FO: Wasabi Charade

I’m finally done with these socks.  These were Sock Summit / traveling socks, and then office socks, but I don’t get much office knitting done in the summertime.

I was disappointed to realize that this yarn is really only two shades of green.  In the hank, it looked like more to me.  And then, it striped like a zebra.  And then, the second sock striped like… some other animal.

Look, here they are trying to disguise themselves in the wilds of my backyard!  (But the color is more true in the top photo.) I would knit this pattern again.  It’s super simple but has a bit of interest.  It would look very nice in a solid yarn!

Travelling Stitches

Portland to Chicago (natural light):Chicago to Baltimore (horrible glare-y baggage claim light):

I also finished the book I was reading (Anne Tyler’s Digging to America).

This Shibui Sock is swimming, it’s so pool-y.

FO: Undulating Rib Socks for Mom

Here are the Undulating Rib Socks that are for my mom for Christmas later this year. When she was here for Christmas last year, she "shopped" my sock yarn stash and browsed my sock pattern books. She picked a couple yarns she liked and about four patterns. So she doesn't know exactly which socks she's getting... but here they are!

I agonized about these a bit (sorry, devoted readers) but I'm happy with the way they came out. Anne asked if the two socks striped the same way, and the answer is "no" - you can probably see that in the photograph. But because the color changes are tonal, it doesn't bother me as much as it would if the yarn was multicolor. I knit these cuff-down on 60 stitches with 2.25 mm circular needles, and used my own standard slipped-stitch heel and a star toe. The yarn is Shibui Sock (100% merino with a tight twist). I adore this color and will be on the prowl for more yarn in this shade.

I used to not believe in blocking socks - why, if they're just going on a pair of feet (which serve a fine blockers)? But presentation is everything. I bought a set of blockers before submitting several pairs of socks to a knitting exhibit at my library a year or two ago, and now I really like them. If I'm gifting a pair of socks, I block them. They look so much prettier right out of the box. Here is a photo with one sock blocked (left) and one sock fresh off the needles (right). The unblocked sock looks kind of twisty and wrinkled. A knitter would know that a rib pattern will stretch out and become beautiful on a foot, but a nonknitting gift recipient might not. In that case, I would block!

[Side note: Knit Picks just started making sock blockers, too.]

I finished these up in a hotel room in Seattle and immediately cast on for another pair of undulating rib socks - for myself. Photos of those are forthcoming.

I'm happy with how these came out!

Undulating Update

Kris asked for an update on the undulating rib sock. In the end, I decided to stay the course. This sock has a cast-on number of 60 and is knit on 2.25 mm needles. I'm getting close to the toe decrease on sock #1.

This photo seems a little garish since I usually use natural flagstone as my backdrop. It was dark outside and so I set up a little photoshoot area with the mini tripod. I needed something that wasn't smooth for background, and this painting was nearby. I might get in trouble for posting it. I have no idea if it's a work in progress or something abandoned. It matches the bright red sock blockers, though!

Undulating headache!

I've been trying to start a new pair of office socks all week, and it hasn't been easy. I decided to get started on another pair of gift socks. When my mom was here over the holidays, I had her shop my sock yarn stash and identify a few things she liked. I also had her look through my sock pattern books and tell me which patterns spoke to her. I figured that since I knit her socks for Christmas 2005 and Christmas 2007, I'd better get ready for Christmas 2009.

Yarnwise, she picked Shibui Sock in a semisolid colorway called "Dragonfly" and Cherry Tree Hill in a Loopy Ewe Sock Club exclusive colorway that I think is a remake of Life's a Beach. I wanted to keep the CTH for myself, because I have a bit of history with this yarn.

Years ago, when Simply Socks Yarn Company opened, I eagerly cruised the owner's slide show of favorite sock yarns. She has updated it since then and the yarn I responded to is no longer there, but she had a gorgeous picture of some light turquoise blue and sea green handpainted yarn that I loved. I ordered it. When it came, it bore NO resemblance to the photo. It was so different that I assumed I made a mistake when ordering. I had an almost nonexistent sock yarn stash back then, and I didn't dislike the new yarn, so I didn't contact the owner about a possible mistake. Months later, Allison wrote a blog post about how Cherry Tree Hill changed their base yarn and the dyes were taking really differently. She specifically wrote about the Life's a Beach colorway and how they had readjusted their dye recipe to get a handpaint closer to the original, and she had the "new" Life's a Beach in stock. I thought about ordering it a second time, but didn't.

Fast forward. I made lots of socks using my tried-and-true Classic Crew Socks pattern from the Earth Guild in Asheville, NC, and eventually became ready to try something new. Charlene Schurch had just released Sensational Knitted Socks, and I had a copy. I decide to try a toe-up sock and to use this Life's a Beach yarn. Then Kristina had a baby. I planned to go to Boston to meet Katie and help out for a few days. I took this toe-up sock with me. I tried to get it cast on before the trip, but I had a terrible time with the provisional crochet cast-on. I probably did it 9 times. I started the sock but hated how the crazy yarn colors competed with the pattern. I only got this far before abandoning it. Later, I frogged it, soaked the yarn to get out the kinks, and rewound it into a yarn cake. It still sits in my sock yarn cabinet waiting for its next chance.

Fast forward again. I re-up in The Loopy Ewe Sock Club for Year Two because Sheri promises semi-solid colorways, and I'm tired of fighting with crazy handpaints. One month a hank of yarn shows up from Cherry Tree Hill, and it looks an awful lot like I remember the original Life's a Beach looking. I decide that this is life's way of tossing me a beach ball, and I am meant to make my peace with this yarn once and for all. I haven't cast on yet, but it seems like this yarn should be socks for me, not my mom. I'm also not sure I'd call it "semi-solid," but whatever. In Carol Sulcoski's new classification, I'd call it a "muted multi" - but we didn't have that language then.

Enough about the yarn. Suffice it to say that I chose to knit Mom's Christmas 2009 socks out of the Shibui Dragonfly because Life's a Beach and I still have unfinished business. Now to the pattern. Mom expressed interested in (links are to Ravelry):

1. Conwy (Nancy Bush Knitting on the Road p. 22)
2. Baby Cable Rib (Charlene Schurch Sensational Knitted Socks p. 33)
3. Diagonal Cross-Rib Socks (Favorite Socks p. 77)
4. Undulating Rib Socks (Favorite Socks p. 93)

I decided that #4 looked the most interesting to me. I knew immediately that I would have to modify the pattern, though, because Ann Budd (the designer) says she got 9 stitches per inch on a US 3 needle (3.25 mm) with a Fortissima Colori yarn. Ummm, that's a really fine gauge with a really fat needle. She must knit really tightly. I knit a gauge tube with the Shibui and had to fight a little bit to use my normal US 0 (2.0 mm) needles. I moved up to 2.25 mm needles and the yarn seemed happy (I also tried 2.5 mm and it was not happy). I got about 7 st/in. So I used the trusty old Classic Crew Socks pattern formula to figure out the cast-on number with my gauge and my mom's ankle measurement. It said I should cast on 56 stitches.

56!?! That seems LOW, even after I take into account that I usually cast on a lot (68-72, even 75 once). The undulating rib stitch pattern is divisible by 6, so I compromised and cast on 60 with a 2.25 needle. I also did some Ravelry reading and decided to use different techniques for the double increase and double decrease called for in the pattern. I knit a few inches and tried it on myself - I think it will work. (My mom's ankle measurement is very close to mine, so I can use myself for fittings.)

Are you still with me? If you are, I commend you. You must be a sock nut or else just have a lot of time on your hands. I did all that and started the sock. It took me a week to get this sock going. But do you see what I see? *&$#ing pooling!!! with a semi-solid yarn, which I thought was not supposed to do this!!!

Oh, well. I guess it just goes to show that a handpaint is a handpaint, even if it's painted all in the same tone. This is going to have that barberpole stripe going down it if I continue as I have begun. If the sock was for me, I would turn back and do something else. I suppose I should knit a bit more and ask my mom if she likes it.

Thoughts?

Marine Pool

Man, this Shibui Sock in colorway Marine is made for pooling! Not much to do about it, though... just go with the flow.

I know some people swear by knitting from two balls, but wouldn't that just dilute your pooling? I want an easy mindless sock for office knitting - I can't be juggling and untangling two balls. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to do nothing more than a simple rib-style stitch. The first 20 rounds are in 2x2 rib. The next 10 are an experiment that I decided not to continue (but did not rip back to that lovely dental floss, because I think you can hardly even see it). After that I went into what Charlene Schurch calls "uneven rib." It goes like this:

Round 1: *K2 P2*

Round 2: K1 *P2 K2* ... until one stitch left, then knit it

The result kind of reminds me of the garter rib I used in this sock. Still very simple, but not quite the drudgery of 2x2 rib.

Nevertheless, I think these socks are going to look good with these shoes this fall!

New Journey with Traveller...

So I've just recently begun to learn to spin. 10 days ago I had my first lesson, and yesterday was my second lesson. I was thrilled that a loaner wheel (the Ashford Traveller) was available for me to take home and practice with, as I'm not quite ready to buy a wheel. Turns out you just buckle them into the back seat, like children.

My homework for the first week was to fill 2 bobbins at least half full. I came home with a bag full of creamy white wool (not sure what kind, but it's combed and my teacher got it from Brown Sheep, the nice folks who make Nature Spun yarn). I filled 3 bobbins mostly full.

Last night we plied. We used the lazy kate on the Traveller to make a 2-ply yarn, and we Navajo plied another bobbin (this creates a 3-ply yarn). Today I set the twist in hot water. (When my teacher, Gail, told me to put the yarn in hot water, I said "but won't it felt?" She did a double take. Apparently most people ask "but won't it shrink?" at this point...) Here is a picture of some yarn before the twist is set:

And here is a picture of yarn after the twist has been set. I'm not sure you can see a difference in the photos, but the finished yarn is smoother and the fibers have relaxed and bloomed. This helps hide the terrible inconsistencies that I created!

In other knitting news, I'm working on a second pair of Sidestream socks from Dream in Color Smooshy and I'm swatching some Shibui sock yarn. It probably won't continue to look like this when I cast on an appropriate number of stitches for actual socks, but the gauge swatch has each color taking up less than one full round. The one-row striping effect is nice! I'm not sure I can get away with much beyond a plain vanilla sock with these color contrasts, though. Any pattern suggestions?