Finished Round 2

Hello:

It rained all day today.  I worked as a Teachers' Aide at a wonderful private school in Medina.  For the first hour and a half, I sharpened pencils.  I kid you not.  Actually, it was a peaceful way to spend the morning.  Then, I had to take 4 periods of recess duty.  They have a nice large area with a garden (not planted, yet) and fruit trees that are just beginning to blossom out.  Even though it was raining, the students still went out for recess.  They don't have a covered area, like my kids' elementary school.  Instead, they have bins of umbrellas, or bumbershoots as we call them.  Some kids, and all three supervising teachers, held these large umbrellas as we walked around.  But about 1/3 of the kids just played in the rain.  It wasn't cold.  They had so much fun.

I sometimes knit when I supervise recess.  But, because of the rain, I didn't get any knitting done.  I had to work on the Round 1 socks, Diamond Shreddies, when I got home.  I finished the foot pattern, it's a repeat of the pretty cable pattern, last night, so this afternoon/evening, I knit about 1/2 inch more on the foot, and then knit and kitchenered the toes.

This photo is horrible  because it is with my camera's flash:

But, at least you can sort of see the cables. We have to email Sock Madness when we are finished with a link to our project page.  The project page must have a photo of the socks in progress, and a finished photo with a tape measure.

I'll try to take a better photo tomorrow, so you can see how pretty these are.  I love how the yarn, Redfish Dyeworks Silk Sock, feels.  And it shows the cables beautifully.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with a classroom full of sharp pencils, and some yellow socks.

Finished Round 2

I sent in my official Finished email at 2:22 pm Pacific Time.

I think these are really cool.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with ghost ship socks.

Round 2 cont.

Hello:

Editing this one more time to add the photos. The top photo was where I left off Saturday night.

10:15 am   Heel flaps finished, beginning the turns.

almost noon, turns finished, both gussets picked up, and first sock gusset knitting begun.

4:45 pm, finished the gussets and starting down the first foot.

Sorry, this next photo is has horrible lighting because I took it at about 11:30 pm. I needed to turn in my 4 socks for my BROOM (Order of the Phoenix Mission) for HPKCHC, and I needed a photo of the last 2 socks together, which are the socks for Sock Madness, Rounds 1 and 2.  I had hoped to use one of the Orange Man Socks, but those aren't quite finished as I had to set them aside and knit Round 2 socks.  Anyway, I have finished one of the Round socks, and am on the foot of the 2nd.  Here is the BROOM turn in photo. 

Pretty cool looking sock!  even in the bad light.

I need to get some sleep, but, I should finish up the 2nd one easily tomorrow.  I should be in plenty of time to qualify for Round 3.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with a completed BROOM and 1 finished Round 2 Sock.

Rest In Peace, Coby

This last photo is in honor of GwenS's cat Coby.  He was much loved.

More Round 2

Hello:

One of the things I love about living in the northern part  of the USA is that in the summer, we will have such long days, and now that we have crossed the Spring Equinox, we are headed into those long days.  And while I don't love the long winter nights, I love being able to watch the sunrise over our lake and mountains at about 8 am.  That is no longer happening.  The sun is now rising at about 6:30 and it will get earlier and earlier.  I made myself get up this morning so I could grab some photos of the sunrise.

This is just a quick post about my progress on the socks I am knitting for Round 2 of Sock Madness. I am further than this photo will show, but I hate bad photos, and I have learned that I really need daylight to get anything decent.

I took this photo at about 10:30 am.

I took one more photo at about 7:00 pm.  This shows one sock with the leg finished ready for the heel:

I hope you can see the sailboat and the waves.  The name of this pattern is Flying Dutchman. I have finished the legs on both socks, and knit the heel flap on one.  I was hoping to finish both heels tonight, but it is now after midnight, and I really need to go to bed. 

I am keeping up with the beginner group, the Mighty Minnows, but I think only because I am doing nothing but knitting.

Hope to get both socks finished through the gussets before bed tomorrow.

We shall see.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the world with a ghost ship on a sock.

Round 2 Begins

What the ????

We actually got some snow today, but as it was about 35 F while it was falling, it didn't stick.

It just make the higher elevations slushy and slippery so that we had to cancel our Eastside Stitchers Fiber Friday.

I had so much stitching to do today.  I got up at about 6:30am and got right to work on my Transfiguration OWL Afghan.  I have one more square to finish (well 1/2 of one now) and a border to hook, and it is all done.  Well, I have to sew in the last 4 squares.

Sock Madness Teams were named yesterday, so I was expecting the Round 2 pattern to be released today, and indeed it was.  I got my email with the pattern at about 9:00 am, but I made myself finish the afghan square round I was hooking.

The pattern is by Caoua Coffee, and is really interesting.  It has intarsia in the round.  I have never done intarsia.  I am learning as I go.  It isn't tough, but I am not sure if my tension is the most even.  I hope it all evens up in the wash.

I am using 2 yarns from my stash, a pretty purple (plum) from Cascade Heritage Socks, and a nice delicate pink from Spud and Chloe.

We cast on with the dark color and ribbed for a bit, so I started mine 2-at-a-time.  The cast on wasn't specified, so I used the Slip Knot Cast On from the book, Cast On Bind Off: 54 Step by Step Methods by Leslie Ann Bestor.  I have used this before, and it is stretchier than the long tail cast on, but it is a bit fiddly.  The hardest part of this cast on for me is keeping the slip knots close together so the top of the sock looks neat.  This was a bit of a problem today, but I think they look fine.  It took me quite a while to get both socks cast on, though.  I am definitely feeling a bit of time pressure.

I knit through the cuffs,

then had to separate the sock to 2 different circular needles (I am using my 2 new Chiao Goo Red Lace size 0) to work on the intarsia.  My son, Pookie, came home after school, and realizing that It Had Begun, he brought me the apple snack, and did the dishes for me so the kitchen was clean.

I kept up my strength with healthy snacks.

When the Doc got home, he also realized that the Round had begun, so he made a frozen pizza for dinner.  What good sports I have.

 I have finished the intarsia pattern on the first sock, and just begun it on the 2nd.  I had to stop checking the progress thread as it is just too intimidating to see how fast the other knitters are.  I took this progress photo at about 4 pm as I wanted  to have decent light.

Yes, it is supposed to look like that.  The intarsia is very subtle.  Wait until you see the finished design.  It is really cool.

It is now after midnight so I am going to get some sleep and get back to work when I wake up.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with somewhat stiff shoulders.

Round 2 ... Almost

Hello:

The specifications for Round 2 of Sock Madness have been posted.  The next sock will use 2 solid colors, make sure they are very contrasting.  That is all we know.

I am using 2 yarns from stash, some Cascade Yarns Heritage Sock in Plum that I made a shawlette with 2 years ago, and some really pretty pale pink Spud & Chloe that I bought on the Puget Sound LYS Tour last May.

I have to wonder if the socks will be Illusion Socks.

Also, the teams were announced.  I am on Team Might Minnows.  I think we are the beginner group.  But, I am not sure.  I spent most of the day doing my volunteer tutoring, but when I could, I worked on my Transfiguration OWL afghan.  I still have one more square to go.  Don't release the pattern until Saturday!  Please!

Peace.
Yours,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with the fear that I really need about 1 more week before Round 2 begins.