FO: Thar she blows!

Pattern: Fluke by Laurie Lee
Yarn: Trekking XXL, colorway 115, maybe 2/3 of a ball
Needles: US 1.5/2.5 mm
Comments/mods: my first lace sock, and my first top-down pair in quite a while! This pattern was quick and easy, and the lace gave it just enough focus to keep from lagging. It was great fun to knit, Don't think I did any mods at all actually. I like the tweedy yarn with the lace - gives it some interest but doesn't obscure the pattern with a lot of color variation.

In retrospect, I think I screwed up the heel flaps, because they are pretty darn short. The toes too. Next time (?) I'll make sure I make both a bit bigger. This pattern didn't use much of the yarn (more for the blanket!) - hooray for lace! I thoroughly enjoyed these, and I think there will be more lace socks in my future.

Yesterday, after a very good swim (finally!), I discovered that tomorrow is, once again, Silly Sock Day at the girl's daycare. And this time, as opposed to maintaining some semblance of a grip on my sanity as I did last year, I decided to knit Devil some quick anklets for Silly Sock Day. It's a tossup as to whether she'll actually wear them or not, but at least she'll have the option. Plus they kept my hands busy during Jon and Stephen.

No wonder no one want to sit next to me on the bus - those DPNs look lethal!

Flashbacks

I've been thinking back to eigth grade over the last few days, when I was young and nerdy, and my best friend was a basketball-obsessed Japanese girl. I can still remember the starting line up for the Celtics in those days*, and I remember watching them play the Lakers in the Finals. It was the first time I'd ever really watched basketball, given that my mom was not in to televised sports, and my dad leaned towards that Brahmin standard, tennis, rather then this new-fangled basketball thing.

But it was amazing, the whole rivalry. And tonight it starts up again. For the first time in 21 years. It won't be the same as those 80s matchups (no Magic, no Larry), but it's a nice example of history repeating.

For those of you playing along at home, here's another flashback, thankfully not 21 years old.

Pattern: Basalt Tank from Knitting Nature, Norah Gaughan
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Top, color 005, 5 skeins (960 yds)
Needles: US 6/4.0 mm
Mods/comments: I had some "issues" with the first version of this, and the size medium I knit bore a striking resemblance to a circus tent. So this is a size small (hahaha!), with modifications to the side hexagons and waist shaping as pioneered by Kelly.

Waist shaping detail

Those of you familiar with the pattern may notice something odd about the first picture - it does not look like the pictures of the finished garment in the book. This angle may help:

Ironman told me to "Do something interesting...like flex!"

When I put this thing on with the correct side facing front, it was obscene. As in, its a good thing I'm not better endowed up front because I would have been flashing the world like a German beer wench. Plus it gaped in the back, and there was no hiding that.

So I put it in the washing machine to try and shrink it a bit. No dice. Then I had a brain flash (I think the little grey cells are coming back already) and turned it around. Ta da! Problem solved. The only thing I don't like is that the seam for the bottom edging is now right in the front. Only time will tell if that bugs me enough to rip it out and redo it. For now, the Basalt tank is off the needles and wearable. Thank goodness!

* Larry Bird, DJ (Dennis Johnson), Kevin McHale, Robert Parish and Danny Ainge

FO: Turkish Walrus

These are my May socks for the Sockamonth5 knitalong, and they are a total cheat. The whole pair was knit in March/April 2006, but I never finished them because I screwed up the cuffs. And then I had to make "buttons" and knit up a little tab to sew them on, and they got stuck in the back of the cupboard and forgotten about. Occasionally they'd make an appearance and I'd look at them guiltily, thinking that I really ought to just get them done. But then I'd stick them back in a bag and forget about them for a few more months.

In the spirit of finishing off long-lingering UFOs (and in panic because my other socks are no-way-no-how going to be finished by the end of the month), I pulled them out last night and finished them on the bus this morning.

It took 15 min, max. Pshaw!

Pattern: my own, named for my lovely sister-in-law B, pattern available as soon as I get my butt in gear pattern now available as a pdf file - email me (porpoiseknits AT gmail DOT com) if you'd like a copy.
Yarn: Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport, 100% wool, in Sunburst Gold (308), French Clay (N17), Burnt Sienna (101) and Sapphire (N65)
Needles: US 3/3.25 mm
Gauge: 28 sts/36 rows per 4 inches in stranded pattern
Comments: My SIL, who is actually Turkish, gave me a pair of beautiful socks many many Christmas ago, which I wore until they got huge holes in the heels. And then I wore them some more. And then I realized that I couldn't wear them and needed to make a replacement pair. These socks are a toe-up, quick knit in sport-weight yarn, with a garter stitch buttoned cuff. A nice easy pattern if you are a beginner to stranded/Fair Isle knitting. You can use as many colors as you like, making the stripes as thick as you like.

Cuff detail

Toe-up heel flap

I'll be wearing these with my Birks this summer to protect me in the Houston AC wars. Hooray for new socks (that required less then one bus ride to finish)!

Fiber Friday: Spiral boot socks

I realize that having a Fiber Friday post that includes a finished item is something of an oxymoron, but these are the second thing I've made for me with my own handspun, and I am excessively enamored of them.

Pattern: Spiral Boot Socks by Veronik Avery, IK Summer 2007
Yarn: Toxic superwash corriedale, 3 ply, approximately fingering weight, dyed by Hello Yarn (more details on the spinning are here), 515 yds.
Needles: multiple sizes -- US 1/2.25 mm and US 2/2.75 mm dpns from Brittany, US 1.5/2.5 mm dpns from Knit Picks
Started/finished (this is why I love Ravelry!): 3/12 on my way to Portland/4/14/08.
Comments and modifications: Where to start? I spun this yarn hoping to end up with some subtle striping, and it worked out better then I ever imagined once the yarn was knitted up. I knew from the beginning I'd need to do a bunch of modifications since 1) I wanted to knit the socks toe-up so I could use all of the yarn and 2) the pattern schematics indicated a top leg opening of only 11 inches. Since I spent the better part of three days this winter trying to find a pair of knee high boots that would close around my "shapely" calves (18 inches!), 11 inches was not going to cut it.

My gauge with this yarn on US 1/2.25 mm needles was about 7 sts/9 rows per inch so I did my standard toe increases up to the number of stitches called for in the pattern and tried it on. Everything looked good, so I forged ahead. I simply worked the charts as they are printed in the pattern for the length of the foot. When I had about 6.5 inches of foot done, I started increasing one stitch on each side of the heel stitches every other row for the gusset. Once those were done (14 increases total) I turned the heel as in the pattern directions and then worked the heel flap in sl1/k1 rib just as I did for the Firestarter socks.

Once the heel was done, I started working the leg patttern with US 1/2.25 mm needles. I did 15 repeats before increasing one stitch before the YO. 15 more repeats and then increased one stitch after the YO. Note: this is not what was called for in the pattern, but I didn't read closely enough to catch the mistake until I was almost at the top of the leg. So I didn't bother fixing it. This increase in stitch number as you go up the leg creates subtle calf shaping that works pretty well.

I did 15 repeats of the final stitch pattern and then switched to US 2/2.75 needles for 12 more repeats. At that point, I figured I was going to use up most of the yarn, and started on the cuff. In order to tighten up the top of the sock and help keep them up, I switched to US 1.5/2.5 mm needles for the cuff pattern. Again, I didn't flip the chart at all, just worked it as written, did the final few rows of lace and used a standard bind off (k2, pass 1st stitch over second, k1, pass 1st stitch over second, repeat ad nauseum). This is not a particularly stretchy bind off, but it fits well, and hopefully will force the socks stay up.

Now the next question is: will it ever be cold enough in Houston to wear them? Because knee high wool socks and shorts are not a fashion statement I'm particularly willing to make!

FO: Firestarter socks

Pattern: The Firestarter by Yarnissima
Yarn: Plymouth Happy Feet (Rav link), color 5, 2 skeins
Needles: Susan Bates US 1/2.25 mm
Comments/mods: These socks were the first project I started for PS, way back in the beginning of March. The first sock went along very quickly - I increased the number of stitches for the foot to 68 (up from 60 given that I have size 10 feet), and the number of foot repeats from 5 to 8. Once I turned the heel, I worked the heel flap in sl1/k1/purl back to give the standard ridge heel flap look. I also kept the front and the back of the leg in stockinette instead of the ribbing called for in the pattern. After a couple of pattern repeats, I increased 12 stitches (4 sts per round, 3 times) spaced out over a couple of repeats to give a bit of calf shaping.

When I got to the top of the leg, I decreased 8 sts evenly all the way around before working ten rounds of k1tbl/p1 ribbing. I decreased stitches in order to keep the twisted stitches from the side panels flowing smoothly into the ribbing. I really enjoyed this pattern, and I'm very glad I did this one before attempting something like Bayerische. Once I got the hang of working the twisted stitches, they moved along pretty quickly. I love the purl texture of the gusset next to the twisted stitches, and the pattern was very well written. They're nice and cozy, just in time for Houston summers!

The only slight downside to this project was the yarn. The colors are beautiful, but it was a bit splitty to work with. I've been thinking alot recently about spinning sock yarn, and how tightly spun/plied it needs to be to wear well. This stuff just seemed too softly spun to hold up well, but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised!

In the interests of science (geek alert) I also kept track of how long it took me to knit one sock. Details are in a Flickr set if anyone is interested. Suffice to say I won't be making a living knitting socks for sale anytime soon!

Given my goal of knitting one pair of gift socks for every pair I knit for myself (the kid socks don't count), the next pair I cast on will have to be for someone else. There's enough options in my Rav queue to keep me busy for quite a while.