Opinions

The Socks: Patterns about the same, but each yarn is very different to work. I'll blog more later this evening, but wanted to have these here just in case my cousin stopped by. From left to right: Mountain Colors' Bearfoot, Colinette's Jitterbug, Lorna's Laces Shepherd, Dream in Color Smooshy, and Sleeping Dragon Handpainted Merino.

I have knit multiple things from Mountain Colors' yarns and it seemed a natural to buy Bearfoot to match my scarves/hats. Ha, when I saw the Gold Rush color I couldn't resist starting with that. I didn't add any vinegar to the first rinse and these continue to run a bit in the sink as I hand wash.

But they are getting the most wear and with the mohair in them they are warm and fuzzy nice.

My next favorite yarn (before socks) was Colinette's yarns. When I found I could get the 'Jay' color to match my scarf - it was a must to have. I really like the sproinginess of this yarn.

Lorna's Laces was mentioned in so many blogs and on Ravelry that I had to give it a try. The yarn is the softest of these 3 and finer. I love the color - Tahoe - and it has not run in the wash at all.

Smooshy is just that. Soft with a sproing. and the colors. Yummy. This color is to match my Rib Warmer if I ever get back to knitting that. This may be my current favorite yarn. Not as fine as the others but still soft. I've only worn them once - yep hot off the needles and they have yet to be baptised. (note to self - go wash out your socks!)

The Sleeping Dragon is lovely colorwise, but seems even finer than the Lorna's Laces and for some reason that I can't quite put my finger on, is my least favorite. I'll add on to this once it gets worn.

Now as with any opinion, I reserve the right to change my mind at any time in the future.

The Long and Winding Yarn

I promised one of my Ravelry friends I'd try to capture pictures of the way I wind my yarn. Alas that didn't work out. But hopefully I can give a word picture. This method was demonstrated to me in the early 60's at either Polsky's or O'Neills department store in Akron, OH. I start by making a figure eight between pointer and pinky. After about 12 wraps, the yarn gets wadded into a ball shape and then I start wrapping the yarn around the little wad turning it around the pivot point of my thumb. Sort of like holding a bowling ball, but lighter and softer.

The very end gets wrapped around the equator and then after extracting my thumb, I go spelunking to find the starting end that is hiding in the center. This gives me a nice center pull and even as the ball gets used up, I've not yet had a tangled mess. Call me Lucky? Maybe I should knock on wood.

Yarn: Sleeping Dragon Handpainted Mossy Frog

Sock: standard on US #1

You win some, you loose some

Notice anything different about these two socks?

Ok, last night we were invited to celebrate my belated birthday dinner with our #1 son and dil. Luckily 2 1/2 yr old Josh was having fun playing by himself, so I settled in to knit my sock. Just turned the heel and finished the gusset and was ready to blaze away on to the toe. We chatted, I knit. Well this morning I realized that I forgot I had done this sock with a pattern and there I was in stockinette mode. Another moral dilemma? No. I had been wondering if there would be much difference in fit and feel between a sock with pattern and without pattern. Really. I don't plan to wear these socks with any cute shoes, just sturdy running type shoes. Once the shoes are tied, you can't really tell one is different. Ok, so that wasn't a bad 'loose one'.

The 'win one' is knitting with circulars. No ladders. See.

Ladders are a pet peeve of mine and I love using the flexibility of the circular needle to keep my stitches between needles snug. Addi Lace US 1 for these socks.

If you've been reading since January 1st, you may recall that I wanted to only wear my hand knit socks. This is going well except that we have turned off the heat and my socks take a lot longer to dry in the cool house. Ok, on to the next pair of socks.

Just like the alligators under my bed

When I was a child I pretended there were alligators under my bed just waiting to get me if I got out of bed in the dark. (no I didn't sleep in a swamp, this was the first photo I found.)

Sometimes I feel the 'wicked knitting goddess of the west' is like that. Lurking just below your rational mind waiting to snap.

Case in point. Back in the olden days I could knit and not watch what I was doing. Yeah it was a sweater with long rows for the sweetie who became my dh. (Thank goodness the myth about jinxing a relationship with a knit gift to the boyfriend didn't exist back in the olden days.)

Ok, jump to modern times: I'm fascinated by the radar feature on Ravelry. And, thinks I. . . I want to knit and monitor these comments as they zoom by. Well, you probably already guessed what was about to happen. Smart you. Dumb me. 'wicked knitting goddess of the west' snuck up and zap. Only thing is . . . I didn't realize she'd struck until about 3 inches later. Which is a goodly portion of a sock length.

Moral Dilemma: to frog or not to frog. So, I put the sock down and decided to think about it. Then I went up to bed for the night (yes, careful to check for imaginary alligators :) just kidding!). This morning I thought, no, I can't live with the mistake. But then, I tried on the sock (is that what its called when you haven't finished?) Ok, I tried on the sock-to-be and the mistake isn't even noticable. woo-hoo I can start the heel flap.

Lesson learned: I'm too old to knit and read radar even if some folks on Ravelry boast that they can. (Hey wait, they didn't claim they had no mistakes. But naive person that I am, I will continue to believe that somewhere someone is knitting perfectly and watching radar at the same time.)

Ok, yeah and the other take away lesson for me. Its not enough to leave a bit of cast on yarn at the start to know when I've completed a round. Now I use a marker closer to the rows being knit.

No, no photos. You think I'm going to show the world my mistake. I can live with it, but I don't need all of you out there saying. 'Oh man, I'd have frogged that!'.

Happy knitting to you and watch out for imaginary alligators and the 'wicked knitting goddess of the west'. Should I have abbreviated her title: wkgotw? Knitting blogs are filled with abbrev's. so why not.

It's a good read

One of my favorite knitting books is Clara Parkes'

Great information to help match the appropriate yarn to a project and great patterns.

Her recent blog http://www.knittersreview.com/ has a fun quiz to see what yarn you are.

Of course they make each of them sound just right. So yes, even though I don't like knitting with it. . . .that's me.

Snowy

Olga asked about my dog. Yes, that's the now famous blogger Olga from http://uberstrickenfrau.blogspot.com/ (A great blog if you haven't already found it!) I'm honored she took a peek at my beginner's blog site.


My avatar friend is Snowy, the fictional sidekick of Tintin. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Tintin Darling No #1 son and I fell in love with this series of Herge's cartoon books when we saw our first copy at a favorite toy store in Berkeley, CA. Darling son #2 preferred Asterix The Adventures of Asterix a series of French comic books by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo (illustrations).


Anyway, back to Snowy: While visiting Stockholm this summer we happened upon a Tintin store in Gamla Stan. http://www.tintinbutiken.se/ and I picked up this Snowy key chain to be my sidekick. Seems like it wasn't too far from our favorite restaurant Fem Små Hus. M.m.m.m good memories. My first cloudberries. sorry I digress. Again.


Ah yes, we were at the Tintin shop in Sweden. They had so many things I wanted, but with the currency exchange and wanting to travel light on SAS I just opted for the Snowy keychain and this adorable book as keepsakes. Oh, yes, and most of the items were in Swedish of course.



Spielberg has the rights to the characters so a movie may be in the works. I'm not holding my breath.

Ok, back to knitting so I can cast on a swatch of Baby Fern pattern to see if I like it with the next sock yarn.

Cold and stormy

Yes, that could refer to the weather, but also my nose: I tink I'm combing down wid a code in my nose.

Since today was a Nana and Tutu day i.e. we had our adorable grandson, there hasn't been any knitting yet. So I'll post a picture of something finished in November.

Pattern: Branching Out by Susan Lawrence.

Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy in Blue Lagoon

Needles: Addi Lace US #3

A really nice lace pattern. (And Free)

Lace Learning tip # 1. Count the number of stitches you have after every row. You wouldn't believe how easy it is to err with all those YO's.

Here is a copy of a Ravelry message I sent to a new knitting friend in Texas on this project. It is offered for your day's humor:

Ah yes, blocking. I envy you the blocking wires. I've only blocked my Branching out. Primative is all I can say. I pulled out a folded cardboard with grid lines (something I used in the 80's to lay sewing patterns on, found some straight pins, filled up the misting pump thing-y we use for hot weather (REI? WalMart?) and got to work. I sort of pulled it to a width and length that brought the pattern out and got started pinning. First I pinned the left edge then worked my way to the other end. Turns out I had to use every single pin in the house as it needed to be pinned about every 1/2 inch to look straight and not wavy. By the time I finished I had dents in my finger and vowed to invest in some of those cute pins with a flange to hold onto. Then, I turned on the mist thing-y and wet it down. Ok, you've probably already figured out that the cardboard was gonna get wet and smelly and yes it did. And as you know and I was reminded by my stupidity (well haste) wet cardboard takes a long long time to dry. So several days later the Branching out was dry enough to hold it's shape so I released it from the pins. I am pleased with it and DH actually complimented me on it. Which is a rare, rare event. smile.
So, having a good, waterproof surface and good pins are on my list before I try blocking again.

Since I ended this project before it got to be shawl/wrap length, it became the water feature under our Bronze sculpture.

Even Snowy likes it, I think, maybe not since he is lifting his paw up in a tip toe out of here sort of way.

Ok, I'll try to go work on that 2nd sock.