After the sock debacle

Well. After my olympic disaster, I did several things. None of them was to rip out the offending sock.

I did start casting on with wild abandon. I cast on the previously mentioned Noro mitten, but I determined I needed a size 1 needle for the cuff, and I was liking the 9" circular needle so much, I wanted to go buy a 9" size 1 needle just to continue.

I also cast on a pair of fingerless gloves for the teen in my life. He's been politely inquiring about their progress, so I thought I'd reward that interest. I'm using the same pattern as the ruby gloves I made earlier this month. The yarn is the ever-delicious Dream in Color Smooshy, in the colourway Black Parade. Maybe I'll finish tonight!

I also balled up some yarn to cast on a new Skew sock. My intention was to try Skew on a 9" circular needle, and for that, I made the journey to the far-away yarn store that sells them. Sadly, they were mostly sold out, and all I got was a bamboo size 2 in the 9" needle. The yarn I balled up required a size 1, so there are two projects that are waiting on a size 1.

By a stunning coincidence, there was a Harbor Freight in the same strip mall as the yarn store I drove 30 minutes to get to. I had never heard of that store until I was reading about calipers on Ravelry, and a knitter recommended one of theirs.

The calipers were on sale, and the moment I got to my car, I pulled them out and measured my 2 size 1 needles. It turns out that one of the needles was 2.25mm and the other was 2.5mm. This explains why my 2 socks were different sizes! When I put the socks back on the needles, I thought I was putting them on a size 1 needle, but I actually put them on a slightly larger 1.5 needle.

My KnitChek never distinguished between size 2.5 and 3 needles, and now I discover it never allowed me to realise that what I thought was 2 size 1 needles was actually a size 1 and a 1.5.  Now I have calipers and I will never use a KnitChek again! Information is power! Rar!

New toy!

A couple weeks ago, I drove a half an hour to a yarn store I'd never before visited. It was very luscious! Lots of familiar names in yummy yarns. But my real reason for the visit there was to acquire for myself one of the famous Hiya Hiya 9" circular needles. I've read about them a lot on Ravelry, and some people hate them, and some love them. I suspected I would be in the hate-them camp, seeing as 40" circular magic loop works so well for me. But tonight I cast on a mitten with my new 9" circular, and discovered that I love it. It really does work well, you just knit round and round and round.

Sadly, I really need a size 1; this cuff is too loose. Time for another trip to the yarn store!

Acquisitions

Yesterday, my knitting buddy at work and I took a lunch time stroll to the closest yarn store. Despite tremendous temptation, all I purchased was a pair of size 6 Clover Bamboo needles. This is in preparation for knitting a Candle Flame Shawl out of Knit Picks Gossamer in blue jeans. (Look! It's on clearance!) I really do like this yarn. It's all springy. My pink shawl is also made from gossamer, and I still love it. I actually wound this yarn into balls last January, fully intending to start on the shawl then. About time! I had originally set aside some Boye straight metal needles for this project, but at some point decided that bamboo would make me much happier.



Princess Anne, who lurves the new needles, is posed in front of an original print by Wally Pacholka at astropics.com

Acquisitions

 This story starts back in June, when I went on a birthday shopping spree. I acquired many balls of Colour 4 Me yarn on close out, and this was cause for much rejoicing. Then I decided to make Lithuanian Amber Socks with some of that yarn, but that meant using most of my orange stash, which was unexpected. I had Other Plans for that orange, so I called up the yarn store and asked for them to save me a few more balls, while it was still on sale. She told me they could only save it through Saturday. Now I don't have access to the family car much, and sometimes work and family is all that happens in my life, and I wasn't sure I could make it there by Saturday, so she extended my deadline to Sunday. So. Life happened. I didn't make it there by Sunday. Oh well. I can live without the orange yarn...

Fast forward to last week. I'm in Seattle, and my #1Man reports that there's a call from the yarn shop, am I ever going to pick up this yarn? It took me a while to figure out even what yarn they'd be talking about...

So on Monday, I stopped by to see if it really was that same orange yarn. First of all, I had to browse the sale bins, and also investigate all the sock yarn and everything else that caught my eye. Needles in the sale bin! While I'm not a fan of bamboo circulars, neither am I so picky that I would pass up a Good Deal. :) The woman there was very nice (for a change), and very surprised that I'd been given a time deadline on my holds. But then she couldn't find the hold yarn, so apparently they called me, and then tossed the yarn into the sale bin. She went ahead and rang up my yarn choices, and then took one last look on the shelf, and lo and behold! Spotted my yarn! I had considered not getting it, but when I saw the orange, I remembered how much I like that particular shade of orange, warm but not obnoxious, and had to buy it. So we have 4 new bamboo circulars, 3 skeins of Colour 4 Me, 2 skeins of Cascade 200 Super Wash, all 45% off, plus a skein of Cascade Quatro.

BBS Needles

Nancy Maria asked on her blog about needles for Big Black Socks for soldiers. I've been working on the heels of the BBS she sent me and had to take of a picture of the needles I'm using now. I have the resting side on a Knit Picks circular size 1 needle, the heels are being worked with Comfort Zone size 1 double points, and the resting sock was transferred onto a straight size 0 needle. Once I pick up the gussets, they'll both be on one circular, but for now it's a mess of needles!

Desert knitting

When I first received Knitting on the Road, I went through all the patterns, identifying which patterns I could knit from stash yarn. I was able to select several, including the Hiiumaa mismatched mates, which would be perfect for those half-skeins of pumpkin and evergreen Knitpicks Essential.

When the KOTR knitalong selected Hiiumaa for the June/July selection, I was excited, fully intending to knit these socks sometime during the available months. However, these socks were not originally on the must-pack list for my weekend desert trip. I had all my projects packed, when I thought, "Road trip, better take Knitting on the Road." So it was a last-minute thing, grabbing the KOTR book and the pumpkin and evergreen yarn. I started the first sock--on double points, no less!--immediately after finishing the Lithuanian Amber socks from the Folk Socks knitalong.

It wasn't until I was sitting in this swing, early in the morning,

gazing admiringly at this view,

while knitting these socks,

that I noticed that the socks were a perfect tribute to the desert. Just looking up at the cliff walls, I could see the exact colours of my yarn there, looming above me.


PS When I was ordering my Comfort Zone double points, I selected orange for my size 1 needles, and never really expected to actually be knitting some socks that would hardly show on the needles. Guess there's been a lot of orange in my knitting lately...

Stupid Needles

I'm afraid it's true. Knit Picks circular needles hypnotize me into stupidity. I've spent more time correcting errors than I have knitting since transferring those socks onto the new KP needle. Stupid errors, careless errors, and weird errors that make no sense, like a the 1st stitch of the ssk showing up 3 stitches later, also, as an extra purl. Huh?

Just Arrived!

With the demise of my only good size one needles, it was time at last to submit that Knit Picks order that's been slowly building. In fact, it's been building for so long that I no longer recall why I ordered those colours of Essential. But no worries, I'll figure it out! The key purchase here, above all that yummy yarn, was my first Knit Picks circular needles. I've heard all about them, now it was my turn to try them out.

I immediately transferred my Regia Color Surf socks onto the new needles and started to knit. The ease of the transition, the slide of these needle tips, the flexibility of the cable, all conspired to hypnotize me into stupidity. Instead of knitting in pattern, I plain knit the entire row, even the purl stitches! Once I got my head straight and redid the row properly, I could see what everybody loves about these needles. These are the first size one needles I've had that slide so smoothly from cable to needle. Yeehaw! I'm back in the sock-knitting business.

cut down in its prime

It was a rainy but lively evening, downtown in the city. To escape the downpour, my 12 year old and I hopped on the right train going the wrong way. "This is the end of the line. There is no more." While waiting for the north bound train to become a south bound train, I pulled out my knitting, and my son asked, "Do you have any knitting in that bag that /isn't/ socks?" Sadly, I did not, so I knit, while he did chin-ups on the train overhead bars. I was working on my Regia Surf Color socks, a pair that has been proceeding very slowly, given the amount of Other Obligations I have this month.


I'm doing a nice chevron pattern, but was mid-row when suddenly tragedy struck! My size one bamboo needle snapped off in my hand! Faithful readers may recall a similar tragedy with this very same needle, but I resolved it after only a few days of sorrow. I'm afraid no such resolution is available to me now. It's truly snapped, and as best as I can determine, unrepairable. I have such bad luck with size one needles. My son was very sympathetic, eulogizing the needle dramatically, and then threaded the needle through my hat so I could honour it during the rest of our journey home.

Needles and socks

Well. I found some glue and put the broken needle back together. It seems to be holding, so far. Additionally, a set of size one and size two needles from Comfort Zone arrived. My theory is that a set of needles that look like toys won't offend airport security personnel. Also, icord is a pain on a long circular needle.

The fearless fiber socks I started Friday got knit almost as far as the ankle, but only one sock. This morning I decided the fit was unacceptable and ripped them out and started over. The new sock features a braided cuff as described by Nancy Bush, and I stepped up a needle size more for the leg, which had been too tight. No picture yet, but the sock is gorgeous to my creator's eyes.

I just wanted to knit socks!

Yesterday I had one of those days where I left the house at 7am and returned home after 8pm. Needless to say, I was exhausted, and I just accepted the fact that I wouldn't be any good at homework, and settled down for an evening of knitting socks in front of the tv. I started out with my ridged-feather socks knitted in yarn from woven-n-spun in her colourway Summer Haze. But, it was time to turn the heels, and I step down to a size one needle for the heels. I went to grab it, expecting it to be in my needle case, as I have been fastidious lately about putting my needles away so I can find them when needed. But nooooo, it wasn't there! I looked around by the computer, a high-frequency-knitting zone, and also by the bed. It was neither place. Since we were in the middle of Laurel and Hardy, I just put those socks aside and got to work on my Wildefoot columbine yarn-over-cable socks. In contrast to the previous pair of socks, which were top-down, these are toe-up. But coincidentally, these socks were also just ready to have the heel turned. And they also need a size one needle. So I replayed my previous search, but this time I noticed a pair of socks tucked under the computer desk. This pair was the Christmas socks I made for the girlchild, only to discover that I'd made them an inch too short. A few days ago, I ripped out the toes and started reknitting them, with that very size one needle. Now we were watching a Hawaii-5-0 episode, and I got to work finishing the striped socks. It would be a quick fix, and I had the girlchild's feet handy so I could regularly try them on her. Eventually we had to send the girlchild to bed, and I was on to the second sock. Mr Man and I settled down to watch Everybody Stares, The Police Inside Out. I was on the decreases, on the home stretch, when disaster struck. My size one Crystal Palace bamboo circular needle came apart!!! I was traumatized. I was shaking. I've never lost a needle before in such a graphic way. I've misplaced a needle now and then, but it has always come back to me. And my other size one needle got damaged when it took off on an autumn adventure. So i am without a size one needle, and have three pairs of socks that cannot proceed without a size one needle!!!

my new best friend

Yesterday I walked over to a yarn store on my break. As usual when I walk in there, the lady who works there pounced on me. I'm not sure what to think of that. Other stores in the area are known for their snottiness and for ignoring people. I walked out of a store after ten minutes of waiting for the lady to stop chatting and ring me up, and wound up driving 30 minutes to a yarn store to spend $55 on needles. So here, this lady's always ready to help, but sometimes I don't need help. I told her I was looking for a crochet hook, and she assured me she had every size, but she didn't, I wanted a 3.25 to replace that trickster needle I have, and she had 3.0 and 3.5 but no 3.25. I went ahead and bought the 3.5, and it's an Addi! So this was no casual purchase, as crochet hooks go it was comparatively costly! I've decided that it shall live in its protective sleeve for its own protection. Rather like a hamster in a hamster ball.

Which gets me to wondering what my cat's reaction would be to a hamster in a hamster ball. It's too bad I'm against animal cruelty, it would be pretty funny if it didn't involve torture of a wee critter.

And then today, I was at JoAnn's, buying my Number One Son a Hallowe'en mask. And I just had to walk through their yarn section, even though I know--I KNOW--they have nothing but crap yarns. And then I saw a crochet hook. Not just any crochet hook. MY crochet hook. The one that always goes missing. A Susan Bates aluminum crochet hook, in size 3.25, in a metallic blue, just like my old trickster, that old thing that has picked up so many stitches and fixed so many errors, and cast off whenever the mood struck. And I had images of good twin/evil twin. I figured since the one I already have is the evil twin, the new one would have to be the good twin. So I bought myself a replica of my missing little trickster needle. I told you it was a dysfunctional relationship! Not only can I not successfully adopt a new hook, I went and bought a replica!

In the knitting bag:

-A felted purse. I got really excited on Saturday and had to start on this. It was out of control. I'm not sure if it will be half as cool as I knew it would be on Saturday. I've done the front panel and I'm working on the back panel. There be cool poolage.



-The Fiery Socks: I've officially run out of fiery yarn, and am making a red cuff. I struggle with these socks. They're for my Number One Son, who loves warm woolen hand-knit socks. But his feet are so hard to fit. First of all, he has really broad ankles. Secondly, well, I guess secondly is that growing problem. And third is that he wears them out very fast. I made him a previous pair of fiery socks, but he outgrew them quickly and wore them so the whole heel was under his heel, and they wore out where the heel changed to sock. The blue ribbon socks were designed to withstand all sorts of abuse, and but he's growing out of them at top speed. The back of the heel of the sock is already pulled down under the ball of his heel. So. I made these with a little growing room built in. And he says there's too much growing room built in. Not to mention he struggles to pull them over his ankles. Considering he's such a slim child, it's odd that his ankles consistently present a problem for hand-knit socks. So here I am, finishing them, but he won't wear them this winter, probably. And I wanted him to have a pair of handmade socks as soon as possible! Bah.


-The basket rib Trekkers. These are trekking along. They kinda get knitted on when I'm not knitting anything else.

Needle Fairy!

At lunch, I sat down at a table outside in the warm autumn afternoon. The sun was out, the shade streaked the tables with light and dark, and the temperature was just perfect for sitting and enjoying a lunch. I didn't even knit, just sat. And then when I got up, I found an Inox circular needle lying on the ground! A size 1, 32" Inox circular! I had wondered where that puppy had got to, but had expected it was somewhere in the house. And I hadn't eaten lunch there, due to inclement weather, for over a week! Ember asked if I was sure that it wasn't a gift from the needle fairies, but I know that was my very own size one needle. She was also cracking me up. I told her that something had chewed up the cable and she was painting word pictures of hungry raccoons and rapid squirrels.