Girl on the Rocks

Aaahhh… that’s better September 21, 2006

I ripped the sock back and decided on a 3 x 1 rib for the top (and eventually the cuff).

I love it! It looks so much better (see what it looked like before). I have been working on the sock today while at work (which is school). I am running samples on a fancy mass spectrometer that has the annoying need to have someone hit the ‘a’ key once every few minutes. I would hire a monkey to do it, but i think it would shed all over the room and get me in trouble. Anyway, it takes me exactly the right amount of time to complete a row before I need to hit the ‘a’ key again (sometimes i mix it up and hit ‘p’. fun, huh?). Like principal skinner says

Ah, there’s nothing more exciting than science. You get all the fun of sitting still, being quiet, writing down numbers, paying attention. Science has it all.

He forgot to mention using 15 year old computers… Luckily, when I need to leave the room, I have the sock to operate the computer for me.

I won’t say this in front of the computer, but the sock is totally smarter. The computer thinks the year is 19106. The sock is smart enough to not say anything regarding the year. And the sock is able to display far more colors than the computer – that should count for something.

Finally, since it is thrift thursday I can brag about the steals i got at my secret little thrift store.

The loot includes a bowl knitting notions (25 cents each) – my favorite being the bakelite handled pattern transfer wheel. Also two king size pillowcases with a cute yellow print (background) for $1 and a bunch of hand embroidered vintage napkins (25 cents each). More napkins pictured here. And what about the bowl?

It is just what i have been looking for! A pyrex casserole dish with lid for only $3.

Now i am off to prepare for my exciting evening. one of the movie theaters down the street from my apartment is showing The Jerk tonight. one of my favorites…..

The good, the bad, and the beach September 18, 2006

By 10 o’clock this morning, I had already used up all of my patience for the day – at the post office. That place just sucks the life outta me. But i was rewarded! I picked up my final package from my secret pal, who turns out to be Knitting in the Shadows!

The yarn is beautiful 100% Merino Superwash from Gypsy Girl Creations in the color “Happy Halloween” (yarn close up here). I also got some brittany birch needles to knit up the yarn, a calculator/box (that the needles fit in!), a halloween night light, and a knitting notion that I can’t quite figure out… Oh, and a chocolate bar that barely made it out of the post office – it was delicious.

And there has been some knitting going on here. On the plane back from Australia, I started a sock with my STR from stitches west (last year). But, it was way too big, so i ripped back the toes increases and adjusted the width. Now i think the pattern is just not working with the yarn. Here is the lacy top of the sock

And here is the bottom

I like this side a lot better.

also note that the sock has been modelled on top of the sock that I was wearing today which is making me think that it is still too big. And I have accidentally used the strand of yarn on teh outside of my center-pull ball. I think I need a redo. So by the time you read this, i will probably be ripping this sock out.

And as to no tend the post on a tone of frustration, I leave you with a video clip from my vacation.

Headed down under August 25, 2006

Tonight I take off for a conference in Australia. One of the most exciting things about the trip (for me) will be the long plane ride. Time for knitting (about 15 hours, in fact)! My ipod and computer batteries can only last so long, and after that it’s me and sticks and yarn. What knitting should i take? I am thinking that the portablilty of socks cannot be beat…. and in case i haven’t complained about it yet, I am really bored witht the poppysocks. I shouldn’t have used the same sock pattern for two pairs in a row. I am thinking about balling up the gorgeous yarn from my dye-o-rama pal. I will make some lacy toe-up socks from a pattern by ‘My Fashionable Life’ that I bought a while ago. I will use my new knitpicks circs (first time) which i hope will make it through airplane security. I’ll have to bring some bamboo DPN’s just in case. I am pretty sure that there is enough of this yarn that i could also squeeze out a pair of baby socks too. that’s the plan, anyway.

Did you know that australia doesn’t allow knitting needles on domestic flights at all. For people that are so into sheep, i find this a little surprising. Since I have to change planes in australia i am figuring that i will have to check my knitting stuff…. we’ll see.

So, internet knitting friends, any suggestions as to places i must go in Melbourne and Sydney? Any awesome knitting stores?

Presents in the mailbox rule July 6, 2006

First off, a big thanks to my secret pal!

She (?) sent me some sock yarn AND a nerd rope!! yessss…. And they match each other. Perhaps i shall design a nerd-ropey sock pattern for the yarn…. What would that be like? Anyone have any ideas…

I started another sock project shortly before receiving this yarn. It is the Chuck’s Sockspattern in Louet Gems yarn.

Wow. It’s really photogenic. I figured the pattern will be too big for my foot (I have munchkin feet) and the yarn i am using is pretty fine, so I thought using smaller needles would size the pattern down for me. Even though I was focussing on keeping the floats loose, when I started with the brown, the sock got tight. So i sized up the needles, and ditched the DPN’s for two circulars and that helped a lot. Unfortunately, I am coming pretty close to not being able to get this one on my foot. i should have ripped it back, but I couldn’t bear to do it, so I will just have to yank this one on. Hopefully the second sock will be better.

Two Finished Baby Items June 16, 2006

This past weekend I wanted to make a small, but staisfying project. The poppysocks have looked too daunting lately. So I decided to make pair of baby socks.

Pattern: from 50 Baby Bootees to Knit
Yarn: Schachenmayer Micro that i bought from Elann a long time ago.

But wait, it gets cuter….

Pattern: I didn’t use a pattern, but I was inspired by the bibs from Mason-Dixon Knitting that i have seen everyone making, so i just made up something similar. I made the strap button on the front so that it is a feature of the bib. i also tried my first crochet picot edging. i just made it up as I went along.
Yarn: Mission Falls 1824 Cotton in color 105

I got the buttons at the thrift store for 5 cents each. I will miss them when they are gone.

Have I mentioned that I still go to knitting circle?

The tuesday night knitting circle at the Mel-O-Dee continues on… If you are in El Cerrito at 8 pm, stop by. Tuesday we talked about a lot of interesting things:

• A new knitter! Debbie did some successful recruiting at the Berkeley Knit in Public event.
• The cute little garter stitch kitty. It looks so good in leftover sock yarn
• we didn’t really talk about it, but I noticed that one of my fellow knitting circle members has her eye on a really cute pattern. Top down all the way, i say!
• Abby’s sock knitting tragedy which I feel partially responsible for… She has bounced back though. I saw her knitting a pair of baby socks just the other day.

Things i should have talked about

• Tepache- Apparently this is a fermented drink made from pineapple.. And you can make it yourself. At least the Crochet Dude did . Has anyone tried this? Is it good? This reminds of the Kombucha Tea that I read about on Flawed Maude.
• A fellow knitter reports that Emmet Otter is in the Smithsonian. I believe that I am one of the only people in the world that does not like Emmet and his poor little muppet family. I have seen too much of their feet that don’t really touch the ground or support any of their weight (=freaky).

Finished! May 31, 2006

These are toe-up socks of my own design knit out of koigu. Interestingly, one and a half of these socks were knit on two circulars… One sized 1 and one sized 0. oops! Here is a detail of the pattern.

It is a slip stitch pattern that I thought kinda gave the illusion of a cable (slip stitch pattern from Barbara walker’s Second treasury)… I wanted to have the look of a cable but not deal with the extra needle. I used a short row heel for these, and while it was nice to put the socks right on when i finished knitting the cuff, I was cursing about it the whole time. Also, i tried wrapping the stitches and everything, but I just don;t like how the heel looks. There are still tiny holes along the increases. I thought i might write up the pattern (Gerald, I’m looking in your direction) which is a challenge for two reasons. First, my foot is pretty small, so I think that I would have to call it a ‘small’ size and also figure out a medium size. Second, i can only really work out patterns if I write them as I go, so I have to make another pair…

But I already got started with that!

I started another pair in with the yarn that i dyed (the poppysocks color).

Edit:Tragically, this sock is actually a medium, and my foot is a small. I will have to rip back and undo some of the increases. poo.

I’m cheating March 13, 2006

Socking away in Idaho June 25, 2005

It’s weird, but I was just in Idaho again, and rather unexpectedly. I went to help my roommate collect some more rocks for her thesis. Man, it was hot there. Swinging a hammer and climbing precarious cliffs is so much more taxing when it is 90 degrees.

But on to the knitting… i have made great progress on my blauband maxiringel socks. everything but the heel is finished on sock #1, and I just made it past the reinforced toe part of sock #2. I am still getting used to the idea of afterthought heels. Every time I cast off at the top of the sock i get this feeling that I am all finished, and I start to put the sock on my foot. Then i realize that they have no heel and aren’t done yet and it is a bit of a let down. But overall, I prefer toe-up socks to top-down socks just because i think it is easier to try them on as you go when you start at the toe.

i also wanted to point out a link that tina brought to my attention in the comments on my last post. In response to my pleas for koigu pattern suggestions, she pointed me to this link that is a whole page of patterns for 2 skeins of koigu! perfect!

You would think June 15, 2005

It would seem to me that since i own a cellphone, am a geologist (and am always surrounded by geologists), and live 23 feet above sea level that someone would call me to let me know that i am about to die in a tsunami. but no. No one that I knew even called me to tell me that there was a local tsunami warning for the bay area – however brief it was. Don’t get me wrong, If i have to go, I would prefer it be in a geologic event. I’ll take volcano, earthquake and tsunami over car accident or cancer any day. But i just want to have a second to know that is what is going to happen.

On the knitting front, I am progressing nicely on the blauband maxiringel socks. in fact, right now i am love with them. I reinforced the toe, but you can’t even tell because the reinforcing thread matches!! I just can’t get enough of that. Speaking of socks (b i’m looking on your direction), there is a new online store that specializes in sock yarns, The Simply Sock Yarn Company. They are having a Grand opening Contest that has prizes so go check them out. After submitting my entry I got a personal response to my suggestions – that is so nice.