LISTEN TO EPISODE 42 – STITCHES WEST 2010 RECAP!

Socks that Rock
Creatively Dyed Steele – Acacia
Slinky Ribs
Custom Knits: Unleash Your Inner Designer with Top-Down and Improvisational Techniques
Teosinte Socks
Over the Rainbow Socks (fingering)

RAVELYMPICS UPDATE
Did not medal in Sweaterboard Cross.
Did medal in Sock Hockey with the Teosinte Socks and Aerial Unwind after frogging my Water Cube socks & Vine Yoke Cardigan
Ysolda’s blog post regarding sizing (scroll down)
Manic Purl – Episode 58: Unique Sweater Construction
Go TEAM MANIC PURL!

STITCHES WEST 2010!
My class: Breathtaking Buttonbands and Buttonholes by Maureen Mason-Jamieson
–tangent: yarn diet!–
WEBS
Madelinetosh tosh sock in TART!
Signature Needles
Knitmore Girls
Brooks Farm
KNITTING FAIRY!
Brooks Farm Acero
Magic Shawl
Glass Needles – http://www.glasspens.com

Dr Gemma – CogKNITive
Ravelry WILL let you search by needle size!
- Patterns
- Advanced Search
- Needles/Gauge tab
- Pick your needle size & find a project!
Abstract Fibers
Blue Moon Fiber Arts – STR Lightweight “Valenscummy”
Creatively Dyed
Purlescence Yarns

Donate to Doctors Without Borders to help with the Chile Earthquake recovery effort!
Knitters’ Spring 2010
Bobbins Nest Studio
Hazel Knits
Three Irish Girls Adorn Sock
Interweave Knits Spring 2010

Housekeeping: Podcast may be moving, unless I decide at the last minute to renew the current one. Stay tuned on the Ravelry Group for possible moving updates.

I’m on Ravelry as knitpsycho.
Email me! hello.lovely@Tgmail.com (remove the T)
Tweet me! hellolovely

Thanks for listening!

I have 6 pairs of socks on the needles. Four of these pairs of socks are 50% complete or more, meaning at least one of the socks of the pair is finished. The other two pairs of socks have the first sock at the heel, if not further.

One of these days, I’m going to go on a major finishing rush and have almost a week’s worth of new socks.

The lastest sock finished is my Holidazed sock:

I haven’t started the second sock yet because my hands were kind of hurting when I finished. I was in major “KNITKNITKNIT” mode to get the first one done, so I decided to give my hands a bit of a break. I picked up my Lenore sock today while I was at work, after I crocheted a scrappy dishcloth. I like shorter cuffs, and I was kind of tired of knitting the pattern on the cuff of these socks, especially considering I’m going to have to knit it all down the foot, so I started the heel flap at 4″. I think they’ll be nice cute socks, but I haven’t taken a picture yet. One of these days, I’ll actually finish a whole pair.

Listen to Episode 41!

On/Off the Needles
1) I’m knitting the Scrumptious Neck Warmer (I keep calling it the Scrumptious Cowl!) by Kristin Goedert, out of the yarn called for in the pattern, Stonehedge Fiber Mill Shepherd’s Wool. Great value (250 yards of nice, soft wool for $10 at Green Planet Yarn!).
2) I’m also knitting the Sock Yarn Blankie, and I rant about spending money on awesome yarn just to cut it up and how I need to STOP. I also need to figure out how to store these things!

Christmas Knitting/Dallas Recap
1) Mom’s Christmas socks were well-received, even if she wasn’t as outwardly excited about the cashmere as I was! The only problem? She needs 4-5 more pairs!
2) My sister liked her socks, has decided she wants sweaters and a Koolhaas hat, so I’ll knit her a hat. lol Sent her off to EatSleepKnit to pick some colors/yarn.
3) Finished knitting the felted clogs at the future in-laws, my mom felted them the day after Christmas, and my stepdad hardly waited for them to dry before he was wearing them. Next pair? Suede bottoms.

Finished!
I got the order screwed up in the podcast, but that’s okay. LOL
- Cotton Candy Socks in Lion Brand Sock Ease (Cotton Candy colorway) (last FO of 2009!)
- Stripey Circle Socks in Vesper Superwash/Nylon Yarn (Venus in Furs colorway) for Sock Knitters Anonymous (first FO of 2010!)
- So far I’ve finished one Sunshine (from Sock Innovation) sock and one Over the Rainbow (from the Oz Club by Woolgirl) sock, but I’ve been distracted by the cowl and secret knitting.

Knitting Resolutions
I have 25 WIPs! Check out the list here. 2010 is the year of less knitting rules! And the Rockin’ Sock Club. And Rare Gems from the sale, plus a skein each of Lightweight STR in Farmhouse and Watermelon Tourmaline. Now I can have a Chevron Scarf just like everyone else!

Harry Potter Knitting & Crochet House Cup!
I’m knitting Ariadne mitts for my friend’s birthday out of Wool Candy Fondant in “Pie!” for one class.
Going for an Arithmancy O.W.L. by knitting up some of my previous RSC kits: Lenore, In Season, Knetted, Holidazed, plus the Gertrude Skein skein in the Skyp pattern, thanks to Chrissy at Manic Purl, and my Pepe Le Plume in just a plain vanilla socks.

Find me on Ravelry as knitpsycho.
I’m on Twitter and Plurk as hellolovely.
Email me at hello[d.t]lovely@gmail .com

If you take a minute to look at my 2009 knitting goals last year, you’ll notice I didn’t really complete ANY of them!

I only managed 6 sweaters for NaKniSweMoDo. I’m not disappointed in that, though. I think it’s more sweaters than I knit any other year. I did, however, majorly increase the sweater stash in all my planning, so I have plenty of sweater plans for the next year or ten.

I didn’t even come close to knitting a true lace shawl, though I did knit my share of shawlettes, with plans for many more.

I did knit a lot of socks, but I didn’t really knit any of my club socks. Maybe one or two. I was going to swear off clubs completely in 2010, but I’m in a few of the themed Woolgirl clubs (a kit here, a kit there), and I think I’m signing up for the Rockin’ Sock Club again this year. It’s not frilly – just yarn and a pattern with an extra goodie or two thrown in here and there, but it works. Some of the other clubs, while they’re packaged wonderfully with lots of little extras, I just don’t USE the little extras, and they end up just taking up space.

I hardly even TOUCHED my dishcloth cotton stash. I did knit from the stash, but I acquired a lot, too. I took pics of the stash for Ravelry, but didn’t document it here. I didn’t really get over the stash gluttony, either. I did not finish my Lizard Ridge, though I did knit a square or two on it. I also did not find a good way to store my circs, so they are still in their ratty plastic bag. hehe I didn’t knit a ton of baby knits, though both my friends’ babies DID get baby blankets for their littlest ones.

My last FO of the year was a pair of socks. I bought the yarn when I visited Dallas for my birthday in 2008, and I finally managed to get a pair of socks out of it.

- – -
2010 will hopefully bring less knitting “rules”. I plan to knit what I want when I want to knit it. I will continue to knit socks, and I will knit some of that new Sweater Stash yarn.

I would like to try to knit 12 miles of yarn. A mile a month.

I would also like to finish or frog all current WIPs/UFOs. In no particular order:

• Circle Socks
• Lizard Ridge
• Mitered Square Blanket
• Sock Yarn Blankie (ongoing, no finish date at the current time)
• Water Cube Socks
• Sunshine Socks
• Over the Rainbow Socks
• Juliet
• Vine Yoke Cardigan
• Swing Coat
• Mallow Socks
• High Line Shawl
• Super Secret Project
• TTL Mystery Socks 2009
• Pie! Mitts
• Crooked Brook Socks – FROG
• Shawl that Jazz
• Lizzy’s Big Girl Bag
• Gabby’s Big Girl Bag
• Simple Yet Effective Shawl
• Nottingham – FROG
• Eastlake – FROG & START OVER
• Eclipse Socks
• Ripple Afghan – FROG?
• Hanami Stole – FROG & start over?

Let’s see how far I can get.

I’ve been in the throes of holiday knitting. Thankfully I’m only knitting three things, but I’ve been pretty diligent in my project monogamy.

First up are the BFF Socks by Cookie A. I’m calling them Sister Socks because they are for my sister, who has only received TWO pairs of handknit socks from me. TWO. That’s IT! The first pair were a dismal failure. One was like, an INCH shorter than the other (even though I measured), and the bind off was too tight (they were knit toe-up). The second pair fared much better, but still. That was over a year ago, and I haven’t knit her anymore socks! This Christmas, I am rectifying that!

Pattern: BFF Socks by Cookie A
Yarn: Esoteric Knits Sock Yarn
Colorway: Megan

I also just finished my mom’s Christmas Socks. I have to say that these feel wonderful, and I used the JSSBO (Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off) method on these toe up socks, and the bind off is SPECTACULAR. It’s stretchy without having to go up a hundred needle sizes, and I love it! If you haven’t tried it yet, you should the next time you bind off a toe-up sock. Linky to Cat Bordhi’s video tutorial.

Pattern: Diagonal Lace Socks by Wendy Johnson (from Socks from the Toe Up)
Yarn: Have You Any Wool Luxe Sock
Colorway: Cobalt

I loved the yarn. I loved the pattern. You should definitely try both!

I have one more Christmas present to knit – a pair of felted clogs – and then I’m finished with the Christmas knitting. Here’s hoping I can get the clogs done quickly. I need to knit the men’s large size, and I need to get them done SOON because I’m sending stuff to Dallas!!

I ramble on about what’s on my needles and my big fall into a yarn buying binge!

In no particular order:

WEBS
EatSleepKnit
Cosima – finished!
BFF Socks by Cookie A
High Line Shawl [rav]
Gooseberry Cardigan [rav] – Valley Yarns Northfield
Minimalist Cardigan [rav] – Berroco Ultra Alpaca
Macro Lace Cardigan [rav] – Malabrigo Worsted
Slinky Ribs [rav] – Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool
OWL sweater [rav] – Cascade Eco Wool
BlankieMania

Knitting Psychos Ravelry Group

If you’ve listened to the last episode of the podcast (or stalking my post history on Ravelry), you’ll know that I’m up to my eyeballs in swaps on the BlankieMania Ravelry group. For the last couple weeks, I’ve spent most of my time winding and labeling mini skeins of yarn, and it is exhausting! lol

Yesterday, I received some yarn that I ordered last minute from a local shop, Bobbin’s Nest Studio. Well, it’s local enough that I can call it local, but just far enough away and in the opposite direction of where I normally travel in the course of my day that it’s a bit inconvenient to get to, unless “the girls” and I decide to take a field trip on the weekend. We’d just taken a field trip a couple weeks ago, and I know I wouldn’t be going there probably anytime soon (or soon enough to make me feel better), and I HAD to start this project right now.

I can’t share project details at the moment (it’s a SECRET! muhaha), so this is a bit anticlimactic, but Bobbin’s Nest Studio delivers A+ customer service! I emailed them at 11pm at night, received a response the next day (obviously.. lol) saying they had what I wanted in the amount I wanted, and yes, they’d be happy to ship it! Soo, I called them, gave them the payment details, and the very next day (yesterday), I had my new yarn. Granted, it was the very next day because I’m in the Greater Bay Area… I can’t promise you’ll get it the next day if you call them from Timbuktu.

So I started my project, and am on my way! It’s going very quickly, and I love the yarn I’m using and the pattern I’m knitting. It feels SO great to be knitting again.

If you’re ever in the Bay Area (specifically near Santa Clara, where the shop is actually located), I HIGHLY recommend stopping at Bobbin’s Nest Studio (check out their blog!). Not only do they sell yarn (including some fabulous indie dyers like Hazel Knits and Wool Candy), but they also sell fabric and sewing notions! I SO want to take their intro to sewing class one of these days!

… and the winner of the KAL contest is … you’ll have to wait to find out! muhaha!

Links:
Cosima
Kai-Mei
Denver Woman Socks
Crown Mountain Farms Sock Hop
Damson – finished with about 10 minutes to spare!

Ack! Something came up – will finish the shownotes later, but the winner of the KAL contest is dnaprice!

Check out the Ravelry Group!

Something Socktobery, even!

Pattern: Kai-Mei by Cookie A
Source: Sock Innovation
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy
Colorway: Beach Fog
Started: 5/6/09
Finished: 10/10/09

I only knit a 4″ cuff, but it ended up being PERFECT! I was also kind of amazed that the pattern worked, lol. Not that I didn’t think it would, but I’ve never knit a sock with that kind of construction, so I was following the pattern blindly. It was kind of like the first time you turn the heel on a sock – just magic! If you’re intimidated by this pattern, DON’T BE! If you can knit, purl, knit 2 together, slip-slip-knit, make 1, and yarn over, you can TOTALLY do these socks.

It’s SOCKTOBERFEST TIME!

This is a place holder for Shownotes, because I don’t have time to do a proper shownotes right now. I do want to include a couple of quick important links, though, because they are time sensitive.

EVENTS:
Lambtown - October 3 in Dixon, CA! I’ll be around somewhere, either knitting or pretending to spin. LOL Come say hi (because I’m shy and won’t say hi to you. rofl)
Check out the XRX website and download the brochure for Stitches West and Stitches South – Stitches West registration starts this Tuesday – October 6th!

… the rest of the shownotes coming soon …

[BTW – I apologize for the sqwaking bird!