I Got Rhythm

Over in the Socks that Rawk group on Ravelry, the powers that be pick a pattern for us to do each quarter. I have Socks that Rock yarn to spare, and I figured this would be a fun way to use it. Last quarter, I made the Zigzagular Socks of Wrath, and this quarter was the House Targaryen socks. 

Pretty, right? The problem is, it hurts to knit this pattern. The end of each cluster is a k3tog, yo, k3tog all in the same stitch, and it's brutal on the hands. I bought a thimble, guys. A thimble.

I decided this was a pretty pattern, but not pretty enough to justify bloody fingertips.

After contemplating a bit, I decided that the thing to do was to knit a toe-up pattern. I was using a mill end with well under 400 yards, and I was making it for a friend with manly big feet. I did not want to run out of yarn (like I've done before). I weighed the skein and started.

And it was way too big.

Frog again.

The third time was the charm.

They did end up with shorter legs than I would have knit normally, so I'm glad I did toe-up and weighed the yarn.

Syncopation socks (mine ravelled here), 

knit in Blue Moon Fiber Arts Sock that Rock Lightweight, Mill End

I like these, and the stitch pattern is very easy. I think the brown color makes it look like tree bark. I can imagine doing these again top-down.

I probably should be knitting some tiny sock ornaments I'm supposed to be helping my mom make, but I've become enraged by gauge after doing 2 and ending up with wildly different sized ornaments (one of which didn't fit the little blocker Mom wants it to fit on). The whole whack of it is in time out until I figure out what sacrifice I need to make to the yarn gods in order to get it to work. Instead, I think I'd rather make another pair of Fightin' Words mitts. Everyone I know needs a pair of those!

Friendsgiving 2014

Before:

After:

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Delight

I decided not to knit my mom a pair of socks for Christmas.

Then I knit my mom a pair of socks for Christmas.

Sailor's Delight (remember them from here?), 

mine ravelled here, knit in Knitpicks' Felici, Jingle colorway (discontinued)

Turns out, when I stopped trying to rework the stitch pattern and just knit them as written, they worked just fine. Funny how that happens.

As you probably know, I love Felici yarn and was really upset when Knitpicks discontinued it. I have a somewhat embarrassingly large stash of it--wouldn't fit in a bread box, would fit in a Tardis--and I'm determined to use all most of it. This colorway, Jingle, is a perfect example why their last run of colors didn't sell well. It's supposed to be Christmas-y, but the red is... off. It's an odd, almost burnt red rather than a true red. Luckily, my mom liked the colors.

One down, fourteen more colors to go!

Ornamental

I'm busy, but not with things I can share on the blog. I have reached the point where the guest room looks like there's been an explosion--it won't get better until I start wrapping Christmas presents, so it's best to just shut the door and pretend the room doesn't exist. When I get another present made or purchased, I can close my eyes, open the door, and chuck it in.

Minutia (mine ravelled here),

knit in scrap yarn from god-knows-where

Secrecy binds me on nearly everything, but I did make this little hat. It's Packers colors. I not only do not care about Green Bay, but I think football is a tremendous waste of time. I fully recognize that tons of people feel the same way about baseball. The difference, of course, is that I am right and they are wrong.

Anyway, I made this little ornament for a teenager who clearly will not read this blog. It's part of Berroco's 2014 ornament patterns set, which includes a sweater, this hat, a mitten, and another sweater which honestly doesn't look like a sweater at all. The patterns are free, cute, and use up very little yarn. I think I had this done while in the car driving from one errand to the next and the next and the next one Saturday. (Andrew drove.) AND I got to use my new pompom maker, which is more fun than it has a right to be.

Check out the pattern on Berroco's website here and have fun!

Just Me and a Needle

Somebody looking for a blog post about drug addiction is going to be highly disappointed by this post.

Sorry.

I was talking about this:

Just me, a nascent cardigan, and a crazy desire to make the bind off as invisible as possible. I blame Eunny Jang. Ever since she talked about the cast on for ribbing, I don't look at ribbing the same way. I used her instructions when I cast on for Andrew's welldigger hat, and I think it was worth the effort. (The fact that this is a worsted-weight hat and therefore not a million kajillion stitches is now something I've considered.)

Needing a way to make a bind off pretty, I searched and found these instructions. Let me tell you: This is not for the faint of heart. I should have suspected that when I saw that the title of the instruction post included the word "masochistic." She's not lying.

I'm just going to keep telling myself that it's all going to be worth it in the end. If I come up to you and insist we discuss the fabric's edges in depth and with great passion, please go along with me... at least for the first couple of times.

Smooth Beginning on Rocky Coast

I've been making some Christmas presents, and I think I'm in a pretty good spot (famous last words). I decided to celebrate fall and start a sweater for myself.

Rocky Coast Cardigan (mine raveled here)

knit in Cascade 220, colorway 2409 Palm 

It's worsted weight yarn knit on big needles, and I'm loving it so far. I can tell where the cables go, so I'm not tied to the chart, and there's no waist shaping so I can knit on autopilot now that I'm past the raglan shaping at the top.

I feel quite optimistic about this. Bring it, Winter. I have wool.

Well, HUH.

You know how sometimes you pop your head up from your life, look around, and think, "Well, HUH. How the heck did that happen?" I had one of those moments on Friday.

I was at Andrew's grandpa's house, and he had a stuffed bear wearing a Get Well Soon sweater. It was being aggressively loved by a great-grandchild, and one of the adults realized unraveling was happening.

They asked me if I could fix it. I could, but I didn't have a yarn needle, so I took it home with me for repair.

I was sitting at my dining room table, repairing this crappy stuffed bear sweater, and I had a moment.

How the heck did I become the person who knows how to fix sweaters? 

How did I become the mender, the maker, the knitter, the creator?

It's mostly knitting, but not exclusively. Case in point: In the background of that photo, you can see wax paper. That's because I was making Christmas ornaments earlier in the day. I spend a startling amount of time making things. This is surprising since I spent the first 25 years of my life living almost entirely inside my head, devouring books and thriving in academia.

Life is surprising and weird, folks. Huh.