Well...

I had to frog the sock from the first picture, and I think I'm going to have to frog the Rosie one too. And I'm supposed to leave for Staten Island like, now (freaking out a little; I have to drive there and find the place by myself and I'm finding that overwhelming) and while quietly knitting away is something I could probably get away with at this program, casting on and doing the short-rows is probably a little attention-intensive, plus I have three toes to do (I finished binding off the Crazy Tropical sock). So I may not get anything done after all. Boo. Anyway I better go pack and figure out what I'm doing here...

*edited because I forgot to answer a question - I think I like circulars better than dpns, except that sometimes dpns feel faster because you're not pulling things back and forth along the needle to get to the right end. So I use whatever I feel like at the time (knitting ADD...). I was knitting the Santa Fe sock on dpns because I gave my circular in that size to a teyze (auntie; elderly woman) who was knitting Turkish slippers and was really intrigued by my short-rows and circular needles. I ended up ordering her some of her own off of Knitpicks! My Turkish wasn't up to explaining short-rows without a demonstration (I don't know any knitting terminology) and I was well past the toe and heel at that point.

Well, the conferences went okay. 60% of my parents came, so I had lots of time to knit! I now have 3 socks on the needles. Here are some pics, unfortunately with flash (but "night mode" so I think they look better).

That last one is actually up and running - I took that picture last night. I have a 'toe cup' and a few rows of the Rosie; the only thing is I think it's going to be too big (I have the worst time with that! The Santa Fe sock (first picture) is actually slightly small, so I just stuck some increases in there and I'm going to see how it fits - I really, really don't want to rip unless I absolutely have to!). I'm going to be away all weekend (um...with a bunch of tweens. NOT vacation or anything remotely like. And it's a long weekend...), but hopefully with lots of knitting time so I should have something to show on Tuesday!

Oof ya....

has it really been 5 days since I last posted? Work is eating my life. And tomorrow is parent-teacher conferences - anyone with the least amount of affection for me, pray that it goes well! I'm awful at talking to parents.

This is my first at-home night this week where I'm not passed out asleep by 8 pm, so I'm knitting, finally. I think I'm ready to start the cuff of the Crazy Tropical sock, but I want to weigh it and I forgot to do so before I left work today, so it's on hold until tomorrow. I'm currently swatching for the Claudia's Handpainted from my last post, and am working on a toe out of my Yarn Pirate Rosie - it seems like a good "bridge" colorway for the transition between color groups in Project Spectrum; white and blue for March and pink and green for April.

Weekend Update

The "Crazy Tropical Luxury sock" has been moving along insanely fast - the toe pictured before was indeed too big and everything was frogged Thursday, and re-cast-on on Friday. The heel has been turned and I'm moving up the leg. Here's a picture of the back -

I have also now, despite myself and my social phobia, been to TWO NYC yarn shops, purl soho and The Point, plus I broke my no-internet-shopping-for-six-months vow, and so I have yarn -

Below is Schaefer Yarn Lola (ie sport weight) in an insane colorway called Frank's Folly. My camera can't deal with it; it's a slightly richer and less electric red in real life, but still pretty insanely bright.

Last is Claudia Handpainted (Sportweight) in Santa Fe, with Lorna's Laces Shepard Sport in Harvest for contrast. I was trying to get a picture that showed how the LL matched one of the colors in the CHP, but ended up with both either looking washed out or all yellowy; you can, however, see that they match! The LL looks heavier but if I'm using it for heels and toes I suppose that's a good thing.

I'm looking forward to trying sport weight socks; now I'm gonna go see how far I can get on that Crazy sock in what's left of my weekend!

New Socks in Action!

I like taking
these pictures - maybe I'll do it for every pair.

I also have this:

my next pair! (Besides a boring and non-descript plain blue pair that will be my first heelflap socks, hopefully) This is Great Adirondack Yarn Company's Soxie in Tropicana. I'm looking forward to it! The black is Louet and I love it so far - so soft and squishy! And it doesn't split at all! Comfort and luxury all round. Although I think I cast on too many stitches and I might have to frog - but I always think the short-row toes are too big, until I start working up the foot. We'll see.

Grade me like a kindergartener

...and my sewing skills will get a "needs improvement."

But for a first time, I'm decently proud. Also, considering that my "batting" is a cut-up old sock, which I'm telling myself excuses most of the lumpiness.
That's supposed to be an ipod cozy from this tutorial; it certainly won't be my last attempt!

I'll have to practice taking pictures of my own feet.

Yarn: Mountain Bearfoot in Wild Raspberry (Knitpicks Essentials for heels and toes), on size 0 needles. Short-row everything, 2x2 ribbed cuffs (they roll a bit where I started the ribbing, maybe I should have put some on the foot too).

Phew

...they're done. Awful picture, but I just couldn't wait. I'll try to post a better picture and the details tomorrow. Debating whether to post on SAM now or until I get a better picture... I just want to be DONE!

Plugging away...

I know it's boring, but it's all I've got...

Sometimes I like people. And then I don't.

Warning: I've been emotional on the 'extreme' end of the scale lately.

I saw this snowman today and thought it was so cute, especially in Brooklyn... then on the way back, saw it had been stomped into the ground, carrot nose and all. Maybe that's why it looks so sad - it knew its destiny was heartles and cruel destruction? Anyway, I'm lucky I didn't start crying in the street. This past week, reading Little House in the Big Woods to my third graders made me tear up, as did a little kid mispronouncing Sweetie's name (I have privacy/paranoia issues, so if Sweetie's name was Mustafa, which it isn't, the kid would have been calling him "Mr. Mufafa" and it was just so cute.)

I've been busier than usual, so I'm just knitting along on the Bearfoot socks, trying to get them done for Sock a Month (I explained it to my students when they asked why I whipped out my knitting every break; they got excited and asked me what prize I would get if I "won." They were so disappointed when I told them yarn - "That's the lamest prize ever!" At which I can only laugh). I'm taking a weekend class in Manhattan, which, as much as I regret signing up for it the night before when I realize how much of my weekend it's going to take up, has been really good for me if only because it forces me to go somewhere besides work. More about that another time, maybe.

Fortunate-ness!

Well, now it doesn't matter that my husband always forgets the camera at work... I got my own! Thank you Dad, the check will be in the mail shortly! Here's a picture, a decent picture, and not only that but taken at work on a grey rainy day! (Have I used enough exclamation points yet?)

Those are my Bearfoot socks, one down and one with the heel about to be turned. Here's the cuff; this picture's blurry when you look at it bigger but that's okay.

Next up will be knitting (or maybe sewing...wouldn't extraneous loose fibers be bad for it?) a cozy for the new camera so I can carry it in my purse!

Unfortunate events

This unfortunate picture is all I have today - Sweetie left the camera at work, so I can't take pictures of my almost-done first Bearfoot sock. That's me measuring out the last few grams of yarn to be allocated to the first sock.
I also cast-on for a plain blue sock, with a figure-8 cast-on, planned to be my first heel-flap sock. I think I'll just do plain ribbing even though it'll make for a boring sock - I just want to get the whole heel-flap thing over with and figure it out for once. No pictures of that one either - I'm not thrilled with it, because the first two rows of stitches from the "figure 8" balloon out a little. I know I've seen tutorials on getting rid of that, so I'll seek one out - I just wish I could remember how I did it when I learned that same cast-on from a little old Turkmen lady when I learned how to knit Turkmen socks, because I didn't have that problem then. Beh.

Socks!

Few things are as nice as warm socks, blocked on top of the radiator all night. I couldn't resist another (bad) picture. You can see that one sock pooled and the other didn't - I guess I ended up with a few more stitches on that one. It was frustrating, but by the time it became painfully obvious ripping back felt more frustrating, so I left it. I'm curious to see whether these hold up better than my Me socks - these are knit on 0s, and those on 1s.

Quick and dirty

- here is a picture of my Cape Cod socks. (One of them, but they're both done.) There is a TON of ribbing at the top, because I consistently underestimate how far my yarn is going to go, and switched to ribbing way too early.

Now I have to decide whether or not to count them as my March socks for Sock a Month - it doesn't seem fair if I knit a significant amount of them in February, even if it is allowed. I'd rather push myself to finish the Bearfoot socks on time. Ideally, that won't need pushing, but who knows. I've been assuming the Cape Cod socks would be finished TODAY for about three days now so I don't think I'm a reliable source for these kinds of estimates. Now to block them, and hope that they're dry by morning so I can wear them to work tomorrow!

Another minor update

Here's a picture of how the Cape Cod socks are looking - one is ready to be bound off and I'm catching the other up - this time I'm determined to really knit until I run out of yarn, rather than until I run out of patience. I think they're going to be quite long.

Here's the Bearfoot sock - the colors are a bit washed out from the sun, it's more intense in real life and the brown foot doesn't stand out quite as much.

I'm currently mulling over what to cast-on next, and I think I've decided on Great Adirondack Yarn's Soxie in Tropicana (the bright blue and rainbow-y one from my pictures) with black toes and heels, but I might do something plain instead. Whatever appeals to my ADD knitting brain at the time.

I lied by omission on the yarn purchase...

there was more. It just felt like an embarassment of riches. But last night I sat down to pet and re-organize and contemplate my box of Project Spectrum yarn (I have it divided and bagged up by the color groups, with combinations and projects in mind for most of it) and I just want to share. Plus it's a low-effort blog post - I'm still feeling pretty miserable. But I think the end is in sight (and it's not a "I'm laying down to die" sort of end).

Did I say "mixed bag"?

Okay, maybe yesterday I could, despite being sick, still enjoy the fact that I was home and had free time.

Today I'm so sick that I don't care. I'm still knitting and watching tv, but I'm not having any fun doing it. Bleagh. Plus, Sweetie made me eat half a lemon. I might forgive him in a year or two, but not less, especially since it didn't even make me feel any better.