Taking a Sock Break

I have given my sweater a time out. So, I spent my knitting time on the train with my socks. I completed the yellow and pink stripe. I love how it is matching perfectly. Woohooo!!! 

Thinking of Socks

Knitting socks yesterday has made me think about my next pair of socks. 

I have this lovely Malbec color from Voolenvine yarns. I have decided to make the Owlie socks, so that meant a trip to Michael's for size 6 beads. 

This is what I found. 

 

I decided to use the bottom color. I love the duo chrome effect.  

And speaking of socks, here is a comparison of what I finished last night on DPNs, to what was already knit on the other sock, with the 9 inch circular needle. 

Happy knitting everyone. 

Knitting and Cheerleading.

Today, I went to Queens College to attend a Cheerleading Competition.  Of course, I thought about what project to bring with me.  

I had already started my Revolte socks, and completed the afterthought heel zip line (light grey yarn).  

So, I decided to rip out my ill-fitting sock that was made with a size 1.5 needle. I casted on again with size 1 Lantern Moon bamboo needles that I bought from Purl Soho last week.  I like these needles.  They are 6 inches, and very smooth.  

After a few hours of knitting, cheering, video-taping, and clapping, I made some great progress on my sock.

My little cousin's team also won great prizes.  They were so good.  Both of them were lifted in the stunts.  

I'm so proud of them.  They were full of energy, confident, and had full control during their routine. 

And, of course they were happy to hold the trophies. 

So, after all of the excitement, I decided to wind down by trying my hand at some Japanese lace.  Truthfully, it's not so relaxing. I am used to lace where the pattern is on the right side, and the wrong side is just a purl row.  NOT HERE!!!!  There are yarn overs and p2togs on the wrong side too!  OMG

This is the lace on the sleeve of the Japan Sleeves pattern.  

This is 1 lace repeat, which measures 3.75" tall.  I have to work each sleeve to 23 inches, so I am calculating that I will need to do 6 pattern repeats for each sleeve.  1 down 11 more to go!  Woohoooo!!!

Lastly, I made use of the extra hour that we had from resetting the clock,  by knitting on the Ombre scarf.  I have 2 more skeins to add, and it is currently at 56 inches.

I sent a picture to the recipient, and he is happy with it.  I'm trying to hurry, because NYC has gotten really cold.  

Socktober Sundays - NYC Yarn Crawl

Today, I met with Tawana (Carmelnap on Ravelry) to go on the NYC yarn shop excursion. 

Our main mission......SOCK YARN

Our first stop was Knitty City. I decided to drive, and it took us forever to get there because the police blocked off traffic going across town, due to a parade. Ugh. 

So, when we finally got there I was so relieved. I felt a sense of calm, being surrounded by all of the glorious yarn. 

There was a 40% off bin, and I saw this color that stood out to me. 

It's merino wool goodness, and I love the color. 

I initially went looking for MadelineTosh's Tosh Sock Yarn in Holi Festival. However, that yarn flies off the shelf like nobody's business. One of the lovely staff members found me a suitable replacement. 

Julie Asselin's Nanos in the Shortcake colorway. It was dubbed "unicorn skin" by one of the lovely staff members at Knitty City. I think it's a cute name. It's made is Merino, Cashmere, and Nylon. This blend is turning into one of my favorites already. 

Our next journey lead us to the new pop-up shop Gauge & Tension. I got there 5 minutes before closing because of stupid traffic on the BQE. However, the owners were very gracious to have us there an made us feel very welcomed. 

The best part was, I got to meet Kristin of the Yarngasm podcast (Voolenvine on Ravelry). I have been a podcast junkie lately, and her podcast is one of my favorites. I feel like I know so much about her, and it was great to actually meet her in person. She is super sweet. 

And of course I had to purchase some of her beautiful hand dyed yarns. The funny thing is, I knew most of the colorways without even looking at the labels. My memory from the podcast is better than I thought. Haha. 

The first color that I picked up is Reflektor. 

This looked like grey and white on screen, but in person there are these light blue pops of color. It's a far cry away from my warm pink tones, but it's a color I couldn't resist. The fiber content is a blend of Merino and Stellina. I love love love the sparkle. My first sock ever was a sparkle yarn, and I got second sock syndrome and never completed the second one. This will gladly replace that. 

The next color is something I drooled over when I first saw it on Instagram. The Wool & Wine Collection's "Malbec". 

I currently have this obsession with anything remotely close to Oxblood, so this just did it for me. The fiber content is Merino, Cashmere, and Nylon. Once again, my new favorite. I am contemplating making Owlie socks with this yarn. I have to make it to the bead store to get a suitable color for the owl eyes. 

So, now that you have seen my yarn goodies.....a proper sock update is due.

I made some progress on Révolté. 

I tried it on and felt a little funny about it. 

I feel like it's too big. It's laying on my feet instead of stretching over my feet. 

I initially used size 1.5 ( 2.5mm) needles. I also noticed that my knitting is looser on DPN's than magic loop. 

So, I decided to start the other half of the skein with the size 1 (2.25mm) needle. 

I have to knit a few more inches before I actually try it on though. 

While I was knitting with the Knitter' Pride  needles, a piece of one of the needles chipped off. 

I found this to be very strange and unexpected. 

I'm not sure if it's worth contacting the yarn company for a replacement. I will just carry on with the knitting in the meantime. 

Aside from my sock knitting, I have been stuck on sleeve island with my Rhinebeck  sweater. I try to knit a few rows every chance I get. I have finished all of the decreases on one sleeve, and I'm a few inches shy of starting the cuff. I'm just hoping I can cast on the other sleeve in the proper size tomorrow. I am trying to give myself time to complete the button band as well. Rhinebeck is less than a week away. 

Happy Knitting everyone. 

Socktober Sunday - Week 1

On Saturday, I spent hours knitting the sleeve of my Grandpa Cardigan.  I needed a bit of a change for the day.

I decided to take a stab at completing socks for SOCKTOBER!!!!  Today was the last official day that I wore a  pair of sandals.  They are these cute open-toe booties.  As I dreaded the thought of putting them away, I began to realize that pretty soon I will need winter boots, and I have no socks.  EEEEEK!  

I have countless skeins of sock yarn.  Enough where I have sock yarn split into 2 skeins, and just waiting to be cast on. Here are some of them.

And.......I may even have a few more skeins tucked away in the OTHER bin, that hasn't been split yet.  

So, why do I have no socks???

I figured it out.  I got all happy when I learned the magic loop 2 at a time technique.  I get all excited, work the socks to the heel turn / gusset, and then Boom!  I stop.  Something weird happens with the counts.  It's like front sock 1, front sock 2, back sock 2, back sock 1.  But when you are doing k2tog  between the backs and the fronts, things get all crazy.  So, it took me about 3 pairs of socks getting stuck somewhere at the heel turn to recognize this flaw.  Silly me should have heel turned 1 at a time, but .... I digress.  

So, here is an example of one sock.

I casted on this sock on July 26, 2009.  The yarn is Araucania Ranco Multy in Pink, and it was given to me by one of my really sweet knitting friends whose Ravelry ID is Carmelnap.  It was a birthday gift, and I was so excited that she gave me this gorgeous pink yarn.  The pattern is Kai-Mei from Cookie A.'s Sock Innovation book.  

For some reason, I got stuck at the gusset.  I have decided to separate the socks, and knit the pattern to complete it.  Now, I just need to figure out where exactly I am in the pattern.  

That is another one of my personal knitting "problems" that I am trying to fix.  I get lost in a pattern, am apprehensive about ripping back, and then I just put it to the side and do the inevitable.  Cast on another project, promising myself that this one will be better.  I will take notes this time.  I will follow it graciously and have a nice completed something in the end. 

So, yeah.  I'm guilty.  I kinda just did that about an hour ago.

I purchased this yarn from The Loopy Ewe about a week ago.  Biscotte & Cie Felix Self Striping Yarn in "Gazania B". 

Gazania is actually a flowering plant native to Southern Africa.  Here is a picture for color reference.

So, the yarn spoke to me and said "I want to be a pair of Toe-Up Afterthought Heel Socks".

So, in my knitting drunkeness (because I had to be drunk off of the yarn fumes to cast on another sock while there was a perfectly pink sock begging for attention) I wound it into a skein.

It's soooooo pretty!!!  

Then, to take a step further, I split the skein so that they were even in weight (53g), and I cut it so that both skeins started with the same color.  Yes, I am a little bit picky about having matchy-matchy socks. 

I casted on 20 stitches, using the Long-Tail Cast On and alternating it between two needles.  This is the cast on that I have done over 200 times for my hexipuffs.  I can do it in my sleep. 

I am using my new 5 inch Knitters Pride needles.  They take a bit of getting used to.  They are so little that I feel like they will snap at any minute.  So, I am being extra careful with them.  Maybe I should have gone with the 6 inch ones.  I was worried that my stitches were going to fall off of the needle after I finished my increases.  But, after putting the stitches on 4 needles, that worry went away.

So, here is the sock that I started.

I am going to call it "Révolté" for 2 reasons.

1. The yarn is made in Saint-Bruno, Quebec.

2. This is the "rebel" project, because although I should be knitting other things..... I am going against all that and knitting away.  

This will become my travel project, because all of my other projects are too big to travel with now.  

I am hoping for 2 things.

1. Beautiful self striping patterns

2. No second sock syndrome.  

Happy Knitting Everyone!