All The Socks

Awhile back I said something about casting on All The Socks when I was done knitting for the book. And so I have. 

These are the Leyburn pattern. I made a pair in 2011. The pattern is a good one, so I made another pair. This pair is out of some of the yarn I got last month while I was in New Zealand: Knitsch in the Odelay colorway. 

Immediately after blocking these socks, I wound up some of the yarn I got at this year's Stitches West. This is Blue Moon Fiber's Silkie Sock in the Mossley Manly colorway. I blame Alicia on Woolen Diversions. This colorway has shown up from time to time on her blog and I desired it.

The pattern is Vanilla Latte. The pattern is good, but I am a dummy. When I put in the toe, I couldn't figure out why I had 10 more stitches on the bottom than the top. The foot of the sock also seemed a bit loose. Eventually I determined that I chosen to randomly not decrease enough stitches in the gusset. Want to guess how many stitches I was off by.

If 10 stitches is your guess, you are right. The foot of this sock has since been ripped out and reknit. I'm on the second sock now. This is the number one reason I don't do socks 2-at-a-time. I don't need to mess up a two socks at the same time.

Is anyone else knitting socks at the moment? Have you had any dumb sock moments?

Priorities

Work on the book goes ever on. I'm currently working on the diagrams of various techniques. Here's a draft of the backwards loop cast on. This was probably the easiest one to draw. Others have taken days. I really would like to be done with these in the next week or so. I think I have around 12 more drawings to go, so we shall see.

But if I'm going to be truly honest as to why I have been MIA from the blog, I might have gotten hooked on a particular show. My buddy AJ loaned me the first season of Game of Thrones, which meant three things:
1. I had to buy the second season.
2. I had to go out and get the first book... and then the second.... and soon the third.
3. Doing anything that wasn't related directly to The Book or Game of Thrones was immediately abandoned.

For those who are also hooked, who are your favorite characters? My favorites thus far are Jon Snow, the Hound, Arya, and Jaqen. I've been fortunate that most of my favorite characters are escaping death so far, but you never know with this series.

Book Progress

After finishing up the last two photo shoots, I spent the last week formatting my book. It is largely done and patterns are now with the test knitters. Here's a wee sneak peek for you guys.

There is a light at the end of this tunnel. Hopefully I'll have a printed book in my hand by the end of summer.

Cranking Out The Knits

It's been a crazy for the last week and a bit. Three days after getting back from New Zealand, I made a quick trip North to do the last two photoshoots. There are no behind the scenes pictures of it because we did the shoots back to back and everyone was pretty focused on getting them done. But I can say that my last two models were perfect. After coming back, I rested for a day or two before beginning to layout the book. And somewhere in there I managed to finish my Grace Cardigan.

Or, I'm going to call it done. After getting the buttons in, I had the misfortune of learning that the buttons will not stay in the button holes. I've been wearing it regardless and I probably wouldn't button it up anyways. Maybe I'll fix it one day. At least the sleeves fit now.

I had knit one of these socks to the heel while in New Zealand. I went absolutely nuts when I got back and cranked the remaining sock and a half out.

 

I modified these Sleepy Hollow socks to not have the weird bar of stockinette down the back center. This pair has leaves going around the entire leg. Other than my modifications to cut down on the stitch number, this pattern was perfect. It was easy to follow and reasonably relaxing for being socks that have patterning every round. The heel and gusset are knit at the same time, which was a first for me. I think I like that method better than picking up heel flap stitches. 

I briefly worked on another WIP I have, but couldn't wait any longer to cast on with some of the yarn I procured in New Zealand. This is Knitsch in the colorway Odelay. I'm making a second pair of Leyburns. The Leyburn pattern was the first sock pattern that gave me a pair of socks that fit. I liked the pattern quite a bit, so I thought I would revisit it. So far, so good.

The rest of this week will be dedicated to book layout. The goal is to have the patterns out to test knitters by Friday. I really hope I can get through it all.

New Zealand Recap

Those of you who have followed the blog for the last two weeks don't need to be told this: I had a great time in New Zealand. I got to hike all over the place.

 

Taranaki Falls

I saw some interesting sights. This wasn't the only car I saw with gumboots on the back bumper.

Somewhere not far from Upper Hutt

I even fit in a jumping photo. (Here you go Wei Siew. This one was for you.)

Makara Beach Walkway near the wind farm. Photo credit to Dad.

And I came away with some neat finds. The yarn was covered on the Yarn Day post. But most of these books were found while I was near Auckland. The books, left to right, are as follows: Tribulations of a Chinaman, King Lear, Chronicles of Avonlea, King Solomon's Mines, Further Chronicles of Avonlea, Pilgrim's Progress, Wuthering Heights, Myths and Legends of the Australian Aboriginals, Romance & Legend of Chivalry, Ancient Legends of Ireland, Gulliver's Travels (with Rackham illustrations!), and Picture of Dorian Gray.

All in all it was a great, albeit not restful, trip. I hope I can go back soon. But until then, I'll be pressing my nose upon the grindstone to get The Book finished. 

Time Traveller

Our last few days in New Zealand were spent in Auckland. There aren't too many photos because most of our time was spent taking care of family business and visiting old friends. Dad and I did take the ferry twice into Auckland. Both days were spent visiting a tall building with important people. (I was, at one point, very high up in the building with the weird halo over it.) Although there was business to attend to, I managed to visit every second hand bookstore in the area. 

The photo below and the photo above are of the same thing, just a different perspective.
We left Auckland around 8PM on the 24th.

We flew and flew and flew until day broke.

Thanks to the international dateline, the day was May 24th.

 

We landed around 12 noon on May 24th in San Francisco. So technically we landed in San Francisco before we left in Auckland. That part of travel always messes with me a bit.

After a bit of a nap, I was wide awake. So my brother and I went out to see Star Trek, which was loads of fun. And so ends my adventures in New Zealand. For now...

Hobbiton

Seeing how we were in Middle Earth, we stopped by the last remaining set from Lord of the Rings: Hobbiton. All the other sets have been pulled down. Although as we saw in Rivendell, there were a few signs explaining the area. Our guide in Hobbiton, Steve, was excellent. 

Some of the hobbit holes are made much smaller to enhance the illusion of Gandalf being much larger than everyone.

We also learned that in order to age the fences, this lichen isn't actually lichen. It is paint and bits of wood, and other things that were added to look like lichen. I think it's quite convincing.

As we walked up the hill in Hobbiton, we were given a peek of some future hobbit holes not yet seen in the future Hobbit movies.

I think I would make an excellent hobbit. I've already claimed my hobbit hole.

At the top of the hill sits the most famous hobbit hole of them all: Bag End. If the Baggins family were to ever move out, I think I might choose this hobbit hole instead.

The view from Bag End is quite good. You can even see across the pond to the Green Dragon. 

 

Although the inside of Green Dragon was built and filmed in Wellington, they later chose to build an interior in the one in Hobbiton. It's actually the second Green Dragon. The first one was burned for a scene in the Lord of the Rings and had to be rebuilt for The Hobbit.

I had the pleasure of enjoying a drink at the Green Dragon with Miss Pickles, the resident moggy (cat). She looked like the happiest creature ever, sitting on her chair next to the fire.

After the drink, we had to say goodbye to Hobbiton. Although before we left I snapped a quick picture of the Party Tree. I only wish we could see everything lit up at night like it was in the movie.