Like I need another obsession.

Ah Tuesdays. Drop the boys off at school. And then me and lil dude are off to run errands. He's so good. All he wants is a hot wheel if he's good at the store and all is right with the world. So we go to the evil Wally World. Trash bags, candles, carpet cleaner, etc. And then he's so good that we head over to BAM. Cause at BAM they have a Thomas set. And I can peruse all the knitting mags and books and PJ can play. He loves it. Plus I don't end up buying knitting mags that I really don't want. I found two books I really want though. Geez. Handknit Holidays and Alterknits. Add that to the Sensational Knitted Socks book that I'm drooling over and well...

But I didn't buy any of the books today. I resisted. But then on the way out I saw some sort of beginnner's beading kit. Which included enough beads and notions to make ten different projects with step by step instructions. I was so very tempted. But then I opened it up (just to look inside, I didn't damage the packaging) and the colors of the beads were just bleah. So again I resisted.

But then I headed to Michael's and picked up a beading tool kit, a bunch of head pins, and a packet of variegated amethyst colored beads. For what? For hand-made stitch markers of course. My very first one is so cute. So cute. But I can't get a good picture of it to save my life.

I do have some nice pics of my kool-aid experiment. Here it is all wet and squishy.


And here it is "Sherbet" all balled up. It's very soft. And will make a nice pair of tutti-frutti socks.


And finally, I leave you with this. The man and I were gonna buy a TV for Christmas. Maybe a nice 27 incher. We even considered HDTV. But instead we got this. For free. Used but very, very nice. For free. It's good to have a sister who works for the cable company who has customers with more money than they need.

Pooling defined...

I've seen many knitters - especially sock knitters, who complain and bemoan all the pooling they see. Well honey, you ain't seen nothing yet. This is pooling!



I'm working on the gusset increases and they still feel a smidge loose. But the 76 stitch version was too tight. So there you go. I could have tried for size 0 addis, but I don't have any of those yet.

Also for your viewing pleasure the half hooded rogue...



Yep, that's all I got done in my marathon knitting session. But Beth sweetly offered me her "Pokey Purler" button for my sidebar. And yes, I put that baby right on my server. Cause Pokey is me. And isn't the turtle cute?

Well my sidebar is updated, and my house is a wreck per usual. So I need to shower, feed the boys (doot doot is home sick again) and then clean like a maniac so I can justify my knitting time.

Veddy interesting...

I think I now know why I don't finish anything. Not only do I flit from thing to thing but I am the slowest knitter in the history of the world. Seriously.

Last night I knit from 6pm to 4am with only short breaks for munchies and bathroom. And a half hour for the Starbucks run from hell. But other than that - what is that? about 8-9 hours of knitting?

You wanna know what I finished? Nothing. Nothing. I worked about 25 rows on my rogue hood. I still have I think 30 to go. No sleeves. Just neverending hood.

And I cast on for jaywalker socks in the stargazer lily. Only got the better part of a figure eight toe on that one.

Why am I so freaking slow?

In other news, the knit-in was great! An amazing variety of ages and experience levels of knitters. And everyone was so nice and fun. And we laughed. And just had a really, really, good time.

Since then I have had two hours of sleep. I'd love to take a picture of my pathetic rogue hood progress for you, but I really must sleep. Now.

Anticipation is making me wait...

Tonight I get to go to a knit-in. Actually I don't know what she's calling it exactly. All I know is I pay $10, get pizza, and then get to sit around all night knitting with all kinds of other knitting chickies and supposedly work on my holiday projects. Um, yeah.

I'm not really knitting much for Christmas per se. The boys' teachers may or may not get airy scarves. Actually they probably will. Tied in a pretty bow on a basket of homemade goodies. Shoot, I might as well say buckeyes, cause that is what they are getting. Everybody loves buckeyes.

I'm cleaning today and trying to convince myself not to knit, since I get to knit all night. But it's hard. I have laundry going now and the boy who is home with me has been fed. (The other boys are at the base on a boy scout go see it.)

I'm so very tempted to cast on for my jaywalker socks. So very, very. But they've been not so nice to me so far. Of course I did have some wierd sizing issues with tivoli many moons ago. And that is a great little sweater. So it will probably be worth it.

But what should I take with me to knit? I really should work on #19 if I expect to wear it to the man's big holiday shindig. It would be perfect for something "semi-formal". But it's been chilly here too. And rogue needs some serious attention. I'd love to bring my stargazer yarn and try the jaywalkers, but I kind of feel like I should bring projects with yarn from her store. Not that she would probably mind, but still. Can I just bring a large suitcase of projects?

In other news, Doot Doot really needs a haircut.

The view from here...

This is what I see everyday as I sit in purgatory the car line at school. I am not at the front of the line. To be at the front of the line you have to arrive approximately one hour before school lets out. I like my car line knitting time, but not that much!


Next we see Rogue. In all her half-hooded glory. I did a whole ws row on her, before I realized I had no cable needle. And the no-needle cable is not on my list of mad skillz.


Fortunately I am a knitter with forethought. Witness the back-up project. Toe-up sock it to me springtime socks on two circs...


Finally we see a beautiful sight. An artfully arranged sock yarn basket with four new colors/styles of sock yarn added from Knitpicks.


The hydrangea (blue/pink/purple) you see there is the cursed sock yarn. All the other knitpicks sock yarn is new. Including the two mammoth hanks of dye your own. There is kool-aid in my future. Lots of kool-aid. I'm thinking a pink lemonade theme - pale pink, yellow, maybe a bit of muted orange... Not sure about the other hank yet.

Corn-fusion reigns....

I did the 76 stitch version of jaywalker last night for a good long while. It got me nowheres. Nowheres. The resulting tube was huge. And I have big feet. I'm 5'10". I wear a size 10 shoe. If I didn't, I would fall over. You need a size 10 platform to keep from falling over when you're as tall as I am. But this sock-ling was sized for Shaq. So....

I cast-on again. Toe-up, thinking I could figure this mother out. My gauge changed. What was 7 spi, was suddenly 8 spi. So then I thought surely I should be able to do the 76 stitch version from this cast-on. But no.... These were fit for only Andre the Giant (may he R.I.P.)

What am I doing wrong? I don't freaking know. I am beginning to believe that the hydrangea yarn is cursed. Hexed, vexed, evil, possessed, something. I have used this yarn to cast on at least 20 times for different socks. And after a few inches, it usually becomes apparent that they won't work. Of course sometimes I finish most of a freaking sock before I realize the problems. Is this just the pe (perfectionist eye) rearing it's ugly head? Maybe. But a sock that doesn't fit... Well it just doesn't fit.

Trust the pattern, believe in the pattern....

I want to make jaywalker socks. Really. I have the lovely hydrangea yarn all ready to go. I've cast on 76 stitches with my size one addis. Let's review the math:

Jaywalker Gauge = 7.75 spi
My Gauge = 7 spi

The size large (which I would need) has you cast on 84 stitches. My gauge ratio is right about 90%. So I should cast on 75.6 stitches to get a large sock with my gauge. I understand the math.

I've never made a sock and cast on so many freaking stitches. Now, I understand that the pattern is snug/pulls in, etc. But in my head this would make the ribbing incredibly huge. Of course the making waves socks did the same pull in thing. And the ribbing was fine. I cast on 64 stitches in sport weight on addi twos (3mm) and they fit just fine. So this should work.

I guess I have to just suck it up, trust the pattern, and get some of the actual leg portion done to see what will really happen. I've just wasted a lot of time futzing with these socks already. Grrrr....

Not a finisher.

I have only finished 16 projects this year. In October I finished nothing. I read all these blogs, and they are cranking out the FO's. What is wrong with me? I'm a sahm, I have plenty of time to knit. Geez-o-petes.

Black Friday?

Did I miss something? When did they start calling it "Black Friday"? This is the first year that I've ever heard that term. Granted, usually I hide somewhere on that day, and don't dare go near any big box store, but still....

On Friday, I actually did leave the house. I had sicks mens and I needed medicine. So I went to CVS. And then I trucked on over to Tuesday Morning to pick up some stuff for the boy scout holiday hoopla. Did the check for yarn, but no dice. Just a crapload of orange cotton-ease. And oh yeah, nobody likes the orange. Then I went to the other LYS. The one where they don't seem to like me very much. But I was in need of a sock yarn fix, and they have a much larger selection. And wonder, of all wonders, one of the ladies was super nice to me that day. But none of their sock yarn was screaming my name. So what did I buy?


The zephyr is so gorgeous. And it was only $11 a ball. I was quite rudely told on the lacelist that I overpaid, but I don't care. For 50% tussah silk, I honestly expected to pay more. And it just glows. So very pretty.

I finished my making waves socks on Saturday night. And I love them!!! I wore them yesterday with my earth shoe clogs. They were very warm, but didn't give me sweaty tootsies. I hope they wear well. They are unblocked of course in this pic, and they need to be thrown in the wash. But I couldn't wait to wear them!



I've cast on for toe-up socks with my sock it to me springtime yarn. I've got the first figure 8 toe done and I'm getting ready to cast on for the second. I'm gonna try two socks on two circs for this one. I think my knitpicks sock garden hydrangea (the yarn that is cursed... lol) might be turning into jaywalker socks. I really like that pattern. I've become a sock junkie. Oh my.

Holy Hashbrowns!

That's my 6 year old son's favorite exclamation. Would that I should remember this cuteness when he's 6'2" and giving me sass.

In anticipation of new yarn coming, and to get a handle on my WIP's, I reorganized my knitting nook. Which is really just a shelf full of yarn, needles and projects.


On the very top, barely visible, are a bunch of pictures of my boys as babies. Cause you can never have too many boy pics. Especially when your boys are as all out freaking adorable as mine.

Next we have some wips/stash. The walnut cascade 220 all nicely balled up to finish my rogue, four balls of romance knitpicks shine twist, six balls of bubblegum cotton-ease that begs to be a sitcom chic and then wips in bags. Hopeful in sugarplum cotton-ease, sweet mary jane swatch in knitpicks shadow oregon coast, and my starter stockinette socks in cascade 220. I think the starter stockinette will be frogged to make fuzzy feet. I won't wear thick wool socks, but I will have occasional use for slippers around here.

The next shelf is just pretty in the silver baskets. A bunch of balls of knitpicks palette for socks, that gorgeous cascade bollicine baby night, and my vogue #19 lace shawl. I found a perfect earflap hat pattern in Last Minute Knitted Gifts for the bollicine. Just need to measure the little dude's head.

The next shelf has my kitt trinket bag, 3 huge balls of strawberry twist sportweight wool-ease, my sister's online scarf, and my striped peace fleece booga which holds all my circs and my dpns.

The bottom has my first basket with all sock yarn, all the time. I had to clean that up to make room for the sock yarn that is coming. Then we have the lovely lantern moon basket. The top has pretty yarns, and the bottom is where I hide my small stash of red heart from my beginning days.

The boys are in bed. And the man is still sick, so he's in bed as well. And yes, this is what I've done with my time this evening. Shaddup.

I'm thinking about Christmas presents. Yes, I know it's a little late. But there are only a very few people I want to knit for. I might whip up some airy scarves for the boys' teachers. Those are only supposed to take four hours each. And I'm a sahm, so I have 12 hours to spare. And then I'd really like to make socks for the man. And maybe the cigar gloves. Although both might be too ambitious.

I need to think of something to make for the boys. Something fun and easy. I was thinking maybe some sort of stuffed animal. A special lovie from Mommy. Cause they are still my babies you know. Speaking of which, even though they are fast asleep, they need another kiss goodnight.

Not so lucky...

I picked up a skein of Lamb's Pride Bulky yesterday from the LYS. She had whipped up one of those cute cableknit clutches and I thought I might do the same. And then I had the bright idea to include the Luckenbooth medallion from the girlfromauntie site.


This is my swatch. I made a mistake in one of the increases, but I really don't love the way it looks. Maybe it's the bulky yarn, or maybe it's the reverse stockinette, but I just don't think it will work for a little bag.

Plus my Scottish husband is driving me absolutely bonkers. And at first I thought using a Scottish medallion might be pleasing to him, but then I figured I really don't give a flying fig what pleases him. I've been sick now for nearly two weeks. I get no sympathy and no real help from him. He's sick now for two days and wants the world to revolve around him. Men are such babies sometimes.

But I digress. This is supposed to be about knitting. Not about my cranky husband. My making waves socks are coming along nicely. I might even finish them up tomorrow. More on that later. If you're in the US, Happy Thanksgiving!

Diseased

Diseased I am. I wonder if this will be like my CE affliction. Maybe you don't remember it. I picked up a couple of balls of cotton-ease and fell in love. But alas, it was discontinued. So then I began to stockpile the crap. CEHD - Cotton-Ease Hoarding Disease is what they call it. What happened to my CE stash you might ask? Well... I knit a chickami out of some white. And I'm 75% done with a hopeful in sugarplum. And I have six pristine balls of bubblegum set aside for sitcom chic. But the rest of it? Ah yes. The rest of it has been sold, traded, or destroyed.

I do have a complete sock now. Actually I have two. But the other one doesn't count. I have my beautiful making waves sock. It's so soft, and so lovely. And I plan to cast on for it's mate tonight while watching Gilmore Girls & Supernatural.

But today I got a bug up my butt and decided I needed to sample some more of the Knitpicks sock yarns. (Actually I blame the folks on Knitter's Review for this...) So I got some dancing in Jig, some simple stripes in Vineyard, some parade in Forest, some more sock garden in Star Gazer Lily, and just for good measure, two hanks of color your own. Cause I really want to try dyeing. Maybe some yummy kool-aid flavors?

So... once I get all of this yarn in house, plus the swap yarn I arranged for off of the knittyboard, I will have enough yarn to make at least 17 pairs of socks. Not including the pretty mystery sock yarn which I have upwards of 800 yards of. *sigh*

Ahhh... success...

A sock I like. A sock I even love. A sock that has a really long heel-flap. I'm not sure why I did it this way, but it fits, so....


Here is a good shot of the making waves pattern:



And here's a shot of my reluctant model, who's home sick today and is just chilling in his pj's...


I got in some work on my rogue hood yesterday. But I'm only up to row 20 out of I think 82. *sigh* I really need to get it finished. It's very, very chilly here.

I think I would like to try the jaywalker pattern on my knitpicks sock garden hydrangea. But that of course has to wait until I finish the making waves socks. Can't have too many socks going at once. Of course they would be on different needles... (someone come and give me a good smack - please!)

The sock up there didn't even use close to a whole ball of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport. I'd say there is probably a third of the ball leftover. I'm actually wishing right now that I had the second one, because it's actually chilly enough to wear socks today.

I need to get up off my duff, do some housework and then try to do some serious progress on my rogue. Some good news - I've found a trade for the encore that's been sitting in my stash since forever. Someone needed soft acrylic blends to make doggy/kitty beds. Encore is soft. Guess what I'm trading it for? Wait for it. Oh yeah, sock yarn.

The perfect sock?

Does it look like this? Well, actually no. This sock is not perfect. But I do love it so. I did a diamond heel on it. Actually I had to frog the heel because I knit in the dark at the imax and screwed it all up on a field trip on Friday. But I have a perfect diamond heel now. And I'm working on the decreases. And it still fits.

I'm ashamed to admit I picked up another ball of sockotta on Friday night. It's a purple jacquard effect color. But I didn't pay for the ball of sockotta. (Oh my goodness. Of course I didn't steal it!) My sister bought it for me. Along with the holiday vogue, which I have yet to peruse. And three balls of Cascade Bollicine Baby Night. Damn, this stuff is soft. It's 100% new wool merino, but I swear it feels like it has some cashmere in it. She picked up a pale blue, a sky blue and a navy. 95 yards each. And now I have to make a PJ hat out of it. She like the Jayne Cobb hat she saw in the store. She definitely wants ear flaps. But this yarn is so yummy, it has to be the perfect pattern.

I worked on my rogue hood tonight. Jeepers that hood is gonna take forever. I may have to forgo the perfect sock for awhile and just work on rogue. It has been cool enough to wear it for the last couple of evenings and I had to wear other less worthy items of clothing. Yes, I looked cute in my purple corduroy jacket at Harry Potter last night, but I would have looked a lot cuter in my rogue. I'm just saying.

Tomorrow should be a rogue day...

It's only gonna be 62. Which means it might even be in the high *gasp* 40's when we leave for school in the morning. Can you believe it? And I have a school field trip to the imax tomorrow with Jeremy. Wouldn't it be nice to have a snuggly cardigan to wear in the theatre in case it got cold? Why yes. Yes it would. But I will not be snuggling with my finished rogue in the theatre. Because I haven't touched it in weeks. I really must finish it this weekend and stop this sock obsession nonsense.

The pink/orange/yellow sock did not survive. Shortly after that critical photo session it was frogged onto a toilet paper roll. Oh the inhumanity of it all. But looky what I'm making....



It's a making waves socks, pattern courtesy of the Six Socks Knitalong. Their new sock pattern will be up in December and I plan to kal with that. But isn't it pretty?

I'm currently in the process of convincing myself that it's ok that the colors are pooling the way they are. It's Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in Watercolor on size 2 (3mm) addis. Why are addis sizes so different than the rest of the world? Anyhoo.... I digress. The pattern is beautiful in it's simplicity. And I'm nearly done with the first cuff. To make the ribbing exactly as I wanted it, I did a provisional cast on, worked the ribbing on size 1 addis, and then bound off in ribbing.

This perfectionism is becoming a disease. Why can't I be all ocd about my housecleaning?

In other news, if you have kids (or even if you don't) two of the best books in the entire history of the world are Old Turtle and it's companion/sequel, Old Turtle and the Broken Truth. Read them, love them, live them. That is all.

Perfectionism. It's a disease.

It doesn't apply to all areas of my life. Just some. And apparently socks are cursed with being scrutinized by my perfectionist eye (pe). So here's what the pe sees...



The cast off is a real problem. It makes the sock look all flared, but I can't get it over my heel without a major problem. I found a tutorial for a sewn off cast on that is supposed to be extra stretchy. So we'll see how that goes.

But I'm so tempted to frog the whole sock. The wrapped heel looks like crapola. There are holes where the heel ends, even though I picked up extra stitches to supposedly avoid that problem. Pencil eraser sized holes.

I did an accidental increase on the sole and had to do a decrease which left some small holes. And for some reason, in random places I twisted my stitches. Just here and there.

I love the yarn. I love the magic loop. I don't have ladders. But the finished product is just not good enough.

That evil pe. It is the reason I have no finished socks.

Guilty pleasures and the definition of pathetic...

What do you see in this picture? Ah yes. One toe-up 2x2 ribbed sockotta sock. In a lovely mix of oranges, pinks, yellows, etc. Stripes color 617 according to Plymouth. Also you see a brand new ball of sockotta in color 605. A nice mix of green, denim, tan, etc.

Here's my defense. Today I dropped Jeremy off at a birthday party that I thought I was supposed to stay at. But no. So instead of going home, I went to the yarn store to knit. But it was the yarnstore's birthday. And she was having a sale. 20% off of all sock yarn. If I wasn't so frigging broke, you would have seen scary amounts of sock yarn. I wonder how long the sale lasts... But that lovely 2nd ball of sockotta was only $7.67 and that included tax people!

You might be wondering where the springtime sock it to me socks went. Well... I frogged them. Two socks on one magic loop equalled hella scary ladders. At least for me. So I decided to do one sock on the magic loop and see how it went. And I justified switching to the sockotta, because one ball makes two socks. And therefore the sockotta is not suited to two socks at once. Unless I had a very accurate digital scale that measured grams and a ball winder and swift. See how I just saved myself money by switching yarns? No?

Hey. Are you keeping track of how many socks I've finished in my life? Just for a nice visual reminder... here's a link to all the socks I've finished before... (sing it like Julio baby!)

Are you finished laughing at me yet? I have yarn in my hot little hands to make at least 8 pairs of socks. There might be a special place in hell for me now. Complete with dpns that leech splinters into my fingers.

We have a new rule. The new rule is... Socks And. At any given time, I will only actively give my attention to two things. One pair of socks. And one other item. Period. End of sentence.

Currently it's my tevye socks and my rogue. Why tevye socks? Cause the colors remind me of sunrise and sunset... You don't follow? I'm sorry.

Did you see my other guilty pleasure? Cheezy celebrity magazines. Usually read while consuming diet coke and chocolate. Cause looking at all the skinny chicks makes me wanna nosh?

And if anyone is still with me.... the definition of pathetic is me, getting ready to kiss my boys goodnight, brush my teeth and go to bed. All before 9pm on a Saturday night.

There's something wrong with me.

I have mastered two new things. First the figure 8 cast on for toe-up socks, which rocks by the way. And now I am knitting two socks at the same time on one addi 40" circular. No I haven't ever finished a pair of socks. Shaddup!



I made the toes two different colors on purpose. I know there is no way the striping will match up, even if I try, so I will make the striping mistmatched on purpose. See my brilliance?

And then there was the retail therapy aspect of the morning. I went to Wally World, solely to take advantage of their cheap prices on stuff like laundry and dishwasher detergent. I ended up with hair color, two new shirts (that fit!) and a belt to hike up the jeans that are all too big. Jeans that are too big is a good thing, but I can't really afford to replace my jeans, so I bought a belt instead.

But the therapy didn't end there. Then I went to the yarn store. I figured I would buy something so that I didn't feel bad using her ballwinder.



Let's see... One skein of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport superwash to go with the leftover skein I have here at home. Size 2 addi turbos (40") to make magic loop socks with the lorna's. Sockotta yarn in a pretty mix of pinks and oranges. And the humdinger - size 6 dpns - lantern moon brand (kaching!) - to work on the Sweet Mary Jane cardigan. In my defense the dpns were basically free. But that's only because I have now filled up another frequent buyer card at the yarn store. Whatever happened to my yarn diet? My husband is gonna kill me.

Shhhh...

My super secret entrelac project is coming along nicely. I think I've found the way to eliminate the lines I didn't like in the first swatch. We'll see.

The rogue hood is kind of a forever project. I was trying to read ahead on the instructions, saw something about the 82nd row and just sighed and put it down. In my defense yesterday I think it hit 90 here again. And today mid 80's is expected. Of course what will happen is I will neglect the Rogue for a week and then next week it will be 45. Such is my life.

If I take my knitpicks shadow to the LYS and ask to use her winder, she'll say yes. But that doesn't mean I don't feel bad to ask. I think what I will do to assuage my guilt is combine the shadow winding trip with a nice purchase so that it kind of balances out. She has a huge new stock or Noro. I just need to know what to do with it. Or I could buy some Helen's Laces. I've been coveting that in a serious way. But that I have to have a plan for before I buy it.

I ordered a 40" size #1 addi turbo to do magic loop socks on. I even printed out a handy dandy instruction sheet for doing two socks on one magic loop. I ordered it from elann and also got some self striping/fair isle sock yarn in a "springtime color". I'm hoping it comes today. I'd love to practice that technique.

Shall we review? I just keep buying yarn. It's frightening. And I'm not really completing much of anything. I have "new-itis". Oh well. Life goes on.

Sorry for being post crazy.

This is mostly for my own notes and stuff as I work on this project.



Yarn: Wool of the Andes
Needles: Size 8 Clover Bamboo Circs
Pattern: 6 by entrelac
Felting: Two cycles in my washer - one rinse
Starting Size: 6"x4"
Finished Size: 5"x3"

The lines still show in the finished felting. I need to play with that to make it look cleaner. But the fabric feels awesome. Nice and sturdy. I think the plan will work!