When There's Nothing On The Needles, Cast On!

The Dad Sweater has been completed! Dad didn't want it before his birthday, so I'll have to get modeled pictures some time next week. 

Canon Hand Dyes is having a Black Friday KAL which involves knitting with her yarns. I'm rearing to go. I've already wound my skein of "We're All Mad In Here."

The only problem with the KAL starting on Friday is that I finished the Dad Sweater last week.... which meant I had absolutely nothing on the needles. I took this as an opportunity to knit a pair of Haleakala socks. And the yarn is a skein of Tosh Sock in Nebula that I unearthed from my stash the last time I went through and straightened everything. It's definitely one of the older skeins I have, and I think it pairs well with this pattern.

Of course it wouldn't be a true sock experience without some ripping. I'm making the laced version and it ended up being a bit tight over my instep. So I ripped back and made the heel flap a bit longer than I would for other socks so that there would be more gusset stitches which, in turn, would make the top of the sock looser. It fits much better now.

Velomeisters

The Velomeisters pattern has been released! Just in time for spring biking weather.

I've been working on getting this pattern out for awhile. But I'm happy to show them to the world now. These were fun to knit and are fun to wear.

If you happen to be interested in purchasing the pattern, I have it up on bear-ears.com, ravelry, and craftsy.

Edit: I forgot to share why I called the socks Velomeisters. Velo is French for bicycle and meister is German for master. I thought "bikemaster" was a pretty cool name. I had to mix the languages though. Fahrradmeister or Maître De Vélo looked a little less awesome to me.

Sock Crazy

I'm a bit sock crazy at the moment. All I feel like doing is design socks. My first sock pattern is being test knit at the moment. I'm hoping to release it in late September.

My second sock pattern only needs some pattern editing before it is ready to be test knit.

And I cast on for my third sock pattern last night. This addiction doesn't look like it is going away any time soon. I've got two more patterns on my mind and one is already being swatched.

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.

Sock It To Me

I would love for this to be a post about how I finished knitting a pair of socks. What I'm actually going to be talking about is how sock inept inexperienced I am. There I was, merrily knitting along, no care in the world. Then it hit me.

After turning the heel, I hadn't done the pattering around the circumference of the sock. I was just knitting the pattern on one side, like you do for the foot. This, of course, is the second sock of the pair. I knit the first one just fine. But the second one has given me nothing but trouble. I had to knit the toe three times before I managed to end with the correct number of stitches, and now this.

At least I've managed to keep both socks me-sized rather than Sasquatch-sized. I imagine that Sasquatch might be a bit disappointed about this. His sock drawer was starting to become quite lovely.

Follow The Yellow Yarn Trail

I wonder where this yarn could lead...

Oh dear me, have I become a sock knitter?

Third Sock's A Charm

I didn't have too much knitting time at camp, but I did manage to finish up my socks. And they fit! It's a miracle. (The project has been raveled)

The Leyburn pattern is truly an excellent pattern. I was able to pick up the sock at any point and see exactly where I was in the pattern. And it was just plain old fun to knit to boot. The yarn is from Newton's Yarn Country Merino Nylon Superwash that I picked up at Stitches West in 2010. It didn't have a color associated with it.

While at camp, I heard that there was a Sasquatch in the woods. But I never saw him. If I had, I might have handed him the third sock. It was just his size.

Take A Bow

I've been busy preparing for camp, doing some secret knitting, and trying to reknit the Sasquatch sock, so here is a cute Scooter picture to hold everyone over. He looks cuter than he smells. (I think I bathed him the day after this picture was taken. The weird odor in my room magically disappeared after that.)

Sasquatch's Sock

I officially have another Sasquatch sock. It looks like it fits, but it is just loose enough to creep down my leg. I cannot even begin the describe the fury I felt when I got the sock off the needles and tried it only to find it was too big. There may have been an immature display of finger clenching, teeth grinding, and glaring involved.

The tragedy with blocking is that you cannot block things smaller. And because I've chosen superwash wool/nylon blend, I can't shrink it in the dryer. So today I did the only thing a mature, logical, and calm knitter could do.

I bought myself another pair of needles.

Scooter's Annual Damage Report

Scooter manages to damage himself once a year. One year he scratched his cornea after digging and then rubbing his eye. Another year he got two ticks in his ear. Then there was the time he got a splinter in his chin from running into the fence while he was yelling at the neighbor's dog. This year he had a sore spot on his foot that he wouldn't leave alone.

In an effort to avoid another vet bill, we decided to patch him up. A bit of Desitin, gauze, and some tape kept him from licking his paw.

Scooter is a bit picky about having clothing, or anything else for that matter, on him. I think it makes his fur feel funny. But after the cornea incident, we've developed a way to keep him from ripping off gauze or rubbing his eye.

We taped a baby sock with grippy feet (we have wood floors) to his foot. I must say, it subdues him quite a bit. He spends more time moping than he does nibbling on the sock. The added bonus is how funny he looks with a little baby sock on his foot, especially when I walk him around the neighborhood.

Scooter's foot has healed since the mopey picture was taken. No vet bill. Yay!