Questions and Answers

So, my Fall Felted Bag Exchange pal has questions.

Questions: what is your preferred sock knitting method and what needles do you use? Also, favorite sock yarn or one you want to try?

Well pal o' mine, I like anything BUT Magic Loop. Which is to say, I like dpns a lot, but two circs are so easy to travel with that I guess they are in the #1 slot. Needles? Addis and KnitPicks. I thought I was all about metal, but of late, I've been into wood and bamboo. ANYTHING bamboo appeals to me, because it's the ultimate renewable resource. The stuff makes Virginia Creeper (read: kudzu) look like a slow grower. I'm also really liking the toe-up approach to socks, just for the record.

Favorite sock yarn. Okay gentle reader, I know I've professed my love for about ten different sock yarns, but honestly, Tofutsies has to get the #1 slot. For merino/superwash, I'd go with Lorna's Laces or the local Misty Mountain, both available at the Loopy Ewe. Heck, if all else fails, if you can buy it there, I'll like it. Wick is the only worsted weight sock yarn for me, although I might be trying some others in the holiday knitting rush, which I do believe is upon us. The simple fact is, I love wee little skinny sock yarns. I want to try them all.

Lace is also working its way into my heart, but we have a problem; I'm fickle and want a fast, but passionate fling with my works in progress. Lace? She's a demanding mistress. She wants my full attention, my time, and to Mugsy's chagrin, a lot of my lap space too. She's what the boys call high maintenance, and ask my bigger than a wallet felted bags and baby blankies where that will get ya'. I'm high rent but not high maintenance, so lace is happening on my terms. (Read: Some of you will be getting pictures of your intended holiday gifts instead of the items.)

I have questions too. Why did my new-found joy in one LYS get dosed with cold water today? Do they really not want to sell me more yarn because I haven't brought in a finished project from their stock yet? (I swear. I wouldn't lie to you. That's about word for word what the lady said, in the 14 seconds she took away from her friends at the table in the back. I need to finish up something(s) with the yarn I've purchased there so I can buy more. 'Scuse me? Me and my yarn appetite walked out without even a good-bye. There's a Fiber Festival this weekend, you know!)

Do you (specifically, Anne) know how hard it is for me to not to share a cool work in progress with y'all? I'm learning new skills, trying a new yarn, and keeping it to myself is killing me. I know you'll love the bag, because I'm already thinking maybe I need one for me too...

And now, I have to walk away from this idiot box, so that knitting can actually take place.

Tofutsie Up!

I can now add Magic Cast-on and Toe Up socks to my resume. Sure, I'm a long way from complete, but there's a little toe and foot for ya. I don't know why all the photos of this August limited edition Tofutsies makes it look all sage and pink, because the toe is much more accurate; it looks like a hodge-podge of summer colors with yellow, orange, a Caribbean blue, and a little black for contrast I guess. The photo of the yarn is much more accurate. It took some dry runs, but I got the hang of the Magic Cast-on soon enough, and my M1s up the toe turned out better than I could have hoped. I think I might like toe-up better, but we'll wait and see how the heel goes first.

See the little divot/dimple/crimp on the needle to the left front? That's what will keep me from using these Susan Bates Quicksilver circs again. The point is fine, the surface is fine, but that dimpled join is a bear, as is the odd, gentle bend in the needle just above the join. I've also decided that I really prefer the 16" length for socks, so I'll be ordering more Knitpicks when I get a chance. Right now, I need to head to the fire house for dinner and a membership committee meeting. I'm taking my sock with me. Summer Daze, an exclusive pattern available only with the limited edition colorway, was easy to memorize, so I won't need to bring the paper along.

Anyone else getting some long weekend knitting done? I'll work on the laundry when I get home...

Cass's Contest and Stash Building

Well, part of this was easy. Cass wants to know my favorite vegan yarn. Sigh. She knows. She really does, but because I'm a good sport, I'll tell you too. (Bet you can guess!) Wick. I love it. It's so squooshy and yummy, knits up quickly, and the fact that it draws moisture away from the body is too cool. I used it first to knit my yoga socks, but I bought more (and was swap-gifted still more!) so my female relations and a couple of friends are getting Wick footies for Christmas. (You don't know it's you for sure, and you don't know what pattern or color, so quit acting as though I've spoiled a surprise. Geeze.) Yes, it splits a bit, especially with my love of wee, sharp needles, but no yarn is perfect. Wick is as close as it gets, at least until they make it in a fingering weight...

Cass is lucky I love her. I hate to have my picture taken, so the thought of taking my own picture knitting in public was PAINFUL. I thought about taking it at the firehouse, sitting on the tailboard of an engine, but it was raining HARD Tuesday, so I didn't take my knitting or my camera. (I don't generally knit at the station because of diesel smoke and cigarette smoke.) So, since I had my can-travel sock at the ready while at the vet yesterday, I snapped a photo. This sock was actually cast on in the parking lot in front of the Northside Library on Monday night, and I got the stitches divided onto two needles in the vet's. I wanted Fred to pose with us, but he was busy having a nervous breakdown. I'm sure if you click on the photo and enlarge it, you can see a wad of Fred's hair in the corner.

This is also my first effort at taking a dpn pattern and knitting it on two circs. I find it easier to travel with circs. I can just push the working portion off the needles, and it rests safely on the cord(s) until I pick it up again. No waiting until the end of a needle, no shoving the little pointies into a keeper of some sort, etc. Yeah Anne, gloat. (I'm rolling my eyes, okay?) I can't see ever giving dpns up entirely, but I think I am headed towards being a two circs gal, with dpns in second place, and Magic Loop remains a very distant, non-ribbon-worthy third.

I hate admitting the Knight is right, and he's insisted since the first moment he saw those canister-style yarn "jars" that I needed the large one. Whatever, walk away, roll my eyes... Oh, how I wish I had that STILL honkin' big hunk of Pound of Love in one. It's a good thing blankie is going to a home with two dogs, because I think I've knitted Mugsy hair in on every row, with a Fred hair here and there too. So, when I slipped into my local Michael's to buy a magnifying glass for my boss (Hush. My father inlaw is my boss, and he doesn't mind if I do some stash building while I shop for him. Really.) I couldn't find the canister (it's too late anyway), but I found this thingee instead. The picture on the right shows it being used with three different yarns, and I figured it might come in handy on the Knight's blankie, which will be done in secret, and will need to be tossed into hiding when I see his lights coming down the drive. I also picked up some of the much-recommended Caron Simply Soft in a cheery red, for baby's first Christmas kimono, and a TLC variegated that caught my eye.

In the most exciting news of the day, I'm a Loopy Groupie! I didn't take a picture of the tote, nor will I share the details of the "couple of surprises" but I can assure you, Sheri treats her loyal customers generously. I picked up some Panda yarn, which is sock yarn speak for "Bamboozle in a finer gauge." The blue is for me, and the green is for... someone else. The All Things Heather in the center is also for a gift, so I'll say no more, other than that when Sheri answers your recommendation request and the drool stains come through the email for one yarn in particular, order it. You won't be disappointed.

We All Live in a Yellow...

...baby blanket. Yellow, yellow, yellow. Have I mentioned that I am not a fan of yellow, all on its own? With other colors, I can appreciate it, and this photo isn't showing the solid, baby yarn YELLOW I feel I'm drowning in. Better than school bus yellow, but still. I won't use Lion Brand's Pound of Love yarn, ever again, no matter how easy I think it will make blankie care for the mom to be. I just don't like it, and there are plenty of other wash and snuggle baby acrylics out there. (Aren't there?) What are your favorites? Help me out here, because I've never had a baby to try to keep blankies and clothes clean for, but I do know that this working mom to be needs machine wash and dry. That's what she's getting, but surely she can have that and I can have a yarn I like to knit with too?

The pattern? Lydia's Baby Cables from Knit Along with Debbie Macomber : The Shop on Blossom Street. (Look! Wee little baby cables, repeating all over this ding dang blankie!) Now that I'm on my second repeat (there are two of those kinda' diamond thingees per repeat), I'm getting the hang of the pattern and picking up speed. It's surely not one I can memorize, but that means I'm not getting bored either. When it is done, it will look like a yellow version of this, I hope. The finished dimensions in the book are 32" x 41" (don't quote me, but something like that - I'm too lazy to walk back and check), but I don't know that I'll go that long. Those of you whom endured the three blankies in a row this spring know that probably somewhere in the 20" range, I'll be looking for an excuse to wrap it up. So, I'm thinking as soon as I get to row 21 of the repeat (the stopping point for the last repeat, the book says) and I'm past 30", I'm heading home and wrapping it up.

You very nearly had no photos. I don't know what's wrong with the HP Photosmart program, but it has a seizure when I try to upload. Corel Photos had no problem, so I guess I'll be using that until I am inclined to dig deep and figure out what troubles HP. I did have a frantic moment though, until my gooblette noggin' recalled that Corel existed!

But back to knitting. My box from JoAnn's arrived yesterday. Strangely enough, that Total Tote wasn't packaged as well, but it's going back for a refund anyway. (Thanks again, R! I've already used the one you sent earlier this week, and I like it very much.) However, I finally found me some 2.25 mm circs.! The picture says it all. The tips look pointy enough, and I'll be casting on - again - for the June Tofutsies Sock of the (not quite every) Month just as soon as I either finish Baby Cables (I'm a cable knitter, no matter how simplified they are!) or at the moment just after I realize that I cannot knit another stitch on that gag me with not even weak sunshine yellow blankie. You see, I not only have to finish the blankie before said baby makes his/her way into the world, but the sooner I get that on the FO list, the sooner I can try out some of that Maizy sock yarn.

It's all about socks with me, I know. I'm about to try lace too, but that will be a Christmas gift for someone known to stop in here once in a while, so mum's the word. I might sneak a peek when I get to a place where I think it's innocuous enough, because after all, you won't know that I'm really doing the lace thing unless I show you, right? Wow. What a world. Cables, lace, and there's still entrelac out there too.

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'Tis better to have loved and lost

Than never to have loved at all.
Alfred Lord Tennyson, In Memoriam, 1850, line 27, stanza 4English poet (1809 - 1892)

(Thanks, The Quotation Page!)

And thanks to all of you whom showered us with kind words and supportive thoughts. My favorite poet said it best here too, so I'll leave it at that.

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