I've heard of two left feet, but...

Last month's challenge in my Sock Knitters Anonymous group on Ravelry was colorwork.  I love colorwork socks!  Two different colors, the stitches are all knits, the socks go fast and look harder than they really are.  And I had the perfect pattern in mind - one called "Water for the Elephants" by designer RoseHiver (Yvette).  She had created the pattern for herself one month but hadn't released it to the public.  Having knit a couple of her patterns previously, including my much-loved "Butterflies Are Free" socks, I asked her if I could knit her Elephants pattern and she very graciously agreed.

The socks are mirrored and the instructions start with the left sock, so that's where I started.  I followed the pattern the entire way through and a couple of days ago finished the first sock.  I immediately cast on the second sock and finished the leg about an hour ago, ready to start the heel.

Here is a photo of the first sock:

Notice anything amiss?

Remember, the first sock knit is the left sock....

There is only one elephant per sock....

The elephant should be on the outside of the sock....

Yes.  Somehow I knit a right sock.  I don't know how, but I started the heel on the wrong needle.  And it never dawned on me as I tried the sock on over and over to admire it.  I went on in colorwork sock bliss until I started the heel flap for the second sock.  After two rows, I suddenly yelled "Oh no!"  My husband, thinking something serious was wrong, asked what was happening.  I replied, "I'm knitting another right sock!"  Catastrophe!  Surely he could see that!  Someone had to help me!  But after a well-meaning "Uh-oh" from him before he returned to staring at his computer, I knew I was on my own.  As luck would have it, minutes later I received a phone call from my knitting buddy, Leigh, who was surely on some knitter's psychic wavelength and knew subconsciously that I was in trouble and needed left sock moral support.  Or maybe she was just venting about an unending bind-off on her latest mystery shawl from the Janel Laidman sock club.  In any case, I whined a little about my situation before begging off the phone to figure it out.

I don't know if I should admit this or not, but I spent a little bit of time trying to figure out how I had screwed up and created a right sock until I realized that's what I should actually be knitting.  The real question was how had I screwed up the first sock and turned it from a leftie to a rightie??

That left me with how to transform my correct right sock into an incorrect left sock so I'd have an actual pair at the end of this project.  My solution?  I've started the heel flap on the opposite needle as the one called for, so cross your fingers (I can't cross mine because I'm knitting) that the charts for the foot all work out with my changes.  But why shouldn't they?  The left sock charts seemed to work just fine for a right sock.

Test Knit

I have certainly been knitting more than I've been writing recently, much to the chagrin of at least one of my blog followers.  (Okay, so probably just that one, but who am I to deprive her of my attempts at wit?)

I've finished quite a few pairs of socks since my last blog post.  One that I'm particularly proud of are my Gale Socks.  These are the second test knit I've done for a designer who is working on a series of Hunger Games based sock patterns.  The first was Peeta, whose single completed sock is currently languishing in my "hibernating" pile until I get the time and motivation to replicate it.  (Based on my list of socks-to-knit over the next couple of months, the chances of me having both the time and motivation to even cast on the second sock are looking pretty slim, but it will happen.  Someday.)

In any case, I guess I was a good enough test knitter (i.e. I found enough errors in the pattern) that she asked me to test another sock - the Gale socks.  I even had the perfect yarn in my stash - some Dream in Color Smooshy in a nice, stormy color called Dusky Aurora.

I also knit a very pretty pair of socks that have been in my queue for a while now.  They started out as a mystery sock but the mystery wasn't so mysterious since quite a few people have knit the pattern since it was first released.  And that's fine with me because I didn't want to waste my pretty Grant Creek Yarn on a sock that I wasn't sure I would like.  (But my OCD reasoning behind why mystery socks just aren't my thang can wait for another day.)

The pattern is Harold and Maude and the socks turned out lovely, albeit extremely tight.  In fact, they are the only pair of socks I've ever knit that are too narrow for my narrow feet.  But with a little wiggling, I can get them on, so I will wear them dammit!

 Oh, and there are more socks, oh loyal reader.  But it's late and I'm tired and I've miles to go before I sleep, so they will have to wait for another day.  Good night.

A Good Knitting Day

Yesterday was a good knitting day for me.  After being in a knitting rut on several things, I was due for a day full of knitting happiness.

Rut 1:
My Peeta socks based on the character in The Hunger Games.  I knit the first sock to the toe, decided the heel flap was too long and the gussets were too wide, and tossed the sock into time-out for a couple of weeks.  I eventually ripped it back to the heel flap, shortened it, and decreased my size medium sock down to small for the foot.  I got through all of the gusset decreases and was working on the foot, until I realized that after putting the sock down overnight, when I picked it back up I kept decreasing on the sole and the sock was woefully narrow.  Back into time out it went until yesterday.

I pulled Peeta out of the shadows in the corner of my family room, tinked back all of the extra decreases, and actually made some forward progress.  I'm halfway down the foot and getting closer to the toes with each row!  Happy day!

Rut 2:
I've been working on a pair of Hiccup socks for Dominic for months.  They are my leave-in-the-car project where I knit a couple of rounds here and there at parent pick-up or when Chris and I go out to breakfast on Sunday.  The first sock has been done, but the second has been languishing on the leg for quite a while.  Now spring is coming and it won't be wool sock weather in another month or two.

I finished the leg of his second sock, knit the heel flap, turned the heel, picked up the gussets, and worked through the gusset decreases.  I have 37 rows left on the foot and then the toe, so they are also nearing the home stretch!  Happy day!

Rut 3:
This one wasn't a huge rut - more like a little divot.  The Janel Laidman sock club mystery pattern for March had clue 2 released on Friday.  I had knit half of it and then put it aside.  Yesterday, I finished clue 2!  Happy day!

Rut 4:
I gave up buying yarn for Lent.  Seems easy enough, right?  Yeah.  I wish.  So much yummy yarny goodness has been calling to me, and I know it's because I can't buy it!  It's like when you paint your nail and the polish is still wet and you get itchy everywhere just because your body knows you can't scratch it.  There are yarn sales and free shipping flying around everywhere recently!  But yesterday, a wonderful, all-knowing random number generator chose my project to win a skein of yarn in the Springtree Road Spring KAL.  I had entered my Stalagmite socks knit with Springtree Road's Julep (merino/cashmere/nylon) sock yarn.  I loved the socks, loved the yarn, loved the pattern, and love them even more now that I won!  And what better thing to win but more yarn???  It's like the universe knew I needed some sock yarn stash addition to get me through until after Easter.  Happy day!

Here are the winning socks:

I just hope it doesn't mean that today I'm destined a day of knitting doom.  Maybe I should stay away from my needles for the next 24 hours....

Are You Hungry?

Over a year ago (maybe two?), I read the Hunger Games trilogy just as the third book was being released as really enjoyed them.  The first book was actually reminiscent of a Stephen King short story called "The Long Walk" in that teens are competing against each other to better their or their family's situations at the risk of death.

Since I first read the books, my son has also read them - also with great enjoyment.  We were both excited to hear that a movie was in the works, and it's release date is almost here - March 23.  I plan on dragging my husband to see it opening night.

So you might be thinking, "What does this have to do with knitting?"  I'm getting there.

A pattern author on Ravelry.com is designing socks based on Hunger Games characters.  Her first sock is called Peeta, after the boy-next-door baker's son who accompanies Katniss as the male tribute in the Games from their district.  The pattern has striping and a contrasting toe which gives the socks a bit of an athletic sock feel but in a more elegant and aesthetically pleasing way.  But the best part is the pattern on the legs which looks like stalks of wheat, especially knit in a golden yarn.

I was drooling over the Peeta socks.

Unfortunately they were being designed as I discovered them and only recently (in the past week) moved into the test knit phase, with the pattern release scheduled for the end of March. 

Fortunately, I commented on one of the test knitter's posts on Ravelry asking how she got lucky enough to be a test knitter and the pattern author contacted me to test knit it, too!  So basically I've said "screw the Cookie A. pattern for the beginning of the month" and cast on my Peeta.

I had ordered a skein of merino/nylon from Grant Creek Yarns in a new colorway called Winter Wheat which I had earmarked for Peeta before I even owned the yarn.  However, when I got it, it was quite a bit darker and more brown than the golden wheat color I had hoped it would be.  (Turns out the dyer opened new bottles of dye for the latest batch of Winter Wheat, hence the darker colors.)  Don't get me wrong, the yarn is beautiful, but wasn't right for Peeta.  Luckily I had some Knit Picks Stroll in Mustard in my stash which was earmarked for a Gryffindor project at some point down the road, but desperate times call for stash diving and it has become Peeta.  A little of the same yarn in the Fedora colorway for the stripes, and here are my Peeta's so far:

The same designer has started socks for the other main male character, Katniss' best friend, Gale.  I can't wait to see them!

When Good Knitters Go Bad

It takes a knitter to appreciate this.

Where's the Flood?

Finding jeans that fit can be an ordeal.  Wait, let me rephrase that.  Finding jeans that fit if you are a woman can be an ordeal.  (Why is that men can walk into a store, grab a pair of jeans by matching up two numbers and they fit, while women's denim manufacturer's can't seem to get it together on what cryptic number like 4, 6, or 10 mean?  You'd think that it would be easier now that some companies are actually listing sizes by supposed waist measurements, like 32 or 38, but apparently they are all using some hand-whittled-in-the-dark-ages measuring sticks that are unique, just like women's bodies.  But I digress...)

In my quest to find "good jeans," I have no fewer than 12 pairs of jeans hanging in my closet.  (Okay, for the sake of accuracy, I just checked.  There are 15 pairs in my closet, one pair that I'm wearing, and another in the laundry.)  Of those jeans, there are two pairs that I can't zip, another two that zip but are uncomfortable, three with holes in the knees that I can't bear to part with quite yet (one being a pair of Lucky Jeans that got a giant hole when I fell down my front cement steps the first time I wore them), one pair that I think are just too young looking for me so I immediately take them off every time I put them on (they still have the tags attached), a couple that are okay, a couple that are too short to wear with anything other than super flat shoes (I'm a heels girl), a great pair of trouser-ish jeans that fit fabulous but again are just a smidge short, and two pairs that are long and that I think I look pretty good in.  (I may have missed a few pairs, but you get the idea.)

There are many ways that jeans don't fit - waist, hips, thighs, length, rise....  Can someone please tell me what's going on with today's female youth in that many of them don't have hips?  I'm sorry, but boyfriend jeans that are cut straight from the waist to the thigh should - and do - leave giant gaps in the back of the waistband for those of us with hips.  (And saddlebags, but that's another issue.)  Is there some new evolutionary bias for hipless females???  Whatever the cause, I do not fit into the new straight torso category.  But fear not, there are new "curvy" cut jeans for us ladies whose waists are smaller than their hips.  Hallelujah. 

But for all the ways in which jeans don't fit me, there is one that at least has a small silver lining.  Length. You see, I'm 5'8" tall, which is not Amazonian by any standard, but is apparently tall enough that the average pant teases at being long enough while being worn in the dressing room, but then suddenly shrinks an inch by the time I get them home.  Who knows why this shrinkage occurs.  (Perhaps my house is significantly colder than the store dressing rooms???)  I even try to outsmart the jeans by trying them on - *gasp* - with my shoes!  Yep, they look long enough.  Until I get home...  Maybe it's my desperation to find good jeans.  I overlook seemingly obvious faults in an attempt to hope for the best later.  (Holy heck, is this jeans shopping or my dating life in my 20's???)

I am aware that they make jeans in tall sizes, and yes, I do own a couple pairs of said jeans.  They are, however, made for Amazonian women and necessitate the wearing of significantly heeled shoes so as to not drag on the ground behind my heels.  (No, I don't hem.  And if I did hem, it wouldn't be jeans.  Jeans are sewing machine needle killers.)  And because I have recently began to grudgingly admit that heels are not entirely perfect for all situations, my tall jeans do not work for all outfits and/or footwear.  (Okay, that's not true.  Heels are always fabulous.  It's because of a nasty neuroma on one foot that causes constant pain, otherwise I'd wear heels to the grocery store.)  This leaves me with my slightly-short jean options.  (Save me the "where's the flood" jokes as I hear them in my head every time I look in the mirror while wearing my I-wish-these-were-an-inch-longer denim pants.)

But.... 

Wait for it....

I knit socks.  Beautiful socks with lots of fancy crap like cables, lace, and heel flaps that have brought me to tears.  Socks using $20 skeins of hand-dyed yarn.  A pair of knee socks that was almost the death of me that took 40-50 hours of knitting time and $40 in yarn (not including shipping).  Socks that I love wearing. 

Socks that are usually hidden under long-enough jeans.

So the next time you see me in my jeans, instead of thinking that I'm preparing in advance for my hot water tank to break and flood my basement, take a peek at that inch between my hem and the top of my shoes.  You just may see a sock work of art.

Christmas Upswing

I survived December.  More specifically, I survived my December knitting deadlines.  That pesky December 25th sneaks up so quickly, necessitating the completion of meticulously hand-knit gifts.  (Meticulous, frantic... they're interchangeable, right?)

I managed to whip out quite a few presents for friends and family members in time for the holidays.  I'm proud to report that they were even completed before our 9.5 hour drive to Western PA.  (I had originally anticipated much last minute car knitting with the clock ticking like the Tell Tale Heart.)  Can I remember everything I made, or is some lost to the post-holiday black-out?

• Hedera socks - for my boss Elaine at Curves.  I have taken so many finished socks there to show the ladies in my Zumba class that I had to make her a pair.
• Scalene scarf - for my wonderful friend, Darlene (besties since 2nd grade!)
• Scalene scarf - for my other wonderful friend, Crista (also 2nd grade BFFs!)
• Chunky slippers - for my mother-in-law
• Chunky slippers - for my grandmother (who unfortunately has majorly swollen legs & feet so I have to reknit her a giant pair and my mother claimed the original ones)
• Sashay scarf - for my mother-in-law (her birthday is the day after Christmas, so she got double knitted goodies this year)
• Sashay scarf - for my best friend, Lori
• Sashay scarf - for my friend, Charlene
• Sashay scarf - for Francesca's teacher (Note that Dominic made one himself for his teacher!)

Is that it?  It seems like the list should be longer, much longer.  Or maybe it's just the PTKS talking.  (Post-Traumatic Knitting Stress)



I also worked on a few other items during the same time, just to keep things interesting. 

My cousin, Cameron, is fighting cancer - a germ-cell tumor in his chest.  During the course of his chemo, he has lost 80 lbs and all of his hair.  I felt pretty helpless being 500 miles away and unable to help, so I made him a new hat to keep his sensitive, newly-bald head warm.  It's a simple ribbed hat with cool decreases at the top.  Here is photo of my brother modeling it over Thanksgiving:

 I also knit a pair of Cauchy socks from Cookie A's first book, Sock Innovation.  I couldn't resist - my friend Leigh knit them in a royal purple and they turned out so cute!  (And I don't even like purple!)  I had some nice olive green in Plymouth Yarn Company's Happy Feet sock yarn, so these were done by the end of November:

On a whim I decided to whip up a pair of booties since I had been looking at patterns for Francesca's pregnant gymnastics coach, Heather.  I had some Knit Picks Imagination yarn left over in the Looking Glass colorway which is so pretty, soft and warm, so that's what I used.

And...  Not that I'm a glutton for punishment or anything, but I was also working on my first pair of knee-high stockings - the pattern is Lissajous by Cookie A.  I started them in October but they stalled once I realized just how looooong is is from my knee to my ankle.  Including the feet, I had over 42 inches of sock to knit along with heels, gussets, and toes.  I started them one at a time, got about 4 inches in, and then didn't touch the sock for three weeks.  I finally picked it back up, knit past some funky calf shaping (that's mirrored for each sock), cast on the second, knit to the same point, then put them together on a single needle to work them two at a time.

The stockings needed to be done by the end of the year to qualify for the Knit Sock Love knit-a-long for them, so they went with me on my trek to PA where I finished them at my parents' house on December 27th.  These socks are cable crazy!

Wow, that's a lot.

And I'm not done yet.

One more pair!  Knit entirely during the month of December and using some beautiful Grant Creek Yarn that Chris has bought for me last Easter, I made Kai-Mei socks.  I did utilize quite a bit of our car driving time to knit these considering the entire leg is ribbing.  The foot pattern was knit at my parents' and mother-in-law's houses over the holidays, and finished on the car ride home on December 31st.

It's such a unique pattern and used a few different construction methods that I had never done before.  The first was starting the pattern on the gusset.  Every other pair of socks that I've knit have plain, stockinette gussets.  Just little triangles on the sides of the heel leading to the feet.  Not Kai-Mei - the open pattern starts there on the side of the foot and gradually moves across the top of the foot to the toe on the other side. 

The design itself was also unique - using multiple yarn-overs which are dropped on subsequent rows and then later purled together with a live stitch.  I should take a close-up photo of the pattern to post.  I'll have to do that the first time I wear them. 

Thus ends the saga of my November/December knitting projects.  My fingers ache just from thinking about all the knitting.  You'd think I would be taking it easy in January.  Ha, ha, that's funny. 

I'll regale you with my January projects soon.  I promise.