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Hello! I’ve been slack. Well, I’ve been working hard, actually. But I have a finished object that is - steel yourself for the shock - Not Socks.

This is ‘Swell’ from Knitty, although the knitted-in pattern comes from one on the South American Chullo website. This is Cascade 220, purchased from Yarns Online. I can see why the US uses worsted weight as the standard - it knits up so quickly. I finished this in a day. Cascade is a good workhorse of a yarn, and I can see why it’s so popular. This will be good to keep my ears warm as I walk home from the train station.

Oh, and I do have a pair of socks. You didn’t expect otherwise, surely?

These are the Winy Viney socks. The yarn is Dream In Color ‘In Vino Veritas’, and the pattern is the aptly named Express Lane by Diane Mulholland. Wonderful pattern, knits up so quickly, and absolutely beautiful yarn.

Just under the line, my last pair for Southern Summer of Socks: Funk to Funky. Crap name, but I finished them while watching ‘Ashes to Ashes’ and that’s what was in my head

These are made from Garnstudio Fabel, an astoundingly cheap yarn which I got via Astrid’s Dutch Obsessions. I like it because it has much less white than Opal and most other self-patterning yarns. It’s a little harsher, but I have a feeling it will soften up nicely in the wash. We’ll see!

Well, not that impressive, actually. Two pairs. I’ve been busy.

First, the Spotty Cactus:

These are made with Austermann Step. They’ve been washed and worn a few times and so far the jojoba and aloe seems to be lasting, because they’re nice and soft on the feet.

And then there’s these: Indira.

Schaefer Anne in ‘Indira Ghandi’ colourway. There was just something about these colours that called to me.

Both of these are just plain stocking stitch, 2.25 mm for the Step and 2mm for the Anne.

More travel has been happening… will it never end? It’s giving me the blahs bigtime. I love fun travel, but work travel is draining and not fun at all.

In amongst it all, I’ve managed to complete these two pairs of socks:

Coconut Ice, so named because that’s what they remind me of. They’re made from Tofutsies in the ‘Lightfoot’ colourway, knit up in Twin Rib from ‘Sensational Knitted Socks’. These were done toe-up.

Rosy Toes were knit from Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome in ‘Old Rose’. The pattern is Garter Rib and they were knit toe-up. I will be donating this pair to Can Assist (once I’ve done a few more to donate, I’ll send them all in once batch). The yarn colours weren’t quite what I had imagined - still nice, but a bit pink for me. I was expecting more green. Still, they’re soft and pretty and hopefully will be someone’s comforting footwarmers!

These are my latest pair:

These are a simple Garter Rib from Sensational Knitted Socks, and the yarn is Lana Grossa Mega Boots Stretch.

I call them Foyle’s Socks. They were started while watching Foyle’s War, and the blue is vaguely air-forcey

This weekend I finished two pairs! OK, so one of them has been on the boil since mid last year, but does that matter?

First, the quicker pair: the Fruit Salad Socks.

These are made from Scarlet Fleece ‘It’s Tubular x 2′  in colourway Popsicle. The pattern is ‘Vog On from Knitty. The yarn has a fairly loose twist and is stretchy - it worked well for this pattern which has only a 56 stitch cast on. I did increase the sole stitches to 30, because I have a wide foot.

I really like this heel. I’ve avoided it for a long time because of my aversion to the old wrap and turn - but lately I’ve discovered that I really do need a heel flap, or at least a band of heel stitch or Eye of Partridge at the back for where the heel rubs against the shoe. This heel has that, but no picking up. I do like it. And I’m learning how to do the wrap and turn more neatly!

I am fond.

Next, the pair that’s been a long time coming: Eviscerated Seaweed (thank you Emily for the name):

These are made from Wollmeise Sockenwolle in ‘Suzanne’. I love the colourway. I wish you could see it for real - the colours are amazingly vivid and wonderful. The pattern is Broad Spiral Ribbing from More Sensational Knitted Socks. I actually found this yarn a bit difficult to knit with - it has an unyielding texture, almost stringy. However, I ordered some of Wollmeise’s new 80/20 sock yarn recently, which has the addition of 20% nylon, and I find that much easier to knit with.

On my monitor, this is very close to the actual colours. Oh, I love it!

And finally… what does one do with leftover sock yarn?

I’ve always been attracted to crafts which make use of scraps, like patchwork (the old-fashioned kind rather than modern quilting where you colour-coordinate everything).  I’ve tried a few things with my sock scraps but I’m really pleased with this. The square pattern is from Mason-Dixon Knitting and I’ve done them on 2.75mm needles. I plan to do this with all my sock yarn scraps and make a nice light blanket.

Holy crap, it’s 2008.  I really should get some work done on making my blog pretty.

Anyway, despite the absolutely ridiculous weather over the holiday break (hot and tropical storms, cold and massive flooding rains, hot and humid, disgustingly hot), I have managed a little bit of knitting. These are the Paintbox Socks.

This is Fleece Artist merino in ‘Angel Fish’. The pattern is a slip stitch rib based on the Bloody Mary socks but without the knitting through the back loop.  Here’s a close-up:

I’m very fond of the rainbow colours!

Also on the needles: two other new pairs of socks (not counting the two other pairs currently hibernating!) One is a plain black cotton/wool/lycra pair. The other is the ‘Vog On socks from Knitty in Scarlet Fleece ‘Popsicle’. Here’s the beginning:

I’m also working on Chicknits’ ‘CeCe‘  in Cleckheaton Bamboo:

If I’m lucky I might get it finished by the end of summer This is wonderful yarn - drapey and fluid and silky.

It’s been a long time since I last posted! It’s been a hideously busy time for me. Within the past month I’ve spent:

• three days on the Gold Coast
• four days in the Northern territory (well, five if you count the overnight flight back which makes the next day pretty much a write-off)
• three separate day trips to Sydney
• several functions in Melbourne

And each of those trips required some kind of public speaking, speech or giving of workshops – especially the NT which involved three four-hour workshops in three days). But it’s over for the year now! No more public speaking and no more travel! I’m back, baby!

Given all of that, I haven’t had much time to get any decent knitting in. The Gold Coast and Darwin were both too hot and muggy to think about knitting, and the Sydney trips were all day trips meaning I had carry-on luggage only and couldn’t take needles. Since I do most of my sock knitting on the train or whilst otherwise travelling, this prety much knocked out most of my sock knitting for the month.

The other hassle has been that I’ve been going through a kind of sock-related ennui. I haven’t really found any satisfying patterns that work well with my huge and ever-growing sock yarn stash. That sounds ridiculous, but I think it’s partly through too much choice. I have also had some discouraging moments. I was working on the Embossed Leaf Socks from ‘Favorite Socks’ in Fleece Artist Sea Wool. I was very happy to have found a pattern that worked with this yarn, which I have had a lot of problems with; either my tension is too tight, or it’s too loose. I think the kind of ropey/stringy texture (albeit a silken rope!) has something to do with it, Anyway, once I got down onto the foot, I tried the sock on. It’s too small. Too bloody small. I can’t get it over my instep. I am torn between keeping going and making the socks for someone else, or just ditching it altogether, or frogging and redoing the pattern with a few more purl stitches between repeats. Trouble is, this yarn’s been frogged so many times already that it is looking seriously ratty.

I’m also making the ‘Gentleman’s fancy sock’ from ‘Knitting Vintage Socks’, and while it’s not going to be impossible to get that over my instep, it will be discouragingly tight.

So I’ve made a decision: If it’s not toe-up, and I can’t modify it to be toe-up, I don’t make it.

I feel much better now

In the meantime, I’ve been knitting non-socky things. I’m partway through a top from a back issue of Knitter’s, which I’m making from Lincraft Bamboozle; and I’ve also begun on ChicKnits’ ‘CeCe’ using Cleckheaton Bamboo. The Bamboozle is quite splitty, and I suspect it will look a bit crap after a few washings. The Cleckheaton, though, is beautiful to knit with; silky and shimmery and soft. I’m really enjoying it and only wish the yarn came in some better colours (what is with that pastel mix? It looks like baby yarn!)

On the bright side, I am typing this on the train, using my latest toy – the Eee PC. If you don’t know the Eee, let me just say that it’s a laptop which is small, has built-in wireless and heaps of open source software and comes ready to use right out of the box, costs $499 AUD and weighs less than a kilo. I love it madly and am going to find it an incredible boon to take on business trips with me. There’s apparently a waiting list of thousands, but for some reason I managed to just walk into Myer in the city and walk out with my own Eee

And it’s nearly christmas/generic December holiday! Yay! This means that the Riverkids Shop is open again and this time they have some stuff that will be utterly fabulous for knitting. I’m already using the silk pouches I bought from them last year to organise my knitting bag, but this year it’s even better. The pencilcases (made from recycled mosquito netting) are perfect for crochet hooks and DPNs, and tough as boots. The Pretty Packs are just the right size for small knitting projects (I can fit sock, needles, 100gm ball of yarn and folded up pattern quite nicely) and I reckon the Mary Poppins bag would be the perfect knitting bag. And they’re recycled, and $5 US flat shipping to anywhere. What’s not to like?

I bet we’re all getting sick of the story about how stressed I am, so we’ll take it as read, OK?

I have a lot of travel over the next few weeks. Two nights in Sydney next week, giving workshops; three nights on the Gold Coast the week after that, attending & presenting at a conference; and three nights in Darwin the week after that, giving more workshops. Blech!

Anyway, here’s my latest pair for the Southern Summer of Socks - the MacApples!

Yarn: Apple Pie by Apple Laine, purchased from The Loopy Ewe. Colourway is ‘Macintosh’.
Pattern: generic stocking stitch toe-up on 2.5mm needles, over 60 stitches on the foot increasing to 62 on the leg.

I love this yarn, which is wool/mohair/silk/nylon! It’s very squishy and soft, with a bit of halo from the mohair and a lovely sheen. These are my socks for the spring evenings we’re having now, when my feet are cold but it’s just not cool enough to put the heating on. Special squishy shiny socks

I expect I won’t get as many socks in during my time of travel, which is why I’ve averaged a pair a week so far! But I’ll take yarn and needles with me anyway. I’ve also been neglecting the socks a little because I have started a jumper/sweater! Yes, at last I am biting the bullet. My reluctance to knit much in the way of bigger garments has partly been because I’m losing weight for health reasons - I’ve lost a stone over the past six months - and therefore I don’t want to knit anything until I’ve settled in to a reasonably stable size. However, this is just going to be a loose, cushy sweater. It’s Wicked from Zephyr Style, the laceweight version, and I’m knitting it in Colourmart fingering-weight cashmere in a pale cool pink with speckles of deeper pink and purple. Not really my colours but I bought it very early in the Colourmart days, when I feared they would dry up at any minute! I’ve only done the neck (using a double strand) and just started on the shoulder increases, so it will be a while. That’s my knitting for the times when I’m watching telly I need to actually concentrate on!

Now I need to go and work out my next pair of socks!

I must warn you that I’m almost obscenely proud of these. The photos (or rather my crap photo skillz) do not do them justice. They are exquisite - a perfect melding of pattern and yarn.

The pattern is ‘Crosshatch Lace’ from More Sensational Knitted Socks, and the yarn is Dream in Color Smooshy in ‘Blue Lagoon’. I made these over 72 stitches on 2.25mm needles.

I only wish you could see them properly! The yarn works beautifully; Smooshy is dyed so that it won’t pool or stripe, and that makes it fabulous sock material. The pattern was slow till I got it memorised halfway up the first sock, then it went very quickly; I made the second sock over the weekend and today’s train knitting.

I have two other pairs on the needles for the SSS challenge, but I’m waiting till they’re complete till I reveal them