Where did July go?

I don’t have any clever excuses why I’ve been MIA lately. Well, there was the bout with tonsillitis again but my hands were still in working order so that’s hardly a valid excuse. I just haven’t been in the mood to do anything crafty lately. I actually took a whole week off of knitting if you can believe that. Yeah, I know. I didn’t knit a stitch or draft some wool or crimp any wire for a whole week. Weird huh? I seem to be edging myself back into a full diagnosis of my usual cantkeephandstillitis. I apologize to all you guys about the sidewinder stitch markers. I just haven’t had the time or the energy to make them but I made a partial set last night so there will be some available soon. To get over my guilt and because Nona gave me a kewl shout out, I’m going to give away a set of Sidewinder stitch markers (or markers of your choice). Do I even need to make the ubiquitous “leave a comment” or “random number generator” statements? Ya’ll know the deal right? I'll pick a winner by my next post whenever that may be.

My Sidewinders are about 80% done. I'm using Maia’s method, magic loop style so I won’t have to graft the toe. The only down side is that the rows are sooooo long but I reworked the numbers anyway to accommodate my medium weight wool so it’s not that bad. Basically I magic casted on 77 stitches, separated them accordingly, did my heel and toe increases , knit plain for a while threw some short rows up in that mug and now I’m back to decreasing to my original 77 stitches. Sorry for the suckie flashy picture but it’s kinda hard to straighten it all out on 32” circs.

Side A

Side B

I was (emphasis on the word “was”) a member of the Tour de Fleece but all I managed to spin was this bit I was working on before the spin-a-long even started. I’ll have to dig around for the stats but all I can tell you off the top of my head’s that it was spun from one of Abbys Luxury Batts in the Easter color way. I spun three separate bobbins for a 3 ply and here is half of it. Again, sorry for the flashy picture.

This is how much I have left and once it’s all gone through a wash and set, I’ll give it a proper photo shoot.

Well that’s all for now. By the way, I finished The Book in 1 day and you all know what book I’m talking about. Thanks Maribel, Nancy and Tisha for making it a fun event. Nancy, tell Injury I’d pay him double to baby-sit for me anytime.

Sock On

Spreading The PerpenSOCKular Luv

Just popping in to let you guys know that Sidewinder stitch markers are now available in my shop.

Sock On!

Well I Told Yall I Was Gonna Knit Like This

Sorry, I got Kelly Rowland’s new song in my head right now. Dare I say that I kinda like her better than her former Destiny’s Child counter part (shut yo mouf). Anyhoo, this is a knitting blog so lets get down to the knitty gritty (pun totally intended).

Since this is the Summer of Socks and all, I have no choice but to bombard you guys with multiple pics of socks, socks and more socks. Although this pair didn’t qualify for the SOS, here’s my finished Jaywalkers.

Started: May 25, 2007

Finished: June 22, 2007

Pattern: Jaywalkers by Grumperina

Size: Smallest size

Needle: Inox size 2.25mm / US1

Yarn: Regia 4ply Patch Antik color# 5753

Comments: Of course I knit these toe up with a reverse heel flap/gusset. This was my first time doing this pattern and using this yarn and I would definitely use them both again, no doubt.

Now moving right along to my first pair of Summer Socks

There is a story behind these. I had been drooling over Scouts handpainted yarns for a while so I finally came up with an excuse a good reason to order some. I wanted to make a pair of socks for my dad so I ordered some of her sport weight custom dyed in New York Giants colors. Needles to say, I ended up using a different yarn to make my dads socks so the yarn just sat in my stash for a while. Then the idea hit me that I should make a pair for the upcoming holiday because the colors are so similar to the American flag. So here are my July 4^th socks finished just in time.

Started: June 23, 2007

Finished: June 27, 2007

Pattern: Made it up as I went. It’s 6 eyelets that move across the fabric with either k2tog, YO or YO, ssk.

Size: 56 stitches for my size 8 feet.

Needle: Addi Turbo size 3.25mm / US3

Yarn: Scouts Swag sportweight superwash merino, custom dyed in NY Giants colorway

Comments: These were knit toe up, magic looped two at a time. I absolutely loath short rows but I had knit too far to do a gusset/flap and I wasn’t froggin so I had no choice but to do it. Of course this was knit toe up and other than that it was a pleasant knit.

I had a bit of yarn left over so I made a pair of shorties for my shorty (that was funny)

Started: June 28, 2007

Finished: July 1, 2007

Pattern: Loosely based on the Thuja pattern although you can’t really tell.

Size: Around 48 stitches around for his size 12’s

Needle: Addi Turbo size 3.25mm / US3

Yarn: See above

Comments: Really quick knit. I was rushing a bit so the toe is a bit pointy and I refused to rip back. And the good news is that I always thought he was allergic to wool but these didn’t make his feet bust out in hives. Maybe the superwashness has something to do with it.

I started my new sock pattern as part of a knit-along with my meetup group and guess what? I’m actually jumping on the bandwagon kinda early on this one. No, I’m knitting Monkey’s (I’ll get to those some time next year), I’m knitting Nona’s Sidewinders. Again here are the specs because I’m just too lazy to make it all fit nicely into a well worded paragraph.

Started: July 1, 2007

Pattern: Sidewinders, a Perpensockular Pattern by NonaKnits

Size: 7/8 Wide

Needle: Addi Turbo size 3.25mm / US3

Yarn: Socks That Rock Mediumweight in the Lucy colorway

Comments: I’m actually knitting these at a different gauge so I’m making the calculations as I go along. I could’ve went down to a US2 and probably gotten gauge but I think the fabric would have been a bit too tight for me. (and yes Hila I did the short rows)

And here’s a closeup of the markers I made just in case you can’t see them in the pic above. After I do the toe, I’ll make some that also say LEG and FOOT.

Well that’s all for sock news right now. I have been spinning a bit but I’m waiting for this upcoming weekend so I can have a whole post devoted to spinning. You know the whole Tour De Fleece thing. Did I forget to mention that I’m a part of that knit-along also? Star did it last year but I was just learning so I jumped at the chance to join this year. I’m going to attempt to spin a little every day so wish me luck.

Sock on people!

P.S. You do know I’m addicted to swapping right? Well I started a new fiber swap on swapbot here in case anyone’s interested.