Finished Monkey Socks

Well, I finished the monkey socks! Technically I finished them earlier this week, but it took me awhile to get around to blogging.

The cool thing, I actually have enough left that I could probably get a second pair of socks out of it. I haven’t decided if I want to knit it up myself yet, or if I feel like selling/giving/trading it. I did list is as for sale/trade on ravelry, we’ll see what happens. If any of you are interested, maybe we can work something out, just send me an e-mail or a message on ravelry.

Lately…

Well it’s been a few weeks since I’ve updated my blog. The truth, I’ve been over on plurk, omg I’m in LOVEEEEEEEE! It really is a blast so I would definitely recommend it for anyone who wants another method that will suck up all their free time.

Other than that I’ve been working on the Monkey socks for my sister’s b-day gift. The first sock has been finished and I’ve started on the second.

I’ve also been working on some knitting for charity lately too. I’ve made 3 more 8 by 8 squares for an afghan that will be sewn together eventually. (hopefully). Lately I’ve been making lots of red squares, but when I didn’t have enough yarn for another red square I went off in search of something else to knit from my stash. What I found, some Red Heart Bulky stuff that my sister bought a few years ago before deciding she didn’t want it. Amazing how things end up in my stash.

It’s nice though, cast on 12 stitches and less than 4 hours later you have a scarf! Since I’ve got 2 more skeins in the stash, those will also become scarves. Machine wash and dry, can’t beat that for charity knitting.

Oops.

Well I was online today… and the internet magically took me to the site of my LYS. Well I decided I really needed a skein of trekking since they just got some in, and hey, I survived this year! I deserved it!

So I went, but I didn’t come home with trekking. I came home with this:

I’m in love. LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE. I’ve been reading about it on Ravelry. People have said good things and people have said some not so good things. But you’ll get that with every yarn. Of course it’s not the typical yarn you’d see for socks, but the look and texture reminds me of handspun, and who would dare say handspun would make bad socks? Not me.
I want to knit it very badly, but I have some other projects that need to get off the needles and hook first. You can bet though that this will be cast on fairly soon, even if it means starting yet another project. Most of the current projects I have started really are too hot for summer knitting anyways.

Stupid socks…

You may remember a recent post where I showed my dispair over noticing that the second Regia Ecru sock was off in gauge by a whole half inch.  The second sock was ripped and started again… and again… and again… and again… and again… and after that… I decided it was a sign.  I put off frogging till the weekend and really, it was completely painless.  Socks have been frogged, skeins and after being washed will be thrown back to the stash monster.  Perhaps this will be the end of my sock woes and the sock mojo will come flying back.

What to do?  Well of course I casted on more socks.  All my current projects are getting quite large and I needed something to cram under the table in my math class. 

This time I’ve casted on with the new opal yarn I bought.  Opal Zirkus in color 2002.  I love this color.  My individual skein seems to be much lighter than the pictures I’ve seen of color 2002 on the Opal website.  The pattern?  Welt Fantastic outta Sensational Knitted socks.  I love love love the finished objects I’ve seen of this pattern on Ravelry.  They were all gorgeous.

I’ve got my fingers crossed… hopefully these will fit well.  They seem kinda big, but I did do a swatch and did measure my foot.  So we’ll just have to see. 

YARN!

I gots yarn.

The purple and green in the back is the LimeNViolet colorway of Sock! from Lisa Souza.  Someone I met on ravelry came to one of our SnBs at Panera a few weeks ago and a swap was formed.  She got 4oz of roving, and I came home with that yarn.  It is purdy. 

The one in front is Opal Zirkus 2002 (2002 is the color) and I got it while exploring the BRAND NEW LYS.  Lovely little shop.  The name of it is Yarnia Yarn Shop and Cafe.  It’s located in Canton, OH and it just opened at the end of October.  Lots of sock yarn and other yarns as well.  Really great lighting which makes me VERY happy.  It’s really a cute store, so if you’re in the area you should check it out.

Oh.. and that skein of yarn I bought I was *allowed* to buy cause I had enough points for it.

However, since my birthday is coming up, I may be making another purchase in the near future.  It all depends on if the store has what I want when my friend goes. 

GAH!

I started the 2nd Ecru sock that I had been putting off for awhile last Saturday.  I’ve been working away on it during breaks at school this week and am half way to the heel!

Put there’s a problem.

See it?

No.  It’s not the stripes…  I could care less if my socks don’t match.  I thin it gives them character.  The problem: my gauge.  I’m half a stitch off.  ugh.  This half a stitch does make a big difference seeing as how it makes the sock a half inch less around.

So.  I’m off to rip it out, cast on again and try to “loosen up.”  I need to stop knitting soooo tightly.

Anastasia Socks-FO!

LOOK!  I FINALLY FINISHED SOMETHING!

Finally finished my Anastasia Socks with my Artsygal Superwash Merino Sock yarn.  LOVE the pattern and LOVE the yarn.

I did make a few changes to the pattern so that it would fit my foot with this specific yarn.  I did my gauge swatched, figured out how many stitches I would need so that it would fit my foot right and just altered the pattern from there.  I cast on 12 stitches to each needle and did Judy’s Magic Cast on.  I increased to 36 stitches per needle and added an extra three knit stitches between the decreases so that I had the right number of stitches.  I stopped 2 inches before the heel and wrapped until there were 12 live stitches in the middle.  After picking up my wrapped stitches at the heel I picked up a few extra on the sides so that I wouldn’t have any holes then decreased them in the next row.  I did the 6 inch cuff and started the ribbing on the inside of the socks.  Because I chose to start the ribbing there I was about half way through one of the decrease/yarn over rows.  I fudged my ribbing and pretty much did whatever I wanted.  It works. 

Now for the close-up!  I’m including this cause I like pictures.  hehe.

Also I just think it looks better than my other pictures of the socks.

MORE SOCKS!

SOCK!  I’ve done a lot of work on my second Anastasia sock lately.  LOVE LOVE LOVE this pattern and yarn.  I don’t think I can say that enough.

School has been okay.  Last Thursday went much better than Tuesday.  I have a ton of homework already, and it looks like it’s just going to be one of those crazy semesters.  You might be seeing some really short blog posts until Christmas.  That is unless I start stress blogging again.  I tend to blog whenever the stress becomes to much. 

First Anastasia sock DONE!

First Anastasia sock is DONE DONE DONE! Second one has been cast on.I started school today. I only had one class and it was incredibly boring. He didn’t actually teach anything, but he still managed to talk for over an hour. Hopefully we’ll actually do something on Wednesday and the class won’t be a complete waste of time. Tomorrow I’ve got a full day of classes. Some really hard classes will be thrown in there too. I do have some time to eat both lunch and dinner though so it shouldn’t be too bad.

I like the idea of updating on Monday, Wednesday and Friday but I’m not sure that I can continue with the Knitting on Monday, Crochet on Wednesday and Spinning on Friday thing… cause some of my projects are just BORING.  You’ve seen my candle flame shawl.  It’s the SAME thing the whole way through.  Same for the crocheted afgahn I’m working on.  Oh… and I bet the 2nd Anastasia sock is going to look a lot like the 1st. 

I’m going to keep updating on those days, just expect randomness. 

OH!  I decided to see if I can sell my Ashford Traditional.  I’m selling it for pretty much what it’s worth.  About $65 less than a new one.  It’s only 2 years old an in good shape.  It’s not some 20 year old wheel that has sat untouched for years and years and years.  I put it over on craig’s list and figured I’ll wait and see what happens.  If it sells, great, if not then it’s still mine and I can still play with it all I want.

Sock yarn!

The yarn fee sent for my prize arrived.  It’s beautiful.  I really need to get things off my needles so I can cast some good stuff on.

This yarn is from Bright Dyes and it’s just gorgeous.  The colors are great.