DH and Vanilla Socks

Ahhhhh, vanilla socks.  Arg, socks for Bigfoot.  Bigfoot is otherwise known as DH.  He wears a size 13 shoe and he married a knitter that loves him dearly, except when she has to knit socks for him.  While she knits, she grumbles and thinks about when she can stop knitting on the foot of the socks just at the right spot to make them for her feet.  Love triumphs often enough that he has almost as many hand knit socks as her. Even in size 1 needles.

Toe up Vanilla in Herrschners Super Value Sock Pack (Aztec)

Just kidding, I really do love my darling dearest.  He has a redeeming quality of narrow feet.  I am not sure what I would do/say/grumble if DH had wide feet.  Thankfully, a 64-stitch sock fits his foot nicely.  However, I will include a few reference points for scale.  I am roughly 5 foot 5 inches in heights and am normally proportioned.  Without knitting the heel (afterthought heel) and keeping a shorter cuff length, the sock is the length of my thigh.  That’s right; it is thigh length on an average sized woman.  DH’s preference is for shorter legs and cuffs so by the time I add in the heel, the sock cuff will only extend over the foot length by 1.5”.

While I have knit the hat for my co-worker, the socks sidetracked me again.  You would think that at some point boredom would set in.  There is at least one more pair in my immediate future.  My baby sister sent me a few skeins of sock yarn for Christmas.  They are next up in my queue and I wonder if I think this all the way through if, I can extend the socks as far as the yarn will take me.  The yarn from Baby Sis is the Deborah NorvilleCollection, Serenity Sock Weight yarn in the Amethyst color way.  I am excited to see how it plays out but I won’t cast on these socks until I pass the foot of DH’s second sock.  Going to take forever!

Lastly, I have won something again!  Uncommonly good luck has been heading my way lately.  As I’ve mentioned before, I watch the Geeky Girls podcast and I participated in C.C. and Damaris’s giftable KAL. The random number generator picked my post on Ravelry for a hat destined for Halos of Hope. The bag is a wonderful olive green and clearly states to keep hands off stash.  J

Dr. Watson Adjustments

Finally! Dr. Watson's Cabled Crew-Neck is just a block away as the Knitmore Girls would say. The tails need tucked and blocked but the knitting and seaming is finally done. Roughly half the tails are tucked but I need to get off my duff and finish it up. However, this podcast should be about all of my modifications like I promised.


The first change was due to gauge. I needed to remove several stitches for a comfortable fit without it being almost DH size. So instead of casting on 232 stitches, I cast on 200. Then I removed a p2, k6 in two locations (instead of having a 3 cable section, I have a 2 cable section). When I had to divide for the front and back, I placed the first 103 stitches on an extra cable. The back was 105 stitches instead of 121 stitches.

The shoulders are where I got really creative. I worked 28 stitches instead of 36 stitches. Looking back, I wonder if I shouldn't have adjusted the shoulders and worked them as written for a tighter neckline than what I currently have. With the neckline shaping, did not write down any adjustments but I know I adjusted the shoulders and worked the neckline from what I didn't need for the shoulders.

Sleeves. Without thinking, I cast on the sleeves as written and needed to rip them out. Next, I cast on 44 stitches and then I needed to remove the first k4, p2 and the last p2, k4. From there I knit the pattern as written until I had the correct length sleeves (correct for my arm length). As it worked out for me, I had to increase until I had 101 stitches in the sleeves. That said, I like having loose sleeves because I always wear a long sleeve t-shirt under my sweaters.


As I said the things I maybe would have done differently:

1. Adjust the neckline to a smaller width based on my gauge
   
2. Knit the shoulders as written
   
3. Maybe use DK instead of Worsted
   
4. If I wanted to use Worsted, perhaps I should have used the seamed version instead of the in the round version.
   
5. Learn to hem knitting before I attempt a hem on a handknit sweater.

Additional information:
Needles: Hiya Hiya Interchangeables in size 4 (3.5mm) and 6 (4mm)

Yarn: Knitpicks Wool of the Andes Gypsy Tonal

Busy days ahead

This time of year, people seem to lose all reason. Myself included! Somehow, there are fewer hours in the day and people pack more into those precious few! Prime examples. Logically, there are only 7 days until Christmas but the schedule of events is filled with 12 days worth of things. For example, there is Zoolight Safari, visiting Santa, cleaning the house before my in-laws arrive, several days of work/daycare, a little additional last minute holiday knitting, survival knitting, cooking, cleaning, experimentation, and organization. I think that's the big stuff. While I realize cleaning is on there twice, there are 2 boys under the age of 4 in this house and one much older boy. Cleaning is going need to happen until the in-laws arrive.

That may be the best seam I've ever done.

So, the important stuff; the knitting has been happening very slowly. Finally the sleeves are getting set into the Dr. Watson Sweater. (As soon as I remember to bring the pattern home, I will put all of my mods on this blog.) Nothing wrong with the pattern, just everything wrong with the knitter. Procrastination should be the knitter's middle name. With as bright as the yarn is, seaming  in the dark isn't easy. Half a sleeve was seamed Monday night and the remaining half was seamed Tuesday over the lunch break. Now, if only the sweater was for Uncle GeGe who lost an arm in his 20's. Horrible farming accident so always be careful working around moving equipment and especially if you've grown up operating the equipment. Granted, Uncle GeGe is no longer walking this earth but this sweater could have been for him with the 1 sleeve and if it was his size.

1 sleeve done

Also worked on and finished finished Monday evening was another pair of vanilla socks. The yarn is some kettle dyed yarn from Dixie Fiber Works in the plum colorway. Cast on 64 stitches on a size 0 circular needle, k2 p2 for roughly 2" the move to stockinette stitch for another 3 inches. The first sock is easy because I use things like the finger bone as an approximate inch marker. So when I was ribbing in ISO training, I went until I had 2 finger bone lengths. The leg length was knit until lunch or a break and when it was longer than the ribbing by about yay much. Grab a little waste yarn, then pick up and gogogogogo until the foot is long enough.

Perfect Sock Heel

By that time, I'm back to my tape measure and it's after dinner. Then toe decreases in your perfered method and graft the toe closed. I made it a point to pick up an extra 4 stitches when I removed the waste yarn and knit 1 addtional round before starting my decreases. For some reason, that set up gave me the perfect afterthought heel I think I've ever done.

Socks log wonderful in steel toe boots

After all this finishing work I've identifed a lack in my life. At the Zoolight Safari, Holiday lights at our nearby zoo, I noticed the Knitter in the family is lacking a warm winter hat. DH has a hat. DS1 has a hat. DS2 has a hat. Me, I have none. DH is wearing a Turn a Square hat by Jared Flood with a yarn I cannot remember. His yarn was bought at Labadie Looms in Bird-in-Hand PA. The leftovers were used to make Rib-a-Roni by Jane Tanner for DS1. DS2 is proudly wearing Speedy Cabled Beret by Paulina Chin in a bulky yarn dyed by me. The Speedy Cabled Beret was knit on the wrong needle size and I wasn't paying enough attention at the time to realize it was going to be way too small for me.

1, 2, 3, wait! Where's my hat?

The next project for me is going to be hat for a co-worker then a hat for me. I will be keeping the hat I make for me, I promise. (hope)

Random Thoughts

Today is a day for random thoughts; fair warning.

With wine, trashy romance novel hit the mood.

Knitting Related:

Why do wine, knitting, and a book make everything look better?

Why do I always promise to be a monogamous knitter until the current WIP is finished but then stop knitting for at least 24 hours?

Do budgets exist just to drive people crazy (especially yarn budgets)?

How does a toddler pull the waste yarn (several inches) in my afterthought heel out when I am lucky to cinch up 5 stitches at most?

Seriously child, HOW?

Child Related:

Why is it that when there’s a long ride home and a promised delay on the route home, toddlers refuse to go potty when asked. Literally as soon as they are buckled into the car, they need to go?

Why do I ask DH to pick something up for the kiddo and he gets grouchy the following morning because I made him get up with the Kiddo dealing with the problem?  It could have been taken care of the evening before!

Why is hugging/holding Mommy’s Legs fun, even if she’s not going anywhere?

Why? WHY is this fun?

Everything Else:

Why do I keep looking at shopping websites when I have all of holiday shopping done?

Must I think a day at work is going to be an easy day and instead I consider it lucky if I am able to visit the ladies room when I want to instead of when I can’t hold it any longer?

If I'm missing at work, I may be hiding here with the bag as my pillow.

Uh-Oh MOMMA- Toddler style

Holy Smoke! What a past couple of weeks-week and a half.  Happy belated Turkey Day to everyone in the US. We had a small gathering of just the 4 of us (DH, both Things, and me). As with every good holiday, there was way too much food for the people involved. DH did cook a turkey and then after Thanksgiving I had the BEST idea for using up a portion of the leftovers. We had Turkey Pot Pie! DH had kindly made a turkey stock for freezing and I made him use up a great bit of it for a homemade cream of turkey soup; delicious.

Source of problems for DS1. 

DH went back to work on black Friday while I stayed home with the boys. We continued our food coma while I did a little knitting. DS1’s socks were finished up. Silly boy, he is such a weirdo (Said with sincere affection). I finished the one sock on Friday while he was napping. By the time he awoke, the second sock was cast on and had roughly an inch of cuff. He came out to the couch were I had the needles sitting, picked it up and freaked out! “Momma Momma Uh-oh Uh-Oh MOMMA Loook Uh-Oh!” I had to dig the finished sock out of my bag and hand it over to him to reassure him Mommy had not screwed up. The rest of Friday I did not touch that sock unless I was after him (tickle wars and Nannabooboos). He wore the one sock, took the sock off, wore the sock, took the sock off, ect. I worked like a speed demon to finish the second sock by Saturday at the end of nap. With a finished pair, he had ZERO interest in the socks.  Toddlers, who can figure them out?

Both sleeves with an old college sweatshirt

The Dr. Watson sweater saw some love but not as much as it should have seen. As of late Sunday night (Dec. 8^th) the second sleeve is completed and the only thing left to do is the finishing work (like putting sleeves into the sweater body). I had a trip to Atlanta scheduled for ISO training so the first thing packed was knitting. I brought along the second sleeve, yarn for a pair of vanilla socks, lace yarn, and yarn for a hat to Halos of Hope. The only items to see any knitting was the sleeve and the vanilla socks.  More knitting would have been done but I was convinced to hang out in the bar with a few glasses of wine. Most of my knitting was done during the lectures/sessions on the sock. Someday I’ll be smart enough to take pictures of the sock in progress between each break. Someday but not yet.

I use Nike+ gear and that's my fastest mile in years.

By the way, when you wake up at 4 AM in a hotel room and are unable to go back to sleep, I recommend getting up after an hour of attempting to sleep going for a run. It’s fabulous! See?

VROOM! SWISH!

After all this time, there's something other than a little knitting featured here! Roughly 30 minutes Saturday was spent at the local yarn store, In The Making. While In The Making is moving, they have not yet moved to their new location and are literally just 2 door down from the old location. Easy to find yet! While the Things were napping, I took off leaving them in the capable care of DH looking for a few more Charm Packs from Moda Fabrics. There were 3 packs left in the charm pack colorway (is that the right word for quilters?). Now there is 1. When my new fabric and I made it home, we went to work. The entirety of nap time I had my little sewing machine out and humming along. Someday this quilt will be finished, with a little luck. Something tells me I'll need to send it off to my Aunt Ruth for the final stages because she does own a Longarm machine.

Eventually....

Notice, only Saturday was knitting. Sunday was for spinning. I had managed to spin the last 2 oz in the 8 oz back of BFL from The Woolery on Friday night. I spent an entire episode of NCIS plying the singles together. I have never been more pleased with myself either. I weighed out the 2 oz into 1 oz bumps and spun each oz on a different bobbin. I had less than 6" of difference in lengths on my singles! Doesn't that almost make it seem like I have a clue whats going on in spinning? Eventually the yarn will come off the bobbin and yardage accounted for.

Yardage to be determined...

Friday of course I had to knit a little on my Dr. Watson sweater sleeve Friday over lunch. Slow and steady wins the race but geez I wish it could hurry up a little bit. Time spent knitting does play a part in the sleeves growing but there are so many other things to do! For example, we went to the nearest Bass Pro Shop. If the line hadn't been so long we might have worked to go see Santa. There was no way the boys would wait patiently to sit on Santa's lap so instead we walked and looked at all the animals and the fish tank they have in house. We also stopped for lunch while in the store. You should have seen the size of that peanut butter and jelly sandwich the boys got! HUGE!!!!

See that BIG FISH? Big Fish!!! Look!!! RIGHT THERE!

After Bass Pro we headed over to some outlet malls for a little bit of wandering around and possible shopping. Sometimes my kids do the craziest things that make me feel like a rock star Mom. The bell ringers are already out for Salvation Army. I handed DS2 some change to drop in the bucket. Earlier in the day he had stolen a quarter from his Daddy and placed the quarter in his pocket. As I handed him the change for the bucket (the goal was to head in the direction of the parking lot), he became very distressed when he couldn't locate his quarter. Eventually he found the correct pocket and all the change was placed in the bucket. DS1 raided his Daddy's pockets and his own pocket for change to put in the bucket. Note to self: always keep some change handy for the boys to put in the kettles. My kids may be hellions most days but they are willing to give up their money for a good cause.

Good parenting if I do say so myself.

Traffic Knitting

Some days, life goes your way and some days, you are stuck in traffic for 3 hours. By stuck, I mean you have the ability to put the car in park and knit while you fret about being late to work, how the kids are going to go potty, and what in the world are they going to eat. I wish could say that the last statements are not firsthand knowledge, but it is. Welcome to my Wednesday morning commute.

1 hour

After making it within 6 miles of work, after already being on the road for about 35-40 minutes, we sat. The Things and I put the car in park at 7:15 AM realizing we weren’t moving anytime soon. All 3 lanes headed eastbound were stuck together for hours. Thank goodness for the little voice in my head that said to bring an extra protein bar for breakfast. At 8 I fed the boys each a half of 1 bar. By 9, I caved and brought out the second bar for them. That was their breakfast with nothing to drink. I have never been more proud of my boys than that day. There were a couple of potty requests but DS1 was able to somehow hold it for more than an hour. Crazy.

3 hours

The bulk of this week’s knitting was in that traffic jam. I started a renewed toddler sock Tuesday night. Barely two rounds were completed before Wednesday morning. The sock where I cast on 48 stitches was too big and was frogged.  This time, 56 stitches were cast on for 2x2 ribbing. As we waited and waited, I took a series of pictures. Most of the pictures can be seen on Instagram where I am dixienuelle. I have a picture after 15 minutes, after an hour, and after 3 hours with a tape measure visible. The final picture was taken at work when I ate lunch (left over from the day before and not in the car with us).  Yay; 3 hours equals roughly 3 inches!

Sleeve to date

Of course with us, stuck was the sleeve I started for the Dr. Watson sweater. Trapped in a non-moving car with two toddlers, there was NO WAY I was going to work on a pattern that I needed to count. That said, a little math was done because I wasn’t smart enough to calculate the sleeves out beforehand. After doing the math eventually, I decreased the cast on from 56 stitches to 44 stitches. To date, all of 1 chevron has been completed so it may take forever to complete the sleeve. However, I do know someone that feels the body of the sweater is finished enough to wear. In order to get the pictures without posing, I had to turn my phone to vibrate where I took a series of still life in motion shots. Some are blurry while others are clear.

He WILL wear that sweater

That’s right, DS2 enjoys Mommy’s sweater. He attempted to put it on at least 4 different ways while I was watching. One way even included diving into the pile of sweater. Unfortunately, that was a really blurred action shot.   The picture I’ve chosen is still blurred but it gives you a sense of the speed in which we were trying to get the sweater on.  J

A few tears shed for a frogging

Neckline is finished (minus turning and sewing into place)

Once again an inability to read directions bit. The good news is there is flexibility in a knitter (some knitters) to make adjustments on the fly. The neckline of my Dr. Watson sweater is meant to be knit in 1x1 ribbing. I however, believe that it should be knit in 2x2 ribbing. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it! I meant to do that; I swear. The pattern also said the first portion of the collar should be ½” in length; well I made it an inch. Then I switched to a different ribbing pattern where I finally followed the pattern once more. My swapped ribbing for the second type was knit for the correct length. Naturally once the collar was bound off, I slipped the sweater on over my head for a fit check. What do you know; it fits the way I wanted it to fit!

Make do when toddlers are around/awake

This version of the Dr. Watson is meant to be a little loose but not too loose. My biggest pet peeve with some of the sweaters I’ve knit are too tight sleeves and a little too short. With every sweater a little more has been learned with the exception of my first sweater. Somehow the first sweater is the one that fits the best in my mind. The first sweater did not have a gauge swatch and the only modification made was to pick up and knit for sleeves. Blind luck is all I can say.  The sweater I seamed last week/earlier in the week is perfect except for the sleeves. The sleeves are just slightly snug and the Knitpicks Wool of the Andes is a yarn I cannot wear next to my skin on my upper arms. I do have few more form fitting long sleeved T-shirts that I can wear under it but it just feels a little snug. Either way, it will be worn and loved. After blocking the sweater may wear completely differently than now but it is currently living on the closet floor drying.

Goodbye lots of hard work *tear*

Blocking and finishing the neckline were my successes of the weekend. What I said last time about maybe completing a pair of toddler socks for DS1; scratch that. I tried the half-finished sock on him and it was too small. So I grabbed DS2; still too small.  From reading Ravelry, every good frogging should be accompanied by a glass of wine. I didn’t grab the wine but I did cry a little on the inside as I frogged the 5” cuff of 2x2 ribbing, the short row heel, and the inch or so of foot. I should have bit the bullet but I was just too upset to do so. Instead DH and I went to Hancock Fabrics for their fleece sale. We picked up enough fabric for an adult sized blanket and I made a blanket for Christmas. Grandma is getting a no-sew blanket this year. DS1 assisted with the tying of the knots. By tying the knots I mean he twisted areas around and around until they looked like he thought they should. After he wandered off, I went back to tie those areas. DS2 loved the blankie so much we had to cuddle under it when it was done. I guess that’s a good sign right? 

Hope Grandma likes it as much as the boys

A little bit of this, that, and everything else

It’s been rather busy in the household this week! A little knitting, a little cooking, a little illness, a little spinning, and last but not least, a lot of celebration has all been packed in this week. Friday I had to leave work a little early for a fever of 102.0°F. DS1 went to bed Friday night with a little Tylenol in him to bring the fever down and by morning it was as if the fever never happened.  Strange.  The weekend was rather busy with cleaning, running errands, and fitness type activities.

Laced up for a walk/pathetic run.

This week I finally learned a 3 needle bind off! My shoulders are bound on the Dr. Watson sweater by Trudi Brown. The next step in my mind will be the collar. Of course I need some more yarn caked up and I haven’t taken the time to do so yet. I’ve been a little distracted by a pair of toddler socks and a sweater I finished over the summer. The socks are moving slowly but they are moving. DS1 had a heel on the first sock. There’s the 5” of 2x2 ribbing and a short row heel. Think I’ll finish by Christmas?

3 needle bind off!

Fall is settling into Alabama finally! As a result, I have a few sweaters going into constant use. Last May I participated in a KAL with the Must Stash Podcast. The sweater I knit turned out well but I disliked how I seamed the one sleeve. It puckered like none other and only on the front. From May until today the sweater sat in time out. My birthday is always a great motivator to finish something. This sweaterwill soon have a non-puckered sleeve! 

Tiny heel for a big boy. 

My spinning is still white roving/top that just never ends. I think at the rate I’m going, in 2020 I will have spun enough 2 ply yarn for a vest or sweater.  The 2 plys are roughly DK weight so without looking up any patterns, I will need 1200 yards for a light weight sweater. Fewer yards for a vest, I assume. Wonder when the last time I wore a vest was; Jr. High maybe?

Horrible puckering

DH and I have made the commitment to a healthier us and now we are cooking better foods. One of the hardest things we’ve discovered with his unsteady schedule (opens, mids, and closes) is making well rounded meals for everyone. Too often I’m left alone with the kids feeding them hotdogs, chicken nuggets and peanut butter sandwiches. We are starting to concentrate on larger portioned meals that DS1 can assist with cooking dinner (reheat leftovers). Tonight the soup we made was from the iMake blog and a variation on the spicyred lentil soup. We worked together with the boys to have them measure the spices, mix them separately and then we put everything into the pot. They ate the soup- until their mouths burned.  The Rotel may have been a little much. Oops. 

Math and lifelines or just math?

The Dr. Watson sweater is almost to the home stretch. The back needs another 1.5” before neck and shoulder shaping while the front still needs from the divide up finished. Then next up are the sleeves. Of course the math calculated way back at the beginning was only done up to the dividing for the fronts and back. One lunch hour was dedicated to an excel chart of the shoulder decreases and neckline.  There may be a workable solution but lifelines were invented just for this reason!

Starting the internal debate and math

Since most of the body has been worked from two balls of yarn, when the front and back were divided, I kept using just the one ball for the back. The front was attached to the second ball. I have just under a golf ball sized yarn ball to finish the last 1.5” and shoulder/neckline shaping on the back. What are the odds I’ll make it? Slim to none is my guess. So at a completed row 8, the ball has been attached to the sweater and the front has been started. In my infinite wisdom some days, I left the ball of yarn attached thinking I would be able to pick up and go. No such luck. The pattern has cabling on the odd rows so they are the rows to be facing the right side. I would knit the even rows, right side facing and be forced to cable the odd rows from the wrong side.  I’m good but not that good yet. My knitting is beginner good!

Ponder night with Wolfe Farms

Monday night was the night I took the time to ponder my options while knitting a little on DS1’s sock. Of course Tuesday lunch I knit a few rows on the back of Dr. Watson and moved to the front of the sweater. Tonight after the Things go to bed, it’s anyone’s guess as to what the project of choice will be. Winter’s coming to Alabama sometime so my boys need to be prepared but at the same time, Momma only has a handful of sweaters. DS1 will wear my handknit socks and his Daddy’s handknit socks but only for a few moments at a time. The adults need to admire properly how the socks fit DS1 before he takes them off.  I live with 3 warm blooded males! None of them routinely wear handknits!

Thing 1 better wear these

Exercise is going to be making a regular appearance at my house going forward. In some podcast that I watch (can’t remember which), the host stated that they don’t make New Year resolutions but make Birthday resolutions. Since I have a birthday in a few weeks, I’m getting a head start on adapting that practice. My goal isn’t to lose any weight but to increase my fitness level. Weight loss can be a happy side effect if it works. Going forward, at least one evening a week I will make a pathetic attempt to run (very slowly moving to the Couch to 5K program from Cool Running) and I will walk for the same “run” length at least 2 other evenings in the week. This started Sunday with a 5 minute walk and then I tracked the jog for 60 seconds, walk for 90 seconds, jog for 60 seconds. The interval gained me roughly 0.3 miles. Monday night, the boys ate dinner then the 3 of us went out for a walk around the tennis courts- in the dark. The tennis courts were a good idea with the Things so they could go FAST when they wanted and leave Mommy walking with the other. 

Look for the little blue dot near the center, that's our light up superhero shoes as we go fast.

24 without knitting, What?

*GASP* I had a full day this week without touching my knitting beyond the carry back and forth between home, work, and home again. My only excuse is that I was watching the St. Louis Cardinals lose the World Series. The night was a rough at my house that night. DH wasn’t able to turn the game on at the start due to DS1 and DS2 being themselves.  For some reason the boys think they need fed every night and to control the TV. The TV must be toddler shows so that when it strikes their fancy to watch 30 seconds, they can before going back to crashing trucks together.  Sometimes Mommy’s allowed to crash a few trucks or tractors and others Mommy is the bad guy stopping the trucks from crashing into her walls, cabinets, doors, furniture, or kitty. I know, I know; Mean Mommy!

All that excitement at my house and I still managed a few minutes in deep conversation with DS1. We discussed the merits of a pair of hand knit socks. He has kindly agreed that he would like a pair of socks made by Mommy. While the color he suggested was orange, Mommy asked about the green and black yarn leftovers from her socks. That should be ok so a new pair of socks made their way onto the new Addi Sock Rocket needles purchased at Yarniverse. Of course there was nothing more than the cast on by the time of this blog post. My perfect socks that will match DS1’s future socks look wonderful at work with my Abotanicity Sweater by Cassie Rovitti.

After several more rows, my Dr. Watson sweater is ready to be divided for the front and back. Now the math I’ve been putting off becomes a priority.  Oops. Procrastination catches up even with the best of them. The good news is that I know the next stitch count but I want to look at a few more areas before I truly divide out the front and back. Do I want to finish my lunch hour with math or with knitting on DS1’s socks?  Either way I think the knitting on the front or back of the sweater sounds like an awesome Friday night. 

Speedy Gonzales on a Caffeine High

My Speedy Socks are done and done early enough to wear to work last week! It looks like I didn't mention all my fretting over the foot length of experimental socks. I had convinced myself the foot length was too long for my foot size and most everyone that I would knit for. Somehow Mom's genetics took over for both of my sisters and me. The 4 women I grew up with all wear the same size shoe if not the same clothing size. (I would like to point out I am the tallest of us!) The only other person left knit for that is family (without being related by blood) is my college roommate Rachel. So I instigated a series of text messages where I poured out all my troubles with the foot length and if they were too long would she take them. Evil being that Rachel is, of course she'll take them and in fact she wished me the greatest of evils that the foot would be too long!

Guess What Rachel! You Lose! They fit me perfectly! See? Pardon the really early morning photo shoot but that was the time I had energy and opportunity.  DS2 wanted to show off his superhero shoes too! Please notice the shoes are roughly 1-2 months old and he is already destroying them!

Since the socks were cast on and completed in EXACTLY a week, I even had time to take other knitting to work. The problem with knitting at work over the lunch hour is, IF you forget you set the bag under the desk, in the back far corner, you might not have much opportunity to work on it at home. Whoops! 

Good thing I almost always have a back up project. I pulled out my much neglected dishcloth. This poor dishcloth. Beyond the neglect by it's knitter, the knitter's children have abused the needles to excess. Since the knitter is not well known for putting her toys away, Darling Dearest Children helped themselves to the needles. After spending an extraordinary amount of time putting the stitches back on her grandmother's unaffected needle, the knitter spent a great portion of time working the special needle. We'll just call it a success and hopefully over time and with a lot of love, the needle will correct the rest of the way.

As always knitters have grand ideas and a ton of time because we know how to multi-task. DH and I have started kettle dying yarn on a grander scale than what I've done in the past. So we've opened an Etsy shop named Dixie Fiber Works. Currently we have solids and semi-solids in the shop with plans to add some of the stitch markers DH has been making for me. There's a few modifications I would like for DH to make before we add them to the shop. He has definite ideas regarding the stitch markers like only wanting to use real gemstones like Tiger's Eye and (various types) jasper. Must be the inner geologist in him.  

As you can tell, I've been giving a test run for the stitch markers currently made by DH in my Dr. Watson Sweater! See the Tiger's Eye in the upper right hand corner? 

Speedy Socks!

Last post, I was head over heels in love with the Dr. Watson Sweater; not anymore. Work sent me to Memphis, TN for a Continuous Casting Course hosted by AIST. Because the set up was 2 days of 8 hour lectures, I decided to dye a little yarn to see if I could make some sock yarn self-striping. Some electric green yarn met the dye pot once more with some black dye.  Sunday afternoon is when this last minute panic started. After adding the acid to set the color, we drained the water and abused the poor hank by wrapping it up in a towel then jumping on it. It took 2 towels to get most of the water out of the yarn so I could lay it on top of my dryer while doing laundry. See how wonderful of a house keeper I am? Laundry was done for the yarn!

While in the hank, the yarn looked AWESOME but not quite like the other self-striping yarns I’ve seen.  I needed to leave for Memphis Monday afternoon so I left work early and performed last minute panic packing. That’s when I took out my sweater, balled the sock yarn, grabbed some laceweight, added the Dr. Watson sweater to my bag, and added the last used items to my bag. Then I hopped in the car for a 4 hour drive. By the time of arrival, it was straight into bed for an early start in the morning. At 6:30 I cast on 64 stitches on my size 0 Knitter’s Pride DPN’s and started my ribbing.

Love vanilla socks during lectures! I needed to pay more attention to the lectures than my knitting so after 2” of ribbing I moved to straight knitting. Around the lunch break I noticed I might be getting close to needing a decision on the heel.  A little scrap yarn and delaying the decision until another day.  In 2 days, I managed to knit 1 sock, minus a heel, and start a second! Go me! I feel like such a speedy knitter.

On the way out of town, I visited a new yarn store! Yarniverse actually carries size 0 40” circular needles. I never find those in stores! Magic Loop is my favorite method for knitting socks but I need sharp points. That means Addi Turbos are not for me but the ladies at Yarniverse have the AddiSock Rocket needles. So far I’m loving the Sock Rockets but will admit I miss my known Knitpicks needles. In case you don’t recall, the kitty was under attack from my size 0 Knitpicks a few months ago. 

Dr.Watson All The Time!!!!

The last hat is finished! Again this hat has no pattern and just loosely based on the Sixty Cables hat I had been making for the Podcaster Throwdown. Used in the making of this hat was Jojoland's Melody superwash yarn in the MS16 colorway (teal green). It was so much fun to use and the subtle color changes were perfect! Someday I'll have models for my hats but my darling children don't like to cooperate most of the time.

I promise it is done, just not in this picture.

However instead of casting on the next hat for Halos of Hope, the Dr. Watson Sweater was cast on instead. Last week had a swatch in progress but that was as far as planned. Somehow in my ability to not count to 48, I was able to successfully count to over 200 stitches. That was only counting through ONCE. OK, maybe twice. Since the cables and the chevrons require thought processing different from ribbing and stockinette, it's a knitting place I'm ready to be in! Happy Happy me! Oh, wow, just measured the body and it's 8" in length. There's 15" until the next step in the pattern. 

Great place for a swatch!

Since I was a good Knitter, I swatched. Good thing I did, too. The swatch showed I needed to cut out several stitches in order to make it fit my build without a ton of excess fabric. The center of the sweater has 3 cables on each side of a chevron. In order to create my size, 2 cables per half were removed. This is being knit in the Knitpicks Wool of the Andes Gypsy Colorway.

ARGH what a week! I think I'm done for lately. Fates are conspiring against me! The night I typically write a post had issues and that's putting it mildly. Thursday night are when DH has college classes. Last Thursday DH had a final to take where he needed a laptop. So he borrowed mine. Shouldn't be a problem right? Wrong. My old reliable decided to act up for him and refuse to load the user profile. As always I get the call right as I'm within a mile of home. Campus is several miles out on one of the busiest roads around. So after leaving the Things in the car, grabbing the charger for my work laptop, and fighting traffic. DH was able to take his final roughly 15 minutes late. The ride home was rough because the Things wanted their Daddy and it was dinner time. So we grabbed some chicken nuggets for just the boys. Then it was bed time. I spent the last few waking hours of that night restoring my laptop.

On the docket for Christmas money may be a new laptop just so DH and I each have one. Mine for use will be the work laptop and his will be the new one.  Naturally it may take more than just Christmas money for a new laptop but that's always a good reason to save money.