Why, yes it is!! This is my Sockapalooza pal's sock. The yarn is that which I picked up at MDS&W, and the pattern is Cookie A's Twisted Flower pattern. I've already added my own unique flair by screwing up the chart. It doesn't seem noticeable and I figure that if I continue my mistake throughout and on both socks, no one will really notice.



Oh, and I don't think I ever showed these...





That's about as far as I could go up the leg before the YO p2tog made me want to throw the socks in the trash. I've never hated knitting on a pair of socks more than these. And probably mostly because I realized much too late that I should have just done a YO k2tog and turned them inside out.

nona posted the first part of her Sidewinders: A PerpenSOCKular Pattern today. I've been waiting for this since she first mentioned that she was designing a sideways sock. I saw the post this morning and waited all day to make my swatch. And would you believe that I actually swatched, and a full 4 incher! And of course, my camera is butchering the lovely colors in the Trekking XXL that I picked from the stash. The picture is so bad that I can't even show you. Maybe after a little time-out the camera will behave. At the very least I'll try to get a picture to prove that I swatched.


UPDATED: Here's my swatch. (Camera is still not accurate on colors, but it is better than my other attempts!)

I'm anxiously awaiting tomorrow's installment, which will have to involve some tweaking on my part since my freakishly tiny foot (as pointed out by Cordelia to the last post in which the hamster appears freakishly large compared to my foot... although we do feed him well, so he is probably a little bigger than ought to be) is not among the sizes.


I am so excited for this sideways sock!! Because apparently the only thing I really knit anymore is socks. Finished the Wild Tides, still need to make a mate for the Lucy sock (sorta old), have a hot pink knee high on the needles with sock 1 nearly finished (very old), my Sockapalooza's Twisted Flower sock (new), and I actually found a pair that I started loooooong ago (ancient history). It is 2 on 2 circs and the toes were finished. I took them with us on a train ride last weekend and realized why I haven't touched them much... they are on Susan Bates needles with a horrible, horrible join. After using my Addis and Knitpicks needles, I can't stand the way every single loop catches in the join. I need to pick up more sock needles so that I can transfer them to better ones.



UPDATED: Here's a picture of Twisted Flowers.

This has been going really fast once I got into the rhythm of the pattern. I still have to reference the chart, but it feels more intuitive now.

Here is the Act I of my attempt at nona's Sidewinders sock.

(as usual, my camera is massively altering the colors)

Today we have lots of errands to run and then time to kill before picking up Kevin's little bro and his girlfriend at the airport, so I hope to get through at least Act II and hopefully Act III so that I'll be back on pace!

If you could see it in person, you could start to see the sock taking shape. (And you would see how pretty it is. Evil, evil camera!!)

So funny story. Kevin and I had a bit of time to kill yesterday, so we went to Panera since they have free wireless internet (unlike Barnes and Noble who charge you a fee!!). Kevin was reading in one of the nice cushy chairs by the fireplace and I was looking at stuff on the computer, and then joined him in the other cushy chair and started knitting. After a few minutes, I felt someone watching me and looked up and there was a little girl about 7 years old standing about 3 feet away staring at me. So I said "hi." And she said "hi, are you knitting? what are you making?" I explained that I was making a sock although it looked kinda funny right now. And she told me how her grandmother knits and made her a turtleneck and some blankets. She asked some questions about how the yarn changes color and told me stories about her baby sister and her loose teeth. She was very fascinated by the knitting and very talkative. It was all very cute.

This all of course is in contrast to the 40 year old, mulleted dude who earlier saw me knitting and said "I gotta tell ya, you're the youngest person I've ever seen crocheting." That dude almost got a lecture.

Act III is completed with a little "cup" for your toes!



Act IV finishes the heel and creates a symmetrical object.


News Flash!!

The washer/dryer is finally fully installed and operational!!!! You can't see it in the picture, but the washer is running!!


I'm doing the happy dance with one sock on my foot (you'll see pics of the Grand Finale tomorrow)!

I completed the miles of grafting yesterday while watching the Mets and finished it off in the evening while watching my washer wash clothes for the first time.

What I love about this sock...
1. It was super easy and fast to knit. Nona's pattern is perfect.
2. The striping is awesome. From the couple of others I've seen around the web, a sideways sock appears to do awesome things to self-striping and variegated yarns.
3. It fits like a glove (er... well, a sock!).





Of course, my knitting of Nona's wonderful pattern is not flawless. I screwed up the first set of short-rows because I wasn't thinking when I did them. My paired decreases on both the toe and the heel had ladders down the middle. My paired increases are much too tight.





This particular Sidewinder will probably be an only child. The Trekking XXL has more than enough yardage to get three socks for my tiny feet. I'm going to experiment with leaving 1 or 2 sts between the decreases to try to eliminate the ladder, and likewise do the same for the increases to make them match. And I'll definitely concentrate harder while grafting because I did a pretty crappy job because I was just so excited to sockify it and try it on.

Thanks Nona for such an awesome pattern!!!! There will be many, many more Sidewinders in my future!

I've refocused my knitting mojo into the Twisted Flowers sock for my sockapalooza pal. I'm really itching to make more sideways socks, but I figured since this has a deadline I should make a little more progress before I toss it aside for a while. And of course, the next Rockin' Sock club kit is on its way sometime this week, so there will be more yarny goodness to play with.





Yes, you are seeing that correctly. I did a heel flap and gusset. My pal expressed a strong preference for the heel flap, and it has been a while since I've done it, so I figured that I would indulge her desires. It isn't the flap or turn parts that I dislike, I really dislike the gusset, although I do like the nice little diagonal line that the gusset makes.


I also decided to not knit the heel flap in pattern as per the instructions, and additionally to keep the top of the foot plain. My pal wants to be able to wear the socks with shoes, so I figured a plain heel and foot make that easier.


I just noticed the new Knitty is up! I'm really liking Coachella. Askew is cute as a vest, but who wants Noro next to their skin on a hot summer night! Unmentionables is interesting and appeals to me in the way the No Sweat Pants did so long ago.

Ok, so I took a break from the Twisted Flower to knit another sideways sock using nona's pattern.





I made a few changes to this one.

1. I knit 4 sts between the heel increases and decreases. This gave me a 6 st diagonal at the heel. I think in the future 2 sts between (for a 4 st diagonal) will be good.

2. I knit 2 sts between the toe increases and decreases giving me that 4 st diagonal.
Both of these changes look good and produce no laddering effects as with doing the decreases immediately next to each other. Additionally, the increases don't seem as tight and bunchy as when they are next to each other. The only problem is that toe diagonals are not sitting perfectly at the sides of my toes, but that's really more of an aesthetics problem.


I also eliminated 30 sts in the leg portion (and the short rows) to get an ankle length sock. I'm absolutely thrilled with the length of the sock. For some reason when I knit ankle lengths from the toe up, I never seen to get the perfect ankle length (usually because I get lazy and just cast off).


Now of course, I have yet one more lonely sock without a mate. Maybe if I'm up to it tomorrow, I'll take a picture of all of the lonely socks.

Well folks, here's the deal. I have 7 pairs of socks in various stages of completion. Starting at 12 'o clock in the picture and heading clockwise...


1. First ever Sidewinders sock (pattern by nona). The plan is that this was a test sock. A fresh pair will be knit with the Trekking. (Does that even count as a pair started then?)
2. Sideways Tiger socks. One sock complete. Second sock started and finished through Act 1.
3. Hot pink knee-high. Been sitting in the bag for ages. Needs some ribbing at the top to be finished. Sock 2 will be difficult because I don't think I have any notes on how I made this.
4. Green-blue-yellow. These socks were unearthed during moving. I started them loooong ago when I received them in a sock kit from a sock pal. I got really frustrated with the Susan Bates needles they were on and shoved them in the bottom of the yarn stash. They are now on Knitpicks needles and much happier. Of course, I lost the pattern and have zero idea of what it was. So these socks have a little "venting" feature at the toes, but will otherwise be plain.
5. Sockapalooza pal's Twisted Flower sock. Needs about 4 more inches and a toe to be finished. And then there's the second sock. But these have a deadline, so they have some priority.
6. Lucy sock in Socks that Rock yarn. I'm completely unexcited by this sock. I have no idea how many stitches I cast on or what needles I used. Maybe if I navigate back through my archives, I'll find that I was smart enough to leave a note to myself about needle size.
7. Strawberry Basket Socks. This is pretty. I like it. I hated knitting that basketweave. Again there's a problem of no notes and no indication of needle size.


Oh, and there's four mini-socks from when I was in a little knitting funk. (Those aren't getting mates).


Want to have a contest?


While I liked a few patterns in the new Knitty, I don't have any burning desires for big projects right now. In fact, I currently feel quite content to focus all of my energy on knitting socks. So here's the contest rules:


1. Email me at fairchild_kimberlyAThotmailDOTcom with the subject line BLOG CONTEST.
2. In your email, guess how many of the current 7 pairs will be finished and how many won't be finished. Also include how many new pairs you think I will start, regardless of how many of the new pairs I'll actually finish. (Hint on the new pairs: New Rockin' Sock Club kit comes in about a week or so and as you may have noticed I like starting and finishing those pretty quickly. Also, I have yarn for about 8 pairs of socks not yet started. Additionally, unless I hit the lottery, there will be little to no yarn buying through the rest of the summer, and yes that includes sock yarn). The time period will be from TODAY to AUGUST 18TH (just over 2 months).
3. Deadline for entering will be one week from today, June 23rd. Keep in mind while making your guesses that Twisted Flowers and Sideways Tiger are currently in my swift little knitting hands.


The prize? How about a pair of socks knit by me just for you? The person who is closest overall will be notified after August 18th to send me her/his foot measurements and color preferences. This of course means that you don't even have to be a knitter to join in the contest fun!


What are you waiting for? Send your guesses now!!

Please ignore my pale, pale leg. I hate using sunscreen (too sticky even when they claim to be non-sticky, and if I use it too often I get an allergic reaction) and so I hide from the sun as much as possible, thus the ultra-paleness.

Also please ignore the floppy toe. My actual foot ends about 2 inches from the end of the sock, so I can't really "fill it out" so to speak.

Now where did my motivation to cast on for the 2nd sock go...

Is it just me, or does anyone else always think of "A Christmas Story" when they hear about oneself or others receiving an award?





"Fra-gee-ley. That must be Italian!"


So here's the scoop. It seems that I've won some mysterious teaching award. I didn't know I was entered and I didn't know the award existed. In fact, I still don't know what the award is or why I won it. Yesterday morning I received an email from one of the secretaries congratulating me on my award and wanting to know if I wanted the money added to my salary or set aside for research expenses. I briefly wondered if it was spam, but since it was from the secretary considered that it must be legit. So I responded that I didn't know I had won anything and asked if she was sure it was me and not someone else. She didn't respond, so I spent the rest of the day and night wondering what this is all about. This morning I got to class and still hadn't gotten a reponse, so I enlisted the help of the super-secretary (she can solve all problems). After class, I checked my email and had responses from both of them. Basically, they have no idea what the award is for and why I got it other than I should have been notified by the Graduate School. But since I graduated and can't really use it toward research expenses, they will put through the paperwork so that it will go into my last paycheck. I have no idea if this is $5 or $50 or what. At this point, I figure I'll just say that I won a Major Award and stop questioning it.


Now maybe I can justify buying some yarn to knit Coachella from Knitty.


I still can't justify spending at minimum $70 a person to go see Bon Jovi at the new arena in Newark in November. What's killing me about it is that they are playing 10 shows!!! TEN SHOWS!! The nose-bleed seats are $70 (excluding the damn Ticketmaster fees and taxes). Jon, I love you, but that's ridiculous. I'd pay $50 for nosebleeds, I'd pay $35 and buy a t-shirt, but $70 a ticket to watch you be about the size of an ant, I just can't do it.


Hmmm...Can you include concert tickets on your Wedding Registry.....

The Sidewinders Tiger socks are finished. I finished grafting the toe yesterday. I really like these (and in real life they aren't blurry). The toe needs a little finagling because it is slightly askew from my adding extra stitches between the increases/decreases. I'm still in love with the nona's sidewinders pattern and I'm eyeing up yarn for the next pair.


This came in the mail yesterday...




It's the latest Rockin' Sock Club kit. The colorway is Firebird and the accompanying pattern is Solstice Slip. The Dyers notes talk about birds, birds, and more birds. Well, when winding this yarn I was about to give it another type of "bird". First it got all tangled on the swift and was winding waaaaay too tight. Then when rewinding loosely, the skein flew off the winder and created a new tangled mess. I did finally get it to behave, but I'm a little leery that the yarn may be cursed.


In other blog news, it looks like unfortunately I will have to cancel my little contest. Since only 2 people entered (and thank you very much for entering) and they had the same guess, it doesn't make for much of a contest. Sorry!

So Kevin is out of town for the day, and home alone I've been knitting like crazy on the new Firebird RSC kit. Then I thought it might be good if I left the apartment for a bit to give myself a break from the 90210 marathon. I did some searches online to figure out where my new LYSs would be located and came up with 2 in the range of 20-30 minutes away. Then I sat debating whether I should go and should I buy yarn, and maybe I should just stay on the couch. Just as I was leaning toward starting another episode on the DVD, Kevin called to tell me he was having fun and asked what I was up to. I explained that I was thinking about exploring and finding a new yarn store, but that I wasn't sure. Being the super wonderful fiance that he is, he said "go explore, get something for a new project!" With that I was out the door (after jotting down directions and few notes on yardage!)


I ended up at Flying Fingers (the store with the famous Yarn Bus). It was a cute little store. A little small, and very hot. The selection wasn't bad (you can get an idea of their selection if you check out the site). I ended up coming home with two yarns that I hadn't seen or touched before, but after touching, I knew that they'd be coming home with me!





The reddish one is Berroco Touche. The color is actually more towards the pink end than the maroon end (stupid camera). It is 50% cotton, and 50% rayon and sooooo soft. The white is Schulana Sojabama. It is 55% bamboo and 45% soy and also very nice to touch. My plan is to use the Touche for Coachella and to design a sleeveless top of my own from the Sojabama.

After posting yesterday about my new yarn, I wound up the Touche and knit and knit and knit. By about 11pm, I had the Front and Back of Coachella to the joining point. So I joined and tried it on, and it was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too big. I thought I would try to fix it by ripping out half and joining sooner. This somewhat worked, but the back was now too short. I decided to fix it with short-rows. By 1am I had the short rows completed and tried it on again. The back was perfect, front iffy, but I needed to sleep on it. Tried it on again in the morning, and the front is just huge. I ripped out the entire thing and contemplating making something else.

The yarn purchased to be Coachella has decided that it has other plans within itself. In fact, it has done a great job of guiding me in a "go ahead and wing it" design.


But now I'm stuck. The fit is good, the length is almost good (another couple of rows and a bind off and it will be good), and I like it. There are a few problems...





1. The armholes are too big. I was thinking some kind of picked up stitches under the arm and some short rows might be able to close it enough to be bra hiding.
2. The neckline is a wee bit low for my normal tastes. And I do really want to have a cowl-like type neck as in Coachella, but I'm not completely sure how to do that (I'm thinking picking up stitches and short rows might work here as well).
3. The shoulder straps are majorly curling under, which if fixable I'll fix, if not, I can probably live with.





I know I have some readers who kick-ass at designing things and other readers who are very creative thinkers. Any ideas on tackling the above three problems?


Some helpful details...
*My gauge is 14sts x 20 rows per 4 inches. That's 3.5 spi.
*The gauge is nice and drapey. And also a bit "open," which is why I'd like a bit of a "cover-up" neckline/collar.
*I have 2 skeins unused. I figure about 1/2 will be needed for the underarm fix and the rest can be dedicated to the neck.

(Sorry for the crappy in the mirror with no flash self-portraits!)

Woohoo! I finally got my Ravelry invite! I've been so jealous watching everyone else have fun on it. I've just entered my knitting needles (well, the ones I could locate) and I'm going to enter my books next. I surprisingly have no size 9 circulars, but 4 6s, 4 7s, and 5 8s!

Have you heard of Friday's Feast? I found this one day while blog surfing, and it seemed an interesting idea, especially for days without much other content.


Appetizer
How many pieces of jewelry do you wear most days?

I typically wear my watch, a necklace that Kevin bought me, and my engagement ring. If I remember, I'll wear earring. A tiny pair in the upper most holes, heart earrings from Kevin in the middle holes, and something dangly in the lower holes.


Soup
What is your favorite instrumental song?
"Moments in Love" by Art of Noise


Salad
Who has a last name that you like?
I'm pretty fond of my own last name.


Main Course
Name a popular movie you’ve never seen.
Pirates of the Caribbean (all of them)


Dessert
Fill in the blank: Nothing makes me ___________ like ____________.
Nothing makes me giddy like the prospect of french fries.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Over the weekend, I'll have knitting content and pictures for you!