SOCKTOBERFEST = DONE!

I present...my Soctoberfest socks. Finished. On time! A first for me.
The Specs:
Pattern: 52 stitch socks from Simply Sensational Socks using the Broken Rib Pattern
Yarn: Artyarns Supermerino 8 (Worsted)
Needles: #3 US DPN's and Magic Loop
Time: 10/14/06 - 10/30/06

I made the leg of these twice. I started them and was almost done with both legs and I noticed a counting problem in one and a dropped stitch problem in the other. The dropped stitch was fixable, but it was a the VERY beginning of the pattern, so RIP, out they both came and I started over on about the 14th of Socktober...BUT, that yarn was very expensive, the socks deserved to be as perfect as I could make them. I had them race each other, knitting one on #3 DPN's and the other Magic Loop. Speaking of the yarn, it was interesting, it was probably 10 teeny, tiny plies, and it doesn't have a lot of twist, I was worried about it being splitty, but for some reason, it wasn't. I'd love to use this yarn again, but for the price where I bought it, I could have gotten Cashmere, so I doubt unless I find a killer sale, no more Artyarns Supermerino 8 for me, but at least I can say I loved it when.

What will November bring for Chez Angie? Well, on Saturday, I am off to the Dulaan Knit-in, I am giving a ride to a new friend, Rochelle. It is a rare treat for me, but harvest has been long and grueling, so I am giving myself the day and DH can take care of the kiddies, surely they will all survive one day. I'll get to rub elbows with the known bloggers, and hopefully don't make an arse of myself. So, November is all about Dulaan and CIC charity knitting. I am working on a hat right now and I want to make a sweater for each and fulfil my 5 items for Dulaan, I have 2 items finished so far, so I should make it, but want to focus on sweaters this year. We'll see, what is life without grand plans?

Knitters Tea Swap 2 Report

WHAT A HAUL! I received from my spoiler, Debbie in Montana. I got, 2 booklets, Mittens, mittens, mittens from Leisure Arts, and a sock book compiled from Spin-off, AWESOME The mittens are 2 needle mittens and are adorable. 3 skeins of Regia 6 (I like thicker socks), 1 skein of my fave color, lime green Lambs Pride worsted, Tao tea (Awake), an assortment of loose tea from Cahoots, a local tea company, a peppermint and camomile tea from Montana, some chocolate covered sunflower seeds, Piroette cookies, some yummy smelling candles, a luscious goats milk soap (I am using that, yummy), a "tea spoon", a new tea ball, I need that, a hand knit scarf in my fave colors (thank you), tea towels, and a box of her sentimental favorite, Red Rose tea and a note about why she loves it so much. I fixed a pot of the spice tea from Cahoots immediately and it was luscious, I've been drinking Red Rose for breakfast. Thank heavens for the weekend, it will be all tea, all the time for me.

I don't know if the stash ghosts are here or not, but I HAD the 2 booklets, I was leafing through them at the kitchen table, someone cried and I went to assist/referee/doctor, something and now I CAN'T FIND THEM! I have turned the house upside down looking for them, I hope I can excavate them this weekend as I.WANT.MY.BOOKS!

Progress?

I turned the short row heel on the socks from hell and I'm still not sure of them, I am considering frogging the whole project and making a hat for DS#2, I'm just not feeling the love. Update, frogged the socks, if they don't want to be a hat, I will burn the yarn in a little ceremony in the driveway.

I'm still knitting on the Shadow scarf that I started in Geneseo colors for a friend's daughter, I saw them this week at a Volleyball game and it would have been convenient if it had been finished by then. I covered in a remote office for work for a day and a half last week - I was the only one there. I SHOULD have gotten a fair amount of knitting done, but I ended up working more than I thought - how did that happen?

I couldn't resist Socktoberfest any longer and I cast on for some socks of Artyarns Ultramerino 8, they color is the most beautiful muted pink and green I have ever seen. The yarn looks like it might be splitty, but so far, I have no complaints. Have you ever bought Artyarns Ultramerino? Lets just say, I'd best be burried in these socks, they are too expensive to wear, but I'm worth it, right?


I want to cast on for a red scarf for the Red Scarf Project to try out the new Brittany Birch #7's I bought at my LYS. I want to cast on for the Black Bunny Fibers Hop-a-long, I just received some new yarn from Carolyn http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=19807 and I can't wait to cast on with that...so many projects, so little time

Happy Birthday to ME!

I participated in the October Birthday swap hosted by the gracious and generous Bev Diaz. This is not a secret swap. My swap partner was Lori Bean of http://yarnbeans.typepad.com/yarnbeans/ She is a busy, busy wife and mom of 2, she is a waitress and sommelier in the evenings and still has time to not only knit, but churn out some awesome looking hand dyed yarns. In the box was....A milk chocolate Truffle bar (don't remember the name as it was consumed immediately, but I do remember that it was very yummy), a birthday card, 2 postcards from her town in Oregon, a Cherry Tree Hill Glitter mill end in a blue/green/teal which was the yarn that I listed as most interest in knitting with, a hank of STR in the Colorway "Rare Gems", a couple of bars of yummy soap, a beautiful glittery, feathery butterfly and 2 skeins of her own hand dyed yarn in Winter Blue and Pumpkin Spice...All I can say is...THANK YOU, it was a real treat, I get to spoil her on her upcoming October birthday so hopefully I can pack her box as full of surprises as she packed mine.

I'm workin' on it...

Yes, last night I turned the short row heel in my socks from Hell, Only 1 more to do and I started that one today whilest waiting at the bank to get my debit card re-issued. I accidentally threw my checkbook away in the trash on Tuesday and didn't realize it until today when I needed it again. Bad news is that the trash was picked up this am around 8am, I noticed it was missing around 8:30am...bad karma, that's all it is. I hope I saved someone with less facilities to cope with such a royal inconvenience the grief. I have broad shoulders, I can take it...but not for much longer, thank you...

I'm on a roll

Yesterday I posted about finishing MG's Wonderful Wallaby and today I get to post about my finished STR socks and the story behind them...It started innocently enough, http://www.bluemoonfiberarts.com/ started a Socks that Rock Club (STR) and I of course had to join. The first yarn was this sock yarn, I don't remember the color...Jungle something perhaps? I started knitting socks and I knit, and I knit and I knit. They are on Size 1's something like 68 stitches, I chose the ribbing pattern that is K2, P2 for 1 round and then straight knit the next round because I'm lazy and don't like to pearl. I liked the socks but they were taking forever and they weren't going to fit me, they would fit my mother who has trouble wearing shoes and thus needs woollen socks to wear with her Birks in the winter, (It snows here in Illinois), so any whoooo, I love my mom and I don't mind knitting her socks, eventhough she has a size 10 foot. She appreciates them and I am glad that I can comfort her. Anyway, I was about to the heel flap on sock #2 (sock #1 was done) when I used sock #1 to measure the length (very scientific) and as I set #1 down, I thought, I had better be careful where I put this sock as I would hate to mis-place it. That was Friday night, by Sunday night, I had lost sock #1, I called the restaurants I ate in between Friday and Sunday, I scoured the parking lots that I had visited, I stripped the car(s), cleaned the house (now you know I was desperate), no sock...I was almost suicidal, these socks took me forever, it was the club yarn, how was I going to get enough for a THIRD sock! I didn't know what to do, but vetoed burning the sock in the driveway in a fit of anger, I doggedly continued to knit on the 2nd sock. I was telling some of my knitting homies this story about a month later and my DD MG says, "Oh, that other sock, I threw it behind the couch to keep it away from DS#3". I ran to the living room, heaved the couch from the wall and there it lay, my missing sock...Only 1 small problem, there was a cut in the ribbing at the top...wonder how that got there, $10 that DD MG cut the yarn and threw the sock behind the couch to hide the evidence, but I really didn't care, my sock was back. I begged some additional yarn from Blue Moon, and one night while the kiddies slept, I carefully unravelled under the snip, picked up the stitches and re-knit the top 1/2" of the sock, last night I executed the Elizabeth Zimmerman, sewn bind off (very simple, very stretchy, I recommend it) and voila, the socks are done....