Yarnthulhu

Despite the fact that it isn’t winter, nor will it be anytime soon, I’ve been working on various winter neck-coverings.

This is a Flared Smoke Ring, in SweetGeorgia merino laceweight. I just love this yarn, and will be using the leftovers to make something else, hopefully for me. This smoke ring is definitely going to be for someone else (probably Christmas), but I’m not sure who at this point. I figure it’s good to get ahead.

Since I’ve been working on something for another person, I figured I would make something similar for me. I’m planning on using some of the Sundara sock yarn I got to make another smoke ring of some sort.

I am not going to buy any more yarn for one month. So, until June 15, no yarn purchase will be made by me. I went a little crazy, and bought some more sock yarn, some from Sundara and some through destash. It may have been because I also just signed up for Summer of Socks 2008, and desire to knit as many socks as I can during that period. I would like to knit through all my sock yarn stash, though that gets harder every time I buy more…

I also finished a few items:

Pattern: Broadripple, from Knitty
Yarn: Knitterly Things Vesper 100% Merino

These socks are awesome! This is the first time I’ve tried self-striping yarn, and it really is super cool. It also worked out that the stripes matched exactly on both socks (I’m not sure if that’s supposed to happen). The pattern was also really easy to memorize, and looks really good with this yarn. I’m very pleased with these.

Second:

Pattern: Hiiumaa Socks, from Knitting on the Road by Nancy Bush
Yarn: Koigu (purple and light pink), remants of Sweet Georgia sock yarn

Here we see the danger of dyelots. I knew that dyelots are different, especially with koigu. When I made the first sock (the lighter of the two with the hot pink), I thought I would have enough purple for both socks. Sadly, no, I didn’t, but then I figured that I could just go to Loop and buy more, since that’s where I got it from in the first place. Also no. They sold out of that color and haven’t gotten it back since. Additionally, I threw out the ball band, so I had no idea what dyelot it was. These are birthday socks for my sister that needed to be finished, so I succumbed to desperation and bought more koigu. Same color number, different dyelot. I still think these socks look okay, but I really wish I had enough to finish both.   The fact that it’s a Nancy Bush pattern eased my pain somewhat.  I’ll be giving my sister another pair sometime soon, certainly one of the pairs I make during Summer of Socks, which begins June 21st (I think).  Until then, I have a few other things to work on.

It’s funny how perilous knitting can be. There have been times where I came home to see yarn strewn across the entire living room floor, or walked in the door to see this (above). Naturally, I feel this is inappropriate, and I express my indignation through yelling “DROP IT!”

It never works. 

Pattern: Gentleman’s Fancy Socks, by Nancy Bush (in Knitting Vintage Socks)
Yarn: Sundara Sock, Green over Black, size 0 US needle
Mods: None

I made these socks for a friend’s birthday (which was Saturday). I’ve had them done for months (officially finished March 4th), but haven’t blogged about them because I didn’t want to spoil the surprise. This yarn was a dream to work with, and I love the color! After I finished this project, I vowed to use more Sundara sock yarn. Fortunately, I signed up for her Seasons club again, so I’ll be sure to get at least a few skeins without having to work for it.

I signed up for Summer of Socks 2008 yesterday. My goal is to knit through my entire stash of sock yarn/finish socks for Christmas by the end of August.  I only have ~6 pairs worth of yarn or so.  I also signed up for the “most socks” contest, and have vague aspirations to win. I can knit socks fast when I want to, but I don’t think I’m fast enough to be a contender. Last year’s winner knit 42 pairs!  That’s a lot of socks.

Pattern: Pricilla’s Dream Socks, from Favorite Socks
Yarn: .5 skein Louet Gems Pearl (Linen Gray), .5 skein Wollmeise (Wilder Mohn); size 1.5 US needle

These socks were wickedly fast.  I started them on April 24th and finished blocking them on May 1st, which is 7 days (I think?).  I just couldn’t stop knitting them, which worked out well; they’re “due” today.  I made them for a friend who hasn’t received a pair of socks from me yet, even though she had requested some.  I just forgot that I hadn’t given her any yet!  These really remind me of her personality: bright, colorful, and friendly.  I did do some experimenting with jogless joins for the stripes, with limited success.  I think there will be many more stripy socks in my future.  Plus they are good for stashbusting.

I hope I’m not going to be sued by Honda or anything, since I’m technically posting a picture of their product.  I’ll cross my fingers.  I love you, Honda!

My first experience was with a 1979 Honda that my parents had for the first 10 years or so of my life.  It was reliable,  sturdy, and lasted for 200,000ish miles.  We’ve always had at least on Honda in the family, and when it was time for me to get my own car, I wanted one too.  Used Hondas are expensive, of course, so I got an old American car.  It died within 6 months.  After that,  I got my (1991) Honda and never looked back.  That lasted until 2 years ago, when I decided that it had too much rust for me.  It still ran fine, of course.  I don’t have anything against American cars in general, but I just love me my Honda.  The above picture is my current Honda (covered in grass).

Pattern: Show-off Stranded socks (PDF file) by Anne Campbell
Yarn: Spunky Eclectic Skinny sock, color Celebration, size 1 US needle
Start: March 11
Finished: April 27

I had been craving some colorful yarn for awhile, and happened upon this skein up for destash in March. I figured a pattern that was meant to break up color sections would be best for really colorful yarn, which was true. Still, I’m not overly pleased with the level of pooling with this yarn (see the weird dark sections). I know how picky I am about yarn color, so my mild displeasure isn’t surprising. The pattern was cool, especially the interesting heel construction.

There is no normal gusset with this sock.  As a result, the ankle is much wider than typical socks.  I thought the construction was really interesting, though it did mean that the socks are slightly too big in the ankle area for me.  So, the verdict on these socks is: fair.  Not too bad, but not awesome either.  I’m glad to have them done, mostly because now I can work on some projects that have been waiting for awhile.

I’ve been going a little crazy the past month, stash-wise.  I have been snapping up various yarns (mostly sock) from others’ sell/trade pages on Ravelry.

(just 3 examples, but there are more)

It’s funny, because at the beginning of the month I downloaded my stash spreadsheet and discovered that I have about 7,000 yards of yarn.  I know that most people have stashes significantly bigger than that, so I felt good about myself.  Then there were all these sock yarns available for sale/trade, and I also put some of my stuff up for destash, so the yarn has been pouring in.  To top it off, yesterday was one of my friend’s birthday, and she asked me to accompany her to a LYS, where her fiance resignedly cheerfully bought her lots of yarn.  She is a fairly new knitter, so I’ve been tutoring her.  While at said yarn store, I saw that they had some Kathmandu DK for sale, 40% off.  That made it $4.20 a skein.  Buying commenced.  It is rare for me to buy yarn without a project in mind, but sometimes I just can’t resist.  Well, that’s not exactly true.  I did have a vague idea for a project when I bought the yarn.  Currently, I plan on making the Seeded Cables Cardigan from Sensual Knits.  That’s right, it’s a very complicated cabled cardigan, and it also is full of errata.  I just love the way it looks, though, and I think this yarn is perfect for it, so I’m going to ignore all those time that I said “I hate cables.”  I’m sure it will be fine.  I’m going to live in denial land, where it is always sunny and cables are wonderful.

I happily sewed the zipper into Joie de Vivre two days ago, and was mostly pleased with the results.  However, I discovered a small hitch (after it was all sewn in, of course).  Observe.

This is the bottom of the zipper.  Notice that metal stop, immediately below the zipper?  Yeah.  It’s one piece, not two.  This means that the zipper does not open on the bottom.  Not ideal.  I’m really not sure how I managed to find a zipper like that, let alone sew it into my sweater.  So, tomorrow I’m going to get a new zipper, and make sure that it’s one that opens on both ends.

It took me forever to come up with a picture for this, and I’m not sure it makes all that much sense, so I’ll try to explain it as best I can.

Gravity is my constant enemy.  It makes me drop my knitting projects, pushes over the mug of tea I have precariously balanced on the arm of the sofa, and makes my pod constantly fall out of my pockets when I stand.  This picture attempts to illustrate gravity’s toll on me, by showing a freshly dropped knitting project (my foot is for scale).    Not only does gravity continually annoy me, it also means that I get cat hair on every project.