Mandi Knits   » Knitting, spinning, crafts, and being a geek.

This sock has been testing my intelligence.  Guess what?  The sock won.

In fact, the sock in the photo is no longer a sock at all.  It’s a mass of yarn waiting to be re-wound into a center-pull ball.

It started yesterday morning when I decided that I needed a new sock project to start at work during lunchtime.  I was already sort of running late, so I ran into my craft room and grabbed two skeins of Claudia Handpainted Yarn in “Peppermint Mocha”, which had already been wound, and I quickly flipped through my WendyKnits patterns, deciding on Loopy Laces.  I pulled the pattern out of the protective cover and photocopied the first page (front and back) with our all-in-one printer, then slipped the original pattern back in the sleeve and replaced it in my pattern binder.  I don’t like carrying the original patterns with me because (1) they get torn and crumpled in my bag, and (2) I like to scribble all over them as I’m knitting.  I only copied the first page because I figured I wouldn’t get much past knitting the toe during lunchtime, and I was already running late, so I could photo copy the rest later as I needed it.

So yesterday I happily knit the toe and started into the chart.  At the bottom of the last page I’d copied, it said “Begin knitting chart pattern.”  Okey dokey.  I did that.  Well I got three repeats into the chart and decided I better go look at the rest of the pattern to see how soon I should start doing the heel.  I went and got the pattern out and read the next page.

The directions at the top of the next page say to work row 1 of the chart 4 times across needle 1, and then do needle 2, etc.  Well for some reason (I blame it on the fact that it was late and I was tired), I took that to mean that I should have repeated each row of the chart four times before going to the next row.  In other words, in rounds 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the whole sock, I would be doing row 1 of the chart.  Then I’d move on to chart row 2 for rounds 4, 5, 6, and 7.

WHY I thought that… I don’t know.  It doesn’t even remotely make sense.  Clearly what Wendy meant was that as I worked across the needle, I’d need to repeat the 8-stitch pattern 4 times.  Not four rounds.  Duh!  Unfortunately that didn’t dawn on me last night, so I decided to just rip back the entire sock.  I tore it all out, hand-wound it, and set it aside to rewind later.  I grabbed the second skein and started over.

Today during my lunch hour at work, I got to where I was ready to begin the chart again, and decided to re-read those directions one more time, just to be sure.

Man, do I feel stupid.  I ripped back three and a half pattern repeats and the entire toe for no reason.

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Here are the questions for week five of Secret Pal 12:

1) Where is your favorite place to go for vacation/holiday?
Out of all the places I’ve visited, Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia is by far my favorite.  I’ve been there twice and would love to go back again.  Secondarily, I’d have to say Ontario, Canada — I’ve been to Toronto twice, and the Niagara Falls area more times than I can count, and I loved both.

2) Where is one place you’d like to go?
I’m not much of a traveler.  I’m quite a homebody, actually.  I would like to go to Germany someday, if I can get over my discomfort of flying over the Atlantic Ocean.

After a very slow start, I’m finally making progress for the Summer of Socks ‘08 KAL.

I finished my Nanner Socks yesterday.

Summer of Socks ‘08 - Sock # 1
Pattern: Nanner Socks by Wendy Johnson (of Wendy Knits)
Yarn: ShibuiKnits Sock in “Jonquil”
Needles: two US size 1 circulars

I’ve discovered (*gasp*) that I’m really enjoying knitting toe-up socks.  I’ve always preferred cuff-down, till this pair.  What made the difference?  Judy’s Magic Cast-On.

In the past when I’ve done toe-up socks, I’ve always done the figure-8 cast on, and my stitches were so tight that I could barely knit them, and usually they’d start falling off the needles while I was attempting to knit that first row.  Judy’s Magic Cast-On made all the difference.  It’s just so darn clever!  And easy!  (Two of my favorite things.)

I decided to stick with toe-up for a while and do another of Wendy’s patterns.  I actually have a rather large stash of her patterns because I tend to impulse-buy them from The Loopy Ewe.  (Hehe.)

So this morning as I was getting ready for work, I flipped through my 3-ring binder of sock patterns, and I picked the Loopy Laces pattern to knit.  I cast on for it during my lunch hour, using two size 1 circulars and Claudia Handpaints yarn in “Peppermint Mocha”…

Happy Independence Day!  I hope you all had a lovely, relaxing holiday.

I had a very quiet day.  My husband worked today, so it was just me and the fuzz-butts hanging out around the houe.  Spent the morning and early afternoon knitting and watching trashy TV.

I finished my first Nanner Sock!  I love it.  I cast on the second one tonight.

I’m really, really itching to cast on a baby sweater though.  I bought this yarn a week or two back at my LYS and it just does not want to live in my stash — it wants to be on the needles now.  It comes with two baby sweater patterns, a pullover and a cardigan, and duckie buttons.  Seriously.  Duckie buttons.  Now you see why I want to knit with it RIGHT NOW.  I’m trying to force myself to finish the second Nanner sock before I start on this though.

Also, I wanted to point out Zero’s Etsy shop.  It was mentioned on the latest episode of Lime & Violet, and when I heard them mention freshwater pearls, I went there to browse.  OH MY GOSH, ya’ll.  If you love freshwater pearls like I do, you need to go check these out.  They’re beautiful.  I ordered two sets.  I also love her shop because she will switch out the size of the ring on the marker for you at no additional cost.  You can get them to fit up to US size 2, 6, 9, or 13 needles.

Anyway, hope you all have a relaxing holiday weekend with lots of picnics and free time to knit! 

I’ve been bad about doing these, so I guess I better start!  This week’s Secret Pal 12 questions are:

1) What yarn (that you don’t have/haven’t used) would make your stash “complete”?

I’d love to try Hazel Knits.  I’ve had their Etsy shop bookmarked for quite some time and keep meaning to buy some.  I think Sheri at The Loopy Ewe said she’s going to start stocking it, so maybe I’ll order some then.  I’d also like to try Koigu one of these days.  Also Sanguine Gryphon and The Dyeing Arts, because I’ve spun rovings from both of those dyers (and love them!), but have yet to try their yarns.

2) What yarn do you never want to be without?

How do I narrow it down!?  Of course, I love my Wollmeise.  (As Miss V. says, it’s a collection, not stash.)  I also have recently begun a love-affair with Malabrigo (both the worsted and the lace, and I can’t wait for their sock yarn to become available).  Plymouth Encore Worsted is one of my favorites because it wears so well and comes in so many colors.  (I used it to knit my Harry Potter scarf, which is the best scarf ever!!)

LOOK!  I haz Nanners!

Pattern: Nanner Socks by Wendy Johnson of Wendy Knits
Yarn: ShibuiKnits Sock in “Jonquil” (2 skeins)
Needles: two KnitPicks US size 1 circulars (one 16″, one 24″)

Ok, well really I have the beginnings of Nanners.  This actually marks my first pair of socks cast on for Summer of Socks — only several weeks behind.  *ahem*

This is actually my first time knitting one of Wendy’s patterns, though I have almost a dozen of her patterns in my stash.  I’ve been avoiding them because I’m a bit intimidated by toe-up socks.  But now that I’ve started knitting this one, I don’t want to knit anything but her patterns!  I’m also really enjoying the Shibui yarn, which is new to me.  It has a nice twist to it (but is still very soft) and has great stitch definition.  I will definitely add more of it to my stash once I knit some of the rest down.

Finally, I have to tell ya’ll (’cause I’m SO excited) … I’m going home!  I got the time off from work approved this morning and booked my flight.  I’m going home for an entire week next month.  I’m so thrilled.  My grandparents aren’t doing very well, and I just feel like home is where I need to be, if only for a week.  I can’t even tell you how much I’m looking forward to it.  Trust me, if it wasn’t a big deal, there’s no way you’d get me on a plane again.  I’m not fond of flying.  I’m staying focused on the fact that the flight and layover time (in Detroit) will give me plenty of uninterrupted knitting time.  So now I need to plan what knitting I’m going to pack…

Tomorrow is the official start of Summer of Socks ‘08.  I’m excited, though I won’t be able to cast on anything new to celebrate right away.  (Hmph!)  I have socks on the needles that I have to finish up first, which won’t count toward SOS’08.  But that’s okay.  I’m still using the SOS KAL as inspiration to get them finished and off the needles and see how many socks I can churn out over the summer months.

I’ve come up with a few goals for SOS’08:

1. Knit up all my sock yarn stash that has already been wound into center-pull balls.  (That’s 13 pairs worth.)
2. Knit at least one pattern that involves cables and learn to do cables without a cable needle. (’Cause I’m obsessed with all of Cookie A’s patterns but avoid lots of them due to the cabling.)
3. Knit at least one original design and then write up the pattern and make it available to other sock knitters on Ravelry.  (I already have some ideas for lace and fair isle designs!)

I think that’s a good start, right?

Other fun news, related to socks: I’m going to be teaching a couple of sock knitting classes at my local yarn shop!  I’m so excited!!

Once class will be baby socks, knit two at a time on two circular needles.  We’re going to be using Knit One, Crochet Too’s Wick yarn.  I’m working on writing up a simple pattern for that (you can see the progress I made today during my lunch hour).  It’s going to be a nice easy, quick-knit so that the class can focus on 2-at-a-time technique rather than the pattern.

The second class is going to be Cookie A.’s Monkey socks.  My LYS was able to get permission to do this pattern, and I’m thrilled.  I think it’s a great “next step” pattern for people who’ve knit one or two pairs of plain stockinette socks and are ready to take the next step.  It’s also a great opportunity to learn to read knitting charts in the round. We’re going to be using TOFUtsies sock yarn for this class.  The sample sock I’ve been working on is in color #861 “TOEpaz” — isn’t it pretty!?

So anyway, knitting these sample socks and making sure I have all the patterns/handouts I want for my classes is my main goal at the moment.  Then I’ll be getting back to my other socks on the needles as well as all my Summer of Socks projects.  I think by autumn I’ll be ready for a nice sweater and perhaps some scarves and mittens… heh.

Oh, and P.S. — This is off-topic, but I’m WAY excited ’cause the husband and I are going to see Eddie Izzard tonight!  *SQUEE!*  I just love him.

I find sock yarn incredibly stashable. I find it much, much more stashable than other yarns. I suppose it’s because you don’t have to buy a very large quantity of a particular yarn to stash for a pair of socks. Three to four hundred yards will do just fine, so you buy a skein here and a skein there. What with all the indie-dyers out there, there’s a virtual buffet of sock yarn to be had.  You could knit hundreds of pairs of socks and probably never use the same yarn twice.

My sock yarn stash, which is the largest part of my stash, lives in two wire cubes. The top-most cube contains all the unwound hanks, and the cube beneath it contains all the yarn I’ve already wound into center-pull balls. (I got a bit carried away when I first bought my swift and ball-winder, and didn’t know that it’s “bad” to wind your yarn too far in advance of using it.)

I decided to “unpack” those two wire cubes tonight to see what’s really in there…

(View the BIG version of this picture here.)

I started piling the yarn on my coffee table.  Then I realized it didn’t fit.  So it spilled over on to the couch too.  There’s enough yarn there to knit 50 pairs of socks.  Whew!  I guess I better get knitting!

My main goal for Summer of Socks ‘08 is to knit up all the yarn that’s already been wound.  That accounts for 13 pairs.  That’s do-able (… I think?).  I’m going to start looking for patterns to match up with each of those yarns.  Maybe if I get particularly ambitious, I’ll even print out all the patterns and make up ziploc project bags with the individual yarn/pattern combo in each bag.  Then I can just grab-n-go. 

Once all those wound balls of yarn are used up, that should empty out one of the two cubes.  I’m going to attempt to restrain myself to only having one cube full of sock-yarn-stash… not buy more till I knit some up and make room for it.  (Good intentions…)

I just really, really need to make room for my ever-growing roving stash.  So I guess that means I’m really not “de-stashing”.  I’m just “stash-shifting”.  Ah well.