More Socks

Hello:

Today is my last day in Southern California.  It has been a very quiet trip.  Well, except for the dinners.  I have been so happy to have much of my extended family show up for dinners this week.  Last night my Cousin, his Wife (a knitter!!) and my Aunt brought dinner.  My sister, her daughter, and grandson, all joined us.  It was so much fun to catch up.

Tonight, I made dinner.  My parents, sister, nieces and their kids, all joined us.

In between cooking, eating, and hanging with the family, I've been knitting.  I am on the 2nd color of my High Plains Drifter Shawl.

This just shows the first color, but I have attached the light blue and have about 1 inch already.  I have also been working on the first round for Sock Madness, the Brucie Socks. 

I have finished the ribbing, the first pattern, and have about 1/2 in of the 2nd pattern.  This pattern is not that stretchy, so I added 8 stitches (it's a 4 stitch repeat).  The "scale stitch" is slow and fiddly, but I love how it looks.  I'll try to get a photo of that part tomorrow, but with flying home, I might have to wait until Saturday.

I wanted to show the finished photo of the Basket Weave Socks that I made for my brother.  I finished sewing up the toes after midnight right before I had to leave for So. Cal. so I never got a good photo of them on my sock blockers.  But, this is what they look like:

In addition to the basket weave stitch pattern, they have a Eye of Partridge Heel with a garter stitch border.  The yarn is a  bit darker than shows in this photo.  They fit him really well, and he is wearing them right now.

I have yarn for one more pair, and if I make striped socks using the left over  bits from the 3 skeins I bought to make him socks, I should be able to get out another pair.  That would be 4 pair of socks for him.  I'm so happy he likes them.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with socks

Sock Madness 2014 Round 1

Hello:

I am still in Southern California, helping at my brother's house. 

Since it is March, it is time for Sock Madness, the speed sock knitting competition that is based on the NCAA Basketball tournament, March Madness.  I knew there was a good chance that the first stage would begin while I was down here, well I knew it would begin, not just a good chance.  Before I left, the specs for this first sock were posted in the Sock Madness group.  That means that the pattern would be available within 48 hours. 

I brought some Regia Yarn down in a lovely cranberry red.

I bought this yarn last summer when I decided that I wanted to test knit some Regia.  I have heard this yarn mentioned as a good sock yarn and I wanted to see if it measured up.  It is not expensive, though I have forgotten what this cost.  I do love the color.

The pattern is called "Brucie" after the shark in the animated movie, Finding Nemo.  I have two weeks to finish the pair if I want to be placed on a team.  The yarn is a pretty fine gauge of fingering, so I am using size 0 US needles to get a decent fabric.  I hope I can finish in time.

So far I have the ribbing

and have almost finished the first pattern, which is Shark Attack!

This photo shows the first repeat.

When I was half-way through this pattern, disaster struck.

The needle broke off the cable.  These are or well, were, my size 0 Chiao Goo Red Cable Lace Needles.  I bought them last year at Madrona.  I have knit just about every pair of socks since then with these needles. 

I am so glad that I bought another size 0 at Madrona this year.  You might remember that I had to wrestle Franklin Habit for them.  Thank goodness I won.  I brought both needles down with me just in case the pattern was not a good match with knitting 2-at-a-time.  I will need to contact ChaioGoo when I get home and see if they will replace my broken needle.  I dropped one side of all the stitches on both socks, but I think I picked them all up correctly, and have knitted on.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with shark socks.

Life Goes On

On a happier note, Moogie called from NY.  She was accepted into NYU's semester abroad program in London for next Fall.  We are so excited for her.

Peace,
f1bercat

Today

I went to Mass with my parents this morning, then out to breakfast at Norms.  I had to tell them that my brother's health is deteriorating.  They need to spend time with him now, while they can.  We all held hands.  No one cried, though it was tough. 

Peace,
f1bercat

Car Thief

Hello from Southern California:

My brother's internet is horrible.  I'm always saying, "I'll try to post, but the internet is so slow, I'm not sure if I will be able to... " and so on.

This morning there was a power outage at about 9 am and the internet went, too.  But the internet dying wasn't actually part of the power outage, it was in addition to it.

One of my students had a paper due today at 11 am.  We worked on it last week, and it was in pretty good shape.  Yesterday, I received a frantic text from her.  Somehow she had deleted the entire thing.  She sent me a truncated version based on what she remembered, and screamed for help.

I was able to read it, and then give her a list of things that I remembered she had addressed in the original paper.  For instance:  1. you need a sentence here explaining why this is important.  2. you need at least 2 sentences explaining why this is a good example of the topic.  And so on.  She rewrote the paper and sent it to me.  Right before 9 am, I finished editing it for her and was actually in the process of attaching it to an email when the internet and power failed. 

I got into my car and headed for the nearest Starbucks. The traffic lights were out on the way, but not near the coffee shop.  I actually sat in my car, logged onto their wifi, and sent her the edited paper.  ha ha ha ha ha  Thank goodness!  and Thank you, Howard Schultz.  Then, I went in to use the restroom before heading home.

When I got back to my sister-in-law's car, I unlocked the door with the electronic key, then tried to open the door.  THE CAR ALARM WENT OFF!  ratz!  I thought, I have accidentally hit the alarm button instead of the unlock button as they are close to each other. I hit the open button over and over but the alarm wouldn't go off.  And the door wouldn't open.  I then tried to turn off the alarm by hitting the alarm button.  A second car alarm went off!  and it was for the car next to the one I was trying to open.  OOPS!  That car was my sister-in-law's car.

I got inside and drove off carefully so as not to attract the attention of any police who were coming to see who was trying to steal the first car.  Too bad the State of Washington has my fingerprints on file (background check for all teachers).  If they dust the handles, they will be able to identify me as the attempted car thief.

All cars look the same to me.  Except for maybe DeLoreans.


Oh, and I went out, bought and installed a new higher power router.  Let's see if things move faster on-line here...

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet from outside a jail cell...

High Plains Drifter

Hello:

I'm down in Southern California for a few days helping out at my brother's house.  I brought down the last part of my NEWT for HPKCHC, the High Plains Drifter shawl by Kirsten Hipskey.  I started this very easy shawl at SeaTac Airport before my 7:30 flight left this morning.  It has 2 rows of instructions that are repeated for the entire shawl.  And Row 1 is knit.  I frogged and restarted 3 times because of errors.  Ha ha ha ha I was so tired, but I finally got the thing started and am making progress.  I'll photograph it tomorrow so you can see.

The first yarn I am using is Huckleberry Knits Willow (her sock yarn) in a beautiful variegated purple with some blues mixed in.  The colorway is called "October Evening." 

When that skein is used up, I switch to a Sweet Georgia sock yarn in a turquoise-ish blue, named "Coastal."

followed by another Sweet Georgia sock yarn in a purple.

I was so tired this morning partially because I was up at 5 am to leave for the airport.  But also because I was up late winding all this yarn.  I wasn't sure which I was going to use for the first part, so I wound all 3 skeins.  I had forgotten how wonderful good yarn feels.  All three felt like butter, so soft and squishy, it is amazing they are worsted spun sock yarns with some nylon content. 

I decided to go with the lighter purple, by Huckleberry Knits, first.  The shawl will be in sort of reverse order of the three skeins in the photo above.

My goal is to finish it in 3 weeks.  I can do it!  And the first pattern for Sock Madness which should begin tomorrow... And my classes for HPKCHC.  And the last Quidditch match.

It's a lot of garter stitch... just saying.

Peace,
f1bercat shaping the planet with miles of garter stitch.

Hats Off

Hello:

I've been working on some hats this month.  The first two are newborn hats for the Shaken Baby charity.  I took the stitch pattern from the last baby blanket square (pattern 4) from the 2014 Mystery Blanket KAL I am doing with a bunch of people in Gryffindor.  I love how chunky this ribbing looks.  It reminds me of corrugated metal.

I worked the stitch pattern into the round, then came up with two different tops.  The first one is a simple swirl top.

For the second hat, I did a more complicated decrease pattern. 

I'm not sure which I like better.  I hope to write this pattern up with both of the tops.  It is very stretchy, and would make a nice adult hat, too, especially for a boy or man.

I also finished my test knit for the Eastside Hat designed by Vanesa Polo.  This hat pattern will be handed out during Vogue Knitting Live Seattle/Bellevue at the Eastside Knitters Guild Booth.

The pattern is very well written and easy to follow.  My hat came out a bit big, but not because of the pattern.  I knit quite a few extra rounds of the ribbing.  I wanted a large hat because I hope to give it to my nephew.  I gave him a hat at Christmas, but it was way too small.  He had to pass it on to his little sister.  He was due another hat, and much bigger this time.  If this hat is just way too big, he can always fold up the brim!

I love the cable pattern on this hat.  I used Black Water Abbey Yarn that I bought at Madrona.  It is a big rough... ok, it feels a bit like a scouring pad, but I am hoping with washing, it will soften.

I am almost finished with the 2nd pair of socks for my brother.  All I need to do is kitchener the toes.  I am headed down to So. Cal tomorrow morning to stay with him for about a week.  I need to get those toes sewed together.

I will report here on how he and the family are doing.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with a warm head.