Tag / socks

by TechnicolorMom

Frog or Finish: Part 1

Pairs two and three for January! Bicycle Socks (yellow) and Creeping Kudzu (purple).

I am a process knitter. That means that when I knit, I do so for the enjoyment of the project. It also means that I end up with a few unfinished objects or works in progress that end up languishing in a project bag or my yarn dresser for a long period of time, some never to be finished. I’ve just lost the motivation, or the joy, or whatever it was that made me start knitting that project to begin with.

I’d like to change that. I’d like to either finish the project or free the yarn and needles so I can use them for something else. My husband, Technicooldad, and I have differing opinions on this — he thinks that I should just finish it so I can move on to the next thing. After all, I can always buy more yarn. I struggle with this. I want my knitting experiences to be fun, relaxing, and engaging. If I’m bored, frustrated, stressed out, or not having fun, then why am I even doing it?

My goal here is not to force myself to finish projects. Instead, I’m hoping to remember why it was that I cast on that project to begin with. Each month, I’ll select a project from my pile of WIPS and decide what to do with it. Some of them will be easy. I have a couple of pairs of socks that literally just need to have the ends woven in. Some just need photos so I can feel like my Ravelry page is complete. But some will take more work. (Here’s looking at you, Hue Shift Afghan!)

Things I’ll consider:

  • How much of the project is complete vs. not complete?
  • Am I able to finish the project? Do I still have the materials required for it? Does the project even live with me anymore?
  • What will I do with it once I’m finished?
  • Why did I start the project to begin with? What did I love about it?
  • Why did I stop? Was I frustrated with it, or did I get distracted?
Finished Bicycle Socks!

For January, I’m pulled out my Bicycle Socks. I started on these August 1, 2018 as part of the 2018 Tour De Sock, which is hosted on Ravelry. The Tour raises money for Doctors Without Borders. Designers donate patterns, knitters pay an entry fee, and everyone has a blast in the competition. My socks were over 75% complete. The first one was done, and the heel had already been turned and gusset decreased on the second.

I still had all of the materials, Three Irish Girls Adorn Sock in Cian that I had purchased from my LYS, Eat.Sleep.Knit. I’m planning to gift these socks to an aunt whose favorite color is yellow for her birthday. I love the cable details in the pattern. So why did I stop? Well, I didn’t finish them in time for that stage of the tour, and the next stage was starting, so I needed to move on to another project. That’s ok, because I picked them back up this month on January 21, 2019.

It didn’t take me long to finish these (January 24, 2019), and I’m so glad that I did. Aren’t these so cool? You can find the Bicycle Race socks by Heidi Nick pattern on Ravelry. This is definitely a focus-and-pay-attention type of knit, but the end product is worth it!

My Chiaogoo 2.25 mm 40″ fixed circulars and my green ESK bag have officially been released back into the wild! Will you join me in choosing to Frog or Finish? Do you have any languishing WIPs that need to be finished? Next month, I’ll be working on my Lagertha Socks (pattern by Melissa Beyer) and freeing up my blue ESK bag!

by TechnicolorMom

Friendship is Magic Sock KAL

Hello, fellow knitters! I’ve been loving everyone’s #makenine2019 posts on Instagram. I haven’t been able to choose just nine projects to make for the year because I want to cast on ALL the THINGS, but there is one set of items that I know I’d like to knit up this year: the My Little Pony – inspired self-striping colorways by String Theory Colorworks.

My plan is to knit up the socks inspired by the Mane 6 during 2019:

  • Rarity – Gemology
  • Twilight Sparkle – Crepuscular
  • Rainbow Dash – Dispersion
  • Fluttershy – Signalling Theory
  • Applejack – Malic Acid
  • Pinkie Pie – Salvinorin A

And a little bird told me that she is working on a Celestia-themed colorway as well.

Apple Jack’s colorway: String Theory Colorworks in Malic Acid

Friendship is so important, and I’ve felt like the knitting community has been a huge source of camaraderie and fun for me. I want it to be that way for everyone! So, let’s share the kindness, generosity, loyalty, honesty, laughter, and magic with everyone.

I would love for you all to join me in this endeavor! You don’t, of course, have to use the String Theory yarns (Yarn Cafe Creations has a set as well), but I would love for you to choose a colorway or pattern that you think represents each of the Ponies and their Elements of Harmony: Generosity, Magic, Loyalty, Kindness, Honesty, and Laughter and knit a pair of socks with it.

We’ll plan to run the knit-along (KAL) from now until December 31, 2019. You can enter as many or as few socks as you’d like, so long as they fit in with the Ponies and their Elements! Works in progress count as well, as long as you still have some knitting to do. To enter, share your finished object on Instagram with the tag #FriendshipIsMagicSockKAL2019 and tell which Pony or Theme you are representing. You’ll get an extra entry for sharing a collage picture of all of your Mane 6 socks together. (Feel free to use the tags for your in-progress pics as well and tag me @technicolormom in your posts!)

Here’s my first pair for the year: Rarity! Rarity is my spirit pony. She is generous, creative, and doesn’t really care for camping or getting dirty. I used Susan B. Anderson’s Smooth Operator Socks pattern for mine. This is a great basic sock, and excellent if you are looking for a vanilla sock with an afterthought heel. The mini-skeins in the String Theory Inertia sets are quite generous (25 g), and I was able to get an extra-long cuff and toe out of mine and had about 3″ to spare.

Rarity Socks in String theory Colorworks Gemology

Prizes! For this KAL, I’ll put together a little prize to include a skein of Celestia’s themed sock yarn, a coordinating mini skein, and some other goodies.

What do you think? Will you join me for the Friendship is Magic Sock KAL of 2019? Any questions? I’m happy to answer them!

Where to shop? I purchased about half of my friendship yarns directly from String Theory, and the other half from Eat.Sleep.Knit (my LYS with super-fast shipping). I use the Inertia Sock Sets for all of mine. Again, you can shop anywhere you want and use any yarn/pattern you like, as long as you follow one (or more) of the friendship themes.

by TechnicolorMom

Knitting Plans…with Spreadsheets!

I’m not really good at New Year’s Resolutions, but I’ve got one this year that should be fairly easy to do: knit more yarn than I buy. So far I’ve bought 11 skeins, so I’ve got a ways to go.

I’ve made a spreadsheet to track how many skeins I’ve bought versus how many I’ve used, and I’ve got another spreadsheet to track my KAL goals and deadlines.

This last year, I started watching some knitting podcasts, and they are just so much fun! They’re also pretty inspiring. I find new yarns to try, new patterns to try, and it really just makes the knitting world seem just a little smaller and like the podcasters are my friends. Anyone else get that feeling? A couple of my favorites are the Yarnhoarder and the Grocery Girls. Unfortunately (fortunately?), they have also introduced me to new yarn dyers, which is not helping my resolutions knitting goals.

So here are my plans!

Eat.Sleep.Knit Yarnathon

  • Hue Shift Afghan Year-long KAL: 14 skeins fingering weight yarn, 13 of which are from stash. I’ll be making 196 squares, so ~16-17 squares/month at least. I should probably do 17-18 squares/month and then leave December for the border.

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  • Q1 TinCanKnits KAL: at least 2 skeins DK weight yarn, both from stash. I’ll be making matching hats for myself and Jaina. Jaina’s will be in Hedgehog Merino DK Pucker (a skein she keeps pulling out of my yarn stash because it.is.the.best.colorway.) and mine in Juniper. Bonus! Little baby hats are super quick knits, and ta da! First hat done! Now, of course, that led into needing matching mittens to go along with her hat, so I’m working on those now. Deadline: March 31, 2018.

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  • Q2 Summer of Socks KAL: at least 3 skeins fingering weight yarn, likely from stash (unless, you know, I find something I really need to have before then, which is likely). Patterns are a mystery! Potential for double-dipping here.
  • Q3 Exclusively Exclusive KAL: I’ll need to use some of their exclusive colorways for this, so likely more socks! I’ve got several exclusive colorways so far, so I’ll have a bunch to choose from, plus they always have new colorways each month.
  • Q4 Charted Waters KAL: Something! Hopefully from stash! I’ve got a few sweater quantities that need to be knit up, so I’ll plan to dive into those.
  • Badges: I’ll try to double-dip with some of the other KALs for some of the badges this year.

Lolodidit #HipposForHolidays2018

  • The KAL is to knit something using the Holiday Hippo colorways each month. And there’s a special prize if you have one for each month. So, I’ll plan for 12 pairs of socks, one pair to be completed each month. My first pair is using the Hippo for Hanukkah 2017 colorway. Up next, I’ve got Hippo for New Year’s 2018 and Hippo for Valentine’s 2018.
  • These do not double-dip with the ESK KALs.
  • I’m starting out with Vanilla socks so I can try to find the best sock fit for me. It turns out I’ve been making all of my socks too big for ever.

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Grocery Girls Sock Bash 2018

  • Knit a pair of socks each month, or as many socks as I can knit! For this one, I can double-dip all of the other socks I’m making!

CostumeSandy #HusbandSocksKAL2018

  • The goal here is to knit one pair of socks/two months for my awesome husband, who supports my yarn addiction and loves to wear the socks I make him. Now, if only I could make myself weave in the ends on the socks I made for the Tour de Sock last year, he’d have another pair already! (Those don’t count for this KAL, of course.)
  • I’m going to start with a vanilla sock with a heel flap using Lolodidit’s Droids colorway. I’d really like to find a good sock fit for him.

That’s it so far! I’m sure I’ll jump on some more KAL trains as we go. What are your plans for the year?

by TechnicolorMom

Competition Pushes us Forward

Not just in business and innovation, but also in…you guessed it! KNITTING. Since July 15th, I’ve been participating in a community knit-along competition/fundraiser called Tour-de-Sock. Styled after the Tour de France, this competition sets teams of knitters in a speed sock-knitting race. There are six stages that are nine days each, and for each stage, you and the other racers knit one pair of socks. All entry fees for the race go to Doctors without Borders, and the group has raised $32k since it started a few years ago!

The first pair of socks didn’t go so well for me — I finished in the 366th spot (out of approx. 1700 knitters), and my socks ended up not fitting. This is most likely my fault — I decided to make these for my husband, so they are super long, and I even added extra room for the heel, but I ended up making the leg too tight in an effort to have a smaller number of stitches on the needle (so I could finish faster). So for the second sock, I made the smallest allowable measurements. So I’ve got one long and one short sock. *facepalm*

Anyway…for the next stage, which starts today, I’m hoping that the socks are knit top-down. Then I could throw a lifeline in just before the toe, and I could go back later and make them as long as I want.

I’m still waffling on color choices, but as I’ve learned from quilt making, it really doesn’t matter, since things end up looking pretty good in the end. Hopefully these turn out better than the last pair and I will actually feel confident enough to share a photo. I’m thinking I’ll use the Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in Astrid Gray as the main color, and either Esoteric (the dark teal) and Hosta Blue (the light teal) with a splash of Pop Rocks (the pink) or the Astrid Gray with Ink (the dark blue) and Liquid Gold. I’ll go with the first option if it is a more feminine pattern and the second option if it’s a more masculine pattern.

In other news, I am diligently working on Joel’s Forest Moon of Endor socks. I showed him pictures of a bunch of different patterns, but for that pair, I included the name of the pattern. And of course he chose that one for me to make! I’m using Western Sky Knits Magnolia Sock (an incredibly soft 80% merino, 10% nylon, 10% cashmere blend) in the colorway “Creeper.” (This is a Minecraft reference for those of you who don’t know.) I’ve used this yarn before and have even accidentally run the socks through the washing machine, and it has held up wonderfully and is soooooo soft! I’ve got one sock finished and have finished the leg on the second one. This is a super easy pattern, so it’s perfect for when I’m stuck in traffic and stopped at red lights.

I’m also starting a knit-along with my BFF (for 20+ years so far!), who is making her first pair of socks! We are making Please and Thank You Socks. I love the simple elegance of these socks, and I envision making several pairs of these! The pattern also comes with instructions for making them starting at the cuff AND for starting at the toe. My friend is using Nerd Girl Yarns Bounce & Stomp in the Blue Box Exploding colorway, and I am using Madelinetosh Twist Light in Tern. I am stepping out of my comfort zone with these and trying to knit using 9″ circulars. We’ll see how it goes! So far, so good. I’ll definitely have to get my hands used to working on such small needles.

Also, my daughter is almost walking. She has an elephant toy that she walks behind as she pushes it around the house. Knitting time has definitely decreased now that she is mobile. I can knit about three stitches before she gets to the fireplace and tries to open the glass panels (after she crawls over to it, turns around to look at me, shakes her head “no” with a big grin, then turns back to the fireplace). SHE IS SO FAST. And AMAZING. I marvel every day at how awesome she is. Also, she likes to help me knit. 😀

by TechnicolorMom

Knitting and Fishing

wowscrnshot_011317_220237The two go together pretty well, I think. Both require a lot of time and patience, and for fishing, at least the kind that I prefer, you don’t need to pay much attention.

For those of you who know me, you might be thinking, what in the world is she talking about? I am not exactly known for my love of the outdoors. I prefer climate-controlled, bug-free locations. And, as my husband reminds me, I once mused, “I like the outdoors in theory.” Beautiful landscapes, grass, trees, the oceans, all that jazz.

But there is one place that allows me to fish and knit and be comfortable. And that is in the World of Warcraft. Joel introduced me to WoW in 2013, not long after we started dating. I already had a penchant for video games: I grew up enjoying and playing a Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, and later a Wii, and I was quite adept at some mobile games. Shortly thereafter, he gifted me with my very first gaming PC, complete with a Haswell i5 processor, a GTX-660 Ti videocard, Razer Naga and, very importantly, a pink case and green LED fans. It was beautiful. Maybe a little tacky. It was the only pink case we could find, and I loved it.wp-1484797565458.jpg

Fast-forward to 2017, and I’m still an avid WoW player, but with a more powerful computer with a sleek black and green case and color-changing accessories (of course). We raced the clock with the birth of my daughter, who was due just 5 days after the launch of WoW’s most recent expansion, Legion. She was born three days late, giving us about a week to experience the new content. We took a short hiatus, and recently our precious girl has blessed us with an earlier bedtime, allowing us to resubscribe to the game.

There’s a game mechanic that allows you to fish, and you can listen for your bobber to splash in the water. It’s quite relaxing and entertaining for me. And best of all, I can knit and fish at the same time.

I’ve just completed a pair of WoW-themed socks for my husband, at his request. I used madelinetosh Tosh Sock in Ink and Liquid Gold to represent Alliance colors. Early last year, I made him a WoW-themed hat with the Alliance crest on it, so now he has the set!

 

My next project is an afghan using fingering weight (sock) yarn (i.e. it’s going to take the whole year), and there’s an achievement for catching all the rare fish in WoW, so I will be doing a lot of fish/knitting in the next few months!

by TechnicolorMom

Staying Up Til Midnight

In college, I could stay up late with the best of them. Two a.m., the Acorn Cafe, and I were very good friends. On occasion, I even hung out with Great Oaks Hall and the elusive all-nighter.

Not so anymore. These days, my eyes are drooping by 10:00 p.m. Baby J is a good sleeper and will usually sleep all night, but in the last two weeks or so, her sleep time shifted from 10:00 to 11:00 to 11:30. After a discussion with our pediatrician, we are moving her bedtime up to 8:00, and so far this seems to be working.

I don’t need to go to bed as soon as Baby J is asleep! This has been great — I can stay up and knit, play a game, or watch a show with my husband. It’s a double-edged sword, though, as I get addicted to the time, and I end up staying up later than I should.

Last night is the perfect example. Baby J was asleep and in her crib at 8:00 p.m., my husband was playing Battlefield 1 with friends, and I had a date with a sock.

I am not typically a monogamous knitter. I love to cast on whatever project grabs my eye. Yes, sometimes this means that projects don’t get finished for a year or that they eventually get frogged (ripped out so the yarn can be reused). But for me, the joy of knitting comes from the process: finding a pattern, discovering a beautifully dyed skein of yarn, casting on, and knitting (not always in that order).

These socks, though, are for my husband, and he is patiently waiting for them to be ready. Because he is paying attention to what I’m knitting, he would notice if I switched projects. So I need to finish them. Because I want to KNIT ALL THE THINGS.

Thus midnight and met once again. One sock is completed, and yesterday at Knit Night, I made great progress on the cuff and had even started the heel increases. So after Baby J was asleep, I went to town on these socks. By the time 11:00 p.m. rolled around, I was so close to being ready to turn the heel that I had to keep going.

I should have stopped. The later I stayed up, the more mistakes I made. This row was off by one stitch. That pattern didn’t quite line up. You get the idea. I felt like Tina from Bob’s Burgers, but with the enthusiasm of her sister Louise.

Fortunately, I made it through without needing to frog any of the work and was able to drop down one or two stitches to fix my mistakes, but it takes longer to fix the mistakes than it does just to knit! I made it to about four rows before the heel turn, and in the process, I qualified for the Night Owl Knits badge for the Eat.Sleep.Knit Yarnathon Booster Club!

This morning during Baby J’s first nap, I was able to finish the heel turn! Now for the foot of the sock. I WILL finish these this weekend so I can knit all the other things!