New Year's Eve Rogue Roses Socks

It could be said these socks have been in progress for over a year and a half. I had started them in April 2010 but had to rip them back when it turned out that they were way to small. I was knitting too tight even for the larger size of the socks. I recast on in October 2011.

The leg for Sock A and B is 48 rows (4 pattern repeats). I started to knit row 49 and knit to two stitches before a marker indicating the beginning of purling. Then I continued with steps for creating the heel. I knit 5 pattern repeats (60 rows) on the foot. Then I started the toe decreases. The toe decreases were 1.75 inches long. I’m not sure this added enough length. I may need to knit another 6 rows of the pattern.

I finished the first sock and began knitting the second. After finishing 1.5 pattern repeats of the Sock B, I realized that I hate the way the lace pattern looks. Sock A had the yarn overs occurring by knit stitches and the Sock B has them appearing really close to purl stitches. This is causing the lace effect to look really sloppy compared to the other sock. I’m going to knit Sock A again, so the lace part occurs like it did with the first. So the socks will not be mirror images. It’s just two of the same sock with the pattern on the right side. Oh well.

Blackbird - 6th Shipment of Socks that Rock

As the name of the yarn states, this yarn is black. The colors range from black, grey, burgundy. It's a yarn that is just as easily an abyss/absence of color. Because I only knit one of the kits, I won't be renewing my membership. It's for the best really.

They're Finished!!

Finally, the Queen of Beads...

An Evening of Felting

I spent tonight felting the Formal Foot Bag. It came out perfectly and roughly matches the dimensions in Bag Style. The bag turned out really well. It took an hour or so of being in the washer. After it dries I'll affix the bag to the leather handle I purchased from Homestead Heirlooms LLC at Stitches Midwest. I'm still working on the panel that needs to be attached to the front and back of the bag. I completed a few rows watching Watchmen but still have 6" left to go. I should have it finished next weekend. And maybe have the bag completed.

The news on my Queen of Beads socks is that there are no beads matching mine at the store. There going to send me some beads that are closest to them and I'll just use them to finish the rest of the sock. I'm not sure I care all that much at this point. and maybe if I un-knit some of the other sock and mix up the beads, it won't look so pronounced. Meh...no need to worry yet. I'll just have to evaluate the situation once I have more understanding of what I'm dealing with.

River Rocked - 5th Shipment of Socks that Rock

This shipment arrived on Saturday, while I was taking a nap. I really like the colors in this yarn: blue, brown, purple, orange, red. Just spectacular. It is like looking at the color palette of a forest. This is both a color way and pattern I would have easily picked out in a shop.
















I am still hoping that the Sock Club folks might have some leftover beads for my Queen of Bead sock. It turns out they used five different types of beads when putting together everyone's shipments. By my own calculations, after looking over the first sock, I'm short nearly 3 dozen beads. I'm not sure what I'm going to do if I'm unable to acquire more.

Formal Boot Bag

Last weekend, I busted out the swift and ball winder. Three skeins of Tahki Donegal Tweed wound and I'm ready to start the Formal Boot Bag in Bag Style. The body of the purse is felted and a panel of stockinette and bobbles is added to add a little bit of flair. I have a really great black, braided leather handle that I picked up at Stitches Midwest that should go perflectly with the charcoal color. In addition to a lining, I might add a zipper to close the purse. As a big-city girl, I am not a fan of purses that don't close all the way.

I've also wound the Cascade 220 I need for the Master Hand Knitter hat project. In other news, I've worked the heel of the Queen of Beads socks and have realized I will not have enough beads for my sock. I added an extra repeat at the top of the socks, which was recommended in the pattern. My thought is that when it comes to a pattern and supplies, there should be enough to do the largest of the recommended pattern and well...there just isn't. I'm short 30 or so beads based on the other sock. Hopefully, I'll be able to find more from contacting the Sock Club folks.

Garden Daze - 4th Shipment of Socks that Rock

I received the latest shipment of the 2009 Socks that Rock Club over a week ago. In that time, the pattern and yarn have not grown on me. This entire package is not something I would ever choose to knit. For my taste, the colors are too bright and a little too reminiscent of a vegetable garden. Having not finished the first pair of socks (second sock syndrome is in abundance), I won't be getting to this any time soon.

Loved this!

Self-Impsed Exile

After injuring my back, it was difficult to resume knitting for hours on end. I took a week or so off after the baby hat. I've started seeing a chiropractor and have started to take longer breaks between my knitting so as not to put myself in any further discomfort. I have managed to stay busy.

In the interim of my last post, I've knit one footie and finished a lace scarf using two skeins of purple Laines du Nord Mulberry Silk I had in my stash. I bought this on clearance with no clear intention of what I would do with it. After scouring Ravelry, I settled on the FishTail scarf. The finished scarf measures 5 feet; a little short for my taste but it'll do.

I purchased 5 skeins of Noro Tidiori to add to my four skeins. I bought the first few skeins because it was on sale for $5 each. Looking back, it wasn't really the wisest decision to make but I couldn't pass up Noro or sale yarn. I saw a few examples of Clapotis (check out knitty.com) made with Tidiori on Ravelry and it reminded me of Missoni. With a lot of luck, I was able to find a retailer still selling the yarn, which became discontinued a year ago. At some point, after the footies and the mystery project, I'll start on a Clapotis. I really have to stop having incomplete projects laying around. All the UFOs I mentioned back in March are still lingering about the condo.

I'm still queued on the Queen of Beads socks, which means I have have two other Rockin' Sock Club kits sitting in wait. There's a new kit that will ship this month. I'm so terribly behind.

Pepe Le Plume - 3rd Shipment of Socks that Rock

Yesterday my husband and I went to a Chicago Opera Theater performance. This totally screwed up my ability to review the third shipment of the Socks that Rock Club. Luckily, the members of the SRC Club on Ravelry were sharing photos that afternoon so I was able to get a glimpse of the pattern and yarn. I'm not someone who can wait for the big reveal. Christmas Eve is an angst-ridden day, not because I need the satisfaction of opening presents but because I can't stand a secret.

It's not a colorway I would normally choose but is very lovely. It's a mix of pink, purple, lavender and grey. I hope it knits up in a flattering manner.
















The pattern is difficult to see in the photographs. It looks almost like a wavy lace pattern, and lace is more often than not, not easy to make out in darker colors. The squiggly effect of the socks is very whimsical. Having not finished the Queen of Beads, TKGA swatches and the mysterious project, I have no idea when I will ever get to these socks.

Queen of Beads Update

I'm never going to finish the second sock. Never. Ever.

I've tried casting-on a half-dozen times and even made it so far as to have gotten to the row where the piece is joined, only to have then dropped a stitch and been unable to pick it back up. At this time, I've given up.

I've started another project but am waiting to post on it.

TKGA and Queen of Beads

Yesterday was a great day! The weather was perfect, 70s and a low wind, celebrated my father-in-laws birthday, purchased some half-price CDs at Boarders, knit most of the foot to my Queen of Beads sock and received the instructions for the TKGA Master Hand-Knitting Program (Level One). Admittedly, in looking at the brief description on the TKGA PDF on their correspondence classes and the Master Knitting Programs, I felt this could be accomplished with little issue. However now that have the instructions in hand, feel a surge of doubt. The instructions are 16 pages long and are definitely reminiscent of government grants in the level of detail they are providing. Not one to back down from a knitting challenge, I'm taking the instructions in stride and thinking up ways to divide them up in a manner that makes them seem less daunting. I haven't exactly worked out how to do this but there's no way I can just go at it without forethought.

In other knitting news, I've completed one of the Queen of Beads socks.

Second Shipment of Socks that Rock

My second shipment from the Blue Moon Rockin' Sock Club arrived yesterday and it is bountiful. Just look at all those goodies.

It's been a busy two weeks

I finished up my flaming wave socks a few days ago. I don't want to gloat but don't they awesome?! They only took forever and a day to complete. It also turns out that I read the chart in reverse so they're not exactly like the pattern. I didn't realize that i was reading charts incorrectly until a few days ago. I learn something new everyday about knitting. Like the last pair I made, they were a pleasure to knit. The pattern gets stuck in you head so you no longer need it around all the time to repeat it.


As if the socks weren't enough, I also finished an unoriginal hat, courtesy of the yarn harlot's pattern on ravelry. This was a really easy pattern to knit (and this time I followed the chart correctly!). If I were to knit this again, I would use needles one size larger. I used Plymouth Yarn Hand Paint Wool on size 10 needles. It's a bit of tight knit, considering the recommended needle size for this yarn is size 15. I'm not sure of the color way as the yarn was a gift from a few years ago. I had originally knit it into a scarf but didn't like the scarf so I frogged it. There's still close to a full skein left in my stash.



I have another item to report on. I started the Rockin' Sock Club pattern and am now at the part where I work the heel cuff. I do love the colorway for this yarn and have found that knitting with beads isn't nearly as difficult as I had thought. I'm really glad that I haven't run into a knobby bit or part where the yarn is tied. It seemed lots of other people were encountering this problem.

Because of this project, I'm now very interested in knitting the Wild Clover Maxi Clutch pattern from Valley Yarns Stockbridge with beads. I had originally thought of not using beads.

It's here!

The package arrived last Thursday and it's just as awesome as I imagined. Not only did I get the sock yarn and a pattern but a nifty keychain (of both sock yarn and Rockin' Sock Club) and pin. I have attached my pin to my cubicle, as well as the the spare keychain of sockyarn. I've already had someone comment. It was more of "what is that?!" but still, it's got people talking.

Yesterday, I spent an hour trying to decipher how to get the beads on the yarn and finally succeeded. Now I just have to figure out what how to do a tubular cast-on.

Chris has been nagging me about not knitting him socks for weeks. I finally broke down and purchased some Cascade Fixation in black. Hopefully the color will satisfy him and since the yarn can be knit up on larger needles, it won't take me nearly as long. I couldn't buy just sock yarn so I bought a skein of Cascade 220 in magneta for a Two-Toned Ribbed Shrug (by Stefanie Japel in Fitted Knits) and two balls of Laines du Nard Mulberry Silk to make Candy Wrapper Sachets (by Leigh Radford in One Skein). The lavender I purchased over the summer is still very potent and will work well in the sachets. I really want to start getting into the habit of making little projects that can be given out as gifts--things smaller than hats and scarves.

Antsy-Pants

I had a rough day at work so it was great to get the email from Blue Moon Fibers indicating they shipped my socks that rock. I am super excited for the shipment to arrive. I have to go out and buy a binder, lest the packages accompanying the yarn remain loose. How awful would that be?

I'm of the group of people where waiting to open Christmas presents is really arduous so when a club member opted to reveal the contents of the package, I can't deny that I went straight to the website and proceeded to view the pics. And let me just say, the yarn is lovely. Although now I'm kind of sad I purchased Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Potluck in a blue/green palette. Then again, can you have too many hand-knitted blue socks.

My other issue is that I am still working my way through a pair of Flame Wave socks. I'm happy to say over the weekend I made significant progress and have completed one sock. If I continue to knit at this rate, I should be able have the heel turned by the weekend. I'm 3/4 into completing the leg so I don't think this is me being too ambitious.

OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG!

It's almost time.

I've been anxiously waiting and today...I got my username and password for the Rockin' Sock Club. Fantastic! I'm ready for my yarn package to arrive, which reminds me...

I went a little crazy this weekend at the local yarn store: Wool and Company (Geneva, IL). With reckless abandon, I went through almost my entire gift certificate, purchasing:

• 3 skeins of Tahki Donegal Tweed in Charcoal
• 2 skeins of Noro Kureyon
• 2 skeins of Lamb's Pride Worsted and 1 skein of Lamb's Pride Bulky
• 1 skein of Blue Sky Alpalca's Dyed Cotton
• 1 skein of Rowan Wool Silk DK

I do have plans for each skein so I'm off to a better start than normal. When I go on yarn expeditions, I tend to buy whatever is appealing which doesn't always work out with than making it into something. But with my stash being an ever growing beast, I don't know when I'll get around to these projects.

I'm still working on the Flame Wave socks from Favorite Socks, after having ripped back from the heel over Christmas. I choose the smaller size and it turned out to be too small for my feet. I couldn't even get them over my heel. It was quite sad and disappointing to have to rip back hours worth of work. In the end, I'll be able to wear them so it works out in the end.

2009 Blue Moon Rockin' Sock Club

The website went live today and I was excited to be there when it did.

I was able to purchase a membership to the Rockin' Sock Club. It's definitely a large chunk of next year's yarn budget. While I have never participated in the club before, I have high hopes that it will be an awesome experience. I looked over last year's blog and the socks are gorgeous both in the patterns and in the yarn colors. I've only knit three socks so I'm sure receiving six packages over the year will prove to be quite the challenge.

I'm hoping to get through at least three of them over the year. I'll keep the blog posted as the kits arrive.

If anyone's interesting in join the Rockin' Sock Club (while supplies last), go to http://www.bluemoonfiberarts.com/newmoon/.