An innocuous blog post from Simply Socks pinged in my blog reader today at work. I was unable to focus from that time on. It read (just the black words, the red ones are my additions):
"But for those of you who have been waiting on the Harry Potter sock yarn from Opal," ME ME ME!!! "I've been told that Simply Socks order has shipped!" *faints* "I'll put the yarn on the website as soon as it arrives (and I'll do a quick post on the blog), and I'll also ship out the preorders." Haha, suckers, that's me too! But don't fret if you didn't pre-order: "This could all happen as soon as Friday or mid weekend- it all depends on UPS. I don't have more details, but will post here as soon as I do. I won't be able to send out individual e-mail updates." Get your mouse-clicking fingers in shape for this one: "I do expect the yarn to go quickly b/c of the flood at Opal us yarn stores are only getting about 40% of what we ordered, but I do have A LOT more on order from Opal's second shipment, which will come in about a month."
[Side, um, Post Script?: I'm working on a really nifty chart that will culminate in a terrific (and free) surprise for the blog. Because I'm awesome (and humble?), and maybe someone, someday will actually want it.]
Showing posts with label Socks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Socks. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Friday, September 12, 2008
ACHOOO!
I have a cold. Again. And it's making me miserable. Again.
On the upside, it means plenty of couch time for knitting. On the downside, it means I'll have to Lysol any Finished Objects. And the couch.
I knit up a couple golden snitch ball ornaments (out of Charmed Knits. Yes, I realize that this is becoming an obsession. No, I don't mind.) I held together three golden shades of scrap acrylic; light yellow, goldenrod, and a brassy brown that would look gold if it were really shiny. It's a beautiful effect I think. [Side Note: 3 x worsted weight is GIGANTOR! And really hard to knit with. Thankfully I'm out of scraps.]
And I got my box of yarn and stuff from webs today, so I immediately cast on for a footie sock version of my Patriot Socks to use up the leftover yarn. [Side Note: One of the new needles was broken when it arrived :-( the little plastic tip on the end had broken off, but I've made do with just 4 dpns.] I don't know if there's anything webs can do about things damaged in shipping, but it can't hurt to email them, right?
And I'm using one of the Karabella balls to make a sweet little felted purse based on the popular MagKnits Sophie pattern. Mine will be much smaller than the pattern suggests, because I just don't need that much space. If it's too big I probably won't use it. As a matter of fact I could get by with just my wallet, cell phone, and keys. But I love this pattern and the results it has produced (ala ravelry).
Well, the cough medicine just kicked in so I guess that's it for zzzZZZzzz
On the upside, it means plenty of couch time for knitting. On the downside, it means I'll have to Lysol any Finished Objects. And the couch.
I knit up a couple golden snitch ball ornaments (out of Charmed Knits. Yes, I realize that this is becoming an obsession. No, I don't mind.) I held together three golden shades of scrap acrylic; light yellow, goldenrod, and a brassy brown that would look gold if it were really shiny. It's a beautiful effect I think. [Side Note: 3 x worsted weight is GIGANTOR! And really hard to knit with. Thankfully I'm out of scraps.]
And I got my box of yarn and stuff from webs today, so I immediately cast on for a footie sock version of my Patriot Socks to use up the leftover yarn. [Side Note: One of the new needles was broken when it arrived :-( the little plastic tip on the end had broken off, but I've made do with just 4 dpns.] I don't know if there's anything webs can do about things damaged in shipping, but it can't hurt to email them, right?
And I'm using one of the Karabella balls to make a sweet little felted purse based on the popular MagKnits Sophie pattern. Mine will be much smaller than the pattern suggests, because I just don't need that much space. If it's too big I probably won't use it. As a matter of fact I could get by with just my wallet, cell phone, and keys. But I love this pattern and the results it has produced (ala ravelry).
Well, the cough medicine just kicked in so I guess that's it for zzzZZZzzz
Monday, September 8, 2008
Too bad I don't have anything interresting to say
Well, the knitting projects have ground to a halt. Grad school nonsense stuff has taken up all of my free time and drained me of any productive energy. Plus, I'm waiting on yarn. I'm waiting on yarn to finish my Quidditch/Rugby sweater. I'm waiting on my Harry Potter Opal Sock Yarn that I have lusted after for so long. I'm waiting for this Karabella fluff to decide what it wants to be.
I guess this is just a natural lull in knitting. It's still 110 degrees when I go to get in my Jeep, forgive me if I don't feel the urgency to knit warm things. Once 'fall' kicks in I'll get back into the groove. [Side Note: Las Vegas doesn't have 'fall' per se, but we have a brief period of 'less hot' followed by many blustery months of chilly and windy directly followed by Easter (when it rains) and then 'hot' again. Once every 5 years or so it will snow here. That is when all hell breaks loose on the roads.]
Oh, I tacked a set of US 1 dpns onto my Webs order, the Pony plasticky kind that I like so much. If I'm going to commit to this sock thing I'm going to need the cavalry (a.k.a. properly sized knitting needles.
I don't know if I want to make all of the HPO yarn into socks, but I had to have a smaller set to get gauge etc. I thought it would be quite poetic to turn the Lupin and Tonks skeins into an object together. Perhaps a simple scarf? I'd like to know why there isn't a Dobby colorway though. Nobody loved socks like Dobby!
Oh well, I've rambled on long enough. I'll try and get it together around here so there can be some quality posts.
I guess this is just a natural lull in knitting. It's still 110 degrees when I go to get in my Jeep, forgive me if I don't feel the urgency to knit warm things. Once 'fall' kicks in I'll get back into the groove. [Side Note: Las Vegas doesn't have 'fall' per se, but we have a brief period of 'less hot' followed by many blustery months of chilly and windy directly followed by Easter (when it rains) and then 'hot' again. Once every 5 years or so it will snow here. That is when all hell breaks loose on the roads.]
Oh, I tacked a set of US 1 dpns onto my Webs order, the Pony plasticky kind that I like so much. If I'm going to commit to this sock thing I'm going to need the cavalry (a.k.a. properly sized knitting needles.
I don't know if I want to make all of the HPO yarn into socks, but I had to have a smaller set to get gauge etc. I thought it would be quite poetic to turn the Lupin and Tonks skeins into an object together. Perhaps a simple scarf? I'd like to know why there isn't a Dobby colorway though. Nobody loved socks like Dobby!
Oh well, I've rambled on long enough. I'll try and get it together around here so there can be some quality posts.
Monday, June 23, 2008
50th post! Already?
I'll admit that the blogging has been slow around here lately, but this is due in large part to the fact that it's rather difficult to blog from one's cell phone (no matter how iAdvanced it may be).
Still, I've made it to 50 posts! I have finished objects to share and new things already on the needles! (No, mom, your afghan is not one of the finished objects. Simmer down, it's only June!)
Still, I've made it to 50 posts! I have finished objects to share and new things already on the needles! (No, mom, your afghan is not one of the finished objects. Simmer down, it's only June!)
I have finished my first* sock. One Red Sock. My brother immediately commented that it reminded him of the Red Sox's red socks, so I don't know if I'll bother making a second. Don't get me wrong, I'm no Yankees fan. I just resent that my little brother thinks it's ok to have a backup team. What is this nonsense! "But they're in a different league, and all the way across the country" he says. Like that's some sort of a defense. I am a True Blue Dodgers fan (I bleed BLUE during baseball season. No really.) Occasionally my mom will threaten to defect to the Padres or [shudder] Giants, but we don't take her seriously. Sorry mom.My practice sweater is all but finished because I am having quite a bit of trouble with the neckline ribbing. First I picked up stitches like a maniac (some 120 when the pattern called for 78, I lost count) and it had a hilariously ruffled collar look. Not quite what I was looking for, really. So, on the second try I picked up exactly 78, made it through 3 or 4 rounds and realized I had dropped a stitch somewhere, messed up the ribbing twice, and had some unsightly gaps along the neck edge :-( So, I ask you, is there anything inherently wrong with leaving the sweater as is? I mean it may be a little uneven, but being completely honest with myself, this sweater wasn't intended to be worn, you know, outside of the house. Perhaps I've reached some sort of frustration quotient and just need to give it some time. My inner scientist is urgently reminding me that failed experiments are how we learn. [Side Note: It's platitudes like that one that make me want to plunk her in the head with an Erlenmeyer flask.]
And I've got a new sock project going! This one is flying off the needles, I've already got the first sock finished and I immediately cast on for the second sock (fearing that I would lose the inspiration). I found some Opal sock yarn to play with and practice on and I'm impressed with how easy it is to work with. It may not be the softest, squooshiest, or most lovely yarn I've ever worked with, but it's German; utility before frills, I get it. I'll bet that a little blocking and some fabric softener will work wonders. This colorway (don't ask me what it's called, I don't read German) struck me as particularly patriotic for some reason, I'm going to call these my Patriot socks. [Side Note: Not to abuse New England teams today or anything, but I'm most certainly NOT a Patriots fan either. It's the Steelers for me, thanks!]
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Ulterior (Sock) Motives
I have a confession to make: I have only soldiered on in my sock attempts to prepare myself for some Opal yarn in the Harry Potter colorways. They come out in the fall, sometime before the movie. Since I've decided that I must possess them all, I feel a little obligated to actually make them into something. Though the prospect of just keeping the lovely skeins around (or having them framed) is quite appealing to me :-)
This got me thinking about the role the HP series has played in my knitting. After reading the books and having myself sorted (via sortinghat.com or something like that) into Slytherin I decided that I must have a scarf. [Side Note: Again, I'm not a bad person; though I suspect that my ambition can sometimes set my moral compass spinning, it does find itself again eventually.] I put aside the fact that I seldom visit latitudes North of, oh, Southern California or so, and sought out a Slytherin scarf for myself.
When I finally found a store selling them I couldn't bring myself to pay some $27 dollars for it. The USC bookstore sold a lovely Gryffindor 'SC scarf that fall for the bargain price of $10 and I caved, but it still wasn't the same. I felt like I was misrepresenting myself by wearing it to the movie premier. Weird huh? I found plenty of other things in WhimsicAlley to amuse me for hours on end (including a quill pen and ink, and a Dark Mark temporary tattoo), but the crafty part of my brain was whirring along at full tilt. "How are scarves made? They look woven together, not sewn up patches of color. Gee, I wonder how they do that. OH, knitting would do that ... right?" is how my internal monologue went. TO THE INTERNET!
After some brief googling I discovered that people can, in fact, knit these things themselves! I dashed out to Michaels, bought a skein of green and one of grey and a pair of needles. I had no regard for the type of yarn, it's gauge, or even the size of the needles really, so you probably know how this turned out. I worked diligently on my very first project and once I had mastered the Knit and Purl stitches (and realized that Knitting on BOTH sides means you end up with garter stitch) the scarf seemed to fly off the needles. Of course I was using US 10s (because 10 sounded like a nice round number at the time). I was very proud of my efforts, but not so much of the scarf. I had picked up reading a few knitting related sites and had learned so much that, despite the lacklustre scarf, I was hooked (or knitted, rather, as this isn't crochet afterall).
The scarf eventually ended up being ripped out and used to make Salazar the Bear. And I've never gotten around to making myself a proper Slytherin scarf either, but this doesn't trouble me much anymore because of a) the climate I live in and b) the fact that my halloween costume robe is Gryffindor too. [Side Note: this is because I could not find a suitable green lining fabric last year to save my life, but red was everywhere and on sale!]
Speaking of Sal though, I've found that his neck is a bit floppy which makes him look as if he's puzzled by something. Rather than busy myself with reinforcing his neck I decided to take a page out of Nearly Headless Nick's book and make him a scarf to hold his head up instead, haha! I took the book scarf pattern as it was originally posted and just kept knitting it until it was long enough for Sal. I'll have him try it on when I get home. [Imagine him with his head cocked to the side as if to say "For me?"]
This got me thinking about the role the HP series has played in my knitting. After reading the books and having myself sorted (via sortinghat.com or something like that) into Slytherin I decided that I must have a scarf. [Side Note: Again, I'm not a bad person; though I suspect that my ambition can sometimes set my moral compass spinning, it does find itself again eventually.] I put aside the fact that I seldom visit latitudes North of, oh, Southern California or so, and sought out a Slytherin scarf for myself.
When I finally found a store selling them I couldn't bring myself to pay some $27 dollars for it. The USC bookstore sold a lovely Gryffindor 'SC scarf that fall for the bargain price of $10 and I caved, but it still wasn't the same. I felt like I was misrepresenting myself by wearing it to the movie premier. Weird huh? I found plenty of other things in WhimsicAlley to amuse me for hours on end (including a quill pen and ink, and a Dark Mark temporary tattoo), but the crafty part of my brain was whirring along at full tilt. "How are scarves made? They look woven together, not sewn up patches of color. Gee, I wonder how they do that. OH, knitting would do that ... right?" is how my internal monologue went. TO THE INTERNET!
After some brief googling I discovered that people can, in fact, knit these things themselves! I dashed out to Michaels, bought a skein of green and one of grey and a pair of needles. I had no regard for the type of yarn, it's gauge, or even the size of the needles really, so you probably know how this turned out. I worked diligently on my very first project and once I had mastered the Knit and Purl stitches (and realized that Knitting on BOTH sides means you end up with garter stitch) the scarf seemed to fly off the needles. Of course I was using US 10s (because 10 sounded like a nice round number at the time). I was very proud of my efforts, but not so much of the scarf. I had picked up reading a few knitting related sites and had learned so much that, despite the lacklustre scarf, I was hooked (or knitted, rather, as this isn't crochet afterall).
The scarf eventually ended up being ripped out and used to make Salazar the Bear. And I've never gotten around to making myself a proper Slytherin scarf either, but this doesn't trouble me much anymore because of a) the climate I live in and b) the fact that my halloween costume robe is Gryffindor too. [Side Note: this is because I could not find a suitable green lining fabric last year to save my life, but red was everywhere and on sale!]
Speaking of Sal though, I've found that his neck is a bit floppy which makes him look as if he's puzzled by something. Rather than busy myself with reinforcing his neck I decided to take a page out of Nearly Headless Nick's book and make him a scarf to hold his head up instead, haha! I took the book scarf pattern as it was originally posted and just kept knitting it until it was long enough for Sal. I'll have him try it on when I get home. [Imagine him with his head cocked to the side as if to say "For me?"]
Friday, June 6, 2008
$#(!*&% holes
After previous sock attempts were abandoned I began to feel some crafty-person remorse. I went and bought sock yarn (lovely red Cascade) and even itty bittier DPNs [Side Note: 'bittier' isn't a word, but I'm going to use it anyway. HAHA, actually the spell checker doesn't have a problem with it, but "itty" and "DPNs" it doesn't approve of. Go figure.] I vowed to try again, especially since socks are so portable and I'm driving myself up the wall with my practice sweater [Another Side Note: I finished the back of the sweater last night, forgoing my self-imposed break].
I picked the most generic sock pattern that I could find and cast on, worked down the leg, turned the heel in short row and realized that there are $#(!*$% holes along the short row. This was not supposed to happen! I used a much simplified method of short row that didn't involve all that befuddling yarn wrapping that I haven't developed the skills to accomplish yet. It worked out just fine and simplified my project immeasurably, but there are tiny spaces! ARGH!
Don't get me wrong, I can live with the holes. I live in a desert and socks are not necessary for more than perhaps 2 months of the year. It's just the idea that my first* (I'm not counting the discarded projects, Finished Objects only!) socks won't be *perfect* that bugs me. Scratch that, it's the idea that I followed the directions and played by the rules and it did work out that bugs me even more. If I don't know what went wrong, how am I supposed to fix it in the future? Grr.
In other news, I'm not sure where all of this angsty, self-reflective knit-blogging is coming from lately, but I'm sure it will subside soon. Also, blogging from one's iPhone isn't conducive to picture posting, sorry! If I can figure out how to send a picture AND the accompanying text together and have them appear as a single cohesive post the pictures will return.
I picked the most generic sock pattern that I could find and cast on, worked down the leg, turned the heel in short row and realized that there are $#(!*$% holes along the short row. This was not supposed to happen! I used a much simplified method of short row that didn't involve all that befuddling yarn wrapping that I haven't developed the skills to accomplish yet. It worked out just fine and simplified my project immeasurably, but there are tiny spaces! ARGH!
Don't get me wrong, I can live with the holes. I live in a desert and socks are not necessary for more than perhaps 2 months of the year. It's just the idea that my first* (I'm not counting the discarded projects, Finished Objects only!) socks won't be *perfect* that bugs me. Scratch that, it's the idea that I followed the directions and played by the rules and it did work out that bugs me even more. If I don't know what went wrong, how am I supposed to fix it in the future? Grr.
In other news, I'm not sure where all of this angsty, self-reflective knit-blogging is coming from lately, but I'm sure it will subside soon. Also, blogging from one's iPhone isn't conducive to picture posting, sorry! If I can figure out how to send a picture AND the accompanying text together and have them appear as a single cohesive post the pictures will return.
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