Knitting Pharm

Sockus Interruptus

It's October.  Socktoberfest.  I am a ridiculously addicted sock knitter.  And for the first time in my knitting life, I'm feeling socked out.

I decided to ride this wave to a destashing, in preparation for enhancement at the Debbie Bliss event this weekend.  The results:

Moebius hats and scarves from the stuff my mom got at the Colinette store while on vacation in Europe (modeled by my little darlings, Amy and Laurel):

 

 

 

The Cherry Tree Hill Supersock sweater continues to boot along.  I have now separated the sleeves from the body, and while I cannot yet wear it out of the house without risk of arrest, it's coming along.  Six stitches to the inch.  276 stitches to the row.  Progress is slow but exciting.

 

In the midst of this great stash dive, I have also added some tools to the mix.  I have finally exercised my Options, and I am in love!

 

 

Hub is going to give me the Options set as a holiday gift, if he can get them wrestled from my grip.  Having been a Denise girl for some time, I am shocked at how much I love these babies.  They have the flexibility of the Denise system with the speed, smoothness and fancy feel of Addi Turbos.

The smaller size fixed-join needles are absolutely terrific.  I got the 2.5 mm and 3mm sizes in the 32-inch length, mainly for magic looping.  I immediately transferred 2 projects from Addi Turbos so I could give them a test run.  When coupled with Austermann Step, the 2.5 mm size yielded a speed that felt like it bordered on recklessness.  The 3 mm size felt simply wonderful on the CTH sweater.

I love that the Options start at a 3.5 mm size, which I use quite a bit for sweaters for the wee gals.  I love the smooth feel.  I love the price.  I love the expandability.

I will miss two traits of the Denises:  the ability to create different lengths of cable, and the ability to use the extenders to change the cable length at any point in a row.  Beyond that, I am calling these gals my new staples.

Wanna see the few socks I've been working on?

Austermanns for Derrick are done.  I am a bit sick of this yarn and colourway.  Can't decide at this point if it's the love of my life or the pain in my ass.  Until I decide, I'll be leaving it for a bit.

 

Marks and Kattens Clown.  Lovely colour.  Nice feel to the yarn.  A nasty join in each of the two balls I purchased for this pair.  That's enough for me not to buy it again.  (I get grumpy when a join breaks my rhythm.)  Guess that makes this photo a collector's item.

I am currently busying myself with a shawl for my SIL's MIL's birthday.  I finally settled on a pseudo-pattern that fell out of my head while I was being lazy with another pattern.  Still love Knitpicks Shimmer.  Still unsure as to whether this lace knitting thing will ever find its way into my repertoire.  Photos to follow.  I hope to entice/sucker/bribe my mom/partner-in-crime/enabler into helping me block it this weekend, which means I need to engage in a serious power-knit over the next few days.  Photos to follow.

At the risk of exposing my true stage-mother quality, I simply must share these photos of the lovely Amy, who really does think she can knit.

 

Smiling,

 

concentrating,

 

and simultaneously knitting a sock and a Moebius scarf.

I am in love.

Fingers afire

While I firmly believer there is no way to account for all of the socks I've made, the Socktoberfest questionnaire got me thinking about where my socks have been.  Off the top of my head, my socks have made their home in these places:

• Ottawa, ON
• Truro, Belmont, Debert and Harmony, NS
• Hanover, ON
• York, PA
• Mankato, MN
• Minneapolis, MN
• San Francisco, CA
• Fife, Scotland
• Sulfur, LA
• Dallas, TX
• Mississauga, ON
• Kansas City, MO

And many, many more.

Another scary factoid:  I can track my sock activity from July 5th, 2006, when I started my new job and cast on my first Pomatomus for The Project.  Since then, completed socks have included the following:

• Seven pairs of Pomatomus in Knitpicks Ballet Dancing
• Pomatomus in Knitpicks Two Step Dancing
• Lombard Street in in Knitpicks Two Step Dancing
• Baudelaire in Sisu
• Blaine's socks in Austermann Step
• Adam's socks in Opal Tiger
• Two pairs (his and hers) in Regia Cotton
• Sarah's Regia socks
• Opal socks in dropped stitch pattern recently rejected for Winter Knitty

Again, that's just the ones off the top of my head.

In the same period (less than four months, people!) I have also completed at least the following non-sock projects:

• Charlie's sweater
• Colin's sweater
• Tubey with boobies
• 3 hats for Craig
• Moebius hat and scarf for Jessica, my darling niece
• Top half of Cherry Tree Hill raglan sweater
• SWS tote
• Bag for submission (pending) to Winter Knitty
• Diagonal striped bag
• Herringbone bag
• Amy's Moebius capelet
• Sea Silk Clapotis (Lace Silk one done in June)

No wonder I'm tired.

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Sexy-toberfest

I pride myself on working the projects I need to do in some semblance of order.  Lately, it's been holiday pressies, mostly socks, with some shawls in waiting.

I am just a girl.  A girl with no self control.  A girl gripped by the urge for Baudelaire.

I had a brief fling with this pattern, about which I blogged in September.  The yarn I chose didn't fit the pattern, so I found some gorgeous dark red Sisu at Have a Yarn.

Last week, I crumbled.  Bored with a steady stream of Austermann and Regia, and somewhat satisfied after a break with some Opal, I caved.  I was going to do just one sock.  Then I justified doing the second one by reminding myself that I'd never suffered second sock syndrome, and that Socktoberfest would be a terrible time to start.

What a sexy, sexy pair of socks.

The deets:  toe up from short row toe.  My gussets and heel.  Worked on my beloved 2.5 mm Addi Turbos.

So what's next?  More Austermann.  More stuff for other people's husbands.  A Clapotis or two when my new needles arrive from Knitpicks.  The occasional stolen row on my Cherry Tree Hill sweater.

Hope you're enjoying Soctoberfest!

Socktoberfest!

Photos will follow in a day or two, but for now I must hop on the bandwagon and complete the Socktoberfest 2006 questionnaire.

When did you start making socks? Did you teach yourself or were you taught by a friend or relative? or in a class?

I did my first pair around 2001, when my mom bought me some self-striping Regia sock yarn.  To that point, I had never worked with a yarn any finer than DK, so it was a huge adjustment.  I taught myself using a generic freebie pattern.

What was your first pair?  How have they "held up" over time?

They are red/gray/black and white jacquard.  I believe I worked that initial pair on metal dpns, using a generic pattern that came with the purchase of the yarn.  I still have them and wear them occasionally.

What would you have done differently?

Nothing.  They are far from perfect and a great knitting memory for me.

What yarns have you particularly enjoyed?

I have quite an Opal problem, striped, solid or otherwise.  I also great enjoy Plymouth Sockotta and have had terrific luck with the Knitpicks yarns.  I still return to Regia when I want inexpensive and sturdy socks.  I have some Cherry Tree Hill I have yet to make socks with, but I love the look and feel of it.

Do you like to crochet your socks? or knit them on DPNs, 2 circulars, or using the Magic Loop method?

While I have at times been a very avid crocheter, I think crocheting is for household things (throws, afghans) and prefer my garment to be knit.  For my first three years of sock knitting, you couldn't have wrestled my Pony Pearl dpns out of my hands.  Now, I typically work my socks either on 2 circulars or using the magic loop.

Which kind of heel do you prefer?  (flap? or short-row?)

While I like the mechanics of doing a short row heel, I prefer the result of a flap.  I do toe-up with gussets, a shaped bottom flap and a turned heel flap.  I think my socks look like top-down ones.

How many pairs have you made?

Yikes.  Definitely more than 50.  Probably closer to 80.  I couldn't begin to account for all of the pairs I have mailed to friends all over the planet.

When asked for comment, the tiger said "RAAAAAAHR!"

And yes, I know it was really the bear who said it, but let's not be nitpicky, 'mkay?

I love these and I love that I got the pair done in 36 hours.

The deets:  Opal Tiger, toe-up on 2 2.5mm Addi Turbos, 72 stitches.  8x1 rib with gussets and heel flap as in Diamante.

I have the coordinating hat on the needle now for the son of the sock recipient.

Continuing to blow through turkey leftovers at an alarming rate.  Life is sweet.

Unplanned blogging vacation

Yowza!  Almost 2 weeks since my last post!

Lots on the destashing front, as well as completed projects for others.

• Austermann socks for Jen's hubby - done
• Regia cotton socks (his and hers) for Coleen's brother and SIL - done
• 3 hats now done for Craig, who has started chemo and radiation and is more positive in his frame of mind than I am on my best day - go Rock Star Super Daddy!
• Diagonal bag suffered death by toddler-frogging, then re-knit in different colour scheme - done

 

• Herringbone bag in scrap Patons Classic and Cascade 220 - done and already stolen claimed by daughter Amy

• Moebius capelet in scrap Bernat Boa - done and modeled by the fabulous Miss Amy

To do for the holidays:

• Opal Tiger socks for Adam, with matching hat for son Ethan from the scraps - sock #1 about halfway done
• Austermann socks for Derrick, Chris and Todd
• Pomatomus socks for Beth
• 4 socks of unknown style for Pieter's wife and female relatives

To do for me after the holiday rush:

• Continue Cherry Tree Hill sweater
• Baudelaire, and I can hardly wait!

I am awaiting word from Lark Books regarding the book submission I sent last month.  If it's accepted, it will be a stretchy pink tank and will most certainly jump the line of projects!

My mom arrived this weekend with a massive stash of Patons Classic she found on sale at Michael's.  I'm going to do some new bag patterns and at least one Ayla-like creation.  My stash has now outgrown its storage and earned yet another plastic tote.  Oy.

Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canucks!  Having already enjoyed a massive turkey dinner for 14 last night, tonight it will be turkey curry and assorted leftovers.  I am one happy bunny.