Fighting that Minnesota "Spring"

After I finished my Shamrockin' socks I immediately reached for another skein of Vesper because, let's be honest, I have a lot of it and also, it's beautiful.

Since the weather here in Minnesota has been decidedly un-springlike I chose something bright and fun. This lovely skein is from last year's Vesper Rainbow club.

Rainbows after rain was the March 2017 rainbow colorway and its sparkles and bright colors were just what I needed. Since I was still on a bit of a finishing high I was able to crank out the first sock pretty quickly.

I was at the toe last week actually and it was very awkward to take a picture so I decided to wait. 

In the meantime, I also got a pretty good jump on the second sock over the weekend.

I've noticed that if I'm excited because it's a new project or just a fun knit, I can make much faster progress and I haven't felt that way much with my projects lately. That's partly my own fault. Every project seems to have that middle part where it feels never ending and you have to sort of slog through. Sometimes I let myself get distracted at that point and wander away which leads to not getting it finished. (It may be more often than "sometimes")

Can we talk about another of my odd little quirks? I prefer to rewind the ball of yarn before I start the second sock. I don't absolutely have to if I'm out and am ready to start the second but I greatly prefer to, it just looks so much neater. Does anyone else rewind in between? Let me know if I'm the only oddball. 

Half Done

I've been working away on my projects and I feel like I'm just not getting anywhere. 

I've got one finished purse sock.

One finished marl sock.

And a bobbin full of singles.

I was looking over these projects and thinking about all the work I've put in and it occurred to me. They're all half done. The reason it feels like I haven't made any progress is because I'm only  halfway through 3 different projects. 

All the work I've put in has been split, meaning nothing has that fun feeling of a finished object yet. I've cast on the second Marled sock.

Cast on the second purse sock.

And I'll be starting the plying on my singles soon. So I'm definitely making good progress but since I've been dividing my focus, it feels like I'm not getting anywhere. You know the expression "Well begun is half done"? That's what seems to be going on here. 

So, I guess I just need to keep going until I finish something and it will break that feeling of lack-of-progress. 

I should probably not mention the other project I cast on. That won't help with the half done feeling.

Blame the Sock

Monday night was Knit Night. It was also Labor Day so I was off work. I couldn't seem to get it together enough to get ready earlier in the day but I was getting ready to go and I knew I wanted to bring my Skew socks to work on since they were at a fairly easy part (done with the heel and decreases and ready to begin the short rows for the leg). That also means that I might be able to finish them at Knit Night so I wanted to bring something else, My purse sock just didn't seem to be enough. But I also wanted to get going and I didn't want to take the time to wind yarn so I just tossed some that was wound in my knitting bag and off I went.

Interesting story though. Our Knit Nights are a fixed date but not day. So, the 4th of each month we meet at our Caribou, regardless of the day of the week. The 19th we meet at our local Panera, regardless of the day of the week. That way, even if you have something every week on a certain day, sometimes you can make it to knit night. They two don't fall on the same day of the week in a month either. It seems to work well for us. 

Anyway, we meet at Caribou at 6:30. Only this time we were early. Probably 7 of us were there by 6 and were knitting and chatting (as we do) in the conference room that we reserve for a fee. At 7:05 they come in and tell us they're closed. Normally Caribou is open until 10 and 11 on weekends so it had to be due to the holiday right? But there were no signs or indications that they closed at 7 and there were lots of people in the main area too. So why did they close so early? And it pretty much isn't right for them to charge us the room rental fee for an hour when we wanted it for several hours. Shady! A few of us decided we didn't want to quit knitting though so we went down the road to Starbucks and kept on knitting. 

At least that way I made some progress.

I did finish the Skew socks, aren't they pretty? There's just something about this pattern. It's addictive. I can (and have) knit it over and over. As a matter of fact, this is the first time in months I haven't had a pair on the needles and I am feeling the pull to cast on some more. 

In the meantime, look how pretty they are! I love the heels when they're on my feet but they don't look like much laid flat do they? These are knit from Knitterly Things Vesper in Bride of Socktober Spooktacular. This is the merino Nylon base that's a little thicker so it's easier for me to knit this pattern on larger needles than I knit her other bases. On her 100% Superwash Merino yarn that's really fine, I knit on 0s. I haven't actually knit with the Merino Nylon that's thinner yet but it's similar to the 100% Superwash Merino in thickness so I will knit it on 0s too probably. (I haven't knit it yet but I have several skeins in the stash already.) I knit this pattern on 2s since the slanted knitting fits more snug than straight knitting because of the bias. So what yarn did I throw into my knitting bag before I left?

A couple of skeins that are kind of the polar opposite of the Vesper yarn. Rustic, more sheepish and toned-down colors. There's something pretty compelling about their tweedy nature though.

I finished the gusset decreases on the first sock today. It's flying by! That may also be why my house is a wreck, I spent way more time knitting than tidying this week. 

I didn't actually start them at knit night though. By the time I finished the Skew socks it was late enough that I didn't want to start anything new. So I just knit my purse socks for a bit.

I cast these on after I got home. I actually started them toe-up thinking that I could use more yarn since it's 2 skeins. But I didn't like the fabric I was making so I went down a needle size to 1s and I'm liking them much better. I also abandoned the toe-up plan. I just don't like toe-up as well and I don't know why I keep deluding myself into thinking I will use more of the yarn. If I knit the leg too long it will just be an awkward length that will scrunch down anyway (unless they're knee high and I don't have *that* much yarn). So I've knit most of a sock since Tuesday. Yes, I'm totally blaming the messy house on the sock. Definitely its fault.

Casting On

I made it to the new month without casting on a new project so I'm very excited to start something new today! I chose this partial skein leftover from a gift knitting project to knit something for myself.

It's a nice, soft blue. Almost a Tiffany blue but muted with speckles in soft brown. As its a smaller skein since I used part of it already, my plan is to knit some shortie socks for the summer.

I'm thinking this is begging to become Rose City Rollers. I have 80 g of yarn remaining which should mean I have 347 yards remaining. That's IF I did the math right and it's entirely possible I did not. But that should mean I have plenty of yarn to knit some shortie socks. 

Here's to hoping that I will get some knitting mojo back with a fun, quick project like this.

A Tale of Two Socks

Sometimes you can try something and it just doesn't work out. I think as a knitter you have to be okay with that to a point. Sometimes, even if you gauge swatch, it isn't going to come out right.

This is a tale that does not involve gauge swatching though. This is a tale of two socks.

Once upon a time there was a knitter who loved to knit socks. She especially loved self-striping sock yarn and the way you could knit and knit and it would do the work with the colors. Her all-time favorite self-striping sock yarn was Vesper. It was heart-breakingly beautiful and came in so many colors! Plus, it softened so wonderfully once it was washed. After she tried it she started hoarding the yarn like a dragon. Although, she did often knit with it and soon had a lovely collection of socks knit from this magical yarn. Since the socks were so beautiful and comfortable she continued to knit with the yarn even though it was very fine. So fine in fact that she thought perhaps rather than her usual 1s to knit these socks, she should try to go down to 0s to make a firmer fabric that would hold up to wear. This was after her first pair of these socks developed a sad hole. They had, of course, been in service for over 2 years and were worn often as they were some of the knitter's favorites. 

She decided that since she was going down in needle size she should also go up in stitch count so rather than knitting the socks at her usual 72 stitches she went up to 80 stitches. She cast on and happily knit her first sock. Soon after she cast on her second sock, remembering that she was knitting on size 0 needles she somehow got caught up in the yarn fumes and forgot the larger stitch count. Where did she realize her mistake? 

Turning the heel. A whole foot knit incorrectly. On size 0 needles. Now, if it fit properly and seemed to work the knitter would probably have just kept going but with striped yarn, it makes an odd sort of sock if they don't line up stripe-wise. The knitter specifically didn't start on the same color but rather the next so they would line up just right in a little different way. Off just one stripe, that plan was now foiled. That means; it's time to frog. So now the two socks in this tale are down to one. 

In other news, since the knitter will not be working on these socks for a bit since they're so frustrating, take a look at the shawl that's being knit instead. 

It began as this gorgeous ball of yarn purchased at the Zombie Knitpocalypse it's from Penguin Soup. (It doesn't look like her shop is complete yet. Keep an eye on it if you're interested though.) I just purchased it on Saturday and it's already becoming

This. Isn't it the most beautiful thing you've ever seen? Well, it is to me at least. The pattern is Castra and its part of a Yarn Love knit along. We only started on Tuesday so there's still time to join if you're interested, check out the Yarn Love group on Ravelry for more details. 

Get it Started

I've been feeling a little blocked lately. Unable to express myself in writing, even though I had things to say. To be honest, I think I've been feeling a little burned out. Work and life have been so busy lately that I feel I am not myself. But last weekend was just as busy and it energized me instead of tiring me out. It was just what I needed.
So now I'm back and writing again. I hope you'll forgive the absence.
I had a skein of Knit Picks Hawthorne around. I had tried to knit it several times and I just wasn't happy with how it was knitting up. But I wanted to knit it so much! To really give the Hawthorne a try. So I finally decided to get it working as socks for a Christmas gift. That's right, the Christmas knitting has already begun!
I started these earlier in the year actually, as toe-up socks but they just weren't working. So last month I started again, this time from the top down. 

I actually finished them Saturday night at knit night. It was a bit of a yarn chicken situation. Here's the yarn that was left.

I'm hoping it's enough to to knit one hexipuff. But at least the knitting is going again and the first Christmas gift is ready to go!