Two Toe Tuesday: Winter on Monday, Summer on Tuesday Edition

For the record, the Seattle area doesn't usually have snow in March, but I took this photo this morning. For the other record, it is Monday, even though the title says Two Toe Tuesday. It happens.

I finished the Red Hot Chili socks (pattern: Empoisonnée by Yarnissima, yarn: Wollmeise Sockenwolle 100% superwash) over the weekend, only a week late for the Sock Knitter's Anonymous January challenge. In my book, that's not so bad, but the second sock was a bit of a slog at the end. Underneath the cuffs are 30-ish rows of twisted rib ribbing, which is a bit of a snooze after the enlarging cables that run up the sides. These socks were a lot of fun to knit, and I can assure you that Wollmeise is worth the hype. O.K., it twisted up on itself a bit and I had to periodically unwind it, but these are not a giant sweater--it's easy to untwist. And I've got about 30 grams left from the 150 gram skein--wouldn't this color look good striped with black yarn? I think that I may have some black yarn . . .

The socks feel like they will be very durable, and the pattern is very well put together. Even though the pattern is charted, the cables & construction are straightforward enough that I didn't feel like I was constantly trying to figure out which row I was on and following the chart line by line.

I'm looking forward to starting another pair of socks by this same designer (maybe La Digitessa), but in the meantime I've got to pack for Arizona--we leave tomorrow morning! I'm not a giant fan of the sun & heat, but it's going to be really nice to get away from this snow. By noon tomorrow, I expect to be at the ballpark in Peoria to see the M's face the Cubs. Griffey vs. Pinella--I've got no complaints.

So Close But Yet So Far

Today is the last day of the Sock Knitter Anonymous (Rav Link) January Sockdown, and although I'm pretty close to finishing the Red Hot Chili Socks, I'm not sure I'm going to make it. I've got about 45 rows left to go on the second sock, and there are some things on my agenda today other than finishing this.

Of course, I sabotaged my chances by:

1. Forgetting that these socks were supposed to be for the Sockdown
2. Forgetting that February is short
3. Starting new socks instead of working on these
4. Starting a new sweater (as yet unblogged about) two days ago, even though by then I remembered #1
5. Not working on these during Madrona
6. Worrying about and blogging about this problem on a pair of socks that don't need to be finished until the end of March.

Happily, even if I don't finish these socks today, I'm not very far off and I'm still in love with the pattern. I am at the plain-ish stretch that goes under the cuff, so I can carry this around with me and work on it. Hmm . . . I'm starting to talk myself into finishing these today . . . but why do I think I'm forgetting something else that I really have to do?

A summary of this socks' stats: The yarn is Wollmeise 100% wool in Red Hot Chili, the pattern is Empoisonee by Yarnissma (who will be teaching at Sock Summit--can't wait to see what her class will be!) from Twist Collective.

Two Toe Tuesday: Black & Bright Orange Edition

Haida Leyburns and Red Hot Chili Empoisonnée socks

I'm not quite sure what it is about the new year that makes me want to join knitalongs. My success in these ventures is horribly mixed--for every Ravelympics success there is another Sock Knitters Anonymous failure. Sometimes, a KAL starts up right when I'm thinking about knitting something that fits the criteria anyway, or it involves materials that I already have onhand, as with the Red Hot Chili socks. Sometimes, you think that it involves what you already have onhand, and then you go out and buy new yarn anyway, as with the Haida Leyburn socks. Either way, it's a good excuse to start something new and join the global knitting community. An excuse I don't really need, obviously, but an excuse nonetheless.

Last week I finished the first of the Red Hot Chili socks (which is why there's another toe in progress), and I'm very pleased with the result:

The toe-up-sock-with-gussets construction is fairly new to me, but I tried to just follow the instructions and believe that it would all work out. That strategy worked out just fine--I was genuinely surprised that I had the right number of stitches before starting the heel turn. I love the twisted stitch ribbing on the gusset & the expanding cables up the leg. At the same time, I really like that there's a lot of plain knitting to show off the yarn and keep the knitting speedy. I knew that the yarn for the Haida Leyburns was on the way, so I tried to get a good start on the second sock.

I'm glad that I did, because the Leyburn pattern is also a lot of fun to knit and it would have been easy to stop thinking about the orange socks once the black sock was on the needles. I'm knitting the Leyburns using the stitch counts in the pattern so far, but I substituted an Easy Toe (from Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks) for the short row toe. It's much easier for me to remember "increase every other row" than "wrap, turn, pick up wraps, double wrap". The toe is fairly wide, in keeping with the designer's preference, and I like it that way--it feels comfortable so far, anyway.

I'm taking both of these to Boston next weekend, and leaving the bigger projects at home this time (though maybe I should sneak in another project, just in case). There should be enough variety in between these two to keep me occupied on the plane. I can knit the red socks if the light is bad (provided I can see the charts), and knit the black socks if it's too bumpy for chart reading.

A Tale of Two Gussets

So the fever that I had a couple of weeks ago went dormant, and then came back as a continuing mild cold. First it was a stuffy nose, then it was a slightly scratchy throat, then it was coughing, and now it's runny eyes & nose accompanied by intermittant sneezing. Tomorrow? I predict more nose running, and chapped lips. I share this not because I want your pity (except for the fever, and yesterday's hacking cough, it hasn't been that bad), but because it's possibly to blame for my gusset knitting blunder on my newest sock pattern. Behold, the gussets:

See the nice right triangle in the top photo? And the bad, broomstick-looking triangle in the bottom photo? I was trying to be so careful about increasing on the top of the foot to maintain the triangle, but I totally missed the error on the right side gusset until I'd finished the whole gusset and was trying to figure out where to start the heel turn. I'd taken a laissez-faire attitude towards top and bottom of the toe and stitch marker placement, and so I had to take a break to read the directions to figure out where to start, when I finally saw the mistake. Urgh. Slightly weird beginning to side cable at the toe? I can live with that. Weirdly assymmetric gussets? No can do. I've ripped back to the good old days, the days when both gussets had right triangles, and I'm going to fix it. I'm hoping I don't end up having to rip back to the beginning of the gusset, but I can live with it if I have to.

Even though I lost a lot of work (which I blame on being very cough-y while knitting), I love these socks. The pattern (Empoisonnée by Yarnissima) is very nicely written, with enough usual detail to keep me moving along, but not so much that it overwhelms the yarn. I love the detail of the cables running up the side of the stockinette foot, and I'm very pleased with the stripes in the yarn. This is the first time I've knit with Wollmeise (this is Red Hot Chili - Medium in the 100% superwash base), and it is really nice to work with. It's a little tricky to pick up the stitches without catching one of the fine strands, but that's the case with any yarn I knit on size 0 needles.

Although I'd love to be further along, I'm not at all sorry that I'm reknitting part of this sock. It's that interesting. I can't wait to find out what happens after I get to the heel--I hope my brain can handle it.

I Got the Chills, They're Multiplyin'

Brrrr . . . it's cold outside today. The downside is that I was hoping to take the dogs for a long walk or go for a run, and the upside is that I don't feel bad about doing neither. Instead, I've been finishing Christmas Cards (just looking for a few missing addresses now), running errands, packaging up the Green Buzzbee, and knitting. I finished the Red Tune Cap, and although it is too small for me (my head is Large, I knit size M as a gift), I want to wear it around the house because I love it. I love the shaping at the top, I love the yarn (Malabrigo, in Ravelry Red from Webs), I love the idea of a secret iPod and headphones pocket. I used about 54 grams of the 100 g skein for the Medium, so there's no way I'll get a Large hat out of the remainder, but I may have some leftover Malabrigo that I could stripe into another hat. This is the first time I've knit a top-down hat, and it makes so much sense to knit hats this way because you can try it on as you go. That didn't help me a lot, since the hat is for a smaller-headed person, but I did try it on a few times anyway. The pattern, as I mentioned in my first post about this hat, is available here.

In other knitting news, the Red Hot Chili socks are a lot slower work, but they are starting to look awesome:

I love the way the Wollmeise is striping, even though I know that it won't last once I start increasing for the gussets. I'm knitting these on size 0 needles, and the fabric is nice and firm (but not too stiff to knit).

What I really should do, on this cold winter day, is finish the last several inches of the Hulk Smash socks, and put them on my freezing cold toes--but it's more likely that I'll take a nap right now, and use dachshunds to warm up my feet!

Out With the Old, in With the New

Presenting on the left: the last finished item of 2008, the Green Buzzbee hat. I knit this hat in a few days, and I'm very pleased with the way it turned out. I used Cascade 220 superwash in a heathery evergreen, and the color has a ton of depth. In addition to the evergreen, there's yellow, and copper, and more--as I learned while cutting off the tip of the hat and reknitting it because I didn't like the way the point looked. The end knot made it look asymmetrical, and weaving in the end (which is why I had to cut off the top) made it look worse. On the second attempt, I turned the hat inside out before pulling the yarn through the last three stitches, and the result looks much better. The hat didn't look as awesome as I'd hoped on my Godzilla nightlight, but I might try it again now that it's been washed and blocked--although I'd like to get it in the mail tomorrow, if it's dry.

Presenting on the right: the first new project of 2009. The pattern is Empoisonnee from the Twist Collective, and at long last I'm using the Wollmeise sock yarn that I've had for several months. So far, so good, but it is early days. It's not bad luck to abandon the first new project of the year is it? Hmmm. . . maybe I should check to see if I've done that before.

Happy New Year everyone! I don't know about you, but I was pretty sick of 2008. I've been mulling over some "best of" lists from 2008 to post, and maybe I'll get around to them, but probably not. I've been really behind on everything for the last several months, so there hasn't been a lot of time for reflection. Maybe my goal for 2009 should be to let stuff go . . .