6 January 2010 · 2 Comments
Gray with a chance of graupel. Yeah that’s right graupel. According to Wikipedia, graupel is “precipitation that forms when supercooled droplets of water condense on a snowflake, forming a 2–5 mm ball of rime.” Yup, you can guess what the weather is like around here. However, it is an excellent incentive to find some super soft, super warm gray yarn and make something cozy. I’m only an inch or two in but I love these already and I will be naming them Graupel.
3 January 2010 · 2 Comments
To be honest, 2009 had more than its fair share of rough spots. Lets just say that it presented an exciting array of character building experiences. However, I can now say with certainty that 2009 is gone and I am still here.
That means I won.
To celebrate this victory and to start the new year on a better note, we took a wee jaunt to see one of our favorite bands, the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies. (If you know them only from that late 90’s swing resurgence you’re missing a treat. Go hear the rest of their stuff right now. I’ll wait.) They were playing in Hershey, PA, which is about a 6 hour drive from home. It should come as no surprise that I took a sock along with me. I can’t offer too many details about the sock just yet (hence the small, rather dark, and slightly blurred out photos), but I can tell you that it came to the show with us.
The next day, since we were in Hershey already, it seemed a crime not to investigate the chocolate empire. We went to the Hershey Museum. As the sock was color coordinated we decided to take it along too. See? Note the Hershey kiss shaped street light in the background. This town is rather, erm, dedicated to the whole chocolate thing. It might be just a tiny bit disturbing, even to fans of chocolate.
We also happened (totally accidental I assure you, no planning at all) to stumble into Yarn Love, a delightful store in Hummelstown. I exercised great self restraint and bought only one skein of yarn (Dream in Color Smooshy) and one set of needles (size 2 Kollage DPNs). Toss in visits to two delightful breweries for delicious dinners and you have a lovely way to ring in the new year.
Now we’re back home and just waiting for a break in the snowstorm so we can go outside and get some official pictures of two pairs of finished socks.
29 December 2009 · 1 Comment
So way back when, I mentioned that I had cast on two socks and a pair of mitts in a fit of unexpected productivity (or is that promiscuity). One of the socks you’ve seen, and the other has been ruthlessly ripped and is waiting for me to rework it into something that will fit a human foot. The mitts, however, have been hiding in the shadows. No more. Here they are in all their winter-y glory.
Now you may recall that I said that I started this project in large part because the yarn (the sadly defunct Sheep Number Three by the company Sheep Shop Yarn) perfectly matches my spring coat. Until this week, I’d been wearing my spring coat, despite the calendar. It just wasn’t that cold. We had gotten only an inch of snow all season. Alas, the weather gods heard me and decided to taunt me. The snowy background seen in this picture is a good seven inches deep, and it’s still coming down fast.
I still plan to finish the second mitt and wear them cheerfully. I just won’t match quite as well I had planned. Knitters are exempt from the requirement to have matching coats/hats/scarves/gloves though, right? Surely there’s a special exception for hand knit things.
28 December 2009 · No Comments
All of my suspicions about Happy Feet DK have been proven correct! I am in love. It is just the right thickness for my preferred needle/tension/foot combination. It’s just thick enough to feel fast. Now knitting is not and will never be the quickest way to get socks. Speed is not the point. But I’m willing to bet that most of us wouldn’t mind too terribly much if the process took just a tiny bit less time. This yarn takes care of it. I need about 10% fewer stitches around the circumference of the sock, which makes quite a lot of difference over the course of the whole sock. I’ve got a second color of the yarn hanging out in the stash, and I have a feeling it will be making an appearance on the needles soon. The yardage on this yarn is such that I might even have enough leftovers from these two pairs to make a third pair.
As for the knitting, I’ve been zipping along on the as-of-yet-unnamed purple socks from a few posts ago. I finished the first one in 4 days (nearly unheard of) and have about 2 days of knitting left to do on the second one. These are now firmly and forever cast as the 2009 holiday socks, as I started them on The Boy’s birthday, cast on the second on my birthday, and worked on them all through the Christmas holiday. With any luck they’ll be done before the new year and might even be photographed on our upcoming New Year’s Eve excursion. Testers have the pattern, and it should be out in January or February.
22 December 2009 · No Comments
Do you see that fluffy white stuff over there? That’s snow. Those pink things dangling out in the cold with no protective covering? Those are my toes. Yup, I went outside barefoot in the snow to get a sock picture for you. Well, half barefoot, there seemed no reason for the other foot to suffer too. And just for the record, the white speckles on the leg of the sock up by the cuff are snowflakes, not lint. I keep a lint roller by the camera and am fairly good at de-linting before I take photos. I am, however, not cool enough to pick off individual snowflakes while hopping one-footed in the snow. The neighbors already have concerns, and I see no need to confirm their suspicions.
If you’re feeling particularly observant, you may have noticed that these socks are on my shiny new Signature double points (size 1, 8″, stiletto points in case you’re keeping track). They were a birthday present this weekend and were immediately pressed into service. As soon as I opened them, I started knitting the ribbon the package had been decorated with (you know, just to be sure they worked and all).
I used to think the Signature needles were a ridiculous extravagance. Who in their right mind would spend that much on five little sticks? Then I went to Sock Summit and got to see them in person. I wandered past the booth half a dozen times before I finally sat down and tried them. I’m fairly convinced they must dust their tester needles with a light sprinkle of crack. It’s the only way to explain the dazed looks and empty wallets of the people staggering away from the booth. I happily joined the ranks of the addicted and haven’t looked back.
9 December 2009 · No Comments
I think I’m running out of yarn. Not in general (perish the thought) but for this particular sock.
In this situation, it would be perfectly normal to: knit 1 full round, rip it out, carefully measure the amount of yarn used, and do the math to determine how much yarn each stitch takes. Then calculate the remaining number of stitches in the sock, measure the amount of yarn remaining in the skein, and do more math to see if you have enough yarn. Entirely reasonable.
According to my measurements, I should have about 26 inches of yarn left over. I’m confident in the math, but I’m not sure how good my measurements are as yarn is a bit stretchy (though I did measure 3 times and take the average). We’ll know soon. Even having measured and calculated, I know I’ll be eyeing the remaining ball with great suspicion the whole time.
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