Socks up the wazoo*

Well, not literally, but they are made from yarn dyed in WSU Cougar colors.

Yes, despite the fact that I haven't posted for a while, there has been knitting happening here. I started these socks on October 1st and finished them October 11th. Not bad. Just my basic sock pattern, a 2x2 rib with slip stitch flap heel. In this case, the yarn does all the talking and didn't need any more pattern to make it look good.

The yarn is from Yarn from Caryn's Creations, 75% wool/25% nylon, purchased at Stitch 'n Pitch in Seattle a while back. Caryn has yarns dyed in team colors for several Washington State-based teams. A single skein has a generous 400 yards, so you can easily make socks that fit even my big feet. This one is the Cougar self-striping fair isle and it worked up really nicely. I was worried about what might happen at the gusset, but it came together perfectly.

I'm not sure what her base yarn is, but it's not very tightly wound, so attention had to be paid to avoid splitting. I think it's worth the effort, though. There's a soft halo to the yarn, too. I gave them a good soak in Eucalan tonight and they're blocking now. I'm quite pleased with them and hope they'll be appreciated by their recipient, too. :)

I used my new Knit Picks Harmony DPNs in US size 2 (2.25mm). These are now my new favorite needles. Aside from the fact that they're pretty, they are very strong and don't bend at all like the bamboo ones tend to do. They also have very pointy tips, a plus that will come in quite handy when I do socks with lace or cable patterns.

The Christmas knitting is coming along. Tonight I made a great hat that only took a couple of hours on size 15 (eek!) needles using Rowan Big Wool. Quite a change after working with so much sock yarn. I'll get pictures and post more info this weekend. :)

* For those of you not familiar with Washington State University, it's commonly referred to as "Wazoo" thus the cutesy title. Sorry, just trying to be punny.

More socks!

Two posts in the same day. What is this blog coming to?! Okay, this is just a quick one, 'cause I finished these:

Specs:

Yarn: Mountain Colors Bearfoot
Color: Granite Peak

Needles: Crystal Palace US size 2 (2.75mm) Bamboo DPNs

Pattern: My standard 2x2 rib

Size: Women's US7, because these are for Peggy who has significantly smaller feet than I do!

Oh, and just in time for tomorrow's sock crawl, I got a check today for $100 from Beaverton Chrysler. It's bounty for referring my friend Erik to them. He bought a beautiful new 2007 PT Cruiser last week!

Thanks Erik! Now I have money to spend on the sock crawl tomorrow!! :)

Monkey see, Monkey do, Monkies done!

Finished the pair of Monkey socks just a bit ago. Love them! This pattern works up so quickly and is never boring. I will definitely use it again. Here they are lounging in the sunshine, very comfortable inside their new, aromatic cedar blockers.

I started the second sock on Friday afternoon. Thanks to a car club meeting, a party I worked that started late, and a day of car club activities, I got lots of time to work on finishing it. By the time I picked it up today, I only had three pattern repeats and the toe decreases left to finish. That went really quickly and viola! Finished socks!

All that's left is to wash them, block them, make a coordinating mini-sock for the mini-sock blocker keychain, make a label for them, and then give them to my friend. Her birthday was August 1st and I'm pleased that she will get these before a month has passed. Hope they fit!

Specs:

Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy sock yarn in Visual Purple, of which I still have 42 grams left!

Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A. as published on Knitty.com.

Variations: I did five pattern repeats on the leg instead of six and made a slip-stitch heel instead of a plain stockinette one.

Needles: Crystal Palace bamboo DPNs U.S. size 1.5 (2.50mm)

This is a busy knitting week. Tonight is my local SnB group meeting. Thursday night is the Tigard Knitting Guild monthly meeting, and Friday night is a launch party sponsored by Blue Moon Fiber Arts for Cat Bordhi's new book. Whee!

Okay, I'm off! At the meeting tonight, I'll be working on a new test knit project that uses Knit Picks Andean Silk yarn (55% superfine alpaca, 23% silk, 22% merino wool). If you haven't tried this yarn, you should. It's very soft and feels wonderful when knitting. I see some more of it in my future!

My first Monkey

Yes, it's true. I am one of the only sock knitters in the world (seemingly, anyway) who has never knit a pair of Monkey socks! Well, no longer, my friends!

So here is the first Monkey. I agree with everyone who has expressed a love of this pattern. It's simple and elegant and a very fast knit. I started this sock on Friday night and finished it today, Tuesday morning. Spending time waiting for the car to be serviced contributed to the quick turnaround on this one. :)

Want some candy little girl?

Or maybe just some candy-striped socks?

I closed the toe on the last one of these this morning. They worked up really quickly since I made them short, as befitting a cute summertime sock, I think. The first sock of this pair was completed (mostly) on the bus ride back from Seattle's Stitch n' Pitch game last week. These are my third pair of socks for Summer of Socks and my first pair for the Sock a Month KAL 4. Hmmm, a double-play? How fitting for a pair that was begun on a ride to a ballgame!

Specs:

Yarn: Plymouth Sockotta - 45% cotton, 40% superwash wool, 15% nylon - Color #5612
100-gram skein (414 yards) This pair for my size 11 feet used ~83 grams.

Needles: Crystal Palace bamboo DPNs, US size 1 (2.25mm)

Pattern: My basic 2x2. rib 72-stitch version

It's been a busy week. Lots of work to do, which is a good thing but it keeps me from having much knitting time. I ended up having Monday night off instead of having to go to Vancouver to deal cards at a party, so I took the opportunity to go to a SNB meet-up. It was very nice to sit with a group of other knitters for a couple of hours enjoying coffee, each others' projects, conversation, and knitting. If you're stressed from working, I highly recommend carving out a couple of hours for this kind of activity.

Tuesday night was bowling league. I skipped the last couple of weeks due to work obligations, so I was worried that I would be a bit rusty. Turns out I should take two-week breaks more often! In my second game, I bowled 233! Yeah, you could have knocked me over with a feather. LOL Of course, the candy-striped socks demand a little bit of credit since I worked on them between frames and that kept me from worrying so much about my score.

Last night I worked at a country club party. Not a bad gig, but getting there was a bit trying on my patience. I'm in a suburb on the west side of Portland. The party was located in a suburb on the east side of Portland. I had to be there by 6:30. Can you say "rush hour traffic?" I knew that you could! Knowing it was going to be a slow crawl from one side of town to the other, I left the house at 4:00. About two hours and 15 minutes later, I arrived at the party -- which only lasted for two hours! I'm glad I gave myself plenty of time or I would have been a basket case -- and late. Fortunately, I had knitting podcasts to listen to on the way there and the socks to work on between the time I got the roulette table set up and the party actually started.

Yep, one way or another, knitting keeps me centered!

Next on the needles: Birthday socks for a friend in Dream in Color Smooshy. The color is a lovely Visual Purple, which just happens to be my friend's favorite shade. These should be fun!

Note for today: Get the Sockapalooza 4 socks in the mail to my pal!