An ode to Michelle Obama...as told by sock yarn

This yarn (adorable)can become these


I find them charming. I find them also to be soothing as the stockinette stitch makes me happy. Suiting for the charming and soothing namesake of the colorway - Michelle Obama.

I suspect you ladies will see alot of them on our trip this weekend.

Baby Booties and Matching Repeats

I didn't plan far enough in advance to make a blanket or sweater for the aforementioned baby shower, but I had already made note of a pattern for some adorable baby booties. After debating whether I still had enough time to do them justice or not, I decided to try to complete them in time for the shower. After all, the recipients have no idea that I knit, let alone whether or not I planned to make something for them. And, despite the usual amount of frogging as I learned the techniques used in the pattern (I'm still a new knitter and I frequently run into variations of increases, etc. that I haven't done before), I was able to complete them pretty quickly.

Of course, after I finished the initial knitting for the first bootie I realized that I liked the color combination that just happened through the luck of where the self-patterning sock yarn happened to start. And that particular Opal sock yarn had a very long color repeat that included some muddy browns and blacks that wouldn't look so nice for a baby, so there was no way the next bootie was going to match without some thoughtful intervention. Fortunately, the repeat was pretty distinct, and although it required winding off another small ball of yarn (which feels wasteful, even though I'm sure I can find some way to use it), I think I very much lucked out in making them match relatively well. Whew!

So, they're not the traditional baby girl pink and they don't match what the parents-to-be mentioned for the nursery colors, but hopefully they're girly enough. And, since there isn't a baby nearby, hopefully they actually fit a baby foot and will wrap gently around a chubby baby ankle. I personally can't resist them and think they're adorable -- thank goodness there are people that can dream up such adorable patterns!

Knitting - the airplane edition

Scene - on the way to Vegas via Cinci. Sitting on the airplane, trying to finish pink flat feet socks. In order to do so, I need my row counter, my pattern, yarn and needles. This is not an easy feat without the tray down, and that's OK - I was willing to give it a go anyhow. During my delicate balancing act, I dropped something. It was my row counter. I couldn't find it right away and got a little nervous. The nice people around me tried to help me out. They couldn't find it either. Weird. How in the world are my socks going to be the same length without the row counter? Smarter knitters than I could make it work, but experience has proven that I am not that kind of knitter. Thankfully, right before we got off the plane the flight attendant found it.

I know now that I have to wear my counter around my neck. Suggestions?

Sock Clubs and a Baby Blanket

So, I am new to the sock club world. But I was browsing about on Ravelry, and I saw mention of Sock Clubs. Apparently, most of them start at the beginning of the year, so this is the time of year for sign ups. You sign up through either a yarn dyer (Blue Moon Fiber Arts Rockin’ Sock Club) or a yarn shop (Woolgirl Sock Club). Paying for a sock club up front gets you a predetermined number of kits. Each kit contains enough sock yarn for a pair of adult socks, a new pattern usually exclusive to the club, and assorted goodies. The yarns are usually exclusive to sock clubs as well, at least for the year of the sock club. As I have mentioned before, I love sock yarn. I also have a little bit of a disposable income. Not a lot, but enough to indulge in this experience for one year and see what the big deal is. So I have signed up for a sock club (okay, maybe two) this year. They both have 6 shipments in 2009 that deliver every other month. However, one starts in January and one starts in February, so I’ll get a new delivery every month!!! I’m hoping to keep up with these sock kits, as in knit one before the other comes. We’ll see how it goes! I like the idea of having each project all picked out for me. I don’t pick out the color or the pattern. I’m hoping to knit each kit to the letter, and maybe learn some new techniques like toe-up socks, short row heels (hear that, ludistitcher?!), etc.

I have been knitting for the same baby that Sariebeth mentioned a few entries below. I’ve knit an adorable baby blanket, and I’m now knitting a cute little baby sweater. Once I’m done knitting that sweater, I’m done with any sort of deadline knitting, and I’m hoping to focus on knitting socks after that. I can’t wait!

I was going to talk about one of the sock yarn stash-busting techniques that I have come up with, but I seem to be running out of time for now. Until next time, I will at least share a pic of the aforementioned baby blanket. I love to show off! The pattern was free.




Pinwheel Baby Blanket knit with 4 skeins (788 yards) Universal Yarn Classic Worsted Long Print in baby shades on size 7 needles.

Someday, for a craft room

Ah, the inevitable question of where to store the supplies needed for crafty hobbies. You hate to bury things away so that they're hard to get to when you feel you suddenly really need to make something, and that seems to have brought about a trend of well-organized craft rooms. Someday, I'm going to steal the idea and make something like this lovely craft table. Plenty of storage room (also safely hidden behind closed doors for when it might not be so neatly organized) with oodles of empty horizontal space that doesn't need to be cleared for making or eating dinner later. Granted, knitting doesn't require a table, but I dabble in other things that do and it would be awfully nice to have a whole craft-specific setup. Someday.

You're in the right place!

I just changed the template of the blog so the header would show up better. It was getting lost in dots and HELLO...it's important that you know you have ARRIVED at ludistitch.


Google "ludistitch". Right now. It's a rush.

Happiness to share with my friends.

#1. Dan and I went to Baby's R Us and bought a baby gift for the Smith-Bartz clan.

I won't tell you on the blog what it is in case a chain of unlikely events occurs where:
a. Ludistitch.com gains national publicity
b. Jen takes up knitting
c. Jen hears said national publicity about Ludistitch and checks it out
AND
d. The secret about the gift is out

#2. Today, I got this:


which has an SD card slot. Now, you may wonder why you would care about this. Well, yesterday, I took pictures of my stash and am now uploading pictures to ravelry. As my friends, you know that you can raid my stash, so this may be a bit like online shopping for you.

Don't even THINK about coming after my red and purple Flat Feet, though. That one is all me.

If at first you don't succeed...

Take the advice of your friends and make something even cuter.

Also, I love ludistitcher's definition of ludistitch and I think we should put that in the header of the blog. Yeah...um...how would we do that, exactly?!

Somewhere over the (intense) rainbow.

Look at these colors! Colorway - intense rainbow. I was just doing a little searching on Jimmy Bean's and found this. It is right up xandermommy's alley, but as we can all see from the previous post --- girlfriend does not need more sock yarn. If ludistitcher and I are nice, we will get some and make some socks for xandermommy out of it. (What say you, ludistitcher?) Superwash. Merino. Yum. CPY Mini Mochi

Mini-Mochi is a self-striping fine, single ply yarn. Perfect for socks and any fine knit projects. It's super soft, and superwash--80% Superwash Merino and 20% Nylon. In eight beautiful colorways for the spring!

For your voting pleasure

I submit these potential logos for ludistitch. Please comment.

I like them both. You can also feel free to say "why sariebeth, we are not marketing people. Only YOU are a marketing person. We do not care."

Then I will say "but what about branding?!"

And you will no longer be listening.

Might as well face it...

...I'm addicted to sock yarn. As my fellow bloggers can attest, I have a hard time resisting sock yarn. I want to have at least one pair of sock's worth of each brand of sock yarn that I see. And our two local LYSes stock many, many different types of sock yarn. I don't know why I love sock yarn so much, but I do.

Maybe it's because I love yarn, how soft and wonderful it feels, but I don't always know what to do with it. Since I don't know whether I might later want to knit a child's hat or a women's sweater, and since I don't have a pattern picked out at the moment, I don't know how much I'll need. But sock yarn is easy. I need 100 grams, give or take.

It could be because I love bright colors, but a little goes a long way. I just can't get into oatmeal or brown or cream, no matter how soft it feels. It's too dull for me. Sock yarns come in the most wonderful colors! And I can wear bright socks whenever I want to without attracting too much attention from the fashion police. And Cosby sweaters are out of style, I hear.

In any case, my addiction has come to a head. My two little minions, Xander and Maya, and I gathered all of my sock yarn onto my guest bedroom bed for a photo session.

Holy heck, I have a lot of sock yarn! This is not going to stop me from buying more (well, it might just a little bit, I really have too much!) but it is inspiring me to use it more. I have a few ideas and will blog about them in a few days. For now, you'll just have to enjoy some group photos of all of my sock yarn.

Cuteness makes me do crazy things

Like knit a scarf with "pink, orange, and red hearts"...at this little one's request. This was harder than I thought. I mean, the girl is asking for some intarsia here (...right, that would be intarsia, yes?) So, resourceful Aunt sariebeth decided to knit big chunks of color and iron on some pink hearts afterwards.

This young lady liked it quite well. But, I was told later that she commented "sariebeth got it wrong. She was supposed to put on ORANGE and RED and PINK hearts."

I've been caught. By a five year old.

Your first sock heel affects you

I made my first pair of knit socks using a pattern called Socks of Kindness. Some of the other tutorials and patterns I had seen seemed much more intimidating, requiring you to measure several different parts of your feet. The Socks of Kindness pattern seemed more approachable with its link to a tutorial for the heel and directions for the rest of the sock without so much measuring. Then, when I completed my first pair of socks and they fit perfectly with the magical heel that just formed itself and didn't require measurements, I became a short row heel fan.

Maybe I should have named my first pair of socks "Socks of Confidence". Although they weren't perfect, they made sock construction seem not so challenging after all. I made two more pairs shortly after and followed the same general idea without the lace pattern and with my own personal tweaks. The short row heel fit both male and female feet and the method was easy to memorize. And, as I've noticed now that I started knitting socks, the short row heel seems to be standard for store-bought socks. It appears that every pair of socks I own use a short row heel. Interesting.

Now, the other Ludistitchers have not yet done short row heels. They have always used some sort of heel flap with gussets. It looks like it could be bulkier and might feel different when worn in shoes, but it seems incredibly popular with knitters. And although it looks more complex and a lot less magical, I wanted to bridge the gap between our knitting experience so I've decided to take it on for my current pair of socks.

All of that brings me to my first impressions of the heel flap and gusset construction... it takes a really long time! Of course any new method takes longer the first time around, but this method requires a lot more knitting before getting back to normal foot rounds. So far it's taken me almost 3 to 4 times as long to work on this type of heel and I'm still not back to knitting normal rounds yet. I'm reserving judgment until I have the pair of socks completed so that I can wear them and compare the fit, but I definitely miss the reward of quickly turning the short row heel and getting right back to knitting the rounds for the foot.

The first especially sock-ish sock

Now socks have been completed by Miss sariebeth in the past. These socks individually DO look like socks. However, the pair may not be the same size after completion.


These socks, however, made for amyliz (xandermommy on ravelry.com) match. I am beyond happy about this. These have only heightened a slight addiction to sock yarn and other knitting accessories, as I think I can continue to create pretty and comfy items with the help of Jitterbug yarn.

Welcome to Ludistitch!

Where xandermommy, sariebeth, and ludistitcher pontificate. Mostly about knitting.