Now Including Knitting with Burt

Oh yes Casa del Burton has been picture happy lately. First he thought he would provide complementary color to the sock I'm working on for D.

I gotta show them my white bits too, so they can really see how close it is.

Then before Momma could find some missing socks for D some clearance yarn made its way to our house. It was indeed a good value.

Psshaw Momma you just really like knitting socks for Daddy. 

You did find some missing from the move socks so it is not quite so dire.

I will say it is a nice manly business brown color though, suitable for suit wearing days.

Let me see that first sock again. It is a bit wild for suit days. 

But see how nice it goes with my just discovered bed though...

No really it is fine I don't want to destroy knit things, yet?

So here is a collection of what I've been knitting lately. My Rhinebeck-Free Chickens is on the left. I love how it is knitting up sorta stripy. D's Burt approved Majesty sock on the top. And D's knit night sock that I am mostly working on at, you got it, knit night. I'm enjoying getting out and meeting some other knitters.

Momma, that is not all the socks you're knitting is it?

No Burt it is not but they are all the ones handy at picture time is that OK with you? 

OK just don't drape any on me and take funny pictures.

What do you mean it is part of my job?

I did not see knitwear model on that contract you signed, but you know I am pretty darn cute, it may have been implied.

Oh and that sweater you left on the bed the other day was nice and toasty...

Proof of Yarn Love

Ah what a funny but confused Hubby I have. I opened my blog to find I had already "written" a post. If I ever find "all fiber bearing animals to be utterly repulsive"...WOW I don't even know what I would do. Shave a couple of cats?

Anyways it seems I must prove to you that I indeed still love almost all things wooly and furry.

Into the Whirled Glouchester Sock Children of Time colorway

See that is how much of a sock I can get done while at the last local showing of the new Avengers movie. I had ripped back this yarn a few times months ago because it was pooling a not appealing way. It has been sitting in time out for months now. It is still kinky from all my previous attempts. After knitting on it for hours in the dark, not knowing what it would look like, I gotta say two stitches really do matter. I am loving this.

Jack would like you to know he is not in fact a shaved cat. See all that shiny fur?

Nobody needs to call the ASPCA on my Momma, OK?

Sock That Rock Lightweight - Flambeau

These socks were started and knit on in a church council meeting. I think I may be getting them used to the idea of my knitting at these events. Two hours of committee talking without knitting? Perish the thought!

Dragonfly Fibers Djinni Sock - Starry Night

See I've still got my eyebrows and whiskers and everything. Mom was just making a joke, OK?

Sarah, does that colorway remind you of anything? You know that one gorgeous painting that you cross stitched? Hopefully mine won't take a few years, but then again I' not framing mine either. Unless we redefine wearing them on my feet as framing. 

My cowl is finished too. But those pictures deserve their own post. Let's just say Jack may get a sweater.

So the world can keep on spinning, I still love fiber, yarn, my kitties an my hubby.

Socks on a Cat

Well since I can never seem to pin down D for his sock pictures, I called upon his stunt double Gustav.

First up we have Bittersweet Woolery's Frog Prince socks. With all the winter we were having I decided I needed something bright. Oh boy did these fit the bill. Good thing they were in my purse when I had to wait at the service station for a new battery. Winter killed off my old one.

Now the astute among you will note that the socks are in fact two shades the one on the left being more yellow while the one on the right is more green. I swear to you they were knit from the same skein of yarn. Now D has some totally unique super bright socks. Since he really is my Frog Prince.

Next up we have Gus modeling the first Pining for You sock from Socks that Rock Mediumweight. 

I did a nice little cable down one side since it adds a bit of excitement to a lovely plain-ish yarn color. 

This was not a warm day so Gus was not opposed to having wooly things draped over him. 

Finally my sock was still on the needles for the photo shoot and that does not make for a happy kitty knitting model so Jack nosed in to prove my knitting is kitty approved.

Now up on the needles for D is Mt. Rutsen Studio Margarita socks. I was saving this yarn for the dark winter days but somehow it missed the rotation twice now. I could not think of it sitting till next year, and since the grass may be uncovered it still is not growing yet. This color shall amuse me in the mean time. Totally not in my normal color selections but I am adoring it so far. Now if I could just find a cable to highlight the color.

I'm going to go feed the cats then look through a few knitting books

Rhinebeck 2014 The Haul

We did something new this year, we finally went camping for Rhinebeck! It was great and I will tell you more later, today it is about the yarn. But first I have to tell you what a mighty fine man I have. As we were waiting to get in to the festival I was fussing over him and worrying about how he was going to keep himself entertained. He looked at me and said "I need you to be selfish today. Don't worry about me." What a mighty fine man, yes he is.

I know I bought way less than in years past. Don't worry I am feeling alright. I did come back with more than half of the money I took down. I am a thrifty girl, ha ha, thrifty girl buying hand painted sock yarn I think not.

I made a bee line to the farthest back barn to check out Dragonfly Fibers. I was told I have a very determined walk. Apparently I was scanning but on a mission.

To the left is Starry Night in Djinni Sock. Look at me who claims to hate yellow and orange getting in touch with my inner color love. On the right we have Zombie Apocalypse in Damsel. D kept calling us yarn zombies so it seemed appropriate to get the yarn. Plus it is beautiful, no really beautiful.

As always I had to get me some Socks That Rock. Bottom is Muddy Autumn lightweight. Top is Tea and Alchemy in medium weight. I was happy to lend some advice to a lady near me that asked which weight would be better for socks. That is me the crazy sock knitting lady.

At Bittersweet Woolery I found Inverted Zombie Queen, I miss read the label and it has been Introverted Zombie Queen in my head since then. That is me an Introverted yarn Zombie Queen. What I can declare myself Queen of my own realm.

Since I love Star Trek I just could not walk away from the Trek colored yarn on the left. I remember watching those uniform colors all the time.  Into the whirled has some very nice colors. I resisted the one called Bazinga, but now I don't know how I did that.

The bag of odds and ends on the right is what I though would be great to practice some spinning. I can try out some things without feeling as if I am wasting good wool. I bet once I am done it will make a very interesting something or other. I really like the idea of being able to play with my spinning for a time. I learned a couple of different ways to ply that I want to check out.

So six pairs of socks, some replacement cubic needles and a bag of spinning fun, not bad for a days play.

Raspberry Moose Socks

After hemming and hawing around I burrowed deep into my stash and heard the call of the Raspberry Moose.

I picked up this skein of Socks That Rock at Rhinebeck (where else?) in 2011. Take that three year old stash! Ahem, dealing with three year olds can be a bit trying. Luckily for me I had let this yarn and myself marinate for just the right amount of time. 

We have agreed that we would like to finally knit the Nemesis Socks. 

Things are moving along quite nicely, I have 3/4 of the pattern repeat done. Oddly enough the yarn looks more tan than lilac while I am knitting with it.

I am trying to knit more patterned socks with the solid and semisolid yarns that I have. Partly because that is one of the reasons I bought them. And partly because I need some fancier socks to show off my knitting skills. I love plain knit brightly colored socks but knitting fancier socks does not take as long as I think it does. It seems like I can whip out a pair of plain socks rather quickly but the patterned socks only stay on the needles an extra month or so. I am just so much of a product knitter that I get wound up that last month.

Really I've just been distracting myself from the urge to buy sweater yarn. I am wearing the same three or four sweaters every week. The weather had been so cold I was unwilling to go without them.

I believe I have figured out what to do on my first set in sleeve sweater so I can get moving on that one too. I've been telling myself I need to finish that one before I can start the next one, but I always have more than one pair of socks on the needles. Why not more than one sweater? An Arctic blast enveloping the country is just enough to make a knitter's fingers twitch.

See you at the yarn shop tomorrow?

Rhinebeck Stash Enhancement

I found a lot of great yarn at Rhinebeck this year so you best get yourself a nice cup of tea and settle in for a show. I of course took my mandatory yarn on the grass poses. 

My first purchase this year is was what must be my favorite commercial sock yarn, Socks That Rock. I picked up two skeins of lightweight, because with all the exercise I am getting I should be a lightweight too soon. (I know it really does not work that way but a girl can dream, right?) This yarn makes some of my most reliable socks. I just wish Hubby felt the same, ah well that just means that I keep trying all the new yarns I find for him.

Shelridge Farm had some Opal colored yarn that I could not resist. I've made D a few pairs of socks from this yarn and they seem to be holding up fine. The yarn is called soft touch but to me it has a nice rustic feel, I find it quite enjoyable to knit with.

I finally decided to get a new circular needle case, my plastic one from Knitpicks never really won me over. And the best part of this one? I found one that holds dpns too. Crippenworks makes a fine needle case. Want to see the inside?

It is quite stylish. The maker will replace the elastic closure if I simply send it to her.  I told her I was still happy with my original dpn case I bought about five years ago. She inquired how the elastic was holding up. It has just a bit more play so it is good to know that I can get it fixed if required.

I found some lovely green cashmere sock yarn at Ellen's Half Pint Farm, smooshy smooshy yarn. I always think of how Pa called Laura Half Pint in the Little House on the Prairie books. If you have not read them maybe you should. Ya know since one of them was set in South Dakota. Of course that was also the book that had a terrible blizzard.

I bought a button! Mostly because I've been wanting this one for a while now. 

I even made it into the souvenir tent for some shirts. I almost saw a fight breakout too. There is a very fine line between line jumping and asking way too many questions. Especially when the person answering your questions tells you the best way to get service is to get in the line.

After the ruckus I grabbed a falafel for lunch and took a trip out to the car. You know for unloading purposes. It is pretty hard to manage the crowds and your over filled bag. Plus I had to pick up my book for Ann Budd to sign. She told us in class the day before that sitting alone at a book signing is very lonely and boring, and you all know how badly I wanted another knitting book signed.

D could not figure out what the inscription meant. "Enjoy your trip to the Masters." He was trying so hard to figure out how golf was related to the book. Sock knitting Master Class, get it?

A new shawl pin from KokoNoelle. This year I decided to go with a neutral color so I can confidently wear if with my more colorful shawls like say my Color Affection AKA the-shawl-that-will-not-be-photographed.

Bittersweet Woolery finally got me to buy Frog Prince. Every time I see the colors they call to me, this year I answered. Plus that name is almost as good as the name on my first skein of her yarn, Terrible Lizard.

Into the Whirled called to me with a skein of Martini & Rossi and a braid of Romney fiber in the Aurora Borealis colorway. It is so hard to chose fiber, first I zeroed in on the colors I wanted then you have to decide what fiber content you want. I've heard good things about Romney being a good beginner fiber.

My surprise find of the day was Tucker Woods. I must have walked by their booth three times before something lured me in. When I first started knitting I listened to podcasts and found out what was popular and in demand. As my stash has grown I've been able to purchase some of these well known brands. But now I find myself looking more toward the lesser known and local farms. I find it very gratifying to be able to purchase yarn from the shepherd, or at least someone that knows how real sheep smell. Plus look at that awesome bookmark! This Iverness colorway just keeps making me smile.

My surprise purchase of the festival was this particular colorway from Mt. Rutsen Studio, limey green is so not me. But it is called Margarita and something inside me hummed at the thought of limey socks. I don't even care that much for Margaritas, but seriously happy to make some limey socks. It is like knitting has broken all my color hatred rules. Things ten years ago that I would have wrinkled up my nose at, now make me happy. And those stitch markers there? They were the ones I missed buying at the Southern Adirondack Festival. I came for the stitch markers and stayed for the yarn.

Not a bad haul if I do say so myself. Eight new pairs of socks just waiting to get on my feet and worn out. I am a happy knitter. Are we taking any bets as to what gets cast on first?

Porcupine Socks

My porcupine socks are off my back and on my feet. As you know I knit a lot of socks, maybe not as many as some people but my feet are always tucked into something woolly. I love looking at sock patterns but don't seem to knit many of them. I decided this was the year to alter that trend.

Achilles HeAl by Lucia Light with my little 2x4 feet modifications. 

This pattern caught my attention because it is knit in a different way. The heel can be replaced without needing to reknit the whole foot again. I thought this could be a valuable technique to add to my skillset. Plus it makes a cool sole.

I did have trouble figuring out how the heel was made. I don't think it is the best method for me, but it is nice to know it can be done.

Plus it broke up the color pooling so nice. Pretty are they not?

Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts, Socks that Rock, medium weight in the Drusilla colorway.

Wrestling a Porcupine

I'm trying out a new sock technique, and at one point I would have sworn I was wrestling a porcupine. Things are going alright now and I really like the look. But wow who knew sock knitting could be so dangerous?

So socks are normally knit as a big tube that you do some special sock magic and create a bump out for the heel. Heels are a common place for holes to appear so many people try to figure out cleaver ways to make it easier to replace the heel or sole of a sock. 

The sock Achilles HeAl is one of those kinds of socks. I kept being drawn to it. When my Drusilla yarn refused to be just another sock, she sweet talked me into her plan. I didn't even know Drusilla was sweet on Achilles. But she was and I was stuck with a porcupine.

Dang it I knew I should have taken pictures along the way to explain but alas I could not get a hand free.  Achilles is knit as a normal top down sock but you knit the instep, or top of the foot, portion flat for a ways. The pattern calls for you to cast on some stitches to work all the way around the foot, knit the toe, then work the heel.

I however used my Ravelry skills and did as most people did, I followed that plan for a bit but instead of knitting the toe I went back and knit the heel. It is pretty hard to figure out how long a sock should be when a quarter of it is still missing.

I am not kidding when I tell you that a few times I had twelve double pointed needles and a circular needle, all holding or working stitches on that sock. I still am not sure how I did it. Let's hope I can recreate it for the second sock.

Poor Dru was even sent to time out with all those needles poking her too. I kept getting confused by the wording on the second round of the heel. The designer has you pick up and knit a round of stitches plain but then stops the second round of knitting to give a new starting point while leaving 15 stitches unworked. Those 15 stitches jump from round one to round three without passing GO. I, being the ignorant knitter that I occasionally am, did not think you could get anywhere without passing GO. So off to jail Dru went to await her turn again.

The most frustrating thing was checking online to see if anyone had the same problem. Many times the heel was called fiddly, but no one owned up to being thwarted by it. Till I read one lady's project notes where she explained that the round ended before all the stitches were worked. Sometimes it is the simplest things that bite you in the bum.

What a wonderful thing project notes are people!

New Socks Tuesday

Whew! I finally finished some socks. With winter bearing down on us it is good to have new socks. I had to put away my summer socks, you know my pretty lace ones and light weight wool. What do you mean you don't wear colorful light weight wool in the summer?

This leaves me with only 15-20 pair to choose from. Poor me. That is not counting the socks that have gone to sock hole heaven. I tried repairing a sock once but I don't like it. Of course I picked my least favorite holy pair too, socks that I never really liked. That may have something to do with not liking the repair either.

Anyways back to the socks at hand, ahem, I mean on foot. These guys tried to do me in, the top of the second sock made me think that it was pooling differently than the first sock, so I kept frogging and knitting. I must have cast it on three or four times. Finally I just gave in and said fine, look all fraternal twins-ish, I am going to keep on knitting!

Now of course I can not tell the difference. Sometimes I think I should not even look at the second sock, if it looks different I won't know.

These are Socks that Rock, lightweight, Rare Gems that I call Fall Colors. The yarn was bought at Rhinebeck in 2011. Is a year long enough to be considered stash?

I started them in September hoping to have new fall colored socks in the fall but they tricked me. Socks what are you going to do with them? Oh that is right wear them!

First fall sock

I am still on my never ending sock knitting spree. I always have at least one sock on the needles, usually it rides around with me in my purse. It gets a bit of action at work during my lunchtime and before my ASL class two nights a week. The other night at class, one of the other students asked me why I was not working on it when she arrived just after me. I had not yet pulled it out of my bag. (Shh, I was trying to finish my homework first.)

There was some discussion about my knitting and I was requested to make two people socks. Now we all know I am a tad greedy protective of my knitwear and I am so not knitting for someone that I don't even know their name. We have to spend more than six evenings together and had at least a couple of cups of tea together. Scones, scones would be nice too.

I did feel bad when she came into the next class, her Mom told her not to be creepy, and asking for socks from someone you don't know is creepy. I reassured her it was not the first time I had been asked and I did not think she was creepy. I did not tell her I thought she was a tad bold yes, but not creepy.

I did want to ask out of mild curiosity what they would pay for hand knit beauty that is my socks, but I did not want to be honest and tell them the yarn cost more than they were willing to pay. Usually people will say things like $10 or $20. 

Sock yarn...$20, needles...$10, the knowledge and time to turn them into socks...priceless.

So this week's purse pal is some lovely yarn from last year's Rhinebeck haul. Socks that Rock (STR) in a mill end colorway that I think of as Fall Leaves. 

It is starting to get colder and my sock stash is switching over to my heavy duty socks. My thicker STR socks will replace my lace and thinner socks.

Now I think I will make myself a cup of hot chocolate and finish a sock toe.

New sock Friday on a Saturday and mittens too!

I wore my newest lovelies to take lunch to the Hubby at work, yesterday. I think I've used up all my random day off chips so he will not have lunch to look forward to for a bit. We had a nice time and I even got to come home with half of a Fritos bag. Those chips are a little slice of heaven on earth, an unhealthy slice but tasty nonetheless.

Back to the socks, this is another one of my plain stockinette socks that really shows off the coloring of the yarn. I do believe that this yarn was from my first ever trip to Rhinebeck, ahh the memories. I was just a new knitter then and had only two or three hand knit socks to my name back then. (I have quite a few more than that now, you've seen many of them here.)

This is Socks that Rock medium weight yarn in the colorway Rare Gems. So now these little gems are mine! I don't think they will see much action this summer though, it is a fairly substantial yarn more suited to keeping out the cold rather than enjoying the summer heat.

Speaking of inappropriate things to wear in the summer. I finally managed to wrangle a picture of my mittens from this last winter. These fit fine until you pair them with a winter coat, then they are a tad too long due to the cuff of the coat wanting to sit where the cuff of the mitten wants to sit. It is a bit of wintertime sibling rivalry, I can almost hear them shoving each other and saying You move over, No you move over! 

I have not yet had to threaten to pull the car over if they can not figure out how to get along, yet. My mittens were hard to photograph because they stayed in the car once winter turned to spring and summer. I think they liked riding around with the windows down and the music playing. Alas now they're sitting on the desk next to the computer with nothing to do. Bummer mittens this is your life in the summertime.

Wavy Socks

Well here it is Friday and I really do have a finished object for Finished Object Friday. I finished my Wavy Cables Socks last Saturday at knitting group. It is a good thing these knit up so quickly because I think I knit top down to the gusset four times with these, on three needle sizes. 

I realize they are just a tad large on me but there was no way either of the first two iterations was going to work with my feet. Cables are less stretchy than plain stockinette knitting so I tried something new and it seemed to work well for me. I knit a longer heel flap than I normally would, it gave just enough room to get the sock over my heel.  I am planning to do this anytime I have a less stretchy fabric. Now I've forgotten where I learned that so I can't give anyone credit for the idea, all I can say is thank you intelligent knitter!

These are out of Blue Moon - Socks That Rock medium weight yarn. In a colorway that I bought partly because of the name, Spy Say Guacamolay. With a name like that what is not to love, especially when the color is reddish brown and avocado green. I was lucky enough to pick up the yarn on my Portland Oregon trip last summer. The pattern is in Knitter's Book of Yarn or KB of Wool, one of the two. Really you should own both according to my buying habits.

Yes I am a little in love with the way these socks came out! I make cables and I feel like a real knitter too.

Working on it

Recently I finished some plain socks, one set for me and one set for D. I have been eying my sock yarn pile lately with much anticipation. I want to knit it all right now. But when I finish things I hit the pile hard and finishing 2 pairs within a couple of days compounds the cast on urge.

I bought Socks that Rock in 'Spy say Guacamolay', last summer at Twisted in Portland OR. D saw these the other night and asked what the colorway name is. He did not believe me when I told him. Our conclusion is that you must get bored naming colorways and you start to throw out random ones. 

While I love the way this yarn wears I am not the biggest fan of how the colors can pool together. It seems to me that the colors are meant to be knit in plain stockinette. So I calculated my gauge and cast on for a plain sock. Then I remembered a sock from Knitter's Book of Wool that I had been meaning to try out. Wavy socks.

The problem was I had started the cuff for a gauge of 7 stitches/inch, or in my case 64 stitches around. The pattern called for 72 stitches. I finished my ribbing and made 8 stitches. Volia, exactly what Cookie A told me not to do for the German Stocking. Well my friends this is not the German Stocking and I am cruising right along.

I know cables pull in and are less stretchy than stockinette. Now I feel like I should really try them on before I get too much farther. Does anyone else have a sense of foreboding now? It certainly makes for a pretty sock.

Once I finished D's socks and I changed the Guac sock to a patterned sock I cast on the above crazy yarn colors. Now this one will definitely be a plain sock. I think there are 4 or 5 colors partying in that yarn. I like working plain socks with interesting colors. We shall see how wacky they will turn out.

I am still ignoring the Rhombus socks for some unknown reason. I do know that eventually I will be consumed with knitting these up if my future holds up to what I have done in my past.

Oh and my Central Park Hoodie class starts tonight. So you will see my progress on that soon. I need to get my knitting bag in order before I go to class and make sure that I have all that I need.