Koigu

It pretty much looks like a tangled mess, doesn't it? It's the start of a beaded sock. Not sure what I'm doing casting on another sock... but I signed up for the Sock of the Month Club at my LYS and here I am... Oh well. At least there's no hurry to get it done.

Happy Husband Hocking Hosery

Adam decided that I couldn't possibly take a plain picture of my sockapalooza sock for the blog, it would be too boring, it needed some human interest.

On our 7 1/2 hour (one way) trip to South Dakota this weekend I got a lot of knitting done. Unfortunately there were a few tense moments as I realized that both the sock and the shawl I was working on needed to be ripped back. Apparently reading a map while knitting isn't the best idea in the world. This was all right around the time where we took County Rd 12 instead of HWY 12. I guess I didn't excel at either activity! Thanks to hours of uninterupted (except for passing snacks and juice boxes into the back seat) knitting time, I am up to the gusset on my sockapalooza sock. It's looking fabby! The pattern called for an eye of partridge heel (pretty appropriate since I knit this in South Dakota!) which I adore. I love knitting that heel, I love admiring it while I knit it, it just looks so pretty. Plus it is extremely durable.

Here's a close up of the stitch pattern. It's not a true cable, more of a twisty turny lazy river.

Men's Socks

As I was knitting my fabulous blue Yarni socks for my Sockapalooza pal last night, Adam looked over and asked if those socks were for him.
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because you have size 12 feet and you're very hard on your socks." i.e. I don't want to spend all the time making HUGE socks and then have him wear through them in a week. Or worse yet, have him not want to wear the socks because they are not comfortable/too hot/not the right size.
Now to be fair, Adam does have a good appreciation of handmade items. He wore slippers his grandma knit for him until they were rags (despite the fact that his feet are always insanely hot), he wears the garish pajammas my grandma makes for him, in winter he wears the scarf I knit for him. It's not that I don't think he would appreciate the socks... The man is 6'3" and anything I would make for him would take FOREVER!

Does anyone have a good men's sock pattern that would be a faster knit? I can't imagine knitting a size 12 men's sock on 0's. Do I reinforce the heels and toes so they last longer? Any tips for making the pouting husband disappear?

Swatch You Doing?

Ok, so it's not the best picture of either the swatch or Lily... but cute regardless. We had a typical sunny day in Superior on Wednesday. Since Addie was sleeping, Lily and I went out to enjoy it. When we walked outside it was 80 degrees, 15 minutes later it was 60. All it takes is for the wind to switch off the lake and suddenly it's cold!

Anyway, I started a swatch for the Sockapalooza sock. I decided on the Yarni... mostly because it is so incredibly soft I can't help but play with it. I decided that since I was knitting a swatch, it should be a swatch that had future value and I could see myself maybe someday making a blankie like this. Adam did ask me if we were going to get pregnant with a boy sometime in the near future so I could finish said blankie. Nope, no plans.

But I digress, after finishing the swatch I started casting on for the Sock Bug River Rapids sock. So far, so good. I'm loving the pattern and the yarn.

I have an amazing headache and blogger is going to have a scheduled outage so much push publish now.

Sick Kids = No Knitting

Addie is sick today... I didn't realize it until I was driving up an extremely high hill on our way to daycare. All of a sudden she started screaming and wanting me to hold her on my lap. Obviously since we were driving this wasn't possible. Finally I got it out of her that her ear hurt. She told me there was a bug in her ear! I turned the car around and started back down the hill towards home while calling the clinic.

They got her in and sure enough, she has one red ear - no bug in it though! The thought did run through my mind of what she could possibly have stuck in it. The doc also checked little sister's ear and all is good there.

Little sis' has gotten 3 interupted naps, big sis' (Addie) has gotten none. Since I didn't go into work I brought some things home to work on. Right now the girls are upstairs calling for me. Therefore, there will be little knitting for me. It's a shame because I just have to finish up the other toddler sock and I can start swatching my sockapalooza sock... need those needles!

Maybe Little Sis and I can go outside to knit and enjoy the unseasonably warm 80 degree day!

Oh yeah, here's a little bit of yarn porn for you... prettier pictures of the yarn I bought in St. Paul.... any votes on which I use for my sock pal? (Not the green, it's not sock yarn)

Yarnery

I had a great time in the Yarnery on Saturday, I just wish I could have browsed a bit longer. I was in town for an Optimist Club district meeting and just didn't have much time. My pal doesn't have any preferences other than 2 colors she asked me to avoid. I, of course, seem extremely drawn to those colors. However, I fought off the urge and found myself drawn into another direction. I found some wonderful yarn for my Sockapalooza socks.... here are some ideas....

Koigu - not sure of the shade, but it's in beautiful greys and a slight tinge of brown. I don't know why my LYS doesn't carry Koigu, it's amazingly cool. I've heard so many people talking about it I feel like I've completely been in the dark! I am thinking of doing the River Rapids Socks from Sock Bug with this yarn. It looks like the rocks found on the edge of Lake Superior, perhaps that's why I'm drawn to the color and pattern!


Yarni - This is dyed by a woman in St. Paul. She had several skeins available, but I chose the blue that you see above. It is fantastically soft, I cannot wait to knit it up. I just want to play with it! I'm pretty sure that this will be the first pair of socks I make for myself. This yarn is so wonderfully soft I cannot imagine giving it away!

Rowan Soft Baby - I love this yarn. I don't have a project for it and it was a struggle to only buy 2 skeins. I wanted to buy every skein they have but common sense, such that it is, prevailed. It would make an amazing baby cardi, or hat, or a to-die-for baby blanket. I completely fell in love with the color meadow. Focus, must focus on socks. Do not get tied down into a blankie project that will suck up all of your available knitting time.

Decisions, Decisions....

I may have decided on both a pattern and a yarn.... I'm going to wait on it though. I just realized that I will be approximately 2.2 miles from the Yarnery in St. Paul this weekend. I'm hoping I can convince the person I am riding with that a visit is in order... since he only knits hats on a loom for the Optimist Club, this may take some finangling...

Sockapalooza Anyone?

So I joined Sockapalooza 4 (probably best not to tell my husband, he'll think I've totally lost my marbles and try to take the girls away from me.) Actually, it's not so bad. I just have to knit one pair of socks before August 2nd. So... I went searching for the perfect pattern and perfect yarn today.... and came up mostly empty. I do have a couple of ideas though. I'll have to spend some time online looking... it's a rough life I have!

For my secret pal, hmmm... what would I like? Honestly I don't know. Go wild. Come up with awesome knee socks that I can wear with a little skirt. Little socks to wear in the summer. Mid-length lacey things. Who knows? I'm up for anything. I've knitted lots of things, but I don't think I've ever worn one of my knitted items... sad, isn't it? I always knit for others. The one shawl that I have started for myself is in knitting pergatory.