WIP Wednesday: Ralph Askew 2

We were traveling last week, and I didn't get to knit as much as normal. Despite having a squirmy toddler in my lap most of the time, I'm happy with the progress that I made on Ralph Askew.

Check that out! It is a finished sock!

Every row of the second sock has had me wondering if the black spot would return. This has been the most anticipated pooling of my knitting existence, and ladies and gentlemen, sock 2 did not disappoint. In fact, it has far exceeded my hopes. Warning, if you found my zebra eye a stretch before, you might as well give up on me now. Today I present:

HIDDEN MICKEY!!!

WIP Wednesday: Ralph Askew

A girlfriend of mine is making a big move from Arkansas to Indiana. I don't expect her to have too many winters like the ones that I grew up with in Wisconsin, but I'm hoping she will enjoy a winter that is truly cold and snowy rather than wet and dreary. (I confess... I like snow.) During her last visit we packed the time with yarn shopping and tips on how to winterize your home and keep warm in January. While at my LYS Knitty City we found some really fun yarn: Meow Yarn. It is a lovely fingering weight yarn with colorways inspired by cats and part of the proceeds go to benefit stray and abandoned cats. Everything came together when she found a black and white skein matching her lovely tuxedo cat Ralph.

(Isn't he a cutie?)

(So is that skein)

I knew instantly that she needs her first set of hand knit socks for her first snowy winter. When I unwrapped this skein at home, I got even more excited about the project. It is gorgeous all twisted up, but it is intriguing laid out. It is half black and half white to the length of the skein. I've worked with variegated yarns in a variety of color options. some with just one or two stitches in each color and others with long striping color changes. I haven't however worked with any two color yarn or anything so meticulous in the short repeats. Since these will be socks I'm very excited about seeing how they work up. The potential for one row stripes is making me nearly giddy.

(See? Half and half! and surrounded in toys)

(Look at that beautiful cake!)

My friend and I have also picked an exciting pattern: Skew. The unique construction of this pattern means that I can't predict at all what is going to happen. Even if I do figure it out, something new is going to throw me off all over again. Case in point, I've gotten the first toe done. I am seeing the cool striping that I expected and I love them. They are turning out much more zebra* than kitty though. The only spot of pooling so far is clearly a zebra eye.

(I like that the curled up edge makes a little ear too. Squint a bit if you can't see it, or just love me for my crazy.)

What really has me curious about this pooling spot is that there is no corresponding white pool, or any other pool the opposite side is all stripes.  Ralph Askew is my new subway project and since I am so fascinated  with this yarn, these are going to work up super quick. I'm still riding on the high of my first finished Christmas present, and I'm starting to wonder if I should make her wait for these. It would be torture for both of us, but then I'd have 2 Christmas presents done! That could be enough to inspire a hand made Christmas.


*Random lesson for the day: Zebras are black with white stripes. I learned this on Kilimanjaro Safaris at Disney's Animal Kingdom so it must be true. According to our safari guide, we know they are black because their nose is black. There are some other more scientific explanations supporting the black animal with white stripes claim, but I like this one so I'm sticking with it. The more you know.

Queued: Boyfriend Sock

From Slipped Stitch

Hubby is not a big fan of socks. He loves his pair of hand-knit socks, but they don't make up for his general dislike of socks. You'd think this would be great. If he doesn't want socks that means more socks for me right? Well, it turns out if you don't want to knit full sweaters and your man doesn't want socks, you have drastically reduced the types of things you can make him that he needs multiples of. He's got a hat and a scarf and says he doesn't need another. He has a couple pair of gloves that he doesn't wear. (Which is for the best because the velcro in his jacket is awful to them.)  Since his outer gear is set, I keep turning back to socks as something to knit for him. These Boyfriend Socks by Alice Bell would be a great pair. The cables look like they would be just enough for keeping my attention and combating the effects of whatever 'manly' color my yarn will inevitably be, and they look great on the finished sock. If Hubby is not in love with them, I'm sure Dad or Grandpa would appreciate another pair.

Queued: Baudelaire

From Krentu

When I started my sock knitting I was in awe of Cookie A but I wasn't understanding the fanaticism* of Monkey. I decided I needed a Cookie A pattern to try. Reliable as ever, Knitty brought me Baudelaire. These socks are beautiful and I look forward to them. It has been too long since I've cast on a pair of socks. I should do some digging in the stash once I get caught up from vacation.




*If my experience from knitting Clapotis has taught me anything, it is that I should trust the excitement and be confident that I will love knitting Monkeys.

Queued: Vinnland

From Becca Compton

Vinnland, designed by Becca Compton, is a beautiful sock pattern. I added these to my queue because I was excited to learn toe up and short row heels.  The leaf motif is a simple knit/purl pattern and I thought it would be great for learning new things.  I have since made some toe up socks and short row heels, but I'm still keeping this queued. The socks look great, and I think that now I'm confident in all the techniques, they should be a quick knit. My grandma was clearly jealous of my grandpa's Christmas socks so I've been thinking a pair of these would be great for her.

If the sock pattern wasn't great enough, this one comes with some suggested listening.

Queued: Cirque

From Drop Box

Cirque was designed by Sarah Wilson. I had originally found these socks when I was looking to design my own cowl. I wanted a textured cowl, but I wasn't really in love with any of the ones I found online. I decided to make up my own, but I didn't have any stitch patterns. I decided to hunt down some great sock patterns. I thought that they would have stitches already worked out for knitting in the round.  I would just need to scale it up to a size that would fit over my head instead of my ankle.

As always, Knitty was a great resource, and I found these great socks. I don't think I want this pattern to be a cowl. I like the cable cowls, but I was imagining something with more knit stitches and fewer purls. I never got around to making that cowl, but I'm keeping these socks in the queue because I'm still working on my collection.

Queued: Shur'tugal

From Alice Yu/Socktopus

Shur'tugal was in line to be my next pair of socks right up until a friend gifted me the Viper Pilot pattern. That was right before Christmas 2009, and the Viper Pilots were just finished this month. I haven't started these yet, but it sounds like they have something in common with the Viper Pilots other than just their timing in my queue.  The Ravelry comments mention some crazy twisted stitches. It sounds like I was destined to be learning to twist in 2010.

I am still enamored with these socks.  I think the pattern and the texture are fantastic.  I plan to make them in a solid or semi-solid. I'm sure I have something in my stash that will match up with them well, but none of it was calling to me during my last stash perusal, so this pattern may need to be patient for a bit longer

FO: Viper Pilots!

The weather man won't promise me any sunshine so I decided to go ahead and take pictures of my Viper Pilots inside.  The lighting is horrible, but it is good enough to show you that I have a FO!


Since the pattern for these socks was a Christmas gift, I cast on at the very beginning of my Christmas trip in 2009 and I brought them along for this last Christmas trip as well, it seemed only appropriate to take their picture up with all of our Christmas cards. (Yes I've taken down the tree and all of the decorations, but I haven't been able to part with the cards yet.  Many of them are great pictures of our friends and family and I love seeing them when I come home from work every day.  Besides, I just received one this week; it certainly hasn't gotten its fair share of display time.)

All of the pictures I have taken previously focused on the vipers that run down the front and back of the leg. Seeing them on the sock blockers really made me love the swirly clouds that run down the sides.  Those cables required a cable needle, so now, it is great to be able to look at them without complete frustration.

It was a challenging patter, but I love this finished product.  As an added bonus, I've decided that there is nothing at all unprofessional about this royal blue. They will be keeping me nice and cozy at work tomorrow.

Viper Pilots Continued

Back in the beginning of November, my one and only goal was to finish my Viper Pilots. I started them on my Christmas train ride to Chicago in 2009. I really didn't want these to be on the needles for a full year. Shortly after that, I decided that I absolutely had to knit Grandpa some socks. So, I didn't accomplish my goal. Those Viper Pilots are still on the needles.

Not only are they on the needles, they actively being worked on. They are my purse project, so I work on them in the subway everyday. (That sounds like a lot.) With all the cables and the twisted stitches, that means I average just over one row a day. (That doesn't sound like nearly as much.) I am knitting them two at a time. (That's sounds like twice as fast!) I think that after just one more viper pattern repeat, I will be able to start the toes. The FO is in sight!

Christmas Socks

I have decided that I do not like Christmas knitting. There is too much stress and pressure, and I'm tempted to make gifts that I know I can complete on a deadline rather than gifts I think the recipients will like. This year though, I was stumped on what would be the perfect gift for my Grandpa. The more I thought about it, the more I thought that he would probably like some knit socks. In mid-November I accepted that the idea was stuck in my head and nothing else was going to seem like as good of a gift. I cast on some basic socks and spent every knitting moment I had working on them. These were my couch and subway projects. I even lost a DPN to the subway tracks in all of the frantic knitting. I knit through my lunch breaks at work. I wouldn't let myself sleep at all during our cross country trip to and from Thanksgiving with Hubby's family because it was prime knitting time. (Fortunately that meant I was awake for a delightful History Channel special on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.)

I decided to knit these from the toe up. I knit the first leg as short as I thought I could get away with and left the stitches live on some scrap yarn. When I finished up the second one, I assessed my time and decided they both would get another inch and a half on the length of the legs. Hubby has never had a problem with the legs of his socks, but he must like them short. Both his dad and brother commented that theirs were too short. Despite Grandpa having smaller feet than Hubby, they still seemed to be some crazy long socks that went on forever. I did finish them on time though. Two hours into our train ride to Chicago all of the ends were woven in and everything was complete. I had hoped to block them, but I wasn't certain my family would be ok with the guest room smelling like wet wool. (They are not the converts that I am.) Grandpa seemed to like them, but Grammy was definitely giving them an envious look. Unfortunately, despite all of that buildup, I do not have a good FO picture to share, so instead I have this picture that Hubby took of the tree at Rockefeller Plaza. I hope your holidays were great. Happy New Year!

A Bad Week for Viper Pilots

Glenna has done an amazing job creating my current sock pattern. She has given me very clear instructions for cables that will turn out perfect little Vipers like this:

However, the one I made over the last week, looks more like this:

For some reason, I just couldn't focus on these very well. The wings have been clipped, and the sides are all battered. There was clearly some rough flying in this ship's recent past. I'm sorry Glenna. I would take responsibility, but this one must be Starbuck's.

On The Needles

So now that I'm all up to date on what I've accomplished, I want to show you what I'm working on. I pretty much have two projects really active at a time: the one in my purse and the one on the couch.

In my purse:

These are my me project. This pattern (Rav link) was a gift from knitting friend that I met in Philly. (She's an awesome knitter and she has the best Save the Dates.) I started these in December on the train to Chicago. I understand that December is a long time to be working on a pair of socks, but they went inactive for a long time. I have finally gotten use to the K tbl stitches, and I am now good with the cables. I have turned the heels and I'm close to done with the gusset shaping so it should be much quicker from here on out. I am starting to worry a bit about them being too tight. I don't have a reason to really worry about this, beyond my lingering lack of confidence in sock knitting. Well, that and the fact that every time the idea that they might not fit occurs to me, I'm on the subway and not willing to whip off my shoes. So rather than try them on and settle my mind, I just let myself believe a little more that they won't fit when I'm done.

On my couch:

At home I am working on a Jeanie wrap. The more I work on this project, the more I love it. First of all, the Knit Picks Stroll in the Tonal colors are incredibly beautiful. I love working with it. Beyond the yarn, the pattern is fantastic. When I started the project, I only knew that it involved some dropped stitches. Dropped stitches are always fun but this pattern is also reversible! I was obsessed with the charts for the first few rows, but havi0021 made a comment on Ravelry that helped me figure out that most of each row is a four stitch repeat of Ktbl, P, K, Ptbl. That gave me the freedom to stop staring at my color-coded chart and go back to admiring the beautiful yarn. I am also looking forward to the bid-off for this project because the reversible cable border on each side goes around the entire wrap. I will keep you posted on how that goes.

FO: Philly Socks

My Philly Socks saw some neglect with the influx of baby knitting. They were put on the back burner for a couple of projects, and it didn't help that one fully completed sock had to be ripped out and restarted. I didn't mind though, because I am completely comfortable with toe-up socks now. So, just over three months since their beginning, I present to you, my finished socks:

Pattern: Knotty or Knice Socks from the Fall 2008 Interweave Knits
Yarn: Koigu Premium Merino (KPM)

Needles: US 1 (2.50 mm)
Notes: I love these socks. They are my second pair, and I couldn't be happier. They do remind me of my trip to Philly. I think the yarn and the pattern look great together, and they are so comfy. I didn't make any adjustments to the pattern at all. I do want to comment on the yarn. This was my first time to knit with Koigu. The yarn was great, but the color bleed all over my fingers while knitting. Since I knit these almost exclusively on the subway, I would show up at work every morning after about 20 minutes of knitting and my fingernails would be stained, and I would have an orange ring around my finger where I wrap my working yarn. The water was a bright orange after I soaked them, but the color of the socks hasn't faded at all. Hopefully it is just excess dye. I'll just have to see what my feet look like at the end of the day. Though, I'm kinda glad I didn't make a Philly Hat.

Philly Socks

I generally don't like to apologize to the readers of my blog because I generally do this for myself, and think of it as an perk is someone finds it useful or entertaining. Today, however, I'd like to say I'm sorry to anyone still following me and to myself. It has been far too long since I have shared anything at all, and I've been disappointed. Since my last post, I have moved to Brooklyn, made good friends out of old acquaintances, had a birthday and an anniversary, hosted Hubby's parents in our new home, gotten my new library card, and went on my first official business trip. That list is full of reasons to post, not reasons to neglect writing. My reason for not posting, is none of those. I haven't been active, because Hubby's computer died. For some reason, it did not make the move, so I have turned over my computer to him. Both of us have cut back on our computer usage, simply because we have to take turns now. I will continue to be absent until one of us has gotten a replacement.

At the beginning of this month I went to Philadelphia for a workshop on the fundamentals of Research Administration. I was excited for so many reasons. I don't travel by myself very often, this was my first time to Philly, and there was just something special about going on my first business trip. The workshop was fantastic, and I learned a lot. I meet some great people, specifically a couple of knitters from D.C. and Texas. We skipped one of the evening events and headed out to the LYS together where I picked up a little souvenir.

This is some Koigu Premium Merino (KPM) for socks. I showed up early for the workshop, and spent my extra time walking around the historic area and learning about our founding fathers all over again. I was inspired by all the brick and cobblestone, so for my souvenir yarn, I was looking for something in a burnt red/brown/orange color. What I ended up with is a bit orangier than actual bricks, and is such an incredible color.

It didn't take me long to find the perfect pattern. The Knotty or Knice Socks from the Fall 2008 Interweave Knits won out because, it is toe up, and the pattern details fit perfectly with my memories of the colonial buildings. They were all small, practical, brick buildings with embellishments masking their sensibility in the front. I liked the strong lines of the ribbing in these socks, and the cable repeats are just a touch of flair that keeps them from plain, practical socks.

I've had to make just a couple adjustments because my feet are larger than the one the pattern is make for. My gauge is just a touch different and I've added an extra half of a pattern repeat to the foot. I've also decided to work these one at a time since they are my first pair toe up and with short row heels.

My perfect yarn, and my perfect pattern are combining nicely to make my Philly Socks.

My first Subway FO

As I mentioned earlier, my commute has provided some time in the mornings for knitting. The first thing I accomplished was the long overdue socks for Hubby. My excitement about it seems to have made me over confident. I was on the train when the time came to start the heel flap. Instead of pulling the pattern out and checking the directions, I just went for it and made a teeny tiny mistake. The heel is suppose to be worked or needles 2 and 3 and I worked it over needles 1 and 2, or something like that. I didn't remember it from the last time I worked this pattern and it didn't occur to me to think of something like that.

As it turns out, I ended up working a heel flap that was two stitches smaller than the pattern recommends because there is not an even distribution of stitches on all four needles. I realized it as I turned the heel and thought about ripping the flap out and starting that part over. After very little deliberation, I decided not to. "Meh," I thought to myself, "two stitches isn't going to make that much of a difference." Well, I was right. It wasn't much of a difference but it was a difference. I had to do some fudging in the stitch pick up and the arch shaping to make the k2p2 pattern lineup. In the end they look fine, but the top of the toe is two stitches off center. Shh, don't tell Hubby; he thinks they are perfect.

*Pattern: Francie by Rebekkah Kerner
Yarn: Knit Picks Essential (soon to be renamed) in Buckskin
Needles: US 1 (2.25mm)
Notes: I went up one needle size from Dad's pair because when Hubby tried them on, they looked a little strained, and, of course, they are a little crooked.



* In attempts to keep my FO information a little more organized, I am stealing a setup from the blog Fascination with Needles. it seems like a good place to start for me and then if I find I need to add more or adjust it I can.

Sprinkles

This post is long overdue. As I was decreasing the toes on my BIL's socks, I realized that I was jealous of these ones too. I knew the next on my list of Christmas knitting* were Hubby's socks, but I really want a pair of my own. I decided it was time for a sit down with Hubby. Being the perceptive and incredibly smart man that he is, before I could even get my thoughts out, he told me that I deserve a pair of socks and that I should make mine first. How can you not love that?

These socks started 4 months ago. KnitPicks announced that they were releasing new sock yarn for fall. I still wasn't a successful sock knitter so I normally wouldn't be tempted, but this stuff is called Imagination and the colorways are named after all sorts of fun fairytale stuff. I knew I needed the yarn for the Christmas socks so I decided to wait and spoil myself with a little bit of this too. I was I picked up a couple skeins of Gingerbread House and Seven Dwarfs. Excited about my self indulgence, I started searching sock patterns and I came across Tuscany. I was full of inspiration!
This pattern:
With this yarn:

Filled my head with visions of cupcakes and sprinkles. My heart was set on some fantastically sweet socks.

I cast on as soon as I was done with the Earl Gray socks. Then, I immediately ripped it out and completely changed up the pattern. First, I didn't like the gauge of the pattern as much as the socks I've been working on lately so I upped the number of stitches to a variable of 8 that was closer to what I've been working with. Second, I realized that sprinkle placement is pretty chaotic and that I didn't want them to be quite as orderly as they are in the pattern picture. Every other pattern repeat I decided to offset by two stitches. It is not much, and it is far from orderly, but I'm happy with the results. Finally, since I have a completely different number of stitches than the pattern recommends, I had to improvise a heel from a different sock pattern. I'll probably have to do the same with the toe but I haven't gotten that far yet. (If you asked me four months ago, there is no way I could have predicted that I'd be improvising heels and toes!) Here is how all of my adjustments are turning out:
I am pretty smitten with them.




*Hubby's side of the family is visiting us for Thanksgiving, so we'll actually be celebrating Christmas this month instead of next. This is why I've been working so diligently on my Christmas knitting. I must admit it does feel kind of nice to be finishing mine up as everyone writes about beginning theirs.

Rolling Along

We've been a little under the weather here. It has increased the sleeping quite a bit, and decreased the knitting a little. No worries though, the productivity has still been way up there. I finished the socks for my brother in-law and started a much deserved pair for myself. I also cast on a lace project and made myself a headband.

For tonight, I'll just share the finished socks with you. This isn't the best photo, but it will have to do. These are a tad too long for me so I don't make a very good model for them and they are no where near as long as hubby's feet, so he's not allowed to try them on. When I put them on, the pattern shows up better than they do on my sock blockers. In addition to the lack of foot models hanging around, we've also had rainy weather and a lack of sunshine for lighting. The pattern is Earl Grey, and I went all crazy with yarn colored Ash. The pattern was simple, and the color far from extravagant, but they are exactly what I wanted. I mentioned when I cast them on that I wasn't certain my BIL would want or appreciate hand knit socks. So my goal was tasteful, and what ever the male version of elegant is. I wanted them to be easy to like for the recipient, and I wanted them to be easy to make to ease my frustration in a worst case scenario. These socks were all of those things, and a real pleasure to make. It was close to mindless knitting (which is good for someone with a head full of cold) but there was still enough going on that the FO is something special that I am excited to gift. I've also been assured by my hubby that I'm allowed to beat his brother up if he doesn't like them. I doubt it will come to that though, since he's on the opposite side of the country. It does make me question whether or not I'd want hubby to be my big brother.

Brooklyn Tree Completion

The Brooklyn Tree socks have been finished and re-queued. Hubby and I both want a pair, because these are some of the coolest socks I have ever seen (let alone made). This pair was made with Essential Tweed in Blue Ox. Through the middle of the arch shaping, I started to worry that they were going to be way too long. I just kept reassuring myself that the hubby has long feet and they would be fine. (I've been using Mike's feet as a gauge for what size to make his dad so he's been trying these on constantly.) When I finished the arch shaping, he tried them on and they were still about 3 inches short of the end of his foot. I knit another inch straight, and then the foot sizing said they were ready for me to start the toe. By the time the toe was done, I thought I had some how accidentally knit a pair of socks for a clown.Can you see what I'm talking about? Look at how long those are from the heels to the toes. Well, I guess it is an optical illusion because they are so skinny. They almost fit me just fine.They are smidgen too long, but not a full inch. You can't even tell in this picture that they are too big. They fit the sock blocker nicely too.The true test is how they fit Mike though, so here (in his modeling debut) are the socks on him.Notice how well he shows off both the top and the bottom of the socks in one photo. That is pure skill; I didn't even have to ask him to do that. He says they fit great and are wonderfully comfortable. I think that I will go up one needle size when I make his. Since these fit both of us fine, I think a little extra room isn't going to hurt him, and he is pulling the spots that have two increases in a row a little tight for my satisfaction.

Brooklyn Tree Socks

I am working on some Christmas socks for my father in-law. The pattern is Francie, but I've renamed it Brooklyn Tree to make it sound a little more manly. I was originally drawn to these socks because they have a very unique construction, and my FIL is definitely one who would appreciate a unique construction. The inspiration for the pattern designer was the book A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I've never read the book, but I think these socks are going to inspire me to.

I was all excited about a new way of doing things, but now I can't get over the wonderful bark like texture that these have. I am thinking that I am going to need some brown/tan tweedy yarn for some incredible fingerless gloves. I don't know if my FIL will apprecaite the look as much as I do, but I 'm sure I'll be able to distract him with the very cool heel, toe, and arch shaping.