Of Socks and Games and Other Things Yarny

Sock Madness has started and I have once again made it to Round 3, woot!  First two rounds weren't my favorite socks, but they're done:

Simple Side-to-Side Socks

Knitted with Love Baby Og Hosegarn gotten in a swap, on size 0 needles. This pattern involved a LOT of grafting, which I didn't mind all that much, and a LOT of picking up of stitches, which I found I really didn't like. I've been wanting to do a sideways sock, though, and I'm glad I've done one, so I know what I like and what I don't.

Cool Beans

Done with Knit Picks Harmony dpns in size 1; yarns are Elann Baby Silk (black) and Bernat Sox in Crazy Hot (variegated) I'm always up for colorwork, particularly after perfecting my two-stranded throwing technique that I developed during the colorwork pattern from last year's Sock Madness, so I didn't mind that aspect of this pattern. However, the gusset was much too large for my foot, even though I was spot-on for gauge, so I will either have to frog these to the start of the gusset and knit again, or just give them away. Leaning towards the latter.

Frankly, wasn't really happy with either of these patterns, though in both cases the pattern problems were exacerbated by things that I did (on the first socks, I picked up the stitches funny for the cuff; on the second set, I went overboard on trying to make sure they weren't too tight (used larger needles AND knitted them inside out AND loosened the tension) without realizing that there was a fourth variable having an effect: the contrast color yarn (the variegated), thought nominally the same weight at the black, was markedly thicker). All in all, since the first socks were too small and the second socks were to big, I'm hoping the third set will be Just Right(tm)......

Also, now have three new designs that I am working up for next year's game; the only hints I'll give are: shadow knitting, buttons and why?

In addition to the above-mentioned socks, I have made some good progress on some projects in the recent past: finished a baby blanket for my nephew and niece-in-law, who are expecting their first baby in early May; an adjusted version of Everlasting Bagstopper for a charity auction; baby surprise jacket for a former co-worker; quite a few bow-tie scarves; almost finished with Barbie's My Fair Lady Flower Girl outfit. In addition, I have done some work on the eternally-in-progress tablecloth (one corner is done, one more is probably 35%); dyed up some yarn with left-over Easter egg dye, 

which my daughter has claimed for socks for her; finished my brother-in-law's camp shirt (ya know, the one that should have been done for Christmas?); acquired many pieces for a villain costume needed for July; made the hoop, carrying bag, shoe and cosmetic bags and bum roll for a friend's Christmas/birthday present.

So what is still on the agenda? Hubster's camp shirt; one part of one villain costume, and prototype and actual costume (including headpiece and staff) for another; ruffled Victorian petticoat (to go with above-mentioned hoop, etc.; and which, unfortunately, has gone feral); transfer the drawing of a truck to the iron-on sheets, then iron them on to two sweatshirts; Chris' German Stockings; my Muppet. Previously unanticipated projects include DD's new socks; several more sweaters like my Fibinachi Tubey (hmm, thought I had a pic of that one, but don't seem to); another Barbie dress. And, frankly, I didn't expect to have made it to Round 3 of SM, so didn't really think I'd be knitting under the gun again for a while. Who knew? And what I really want to be doing is test-knitting my three new sock designs.....

The Pledge--Conclusion and New Christmas Notes

First, the notes:

-OK, you got the sleep shirts done early. Now, it's time to make sure the camp shirts are done, too. Try starting in September this time.

-Candace, Dave and Tom like the cider.

-Having guests is an excellent reason to buy a new bottle of Bailey's.

-Custard pie cooked slowly carmelizes on top, mmmm. 10 min high temp, 20 min lower temp with foil, 20 min+ without foil.

-Either start Christmas shopping earlier or decide not to get everybody something AND make sure not to beat yourself up about it. If starting early, how about right after Convergence?


Now, The Pledge.

I have to say that this was a total, unmitigated failure. Of the five items listed, one got finished, one got worked on, and the rest lay just as fallow this year as they have been in the past. I really thought that this sort of challenge would help. I'm tempted to blame it on not getting a house. This is partly true, as not having a sewing room makes it much harder to work on two of the items. But the other two unfinished ones are portable, so that excuse doesn't hold. Not sure where the real issue is.

So, I won't repeat the exercise this year. I have several things that need to get done this year; in particular, two villain costumes I want to make for Convergence. But, I'm just going to work on them--no promises.

In the meantime, a pic of the only thing on the list that I did finish (albeit on Boxing Day, and I never did get it wrapped), the 20+-year-old-sweater-coat:

And she really liked it, and wore it that weekend. Yeah!

Alphabet chart

For the Sock Madness folks, I have built a seven-stitch-high alphabet that can be used with the practice pattern recently released. However, I'm unable to get any form of it posted here; not sure why. If you want it, let me know and I'll email the PDF to you. And any hints on how to post it here would be appreciated.

The Pledge--Update

I had meant to do this on June 1, but that's how this year has gone. So, rather than put it off any longer, here is my evaluation of where I am on the 5 Things I Pledged to Finish in 2009:

Nowhere.

Yup, that's right, I have done no work whatsoever on any of the projects mentioned in that post on January 1. I knew it was an ambitious project, but really thought I'd do better than this.

Oddly enough, a project that was deemed insufficiently overdue to make the list did get finished, however: the Rainbow Leg Warmers.
Now, that they're done, I actually like them. Heck, I liked the yarn (all but the thrice-bedeviled red) when I dyed it. And they went quickly (stockinette in the round) and the jogless joins worked as advertised. But the agony of trying and trying and trying to get the red dyed right will always overshadow these for me, I'm afraid. Can't wait to see the pix from my step-great-niece's dance recital where she wore them, though. Also have to remember to hunt up the address of the woman on Ravelry who was collecting small amounts of DK weight yarn for some project or other. I disposed of several of the earlier failed-attempts-to-get-red to her; I'd like to get rid of the rest of them.

Of the subsidiary list of things I was going to be working on in tandem with the Dreaded 5, I'm pleased with my successes there:

• scarf and hat for a friend's daughter's school's auction

• grocery bags for my daughter's school's auction.

• belated Christmas presents
• -scarf for my brother
  

• -socks for my mom, and three friends These I have done no work on, alas.
  
• -slippers for my sister and brother-in-law

one pair done

one almost done

• 
  
  
  
  
  
  

• • 
    
  -Barbie's holiday dress
• 
  • 
    
• 6 freakin' corsets for sale Another no-progress, I'm afraid.
  
• Mini-Muppet sweater for Samantha's American Girl doll Samantha

That one's done



And one for my mother, as well

• a camp shirt for the Hubster
  

In addition, I've started and finished two-almost-three more grocery bags, a test knit of a sock for Jenel Laidman's new book, two and a half pair of socks for Sock Madness, and half a pair of socks for the latest Sock War. And we won't even talk about all the man-thongs, especially as I have an order for two more of them......

Here's hoping I make more progress in the second half of the year than I did in the first!

Severe Case of Start-itis

I have seriously been trying to move a few UFOs to the FO column, but I backslid badly this weekend, worse even than for the Superbowl. While I did finish one project that's been on the books for a while, I managed to start seven.

First, the FO:



Really like these Baby Fern Rib socks, that were a test knit for someone on Ravelry. I finished the first one fairly quickly, to evaluate the pattern, but hadn't finished the second sock, because Christmas intervened. However, I now have them to wear and am very happy with them.

Now, we come, in no particular order, to all the things I started. I have no pictures yet of the third Muppet, which will be for my mother, but it'll look a lot like the one for my daughter



and the one for her doll.



Mine, when I get around to it, will at least be a different color, and may be a bolero/shrug-ish version. Maybe.

Also with no pix is a chemo cap for a friend who just finished her radiation treatment and is almost done with her chemo. Better late than never, I'm thinking, and it's being done with a lovely acrylic/mohair blend called Divine, in a soft purply-pink that I think she will love. It should knit up quickly.

Last with no pix is another pair of felted slippers for my sister. I really seem to have some resistance to making these: I've lost the yarn several times and forgot the pattern at knitting the other night (thank you again, Ellen, for mailing it back to me!) Hoping to get these done quickly, so they can actually be used this year. (Have another pair to do for her husband, but have yet to cast those on.)

Now, we come to some "cheater pants" projects, as my daughter would say, in that they were both started and finished this weekend. I was going over to visit with family at my nephew's house, and I had never been there before, so I thought I'd bring a hostess gift. Their kitchen is a bright, dark red, so I whipped these up on Saturday:





Haven't made many dish cloths, so I was pleased with how they came out, but my neice-in-law said they'd have to keep them up high, or the dogs would eat them. Oh, well.

Next is a KAL that I'm doing with the Lesser of Two Needles group (fans of the Patrick O'Brian Aubrey/Matchurin books). They decided to do a red scarf, because it is mentioned in _Desolation Island_, and picked The Not-Quite-Straight-Scarf. I was just charmed by it, so I had to cast on:



My original intention was to make this for the Red Scarf Charity project, but I may have trouble letting go of it.....

And lastly, we have one of three bags that I am knitting from a lovely organic cotton, to donate to the auction at my daughter's school. I'm doing the first one from Knitty's Everlasting Bagstopper, but squaring the bottom and using different straps:



Haven't decided if I'll do all three the same, or do different patterns or different sizes. We shall see; I have some time, as I don't believe I have to have these finished until April-ish.

This is totally ignoring all the WIPs I already had on the needles, and we won't even talk about housework. I plead temporary insanity.

Sock Madness III design

Since I just found out that neither of my designs made it into Sock Madness III, I'm releasing one of them here. I'm still looking for a test knitter for the second, because I hope to sell it.

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Tessellation



I love colorwork, and this slipstitch pattern is one of the easiest ways to do it. The original stitch pattern came from a tea cozy pattern, but I used it to make a sweater for my daughter, converting it to circular for the sleeves. I thought it might make a cozy and colorful sock. Hope you think so, too!

Materials:

• fingering weight: 70g main color (MC); 15-20g each of two contrasting colors (A and B) –OR- 70g MC and 30-40g painted or highly variegated; I used Elann’s Peruvian Baby Silk, in Sapphire (MC), Parchment (color A), and Cornflower (color B)
• set of 5 dp needles, size 2, or size to get gauge
• stitch markers (optional)
• yarn needle

Gauge:
9 stitches/inch in stockinette

Terms:

• dip stitch(dpst): Insert needle into stitch three rows below next stitch; pull through a loop of working yarn and place it on left needle. Knit this loop together with the next stitch, through the back loops.
• wrap next stitch (purling): bring yarn to back, slip next stitch from left needle to right, bring yarn to front, slip stitch back to left needle
• wrap next stitch (knitting): bring yarn to front, slip next stitch from left needle to right, bring yarn to back, slip stitch back to left needle
• w&t: wrap and turn
• kfb: knit in front and back
• m1: make one by lifting bar between the last stitch knitted and the next stitch using the left needle and going from the front; knit this stitch through the back loop

Notes:
Just a few hints that may help:

-When doing the short-rowed heel, you can place a stitch marker each time you slip the wrapped stitch back to the left needle; this makes it easier to see where the next wrap should go. This uses a blurt-load of stitch markers, but it’s a lifesaver, if you have to put your work down in the middle of the heel! When working the wrapped stitches, take the stitch markers out only after the stitch and its wraps have been knit; slip the marker and the stitch when you do the second wrap, then slip both back.

-A very useful way to hide the wraps on short rows is shown in two Cat Bordhi YouTube videos:
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yVikAvPuE4
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFrVqx-iN7k

-To avoid having a bazillion ends to weave in, you can just carry the colors not in use up the side of the sock at the beginning of the round, running the working yarn behind the others on one round, then in front on the next, and twisting them all together when changing colors.


Toe:
Using a figure 8 cast on, (http://www.knitty.com/issuewinter02/FEATtiptoptoes.html), a Magic cast on (http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEspring06/FEATmagiccaston.html), or your preferred method, cast on 16 stitches. Knit one round, making sure to k tbl on the twisted stitches, if you used the figure 8 cast on.
Round 2: (kfb of first stitch, k6, kfb in next stitch) twice
Round 3: (kfb, k8, kfb) twice
Round 4: (kfb, p10, kfb) twice
Round 5: k

Repeat rounds 4 and 5, increasing the number of stitches between the kfbs by two each increase round (so round 6 would have k12 between them) until there are a total of 64 stitches, 32 for the instep, 32 for the sole. On the following round, k16, m1, k 32, m1, k to the end of the round. There are now 66 sts., with 33 on the instep and 33 for the sole. Knit 3 rounds with no increases.

Begin pattern:

Round 1: with A, (sl 3, k1, dpst, k1) 5 times, sl 3; k1, (sl 1, k1) to the end of the round
Round 2: with A, k1, (sl 1, k5) 5 times, sl 1, k1; k1, (sl 1, k1) to the end of the round
Round 3: with MC, (k3, sl 3) 5 times, k3; sl 1 (k1, sl 1) to the end of the round
Round 4: with MC, k4, (sl 1, k5) 4 times, sl 1, k4; sl 1 (k1, sl 1) to the end of the round Round 5: with MC, k4, (sl 1, k5) 4 times, sl 1, k4; k to the end of the round
Round 6: with MC, k
Round 7: with B, (k1, dpst, k1, sl 3) 5 times, k1, dpst, k1; sl 1, (k1, sl 1) to the end of the round
Round 8: with B, k4, (sl 1, k5) 4 times, sl 1, k4; sl 1, (k1, sl 1) to the end of the round
Round 9: with MC, (sl 3, k3) 5 times, sl 3; k1, (sl 1, k1) to the end of the round
Round 10: with MC, k1, (sl 1, k5) 5 times, sl 1, k1; k1, (sl 1, k1) to the end of the round
Round 11: with MC, k1, (sl 1, k5) 5 times, sl 1, k1; k to the end of the round
Round 12: with MC, k

Repeat these 12 rows until foot measures 2” less than final desired length, ending with row 4, 5, 10 or 11.

Begin short-row heel: (done with MC)
(worked back and forth over half the stitches)
Round 1: Work in pattern for 33sts (note the round number); k 32, w&t
Row 2: p31, w&t
Row 3: k30, w&t

Repeat rows 2 and 3, decreasing the number of stitches worked before the wrap by 1 on each row until there are 9 stitches left unwrapped, ending with a wrong side row.
Row 4: k9, knit next stitch along with its wrap, wrap next stitch (there are now two wraps on this stitch), turn
Row 5: p10, purl next stitch along with its wrap, w&t
Row 6: k11, knit next stitch with both its wraps, w&t
Row 7: p12, purl next stitch with both its wraps, w&t

Repeat rows 6 and 7, increasing the number of stitches worked before the wrap by 1 on each row, until all heel stitches and wraps have been worked, ending with a wrong side row and turning, then knitting across the heel to the start of the round.

You still have 66 sts.

Leg:
Begin leg pattern on the round following the round you noted when you started the heel.

Round 1: with A, (sl 3, k1, dpst, k1) 11 times
Round 2: with A, k1, (sl 1, k5) 10 times, sl 1, k4
Round 3: with MC, (k3, sl 3) 11 times
Round 4: with MC, k4, (sl 1, k5) 10 times, sl 1, k1
Round 5: with MC, k4, (sl 1, k5) 10 times, sl 1, k1
Round 6: with MC, k
Round 7: with B, (k1, dpst, k1, sl 3) 11 times
Round 8: with B, k4, (sl 1, k5) 10 times, sl 1, k1
Round 9: with MC, (sl 3, k3) 11 times
Round 10: with MC, k1, (sl 1, k5) 10 times, sl 1, k4
Round 11: with MC, k1, (sl 1, k5) 10 times, sl 1, k4
Round 12: with MC, k

Repeat these 12 rows 5 more times, for a total of 6 runs through the pattern on the leg. Tie off colors A and B as you finish with them on the last run-through of the pattern.

Cuff:
With MC, (Ktbl, p) to the end of the round. Continue until ribbing measures 1”. Bind off loosely.

Finishing:
Weave in loose ends.

Supporting Our Troops

O.K., I left a few provocative comments here and there in recent posts, and promised to tell the tale, so here it is:

Once upon a time on Ravelry, a knitter, who is married to a Marine stationed in Iraq, told the story of the beanie she knitted for her husband. One of his buddies ribbed him mercilessly about said beanie, and eventually confessed that he was jealous, and wanted a beanie, too. So, she agreed to make him one BUT since he had been mean to her hubby, she made it in pink. With little piggy ears. He was not fazed by this; I believe he is quoted as saying, "I'd f*ing rock a pink beanie!" when he was told. And so, to prove this, they sent a picture of the husband and the friend in their beanies, which the knitter posted to a thread on Ravelry.

And here we come to a point that many men don't know: when women are in a predominantly female environment (and yes, I know there are lots of men on Ravelry, but the overwhelming majority of the beta testers are female) they act differently than when the numbers are more equal. Not all, but some. And so, we got to talking, like you do, and admiring, like you do, and someone said she'd happily knit a beanie for any one of those guys IF she could knit a matching man-thong and get a picture of him wearing them--and nothing else.

I imagine there was much coffee and tea spit on computer screens that day. However, the idea began to take hold, particularly when we were assured by the original poster that the individual in question had no shame and would probably gladly model such. And all this time, she is forwarding the choicest comments to hubby, who is sharing them with his friends. And that is how we ended up with an order for FOUR man-thongs, along with the measurements needed to make sure they fit.

The response was immediate; I imagine they could hear the squeeing all the way from here to Iraq. So, several of us signed up to knit for soldiers (I had been meaning to do socks or balaclavas, but how could I resist?), me partly because I knew I already had a skein of the cotton and elastic yarn that was needed for the pattern and because we were assured that we would not have to work on them until after Christmas.

Come Christmas and the Great Christmas Flu, and man-thongs went right out of my head. Fortunately, the original poster, who was organizing this, emailed everyone early in January, to remind us. I then proceeded to tear the house apart looking for the yarn. And not finding it. Now it is really getting late, and I need to get started on this thing to get it to her by the deadline. So, I'm frantically searching the internet for a local yarn store that stocks it, since I know I can't get it in the mail in time. The Hubster asks and I foolishly tell him all about it--and he stuns me by saying he wants one, too. After a pause for blinking and rearranging my internal world to incorporate this new data, I suggest that maybe I could make the one for the Marine first, and then work on Hubster's, and he agrees.

I finally find a store that is "local" by the Los Angeles definition of the word, but know I won't get a chance to get down there before the weekend. This is when Hubster stuns me again, saying that he's willing to drive to the store and pick up the yarn; that way he can pick out his at the same time. He does and I get started and rapidly finish the man-thong, entertaining the WeHoS&B enormously in the process, then pop it in the mail.

Ha, ha! But then, one of the other ladies had a serious attack of life, and was unable to finish hers. I found this out on the day we were supposed to have them to the organizer, and I waited to see if anyone else would volunteer. Crickets chirping. Sigh. I know I have the second skein that Hubster bought, so I say that if she can wait until the following week, so I have the weekend to work on it, I'll step in. So, for a second week, I'm knitting a man-thong at WeHoS&B, and those who weren't there the previous week get to join in the merriment. So, I finish this one and boil it in coffee (it was stark white and I thought ecru would be more attractive) and send it along, with notes to the recipients of both, to sort of personalize it. (As a friend said, "Yeah, 'cause a hand-knitted man-thong is such an impersonal, generic gift....")

Oh, and did I mention the photos? We, of course, all wanted to show off our work, but also wanted to avoid controversy. The first woman who finished photographed hers on a stuffed unicorn. I was fortunate enough to have a LARGE bear (he is seated, and is still about 20" tall) on whom to photograph these items (though, of course, since the bear was anatomically incorrect, stuffing was required).

And so, I give you Thong 1:

And Thong 2:


So, there you have it. The story of how I came to support our troops.