One Sock, Two Sock, Red Sock, Blue Sock

I recently finished two pairs of socks. I'd finished knitting them awhile ago, but in an uncharacteristic move, I didn't weave in the ends for a month. The first pair finished was the pair knit from Cathy's stash: Swedish Fish.

I made a few modifications. I made the leg 68 stitches, up 4 stitches from the 64 the pattern calls for. I also ignored the patterning on the foot and went with a 1x1 stripe.

The second pair of socks was my third pair of Primavera socks. I really struggled to find a pattern that showed off the Mushroom Hunting color way from Dragonfly Fibers. The Primavera pattern is the perfect mixture of interesting pattern and simple knitting.

Of course I've cast on some more socks. Once I finished the Swedish Fish socks, I allowed myself to cast on another color work pattern: Roll The Bones. What's funny is that I'd looked at the pattern so frequently that Connor thought I had already knit it. It's an involved pattern, so I anticipate knitting these for awhile.

Orange is Baah! La Jolla in California Poppy. White is Tosh Sock in Filtered Light.

I also cast on new car knitting after finishing up the Primavera socks. This pair is called By The Seine River. It was written for a 72 stitch count, but I've modded it to a 63 stitch count. The pattern came out better at 63 rather than my usual 64 stitches.

Nox Yarn in the She's Filled With Secrets color way.

Does anyone else have a pattern that they have looked at so often that they might as well have knit it by now?

Sock Fever

I've seen people talking about a thing called "Socktober." I didn't know this existed. It sounds exciting, but honestly I don't need a specific month to motivate me to knit socks. I have a fever and the only thing that will cure it is knitting more socks!
Observe exhibit A. I have finished the socks for my mother-in-law. It's the Primavera Sock pattern knit up in Tosh Sock Shire color way.

Somebody is going to have toasty feet for Christmas

Then there are these beauties hot off the needles. I managed to finish my Halloween socks with time to spare. These are knit up with Stray Cat Socks' amazing Trick Or Treat color way.

I'm still working away on my Denature socks. This is also Stray Cat Socks, but in the Silver Star color way.

Of course getting all these socks off of the needles meant that I could treat myself to new yarn! Just kidding. I bought the yarn before I finished any socks. It may come as a surprise, but I treated myself to some more Stray Cat Socks. Left to right, the color ways are Blue Moon, Sherbet Fizz, and Hipster. Subtly hiding behind hipster is a mini skein of black to be my cuff/heel/toe for the Sherbet Fizz socks. I want them to be my CMYK socks.

Just one question. Now that my Halloween socks are done, is it too soon to work on Christmas socks?

If you guessed that this is Stray Cat Socks, then you would be right. It is the Joyeux Noel color way and a complimentary brown.

Christmas Knitting Starts Early

Classes are still going well. An unexpected perk at school is that I'm getting a lot of knitting done. There are many spare moments in the day when I've been able to pick up the needles and continue knitting. I've not quite finished anything yet, but I'm closing in on finishing the Primavera Socks for my mother-in-law. She kindly sent me an outline of her foot, so I was able to confirm how long the foot needed to be.

My Denature and Trick or Treat vanilla socks both have their heels put in. These are both first socks, but the hard part of getting the stripes to line up in the heel is done, so it should be smooth sailing from now on. Incidentally, both socks are Stray Cat Socks yarn. It was unplanned, but with such wonderful yarn, who could complain?

I've also been working on the loom again. I used Little Wool Company's 4-ply in Tamarillo for the warp and Malabrigo Sock in Chocolate Amargo for the weft of the scarf. It only took me a week and a half to finish. The scarf wove up really fast once Connor and I started a new show, Medici: Masters of Florence. The show is interesting, but most of the Italian main parts are played by English actors, which seems a little odd. I'm pretty sure everyone in Italy didn't have blue eyes at this time. We did enjoy seeing that the actor who played Rob Stark in Game of Thrones' has a father-in-law who just happens to be played the same actor who was Walden Frey in Game of Thrones. I wonder if the casting director did that on purpose.

Connor has also been hard at work on a scarf. We are both working on our Christmas gifts and every night we both try to hit our quota. It's going well so far.

Meanwhile, in the little bits of time we have together, I've also been showing Connor how to watercolor. Basically after I learn something in class, I show him how to do it. We started out with fruit, so Connor tried his hand at it. Maybe I'll have him try the classic bowl of fruit next.

After all, I just finished up my bowl of fruit.

There are some things I would do differently now that I understand more about watercolor, but overall I'm happy with it.

Logjam or Time

While Connor and I were hiking the other day we had a great conversation about the different projects were were interested in. I've got a million ideas, like usual, and felt frustrated about how I couldn't ever get to all of them. Connor lamented the lack of time he has for his projects. We then realized that there are really only two reasons a project isn't finished: Either you have a logjam or there is a time problem.

The Logjam: Mum uses this word when there is something in the way of completing a project. For example, if the house isn't clean, the logjam might be something big like you don't know where to start, or something small like you ran out of bleach. I think that with creative projects, it is more often that you don't know how to move forward rather than you don't have the right tool. One of the biggest reasons (although not the only reason) that I spent years not putting my daily comic online was because I had no idea how to create the website I wanted for it. I feel that most of these issues can be resolved by breaking project down into smaller bites, doing research, or enlisting some help. In the case of the comic website, I realized that I was never going to be able to get the calendar to work the way I wanted it to. It was beyond me. I enlisted Connor and my father to figure it out, which they did quite successfully.

Time: Connor told me that the reason he has not worked on his project because he hasn't scheduled the time for it. We realized that most people figure there will be time for a project eventually. The good old, "I'll get to it one day." I know this to not be true. If I don't chip a little bit away at a project each day, it never gets done. I've started to multitask to get some particularly boring bits of the comic project done. In the morning when I'm eating breakfast, I've started to edit my comics rather than browse the internet. I usually get an extra page edited per day if I do that.

So what have I done in order to get some of my projects to the finish line? Well, today I finally got around to taking pictures of the Peeta Socks for my Dad.

Not everyone I showed was convinced that these looked like Dad socks, but my Dad was thrilled. Proper amounts of ooing and ahhing were done.

I've turned the heel of the Primavera sock. I just need to schedule some time to sit down and pick up the stitches for the gusset. The Denature socks are getting the odd round done when I'm in the car.

Connor's Dude Sweater is getting closer and closer to being done. I successfully stepped the sweater, but realized that the facing I was planning for it wasn't going to work because it wasn't compatible with the collar. The sweater sat for a few days as I tried to move past my logjam and work out how to proceed. I think I've got an idea of what to do now. Although it won't be as perfect as I had envisioned, I think it will still look quite nice when I am done.

So what prevents all of you from completing projects? Is it a logjam, time, or are there more reasons out there?

67 Yards Of Disappointment

Earlier in July I posted a blog about how I felt that talent could be acquired through persistence rather than randomly bestowed ability. José left a compelling comment pointing out that there are more actions that are needed when creating than just practice. In José's own words, "But how about an eye for detail, and for colour? And how about originality? I wonder if lots of practice alone is enough to come up with original ideas?" Those words tumbled around in my mind for the last two weeks. It's really hard to quantify practice vs. talent because even with practice, people are going to have different original ideas. I can only speak from my own experience, but I still think that practice is what leads to creativity.

I remember a day about 15 years ago when I decided I wanted to be better at drawing and I was going to do that by first observing everything around me. When I would go on walks, I would do my best to pay attention to the details surrounding me: the way a leaf created shadow on the ground, how different people's noses curved differently. Then I'd go and try to draw it all. I remember the great disappointment that my hand just wouldn't draw what my mind had thought up. I suspect most artists, even those advanced in their careers, have days when their brain and hand doesn't match up.

The other thing I observed is that the more work I created, the more ideas I had. There was just something about practicing that lead to more original ideas. Although the ideas sometimes came in cycles. When I was working on practicing a technique, the ideas slowed down, but when I started to master a technique, then the original ideas came. What kinds of experiences have you all had in regards to creativity and originality?

Meanwhile, in my own creative pursuits, I've had a bit of a failure. I decided I wasn't happy with the way the color of my current cuff/heel/toe looked against my Cider House socks, so I decided to spin a different colored 3-ply yarn. I was going for a DK and ended up with an Aran weight yarn. I knit up a cuff with this yarn and it was clear I wasn't going to be able to get away with the thicker yarn. It's pretty disappointing because I don't have anymore dark brown to try with.

67 yards of disappointment

Luckily that was the only spinning disaster I had. The second skein I was working on for Tour de Fleece came out beautifully. I spun up both braids of my Wonderland Dyeworks 80/20 Merino/Tussah Silk roving in the Coral Reef color way and came out with 360 yards of a 2 ply DK weight yarn.

I've also made great progress with Connor's Dude Sweater. After reading a bunch on steeks, I decided to go with a crochet reinforced steek rather than a sewn one. Connor asked to have a zipper rather than the buttons recommended in the pattern. I've decided that I'm going to use a combination of Tech Knitter's faced steek and Kate Davies's Steel Sandwich tutorials to complete the sweater. But first I'm waiting on a shipment from Knitpicks to arrive so I have the right tool to install the zipper.

So with all my other knits in limbo, I've cast on two different socks to make up the difference in my knitting time. On the left is the Denature Socks in my ball of Stray Cat Socks' Silver Star color way. I've carried this ball on many of my vacations, including Florida and Hawaii, but haven't cast on until now. I also have cast on another Primavera sock. I liked how the Cider House socks looked and thought that it would look good in the skein of Madelinetosh Sock in the Shire color way I got while visiting Black Mountain Yarns.

Here's to another week of creating!

Cheating - But Only A Little Bit

It's time for a confession. I've been cheating on design #9. But only a little bit. And only when I couldn't bring design #9 with me. I've been knitting another pair of Velomeisters. This time I thought I'd do a duplicate stitch instead of stranding. I also have had to shorten the sock by 10 rounds in the cuff because I am cutting it so close with the main color. 

It turns out photographing neon colors is a bit tough. The color combination blinds people and cameras alike.

But I promise that I am working diligently on the book. I even knit over 3000 stitches today for it, which is the upper end of what my hands can handle. But once design #9 is done, I will have another pair of Velomeisters to call my own.

Any Gauge Ribbed Socks

I don't know about the rest of you, but really dislike knitting swatches. I never get gauge and it makes sock knitting in particular rather difficult. Most of my socks are knit on size 0 and I still can't get "normal people" gauge.

Awhile back I had talked about putting out my ribbed sock pattern. And what made this one so wonderful is that it doesn't matter what gauge you get. You measure your foot, your one swatch, and do two simple calculations. Then you match your magic number to one of the cast on numbers and knit your socks. No thinking, just knitting. I've done all the thinking for you. Your welcome. 

As a bonus, the formula can be used for more than a ribbed sock. You can easily plug in stitch patterns if you wish. These socks are knit toe up. The instructions feature a short row toe and heel. Any toe or heel method can be used in place of the short row method. 

If you are interested in getting a copy of the Any Gauge Ribbed Socks pattern, it can be found on bear-ears.com, ravelry, and craftsy.

A big thank-you to kiwipurler for all her help in getting this pattern ready. It wouldn't have been possible without her. 

Accountability

Thanks to everyone for all the warm wishes in regards to Scooter's recovery. He has been running around like nothing has happened to him. Hopefully he'll remain happy when we go back the vet to get his stitches out in the next week or so.
Now I'd like to confess something. I bought more yarn. Again.
A couple weeks ago right after Knit/Crochet blog week finished, Pumpkin Spins said I ought to treat myself to some yarn. I had to admit to her that I already had. But if you saw Tosh Sock in the Plaid Blanket colorway, could you leave it behind? I even checked ravelry to see how it knit up. It doesn't pool in socks. No pooling. None.

Then when I walked into work, we had a shipment of Handmaiden in the Casbah base ( merino/cashmere/nylon - machine washable!) laying on the back table. I usually don't buy red yarn. But this was pretty. And shiny. And other people said that they would buy it if I didn't. I didn't realize I could become territorial over a skein. I think I'll make a pair of Smaug Socks out of it.

Whew. I feel much better getting that off of my chest. This blog is almost like an accountability partner. No more yarn. I swear. Not for.... at least a week.

Halfway Done

It's offical. I'm halfway done with the pattern writing for The Book. I no longer have to hear my least favorite phrase, "You're almost halfway done." Almost and halfway are two rather depressing words in the English language and a bit more depressing when put together. Luckily, I'm past that.

I have the yarn for the next design. Or at least I thought I did. I'd gotten a little stalled on the next design. For me, that means one of two things have happened. Either the design doesn't seem balanced enough or my yarn choice isn't quite right. In this case, I realized that the yarn I had chosen wasn't quite the right weight to show off the design.

So I did some late night yarn shopping. I'm still using Madelinetosh in the Cousteau colorway. But instead of the Merino Light base, I'll be using the DK base.

Solving Problems One Skein At A Time

Those of you who have followed the blog may remember the time that I had some yarnesia. I did renew my pledge not to buy more yarn before my birthday. But I have a confession to make. I did buy more yarn before my birthday and I just couldn't bring myself to admitting it until now. A shipment of Tosh came in and I may have bought a sweater's worth in the Tosh DK. Two skeins in Dustbowl and six skeins in Cove for anyone who is wondering. I plan on using it for a sweater design. I'm not really well versed in sweater design, so I'm trading some photo lessons for sweater making lessons.

But I noticed that I wasn't terribly enthusiastic about my design idea. It wasn't the design. It wasn't the yarn. It was that the design was a bit too complicated to be a "first sweater design." I solved that problem though. I bought more yarn for my first sweater design. It is much simpler and I'm pretty excited about it. I hope it turns out as well as the swatches are indicating. 

The yarn is Cascade's Eco Cloud in 1801, 1809, and 1810.

Stash Busting... Sort Of

I've been pretty consistently stash busting for the last week and a half. It wasn't really a conscious effort. My yarn bin just got full and I started to pull out a bunch of skeins to give away. But all of a sudden I was able to match projects that I was going to make anyways with the newly discovered yarn. Mum wanted some mini socks, which she requested back in August. They are now done. And quite cute I might add. The yarn was left over from my Appalachia hats. (Mini mochi in lake trail.)

Next up is a tam made of leftover yarn from my Koolhaas. (Which was originally yarn leftover from a failed sock attempt.) I actually ran out of yarn exactly. I even had to go back a little bit an decrease a bit more rapidly in order to run out of yarn exactly. That hat is my own pattern, which I haven't released for some reason. I guess I thought no one would be interested, but the ladies at the yarn shop told me otherwise today. So I will write it up soon. This particular tam was given to a friend today and she was quite pleased with it.

This is going to be another Link inspired hat made from yarn left over from my brother's Grinch slippers.

As good as my stash busting has been I still manage to fill in those freed up spaces pretty quick. I bought four skeins of Madelinetosh Pashmina in Denim yesterday. It's for my Oma's cardigan, which I finally decided will be the Gnarled Oak Cardigan from Coastal Knits. I bought the book, I ought to use it. And it's a really cute cardi.

(I'd rather not admit this, but in between taking pictures this morning and going to work at the yarn shop, I succumbed and bought two skeins of Ella Rae. But it's for the two pairs of socks I talked about last month, so it doesn't count. Right?)

Sneaky Socks

I wanted to prove that I've been knitting something other than a sweater, but most of what I've been working on is secret at the moment. This particular pair of socks is made out of Madelinetosh Sock in the Duchess color way, which I talked about earlier. I won't be releasing it in October like I thought I would, but the pattern is pretty snazzy. Not that you can see that in the picture. I'm sneaky like that.