:: Thrums :: » socks

much ado about a sock

Lori — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 21:14:49 +0000

I know - how many times is she going to write about those socks?! For heaven’s sake. Believe me, I understand. I think I’m just so fascinated by the pattern and this yarn. Plus, of course, I had to start over on the sock after getting through the heel flap so I’ve kind of been at this for a while. Turns out I didn’t get one sock out of one skein; I got to the toe decreases and ran flat out. But luckily I had a brown yarn in my stash that was a perfect blend. Lookie!

Tags: Circle Socks, Kaffe Fassett, knitting, Regia, socks

this just in

Lori — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 17:50:22 +0000

If I haven’t said this lately: Ravelry is awesome. Right? Not only are most of the people wonderful, the resource itself is amazing. I find a pattern I like, then I look at the photos and project notes of everyone who made it – look for people my size and shape, how does it look on them? See how it looks made with a variety of different yarns – and with the yarn I’m considering. I learn about the modifications people made to it, the problems they ran into and how they got out of them. Just amazing. How did we ever knit before Ravelry? I guess we were just all alone and knitting in the dark. Much less fun.

So, one of my ravelry friends (hi Margaret!) gave me some sock knitting tips for my Wowie Zowie sock since she’s knitting them too (and using the same yarn, but a different colorway, so very lucky for me), and tonight I’m going to cast on again with the same yarn. I was making new-knitter mistakes, misunderstanding just how much yarn 8 extra stitches per row can consume, and underestimating how much yarn my few rows of ribbing were taking up. It’s a close fit, anyway; the pattern uses 460 yards per sock, and the balls contain 480 yards. Not a lot of room for adding to the pattern. In addition to my newbie errors, I’d somehow missed the close fit which would’ve made me much more cautious with my modifications. I’ll also try to lighten up a bit and not knit so tightly, for heaven’s sake.

I’m thrilled! I particularly loved that yarn with that pattern, and was entirely smitten with the interaction between pattern and color changes. In fact, I was thinking about how much I’d like to wear them with a skirt so they’d be visible to everyone. Show them off a little. Feel happy when people say “hey, where did you get those amazing socks!” because I expect people would actually ask me. That kind of thing happens to me.

come back to me, lover sock....

Isn’t it great when you’re in love with the things you’re knitting?

Tags: knitting, ravelry, socks, wowie zowie socks

well, dang.

Lori — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 13:34:51 +0000

Yesterday I got a lot of knitting done. I worked on my great-looking sock and got into the heel flap. I adore the pattern; it’s so thick and squishy, so 3-dimensional in a cool way, architectural, even. The socks must be warm, warm, warm.

And the yarn – I totally love the yarn. I love the shifts in color, and the particular colors themselves….that brilliant turquoise, a deep olive, dark reds, light purples, rich browns. And this variegated yarn works great with this pattern, because the color contrasts are so interesting.

BUT. Oh, how there is a but. As Pee-Wee Herman said to Simone, sitting in the dinosaur’s head, “everyone I know has a big but.”*** For some reason I wasn’t going to have nearly enough yarn! After only 3 pattern repeats, I was more than halfway finished with one ball of yarn. I kept going back to ravelry, looking at other people’s project pages for this pattern knit with this yarn, and they always listed 2 balls of yarn for a pair of socks. And the pattern makes these 3D squishy socks….but mine were stiff like heavy cardboard. I kept going back to ravelry, looking at other people’s project pages for this pattern knit with this yarn, and my needles were the same size as theirs. I must have been knitting very tightly. I know I was, actually, because I was fighting the needles.

Desperately I decided oh what the hell, I’ll just make the tops kind of short. Three pattern repeats, that’ll be ok, right? But what if I still run out of yarn, and end up needing to buy another ball or two? Then I’d have too-short socks for no good reason. I forged ahead, trusting – other people got one sock out of one ball of yarn, other people used these needles, it all worked out, other times and other projects I thought it’s not going to work but then it did so just keep going, trust the project.

Two-thirds of the way down the heel flap I finally threw in the towel. I pulled the sock off the needles and pulled it on my foot, just to see. Yeah, it was stiff and cardboardey. I had clung too tightly to the yarn and needles. Kind of like life, during hard times – clinging too tightly is not going to help. I love it when knitting reinforces a life lesson.

***here’s that clip from Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, where he says that hilarious line to Simone:

Tags: clinging, frogging, Pee Wee's Big Adventure, socks, video

wowie zowie

Lori — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 13:54:23 +0000

Since I finished Marnie’s Minkeys, I need another small project on the needles. Right? Right? You always need a small project on the needles, can I get a yeah sistah? At the top of my Ravelry queue – small project edition – was Anne Campbell’s Circle Socks (public rav link here), which I’d decided to knit with my colorful balls of Schachenmayr nomotta Regia Design Line Kaffe Fassett. (I have no idea how to say any of those words except design and line, and maybe Regia.)

Last night I cast on and it was such fun knitting, I just kept saying “Just let me finish this needle” “After this row I’ll be ready for bed” “Let me finish this pattern repeat.” YOU know how that goes.

circle socks - incredibly fun to knit, and fast!

I added a short section of ribbing at the top, just because I always like ribbing on my socks. Want to see that cool section up close?

whoa. that is REALLY cool.

I’ve decided to name this pair of socks Wowie Zowie, for the most obvious of reasons.

I hope to get something done today besides knitting. Wait. Do I really?! Or is that just what we say because we know we’re supposed to do something besides knitting. I think that’s it – I would actually love nothing more than to sit in my cozy little spot, with endless cups of mint tea, good movies on Netflix, and to knit the whole day, until it’s time for sleep again. Too bad I need sleep.

Tags: Anne Campbell, Circle Socks, fun, Kaffe Fassett, knitting, obsession, Regia, socks

FO (finally!) – the minkeys

Lori — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 15:21:07 +0000

Finally! Finally! A finished object I can share! Yippee!! This is, after all, my knitting blog. I can knit this pattern in my sleep, and the yarn is great fun for socks, but I started them during an extremely busy time so several days would pass without a single stitch. The bulk of my knitting time for these socks was subway commuting, so a row here, a row there, you know how that goes.

Anyway. I proudly introduce you to the Minkeys …. pink monkeys, get it? (the word minkeys makes me giggle because I hear it as Inspector Clouseau — Chief Inspector Clouseau — would say it.)

the top/left sock hasn't been blocked yet - the other one has

oh, you minkeys

i love socks.......

The yarn is the incredibly soft Felici, from KnitPicks. The first pair of socks I knit with this yarn still looks great, after a couple years’ washing. They get a lofty halo, but they’re very hard-wearing. And they don’t need any special care at all, double good for busy people.

These socks are for the bride-to-be, my daughter Marnie. When my older daughter Katie got married, she gave Marnie a t-shirt that said “I’m a worm farmin’ power liftin’ bad ass” and that really says it all. Since Marnie has this photo in her Facebook photo album (and therefore it’s public) I don’t think she’d mind my posting it here.

Marnie and Tom, getting married in a few weeks - taken at Katie's wedding rehearsal

It’s such fun finishing something, if only because I feel a little less guilty about casting on a new project.

Tags: cookie a, Felici, FO2010, Marnie, no purl monkeys, socks

3 smiles

Lori — Wed, 26 May 2010 11:10:28 +0000

Three very different things that made me smile (I’m trying to start the day off on a positive note, since I still have my pissed-off author to deal with):

beautiful, beautiful marilyn

From the NYTimes: “There is a sublime silliness to Halsman’s images that can make you laugh or at least smile regardless of how often you see them. They may offer incontrovertible proof of Schiller’s claim that ‘all art is dedicated to joy.’ Evidently the simple act of getting off the ground requires giving in to something like joy. You have to let go. One of the purest examples of this joy is an image of Halsman himself, holding hands with a smiling Marilyn Monroe several feet off the ground. Facing his partner, he seems ecstatic, as if he cannot believe his luck.” Credit: The Estate of Philippe Halsman/Laurence Miller Gallery

Second: this line from Nabokov, which has haunted me since I read it yesterday. “The breaking of a wave cannot explain the whole sea.”

And third, one minkey down, one to go:

one minkey down, one to go!

And a bonus thing that made me smile and feel all sorts of things, courtesy of an email from Marnie:

“have you seen marina abramovic’s endurance performance “the artist is present,” where she sits in chair for the entire length of her retrospective. there is a chair opposite her, and visitors sit and look at her and she looks back. the flickr group is so compelling: about 1/4 of the people are in tears.”

Here’s to an interesting Wednesday.

Tags: art, jumping, marilyn monroe, marina abramovic, nabokov, no purl monkeys, philippe halsman, smile, socks

theory of relativity

Lori — Mon, 24 May 2010 10:06:06 +0000

Apologies to Einstein – this is about relative speed of the knitterly kind. I’m not one of those cool speed knitters. I guess I’d like to be….or rather, I’d like to be able to be one of those cool speed knitters when I hit long patches of stockinette, or something. But I do love the process and can get into a bit of a hypnotic trance watching my fingers. So I don’t mind my own knitting speed, even if it’s not Speedy Gonzales.

I can put in hours of knitting on the wedding shawl and have just a bit of growth to show for it, or I can put in the same amount of time and have more than half a sock, to wit:

monkey see

Granted, since this was the first sock pattern I ever knit, and since I’ve knit four other pairs using this pattern, I can do it in my sleep by now. But the thicker yarn just obviously makes things go faster, and zoom zoom zoom I’ve turned the heel and picked up the gusset stitches. Go, Lori, go!

Cute, right Marnie?

Tags: cookie a, Knitpicks Felici, knitting, no purl monkeys, pink, socks

let me count the ways

Lori — Sat, 22 May 2010 20:14:17 +0000

I guess I read a little too much Elizabeth Barrett Browning when I was an impressionable young teenager, because “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways” came to mind when I was looking at the beginnings of these socks, No Purl Monkeys in KnitPicks Felici (colorway positively pink, as if they had to say that). So let me go ahead, then, and count the ways:

I love thee for thy bright pinkness

p!i!n!k!

I love thee for the pleasure of dpns and clever-feeling fingers

I love thee for thy springy feeling

I love thee for the one who will wear these when I finish

Pretty Marnie, in her senior year at Smith

PLUS: We bought a new mattress! Yippee! Hallelujah! Boy did we need one, that’s all I’m saying about that.

Tags: cookie a, Felici, Love, Marnie, Monkeys, pink, socks

Finished in 2009

Lori — Mon, 10 May 2010 18:55:12 +0000

In 2009, I knit one pair of mitts, 4 pairs of socks, 4 hats, 11 cowls (!), 3 scarves, and two Ishbels (which are considered scarves, but since I made 2 I’m setting them out specially). I guess I’d have to say that 2009 was officially The Year of Cowls. I don’t know why or how that happened – I think I had single skeins of really luscious yarn (madelinetosh, primarily), and needed quick and portable projects. I wasn’t confident enough yet to take on big projects. Anyway, I really enjoy the projects I made in 2009:

MITTS: I made these Gasteropoda by Kristi Geraci for my daughter Marnie. She doesn’t like anything clinging to her wrists; she’s an artist and carves and draws a lot, so she needs to be able to make fine motor movements; and she doesn’t have good heat in her apartment in Chicago, so her hands get cold. I thought this pattern just fit the bill, in every way. It was also a lot of fun to knit! I used Sunday Knits Nirvana 3 ply, in a rich espresso color. Soft, light wool.

Marnie's Gasteropoda mitts, pattern by Kristi Geraci

SOCKS: Since I’d never made socks before, I started with the very popular No Purl Monkeys by CraftyPancakes, which is a slight tweak of Cookie A’s monkey sock pattern published in Knitty. I made three pairs (two for my stepdaughter Anna, and one pair for me) using Felici, the very soft self-striping yarn from KnitPicks. Mine have held up beautifully to a lot of wear, and to a lot of washing and drying in industrial machines. Good stuff.

Anna's green monkeys

Anna's taupe monkeys

my blue and purple monkeys

And one more pair of socks, using a beautiful skein of madelinetosh sock in Scarlett – Nutkin by Beth LaPensee. It was fun to knit, and while the yarn requires more care than the Felici, I never mind.

my Scarlett Nutkins

Even though it’s hard for me to wear hats since I get such ridiculous hat hair, I made four hats in 2009, only one of which was for me:

Felicity by Wanett Clyde – made by me for me, using madelinetosh DK, in a gorgeous colorway called Iris. The reason for the name is obvious.

my Iris Felicity

And for Marnie, to accompany her mitts, I made this wurm by katushika. I used the same yarn I used for her mitts, and it was glorious:

Marnie's wurm

I want to make another one for me! Then a hat just to have around, the Beaded Braided Hat by Lee Ann Bonson. I’ve made a bunch of these, they’re fun to knit because you get to do cool braiding, some colorwork (and you could easily draft a new pattern for the band), and a beautiful decrease on top:

see the beautiful flat top?

Then one more hat, a Marsan Watchcap by Staceyjoy Elkin for my soon-to-be son Tom, who is marrying Marnie this summer. Somehow I never got a photo of the finished cap. My bad!

Tom's Marsan Watch Cap - I really did finish it!

And cowls, I made 11.

1. helechos cowl, 2. Marg’s spiral cowl, 3. attabi cowl, 4. brown and blue attabi cowl, 5. marg’s attabi in progress, 6. candle flame cowl, 7. destroyed cowl wrapped, 8. holland cowl on, 9. madelinetosh pastoral – spiral cowl, 10. noble cowl finished, 11. Venetian Grassy cowl closeup

So many beautiful cowls, such beautiful yarn. Silky malabrigo, Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca and Silk, Berroco Pure Merino DK, madelinetosh DK (in fig, tart, and venetian), madelinetosh bulky cashmere, and madelinetosh pastoral (in chamomile and bosphorus). The Attabi Cowls were all gifts, and I want to make one for myself because it’s fun to knit. Maybe in 2010.

Three scarves in 2009 -

Queen Anne's Lace Scarf in Noro; Lengthwise Cable Scarf in madelinetosh dk; and Lace Ribbon Scarf in madelinetosh sock

And finally, the last 2 FOs in 2009. ISHBEL – I fell in love with this pattern, as did thousands of others. It has been knitted 7,000 times and it’s in more than 3000 queues. You go, Ysolda. I knit it once in madelinetosh wren, and once in a beautiful purple wool from Sunday Knits.

By the end of this year, I was a considerably better knitter than when I began! I also enjoyed making several items for a set, as I did with Marnie’s wurm hat, attabi cowl, and gasteropoda mitts. I want to do more of that.

Tags: attabi cowl, candle flame cowl, destroyed cowl, espresso, Felici, FO2009, gasteropoda, grassy cowl, helechos, holland cowl, Ishbel, KnitPicks, lace ribbon scarf, lengthwise cable scarf, madelinetosh, marsan watchcap, mitts, monkey, no purl monkeys, noble cowl, pastoral, Queen Anne's Lace scarf, socks, spiral cowl, sunday knits nirvana, wren, Ysolda

revisit a F/O

Lori — Sat, 01 May 2010 05:01:54 +0000

I haven’t been knitting all that long. I’ve knit a lot of gifts that I don’t see because the recipients are in far-flung places. I haven’t been knitting long enough for anything to wear out or get old and hole-y. But it turns out – as much a surprise to me as to anyone else – that I knit a lot of socks. (Well, 9 pairs, to date – a lot for me, since I don’t think of myself as a sock knitter!) Five of the 9 are for other people, so I’ll bring into the spotlight the first pair of socks I knit for myself: the no-purl monkeys.

I hadn’t knit socks before, but this pattern was easy, and set my mind very clearly on What Socks Are About: top-down, and Cookie A. The yarn – Felici, by KnitPicks, was a dream to work with, and loads of fun as the stripes unfolded. I made these in February of 2009, and the photos above were taken today. The yarn has held up to a hell of a lot of wear and machine washing (in industrial washers and dryers!), and it’s just so soft and wonderful, still. I highly recommend the yarn for socks.

But right now I have the hiccups and they’re driving me nuts. I’ve drunk water upside down, I’ve held my breath, I’ve cursed {a lot!}, and nothing stops them. So I think I’ll sign off and stomp around for a bit, cursing some more and shaking my fist at the hiccup gods. Happy knitting, everyone!

To see other posts about resurrected finished objects, click here: knitcroblo6

Tags: cookie a, Felici, knitcroblo6, KnitPicks, no purl monkeys, socks

:: Thrums :: » socks

much ado about a sock

Related posts

this just in

Related posts

well, dang.

Related posts

wowie zowie

Related posts

FO (finally!) – the minkeys

Related posts

3 smiles

Related posts

theory of relativity

Related posts

let me count the ways

Related posts

Finished in 2009

Related posts

revisit a F/O

Related posts