stash, knit, repeat

I had big photoshoot plans for these socks, but I just couldn’t get good pictures of them and my local beach together. So, boring back porch photo shoot it is!

Pattern: The amazing Nona’s Sidewinders

Yarn:Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock, lightweight, Pebble Beach colorway

Time Elapsed: About a week. Maybe a little less–these were hard to put down!

Modifications/Notes: The only modification I made was to add two sets of short rows to accommodate my ginormous calves. This was extremely easy to do. One of the biggest things I love about this pattern is that it’s very very clever, but also very understandable. The way they’re constructed just makes sense.

Start with a provisional cast-on, decrease for the heel, increase for the toe, decrease for the toe, increase for the heel, graft. Super-easy and hella fun.

The other thing I love about this pattern is what it does for pooly sock yarn. It doesn’t entirely stop the yarn from pooling, but somehow minor pooling looks better to me when it happens in a vertical stripe along the foot. And that’s a good thing, because the pooling was so bad I was starting to despair of wearing this very special yarn.

I bought the yarn while pregnant with Jacob, shortly after I visited the Monterey area for the first time, to console myself since we would never be able to live near Pebble Beach. (Jon had gotten some feelers about an academic position here, so we decided to check it out on our vacation.) After Jacob was born, we all realized just how much we wanted me to stay home with our kids, and we re-investigated that academic job offer. Turns out that it was feasible after all, and here we are in Pebble Beach! Life is funny, sometimes.

Now that we’ve lived here for a year, of course, we’re dying to get out–the fog bank is just too depressing. Hopefully soon we’ll be moving to a sunnier part of Monterey. And now, through this move and any others we make in the future, I’ll have some fantastic socks to remind me of our time here.

If Jacob ever gives them back, that is.

(You bet your bottom dollar I did a FO page–Check it out!)

Well, I can say one good thing about spending so much time on my tush in tin cans this weekend. It helps me bypass second sock/sleeve syndrome pretty easily.

(Two sleeves for my friend Neil’s birthday sweater, one completed Sidewinder, one in-progress. Boo yah.)

The Sidewinder pattern didn’t exactly make the STR behave. It still pooled and streaked a bit. But, as it turns out, that sort of thing looks a whole heck of a lot better when it happens vertically on the foot instead of around. So I formally declare the Pebble Beach hank saved, and I’ll look forward to wearing these socks for years. The sock fits very well, and the construction is so very interesting. I should have the pair done in a day or so.

Until then, obviously, we’ll just have to have some fun with the first sock.

The weekend went well, overall. It was the first time Jacob and I had been apart overnight before, and I have to say he seems to have handled it a whole lot better than I did. I did get used to it, though, and now my last worry about Rhinebeck is totally gone, and I can’t wait for October.

By the way, this is the pattern I’m using for Neil’s sweater:

It’s modified drop sleeve, which is so weird to me since I don’t think I’ve ever done anything but set-in. I like the way it’s looking so far, and the cotton isn’t hurting my hands too badly. I hope I can finish the rest of the sweater quickly, because I’m all excited about my holiday knitting. I can’t believe it’s almost September!

I’m headed to Maine for the funeral this weekend, and my travel itinerary (bus, plane, andtrain!) is a little nightmarish. Fortunately, I’ll have my knitting with me, and even more fortunately, this is no longer among my knitting:

Blocking will have to wait until I return, but hooray! The darn shawl is done done done!

Jacob wasted no time in appropriating it for himself. Shawls make fun toys, don’t ya know.

Up next in the queue: Sidewinders (and if they don’t make that STR behave, by golly, there’ll be another darn giveaway) and the cable-yoke sweater from “Wish You Were Here”, for my friend Neil.

See you Tuesday!

Sometimes, when it’s been a really rough week and you’ve had to rip out a few hours of work on an incredibly dull lace shawl border, you just need a little breath of fresh air.

Pattern: Chevron Lace Top, from Debbie Bliss’ “Wish You Were Here” collection, 2-3 year size

Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold’s Hempathy, 2.5 balls of color 13

Time Elapsed: Under a week

Modifications and notes: There’s really not much to say about this one. The lace pattern as marked has a small error (a row ending in k1 when it should be k2), but otherwise it’s a clear and simple pattern, very easy to knit. I love the little details that Debbie Bliss puts into her patterns, especially for babies and children. There’s a little decrease detail at the middle of the v-neck, the sleeves are set in, the top will look great over a tank in summer or over a turtleneck in winter.

Really, the story with this top is the yarn. I have wanted to try Hempathy for awhile now, but just got around to it with this project. The yarn is obviously splitty, when you look at it, and it feels somewhat rough in the ball. My tension, which is usually very even (if I do say so myself), was somewhat off with this yarn just off the needles. But the color is gorgeous, and any trace of roughness or uneven fabric goes away with a good soak. This is one of the softer, silkier things I’ve ever knit. The drape is incredible. I’m very excited about the 6 balls of a tweedy tan I picked up in Maine for a modified version of this top.

So that’s it, really. (Well, aside from the usual on the FO page.) A sweet, quick, easy top to clear my mind and get me rejuvenated on the shawl.

It’s going much better, this time around. And I may have started on something else, too…

I figured, the yarn’s been in time-out for over a year. It’s probably learned its lesson, right?

Remember Harvey? When I knit it for my unusually-large child last fall in the 3-6 month size, I assumed it would be just right. Turns out, it was huge. Then this spring, it was still kind of large. And now, on my still-unusually-large 9 month old, it’s still kind of big!

He’ll be able to wear it this fall! What’s *up* with that? Not that I’m complaining, mind you.

Knitting has progressed, but since 4 repeats of the leaf lace shawl looks about like 3–that is to say, a crumpled mess–I will give you a peek of how the Pebble Beach socks are turning out.

…and I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that I actually like the striping. Or did, at least.

I was okay with the striping! But then there was flashing, and now there’s striping again. And I know what you’re saying out there. “Come on, Amy. This is just a sock. No need to get neurotic.” And you’re probably right.

But don’t you think it looks a little bit weird? Please tell me. And please be honest, now. Because I’m not sure I can learn to wear and love these socks. And I’m happy giving them away, if they’re not objectively hideous. But I don’t want to gift someone with hideous socks and not even realize it.

(Although I am so thoroughly in love with the heel that it’s hard to express in words.)

I am no longer fighting with the Socks that Rock.

However, this is not because the socks pictured in my head are anything close to becoming a reality. I sucked it up and tried alternating between three strands of yarn. There is still a noticeable stripe-pattern:

If it were producing the sock in my mind, I would happily and without complaint deal with the pain-in-the-butt three strand knitting. Since it isn’t, and I’m not very far along into the first sock, I’m just going to rip and re-wind the yarn, and put it into storage until I’ve gotten this mental image out of my head. I think, if I change my expectations, I’ll actually like them stripey. So, off to the stash bin with the str for a month or so!

Which let me pick up Bea again:

Yup, that’s a second sleeve. I haven’t been to the yarn store to pick up more yarn yet, so for the moment I’m just plugging along until I run out. Hopefully before a week has passed, I’ll have another FO and have regained my mojo.

I think I might even get bold enough to cast on for Eleanora socks in a solid (!!) purple Lorna’s Laces.

I suppose that I shouldn’t really make decisions at 10:00pm when I’m cranky and tired. But last night, the yarn started striping and flashing even though I was alternating between 2 balls, and I flipped out and frogged the whole thing.

Now, the yarn and I are having a bit of an argument:

On the bright side, I noticed that the heel flap had absolutely perfect variegation. So now I’m thinking, what if I knit with *four* balls of yarn, and only did half of each round with a single ball? That would surely keep it from pooling, right?

Right?

I’m back at work this week after a very extended maternity leave, so daylight to take progress pictures has been lost in a flurry of preparation. But after finishing the pooling colors scarf, I cast on some socks that rock (pebble beach colorway) in the oak ribbed pattern from Vintage Socks.

Why, do you ask, did I not simply finish Bea? Well… Since we last left our friend Bea:

I finished the left and right fronts, and the first sleeve. Further sleeve island margaritas were stymied by a distinct lack of yarn. In a fit of pique over Rowan miscalculations (my gauge is spot on), I put the sweater down for some sock knitting distraction. Hopefully I can make it to the yarn store Thursday. Argh!

Anyway, the socks that rock pretty much lives up to its promise. It’s sproingy, the colors are vibrant and terrific, it is smoother than any other sock yarn I’ve worked with, easily as soft as Lorna’s Laces, claims to be machine-dryable, and the fabric is to die for. The downside? For me, anyway, it wants to pool. So much so that even if I alternate balls of yarn, there’s a discernable pattern:

I’ve basically sworn off Lorna’s Laces for the same issue (see earlier frustration), but now I’m wondering if it’s me. Am I joining the second strand of yarn in the wrong way? Other people don’t seem to have this problem. Maybe I’m just too obsessive about pooling? If you have suggestions, please chime in! This mars the yarn for me, and that makes me sad. Not that it’s making me hate the sock. And I won’t avoid this yarn in the future, certainly.

Since the above pictures were taken, I’ve turned the heel and am almost through the foot. I love how quickly socks go!