Krafty1

Ducks

Don't you just love the phrase "get your ducks in a row"!?!  Even better than the phrase is the actual accomplishment of the task. 

Introducing Waterfall socks.  This month's Sock Knitters Anonymous challenge was to knit one of Anne Hanson's sock designs.  These were so much fun to knit!

The yarn: Cherry Tree Hill, was delightful to work with! It was a gift from Yarn Aboard 2006. (Talk about some stash diving!!!)  Omigosh, why this has lingered in my stash so long is beyond me!  It appears "ropey" but it is SO SOFT!!!  I can't wait to use it again. (No more in my stash...look out Loopy Ewe!)

The modifications: Toe-up, of course.  The rough outline of the modification is on my Ravelry project notes.  Basically, the biggest detail to keep in mind is that the top of the foot should have 31 sts while the sole has 30.  This allows for the pattern to be worked across the foot while beginning and ending with P2.  The other modification was to make a shorter cuff (personal preference) even though there was enough yarn to go longer, though not as long as the original design. Overall, the pattern and the yarn will be "repeat offenders" in the future!

But, what does it have to do with Ducks in a Row?

Sunday, June 1, begins the new year of the 52 Pair Plunge.  My goal this past week has been to get all of the SIPs (socks in progess) of my needles so that June 1 begins with a clean slate.  Way too much time has been spent on Ravelry sorting my queue to get my sock knitting line-up in order. Ampersand, Anastasia, Mingus, Diagonal Cross Rib, Brother Amos, Swirl Socks, Spring Twists, Eloise, Francie, Tessarae.  (Plus, two designs in my head that want to pop out!)  Talk about sock ducks in a row!!!  June 1st can't come soon enough.

How was YOUR Summer?

Memorial Day weekend...aka the first weekend of summer.  Typically, here in Wisconsin, Memorial Day weekend is cold and wet.  As a kid, we went camping each year and it ALWAYS rained!  This year was atypical with lots of sunshine and temps in the 70's & 80's.  Would've been great camping.

What is it they say?  "All good things must come to an end."  That's right, cold front hit!  The temps dropped from 84 to 44 within 20 minutes!!!  Tonight they've even posted frost warnings.  I REALLY hope we didn't use up all of our summer in one weekend!

With the cooler temps, it seems appropriate to cast on another cowl.  This time the pattern calls for sock yarn.  Funny, I seem to have a few skeins of sock yarn laying around.  Renaissance Palm Cowl by The Plucky Knitter made with Lime & Violet Dream Date.

The temps have cooled but at least the yarn is reminiscent of warm summer days!  Hopefully, summer will return again someday to my neighborhood.  It was nice while it lasted!

Rejuvenated

They say that llamas have a calming effect...they can also bring a sock warrior back to life.  That's right, we headed to Bahr Creek Llamas for the annual shearing days.  Special K was much braver this year than last and got right into the pen to feed the llamas.  A good time was had by all.

Of course, this year there was another reason for our visit to the llama farm.  My friend has asked me to knit a felted purse for her.  So, we took her shopping for materials. 

Now, I just have to come up with a pattern that utilizes the fibers she picked and the purse details she's outlined for me.  She picked Cascade 220 that'll be doubled for the base, Crystal Palace Iceland that'll be used for the body with a bit of Squiggle near the top,  with Cascade again for the edging and the handles.   She'd like a finished size of 17x9x4.  It should be fun! (Pattern suggestions welcome.)

Now, I was going to be perfectly content to let my friend do the spending, but it didn't quite work out as planned.  Recently, I'd read about Flat Feet and vowed that if I ever saw it, that a "skein" would be mine.  Guess what they had at the llama farm!?!  This stuff is wild!  (There are a number of examples of it knit up on Ravelry.)  The socks get knit straight from the flat; unravelling as needed.  Cool.

At home, it is once again safe to go to the mailbox.  The sock bag arrived from Star Knits.  (Thanks!)  I may be dead, but winning the StarKnits' contest and a ball of my own Tofutsies from Fairy Godmother makes my "death" tolerable. 

But, I'm also a sucker for needle gauges.  But, never had I seen one as cool as the one I found in Karatstix' Etsy shop! 

All in all, it was a great Saturday!  Totally rejuvenating!  The best part though is that there are still TWO more days left for this weekend!!!

A Quiet Death

Well, it finally happened. All wrapped up in this quiet, unassuming blue envelope and pink tissue were my death shroud socks.

The color is different than any I've seen.  The toes are a bit tight, but that's not my assassin's fault; the master size list did not have a size 11 option.  I've written and asked for some leftover yarn to redo the toes.  They'll be fine.

The SIPs (socks in process) also arrived.  I knew my previous target was using the same yarn that I'd used for my initial victim.  I resisted the temptation to cast on while waiting...that would've been cheating.  So, my assassin will receive the unfinished sock and the gifts that have been assembled to go to their intended victim.

My death came quietly and without fanfare.  The battle continues with nearly half the warriors killed and many more fatigued from the numerous troubles along the way.  Here's hoping for a happy "afterlife".

3rd Daughter Saves Wednesday

Between Sock Wars and other visitors (and a little thing called "work"), there hasn't been much time for web surfing.

Ta-da!  That's when 3rd Daughter comes along to save the day!!  Two fiber related weblinks of an anglophile nature.

• For anyone who thinks we're nuts knitting a pair of socks to determine the winner for Sock Wars or the Pentathlon, check out the Red Hose Race.  (That's hose as in socks, it has nothing to do with firemen!  Unless, of course, the firemen enter the race!)
• Secondly, the BBC has created quite a dust up in the knitting world over a pattern.  Razzamatazz created a loveable plushy based on a character from Dr. Who.  Now, her world's been turned upside down by the BBC.  Read about it here.  You can also keep up with the latest details over at Ravelry.

Thanks for the assist 3rd Daughter!

Living in fear?

A parcel arrives in the mail.  You pause and assume it means "Sock Wars Death". 

Then you remember, you worked out a Ravelry deal for yarn.  Draya was destashing.  Lucky me. 

However, for a few moments it seemed appropriate to gather my family and say "goodbye" before upwrapping socks that spell my demise.

These may be socks...in the future...for today, I'm alive!!

Imminent Death

My second Target, Technoknitter, has met her untimely death.  It seems the postal service was just as speedy at delivering, as the knitting had been.  Late Saturday she received her parcel with chocolates from her previous assassin, flowers from me and socks that were knit jointly by two assassins.

This morning, in addition to the email from Technoknitter that she was mailing her weapon, word was sent that my assassin has completed the socks that spell my demise are on their way.  Time is short!

In the meantime, why not share some sunshine to brighten the days!?!  The blocking is finished and the Mystic Light Shawl is ready for wrapping and shipping.  The finished shawl seemed the perfect venue to con 3rd Daughter into modeling.

Even with the knowledge that my Sock Wars end is near, it's hard not to smile while surrounded by friends and family!

It's in the bag!

It's been a great weekend!  Fairy Godmother and 3rd Daughter are visiting and it's been a weekend full of good times and knitting.

Projects are flying off the needles! 

No time for blogging at the moment. 

In the meantime, another Rutabaga Market Bag to keep you company. So easy, so quick, and just the right thing to be working on while conversations are flying around the room.

A new weapon

Look what arrived in the mail on Wednesday: my newest weapon and a treat my victim had picked out for her target as well as information about her progress.

At first, I was super excited at the thought of receiving a mostly completed pair of socks.  However, there was one problem; the finished sock had patterning on the sole of the sock instead of stockinette.

Surprisingly, a number of people on the Sock Wars board suggested leaving the sock that way...they thought it was neat.  But, knowing that my next victim had ripped out her socks twice because of gauge modifications she'd made to the pattern (a no-no according to the rules) AND knowing that I'd be disappointed with socks with patterning on the soles, it didn't seem right to leave them that way.  A quick note to my newest victim confirmed my thoughts.  If nothing else, I'm a merciful killer.  Besides, I strongly believe that what goes around, comes around!!! 

So, once the unfinished sock was knit, the patterned sole paid a visit to the frog pond.  I carefully inserted my needle to the place where the re-knitting needed to begin, cut open the toe and attached the ball winder to the yarn end.  Two minutes later, with the foot unravelled, a revelation: EACH stitch had "landed" properly placed on the needles without need for a single adjustment. I knew then that Karma agreed with my decision to reknit!  Never before has ripping back gone so smoothly.

And that my friends is why there was no Web Wednesday post on May 14th.  The only thing I missed mentioning that is time-sensitive: sign-ups for Secret Pal 12 begin today, May 15th.  This time around the hostesses have a limit of 300 participants and a participation fee.

RIP

RIP- Knit of the Purple Spatula  aka LiliBean (Rav linked) 

DOD- May 13, 2008

Our "doggie bags" from dinner the other night were packed in "evidence boxes"!!!  It seemed appropriate to also use evidence tape to seal up the parcel for LiliBean.

In my hope that a few goodies might soften her death a bit...

In addition to the socks, it seemed fitting to include flowers (notecards) in her favorite color (orange) and a bar of chocolate (Cinnamon & Blood Orange).  I also made a notecard with the photo from Friday.

She was thrilled to find out that her socks were made with THE BALL that was the feature photo on Friday.  (Which, since that time SWTC has asked permission to use it for their newsletter.  How cool is that!?!  The guys in the photo thought it was pretty neat too!)

LiliBean is an honorable warrior.  Her target now becomes my target.  She had finished one sock and had gotten to the end of the heel of the second sock prior to today's death.  She managed to get to the post office yet today (in her wounded state) to mail the unfinished pair to me.  What better epitaph than "honor" is there!?!

(BTW News from the battlefield is that my own assassin suffered an injury and ended up dying from her wounds.  I will live to fight another day.)

Pre-War preparations

Knowing that my weekend would be spent knitting with the bonecrushing lovely size US0 needles, my "war" preparations included knitting with needles that wouldn't quite kill me.  (Thank you Fairy Godmother the size 10 loaner!) 

One market bag for the Christmas box of knitting is completed.  Number two is already on the needles.

Next, I finished my brother's socks.  Granted, the needle size was pretty small.  However, I knew that after knitting socks at 88 sts per round, the Sock Wars sock would (72 sts) would fly off my needles!!  (Imagine if the war sock had been a 64 stitch!)

Heck, I even felt virtuous enough to give the lace a bath and pin block it.  There's even a chance it could arrive for a photo shoot later in the blog. 

See, sometimes we just need a little incentive to finish what's on our knitting plates.  I just didn't want them hanging around, unfinished, after I'm "gone".

War Stories

Progress was slow for my assassin's weapon on Friday.  That's not to say that the entire day wasn't devoted to "war".

First, there was the Battle of Little Round Top.  The re-enactors worked with almost 400 kids from 4 local schools to recreate the battle in the field near our home.  The entire day was spent learning "first-hand" what life was like during the Civil War, in addition to the battle.

At the end of the day, the kids gathered round and listened to the Gettysburg Address.  The kids were great!

My target's dossier was emailed to me while I was at work.  After work, I headed to watch the Battle of Little Round Top and cast on for the cuff of my weapon: The Detonator.  Unfortunately, heading home  from school didn't mean that the night was open for non-stop knitting weapon construction.

Our day of war wasn't over with the Civil War.  The evening was spent with WWII.  More specifically, Special K had a sleepover on the USS Cobia and I was to provide transportation for her troop.

Doogie came to my rescue and drove the troops so that I could knit enroute.  (What a guy!) As a reward for his service and valor, we went out to dinner after depositing  "the crew" onboard the submarine.  Besides, my target might appreciate knowing that she was "treated" to a proper "last supper" before being "killed".  After a day of war stories, it's time for some peace and knitting.

Due to a few administrative snafus for the Sock Wars organizers, the list of assassins needed to be published and my target now has an opportunity to check on my progress.  In light of that, no further progress photos will be shown until my target is killed. 

It's On!

Let the battles begin! 

And, for those of you who think we're nuts, we've made headlines!!!

Special thanks to the Civil War re-enactors.  Today happens to be the day the Civil War is being played out in the parks near Special K's school!  Thanks Guys!!!

Why not Ravel it? (acquisitions)

Ravelry. Such a wonderful resource!  Sure, it has great patterns and groups and forums and inventory lists and...on and on.  But have you used it stash acquisitions!?!

As you already know, Sock Wars begins tomorrow.  Tofutsies is one of the sponsors.  There are special prizes if you use Tofutsies yarn.  My Tofutsies stash inventory was used up in January.  Need/Want Tofutsies for Sock Wars.

Unfortunately, due to rising gas prices, my shopping excursions have been greatly curtailed.  Also, my stash inventory is sitting at 93 (of the ones that are uploaded) and doesn't need embellishment.  Need/Want Tofutsies for Sock Wars.  What's a girl to do!?!

Why not Ravel it?  Sure enough.  Look up Tofutsies in the yarn guide and you'll find that several people have marked theirs "Will trade/sell".  Devittles was offering her skein for $12 incl. shipping!  Like the wind, it was here in no time!!!  Just in time for Sock Wars.  Plus, she is Program Manager for Christmas at Sea, a volunteer knitting program that has been in operation since the Spanish American War.  How ironic!

Then, in addition to Sock Wars, there's this knitalong at Schoolhouse Press: Latvian Mittens.  These have been on my "to-do" list for awhile.  Plus, there is so much yarn leftover from the Fair Isle Cardigan "wasting away"...but not enough of any one color for the background of the mittens.

Sure, I could've ordered more from KnitPicks, but the yarn is only $2 per skein and I would've felt compelled to order enough ($50) to get "free shipping".

Why not Ravel it? That's how a trade with Cheeky came about.  Her six skeins of Palette Heathers for my skein of Artyarns Ultramerino 4.  It was an "even up" trade.  We each received the other's parcel today! No money exchanging hands.  No calculating shipping costs. 

No, there aren't any plans to give up on local yarn shopping.  However, it was fun to Ravel it!  Plus, three knitters (Devittles, Cheeky & I) have gotten yarn out of their stashes that was no longer wanted.  Win, win...why not Ravel it!?!

   

Needles at the ready

It's Wednesday...what's on the web?

• Sheep!  Who knew that phone cords could look so wooly!?!  Check out the artist's display here.
• But seriously, are your needles ready?  It's time for Summer of Socks. (FYI the link takes a seriously long time to load.)  The quick & dirty details are: it runs June 21- Sept 1...there will be contests & raffles...you can sign up here. (Another link w/ a seriously long wait...patience will be rewarded!)
• Socks Wars begins on Friday, May 9th. Whether you're in it or not, check out Allena's contest.  She has come up with a really cool "unofficial weapon bag"!  If you don't happen to win her contest, you'll be able to purchase one from her Etsy store later.
• And speaking of contests, Stash & Burn are having one with three copies of Harlot's latest book as prizes.  Because of SKP, I didn't get to the Madison book signing.  I was a bit disappointed that I wouldn't hear the voice behind the words I've read daily for the past three+ years.  If you are with me in that unprivileged group, you won't want to miss this week's podcast.  Harlot reads a book excerpt and Nicole & Jenny do a 20 minute interview...you won't be disappointed!
• And speaking of podcasts, Knitters Uncensored has two episodes with the Wollmeise herself!  I'm finally caught up.  Their episodes are usually quite long, but their show notes are complete and I base my listening habits on the show notes.  The note links are awesome! This episode's included information on...
• Ram Club, a yarn club for men (and those who knit for men). The yarn will be provided by Unique Sheep and the patterns by Stitch Stud. For the first time ever, a yarn club subscription is mine ours.  Doogie and I may end up with some interesting "battles" once the parcels start arriving.  Sure, the socks will be his, but who's going to knit them!?!  Needles at the ready, a duel to the "death"...

Ready for my close-up

Two days of sunshine and warming temps has me itching to get outside.  We aren't nearly as far along with spring as some others are.  Check out my lilacs.  They're not anywhere near popping, unlike Knitspot's lilacs.

But, a few of the tulips are making their presence known amongst the daffodils.  Spring is finally arriving in Eastern Wisconsin.  (It's about time!!)  I'm so glad that so many knit bloggers have been posting photos of their own blooms...it reminded me that spring would eventually arrive!

Not surprisingly, my knitting has "sprouted" warmer colors. Hope is in the air...thoughts of warm weather pleasures...farmers markets...market bags...rutabaga.  It begged for a close-up shot, just like the bloomin' flowers.  I'm just relieved it's not a sock! (13 hours straight of sock knitting will do that to you!)

So much nature

Ahhhh. nature. 

There's nothing like it to return calm to a soul that's been disturbed.  Disturbed I tell you!  No, my knitting has not pushed me over the edge...but my neighbors did.

If you're a regular here, you know it's not in my nature to use the blog to vent.  However, grant me this one lapse to share with you my deepest, darkest pet peeve: lawn mowing on Sundays.

That's right...it drives me nuts to hear lawn mowers running on Sundays.  Now, before anyone writes and says that it's the only day of the week that they are able to, let me just restate that it's my own personal pet peeve.  When I was a kid, Sunday was the "day of rest".  It was the day to play with your family, not catch up on the chores.  AND especially not fill the air with the obnoxious sound of lawn mowers.  Heathens, I tell you.;-)

This Sunday, when the eighth lawnmower's engine revved into gear, I snapped.  We grabbed the GPS units and headed into the woods.  It was beautiful!  There were flowers, lots of flowers.  There was mud.  WE didn't mind the mud because there were deer tracks in the mud.  There was a woodpecker rattling away at a tree to get his dinner.  He was the only "noise", besides us, in the woods. 

And there were geocaches.  Two of them to be exact, in the very same woods.  Notice Panda rearranging the "fallen bark" to re-hide one of our finds.  That one was the easy one.  The other, well, let's just say that some caches are large and some are small...very small...35mm canister small.

In fact, look closely and you will see the cache in the group shot photo.  The only hint I'll give is to say that it's a good thing that Doogie is tall. 

Ahhhh.  So much nature.  Peaceful nature.  (Then again, it was adjacent to a cemetery.) 

Recovery

There's always a bit of confusion when you return to the scene of the "crime".  Needles, yarn scraps all strewn about.  Remnants of the LONG night.

I must say, unlike in college, pulling an all-nighter at age 44 was far more like flying to Europe...up all night (who really sleeps on the plane), "landing" in the middle of the "night", then continuing to stay up and adjust to the new day.  Four hours of sleep is all that was managed on Friday morning.

Mildly rested, a trip to the mailbox revealed wonderful treats.  Celia's postcards arrived from her recent getaway.  Tulips!  They were my Olympic bouquet for my second place finish.

A cup of coffee and time spent reading postcards and Franklin's wonderful tribute to that special place in Northern Wisconsin that is home to Meg Swanson and Schoolhouse Press.  There was no better way to restart my day!  Ahhh, recovery!

Second

My "race" for the second event of the Sock Knitters Pentathlon is complete!

The pattern was posted about twenty minutes later than planned.  Those were LONG minutes...wondering if all was okay, checking out the Ravelry Group to see if there were news or that I'd missed an update.  The pattern that was posted was a translation of a German Pattern.  (There has been a lot of confusion about the design translation that appeared on the Yahoo Group. I found it much easier to understand the German designer's instructions.)

I cast on at 7:30PM.  I'd hoped to knit straight through and finish by 4 AM.  However, at 1:30 AM, when I finished knitting the first sock, I knew that wasn't going to happen!

I snuck a peek at the computer at 5:00 and saw that Barbro had finished first for the second time in a row!  (Congrats Barbro!!!)  9 hours 51 minutes!!!  That woman's fingers must FLY!!!!

By 6:00, as the foot was taking shape, my family started to make noises upstairs as they were preparing for work and school.  I did the morning carpool at 7:30 and came home to cross the "finish line".

These were worked top down and I saved the kitchener for both socks for that last.  Do you know how long it's been since I've kitchenered sock toes!?!  It was successful.  Snapped a photo of the completed pair to post to the Yahoo site.

To my surpise, no one had posted a completed photo except Barbro.  That makes me SECOND for this leg of the five events!!!  Yippee!!!

Fifth last time, second this time.  (I was hoping to place around third.)  I so excited AND SO exhausted!  Time to crawl in bed and get some sleep.  Have a good Friday everyone.  (Sure glad I took today off!!)

Event #2

I have 75 minutes till the pattern for Event #2 of the Sock Knitters Pentathlon is posted.  I'm SO excited!  In fact, I even shared the news with my co-workers.  They didn't think I was silly in the least for taking off tomorrow so that I could compete tonight.  (I really thought they'd think it foolish...it was a pleasant surprise to hear their enthusiastic support this afternoon!)

My supplies are ready. Yarn. Check. Needles. Check. Chocolate. Check. Bi-focals (yes, I now own a pair!). Check.  Recent knitting inspiration. Check.  Coffee. Check.  Pattern...waiting....waiting...waiting...

Oh, no!  There's something missing from the photo!  Pain Reliever...plenty on hand...just in case!  See you all tomorrow with my results.