Okay, I’m back now from an exhausting session of PT. And as promised the name the wheel contest is over. My new Vermont Wheel by Pat Russo, which I love so dearly, is now named:
Juno
An excellently appropriate suggestion by Kim, who also appropriately was right there with me when Juno lead me to the fateful meeting.
Today I also announced that I’d randomly select one person who commented on the posting. I put everyone into a spreadsheet and had the generator at Random.org pick a number between 1-12 (couldn’t include 13 as that was the winner). Go figure that the one it picked was…
Juno
Unbelievable eh?
I didn’t think you’d believe it so I took a screen grab (after consulting the Help section to figure out how the heck to do it on a Mac 
So what are the prizes you might ask. Well, here they are…
Duet Sock Yarn. Can’t remember the colorway name of the one on the left, but the right is Merlot. Also included will be a pattern from A Swell Yarn Shop for a toe up with afterthought heel perfect for this yarn. Kim gets first choice.
Thanks for playing everyone!
[Read more →]
Knitter mojo is a fragile thing, ready to be disrupted by even the slightest break in the force. I lost my mojo. Specifically, my sock knitting mojo. I know! I’m shocked too. It might be because of the new wheel (which I seriously lurve), but I can’t blame it all on that.
I went through a down period after finishing the Trekking socks, where I floundered around for a while before settling down on the Vera socks. I guess I shouldn’t be so surprised that I went through it again. But geez, I could skip the floundering around for a satisfactory sock project upon finishing a pair. If this keeps up, I might just not do that second sock!
Tuesday night I set out looking for a sock project for Wednesday’s commuter. Naturally I left it for pretty late in the evening as the Vermonter had been beckoning me. So about 10:30pm, I started rooting through the sock yarn.
First up was the Cookie A. German Stockings and the nice while Louet Gems that I had picked up for it. I pulled out the ball winder and swift to get a nice little cake of yarn perfect for the current commuter bag (changed this morning, but I digress). But then I pulled out the pattern and saw far too many choices of sizes of foot and calf and ARG! Far too much for me so close to bedtime. I put it back in the project bag and into the sock yarn stash basket for dealing with at a later date.
I pulled out the Rockin’ Sock Club package of the Silkie and the Knee High to a Grasshopper pattern and immediately put it back because I’d already put the ball winder and swift out and just didn’t want to pull it out again. I took a skein of Trekking in orange from the stash and tucked it in my bag. Not exciting, but I didn’t have to wind it and well, the pattern would be simple. I went to bed.
I woke up and had the crazy idea that I needed to do the Anna Socks from Rowan 40 that I posted about the other day. After quickly getting dressed, I pulled out the ball winder and swift, quickly working up one skein of Louet Gems in a Wedgewood blue color. I was perfectly motivated to knit these. I also quickly wrote out the cuff directions and lace pattern onto an index card as I didn’t have time to warm up the copier and no way was I schlepping the book. It all went back into the bag and I proceeded with the rest of the morning routine of getting the monkeys up, dressed, fed and to school in time for me to catch the train.
I started Anna on that train Wednesday morning. By the time I had made it to the PATH, I had a pretty darn good start and was up to the lace. When I got home, I had decent progress up the cuff. Though there was a problem. The ribbing was too tight to go over my calf, which while not straight, it not all that shapely. Compounding that, the cuff was too wide for my lower leg and would definitely be too wide for my foot. I’m going to have to rework the damn thing. Out came the needles and I frogged it.
Back to stash Wednesday night. I pulled out the silkie again, the ball winder and swift (I really should find someplace to leave em out!) and wound one skein. I bought two as wanted to make knee socks. I even wrote out the base pattern on an index card, as again the stupid copier takes far too long to warm up. I think I started them in bed while watching the news before going to sleep. During the commute I started in on the foot with the annoying p2tog, yo section. I don’t mind p2tog, but really, why? Couldn’t a Knit version work? More annoying, transferring between my train and the PATH train, on needle popped out. Do I need to say that it was on the patterned instep and not the plain knit sole? Murphy’s law. No recovering from that. Not to mention, the sock again was too darn big for my foot. Another strike.
Out came the needles and I once again frogged it. I spent some time with a knee sock calculator and worked out the pattern for the yarn using my gauge, leg measurements and etc. I cast on again while waiting for Nancy to arrive for a wonderful lunch at Cafe Spice, my first experience with Indian food which is convenient to both our workplaces. I had a wonderful time as always! Good food, beautiful weather and excellent company. Really, who could ask for more.
Okay, digressing again. I’d arrived a little early for our meeting time so I cast on for the sock. It went well until about two inches past the end of the toe increases when I noticed on the way home the not-so-pleasant way the color was pooling. There were vertical stripes of color. I don’t mind pooling in general, but not like that.
So I went to the SnB last night with no good socks on the needles, no other projects (not sure what I was thinking there) and wandered around the store aimlessly, picking up random skeins of sock yarns and putting them back. I’d lost my mojo. Heck, I barely felt like knitting. Dorre pointed out the socks in the new IK. I looked at the spiral eyelet knee socks and just didn’t feel it. But then I was flipping through the rest of the magazine and hit on the Toe-Up’s by Ann Budd written for a wide range of sizes, including for the circumference of my small feet (7.25" in case you were curious) which amusing was the Child Medium on the chart. Good start there as the Spiral jobbies would have been too big. Is it any wonder that I have all these patterns and never make anything beyond my standard basic sock?
I got the toe increase done on 52 stitches on US1 needles using the Silkie. Wonderful yummy yarn that is just a dream to knit. I love the feeling of it as it flows through my hands. I had a small scare when I thought the colors were pooling again, but more acceptably with the lights all on one side and the dark on the other. Far better than vertical stripes and I could live with it. But then the colors started spiraling around the foot! I got my mojo back. I started the heel on the PATH train this morning.
The flash drowned out the light colors but they match my pants very nicely. I’m now in love with Ann Budd. Thank you for taking into account small feet.
I never want to lose my mojo again. It was scary!
Back to the tote bag thing. I might have mentioned in the past that I’m always on the prowl for a good bag. I vascillate between big bags where I can put all the crap I want to carry into it and a small purse (big enough for at least a sock project) and a tote. I had been using this backpack thing (those who saw me at MDSW remember the yellow bag). It was good, had a pocket in the front for a small skein of yarn. 28 grams of Lornas fit there fine. The silkie? Not so much. Time for a new bag as I wasn’t about to tote a backpack and another bag. Not.
Enter this:
It is the Lexi Barnes Lady B in the Baja fabric. I picked it up last night at MY. It isn’t too big (so far) nor too small. The straps are just long enough that they fit fine on the shoulder, but not too long that the bag is hippy. There are pockets galore and I had no trouble finding individual homes for the iPod, Razr, Palm and train pass. Not to mention that the fabric is just bad ass.
Holy Macaroni am I rambling today. Bonus points to anyone who made it this far! Just a reminder, the name the wheel thing ends today. There will be yarn prezzies for the suggester, if there is one, and a randomly drawn suggester.
Have a great weekend!
Craft on!
[Read more →]
