Routine

As you may have noticed I have not been blogging as much since I got to Oregon. I was trying to think what’s changed (aside from my zip code) and I realized that it is all about routine. I’m a creature of habit and when things are thrown topsy-turvy I get out of sync. Since my husband is thousands of miles away, I am intentionally unemployed, and everything is new to me here I just haven’t gotten into a rhythm yet. I used to write my blog posts before going to work. Well, that doesn’t work so well now. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining, just trying to gain balance in my life again. While I won’t be entirely happy until Matt gets here (hopefully in two weeks!), I am enjoying nesting and exploring. Now on to the knitting!

Pure Fall Mermaid Socks

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Pattern: Mermaid (modified) by Lucy Neatby in Cool Socks, Warm Feet
Yarn: Yarntini Self-striping in Pure Fall
Needles: Inox 2.0mm (US 0)
Start Date: June 27, 2007
End Date: August 22, 2007
Comments: I had been looking for a good pattern to use with this Yarntini for ages when I received the Cool Socks, Warm Feet book in the Pure Knits Sock Club kit a couple months ago. It was then that I decided to use the Mermaid pattern. I wasn’t too keen on having it go around my entire foot so I chose to knit the sock toe-up plain and then only do the stitch pattern on the leg.

I think these socks came out really great. The only thing I would change when I knit them next time is I would increase my needle size one or two sizes when I get to the leg as this pattern does not have a lot of give when going over the heel. While I can definitely wear these as is, a little more stretch would have made them perfect.

Yesterday my Wollmeise sock yarn arrived from Germany! Yay! It is absolutely stunning. Claudia, the dyer, asks you when you order if you want your colors to be light, medium, or dark. I asked for both of these colors to be dark and I’m thrilled. On the left is Poison Nr. 5 and on the right is Mitternacht (Midnight). They both have these intense colors running through the black. Gorgeous! And it feels good too. 🙂

Yesterday I also went to a new knitting group that a few of us on Ravelry started. We met at Insomnia (cafe) in Hillsboro and had a terrific time! I’m already looking forward to next Wednesday’s meetup, though I think we are still working on a time. Anyone in the Hillsboro, OR area is welcome to join us. Just leave me a comment!

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Yarntini Time

Happy 4th of July!

It’s a typical Independence Day here in the Chicago area – muggy, possible rain, and muggy. At least I’m not at work!

I got my June Pure Knits Yarntini Sock Club kit and it’s another good one. Yea! The yarn is Mint Mojito and it’s a verigated colorway. The base yarn is a lovely 50% wool/50% tencel which has a terrific shine to it.

The pattern looks challenging and fun and there is even some mint mojito lip gloss.

The item in the kit that made me super excited this time around is the set of Pony Rosewood double point needles. I’ve been longing to try rosewood needles and I can’t wait to cast on with them.

Hooray for Yarntini!

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Speaking of Yarntini, I have finally revisited and reknit a sock from the past. My Pure Fall socks. I had started these last fall, I think, but was not happy with the toe-up. Well, since then I have discovered the Magic cast-on from Knitty.com and the peasant heel, so I decided it was time to get these socks going again.

I chose to knit a plain foot, but use the Mermaid pattern from Lucy Neatby’s Cool Socks, Warm Feet book (which I got in the last Yarntini sock club kit) for the leg. I really love the result though I should have gone up a needle size for the leg pattern as it is a bit tight to get over my heel. Oh well, it looks fabulous and feels great once I get it on so that’s what counts, right? 😉

No big plans for the holiday for me. Maybe I’ll finish up the neglected Summertime Tunic…Matt is working in the lab constantly, trying to finish up experiments and writing his dissertation. At this point it doesn’t look like he’ll be with me in the car when I leave for Oregon with the cats on the 30th. He’ll fly out a couple weeks later and my mom will join me for the drive. I’m trying to not be too bummed about it. Things will work out in the end.

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(Due to the holiday, knitting Group will be on Thursday evening instead of tonight. We meet at the new Starbucks in Wilmette (corner of Lake & Laramie, just to the west of I-94 on Lake Ave.). We start at around 6:30 and go until 8ish. Any yarn enthusiast is welcome!)

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Out With the Old

Monday I was feeling up to knitting finally and as I perused my current works in progress I just didn’t really want to work on any of them. Then I did something I’ve never done before. I intentionally ripped the needles out of a perfectly good nearly finished sock. The Pure Fall socks are now officially off the needles. Someday (maybe next fall?) I’ll start them again. I was just getting aggravated with the whole toe-up heel flap nonsense.

As for the Socks that Rock Philosopher’s Stone socks for Matt? Well, I’m really not sure I have enough yarn to finish the second sock. So rather than continuing on blindly, I am awaiting delivery of a small kitchen scale which will give me the cold hard facts.

That leaves the Rowan Tapestry scarf all alone in my knitting bag. Once I picked it up, I decided to just knit it for a little while and I ended up making some real progress. I may actually finish it some time soon!

Yesterday was my last day off before heading back to work so I decided to cast on for some unscheduled spontaneously chosen socks. I decided to knit one of the Pick Up Sticks Sock Club Kits. This is the VvS Painted Yarn in the color Art Nouveau and the Lichen pattern. I believe it is the 4 ply. The sock is knitting up very quickly due to the larger gauge and great pattern. I do feel like I may have knit a bit too much the last couple days as well as doing other daily things like washing dishes, sorting bills, etc. as my neck is feeling not so good. I just hope being back at work today doesn’t make it worse.

Knitting Group is tonight at the Border’s in Wilmette (the corner of Skokie and Lake) at 6:30pm. As always, all yarn enthusiasts are welcome. I’m hoping to make it, but it really depends on how I’m feeling by the end of the day. I just hate to miss a meeting with all my knitting buddies!

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Why Are Weekends So Short?

I am a really strong advocate for a five day weekend and a two day work week. This weekend just flew by! I was able to put in some serious time with the Interlocking Balloons scarf (from the Scarf Style book) and I am very happy with its progress. I knit part of Friday night, Saturday afternoon, and as much as I could on Sunday. I have now completed 7 of the 10 repeats. The end is near!

The Knit Picks Merino Style is such a pleasure to knit. It feels so soft and has a great sponginess when it’s knit up. I have more of this yarn in a different color set aside in my stash to knit an Interlocking Balloons of my very own (who knows when that will happen though…). I will warn you that the chart for this scarf can make you go cross-eyed. If I didn’t have my chart keeper and my highlighter tape I would be hopelessly lost. Those are two very valuable tools that I highly recommend. Some bloggers reported the pattern becoming more intuitive as they went along. Well, not for me. I mean, in some parts yes, but overall I need to refer to the chart continually.

I’m finally working on the Yarntini Pure Fall Toe-up socks again. I kind of have been avoiding them since I new I’d be in trouble once I finished the foot. You see, I had plans to use the directions for the toe-up with heel flap construction in the Sensational Knitted Socks book, but when I read ahead it said to knit the foot until a certain length based on measurements that you can look up in the front of the book. I turned to the pages the pattern indicated and there was no chart! Well, I was a bit bummed and I’ve been poking about the internet looking for alternative ways to do a reverse heel flap when I came across another blogger who got hung up in the exact same way. She ended up finding the Generic Pattern for the “You’re Putting Me On” Socks which is toe-up with a reverse heel flap! Hooray! So that’s what I’ve just started. I’ll let you know how it goes.

This weekend I also received my second mailing from the Sweet Sheep Sock Club. This month’s yarn is Sweet Socks in the color The comforts of Home. Sweet Socks is the house brand of the store that is hosting this sock club. It’s a lovely mix of colors – perfect for this time of year. The yarn is very soft and reminds me a lot of the texture of Sunshine Yarns. The content is 75% superwash wool and 25% nylon so it will make a nice pair of low maintenance socks. Man, I love getting surprise yarn in the mail!

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We drove, we visited, we ate turkey!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Matt and I had a great time in Carbondale for the long weekend. There was lots of family time, a vast quantity of great food, and a little bowling.:)

Was there time for knitting? Not really. I think I did about an inch of my Tapestry Harlot Scarf (yarn: Rowan Tapestry in Pot Pourri; pattern from the Yarn Harlot). I have a long way to go and since it looks exactly like it did last time, no new picture…

Aside from the scarf, I did make some progress with the Yarntini Pure Fall socks last night after we got home. I’ve restarted them on size 0 and it’s knitting up much nicer. I am really enjoying the self-striping action as well as the soft yarn. Toe-up seems to go faster for some reason…

I’m also almost finished with Matt’s new pirate hat.

I did want to let people know that if you are interested in getting an Offhand Designs knitting bag, be sure to check out the fundraiser they are having right now. All proceeds go to helping a young lady purchase a new wheelchair. So, go donate some money and get yourself a new knitting bag at a good price with a side order of good karma. (I’m not going on record that I bought another Zelda, but don’t be surprised if in the spring my workout incentive is another bag…I’m just saying…)

My incentive to keep to my workout schedule in December and part of January is to officially rejoin the Rockin’ Sock Club. I know I don’t want to miss out on that so I have to meet every scheduled workout between now and when the invoice arrives. The only viable excuse to missing a workout and still remaining eligible for my reward is if I’m sick and Matt confirms that I’m not faking. 🙂 So as to avoid setting myself up for failure, I am going to lighten the workout schedule a little through the holiday week, especially while we are visiting family. I will try to at least get a few walks in during that time.

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I’m a Dodo-Head

Ever since I knit Widdershins I have been wanting to do another toe-up with heel-flap sock, but the measurements for Widdershins are just too small using my preferred sock yarns and needles. Then I saw someone mention on her blog that she used the toe-up heel-flap instructions from Sensational Knitted Socks when she knit her socks. Doh! I never realized there were instructions in there for a toe-up heel-flap! I love that book and peruse the patterns often, but I never noticed that in the twelve stitch pattern section it sets out the customizable pattern for a toe-up with heel flap sock! Yea! So, now I can use the fabulously easy toe cast-on from Knitty and the heel flap instructions from the book.

And so last night I cast on for my newest pair of socks using Yarntini in the Pure Fall self-striping colorway. There would be a picture here except that even though I swatched the sock it was knitting up a bit too big so I had to frog back the 3 or 4 inches I got done last night…Oh well…Instead here’s a picture of the scarf I cast on yesterday. It’s Rowan Tapestry Pot Pourri and I’m using the scarf pattern the Yarn Harlot blogged on October 12th.

Here’s a picture of all the knitting that’s going along on holiday: the Pure Fall socks, a replacement We Call Them Pirates Hat (I’ll explain that one later), and the tapestry harlot scarf. I figured I would need a variety of projects to work on while spending the Thanksgiving holiday with family. (You may notice the new bag – I reached my workout goal for the past month so the Zelda Tote is all mine!)

I’m also taking along my latest read, The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. I’m just 80 pages in, but it’s hard to put down and I expect to finish it quickly. So I’m taking a back-up book as I do not want to be left stranded without reading material. I think I’ll bring along a short story book by Alice Sheldon a.k.a. James Tiptree (a sci-fi writer).

What is everyone going to be working on over the long weekend?

***Knitting Group is tonight (Wednesday) at the Borders’ Cafe in Wilmette (corner of Lake & Skokie). We meet from 6:30 until 8:00 and any yarn enthusiast is welcome!***

Due to the holiday, I’ll be taking a little break from blogging until Monday, November 27th. I hope everyone has a happy and safe Thanksgiving Day!

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