Socks Hopping

On the plus side, I am no longer a photo slacker. I have tolerable pictures of everything I bought. I posted the photos of my completed socks. I even avoided making the joke about being caught flat-footed. If you want to see more of the completed Raspberry Friday Socks, the thumbnail here links to the full-size image in the album. Or you can look at the previous post.

 

 

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Today’s project was to pick the new sock yarn and choose a pattern. I know I want to make the “Nagini” socks from the Knitpicks “Essential” yarn. Unfortunately,  I knew right away which yarn I wanted to use next— because I am suckered in by the shiny just like everyone else. But hey, I bought that Schaefer Heather yarn for a reason.

 

So I did some looking to see if I was attracted to anything particularly. The new yarn is a bit stiff and holds stitch definition well, but I am easily dissuaded by complicated projects. I even spent some time reading the textures/motifs book I borrowed from the library. Nothing seems perfect. I did a swatch in the quilted lattice stitch and would pull out all my hair if I had to do it for a whole sock. (I have the perfect 8sts/inch gauge though.)

Before 90 people jump in and recommend “Monkey“, I really dislike that pattern. The alternate versions are somewhat better, “No Purl Monkeys“, “Staggering Monkeys“, and “Los Monos Locos“. But it starts to look like work… like I would be creating my own texture because I would prefer no yarn-overs, I know it will go faster without purling, and I want to go toe-up, and I prefer the ovals to the inverted-Y shapes.

I have come to no conclusions tonight.

Today also had the over-dyeing of the January fiber club yarn. The color is vastly improved from the sickeningly bismuth pink color. Pictures are waiting on the yarn to dry.

Pictures of Stitches West purchases later this week.

I Queue This

I need to make a list of things I want to have, please bear with me. 

• I want a woolly blanket. I would like a throw blanket made from superwash wool. (My mother once said she wanted a “really big throw” that would cover both her and my father on a chilly evening. So I got her a queen-size fuzzy blanket that was edged on all four sides and put a sticker over the “Queen” sticker on the bag. The sticker said “THROW BLANKET”. Because to me the difference is just nomenclature. But in this case, I am looking for a small thing to pull over my legs while I am watching TV, not to share.) Since I will be knitting it myself feel free to suggest stuff that is ridiculously easy.  I am not one of those knitters who looks for fancy stitch patterns or colorwork to keep my interest. I would have no problems with an all-garter blanket. I don’t think it would hold up all that well without some sort of edging. If you have a suggestion, feel free to drop in via comment or email. 
• I want a cowl neck sweater. I have the yarn for this. The needles are free. I am just getting my head together for winging it with intent. I am looking at Knitting in the Old Way for the round neck sweater wireframes, because I like that style better than the pure raglan. And I should be able to pick up at the neck for the cowl. 
• I want a cowl/hood thing that sits around my neck normally to block chills while I am at my desk but can be pulled up if I go outside. 
• I want a black cabled vest. Um. Tyrolean style. But that one will take ages to plan out, so I would like something simple and bulky-weight for now. If you have a pattern to recommend– preferably one that does not have “arrows” of cable pointing out the breasts— I would appreciate it. I have been vaguely considering “Abrazo” from Knitty or the Amy King vest pattern from 2004′s Knitty (it has some name like “vest” so I just cannot remember it).
• I want to make a bag from Wensleydale yarn. Pattern chosen is the “Slant Pocket Bag” linked in sidebar. And the variegated yarn is spun. I have some Knitpicks WOTA if I want to use that. Or I could spin some naturally black Wensleydale. That might need to have an adoptive parent to chivvy me along.
• I want woolly socks. I want woolly socks enough to actually knit some. Maybe. Assuming there is less fail than the previous attempts. Just in case, could someone leave a pointer to the “I Suck at Socks Support Group”? 
• During the summer I want to knit a shawl for me. It would be really nice if there was something I could pull over my shoulders when I am going to be sitting still but which is easily doffed when it is time to cook supper or do laundry. I know I would not want to do lacework in the winter. 
• In 2010 I will make myself house gloves from something ludicrously soft+expensive. 

 

This list is not necessarily organized. I have not finished the yarn for the cowl/hood thing. So I will probably start the sweater soon. In between I had a gift idea that I might do. I think I want to do a itty bitty scarf/shawl thing from navy blue worsted llama yarn. I will call it a “scəwl”.

Worth the paper it is written on.

I worked on my endpaper mitts. I am struggling with the yarn, which loves to stick with itself in a bizarre mating ritual that spawns knots. I am struggling with the itty-bitty needles that make me feel like I have gone blind. And I am struggling with my own prejudices that other people, especially pattern designers, are morons. I just do not believe anyone has any clue how to make things that will fit me. These are mittens, but looking at the pattern pictures, the cuff goes way up the arm and the designer has very thin forearms. I finally decided that I would do the ribbing in the larger size needles in hopes of having the cuff fit my arm without emulating a tourniquet. I may take a photo at this point, but I might prefer to ignore this project for a while longer.

(I really do struggle with this idea that anyone who has written a pattern has written it wrong. Either there is something I do not like, or the chosen yarn is silly, or it will never fit me (which is really irritating when one is considering a shawl and one wears regular sized clothes). And that is not including the pattern authors who have outright errors. I am still angry about that Hip Knit Hats book where every single pattern was listed on the errata page— which is not listed in the book, though with more than a dozen major errors, one would think the publisher could have planned ahead and listed a stub page for potential errata. They could not possibly think that they would get a perfect typeset, right?)

I am considering the “Dancing Leaves” lace shawl by Evelyn Clark, but that leaf shape is a standard one, so what I would be buying is someone else doing all the math. What kept me from buying it instantly is the rock-solid belief that other people’s math is not to be trusted. It is not like I can write to her and ask “Are you a moronic twit who publishes patterns that are completely worthless?” Obviously tact would require that to be rephrased, but essentially, that is what I want to know. Can someone vouch for that particular pattern? Has anyone bought anything off her website and are her PDFs hinky?

In the meantime, I started working on a hat, top-down, from the Spunky “Hotrod” superwash merino that I spun up very thick and soft. 

UFO to FO, What is next?

I have a list of projects I am considering. This is not a poll where the kind reader gets to choose, but if there are suggestions, I could use a bit of orienteering here.

I agreed to do the “Endpaper Mitts” (by Eunny Jang) as a knit-along with someone else. I might need to clear off some needles to manage it, but those needles are holding some toe-up socks that are just past the toe part. I could not possibly finish the socks by next week. But it is difficult to give up on socks which are actually started.

I have a hat-for-me from handspun that I have cast on for.

I need some fingerless mittens like you would not believe. It has been excessively cold here. I have not been getting any knitting done because my fingers do not bend when they are frozen.

I have a hat for someone else that I really need a larger size circ to do (my biggest 16″ circ is a #10.5). I have known this for several weeks now. I could have ordered some.

I have been browsing for a lace shawl pattern for a while now. I finally found one I like by Evelyn Clark (“Dancing Leaves”), but it’s $10 and my experience with paid patterns is that they are not a lot better than starting from scratch entirely. I have some sport/DK weight 3-ply alpaca (purchased) that cries out to be this kind of shawl.

I have two hanks of Lorna’s Laces shepherd worsted that isn’t enough for a sweater (I bought all they had in that colorway, it was not my fault.) I want to knit with that. Really want to be knitting with that and cannot think of a project. I think it would make for a nice mostly solid lace shawl with 450 yards. I could possibly make a short vest.

I also really want to be spinning. I have the rest of the December Spunky Fiber Club to do. And I should finish it before I forget what I did the first time.

I found a friend who wants handspun yarn, so I have some things in mind to spin for her.