Slow Knitting

Can anyone guess this sock pattern? It's been my zen project - you know, the type of project you have to buckle down and give your undivided attention. No listening to podcasts, certainly no television watching, and no gabbing on the phone. Just knitting. This project was just crawling along until I figured out how to knit 1x1 cables without a cable needle. Also, I was fumbling with different circular knitting methods.

This project started out as magic loop because I only had one 32-inch circular needle that was the right size. It was an Addi Turbo lace needle, and as much as I love them, the cables were a bit too stiff for the magic loop method and I was getting huge ladders on the sides. Then, I got my second circular needle back that was the right size (it was on loan), and I did my trusty 2-circ needle method. This would have been ideal, except my two circular needles were insanely long and kept getting in my way. Off to the LYS I went with every intent of buying another Addi Turbo lace needle that was only 16-inches. However, the Kollage square knitting needles caught my attention, especially since they were 1/2 the price of the Addi Turbos.

Knitting on DPNs is not my favorite, but I've used them before and the novelty of knitting with square needles is keeping me interested. I did have a "duh" moment when I first switched the project to DPNs and I completely removed one double pointed needle from my project. And then I freaked out. And then I put the project in a time out until I could collect myself. However, now I've finally found my groove. Sock Summit is my project deadline, although I really hope I'm done before then.

To counteract my "must concentrate" sock pattern, I've been crocheting on my neverending afghan. It's one year and two days since I first started it, and 80 rows are complete. I'm probably 60% complete. My afghan's days as my go-to knit night project are probably limited because it's a little odd to bring a blanket with you to cafes and pubs, even if I am working on it. I'm beginning to see the appeal of modular blanket squares.

To make up for the lack of pics, I leave you with Imploring Fifty ("if you just open the front door and let me give the dog a quick shove, problem solved!") and a blurry side by side comparison of Fifty-Fifty and Greaseball. Fifty's probably average cat size, weighing in at 11 pounds. Greaseball, on the other hand, is a whopping 20+ pounds the last time I checked. He's a jabba!

Another Condiment Demistified

It doesn't look like much now, but wait until a week from now! You'll all be jealous of my red wine mustard. The boy and I were talking about what things we like to have in the fridge and pantry and how we can make them without so many additives, high-fructose corn syrup being the main additive we want to cut out. Our list includes ketchup, mustard, jam, and pickles. We also love having sauerkraut on hand - it makes the perfect fast food when paired with bread and bockwurst. Learning how to can was worth it just so we can have sauerkraut handy when our crock is empty.

Amazingly, mustard is easy! You just let your mustard seeds soak in the acid of your choice, then you grind it all up. You can add spices, or not. Because the mustard gods were smiling down on me, I happened to have all the ingredients in the pantry. Yeah!

I've been warned my several websites that it will taste positively nasty the first time it is all ground up and that resting period of at least a week is needed to mellow out the flavors. We'll see if I can resist.

Today, we took a bike ride down to the local farmers' market to pick up some more ketchup ingredients. Biking in our neighborhood isn't trivial, however, since it means committing to a hill climb or two. To fortify myself for the climb back up to our house, I stopped by Stash and loaded up on sock yarn. It's light yarn, so it wasn't a bother at all. ;)

The yarn in the back is Trekking Pro Natural (it has bamboo!) and the one in the front is Schaefer Anne. Both are going to be magically transformed by elves, or me, into Christmas gifts.

Ack! I better start knitting!

FO Saturday

The Tofutsie anklets ala Jaywalker are finally done. Each sock has a different type of toe-up heel flap - one is from More Sensational Knitted Socks, and the other is from this website. I'm not in love with either method, but they were worth trying since my previous socks have all sported short-row heels. The second method is worth investigating more since I did not have to rearrange the stitches on my needles (2 circular needles) when I got to the heel, and I did not have to pick up stitches. It was amazingly easy, but the end result isn't as clean as I would like.


Pattern: Tweaked Jaywalker (started with 28 stitches for the toe using Turkish cast-on, 94 stitches total, 28 stitchs for toe, 9 stitches between the k f/b and dd, 2x2 ribbing at top)
Needles: Size 0, 2 circulars

The cats, yet again, were not impressed. Short of dousing my knitted goods with fish oil and breading them with catnip, I don't know what would peak their interest.


I also finished spinning 4 oz of merino/tencel roving from Carolina Homespun. This time, I used my highest flyer to wheel ratio (15.5:1) and ended up 335 yards of 2-ply fingering weight yarn. To make anything thinner, I'm going to have to buy the high speed and extra high speed whorls and bobbins for my wheel. Bummer, I'll have to buy more tools (insert evil laugh).




The dogs were not impressed.

What is it with these animals? Can't they see how cool my socks and yarn are? Sheesh.

Rebirth of a Jaywalker

After I finished the first Jaywalker, I didn't like the feel of it. Meaning, it was a little tight around the ankles and the raised parts of the pattern irritated the bottom of my feet. I didn't have the heart to knit a second uncomfortable sock, so with liquid courage, I ripped the sock back to the toe and I started again. This time, I increased the toe to 92 stitches and I am only doing the Jaywalker pattern on the top of the sock.

To sooth my hurt knitting ego, I visited a new yarn store, k2together. k2together specializes in fair trade, green, and organic yarn. What a treat! I came away with some sumptuous yarn that I'll post when I cast on.

Not Done Jaywalking

I turned the heel on my toe-up Jaywalker a few nights ago - I ended up chickening out on doing a heel flap, so I did a trusty short row heel instead. Plus, I knitted the foot up to 1.5 inches from the heel, so I would have had to frog part of my sock to make a heel flap work. No thanks!

The next time I do this pattern, I'm going to knit the sole side in stockinette stitch because I don't like the way the ribs feel on the bottom of my feet.

I think this will be an anklet sock with a picot bind off.

The Inevitable Sock

Yes, I have jumped on the Jaywalker bandwagon! I couldn't help myself! After knitting miles of stockinette stitch for the boy's mondo socks, I couldn't tolerate doing another plain sock. Doing so would cause me to stick my itty bitty needles into my eyes.

Since I just adore toe up socks, I didn't follow the Jaywalker pattern precisely. For starters, I started at the toe instead of the cuff. Meet my friend, the Turkish cast on. It produces a much better result, and is much easier, than the fidgety figure 8 cast on I was doing for past socks. See how clean it looks? No seam! I also didn't have to tighten stitches or untwist stitches by knitting through the back loop. So. Much. Easier. When I did my first pair of socks, I literally spent 3 hours trying to do the figure 8 over, and over, and over. (I am nothing if not stubborn!) Much swearing was involved and the boy had to hear about the f*cking figure 8 for the rest of the night. So, thank you Turkish cast on.

Once I increased by enough stitches to fit my foot, I started the signature zig zag Jaywalker pattern.

Right now, I think I want to knit a heel flap when the time comes. I could do another short row heel, but I get bored easily

Hm, what else can I tell you about this sock? Well, I'm using 2 size 0 circular needles, the yarn is Tofutsies, I started by casting on 28 stitches, and I finished increasing at 76 stitches. The number of stitches I ended up using for the foot happened to be the same number of stitches in the original pattern by happy accident. Even if it wasn't, though, it would have been easy enough to modify due to the symmetrical knit stitches on either side of the increase and decrease stitches. Oh, and I feel a need to point out to you that Tofutsies smell weird. Not good. Not bad. Just weird, like something is burning weird.

In other news, Fifty got a little session with the Furminator today. The Furminator won! I thought about spinning her hair, but who am I kidding? I have 3 pounds of alpaca and some Mingus fur in the spinning queue.

The Glass is Half FO

One finished object (FO) is off my needles! I love how the ribbing on sock's cuff ended up turning into a spiraling stripe pattern. Of course, I have one more sock to knit, but I'm going to finish the super secret project before I tackle it.

For the cast off, I did a double crochet bind off. I like the way it turned out! It looks better and is more stretchy than the standard BO.

The boy is more than thrilled! Even though I made him try on the sock at 2 AM, he was thrilled. Thrilled, I tell you! Trust me on this one.

Making progress!

The tangle sock has grown up! It is no longer the bane of my existence now that I finished working the heel. That leaves, um, only 7 more inches of 2x2 ribbing to go (or until I run out of yarn)!

See how big his foot is? His foot really is a foot.

While I was working the heel, the boy finished balling up the secret project yarn. Now, it's time to do some serious knitting! There will be no more pictures of this stuff until it is in the recipient's hands.

Tale of the Tangle Sock

Why why why why why?
You fought me when I wound you
into a tight ball.

You fought me when I
was almost done with the toe.
Hateful, spiteful yarn!

Damn the boy's big feet!
I would have completed two
socks if they were mine!

Damn this tangle sock!
It is like I am working
with novelty yarn.

FOs and Fire! Fire! Fire!

Muahahahahaha! Tonight is the boy's birthday party, so that only means one thing: Indian Feast! I'm slaving away (okay, fine, I'm currently blogging, but I assure you that when I am not blogging I am slaving away) on our meal. Tonight's menu, which will be enough for 10 people, includes lamb saag, tomato braised cauliflower, and basmati rice. For dessert, I bought a cake from the people who made our wedding cake, Masse's Pastries. Best. Cake. Ever. I used to hate cake until I was force fed a bite of Masse's mango mousse delight. (Sorry, I would post a picture the cake porn, but it has the boy's real name on it. After my last post, he said that he would be very upset - I'm paraphrasing here to spare your innocent eyes - if his real identity every intersected with the dog hair carding boy identity.) I am also going to make some marzipan cupcakes for his actual birthday tomorrow! Whee, I can feel the fat cells circling around me like rabid sharks as I write this, but it will be worth it!

Fire! Fire! Fire! This will eventually be a chicken liver mousse. What does this have to do with Indian food? Absolutely nothing, but the boy loves it, so I made it. Since I'm a firephobe, it took me three tries to light the congnac. It also didn't help that I was holding a camera with the other hand and flapping my other hand in the air as I screamed "Fire! Fire! Fire!"







And in knitting news, I have another FO (finished objects, for those friends of mine who aren't crazy knitters - yet). The lovely Vesparini is modeling two socks knit on size 1 needles out Trekking XXL sock yarn (colorway 166). These socks were literally painful to knit, mainly because I am an inexperienced knitting newbie who doesn't listen to other people's sound advice that I should've knit my first pair of socks with worsted weight yarn. Oh well. I love these socks and I've already cast on another pair for the boy. Since he wears size 13 shoes and he wants the top of the socks done in 2X2 ribbing, I get the strange feeling that these socks his way of getting me back for something...