A Sock and a Request (Adriana)

I finally FINALLY finished my second Naive sock! Long-time readers will recall that I knit the first one last summer. Then it sat by itself all winter long until I decided to make it part of Mission Possible.

It is now done and here are the pictures to prove it!


View from the top (it's hard to take pictures of your own feet)


The cables go on and on and on...


The sexy gusset


Cleo gives her approval of the new socks

The pattern is, of course, Spillyjane's Naive Socks (This Must Be The Socks) (pattern free here)
I dyed the yarn myself a few years ago.

Comments: this is a really awesome pattern (and I'm not just saying that). Once you get going it goes really quickly. After a few repeats you start to be able to see where the cables are supposed to twist which makes it good bus knitting. Unfortunately I did something a little wonky with the first sock so I had to repeat it with the second one in order for them to match (I don't care).

In other news, I FINALLY learned how to cable without a cable needle! I figured out the left twist by myself on the bus one day and Grumperina's great instructions helped with the right twist. Now I actually enjoy doing cables, which is seriously awesome. I just wish I'd learned before knitting Trellis.

I have a request for you all. I'm going to be away from home for a month this summer (I'm stage managing Pete's Fringe shows this summer and we're hitting the road!) so I've decided to only knit socks while I'm away. This should help me make a dent in my sock yarn drawer. In preparation for this trip I want to buy a new skein of sock yarn, but I'd like to support an Indie dyer. I looked at a bunch of different yarns but I'm totally overwhelmed and need recommendations.

Here are the ones I've looked at:
Artsygal
Mama Blue
MadelineTosh
Sunshine Yarn
Fearless Fibers

With so many gorgeous sock yarns out there you can see why I'm having trouble picking one. If you have any recommendations please let me know.

Socktopia! (Adriana)

(Today’s mantra is: 3 more weeks, 3 more weeks, 3 more weeks.)

This weekend something amazing happened: there was the perfect combination of nice weather and no activities which allowed Pete and I to head out to the courtyard and snap the pictures of various socks which I have been promising to you. These socks are so gorgeous that I want to evolve a few more feet to wear them on :)

Up first, SpillyJane’s Naïve sock #1

This was a joint effort as I got frustrated near the beginning. Luckily Spilly was in town and was able to get me past the fiddly part. The sock was a lot of fun to knit and so pretty! It’s a great pattern for getting familiar with cables as you can read where you are by looking at the cables. This was also the sock which taught me that the Kitchener stitch is not to be feared. I grafted that baby at lunch at work!

Pomatomus in progress

This is a seriously stretchy pattern. I still think that my YO’s are a little large but the consensus on Ravelry is that it’s not a problem. It’s so much fun to watch the fishy scales develop. I’ve got two more repeats to go on the leg.

And finally the Coupling-At-Sea Socks!!

These socks have been done for a while but then life exploded so there were no pictures.
This was a fun pattern and it is also very stretchy. Unfortunately I couldn’t quite memorize it which made it a little frustrating at times. The Sea Wool was lovely to knit with. I love that sheen!
Pattern: Coupling by Deb Barnhill
Yarn: Fleece Artist Sea Wool (birthday present from Heather and Gen), unknown colourway
Modifications: The pattern calls for a reverse heel flap but I wanted to do it my way so I followed Wendyknits' gusset heel. While not as much fun as the short-row heel it fits very comfortably. I’m using that heel for Pomatomus too and it is really nice.
I also decided to go with a picot edging (everything you wanted to know about picoting here) for the top which is adorable but not quite stretchy enough. I bound off the stitches first (using a sewn bind off which I thought would work) but next time I think I’ll just stitch down the live stitches and see if that’s better.

A Secret Revealed (Adriana)

You might remember (though you probably don't) that last February I got really secretive. I was working on a mystery project and I only showed off a hint of what I was making. Well, the cat is out of the bag and has been gifted to the recipient.

Yes, my friends, I was making socks for Heather! The first one was knit in February and the second in June/July (finished two weeks AFTER her birthday so it's a good thing I didn't see her until this weekend).

The yarn is Deegu which in the skein looked like this:

I was aiming for shades of blue which I knew Heather would like but it ended up being too blue for my tastes so I tossed in the splash of pink.
I'm really please with how the yarn swirled when knit up. This is an example of the good kind of pooling :)

When Jane was up this weekend she got me back on track with the Naive socks and even took me through the harder set-up bits. This is a really fun pattern to knit, very intuitive once you get past the fiddly bits at the beginning, and I am really enjoying working on it.

Sock with heel flap (I haven't done heel flaps in about a year and a half. I'm not looking forward to the gusset)


Cables unstretched


Cables stretched!!

I think it's time to get back to the Naive sock now. I'm almost done the heel flap and eager to turn that heel!

Sock-thing(Adriana)

As I was sitting at the computer resizing pictures I kept hearing a rustling sound reminiscent of Cleo playing in a grocery bag. Since Cleo is happily sleeping in her cup I was starting to get a little freaked out. A quiet wander around the apartment revealed the source of the sound, a fly trying in vain to break through the window to the outside world. Now that I know what the sound is it's hard to imagine that I mistook it for Cleo in a bag. It's funny the games the mind plays.
But enough about that. On to the knitting!

Life's been very hectic and very stressful recently so I haven't had time for much knitting, and that which has been accomplished is not ready to show off yet, but I do have a couple of goodies for your viewing pleasure.

Thing #1:

Regia Silk sock yarn in colour Roma. Any guesses what these might be? Think who I've knit for in the past with Regia Silk. If you guessed my granny you'd be right! This yarn was deeply discounted which is why I got it even though I'm not sure if I like the colours. It's a good thing Granny can't see and can just feel the luscious silkiness of this truly luxurious but well-wearing sock yarn.

Thing #2:



This is the start of the a Naive sock, designed by the one and only Spillyjane! She asked me to test knit it, which I was glad to do until I remembered how much I hate dpns (Addi circs all the way, baby!). Also, I encountered the hazard of the test knitter, incorrect instructions. I did one too many repeats for the cuff and was too discouraged to tink back 5 rounds on the smelly dpns. Luckily it's Spillyjane to the rescue and she will do the tinking for me when she's in town tomorrow. Thus work will resume of these lovely socks which are being knit up in my own Deegu.

Well, that's enough silliness for now. The long weekend beckons and with it the promise of more performances and more friends (Spilly and Mr. Spilly on Friday and Heather, Mike and Gen on Sunday!). If you are having a long weekend where you are, enjoy it. If not, a two day weekend is still pretty great :)