Yarn Winding: A Photo Essay, by #1 (age 10)

On the first day with no school, the 3 of us enjoyed a little together time with a mini winding party to get my Sockapalooza yarn ready to use. #2was the assigned ball winder. (#1wound for me last time I wound yarn, but his erratic speed made for a poorly wound ball.) #1was the assigned creative consultant in charge of the photo shoot. I think you'll see his 10-year-old mind at work here.

#2 at Work

"Why, yes! My swift DOES double as a lampshade!"

Rockstar

"What? I'm supposed to be taking pictures of the yarn?"

The End Product

(Blogger will only let me put 5 photos in this post, but I'll post a few more classics another time.)

Color Me Thrilled!

Lookie, lookie! Look what I found in the mailbox yesterday! Isn't it gorgeous?

She even named the colorway after me: Amy's Pool Party!

Sorry, no progress pics of the practice sock, because, well, there isn't any. No pictures, and no progess. At all. In fact, I plan to rip it out soon. I finished the heel (which, BTW, I messed up because I misread the instructions), and decided it was time to try it on. Arrrgh, I couldn't even come close to getting it over my heel. Yes, I knew this sock was running a tad bit small, but I never expected it to be circulation-threatening.

So I plan to try the Mini-Ringel yarn for Jaywalkers, instead. I think it will look great in that pattern, and the width of the stripe repeat won't matter nearly as much as it did for Mermaid.

In the meantime, I thought I'd make Mermaids for me from some stash Lion Brand Magic Stripes. I never hear of anyone using this yarn. It's not the softest yarn I've ever used for socks, but it seems pretty similar to some of the other bigger brand sock yarns. Plus, it is affordable, and easily found in local stores. Anyway, I was paranoid after the last Mermaid failure, so I rounded up one size. After completing the wavy cuff and doing several rows of the fishtail stitch, it was clear that this sock would fit around the tail of a Mermaid. Or the ankle of an elephant. Take your pick. WAY TOO BIG FOR ME!!!

I am really hoping to make one Mermaid sock for me before starting with the Pool Party yarn for my Sock-a-pal. It would be a great way to get some of the techniques and sizing issues down before digging into that lovely Pool Party yarn. I'll probably make one more attempt with the Magic Stripe yarn. And I really hope it works, because this is the same colorway I used for the Square Play vest, and I think the diamond design that Mermaid makes would complement the entrelac of the vest very well. Besides, it would just be cool to have a matching vest and socks!

Headline: Superheroes Spotted On Rural Homestead!

It's not every day Batman mows your yard. Perhaps this is just a preview for an upcoming movie: Batman Mows.

And apparently, Superman also mows, but he does it undercover.

And elsewhere in the news....

The yarn I commissioned for Sockapalooza has been beautifully dyed, and is on its way!! Can I hear a Woohoo?

Practice Sock Progress!

Progress continues on Mermaid, the practice version. I am certainly learning a lot on this sock, and it is probably a good thing this is for me. I will know more of what I'm doing by the time I tackle my Sock-a-pal's socks.

Mermaid will have an afterthought heel. The basic heel instructions say to knit the foot and the toe, then go back and knit the heel. But I wanted to be able to try the sock on, and get an accurate measurement on the length of the foot when it came time to start the toe.

So I decided that once I was a couple of inches past the heel zone, I would stop to do the heel, then resume the foot.

I'm not quite sure I like the afterthought heel as shown in the book (Cool Sock, Warm Feet by Lucy Neatby), so I looked around on the 'net for other versions. That's how I found Dawn Brocco's afterthought heel instructions, which I decided to use. I'm curious to see how they turn out. They are more like a round toe than the wedge toe Lucy's heel is modeled after. And they require no grafting!

I saw different methods for obtaining the stitches being held by the waste yarn:

1. Slide a needle through one leg of each stitch above the waste yarn, repeat below. Pull waste yarn out.
2. Remove the waste yarn, leaving many stray loops. Pick up the loops on your needles.

Since this stitch pattern involves YOs, I knew it would be hard to pick up the loops well, so I went with Option#1. Well, that wasn't as easy as it looks. This stitch pattern also is a bit wavy. And it was hard to find the portion of the stitch I needed. I was working on this during my boys' gymnastics class, and it literally took me the whole 1 1/4 hour class to get the needles in, the waste yarn out, and the first round knitted. Whew!

And I'm not entirely sure how good it looks in a couple of spots. I wish I had thought to knit plain on those stitches the row before the waste yarn. I did think to do so on the row AFTER the waste yarn, but too little, too late, I think.

BTW, I have commissioned the Sockapalooza yarn, and the Etsy seller expects to have it done for me by the weekend! I can't wait!

Old FO Day--More Cotton-Ease Lovin'

Here's another summer top I made from Cotton-Ease.

Yarn: Cotton-Ease in Cherry, Pistachio, Vanilla, Candy Blue, and Banana Cream(?).

Pattern: I believe this was loosely based on a pattern from an old Workbasket Magazine. It was only in one smallish size, so I had to adapt to my size. I wish I had done some shaping to make the neckline lower in the front. It looks okay, but feels just a bit like it is choking me. I can't remember, but I think this was knit from the bottom up.

I remember that when I was working on this, I found great joy in this particular shade of blue. Knitting this top, especially when I came to a blue stripe, just simply made me happy. Wearing it makes me happy too!

Sockapalooza Update
I have finally made a decision on yarn for my Sockapalooza socks. I will have the Etsy seller I have been in touch with dye me something with a couple of blues and a green. In her Sold Items list, there is a colorway with 2 greens and 1 blue. I really like the range of shades in that yarn, but would prefer this sock to have more blue than green. I'll be sending her my final preferences as soon as I'm done posting here.

She received the shipment of sock yarn she was waiting for this week, and she is willing to dye some exactly the way I want. She even offered to try to match colors if I wanted to send her pictures of the shades I want. This seller has been great to work with--I can't wait to see the finished product! After I have the yarn in hand, I will certainly post a link to her Etsy site. If the finished product is as nice as the care and attention she has shown this potential customer, she certainly deserves to have her shop info spread around.

Gotta Get Some Yarn!

Taking the advice of at least one commenter, I contacted an Etsy seller that had some striping yarns, and asked her for more information about the stripe pattern. That was such a good plan, because she responded with a photo that showed a sock with stripes that would be perfect for Mermaid! She also told me to let her know if I had a specific color in mind. I think she might be willing to dye something for me.

That would be perfect, because I see some great stuff in her Etsy shop, but nothing in just the colors I'm hoping for.

So I have sent her a message asking about the possibility of 2 shades of blues, with the third color being either grey or white. I'm really enjoying the various shades of blue in the Regia Mermaid sock, and it is inspiring me to stay in the blue range. My sock pal loves color in general, so I've decided to go with what I think will look nice and will enjoy knitting.

In the meantime, I am to the point of putting in waste yarn where the afterthought heel will go on the Regia sock. I'd like to finish this sock before my Sockapalooza yarn arrives, in case I need those needles free. I don't have a huge stash of sock-sized needles.

For Inspriation: Sockapaloooza 3 Memories

I thought I'd pull out some photos of my Sockapaloooza experiences from the last round. Here are the socks I made for Stash Monkey.

Yarn: Knit Picks Dye-Your-Own, which I Koolaid dyed. I was shooting for a much darker red, so I tried again with a second skein, but got largely the same shade of coral. They are not as vibrant as the photo. So I have another skein of this waiting for me to knit up. The recipient posted on her blog that this is not a color she would have picked herself, but she liked them nonetheless.

Pattern: Nancy Bush's Rib and Cable Socks, from Interweave Knits Fall 2005. I used a more conventional toe instead of the round toe the pattern calls for, because I didn't like the way the increases felt when I tried the sock on.

Here are the lovely socks I received (although for the life of me, I can't remember who made them---how silly am I?)

Yarn: I believe these are Lorna's Laces, but I can't remember that, either. Boy, I'm lame. Once again, these are not a colorway I would have chosen for myself, but I love the way the greens and browns look so woodsy. We are a pretty woodsy family, so these are very fitting.

Pattern: I think she called these Walking Away Socks. I know I've seen the pattern for sale somewhere. I love the textured, lacy backs. So cute!

And this is how those same socks look today. Stink.

I just discovered the hole this morning. I've had them in the laundry room (AKA basement) for some time, waiting to get the gumption to handwash them. I spied them this morning as I was doing a load, and decided to get that wash job done. And while I was washing them, I found this rather large hole! I will probably try to mend them, even though I have never done much of that. Since I didn't make these myself, I have no extra yarn, so I'll have to see what I can find.

The presence of this hole worries me. Do I have moths in the basement? I sure hope not, because there are more than a dozen old sweaters down there, either already felted, or waiting to be felted. I have made a few felted bags that I have begun to sell on Etsy, and this summer I plan to make a bunch more in hopes of selling them. I haven't gone through them recently, but I have not had any problems with the items I've stored there before.

Hopefully, this hole is from wear, but I really haven't worn them much at all (mostly because I'm lazy and don't get my handwashables washed very often).

Well, anyway, I'm having fun planning this round's sock, and can't wait to see who is knitting for me!

Help me! Help me!

Well, I'm still not sure what yarn I'm going to buy for my sock pal's Mermaid socks. I have seen some on Etsy that would probably work great, stripe-wise, but I'm a bit undecided about the color.

My pal is giving me mostly free reign as far as color, but I'm finding myself not wanting to give her something I don't particularly care for myself. If she had specifically said she loved earth tones, then I would have no trouble choosing something with lots of browns. But I'm not a huge fan of browns, so I don't gravitate toward them. Instead, I'm finding myself drawn toward lovely blues and maroons, even though I know I'm not picking for myself. But there are so many with browns in them, and lots of brights, especially pink. Also so many of them have intense color-contrasts, which is not something I tend to lean toward, either.

The other problem I'm running into is that the descriptions for many multicolored sock yarns do not tell you how they knit up. Is it variegated? Does it stripe? Show me a sample sock! I've been looking a lot on Etsy and eBay, and so many of those smaller vendors don't give you quite enough information for my taste.

Do you know know of a self-striping yarn that would be great for Mermaid? It needs to have regular, even stripe repeats long enough for the stripes on an adult sock be at least 3-4 rows long. Also, anyone wanna share how they decided on color for you sockpal? I'd love to hear your opinions, advice, and experiences!

Hmm, Let's Back Up a Little Here...

Well, I'm having second thoughts about giving the Regia Mermaid Sock to my sock swap pal. I think the yarn is working out pretty well for the pattern, but I'm starting to have sizing issues.

Here's what happened. When I cast on for this sock, I figured it could be for me, plus I have a relatively commonly sized foot. So I just used my measurements, or whatever I thought my measurements might be. Keep in mind this happened while riding in the car, with no tape measure handy. So, I guess I was going on memory? Hmm, that may have been my first mistake.

So when I got my sock pal's info, I glanced at the ball-of-foot measurement, and glibly said, "Yeah, that's the same size as my foot. These socks will work for her." (Second mistake.) Then later I had sceond thoughts. So I measured my foot. 8 inches around. Hers are 8 1/4", pretty close. Then later, I measured mine again, just for good measure (no pun intended), and it was 8 1/2". What????? Yes, I've gained some weight lately, but 1/2 inch around the foot? After a bit of messing around, I discovered that my left foot is 8", and my right is 8 1/2". How's that for strange???

Well, anyway, long story short, this sock fits my left foot perfectly, and is a bit snugger than I would prefer on my right. Scratch that. It feels fine on my right, but the fishtail pattern is a bit more stretched out than ideal. I think it would look better on a slightly smaller foot.

With some yarns, I would just frog it and start again with a few more stitches. But this Mini Ringel yarn has such a short stripe repeat, and I don't think it would work for a larger circumference sock. In fact, I was almost hoping her foot would be smaller than mine, so I could start over with fewer stitches to make the stripes a bit wider.

So my latest plan is to finish these socks, but for myself. And for the Sockapalooza socks, I will buy a new yarn, something more luxurious. I do still plan to use the Mermaid pattern, though, if I can find a striped yarn that I like. I actually saw some on Etsy the other day that I thought would be perfect. Unfortunately, at that time I thought I was set for yarn, and didn't take note of the seller. So hopefully I can find it again. I'll let you know when I decide.