Lily's Socks

Hello!

I'm posting quickly before running out to attend the monthly meeting of the Eastside Knitters Guild. This is not my regular S n B group that meets on Wednesdays.  This is an actual Knitting Guild and it is a member of the Knitting Guild Association.  I have posted about this group before, but not for a while because I have not been able to attend a meeting since the beginning of the summer.  Since they only meet once a month, on the 4th Monday, if I am not at home that day... well, I have been gone quite a bit.

They not only participate in some great knitting charities, like making scarves for the Special Olympics, but they have speakers at the meetings.  Tonight's speaker is from the Skacel Company. This company is based in the area, is the distributor of Addi Knitting Needles,  and will be opening a retail store soon.  I will report back here.

On the needles

This is just a quick photo of my purple Bubbly Socks.  Once again, the pattern is by VeryBusyMonkey, and I am getting a 3fer out of these.  The color for October for SolidSocks Group is Purple, VeryBusyMonkey is one of the featured designers for Sock Knitters Anonymous (SKA),  and these are the 2nd of 3 pairs of socks I am making for my History of Magic OWL in Harry Potter Knitting/Crochet House Cup (HPKCHC) Group.  They are for Lily Potter, who excelled in Potions Class.  The bubbles and the purple color both reminded me of Harry's mom.

I started these before I left to go down to California to help out at my brother's house, but didn't make much progress.  I love the pattern, I love the yarn.  For some reason, I keep twisting the cables the wrong way.  Finally, I just gave in.  If they are twisted wrong, well they will just stay that way.  I think that I will make my next pair of cabled socks 1-at-a-time, though.  It is just too hard to fix cable errors by dropping down, and too time consuming to tink 2 pairs when only one has the error.

I brought these socks to Arizona last weekend, and worked almost monogamously on them.  I was able to knit both heels, finish the gussets, and begin working down the feet.  I was getting a bit worried that I wouldn't finish them by October 31, the deadline for SolidSocks, because they are tough to work on if it is at all dark.  Now I know I will be finished by this weekend at the latest.

I still have a special hat that I am knitting for my son, Pookie, for Halloween, and my daughter, Moogie, asked if I would sew her a costume.  I need to get cracking on those.

Maybe tomorrow.

Stay safe and well.
Yours,

f1bercat
Shaping the planet with purple socks.

Finished Object, Really This Time

I can't believe it.  I knit a pair of socks in less than a week.  And these have 23 cm legs (9 in)!  Although they are only size US 7.5, so the foot is about 21.7 cm (with .9 negative ease)  or about 8.1 in.

I guess when I am monogamous, I can actually finish things.

Except that I wasn't totally monogamous.  I knit one row of my Echo Flower Shawl.  Had to knit something different!  And when I was riding the exercise bike at the Y, I knit on my Better than French Vanilla socks.  I don't need a pattern for those, so they make much better bike knitting.

These are for the Orange (July) challenge with SolidSocks, and the designer is Claudia Eisenkolb, one of the featured designers for the Sock Knitters Anonymous July Challenge.  The yarn is Flock Sock Sock Yarn by Holiday Yarns and the color is Mango Tango.

I finished the heels on Saturday (2 days ago).

Knit the gussets

and the feet down to where the foot chart started Sunday (yesterday)

I actually knit about 4 rows of the foot chart before I got too tired and went to bed.

Today I knit the foot and toe charts.  These go right up to the last row.

I finished listening to A Tale of Two Cities on CraftLit while I was kitchener stitching the toes.  And, yes, I got teary eyed.

They need to be washed and blocked, but I am amazed that I can finish a pair in a week.  I was about to say that I had no life this week, and that helped me finish, but I actually had a tiny bit of a life when I went to the movies then out to dinner at a friend's house, so, I must be getting a bit faster?

Something like that.

Well, when I wasn't knitting these socks for Moogie, I was either sleeping or at the Y knitting on my Better Than French Vanilla Socks.  Considering I really only work on those for the 30 minutes of biking every day, they are making decent progress.  The legs are finally about 4 inches, and I am thinking that I might go ahead and just knit the heels.  Or not.  I can't decide if I should give them normal length legs.

Anyway, I did make it to the Y today.  So...

Where in the World is f1bercat?

I knit for 6.6 miles this morning, then walked for another .27 miles.  This puts me at 291.63 miles total on my trip.  Wow, I am getting close to 300 miles.  I should hit that on Wednesday, if I am good and go tomorrow and Wednesday to the Y.


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I have made it to Eugene!


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California here I come.  Sort of.

Stay safe and well.

Yours,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with a daughter with 2 pairs of handmade socks

Socks Update

Why is it that  some patterns just seem to fly, and  others crawl.?

I loved knitting my Circle socks.  I love the yarn.  I love how they look.  But, the last 3 inches of the feet took forever.  I would try them on and think, ok, about 3 more inches until I can start the toes.  Then 2 hours later, try them on and think, 3 more inches until I can start the toes.  Two hours later, I still needed 3 inches.  I am not kidding, it took me a full day to knit about 3 inches.

I kept the circle pattern going down the foot, tapering it off into a point as I neared the toes.

It's not that the pattern was so complicated that it took a long time to knit, either.  This is a fast, easy pattern.  I'm not sure if it is all of the slipped stitches, pulling the fabric back, or what.  But it just took forever.

However, I am finished, and I love them.

They fit beautifully, too.

Now that I have finished, what am I knitting?  Why, socks of course.

I cast on a pair of socks that will double dip for both SolidSocks (they are orange), and SKA (Sock Knitters Anonymous), as they are designed by Claudia Eisenkolb, and called, "Makiba."

Since the SolidSocks color for July is orange, I bought some beautiful mango colored Flock Sock yarn from Holiday Yarns.

The color is Mango Tango.  I bought 2 skeins because these socks are for my daughter, Moogie, and she likes the legs of her socks to be more like knee socks, and I don't want to worry about running out.  However, since the yarn is hand dyed, the balls are subtly different!  They should be an interesting look.

The pattern is not difficult, but there is a bit of lace and some cables.

Well, I can't decide if the pattern is easy, or it's just that I am getting better?

I love how they are coming along.  The leg pattern is 45 rows after the ribbing, and I am on 35.  (this photo was taken at 25, but now the light is gone.)

 As Moogie is down in California, helping at my brother's house, she won't be able to watch the progress of these socks.  I plan to post a photo every day, so she can "watch" them grow.


Where in the World is f1bercat?

I knit another 5 miles today, and walked .7.  I am happy that I am starting to walk a bit more.  I have downloaded audiobook version of the Eyre Affaire, by Jasper Fforde through our library system for free, and am listening to it while I knit/ride the exercise bike, and also while I walk on the treadmill.  I am enjoying this book a lot.  I heard about it on the 2 Knit Lit Chicks Podcast.  At our neighborhood Independence Day party, one of my friends told me that she likes to download audio books for free from the library, and how to get started.  Wow!  I couldn't wait to try it out.  And I am loving it so far.

Anyway, while listening, and knitting on my Better Than French Vanilla Socks, I made it to:


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Basically, I am north of Eugene, in the middle of nowhere.


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Every 5 miles gets me that much closer to my goal.

Stay safe and well.

Yours,
f1bercat
shaping the planet while missing my Moogie

Why Can't I Count?

Everyone told me the circle socks are not very stretchy.  I kind of have cankles, too (that's fat ankles, where my ankles and calves are one big piece so:  calf/ankle = cankle).  I am making these socks for the Sock Knitters Anonymous June challenge (this group gives you 2 months to complete the challenge).  I'm using the gorgeous Honey Crisp sock yarn by Huckleberry Knits that I bought at Apple Yarns during the 2012 Puget Sound LYS Tour in May. 

Anyway, the pattern has an 8 stitch repeat (super easy by the way), and it calls for 64 stitches cast on.  So, I am thinking brilliantly that I will cast on 72 stitches, to help with the lack of stretch, and the cankle situation.  I can put 4 sets of 8 on one side of the magic loop needle, and 5 on the other. 9 x 8 = 72.  That should fit me.  But then I decide that I like this yarn knit tightly, so I drop down to a size 0 US needle.  With 72 stitches, that should still be ok.

I did 4 and 1/2 repeats of the leg pattern.  I split one skein of  yarn, and because I had to add stitches, I am a bit worried that I will run out.  These are more than 3 inches required to count for SKA, but won't be super long socks.

The heel is an Eye of Partridge pattern.

 I added a small side garter stitch to frame them.

I am knitting these socks 2-at-a-time, of course.  I finished the first heel, and was getting ready to start the second, when I realized that the first sock actually had 80 stitches, and the second sock only 72.  I am not kidding.  Somehow I never noticed that one sock had 7 stitch markers, and the other one 8.  I couldn't believe it.  How could I be so unobservant?  How could I knit the legs and not notice this? And, what to do now?

I tried on both socks, and the 80 stitch fit much better.  I actually could not really pull the 72 stitch sock over my heel.  Not stretchy, indeed.

So I frogged the 72 stitch sock, and cast it on a 2nd pair of needles, and spend the last 3 days reknitting it.  When I got to the heel, I put it back onto the same needle as the first sock, finished the heel turn, and went on with picking up both gussets.

I am back to working 2-at-a-time.

I love the look of the yarn.  I love the circles.

I REALLY love how the yarn looks on the heels.

I have finished the gusset and am now knitting the feet.  The pattern has the circles stopping at the heels, and a plain stockinette foot, but I have continued the circles down the foot to the end of the gusset at least.  I hope to finish these socks this week.  I plan on wearing them.

They better fit.

At least they are now the same size.

Stay safe and well, and if you live in the USA, hope you had a wonderful Independence Day.  We sure did.

Yours,
f1bercat

almost shaping the planet with completely mismatched socks because I can't count to 10

Sock Progress

This is the spoiler picture for the Solid Socks Group in Ravelry.  We use this picture on our project page so that people won't accidentally see progress photos of the mystery socks and spoil the surprise.  Warning, I am going to post my progress photos, so if you don't want to see the cuffs (clue 1) and one repeat of the leg (clue 2), then please don't scroll down.

Where in the World is f1bercat?

I had a dentist appointment today, just a routine cleaning, but it messed up my usual schedule.  I still went to the Y and both rode the bike while knitting and walked while riding.  Who says  I can't multi-task?

So I knitted for 5.8 miles.  I felt pretty good, and was able to keep up a good pace.  I need to take a photo of the spa washcloth I am knitting while riding.  I am making good progress.  After riding, I got on the tread mill and walked for .55 miles.  I am trying to work up to 1 mile walked each day.  I was able to speed up the treadmill a little bit.  I read a bit over 1 chapter of The Game of Thrones.  I have already noticed that my back and legs are feeling better and stronger each day.  I am not sure about how much my cardio has improved, as I am super out of shape. But I am starting to see and feel some real progress.

Where does my 6.35 miles for today put me?


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a bit north of Oregon City.

WIP's

I have finished the first clue for the Solid Socks Group's June/July Mystery Sock, Rombikiri, by YarnYenta.

It has a tulip cuff, very cool.  I am using the Huckleberry Knits yarn that I bought during the Puget Sound LYS Crawl at Apple Yarns.

The color is Granny Smith.  The color challenge for June is green, and it just doesn't get much greener.

I also started my socks for Sock Knitters Anonymous Group's June Challenge, one of which is to knit socks designed by Anne Campbell  (KnitterlyAnne).  They are the Circle Socks.  I have just started, so you really can't see much yet.  The yarn is by Huckleberry Knits, also, in a different apple color, Honey Crisp.

I really hope these will fit because I think they will be beautiful.

Goodnight everyone.

Stay safe and well.
Yours,
f1bercat
shaping the planet 2 pairs of apple socks at a time.

Larger Pile of Cat Barf? Or A Shawl?

2012.05.24 Red Chinese Poppy

WIP

I am on the 9th repeat of 13 repeats of the main pattern of the Echo Flower Shawl  by Jenny Johnson Johnen I am making for my mom.  You might remember my earlier post about this shawl.

 It was a KAL for the Beginning Lace Knitters Group on Ravelry.  I did not start mine in time to knit it with the group because I was finishing my Princess Lace Wrap,

and I did NOT want to be knitting two lace projects at the same time.  It was bad enough that I was knitting that wrap and a pair of socks with a lace pattern, the Hearts Abound Socks for my sister, K.

 I kept confusing parts of the two patterns and knitting wrap stitches on the socks, and sock stitches on the wrap.  Much better to stick to one lace project at a time.  Of course, the Mock for SKA (Sock Knitters Anonymous) this month , Chiendent, designed  by the talented Rose Hiver, has a lace pattern, but it is so easy to remember, I am not confusing it with the shawl.  Or, at least I hope not.

When I hit eight repeats, I got really excited, and thought, "Wow!  I am half way finished."  But then I thought about the fact that I am adding 2 new sections with every new repeat, so, um, I'm too tired to do the math, but I am not half way.  This pattern is not hard, hence the Beginning Lace Knitters KAL, but I have to pay attention while I am working on it.  I can not watch TV, that's for sure.  I usually listen to a podcast, but not CraftLit because I have to pay attention to that one.  As it is, I sometimes have to replay parts of what ever I am listening to because I tend to block it out while I am knitting on this shawl.  Lately I have been trying to finish 2 rows every night.  Sometimes I manage more, sometimes, nothing at all.

But it is starting to have the shape of a shawl.  And I still love the yarn, Cascade Alpaca Lace in Cream.

Where in the World is f1bercat?

I have knit 201.18 miles!  Wooot!  Broke the 200 mile barrier today.  I had to take my car in for the 50,000 mile service check, and I almost used that as an excuse not to ride/knit. Instead, I rode and knitted, then went straight to the Dealer, yes, sweaty and wearing sweatpants and a T-shirt.  I refused to care.  It took about 1 hour to change the oil, etc, regular maintenance, and I knitted in the waiting room.  Then I stopped at the Knittery on the way home and picked up some yarn for a chemo hat that I want to make for the Sharing Our Gifts Group.  I am so glad I stuck to my exercise schedule.  I am still sitting on the side of the road.


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This is starting to remind me a bit of when I was stuck on the side of the road near Joint Base Lewis-McCord.  This highway is forever, and there are no yarn shops until I get to Portland.  I scouted ahead a bit and look at the map of Portland with the search for Yarn shops:


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Pretty amazing.

Ok, I hope to post FO (finished objects) tomorrow, so I need to get off my blog and get back to knitting.

Yours,
f1bercat
shaping the planet one almostish scarf at a time

Orange Chinese Poppy

Eastside Knitters Guild Attacked by Knitted Monsters

Rebecca Danger 2012.05.21

Eastside Knitters Guild

Rebecca Danger of the DangerCrafts shop on Etsy and the wonderful Big Book of Knitted Monsters visited The Eastside Knitters Guild tonight at Crossroads Mall.  She brought lots of fun samples of her monster patterns, books, and kits.

Rebecca started out designing, sewing and selling artisan purses and bags, and only switched to knitting patterns relatively recently.  The most amazing thing about her  is how self taught she is.  She is just so creative and ready to take changes and try things.  If she wants a pattern to do something and doesn't now how, she just makes it up.  I love how whimsical and endearing her "monsters" are.





In addition to finding the monster, dinosaur, and other patterns in her books, you can buy patterns individually at her Etsy Store.



WIP's  

I have finished the 3rd clue on the Mock (mystery sock) for Sock Knitters Anonymous and my "summer" colored sock for SolidSocks for May.  This clue started with the heel turn and included the gussets.



I just love this color.  I am using Cascade Heritage Sock in Turquoise.

The heels were pretty standard, but the gusset has a twisted rib, continuing the twisted rib pattern that made up the legs.  I really love the look.  The 4th and last clue will be released tomorrow morning.  I can't wait.

I also finished the third Spa Washcloth from my Liz Marino Gift Knits Club.  These are so much fun to knit and such a great gift idea.  I have decided to make them for my 3 sisters and 4 sisters in law for Christmas gifts.

Right after I bound off, I cast on another spa washcloth with some of the organic yarn I bought on the 2012 Puget Sound Yarn Tour.  3 down, 18 to go.










Where in the World is f1bercat?

When I left off my bike tour, I was at 183.63 miles and on the side of the road in Oregon.  I managed to knit another 5.1 miles and made it to Knit Divas!  188.73 miles knitted so far.


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To tell the truth, I am not sure this LYS is still in business.  They have a website, and a Ravelry Group, but it all looks a bit inactive.  The economy is so tough.  I am glad I participated in the 2012 Puget Sound LYS Tour.  It is so important to support our small businesses, especially our local ones.  I hope that Knit Divas is still alive.  It is such a great name for a shop.

Here is my progress so far:


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And here is where I am on the big map:


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I still have a way to go.

Stay safe and well.

Yours,
f1bercat
shaping the planet one spa washcloth at a time

one of Rebecca Danger's Monsters

The one where I waited too late to post then did this lame post because I wanted to post something...

2012.05.13

Warning, at the bottom there are spoiler photos of the SKA May Mystery Sock by Rose Hiver.  So, if you are planning on joining in on the Mock, and don't want to see what it looks like, do not scroll down.  That being said...

I wanted to write a post showing the extremely cool spa wash cloths I am making.  These are a part of the Liz Marino Gift Club,  I am on the 3rd wash cloth and about half way finished with it.

The yarn is 100% organic cotton and organically dyed.  I love the colors.  The patterns are super easy of course.  Liz came up with a few pretty, simple yet rough?  nubby?  how to describe?  well the patterns are meant to make the washcloths slough off the dead skin, etc, when you wash your face.

This is a fun type of what I think the Knitmore Girls would call potato chip knitting.  It's fun and fast and hard to put down.  When I finish the last of the three that came with the club, I am definitely casting on another set of 3.  I have decided that I want to give these to my 3 sisters, and 4 sisters-in-law next Christmas, along with some really nice face wash.

It's a practical, yet decadent gift.

The other thing I have made super progress on is the Mock challenge for May for SKA (Sock Knitters Anonymous) group on Ravelry, the Chiendent Socks by Rose Hiver.  Rose Hiver is a member of SKA, and I have long enjoyed her designs.  She does not do these wild, impractical socks that look amazing but don't stay up.  Yet, her socks are always very pretty. 

I am making my socks in Turquoise Cascade Heritage Sock.  I have finished Clue 2 which included the legs and heel flaps.  So to refresh your memories,

Clue 1 was the cuffs:

Clue 2 kept the lace that goes down the center of the front and back, but changed the sides from lace to a seed stitch.

As you can see the heel flaps are pretty standard, but using ktbl instead of just k, makes that very pretty ridge a bit more distinctive.

I brought my socks to a neighborhood party on Saturday at our park, and received tons of complements, though most were for the color of the yarn.  I am trying to start a knitting group in my neighborhood, so am knitting in public whenever possible.  I want to have an adult group, and a kids' group.  More on these ideas later.

Clue 3 will be posted tomorrow, and I will get to work on the heels, and gusset, I presume.  Stay tuned for more ....

That's about all.  I do have a where in the world is f1bercat to post, but once again, I put the writing off until I was just too late to do the mapping, etc, necessary.

This week Thursday - Sunday is the Puget Sound Local Yarn Crawl.  I will be visiting 21 yarn shops in 4 days.  I will bring my camera and try to take notes, but since I will be doing all of the driving, I think it will be a lot of photos and not many notes.  It should give me (and therefore you, f1beristas) a taste of what we have to offer in the Puget Sound area.

Good night for now.

Stay safe and well.
Yours,
f1bercat
shaping the planet lots of socks and washcloths at a time

I Got Legs!

2012.04.17

WIP

I think I'm running out of good titles.  Or maybe the flu is making me slow.  As a writer, I'm going with the later. But there is no denying, I Got Legs!

I have finished the legs on my Subtle Socks (as I am calling them).  I'm using the Lyra's Socks pattern by DeusXMachina on Ravelry.  They are based on the main character from Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy.  I am knitting them in Miss Babs Yummy Superwash in the Squash Blossom colorway.  I've been posting photos in both SolidSocks and Sock Knitters Anonymous in Ravelry, since the color is for Solid Socks (yellow this month) and the pattern is "literary" which is SKA's theme. I keep getting complements on the color from people in SKA.  I think that after winter, people are so ready to knit in something light.  And not only does this yarn feel super wonderful, but you can see the stitch definition is terrific.  I still consider myself a beginning/intermediate knitter.  But, wow, these socks are gorgeous.

This is one of the reasons I am glad I joined these two sock knitting groups.  I am pushed to finish a pair of socks every month.  I am pushed to try new patterns and techniques.  I am pushed to knit in colors I might be too timid to try.  And since Solid Socks has featured dyers, I am also trying new yarns.  That's another reason I joined the Harry Potter Knitting & Crochet House Cup  Group. I don't think I will be "sorted" into a house this "term."  (3 month period), but just reading the classes/challenges offered, will push me to try new things.

Where in the World is f1bercat?

Still coughing on the couch with a bit of a headache.  My son has the lead in the high school play this weekend, and I hope the cough is over.  I don't want to hack my way through his performance.

Stay well.

f1bercat
shaping the planet two subtle sock legs at a time