Double the FO's: Stalking Socks and Oreo Mittens

Slipper socks in women's size 9 for my cousin for Christmas. The yarn is Jo-Ann Sensations Angel Hair, which is an absolute pain to knit with, but OMG SO SOFT. And they are the very neon-est of neon blue (which is why they're called Stalking Socks…fuzzy blue things instantly remind me of Monsters, Inc. :P )

Mittens for myself! I've been needing a pair. They look sort of large because, well, they are large. They're warm, but too thin to wear alone in Pittsburgh's windy winter, so the largeness leaves room for a pair of gloves to be worn underneath.

Both patterns were improvised, which makes me kind of proud, since I haven't designed a pattern in…let's not even count, ugh.

And speaking of accomplishments:

IT'S THE HOMESTRETCH, BABY.

Halvsies

Socks for my cousin

and mittens for me

Getting my winter knitting in gear with these projects, as well as my brainpower. Since these socks and these mittens, I haven't improvised a design in a loooooong time :P

FO: Aquamarine Socks

Gee, it only took nine months!
To complete a project originally intended to be done in two weeks.
…

Totally worth it :D

A few short notes on the modifications:
Because this yarn is DK, the socks are thick. Since I'm not a person for high socks, I knit only one pattern repeat on the leg. I'm also not a fan of grafting toes, so I stole and modified this pattern for a toe knit in the round and gathered at the top. As a result, the foot pattern repeats only two and a half times, and my toe is nice and rounded instead of bluntly grafted.

Being sick=productive knitting

Time to rest now, ugh…

"Quitter" is such a dirty word

I'm not quitting. Really.

It's just that the Ravelympics are over in four days. It took twelve days just to make the first sock (well, partly because for most of the first eight days, I was on the beach, and sand in your yarn is not pleasant, and we'd go out a lot at night too, and shut up I was on vacation :P )

And don't get me wrong, it is a lovely sock . . .



But I am a slow knitter :/

I'm not giving up, though. I'll knit as much of the second sock as I can, and if I don't finish, well, I don't finish.
I won't get a medal, but hey, I took the challenge. I'll finish this race anyway :)

At least I still have comfort food.

Eight days a week

I've been doing this:

It's seen May-Treanor and Walsh team it up . . .


It's seen Phelps take his 7th gold by one one-hundredth of a second . . .

The games aren't over, and the foot is on the way . . .
Haha typing all these dots is fun . . . :P

On my way home at the moment. While you're waiting check the latest TKaCM and find me (hint: I appear twice ;) )!

On the road again . . .

Day 1: I say "Screw looking normal, I'll be in the car all day and I wanna wear a green ribbon with a purple shirt, darn!!!"


We are not exactly the lightest of packers (and note that this picture does not show the explosion inside).


We also like to take some stops now and then :)




Day 2: I'm more fashionably dressed today :P
We stopped at Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson, where I embraced my inner Georgia O'Keefe.


And tonight, the Games began!



Have a good week!

FO: Loooove Monkeys

*contented sigh* Alpaca is awesome. Socks are awesome. <3Love<3

And now that these are out of the way, my dpn's are ready for the Ravelympics!

Oh, and I started my Cherie Amour the same day I finished these. At first I didn't know what size to pick, and the pattern says the S is for a 34" bust, but the finished S is a 41" bust. I am no way close to 41" 'round there, so I asked some people on Ravelry, and those who have made the pattern recommended the XS, which finishes to a 36" bust, for a closer fit.
Luckily, I started a sleeve before all the size debating, and the S and XS sleeves are the same :)

I shall leave you with another FO, my still-life that I finished in class at the North Hills Art Center (I vastly improved from last year).

Ciao!

The woes of solid colors

Remember this yarn? This wonderful, soft, smoooooshy, DELICIOUS yarn?

Well, in case you haven't already guessed, it's has started to drive me crazy.

I must find a pattern for this yarn. I must find a pattern for this yarn. I must stop myself from going OCD by finding a pattern for this yarn!

Alright, alright, I confess: I broke my own rules and cast on for the second Loooove Monkey. I couldn't help it! Once I took out the sock for the photoshoot and started to pet the loooovely alpaca, I ran for the dpn's. So then I was thinking about making more socks, and thought, "Maybe I can use the Dreambaby DK . . ." I got out a US #3 and started making a gauge swatch, and what do you know ;) I must knit tight or something because I have the standard sock gauge of 8 stitches per inch (!), and so I went to Ravelry for patterns . . .

Stop. Do not continue reading unless you would like to deal with my perfectionism anxiety. Because I used Ravelry's experimental search and used the pattern tag "sock" and the category "free" and looked through all 53 pages and I still did not see any socks I think would work!!!!!!

*slams head off keyboard repeatedly*

Yeah I saw plenty of patterns I liked, but I'd go into the Projects page and see if anybody had made them in a solid blue color or at least a solid color, and then I'd examine them on people's pictured feet and see if the socks could be stuffed into shoes without the pattern getting all bunched up and uncomfortable, and then I'd closely examine the stitch pattern to see if I really liked it, and nearly all the ones I at first thought would work were done in some wonky gauge.

I know at this point I should probably give up and just wing it with my own design, but honestly I don't think I trust myself enough (translation: I can't think of anything to design).

*groan* Why must socks hate me?

In case you were wondering, "Where'd the love go?"

First sock is DONE!


Actually, has been done. Since like, April :P Yeah, I know, lots of un-posted and un-updated projects on the list here, but I'll get to them all (eventually).

Here's the deal:

~When I finish all the gloves, I'll go back to Trendsweater.
~When I finish Trendsweater, I'll go back to the second Loooove Monkeys.
~When I finish the socks, I'll go back to either designing a new pattern, or doing whatever ;)

In the midst of all this, I'll be working on my mom's Wisp.
In November, I've promised myself to start a Cherie Amour out of my Manos del Uruguay (for NaKniSweMo).
Plus, my dad announced he'd like a cycling jersey, old-style wool.

Oy. Vey.

A better way

Okay, so for the Loooove Monkeys, I wanted a sturdy heel flap, cause I plan to give them a lot of use, you know? I decided to use Eye of Partridge stitch, which looks like honeycomb when you look through it, or hold it up to a light. But the problem was that this heel flap turned out to be more holey and seemingly flimsier than plain stockinette.
Well, a kind sock knitter on Ravelry showed me a better way to do an Eye of Partridge heel flap, so I am going to pass it onto you :) It gives you both a pretty and durable heel flap.

Regular Eye of Partridge stitch goes like this:
Row 1: [Sl1, K1] across
Row 2: Sl1, P across
Row 3: Sl2, [K1, Sl1] to last 2 stitches, K2
Row 4: Repeat Row 2
Repeat rows 1-4 for heel flap

^Muy confusing!

The better Eye of Partridge stitch:
Row 1: [Sl1, K1] across
Row 2: [Sl1, P1] across
Repeat rows 1 and 2 for heel flap

*Note: While it is sturdier, Eye of Partridge tend to be a little tighter, so you may have to knit more than the recommended number of rows for your heel flap (but I assure you, it's worth it to have a sock that fits!)

Who knew popularity had a reason?

On Tuesday, I had this craving. I needed to knit socks, and nothing was going to stop me. However, there was a downside to this. You see, the Koigu yarn (KPPPM) I used for my first April Showers sock made my right hand (the yarn-holding hand) break out in what looked like small blisters all over my fingers. It's probably a bad reaction to the dye, and people on Ravelry said I could cure it by soaking the Koigu in soapy water, but I am still hesitant to pick up with the April Showers Socks.

Then I found this Filatura Lanarota Cuzco I've been saving since me and my mom went to Penn's Colony last fall (the name of the booth I bought it at escapes me). I had used a skein on my Fetching (what was I thinking??? Fingering-weight yarn held double on US 9 needles?!), but still have 340 yards left.

The yarn is very squishy and soft and delicious. It is 100% sport-weight alpaca, and I <3<3<3 the pumpkin color. I am making Cookie's Monkey pattern, and this is where the post title comes in.

If you are on Ravelry (which I suspect you are, since this is where most of my traffic comes from), you will surely have noticed the alarming number of people who have made this pattern. If you haven't, that's good, cause I'm gonna tell you anyway:
4192
Four thousand, one hundred, and ninety-two people have made these socks. That is so freaking insane.

At first I was all, "It's cute, but eh, I don't know. Surely it will not seduce me into knitting them."

But it has.

And it is addicting. And I love it. Just like those other 4192 people.
Henceforth, these are the Loooove Monkey socks.

Oh and by the way, I finished the back of Trendsweater. Onto the left front, my comrades!
If I can figure out how on Earth to do all these increases. Yeeeesh.

That frog better not be nocturnal

Sorry this post got out late. I've just been . . .busy. Wow. That feels strange to say. I am very very very rarely busy. That's why I have a blog ;)

Anywho, my first ever sock is taking forever+two weeks and four hours to finish. I swear the foot shrinks when I'm not looking. I have been measuring and knitting and measuring and knitting some more, and it seemed like time was in slow motion while I was knitting for seven inches.

And finally I have reached the toe decreases.
And then I will have those for another freaking two inches.

I cannot even imagine how bad my Second Sock Syndrome will be. First Sock Finishing Syndrome has pretty much eaten all of my brain, along with my sanity.
Can socks eat you? Can they? Really? Are you sure? Positive? So that means I am not even here typing this. I am being digested.

Head over heels

Lookee here, I turned a heel!

While reading through the instructions, my first thoughts were something like Ohcrapohcrapohcrap this looks hard!
Then I turned the heel, and I was like, Well that was a lot of nail-biting over nothing!

Right now I'm onto the foot decreases, which are taking forever because you have to decrease from 82 stitches to 64 stitches over something like twenty rounds. Tiny needles+many stitches=frustration

Please ignore the garishly colored pajamas in the background. It was late and I was knitting while watching the new season of Trading Spaces. Garishly colored pajamas are acceptable in those kind of settings ;)

Too much love to fit into one post~Part 2

And now the knitty part of my weekend comes in!

Monday
I visited Yarns Unlimited!

It is the greatest place ever.
Well, maybe not ever.
But it is still really cool ;)

After like spending half an hour nearly swooning from yarn lust, I started shopping. I got another skein of Steadfast Fibers Marvelous Mohair, because I didn't think my first skein was enough for the Gossamer Shell Lace scarf (from One-Skein Wonders) that I want to make.

And I also picked up two skeins of Koigu Painter's Palette Premium Merino (man that's a mouthful—of gob-smacking gorgeous color nonetheless :P)

For this!

It is the beginning of the Spiral Eyelet Socks. My first socks :D
The colors are amazing and variegate like a rainbow, with a little brown stripe every here and there, looking like a little rain cloud amid all the glorious rainbow-ness.
Rainbow+clouds+socks=April Showers Socks

Also, while my grandma may not be much of a knitter (yet), she does have a stash of yarn that she's used over the years for doll hair. And she graciously let me keep these two.



Oh how I love my grandma!

"You can't spell inspiration without procrastination!"

So far, I have not made one teensy baby step to approach my 2008 Knitting Resolutions Goals.

What do you mean, I never told you my goals?
Oops.
Well, better late than never!

~Knit socks
~Knit a sweater
~Knit lace
~Design at least three new patterns

Well, I sort of made a step. Over the weekend, I paid a visit to Jo-Ann and discovered they were having a sale on needles, so I sucked up all the courage I had and bought a pair of US 3 dpns.
Sock needles, in other words :)

Never mind that I don't have any sock yarn. I'll get to that later.

I'm thinking about either Crusoe or Broadripple for the pattern. And with the soon-to-be-acquired yarn, I can start on my first ever socks!!!! :D

Once I get over my growing fear of these ridiculously tiny needles.