Odessa # 2 finished, Glad Ragg socks started.

Odessa # 2 finished...

Odessa by Grumperina, Magknits February 2006
Started: Feb 26, 2006
Finished: Mar 1, 2006
Brooks Farm Four Play yarn, 50% silk 50% merino-- colorway #SW 038
Addi 16" US 5 (3.75mm)
Used 58gm of yarn, incl. pattern modifications (see below)... second hat's worth left in the skein.





Another Odessa, another dollar :) This is the second 2nd knit I've done from Grumperina, the previous pair being 2 pair of Jaywalkers (and the 1st Odessa done when the pattern went live last month.) It was my, "unwind and knit in the glow of stumbling during the Knitting Olympics," project.

My 1st hat is too small for my gigantic head, so I added a repeat to this pattern and also knit it in a heavier yarn. (My 1st was knit in calmer, which was a smaller gauge than the suggested yarn which I'm sure didn't help... but really, its my head size that did it in.) This one's nice and comfy for me, isn't too conforming (which makes the pumpkin look even larger), and I love the Brooks Farm Four Play. It felt a little-little sticky/dry knitting up, but I've also never knit with silk before so perhaps this is normal. Not a complaint, just a note. The yarn has a wonderful shine to it; not shiny like the stock pics on Brooks Farm's site, just a little bit of the light bouncing off of it.

In addition to adding a repeat (120 CO instead of 110), I noticed that the 1st YO looked larger than the subsequent ones (and emphasized by the fact it is at the largest point of my head, stretching out even more...) so I knit the starting k3, p2 rounds for 1.5" and then knit "k3, p1, *k4 p1*, k1" so when the pattern started the next round, the YO would "rest" on a knit stitch and not a purl one. I don't know if its really that noticeable or not, but the mod isn't and doesn't detract from the pattern imo.

I think the variegated yarn looks pretty cool, the pattern goes at a right angle in a fun way. I also opted for no beads this time since the beads I'd need would be way too big, I think. If I have enough yarn left over from the red Four Play I brought home from stitches (I'm planning gauntlets), maybe I'll take a trip to the bead store and make another hat :)

So of course I had to start another project...



Glad Ragg Socks from Yahoo Groups Six Sox Knitalong, Feb/Mar 2006 pattern
Started: Mar 1, 2006
Cherry Tree Hill Supersock, endlot
8/0 "spring mix" beads from Baubles and Beads in Berkeley (five times fast!)
US 2 dpns for leg (will use US 1's for foot)

Apologies for crappy pic. You can't really see the lace anyway, and the beads do get a bit lost... next pic I'll use an insert to stretch it out a bit more. Its a fun pattern, even though I get a little irked at working the beads around to the front of the sock (they want to stay in the back and I haven't mastered exactly how to knit them on the subsequent rounds and not ahve to coax them back to sit on the purl bumps yet. YET!)

I'd forgotten how fun knitting on dpns can be. I covered quite a bit of ground already, I think.

Not enough to stop me from doing this though:


Socks That Rock, Carbon colorway-- mediumweight

All of the talk about the Rockin' Socks club from Blue Moon Fiber Arts has me hemming and hawing about joining. I don't know... its a huge outlay for something that'll be a "surprise!", not a "deal" (I'm a rabid bargain hunter by nature)... I balled this up for a quick pair of socks (I'm thinking 2 socks on 2 circs, 2x2 baby cable rib from Sensational Knitted Socks) to help me decide. I'd *have* to order the year since you get the free skein (trying to justify it into a deal-- my nature said the scorpion) but, ergh. That's a lot of sock yarn.

Speaking of a lot of sock yarn, I fulfilled a promise I made to myself about cleaning up and consolidating the stash after the kolympics. I took everything out, photog'd it (so I know what's in the black hole bin), and... there's too much. I've got to get rid of some of it, I've got to stop the madness.



(If you're truly interested in the mess that is my stash, I've organized my flickr album and one of the sets is my "stash set." Not for the faint of heart, and not the best pics either... mainly just an exercise to shame me into using some of this beautiful stuff.)

I figured, what better way for me to "try out" this whole "finish line knitting" idea I had during the kolympics than two birds-one stone it... I devised my own pseudo yarn diet. Its not a yarn diet per se, its a goal I'm setting for myself to keep my knitting on track. Sometimes chains are a good thing... :)

Starting now and until either a) The TKGA Knit and Crochet Show in Oakland on April 20, or b) I finish the below projects, I will not buy any yarn or yarn related products. I think it'll be "a"! :)

Projects:

4) "regular" projects, including things like pairs of adult sized socks, adult sized mittens/gauntlets, scarves.
4) "small" projects, including things like hats (hehe, I'm counting odessa towards the 4!), pairs of baby socks, or toys from the absolutely rockstar latest score of mine-- Unusual Toys for You to Knit and Enjoy by Jess Hutchison.
1) Sweater. Either Trellis from knitty, or Starsky from knitty, or Heirloom Baby Aran from IK Spring 2004...
1) Finishing of the Rib and Cable Sweater for my Knitting Olympics project

Part of the reason I'm making myself commit to this is I've already bought the yarn for Starsky from Knit Picks (Sierra in Cranberry) and an additional 14 balls of Wool of the Andes to knit JessHutch toys. I got an amazing order of Fleece Artist yesterday (Kasula-- for shawls I have no intention as of yet to knit). I am waiting on some molassesing yarn orders to arrive that equal out to another 32 balls of yarn (16 pairs of socks worth). And I already can't close the lid on my bin!

Another part is that having a goal, a pathway to knitting makes me feel pretty good. Picking out projects, the anticipation of finishing one and starting another feels comforting. I looked at the bin and felt almost lost, like there were too many choices and I couldn't make any-- which is pretty silly :)

So, there you go. I'm going to try and knit the Socks That Rock up by the end of this weekend, and make my decision then. I'm already leaning a heavy "no" on joining the club, and if I decide I'll have to bargain with myself again (forgo TKGA's market?)... Tough decision!

And I've got a huge box of yarn I need to swap, sell, trade, give away... later later. More sock knitting now (I missed knitting socks SO much!) :)

What a difference 8" makes!

A few things in the knitting pipeline...

First, my Knitting Olympics event, "rib and cable sweater with hood" by Debbie Bliss in Knit Picks' Merino Style is going swimmingly, if I say so myself. I even think that this pattern won't take me the 16 days time, though I really - really thought it would. But this is a good thing, since its opened up a whole new knitting world of possibilities for me-- to knit sweaters for my toddler. I can't stand the idea of knitting a sweater in an adult size, but a 2 year old size is perfect for my knitting attention span. I knit this back piece of the sweater over Saturday, cast on in the morning and had a lot of blocks of time to work on it. Haven't touched it since (I've been trying to finish the felted bag I want to take to trek stuff in from Stitches... this weekend!!)



I'm about 10" in-- I'm using the width for a "1 year old" (24.75" chest) but I'm going to use the length for the 2 year old (14.5" from shoulder down). Even so, I think I have overbought the Merino Style; I bought 11 balls and am on my 2nd for the back portion. I'm thinking 2 for the back, 2 for the front (maybe 5 total for front & back)... one for the hood and one each for the arms. So, I'm guessing I may have 3 or so balls leftover, maybe a shorter Backyard Leaves scarf or Forbes Forest scarf (from Scarf Style)? I am planning on picking up 2 hanks of Four Play from Brooks Farms at Stitches for the Ruffles scarf...

I received my Addi 24" US 1's and knit my River Rapids socks onto them... what a difference! I love knitting these socks, and can't wait to get them off the needles (the KOlympics and the felted bag have been "holding me back" from finishing... I really shouldn't have so many projects going at once!) Another huge plus about them-- I washed and dried my Wyverns in the washer & dryer recently, and they are now my softest pair of socks ever. Its truly amazing how wonderful they turned out, they're sooo thick and comfy now after going thru the wash-- and my RR socks are made from the same Kona Superwash yarn I used for the Wyverns. So, I want to finish them and wash them right away! I seriously can't believe the difference, and want like, every pair of my socks to be like this :)



I also want to finish up the RR's since I already have my next sock project in mind-- the new pattern from Yahoo Groups' Six Sox Knitalong -- the Glad Raggs pattern for Feb/March 2006. I can't link to it but you can check out Yahoo Groups for more info... the pattern is lace and has beads on the cuffs! I had such a fun time knitting Odessa that I knew I wanted to knit these next. (Though, I think I may unknit Odessa... I added length to the cap and wore it for the first time a week ago, caught a glance of myself in a reflection and I looked like a pinhead. More than usual, anyway... the fabric was looser at the top, too much to conform to the shape of my head and as if I was hiding an extra cone up there. Oh well, after the KOlympics.)

I'll be using some Cherry Tree Hill Supersock that I bought in a millend from ebay ages ago for the Glad Raggs'. When I first started knitting, I went a little ape on buying these supersock millends (and to my credit, they're more expensive now than they were then... 2006 is really the year of the sock, and with knitty devoting its summer issue to "extremities" I don't think it'll be slowing down any time soon!). The ebay CTH millends are a great deal but they're a bunch of smaller hanks tied together and dyed in a batch, so you get about a pound of yarn but they're all underweight (under the 4 oz CTH usually packages supersock in)-- at least in my experience. Its still a good deal. Anyway, when I was (17, it was a very good year)... I handwound all of these smaller hanks into balls without knowing what I was doing-- I just rolled them into balls. Not just balls, not even center-pull balls, but tight tight TIGHT balls and stretched the poor yarn into thinnish submission. I've been going thru the stash and decided to relieve the CTH from its misery and unwound all of the balled-balls, and these 2 I soaked in some warm water to help the fiber relax from its unnatural state.



I also picked up extra 8/0 beads at the bead store, for who knows what... but beads and knitting are fun so I'm going to keep them on hand for something :)



Now I can't decide what to go and finish knitting! :)