Mystery Sock KAL

I joined the mystery sock knit-a-long (KAL) with Through the Loops at Ravelry.com. The first clue came up this morning and I was ready with the yarn, KnitPicks Risata in Burgundy, and the needles, size 1US (2.50mm) in circulars.

My goal is to knit these two at a time so by the end of the month I will have an new pair to wear. The first clue was the cuff, cast on and twelve rows. Those are knit and ready for the next clue on Friday. No pictures yet. I have substituted one from our visit to Vicksburg where Spooky and Soxx got to be in a picture together.

I hope everyone is finding fun ways to ease into October~!

Spooky Sock Update or Spooky Sock's Fall Photo Shoot



The second Halloween sock, currently named Spooky, had the opportunity to pose for photos during his recent trip to my folks place. The fall leaves were swirling around and certainly a lovely golden color, providing a wonderful backdrop.

This sock pattern has been a very fun knit. I like the way that the hourglass rib and the modified eye of partridge all went together. The yarn pooled in interesting ways that made the choice even more interesting. I am planning to wear them the first weekend of October, guess I better get knitting. Happy Day~!

Sock Progress: Monkey and Bilingual

When last you left this sock knitter I was working on two socks, one - the mate to the Monkey socks on dpns and the other - a plain ribbed sock done on the newly learned Socks on Two Circs method.

Here is where we are now: Monkey sock is into the heel turn and the two circ sock, I am calling Bilingual, is into the gusset. Bilingual is knitting up much tighter than Monkey. I am knitting on size ones in both cases and with similar fingering yarn. The only thing I can think of is it is because I can keep a tighter tension on the circs versus changing dpns every lace pattern repeat over 4 needles.

I am going to try the Bilingual's mate on a 16-inch circ instead of the 12-inch circs I am currently using to see if there is a difference there. I really like the feel of the circs. I think they will make a much better travelling sock project because I feel more secure knitting on them. No chance of flipping a needle across the plane. I do have to find out if HiyaHiya makes these needles with bamboo tips instead of metal. That will prevent a standoff with TSA.

I hope everyone is making progress on their favorite projects!

Thong Socks

I found the pattern "Flippant" on Ravelry one day and thought they were a darling idea. I wear thong flip flops as house shoes during the warmer weather and love them. So I decided to try a pair of these out of Cascade Fixation.

I cast them on today while I was waiting for my student at the shop today. I made really good progress on them, following the patterns version for size, as the picture shows and they are being guarded by my wee devil duck dpn holders.

The pattern got lots of giggles from the shop staff. And somehow a question came up about a "whole" sock to which I answered that I will be attending the Sock Summit which encouraged full out guffawing.

I did finish the first Flippant however it is too big for my foot and I found out they will not fit inside my thong because it will be too tight. So that project has gone by the wayside.

I hope everyone is finding fun projects to keep them busy!

Note: scenic shot is from the driveway of the shop in Woodland Park looking at Pikes Peak.

Sock Summit Registration

With only 71 days to the opening of Sock Summit in Portland, today is the day registration opens for the much anticipated SS09.

With all the excitement and tension among the more than 2,000 members of the group on Ravelry, I think I am waiting until at least this afternoon to try to go on and claim the slots I want. Since I have decided that I want to sightsee as well as take some skill classes, I am going for the one-hour slots. This will give me time to practice the new skills without missing out on any of the other fun. At least this is my plan.

I'll let you know how this worked for me later.

Later: after the dust settled on the crashed server (it only took 5 minutes to bring it to a screeching halt) I watched the group board at Ravelry and tracked the tweets from the organizers until I thought it was save to dive in the pool. I managed to get the five 1-hour slots I wanted and a ticket for the Opening Reception on Thursday night. My payment was accepted and I received a confirmation email later in the day. I count myself very fortunate considering the many horror stories that were shared by the other participants. It looks like all the classes sold out the first day. So my airline ticket is purchased, my classes chosen, my hotel room booked (by my roomie - thank you) and some contacts made for fun sightseeing adventures.

I am very excited about August in Portland! I hope you have great things to look forward to this summer!

WooHoo! Wee Tiny Sock Received

Yesterday I received a card with a beautifully knit wee tiny sock from Connecticut. She says it is her first WT sock as well. She did a fabulous job. I am glad she joined the swap to show off her work.

The yarn is Mountain Colors Bearfoot. I have wanted some to make socks out of before but now that I see how it knits up I am definitely adding it to my "want to have in my sock yarn stash."

I hope you are seeing beautiful things in your world!

FLS and End of Month Update

I am making progress on my FLS. It is a slow go with 4 repeat lace across over 200 stitches each row. I am not complaining just not used to the larger project. To achieve quicker gratification I knit the wee tiny socks in the car during lunch. That gets me a finished project every couple of days.

My goal with the sweater is to finish one pattern repeat an evening. That is only four rows and I think I can commit to that while watching movies.

In my spare time this last weekend I made a couple sets of stitch markers with buttons and a charm. I am calling them Buttons with Bauble and plan to put a few sets up on Etsy by this weekend. If you are interested, please let me know if you have a particular charm and color combo, and I will make them, and put them on Etsy especially for you to purchase. They are really cute and are designed for sock knitting.


In other knitting news: I have completed one Wee Tiny Sock Swap (WTSS) and it is in the mail. I will be doing another one next week and then working on some to swap at the Sock Summit in August. They are really fun and fast to knit. I have expanded the pattern to larger needles and worsted weight to make mini stockings that I will be teaching in my Christmas in July class.


I have a secret project I am working on for my co-worker to take on her Disneyland getaway in May. If I can't go, I can live vicariously through the picture she is going to take with the secret project and a certain large-eared someone. It will be fun.

I hope everyone has lots of fun things filling their lives!

From Gussets to Glory!

It was a successful conclusion to my sock class in Woodland Park. I think everyone had a good time and did learn some basics of sock construction. I know we giggled a lot over the two afternoons we met. I blamed it on the high altitude, the shop owner referenced liquid refreshment. So if Diet Coke and high altitude are to blame, then we did good.

I returned to a beautiful sunset and an anxious pussycat who wanted to go out and watch the stars come out. Those days are coming to an end rapidly since it will soon be too cold and dark when I get home to go outside. He is enjoying these last mild days before it is time to build his kitty igloo.

Thanks to all the brave and wonderfully fun gals that joined me for the sock class. I have requests for more classes in the future and am working on those proposals this week. To all you fiber nuts out there -- Happy knitting!