Hello, Darkness My Old Friend

A spooky sweater update on a spooky Halloween . . .

I've been very slowly working on the Black Diamond cardigan that I last posted about in April, and I've reached a major milestone--I started the sleeves! This cardigan (pattern link here) is knit bottom up in one piece to the armholes, then you knit the sleeves, and then join it all together. I'm knitting the sleeves two at a time because otherwise there's zero chance I will match up the increases. It feels like these are zipping along, because it's all stockinette for the time being--no pattern to worry about, and waaaaaaaay fewer stitches than the body has.

While I love knitting with this yarn (DIC Classy, Rav link) I am a little nervous about the color variation between skeins. I've been trying to mitigate this by alternating skeins, and I even switched one of the skeins at the halfway point so that I wouldn't end up switching both at once. I'm not sure how successful this has been--it appears that the first half skein was pretty dark, and I can tell where it changed. Fingers crossed it will be o.k. in the end, and my fingers are also crossed that the two skeins I'm using for the sleeves are not going to result in wildly different colored arms--one is a little bluer right now, but it's still early days. I didn't think I could manage four yarn ends at once, so I'm also hoping that one sleeve does not take more than one skein. Worry, worry, worry--is that what I'm really getting out of this sweater? I hope not!

I Think You'll Be There When I Fall

I sound like a broken record, but I really haven't been knitting that much in the past couple of weeks. I'm super busy at work right now, but I've also spent some time meeting up with friends in non-knitting settings, and even when I've been at home in the evenings it's been hard to concentrate. But, nine days after confirming that the thumb was too short, I have added seven or eight rows to the thumb and Appliance Mitten #1 is finished! And it seriously looks better propped up against a Ghost Pumpkin than it does with my too-big hand jammed into it.

Before I move on to mitten #2, or go back to the Metropolis kit, I may start a third pair--I recently picked up 11 (yes ELEVEN) balls of the yarn used in this kit, to make more mittens. More mittens! Many more! Each pair of mittens takes about 100g of yarn, so this is enough for about five pair of mittens, and it's cost effective as long as I make at least three pair. This will also give me a chance to sub out the teal that I dislike so much in the Metropolis mittens.

Maybe it's time to clear the social (and work) schedule so I can actually get cracking on all these mittens!
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"I Think You'll Be There When I Fall": Sam Phillips, When I Fall. I haven't seen the Golden Compass, I have no idea what this song has to do with the movie, but it's a great song. Fall = Autumn, even out of context, right?

Hello City

While waiting for confirmation that the thumb was too short on my first Chevron mitten (it was, and is just about reknit), I started the version using the Metropolis Mittens. Here's the good news--I went up a needle size, and the mitten is closer to the recommended gauge and therefore should fit me!

That is the end of the good news.

Now for the bad news--I hate what I've knit so far. I picked this kit because I love this pair (Rav Link), but I really don't like the color order I used. You can see on the right that in black & white, the value changes are weird looking. Very little contrast between the two braid colors, almost none between the blue and grey, and then giant changes. I really think that the photo from the last post of the skeins lined up against one another looked better, and if knitting the yarn doesn't make it look better somehow, then what's the point? Maybe should consider that order?

Also, aside from the value problem, I really don't like the olive next to the blue. I had intended to have olive first & the heathery brown second, but I screwed up the knit row after the braid. And teal is one of my least favorite colors ever--this particular shade of teal especially. I put up with it as an "accent" for the Mariners, but I'm not sure I can tolerate it in handwear, even though I knew that it was one of the kit colors.

So I'm going to rethink the order, and possibly go from 8 colors to seven, if I can that it won't leave me a little short on the other colors (I think it will be fine). Maybe it's a sign to finish the Appliance Mittens?

The Autumn Winds Blow Chilly & Cold

The colors I'm using for this Chevron Love mitten are from a kit called "Vintage Appliance", but really the colors seem perfectly appropriate for fall. The kit & pattern are from Knitterly Things, and the mitten has knit up pretty quickly. There are, however, a few problems:

• The pattern gauge is about 7 st to the inch on a size US3 /3.25mm needle, which is perfectly reasonable. Since I'm a loose knitter, I went down a couple of needle sizes to a 2.75mm needle, and didn't measure my gauge until I was past the thumb gusset. I'm getting about 8-8.5 stitches instead of 7. I knew that it was running a little small on my large hands, but didn't realize that it was all gauge and not just sizing.
• I opted not to run the colors up the inside of the mitten, because I'd rather weave in a bunch of ends than deal with 8 balls of yarn at once. This is one of the reasons I didn't realize the mitten was so small earlier--all those ends make it a pain to try on! They weren't so bad to weave in, though. Once I got past the cuff, I started weaving them in periodically so I didn't have to do all 60-ish at once. And now that I've counted how many ends there were, I think that I may have been insane to cut the ends.
  
• I love, love, love the colors, and there's no chance that this pair will fit me or that I'll rip it out.
• I think that the thumb is a little stumpy, even if these are going to a small handed person. Since my hands are too long for the mittens, it's fruitless to judge this by myself. Before I start the 2nd mitten, I need to have someone try these on and tell me if I need to add length to the thumb. The fact that I'm even imagining this means that I'll probably have to cut the orange tip (I wove in the ends), and I'm afraid that it could get ugly.
  

While I'm disappointed not to be able to jump into mitten #2, and that this pair won't be for me, I do have this for consolation:

Chevron Love Mitten Kit #2: Metropolis! Time to dig out some larger needles!

Only 5 1/2 Months Until Spring Training

Last Sunday was closing day for the Mariner's 2009 season, and although the M's ended up in third place in the West (12 games behind the Angels, two games behind the Rangers) it was a great season to watch. The return of Griffey, the return of a winning season, Ichiro's 9th consecutive 200 hit season--these were all important achievements. But the best part was consistently watching a team that had a chance to win (even if they didn't overwhelmingly win), and that seemed to have fun on & off the field. We saw this change during Spring Training, even though several of the best players were representing their countries in the World Baseball Classic. Let's hope that Griffey comes back, and that the record improves almost as much next year (it would be greedy, let alone impossible, to expect another 40 wins, wouldn't it). And that I eventually finish all five pair of socks I hauled to baseball games this year:

Cabana Boy: Finished July 13, 2009
Strawberry Van Dyke: Finished July 27, 2009
Yarrow: in progress (1st sock done, 2nd almost at heel)
Yellow Mystery: in progress (1st sock close to toe)
Spey Valley: in progress (1st sock midway through foot)

And yes, I am already thinking about Spring Training 2010!

Disposable Dixie Cup Drinking

Yes, sometimes it seems like I do go to a lot of Wilco shows in remote locations. What can I say? They're a great band, and they've skipped Seattle for the last couple of summers so I've had to go to them. This time, the show was at the Roy Wilkins Theater in St. Paul, MN. I sat dead center in the 2nd row of the balcony instead of going for the General Admission option, and it was probably a good choice 'cause I've picked up a mild cold and was already feeling it a bit. Or maybe I was feeling the extra strong blueberry vodka lemonade that I had with dinner--who can say? In any case, I was glad for the seat, and the music, and the chance to get away for a weekend. I knit quite a bit of the Spey Valley sock, shown here after arriving in St. Paul--I was on the heel flap when I left Seattle.

Now if I could only shake this cold, I'd be in good shape--I'm expecting a few busy weeks ahead, there's no time to slow down now.

This Will Go Perfectly With My Pointy Nose & Shoes

Ends woven in, washed & dried (gently, via machine), and Wicked is finally finished. Add one pointy hat, a long black skirt, and maybe a black-and-green striped long sleeve shirt underneath, and I'll be all set for Halloween! Or perhaps I'll just wear it to work one of these days.

This is a pretty basic sweater, and it fits well enough, but most of all I'm glad that it's really done. So glad that I'm not even willing to wait for a sunny day to photograph it. It's really nice to cross a long-standing WIP off the list, instead of getting 95% done and then putting it away.

A Sea Black With Ink

My blogging has been pretty slack over the last month, partly because I've been really busy, and partly because most of the projects I've been working on don't lend themselves to blogging all that well. I'm not totally uncreative, but it's beyond my powers of imagination to make "here's another inch of ribbed sock" sound interesting. Today's post is about a black mostly stockinette sweater, but I haven't posted a photo of this project since APRIL 2007, when I was only halfway through the body.

The pattern is Wicked from Zephyr Style, and I'm using Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece (Rav Link), in black. I like this pattern because it's simple and easily customizable, and since it's top down it was easy to make sure that the length was fine--no running out of steam and then finding that the sweater is too short! I am making this without a front pocket. The photo makes it clear that this sweater is going to attract hair and lint, but considering how long I've been hauling this around, it really doesn't look that bad. I can see a couple of rows with iffy tension close to the neck, but that should block out (fingers crossed).

Part of the reason that I picked this up again with some dedication earlier this month is that after a couple of years of knitting it a few rows at a time, I realized that I only needed an inch or two before the bottom ribbing and then a couple of 3/4 length sleeves. Another reason for finally trying to finish this is that there is a pattern in the newest Elsabeth Lavold book (Aslaug) that I've been waiting for since last winter, when I saw the sample up close. Guess what? It's a lot of stockinette, and I'm likely to knit it in black or grey, so I really need to finish Wicked before I get started on Aslaug. Or at least that's what I keep telling myself--fortunately, the book hadn't yet arrived at Renaissance Yarns the last time I stopped in, so that's helping me keep on Wicked.

I have a couple of other new projects on the needles, one which must remain secret for the time being and another one that is really looking great so far and is a nice alternative to the plain black sleeve that I'm working through right now. I'll try to be a little more lively in October!

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"A Sea Black With Ink", Wilco, Sunken Treasure

Synchronizing Every Single Move

It happened almost without a thought--I'm now working on three different pair of socks designed by Nancy Bush, and I've barely talked about them here at all. Two of the socks are from different books and the other is a standalone pattern, but they've got some similar elements between them that make it easy to switch off between them. They're all really beautiful in their simplicity, too--even the lacy yellow socks have an easy to memorize pattern.

From left to right:

Yellow Mystery: These are the September Sock Knitters Anonymous (Rav Link) mystery pattern, designed by Nancy Bush. I started a number of their knitalongs last year (the SKA year begins in Sept), and I'm not sure if I finished a single pair on time. That's no deterrant, however, especially when the guest designer is someone I'm such a big fan of! I'm a little bit behind, but not as far behind as I was at this time last week, and I'm enjoying the pattern. The front of the leg has a lace panel, and the back has ribbing at the top and stockinette at the bottom. Plus, there's a Vikkel braid (tutorial here), and an eye of partridge heel flap, and still the patterns are all simple enough that I haven't been glued to the chart. I'm knitting this in Shibui Sock from the Loopy Ewe, colorway Finch. One of the requirements of the KAL is that the yarn is yellow. I don't think that there's any question that this sock fulfills that requirement.

Yarrow: I'm making good progress on Sock #2 of the Yarrow socks that I started back before Sock Summit. These are man-sized socks, and the first sock is totally done but not photographed. The yarn is Soft Touch Heather Shelridge Farm in Fury, the pattern is from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks. I don't really have much more to say--I'm just keeping on with these, working on them when I can, and still liking them a lot.

Spey Valley Socks: I just started these last week, when I had some delusion that I was getting too close to the Yarrow heel to take that pair to two Mariners games. I'm not sure what I was thinking, but these are for a friend for Christmas so I figured I might as well get started on them now. The yarn is Soft Touch Heather in Loganberry, and I like it just as much as the green Fury yarn. The pattern is Spey Valley from Knitting on the Road. It's a pretty plain ribbed sock, with a simple knit-purl pattern at the top and a Vikkel Braid above and below the pattern. The heathered color of the yarn makes it hard to see that the knit-purls make diamonds, but enough of the texture comes through to show that the cuff is a little fancy. If you look carefully, you can see the braid in the photo below--it's the row I was knitting before taking the photo:

I was pretty happy that I could knit the braid at a baseball game after almost a whole beer--I attribute this triumph to having knit the braid on the yellow sock only a week or two earlier.
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"Synchronizing Every Single Move": The Minus Five, Retrieval of You. Least creepy stalker / kidnap planning song ever. Disclaimer: I am not planning to stalk or kidnap Nancy Bush or anyone else. I'm just knitting some socks, that's all.

Thinking About Knitting (doesn't actually get you very far)

It's the busiest time of the year at work, and the last couple of weeks have involved longer than normal hours and higher than normal stress levels. I've been knitting very little, and the knitting I've done has been very basic--work on a black stockinette sweater, or on the Yarrow socks, or a row or two on Damson. I'm itching for something more interesting, but other than starting the Nancy Bush mystery sock (which I'll talk about another day), I've been holding off on anything else in an effort to keep my brain from exploding. Back when it felt more like autumn than it does today, I ordered the yarn above, and I'm itching to get started with it. It the "Vintage Appliance" colorway of the Vesper Chevron Love mitten kit. Now I just need to work up to starting it--maybe once I start getting home before 8pm again?

Bumbershoot 2009: And on Monday, Even More Rain

Here's how yesterday went:

1. Weather cloudy, but not raining, so Frieda and I leave for Bumbershoot
2. Halfway to Seattle, it starts pouring
3. Then it stops pouring
4. Then it starts again
5. Then it lightens up & we head inside
   
6. Frieda is fired up--popcorn is everywhere!
7. Arrive at the Starbucks stage just in time to see the Minus 5
8. Rain starts again
9. Frieda is most popular dog around
   
10. Show starts a few minutes late
11. Frieda is drenched, but wrapped in towel and fine
12. 10 minutes later, she's more wet, and shivering
13. We bail 1/2 way through the Minus 5's set (which was really good, by the way)
    
14. We leave Seattle Center less than an hour after arriving
15. Parking still costs $15
16. We stop at Macrina Bakery
17. I hear someone say "smells like wet dog in here". I suspect she's talking about me.
18. I drop my iPhone. It seems to be working still.
19. Except for the screen, which now shows only a few lines
20. Which means I can't turn it off, access data, or read the two text messages that arrived after I got home.

Bumbershoot 2009: Before it Started Raining

clockwise from top left: Message pulled by an old timey plane, Mayer Hawthorne & the County, Space Needle, Old 97's

It's been a wet weekend here in the Seattle area, and I mean torrential rain & thunder & lightening--fall is officially here. I made it to Bumbershoot on Saturday, when it was relatively dry, but it was much too wet yesterday and it's not clear yet today whether I'll get out of the house--I've got to get some work done and get psyched up for the crowds before I make a final decision.

So the photo pool from Saturday is a little light. I got to the Center around 3, saw three or four bands before meeting up with friends for a beer & then the Old 97s (in the top left photo). The Old '97s were the highlight of the day, as they were last year. Possibly because Rhett Miller wore the same shirt? I'm not going to say it wasn't a factor.

Mini Mitten Monday: Put to Work by a Four Year Old

I babysat a 4 year old last Saturday. Just playing with her wasn't enough--she really wanted new mittens for her doll E___, which is on loan from her mother. E___ has one mitten, shown on the right above, but it's probably more than 30 years old and has a hole on the other side. Plus, there's only one, so in 4-year-old perspective, it's really no good. I think that the lack of a second mitten is actually worse to her than the giant hole!

So as we watched Snoopy Come Home, I took a close look at the original mitten, and set out to make a replica. The original mitten appears to have been knitted flat, and then seamed. I think that the thumb may have just been stuck on at the end, but I'm not totally sure. It's been awhile since I took a crack at a mini mitten, and this mitten needed to be a bit larger than the ornament mittens I've made. I just used the original as a guide and took a crack at it, and I think it looks pretty close to the original (but knit in the round). The thumb is essentially a 5-stitch icord, which was also pretty easy. One mitten down, one more to go!

Can You Hear Her Blacks Crackle and Drag

I've made some good progress on Damson since last Thursday, and was hoping to be able to show off the sparkles in the Starry, as well as the way the shawl is taking shape. When I tried to spread it out, though, it looks a little crazy--either the top looks weirdly rectangular (I'm NOT knitting a sailor collar!), or the fabric buckles and curls. Architectural, yes--but not exactly saying much about how this will eventually look! And the sparkles are only visible if you really squint at them--I think I need a special effects camera, that will turn them into disco stars or something.

So I refer you to the original, as well as some really pretty versions here (Rav Link) and here and here (Rav Link). In looking these up, I notice that this is now the most popular new pattern on Ravelry. No surprise--easy instructions, uses just one skein of sock yarn (who doesn't have some of that?), and is a really cute twist on a standard triangle shawl.



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"Can You Hear Her Blacks Crackle and Drag": Paul Westerburg, Crackle and Drag.

Stitch N Pitch Recap

So I have only a few complaints about Stitch N Pitch at Safeco Field tonight:

1. I was way too exhausted from a very long week to really look at all of the booths.
2. I was starving when I got to the park, and ate a cheeseburger that was much too much food for me, so then I felt even more like taking a nap.
   
3. The Mariners lost 8-4

Mom & E__ and I sat in what I am calling "baseball seats" rather than "knitting seats" because I find it really hard to watch the game from the top of the third deck in left field. Had I known that there wasn't much of a game to watch (except for the KC fans out there), I might have revisited this decision. I think that the Mariners should really consider expanding the Stitch n Pitch section to include some closer in seats as well as the very top deck. Look at the photo above, taken in the first or maybe second inning. See all of those open seats out there? Except for the SnP seats, which were very full, there were wide open stretches of seats all over the stands. Mix the knitters in, people! No need to keep them separate, in the oxygen tank seats!

I ran into a bunch of folks that I don't see often (though I saw most of them at Sock Summit), and I finally gave away the Cables Baby sweater! For once, I was prepared, and I think that the baby will be able to wear the sweater in the right season!

As I mentioned above, I didn't really have the energy to jump into the crowds and do much shopping. I only picked up a really, really cute pattern for a Tofu the Gentle Dachshund (Rav Link, available in Rebecca Danger's Etsy shop). I think it would be nice to make some Friedas and Gretels, provided that the real Frieda and Gretel keep their stinky paws off my knitting.

I worked a bit on the Yarrow socks, but I'm getting close to starting the toe and wasn't prepared to go in the direction yet, so I brought along a new project. It's Damson (Rav Link), by Ysolda Teague, and I'm knitting it in Dream in Color Starry, in Black Pearl. It's a little hard to see the sparkles against the beer-and-ballfield, but they are there. I think that this is going to be another very popular Ysolda pattern--it's only been out for a few weeks, and there are 166 underway. I saw a very pretty green version at Stitch n Pitch, and it made me wish that I was using a color with more variation. Which I suppose I could, but I think that black with sparkles will be great for all of those formalwear occasions I attend (in my imagination).

Ack! It's really to late to be up blogging, I've got one more long day ahead of me (and another baseball game tomorrow night--go M's!) before a relaxing weekend of more work, more summer fun, and hopefully a little more sleep.

Sock Summit Recap: Sunday

The only photo I took at Sock Summit on Sunday was the blurry photo of the Luminary Panel above, but it was actually a pretty jam-packed day, featuring the following:

The Perfect Rib with Cookie A: Cookie A talked about how to make sure that a complicated sock leg pattern flows right into the ribbing. This is something that I admire about her patterns--it's so easy to just slap a 1 x 1 or 2 x 2 rib at the top of a sock and call it done, but the extra effort she takes with the ribbing really adds a little something extra to her designs. This was a one-hour wonder, so it was pretty quick, but she showed us a lot of examples and explained the basics in a way that will be totally usable.

Turkish Stitches with Anna Zilboorg: I could listen to Anna Zilboorg talk about knitting all day long. I didn't have all day long (this was another one-hour class), so it's likely I'll have to follow up by reading her book Knitting for Anarchists. The way she talked about the Turkish patterns made me want to swatch up a bunch of them, in order to really understand the ideas. Maybe someday I'll get my hands on her Turkish sock book Fancy Feet, too (maybe it will be reissued, like Magnificent Mittens, which I have pre-ordered).

The Luminary Panel: The Luminary Panel was pretty interesting, but I was a little bit relieved that E____ had a flight to catch and we had to leave early, even though it meant missing the cake. I felt that it could have benefitted from shorter responses from panelists, although that group struck me as pretty tough to wrangle. I heard a lot of stuff that I found totally uninteresting (how tough it is to be a woman--snoozeville) & a little uncomfortable (why so many white people here?), but I also heard some awesome stuff (Nancy Bush examing kilt hose at Scottish Country Dances). Maybe it was my expectations that were the problem, and I should have expected the panel to go off on tangents, but also I was pretty wiped out by then with a really long drive back ahead of me. I'm not sorry I went to the panel, I just wasn't sorry at all to leave early.

One great thing about the Luminary Panel (and the Sunday classes, now that I think about it), is that I had a lot of time to work on a pair of socks that I started just before Sock Summit so that I'd have something simple to knit. That's the sock, in the photos above (all taken AFTER Sock Summit). I was just done with the top ribbing when we arrived in Portland, and I was close to the heel when I got home. It's the Yarrow Ribbed Sock (Rav Link) from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks. The yarn is Soft Touch Heather Shelridge Farm in Fury. I've adjusted the pattern to be man-sized (no, brother K_____, they aren't for you) and am using a French heel instead of a German heel. They are going to be a great pair of socks, and they are perfect for baseball knitting. As an aside, I wish that I had known that Shelridge Farm would be at Sock Summit, because in the months leading up to Sock Summit, I ordered a LOT of yarn from them (maybe 14 skeins), and I could have avoided the shipping costs. I love this yarn, it's the perfect solid sock yarn and comes in a lot of regular and heathered colors. The socks feel really sturdy, and the yarn is very "wooly". It took a ton of willpower not to go into their Sock Summit booth, and now I'm a little sorry I didn't.

Also in the photo is one of the drawstring bags that I made for Liberty's booth, of which I sold alarmingly few. I don't think I sold a single button-top bag, either. It was a little disappointing, but not a big deal or totally unexpected--after all, I have no brand, and there were a million other bags available all over the place. Now I've got a bunch of Christmas presents (or Christmas bazaar items) already done, so that's not so bad.

So, I think that this wraps it up for my Sock Summit reporting. I really had a great time, and it's made me want to go to Meg Swansen's Knitting Camp, and generally to get more knitting done. As in DONE, not started--I spent most of my knitting time this weekend working on three projects that I haven't though about much at all this summer. They're not much further along, but it feels good to know that I'm working on them again!

We Interrupt the Sock Summit posts . . .

. . . to say that even from the last row of the balcony (this photo is at max zoom), view partially obscured by tall person in front of me, Demetri Martin's show at the Moore Theater was really, really fun. And funny.

Sock Summit Recap: Saturday

Why, yes, it is taking me an alarmingly long time to finish posting about Sock Summit. And yes, the longer I wait, the tougher it is to comment intellegently. So, Saturday . . . what happened Saturday?? I took a full day class with Anne Hanson on Sock Design, and I do have a few photos to prove it. See above--I cast on the toe in the morning, and towards the end of day I had several inches foot! Anne's designs are so beautiful and complex, and (like Marjan Hammink) it's hard to believe that she's only been publishing patterns for a few years. I really wish that I'd sucked it up an finished my Bee Fields shawl to wear to class (and not just because the classroom was chilly in the morning).

This is the class that I was swatching patterns for, and even though I didn't really have as many as I'd liked, I did settle on a design that is starting to take shape. I'm knitting the top of the foot in twisted rib, with a lacy bud pattern from a Japanenese stitch dictionary moving across the top of the foot. During class, we talked about different ways handle designs, what types of patterns look good in which types of yarns, and a bunch of other useful stuff that I didn't write down but that I hope I will remember on an as-needed basis.

I sort of like the way my sock is turning out, but I think that the way the pattern runs into the ribs as it moves across the foot looks a little sloppy. Maybe if I'd framed the bud pattern with a couple of plain knit stitches it would look neater? I think that I need to work a little more of it before I veer from the plan. I went back to the hotel after class and worked on it a little longer, but haven't worked on it since, in favor of mindless knitting that I'll talk about in the Sunday wrap-up. Here's the sock toe as it stands now:

I can't help but think that I'd like the sock more if I LOVED the yarn, which I don't. The yarn is o.k., but I picked it more for stitch visibility and because there were 3 skeins available than because it's a color that inspires me. That's definitely something that I heard from both Anne and Marjan--the yarn and the pattern are really closely entwined for their designs. They have worked collaboratively with dyers to come up with a yarn that suits the design (or even more the inspiration for the design). This medium brown doesn't really say "Lacy Bud" to me, but it's not a bad yarn to work out some kinks with!

On Saturday evening, I went to the Ravelry Meetup for awhile, and met a few new folks who I recognized from online. The main event, though was drinks at the Kennedy School with my college friend B______ and E______, and then sweet, sweet, slumber. I remember when B____ and I used to be able to tear it up--rock shows 'til 2am, then out and about until later. I'm convinced I could still do that, if it wasn't for work and dachshunds interfering . . . .

Sock Summit Recap: Friday

I am sorry to say that I don't have any photos from my Friday class, "Respectfully Ignoring the Rules" with Marjan Hammink. It was tough getting up and out the door on Friday morning after all of the excitement of Thursday (probably combined with leftover fatigue from the heat / lack of sleep the week before the summit). It took a lot of energy to focus on the class, and there was none leftover for photography! I did really enjoy the class. I'm amazed at Marjan's designs, and learning more about her design process was also amazing. It's hard for me to believe that it's been only a few years since she started her business, and it was also inspiring to see her sample socks in person. I've knit her Empoisonnée socks and have her Kiila socks in progress, and I've got a several others in kits or in my queue. And now there will be more, and I want to start them all immediately (if I wasn't still so tired from Sock Summit, and from catching up at work & home).

The rest of Friday is (like much of the weekend) a blur. Right after class came the World Record attempt, and as circular knitting wasn't allowed, I started knitting this:

A simple coaster, using the same pattern as I used here, but with larger needles. I finished it during class on Saturday, and used it immediately even though the ends aren't woven in yet. I think that it's a nice reminder of the Summit, something small but useful.

After lunch on Friday was the author book signing, and the lines were super long. One of my goals during this sock summit was to not waste a lot of time standing in line, and this plan worked out well for me here. I waited until the very end of the signing, and had the four books above signed in less than 15 minutes. However, there was a downside--there were a few of books that I wasn't able to get signed, one because the author had already left, and another one or two because I'd left the book in my room and didn't have time to run back for it. That's the risk I ran, though, and I'd still do it again!

The top photo is ALL of the yarn I bought during the summit, not just the yarn I bought on Friday. I more or less kept to my budget, and ended up with some fabulous yarns from a variety of vendors, and I don't feel overwhelmed by the volume, so I'm pretty happy. For full details on the yarns above, check this link (my Ravelry stash, filtered for the socksummit tag). I was also able to meet the "no excessive line standing" while purchasing--since I spent a lot of time in the marketplace, I just went back later to places that had lines. I spent more on non-yarn purchases than I'd planned--a pair of clogs (tax-free!), and two sets of Signature double points. Yes, two sets.

On Friday evening, E___ and I met up with my college friend B_____ & her daughter for delicious Mexican food and even more delicious gelato. Exhaustion, complete!

Sock Summit Recap: Thursday

I'm back from Sock Summit, and I'm super tired. Seriously--I got at least 7 hours of sleep last night, had a relatively easy day at work, but had to nap through the first five innings of the Mariner's game (at home, not at the park). I had a really, really great time, and I'm certain not to do it justice, but I'll try to post the day-by-day recap over the next several days, even though Thursday is already really fuzzy to me.

First up, in the upper left are Meg Swanson and Amy Detjen, who taught my Elizabeth Zimmerman Moccasin Sock class. This was a class I manage to snag during the lottery, and although I'm not sure I see a lot of these socks in my future, this class was terrific. The amount of knowledge that Meg and Amy shared that was not even remotely related to the moccasins as we all knit away was well worth the price of admission. I'm not much of a sweater knitter (or finisher), I'm not a really flexible or reactive knitter, but I've got a strong urge to go to Knitting Camp.

I had a little trouble with my actual sock, in that I didn't bring extra knitpicks cables and when it would have been easiest to switch to a longer cable, the screw end of that cable was faulty. Although maybe I didn't try hard enough, because I think that I had used that cable with those tips before. It was a struggle to knit with the shorter cable, so after class was over I didn't make any more progress over the weekend. Anyway, now that I'm home, I can use another cable and hopefully pick up where I left off, and pretend I'm just hanging around with Meg and Amy while I knit. One of the wholly unrelated to class things that I learned was that Schoolhouse Press is reissuing (in English) the twisted stitch books in a single volume, and that they will be out SOON. I've ordered my copy--I'm so excited to find out how I've been screwing these patterns up by not knowing English!!!! I'm serious!!!

My friend E____ came out from Boston for Sock Summit, which made it extra fun. We were roommates for y-e-a-r-s when I lived there, and I taught her to knit by making her teach herself from Vogue Knitting's big reference book. I did agree to answer questions after she'd studied it, but I felt that forcing her to fend for herself proved that she was serious about learning (and she was). On Thursday, she took Knitting Vintage Socks with Nancy Bush, and said it was great--she made a really beautiful gusset (no hole!) on her in-class sock.

E___ and I didn't get tickets to the Opening Ceremonies, but I did check out the silent auction on my way back to the hotel, and one of my Barn Raising Squares is right there on the edge of the auctioned blanket! What a thrill--it's the purple/yellow/brown square! I think that there was a lottery for another blanket or two, but somehow I missed it completely, so I'm not sure what happened to the green square I made. You can ask E_____, or L_____, or E_____, or T_____--I was a (more than a) little bit insane during various parts of the weekend, so it's not surprising that I'd miss it. It started when we arrived at the hotel and saw Anne Hanson and Cookie A sitting outside on a bench, and just rolled forward from there.

The last photo (assuming you're reading clockwise from upper left) was taken at Voodoo Donuts in an after-dinner donut run. I selected the orange donut. It was covered in Tang, which made it, well, tang-y. It was delicious, and hilarious, and the perfect thing to eat at the end of a really, really long day.