Monkeying Around

After a diligent bit of knitting, my Monkey Socks are done. I used White Birch Fiber Art's 80/20 merino nylon self striping yarn in the Sugarbush color way. I believe Lisa does special requests, so if she's out of something, go ahead and ask.

The joke at knit night is that I'm a little anal about my self striping yarn when it comes to socks. It has to match exactly or I'm driven nuts. I thought that it would be a challenge getting these ones to match., but I was pleasantly surprised that it only required mild adjustments to make my stripes exactly the same. On the second sock, I only did 10.5 of the 11 rounds of the 6th repeat before the heel. And when I reached the toe, I only needed two extra knit rounds before starting the decreases.

A big thank-you to Connor for not only suggesting we take sock pictures in the rocks, but took the pictures for me. To get this shot, I wasn't comfortable at all.

What we do for our sock pictures, right?

At the moment, Pente is the most worn sweater I have knit

In other sock-related news, I cast on for my Sock Lover's Socks. Connor helped me wind the skein of Patons Kroy in the Blue Stripe Ragg color way into a ball so I could see the color progression better. The dark blue doesn't show up against the dark grey, so I'm cutting that bit out.

Scooter got a bath, so he is nice and clean... for now

Monkey See, Monkey Knit

My Monkey socks are coming along nicely. I'm now at the heel flap of the second sock. And since this is the only thing I have on the needles at the moment, I'm starting to look at my stash and my ravelry queue a little more frequently.

And by look at my stash, what I actually mean is buy new yarn. Connor and I went to Michaels to get  a sketchbook. I made the grand mistake of looking at the yarn. I figured that my yarn snobbery would keep me safe. I was wrong. A few months ago when I was contemplating what color work socks to knit next, I thought about knitting Sock Lover's Socks. Nothing in my stash is quite right for the pattern and I really wanted a skein of Paton's Kroy in Blue Striped Ragg. I didn't know they had the yarn, but there is was, just waiting for me to buy it. As for the two other skeins, I have plenty of plain colored yarn, but after the debacle of the Sheep May Safely Graze socks I thought it better just to buy yarn that I knew would match.

Speaking of which, ravelry has put my Sheep May Safely Graze on their Sept 1st, 2015 eye candy post. Very exciting! Thanks to those of you who noticed and wished me well. I actually didn't notice initially because it was below the fold. But once I scrolled down....

I've also been quite busy behind the scenes. Other than keeping a household going and doing responsible adult things... like budgeting... I've been working on designs again. This is Dragonfly Fibers' Damsel yarn in the Spanish Moss color way. I know what I want it to be, but getting the numbers to come out right has been a fight. I'm getting closer to knitting it every day.

And finally, I have a pattern coming out within the next few days. My goal is Friday, but we shall see.  

Concrete And Tulips And Misbehaving Socks

New yarn has arrived! I've been wanting a skein of Caterpillar Green Yarns' Concrete and Tulips color way for some time, but kept putting it off. When I saw that they only seemed to be accepting preorders and that preorders only seem to show up monthly, I jumped. And I am happy I did. I think I'll have to knit these socks toe-up, which I haven't done in a while. But in the case of this yarn, every last bit needs to be used up.

Meanwhile, my Sheep May Safely Graze sock has still been giving me troubles. I finally I have the right white for the job, but I spent this week knitting all the way to the foot only to find that I needed to decrease the gusset more than I thought. (The foot will have 56 stitches when I am done. I guess my handspun is more of a sport weight.) After ripping and reaching the foot again, I realized that the ankle was too baggy for my slim ankles. So I ripped back even further and took a repeat out of the fence. I am on the heel again. Will this sock ever get knit up?!? 

While all this sock drama has gone on, the Onoprodum sock has saved my sanity. I knit up the rest of the foot and just have the toe of the second sock left. Hurrah! Of course my US size 0 needles are taken up by the other two socks, so I have put Onopordum on hold for the moment. I'm just happy that the hardest part of this sock was choosing the colors.

The Monkey sock is also at the heel flap. I am not in a real rush to finish it since it is my car knitting project. It is behaving itself for the time being.

Four Whites To Rule Them All

I'm on my fourth cuff for this silly sock. I had bought Baah! La Jolla in La Perla, sight unseen, thinking it would be thicker. The thought was based on the purple skein of La Jolla that I'm using in my Onoprodum socks, which is thicker. This skein was the same thickness as the Koigu. Baah!!! So last night I bought a skein of Rosy Green Wool's Cheeky Merino Joy. It is a sport weight yarn. I probably should have just gotten a sport weight yarn the begin with when I started having the trouble. 

Clockwise from the top left corner is: Cheeky Merino Joy, La Jolla, Tosh Sock, and Koigu

The good news is that because the Sheep May Safely Graze socks have been giving me so much trouble, I've stayed focused on the Onopordum socks. I have turned the heel and started the gusset on the second sock. They are looking great, they are fitting great, and I am not running out of yarn. I am happy.

My car knitting at the moment is a Monkey Sock. I know I might have a rough time matching stripes. I'm going to try anyways. It's a fun pattern and I like how it looks in the Sugarbush color way from White Birch Fiber Arts .

I hope I'm not alone in this, but who has bough multiple skeins for a project in order to get just the right one? Can anyone beat four different skeins?

A Mascot Project - 4KCBWDAY2

Today's prompt for Knit and Crochet Blog Week "is to either think of or research a project that embodies that house/animal."

Well, since the animal I have chosen is a Bee Monkey, this makes things a little more challenging. But I think a pattern mash-up of my own pattern, Free Bees, and Cookie A's pattern, Monkey, could look quite attractive. The foot of the socks could be the Monkey pattern and the leg portion of the socks could have the bees from Free Bees. The project would be called "Free the Bee Monkeys."

The House Cup - 4KCBWDAY1

It's that time of year again. The 4th Annual (and my third year of participating in) Knit and Crochet Blog Week hosted by Eskimimi. Today's prompt is to choose a House to join. I narrowed it down to two.
There is "The House of Bee: Bees are busy and industrious, but can flit from one interesting project to the next as bright and shiny things capture their interest." or "The House of Monkey: Intelligent and with a fun loving side, Monkeys like to be challenged with every project presenting them with something new and interesting." I am nothing if not indecisive when it comes to making silly decisions like this. But there wasn't a house for that.

So I have decided that I am The House of Bee Monkey. Bee Monkeys are busy and industrious and like to try something new and interesting with their projects. They also like to make up their own rules when existing ones don't suit them.

Zippy the Bee Monkey

I'm a fairly monogamous knitter. (Three WIPs max) And although I am multicraftual, I tend to only have one project out at a time. I'm also unwilling to stick to "The Rules" when it comes to crafts. As long as the project looks good at the end, it doesn't matter how I got there. So I identify with the unconventional House of Bee Monkey this year.