Pink and Green

It's one of my favorite color combinations. Last week, I snapped a few photos with my phone as I pushed the stroller through the neighborhood, then ran them through Instagram.

Imagine my delight when I opened up the March Rockin Sock Club package! Pink and green!

Startitis and Spring Cleaning.

I had been doing really well at finishing things and clearing up my piles of UFOs. It started in January when I whipped out this pair of socks for Martha as part of our Epiphany Stash Gift Exchange at the store.The pattern is Burning Rings of Fire by Kirsten Kapur, a free Ravelry download.

Then I realized that I had a bunch of projects that were at least 75% completed, and it would take little effort to finish them.

I hauled out my never ending Damson by Ysolda Teague in my cursed yarn and finished it. Once you get going on the lace, it doesn't take that long at all.

I finished my Honey Badger Socks, a Socks that Rawk KAL (and another free pattern) from last fall. The yarn is BMFA Socks that Rock in a Mediumweight Rare Gem. I don't have a picture of the completed pair because I gave them to my mother.

And I got out my Owlet, thinking I better finish it before the baby gets too big for it. I consider it done, even though I still need to put buttons on for the owl eyes.

But after that I petered out and then came down with Startitis. Two years ago, I did not cast on during the month of April. I toyed with doing the same this year, but with Startitis raging all around me, I could not promise the same this year. But I will try to control myself and work on older projects.

It's April 1, and I have FOURTEEN unfinished projects. Let's see how I do.

 

Hexipuff Swap

I've never participated in a swap before, but when the idea started brewing in the Socks that Rawk! group on Ravelry to do a swap to get mini-skeins for hexipuffs, I jumped in eagerly. For each skein of Socks that Rock Lightweight I sent, I would get six mini-skeins back. I sent in Gingerbread Dude and Henpecked, and yesterday, to my delight, I got this back in the mail:

 

Look at the detail on the labels the Swap Mom made! This package completely made my day.

Clara Parkes Knows My Name

My coworkers used to tease me that if there were the equivalent of US Weekly for knitters, I would be all over it. And I admit, I get all fluttery and tongue-tied in the presence of "knitting celebrities." (To writ: omg Jared Flood Touched My Hand!)

I always have been simultaneously fascinated and horrified, and okay, jealous, by the way Steven barges up to knitting celebrities and then manages to make friends with them. Jokingly, the last time he took a class with Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, I repeatedly texted him "Tell the Yarn Harlot my name!" And so "Tell [insert name of famous knitter here]" has become our running gag.

Still, imagine my surprise when Steven sent me this gift from Rhinebeck. It's an autographed copy of Clara Parkes' The Knitters Book of Socks.

Clara Parkes knows my name!

Thank you, Steven. I miss you lots, Work Brother.

So This No Casting On Business...

I should not have given myself the out of being able to cast on for hexipuffs. I got distracted by puffs, and I also have been in some serious denial about how little time I have to knit (and to blog). The month of no casting on was not really a great success.

I did finish two pairs of socks in my pile.

Cotty in madelinetosh tosh sock in the Foxglove color way, part of the Year of Stash Socks on Ravelry:

Breaking Hearts in Socks that Rock in Cozy Fierce Scummy Girl, part of the Socks that Rawk KAL on Ravelry:

Talk Amongst Yourselves

I'll give you a topic. Does winding sock yarn help take the edge of Startitis or does it make the dread condition worse?

(From top left, Cozy Fierce Scummy Girl Socks that Rock for the Breaking Hearts KAL in the Socks that Rawk group on Ravelry, Dream in Color Smooshy in Tea Party for the Eiki Japanese Relief shawl, and the current Rockin' Sock Club colorway.)

Discuss.

Don't forget to comment on my Bringing Home Baby issue to win a skein of sock yarn. Leave a comment by 6:00 PM Eastern, and I'll pick the number via random generator on Tuesday.

In the Waiting Room

No, this isn't an analysis of the Elizabeth Bishop poem.  Pregnancy is accompanied by more waiting room time than I ever imagined, and I guess I'm glad that I have more than Elizabeth Bishop's one copy of National Geographic to look at, although with all the electronic diversions we have, there's little chance of the introspective epiphany offered in the poem.

Anyway, I've spent a lot of time waiting. In the past five days alone, I've

• waited over an hour for my OB/GYN to get out of surgery.
• endured a three hour glucose test (at which I FORGOT my iPhone at home, which made me all twitchy. Who knew I had such a need to check Facebook at all times?
• and coincidentally, had two totally pregnancy unrelated doctor's appointments.

The upside is that's a lot of knitting time. The product so far is a "Waiting Room Sock," a plain vanilla top down 64 stitch deal, knit in Hazel Knits sockyarn. I'm trying out Kollage square needles and liking them pretty well so far.

No Knitting at Disney World

I took a short knitting hiatus to go here:

I packed two projects to work on while we were there, but they saw precious little light of day. I was pleased that I got through airport security with my Addis, but when I pulled out my sock to work on while waiting to board the plane, a man across from me started grumbling loudly about how he couldn't believe that was allowed. He also said unkind things about Kate Middleton, so I gave him the stinkeye, but put my knitting away and got out my shiny new Kindle.

One of the projects I brought, I can't talk about yet, but the other is the first in an attempt to deal with my almost-SABLE sized sock yard stash. I joined the Year of Stash Socks group on Ravelry: each month, they choose two patterns or the option to knit a plain vanilla sock. The only rule is that the yarn must be from stash; no running out and buying more. I chose the plain vanilla option, using the Yarn Harlot's sock recipe. The yarn is Autumn House Specks that I bought on our visit to the farm last year.

Again, I don't know how far I'll get with a newborn in the house, but I figure at even my most sleep-deprived, I can manage plain vanilla socks. I hope.

Not that I'm bitter or anything

A customer and friend once asked, after looking at my Goodreads feed on Facebook, asked me how I have time to read so much and knit so much. Here's the secret: I neglect my child. No, seriously, and I don't know how this happened, but The Preschooler has always been remarkably self-entertaining. Right now, he's lined up his Toy Story figures on the windowsill to watch the landscapers and is having his Buzz Lightyear, Tickle Me Elmo, and two baby dolls act out this elaborate game based on something he saw on Dinosaur Train. I am not allowed to play. I know how lucky I am.

So, Summer of Socks and Lace. I lost. I'm okay with that. Really. Steven is a worthy competitor. I finished eighteen projects:

• Six shawls
• Nine pairs of socks
• One pair of baby booties
• One lacy baby cardigan
• One semi-lacy scarf
• 9539 yards total

My mistake? I knit from stash, which wasn't always Natural Stitches yarn, which counts for double.

I did, however, get through at least some of my Socks that Rock stash. I finished my Ten Shawls in 2010! Overall, it was a pretty good summer, knitting-wise. Now on to knitting something in plain stockinette!

Another Reason for Second Sock Syndrome

The scene: Maryland Sheep and Wool. The Tess booth gleams in the sunlight and I can't resist. It's hot, and we're all sweaty and dirty. The booth is crowded, and Tess herself (the owner's daughter) is shockingly surly for someone in a retail position. I can't stay away. I get separated from my group. Where's Anna? someone asks. Oh, she's back in the Tess booth. Again. Steven remarks that these colors are really girly. And then I see this:

I love it. I have to have it.

Three months later, when I'm packing for my trip, I see this again and wind it up, and then toss it in my bag. On a windy day, when it's too windy for the wind-phobic Preschooler to hike (seriously, ask him how he feels about wind), I start a pair of Sunday Swing Socks.

And they are perfect. The colors align to spiral gently down the leg. This sock has no ugly pooling, no blotches of color. I don't have to think about strategies to make this beautiful skein of yarn continue to be beautiful in knitted form. Even in the gusset, where cuff-down socks tend to look their worst, this looks great.

How can I possibly risk making another?

Things I Learned On the Way Home

1. Not all Holiday Inn Express locations are created the same. Enough said about that, other than does anyone have a reliable but nice chain that they use while traveling?
2.  A preschooler can watch Monsters, Inc. once, twice, even three times a day and not get tired of it. 
3. I don't think I like this Zauberball sock yarn. I'm totally copying the Yarn Harlot because I'd tucked a skein of Zauberball Crazy in my travel knitting bag and thought "why not?" But the yarn, although interestingly plied and sturdy, is way too thin and rough. I guess I really do like my sock yarn with some "squoosh" factor. 
4. It's good to be home.

Traveling Sock

This plain sock -- Miss Babs in Jingle Jingle B -- has been tucked in my bag and worked on in idle moments here in Wyoming.

Here it is on the road in southwestern Wyoming:

Here it is poolside at the condo complex (and really, I am watching my child, really):

Here we are at the Rockefeller Preserve (seriously, it's good to be a Rockefeller. This was their private land until 2000):

And finally, at Inspiration Point, above Jenny Lake:

We're Here

So we’ve been coming out to Jackson Hole, Wyoming for the Grand Teton Summer Music Festival almost every year since our honeymoon (by the way, we’re celebrating five years of marriage on Friday!).  Jackson is located in the northwestern corner of Wyoming, south of the Yellowstone Plateau, and surrounded by the Grand Teton National Park and several National Forests. It’s kind of hard to get to. The first year we flew to Denver and drove up, ending up going over non-existent roads in the dark. The second year we flew (did you know that the Jackson Airport is the only commercial airport to operate in a national park?) with newborn Henry. The third year, I flew with barely a toddler Henry while my husband drove our car. Then we skipped a year, and last year, we all drove, breaking the trip with a visit with family in Oklahoma.

This year, my husband declared we were going to make the trip in three days, not four, which would require ten hours of driving per day. Okay. I can get a lot of knitting done. The Preschooler is generally pretty agreeable in the car, as long as he has his dvd player. We should have been fine.

That is, until we blew out a tire somewhere in Iowa. Fifty miles east of Omaha, we heard a dreadful noise. Thankfully, my husband was able to pull halfway up an exit ramp before the tire completely gave way. It was still a dangerous situation as he struggled to put on the spare tire while avoiding exiting trucks, but it beat the alternative. I was able to walk Henry up to a truck stop – because of course at the moment of crisis, he pipes up “I have to go potty!” – while my husband worked on the tire. He put the spare on…and then the car wouldn’t start. The car repair place by the truck stop did not have the tire we needed and moreover, didn’t have time to come out and jump our car.  Mercifully, the car insurance has roadside assistance and within half an hour, someone had come to jump the car and locate a tire.

Three hours and a pretty scary tire shop later, we were back on the road.  I feel lucky; it could have been so much worse, but we still had to drive for another six hours to make our deadline. We made it through severe lightning storms in the plains of Nebraska before we reached our hotel in Ogallala at midnight. Henry slept a little in the car but woke up crying and distressed to still be in his car seat. My husband was bummed out that he didn’t get his Runza, apparently a staple of his Nebraska childhood.

And to top it all off – since this is a knitting blog after all – this year is the year that I get carsick if I knit. Carsick! I completed Kelli’s Sunday Swing Socks and listlessly did a few rounds on a plain sock, but this was not to be the year I speed through projects as we drive through the Midwest. Co-workers, I cede the Summer of Socks and Lace to you.

Has anyone seen my sock mojo?

Socks used to be a pretty reliable project for me. I could cast on 64 stitches on a size 1.5 Addi and away I would go. But this summer, I've had a devil of a time with socks.

It started with the Yarn Harlot's Lenore, which calls for Socks that Rock Lightweight, casting on 60 stitches on a size 1.5 needle. If anything, I thought they'd be too tight. But no! Too loose! I ended up going down to a 1.

Then, my March Rockin' Sock Club Socks, Slip Jig. Socks that Rock Mediumweight on a size 1.5. Okay. My gauge has been loose lately, so this should work. No. The sock was huge and the fabric stiff enough to walk away on its own. So I went back to my usual Mediumweight needle, an Addi 2 (2.75 mm) and cast on for the smallest size. I can barely get it over my ankle, but it worked.

Next project, Cottys, by the same designer of Slip Jig. Same process: Mediumweight (the color here is Valenscummy, which I love), 60 stitches on size 1.5, as the pattern calls for, way too big. Finally cast on 48 stitches on a 2, but I'm not happy.

And it's not just Socks that Rock or Sock Club patterns. Everything is turning out too loose or too big. I don't know what has changed. Here, let's look at my finished Kai Meis, in Dream in Color Smooshy in Lipstick Lava, from Cookie A's Sock Innovation. It took a year to finish the first sock; a week to finish the second. But they turned out fine!

Why I Won't Win Summer of Socks and Lace

I was feeling all kinds of smug about finishing these Lenore Socks in Socks that Rock Lightweight in ST-2.

After several false starts, I was able to get some momentum going on my March Rockin' Sock Club Slip Jigs. Then this happened:

Singing My Leg Song

Last fall I cast on for my first ever toe-up sock, the Discovery Sock from Cat Bordhi's Personal Footprints for Insouciant Sock Knitters. The method is intriguing: in a nutshell, to make a sock for yourself, you make a cardboard tracing of your foot. The measurements and stitch counts you record on that foot serve as your pattern after after for that particular yarn and needle size. Essentially, you knit a tube for your foot and cut into the ankle line to create an "afterthought leg."

I cast on my toe stitches and increased to the number that fit over my toenails comfortably.

Then I tried on the sock as I knit and increased sole stitches whenever the sock felt tight. When I got to the ankle bone -- or the leg line as Cat Bordhi calls it -- I threaded two lifelines in and started on the heel decreases.

Then OMG, with moral support from Yvonne, we put the lifeline stitches back on the circular needles and cut and unraveled the stitches in between, leaving an opening for the leg.

It fits!

Halfway through...and feeling twitchy

I stopped casting on sometime in the last week of March, with a quick break to cast on one final Malabrigo March project on March 31, the Little Girl's Shrug from Knitting Pure and Simple. I had a good portion of a skein of Pollen left over after Frankie's "Lellow Hat," and I used some Lettuce for the trim.

I finished my second pair of Ampersands, which is such a simple and fun pattern that it almost felt like cheating on the "cleaning" aspect of this project. These are in Socks that Rock Mediumweight in Vine Maple.

However, remember in the Little House books, when Ma and Pa took Mary to the School for the Blind and Laura and Carrie decided to do the fall cleaning? And they made it look so much worse before it got any better? Going through knitting projects is kind of like that. I dug out my "Discovery Socks" from the new-ish Cat Bordhi book. I threaded my lifelines and am about to do the heel decreases and then I have to CUT MY KNITTING. If that isn't the equivalent of Grace spilling the stove blacking, I don't know what is. 

This is what happens when you don't cast on like a crazed weasel

Projects actually get finished. Note my use of the passive voice, like I have no control over the matter. But seriously, I have been hauling out some long-forgotten projects and getting them done and out of the way.

Thuja-eque Socks, in KnitPicks Risata.

• Start Date: May 2008
• Reason project was cast aside in disdain: Let's face it, the pattern is boring. I started them on KnitPicks Harmony circulars, which I just don't like anymore because they're too slow. They're Man Socks, so the foot is mind-numbingly long. 
• Solution: Switch to Addi Circulars to speed up the project, despite risk of changing gauge. 

Hedera Socks, in Socks that Rock Mediumweight, Rauen colorway

• Start Date: September 2008
• Reason project was cast aside: Lace pattern in black yarn. Uncharted lace pattern in black yarn (for some reason, I can't do lace without a chart. I just can't make my mind work that way). Thicker mediumweight Socks that Rock on size 1 needles; these socks could walk away on their own. 
• Solution: Just get on with it, already.

In other news, I am almost finished with the yoke on my Tappanzee Cardigan, which I hope to wear to Maryland Sheep and Wool this year. I have also applied the "just get on with it" approach to my Baby Moderne blanket, done in Dream in Color Smooshy. I finished two of the larger blocks and started the intarsia -- a completely new technique for me, so I am still Expanding My Comfort Zone. I will finish it. I will.

When I started this "Spring Cleaning" project, I had eleven WIPs on my Ravelry projects page. I now have eight!

Blue Moon

My Rare Gem Mill Ends from the BMFA Blue Moon sale finally arrived. These are Earth and Fire. I love the Earth; I'm not wild about the yellow in the Fire.

Inspiration

It's hard to single out the most inspirational thing on Ravelry, but one of the best, knowlegable, and enthusiastic groups on there is the Socks that RAWK! group. Every quarter, they host a KAL of two sock patterns. Each member is encouraged to use a different colorway of Socks that Rock in order to showcase the amazing diversity of the yarn. It's a fabulous group, and I've gotten lost for hours looking at the photos.

For the first time, I'm participating in the quarter's KAL for the Edwardian Boating Socks. Mine are in the Flower Power colorway. I just cast on yesterday and can't stop knitting!