Almost Argyle

This pattern has turned out to be a big disappointment. It looks pretty good here but in reality, is small and I feel like I'm squeezing my foot into it. Maybe it'd be better with Socks that Rock yarn that has a slightly larger gauge. OMG!! It's like the Prius of socks! Seemed like a good idea but after you take it for a test drive you regret it. Sometimes I don't want to know how horrible something is. I'd rather live in my fantasies. And yes, I'm still bitter about the Prius.

Jade Earl Grey

I started on a new pair of socks yesterday. Even though the cable is hidden by the beautiful color texture, I'm going to follow through and finish them. You don't know how much it's killing me.


I'm using Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's Earl Grey pattern. It took me a minute to figure out one of her abbreviations but now it's no problem.

Ravelry, Day 1

After Faythe alerted me that she received her invite from Ravelry, I checked my mailbox and I too had an invite! I registered and of course, that's when I got slammed with work. After work I spent a few hours obsessing over it. I entered in all my needles that are in my notebook (I didn't even bother with the ones floating around in various projects or sitting out), recorded some books and started adding some projects.

I only added a few projects before I couldn't take it any longer and started going through patterns. Ravelry.com is now my homepage on Firefox. I'm tired.

My descent into Dorkland just accelerated

It's official. I'm a big dork! Faythe and I were just talking about the awesomeness of Ravelry and how there were over 200 other people in front of me (they're still in beta and are inviting people to test) when I decided to check for an update on my status and this is what I saw:

Of course, I texted Faythe right away! The following is a sampling of exactly just how far gone we are. Note the typos and caps as we get extremely excited.

rayleen: i should check it now to see if it's updated
faythe: it's not
i mean, it hasn't changed
rayleen: !!!
I ABOUT HAD A HEART ATTACK
THERE ARE 23 PEOPLE IN FRONT OF ME
faythe: what?????
what/I
rayleen: LOL
faythe: I just chhecked it a 1/2 hour ago!
rayleen: i think I just turned a corner into knit-nerdom!!
faythe: !!!
rayleen: and the number of people behind us seems to be growing
or am i warong?
wrong
it's nearly 20,000
faythe: no, people are still signing up
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
19!
OMG OMG OKMG
rayleen: faythe!
faythe: I might have to leave work!!
AHAHAAHA
rayleen: I think we can officially admit that we are total knit geeks!!
LOL
faythe: Ryan is so going to tease me for this
BUT I DON
T CARE
rayleen: I bet we'LL BE INVITED BY THE END OF THE DAY
faythe: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Faythe went on to have some physical reactions to the good news. You can check that out here.

If you don't know what Ravelry is and you're a knitter or crocheter, then shame on you! SHAME ON YOU! Ok just kidding. But you may want to click here. :

Knitting slump

Like Faythe, I've been feeling a bit anti-knit lately. It's not that I don't want to knit, I do. I think part of it was caused by some new yarn I bought in Eugene.

It's Mountain Colors Bearfoot yarn and feels absolutely wonderful. My feet are going to love it! The problem is I chose a dark colored yarn so it's hard to see stitches. Every pattern I've tried is hidden in the dark stitches. It's much darker than in the photo above. I'm also having problems with it splitting. It may be due to the fact I'm trying to convert over to KP's nickel plated dpns. They're slick and I'm accustomed to safe bamboo. I'm going to keep knitting them but it'll be slow going.

A couple days ago I saw the Yarn Harlot's beautiful Early Grey socks, picked up some Socks that Rock Rose Quartz yarn that I've been saved for a special occasion and started knitting. I ran into some problems with one of her abbreviations but after much obsessing with my good buddy Google and on KnittersReview.com, figured out an alternate (hers still works, it just didn't work for me) and was on my way. Well, NOW I've realized the colors in the yarn may be hiding the pattern! ARGH! I'm going to go pick up some lunch but when I come back, it's either do or die for Earl!

And in case you couldn't tell, Zoe REALLY WANTED TO BE PET. By the time I took this last picture, she was extremely annoyed, meowing loudly and laying on the knits. I'm obviously a poor cat servant!

Chutes N Ladders socks - done!

Well, my brain won this battle. I blame it on The Sick. When I last blogged about this socks I had realized I didn't have enough yarn to finish off the toe on the second sock. Faythe, who is evil, encouraged me to buy more yarn to finish them off. Seriously, I considered this for two inches of one toe. My healthy self would have done it too or would have at least seriously entertained the though. My sick retching self sick said, "Screw it!" and used some left over dark blue yarn from a different project and used it for toes on both socks. I would rather not do this, EVER, but this will have to do. BTW, the yarn isn't this bright. It's more subdued.

Yarn: Blue Moon Socks that Rock lightweight in Midsummers Night and Lucy in the Sky for toes
Pattern: Chutes N Ladders from Fun Sox Yahoo Group

Mishap Monday

I wanted to finish the last Chutes N Ladders sock before my trip to Oregon and with all this napping and lying around, it seemed a waste of time not to knit. So, I've been knitting along, totally aware that I was running low on yarn but assumed I would have enough to finish the pair. With every other pair of socks I've knit, I've always had plenty of yarn left over - too much it seemed. I'm sure you can see where this was going. I was a half inch into the toe when I realized I only had about a foot of yarn left. So, here I sit staring at the two socks. I've considered knitting the toes of both socks in a different blue but somehow, it seems like it would take away from the design of the leg. Faythe, who is nothing but an enabler, suggested I buy a new hank of yarn of the same color to complete them, then use the extra yarn to make those short ankle socks Aimee likes so much. I haven't decided if my heart or brain will win this one. *sigh*

One down, seventeen eleven more to go

Of course I'm guessing on how many more socks I'm going to knit. I guess I'll just keep knitting up until Christmas or until I get tired of socks. Or like Faythe, I develop some sort of knitting induced injury.


I finished one sock and am half way through the leg on the second one. I'm using the Chutes-N-Ladders pattern by Pam Gordnier found only through the Fun Sox Yahoo group. I didn't realize cables would reduce elasticity this much so they're a little tight on the leg but I have fat legs, I'm sure they'll fit the recipient just fine.

Mishap Monday

Aimee's got the blues

Or at least she will once I get these in the mail.

Yarn: Blue Moon, Blue Moonstone
Pattern: Vine motif taken from Dublin Bay Socks (the condensed version)

Jaywalkers ok by me

I finally gave in and decided to try the Jaywalker sock pattern. It was the only pattern I could find which showed off the these beautiful colors. Who knows, maybe Monkey will follow? Of course, I just bought a couple sock books from Knitpicks (40% off!!) so we'll see.

I'm not sure why the yarn is all tangled up. It reminds me of Faythe, though. :)

Just checking in

I continue to be annoyed at my inability to take a quality photograph but that doesn't stop me from taking them. I may have to consult a professional. Or read the manual again but this time after 8 hours sleep.

After much obsession, I decided to scrap all my plans and am using a familiar pattern for the next socks. I'll use one of those patterns on the other yarn I have yet to order. This yarn is really pretty, it's actually much lighter in color than in the photo.

I have two days off. IN A ROW. Though I had volunteered to work these late night shifts a couple days a week and while I enjoy working at night, it's really messing with my sleep schedule. I'll probably be sleeping a lot these next two days.

Don't look at me, I'm hideous!

I don't want to be a cable sock! My color is much too delicate for cables and ribbing!

Confetti socks - done!

Me: Hello, how can I help you?

Customer: Hi, I've managed to register, click on the Buy button, enter my credit card details and successfully purchase the webcast but I can't figure out how to watch the event. There is obviously something wrong with your site, the instructions aren't clear, I don't know what to do! I demand a refund if you can't help me!

Me: Please scroll down the page and click on the Watch button located two inches below the Buy button.

Customer: I'm an idiot!

Me: Yes. *


I had hoped I'd finish these socks on my lunch break tonight but since we were extremely busy, there was no lunch break. I only needed to finish the kitchener stitch and sew in the ends and since this was all that was keeping me from sweet sweet freedom, I stayed up late tonight to do it. The confetti socks are done! I hope Faythe's Mom is happy. Simba is not.


*For the record, I did not say "yes." I wanted to though. Also, this chat is not a real chat thought it's very close. And yes, people have said "I'm stupid" or "I'm an idiot."

Knit, knit, knit, kniiiiit, knit, kniiiiit, knit, knit!!

I've developed a system which allows me to knit two pair of socks at a time from one ball of yarn without cutting the yarn. At first I had some issues with tangled yarn but now I'm a pro.

A closeup of the pattern. It took a while, but it's growing on me. Maybe in a different color... I can't wait to finish them but no matter how much I knit, it seems like I haven't done a thing! GAH these socks, GAH!!

"I Hope Mom Likes Wool Socks" socks

I'm not sure if you can see the vine motif on the side, I put some paper inside the socks so you could see it a little better. These are for Mom, I'm not sure if she's going to like them or not. I didn't want to do anything too fancy since I figured she wouldn't like the "holes." She loves red though I think she's getting tired of red gifts. Oh well. We'll see how she responds.

Yarn: Blue Moon, Lovers Leap

Pattern: Vine motif taken from Dublin Bay Socks

I've been struggling with my new camera, I haven't taken the time to read the manual so for now this is the best I can do.

PS - You can find a better picture of this beautiful yarn by clicking here.

It's like confetti threw up

I lost the label but after some obsessing and researching online, I learned this yarn is Regia Jubilee number 5473. While it's not something I would choose for myself, the self patterning is growing on me. It's interesting to see what this spotted yarn knits up into. Even better, it requires no thinking. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say who these socks will eventually belong to. More on that later.

Lovers Leap socks

I finally found an acceptable pattern for the Lovers Leap yarn. It's quite simple actually, which is perfect since I didn't want anything complicated that would require thinking. After work, the last thing I want to do is think. I've knit up the first sock all the way to the heel flap and am now working on the second sock. As you can see, Lil Z decided she wanted to help out with posing the sock. I put a piece of white paper behind the pattern so you can see it better.

At first I hated the red yarn. I thought, what did I get myself into here? The red was almost too much. But when I saw it in some better light and noticed the subtle colors, I realized how nice it actually is.

Aimee got her socks today!

I haven't gotten all the info from her as to which yarn or pattern is better. But, she says they fit. That's always a good sign. :) She has more pics on her blog.

More socks for Aimee

Pattern: Yarn Harlot, basic sock with some interpretation
Yarn: Blue Moon, Lucy in the Sky lightweight

I LOVE this yarn. I'm so glad I have three more skeins to work with. I'm still not so sure about this colorway though, I'm not a big stripe fan. I'll probably still buy more. :) To see the individual stitches and how they work with this colorway, click the pic.