Psychobunny

It seems to be all about red around Casa de Drew these days. Well, not entirely but for the two project updates I'm bringing you today...it is all about red.

First, I've been fitting in a little sock knitting between projects because I always fit in a little sock knitting and also because that is my Christmas knitting. Hand knit socks are all Grandma ever wants from me so I'm trying to shape up and give her hand knit socks.

This is a pair of Broadripples in Socks that Rock, Mustang Sally. This is one of those examples of the right pattern with the right yarn at the right time so they have flown along and been a lot of fun. I was able to take this in natural light so the color is true. The heel is turned, I just don't have a heel on my hand to demonstrate.

For the non-knitters visiting this blog, I know it sounds like we complain, agonize, and sob over our projects a lot more than we enjoy them. And, at least for me, that is very true. So why would I continue knitting? Because when you hit that sweet spot, when it all falls together, it is the most relaxing, enjoyable, and productive hobby a person could take up. And it is worth it!

It is like that one great hit in a game of golf or when the bat meets the ball just right and it feels perfect and goes forever. Those moments when all the stars align and it carries you through all the future frustrating attempts.

But enough waxing philosophical over my Broadripples.

The Mystery Stole 3 has kicked my butt. Repeatedly. However, I have not given up. I was having to tink and reknit every 2 out of 3 rows 2 and 3 times! I kept plugging along telling myself that this wasn't hard and I could do it. Finally, I had to just had to admit to myself that while the pattern isn't hard (and it truly isn't) the yarn I was trying to use was making the project darn near impossible.

Laceweight yarn is little more than thread. Which isn't the problem. What became the problem was how much my yarn was splitting. It created more problems for me and more dropped stitches (and I've probably dropped three stitches in my lifetime) then I could handle. So as much as I liked the color and texture of the yarn, I had to consider not using it for this project.

Then I finally admitted to myself that as fun as it was to knit this fine fabric that magically came to life when blocked...it wasn't something I would wear. The scale and beading just is not something that matches anything I have in the closet and I would be afraid of tearing it up.

So I looked around the stash and thought I would try (just try) in a fingering weight yarn. I won't wear a black or white stole so I was left with the forest green or burgandy. I wanted a burgandy one to begin with so (since I was just experimenting) I figured I would experiment in a beautiful cashmere/silk/merino fingerweight I got from Elann a couple years ago. I have been saving this for a sweater for me and wasn't sure I wanted to use any of it up. But I would just try it out...right?

The yarn is a much richer burgandy in real life and I haphazardly pinned out the piece on the nearest light background around me to photograph (I'm not sure I was even looking as I pinned it out judging from the lopsidedness). And red rarely photographs well.

Now I can truly say it isn't a difficult pattern as I flew through Clue #1 and am happily moving along Clue #2 also. It is amazing how much better it looks and how much more I'm enjoying it now that I am using the right materials for this project for me. This is something I will wear.

Posted by TheBunny at 03:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Something tells me these are supposed to look different and be in someone else's possession.

Well, I didn't finish. Shocker. There was just a point where I could have hidden away all weekend and finished them or enjoyed my visit with Mom and give these to her next weekend.

I opted for the late gift. But, as you can see, I still made progress. Heels have been turned and I begin the journey down the foot.

To distract you from my mission failure, I present the next singing sensation...Korde Spotbottom!

Korde is Mom's greyhound. He dearly loves singing and frequently breaks out in spontaneous song. We have been trying to record him doing this for years and I was thrilled when there was just one of those moments where I happened to have the camera next to me when he started. His backup singer is Garbo, who you may remember from cute couch pic a few days ago.

Posted by TheBunny at 07:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The goal was 9 repeats a day but I have to stop at 5 tonight so I get a little sleep for work tomorrow.

These are going to be late Mother's Day socks.

Sapphire has been watching me closely with disapproval. No really, she is laying there watching me. I just waited until she blinked so I wouldn't get those laser eye in the photo.

She clearly thinks I'm a slacker.

Posted by TheBunny at 11:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Uh oh, someone let a TIE fighter get them. My TIE fighter pointed out to me that the Monkey socks were going to be too big for Mom. They were looking gorgeous but, while I love Mom, she will point out when something doesn't fit well so I had to cut my losses early and hope I can recover.

This is probably not the best pattern to choose with this yarn because the colors completely hide the pattern.

Probably the best would just be a twisted rib or classic rib (or even a spiral rib) but Mom lives in Arizona most of the year so I wanted an open lace. Something that isn't quite so "wintery" looking. (Is anyone taking bets on me changing my mind again?)

I'm not even back to where I was in the previous pair but it is a good start on a pair of Gull Wings from Socks Socks Socks. There are 30 repeats to do (I'm counting the cuff, heel and toe as a repeat each) so I've done 4 repeats. That means I need to do at least 9 a day to finish these by Sunday. If I had nothing else to do but knit I could totally pull this off.

But the odds are against me on this project...

Posted by TheBunny at 07:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is why I can never have a made bed:

Monkey Socks progress. They have to be finished by Sunday. The leg is the pattern repeat 6 times and the foot will probably be about 6 repeats also, so with the heel work, I need to complete about 3 repeats a day. I only did one yesterday so I'm already behind!

Must keep going (even if I'm worried about them being too big), must keep focus.

Stay on target...stay on target...

Posted by TheBunny at 09:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I'm snowed in at work. Or should I say, I'm snowed in with work. Either way, it is why I've been quiet. However, I have still managed to be knitterly productive. I started my Mothers' Day presents because all my Mom and Grandma really want from me are socks and since I'm in the midst of buying a house (actually, securing the financing to buy the house which is the icky part) I'm feeling especially thrifty so I don't want to spend money on ANYTHING! (you know that panic mode when you realize you are poor and start looking at crusty old men in luxury cars with a new eye)

The good news is that I had the mostest gorgeousest yarns to chose from after sock camp. So I pulled out the colorway especially chosen for Grandma (Socks that Rock heavyweight in Falcon's Eye, I can't find an online source for it but it is spectacular) because Grandma's signature color is celadon and thought I would try Quill Lace from the latest Knitty.

Wow, the stars aligned and it ended up being the perfect yarn in the perfect pattern for the perfect person and they were done in a couple of days. I loved knitting that pattern so much I'll probably do another pair again right away. Very, very fun!

I snuck a picture here at work right on my desk (trying to hide the complete geekiness that is me and knit blog for as long as possible). I am disappointed in one feature of the yarn, there are tiny plum drops on one of the socks in a couple of places. I am a little disappointed that it snuck into this colorway because it just makes the sock look dirty. I knit from both ends of the ball on the same skein and one sock got the plum drops and the other did not.

Something to keep in mind with this pattern, I thought they would be very stretchy because it is lace but the stitch pass overs tighten them up so don't try to overcompensate for lace-stretch when you make these.

I think these socks are in my top three favorites.

Now I just have to make Mom's!

Posted by TheBunny at 04:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

You know when your hands ache, your finger tips are going numb and your knitting callous hurts that you have been knitting too fast and furious!

I received my target's sock to finish for her target and I know my socks have been sent out so my doom is impending. Well, I wanted to finish my target's socks first (over achiever) so I went to work. That is where it all went bad.

My target had sent a really cute bright red sock but she knits her socks like so many other people; one at a time. I do mine both at the same time so I kept thinking that I was going to hate doing just one. It seems like such a waste of energy to only get one done when with very little extra energy I could get two done.

Then I realized that I did not understand my target's notes. Probably to other dpn sock knitters it would make perfect sense. But I don't have to take notes because I make the same mistakes changes to the socks simultaneously.

I started stressing that my new target was going to get a wonky pair of socks because they didn't match.

So I just knit a new pair of socks. It really isn't a lot more work for me and it alleviated my stress. I'll send her the red sock too so she can finish that pair.

I did happen to have the right gauge yarn laying around. Some delicious toasty toes that I had originally planned on turning into a kid's sweater. It would be an understatement to say there is a lot of color in these socks.

These socks would make many sock knitters twitch. They are barely fraternal and these are knit off the same skein of yarn. The Rib of Doom looks a lot better with this yarn than with my previous pair and I love love love the tweedy effect in the sock on the right. The other sock didn't get that effect at all. And I hope my target likes pooling! The upside is they are very soft and cushy and they do celebrate the hand-painted yarn!

To make up for the potentially garish socks, I am including this knitting bag of doom.

I made one like this in black with a red skull for a friend and while I super-suck at intarsia, I really enjoy making these. Highly satisfying with not a lot of work.

So after knitting one pair of socks and a knitting bag of doom in three days this is what my callous looks like:

Actually, yesterday it was bright red. That little sucker is on the little finger of my right hand where my finger curls around and grips the needle and yarn.

Kind of gross, huh? The tip of my right thumb is calloused too but it manages to not be deformed.

No time to let it rest though. I have two pumpkin hats I need to finish for babies. Gawd forbid there are two children in my circle I'm not humiliating. he he

Posted by TheBunny at 03:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

A little flurry of activity for work as the semester begins. I'm doing contract work for a local university for their online program and all of the instructors waited until the last minute to give us their information to get online. I had to laugh as one particularly late instructor had handouts for her students about time management and planning ahead. Typical. Even as a student I saw the clear double standard when instructors would be rigid about deadlines but hand back your graded work weeks after their deadline.

Ah, venting done.

I have been doing quite a bit of knitting. My hand work always picks up when I do more technical computer work. So, I'm stuck online all day building web pages hence I need a significant amount of time in the evening to do non-technical work. Shall we take a peek at what has come off the needles?

I forgot to share this little pretty. A lace hairband/headband. After the crushing disappointment of Sonnet I could only tackle little projects. So when I saw this pattern on the Interweave Knits website (subscriber area) I thought it would be great to try it in my left over Elann Esprit which is really elastic.

I omitted one pattern repeat because I thought it would be too long and I wanted the headband to stretch a little. I think it is still a little long and it probably would be better with another repeat eliminated. It also is quite wide so it just bunches up in may hair and you can't see the pretty lace. But it does hold the hair back! And it was kind of fun to make.

I also finished this little project which was really fun to do!

Knitting purists, brace yourself. The pattern is off the Lion Brand site and the yarn is a Lion Brand yarn. It is called Cashmere Blend and it is comparable to Debbie Bliss' Cashmerino.

Now I love Cashmerino with a white hot passion but this cashmere blend comes pretty darn close. It is almost as soft and is really lovely to knit with. However, I am very disappointed in the limited colors.

I am hearing from other people around the country that the Cashmere Blend actually costs a little more than Cashmerino but in my neck of the woods it is about $1 less (note that in the two links I provide above the Cashmerino is a wee bit less.). I have to give props to Lion Brand for contending with such a fine fiber!

So I enjoyed the fiber (in a blue black that really is beautiful and kind of hard to see while knitting!) and the pattern was really cool. All in one piece and you start with the collar! I love not having to pick up stitches for the band and collar. I'll do this pattern again because it was a lot of fun. It isn't one of Lion Brand's free patterns though.

We need to take a moment to bask in my fabulous seams. I am always sharing my failures but I actually do things right sometimes.

You can barely see them! Once in a while I rock.

Another small victory to share is my completion and mailing of my Sock War socks. Fueled by a bizarre diet of sushi and hot fudge sundaes, I knit my fingers to little nubs Sunday and Monday so that I could put off my demise as long as possible.

I was being a bit lax about it this weekend and then I checked the blog of my assassin. To my horror (and delight because she is making me a pair of socks) I found her to be an accomplished and talented knitter. One of those who crank out the pieces that make the rest of us say, "oooo, I want to do that" and ends with us weeping on the floor clutching the knitting to our chests in despair. And then resorting to knitting headbands.

She is in an entirely different league than me.

My socks were a bit of a challenge for me because I have never knit socks with size 5 needles nor with sock yarn as big as this. But I felt like I scored when I found this Cleckheaton at the beach this weekend. I thought the colors were lovely and neutral enough that they should appeal to most everyone (in case my target was a fella). See, I'm a considerate assassin.

I was so paranoid about sticking to the rules. My sock yarn called for a size 6 needle but I knit it with a 5 and I even though I got gauge I felt like I was cheating the whole time. And I worried that the socks were going to be ugly, etc. Obviously, I can't take this kind of pressure.

Plus, do you see those two wee balls of yarn next to the socks? Those were the end of the skeins when I finished. If my target had my size 10s then I would have been scrambling!

So I'm very sorry to have eliminated my target, but I hope she enjoys the socks!

Posted by TheBunny at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Quiet but not gone. So here is what I've been up to in a newsflash:

Grandma's socks are done and have been gifted. I don't think she has taken them off her feet since. I did get them done in time for Mother's Day. I wish you could see the leaf pattern better but they are really pretty and understated. This is the perfect colorway for this particular pair of socks.

Mom's socks are done and have been gifted. She did finally take them off but I don't think it will be for long. These are broadripple socks that I started as a Mother's Day present about two years ago and after having a major rip out I needed to set them aside to recover. I did them in Elann's Fixation copy. I don't think I really enjoyed knitting with this cotton/nylon mix. Hurt my hands. But Mom lives in AZ so cotton is better and she loves the super stretchy. I have to say this pattern is so lovely in this simple cream that this part was never boring.

I'm frantically trying to finish my last Dulaan sweater. It is pink and this other colorway that I got just because I liked it so much that I couldn't leave it behind at the store. I was knitting it and kept thinking the colors looked familiar. Then I realized why it looked familiar.

The beautiful new fuscia I got for my patio.

Fun coincidence, no?

I have two pet peeves to share today.

Don't you hate those commercials that are selling handy dandy new products (a fancy new screwdriver or a contraption that dices food in one fell swoop) and when they demonstrate the "old" way a person has to use a screwdriver or a knife the person has no coordination? They slip using the screwdriver or act like they are cutting with a 50lb. knife. Those really irritate me.

Sticking with irritating commercials...those radio commercials that use a fake DJs discussing television shows make me want to run my car into the nearest wall. Does this really work? Do people think they are listening to real radio personalities actually having a conversation about a bunch of TV shows that all happen to be on the same network? These rank right up there with the "dramas" on wrestling networks. They make me irrationally insane.

And that's a wrap

Posted by TheBunny at 10:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Well, we can all breath a little easier now. I have finally finished a pair of socks for Grandma. She has been begging me and begging me for another pair. She is 88 and a knitter herself. I'm a horrible grand-daughter for not making 15 pairs for her.

Self recrimination out of the way, here is a picture of the socks almost finished. I have finished them since I took this picture and I'll get a pic of Grandma modeling them when I give them to her for Mother's Day.

The lace pattern is hard to photograph but I put a tube of hair product down one and a tin of bath salts down the other. The one on top is probably how it will look on a leg but the one on bottom at least provided some contrast with the yarn so you can see the pattern a little.

The yarn is Lorna's Laces in Aslan. Which is even more appropriate for Grandma since she has always been a huge fan of C.S. Lewis and asked me to take her to the "Chronicles of Narnia." I actually got the yarn about two or three years ago and have tried it out on several different projects before I finally settled on this one.

The pattern is from the winter InterWeave Knits. Embossed Leaves Socks. It was a lot of fun to do and quite easy even if I did have to do some adjusting for two circular needles and I had to do some creative adjustments to bring down the size. The pattern is for a woman's medium but Grandma has wee feet so I left the leg as a medium to prevent binding on her older legs and I did some decreases after the gusset and then buried some more in the lace pattern. I think it worked but we still have to do the Cinderella test.

Posted by TheBunny at 09:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)