November 52PPIV Progress Update

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.

November: five pairs of socks hibernating. Now including all three of last month’s new WIPs. Oh that’s a sad state. I hadn’t realized. –Isitt-Dilemma, Purple Socks, and Yes to the Dress.

Added a few more active WIPs because what would life be if I didn’t have WIPs? The Boyfriend Socks out of a Fortissima Socka self striping yarn he picked out and I immediately cast on during the Birthday Appetizer Trip. It’s a simple 4x4 rib but I ‘accidently’ made the first one too small so they’re for me. Really I didn’t mean to make them too short. I will have to knit him another pair so there’s no avoiding it.

Oh and I found the Froot Loop socks. I know I started them at a show this fall. Not sure when but I’ve been knitting them at lunch and in the car when I’m stuck in traffic. This is a great pattern for the classy results for minimal brain expenditure.

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.

I’m going backwards here and I don’t even want to look. 9 new socks worth of yarn. I don’t want to talk about it. So I’m net 27 new skeins on this year.

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.

I really don’t mean to be such a downer, but here is another goal that I’m falling short on. Just one pair!!!!! That’s all I need to feel like I complied.

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.

But then, there was some success!!!!!

This month I got the Sock Yarn One Skein Wonders book by Judith Durant. Lots of cute patterns including an interesting baby sock pattern by Helen Bingham. So I knit one. And then I knit another in a different color, and then I knit a third and before you know it I was cranking out a sock a day for several days in a row until I had a baby sock rainbow. 10 pairs in all. Which puts me at 28 completed pairs. And as of November 20^th I should be at 27 pairs. So for one brief moment I am ahead! In the count if nothing else.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has come and gone. I spent another enjoyable year with my In-laws, all 15 of them.

The Boyfriend and I counted, and we’re pretty sure this is the tenth year I’ve attended.

I’m pleased to say it never gets old. Each year is different in some way. Each year I get to know another member of the extended family a little bit more.

Each year I’m amazed that this family manages to come together once a year, every year for the past thirty plus years.

My in-laws are a wonderful mix of personalities and I am happy to be counted among their numbers.

They are completely different form my extended family yet I love them both and feel I belong with them both. I am truly thankful this Thanksgiving.

Ahh-chooooo

It looks like it could snow any moment, and my lovely husband recently gave me a cold. Wont that make for a fun ride home, ahh-chooo, ahh-chooo, in between wiper swipes! I should really be at home, but Black Friday is looming...big…and bad…and ugly. I sincerely hope you're going shopping.

Ladies of the Family Get Down

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October 52PPIV Progress Update

This is the progress update after the fifth month of the 52 Pair Plunge IV. I’m going to evaluate myself according to the 4 goals I’d set for myself at the start.

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.

This month I blasted through the Teacher’s Pet Monkey socks. I’m not sure if it was the pattern (I just love it and always want to knit just one more row) or the yarn. The Santa Fe sock yarn blew my mind. It’s a perfect substitute for Claudia’s Hand paint. I love that highly twisted texture of the yarn but have a hard time justifying 100% merino socks. I wore through my a pair of them in less than 10 wears, which is totally not worth the effort of knitting them. But now, who should walk through the door but this Santa Fe sock yarn with 10% nylon? See The Samurai smile. That’s not say that I love Claudia’s any less, I just won’t use it for another pair of socks (or if I must, not without reinforcing thread).

Next off the needles was a pair of simple two by two rib socks intended as mindless car knitting. And that’s just what they were. I knit these on the way to cat shows all over New York and Pennsylvania. I haven’t used the Trekking XL much, but it seems like a good workhorse yarn. Not too soft but I’d be willing to bet a skein of yarn that five years from now these babies will be well worn and ready for more.

And most recently I finished off the Red Queen socks. It’s the Anastasia pattern paired with this self stripping Ditto sock yarn. This is the second time I knit this pattern and I still enjoy its subtle change in the direction of the stripes. The yarn has been discontinued which doesn’t break my heart. I found it somewhat splitty which is not a complaint I often have being a loose knitter. I did enjoy the almost tonal stripes. It was difficult to tell when the next color would start which kept my interest.

And to replace those three FOs there are three new WIPs on the needles;

1) The Isitt-Dilemma or Isitt an Emma Dilemma: A stitch pattern from my page a day calendar and some Lorna’s laces Sheppard’s sock in Irving park. Named for the girls, Isitt & Emma.

2) The Need More Purple socks: exactly the same colors as the Isitt-Dilemma socks. This is the Hermione’s Everyday paired with some Aussie Sock in the color Hot Pepper, I just love that name.

3) Say Yes To The Dress: can you tell what I’ve been watching? Another simple 4x4 rib to knit while traveling to cat shows, in the show hall, or when I’m brain dead at the hotel after a day of showing. Who know showing cats could be so exhausting!?!? Sometimes I’m just too tired to even knit. Gasp!

I’d like to say that I have the same 4 pairs of hibernating socks that I did last month but I have to be honest, the Waves in PacaPeds and the new Isitt-Dilemma Socks have both moved into hibernation. I’ll definitely go back to the Isitt-Dilemma socks but for now they need more mental capacity then I have. Plus the yarn is VERY thin, a super light fingering which isn’t my favorite to knit with. And the Pacapeds are pooling something awful, hahaha the Wave socks are pooling! I’m not in love with the Nanners pattern with this yarn so I might just frog them and make fingerless mitts with the yarn instead. I’ll get back to you on that one.

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.

Alright, well you have to give me some leeway on this one. I mean Rhinebeck was this month. How could I not buy sock yarn. But I did buy two sweaters worth of sock yarn. That’s a feebile attempt at explaining how it is that I acquired 21 skeins of sock yarn in a month. That more than undoes all of the work I’ve done to this point. Having completed 18 Pairs this plunge to date. And while I added 21 skeins I did finish off 3 so net is 18 new skeins.

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.

I did cast on a pair of sport weight socks! That’s closer to DK then I’ve ever been before. They knit super fast! They are the Say Yes To The Dress 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.

No baby socks this month.

In October I knit 3 pairs of socks, added to the 15 from the last four months and I’ve fallen a little further behind as I should be at 22 on October 26^th. And now we’re approaching Christmas knitting time, mittens, hats, shawls, and cowls are in my future. But I’ll keep at the simple socks for Show Hall and in public knitting.

Happy Halloween

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Rhinebeck 2010

Rhinebeck WAS! It is an amazing display of yarn and goodies and a non-stop knitting runway show. I love the fall atmosphere and the fried artichokes! As you can see I did some damage on the stash front.

--Pictured are several colors of Socks That Rock –including two skeins of medium weight for a BSJ,

--Sanguine Gryphon Bugga (20% cashmere fingering weight merino) in the color Cowkiller (no less than a sweaters worth),

--Footnotes Optics and Kashmir for socks and a Christmas shawl, somebody who likes brown better watch out…

--Feederbrook Farm worsted handspun –lime, navy, and plum -120 yards for accent on a hat

--Pinewoods sock yarn, two skeins because she amazes me with her dye application and smooth color transitions

--Briar Rose 4^th of July is the green-blue barber pole worsted yarn. Shown in the giant skeins on the right. Another sweaters worth

--Lorna’s laces Sheppard Worsted in Zombie Barbeque. I couldn’t resist the color once I read the name. IT’s the lime, gray, red color way. Another BSJ? A hat for me?

I also picked up the perfect buttons for my Scottish Green hat that I knit in January for Rhinebeck but was unable to find buttons that matched its mix of argyle and sophisticated style.

And who could forget the bummer stickers. The best one is on my fridge “If knitting were exercise, you could bounce a quarter off my ass.”

MMH is pumped to go to Maryland Sheep and Wool this spring. I could definitely be persuaded…

Happy Anniversary Dear!

Rhinebeck Just 3 Days Away!

The forecast for Friday is rain.

Saturday is Windy with a high of 56.

Sunday is Sunny and 63.

Which means we’ll have a rainy drive down, a cold say Saturday and a warmer relaxing day on Sunday. I’m ok with that. Right now my desk is covered with tiny post-it notes reminding me to pack tissues, an expandable bag to carry purchases in, and my full set of needles so that I can cast on with new yarn. Going away with a bunch of gals always intrigues me. Not that woman want anything different than men, it’s just the group dynamic I guess. I’m wondering if there is some perfect snack item that we would all love or if a breakfast muffin mix would be appreciated more than a trip to Dunkin’. Probably not. Although that does remind me that I need to pack coffee, where’s the post-it? I get up entirely too early to wait for everyone else to wake up and go before getting some of that into my system.

Rhinebeck Here I Come!

I’m not sure where September went but I’m pretty sure October is going there too. Between the start of the busy season at my job and running to the Cat Shows every weekend, I haven’t had a moment to stop and think. I am pleased that the hard work all around has paid off. First Mum and I have been having so much fun together as our Bella excels in the show ring. And this week I was promoted which is a nice pat $$ on the back for all of my efforts. My immediate thought was, ‘great now I can buy more yarn and sweaters!’ As only a true knitter would think. Something about fall makes me want to buy cloths. Perhaps it’s working in retail and hearing all of the seasonal hype. And the chill in the air gets every knitters blood pumping giving their fingers a rush of energy to knit more more more.

Oh and I know just where to buy some yarn!!! Rhinebeck is less than 10 days away!!! Can you believe it? I shouldn’t go without a shopping list. I did that the first year and bought entirely too much lovely sock yarn and nothing else. This year I know to buy some wine, buttons, and artichokes in addition to the mountains of yarn I’m inevitably drawn to.

To start the shopping list… I’ll definitely be coming home with

*Some Heavy Weight Socks that Rock, two skeins per color for some DK weight projects.

*A sweaters worth of something blue or brown,

*A few tempting skeins of sock yarn dyed in a manner that only an indy dyer can.

*And perhaps some Brooks Farm or Briar Rose. I’ve contemplated both in years past but haven’t been able to justify the price. But maybe this year…

Oh and looking at the vendor list I see that Jennie The Potter will be there. After hearing the Knitmore Girls talk about how great her stuff is, I’ll have to spend some time in that booth as well. Ditto on Carolina Homespun and Creatively Dyed Yarns.

And most importantly, fried or frenched artichokes. So yummy! Rhinebeck here I come!!!