knitabit

Ah, the simple pleasures in life

As we were heading out the door yesterday morning, I ran to the sock yarn stash and grabbed some Brown Sheep 'Wildfoote' and a pair of size 1 circulars. During the 50+ minute ride to my parents, I got the sock cast on and six out of the seven 1x1 rib rows done. Then on and off throughout the day I worked on the leg of the sock, and made some pretty fair progress:

It feels soooo good to knit a simple sock without all the frustrations I had over the weekend.

I mention in the sidebar that I am knitting a 'basic sock (my own pattern)'. Ahem - perhaps a little disclaimer is in order. I don't really use a pattern anymore, but my method has been shamelessly borrowed from Michelle, who I thanked profusely in a comment in her blog the other day. I think on this sock (as I have with all the previous socks I've made) I'll stick with the heel flap rather than doing the shortrow heel that she recommends. I tend to wear my socks with shoes, not with clogs, and I think that extra reinforcement on the back of the heel will pay off down the road.

I have to say, I'm very pleased with how my hand-knit socks are holding up in the wash so far. I've got three pair that go through the laundry at least once a week, and I don't see any signs of wear yet. I started wearing them in late September, I think.

The Wildfoote is the same 75% wool/25% nylon that most sock yarns are made of, yet the label recommends handwashing. That makes me a little grumpy, but I'll be too chicken to go against the label recommendations. Likewise, the Koigu socks have to be handwashed as well (and I don't doubt the recommendation on that label - Koigu is 100% wool - it would probably felt.)

Today is housecleaning day! As soon as I'm done here, me and the kids will make a big list of everything we can get done in one hour. It's pretty amazing how much you can get done with five people working steadily for one hour. Now it might not be to my standards, and there will be some token whining, but all-in-all, it works pretty well. I love my kids!

Happy Thanksgiving! ...and a movie review

The pies are out of the oven; the rolls are out of the oven; a loaf of bread is in the bread machine with 50 minutes left. So that's enough time to do a quick blog entry and then shower and get ready.

Night before last, I finished the second of the three chenille scarves. This is easy and mindless yet inexplicably entertaining knitting. I will take care of the ends after all three are done.

I think the scarf has more green and less blue than shown in this photo.

The third scarf is already on the needles, but I can't take it with me to Thanksgiving dinner today because the two of the three intended recipients will be there. I might grab some socks instead. This week, I'll get back to Lochinver and hope to have it done within the next 10 days or so.

Last night, we had a family "date" to see a movie and go to dinner. After much debate, we decided to see "Elf." I was dragging my feet because it had gotten such poor reviews. Well, it was really cute and fun! Yes, it was predictable and corny. Watching some really excellent special effects of Santa's reindeer struggling to get that sleigh off the ground really got to me. I was believing in flying reindeer there for a minute. It wasn't a great cinematic experience, I suppose, but the whole family (even the 13-year-old) was entertained. (Watch for references to the "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" TV show, as well as a pretty funny Sasquatch moment.) On the way out, my ever-skeptical 7-year-old wanted to know, "Was that fiction or for real?" I have two kids that aren't quite ready to give up on Santa yet.

Back to basics

After the sock conflagration over the weekend, I decided to get out something that I definitely couldn't screw up: another chenille scarf. This is Colinette "Isis" again, on 10 1/2 needles (yes, they're aluminum - they're the only kind I have in this size, and they're probably about 20 years old so back off!)

My knitting was interrupted by the need to compile our family's Christmas wish lists, to be distributed by email to my mom and my siblings. We write up lists as a courtesy to one another, to prevent added holiday stress. Amongst my siblings, we exchange "family" gifts (i.e., a gift the whole family can enjoy) and then we buy cheapie gifts ($5-10) for each of the kids. It's coming up with suggestions for those cheapie gifts that's hard. What can you buy a 13-year-old for $5? It's not that these kids are ungrateful, it's just hard to think of ideas. So anyway, I sat at the computer for an ungodly amount of time last night, just pondering.

A weekend of knitting frustration

This should have been the perfect weekend for knitting - snowy weather, near-zero temperatures, sick kids requiring my presence at home, football on TV - alas, the knitting yielded only frustration.

As I indicated in my previous post, the Sockotta really deserves a smaller set of needles so the sock I started will be ripped out and I'll have to get to a yarn store to get the right size needles. So I pulled out one of the 'Socka Colori' yarns to make another pair of "crazy socks".

This time, I wanted to try adding a 4x1 rib to the entire body of the sock to make it fit better, but I was concerned about what that would do to the fair-isle patterning that's built into the yarn. You have to have precise gauge to get the fair-isle pattern - so I loosened up the tension on the fair-isle rows, and then they looked very odd next to the stripes knit up with tighter tension. And the rib does wreck the fair-isle patterning. Anyway, I was knitting the yarn on needles that were perhaps too small. Another frustration - I don't remember what size needles I used on the previous pair of socks I made using this yarn. That was in my pre-blogging days - now I'm more meticulous about making a record of that kind of thing.

I also wanted to try a short-row heel instead of a heel flap. That part went OK, so at least I learned something new. But I think I'm going to rip out the sock and start over - on size 2 needles, and without the rib.

So an entire weekend spent knitting - and nothing to show for it. Still, frustrating knitting is better than no knitting, am I right?

The good news: only one of the kids has the actual "flu" - as in "influenza" - two have just colds, and the fourth is not sick at all (knock on wood.) The flu kid is still home today but the worst is behind him.

Course change

The Sockotta yarn would do better, I think, on size 0 needles - and I don't have circulars in that size. It's snowy and I've got a couple of sick kids, so I won't be able to make the trip to Boulder this weekend.

So...I will pull out one of the other sock yarns from the stash. Dang, that Sockotta is too cute.

Sock it to me

It's been such a crazy, stressful week that sock knitting has been all I could manage, knitting-wise.

On the left you see the grey Regia socks; I did run out of yarn (as my postal scale so accurately predicted) with a bit of the foot and all of the toe left to go. I have another ball of Regia, but it's enough different to be unacceptable. So the search is on for a matching ball of Regia.

This happened midway through the ABC thing last night about JFK's assassination. Which I thought was very well done, by the way. I thought they did a good job of explaining why the American public wants to believe a conspiracy theory, no matter what the facts might show.

But I digress. I went to the yarn closet during a commercial break to see what was in my sock yarn stash. I had four options to choose from, three of which were yarns that I have used before. So I decided to get out the Sockotta, the one I've never used, and see what it's like. It is such a cheery, fun yarn; the little white strands don't separate away from the main strand - which is what I was afraid of. You wouldn't choose this yarn to showcase a stitch pattern, so I'm glad I'm going with my basic sock recipe.

The flu is hitting hard around here, and I'm afraid we're going to get hit here at my house. I've got a 12-year-old home from school for the second day today; the 13-year-old is coughing but not running a fever (at least yet) and insisted on going to school anyway; and I'm deeply suspicious about the 10-year-old, who was sneezing and blowing his nose this morning. I just hope we can all be well or at least non-contagious by Thanksgiving.

A nearly-FO while loafing at the cabin

We spent an extended weekend at my parents' cabin, and I was able to do all kinds of knitting. I like this time of year at the cabin; there's not yet enough snow for skiing; but it's too cold to do much of anything outside. Therefore, we stay inside and lay around and eat. Unexpectedly, my entire family (mom and dad plus all four siblings and their families) were there, so we had all kinds of fun. Here's a photo that sort of captures the essence:

The kids have made a blanket fort; Grandpa is eating something; and Uncle Dave is relaxing on the couch.

I finished the Colinette scarf the first day. It is very soft and squishy. I still need to hide the ends.

I finished the cuff on the first sleeve of Lochinver; I'm trying to do a tubular cast-off. I found some online instructions, but I'm not sure I executed them properly. So I'm going to read up on it a little more this afternoon before I finish it off.

So that meant I had pretty much all day Saturday and Sunday to work on the grey Regia sock (although card games, Yahtzee and being the official dessert cook - rice pudding and brownies - interefered.) I finished the leg, turned the heel, and am only about six rounds away from finishing the gusset. That means I will have to address the looming yarn shortage sometime this week.

The camera has a hard time focusing on these socks for some reason.

Vanity googling

If you search either "Lochinver knit" or "koigu broadripple" at www.google.com, my blog comes up first! However, if you search "skilled knitter," my blog is nowhere to be found. Seems fair.

New on the needles

Last night, I got out one of the balls of Colinette Isis from my last shopping spree, and got started on a simple garter knit scarf. It took a couple of false starts to get the right needle size (10 1/2) and the right number of stitches to cast on (17) for the vision I had in mind. Chenille doesn't agree with too much frogging, so I had to discard a couple of feet of yarn that got a little too chewed up.

Here's a blurry picture:

I am using some old aluminum needles that are really bugging me. They're too slippery and too long. I have a total of three of these scarves to do; this might justify getting a better pair of needles. This is nice, mindless knitting that progresses fast enough so as not to be boring.

I'm also chugging along on Lochinver, and about to finish the first sleeve. Probably only an hour or so to finish the cuff:

The second of the two grey Regia socks is also on the needles, but haven't picked them up in a few days.

We're headed up to my parents' cabin this weekend; I might take all three projects up so I can knit whatever suits my fancy!

Advice for Knitblog Newbies

I first discoverd knitblogging in June, 2003 and instantly decided "I must have a knitblog of my own!" It took me a couple of months to navigate my way through the big wide blog world, and a couple of months more to feel at ease in the smaller world of knit-bloggers.

I've had a couple of inquiries lately from newcomers wanting to know about blogging. For whatever it's worth, I thought I'd share some of my experiences and observations about knitblogging for those who might be new to all of this.

Software
I started out by developing a knitting blog web page on my business site, but quickly discovered that regular web design software products (such as Front Page or Dreamweaver) don't have the tools you need for convenient daily blog postings. The blogging world has developed a lot of really fabulous tools, many of which are free or very low cost.

If you have your own domain and server space, and are comfortable with a small amount of programming, you can use Movable Type's free blogging software and create a fully customized blog. I chose to go this route. I've been managing a couple of websites for 2+ years, and found that installing Movable Type was a fairly challenging task; it took me a couple of weeks to figure out how everything works. Something to consider is to have someone install MT and do a small amount of customizing for you; it's very easy to use after that.

Another option is to go with a blogging service that hosts the blog and provides the blogging software. Some services are free (most notably www.blogspot.com) and others charge a low monthly fee (www.typepad.com or the upgrade version of www.blogspot.com). Typepad is by the same company that created Movable Type. The free services might not let you upload photos, though, and that's the fun of knitblogging.

A blogging service at $5-8/month is a bargain compared to the cost of hosting your own domain name. I pay $24.95/month for my own domain. Now for that price I have more disk space than I'll ever need, and a bunch of other bells and whistles that I need for my work-related website. But if blogging is all you're after, I'd say the hosting services are a real bargain.

Customizing
If you buy a very basic book - say an "HTML for Dummies" type of book - you will learn enough in an afternoon to do an impressive amount of customizing of your blog. HTML programming reminds of how WordStar worked back in the early 1980's. If you remember WordStar, you'll catch on to HTML real quick.

Your new blog will be like a new house. You won't have designer curtains and matching furniture on the day you move in. But over time, you will apply your own taste and style and make it a place to call your own. And if you get tired of it, you can paint the walls and replace the carpeting and make it all fresh and new again!

Blogging Objectives
I think it's worthwhile to spend a little time asking yourself why you want to blog about your knitting. Here's what knit blogging does for me: (1) it creates a record of my knitting activities; (2) it maintains my enthusiasm for knitting; (3) it exposes me to new ideas and trends in hand knitting; and (4) it provides access to a community of fellow knitters (something I don't have out here in the sticks of eastern Colorado.)

As I surf around the knit blogging world, I can see that many knit bloggers have entirely different objectives, and that's perfectly OK! Some are using blogging as a marketing tool for their knitting-related products and services. Others use blogs as soapboxes to promote a particular vision or view of what knitting is supposed to be about and to criticize things what doesn't conform to their vision. Lots of knit bloggers have amazing graphic artistry skills and their blogs reflect that. I also see an amazing number of really skilled writers out there; some of my daily reads appeal to me because of the writing and not necessarily the knitting.

Fitting in
A core group of knit bloggers has been at this for quite a while (a year or two before I started.) At first, you'll feel like the new kid in school. You'll get the sense in reading these blogs that everyone knows everyone else and they're all talking about things you've never heard of. Relax! Hang around; eavesdrop on the conversations; and then decide how you want to participate. Take a glance at this FAQ page to get a handle on the lingo and the acronyms. Don't be intimidated when you read the popular and well-established blogs. Dare to be dull! Risk making a fool of yourself! And send me your blog address so I can read along!

Koigu Broadripples: Done!

They're done!

This is a self portrait, done by bending at the waist and holding the camera out from my body, hoping to catch my feet in the frame.

As faithful readers might recall, I ran out of yarn at the end and had to subsitute a slightly different color for one of the toes.

Can you guess which toe has the different color yarn?.

These socks were fun to knit, and I really like the feel of the yarn. I would highly recommend the free pattern. The ripple effect isn't hard - once you do a couple of rounds, you don't need to refer to the instructions any more.

Disturbing Discovery

Disturbing. It's one of my favorite words.

I finished the first Regia sock just now. I got out my postal scale and weighed it. It weighed 1.7 ounces. Then I weighed the yarn left over. It weighed 1.6 ounces. Will I ever learn?

Impulse buying!

My meeting got done much earlier than I had expected, so I hit the big Denver-area yarn shop on the way home. My mental shopping list included: the latest issue of Interweave Knits, and a set of Size 5 double-pointed needles. But did that stop me from browsing? Of course not!

The 'Isis' is for some Christmas gifts (note the finesse with which I justify my purchases!), the Koigu is a pretty darn good match for that unfinished sock, but of course what would I do with the leftovers? Yes, I must buy two more skeins in order to make another pair! (The Koigu wasn't on my mental shopping list because I thought this shop didn't carry Koigu.) And Wendy's felted Booga J bags are so cute, I had to get some Kureyon, and this will probably be a Christmas gift as well. With regard to the sock yarn - well, it's always a good idea to have extra sock yarn on hand, don't you think? And finally, the booklet contains some worksheets and instructions for a variety of knit-in-the-round sweaters, which I think I want explore more fully since I so much detest the finishing process associated with knitting piece-by-piece.

This is how you do guilt-free spending at your local yarn shop! Try it, you'll like it!

Life is too short for unhappy knitting

I have come to a decision. I will abandon the ugly baby sweater.

The baby was born last week; it is a boy. I was going for the unisex thing (okay, that's a red flag right there) and now I think I would be much happier knitting something more boy-ish. The sweater is boring to knit. It is on a Size 1 circular needle. It is not knit in the round but rather side to side. It is plain stockinette. I am not happy when I am knitting it.

So I made peace with it yesterday, set it aside, and happily picked up the sock that I've been working on and made serious progress toward the toe. Now why is sock knitting not boring? Don't know, but I just steamed along while watching the new DVD I just bought ("True Grit" with John Wayne. What a great flick.) And then we watched the end of the CBS anniversary show, which I thought was boring but my husband inexplicably liked.

The Knitting Shelf

Two posts in one day!

Just had to share my new knitting shelf in the junk closet.

I threw away a garbage bag full of piano music, sunday school papers, and other assorted junk. Then I gathered up the stack of knitting books in the living room and the box of needles and some of the yarn stash from the family room and voila, a bee-yoo-tiful knitting shelf.

I know my family will SO much appreciate not having to look at this stuff strewn all over our living space.

As you can see, I will need to tackle the other shelves in the closet. But we'll save that for another day.

A report on hand-knit socks: knitting AND wearing them

I started knitting socks (successfully) back in May. I had been attempting to knit socks for almost a year before that, but could never get the knack of the double-pointed needle thing. When I found out about knitting socks on circular needles, I was able to take off running.

I knit several pairs of socks over the summer (see http://www.water-rights.com/knitting/projects2003.htm; a few recent pairs have not yet been posted), but the weather was too warm to actually wear them. Now that our furnace is running, I've been able to wear all of my hand-knit socks and have learned some things that I will apply in my future sock-knitting:

- I have found that knitting a bit of a rib in the leg of the sock and continuing the rib on the instep down to the toe makes a much more comfortable sock. It doesn't have to be much - a 4x1 or 5x1 rib allows the sock to stick to your leg and not sag around the ankle. In my opinion, the 2x2 rib just doesn't make an attractive sock.

- Yes, wool socks can be itchy. Especially if they bag around your ankle. Putting in that rib helps a lot.

- I have found the Regia sock yarn to be the least itchy. In fact, they are my favorite socks right now and have held up well under multiple trips through the laundry.

My current favorite socks

- The Fortissima Socka Colori yarn makes such cute socks, but I think they are the itchiest socks I've made to date. I would like to see how well the faux-fair-isle patterning holds up if I ribbed the leg and instep.

cute, but itchy

- I am building a dangerously large sock yarn stash, and will be able to continue sock-knitting for the next several months at least! Knitting socks is much more fun than I expected and offers almost instant gratification when compared to knitting sweaters.

- Socks are highly portable and can be discreetly knit in public - at soccer games, music lessons, that half-hour before the kids' band concert starts, waiting in the car to pick up the kids from sports practice - the possibilities are endless!