Sockapaloozed!

In my last post, I talked about how I never receive good mail anymore, no cards, no letters. But I neglected to tell you that I did receive my Sockapalooza socks from my pal, Jun.

I received a lovely package from Jun. I absolutely adore these socks and the color too. I would have never chosen it and I'm quite happy with the choice she made. I ran around the house wearing wool socks in a very hot house and was quite happy to do so.

It is really great to receive something handknitted as I don't receive handknit gifts from other knitter friends and the others who don't knit, never seem to think of taking up knitting, even though they may receive handknit gifts. It really is quite special.


My socks were quite well-travelled. The yarn is from Jun's stash of Sweet Georgia Yarns in Willow. I feel really special. The pattern is Adrian's Cable Twist sock patterns. I don't think I would ever knit cabled socks, so these are perfect to receive.


And look Ma, they fit! They were a little tight to pull over the foot, but then they fit snugly, but not tight. Very nice socks and surprisingly, the short row heel fits better than I thought it might.


Thanks a lot Jun for the socks, I really appreciate it!!

Sockapalooza Trifecta!

Just in the nick of time, the Sockapalooza socks have been completed. While I was kitchenering the last toe of the second sock, I was also at the same point for my first Lemon Ice Sock. And I'd started another sock, so I thought, "Why not show all socks in some measure of completion?" So here you go. . .

The first picture shows the Sockapalooza socks (in red/orange/brown/cream jacquard), then the first sock in a colorway I call Lemon Ice in Sockotta sock yarn and lastly, a new sock started in Opal Rainforest colorway Caterpillar.



A solo picture of my sockpal's completed socks.



The yarn is Fortissima Socka Mit Bambou (a wool/nylon/bamboo mix). Since my sockapalooza pal likes her socks on the tall-ish side, I knit the leg to 7", after that I start to tire of knitting socks, truly. The pattern I used is Thuja from Knitty. I couldn't decide on a pattern for the longest time and decided to go with a known winner. As Polly always mentions on her blog that socks for an unknown person or someone you're unable to measure for, a sock with lots of stretch is best, that's how I decided on Thuja. It works well with the sock yarn and the pattern doesn't distract from the self-patterning nature of the yarn. Overall, very pleased with these socks. And I finished them fairly quickly for me, as well as having time to get started and finishing an entirely different sock.

On to the next sock, it is the completed first Lemon Ice sock. I love this crazy yarn that my Coffee Swap Pal, Kat, sent me. I actually am less in love with the content of the sock yarn, but love the colorway. It's very fun. It's just a K3, P2 rib, but I did learn that 60 sts for a slightly heavier yarn didn't work for my gauge. The second sock will be 55 sts. If I were to knit with this sock yarn again, I would definitely use about 54 stitches. And I knit the cuff in rib and the foot of the sock plain. Can't wait to finish the second sock, should be doable by the end of the month!



And certainly not least, a new sock! Whee! How I love knitting socks. And lately I've not had the mental capacity to do much more than do simple patterns. Just way too busy and feeling like I can't ever catch up and too hot when I get home, so all socks all the time it has been. The yarn is more from my Opal collection :-) This is from the Rainforest Collection, in the Caterpillar colorway. This yarn was gifted to me by Stacey. I was lucky to receive it, I really just adore this colorway right now. Not sure why, but oh well.



Next up, the "knitting camp update".

Lace Rib Tank

That's a less than enticing photo below, but some of you may recall this project from last summer. This tank was started last August when I visited my mother in Atlanta and after I finished the first side, I put it down and didn't start the second side until I was leaving Atlanta this summer. Too funny, the circle of life.

Now, I'm finished knitting the body and one strap, just have one more strap to go. I'm at the point where I just want to finish it, but not really that enthused to do so. My head is being turned by many lovely new projects, but I feel a round of finishing coming up soon. This time the lace pattern and I really jibed and I zoomed through the body of it, but left the straps for 2 weeks. Finally this past weekend I picked it back up and worked on one side and finished it quickly. This project also requires seaming, but I haven't done that in awhile, so I suppose I'll have my chance.



Right now the knitting has been focused almost exclusively on the Sockapalooza socks. I did finish the first sock and am now on the heel flap of the second one. While this is no contest and I'm not the fastest knitter, especially with knitting socks, I think it's the Thuja pattern that keeps me going and I know that I need to finish these soon. The sooner I get them done, then I can move on to other sock patterns I want to try and the deadline monkey will be off my back.

Also, I finally got motivated to finish DFS and I worked on it for an hour or so two nights ago. I've only got this one repeat, 20 rows to finish. Now down to about 15. I'm trying to knock it out too. This knit has lingered a bit too long and while I desire the finished object, I'm also ready to finish it. The love is definitely not gone, but it needs to be on my shoulders and not smooshed in a bag. I also want to cast on for new lace and I have decided to allow myself to have more than one lace project, but I can have one shawl and one stole. I have yarn already wound for the next shawl, so I better get cracking on this one.

I'm sure you won't see a blog post from until next week as I'm preparing to go up with my girls to our knitting camp this weekend. Hopefully I can finish up a few things while there!

Sock Knitting Palooza

Hey all,

I've fallen off the deep end of the earth this week, reading more than knitting, although there has been knitting too. I'm on my second book this week and some nights have found me curled up with a book instead of knitting.

Lately, I've been a bit of a joiner. I signed up for round 4 of Sockapalooza, perhaps idiotically, but I participated in Round 2 and it was a good experience, so I'm chancing it once again. I've really be in a socks and lace mode as of late. My pal says that she prefers fall colors and I took that to mean oranges and reds. After further re-reading her information, I realized I didn't pay attention to the part that also mentioned her idea of fall colors was oranges, but also reds, blues and greens. Yikes! The colors I chose were more oranges and browns, so none of those other colors. I guess this should teach me to pay more attention to the full text of an email.

I contacted my pal to see what preferences she had in terms of cables, texture, stitch patterns or lace and she was pretty open to anything, which is good. I kept thinking I would do one of the new sock patterns I've seen on the web, but I also ended up switching yarns at the last minute. I started to use my Brick House Fearless Fibers yarn as socks for my Sockapalooza pal, but then realized that I think the yarn is pretty, but is very fine. I cast on for 72 stitches and honestly the love was not there to knit those socks and to also do it quickly as these socks need to be finished and mailed by the beginning of August and I'm casting on the 1st week of July. Yeah, a bit of a time crunch.

So new yarn to the rescue, Fortissima Socka mit Bambou. I saw this at one of my local LYSs and picked it up. Cast on shortly thereafter and by Monday of this week, I'd completed ribbing and started the heel flap. The colors in the skein were not indicative of a pattern, if any. I'm not 100% convinced I like it, but this is the final yarn as I'm not switching again. The bamboo gives the sock yarn a softer hand, but it is splitty like a mofo. No fun that.



I'm using a tried and true sock pattern favorite, Thuja. Man, do I love this sock pattern, so simple, but has a nice effect. I might even use this for socks for M. He's been hinting lately for a pair of socks.

Then, because I couldn't just have one pair of socks on the needle and for someone else, I had to immediately cast on for socks from my wonderful coffee swap pal, Kathy. I've cast on for a pair of short socks, not really anklets, but with a 4 inch cuff, some shortish socks with a K3, P2 ribbing (not exactly sure why I did that) with Sockotta. I like how the yarn is knitting up. I've dubbed them my Lemon Ice socks. I'm knitting them with 60 stitches on size 2 needles. This is really information for me, in case I forget by the time I cast for the second sock (ha!). Also, because it is the Summer of Socks, I obviously had to have new socks on the needles to count towards it, right? :-)



That's it for now chicas. Have a good weekend, everyone!