After Memorial Day, it's time for more socks!

Claudine and I decided to do a Sock off. I have a rather competitive streak as some as you may know. And once when Claudine and I were comparing sock yarn stashes, my competitive streak decided to show itself and the First Annual Sock Off was born.

The Sock Off will run from Memorial Day to Labor Day. The idea is to knit the most socks between the two of us in that amount of time. Socks will be awarded points on the following critera, and they'll be weighed afterwards (Claudine says her feet are bigger than mine, so this is an attempt at making it even)

• 1 point for a heel flap


• 1 point for a short row heel


• 1 point for a cable pattern


• 1 point for a lace pattern


• 1 point for a patterned heel


• 1 point for short row toes

Other points will be added as needed. Can you think of any that are missing?
The winner will get bragging rights and a sock yarn of her choosing from the loser. I think there should be a certificate involved as well...but we'll see to that later. :)

Really, it's anyone's game. I actually don't have a ton of traveling going on in June. July, with San Diego Comic Con might help give me a boost, but it's possible that I'll just be so exhausted from working the show that I'll come back to just pass out in my hotel room sans knitting.

So, I think the first pair of socks that I'm going to work on for the Sock Off will be the Over the Knee Stockings from Handknit Holidays (Ravelry Pattern Link). I've got new yarn (Louet Gems in a nice cream color), and a new understanding of the pattern (from having done it a couple times before and failing). I understand that I have to make the sock a few stitches wider to cover my thigh and that it also needs to be about four pattern repeats longer than the pattern specifies. Now that I'm writing that, I hope I have enough yarn. The strategy is that even if I dont' complete the pair by the end of the summer, I'll have knit so much on these socks that when weighed they'll out-match my competitor. mwa ha ha!

I Give Up

I know I can knit the Thelonious Sock by Cookie A. It's just to the point where I don't want to. And nothing you can say will make me! So I'm shelving it. The skein is already wound though, so I'll find another good sock pattern (there are many). I bought Little Box of Socks which, despite being published by Martingale press (I find their stuff is usually more homely than my personal style), it's actually pretty cool. There are way more interesting than non-interesting sock patterns in the mix. However, the non-interesting socks are pretty wild (ack! Save the Fun Furs!). Socks, I guess, are pretty hard to bork.

I do though still really love the Lorna's Laces yarn I'm working with, which is why I'll use it again in a different sock. Hopefully the next sock won't be quite as complicated. With all the other personal things I've had going on, I'm not sure I'll be able to deal with anything too complicated.

Speaking of too complicated, I started working on Jeanie from Knitty. I had cast on and done a row, but I think I borked the second row so instead of taking it back I just decided to re-do the whole thing. in re-looking at it though, it really looks like it's just an odd kind of rib for the most part. So I re-cast on and worked the first row again, and hopefully this time I'll be able to focus enough to actually knit it correctly. I've got a four hour train ride to Rhode Island this weekend, so I should be able to put some sort of dent into it.

We all need a little SEX sometimes...

Stash Enhancement eXperiences for you perverts out there.

I seem to be buying up my weight in yarn. It seems like I'm sticking to the laceweight and sock yarn as of late though.

First up is my own little tribute to Gramps. I bought it the day after he died because, well...touching something so soft was extremely soothing. And it's such a vibrant alive redish marroon I just had to have it:



As the tag says, it's from J.Knits. Lace-A-Licious is the name and i think the color is called Indiana or something along those lines. It's an alpaca laceweight and runs about 1200 yards which is pretty phenomenal. I could get another Icarus out of it, but I think I'll probably use it for one of the other myriad of shawls I currently have queued.

Next up, I met my friend Illana (that's a Ravelry link folks) for some good mediteranian food in Park Slope. I had de-stashed to her two and a half skeins of Twinkle's uber bulky yarn that I accidentally managed to get for $10 a ball (I KNOW!! Way cheap right!?). She told me to pick something from her stash I liked as an exchange. So I got this sexy looking thing:



That's STR lightweight yarn. I'm not sure of the colorway, I want to say it's flower power or something like that. I've used the STR mediumweight, but find that the socks I got out of it were a little too thick for my liking. They're really warm, they just don't fit in my sneekers. So I've wanted to test the lightweight stuff for forever, and this color way is just PRICELESS. It's actually really made me want to seriously lobby my parents come Christmas time for the STR Rockin Sock Club.

I also managed to get out of the deal this cute little number:


That's some sweet looking Malabrigio Laceweight yarn. I'm not sure what the colorway is called, but isn't it gorgeous? So, I think it was a pretty good trade. I got some smaller yarn out of it anyway. I should mention that those two photographs were Illana's, not mine. I never had anywhere near that amount of natural light when I take photos of my yarn. :(

I started organizing my yarns a bit more, in that I now have one BIG bag that I've been putting two smaller bags in. One of the smaller bags is laceweight yarn and the other is sock weight yarn. Those seem to be the two kinds of yarn I've been buying recently. They're easy to pack up with me when I go back to NY from wherever it is I've been, and I don't have to buy a ton of it at the same time.

That said, I'm just now knowing the wonders of a sweater that fits well. I LOVE wearing my TYC around. It's just the right weight. Most of my other finished sweaters I think are a little too warm actually, which surprises me because i'm usually always cold no matter what. My TYC actually keeps me warm, but not too warm.

Aditionally, I just cast on for Jeanie from Knitty. I have really only completed a row so far, so it's not even really worth showing a photo. The project looks somewhat challenging, but I'm sure that once I get into the pattern, it'll fly by.

Thelonious Yoke Cardigan?

Yup!
I finished the TYC! Doesn't it look darling! One of the few sweaters I've knit that I think I'll actually wear! It's great for these spring days that are too warm for a jacket but too chilly to just wear a shirt. I made the bottom about an inch longer and the sleeves a bit longer too. I actually don't even think the sleeves needed it. They're actually a bit *too* long now. The button holes I made are a bit big, so I'm going to have to sew them shut a bit, or just use the surrounding holes from the knitting instead of the button holes. I put on the buttons last week while waiting for my flight to leave out of Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport (really, that's just a big mouth full for "barn with tiny planes nearby"). I found this lady:



Out of respect I didn't ask her what she was knitting (I gathered it was small and on wooden/bamboo DPNs), or even say hi, lest she think I crazy. I turned right back to my buttons.

Tonight, I managed to finish the leg of one of the Thelonious Socks that I started when I was in LA. Doesn't it look great!?



I love the stitch pattern. Which is good, because it looks like I'll be doing it at least three more times. Look at my issue:



yup. either my gauge was off, or i did the wrong size. Looks like I'll be sizing up for this one. Going from a small size to a large. I'm pretty sure this has something to do with the size 0 needles I'm using, but they make a nice solid fabric that I think will hold up to the wear and tear that is my feet better than any other gauge.

So, back into a ball it is now. I'll re-cast on at SNB tomorrow night. I don't think I can focus on anything else except that right now, otherwise I'd totally lose it.