Back to the Flap

Vesper Sock Heel - fixed. I went back to the old standard flap and just worked it out. (And wouldn't you know it still seems a wee bit tight... I think it's the yarn as it just has NO bounce or stretch to it.) The heel looks fab now. Granted, I cut the living daylights out of the yarn to get a solid heel. I think I may regret that later... but I'd already cut it for the previous attempts at short row heels. So it was already a mess. I think I might work it out with a hunter heel on the second sock and lime toes for both perhaps? Thus using all the yarn. I live in fear of running out... it's the curse of the size 11's.

Grammy is gone now. We're relaxing, eating leftovers and going to bed early.

Summer Fun Socks

Millions of Peaches... peaches for me!

Summer Fun Socks from Knitspot
Panda Cotton from the Loopy Ewe in Vanilla Cream

These were a great knit. They worked up pretty fast. (Even for my size 11's!) It took a bit to get used to purling so much since I'm always knitting in the round, but I got the hang of it. The yarn itself is really nice. Splitty as all heck, but you get used to it. It's really got a lot of bounce in it for cotton. Never made my hands hurt. The bamboo is silky soft. The only issue I have with the finished product is...

Do you see how the front of the foot on the first (top sock) is smaller than the second? Yes... our old friend gauge bit me in the you know. Last night I was feeling really tired and just plain "out of it". So I sit and knit... well my friends the lesson is... should you be feeling this way, start yourself a dishcloth. My gauge wasn't itself either. My first clue was the strange pooling... second was this...


The leftovers from each ball are a bit different. I know I used too much when I cast on the second, so there was a bit extra loss there, but not THAT much.

So, yes... should you be feeling not so yourself, knit a dishcloth.

Summer of Socks Totals
Pairs Complete - 1
Socks Complete - 3
Socks on Needles -2

Now I must go madly clean my house before my MIL arrives! ha!

Out of the Basement

Yay! I'm out of the basement! I've been spending a lot of time there lately. Not because it's nice and cool - actually downright COLD when the AC is on upstairs, no, I've been down there sewing. A lovely woman wanted to do a trade with me for some Chickie Pads! She wanted all velour too. Which was a new experience for me. That stuff is SLIPPERY! Yikes. There's an entire stash her for her daughter and a dozen for herself too! In return I'll be getting lots of yummy candles and soaps. Yum. Yes, I've cloth converted not only my children's bums, but it's crept over into other aspects of life. If you're interested in more information... go here. It really IS better!

The socks were a little jealous of the basket posing so they hopped in too. I almost have TWO pair! If only I could choose one I'd probably be finished. But what's the fun in that? Early this week I worked both heels so now I'm just charging to the toes.


We've got a visitor coming by the name of 'Grammy' this weekend. Should be fun - perhaps an outing for me and Hub alone! I almost can't even remember what that feels like!

Oh Seriously!

The cameras and I are not getting along this afternoon. I'll just say that. Sorry for the not up to par photos. I ran my camera (the one I know how to get great shots with) out of battery at the park with the girls this morning. So I tried to use "our" camera... the bigger fancier one... that I can't use apparently. It also ran out of batteries, but has backup's.

OK, so speaking of irritating...


Um, is the heel worked on 60% suppossed to be pointy like that? I'm not really sure what I think, or even IF I want to think about this right now. So it's in the naughty basket. Man alive... couldn't it just be a plain jane easy sock?

One sock that I am not at all irritated with is my Peaches and Cream sock. I finished this one on Tuesday, but have been too busy to blog. It fits and feels like a dream. Love it. (note: heel flap is 2.5 inches long - ample room for my (apparently) fat ankle.) I thought I was going to have tons of yarn leftover, but there's just that wee little bit. I'm glad I made it!


And slight progress here and there on the second Undulating Rib sock. Do you have one of those fancy stitch keepers from the Loopy Ewe? THAT THING ROCKS! It keeps my sock out of danger from yarn crazed toddlers who seem to like stuffing knitting in their mouths. Love love love it. I think they're overpriced. But I really like it. I wish I had a couple more since I usually have 2-3 socks going at a time.


So that's what I've been up to in the knitting realm. Lots of sewing happened this week thanks to Hub taking charge one night while I retreated to the basement not to emerge for six hours. Great productivity!

We're enjoying a couple days of really nice cool 80 degree temp's. Hub had a business trip today so the girls and I checked out a new park. It was much closer to us than the other one we've been to. There was no one there, which disappointed Miss N. But was great for Miss E because I could let her roam. She blissfully ate rocks, leaves and anything else she could find. Ick. Then a daycare came and dumped 25 kids wearing matching blue T-shirts off... At least I could spot my girl in pink. I thought she was having fun with them, but she told me in the car that some girls told her to go away from them. :( She's still so young that I'm not sure she really knew that the girls were mean to her. I think she was mostly confused. It makes me sad though. The girls were older, but come on... be nice you know? Miss N was SO excited to play with them and be their friend and they were just icky. Makes me sad for my baby. We left fairly soon after their arrival. My girls were FILTHY. I dunked them in the tub and they are blissfully sleeping now. Ahhh... I love a good nap!

My 100th post

This is it, the big 100!

I'm terrible at celebrating milestones like this. Eh, whatever. lol!

ANYHOO...

I've been knitting.



Now, theoretically a mere 60 stitches on 2.5mm needles (slippery Knit Picks needles at that!) should fly... but it's just not. I feel like it's going very slow here. I shortened the cuff and leg to a mere 4+ inches. A nice summer length in my opinion. I have decided that they should have named this "Peaches and Cream", not Vanilla Cream. Peaches suits it much better. Hub agreed he was suprised that I chose this color for myself. And I think in just about any other pattern, I probably wouldn't have liked it. But it really suits this one. The yarn itself... splitty... yes indeedy! I've gotten pretty used to working with it now. It's not really bothering me much. I think the super pointy needles are helping. If I were using say... some Brittany Birch... I'd probably want to shoot myself.

But oh... when I slide my foot into it... sooo silky... yummy indeed. I can't wait to have them done. I wish they'd hurry along!

Ice Cream... mmm...

Yes, I know... start-i-tis. Here I was thinking last week. Wow... it's really nice to have one project going... it really moves along... Bang head. I knew it couldn't last.

I've been dying to try Panda Cotton. I ordered some for Hub from The Loopy Ewe, but this is the summer of socks for ME. So, I ordered again... for me. I'd been debating the same 2-3 colors forever. Then somehow, I came out with this one. Not one of the ones debated. It's Vanilla Cream. I don't even wear these colors really. But the name enticed me. I also had recently purchased the Summer Fun sock pattern from Anne at Knitspot. I was thinking of neopolitan swirl ice cream socks for the girls. How irresistible will that be?! But little did I know that this yarn would work perfectly for this sock. It must have been fate. ;) How yummy would the chocolate almond Panda Cotton be in this pattern? I think I'm salivating. I love me some ice cream.

So far... I'm getting in touch with my inner purl-er. Lots of purling in this one. Since I knit a lot in the round I'm not used to it. but it is a nice change. And good practice. And this "lace" thing... what's a little yarnover here and there. Not scary at all. I suppose the Roza's were technically lace too.

Thank you for your suggestions for my heel/fat ankle issue. I am going to look into the options suggested and see what works out. I'll keep you posted.

Lest you think I've developed SSS, not to worry. I've worked several inches of the second Undulating Ribs.

Fat Ankles

Apparently, I have fat ankles. I never really knew this about myself until this week.

On the Undulating Ribs the ankle is a wee bit tight, but still ok. I figured I can just make my heel flap a little longer next time. No biggie.

However... my Knit and Tonic sock has some bigger issues. To preserve the awesome striping I thought I'd give a short row heel a try. It turned out really well. I used the directions for 'Priscillas Magic Dream Sock' from Favorite Socks. The color changes were kind of bugging me though... and I decided I probably had enough yarn to rip it out and splice strands of the same color together to make a solid heel. Once I had it off the needles I tried it on...


Uh-Oh. See how tight it is on the top of my ankle? Not comfy. Anyone know if there is a way to make a SR heel bigger? Probably not. I did a little browsing on Flickr and saw many a flap that didn't seem to mess too much with the stripes. Kind of bums me out though. Anyone have any other great ideas? I think for a comfy flap for myself it needs to be about 2.5 inches long. So it is bigger than the usual womans 2 inch flap.

Check out the way the colors worked out... looking at this pic you'd think "hey, turned out fab!"


Then there's the other side... "oh..."


Kind of strange huh?

Well anyway... not sure what to do... help!

(Sorry the pic's are bad... it was dark out so had to use artificial lighting.)

That's not Undulating!

Surprise!


With 100+ degree (F) record setting temp's I decided I'd rather look at "cool" colors than the red hot Undulating Ribs. So the second sock was set aside for this. Just plain jane knitting here folks. It's nice though. I've got a lot going on right now and it's a nice break to not think at all... just knit. Love the colors. Knit and Tonic Vesper Sock Yarn. Another birthday gift from Miss T. I think she might have me nailed... the two yarns she sent for my birthday managed to jump out of the overflowing yarn basket and onto the needles first. :)

(And yes, it's a day that calls for chocolate. Darn neighbors keeping my kids up half the night and then bright and early this morning... everyone is a wee bit cranky...)

Still Undulating...

Sock one is done! It really did go by pretty fast. I'm not the most glam foot model. I have long narrow feet (10-1/2 inches long to be exact!) and thick ankles/legs. Thanks Dad! lol!


Overall I'm happy with them. I would make the heel flap 1/4" longer if I could do it without ripping it all out. It's a wee bit snug at the ankle, but it's ok. It looks like there is a lot of white in them. There really isn't. It's yellow... it's just pretty pale. It's hard to get a good bright yellow with the Kool Aid.

Check out this funky toe detail. There is a purl 1 along the edge that you continue even through the toe. Kind of fun looking.


I've managed to do all this knitting while waiting on kids to do something... eat, bathe... etc... Hub's been in and out of town so much lately... time to myself is at a premium these days. I've spent my big chunks of kids sleeping/nap time in the basement sewing. I have so many pads to sew I'll be down there all summer! When I get a chunk done I'll give you some pic's.

Ironically, we're setting record high temp's outside... the ac is working hard... and when I go to the basement to sew... I have to put on pants, a sweater and slippers. We need a door at the top of the stairs I think. So... these socks WILL be used this summer!

The Sock has spoken

Sock wanted to Undulate.

And I'll tell you why. I switched to straight stockinette and something became apparent. My dye flaws. There are quite a few sections that look like this.


Spots where the dye didn't penetrate in the center of the hank. Lesson learned.

SO, at least when it's undulating, it's not so apparent that this is a flaw. It looks a bit more like it's meant to be that way. I like the way it looks. It's not showing off the pattern, that's for sure. But the pattern does keep the yarn looking good. So, we're undulating.

One quick note about the pattern: If you've cast these on using the rec'd needle size... you might get an odd result. What I've learned from looking at Ann Budd's sock patterns... she's a crazy tight knitter who needs big needles. So check the gauge my dears! Ignore the rec needles!

I've been looking at Lotus some more. Yes, I've thought of Monkey as a couple of you mentioned. I also had looked at the eyelet rib from Sensational Knitted Socks. Then I did something dangerous... I got out a stitchionary. There IS a design contest for the SOS...

What I am wondering is... what makes a sock pattern your own? I mean there are only so many ways to make a sock... (unless you're Cat Bordhi of course) So you take a stitch pattern or two and plug it into something that will work out for your sock. It seems like cheating to me to call this "my own". Maybe it's not. I don't know. How does one know that this particular thing hasn't been done before? There are millions of patterns out there. One person can't possibly search them all...

I'm rambling, but these are the questions that have been plaguing me.

My Summer of Socks Begins!

What could be better for the first 100+ degree day of the year? Nothing better. Socks for me! Yippeee!

I started this pair...


This is the Undulating Ribs pattern from Favorite Socks. I was fully prepared for the yarn to overwhelm the pattern. And in such a case I planned to stop the undulating ribs after the fourth twist. Thus giving a cuff and 3 sections of rib. I saw this version and thought if that yarn could pull it off, mine might. Looking at it now with one twist to go... I think it's too busy to keep the pattern up. So they'll just be 'Undulating Cuffs'. Here's a second pic with it stretched a bit so you can see the pattern better.


Do you recognize the yarn? It's Fruit Snacks! My first yarn dying experience. I had no idea how it would knit up and the suspense jumped this yarn to the top of the heap!

Now, I need some help people. I have this gorgeous ball of yarn from Illusion Yarns. (She's one of the sponsors for the SOS KAL.) It's her Lotus colorway. I love it. It's a really unusual combo of colors. But I have NO IDEA what to make with it! I've looked around and I just can't pick a pattern. But I can't seem to "settle" for plain jane either. Any ideas? I'm thinking I can do something between 60-64 stitches with it for my foot.


I hope this hot summer day has found you some sock knitting fun!

Independance!

Free at last! I'm free!

Yarn: 100Purewool 3ply Merino
Pattern: My Own, sizes ML and L

The brothers shorts are complete! They're still a bit damp, but should be on their way to their home tomorrow. I really worked hard on getting them done the past few days. I wanted to both start my SOS socks and have all my "to-do's" complete. I have a LOT of sewing to be doing and I needed this off my plate so I could focus.

I can't wait to see pictures of the cute little brothers causing trouble in their shorties! It's all girls girls girls around here, so the little break into boyishness was fun!

Next up... my first pair of SOS socks have been cast on! Woot!