Showdown at 10:12 pm

(insert spaghetti western music)

I'm in the middle of a showdown.

It's a showdown between me and the thing that is trying to keep me from posting the pictures of the new socks I'm designing.

No, it's not what you think. I'm staring down my new 8 gig SD card.

When I stick the card in my computer, the card doesn't want to relinquish the pictures that I took today. Nooooooo. It wants me to format it.

I know what will happen if I do that.

Bye-bye, sock pictures.

I guess I'll have to use the camera cable and do this the hard way.

Then I'm going to teach that SD card a lesson. As soon as I can find the camera cable that is.

You win today punk SD card.

I'm sure Clint Eastwood never had to deal with uncooperative technology.

We call them.....pandas?

Way back when it was chilly around here, before the freak snow threat of a couple of weeks ago, my oldest boy requested a new knit hat. I searched and found We Call Them Pirates from Hello Yarn. Oldest Boy loved the hat. He loved the Skull and Crossbones and insisted that I knit one for him.

The problem, I'd never knit Fair Isle before. The most daring I'd ever knitted was to knit stripes with two colors of yarn.

But the chart was easy to read and the pattern was just so great.....so I gave it a try.

You'll notice some puckering at the top but not half bad for a first attempt. Oldest boy loves it and that's what matters. In fact, oldest boy loves it so much that he wore it pretty much constantly. (It helped hide his crazy hair.)

It became a highly coveted hat so younger brother wanted one of his very own.....except with Pandas.

See, Son number 2 has a love for pandas. It started over 7 years ago and he's still infatuated with them. We have panda shirts, stuffed pandas. We've visited pandas. I even made a panda cake once.

So I had to figure out how to chart a Panda Fair Isle hat. It took me forever. I frogged three or four times before I got a look that I liked.

Younger boy liked it too. And the fact that they are "angry pandas" is a total bonus.

Digging in and sprucing up the place

I've had some visitors than I am less than happy with and I thought about moving my blog. I actually copied and uploaded everything into a new blog address under a new name.
And then I thought about it.

I've been run off a board.
I've been run off a site and defamed.
I'm not going to be run off my own blog.

So to my friendly guests, I hope you enjoy my knitting. And I hope the pink and teal isn't too cute for you.

Not Blackrose socks

Here's another pair of socks that I've finished this year but not posted. The pattern is Blackrose Socks from Knittyspin.
I knit these with Malbrigo in the Impressionist Sky colorway on size 0 needles.

This was the first time I had ever knit with Malbrigo and let me just say that this yarn lives up to hype. It is so incredibly smooth and soft. There was no splitting and the knitted fabric is dreamy. I made these with MIL in mind but I'm going to have a hard time giving these up. I haven't washed them yet, so I don't know if this yarn passes the front-loader test yet. But it sure passes the "I'd wear this yarn on my whole body" test.

The pattern was a quick knit. and easy to memorize. I will definitely make this pattern again. I did a few more repeats than what the creator planned and made a larger size since I used #0 needles.

I'm in the process of knitting a pair of socks of my own design. It's been a while since I created my own pattern. I'm a little rusty. As soon as I start showing some decent progress, I'll post pictures of them. Oh, and I frogged the socks I was doing as a Rav KAL. There's just no need to do them anymore.

Giant Fiesta socks

DS #1 is now 6'1" and wears a size 15 shoe. He's 13. That's a lot of knitting.

Thank goodness the JaWoll yarn i used for these socks had a ton of yardage. Not only that, it had reinforcement yarn that I used for the heels and toes. Woohoo.

I got this yarn as a gift for winning the Big Brother Pool on the site that I've be suspended from. :(

DS#1 saw it when it arrived and claimed it for his own feet. "It looks like a fiesta," he told me....and that inspired the sock.

The colorway is 82-67 according to the label.

Because I am insane, I knit theses on on size 0 needles. (Knitpicks) I think it was 84 stitches per round or some insane number. I picked the Seed Rib pattern from More Sensational Knitted Socks and the knitting went very quick. (Or as quick as one would imagine knitting would go in this case with 84 stitches for size 15 feet.)

The final sock is fabulous. I had not used this yarn before so it was a crap shoot. It's a little rough on the hands but it passes the wash and dry test. They've been laundered about a dozen times and the colors haven't faded a bit.

That's a win in my book.

By the Pool

More neglected socks to blog. I love these socks. I loved the complete thoughtless knitting process. I love the yarn. I love the colors and the striping spirals. They fit great and they wash well.

I knit these by the pool on my trusty Addi turbos. (Bent and unplated as they are.)

The pattern came Charlene Schurch's More Sensational Knitted Socks. I think it's Double Lace Ribbing but there's several patterns in there that look similarly. I did something kid of odd with the toes. Instead of switching to just stockinette, I reduced the pattern on the sides and brought the lacy down onto the toe area, waiting until absolutely necessary to do the stockinette end. You can't tell it on the blockers, but you can see the lacework when you actually have toes in them.

The yarn is my favorite part. Which is funny because I was really hating this yarn for quite a while. It pooled terrible the first time I tried it. It flashed. Flashed, blue and green on one side and solid white on the other, the next time I tried it. But three times in the charm and this stitch count worked out beautifully. Doesn't it just scream "Pool." Anyway, the yarn is Dulce by The Purled Llama and the colorway is "Sea kelp Smoothie."
This yarn is scrumptious.
It's soft and squishy and not at all splitty. It hasn't pilled.

If I see more of this stuff, I'm buying it.
I'll just have to factor in the patience to find the right pattern for the colorway.

Butterfly Lace

Fly, Fly, Poor butterfly sock. This is the first of several long ago knitted items that were not blogged about. (DH found my card reader. Isn't that sweet of him? You should all thank him. Thank you ZD!)

OK, I remember that the yarn is Rowan Cotton. I used size 1 knit picks circulars. The pattern is a modification from Fiber Trends "Butterflies and Blossoms."

I added the twisted knit stitch to offset the butterflies. I think it adds a lot to the pattern, beyond the 10 stitches per round to actually make a wearable size. I also did a short row heel instead of a heel flap. The heel flap looked bulky with the delicate little butterflies. Check out that beautiful short row heel!

But that's not what you knitters want to hear about. I know the hard core knitters are still stuck at the top of the page. Where I said I knit this out of Rowan cotton.
Yep, I did. No, it's not very stretchy...hence the need for substantial ribbing and extra stitches. No, it doesn't stay up either...but they are cute as slouchy socks also. Yes, they are thick but they feel surprisingly comfortable.
And I love the color and stitch detail.

I probably won't knit another pair of socks with this yarn...but I never say never.

I have both cameras.

Both of them. I even did a little photo shoot of the 2 pairs of socks that I finished in July and August. Nice pictures even.
Unfortunately, I used my camera, which requires a card reader... instead of DH's camera which has a little video card that sticks right into my laptop.

I can't find any of the three card readers that I have purchased. Not. one. of. them.
But I am not giving up. If I can't find it by tomorrow, I'll just take new pictures with DH's camera.
Unless he takes it to work with him.

Plus I finished another pair of socks with some wild Noro sock yarn. Very rainbow-y.
And I have designed my oldest boys new dragon socks, cast on, and have finished one repeat. Woohoo.
He has outgrown the ones below. The boy has monster feet.

Signal Orange Socks

Shield your eyes. Here are pictures of ZD's Signal Orange socks. You have been warned.
ZD is an Army guy in the Signal Corps, which has an unfortunate color scheme for its flags: bright signal orange* and white.
Yes, these socks are this bright in person. They are almost warning vest orange.

So ZD asked for these orange socks and they had to be a specific shade of orange with no variegation. I hunted high and low and bought several skeins that were rejected. He finally agreed to Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome in Tangerine from the Loopy Ewe. It was out of stock so I had to wait for a few weeks. (I can't imagine a run on this particular color of yarn. I don't know how it sold out in the first place.)
Then we had to settle on a pattern. Nothing lacy, of course. I didn't want to knit another cable sock so soon after the cursed Whitby's. So I settled on King Charles Brocade from Schurch's More Sensational Socks. Then I cast on and started knitting.
And I knit, and knit and knit and knit and knit. Because ZD has really big...wide...feet. His dress shoes are size 14 EEE. And he likes his socks long in the leg.
About 4 inches from the end, I ran out of yarn. I ran out. I just about died. Thankfully, the Loopy Ewe still had the color in stock and the dye lots matched. Woohoo for me. And because they had incredible shipping, I soon had more 'glorious" orange yarn and was able to finish ZD's socks.

And just to show how big these buggers are....those are my feet. My toes are just touching the point on the last repeat, without any stretch whatsoever. Seriously big orange socks.

*I went to University of South Carolina. Our arch rivals are the Clemson Tigers. Thus my disdain for orange.

Stranded at the Y

The Family Y pool opens in mid-May. And my children expect to spend most of the week at the water park. I knit these while I was stranded at the Y, sitting in the sun, and watching he boys splash and play.
The yarn is Zen Lotus Toes sport weight in the Mount Monadnock colorway.
The pattern is Crusoe (also stranded but not in as lovely a place as me) from Knitty. I was so psyched over how the stranding showed off the incredible colors of this yarn. And the sport weight made the knitting go by really fast.






Look at those colors! How cool is that!
These socks were my reprieve from ZD's signal orange socks. I ran out of yarn and had to wait for another skein. While waiting, I cranked out these lovely buggers. The rolled stockinette edge is very stretchy and looks great with the stranding. I did an eye of partridge heel to further enhance the colors.

I think these are my favorite socks so far out of all the ones I've knitted.

Baseball VooDoo Zombie Socks

I knit these during the boys' baseball season. Four kids playing in four different leagues....I spent a lot of time at the ball field. These were knit while sitting in a folding chair, in the evening sunset, in the hot sun, and even in the dug out while trying to keep track of the batting order and scoring.

The pattern is "Zombie Socks" and the yarn is Socks that Rock in Haida.
The dropped stitches were a little fussy at first. I tried knitting the knit stitches through the back loop but that made the knitting un-enjoyable and way too much thought.
I needed thoughtless knitting for baseball season so I just did a basic knit stitch. The dark thread was easy to see in the bright spring sun. I would recommend it for winter knitting or cables. You'd never see what you were doing.

My oldest son's team said that these were good luck socks. I finished them during their second to last game. The won every game except that last one. I should have knit slower.

Jaywalking without a ticket

Time to catch everyone up with my knitting.

These are my very pink Jaywalkers. The yarn is Chewy Spaghetti, Cheeky Monkey if I am remembering correctly. I knit them forever ago. And I've worn them a dozen times since then.

And I am quite happy with how the yarn has held up. If you haven't had the chance to try out Chewy Spaghetti....get to the Loopy Ewe and buy you some. Plus the dyer is a real sweet gal. Even she loves my Jaywalkers.

I had long resisted the Jaywalker pattern and I wish I had knit them sooner. It was mindless knitting and whole lot of fun. (I know, stockinette does not normally equal fun...but these were more fun than a barrel of cheeky monkeys.)

When (not if) I knit this pattern again, I'm not doing the ribbing. It looks kind of funky on my leg. The pattern will make a zig-zag selvage edge without the ribbing. I think I'd like that look better.
I even have the yarn picked out...I just have to get to that spot in my queue.

I need to find my camera

How does one lose a camera?

My Jaywalkers are finished. I finished them on the first. I've even worn them and even washed them. But I have not taken a single picture of them.

Last night I finished my VooDoo Zombie Good Mojo Baseball socks. Apparently they were really good mojo. Last week we had 3 baseball practices and 8 games. 4 of the games were scored and the boys won all four of them.

No pictures of those socks either. I also need to take a picture of Mango the Calico Cat who likes to sun herself by sticking her head out the window. (While her belly hangs over the window sill.)

Today I cast on a pair of socks of my own creation. Signal Orange Signal Socks. Say that six times fast.

Here, there be Dragons

Here's my oldest modeling his Wyvern Socks.
The pattern is based on the stitch pattern called Dragon Skin.
He chose the yarn.

Of course, right after I finished these socks, I found the perfect yarn for Dragon Scales. Now I'll have to knit them again.


How do y'all like my new floor? It's dirt colored.

This particular pair of socks should count as two pairs of socks.
First of all, I knit them twice. The original pattern is written toe-up with a short row heel.

Well, when the owner has a size 14 men's shoe....I short row heel just won't cut it. Neither would that little toe-up heel flap that I tried next.

So I frogged everything and knit them cuff down. They fit him just fine.
Let's see....6 pattern repeats on the leg. 8, yes 8, on the foot. (Size 14 remember)
And I didn't even run out of yarn. I don't have much left, but I didn't run out.

The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Lake view. I knit them at the same time on my treasured Addi Turbo size #1 circular needles.
The back of the sock is K2, P2 ribbing with the Dragon scale pattern only on the front. (Per the recipient's request) And I did a slip stitch heel instead of the dreaded short row.