As all good sock knitters know, October means one thing: Socktoberfest has arrived! (more…)

Sometimes, when life is really full of details, it can help to partake in a leisure-time activity that calls for very few.

This is not the time for delicate yarns that slip or catch and tiny needles and complicated patterning.

Yesterday I pulled out this fantastic skein of bulky-weight yarn from Folktale Yarn (purchased last fall at Crafty Bastards) and cast on for a new hat.

That’s it. I didn’t bother to wind the yarn. I decided instead to wear it as a necklace while knitting. When I finish knitting each night, I twist it back up into a hank and tuck the whole thing away (because a silver cat also thinks the yarn is quite fetching).

I suspect the whole thing will be done tomorrow. My yarn as jewelry motif will be over, but I think I’ll have a cute toque to show off.

A little garter stitch, a little stockinette. The yarn changes color on its own. Huge, gahonking needles. Simple. Relaxing. Low pressure. Seems like just what the doctor ordered.

I’ll keep you posted.

The final week of August was a productive one for me. Not only did I finish my Skews, but earlier in the week I bound off my baseball socks while listening to the Nationals game on the radio.

While the Nats did tie the game up while I was finishing the socks, sending the game into extra innings, unfortunately these are not magic rally socks and the Nats ultimately lost.

But I won because I got a great pair of socks out of it.

I bought the yarn during the marketplace at the Stitch and Pitch event at Nationals Park back in May. It’s Miss Babs Yummy Superwash Sock & Baby Yarn – 2 ply in the Nationals colorway.

I cast the yarn on in May to be a pair of Hermione’s Everyday Socks, but then I discovered that the yarn, when knit in straight stockinette over 64 stitches, striped. The original pattern was obscuring that, so I ripped back to the end of the cuff and started again for a plain vanilla sock.

I’m delighted with them and may wear them to the ballpark for the doubleheader we’re going to see tomorrow. Of course, the forecast suggests wet, so I may just stick with my galoshes. After all, I can wear my Nationals socks even after the team’s season is over.

Today’s Ten on Tuesday topic is 10 Things I Want to Knit this Fall/Winter:

1. A baby sweater or two (I buy the yarn to knit for the babies in my life but then fail to follow through. I really should get on pre-birth knitting, because babies insist on getting bigger as time goes on…)
2. A new pair of fingerless mitts — perhaps these or these.
3. A pair of mittens or two — perhaps these or these.
4. Rudi’s cycling socks — He bought the yarn for them several years ago and I knit the first sock, but it doesn’t fit. I need to knit him a pair before the cold-weather biking season begins.



5. I’d like to revive one of the sweaters I’ve started. Hey Teach is probably the likeliest contender, but it could be one of the others.
6. A new hat — I cast on Roebling the other day out of yarn I bought at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival in May, but I need to get further along to see if the gauge is way off like I fear it might be.
7. A new winter sweater. It’s been several years since I made my Every Day Cardigan, and, honestly, it’s really not good to wear it every day. Maybe just every other day…
8. A lacy scarf — People on one of the Ravelry boards I’m on have been working on that both is pretty and seems to knit up quickly.
9. Another shawlette — My Citron knit up really quickly and is very versatile.
10. Who am I kidding? I could have filled this whole list with socks. Heck, I probably have ten pairs that are in progress, let alone the ones I haven’t started yet but would like to.

You might all remember this post I wrote back in mid-July, where I had reached a cross-roads with my pair of socks:

Poorly tied knots in both skeins of yarn meant that I could not just knit my pair of socks straight on until morning. Instead I either had to had to find a way to match up the stripes (which involved cutting) and possibly run short of yarn or live with mis-matched (and mis-sequenced) socks.

What I wanted everyone to tell me (and which you all did, down to a comment) was to go the harder route and cut the yarn.

I am pleased to report that due to a pot of gold at the end of my rainbows, the cut sections of yarn happened to partially match the other ends of both balls, so I did not run short of yarn (had they not, it would have been a problem and I would have had to get creative).

I finished the pair late Wednesday night.

I can’t begin to tell you how delighted I am with them.

I also can’t begin to tell you how glad I am that I followed Laura’s advice and went up two needle sizes after the inner ankle. They are still a smidge tight at the ankle because of the socks’ unusual construction, but they’re wearable and they could still loosen up a bit after I wash them.

The pattern is Skew, the yarn is Regia Nation (acquired in the Yarn Aboard 2 swap back in 2006 (coincidentally I managed to finish knitting the yarn from my Iceland-based partner the week I booked tickets to Reykjavik)), and I used 2.25mm and 2.75mm circular needles to knit them on.

Obviously, I will not have any problem finding shoes to match.

July marks the first month this year when I’ve neglected to complete a knitting project.

I know, I know. You’re wondering where all those projects have been hiding out. Well, apparently, just because I’ve been knitting them does not mean I’ve been photographing them. I’ll try to rectify that during the second half of the year so I can share a year’s worth of handknits.

I did knit in July, despite the almost constantly above 90 degree weather and the crappy workload that has me getting home at 8 far too many nights. I knit quite a bit in July, in fact (although not in the air-conditionerless car; some things just are not bearable).

I was not a focused knitter, however, and had several things going at once. By the time I finally decided to work on finishing one thing (my Skews), I didn’t have enough time left.

Oops!

But what we can take away from this is that I have got a great shot at finishing at least one thing, if not multiple items, during the month of August.

And let’s face it, no one in Washington, D.C., is wearing handknit socks during the dog days of summer anyway.