Eleven Stitches

Measure for Measure

When I went to part time this September, I decided that I would start a yarn diet (with the exception of Rhinebeck).  It makes sense: if I'm bringing home less money, I shouldn't be spending it on yarn when I have a perfectly wonderful stash.  As it turns out, I haven't done so well. 

I felt the intense need to buy the bulky yarn at the New Jersey fiber festival.  I then needed to buy some yarn to be the trim on my Back to School vest.  And this yarn?  Well, it was on sale, and I didn't find any red tweed at Rhinebeck and I really wanted some red tweed.

When the (very on sale!) Kathmandu Tweed arrived from Webs to augment the red tweed in case it wasn't enough to make an entire sweater, my dear fiance mentioned mildly that it didn't seem like I was on a diet at all.  How could he think that?

Feeling a little guilty, I started thinking about this diet thing.  I don't do well with them.  Like Jody mentioned, as soon as I think about a diet, I want to buy every ball of yarn available anywhere.  Stella's post about her yarn diet made me *want* to join her, but I knew that I couldn't do it. 

I did, however, come up with a great alternative.

I can buy as much yarn as I want, BUT for every ball of yarn I buy I have to run laps on the track with David as punishment payment.  Believe me, this is a deterrent.  I really don't enjoy running.  But if there is something that I must have, this is a good gauge to how much I want it.

After much discussion, we decided that I need to run 4 times the amount of yardage that I buy.  So a skein of sock yarn earns about a mile.  Doesn't that work out nicely?

The next thing to deal with is a time limit.  Stella is going until April, but I think I can actually sustain this for longer than that.  So my plan is to stick with this until Rhinebeck next year, or until my stash is half of what it is right now.  According to Ravelry, I have 124 balls of yarn (plus four that haven't been entered in), so I would have to have 64 balls or less before the punishment payment plan is lifted.

Do you think I can make it?  I wonder how many miles I'll end up running for yarn in 2008.

Thelonius Sock

Thanks to Adam knitting the first sock for me, I had a finished pair of socks in almost no time at all!  The agonizing over yarn and pattern combination, the size needles to use, it was all done for me.  I got the excitement of a first sock with the ease of a second sock.  How cool is that?

Pattern: Thelonious by Cookie A.
Yarn: Yarn Nerd 900 MHz in Punkin Head
Needles: Knit Picks DPNs size US1.5
Time to Knit: November 11 - 17
Modifications: Adam used a different toe than the directions, so I did what he did.

It was interesting to have a pattern that moved around the leg, but I found that it would bias on my double points and make it a little more difficult to work with.  I think it was worth it in the end.

This was my first time using Yarn Nerd yarn, and I like it!  The color is great, and the base yarn feels a lot like Koigu to me.  It's soft, smooth, and seems to be wearing well.  I've worn the socks a couple of times, and I don't see any changes in the heel stitches.

I dragged out all of my nerdy textbooks to honor the occasion, and I'm kind of wondering why I kept most of them.  Is anyone interested in learning Java 1.2?  Or having the Java Almanac from 1998?  Sheesh.

I'm sure I'll get more use out of this great pair of socks!  Thanks again, Adam!

Now I Know

I was a little worried about leaving our little kitten alone (with Sasha) for Thanksgiving.  She misses us when we just go off to work, and 4 days is a much longer time.  It turns out she has learned a very effective way of expressing her displeasure.

My first inkling that something was wrong was when I got inside.  There were strands of yarn in the hallway. They continued upstairs.

And they terminated in the living room.  The cats, unconcerned, continued to play while I snapped some pictures.

There was also a lone battered skein of Koigu in the kitchen.  Fortunately, all six skeins were just tangled, and I managed to rewind all of them. Now I know that when I leave the cats, the stash had better be secure.

SIgh.  At least it was an easy blog post.

Thanksgiving

Sleeping in, good food, healthy relatives, and spending time knitting with people who look like me.  There's a lot to be thankful for.  I hope your Thanksgiving was as nice as mine.

Art Stuff

I mentioned a while ago that I was taking art classes this semester, and I said I'd be posting some of my projects here.  It's taken a while to get to that point!  I'm just starting to take some things home.

These are from my ceramics class.  The assignment was to make three matching plates.  I used leaves I found on campus for the pressed design.  I'm planning to give two of them away and keep one for myself!

I like them.

This is a project from my 3D class.  We were assigned to use foam board to make a wall relief.  This is a design I made up based off of the log cabin quilting block.   I had a hard time capturing this on film, but the piece is quite dimensional-- there's probably six inches between the top and the bottom layer.

I like this one too, but I'm not sure what to do with it now that I have it home!

Cherry Blossoms

Even though we're in the middle of fall, I have a springy pair of socks to show you. 

Pattern: Embossed Leaves by Mona Schmidt from Favorite Socks
Yarn: Sundara Sock in Cherry Blossom
Needles: Susan Bates DPNs in US2
Modifications:  I needed to end the toe on the first sock 1/2 repeat earlier than called for in the pattern.  This messed up the toe shaping, so I flipped it to go the other direction.  For the second sock, to avoid this problem, I started with row 9 of the lace chart, which put the toe in the right place. It also makes the socks mirror images of each other (which is fun) but it's kind of hard to see.

I also liked the way the brown twisted around my leg in the first sock, it was reminiscent of the branches on a cherry blossom tree.  I thought I would be clever and wind the remaining yarn in the opposite direction so the branch would spiral the other way.  I turns out that there's more brown in the end of the skein than in the beginning, so I got a lot more "branch" on the second sock. 

Yay, another single sock turned into a pair!  It turns out that I'm knitting faster than I'm blogging again, which is a nice problem to have.  I'll try and catch up!

Natalya

When I received a box of yarn as a birthday gift from a friend, I really fell for one skein in particular.  I had been wanting to make some fingerless mitts for a few weeks (it's getting cold outside!), and the Mountain Colors Twizzle seemed to be just the right yarn.

Pattern: Natalya by Jody of Savannah Chik
Yarn: Mountain Colors Twizzle in Bitterroot Rainbow, 0.5 skein
Needles: US4 DPNs
Time To Knit: Nov 1 - 5
Modifications:  Even though I knit this on much smaller needles, I didn't have to adjust the number of stitches to make it fit my hands.  I did have a different row gauge, so I knit more cable repeats after the thumb gusset, and I picked up more stitches around the thumb than called for.  I also reversed the cable on the second mitt.

This was a very fast, enjoyable knit.  I chose the options to make fingers, and I'm glad that I did.  It was a bit fiddly, but I love having the fingers.

One cool thing about these mitts is that the yarn was gifted by a friend, and I used a pattern written by a friend.  I think about them whenever I pull on the mitts, and I think it makes the wool just a little bit warmer.

I used less than half of the skein, and I'm planning to make another pair to give to someone else!

Pumpkiny Nerdiness

I got a very exciting package on Friday!  It turns out that Adam was knitting a single sock for me, and he sent that, the yarn, and some great goodies as well!

Now I finally get to try some Yarn Nerd 900 MHz yarn!  Adam wrote that he dyed this colorway with me in mind-- how cool is that?   It's such a nice orange semi-solid, and it looks great in the Thelonious pattern.

The fit is great, and I can't wait to knit this pattern and have the finished pair!  In fact, I'm casting on right now.  Thanks, Adam!

Oh, and that Chalet sock I knit?  It sent it to Minty, and she's already finished the second one!  She's a speedy knitter!

Ugh!

I've been cheerfully knitting along on my CowlTop.  I tried on the sample at the Morehouse Merino party, and I've been excited to get this knit done so I could wear it.  There was a little bit of trouble along the way.  I only got enough yarn for the size small, but I found out later the store sample was a size medium, and I had to order more yarn.  That was a simple problem to solve.

This might not be.

How can the "sleeves" on the thing I just knit look so awful when I tried on the store sample and it looked great? 

Want a side shot?

Ugh.  I think that I'll knit up the neck (but probably not nearly as cheerfully or devotedly), try blocking it and see how it looks.  If it still looks dumb, I can make some more reasonable shoulder seams and cut away the excess.

Sigh.  Any other suggestions?

Stash for Meme!

Brenda tagged me for a sock meme!  It's my guess that this got started sometime in Socktober, but for me socks are relevant year round!

1. What’s your favorite sock yarn? (please note that the word ‘yarn’ is singular. Just pick one. I know it’s hard.)

It's got to be Wollmeise.  I love the colors, which is one of the most important things to me, and the yarn itself is smooth and strong.  I haven't put much wear on my Wollmeise socks yet, but I'm certain that they will last a long time. 

2. What’s your favorite type and brand of sock needle?

Susan Bates DPNs, the aluminum ones.  They're cheap, pointy, and they don't break.

J. Knits Superwash Me Sock in Mesa*

3. Do you knit your socks toe up, cuff down, or sideways?

I've knit them all three ways.  I used to prefer cuff down socks, and I have only once ran out of yarn that way, but now that I've figured out how to wrap & turn without holes, I'm happy to do toe-up socks too.  Whichever makes the most sense.

4. Do you knit both socks at once or just one at a time?

One at a time, usually with a lot of time in between socks.

5. What’s your favorite toe and why?

Hmm, I don't really have much of an opinion about toes.  Is that weird?

Claudia's Handpainted Fingering in Chocolate Cherry

6. Favorite heel?

I like a heel flap because I can accommodate a larger instep just by making the heel flap longer.  But I have nothing against those other heels.

7. Do you prefer plain or patterned socks?

Patterned!  I've never knit a plain stockinette pair of socks.  And now that I have Cat Bordhi's newest book, I see no need to.  Even if I don't want to do any fancy stitches, I can fancy up the architecture.

Mountain Colors Twizzle in Bitterroot Rainbow

8. Who do you knit the most socks for?

Me.  I'm generally a pretty selfish knitter (which doesn't bother me). 

9. Do you darn your socks? If not, what do you do with them?

I am planning to!  I just noticed a hole in my one of my socks from last year.  I'm not sure how it got there, but I have the yarn to fix it.

Needful Yarns Australian Merino

10. Do you only wear handknit socks?

I have a big drawer full of store bought socks that I collected before I started knitting socks.  I don't get to them very often now, but I'm sure there will be some that I'll continue wearing.   Some of my favorite ones are really, super fuzzy, like fun fur.  They're so cozy and comfortable.  Maybe I should try knitting a pair of fun fur socks.

Bonus question: What pattern, if any, is your basic “I-just-need-a-pair-of-socks” sock pattern based on? Do you keep it written down or memorized?

I don't have one of these!  Probably because I don't knit plain stockinette socks.

Manos Del Uruguay

As for tagging, please consider yourself tagged, and let me know in the comments if you're planning to do the meme!

*I got some more beautiful birthday gifts from friends the past week.  I'm a lucky knitter!