A Word From the Silent Partner

Hi! It feels like we never see each other any more! Tis I, Xandermommy, the least talkative of the famed Ludistitch bloggers! Way back, I mentioned that I had joined a few sock clubs. Well, I've received my first installment of the Socks that Rock 2009 Club, and completed those socks. I fell in love with them immediately. The blues and greens are just beautiful, and to top it off, these are beaded socks. I've never done any beaded knitting before, but this is a wonderful introductory pattern! Unfortunately, there were a few knots in the yarn. Not a big deal unless you have 100+ beads being stopped by said yarn. So...BEHOLD! Here is the Queen of the Beads pattern knit with Socks That Rock. Please ignore the pasty whiteness of my sad winter legs. Until next time, ta!

Fun with Flashing and Pooling

I finally have a project with some major flashing and pooling of colors. I understand that some people really hate it when yarn does this, but so far I've found it fun. I suppose maybe I wouldn't like it if it made big pools of colors I didn't like, but then I've avoided knitting with colors I don't really like.

So the first sock started with a jagged spiral that turned into a jagged pool of green on one side of the leg and orange on the other side. I thought working the heel might lead to something crazy on the foot, but it just switched to jagged spirals around the foot. I really like the way it came out.


Its fraternal twin (the other sock) is, of course, not doing exactly the same thing. So far, having not yet reached the heel, it has not spiraled at all. The leg is mostly just a jagged blob of green on one side and orange on the other, but more so than the first sock.

I am using smaller needles for these socks and leaving them a little shorter and tighter than previous pairs in an attempt to work out the perfect fit. All of my socks have fit me so far, but what start out as snug pairs seem to loosen quickly when I actually wear them. Time will tell.

They just went on and on, my friend.

This was the sock that would not end. It just went on and on my friend. This lady started knitting it not knowing what it was...








Ah yes, the flat feet socks. The eight row repeat of the pattern makes a lovely, lacy sock in the pictures and that's how they got me in the first place. I encourage those of you who are smarter than me (all of you) to try it. What got me was row five (damn you, row five) where I would get into the rhythm and forget to switch. Now I'm frogging out yo's which never ends well. You flat feet socks made me mad (in the crazy way). You have been a formidable foe, and there were times that we did not know how our collective story would end. But now we do - I kicked your ass!


















Boo-yah! Now keep my feet warm, bee-yatchs...I mean, you darlings (we're making up now). I find them adorable. And also nice and toasty. Almost easy to forget that these were the socks that would not end. They just went on and on, my friend. Some lady started knitting them, not knowing...

Now for my trip to Las Vegas tomorrow, I think I'll take the Michelle Obama socks with me. She was on the cover of the Vogue I received today, and I think it's a sign.

...and she'll continue knitting it forever just because...

Sock Heel Showdown

The French Heel
- versus -
The Short Row Heel

I know I already mentioned that the heel flap and gusset method felt like it took much, much longer to complete. While I still think that's true (it only makes sense - the gusset continues farther down the foot beyond the heel), I will admit that it wasn't as noticeable on the second sock. I guess by then I knew what to expect.

Now, I haven't had the chance to wear the socks with the French Heels much yet and I haven't yet tried them in shoes. Still, my initial impression is that they fit a bit looser in the heel and the back of the foot, which isn't surprising because they have a lot more stitches there until the gusset is reduced out. You might think this means that I jumped right back to the short row heels for the next socks in progress, but you'd be wrong!

I decided to try another heel flap and gusset style heel, but this time one that was indicated as a better fit for narrow heels (which I have), so I'm trying out The V-Heel. I haven't worked them far enough to be able to really wear them yet, but they seem to be a better fit so far. I'm also taking advantage of a pattern that reduces out a couple of stitches after the heel so that the foot is worked on two fewer stitches than the leg. I suspect that might help the fit for me, too.

I certainly haven't given up on the Short Row heel and I'm planning to use it again after trying the V-Heel. Although I can see why people like the heel flap and gusset construction, I still find it a lot less magical and more prone to errors in measurement. Of course, that also means it's much more customizable and might allow you to really tailor the heel to fit different feet with high arches, etc. For me, the Short Row heel just instantly fit like a glove, but I can imagine that it might fit too tightly across the top of the foot or not be flexible enough for certain types of feet without additional modifications. I'll be happy to have both types of heels in my knitting arsenal, but we'll see which type wins out as the most-used over time. At least now I've tried them both enough to understand what people are talking about with all of the different heel terminology.

Mini Project Weekend

This weekend was a perfect storm of tiny projects for me. Having just finished some larger projects and not yet ready to start some others that I had in mind, I ended up testing out a lot of smaller things that I had set aside for scrap yarn. Scrap yarn is a bit of strange term in my mind when the leftovers are often half skeins or more from projects that used multiple colors, etc. so some of these projects could be repeated another half dozen times before I actually use up that yarn.

So, from what appears a whirlwind of activity but was just a lot of little things:
Frankenbear, completed:
I can't decide, he may still need a mouth or something to make him look a little cuter/cuddlier. He definitely wins points for bright colors, but isn't quite as cute as the photo for the pattern.

Whale Cat Toy:
I had more than enough leftover yarn to make several more Frankenbears, but didn't have the ambition or a list of who to give them to. Instead, in an effort to make a sleeping cat wake up and run around the house a bit, I whipped up this quick cat toy and loaded some catnip into it before stuffing it and sewing it shut. The catnip must have been fragrant enough because it did cause said sleeping cat to wake up and start throwing the little whale around the house. Of course, I'm not sure it will see much more play now that the initial catnip smell is gone, but we'll see. It took so little effort that it was worth it either way.

Neon Baby Monkey Socks :
I don't know any monkeys, let alone baby ones, but Monkey is the name of the original sock pattern that was adapted for this pattern for baby socks. I don't know who might want to dress their precious little one in socks this bright, I just wanted to try out the pattern and see how baby socks compared to adult socks. Turns out they're crazy fast... and I had way too much knitting time on my hands that night. For now, these are just sitting around waiting for the right person or a possible future gift.

A little knitting knowledge...

This weekend I realized I probably have just enough knitting knowledge to start getting myself in trouble. Much like following some recipes in the kitchen, I found that for one of my latest projects I had to convince myself to stick to the pattern the first time through. At least mostly. Sometimes recipes, and apparently projects, seem... well sometimes I just want to modify them to my own techniques right away without trying the official, written instructions.

Enter Frankenbear. I thought the pattern was really cute, and although I like the variegated yarn they chose I wanted to use up some of the leftover bulky acrylic yarn from my stash. Since my Jiffy yarn was pretty colorful, I thought I could make a fair representation of the bear in a more patchwork fashion with lots of different colors. All of that sounds reasonable, even knowing that all of the color changes would mean lots of tails to work in later. Then I started reading the actual pattern that called for making the front and back of the bear separately and sewing them together at the end. Surely I could somehow convert the pattern to work in the round to avoid all of that seaming and... wait, Wait, WAIT. Danger, brain! Incorporating nine different colors and rewriting a pattern... clearly I'm at least a little insane.

So I backed off. I (somewhat) made my peace with lots of seaming, which I'm terrible at. I've seamed some and pulled it back out already because it looked terrible. So really, I suppose this is mostly a test bear. Maybe he'll teach me a magic secret to seaming. In reality, I expect I'll be disappointed with the rough edges and maybe just sew over them with a contrasting color to look like an actual Frankenbear. I decided that worst case, he'll be a sloppy but cuddly and washable toy that some future child might take pity on when he's finished. And having finished the knitting for him, next time I won't be able to resist modifying the pattern for an attempt in the round. At least I can say I tried it the way the pattern author intended at least once.

All I want for Christmas...

And now my birthday. Look at the present I got from my parents. It's YARN! Gorgeous yarn that I think I will turn into some sort of mitten or potentially a hat. I printed out a hat pattern from ravelry (Banana Republic knockoff - I'll see if I can find it and post link). That has just been waiting for the right yarn. I think maybe the green with a funky cool button. My only issue is that with the sock hat type format, my hair will get squished before work and it can only handle so much. Maybe I can make it a little slouchier or something so it's not so smushy. Needs a little research, but now I have the inspiration.


As I have a little coffee (in my Edna Mode mug - which I love so much). I decided to take pictures of everything that is on my needles right now. When you start looking for things that you forgot about, you remember how much you like all of them.














These Michelle Obama socks are distracting me from the other stuff on my needles. The yarn is fingering weight and it's on size 0 needles and I just keep going around and around and around and around...















Here is sock one of the flat feet (it's really cute, the other one has the heel turned, almost done).





But then I forgot about THESE, which I LOVE. This jitterbug yarn should be renamed "Sarah" because it was made for me. I love the way it feels. I love the way it looks. It's right up my alley.

















So that is full disclosure of everything that is on my needles. I think I want to finish the flat feet and the Michelle Obamas so I can be alone with the jitterbug.

New Blog Template... Again

OK, people, check out the new blog template and let me know what you think!

I know sariebeth changed it once already, but I couldn't help playing with colors and styles. I'm sure I'll be perpetually tweaking (if we keep it), but let me know if you like it, hate the colors, hate the arrangement, etc. I wanted it to look a bit more polished after I started adding things to the sidebar.

Mittens of Love

Ah, mittens so soft they practically reach out and offer to snuggle things with their cushy comfort! Though possibly bulkier than the pattern called for, the yarns for these Convertible Mittens/Glittens/Moves was a luscious combo of Merino Wool, Alpaca, Silk, and Baby (yes, baby) Llama.

This was definitely my most ambitious project to date with lots of steps and methods I hadn't tried before, including colorwork, casting on several places mid-project, and knitting in waste yarn to be removed later. They are by no means perfect, but they're exceptionally comfortable and quite a step for me as a knitter. The creator of the pattern for these is a genius and I'm very thankful she shared so much knitting knowledge for free! Thanks to the detailed pattern and instructions, I spent many hours working on them (I am still a slow knitter), but it wasn't difficult and I'd happily make another pair.

These mittens of love were road-tested in Chicago this weekend, and there were points where my hands were so warm that I flipped the mitten portion open to cool them off a bit. Carrying the yarn along for the colorwork means that they're essentially doubled for the mitten portion, so they're very solid and warm. I think sariebeth set aside some yarn to make something similar, so I look forward to seeing her version someday!