elvis needs...boats? - twisted sky socks

knitting firsts

nospam@example.com (Michelle) — Sun, 25 May 2008 08:00:38 -0700

Emma asked us to post a "first" in knitting, and initially I couldn't really think of anything. I'm pretty adventurous, so there isn't much I've never tried. Perhaps my imagination is failing me, though. :D

However, I did recently learn a new technique which I used on my Twisted Sky Socks: knitting socks on two circular needles. Here they are again:

I love this technique so much that I've also used it for my latest pair, the Sorta Charade Socks:

These aren't quite finished yet--I'll get a much better picture once they are.

The Sorta Charade Socks are another first for me. I started out making a pair of the popular Charade Socks (I think you have to be on Ravelry to get the pattern), but ended up adapting that pattern to the sky architecture (used in my Twisted Sky Socks) from Cat Bordhi's book, New Pathways for Sock Knitters. Basically, I ended up taking the stitch pattern from Charade and putting into the Master Sky sock architecture from the book. Not quite an original design, but fun and unique!

the sun finally came out to play

nospam@example.com (Michelle) — Mon, 05 May 2008 20:33:34 -0700

So we took a few pictures yesterday. We were down in Tualatin, meeting Mom for lunch, but we were about half an hour early so we made a little side trip over to the little man-made lake in the center of Tualatin. For the first year and a half that I lived in the Portland area, I lived on this little lake. I miss the view and the geese, although I do like our house and living in SE Portland.

Nik and I ate dinner here on our first date:

That's Hayden's Grill, and those are people dining lakeside while enjoying the sun, as Nik and I did on our first date. It's on the south end of the lake; I lived in an apartment on the north end. (The path around the lake is only about 1/3 of a mile--all the way around--which is why I have a habit of referring to it as "the little lake.")

The purpose of our side trip, though, wasn't so much a trip down memory lane (although that's always nice!), but rather for these:

The Twisted Sky Socks, brilliant in the sunshine! (I love the brightness of those colors--and people's reactions to them.)

And, finally, Flair:

(Is my hair getting too long?)

And a bonus, since I grabbed it on the way out the door, too. My Dream in Color shrug, which I knitted, oh, last summer, I think, but never managed to take pictures of:

This shrug is from the Dream in Color Shrug pattern, and is knit in Dream in Color Classy (the color is Spring Tickle). I absolutely love this pattern, and this yarn. I still want to make another one.

Tomorrow is my loooong day at work. I'm hesitant to get my hopes up, but if today was any indication tomorrow should be one of the better processing Tuesdays. Which means I might be done by 6:30 instead of 8:30--at least so long as the day doesn't begin with a note like this. (That's from two weeks ago--scary start to the day.)

Unless I collapse from exhaustion by the time I get home tomorrow, I expect to be back with pictures of the in-progress Charade sock (pretty, pretty yarn!) and Follow the Leader shawl. Amazingly, I'm making decent progress on both. :)

artichokes for dinner

nospam@example.com (Michelle) — Sat, 03 May 2008 20:14:36 -0700

I think I could eat artichokes every day of my life. This was tonight's dinner--along with some tater tots. :D

Well, the sun never did decide to show itself today so I didn't take any knitting-related pictures (thus the picture of my dinner instead). However, I did finish the Twisted Sky Socks! They're awesome and I love them. I have hope that the sun will shine enough tomorrow to get a decent picture.

Tomorrow is my mom's birthday, and I have no gift for her because I have been completely uninspired. I do have yarn + pattern for a shawl for her, but haven't started it yet. It would be nice if I could come up with something before we take her out to lunch tomorrow...but I may have to settle for, "I'm working on something awesome for you!" (which means I really need to get it on the needles so I'm not also lying...haha).

The yarn is awesome, Cherry Tree Hill Merino Lace in the color Green Mountain Madness (picture here). I also think the pattern I chose will be an enjoyable knit, so why haven't I started it yet?

I think...I'm intimidated by having to wind that humongous hank of yarn into a ball.

So, maybe that's what I'll spend the rest of the evening doing: winding yarn. I have the lace for Mom's shawl and a hank of sock yarn that also needs winding. (I finished one pair, time to start another, right?)

seizing up

nospam@example.com (Michelle) — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:25:26 -0700

Do you ever sit down to write a blog post and nothing coherent wants to come out? I have all sorts of topics I could discuss, from knitting to upcoming house projects to Nik's vision problems. But I've started this post about five times already and...meh.

So...I'll save the majority of it until another time. I can summarize my knitting of late, though:

I've done 5 squares so far for my Lizard Ridge. They're gorgeous and I can't wait to get more Kureyon to make some more.

My Twisted Sky Socks are quite close to being finished. If I can keep my hands off the Noro enough over the next few days, I'll probably finish them this weekend.

The Noro has become quite the siren song for me right now. I ran out of skeins for the Lizard Ridge, so I hunted up a project that I'd started and abandoned some time ago--felted potholders for my brother. They're in a pretty riotous colorway (165), to go with his colorful Fiestaware dishes. I did one and wasn't terribly happy with how it felted, so I put the whole project in timeout. Today I almost completed a second one. (I have some ideas on how to improve the felting result, which may be part of my motivation. Also, if I finish the potholders and have a skein of Kureyon leftover, I can make another Lizard Ridge square!...I might be a little obsessed.)

Oh, and I also FINALLY finished sewing up all the ends in my Flair and blocking the darn thing. As soon as it dries I'll sew on the buttons and TAKE PICTURES. You have no idea how long that thing has been sitting around waiting for me to put the finishing touches on it...

It's really cute, though. :D

it's only thursday, right?

nospam@example.com (Michelle) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:08:32 -0700

Holy, holy, what a week.

Any time I have to work on Sunday (which happens every 8 weeks), the week feels absolutely interminable. This week, I worked 4 hours on Sunday, 6.5 hours on Monday, 13.25 hours on Tuesday...Wednesday morning it already felt like it ought to be Friday.

Aside from the oddities like my very long day every other Tuesday--and the corresponding short Monday--I'm supposed to be working a regular 8-hour day. In the past, it never really happened due to a variety of circumstances. The biggest reason, probably, is just that Nik and I carpool every day and he works 7:00 to 4:00 with an hour lunch. At my company a 30 minute lunch is much more usual. And since Nik needs to be at work on time, I generally arrive at work by 6:45. Nik picks me up at 4:15. I am essentially incapable of being at work and NOT working, so I've pretty routinely been working 9 hour days for...oh, a year and a half. Until relatively recently, there was ALWAYS enough work to keep me busy for however many hours I put in. I never padded my time with busy-work or anything. Now, though, we actually have enough (competent) people to complete the work without the crazy amounts of overtime.

So the boss wants me to cut back to a more normal level, both because they're supposed to be cutting down on overtime (I'm sure that's not unusual) and because, well, it's probably better for me, too. I don't TRY to be a workaholic, it's just that if I'm at my desk I'm incapable of ignoring whatever is sitting there waiting to be done and/or the people who stop by my desk to ask me questions. I just don't work that way. (For example: It drives me crazy when someone comes to ask me a question, sees that I'm eating lunch and says, "Oh, you're eating lunch. I'll come back later." I'd SO MUCH rather just answer their question and let them get on with their work.)

My solution to the problem of needing something to do until Nik picks me up, by the way, is to spend as much time as possible at Twisted. I can walk there from work (it's a bit over a mile away), so the plan is to walk over and hang out with Shannon and/or Emily until Nik gets there. Knitting time! Yarn-browsing time! Chatting-with-knitters time! I'm rather excited about this side effect of the "cut down to 8 hours" plan.

Wednesday I actually did it. Exactly 8 hours! (I didn't end up going to Twisted, though, because the weather was AWFUL. Really cold, really really windy, and rainy and yuck and I didn't want to walk a mile in that. So I went up to our roomy break room on the 13th floor and worked on my sock until Nik got there.)

Today...heh. I was on my way out the door (and heading to Twisted!) at exactly 8 hours, but was waylaid by a question which led to me discovering a serious problem (which eventually resulted in us not being able to print any checks this afternoon--ack!). I left 1.75 hours later.

At this point, I've already worked 41.5 hours this week. I'm hoping that tomorrow afternoon will be quiet enough for me to leave early...and head to Twisted. :D

We'll see, though--tomorrow is payday! You never know WHAT will happen on payday...

~~ * ~~

Oh, the socks! I don't have a new picture, but I'm getting quite close to finishing the second. I still have most of the foot to do, though, so I probably won't get it finished in time to wear to work tomorrow. That's kind of a bummer, since tomorrow is "Crazy Sock Day" and everyone at work has been excitedly checking on my sock progress all week. They all want me to wear them tomorrow!

I've come up with an alternate plan, though, in the likely event that I don't finish in time. Since it is crazy sock day and all, I figure if I don't have both finished I can just wear the one with any old other sock as a second. (Ooh, maybe I'll wear one of my Monkey socks as the second one. Totally different colors, but also handmade by me! They're the only handknit socks I have so far.)

Whatever I decide to do tomorrow, I'll take a picture so you guys can see the result.

woohoo!

nospam@example.com (Michelle) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:03:46 -0700

I finished my first Twisted Sky Sock today!

As soon as it was done, I ran to the kitchen and plopped it on the scale. It only weighs 50 grams! I'm going to have 13 or 14 grams leftover! No more worrying about running out of yarn. :D

I will be casting on for the mate this evening. No second sock syndrome for me on these babies!

Today, in addition to finishing my sock, I pulled all the yarn out of my cedar chest--where most of my yarn stash lives--and photographed and catalogued it. It's still a work in progress, but I added tons to my stash on Ravelry. (I still have two bins to go, plus some random stuff that's lying around--some of those have already been accounted for, though. Perhaps I'll work on those this weekend.)

Oh yeah, I also stayed home from work today. We actually planned it in advance, because I'm not quite up to my usual 45-hour week yet (and because my doctor still wants me to "take it easy"). It's possible that I should have relaxed more, but photographing yarn and cataloguing it on Ravelry isn't exactly strenuous.

Yesterday, I met up with a bunch of Ravelers downtown for a couple of hours. It was a lot of fun, and much-needed since I haven't spent time with any knitters since...December, I think. No pictures, sorry! There were a number of socks being knit, among other things.

Oh! I almost forgot to post these. My crazy cat, Toby, for some inexplicable reason totally loves apples. I ate one this afternoon and she waited semi-patiently on the arm of my chair for me to finish and share it with her (she did try to rush me a bit). Check it out:

Weird cat, huh?

Speaking of cats, this is hilarious...

An Engineer's Guide to Cats

Guess that's it for now...who do you think is going home on American Idol tonight? :D

there's a heel!

nospam@example.com (Michelle) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 20:33:34 -0700

Thanks to Melly, a kind reader and Ravelry member, I was able to continue on to the heel of my sock while I was away. Now I'm done with the heel and working on the foot!

I've been getting a bit worried over the size of this sock. Notice how long the leg is? I really couldn't tell until I got most of the heel done. I quite like the length, but am I going to run out of yarn before sock #2 is finished? Yikes.

Well, I got out my kitchen scale when I got home from work today and it looks like I'll be okay. Thank goodness this was a big skein of yarn! (Yarntini fingering weight, 430 yards per skein. Whew.) I'll still be keeping my fingers crossed through the second sock, I think.

The weekend away was a lot of fun, but I'm still exhausted. I did make it all the way through a typical 9-hour work day today...I'm hoping to be able to take Wednesday off again, though, to give my body a break. I'm not quite up to speed yet (nor am I really allowed to be--doctor wants me to take things easy for a bit longer).

The weather turned yucky yesterday so I didn't get any further pictures of Ocean Shores, but we had a very nice visit with Nik's dad and his SO. I always enjoy visiting them and feel very lucky to have not just one but two sets of really wonderful in-laws.

Tomorrow, I'm actually going to go out and knit with some people after work--for the first time in...I'm really not sure how long. Six months? I'm looking forward to it!

I'll try to be a good blogger and get some pictures to show off. :)

oh no!

nospam@example.com (Michelle) — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 16:46:08 -0700

We're out of town for the weekend, and I've been making such great progress on my first Twisted Sky sock that I thought maybe I'd finish it by the time we got home again. Then, about halfway to Ocean Shores, WA, from Portland, I discovered this:

!!

I photocopied the pages from my book so I can drag it around with me and write all over it (as you can see from the photo). I hadn't looked closely enough, though, to realize that it referred me to elsewhere in the book for the heel construction! Boooooooo.

Maybe someone on Ravelry would be kind enough to quote me the missing information.

In the meantime, here's a photo of my progress thus far:

Also, I was goofing around in the car yesterday and took some pictures. Here's the view from the car, before we managed to get out of the Portland/Vancouver metro area:

And hey, look, there's Mt. Hood!

Finally, here's the view that greeted us when we woke up this morning:

It's absolutely gorgeous today, although I have to admit I missed some of it when my body insisted on a two-hour nap this afternoon. Will try to get more pictures tomorrow before we go home, I think.

sock progress!

nospam@example.com (Michelle) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 20:50:59 -0700

I'm making good progress on my Twisted Sky Socks--down to the top of the ankle on the first one now.

Someone at work today pointed out how the colors are pooling in that sorta chevron pattern. Heh. I hadn't even noticed--guess I'm always too close to it. Boy, did it show up when I took pictures though. I think it's pretty; the pooling isn't bothering me at all. I love these colors, too. :)

a day of rest

nospam@example.com (Michelle) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 11:51:31 -0700

As a sort of reward for working 13 hours yesterday, my boss gave me the day off today. I could go in, but...eh, I think I'll enjoy a lazy day. I'm still working on getting my energy/endurance back after the latest surgery, so it's probably best not to push myself too hard. (Which is why my boss made the offer in the first place.)

So, what have I been doing today? Watching TV, knitting, reading on Ravelry...and a little photo shoot. I think the colors came out okay despite the dreary weather today.

Here's one of my works in progress, the River Rock Scarf by Sivia Harding (from No Sheep for You).

I'm using the recommended Handmaiden Silken in the Nova Scotia colorway (a Christmas gift from my wonderful husband) and some coordinating beads I got at Beads at Dusty Creek on Division. Here's a closeup shot of the beads:

Today, though, I've been working on this:

That's the cuff of sock #1 from a pair of Bartholomew's Tantalizing Socks by Cat Bordhi (from New Pathways for Sock Knitters: Book One). This is my third try at this sock, I think. As usual, I had some sizing issues. I think I've now settled on the proper combination of needle sizes and number of stitches.

Details: I'm using Yarntini fingering weight in the special Twistini colorway (exclusive to my favorite yarn shop, Twisted). The needle/stitch combination I finally settled on was 68 stitches cast on, knit the cuff with Addi Turbo Lace needles in size "2" (3mm), then switch to Addi Turbo Lace needles in size "1" (2.5mm). Oh, and on Ravelry I'm calling them the "Twisted Sky Socks" (for Twisted, duh, and because they're made from the "sky" architecture in the book).