I never told you about the last pair of socks I finished way back at the end of May:

These are my Stranded in Mount Pleasant Socks. They were knit in the Crusoe pattern from the Spring 2003 issue of Knitty. I used my entire skein of Neighborhood Fiber Co. Studio Sport yarn in the Mount Pleasant colorway and then had to resort to leftover Woolarina yarn from socks I knit in 2006. I like that a) I recognized before I began the toes of sock #1 that I was likely to run out of yarn and so waited to knit the toes for both socks until the end and b) I was able to find another local yarn dyer to use for the toes, keeping these socks truly D.C. based. (Interestingly, I first encountered Woolarina yarn at the Mount Pleasant Festival. I had forgotten that fact until just now… Eerily appropriate, no?)

The pattern was well-written, but there was some well-documented disconnect between the needle size and the number of stitches you were instructed to cast on. Ultimately, I worked my socks on 52 stitches using 3.5mm needles.

Just last week I was wearing an outfit (neon blue skirt and black tshirt with pink hair elastics) that, had it not been 95 degrees outside would have gone great with these socks. As it was, though, I opted to go with flip-flops and save these for cooler weather.

The annual Tour de France Knitalong is rapidly approaching and I’m not sure what I should do. As usual, there are several categories, two of which are appropriate for me:

Yellow jersey = those tackling something really epic. Maybe you want to try lace for the very first time, or socks. Maybe you want to design and knit a fair isle-inspired sweater, steeks and all, before the riders finish that final lap on the Champs-Elysées.

Polka Dot jersey = completion of languishing WIPs. (The more, the merrier: go for as many summits as you can!)

I could definitely qualify for the Polka Dot jersey. There are plenty of projects that are “under construction” and some of those have been so for a long time. (I can think of two sweaters, several socks, and a purse off the top of my head…) Entering this category would be the responsible thing to do.

Or …

I could cast on something new for the Yellow Jersey. Something exciting. Something that will be forever tied to the Tour de France, in the same way that the mousie socks I knit a few years ago will forever be tied to the 2006 Winter Olympics. I have pretty green yarn that could be a new early fall sweater or lavender-hued linen for a summer cardigan that’s been sitting around forever. Or I could knit the knee socks that were part of Sock Madness.

What would you do?

As you probably know, periodically I like to take part in an online swap. Usually these swaps have to do with knitting in some way, but often there is a secondary focus. This spring’s swap is tea-themed.

Kelle sent me a box. A big box. An exciting box. It arrived as I was on my way out the door for work, so I had all day to think about what might be included in such a box. Anticipation is a good emotion. I’m really good at anticipation.

What could be contained in the depths of such styrofoam peanuts? Hints of blue and green peeked through to offer teasers.

I unpacked. A blue gift bag emerged tied with a stripey ribbon. Green tissue paper filled that. And underneath it all was this bounty:

Isn’t that an awesome package?

And the best part? It’s themed. Kelle incorporated many things from her home state of Michigan to give me a truly unique present.

There are two skeins of Michigan yarn. One is a wool-nylon blend that I suspect will wear like iron and show great stitch definition and that matches the sky. The other is a squishy merino-cashmere-nylon blend in a blue-green colorway called River’s Edge. And there’s a cabled sock pattern from a Michigan designer.

Kelle included three teas. One comes in a travel tin so I don’t ever have to be further from a cuppa than a pot of boiling water. One is a summer Darjeeling blend in a cool canister. I’m looking to kicking off the summer season by brewing some up this weekend. The last one is from a famed Michigan foodie and is my favorite blend of tea — Keemun. Plus there are cookies and chocolate bars. Yum!

Kelle didn’t stop there. She made sure my garden wasn’t forgotten by including gardening gloves and nasturtium seeds and added a little metallic-encased notepad, which will live in my knitting bag. And this great and true card:

Thank you, Kelle! This is fantastic and has really made the receiving end of the Spring Fling Tea Swap a ton of fun! I hope you enjoy your end of the swap, too.

This just in:

One Sprite has just been reported to have removed her knitting needles from two (Repeat: TWO) projects. She is alleged to have followed up this activity by weaving in ends.

Onlookers expressed surprise at this turn of events. Rumors had long swirled that Sprite had given up finishing projects, particularly sock projects.

The first socks finished were started back in September and are reported to be Fox Faces by the famed Nancy Bush. Reporters are led to believe this pattern was what is known as a “mystery pattern,” where clues are released part by part until a completed picture is revealed. They are said to be knit in Three Irish Girls Adorn yarn in the Cian colorway acquired in 2009 at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival.

The second pair were supposedly knit in Shelby B’s Boo yarn, a bamboo/merino blend, in the Knight Bus colorway at the request of one Rudi. He claims to have picked out the yarn himself at last year’s Sheep & Wool Festival. He also says the perpetrator selected the pattern, Snape, herself before renaming the project Snape Boards the Bus in a misguided attempt to be cute.

When last heard from she was plotting about yarn to wind and new socks to begin. Readers are cautioned that the suspect is highly suggestible and should be approached by appealing patterns with caution.

I am reminded that the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival is a mere ten days away and I have goals to accomplish by then.

Last year I bought this:

That would be two skeins of sock yarn, two skeins of yarn for a sweater, and a skein of worsted weight yarn. All but the last are in projects currently underway.

By the time I head to the festival, I would be very excited if both pairs of socks were finished (both are currently stalled in mid-second sock blahs), the green Malabrigo had been cast on, and if I had resumed my summer-weight sweater that I failed to pursue past the first front panel back in February.

Then I can head to the festival with a clear conscience.

I mean, ideally it would be great if all four projects were complete, but let’s not set ourselves up for failure at the outset, shall we?

Despite staying awake the whole plane flight west, I still failed to finish my Sock Madness socks in time. Apparently having to kitchener like a bazillion of stitches at heel, toe, and cuff was just too much for me. The more frustrating part is that although the socks fit me (a common complaint was that they were too tight for many competitors), the seam on the bottom of the foot drives me nuts when I put them on, let alone actually stand up…

Alas!

This post will have to be brief as I need to head to bed. Sock Madness is taking it all out of me and I find myself picking up stitches, knitting madly away and grafting even in my sleep. (Okay, that part’s not quite true. But it does feel a bit like that. The good news is that I have a heel and most of a cuff on sock one, but I still need to bind that off (using a new-to-me technique) and give it a toe. Sock #2′s body is done, but it’s lacking toe, heel, and cuff still. It will be down to the wire as we discover whether I can get this all done and posted properly (with photo) by the time the buzzer goes off at midnight Tuesday. The plane flight out to Utah Tuesday evening will give me plenty of time to knit, but any delays could sink my chances of getting the online component done. Here’s hoping (and knitting)…

Sarah and I had fun at the Homespun Yarn Party this afternoon and each came away with a few skeins of woolly goodness. I also came home with a used cookbook and a game that I played with Grey Kitten when I visited him last month. Rudi and I capped off the last of the nice weather by hanging out at Starbucks on their patio until we could barely see the text and stitches in front of our eyes.

The rain may move in tomorrow, but I definitely feel like I did my part in spending time outside this first spring weekend of 2010. I’m looking forward to many more!

Today, a gorgeous day pretty much up and down the East Coast, was spent at a picnic table with knitting, a book, and hummus. Totally a great way to mark the arrival of spring, even if I did fail to work in the garden the way I’d originally planned to.

Sarah and I will celebrate the first full day of the season Sunday by trekking northeast of the District to an indie yarn festival. I’m hopeful the car radio will work, but either way I’m optimistic we’ll have fun.

It’s March and you know what that means: It’s time for Sock Madness!

Pardon?

No, nothing to do with basketball. Socks.

What do you mean that’s weird? It’s totally not.

Sock Madness is the time of the year when sock knitters put their accumulated skills to the test. It’s a competition that combines speed, agility, humor (at oneself, at any rate), and accuracy. You have to digest the plays your coach gives you (in the form of patterns by their designers) and execute them without deviation. There are refs to rule on tricky questions and sticky situations.

Our competition began last Wednesday, and the first round will likely conclude next Tuesday night as up to 160 competitors head to the second round. If I want to be one of them, I’d better get knitting, as this is all I’ve finished thus far:

The Olympic flame was extinguished last night and with the Games’ conclusion also came the end of the Ravelympics and the Knitting Olympics.

How did I do?

Well, the failure first. This is not a sweater:

That would be the left front panel of Hey, Teach, my Knitting Olympics project. I had several problems with this sweater, mostly relating to gauge and my inability to find it and to my understanding of the schematic of the pattern (and thus where Rudi and I ought to be measuring). The good news is that the lacy portion ought to fit just fine. The bad news is that I’m not convinced the same is true of the skirt — which ought to be longer — and the ribbing — which now looks pretty but which is probably too tight for the sweater’s design.

I need to block it and figure out what’s next — starting over, severe blocking, or cutting it and making it longer at the other end.

On the other hand, I went three for three in my WiPs-Dancing category of the Ravelympics, finishing three projects that have been hanging around my neck for far too long:

My mitts no longer have dredlocks inside:

My red scarf will be ready to send out next fall when the next request goes out for the Red Scarf Project:

(Yes, it really is surprisingly skinny, but it’s going out as-is anyway…)

And this is a long-awaited project for someone who reads the blog. She knows about it, but it’s unfair for everyone to get to see her finished present before she does. So you’ll just have to stop by next week when the finished object can be revealed:

For the time being, I will merely note that I used up every T-pin in those three containers during the blocking process, as well as several needles that inadvertently had been put in them. And I still had to resort to raiding my bulletin board and the one in our kitchenette at work for that handful of push pins you see to block the thing.

Generally, I’m quite pleased. I eventually will have a beautiful sweater and will have learned a lot in the process. And I have three finished objects that I’m quite proud of and happy to be done with. And, really, who could ask for more than that?