Aaaand, she's back!

With a new favorite pair of socks...and the will to live (it's amazing how much better everything seems when you don't have a 102 degree fever)...



As for the socks, they're just plain old stockinette, in Trekking XXL (colorway 100). For basic stockinette socks, I have a standard sock recipe, just varying the number of cast-on stitches and heel flap length to suit the yarn and recipient.

This mostly works out ok (shut up - it does too).

Not so much with these socks, though. Upon finishing the second sock, I realized that the first sock was kinda short. By about two inches, in fact. That first sock could fit on my size 9.5 foot, but the heel turn was nowhere near the actual back of my heel.

I briefly considered leaving the socks mismatched, since it's awfully cold here in New England and maybe I'd get frostbite in one foot and all my toes would snap off. If that happened, I would totally need mismatched socks just like these. Added length would just be a bitter reminder that I used to have toes, as I hobbled around in my now-ill-fitting sock.

Crazy Fantasy Time lasted about ten seconds before I remembered these socks aren't actually for me, so I really did need to rip out the first toe. Stupid toe.

So I picked up stitches before the toe decreases all the way around the sock, using needles one size smaller than I was knitting with.



In a futile moment of first-sock-finishing glee, I had already woven in all the ends on the too-small sock. And I couldn't for the life of me un-weave the toe end, no matter how many different darning needles I used. So I just cut the stupid toe off....



...and frogged merrily....



A few hours later, I was done. Really done, this time.

I'd say the extra effort was worth it...

Verily, it sucketh

So I officially did not knit (much) for two weeks. I allowed myself to knit across one needle of the sock-in-progress per night, just to take the edge off. It didn’t work. The edge was very much on.

Though it did occur to me that if I knit socks using magic loop or two circs, knitting across “one needle” would afford me considerably more knitting each night. Much like “one glass of wine per day” can be served in a glass that more closely resembles a feed trough. If you live in my house, at least.

Anyway, this no-knitting edict coincided unfortunately with some really lousy stuff in my personal life. What, you may ask, is a sad librarian-in-training who suddenly has a whole lot of (non-knitting) free time to do? If you guessed “read” or “clean” or “exercise,” you’d be way off (though I'd certainly be flattered). If you guessed “watch TV and cry all the time,” you’d be getting warmer.

Thank goodness, then, that my two week knitting exile finally ended. And Monday was a holiday. I had a fully stocked refrigerator, delicious recipes to cook and a pair of socks to finish.

Which was a lovely plan. Except instead, I was completely knocked on my ass by the plague the flu and too sick to knit. And barely energetic enough to be pissed about it.

Expect a return to our regularly scheduled program of bad sizing decisions, irresponsible tweed lust, and staggeringly inept frogging errors any day now.

Just as soon as I have the energy to do more than cough and make tea.

Late again

The charming Kristy tagged me for a Make My Day award. So, belatedly, these are the some of the things and people that have made my day recently. Obviously, not in order of importance.

1. This warning:


Do not recharge? Ok. Do not discard in fire? Alright. But do not, um, use? That’s admirable ass-covering from a liability perspective (dude, we told them not to use it!), but probably leaves something to be desired from a product marketing perspective.

2.The guy in line in front of me at CVS Friday night, who bought a jumbo jug of Astroglide and two huge bags of beef jerky. He was clearly planning a much more exciting evening than I was. I was kind of tempted to high-five him. Except it probably would have been awkward and intrusive. And I'm not the high-fiving kind.

3. And, of course, these awesome bloggers:

Kristy: for being such a prolific and fearless knitter, and endlessly funny and encouraging.
Karen: for challenging herself to become a better knitter (though she's plenty good already) and inspiring me to actually *set* knitting goals.
The Daft Crafter: one of the funniest people I have ever met. And, missy, if you want to see this as a none-too-subtle request to blog more often, feel free.
The Craft Pirate: A super-talented knitter that I've taken to thinking of as my knitting Yoda. I promise, this is a compliment.
Life in Sarahland: a woman who knits what she damn well pleases, even if it's cutesy as all hell. And more power to her.
The Knit Sisters (I’m counting them as two): funny, funny, funny. And smart. It's a powerful combination.
Olga: entirely awesome.
Knitting in Pink: always up to something fabulous sock-wise.
Twin Knit: Lovely projects and yarn. Thoughtful, and funny, too.

The best part about this (besides opportunities for mutual flattery)? I have tons of new blogs to check out!

What was that about first do no harm?

I finally went to the doctor because my hands have been hurting.

When I mentioned that I knit, my doctor actually said: Well, have you tried not knitting? Yes, I have. And it sucked.

Undeterred, she informed me that I should not knit for two weeks. Two. Weeks.

BFF Quinn’s response to the whole thing? Whoa, she might as well have said “have you tried not breathing?” Bitch.

[I may have editorialized that bitch part.]

Doctor Killjoy also told me that the Quit Smoking pill I’m considering taking can have psychological side effects, including binge drinking, compulsive gambling and nymphomania.

So, I may end up blowing strangers for gambling money, but at least I won’t be smoking? Nice.

On second thought, if I’m not knitting, I do need something to fill up all that spare time...

Double secret no more

I finally finished Megan’s hat! By my calculations, this is the first object I have finished since November. Note to self: finish shit more often. It feels good.

I had some trouble with this one. I have trouble with hat sizing in general, blessed as I am with a head that could be charitably described as "on the large side." So when I try to knit hats for other people, I shoot vaguely for a “too small for me” size. Turns out “too small for me” includes everything from a regular men’s or women’s size hat to a hat suitable for a child of 8 or 9 years.

Guess which size hat I knit – in its entirety – the first time? Yeah, I knit the whole wee hat, then frogged it back to the brim.

When I finally reknit it in a more grown-up circumference, the hat was about 2 inches too long. So I ripped out half of it and started the decreases earlier. Since I’ve now knit this hat 2.5 times, I really feel like it should be a whole lot fancier.

But here it is in all its tweedy simplicity.



Thankfully, I did find a perfect button at the Bazaar Bizarre to gussy it up a little bit. Mmmm, sparkly.



Pattern: Inspired by a hat in Rowan 38, but actual pattern made up to suit my yarn, budget and desire not to seam things.

Yarn: Queensland Kathmandu DK, about 1.5 balls, held doubled, though hard to tell, as I ripped and reknit so many times that I mostly have scraps and tiny balls leftover. Heh. Tiny balls. Heh.

Needles: Blue ones? Maybe red ones.

Thoughts: next time, I will knit something from a pattern when I want to give Christmas gifts in a timely fashion. If I reknit something similar, I would also slip the first stitch on every other row to make picking up stitches around the brim strip a bit tidier.

Because I’m a blogger (and not a very good friend), I made Megan try on the hat on Tuesday, but she won’t actually get it until tomorrow. So I could take pictures of it in decent lighting today.

The very spirit of generosity, I am.

It's the thinking that gets me in trouble

I've been studiously knitting the Irish Hiking Scarf. I'm almost finished with the first skein of yarn, and it's going to be too short. It's also an inch or two narrower than I would like.

Last night I found myself stretching the scarf out sideways to the desired width (this does not help the "too short" problem, I know).

And I realized something. Don't the cables look much better a bit stretched out, or at least with a little more visible purl action on either side to give them more definition?

Stretched...


Unstretched...


So this morning I pinned out part of it to compare...The unstretched portion doesn't look bad, necessarily, but I like the stretched part muuuuuch better (do ignore the messed up cable on the top row. Or try to. I'll understand if you can't because I can't stop looking at it either).



What to do now? I'm pretty sure this scarf is a goner, but should I plan to reknit it on bigger needles, with maybe an extra purl stitch on either side of each cable?

Or should I assume blocking will flatten and widen the cables a bit, thereby accomplishing some of the same effect?

Or (and here's where I get into trouble)...should I view it as a really big gauge swatch for a cabled sweater? I have a sweater's worth of this yarn in another color that might make an awfully cute all-over cabled sweater.

What think we?

Cleaning house

I don’t have a home computer at the moment, so blogging will be [even more] infrequent for the foreseeable future.

Also, I haven’t really been knitting. No knitting + no computer = crap blogging. Apologies in advance. Thank goodness, then, that I do have a teeming mass of old projects to blog about.

This is what my WIP pile looked like last weekend.



I tend to tuck my WIPs away in different places, as it’s a little depressing to see them all together. Also, I fear they’ll begin comparing notes and eventually find common ground in their unloved, unknit state and unite against me.

They say “admitting you have a problem” is always the first step, so I decided to risk it. I did need to fortify myself with Koolaid-dyeing (more on that in another post), cheap beer and the excellent company of my friend Kelley, but I was able to make some hard decisions.

First, the chaff:



1. Koolaid-dyed Jaywalker: Demonstrating at least some ability to learn from previous mistakes, I planned to knit Jaywalker 2.0 with some modifications (bigger needles, heavier yarn, etc). I was almost through the heel flap and thought it was coming along nicely until I reality-checked the size. My reality checker is named Megan and yes, the damned thing fit her just fine. And yes, she already has a pair of teeny Jaywalkers. I dyed this yarn especially with Jaywalkers for me in mind, so I’ll be reknitting in a size large and maybe on yet bigger needles. And yes, frogging this one hurt.

2. 2 x 2 rib scarf in chunky red/pink yarn: too narrow, too-small needles, too much ribbing, bleck. I believe I cast on knowing all of these things but just wanted something mindless to knit one night. I hadn’t looked at it or touched it since that night.

3. Eesti Trail Hiking Socks for TB: couldn’t figure out the main colorwork pattern, even after I found the errata. Also? Beige.

4. Lace-Resistant socks – originally Waving Lace, then Go with the Flow, both of which turned out like complete ass. I was forced to admit that this yarn just doesn’t want to be socks, so it’s been sent back to the stash basket where it can look on enviously as I make socks out of its friends. That’ll teach it.

5. Basic Sock in blue Austermann Step: handed off partially knit to a fellow sock knitter with an Austermann Step fetish who can frog it or continue knitting the sock as she sees fit.

6. Two inches of another Basic Sock in Trekking

7. Yet another Basic Sock, experimentally and loathingly knit with two circs and with magic loop. It is now clear that I am now, and likely always will be, a DPN girl.

8. Wicked: finally, finally frogged, ruthlessly and in full. Word.

And the wheat:



1. Trekking socks

2. Irish Hiking Scarf (not pictured) – barely, as I think it should really be knit on bigger needles for a less dense fabric, but it will be pretty and wearable and warm, if not the most perfectly perfect scarf of my dreams.

3. Callisto shawl: I was so excited about this pattern that it was like a rock star joined our little group when the designer showed up at SNB. So WHY AREN’T I KNITTING IT? Could it be that it is a) not socks, b) not mindless and c) not socks? It does have a huge advantage over the Irish Hiking Scarf which is that it’s also not ribbing, so I’m guessing this one will be back in the rotation soon.

4. Double Secret Gift Knitting, a Tragedy in Two Parts (also not pictured) – It would have been hugely easier if I just followed a pattern for either of these items, but I decided I would make something up instead. It has not gone well. I have stubbornly knit, frogged, reknit, part-frogged and reknit one half of this gift (I think it’s finally right, or at least I no longer care), and am reknitting the other part. Again. The recipient has yet to receive an on-time handknit from me, so at least I’m not in a huge rush.

5. Does swatching count as a WIP? I still haven't given up on my beloved Tangled Yoke Cardigan, and both my row and stitch gauge are bang-on.

6. A legwarmer. Move right along. Nothing to see here.

Whew – that was a lot of frogging! But it’s such a relief to have the WIPs down to a manageable level.

I’d like to finish all of these projects before starting something else, but there’s a whole lot of tasty stash begging for attention.

And one more WIP can’t hurt, right?