Sockity sock sock sock

I have completed stuff. I have no pictures, though. Sadness!

I have finished:

*socks for Littlest Sis. Basic cuff-down socks, made from Lion Brand Magic Stripes (ravelry link). Started them in April when I needed a portable project, finished Saturday night in Door County. Easy-peasy.

*slippers for Alice. I gave them to her, she opened them and exclaimed, then I noticed: I hadn't woven the ends in! Oops! I used two skeins of Noro Kochoran but left out the gray stuff.

*Mother's Day socks for (who else) Mom.

Hopefully I'll have pictures soon, so at the very least I can prove to the world that I have actually done stuff other than play Sims (just a scooch addictive) this month. I asked Mom and Alice and Littlest Sis to take pictures of their feet, and they gave me That Look. Next time, take pictures /first/.

Next stop:
Littlest Sis's birthday. If I'd been thinking, I'd've held her socks back, but whatever. I don't know if she reads this (Little Sis reads this, so if Littlest Sis doesn't, she's by default not my favorite sister), so I won't say much.

How the heck did it get to be June, anyways?

*steps up to the microphone*

Err, hi. This is Dubious. I used to have a blog here. Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been doing secret stuff, both knitting-related and non-knitting-related. I can't say much, but if aliens land in the next two weeks and try to conquer Wisconsin (but not Illinois; the aliens don't particularly want Illinois).... Yeah. Sorry in advance.

Heh heh.

I've been working mostly on presents. Yeah, I'm still not done with '08 Christmas presents (although why hurry and finish a wool sweater, just to give it to Mom in July?). Next year, everyone's getting a iTunes card. Presents - done in 10 minutes.

Tuesdays are for....

Tuesdays are for spinning, so I spun. I spun poorly, but I spun. This is approximately 40 grams (I'm guessing: there's a bit that I deemed too poor to blog about) of merino from http://jacinta11.etsy.com in the Victorian Rose colorway. Totally gorgeous. It's still drying in the bathroom and I haven't done any measuring yet, but I'm guessing it's super-duper bulky weight and maybe 15-20 yards.

Mother's Day socks are going well. There will be no picture, since my phone is all the way across the room and I am lazy, but I frogged and redid it in a 3x1 rib. I saw that it was good, and I continued to the second sock, where I currently am (btw, I am aware that Mother's Day was last Sunday). I'm heading down to see Mummy Dearest this weekend, so I hope I'll have it done by then!

Where have all the flowers gone?

I'm not sure just where April went. It was the beginning of April, I blink, and now it's the end of April. So what have I been doing? Good question.

I've been learning Continental knitting. Not my original idea, I confess. Lil' Sis is learning Continental, and my thought process was something along the lines of "Anything you can do I can do better!" So I'm learning. You'd think it'd be easier since I'm actually left-handed, but it's not.

I'll give you a pictorial demonstration:

Socks for Kelly, pattern here, yarn Lion Brand Magic Stripes. Line 1: A few hours of TV. Line 2: Watching The Producers. Line 3: A few hours of TV. Line 4: The time the boss was late to work and I couldn't get in the office. The rest: I don't know, maybe TEN HOURS!!!

Of course, this isn't the only thing I've been working on this month. I also have this:

I swear to God, this yarn hates me. Pattern is a basic cobbled-together sock pattern, yarn is Plymouth Sockotta. Cotton blend. I've never made cotton-blend socks before and I never will again. Sweet zombie Jesus, I have never had such problems with gauge before. First I do a basic stockinette gauge and get 7 sts/in on #2 needles, exactly what the label suggests.

So I think about making Pomatomus socks. I go down a needle size, make another stockinette swatch to get 8 sts/in as the pattern likes. Then I swatch in the pattern stitch. I need 12 sts/in, I get 9.6 sts/in. I go down another needle size, get a little closer to gauge in the pattern stitch, but I'm off in the stockinette swatch. Way off. Like tiny little swatch, like a baby blanket for a flea.

Okay, so maybe Pomatomus aren't the way to go. I cast on for a basic sock, knit for a bit, then think, "Hey, this is a little small." I measure. 8 sts/in, on the same needles as my very first swatch.

My conclusion: This is truly an wicked yarn. If I flick holy water at it, little green clouds of pure evil emanate from its skein. Maybe I shouldn't make Mother's Day socks out of it...

The sound of silence

Katrina's stockings are done, and drying on my fancy-pants sock blockers that I made out of some of Dad's hangers. Me, I don't have any wire hangers. I read "Mommy Dearest" in my formative years, and- well, I don't have any wire hangers. I'd model them on myself, except I am very short and stumpy and the stockings were made for someone who's neither short nor stumpy. When the first one was finished, I tried it on. It flattered neither the stocking nor the wearer. I'll tell Katrina to model them for me. :)

Also, I finally have a picture of Mom's sweater:


Why yes, it is a little washed out. In real life, the sweater and the stockings are just about the same color. I'm hoping to get this done by Mother's day, just in time for summer. Because who wouldn't want to wear a wool sweater in the summertime?

Giant Sucking Noise

About a year and a half ago, I bought a pair of Clover wooden 10 1/2 DPNs. Before this, I was firmly on the cheap metal needle bandwagon and I only got the Clovers because I had some chunky yarn that I wanted to knit up NOW (or rather, THEN) and I couldn't find metal ones that size. And they were awesome. They were everything people say about wooden needles: warm in my hands, and the knitting flew.

The only problem? Somewhere in my vicinity there is a giant black hole that only eats wooden 10 1/2 DPNs. My sock yarn that's been sitting for two years? Still there, begging to be knit (but that's a different problem). My collection of crochet hooks? All there, even the teeny thread crochet ones. My gauges and tape measures and seam rippers? All present and accounted for. The size 00 needles? A little bent, but otherwise intact. My nice wooden 10 1/2 DPNs? Gone gone gone.

Seriously. I've bought three more packages of those suckers, plus made some out of dowels I found in the garage once when I was feeling particularly desperate. Probably 30 needles. I am currently in possesion of 3 of them, and oneof them has been chewed on, presumably by one of Mom's pets.

Grah.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

EPIC FAIL

Epic fail is: -Deciding that you're going to get a present finished on time, dammit, and cast on a pair of socks for Lil Sis's birthday two weeks in advance.

-Knitting your /ass/ off, spending hours deciphering the fiddly cable pattern, going back and correcting countless dropped stitches, miscrossed cables, and other fun anomalies.

-Spending the entire weekend before Lil Sis' birthday celebration knitting, getting so close you can taste it.

-Finding out that it's time to get to the restaurant, and you've got this:






See that? That is one inch. ONE INCH.

So bitter was my defeat, when I informed Lil Sis that she'd get them next weekend, at the birthday celebration with Dad. So vile was my hatred, when I got teased at my inability to finish projects on time. So tender was my satisfaction when I finished up the toe the next day and danced around the house with them in my hands. And so firm is my resolve that from now on, Lil Sis can make her own damn socks.

Finished Jenny's b-day present. We're not celebrating Jenny's birthday on Dad's side until Saturday, so I shall wait to post pictures because I know she reads this. Hi Jenny! *waves*

Now I'm back to Katrina's stockings. I'm up to this line: "work in Patt 3 until piece measures 1 inch less than the length of your heel to your calf muscle."

*blink*

I'm a bit confuzzled. And I can't try on the stockings myself to see where the increases should go because I'm all short and stubby and Katrina is not. I dunno. Maybe I'll wing it. It's a lacy stocking pattern made out of elasticized cotton, how bad could it be?

Et voila! Finis!

Kelly's scarf is done. I packed it off and mailed it yesterday, and Mom's going to give it to Kelly tomorrow.

When I was at the post office yesterday, the counter worker asked me if I wanted insurance (I was mailing a book on CD as well). I thought about it and replied, "Well, I have a book on CD from the library in there, so maybe I should..." It wasn't until I got home until it hit me: why didn't I insure the scarf as well? If I were a philosophical person or a person good with words, I would wax eloquent on my tendency to undervalue the things made by my fingers and cleverness. I could go on about how society teaches us to discount items typically made by women, or how the big box stores have mass-produced so much that handmade gifts aren't nearly as valued as they should be, but I'll just say this: that scarf took up four skeins of Lamb's Pride bulky and 14 buttons at $1 each, plus $7 worth of ribbon to lace it up with... That's $50 (well, $51.40 plus tax).

Anyways. The package reached its destination safely, so I guess it's a moot point. Va bene, as Kelly would say.

What I should be working on:
Mom's sweater (about 5" of the back finished)
Katrina's stockings (cast on yesterday)
Fingerless gloves for April, Jen (merely gleams in my eye)
House socks for Katie (forgot about them until just now, when I looked up my Christmas list)
Jenny's socks (I cast on one cuff- a year ago)
I think I still owe Lizzie and Katie pillows
Silver necklace for Lizzie, who's apparently not a werewolf

What I want to be working on:
Two-color mittens for me
My idea. I don't want to say anything more for fear that I'll jinx it.

So here's what I'll do. I work for a few hours on old Christmas presents, then I reward myself with fun stuff.

Miscrossed

See the difference? I was toddling along, weaving in ends and sewing on buttons, and I noticed the cable on the right. The /bad/ cable. I may have fainted.

Fortunately, there is the internet. I searched and found the trusty Yarn Harlot and a post on fixing cables. A few runs of the sewing needle later, and I had this:


Not the most elegant, but it'll do.

Curiosity

My dad has got to be the least curious person ever. (Yes, I live with my dad. I'm working a halftime temp job and I prefer not being homeless - what would happen to my yarn if /that/ happened? I don't think it'd all fit in my car anymore) Anyways. I told him I'd be working on stuff this afternoon and disappeared downstairs into the study/laundry room. Three hours he comes down to find me up to my armpits in soapy water, scooping out felt turds with a kitchen strainer, surrounded by the stench of wet wool, and Kelly's scarf pinned to the futon in the study (Holy Phil, that thing smelled /hideous/. I've bathed my mom's dogs after they've rolled in dead animals, and I was unprepared for the stench), and all he says is, "The driveway is slippery, so be careful going down the front steps."

Then again, my sisters and I were weird kids and even weirder adults. He's put up with me lacing up my sisters into bodices before Ren Faire, he's put up my sister smashing mirrors in order to grout them onto a end table, felting and blocking is probably a piece of cake to him.

Behold! I have returned from the abyss!

Back to knitting, after a long break playing with beads and wire and those french hooks that I can never wear, despite the fact that they're /supposed/ to be hypoallergenic...

So what am I working on?

1. Versatility. I am so close to being done with this that I can taste it. It tastes good.


This is a present for my sis Kelly. Somehow I don't think she'll wear it this way.


That's more like it, no? The color's lighter than the pictures indicate, a sort of sage green. It's gorgeous and I've totally forgiven it for sucking up an extra skein of yarn. All that's left for me to do is to block it and weave in ends and sew on buttons.

2. Celtic Icon I shall not post a picture of this because I have my pride. This and Versatility were originally intended to be Christmas presents. Because I am poor but know how to knit, I persuaded my sister Jenny, who is not poor and doesn't know how to knit cables yet, to buy the yarn and I'd knit them up and easily have them both done for Christmas.

I fear that if Jenny finds out how little I've accomplished on this, she'll garrote me with some worsted-weight and a cable needle. To add to the insult, she'll kill me with Red Heart.

3. Quilt thingy - A while back, the church where I work asked for volunteers to make stuff for their quilt show fundraiser in April 2009. I volunteered. Again, the "I've got plenty of time and inclination to knit!" hubris. The lady who runs the quilt show just asked me if she could have the thingy by the 15th. As in less than two weeks. Ruh roh.

4. Idea - I have an idea. I don't want to say anymore because I don't want to jinx it.