Slick Knit

Sock It To Me

Because I am stubborn as a mule in quicksand I did not take Keli's advice to drop the tiny sticks and run away.  I will finish these socks if it kills me, the cat, the dog and many citizens of the north Dayton suburb known to some as Hubertucky.

I did take Jacqui's excellent advice and switch from working over 4 DPNs to working over 3.  I don't know why The Purl Stitch lady likes 4 DPNs so much - all of her patterns that use them use 4.  3 is much, much better.

I spent most of Saturday watching Firefly and working on That Gorram Sock(tm) and look how far I've gotten! I did the stupid heel and now I'm working on the endless foot.  Kim thinks the foot is great because it's the home stretch.  Kim also runs marathons and bakes apple pies so it's possible she also doesn't kick puppies or scream "FUCK YOU!" at minivans with her 12 year old niece in the car.  Kim is like the anti-me because the foot?  The foot hates me and I hate the foot.  We are seeking counseling.  The foot never ends.  Stockinette in the round on tiny sticks with thin yarn has got to be the single most boring thing I've ever done.  I actually prefer the heel, it least it keeps me interested.

Speaking of the heel, what the hell is up with that?  It's really weird and very defined.  There's a definite ridge where the back of the heel becomes the bottom of the heel.  I don't know if it's the pattern (from The Purl Stitch) or me or a combination of both.  I just know this heel is really stiff and looks nothing like other socks I've seen.  Also, I really hate the tiny loop of yarn for a stitch marker but my plastic ones are too big.

In happier news, I finished a hat and scarf to donate as part of Knit Unto Others.  Remember that twisty mess?  Aunt Purl was right, it did indeed become a lovely hat.  Here it is on my lovely (when not smudgy) niece.  I made a matching, if boring, scarf (4 inch wide garter stitch) but didn't get a picture of it.

And so the Christmas knitting frenzy continues.  Finish the sock.  Do a whole other sock!  Finish the Easy Lace scarf.  Start and finish two wrist warmers (had to frog the little progess I made).  Most likely find a better wrist warmer pattern using worsted weight instead of the one I have using sock weight which may lead to me hunting down The Purl Stitch lady and stabbing her to death with 4 DPNs.  Blood is red and Christmasy, right?

Knit A Difference Redux

I just joined the Knit Unto Others Knit Along for Charity for the next two weeks after reading about it on Tara's knitting blog.  Tara is another Dayton knitter that I've emailed a few times but we haven't managed to hook up yet.  She's organizing a Knit-In for charity to go with this Knit Along so hopefully I can meet her soon.

I've been knitting for a local charity for the homeless already, a couple of scarves (pictures on flickr, click that flashy thing over there).  I'm going to give the things I knit during the Knit A Long to groups helping those left homeless by the recent tornadoes in the midwest.  We got lucky here, despite hours of dire warnings there were no tornadoes and little damage. 

First I'm making his monstrosity, the beginning of the Easy Roll Brim Hat by Crazy Aunt Purl.  Right now it is a just a big ole mess of ugliness.  But check out the picture on step 8, Purl's was all twisty and bad too.  I trust in the magic she swears will happen and one day this might be a nice hat. 

I'm also trying not to think about all the Christmas gift knitting I need to get going on.  I signed up at the last minute for an Entrelac purse class and it's pushed most of my gift knitting aside.  I'm almost done with the purse, I'm on the handles now, but the handles are 42" total of garter stitch and seed stitch, the most boring knitting ever.  I have actually fallen asleep knitting these handles because it's so damn boring to knit nine stitches of garter/seed, turn, knit, turn, knit, turn, I think I'm being hypnotized, fall asleep, poke myself in the head with needles, wake up, knit, repeat.  So I'm stopping until after all the charity and gifty knitting is done.

Finished "Hawaiian" Tote

I finally got a picture of the felted tote I made for my sister. It shrank a ton and ended up 13" tall x 16" wide x 4.25" deep. I still need to get buttons/toggles to put on it. The button loops shrank more than I wanted so I've got to find the time to haul this thing to the store to try the buttons against the bag.

An after-felting comparison of dog vs. tote. In the before picture it is laying on him lengthwise. It only covers him widthwise now. And it's clear he hasn't been groomed in between. Poor tangly mess of a dog.

Socks Suck on Five DPNs

So Keli started and then frogged a sock.  It was her first sock and she got so far and ripped it out!  That gives me an actual physical pain.  If I get that far on something it's getting finished even if it looks like 87 metric tons of poo.

I'm making a pair of socks, too.  Actually, not too because Keli is a great big quitter, nyah! My father, after seeing the first knitted project I completed (a dinosaur), asked me to knit him socks for Christmas.  Have I gotten as far as Keli?

Clearly I have not.  Teeny sticks and skinny thread means you knit and knit and knit for hours, watching Law & Order:SVU and Law & Order:Plain Vanilla and Las Vegas and another L&O:SVU and after all those hours of Ice-T and knitting what do you have?  3/4 of an inch of progress!  Mountains have tumbled, glaciers have melted, Marcus of The Apprentice finally shut up and here you are with 5 inches of dust on you and three wee stripes of sock to show for it.

You people who love socks and make a couple of pairs a week and use fancy lace patterns on them?  You people are seriously deranged and should probably seek professional help.  In the amount of time I am putting into these socks I could probably invent a car that runs on carnival glow sticks if I understood, like, engineering and chemistry and how cars work and stuff.  Martha Stewart will be in and out of jail 14 times before I am done with these socks.  Paul Reiser will have a career again before these socks are finished.  Socks take a long damn time is what I'm saying.

And since Keli's knitting talent eclipses mine like the big sun in front of a walnut, I'm pretty sure that my socks are going to look so much worse than hers.  But I will finish these socks and he will wear them every freaking day for a year so help me God or heads will roll!  Because I'm am stubborn and there is no backwards, only forwards.  There is no frogging only the burning hatred of socks.