knitabit

Happy Blogiversary

My blog turned a year old yesterday. I went back to look at my first post and I see that I need to work on some templates.

Blogging has been a very good experience for me. Besides being "in the know" in the knitting world, I've also learned a TON about various internet technologies.

Mission Accomplished

I finished the Bearfoot socks while attending the Western Water Workshop. Here they are:

I love the yarn, and I finally got to the point where I enjoy doing a shortrow heel. On the second sock, I clued into how to make that last round without generating a hole: when you're knitting the last short row (there is one wrapped stitch at each end of the heel), knit across the heel and pick up the wrapped stitch, and then keep going around the sock and take care of the other wrapped stitch when you start the next round. Duh! If you go back and forth one more time, that's when you get the hole.

I'm back home now, even though the workshop continues through noon today. The program for today didn't look all that interesting. The attendance steadily dwindled as the afternoon wore on yesterday, so I wasn't the only one who made the decision to cut and run.

It's a good thing I got home when I did. My husband and daughter are enjoying a few days away in California visiting Uncle Dan, meaning that the boys were home alone. You know, you try to raise your kids right and instill good values. You try to set an example. You hope and pray that they will do the right thing, even if a parent isn't present.

So what did I find when I got home? They were watching music videos on CMT. Where did I go wrong? Pop, rock, rap, classic, anything, dear God - but not country.

High Altitude Knitting

Seems that a considerable quantity of my knitting is being done at the higher altitudes this summer. This past weekend, it was Glenwood Springs. Beginning tomorrow, it will be Gunnison while attending the Western Water Workshop.

I will most likely finish the Bearfoot socks and might possibly start eyeing a bigger project for the fall. I've still got the herringbone pullover (Cascade 2000) on the needles but for some reason it induces boredom. I would still like to find a good yarn for Rogue (it was supposed to be the Cascade but the gauge was off) and would consider shopping for some while on this trip. The Colorado Fiber Source directory seems to be out of date. Maybe there really is a yarn shop in Gunnison...

And then I keep threatening to start a big Fair Isle project...

Advanced Sockology

Who knew there was so much terrain to cover in sockland? Here's the first of my current pair:

A better picture would have been the one of me contorting myself to take this picture of my foot.

Some of the features in this sock include:

Much of this I learned from Priscilla Gibson-Roberts excellent book, "Simple Socks, Plain and Fancy."

That little hole at the corner of the heel is unacceptable, so after both socks are completed, I'm going to try Lucy Neatby's 'circular suture' repair.

I didn't think I would be a convert from the 'heel flap' method of constructing socks, but this design is easy and fun and I think looks more like a "real" sock.

I'm loving this yarn...I'll be on the lookout for more.

Charity Knitting

I had an interesting knitting encounter today at my daughter's violin workshop. In one of the classes, another mom was knitting feverishly - a very small gauge yarn; I thought perhaps she was knitting some lace. After the class, I said "hi" and I asked what she was knitting.

Turns out she is knitting bandages for lepers in India. She is on her 37th one. I googled it when I got home this evening and found a site that gives a little bit of background and information. It appears to be a project that is principally sponsored by the LDS (Mormon) Church. (The knitter I met today was from Utah, so it all kind of adds up.)

Anyway, I find this to be very intriguing. Has anyone else heard of this? Is it on the up-and-up? Although the pet-related charity projects that come up on the blogs from time to time sound fun, this sounds like something that is more genuinely needed.

Of course, after I asked about her knitting, she asked about mine. I felt a little bit puny and selfish talking about my sock. Made of a luxury wool/mohair blend.

Weight and See

I guess the nice thing about toe-up socks is that you don't necessarily have to worry about having enough yarn for both socks:

I'm about halfway up the cuff, and it looks like there will be plenty of yarn for both socks. I pulled yarn off the ball until 53g remained, then cut the yarn. Now I won't have to worry about running out of yarn on the second sock (plus I've got a little ball of waste yarn set aside from my cast-on experiments.)

A digital postal scale that reads in grams is a totally handy knitting tool. Who knew?

Rocky Mountain Rejuvenation

Aaaaahhhhh, it's so nice to get away.

I had time to knit! The Bearfoot yarn is knitting up beautifully into an oh-so-soft pair of toe-up socks. This is my first attempt at toe-up; after trying all the methods, I settled on Wendy's figure eight approach.

We tried something new this weekend: Geocaching. Here's what we found:

The kids are absolutely hooked, and a good time was had by all.

FO, But no Image

I'm vacationing in Grand County, Colorado and just finished (finally!) the Koigu socks. I have my camera but alas, not my card reader so I'll post a photo when I return.

I stopped in at the local yarn store up here, the Lonesome Stone, to check out what's new and there was lots! Several new lines of yarn and a better selection of books. I found one lonely skein of Bearfoot sock yarn that I snatched up, and I will be starting a new pair of socks as soon as I log off.

Being Petty

I really enjoy getting my Knitter's Review each week. I especially like her review of new yarns on the market - yarns I would otherwise never find out about.

Today she reviewed "Optimum" from the South West Trading Company. Not a yarn I'll likely ever use, but I wonder if she gave it a fair shake. Check out her sample swatch on her review page.

That stripey effect isn't the yarn's fault - she's got some radically different tension going on her knit rows as compared to her purl rows. And I should know - I see this same problem in my own knitting all the time. I'm pretty confident her swatch would be returned by the TKGA review committee if it was submitted for the Master Knitting program. And that's why I haven't turned my swatches in yet.

Still Knitting

It seems like I've had "less than an inch to go" on the leg of this sock for something like two weeks now. I bring it to the baseball games, but it's too uncomfortable to knit while sitting in bleachers. It makes my back hurt. The folding chair is much more comfortable, but the social scene is in the bleachers. I guess my serious sock-knitting will resume once soccer season starts up again.

Just as an aside, we sure have nice parents and coaches on my son's baseball team this season. No screamers.

The Herringbone sweater is making slow progress, too. This is my "at home" project, but most evenings we eat so late (if we're not at a ballgame) that by the time I get around to picking up my knitting, I'm too tired to focus. This stitch pattern is a bit more frustrating than I had anticipated. I can't verify by sight alone where I'm at in the pattern. I've got a stitch marker/counter thing going so I know which row I'm in within the 4-row repeat. Still, I've flubbed up twice and had to frog back. I can see that doing the sleeve increases (assuming I do a cuff-up sleeve) while keeping the stitch pattern going will be tricky. I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

Still Tinkering

What you are looking at right now is a work in progress, and I can guarantee neither its functionality nor its visual appeal. I can guarantee that making changes to templates and style sheets is very frustrating.

Tune in a couple of days from now for some actual knitting content!

Redecorating

I'm goofing around with new templates, style sheets, graphics - expect the unexpected over the holiday weekend.

Happy 4th!