And the Answer...

...is Dobby Socks! My mind was so focused on these that I was sure someone would have guessed. Here is the beginning of my Pal's socks. I want to finish and block these socks. Colorwork always looks better after blocking. Working the Golden Snitches was a bit fiddly, but I was through with them before I knew it. I hope the broomsticks turn out well. I hope to knit more of these socks. Maybe I will make a pair for myself to wear to the movie and book parties in July. Now I am wishing that the Sockapalooza4 mailing date could be July 2 instead of August 2.

Sockapalooza Yarn

The pattern has been chosen. The needles are ready and waiting. Now, all the yarn is gathered together and ready to jump on the needles. Do you know which pattern I'm using? I told some people Saturday at the yarn store. It was nice to let out the secret. I've never knit it before, and I am trying several new things with these socks. If they turn out the way I hope, these shall be spectacular.

Sale Day Adventures

A local yarn store has a sale each May for their anniversary. Sometimes I attend, but other times I do not. Several of the Skanky Knitters had planned an outing to the sale. They began at Starbucks and then proceeded to the store. I have had a hankering for some Starbucks. Friday night was not a good one, and sleep was difficult.

When I woke up Saturday morning and saw that I would miss meeting everyone for coffee I thought I would just stay home. I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. It just was not going to happen. I went to the store with a budget and an idea of what I wanted. My plan was fiber (if it was included in the sale), Plymouth Dreambaby DK for Chemo Caps, and maybe some sock yarn. I was unsure if the fiber was on sale. Since it was, my fibery splurge was the Lorna’s Laces Combed Wool Top in Purple Club. I also picked up a bag of Blue Faced Leicester and one of Corriedale. I tried BFL for the first time on Friday night and fell in love. Since there was only one bag left, I grabbed it up at once. I do not have any Corriedale, but decided that this was a great time to pick some up to try. Then I made my way over to the Dreambaby. As it turns out, I chose the same three colors one of my fellow Skanky Knitters purchased. Of course, he will be using his for weaving, but I thought it was nifty that we picked out the same colors. Then I turned the corner to face the sock yarn. Aloud, I asked whether I really needed more sock yarn. JJ began the list of questions that either help to enable or curb a yarn purchase. One skein of Trekking XXL caught my eye immediately, and I picked it up. There was a similar ball of Trekking Pro Natura, but I put it back and got in line. We kept each other strong by continuing a conversation and turning our backs on the wall of Koigu. We paid, and I was off to the movies to see Shrek the Third with my sister and nephew. It was a good day.

Another Star on My Chart

I finally finished my latest Shedir. Whenever I knit this hat, there is a point where my progress seems to stall. I continue working on it, and the next thing I know, I am zooming on to the end. I used Magic Garden Cotton Candy Baby DK. This is from a bag of yarn given to me years ago by a friend who was cleaning out her stash in preparation for a move. This was my first time using this yarn. It is a machine washable, 70/30 cotton/wool blend. It is soft and was nice to knit with, and I think it is a great choice for this chemo cap. I was disappointed that several times they had knotted together ends to continue the ball of yarn. That is one of my yarn pet peeves. Still, it is not such a big deal in the scheme of things.

So, how is your Shedir coming along? I have it on good authority that there is one headed my way already. There is still time. I am getting ready to package together the prizes.

Speaking of prizes, I will be sending out a little something to Becky, who spotted the mystery knit under my Arwen. I am sad to say that no one was able to correctly identify what I was wearing as the Ballet Camisole that I swatched and blogged about last year. It was a bit of a bugger to finish. I had to rip out the beginning (not easy to do) because I messed up where I joined in the second ball of yarn. The top sat for months while I figured out how I would fix the unsightly mess. I carefully put in needles and frogged the first few inches and re-knit the bottom and ribbing. Weaving in the ends with this yarn is a major pain. It is hard to do so invisibly. I have been unable to get a decent picture of it. After that, crocheting around the neckline and armholes was a breeze. I might not ever buy this lovely, silky, cool, and wonderful yarn again. I know that I am not rushing to knit something with the leftovers.

Happy Mother's Day

I was finally able to give this to Mom. This may be too warm for her to ever wear. This is okay because she knows the love and dedication I put into this, and appreciates it and its beauty.

Home Alone

I have a greater appreciation for the quiet life we have. Our houseguest has moved on to the next leg of his journey, and now it is just the two of us. Still, we are glad to have had him down, especially since his health is not as we had expected. We had quite a time, and really enjoyed the wedding we all attended at Cheekwood Botanical Gardens in Nashville. No matter how wonderful a trip is, or how great a houseguest is, I am always relieved for things to return to the relative normal that is our life.

Before we headed off for Tennessee, I took a moment for myself to pick up a few knitting accessories. I experienced a happy surprise when I was able to purchase a new book at a nice discount. I love Sensational Knitted Socks, and More Sensational Knitted Socks might be even better. Ms. Schurch includes a chart of shoe sizes and widths with foot measurements in men's, women's, and children's sizes. She addresses issues of wide feet (the ball of my foot is quite wide), narrow heels, odd and even stitch counts on the heel and instep, and more. The stitchionary is great, too. This book is a wonderful resource. I know I will use it often as I knit socks. I hope it helps me to knit socks that fit even better. I will definitely be incorporating some of the things I have read in my latest pair of socks. It is another toe-up pair.

I am pretty sure that I have figured out what pattern I will use to knit for my Sockapalooza Pal. I am straying a bit from her two favorite colors. Instead, I am knitting socks which fit with one of her great loves. I am debating whether to show them here on the blog. I feel like they are such a great match with her, that if she were to see them here, she would know right away that they are for her.

So far, I have not received a single guess on the mystery tidbit from my last post. Maybe it is a bit more difficult to figure out than I had thought. I will give you all a bit more time to investigate. Since it might require a bit more work to find the answer, I have added more to the prizes. Speaking of prizes, I look forward to awarding them for the Shedir contest. You have until the end of the month.

Arwenagain

I have had some questions about how I changed the pattern to make my Arwen without a hood, and have received requests for extra photos. I am always happy to oblige, so I arranged another photo shoot. This time I braved the weather and went outside. A tiny token to whomever spots and identifies the bonus surprise.

First, however, I will tell you about my modification to make my Arwen without a hood. It was not a difficult modification. I was not sure just what I was going to do when it came time to shape the shoulder, so I followed along the directions and had my stitches for the center front in waiting on a holder. When I finished with all the other knitting of the sweater, I had decided upon an i-cord neckline. I went back and bound off the stitches on the holders. I sewed blocked and sewed everything together. After I had finished the shoulder seaming, I grabbed my dpns, and worked a three-stitch i-cord around the neckline, using a k2tog to attach as I knit. I confess that I grabbed the wrong size dpns and was nearly strangled when I tried it on the first time. It was no trouble to rip it out and work it with the correct needles. I like what I created here and the way it gave shape and structure to the neckline.

And now, to the pictures. First, we have a picture of Arwen without me. Then we have a close-up of the cabling, including a picture of some mystery cashmere/silk gift yarn. Did I ever mention that my Skanky Knitters are the best? Next, we have a couple of pictures of me wearing Arwen. These are better representations of the way Arwen looks on me. I like the way the cabling folds back naturally at the top. I do love this sweater. It is beautiful, comfortable, and an interesting knit. I enjoyed knitting it. It has inspired me to make more sweaters.

I am not getting nearly as much knitting done as I would like this week. We have a houseguest in from out-of-town. It has been an experience. Still, there have been some opportunities with the needles, and I have completed the back of my Festive and am nearly halfway through with the left front. I am considering making the sleeves a wee bit longer. The need to measure Festive makes it less suitable for on the go and in the car knitting. I need to get some socks on the needles. I have a couple of ideas of patterns and yarns to use. Whichever I choose, they are both suitable for relatively mindless knitting. I need that kind of knitting.

Speaking of socks, I have been stalking my Sockapalooza pal's blog to determine the right pattern for her. I am close to making a decision on yarn and colors. The introductions over on the Sockapalooza blog have been overwhelming. We have 1006 participants from 26 countries. I have clicked so many links, seen so many great things, and cannot remember where they all were.

While Sockapalooza has many participants, Sock Madness is down to the Final Four. The pattern will be released sometime today. This pattern sounds like it could be quite challenging. We have already been told that it is Fair Isle. It also seems like gauge could be deadly and difficult.

Timely Finish

It is nearly ninety degrees today. This means that I finished a wool sweater. It also means that you have to settle for this lousy indoor photo. Yes, I finished my Arwen. I knit this without the hood. Instead, I worked i-cord around the neckline. I like the way it turned out, but I was worried. The unique construction of the sweater made it difficult to see if I had knit the correct size for me until I had finished sewing it together. It will be a wonderful sweater to wear. However, it will be waiting quite some time to get much use. I enjoyed knitting this well enough that I could possibly knit another one some day. I knit this using Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in the color Hyacinth. I used my Knit Picks Options. The lovely points on those needles made cabling without a cable needle easy. I really do like this cardigan, and I might knit this again in a cooler fiber so that I can wear one in warmer weather, too.

Mad Prizes

SockMadnessPrizeYarn
Originally uploaded by sarahknits.

It was another wonderful day at the mailbox. My Sock Madness prize package arrived. Thank you so much, Hillary and Felicia! Everything was packaged so nicely. This 100% Blue Faced Leicester yarn is so beautiful and soft. The stitch markers are gorgeous. I brought the chocolate to a family gathering to share and we all loved it. I cannot say enough wonderful things about Sock Madness. It has been such a fun experience. I can't wait to see the remaining patterns. Round 5 begins on Friday. Best of luck to the Elite Eight!

A Case of Mad Cows

Check out these peachy keen Mad Cows I won! They fit me wonderfully and I love them. Thank you so much, Stephania! I don't recall which day they arrived, but I was so excited when they did.

You remember that achy back of last weekend? It got worse. I spent Monday evening at the ER and left loopier than I have ever been. They shot me in the behind and gave me an assortment of pills. The last week is a bit of a blur. I did not get much done, and should have attempted even less. My advice to everyone: Seam Sober! I somehow thought it was a good idea to sew my Arwen after taking those silly pills. Now I must undo those seams before I make another attempt to put my Arwen together. Anyway, I am way behind on everything. I'll get caught up eventually.

Long Weekend

The weekend seems to have dragged on forever, but I did not accomplish much of what I had hoped to do. I had hoped to finish knitting Arwen. It was not to be. I put in a good bit of time on it, but ripping out those twelve rows set me back more than a bit. I have made it to the point where I am just knitting back and forth on the long sleeve rows. Then it is the complementing set of short-rows, and I am nearly through. I am not knitting the hood on this because I do not want one. I have also lengthened the cardigan a bit. I was not sure how much longer I would make it when I finished the back. I did not bind-off the back in case I need to knit more or rip back some. I will probably knit on Arwen after I finish writing this.

Completion of my cardigan is not the only thing I was unable to do this weekend. I missed a birthday celebration of one of the Skanky Knitters on Saturday. Weather was lousy. The wind blew, the rain poured down, and the thunder rumbled. We did not even turn on the computer until Saturday evening. It would have been a good time to knit furiously on Sock Madness socks, but I would have been rattled to not be able to obsessively check the competitors' progress. In this way, it was a relief to have been knocked out of play. Still, the weather was not all that stopped me from participating in the festivities. What has given me the biggest grief this weekend has been my back. It has not been as bad as other times, but it has seemed that at any moment I could be in big trouble. I spent much of the weekend brewing herbal tea to help warm me while I applied cold packs to my back. Once or twice, I was able to stretch my back using my stability ball. If I had felt a bit stronger, I would have done a gentle, beginner yoga dvd. However, I could tell that I was not up to it, so as I worked to achieve the proper balance of not sitting, lying, or standing for too long, I knit. After I had done as much Arwen as I could stand, I knit a new chemo cap.

I used a stitch pattern from Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks. I knit this hat using Plymouth Dreambaby DK. I love this hat. It is soft and stretchy. I think it will be a good fit for just about anyone. I can see myself knitting more of these. I am unsure of my next hat pattern. Maybe I will choose another stitch pattern from this book.

I have been flipping through many sock patterns lately. I am in search of inspiration. I will be engaging in some super-secret knitting soon. I have joined Sockapalooza 4. This is my first time participating in Sockapalooza. I hope to do well and not be a Sockapaloozer. We will get our matches soon. Then I will do more research, and begin knitting. I want to complete these well ahead of the deadline just in case life happens later. I also have some more super-secret knitting to begin. It is unlikely that the intended recipients read this blog, but I will not show you until much later, just in case.

Because I am preparing to knit so much for others, I must definitely have some things on the needles for myself. I have Arwen near the finish line. It will be a race to see if I can finish her before the weather turns so blazingly hot that I cannot wear her. For warmer weather wearing, I have Festive on the needles. I am knitting this top in Cotlin in the Moroccan Red color. It seems that many people are interested in this yarn. I want to finish this shirt and wear it so I can share more of my experiences with this yarn with all of you. So far, I give this yarn a positive score. I liked knitting with it when I used it last month to knit an Odessa. It held up well to the abuse of the beads. There is not much point in taking a picture of the knit at this point. I am working my way up the back. I have worked the waist decreases and am now increasing again. The fronts will be interesting to knit. If I follow the pattern as written, I will be knitting the seed stitch bands using smaller needles at the same time as I knit the stockinette portions on larger needles. I think my Balene II dpns will work perfectly for this. I may knit the sleeves a wee bit longer than what is written in the pattern. My greatest worry for this shirt is that I did not choose the right size. It will not be such an ordeal if I need to rip the whole thing out and knit it again, but I would rather get it right the first time.

Share a Shedir

Shedir is the most beautiful chemo cap I have knit. I would knit this pattern for a loved one. I think it is very special, and I love including it in the rotation of patterns I knit for Caps for a Cure. In fact, here are some pictures of my latest that I neglected to include in my last post. I knit this one using Sinfonia. It is a 100% mercerized cotton yarn. I liked using it, and love that it is a readily-available, economical option.

I could go on and on about the ways I adore this hat, but instead I will get to the point of this post. I would like to challenge you to knit a Shedir to be donated to Caps for a Cure. Knitting this hat makes you feel like a Knitter with a capital K. It is a bit more complex than other hats I have knit, but the pattern has clear, well-written instructions. In conjunction with the challenge, I am offering prize-y goodness. I have been compiling goodies for this, and I think you will be pleased. Not only can you have the good feelings from knitting a challenging pattern and donating it to a worthy cause, you could be a winner. So, go ahead and knit a Shedir. You can send it to me or directly to the sponsored center. This round goes until the end of May. Just email me when you finish knitting your Shedir, and I will send you the details.

Eeew! Stinky

These are the words of my niece. She would be making this declaration if she were here. Right now, my home is definitely stinky. The odor of hard-boiled eggs and vinegar lingers. I am thankful that we dyed only the eggs. My nephew did a great job. He is a bit disappointed by the fact that his creations will be cracked open and eaten. The next strike against these eggs is that they are filled with egg, rather than candy. He assures me that he has a stash of plastic eggs ready for candy. I wonder if my sister knows about them.

I have a long overdue fo waiting for better weather to show you. I have begun something in Cotlin. Arwen is about have long rows again as it is time to add the sleeve. I could actually finish her soon. I will fill you in with some more details. Oh, and before I forget, I have another Shedir completed. I have some ideas about more of those. Do not be too afraid. It is something good.

Madness the Third

Kristi’s birthday coincided with the release of the Round 3 pattern for Sock Madness. She posted the photo of her completed socks about twelve hours after we received the pattern. Quite a fast knitter has knocked me out of the competition. Perhaps this is proof that the birthday wish is powerful.

I will admit to feeling a bit bummed. Sock Madness was fun. At least I was brought back down to earth, and no longer feel the need to sign up for the 52 Pair Plunge. I suppose it is just as well. I told the Skanks that this pattern makes my ankles look fat. I do not know if this is true, or if my mind is just trying to find ways to cope with my failure. Don’t worry kids; I am okay. I can now move on to the next adventure, whatever it might be. Still, I may need to frog the socks for therapeutic purposes. I also have the rest of the patterns to look forward to without the strain of competition. I might not have been ready for the pressure. I am still glad that I joined in on the game, though. Best of luck to the remaining competitors!

Too Twisted for Words

We have reached the end of the Twisted Knitters Dye Spin Knitalong. It has been quite an adventure. I did not engage in the dyeing portion of the adventure. Instead, I used dyed roving to spin and knit a shawl. I began with a bag of fluff. Then I spun and plied and spun and plied. I ended up with my two skeins of yarn. It took me a long time to spin it all. I have read more about plying and color and how to achieve different yarn. Of course, I am a beginner. I have learned as I have gone along. This explains a bit why when I laid out my two skeins to photograph them I saw such different yarn. I admit that I was quite disheartened. I pressed on towards my goal of knitting a shawl from my handspun.

I decided to knit the Shetland Triangle. To compensate for the differences in the two skeins, I alternated rows from each ball of yarn. It worked. I knit two additional repeats of the main pattern before working the edging. I had nearly used every bit of my yarn. This is what I wanted, though I did have some stressful moments as I bound off the shawl. Then I looked at it in its unblocked state and felt a bit ill. I did not care for it one bit. My husband loved it. He especially liked the back with all of its bumpy texture. While it was nice that he could see beauty in what I had done, I was still disappointed. I told myself that no matter what I ended up with, it would be a special shawl. I put the shawl in the sudsy water and walked away. Then it was on to the clean water. I carefully lifted it out and pressed out the excess water. I spread out towels and got down on my hands and knees with the blocking wires, pins, and tape measure. Blocking really is magic.

It's Madtini Time

I made it to Round 3 of Sock Madness! Sorry to knock you out, Sandy. I had another fast finish. I barely slept, just enough so that I could knit again. If I had slept more than three hours the night before, I might have been able to knit straight through. Once I got up and began knitting again, I obsessively checked the Flickr group. I had to limit myself to refreshing the page no more than every five minutes. Therefore, I timed myself against the clock on the computer and kept making predictions as to the time I would finish. I had a small moment of panic when I realized I had gone straight from knitting the heel flap to picking up the gusset stitches without turning the heel. I remedied this error quickly and knit on as fast as I could. When I finished knitting, kitchenered, and wove in the ends, I grabbed the camera, went outside, leaned back, put my feet in the air, and took the picture. I rushed back inside with a promise to the cats that I would feed them once I posted my picture. I was so nervous as I uploaded and then sent my email.

I like this pattern and these socks. I knit them using some of my precious Wool Ease Sportweight (discontinued) in the Autumn colorway. It was odd to use these colors when spring is all around and the temperature reached the eighties. I will knit this pattern again, but I will not use sport weight yarn next time.

I need a few days to rest before the next round. I wonder whom I will go up against next. I also wonder what the next pattern will be.

Head to Toe

I am getting ready to box up the chemo caps for this round. I messed up and missed mailing deadlines for the furry caps, so some will go to Caps for a Cure. I will save more for other rounds. I knit a simple cap from some Bernat Handicrafter, but none of my pictures turned out well. Today I am showing off my seventh Odessa. This might be my favorite pattern for chemo caps. I have knit them both with and without beads. For this one, I used the new yarn, Cotlin, from Knit Picks in Fiesta Pink. I like this yarn. The only negative I can offer is that there were some linen bits I felt the need to pluck out as I knit, but they really were not a big deal. The yarn is soft, pleasant to knit with, and can be tossed in the washer and dryer. I believe it will be great for more chemo caps, especially in the summer months and when we donate to a group located in a warm climate. I want to knit at least one more chemo cap before I package up this round's contribution and go to the post office.

As promised, here are my Traveler's Stockings. I do love these socks. I wish this photo showed the color as well as my other progress photo did. I even waited for a nice, sunny day. I am in the midst of the Sock Madness, but perhaps after that ends, I will begin another pair of socks from Knitting on the Road. I do enjoy flipping through it just to look. I can hardly believe this is my first pair from the book.

One Round Down

I made it through the first round of Sock Madness. The pattern for Round One is called Mad Cow Socks. I knit this pair in less than twenty-four hours through stresses I gladly admit I am already beginning to forget. It is nothing worth mentioning, especially when I consider one of my fellow participants persevered through medical messes. Still, it was a stressful weekend for me, and I am glad to have had knitting to see me through it. It is also nice to have the self-imposed strain of a knitting competition. It is fun, and beats the real-life stuff. It reminds me of soap operas. There is no need to take it seriously. I am quite pleased with the pleasant way people are conducting themselves in this event. Helpfulness and encouragement abound.

I finished plying, skeined, and the new yarn is soaking. After it dries and I check my yardage, it will be time to decide on a pattern. I am trying to choose between the Swallowtail Shawl from Fall 06 IK and Shetland Triangle from Wrap Style. My yardage may be the determining factor. If you have any thoughts, please, feel free to share.

It's a Ply, I Tell Ya

However, it's just a single ply. I finally wound the spun single from my drop spindle into a center-pull ball. I used my ball winder. I also used my super amazing shoebox creation. I cut some holes in a shoebox and used that to hold the drop spindle so I could wind. I need to make a small modification to the box, and then maybe I might even decorate it. I transferred the cake of wool to the nostepinne. I will ply from the nostepinne, just as if I did the first half of this project. Then I will wind, skein, tie, and wash. Maybe I'll skein straight from the drop spindle.

My latest Knit Picks order has arrived. I have such plans for much of the yarn. A niece will be spending a weekend with us for the sole purpose of knitting. She wants to knit a felted purse. She wants turquoise with lime green fun fur accents. We will have to carry her wool to a craft store to select the fun fur. The King of One Skein Knitting (of the Skanky Knitters) wanted some sheepy note cards and one skein each of Moroccan Red and Key Lime Cotlin, and I have set those aside for him. I think I'll also give him a new Chibi, as his has gone missing.

I also purchased some more sock yarn, just because. That is not completely true. I have the beginnings of Sock Madness on Saturday. We shall see how long I last in that adventure. There are already some people panicking and complaining. It would appear some did not read all of the information, or misunderstood what they had read. For the first round we need two, 50g balls of fingering weight yarn. It is recommended that one ball be solid and the other variegated. That being said, you can choose two different solid colors or two different variegated yarns. I believe I will be using a couple of lonely, lovely skeins of Lorna's Laces that have sat in the stash waiting for such an opportunity. I had picked up one variegated skein from a clearance bin, and a friend gave me the solid as part of her stash reduction. Now, I hate to think of knitters being upset and giving up, but if it increases my chances of winning the lovely prizes, well, perhaps they can soothe themselves with wool fumes. It's a game, kids; relax.

In preparation for the big event, I have finished my Traveler's Stockings. I'll show them off later. My husband thinks they are the best pair of socks I have knit so far. This means my sock needles are all empty. I think I will go ply, or knit on Arwen for a bit.

Travels with the Traveler's

The heels are turned on both of my Traveler's Stockings. I finished turning the heel on this one while my husband was test-driving cars. I had been knitting away, semi-conscious, when he asked if we had passed the Toyota dealership. We were on our way home and still had about two more hours to drive. I had no idea where the car lot he sought was located. We passed it, took the scenic route, and arrived. I stayed in the car hoping to get in some more knitting or a much needed nap. I require more sleep each night than the half-hour I had gotten the previous night. Sleep was not going to happen, so I knit. When the heel was turned, but I was not ready to put both socks on the circ together, I decided to stick my foot out the window and take pictures. I would like to finish the pair this week so that the needles are cleared for Sock Madness. This ought to be a good week. My Knit Picks order has shipped and they predict it will arrive by Friday. I won (their word, not mine, but don't get me started) a new drop spindle on eBay yesterday. I think it is reasonable to expect to receive it sometime this week, too. Also, on the spinning front, I finished spinning that last bit of fluff. Maybe I will get it plied this week.