend and used to transport some freshly fallen snow to TheUrmily during THON our senior year when she danced and was upset that she couldn't see the fresh snow.  I have no idea who lent me the lunch box, no one has claimed it, and uh... that was three years ago.  I guess they don't need it back any time soon.

Anyway, that sock was supposed to be a finished ahead of time giftmoose gift for my sister.  (She got wristwarmers instead.  She was very happy with them.)  Wednesday was her birthday.  Odd, that.



I started an eye of partridge heel and ... yeah, I hate heel flaps.  I really do.  I ought to spend more time with Cat Bordhi's books and memorize the various different ways to knit heels on cuff-down socks.  Or just continue to be happy with my short-row heels.

In other knitting news:  Finished dad's first sock.  Had enough yarn AND it fits him.  (he did ask if I could make the leg longer.  I flat-out refused.)  Happily for me, the sock ALSO fits HWIA, so that will make it a bit easier to knit socks for him, as I'll have some idea of the insane number of stitches needed.



The kitten is lucky I love him because I ended up spending more than 2.5 hours on Wednesday evening untangling the yarn of my sister's sock.  I ended up cutting the yarn and just winding little balls from each end of the original ball of yarn.  I put them on Sharpies and would work a bit on one end and then slip the yarn under the clip of the cap when I went to work on the other end.  Worked very well.

*Tarkio

Brainy*

My father has very large feet.  At least, compared to the people for whom I normally knit socks, he has large feet.  Plus, he has trouble bending over to REACH his feet, meaning all of his current socks (none handknit, thankfully) are all stretched out and resemble tube socks.



I feel like I've been knitting socks for him for ever and ever and ever and ever, but it can't have been that long.  Ravelry tells me I started January 6th and I'm on the toe of the first sock.  I texted my mother - there is something so very weird about that statement - to ask the length of dad's feet, in inches.  I have decided not to think about the fact that she had an answer for me in under two minutes.  If nothing else, I knew that dad was nearby to offer up a foot for measurement.



I'm a bit concerned, though, as I am only a quarter of the way through the toe, and ... well, see?



6 grams.  I do have two extra skeins of yarn, if needed, but HWIA also requested socks and he also has large feet (oh, be quite, 12 year old male who lives in my head).  He approved of this yarn and I was kinda hoping to make socks for him with the same yarn.  Because that wouldn't be weird at all.

Also? I don't recommend pulling a sock on for a photo shoot and then suddenly realizing that you didn't put the memory card in the camera.  And then hobbling over to get the card and hobbling back.  At least, not if you love to knit socks on DPNs.

Much better to just get the card in the first place OR remove the sock while retrieving the card.

*The National

Camera Obscura

Really, I need to get off my lazy butt and take pictures. And then find the 12-in-1 card reader and upload them to the computer. To upload them to the internet.

No wonder I'm so lazy. Too many steps involved!

But there is a finished pair of Monkey socks, toe-up, in yummy alpaca, that need to be photographed. The ends are already woven in and everything.

There is nearly a finished pair of fingerless gloves, but I'm gonna have to break into the second ball of yarn to finish the last inch or two of the hand and to knit the thumb. And then weave in the ends.

And then knit a second pair, and fine-tune the pattern that I made up on the fly. Or I could just buy a third ball and call it even. I think the yarn is like, $4 a ball. I can afford that. I think.

Also, pictures of the fornicating reindeer hat. And I need to cast on a second pair of socks, which are a Christmas gift for a not-family member. Which means they actually need to be done somewhat on time.

Good thing I have dad's new toy to play with, then ... a Canon EOS Rebel Ti1. Or something like that. Pictures tomorrow, I think. For tomorrow is play-with-new-toy day!

Hello, My Name is Grumpy

I feel like I spend all weekend trying to Get Stuff Done for the coming week, only to then spend the week Trying To Catch Up.  No wonder I never want to do anything on a Friday night - my one and only chance to sit back and relax for a few hours, without feeling  guilty.

This is what I get for taking a crazy course load and refusing to sacrifice (all of) my sanity.  (Just most of it.)

In other news, the weather has been crazy up-and-down lately, going from beautiful blue skies one day to cold, damp, and rainy but still with hints of blue another.

notice the rubber ducky? He? She? lives on the dash of my car and I have not been able to figure out if it is a
 male or a female.  Shirt is cut rather ... risque for a female, but those eyelashes are just not male.

I just want spring - to be able to go outside and enjoy nice weather on my lunch breaks, to walk to and from Thursday nights without risking slipping on ice, breaking a leg, and freezing to death.  

That is the weather I want - picture is from something in the Philadelphia Museum of Art's collection, but hell if I can remember anything about it.  (Hrm, possible final project for Museum Informatics?  Upload your pictures from the museum, and the site will (hopefully) give you information about the art?)

In happier news, I have solved the problem in Print O The Wave, turned the heel in the second sock, and gotten around to ordering more yarn for Urban Aran.  And started OpArt, for the same classmate/coworker as Sheldon.  (The baby was born last night, 11:05pm, 7lbs, 7oz, 21".  How big does the blanket need to be then?)

Hrm.  I seem to be all over the place tonight, writing is uber-sloppy, AND I'm grumpy.  Hello, February, how are you?

why I need to buy more yarn:

I need a new project, and soon.

I ought to finish Sizzle, so I can wear it this spring/summer.  But eh.  I don't wanna knit 1.5" of seed stitch on the neckline and sleeves.  Plus, I feel like I messed up when sewing up the sides, so I'll have to re-do that as well.

I messed up somewhere on attaching the border to Print O the Wave, and have a devil of a time when I attempt to tink back, let alone rip back, the edging.  This, of course, is a fairly easy fix - I just need to sit down for a few minutes and take care of 16 stitches.  

I don't want to start another Sheldon, because that's TV knitting - I need to be able to look at the pattern, count stitches and rows.  

I ran out of yarn for Urban Aran, sadly - fronts and back are complete and I'm halfway done the sleeves.  I might be able to finish ONE sleeve with the yarn I have left, but that leaves me with half a sleeve and the collar to finish and Knitpicks isn't shipping more of that particular color until the 16th.  I should consider checking Ravelry, but I think I need three more balls and that might be hard to find there.

The gloves are frustrating me - I don't know the magical formula for knitting fingers and messed up.  But ripping back and starting all over is SO ANNOYING.   That one can just go sit in time out for a while as I try to figure out the trick.

The socks I'm currently knitting in class, at the movies, while reading, are coming along very well.  However, that means that I will soon be done and ... well.  Then I need to find another boring project to work on.  But I'll also have another pair of socks.  Hrm.

I swatched for a baby blanket with shiny new metal DPNs from Knitpicks... and I'm going to blame a certain young kitten for the fact that one of those needles is missing.  No idea where it is.  I even crawled along the floor for a while, checking to see if it fell into any of the cracks in the floor.

I came home the other day to find that he had pulled 13 of my bamboo DPNs out of my knitting basket.  THIRTEEN. Luckily, I managed to find all of them - most had been batted under the rug.  Of course, I'm missing three - but I think they are back in PA - and have no idea which ones are what size, between US 1, 2, and 2.5.  Now would be a good time to buy a gauge, I suppose.

Pictures to come later, of all my projects.  You know, when I'm bored and avoiding homework this weekend.

Alive.

So, um, this regular-posting concept?  Doesn't seem to have sunken in very far.

I haven't been knitting very much, in part because I'm not watching TV at home and in part because I don't have a lot of free time.

I have, however, mostly finished Ryan's hat.  I need to make the tassel for the top and snip off three already-woven in ends that I wove in before I found the scissors.  (Actually, I have yet to find the scissors, so we'll see when that happens.)  It is in the process of drying right now - I blocked it tonight and am shaping it on a stuffed Eeyore I have at home.

I'm also on row 4 (or 12, depending on the chart) of the Bayerische socks, which I am LOVING.  My sister is lucky that I dislike the color of the yarn or I just might steal the finished socks from her.  Maybe they won't fit and I can have them?  They are rather stretchy, though.  I keep messing up parts and having to rip and re-knit.  I've been just ripping a few stitches to the side of the mistake and knitting back up in that section, since I think I might curl up and cry if I had to reknit large sections.  (The whole sock, just small sections at a time, seems to be acceptable though.  It is normal to play mental games with oneself, right?)

I've been cranking out my sister's scarf as well - I think I have about a foot done now.  With the bulky yarn, I imagine that the whole thing shall go fast, if I were to actually sit and knit the thing.

And I finaly cast on for the Blaze sweater.  I only have the correct size needle to do the ribbing at the bottom though, so the major part of that might have to wait til I get back to school and can borrow needles from Julie.  Or I'll just break down and buy a pair.  I am loving the fabric made from the KnitPicks alpaca.  Softy and squishy!

I've also spent some $350+ on my car, what with new brakes, an oil change, and a new headlight bulb.  I think I need to replace a few other things, but I plan on waiting til the next oil change.  (Which will be soon, given that I've already put some 500+ miles on since I got home.  And need to drive back to school.  And may be driving back here for a doctor's visit after classes start.)

I think I might get around to dyeing the sock yarn tomorrow.  We'll see if I manage to drag myself out to the barn tomorrow or not.

And Blogger seems to hate pictures, so I'll continue to promise them and not deliver.  (At least you know what to expect from me!)