it won't kill you, really. now do it.
2007- 7 pairs so far! 
11/04/2006
Second Sock Syndrome Socks
Wowsa. What a week. I'm so glad it's over! I should have fun a few errands today, but opted to stay at home, play with Allysa and knit all day. I'm still in my PJ's *grin* I love Saturdays!! Mike went back to work yesterday morning. The trailer finally freaking got here on Wednesday afternoon. After they where all done trying to back it down the driveway (very scary let me tell you. As our driveway is very close to the house and the other side is a hill) it was 7pm. Urgh, lets just say this whole trailer thing has become a big mess. Mike's back at work, and its taking up half the damn driveway. Seriously, the dealership fucked this up big time. More later, and everything unfolds. ugh.
Enough whinning, how about some knitting? Yes! Somewhere in these past two weeks of Dentist appointments, Doctor appointments, mad cleaning, loads of shopping and laundry I've been knitting. Last Saturday I finished my Second Sock Syndrome sock, it was also my last sock of Socktober. I was Adelle's swapie (Is that right? She sent to me. Goodness, my mind is mush.) She sent me a fab package back in August, I casted on my sock a week before Rhinebeck (maybe on Sun the 14) with hopes that I would get it done before Rhinebeck so I could wear my SSS socks to the festival and show them to Adelle during lunch.
ha. I'm a funny one I tell ya! It took me 4 times to get the 1st row of the lace pattern right. Not that there was anything wrong with the pattern. More like a problem with my brain's ability to comprehend directions (Mike, if your reading this. Shut up. Mom you too!! : P ) You see, at the end of the 1st row for the first 3 times, I had 4 extra stitches. I couldn't figure out why. While I resisted the urge to fling the sock across the room I re-read the chart. DUH moment! Its a SSSK not a SSK, THREE SSS not two, yet THREE!!! DUH!! After that the sock just sailed. Till I got to the heel.
![Photobucket - <a href=](http://www.blogspirit.com/admin/blog/%3Ca%20href="http://photobucket.com/"%20target="_blank"%3E%3Cimg%20src="http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/Mistress_stash_enhancer/Swap%20Pals/Picture283.jpg"%20border="0"%20alt="Photobucket%20-%20Video%20and%20Image%20Hosting"%3E%3C/a%3E)
This is *the* coolest heel. I have no idea if I did it right, But trust me it is *the* coolest heel! It took me a bit to figure it out, but damn. It was worth it! Really cool. I love the lace pattern used in these socks! It works extremely well with the yarn
Here's the stat's:
*urgh my comptuer is being such an ass right now. I have no idea if the pictures in this post are ok or not. uuuurggghhhhhhh
19:45 Posted in Finished Object , socks, socks, socks!! , socktoberfest '06 | Permalink | Comments (14) | Email this | Tags: knitting, knitting(english), socks
10/19/2006
just the sock stash...
just waiting for their cast on day, 40 pairs of potential socks... just waiting... for their turn on the needles...
Lolly said it best "every stash tells a story". I can remember where I bought each one, (hell if I can remember why I just walked into the kitchen but I remember where I bought my yarn!) 10 hanks came from my trip with Mom to Maryland Sheep & Wool just this past year. 3 where gifts, quite a few followed me home just because I had to have them.
a few have plans, the fleece artist autumn a pair of lacey leaf socks, blustery day or CTH birches either cablely socks or vanilla socks with a picot edge... when their time comes its really about what is going on in my imagination.
going through my sock yarn stash brought back memories. None going back more than a year unfortunately as I haven't been knitting socks all that long. The aquamelon and fire in the sky I bought with mom's special order Vesper yarn, the LL knit happens Mike bought for me all by himself. The girls that work there still remember him... is that a good thing? Or is it because you could never forget someone as cute as this? The strange little momma, is one of the best birthday presents I've ever received!
Tomorrow morning, hopefully before noon, we will have the van all packed and will start our drive to my parent's house in Massachusetts. Hopefully we won't forget anything, or anyone. Mom and I will be at the blogger meet up, I'm praying for anything but rain, I'm sure plenty of sock yarn will follow me home.
I'll be there, will you?
23:23 Posted in socktoberfest '06 | Permalink | Comments (14) | Email this | Tags: knitting, knitting (english), knitting_(english), socks
10/18/2006
Tiger's eye
These socks aren't my colors, it was the color ways name that drew me in. Ya see, I have always had this "thing" for rocks. My parents are still finding rocks I picked up outside as a child and hid their house. One Christmas one of my Aunt's gave me a rock tumbler. I was thrilled! Constantly looking for new rocks to put in there, just to see how they would turn out.
In middle school my favorite book was Judy Bloom's book tiger eye's. How Davey (the main character) over came the death of her father, found her self while she explored the canyons and how she learned to love again after the great loss of her father. I've always loved the tiger's eye stone. When you turn it the gold just appears.
Check out those stripes! Some how they match, how cool is that? Enough babble really, Here's the stat's:
Notes: I'm not to keen on the medium weight STR. Its to bulky for me. These socks are nice and comfy, a little baggy around the ankle, which I'm thinking up ways on how to fix that, any suggestions? I'm surprised I didn't get more pooling around the gusset area because of the flap heel. These really aren't my colors, but I'm loven the stripage.
Honestly I can't think of anything more about these socks! I'm on the phone with Mike and he is (still) talking about the 5th wheel rv he wants to buy. I swear to all that is Holy. If he doesn't shut up about it soon, I'm not packing any socks for him next month. Geesh!
23:30 Posted in Finished Object , socks, socks, socks!! , socktoberfest '06 | Permalink | Comments (13) | Email this | Tags: knitting, knitting(english)
10/14/2006
my sock history in a nutshell
I'm a little, ok more than just a little, behind in posting my sock history. My camera and I have been having "issues". I say turn on, it says nope. Then there are the re-chargable batteries, that the camera is eating like candy corn. *gr* Here is my story of how I walked down the road of sock knitting
When did you start making socks? Did you teach yourself or were you taught by a friend or relative? or in a class?
There is a bit of controversy on this one... I have two posts that mention my fall into sock knitting. Honestly I can't tell you which sock I started first the one in this post or when my mom gave me a copy of The knitter's handy book of patterns by Ann Budd, some Moda dea sock yarn, and let me borrow 2 12" addi turbo's size US2. Mom, do you see what you've done? ; )
What was your first pair? How have they "held up" over time?
ohhhh, boy. This is where I open the closet door and (a few) skeletons fall out. This isn't exactly my first "pair" per say. Mom knit the first sock, and didn't like how it turned out (yeah right) so she gifted it to me, along with the rest of the sock yarn to complete the next sock. (she had a PLAN you see, a PLAN!) If you click on the pic to embiggen it, you'll see how the sock on the right that mom knit has no ribbing on the foot. While my sock, on the left, has ribbing down to the end of the toe. They have held up just fine. Why? cause I never ever where them. They make my feet sweat (your welcome!) and are not even a little bit warm. And that's why neither sock has a "real matchy" mate.
Above is what you could call my first real "pair" and I wrote about here. I used Plymouth sockotta in color 5616, and size 3 dpns. You could say they have worn very well, cause they also haven't been worn that much! I didn't know all that much about gauge back then, I followed the directions in the book for the pattern I liked. Even though I used a lighter weight yarn it didn't occur to me to use a smaller needle! doh!
What would you have done differently?
With the mod dea sock knit tighter, maybe moved a few stitches back and forth where the 2 circs met up to prevent the gapping ladders, stopped knitting the ribbing when I reached the toe decreases, and used different yarn.
The sockotta sock paid more attention to gauge. Much closer attention to gauge. Stupid gauge.
What yarns have you particularly enjoyed?
Honestly? I *heart* Vesper. My Neapolitan socks are my absolute fav. I really enjoy knitting with Schaefer's Ann, Claudia's hand painted, Socks that rock and Lorna's Laces.
Do you like to crochet your socks? or knit them on DPNs, 2 circulars, or using the Magic Loop method?
5 DPNs all the way babeee! I've knit with 2 circs before and it just killed my hands when I got to the heel flap and the gusset. 4 dpns doesn't work for me either, the way I have to hold hold the needles to knit cramps my hands. I really like how complicated and dangerous knitting with 5 dpns look. Although crocheting is lovely, and can create some beautiful pieces, It doesn't create a fabric that is right for sock making.
Which kind of heel do you prefer? (flap? or short-row?)
Flap, Flap, Flap! (*snicker* Mike and I say that to each other all the time. "Flap, flap, flap I'm feeling the love here!") Flap heels fit my heel better than short row. I love the look and feel of a traditional heel (k1, sl1 to end, purl next row)
How many pairs have you made?
14 pairs of adult socks, 1 pair of baby socks, 1 sock for my SSS pal Stacey and 2 pairs of itty bitty teeny socks. I've gifted a few pairs to my Dad, a teacher at Bryce's pre-school and my daughter Corra.
Here is a pic of most of my finished socks, there will be many more to come as I've found that sock knitting is portable, fun and creates a very useful finished product! Someday I hope to have a drawer full of hand knit socks!
16:50 Posted in socks, socks, socks!! , socktoberfest '06 | Permalink | Comments (14) | Email this | Tags: knitting, knitting (ENLGISH), socks
10/12/2006
that UPS man...
he's a sneaky one, really he is... He is almost as good at hiding my packages as the mail man. At least the DHL guy just tries to run me over, just like I try to run him over (fun game, really. He flies up my driveway, I fly down my driveway. Good thing one of us was paying attention. Surprise! It was me!) sooo.. guess what!
(clicky on all pics to embiggen in this post)
My shoes came and they are too small (!?!). Even better, there isn't another one to be found in any of the other stores in the district. Think that's going to stop me? noooo... David at my local Sears, apparently felt bad for me when he called me back to say there aren't any anywhere. He told me that he is one of the lucky to unload the truck tomorrow. He promised to call tomorrow if there are any size 8's on said truck. (he better or I'll bring all, count em' 3 kids, with me to the mall and they'll be high on sugar buddy!) If there isn't, I'm ordering a pair online. If that doesn't work. Damnit I'm calling every freaking store in New England, I want these bloody shoes. damnit. triple damnit even.
Lookie see my first socks of Socktoberfest! Whoohoot! I know they look cute in the shoes, but check em' without:
Kid update: Corra's feeling much, much better. I think it might have been the house call by Dr. Allysa.
Bryce is now sick, and Allysa is a bit sniffly. First cold of the season. At least it was this week, and not next week!
Notice I changed the blog around a bit? Moved the buttons a bit, changed the look of my blogroll. If you want to see the blogs I read click on the sheep to see them. Many thanks to MandyJ who resized the pic for me, and is back to blogging! Yay!
23:16 Posted in Finished Object , socks, socks, socks!! , socktoberfest '06 | Permalink | Comments (14) | Email this | Tags: knitting, knitting(ENGLISH)
10/10/2006
mmmm, manos
Sometimes I forget why I hate going to the mall, or why I even hate shopping to begin with. Then after spending 5 minutes in the mall, including the walk in, I remember why I dislike the mall with such a passion its unreal. It might have had something to do with it being a Saturday and there was a Halloween Fashion show going on. Which a million people where attending. A million people who where walking so slow I could stop, wait, then walk my super walk speed for half a store front. I went to the mall on a mission, I wanted the shoes the girl from Sear's said should be in by Friday night. Guess what? They weren't there. surprised? I shouldn't be. *gr* The girl who did help me however, told me I could order the shoe's from a different store, not have to pay shipping and they could be at my house in a week or less. Of course, I wanted new shoes on Saturday and why didn't the girl on Tuesday tell me this?!? I wanted to walk out of the mall with my pretty new shoes! Not a single store had shoes that would show off my hand knit socks. I ordered the shoes from Sear's and picked up some chocolate from Gardner's. The candy store always has something I want! Saturday night I poured my frustration into finishing up my so called scarf, I might have also ate all the truffles I bought too.... take a look its so soft and luscious
(click to embiggen)
The Spec's
Pattern: My so called scarf from Sheep in the City
Yarn: 2 hanks of Manos in color way 109. One hank came from Jill Deal yarn shop in Milford PA and the other from Handworks in Smicksburgh PA.
Needles: size 11 Lantern Moon straights.
Time: about 3 nights of knitting.
Thoughts: Love this scarf! mmmmm Manos!! Great fall colors in this color way, the pattern was easy to memorize and I love how it broke up the colors. The Lantern moon needles where a luxurious splurge that was extremely worth every penny. The needles are so soft and smooth. I loved knitting with them!
After I finished my scarf, my needles where nakid and I needed something else to knit. Everybody together now:
awwwwww
click to embiggen
aren't they the cutest? I call them my baby Neapolitan socks. Here are the spec's
Pattern: loosely based on better than baby booties. I used the heel that they called for, but that's it.
Yarn: left over Vesper Neapolitan and a little bit of Vesper astro cause I ran out of yarn, and it used the same pink.
Needles: 4 size 0 metal dpns. (ouch!)
Time: 8 hours. Would have been a lot less if I didn't develop the inability to count to 44 and not recognize the problem till 6 rows of ribbing was knit on sock 2. *urgh*
Thoughts: awww! I have no idea if these will fit our little baby or not, but they are sooo cute! awwww!! For her next pair of socks, I'm using a size 1 needle. I don't know if it was trying to knit with yarn on a size 0 needle that was made to be knit with a size 1 needle (did that make sense?) But where the needle rested on my middle finger, owwww!!! It was a great way to use up some left over sock yarn, even if I had to dip into another skein. They are the cutest little socks!
Right now on my needles I have started a pair of vanilla socks using STR medium weight in Tiger's eye. More on that later, kids want to eat, and Corra has a sinus infection and is on antibiotics, Bryce and Allysa both have a cold. Really, what fun. That's ok though, cuddle time = knittin time! ; )
17:23 Posted in Finished Object , socks, socks, socks!! , socktoberfest '06 | Permalink | Comments (22) | Email this | Tags: knitting, knitting(ENGLISH)
10/02/2006
Pumpkinfest, socks of couse
This weekend was nice, relaxing and enjoyable. Saturday the rain kept us home, it was nasty outside! I was hoping to go to a local farm that holds a Pumpkinfest every year. But there was no way I was taking the kids out in that weather. nope, nope, nope! So we went Sunday instead. There was a bit downpour of rain on our way there. But once we arrived it was blue skies.
10:35 Posted in family , socktoberfest '06 | Permalink | Comments (14) | Email this | Tags: knitting, knitting(english)