Bad Sock!

You naughty sock. You took up three days of my knitting time. First the pattern errors. Then my misunderstanding the pattern. Now your gauge is too floppy. I may have spaced out and missed a pattern row (inexcusable, it's so easy). You are not going to happen. It's off to Frogsville for you.

What to do when even your easy knitting is too challenging? Knit more garter stitch squares. So easy you can knit them in the dark at a school play.



Isabella says, "Get it together, Mom."

Yarn Dominance?

In response to my Estonian Socks, nova asked, "Did you play around with color dominance in the cuffs? I like the effect." It made me look at the photo again--oh the things we notice through the lens--and what do you know? Those socks don't look alike at all. I thought about it all day at work. I don't think I changed hands so why are my socks so different? I think the answer is "one year of experience." It's fair to say I've done a bit of knitting in the last year. And during that time my continental knitting has improved a lot. The sock on the left has loose, flabby stitches. The sock on the right is crisp and clear. The difference is really dramatic.

Estonian Socks

Pattern: Estonian Socks from Folk Socks
Yarn: Naturespun Sport in Natural, Beet Red, Nordic Blue and Storm
Needles: US0 Addi Turbos
Notes: My longest WIP ever. I don't know why these took so long. The yarn is not ideal for twisted stitches as it splits easily. Just very grateful to have them done.

How'd You Do?

"I see you've met my faithful handyman."

I skipped out early on Purlygirls tonight to attend Cineoke with Wes. I got to fulfill a lifelong dream of singing "Sweet Transvestite" in front of an audience. Wes and I also got to perform a duet of "Gaston" from Beauty and the Beast (I was Le Fou). It's fun but it only runs for two hours. Also there were way, way, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too many numbers performed from Rent and a bootleg of Wicked, which I have never read, seen or heard so was really lost on me.

I have finally made it to the heel flap of the Estonian sock. It does not match the first sock at all and I could not give two shits. I want the little bastard done. Done!

I will try to get a modeled shot of Poppy. As I explained to one reader on Sunday, I was not "camera-ready" when it came time to post a picture. It also involves having Wes and I in the same place at the same time that the sun comes out. This is Seattle after all.

Whidbey Weaver's Guild Spin-In '07

Last year I forgot my camera. Not this time.

I really don't recommend trying to snap photos while driving. But I was all by myself and Deception Pass is really beautiful.



The rest of the shots look like this.



I tried also to get a photo of the Chinese restaurant in the really ornate, fake Dutch house.



I didn't get the windmill in the shot.

Kaye Collins was the lecturer/instructor this year, speaking about camelids.



Our fiber packet had 10 little samples in it, including Guanaco, camel, llama and alpaca. There was also a teeny, weeny piece of Vicuna to touch. Not enough to spin. Apparently it's very difficult to spin.

At events like this all the wheels start to group together. As I looked around my spinning circle the Betty Robertsons looked like they were ready to thrown down with the Louet S-90s.



A woman had a new Louet Victoria wheel with her. That thing is tiny! I thought it was Lendrum-sized but I was wrong.


Please note Dansko clogs for scale.
Tiny. Tiny wheel.


I'm still spinning some hand-painted merino I bought from Heidi Parra in November.

When I got home I snapped a shot of my sock.



Then I ripped it all out.



There are no photos of the haul because I did not buy one single thing. Stunning, I know. But if you could see the stash, you'd understand.

Coming tomorrow: The C Word

Remote Blogging

Cool, the hotel has a computer.
I'm at the Whidbey Weaver's Guild Spin-In. It's been good so far. There are a lot more vendors than last year. I have been good and have resisted all the fiber because I have so much at home. The bummer has been my wheel. It seems to have warped and is now got a fierce wobble and is making treadling and even spinning very hard work. I also forgot to bring a non-skid mat so I'm slipping and sliding all over the gym floor. Another bummer is my Estonian sock. I cranked on it last night. I finally got into a rythym and knit the whole leg. I started arranging the stitches for the heel flap when I realized that I had not done the back of the leg decreases. I'll have to rip all the way back to the colorwork and start again.
I'll be taking Kaye Collins's workshop on camelid fibers today. Vicuna! Guanaco! Alpaca! Hooray!

Rose-Kim Pets

Zasu has been completely baffled lately. She used to sleep all day on top of my monitor. I replaced the monitor a few months ago and got a flat screen. She spent several days standing on my desk peering behind the new monitor waiting for the old, warm resting spot to come back. When she realized that it wasn't coming back she took a new perch--the paper tray for my printer. I'm pretty sure this will void my warranty with HP.



Hugo's still hanging in there. We are constantly watching him for signs that he is uncomfortable or in pain. So far, so good. He still has a great appetite and breaks into the closet where we keep Zasu's food everyday--sometimes more than once--to eat all of her food.

I've started the twisted stitch and cable pattern on the Am Kamin swatch cap. Only a few rounds so far so not much to show you. Poppy sleeves, knit two at a time, are about 5 inches long. Just a few more days of knitting time on those. Estonian socks are a few inches longer. Lots of dabbling going on. Not a lot of progress.

Through a Lens

I just shot a picture of my progress on Poppy.



This is the front. I flipped it over to take a shot of the back and thought, "Hmm, why isn't the back seam here on the back?" Well, that would be because when I split Poppy for the front and back last night some time after 1 am I didn't center it properly. So the back seam is on the right side edge instead. I could leave it like this. There's no law that says the seam must go in the back. On the other hand I don't know if I want that garter ridge running straight down the center of my stomach.

For the body I came up with my own "random" stripes and garter ridges. For the yoke and sleeves I'm using the random stripe generator. I couldn't really use it for the body because I wanted the body to be tan and navy with random small stripes and ridges. The generator isn't that flexible.

I finished the colorwork on my second Estonian Sock. I didn't take a picture because it looks just like the other one.

That's all for now. I'm off to work.

Long Weekend Wrap Up

Here is the first Estonian sock and evidence of just how little yarn I had left when I finished. I have started the second sock and am just at the beginning of the colorwork.



I knit these two Dulaan hats on Friday and Saturday. The all turquoise one was knit while seeing Little Children (Whoa! IMDB changed their format. A lot. Since yesterday.). What an excellent film. Todd Fields is an amazingly talented director. Then last night I knit another turquoise hat (no photo) while at karaoke with Wes, his co-worker and a group of her friends. If you want to get some strange looks pull your knitting out at karaoke. Everyone who spoke to me about it said the exact same thing. "You must be bored." I tried to explain but they just thought I was some kooky knitting lady. But I showed them when I rocked the mic with my awesome version of Wheatus's Teenage Dirtbag.

Win Some, Lose Some

I just finished my first Estonian sock (no pictures right now, the battery is charging). As I got closer to the end of the toe I noticed I was very short on yarn. I knit faster. The yarn got smaller. I realized I would probably need to get another skein. Miraculously though I finished the sock with one gram of yarn to spare. For us Americans who are lousy with the metric system, one gram = a really, really tiny amount of yarn. Like a yard and a half. Maybe.

So that was a win.

On the losing side of things there is a gift I have been knitting in secret for quite some time. I am knitting it from my own hand-dyed yarn. I used my very accurate scale and my percentage calculator. I did math. I puzzled. I fretted. I started my fancy-ass lace edging with what I thought was the correct amount of yarn plus a little extra cushion. I pulled the yarn out of my bag last night and gasped to see it's tiny size. I weighed it. I calculated. I have only half the amount left that I need. I couldn't possibly dye more yarn that will match the original. But I can't stomach the idea of ripping it out. It's so pretty but unfinished.

So that was a loss.

Off the Back Burner

I don't have many hard and fast rules about knitting. But one that I try to maintain is only one pair of socks on the needles at a time. I don't know why but the thought of multiple pairs going on at the same time would make me panic. I stuck to this rule with no problems until last summer. I cast on the Estonian Socks from Folk Socks in May 2006. I worked on them on and off for a few months. Mostly off. They sat. Eventually I shoved them aside and moved on to other socks. This month the Folk Socks Knitalong is working on knitting a pair of socks already selected for the knitalong that you skipped. So yesterday I sucked it up and went back to my Estonian socks.



I think I know why I lost all interest in them. Knitting the travelling stitches on the heel flap when you have to travel stitches on the right and wrong side of the fabric made my head hurt. And my knitting looks pretty shitty. As my son would say, whatever. I'm moving forward. I'm hoping the second sock will be a lot prettier than the first. Maybe I'll finish them in under a year.

This weekend's cleaning/organizing binge has been having ripple effects. I reorganized my stash. Then last night I redid my stash blog and have everything categorized and even listed in which container I can find my yarn. Now if I could only figure out this whole "widget" thing in the new Blogger. Pawing through all my yarn got me fired up to start some new projects. Retro Prep the Third is sitting on the sidelines waiting until my class on Saturday to be joined together. I needed a new sweater project.

I hope to turn these



into one of these. The yarn is Rowan Kid Classic. I started buying oddballs several years ago when I'd come across them in sale bins. I planned on some sort of striped sweater but I didn't know what. When Yarnplay came out I saw Poppy and loved it. It took me a while to realize out that my stash and my new crush were compatible.