Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Progress....




Well, I managed to finish a pair of socks and have a single sock off the needles that leaves just two first socks on needles. I wish I could say that those two socks one blue, one variegated; yellow, green, blue, are my only projects on needles but, well.... we know better don't we? I'm waiting on two sets of metal dpn's in the mail, another regia and knit picks. If you looked at the set you probably noticed that using US needle sizes there are two size one and two size two needles, I can state unequivocally that in this particular instance I have to agree with our friends in Canada... metric is just plain better on this one. In fact, the Yarn Harlot just had a post on this very subject the other day. Now, don't get me wrong I'm not going to start quoting temps in Celsius instead of Fahrenheit south of the Great Lakes but yarn is universal, as is knitting and as I stated before the language should be universal so I think I'll expand on that and say the tools we knit with should be universal, also. Which, by the way, has gotten me completely off the subject, which is that I have two new sets of sock needles on the way. One set will be knitting up my brand new Brooks Farm variegated, this yarn is gorgeous soft and sheeny (yes, I made up a word, and yes, I'm ok with it, maybe I didn't make a word up it spellchecked, go figure). It dawned on me, when I was at my favorite yarn store the other day, that I prefer yarns w/sheen to a matte finish yarn. I've been actively knitting for over 10 yrs and I just get it now, go figure. I am willing to bet if I asked some of my knitting friends if this is news to them they'd all laugh at me. The real question I have though is whether I can knit my second sock of the pink/grey variegated on the metal dpns, the first sock was knit on bamboo. It is my belief that my gauge will be different on metal needles, however, this is a sock we are talking about so it's not as if anyone's going to be checking to see if my socks are identical, unlike sleeves or mittens which are definitely a more public medium, so to speak. So, I must ask myself if these socks are not identical can I live with it, and if I can not live with it what would be the big deal of re knitting the first sock on metal needles, I'm not really happy with it anyway, it's more an anklet than a sock and I wanted a sock so I'd be adding inches anyway, better to wait until after I knit the second sock on my new needles than add the length now. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. And with that conundrum (look it up) rolling around in my head I will attempt to go to sleep. Later all... CJ Oh and K, with these kind of weighty sock questions on my mind I'm afraid well, your sweater doesn't stand a chance, sorry.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Too many singles....

Socks, that is, I keep ordering more sock yarn and I found my metal Regia dpns online, sorry can't find Regia's website, go figure. I love the metal dpns and am waiting for the smaller set US1 to knit my Brooks Farm hand dyed superwash, I also need to wait for the yarn to speak to me. I started these socks with sock yarn from Summer of Socks sponsor Cynthia's Skeins, when I was on her website she said this yarn did not photograph well, she was right... I can't begin to tell you how vibrant her blues are. I am knitting this on my new Regia 2.50mm, I couldn't find Regia's website but I ordered the needles here. Now, I love these needles, the matte finish not too slippery and they're metal so I don't feel like I'm going to snap one in half every time I do something fiddly. So, let's get back to the yarn speaking to me, no I'm not loosing my mind, well maybe I am but not so you'd know. I start my sock and then find a pattern, all of my patterns are my own courtesy of numerous stitconaries, Barbara Walker comes to mind as do a few others. The problem is I'm getting so I can't knit plain socks anymore, I try to find a pattern to match yarn texture, colorway and weight. You'll just have to wait and see what I've found for this yarn. Herein lies the problem, once I've mastered the pattern and I love what I've I done I don't just finish the second sock ohhh no that would be way to easy... no it's on to the next yarn, the next pattern, the next needles, good thing I'm not being judged on finished pairs. Here are all the pictures of my single socks, wait a minute only two, make that three first socks on the needles and 1 second sock on needles. If I'm counting right that's only 1,2 ... 4 socks and one of those socks is an official second sock so I'm doing better than I thought. I will not be looking in any nooks, crannies or for that matter knitting bags to see if I might have any more socks started, as I said before I'm not crazy. Here's to second sock syndrome, and the wisdom I showed, not sure where it came from, not joining the most socks contest for Summer of Socks, I'm sure you noticed where she underlined PAIRS, well, what's up with that anyway. I know I'm just being crabby because I'm not knitting pairs well. Maybe I should start a self help group for SSS. I think I'll go work on that now right after I start, I mean finish knitting a sock.... CJ

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Hopefully I'm back....

Went on vacation to Gettysburg, saw a bunch of monuments.... went on a ghost tour, really enjoyed everything. Even saw some reenactors, men, women and children, I can not believe in this day and age where it is perfectly legal to run around in practically nothing when it's hotter'n hell out you've got women dressing up in corsets and men in wool uniforms.... go figure. There were even knitting reenactors, this one can be seen holding my sock... my sock on vacation sock. The sock blends in with her dress (I can't believe I didn't get her name) but you can see the sock there in her right hand, her knitting, I think it is going to be a scarf or shawl kind of thing that reenactor women wear, is in her left hand. Knitting spanning the ages giving me what I think this is the perfect vacation sock picture, after all, think of all the socks women of the civil war era knitted for the men and boys fighting in the bloodiest war ever fought on American soil. I didn't mean for this blog to be a downer but being in Gettysburg is very thought provoking.... even though the battle isn't going on as your standing there the feeling I got is hard to describe... maybe I was channeling all the women waiting at home to hear word of their husbands, lovers, sons, fathers and brothers. It was very disquieting standing at the top of one of the monuments looking out over the 20,000+ acres of the bloodiest battlefield of the war, looking at my 3 boys, even as young as they are, I tried not to think about how I'd feel if they had to go to war. Writing this now makes me think of a book I've read more than once about the way a post apocalyptic maternal society deals with the issue of their sons going off to war. The Gate to Women's Country by Sherri S. Tepper is perhaps one of the saddest and yet, most hopeful books I've ever read. As I reread this blog I realize it does not reflect the fact that we really did have fun on vacation... the boys really enjoyed everything, and they definitely did not share my feelings... obviously they can't channel the knitters of days gone by... go figure .... I do think, however, they have been channeling the feet of all the recipients of all those long ago knit socks ... although, my sons are partial to multicolored socks and I don't believe socks knit in the 1800's tended to be of the multi color self stripping variety of yarns. I wonder if my sons would be as enamored of the socks I knit if they were the plain gray scratchy wool of the 1800's. Somehow, I don't think so. Perhaps, I need to think some more about this whole Gettysburg experience and on that note.... I'll say later all... CJ