vanessarama.net

Yes, the blog looks different. In my lameness, I tried stuffing around with my theme and somehow buggered up the sidebar so that the entire thing wouldn’t display, and I couldn’t get it back again. This is because I am lame at CSS and HTML. So this is a temporary blog till I work out a theme I like enough to stick to it, or until I manage to inveigle Emily into making it all pretty for me

Anyway, I am ready for the Southern Summer of Socks, which begins tomorrow! I cast off the Tofutsies socks this afternoon and have spent some time winding skeins into yarn-cakes and reading pattern books for inspiration. I took a photo of the sock yarn stash tonight, as proof of what I’m up against:

It shall decrease substantially over the summer! I’ve also added a new rule; if I purchase a new kind of sock yarn while the challenge is on, that yarn becomes part of the challenge. I think I’ll ease myself into it - I’ll be casting on in the morning on the train, so I’ll do something nice and easy like a plain toe-up in Colinette Jitterbug. The train is murder for casting on

After much thought (much! seriously!) I have come to a conclusion about my personal challenge for the SSoS. Rather than challenge myself to do a particular type of pattern or learn a new technique, I am challenging myself to knit at least one pair from every “flavour” of sock yarn in my stash.

That means that I have to knit one pair of socks using each of the following yarns:

• Dream in Color Smooshy
• Wollmeise Sockenwolle
• Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock
• Colinette Jitterbug
• Opal
• Trekking XXL
• Trekking Pro Natura
• Socks that Rock
• The Knittery merino cashmere
• The Knittery merino
• ‘Avalon’ by WhiteWillow (indie dyer)
• Yarnivorous (indie dyer)
• Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome
• Schaefer Anne

That should both keep me busy AND use up the stash The last in particular will be interesting because the only skein of Anne I have is kind of ugly. I ordered a skein of ‘Ingrid Bergman’ because it looked so pretty in the picture - mid-pink, soft pinky-lilac, soft peach and subtle tan-green. When I got it, it was dominated by BRIGHT, bright neon pink and an orange which would be nice if not paired with this pink. I was very disappointed. I may yet order another skein just so I can fulfil my challenge.

In the meantime, I have two-thirds of a sock to finish this weekend so I can start afresh on Monday. Needles, here I come!

I’ve signed up for the Southern Summer of Socks knitalong - specifically for those of us in the southern hemisphere, but all are welcome. It starts on October 1. At last I will get to knit sockses with the best of ‘em, and count my pairs!

I worked out last night that I have enough sock yarn stashed to knit at least 30 pairs of socks. At least 30 pairs. That’s not counting the yarn that is not specifically designated as sock yarn, but which I intend to knit socks with. I am busy thinking up my personal Sock Challenge to complete over the summer!
In order to do this, I must finish my current pair quickly to begin anew. The current socks are in Tofutsies, which I am finding is lovely to knit with on size 2.25mm - I only wish it came in solid, or darker, colours. I also need to come up with a reward for myself, which shall be some of the ‘Raven Series’ of colourways currently teasing us on the front page of Blue Moon Fiber Arts. I want more dark handpainted sock yarns so that I can get away with wearing them to work!
In non-sock news, a bunch of my lovely friends gave me a massive gift voucher from The Knittery for my birthday, which I have spent I got some DK silk/merino in charcoal, enough to make a fabulous cardigan/jacket for work; and I also got a skein of the silk/merino 2-ply in ‘Lime Delight’. Mmmm.

I’m back from the NT, and back at hard work already. We had a wonderful time! I intended to get Rohan to take a photo of me working on a sock at Uluru, just so I could caption it “Sock at the Rock”, but it was so hot out there I couldn’t bear to knit!

In non-travel news, there are a few family and health issues happening, so a bit of strain. I have only one finished object to report:

I have christened these socks ‘Blackeyes’, after the protagonist in the Dennis Potter miniseries, because they are very beautiful, and also because they are black and feature eyelets. The yarn is Smooshy Sock Yarn by Dream in Color, in the colourway ‘Black Parade’. This is a very subtle and delightful colourway. It’s black, but several shades of black; it ranges through charcoal, plain black, a very dark brownish black and a dark bluish-greenish-black. I think this would be a good colour for men, and for office wear. The pattern is Wendy Johnson’s Eyelet Rib Toe-Up Socks, available on the Loopy Ewe’s blog here (scroll down a bit). I modified it with Wendy’s gusset heel, rather than a heel flap.

More to show for the trip, and more knitting, soon, I hope.

Oh, and what do you do when you get no satisfaction from an indie dyer and seller? I ordered some hand-dyed sock yarn from The Knitting Ninja in early August; the site says to allow 1-2 weeks plus delivery time, but she is in Australia, so it shouldn’t take this long. I’ve tried to contact her via the contact form on her site and also via Ravelry, but had no reply - and from what I can see on a couple of other blogs and on Ravelry, I’m not the only one. Someone ordered theirs in June and they, and Paypal, both had no response. I don’t want to be a big meanie because it’s obvious something is going on there - maybe she’s sick, or away - but if so, there should be some notice on the website about it, because other people are also going to be ordering yarn and getting nothing for their moolah. And I just want the pretty, pretty yarn!

I’ve been slack, haven’t I? In my defense, I’ve been very busy at work. It’s good busy - I’m working on some stuff that’s very exciting - but it’s busy, and when I get home I don’t feel much like sitting in front of a computer any more. There have been various family and health related things happening, too.

The good news is that as of yesterday, I’m on leave. We’re going to the Northern Territory for ten days. The bad news is that 48 hours before I step on the plane, I’ve come down with a nasty cough and overall crappiness. This often happens when I get a holiday, most notably causing me to miss Bath in its entirety while we were in the UK. Bah, I say! I plan to spend the next few days taking it easy and getting lots of sleep, hopefully to kill the evil little bacterial bastards before the trip begins.

So, knitting. I have added to my stash a little, with orders from the Loopy Ewe. I’ve also tried to use the stash a bit.

Here’s the Babette blanket I’ve been making from leftovers, so far:

And again:

This is Babette Grand-mere. Made from 12-ply scraps, she’s the grandmother; there will be an 8-ply and a sock yarn version as well. Good mindless crochet.

Here are the latest actual knitting projects…

Pattern: Falling Leaves from Knitty
Yarn: Anne by Schaefer, colourway ‘Scottish Thistle’
Needles: Two 2mm circulars
Modifications: used Wendy’s no-pick-up gusset heel.
I love the way the colour variations in this yarn are distinct yet subtle. It doesn’t detract from the pattern at all.

Next up:

Pattern: Generic stocking stitch toe-up over 64 stitches
Yarn: Regia Bamboo
Needles: Two 2.5mm circulars

You will notice that these are very long, plain socks. I am hoping they’ll be good to wear under my hiking boots. Again I used Wendy’s heel.

And finally…

Emily has named these ‘Eviscerated Seaweed’, which kind of suits them

Pattern: Broad Spiral Ribbing from Charlene Schurch’s More Sensational Knitted Socks
Yarn: Wollmeise Sockenwolle, in ‘Suzanne’ colourway
Needles: Two 2.25mm circulars

Yarn and pattern work well together.

Again, I used Wendy’s heel. I’ve found that it really works the best of all for my high instep, and I intend to use it as much as possible from now on.

And last but not least, the Horcrux socks!

Pattern: Horcrux Socks by Susan Lawrence, from the Six Sox Knitalong on Yahoo
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome in ‘River Run’ (from the Loopy Ewe)
Needles: Two 2.5mm circulars

This was a great, fun, easy pattern. The Sockittome yarn is very stretchy and the socks seemed to knit up really fast - I christened them ‘Greased Lightning’ because of that, and because of the lightning bolt. Here’s an in-progress shot showing the lightning bolt pattern:

I just love them The only problem is the heel - a horseshoe heel, it would be good for narrow heels but not as good for my wide heels. Ah well. I love them anyway

Well, I’m off to bed to sip Lemsip and try to get better before I have to go on holiday. Wish me luck!