Posts from — May 2008

I’m working on the third pair of detonator socks for Sock Wars and I am definitely losing steam.   War really takes it out of you!  My latest debacle included one of the most finicky aspects of knitting…gauge!  UGH…it struck again.  I was happily knitting along on the second sock and did the s1, k1 heel flap and gusset decreases when I was struck with the feeling that something was wrong.  Well…something was really wrong.  Somehow with the very same needles and yarn only a day apart my gauge changed drastically.  I was now at 7 spi instead of 8 and boy could I tell a difference.  Frogged, working tight (I’m already on 0’s so I didn’t have a smaller needle to switch to) and back in the saddle.  With only 404 out of 1152 warriors down I seriously doubt I’ll make it to the end.  I have no control over how fast my assassin knits but she has been in touch.  My socks will be sent up the line shortly (her death is imminent) and then I’m sure whoever has them next will promptly finish me off. 

In other sock related news…if you happen to listen to the podcast you may remember me listing several clear shoes that can be used to show off your hand knit socks.  One of my favorites, the Converse clear sneaker was sold out at Journey’s for over a year and I feared it had been discontinued since they were selling on ebay for $100+.  I just looked at the Journey’s site again about 6 weeks ago when I was researching them for the show…clear Converse.  Then Joe from SWTC at the Ravelry board mentioned his clear converse.  WHAT?  I said he must’ve gotten them on ebay and he said no, just email him and he’d figure out where they’d gotten them.  Well.  I promptly went to the Journey’s website and there they were!  I’m now a proud owner and I can’t wait to knit some short socks to go with them for the summer.  Be sure to sign up for ebates first so you can get 6% rebate at Journey’s!  Sizes are unisexa and whole sizes only.  I ordered the Men’s 7/ Women’s 9 first and they were too big (I normally wear 8.5-9).  I have the Men’s 6/ Women’s 8 now and they’re perfect.

First, a Sock Wars update.  I just received the sock in progress for kill 3.  In the meantime I worked on…socks!  You’d think I could get a little bit more creative but it appears I am stuck in a rut at the moment.  That will change by the end of this week though when I receive yarn from X yarn company to work on a design proposal.  In my defense, these socks have been on the needles for a while now and needed little work to be finished.  I started them when I went out to Arizona last time as my travel project.  They are plain, spiral toe, koigu 13218, short row heel, toe up, 60 stitch socks.  For those of you that listen to the podcast you may remember me saying that I had it on good authority that Koigu KPPPM is actually superwash.  Well, I’m happy to report it’s true!  It was a little scary but I threw these in the washer and dryer when I was finished and they came out just perfect. 

Now for the Olympics.  After participating in Sock Wars 3, I was inspired to create a similar competition integrating some of the suggestions for play other participants had.  There was much discussion on the SW and Ravelry boards about how the game could be improved.  I have come up with a basic idea and I’d like your help!  If you think you might be interested in participating or can offer suggestions, please sign up for the Sock Olympics group on yahoo to get all the details.  It’s a little like sock wars and a little like the Winter Knitting Olympics in that there is a time component to the competition.  Hope to see you there soon!

I can’t believe I’m not dead yet!  Not only am I not dead, but I got the socks in progress from my target and finished them for kill number two.  My target had started both socks in Knit Picks Essential Peacock Multi, which by the way I don’t like very much. 1  One sock was finished up to the gusset decreases and the other had the ribbing and some cuff.  My target seemed to think she was doing something wrong with the first one so moved on to the second and had planned to rip the shorter one out.  I tried to figure out what the problem was (couldn’t find it…maybe it was the slightly shifting pattern that threw her off?) so I went ahead and continued from there.  Imagine my dismay when after finishing the pair I noticed my target had done a plain stockinette heel instead of the s1, k1 called for in the pattern.  :doh: 

I debated ripping it out then and there, then decided to send them off to the new target so she could choose which heel she likes/fits better.  There was a lot of discussion on Ravelry and in the Sock Wars forum about this since many warriors seemed to miss the asterisk that indicated s1, k1 to end.  Apparently some people actually like a stockinette heel better and it is within the acceptable modifications for the contest.  If only I had seen it before I began knitting in a fury (I still don’t know how I missed it since I even took a picture when they arrived) I could have knit a matching stockinette heel and that would be the end of it. 

When she sends one of the socks back for me to re knit, I have an EXCELLENT plan.  No need to rip the whole sock back to the cuff…I’ll just pick up stitches on the first row after the heel is complete, snip the yarn, rip back the heel, re knit the heel then graft it back to the rest of the foot.  VOILA!  Easy fix.  Much better than redoing the whole thing.  In the meantime, I have been working on…more socks.  Can you believe it?  I didn’t think I’d be touching any other socks during Sock Wars but apparently I am at a loss as to other acceptable travel projects.

I have a bit of a backlog on finished projects to show you (since I have been a really bad blogger since beginning the podcast).  I’m not really sure what possessed me, but a few days before mother’s day I decided I needed to make something for my mother in law.  What should pop into my head?  A doily. :paranoid:   WHAT?  Not only that, but I decided it would be a good idea to crochet it.  :rofl:  Sure, why not?  My crochet skill just barely exists at all so lets knit a doily on a tiny 1.5mm hook with cotton crochet thread!  Sure!  Why not?  Well I’ll tell you why not…tiny cotton cheap crochet thread is a total PITA.  I was only able to stick it out until round 11 before I decided I’d had enough.  At the very least I could have chosen something easier to work with.  But it was there and in the stash so you know how that goes.  It’s actually a lovely, well written pattern (Autumn Reflections, you can see lots of nice ones on Ravelry) and I would totally do it again if someone can recommend a crochet thread that isn’t so cheap, splitty and unforgiving.  It would also help if I could learn to get consistent tension but I’m telling myself that better yarn would totally help with that.  I apologize for the picture quality…Jim had to take pictures of the blocked and starched doily with his camera phone since I completely forgot about it.

1. I think I’m getting spoiled by all the Koigu. [↩]

It’s off to a bit of a bumpy start, but Sock Wars is alive and well.  In the spirit of a warrior, I stayed up all night to knit so I could get my socks in the mail today.  There is so much luck involved with mailing times, etc. that I’m not sure this was the best strategy but it is fun to be able to say I did that (no matter how crazy it may make me seem).  The pattern could be interpreted two ways…as an 8+1 st repeat or a 9+1 st repeat.  I’m hoping that either will be acceptable since it now seem that when getting to the gusset the 9 st repeat people were right.  I was already WAY too far along to rip back so we’ll just have to wait and see.  I got gauge (8 spi on US 1) but the sock was pretty wide (other seem to be having this result too).  I made them slightly shorter so that the lengthwise stretch makes them fit a little better.  On the bright side, this was the first time I have used Tofutsies yarn and I really like it!  It makes a nice fabric that is much more summer appropriate than “traditional” sock yarn (it’s 50% superwash wool, 25% soysilk, 22.5% cotton and 2.5% chitin).  I really hope the pair I end up with is make from Tofutsies too.  Plus I have half the skein left which is plenty for another pair for me.1

I also have the rushing rivulet socks finished.  I did yet another Cat Bordhi sock from new pathways and I had the same trouble as last time…too big.  Fortunately this time I expected it and adjusted the foot accordingly.  I still haven’t figured out what the problem is.  Since the chart adjusts to your own gauge and foot size it should be perfect???  I may just have to do one more to really get a grip on why I seem to be so inept at following her instructions.  On the bright side, I LOVE the yarn (Interlacements Tiny Toes color 203).  I’ll definitely be using that again sometime in the future.

Coming soon:  Maryland Sheep and Wool and the Sahara top!

ETA:  I should have been a little more clear…I actually finished the RR socks BEFORE sock wars began.  I wouldn’t have looked at another sock on the same weekend as that!

1. If I can ever look at socks again once this thing is all over [↩]