Sample Knitting for The CraftsMeow

I knit a single Lobster Pot Sock (by Chrissy Gardiner, oh how I love her patterns) for CraftsMeow.  This yarn, Banana Split in Kamikaze, is an amazing superwash merino/bamboo yarn that I've fallen in love with.  The color is amazing, the feel luscious, and at $20 per skein, I may just have to pick up a few next time I have extra yarn money!  This would be a big thing for me, as the most expensive yarn I've ever bought for myself has been just over $15 for a pair (with $5 shipping each in a sock club), and I don't tend to buy myself sock yarns often.  I've only gotten KnitPicks Essential and Cascade Heritage for myself, along with the wonderful Abstract Fiber sock yarn club, but will have gotten 16 skeins of yarn, minimum, in August, September, and October.  Three skeins to knit up and send back as samples, four skeins as payment for samples I've already received, six skeins I'll be getting as payment, and three skeins from the club.  I really shouldn't buy more; I'm supposed to have almost no yarn stash by the time I leave Japan...but that's at least two years from now, and this yarn was just so soft and wonderful, I may break down and get some!

Back to the project.  This sock took me about nine days, I think a week of knitting and two days to get it washed and blocked.  I thought it would take longer, with the cabling, but I enjoyed working with it so much I just blasted through it. 

Pattern: Lobster Pot Socks (Ravelry)
Yarn: The CraftsMeow Banana Split in Kamikaze

Needles: US1.5/2.5 mm
Timeframe: June 8 - 17, 2009
Mods: None.  Sample knit, so pattern had to be followed to a T.
Problems: The yarn bled a little, but that's to be expected with such a great blue.

Loved the yarn, loved the pattern in the yarn, was really happy with the whole thing and would love to knit it again.  In fact, I might, even though I never really liked this pattern (at least, not enough to make socks for me with it), I love it with this yarn!

Socks (finally!)

Okay, so I lied. Not entirely my fault, Blogger, my camera, and the internet decided they didn't want to play nice. And I was away for the weekend, so couldn't do it then. However, here are some pictures!





Yarn for the Monkey Sock Swap! But oh, which one? I know, but I'm not telling, just in case she manages to figure me out. Either way, I do believe that these will be adorable Monkeys. I'm actually really glad my spoilee likes the color scheme that I got - I actually bought these a couple of days before I got my partner, and didn't really like the colors so much (it's not something I would choose for myself to wear) but I was drawn to it. Good for my spoilee!

Don't'cha just hate it when you're 2 rows from completion, and you run out of yarn? Yeah, I was worried I was going to run out. So I kept on knitting, and decided that yeah, I would just barely make it. Boy was I wrong. I did have scraps of this yarn from an earlier sock though, so it got finished.

And the sockapalooza. These are all the sock knitting I've done since the beginning of August (and some in September - I re-took the picture after finishing a bit after the weekend). Yes, I know, I have a large bunch still on the needles on the end. Yes, that's five pairs on the needles. And if I had the sock yarn for the few sizes that aren't being used up, they'd probably be in this picture too. I like having one or two in my purse, the easy, don't have to think about it out-and-about knitting (blue toe-up sock and multicolored, mostly done grey sock). Then there's the ones I have to concentrate on, either because they're colorwork or intricate (green sock, will be Fair Isled). Then there's the ones I'm designing (black, mostly done, waiting for yarn, and orange). It's all mostly Christmas knitting, some Birthday, some designed, and two socks that are just mine, knit from someone else's pattern. The question is: Can you find the pairs?

Nope, the blues are not mates. Different color blue which you can kinda see in the picture, and different rib pattern. These are the Mix and Match Rib pattern that I test knit for Chrissy Gardiner. Hourglass rib on the left, Eyelet on the right. Nice easy pattern in sport weight, a good way to use up random sport weight acrylic that I have lying around and give my sisters Christmas socks. They're ankle socks instead of full cuff socks - not sure how much acrylic I have, and I wouldn't want that much acrylic on my legs. Very fast, very cute though!

These for some reason wouldn't take with the flash. So I tried with no flash. Still not good, but better. Yes, these are a match. For my sister. Yay, Christmas Present #1 done! Also, these were finished in September, not August. I did finish one pair in August...

Betcha' you didn't see that one coming! I finished the first of this pair in July, and the second on August 2, I believe. International Sock of Doom 1. The second Sock Wars is beginning in October - I can't decide if I want to join. I think I will, but I did just sign up for a couple of test knits, and I am trying to do a bunch of Christmas knitting - I suppose that since the signups are open until October 1, I can set myself a knitting goal and if I meet it, I can sign up. I had fun for the first one, but things got crossed in the mail and I didn't particularly like the socks I got. Haven't worn them. It is something cool to be a part of. Okay, howsabout, if I finish all of my sister's socks, Lee's socks, Lee's mom's socks, Blaze, and I get to the wing in the Mystery Stole 3 (that I am AMAZINGLY far behind on) then I can join. Mystery Stole 3 is negotiable, but only if there's another project taking its place that is substantial enough. Like, not a pair of socks, but the two pairs of handspun socks (that are not done being spun) for my godparents and the needlefelted model of their dog made from their fur is a good swap. Which means that I have more knitting to do than can be done in less than a month. So I probably won't join, as I really shouldn't, but I might anyway...

Necessity Is The Mother of Invention

I participated in Sock Wars last year. It was a lot of fun. I really liked the socks I sent, not so much the socks I received. I had almost enough yarn left over from the two skeins I used for another pair of socks. What I really wanted was burgundy on the ribbed portion, black on the stockinette portion, heel, and cuff. I did not have that much burgundy. So, I did both legs up until the heel. Yippee, enough burgundy for both and enough for a small pattern of decreasing down into the foot. Go me. Next problem: There is only enough black to completely finish one sock. To the point where I didn't actually kitchener the last two stitches because I did not have enough yarn left. So, more black yarn is in the Great Yarn Order.

I did finish a pair of socks this week! See:


What? To be a pair of socks they have to be the same color? Or at least the same pattern? Okay, you got me there. The first sock is the Sock of Doom pattern that I was talking about in the first paragraph. I did not float the strands for the burgundy stripes loose enough, so it has a bit of a pucker where the burgundy meets the black. Not terrible. It just needs to stretch too much to get on my foot!

Although black yarn never looks quite right on film, here's a decent picture of the second sock:


It's the Hourglass Eyelet pattern from MagKnits. I used one skein of Digit fingering weight yarn from Nancy's Knit Knacks. In fact, I didn't even do the last decrease row of the toe decreases so as to keep it to one skein. I also made a pair of Baudelaires using this yarn. I hate normal work socks, so the goal was to make a week's worth of work socks. I had two pairs, Hedera using KnitPicks Essentials in black, and the Baudelairs. Those got accidentally thrown into the wash a couple of weeks ago, so now my 8 year old sister is getting a pair of socks for her birthday. Which isn't too bad, as I liked the fit and feel of the socks, I just didn't like how they looked in black.

About five minutes after I took this picture (which was about ten minutes after I finished the Hourglass Eyelet sock) I found a nail that sticks up from the entryway into the kitchen. Or rather, the Hourglass Eyelet sock found it, by snagging and ripping. I fixed it best I could, but it's quite annoying that I couldn't even wear the socks for real before causing damage.

One major plus for the last couple inches of the Hourglass Eyelet pattern was that I learned a new technique for SSK. Slip the first stitch knitwise, the second purlwise, and the SSK sits nice and flat, just about as nice as the K2tog. That is the one stitch that's been really bothering me whenever I use it, and now it's all kinds of nice. Yippee! I actually learned this one from one of the special notices from Mystery Stole 3. I love the online knitting community, I get to learn something new every day!

Pelts.

Well, the pelts are off the blocking board. And since I have all of the live stitches of all of the pieces on the same circular wire, they really do look like pelts when I grab them all up. At this point, I have 2.5 out of the four raglan seams complete, and then four more seams to go. This is the first time I've seamed an adult-sized sweater, and the first time playing with mattress stitch and raglan seams. It's coming out beautifully so far. I showed Lee how wonderful it was to just tug on the yarn and have the seams come together so nicely. He rolled his eyes. He doesn't get it.

Have you ever used Lopi? I'm using it for my cardigan, and it's breaking a lot as I seam. I'm not sure why this keeps happening. I'm spit-splicing it back together, but it's really making me wonder if the seams will hold up. Granted, they shouldn't have too much tension on them, but I'd still rather have seams that I can be happy with, both while seaming and wearing.

On the plus side, I have pretty sidebar stuff up now, so take a look! It's not a comprehensive listing at all (as you can tell from the Score), though it is the stuff I will most likely be working on. Or at least, it was a good grouping to put up. I was just going to add things as I blogged about them, but oh well.

No pictures today, I didn't photograph the pelts or the beautiful seams. I also have my Hourglass Eyelet sock that I'm working on while in school. I'm down to the foot, but for some reason this sock just seems to be going veeeeery slooooooowly. I worked on it for a couple hours yesterday, and I only got 2". It's my in school project for the moment, so hopefully it gets done by the time school is out. Then I can make the second one. Oy. Right now I just want something I can finish quickly and be happy about. The cardigan is so close, but needs buttons before it can really be finished. I have to make a second sock to finish the Hourglass Eyelet socks. And my closest cross stitch piece needs backing fabric once I finish it, so that will take kind of awhile too. Instant gratification please!