Fo: Baudelaire Socks

I finished a pair of socks.  I'm in love with them.

They are the Baudelaire, a free pattern from Cookie A via Knitty.com.  Yes, I am a timely knitter- these were published in 2006.  I've been wanting to make them since they came out, but there are so many socks I want to make.  So very many.  I will get to them all eventually, and then I will demand that sock designers everywhere stop designing once I'm caught up.  

The yarn is Skinny Bugga in "Rose Weevil" from Cephalopod Yarns.  It's my favorite shade of red.

 The pattern, although there is a lot going on with both cables and lace, is not terrible to work out.  It's easy to memorize.  While I couldn't really work it out after a glass of wine, the pattern pretty much flew along and I finished these in no time.

Speaking of a glass o'wine, I found a few nice groups of knitters in the London area.  There are lots of options here and people are chatty and sweet, and I can just casually drop in and have a glass or a cup of tea and knock out some long sections of plain boring sections of knitting.  It makes for good inspiration as far as the knits go, and I'm finding knitting to be a good gateway into making friends wherever I end up.  

To gift, or not to gift?  I have plenty of socks.  Can I cram another pair in the sock drawer?  I love these so much.  They are just too pretty, without being too precious or delicate, and the yarn is so luxe and heavenly.  It's a little thick to cram into socks, but perfectly warm and comforting.  

I have a feeling these will see a few Maine winters to come.

FO: Elm Socks

Well Hello There! Remember when I used to knit, and spin, and make all sorts of crafty stuff? Yeah, I don't either.

I did take a moment to sadly mourn the last traces of my spoiled New York lifestyle.

That last little bit of red polish? My bi-weekly pedicures and manis are all just distant memories now. New York has so many nail salons. The competition that comes with having a nail salon on every block drives the prices way down. You can get a mani and a pedi for less than $20 and do so while you let the massage chair work out your knots and get caught up on the latest Cosmo and not feel the least bit guilty about it because it's cheaper than buying a sandwich for lunch. Here, not so much. Every salon I see, I run up hopefully and press my face to the window to check out the prices. Pedicures average around $60, manis $30. Sigh. I guess DIY is in right now. I won't even begin to discuss how much I miss my waxer.

Since I'm not coordinated enough to perfectly splosh my nails with jewel shades of paint and not look like I let someone in preschool do it, I am left with one option. I guess I could just cover my damn toes up!

The weather has been improving lately- we actually got a weekend where we spent time outside! I still am paler than I've ever been in July, but I do appreciate getting a little sun every now and then. Lazing around in the park is much nicer when you aren't lying in a swampy wetland of gloom or having hellfire and hail beat you down.

These are the Elm socks by Cookie A. It's from a great book called, "The Knitters Book of Socks". I only brought a couple of books with me to France, and this is one of them.

Alas, this pattern had a few issues. The undulating rib pattern was easy and fun, but as written, the cuff of the sock is incredibly long. So long, I left out the last 2 pattern repeats it calls for because I knew this sock wasn't going to fit any higher up my calf if I kept going. A quick glance at other people's projects reveal they had the same issue. It's hearbreaking to work so long on a pair of socks to not have them fit. It was also good I stopped because I almost ran out of yarn. Once I turned the heel, I realized I dodged a bullet there and by the time I kitchnered the toes up, I was down to just a couple of yards. 400 yards is not enough for this sock the way it is written!

I am loathe to put patterns on the actual sock foot. 1. You can't see it when you are wearing shoes, which is what I usually do when I put on a pair of socks and 2. Patterns with a cushier sock yarn like this will irritate the tops of my feet and I will never ever wear them, and I hate irritated feet more than I do my unpedicured toes. So I guess we can call this my Half-Assed Elm Socks.

The yarn is String Theory Caper Sock. 80% Merino, 10% Cashmere, 10% Nylon, this is very soft. I picked this up on sale when Gotham Fine Yarns in New York closed down.

Time and wear will tell, but I'm not quite impressed with the yarn. It pilled up and looked fuzzy while I was working with it. I'm hoping it's just the short cashmere fibers working their way out and not a structural issue.

I've actually had these done for more than a month now. I like to photograph things outside, in good light, and These would have wicked up a puddle if I would have done it any other time. I guess all that rain is making me appreciate this sunny day all the more.

I made socks and then I pranced around a meadow in them. The end.

Socks

I haven't had too much time or motivation to get any crafty things done, but I did start a pair of socks.

They are the Elm Socks by Cookie A, from the Knitter's Book of Socks. I love these big, slowly undulating cables. They are loads of fun to knit and actually fairly intuitive once you've gotten cozy with the pattern. It's pretty hot out this week, but I want my first winter here to be cozy. Also, all my linen and silk and lighter yarns...who knows where they are right now. I wasn't in the right mind when I was trying to pack up to figure out what to bring along and what to store. I have a feeling I'll be pleasantly surprised when I get the shipment next week. Hopefully I did remember to pack a few skeins of linen- a swingy cool top would be nice right now.

PS, the sock yarn is String Theory Caper Sock, and it's brilliant to work with.

FO- Kai-Mei Socks

I'm back for a little bit and I have some FO's to catch up on. I am keeping up with my A-Z stashdown challenge.


Yet another skein of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock in lightweight. The color is "Downpour". This is a really thick, cushy sock yarn. I thought the color combination was gorgeous.

I'm on a bit of a Cookie A. kick and chose the Kai-Mei socks from her wonderful "Sock Innovation" book.

I cast these on when I was in France. The 3x3 rib went on forever, and made them good candidates for making both socks at once.



Here they are, looking longingly out at the mountains and Lake Geneva and vineyards near Lausanne, Switzerland. It's amazingly gorgeous there. Plus, you pretty consistently need socks year-round up in those mountains.

I shoved them into my carry-on bag when I flew to Chicago and immediately regretted it as one of the teeny tiny needles snapped en route. So just in time to turn the heel I switched to doing these the old-fashioned one-at-a-time way. Anyway, with all that plane time and delays, I got these done really quickly. It's amazing how much I can get done when the handheld electronic devices must be put away.



I only have pictures of the one sock done, but I assure you, the other one was made and in a perfect mirror image. As I was Kitchener-ing the toe shut on the second toe, I bumped into a friend of mine whose birthday weekend was coming up, and being the dunce that I am, I had gotten her nothing. A hasty sewing in of the ends and voila! She had a birthday present. I knew these would be a gift, but I didn't know to who. The timing was perfect.



I looks like I'm tip-toeing through the poison ivy. Sometimes, the only thing that grows in Brooklyn is noxious weeds.



The specs-
I used one skein of Socks that Rock lightweight in the Downpour colorway and size 2.25 mm needles. The 3x3 rib takes up a lot of yarn, so I used up almost the full 360 yard skein. The "butterflies" that travel across the foot were a little difficult to get consistent tension, but after a little stretching I could get them fairly even. These would be hard to wear with a pair of shoes on- the butterflies have a bit of a bulge in the center where all the stitches are gathered, and the ribbing makes them kind of lumpy as well. A good pair of pretty house socks these are.