I attempted an indoor shoot of my new socks yesterday in the afternoon light, but someone decided to be a camera hog:

This was actually quite an unusual turn of events. Middy is usually quite prissy & standoffish when I pull out the camera, but since I was using stealth mode (aka the camera remote) she didn’t seem to notice that she was actually working it for an audience - since you all don’t see evidence of our other four-footed child very often, I thought you might enjoy. This may be my new strategy in snapping pictures of the Middy-cat-o! We took a time out for some play and pets, and then I decided that my normal sock-picture-studio was boring and decided to move the shoot outside.

I love my new springy socks - They look right at home growing here in the garden! Get a load of this lovely stitch pattern (click for big):

Pattern: Belvedere, by the talented Kirsten at Through the Loops!

Yarn: Colinette Jitterbug in Velvet Olive. Recognize this? I’m a green fanatic - 90% of my knits are green, but this one in particular is a fairly recent repeat. This is the backup skein I got for Tessa’s Rivendell socks in case I ran out. I only needed one skein and so I had more green yarn to use for selfish purposes. I was previously unaware of Jitterbug’s reputationally skimpy yardage, but I’m happy to report that one skein was plenty for this pair, which comfortably fit my US Women’s 8.5 feet; and just enough for the larger gauge and size Rivendell’s - @ US Women’s siz 9-9.5, I’d say.

Needles: US1 Bamboo DPNs

Mods: None! I moved down a needle size since they were coming out a bit big on the US2’s, but aside from that, no change.

Time to knit: Hmm about 4-5 weeks, I guess. These progressed rather slowly because of the spring yuck, general busy-ness, and the sidetrack of the work on Summer Sky, but they were great commute knitting! They were knit almost exclusively on the way to & from work with Tad driving - when I wasn’t snoring away in the passenger seat.

Verdict: Beautiful! The sock love grows. The stitch pattern is gorgeous on and off the foot, and I adore this heel - this slip/twisted stitch pattern was new to me, and aside from being very pretty, seems very sturdy and strong - I think it will hold up quite well. Thanks go to Kirsten for a lovely and well-written pattern!! I’ve been looking forward to making these since she introduced the pattern last fall - and they did not dissapoint. Belvedere was worth the wait, a very satisfying knit!

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Now playing: Andrew Bird - Fake Palindromes
via FoxyTunes

Tessa is my Sis. More technically she is Tad’s sister, my sister-in-law. But, she is the closest thing I’ve got to a sister and if I did have one, our relationship is very like I would imagine (or hope) a sisterly relationship would be.

Sis is by far my biggest knitting fan. She regularly brags about my knitting and my blog to anyone and everyone who will listen. It’s really quite overboard and makes me a bit uncomfortable especially when within hearing distance - but, even as my ears are turning pink, I must admit that it’s pretty special to have someone think what you’re doing is so cool, however biased they may be - even because of it. How wonderful for someone you care about to take such an interest in something that you enjoy.

Late last summer I was browsing on Ravelry for my next sock pattern and I stumbled on one called “Rivendell”. It piqued my interest instantly due to the name, and on closer inspection of the lovely stitch pattern, I knew immediately that these socks were for Tess. First, because she loves socks almost more than anyone I know - and these were some beautiful socks. But more importantly, because neither her feelings for socks nor for my knitting can begin to compare to her devotion to Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies. In fact, a word to the wise - if LOTR is not a topic that you are equally passionate about, you may not want to mention it, or any words that could be easily associated with it, especially Aragorn, in her presence Truly though, I make light, but you have to know Tess to understand that her love of the movie adaptations goes far beyond her admiration of Vigo with long hair, it has more to do with the underlying themes of Good v. Evil, Sacrifice, Love, and Friendship.

So, a few months later and one panic over a lost pattern which later resurfaced, I began the socks in anticipation of her birthday. Though she got to try one on the day that we celebrated, she didn’t receive the completed pair until last weekend (I comforted myself, “well, they really weren’t for her birthday anyhow”)…

Pattern: Rivendell, by Janel Laidman.

FYI, this pattern was available last year only as a kit from Chameleon Colorworks, which is now under new ownership. I had a very positive experience with the new owner, Nancy Colburn, when I thought I had lost my paper copy of the pattern that shipped with the kit. She did not have the rights to the pattern to be able to help me with an electronic copy but was most willing to work with Janel and try to work something out to get me another copy - In the meantime I found it, naturally! I am not sure if there are plans to release the pattern for sale again or as a download, but I will say that I hope so - I think Janel’s design is a real stunner and it was a very enjoyable knit.

**ETA - I just took a swing over to Janel’s blog to tell her how much I enjoyed these, and guess what? She has an upcoming sock book that will include the pattern!! And the teaser shot is very cool - it looks like there will be some other wonderful patterns included as well.**

Needles: US2 DPNs

Yarn: Colinette Jitterbug in Velvet Olive - 1 Skein, ladies size 9-ish. I wasn’t sure I would get the whole pair out of 1 skein, and in the end it was pretty close - but there is enough left over for darning should it be necessary. As I mentioned, the pattern shipped as part of a kit, and though I thought the original yarn was lovely in it’s own right and will enjoy using it on another pattern, my preference was to work Rivendell in a semi-solid yarn to let draw attention to the lovely stitchwork.

Gauge: 8 sts/inch

Mods: I worked the sole & toe in reverse stockinette rather than stockinette and I’m very happy with the choice, though my hands weren’t and I was cursed with ladder problems (which, by the way, look better after blocking, but I can still see them. durn.)

Loves:

- The stitch pattern (as I mentioned!). It’s my favorite part of these socks and it’s just gorgeous. I believe it takes a special kind of creativity to come up with something like this in your own brain and I admire that ability!

- The heel gusset. Though the reverse stockinette caused some difficulty with ladders, it created the nicest gusset I’ve done so far. There is no gaping at all, it’s a nice tight join accomplished by purling through the back loop.

SO, have my feelings about gift knitting changed at all (I am a self-proclaimed Selfish Knitter)? Well, if I were a Gift Knitter, I will say that it would give me so much pleasure to knit for someone that I know will enjoy the gift as much as Tess seemed to enjoy this one. A talented crafter in her own right, Tess appreciates the sentiment of a carefully chosen and worked handmade thing - and seemed to feel, well, loved. Valued. Which is the point. Because she is.

Remarkably, I didn’t even feel a twinge of regret as they passed into her hands. I would do it again in a heartbeat to make her so pleased. Just for the record though, I don’t think this makes me a Gift Knitter. I think these socks were that perfect gift that you stumble on when you aren’t gift shopping - the one that’s actually a little selfish really, because it makes you think of someone you love, and you pick it up because it makes you smile to think of them and of the look of surprise and happiness on their face, the gift that makes YOU so happy when you find that you were right - it really WAS the perfect gift. In this case that gift just happened to be one that required a little extra effort from me.

Did you notice? Tess picked her sweater to go with the socks. I told you she was pretty great.

Love you Sis.
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Now playing: Sarah Bettens - Someone to Say Hi To
via FoxyTunes

It’s Socktoberfest! How about some socks?

My Kaylee’s are finished, and thus also my very first handspun, handknitted project (and it’s been a long time coming)! I know that this is just a tiny knit, and that there are amazingly talented people spinning and knitting positively gorgeous things with their handspun all the time*, but to me, this very first one feels a little like a graduation (not like grad school or anything - maybe more like kindergarten?) I spun a quantity of yarn that could be used to knit something other than a coaster! And I knitted socks with it! Damn!

My apologies if I seem a smidgen carried away - I’m just thrilled! I love spinning - I loved the whole concept before I ever tried it; and when I sat down with a drop spindle nearly a year ago and somehow actually made a tiny skein of yarn, I was completely overwhelmed and amazed. It wasn’t pretty, it certainly wasn’t even (to call it rustic would be kind), but there it was…. YARN! Fiber turns to string, loops of string become cloth, fabric that takes shape as a wearable article… It’s all a bit of magic worked by human hands. It’s so exciting to have these little socks on my feet and think that I made them! And not only that - I made the yarn that made them! I’m still grinning from ear to ear (and clapping my feet)! The yarn, it is not perfect. Neither is the knitting. But damn if these aren’t wearable - very cute - handspun socks!

The next step is to go from start to finish!! It’s time to tackle those alpaca and shetland fleeces that have been hiding in the attic until I gathered the courage to do something with them!

Oh yes, I’m getting carried away. This is an FO post isn’t it? I almost forgot!

The stats:

Pattern: Kaylee by monkeytoes

Note: Kaylee is really more of a roadmap built around a lovely stitch than an actual pattern (information only, not a complaint). The .pdf is a one pager, really more of a guideline. No gauge is given, and no specific instructions on the toe, heel or ribbing. This made it a bit fun actually, a little choose your-own-adventure. I’m supposed to start with the toe - how do I do that? I think there was a reference in the Summer IK…. Hmm, found a couple articles on Knitty as well - what about the heel, how does that work, exactly? I had fun researching and figuring out what to do here. I think patterns like this build on all the great information out there, and make us industrious knitters. If I wanted to knit something very specific (Chuck’s for instance?) more details and specific instructions would be necessary.

Gauge: 24sts/4inches in stockinette

Needles: US2 DPNs (the pattern is written for 2 circs, but can easily be done on DPN’s)

Yarn: My own! Blogged here and here, Calendula by Bonkers! - 50/50 Merino/Tencel. Navajo plied and divided into two balls of equal amounts by length.

Mods:

• My gauge was larger than the pattern intended - or written for bigger feet, thus I removed the 2 knit stitches from each side of the instep pattern to fit my foot. In hindsight, this was probably not necessary - the socks don’t feel tight, but the stitches do seem a little stretched width-wise.
• I chose to continue the lace pattern across the back of the leg after completing the heel.

New Skills:

• Eastern Cast-On (from Ann Budd’s Article, Working Socks from the Toe Up, Summer IK 2007) - I had trouble finding an online resource for this, please let me know if you know of a good one.
• Short-row heel, from the same article.
• Invisible sewn bind off, I have a couple books and magazines with this technique, but there’s a great tutorial here.

Verdict: Love ‘em - I’ve mentioned before that orange has never been my color, but since I first saw the roving these colors just made me smile. Now I have happy feet!

The evolution of the Kaylee Socks:

*seemingly gratuitous links? Check ‘em out, seriously. If you haven’t seen these yet, you should. You won’t be sorry!

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Now playing: The Shins - Turn A Square
via FoxyTunes

P.S. Amazing show Friday night - I have to admit that I don’t enjoy their latest album as much as the older stuff, but when they played the newer songs live, they sounded great and I felt like they held up well. Love the live music!

Never really being a sock knitter until just recently, I have no sock yarn in my stash - with the exception of a leftover ball which may someday become the mate to this one (I don’t know though, I really didn’t enjoy knitting with this particular yarn, it was very string-y, not soft), and the leftovers from Chuck’s which might or might not be enough for a pair of footies when combined. That’s it.

But now that I’ve knit a wearable pair and caught the bug, and there is that little thing called Socktoberfest going on, add to that the fact that I just had 3 FOs skip off the needles (no matter how long I’d been working on them - ahem) and I really wanted to start another small, satisfying knit - Seems like the perfect opportunity for a little yarn shopping eh? Well, I’m not on an official yarn diet but, Tad & I are trying to curb our consumption in general, and since I already have yarn for a handful of great projects, I’m attempting to be thoughtful about the yarn that I do buy.

So, where does that leave me in the sock category? There was that handspun that I originally wanted to make socks with. Sad, isn’t it, that I’ve been spinning for nearly a year now (though sporadically) and I have yet to make anything from my handspun? I have swatched a bit, started a hat and ripped it, and nearly finished a prototype of Chrysalis (which was also ripped, I like the real one so much better!). Anyway, this is my favorite bit of handspun so far (imperfect, but certainly my best to date), and so I have been determined to turn it into something wearable & useful. Am I the only beginning spinner with this problem? Both Heather and Domesticat suggested on my original post that I might get footies out of it, and since it is Socktoberfest, and the color seems well-suited, I thought it would be the perfect time to try!

Enter Ravelry! Quick, I need a free sock pattern, toe-up & with lots of holes to make the yarn go further! About page 3 into 30 pages of free sock patterns, I stumbled on Kaylee (and I’d never seen this pattern before - one of my favorite things about Ravelry is being able to search so many patterns all in one place!)

I think I might make it - fingers firmly & decidedly crossed.

Part II to follow (I do have some worsted yarn in my stash for another neat pattern!)
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Now playing: Ani DiFranco - As Is
via FoxyTunes