I heart this scarf!

So I started this chevron scarf a loooong time ago, maybe in April? I can’t remember, that’s how long it’s been. I was slipping the first stitch, as I usually do to make a nice edge, but when switching yarns, it was getting to be weird and tight. So I just left it and put it in a bag and kinda forgot about it.

Then, Shannon from the SSK podcast tells me about how she found the perfect yarns to knit the scarf with and she already started and got lots done. Well, being the competitor that I am, I have to re-do mine too! Since I talk to her almost every day, sometimes for HOURS, she has a lot of influence in what I knit. She is even nice enough to send me some beads so that I can start my Hanami stole. I’ll tell you that story when I actually start the stole.

Soooo…the old work got ripped an started the new one. I am liking this one a lot better. Not slipping the first stitch and it’s fine. I don’t know what it is – maybe you have to be in the right frame of mind to knit something so boring and repetitive? I’ve been in a sock knitting slump lately, I think because I have too many singles and feel like I get nothing done. And do I knit the 2nds for them? Of course not. I already have about 8 inches done. I don’t know if I’m going to keep this one for myself or if I’m going to give it as a christmas gift. I don’t know if I know anyone who would wear such crazy colors besides myself!

I DID finish a pair but can’t post about it because it’s for my Sock-it-to-me pal and I know she reads my blog. Sucks! Stop reading! :) I think she knows that it’s me anyways…

Pattern: Chevron Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts
Yarn: Socks that Rock Farmhouse and Watermelon Tourmaline
Needles: Knit Picks US5 options needles
Started: September 10, 2007

One day’s work!

Detail of the main pattern

I have never made a shawl before. Mostly because I don’t wear them and no one I know wears them. But I found out that a friend of mine does!!! Yipee! A reason! I just bought some Marisilk from Sheepaints, *3* skeins. Really expensive, but Cashyie bought one skein off from me. After knitting this though, I think I may want it back. I mean, just look at that lucious color! She’ll probably say “you’ll have to pry it from my cold dead hands”. Anyways, it is the Swallowtail Shawl from Interweave Knits, Fall 2006. The cast on was really weird with the 2 sts, and then knit 6 rows, and then pick up the sts, but it worked. Now that I’m about 130+ stitches wide, it’s becoming so tedious. Just one row takes FOREVER. And it grows to 300+ or maybe even 400+. Ugh. One row will be my knitting for the day! I am so loving it though, different from scarves and socks.

I keep making mistakes around the center stitch and had to tink back a couple of rows here and there. But other than that, it’s a pretty mindless pattern. But now I have to get some blocking pins – eep! Not that I’m even close to finishing, but I know I will want to block it immediately!

I’ve been waiting f o r e v e r to get my SP11 match and finally did. I am so excited to start! This, by the way, coming from someone who hasn’t yet knitted a pair of socks for my sock it to me pal. oops. I did get a leg done but decided I didn’t like the pattern and it was too big anyway so scrapped it. More on that as I make up my mind. I want to do the scroll sock, but not sure if it’s too weird. I have decided to do it in my Fleece Artist 2/6 Merino. The yarn is ok. Not nearly as smooth as Wollmeise, but I’m biased. I’m serious. The more I knit with it, the more I’m convinced that this is the best yarn in the world. But because I like it so much, I’m reluctant to try others…

You would think that I’m not knitting because I haven’t posted any progress photos. Sorry! I did another Montego Bay scarf but I knitted it so fast that I didn’t even take any pictures. I’m still so-so on the fringe. I haven’t done it yet. So lazy. And I’m feverishly working on my Billy Reid socks and I can’t debut it before submitting it, so no pics. I really wish I could show you. It’s purdy.

I have a million ideas for socks and just can’t get it written down fast enough. There is seriously not enough hours in the day.

Michael has left to go climbing so it’s just me and the boys for 10 loooooong days. There is not enough grappa in the house. Send me a note, will ya, so that I have some company! :) I will knit to keep my sanity. At least Cashyie and Elem will be around to hang out now and then. AND I can knit at the health club. :)

Sorry no pictures! Thank you SO MUCH for all of your comments and input. After looking at everyone’s suggestions, I completely FROGGED IT! Yep. I did. I wasn’t really satisfied with the designs on the sides, so if I was going to frog it back to the beginning of the gusset, I might was well frog it completely. The only bad thing is that the yarn is kind of weird knitting it back again. You know what I mean? Frogged yarn is never as good as “fresh” yarn, so it has weird little bumps here and there. I’m hoping they will go away when I wash it.

My solution was to change it to 84sts, but have 78 in the foot, and then increase to 84 in the gusset/heel. I wanted to keep the same gauge, because I tried knitting to a 8sts/in, and the design looked kind of loose. 9sts is perfect, esp with the Wollmeise yarn.

The good news is that I changed the design and it is looking fab! I am back to the gusset again and even though there are more stitches, it’s going really fast. Probably because I memorized the patterns! :)

The BEST news though is that I showed pictures of the socks to Billy and he is so excited about it that it *may* inspire him to write a new music video about socks! :) woohoo!!! So if you want to knit him some socks to push him over the edge to FORCE him to write a song, email me and I’ll let you know the details!

Which one looks better?

Perfect fit!

So Elem and I were chatting on Skype and he saw the picture of where I rehanked a skein of Sheepaints yarn. I was just bored and wanted to see what it would look like. Elem has rehanked some skeins too and it seems like ever since he got his swift and ball winder, he just does this all the time. He like hanks instead of balls (get your mind out of the gutter), so he turns all of his balls into hanks (yes, that means you). So he got me started doing this. I really like the look of reskeined skeins because the colors mix together and it gives you a closer representation of what it would look like knitted up.

Being the weirdos that we are, we decided to name the group “Hank Wankers” and immediately got censored on flickr (woo hoo, we’re THAT risque)! I know we’re going to be the only ones putting up pictures, but I think it’s a great idea. I know I would like to see other people post pictures of rehanked skeins! Or I should say hanks that have been wanked!

I mean seriously folks, don’t you think the yarn looks better reskeined? A lot of german dyers don’t do it that way. I guess it’s a waste of time that they could use to dye. So, here we come to the rescue! :)

I also had a great idea while chatting with him. I was thinking of putting together something called “a taste of germany” and it would include one skein of sock yarn (or lace or whatever) of all the indie dyers that i know of in germany. That’s maybe 10 dyers. So it would be maybe 100 – 120 euros + shipping. I guess that is quite a bit. Maybe rotate dyers – like 5 instead so it would be 50 – 60 euros + shipping for 5 skeins. I know *I* would like something like that! And then I could have it themed like “blues” or “reds” or “sunny” or whatever. You know what I mean. The handpaints in Germany are cheaper than in the states (even with the euro conversion and shipping), and there’s some good stuff out there that is basically unseen in the US knitting world. I don’t even know if there’s anyone interested in something like that. So if you are, please leave a comment and maybe I’ll look into it further. I wouldn’t get any money from it, it would just be a service that I would pass on to fellow US knitters who want to “taste” germany. I could see it being useful to the dyers getting their yarn seen and the customers getting lots of different yarns!

Anyhoo, enough of my rambling! I finished one side of the tabi socks for my mom. It fits her perfectly and she likes it a lot. After I got the stitch count right, it was really quick. Even the toe part wasn’t that bad. I am up to the heel on the 2nd sock, should be done in a couple of days. It’s so weird to see the big toe in it’s own separate cover, kind of lobster like, especially in that red/orange color!

I so desperately want to cast on for another sock, but have been good and resisted temptation.

By the way, broke the yarn diet again, this time I have no excuse. Well, when the Yarn Pirate says she’s having a sock club, I mean, c’mon!!! Can’t say no, right? Even when signups are at 3am German time. It’s the Yarn Pirate!

Zokni and Springrass

Tabi socks for mom

I have cast on waaaay too many socks and not finished them. I guess it’s 2nd sock-itis. Here is a rundown on what I have going on.

So, the first WIP is my Springgrass socks. I talked about them in another post, so I’ll just post the picture update here. I am done with one sock and I’m not sure when I’m going to do the other because I CANNOT FIND THE BALL OF YARN! Yes, I know that sounds like an excuse to not finish the other side but I swear it’s the truth. Really. OK, I didn’t look super hard, but it wasn’t in the normal places. I’ll probably find it soon since I have to organize all my tax papers to send.

Next WIP is my Zokni sock. I got the idea to knit this one from flintknits. Hers is just gorgeous! I did it in The Knittery merino/cashmere sock in the Passion Fruit colorway. Love those colors! The leaf pattern doesn’t show up as well as if I did it in a solid, but I love it anyway. The warmth this sock generates is pretty amazing! Even with the lacy holes!!! I did it with a 7sts/in gauge. I did it with 8, but it was way too small. 7 fits perfect! I also did an eye of partridge heel that turned out really great. I love this heel style!!! I started this one on the train to Italy. And the next day I already had one side done!

Next WIP is my mom’s tabi sock. My first non-wool sock! I started this one because I have to finish it before my mom leaves in a couple of weeks. I wanted to make her socks but Hawaii weather and wool socks just don’t go together. So I got some Panda Cotton in Cinnamon colorway from fabz (well, actually fabz gave it to Elem and I stole it from him). I really like how this yarn feels and I do like how much it stretches. But because of that, I had to frog it a couple of times because it was too big, even though my gauge and sts were correct. And because I frogged it a lot, the yarn became unplied. It really does unply fast. That’s the only complaint I have about it. For the heel, I did a japanese short row, and it turned out great.

That’s all the knitting updates I have for now. I am going to cast on for yet another pair of socks, this one is going to the famous Billy Reid!!! Well, he’s famous to me! :)

I am busy working on our pet project, the podcast! IT’S GOING TO HAPPEN FOLKS!!! There’s a lot of planning, brainstorming and cursing at equipment that goes on that you don’t anticipate taking up a lot of time. But it does. I don’t want to give out any specific details about it until the first episode is up. But, as a teaser, I’ll tell you this… we have a name, a theme song, a logo, and a really cool format. We are recording tomorrow and hopefully it will be edited and done by tomorrow night. I’ll post again when it’s ready, so stay tuned. I think it will be so much fun and I hope y’all will like it.

As for knitting news, I finished my Hedera with yarn to spare – cool! It’s nice to know I can get two ankle+ socks out of one hank of Wollmeise. They are fantabulous and I just love the Sonne color. I may even have to buy one more skein.

I’m still waiting for my Jitterbug yarn, so I started Falling Leaves from Knitty.com in Socks That Rock Lightweight Little Bunny Foo Foo colorway. It is pooling quite a bit, but it’s ok. I haven’t taken pictures yet. Bad, bad.

Anyway, must get back to pet project. Stay tuned…