Monkey Swap

I love choosing gifts for people. I love finding the perfect thing, something they either want or need and can use. Something they may or may not have gotten for themselves, at any rate. Or if I’m knitting them a gift, something they will use. Which is why I won’t knit a hat for Lee, or knit something that isn’t machine washable for most of the people I knit for. I’m having so much fun trying to get things that will be enjoyed by my spoilee. I know she’ll like most of what I’m getting for her. I’m not positive about the yarn choices, but I believe they’ll be acceptable, if not loved immediately. She likes interesting new indie designer yarn, so I’ve gotten her a brand I believe she hasn’t used before along with one of the patterns she wants. Her Monkey socks are nearly done, and I need to make a couple of random things that are going to be added to her gift. There’s also one or two other items I want to throw in. Both are large items, so we’ll see which one gets there first since both would be too much spoilage. Not that there’s really such a thing, but some kind of limit must be observed!

I really want to take a picture of the sky outside of my window here at work, but my camera is at home. There’s a gorgeous blue sky, no clouds, with a really cool tree. And a crane. The colors are just really cool and interesting. Desktop background-like.

I’m more excited about the giving than the receiving, really. And, to my spoiler, I totally started searching though all the blog questionnaires to try to search you out based on the clue of your foot length, but decided it would be better to just wait! I am very excited, and I’m sure that whatever you’ve chosen will be wonderful, as I haven’t seen a bad Monkey sock ever. If your package arrives before mine’s ready to go, I will be forcing myself to hold off on opening it until I complete mine. Major incentive for me to hurry up!

On the knitting front, no pictures because I’m working on a last-minute design submission. No pictures until it gets published. If it gets published. Then a test-knit, but you’ll probably get to see those pictures. Chrissy doesn’t mind us posting those. And of course, I have Monkey socks and gifties to go with that, as well as the ever-present Christmas sock knitting. Which is mostly on hold due to the Monkey and sweater knitting.

Oh Yeah...

I remembered why I do swaps. It's so someone else can knit a pair of socks for my 10" long feets, and I can knit socks for someone with something like 9" long feets. And let me tell you, after knitting socks on size 2.50mm needles with a stitch count of 80 for 11" long feets, I am amazed at how fast the Monkeys are flying off the needles.

Monkeys, taken in the beam of sunlight at work.

Remember how I said at one point that I didn't like the socks I got from the last swap I did? I brought them out again, and they're not that bad. It was a mystery pattern, and the yarn just didn't go with the pattern. It's also a weird yarn for a sock, as it's a DK weight and there's not many DK weight sock yarns out there. As everyone in the Six Socks Knitalong is finding out. Sorry! I think I will do the Sock Wars, as I do enjoy the picking out of the surprises for the other person and the receiving of random things in the mail. I'm still not signing up until the last day, if I do at all, because I'd like to know what kind of yarn is required and I want to make sure I have gotten a good portion of deadline knitting done before signing up for more.

Also, the internets decided not to play nice last night. I got three pictures of the ten-ish I wanted to get out into the ether. So, here are views of the gorgeous Cabled Baglet, a pattern I wholeheartedly recommend picking up for yourself when it comes out. Quick, easy to make, looks great, and is portable so you can take it along if you don't have a purse sock. Also great for gifts if you need last-minute ones. I'm planning on using up all of my Red Heart leftovers on these (I can get like four more done) and keeping them around to use as gifts when I need them.
The pictures:

Pictureless...

I just placed my first order from the Loopy Ewe. Can't wait to see what comes with the yarn! I ordered the Cookie A. pattern for my Monkey Swap 3 pal as well as some sock yarn from a dyeing company I don't think she's tried yet. At least, I searched her blog and the company didn't show up. All the others I was considering did, so I think I'm good with what I've gotten her. She likes variegated yarns, yarns from new to her dyers, and I got a colorway that, from reading her questionnaire and looking at the yarns she's purchased, should be right up her alley. Then again, I haven't used variegated yarns much, so it might come out completely wrong. The socks that I'm making her are coming out differently than I had thought when looking at the skein. Not bad, I still think she'll like them, but not as good as I thought they'd be. Ah well.

I have pictures of these socks, a couple of my Ravelry projects, and my Assateague trip. They're on my home computer. I'm at work. I stayed late yesterday as there was a knitting group in this end of town last night. Instead of going home and coming back, I just stayed here an extra couple of hours (we work on flex time, so I can go home earlier later in the week) and went to the knitting group. Met some great people there too. It was the yarn swap, so I got rid of all of my stashed yarn. Yup, there's a picture of what I got rid of. On the home computer. I got rid of a whole bunch, and only brought one measly ball of crochet thread home to make snowflakes with. I no longer have any eyelash yarn or full skeins of acrylic, or the black yarn I made socks with and felted, or the extra skein of my FAVORITE Peru Luxury DK. I figured someone else could have the loveliness. That and it's not machine washable, and the only things I could think of for one skein of it would be things that would get dirty easily. I still have the random non-full skeins of acrylic, because I don't feel right giving someone less than a full skein, even though one of them is only about ten yards less than a full skein of Red Heart SuperSaver. But I can make more Cabled Baglets out of the almost full skeins. Pictures of Cabled Baglet, a test knit for Chrissy Gardiner of Gardiner Yarn Works that will be up sometime after October, are forthcoming. I must say this is a freaking adorable bag. I love it. Like, absolutely love it. Very quick knit, I'm going to be using all of my random acrylic leftovers to make as many of these as possible as last-minute gifts for people. They are nice and small, fit a sock/sleeve-type knitting project and a couple notions, and the cables give it a very nice touch. It's a drawstring bag and EVERYONE who has seen it yesterday commented on it. Even all the guys at work at a meeting (it's a teleconferenced seminar thingie, which means two straight hours of knitting every Tuesday morning) thought it was great, and so did all the people at the knitting group. If you're in need of a cute little bag that takes somewhere between six and eight hours from start to finish (I was doing other things in between) this is definitely a pattern you should buy. I'll post the pictures when I get home and you'll see why.

I'm going to update the sidebar with only the projects that are currently topmost in my knitting priorities, instead of having everything there. Like that Frill and all those cross stitches? Yeah, I haven't cross stitched in forever due to all the knitting I'm doing. Honestly, I'm about ready to switch it up to mostly cross stitching (I have phases) but I have so many things I HAVE to get done that the cross stitching is not going to get touched for a bit. Which is sad, I really wanted to finish one of my huge ones this summer. Ah well, if I can finish a bunch of knitting and stop signing up to do more, maybe I still can finish it...

Monkey Swap 3

So I am a sucker for group things. I joined the Mystery Stole 3, now I'm joining the Monkey Swap 3. Maybe it's just group things with those initials. Anywho, if you're interested in making some Monkey socks to surprise someone with, and receiving some Monkey socks and some monkey related goods, click on the link and sign up. Who knows, maybe you'll be my swap partner!

Monkey Sock Swap THREE Questionnaire

The basics:

Though I couldn't knit them in my sleep (might poke Lee with the needles accidentally) I'm pretty happy with all I've tried and have done Fair Isle and lace in my socks. I haven't done cables yet, but they don't scare me!

The measurements:

Shoe Size: 10.5
Foot circumference: average - don't have a measuring tape right now and can't remember!

Foot length: 10"

Yarn Preferences:
What colors do you love?

I love deep blues and purples, bright purples and pinks, blues and aquas and greens. Deep reds, deep purples, saturated blues, basically the GBIVR bit of the spectrum. But mostly purples.

Do you prefer solids or variegated?

Depends on the purpose/pattern. I like variegated for things like Monkeys and Pomatomus, but most of Cookie's other patterns seem to look best in solids. Gothic Spire and Flicker may be good in variegated too.

Do you prefer wool, cotton or acrylic yarn?

I'd rather not have 100% acrylic, but I'm pretty much up for anything.

What colors would you never wear?

I don't think there are colors I'd never wear. I'd rather have bright blues, greens, pinks, purples, and variations thereof, than browns, beiges, or pastels. Not so much of a yellow or orange person either.

What are your favorite brands of yarn?

I haven't tried many sock yarns, but I love KnitPicks!

Are there any new brands you would like to try?

Nothing specific. I've never tried any of the major brands people swear by, like Trekking or Socks that Rock, but that is because I am still going through my KnitPicks and a couple of others I bought on eBay.

Cookie A. Patterns:
Which of her patterns have you already knit?

Hedera (my favorite socks EVER) and Baudelaire.

Which pattern(s) would you like to knit and don’t already own?

I like Thelonius as a short sock, Millicent as a long sock, and Pomatomus if you're on a budget and/or are thinking variegated!

Other pertinent information:

Would you be willing to have an international Monkey Pal or do you prefer one in the US?

Doesn't matter to me!

Do you have any allergies?

Nope.

Will your knitting be exposed to smoke or animals?

Just Lee. He's a boy. So it kind of counts.

Are you on Ravelry yet? If you don’t mind having new friends, what is your Ravelry name?

Yes, I am on Ravelry as Shlaci.

Not sure what's with the weird formatting. Blogger must hate me right now. Oh well.

I promise, I'll remember to use my camera this weekend and post. Scout's honor!