Plan for The 52 Pair Plunge IV

Last year I went into this without a plan. Just a loose idea that I wanted to work through the Interweave Favorite socks book.

I started off strong with a pair a week and then fell behind. I will still end the 52 Pair Plunge III with 23 completed pairs. Just shy of 52 single socks.

I know I’ll do better going into this year with a plan. So here are the four goals I’m going to knit by.

1. Finish the 3 WIPs and 8 pairs of hibernating socks I currently have on the needles. One of those pairs is from April 2009. Really it’s time to finish it.


2. I currently have give or take 90 skeins worth of sock yarn. Enough to make 90 pairs of socks with lots of remnants. I will not stop buying new sock yarn but what if I can only knit the new after I’ve completed a pair with the stash sock yarn. Imagine if I cut the stash down by 26 skeins? That’d be a good part of a yarn bin free.


3. Knit more with DK weight yarn. I’ve never knit a DK weight sock but it couldn’t hurt to make a pair of house socks for The DH, Mum, Dad, & Myself. Those will be quicker than regular socks.


4. For every full size pair I knit, knit a pair of kids socks. Not baby socks. Those are so small they’re useless. Kids socks that I can give to Sophie or Simon or put away for some future child.

Boyfriend Free

First night without The Boyfriend…it’s the annual fishing trip.

Picked up Moe’s sub on the way home…Boyfriend doesn’t like them.

Baked No Bake cookies for the first time in my adult life…ate a third of them.

Fell asleep at 8:30 on the couch watching Bones.

Woke up at 4 when Linus had a chirping attack. He frequently has these incidents where he wants to talk and run and talk. He raced from one end of the house to the other making little short chirpy noises until Isitt decided to give chase.

KIDS!!! IT'S HOT!

Kids it’s hot!

When did this happen? Is this global warming? Should I be concerned?

I am concerned, concerned about how uncomfortable the heat is. I don’t want to do anything except sleep. It’s a humid 89 degrees here today. So glad I was at work. I came home and found The Boyfriend in a puddle on the floor. The heat melted him. Isitt is gulping down water by the gallon. Mac’s normally lustrous coat looks mangy and clumpy. And Linus doesn’t even have the energy to ask me for treats.

I certainly hope the rest of the summer isn’t like this.

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This past weekend I was working on the Transverse Cardigan. I split off for the collar and just finished the neck decreases and was about to start the 3” of garter that make up the edging/button band, when I realized I’d been following the wrong size instructions. I’m at the right width now without the additional 3”. And those 3” make the design. I put the sweater in time out, giving myself some time to think of a solution.

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I moved on to the X-Files socks. Finished the first sock. Started the second and for the life of me couldn’t remember the pattern. Rather than guessing I put that aside.

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Later that day (Sunday wasn’t a great day for knitting for me). I picked up the super ugly socks and finished the first sock. Great those were finished but they are so hard on the eyes I’m not sure I should make the second. Who would wear these?

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Moving onto the Norwegian Rose Socks. I was up to turning the heel. I decided to follow the pattern which includes a modified short row heel and mini heel flap. I turned the whole thing and realized thata 46 stitch heel is too big. Rip Rip Rip and then started again. By this time it was 9 and time to go to bed.

Thankfully it’s been a few days. And I haven't had any more "attack knitting". I’ve had time to realize that the Transverse Cardigan neck decreases can be worked at the same time as the garter edging. So I’ll rip that back 3” and try it again. And the Norwegian Rose Socks have one successful heel and a good start on the second sock. So things are looking up. The other two…well they’re still in time out. X-files socks I only knit while watching the show and the ugly ones…it’ll be awhile until I want to look at them again.

Good Morning Allison!

Bachelorette Party

The much anticipated Bachelorette party was a blast! I’m so pleased that everything went according to plan and bonus that I had fun too! We all agreed to look once at the pictures and then hide them away. But I think I can share one picture of myself at the pre-party. Rest assured I was not the only one who looked a bit silly. The party served its purpose and totally pumped me up for the wedding. I can’t wait to see all these ladies again and share some more laughs. Good times! Thanks VS & Na-ate for making it honest.

Ugly Socks

Want to see some ugly socks? Some crazy pooling? And this is after I’ve worked to prevent it. The redeeming grace is that the pattern is fun to knit. This is the second pair of socks I’ve attempted with this yarn. I’ve given up on it. It is what it is and I can’t change it. And this is the Transverse Cardigan. I’m about 9” into the body. Almost time to split off for the collar. So far so good. Although I worked on it for 7 hours in the car and by the end of the trip (a work trip), I was sick of looking at it. I’m thinking it might be a few weeks before I pick it up again.

And in other news, The Boyfriend has officially finished year one of the PhD program. To be honest I was a bit worried he would loose interest but thus far he’s enjoyed himself.

Mac & Linus went crazy last night. They were racing all over the house at 4am jumping among the big paper shopping tote bags I had left in the hall way. I know it’s my own fault, but it was a bit excessive on their part. I got the message after the first ten minutes of bag rustling that they wanted me to put them away. They didn’t need to continue for another hour just to prove their point.

Isitt and the babies are doing very well. They are so cute, and that Who is full of energy.

And I’m ready for the bachelorette party of the century tomorrow night. Bags are packed, games are assembled, decorations gathered, outfits coordinated, and directions programmed into Garmin. I don’t think I’ve been this prepared for an outing in my entire life. I hope the VS enjoys every minute!

You are powerless to resist!

There was a name change, the little white boy is now Who...

And you must start singing this song...

Sweater Tallie Ho

I started the Transverse Cardigan a month a ago. I flew through the arm and promptly realized that if I wanted to this sweater to be all that it could be I would need some more yarn. As per usual I would lengthen the body and perhaps the sleeves. I decided this after I cast on because I fell in love with the yarn. I had selected Classic Elite’s Four Season Print as the perfect tweed yarn. Primarily cotton with 30% wool to give the yarn just enough elasticity to be pleasant to work with. Turns out that this yarn has been discontinued, probably because of lack of popularity as only two other people on Ravelry had this color way in their stashes. I contacted them both and after a bit of discussion Kari agreed to part with her six skeins. Giving me a total of 1,600 yards. More than enough to tweek the pattern and have leftovers. Few, crisis averted. The yarn arrived yesterday and although they are different dye lots it matches what I already have.

Now that I can breathe easy and knit without worry, I’ve picked the sweater back up. I have about 3” of the body finished. So far so good. Want to know what I’ve done to alter the pattern? First I lengthened the front and back so they’ll hit a little lower on the hips. Using a Magic Cast On to join the side seams and save myself the hassle of sewing them together when I am finished. I’ll have to use kitchener on the other side since technically there isn’t a seem on the first side.

Wednesday I’m embarking on a ten hour road trip with three coworkers. It’ll be interesting if nothing else. I’m sure I’ll make some serious headway on this and the Soft Linen Sideways Lace Vest which I haven’t touched in just as long.

Garnet Dream

As you know I went to the Rhinebeck Sheep & Wool Festival last year. The Blue Moon/Socks That Rock booth was mobbed yet again. I love their stuff and I love the mill ends, it just feels like such a deal. Last year Lucy325 was the newbie and could be enticed to jump in an dig while the more experienced members of our group hung back. Digging through bodies and yarn does pay off, she got her hands on some of the lightweight STR (or Rocket Sockets if your MMH) in the color Garnet Dreams. My inner three year old instantly threw a tantrum screaming, “It’s red and black! It must be mine!” But composed Samurai that I am, I smiled, nodded, and said it was nice as my eyes scanned for a second skein. No second skein. And even though we were roommates, I managed to resist the urge to steal it from her bags while she slept before she had the chance to get attached and notice it was gone.

Fast forward six months to spring of this year. Lucy325 is not a stasher. This is not something I understand. She frequently purchases yarn and then later decides she’s not interested in knitting with it. Again, see the inner three year old, “It’s mine. No I’m not going to share. It will stay with me until I can’t stand the sight of it and then it’ll stay a little longer.” So there we were shopping in our local LYS and she mentioned nonchalantly that she didn’t really like the STR she got at Rhinebeck and maybe she’d put it up for trade. I instantly said I’d take it. Perhaps a bit too fast as she gave me a quizzical look that said, what do you know that I don’t? A week later the yarn was resting atop my TV.

And now here we are. This turned out to be the yarn I needed to get me knitting socks again. I spent an afternoon searching for a simple pattern that wouldn’t get lost in the red, purple, blue, beige color shifts of the yarn. Wendy Knit’s Diagonal Lace Socks seemed like a good choice. Knowing that Wendy’s lace patterns tend to make looser fitting socks than I like, I dropped down to 51 sts (a typical sock is 64sts for me). Having learned not to trust 100% merino sock yarns I used beige reinforcing thread around the ball of the foot. And to prevent the inevitable spiral effect that accompanies every skein of STR that I’ve knit with, I’m alternating knitting from both ends of the skein. Knit on size 1s they are dense close fitting socks. I absolutely love them. And I’m so happy Lucy325 brought this yarn back from Rhinebeck! Inner 3 year old “No I’m not going to knit these socks for her! They will be mine! Mine Mine Mine.”

Mum's Baudelaire's

They are finished! In February I started knitting Mum a pair of socks for Mother’s Day. I had just finished knitting a pair of Baudelaire’s for MeowMeowHead’s birthday and I loved the pattern so much I wanted to knit another pair. Perfect. I started and soon found that three socks in one pattern is a lot. I lost interest and the socks got put aside until a week before Mother’s Day when I began to panic. I had to act fast.

It worked out well that I wasn’t feeling too good on Monday. I had a cold but with the right combination of medicines I could stay awake and knit for a couple of hours. I worked about 12” of that second sock getting well past the heel. Tuesday came and went without any knitting. Wednesday saw knitting group and managed to only complete three rows. Which left me with Thursday night to finish them because I was seeing Mum after work on Friday and giving them to her then. I stayed up knitting way too late for a “school night”. I got up early to bind off, soak and block them. Then I headed to work with wet socks on the blockers in my car hoping they’d dry by the end of the day so I could wrap them up. This is by far the closest I’ve ever cut gift knitting. She’ll never know what a race it was but will cherish them the same as the other pairs I’ve knit. And when I see her wearing them I wonder if my heart will skip a beat as I remember that last minute anxiety to finish finish finish!

They're done!

Summer 2010 Interweave -Samurai's take

What's not to love in the new Summer 2010 Interweave Knits?

Seriously, I'm ready to cast on for all of these!

Jail Cardigan by Pam Powers...love the drape around the collar. If not this sweater, then definitely taking that collar design for something else.

Persephone Shell by Lien Ngo…this is love at first sight. Give me that outfit immediately! Of course I’m much bustier than the model but the two tone sleeveless blows me away. Great way to use up relatively small amounts of yarn. If I knit it, will they send me a cute plaid top for layering?

Empyrean Tunic By Anne Kuo Lukito is another one that gets me with the ensemble. I’m not big on dresses but this looks stunning together. If I only had 2,000 yards of lace weight laying around. Alas, I don’t own any lace weight and don’t intend to. I bet this knits up quick on size 8s.

Gamine Tank by Cathy Carron…yay...umh...pst...between you and me....you’ll be seeing this on the needles by this weekend. Of course the fine print states that she is a 33” bust wearing the 38” which means were talking 5” of positive ease to keep those ribs from pulling in too tight. Oh but it’s lovely. And that big full collar! Mine Mine Mine!!!

Beach House Pullover by Mercedes Tarasovich-Clark…can you say cozy? This sweater exemplifies what I think of as cozy. At first glance I thought it was a mohair blend but it’s alpaca giving it that soft halo. Fairy Godmother, if you’re listening…would you please knit this for me? Someone please show me something shinny to distract me and keep me from launching into five new sweaters, for the love of Pete! It's the only humane thing to do.

I’d give this issue two big thumbs up, and it’s a SUMMER ISSUE! Go Interweave!!!