Posts filed under 'Socks'
I finally finished the Japanese Feather socks. I’m not sure why I stalled out on these just beyond the heel on the first one (heh. I typed that as “just beyond the hell”), but I did, and they languished for ages and ages and ages, sitting all melancholy-like on the nightstand. On a whim I picked it back up a couple of weeks ago and spent some quality time trying to figure out where in the hell I was on the pattern. Once I had that, I whipped out the rest of that first sock in about an hour, and immediately cast on for the second, which just seemed to fly off the needles too. Go figure. I absolutely LOVE the way these turned out, even if I was totally incapable of taking a decent picture of my own foot. Wouldn’t figure it would be that difficult, but I swear my ankles aren’t that wide and my feet aren’t *that* short.
And, of course, not one to leave well enough alone… I give you more random pictures from my morning commute! I know you were waiting breathlessly for them.
The view from my bus stop on the way to work:
One of the meadowy places at the new Olympic Sculpture Garden has, in the last couple of weeks, completely BLOOMED. From above the whole thing is PINK! with these flowers. I’m not sure what they are, but I love them.
And the metal tree in the sculpture garden, which I totally didn’t realize was metal until the morning I took this picture and the sun was making it sooper shiny. Who knew?
There are a few more BSG pics on my phone yet to be downloaded, and I think a couple more Lusty Lady marquees, so those will be coming in the days to come, as it were.
Ooh! And the seagull (possibly even the same one as in the masthead) is back on the nest on the piling, so within the next 20 days I should have baby seagull pix. Newly hatched seagulls are REALLY cute. Almost as cute as the baby bunnies I got to play with yesterday. They were cute enough that CritterBoy, who is horribly allergic to bunnies, couldn’t resist petting them. It was like some sort of freaky magnetic field that just sucked him right in.
July 4th, 2007
Psst! Photos!
Not just one, but three pairs of socks! Three!
In absolutely no particular order:
Manly brown socks in my favorite sock yarn of all time, Socks That Rock medium weight, in Obsidian
Another pair of the Leaf Lace socks from some back issue of Interweave Knits, done in Regia Silk:
And a pair of slightly too tall Opal socks, in one of those make-it-up-as-you-go-along patterns that’s pretty much my standard, except that I got a bit carried away with the tops. They’d be perfect if I’d started them out a bit larger and decreased for the calf, but, alas, I wasn’t paying that kind of mind to the whole thing, and I didn’t, so they’re the same width all the way up, so they tend to squinch themselves down below the getting-fatter part of my calf, and often fall down. Whatever. I love them anyway.
AND! Because I’ve actually be REALLY productive, here’s the back of the O sweater (B&B Pullover from IK), done in the omfg yummy soft Beaverslide fisherman’s yarn. It seemed like it was going to be a might on the heavy side, but O reminded me of just how damn cold it gets on the island, and insisted that it was going to be the perfect weight, so I have soldiered on with it. The picture looks much greyer than the sweater actually is. The body is woodviolet and the trim is shooting star. See?
Then, just for good measure…
FINALLY, the picture of the lovely skein of handspun from my Spin To Knit Pal. I did a crap job of coming anywhere near capturing the actual color (and you know if I can tell that with a red skein of yarn, I really really did a crap job of it). But it’s really nicely spun, and soft. It’s 280 yards, somewhere between sport and dk weight. Project ideas? Bring ‘em on!
(enclicken to see it close up)
There you go. Proof that I haven’t been a total slacker.
February 12th, 2007
Aww, you guys are the best!
Thank you all for your comments about the Highland Chunky and the suggestions. I’m torn between doing it as written, using the Beaverslide yarn, or doing it in something lighter and doing a buttload of math (in which case I’d probably also end up adding another narrow cable on either side of the main cable, and changing the neckline a wee bit, and well… then we get into ‘entirely different sweater’ territory, which wouldn’t be a bad thing, I don’t think). Maybe I’ll just have to do both. Yes, an arctic weight sweater may not be the most practical thing, but the Booger? She lives in a cold, wet place, and she loves her some arctic weight stuff (and she’s a wee bitty little thing with absolutely no body fat). I’ve been jonesing to order some Beaverslide yarns anyway, so I’m definitely going to do that. And I’ve got some lighter stuff on hand that I might just have enough of, so I’ll swatch for that too, and see where that takes me.
I will, of course, keep all y’all posted.
In other, completely unrelated news, I just got home from the doctor. It was one of those lovely bad news/good news things. My back? It’s horked. I knew that. I just didn’t know exactly *how* horked it was. Now I know. My L5S1 disk is blown. I will be going to see a surgeon in the next couple of weeks to find out if I have to have surgery (I’m voting no on that front). I get to go to physical therapy (and maybe accupuncture if my insurance will cover it). I think the worst bit about this whole thing is that the initial injury to my back happened, what, a year ago? Year and a half? It’s been a long damn while. I’ve seen three doctors about it. The first two decided that even xrays were unwarranted and that I was fine. The first one treated me like I was just another middle-class painkiller junkie seeking more drugs (and completely ignored both my statements to the contrary and the endless list of drugs I’m violently allergic to in my charts), and basically blew me off with nothing more than a cursory battery of “can you feel your feet” type things. The second did the same battery of poking at my feet and making me push up and down with my toes and concluded that it couldn’t be a disk issue because I didn’t have any nerve damage. Alas. I have no nerve damage (yet), but I do have one fewer intact disk than I should. So yeah, I’m a bit pissy about it all. But The Doctor’s Clinic folks? They get the bonus points for a)listening, b)thinking outside the box, and c)always being really freakin’ decent to deal with. I hate doctors (hoo-ee! the understatement of the year, right there, just for you!), and will avoid them at great lengths, but I have willingly gone back to this place a few times now, and always had a good experience. Surprising, really, for a walk-in clinic in Bummertown.
Oh yeah, and while laying flat on my back all last weekend I knit a pair of socks. Pictures forthcoming.
January 20th, 2007
I wondered that last week. Just exactly how long does it take me to knit one sock on my usual needles in sock weight yarn. Enquiring minds wanted to know!
I set Sunday aside to find out. And now I know. I now know that it takes me 9.5 hours to crank out a basic sock. I now know that I am even more easily distracted than I thought I was. And I now know that if I sit in one place and knit with 2.25mm needles for 9.5 hours straight that I will a)lose the feeling in my arse and b)not be able to move my fingers the next day.
Today is Wednesday. My hands still hurt. Me am dumb.
But hey! Now I know. And if you want to see a basic sock progress in half hour increments from start to finish, click here. (bump up the pic size and set it for a 1-3 second delay between pictures. - I’m working on getting it animated so it will just run with a timeline at the bottom, but I haven’t gotten that done yet). (and yeah, some of those pics are mighty blurry. sorry.)
The finished sock, with 25% more Hugo!
September 14th, 2006
I just love the magic of turning a heel on a sock. That and lace blocking I think are two of the freakin’ coolest things we knitters get to do.
In my ongoing quest to have every skein of sock yarn I have on the needles (ha!), here are three of my most current socky projects (These are the travelling socks. There are several others that live at the house in various rooms, so that I always have a project at hand):
The third incarnation of the Lisa Souza Sock! in Pacific. First it was an ill-fated slip stitch rib, then it made a valliant attempt to be potamawhateverthehelltheywerecalled, and now Diamond Patch socks from… Heartland Knits? I think that’s it. They’re in the car or I’d go check.
I tried and tried and tried and tried to get the damn camera to pick up the actual colors in this yarn. It’s SOOOO much prettier than what you’re seeing here. Lots of purple in it that doesn’t show up at all. Stupid camera.
Moving on. Here we have the Japanese Feather sock designed for me by my KSKS pal, Jess. I’m digging this pattern and the yarn. This was where I was at with them yesterday morning on the ferry (note the bitchin’ car-interior-photo-studio action I’ve got going), at this point the heel has been turned and I’m almost to the end of the gusset. Woot! Go me.
And, lastly in the sock category, we have the stripey super-plain sock that I work on when there isn’t enough light to do anything else. The lovely wooden sock-in-progress-holder came from John and Dee. I have the rest of their info on a different computer, so if you need one of these (and you KNOW you do), leave a comment or send me an email and I’ll hook you up. They’re VERY sweet people, and the sock holders are soooooo wonderful. I won’t tell you how many of them I have now…
Yes, it’s a sleeve. This is another piece for Melissa - this time the Must Have Cardi in Shaba Green Peace Fleece. I’ll definitely be knitting one of these for myself. It’s about the most mindless pattern, and I really like it. Both knitting it and the way it looks.
And, finally, I’m going to totally break my own rule and talk about something work related. Just because this one had to be shared.
We ordered some new laptops from Dell a few weeks ago, and they showed up yesterday. I had to go out to my car and get my camera just to show you how totally over the top and ridiculous the packaging on these were. Four lappys, four boxes. Gigantic warehouse guy included for scale (he’s standing several feet behind the boxes).
I think that one gives overkill new meaning. At least they weren’t full of styrofoam…
September 8th, 2006
No, these are not the photos you were looking for.
But oooh! Yummy handpainted sock yarn goodness, courtesy of Kirsten at Through The Loops (and I know you’re jealous of my consistently crap photography skills and inability to get any kind of lighting to ever work FOR me…):
And (no laughing, Lara), a genuine quilting injury (caught my arm on a pin while reaching across it, and rrrriiiiiiiiippppppppppp went the skin. Woot! And who knew it was that difficult to take a picture of your own forearm? Not I, certainly):
And, a truly rare (for me) good wildlife shot (mama seagull on the piling at the ferry dock - the babies are Not Cute anymore, sadly, but this picture makes me giggle):
That’s it for now. It’s been a tremendously fucked up couple of weeks, so not much has gotten done, and really, there’s just not much to tell. Things are picking back up and getting less crappy, so actual knitting content will return soon.
September 4th, 2006
