1/2 an FO! - Reprise

Well, here is sock #1 *again* LOL!

That’s all I’ve got time for today. I’ve gotta get caught up on work stuff after having company here for the last week. But, I’ll be back tomorrow with a tech post on how to continue patterns onto heel flaps as I’ve been getting an amazing number of e-mail questions on how to do such a simple thing and don’t have time to answer everyone individually.

MIA!

I know, I’ve been totally missing in action this week. My in-laws arrived for a week-long visit on Tuesday and that has kind of thrown my usual schedule out the window for the week. So, I’m *trying* desperately to get on track with lesson writing and such, but it has been hard having to work around other people’s schedules and such and I’m afraid I’m not going to have a lot of work time over the weekend either.

So, there has been very little knitting. I’m about three inches from starting toe decreases on Heatwave sock #1. Which, of course means that not only do I know have a lot of blogging time, but I don’t have much to blog about either.

I will be responding to Snow’s tag on the book meme, but I’ll do so over at my Culture Catalog blog. I’m hoping to reward myself with a break this afternoon at some point and hopefully will post my answers over there during that time. Following the holiday weekend I should be back to a little bit more of a regular schedule.

Surprise!

The big surprise was that I had a spinning lesson from the very generous Snow on Sunday! This is my very first handspun using a wheel. Very “rustic” as DH so politically put it when I came home and showed him. But, considering it was the very first time I had ever sat at a wheel, I’m pretty happy with it. I now know the feeling of when I’m drafting and controlling the twist properly. I can’t do it consistently yet, but I know that is just a matter of practice. Now that I know the proper feeling it should only get better from here, right? :-) The next step is to pick a wheel and get it ordered!

The minor surprise was that I knit an entire sock on Friday and Saturday night…

However, I ended up not being happy with the gauge at 5.5 sts/inch so I’ll be frogging it. Last night at SnB I tried my hand at some adjustments to the overall pattern and I now have a three inch cuff…

These are using Cascade Fixation. The first uses US4′s and the second uses US 2.5. My gauge on the 2.5′s is about 8 st/inch and I think I will like the hand of the foot much better at this gauge. I’m calling the pattern “Heatwave” because I started them in the middle of a very early and hot heat wave here in Colorado and since they are cotton with shorter cuffs and have a wave-like pattern I think it is quite apppropriate.

Well, today is crunch day for the week and since DH stayed home from work yesterday to prepare more for his parents’ arrival for their week long visit I really need to get to work…

*Sigh*

Just when you most need it your camera batteries die, don’t they??

I was going to have a very exciting post today, complete with pictures, but when I went to photograph things when I got home from water aerobics there was just enough juice for it to turn on and shut back off… Unfortunately despite the fact that I have what is called a “Rapid Charger” it takes about 4 hours for the batteries to charge.

So, I’m sorry you’ll all just have to wait with baited breath for photos tomorrow. And, I’m not even going to tease you about what those photos might be of. Unless you know me in real lif, chances are you’ll never guess! :-)

FO Friday!

Regia Stretch
Sz 2 DPNs, 9 st/in, CO 72
~36,000 stitches total

I took Wednesday off and didn’t knit a stitch! But, last night I finished all but the Kitchner and I did that this afternoon after going to water aerobics and attending to my online classes. So, they are done! Monster man socks in camoflauge colors are complete.

Now, the real test will be to see if DH actually ever wears them. Camo isn’t really his sort of thing, though the colors in general all, I guess just not all together like that…

Despite it resembling camoflauge, I’m quite happy with these socks overall. The varigation does what it should do and there is no unsightly pooling of flashing - even in the gusset area! This makes my heart sing! I wish I knew the secret :-) I hate pooling and flashing colors, especially when it changes so drastically in the gusset area. And I’m not too fond of having to work two balls at the same time, as it reduces the portability of a sock project. Getting accustomed to the stretch was a bit of a challenge and I’m not overly fond of the fact that the elastic is the center strand with the wool plied around it. But I would probably use it again if I came across it on sale in favorable colors. Though I guess we’ll see how it wears/washes (if DH wears them).

What’s up next? You mean other than pulling Skyway out from beneath my bed and finishing it? I think sock-wise I’m going to pull out the Cascade Fixation that Snow so generously gave me for my birthday. As I sit roasting in my 77 degree bedroom with a hot laptop on my lap I think of how lovely cotton socks would be this time of year. And, seeing as I just finished a pair of socks that had elastic in the yarn I think my hand should be primed for working with Fixation.

I am a bit stymied on what size needles to use. I’ve poked around and seen from US 2 - US 6 being used. I tend to be a bit tight when on DPNs so I’m going to go for middle of the road US 4 for my first swatching and see where that has me. I did also read a suggestion to actually wash and dry your swatch and I’m a bit impatient for that. That person said they have a 1 st/inch difference, but they didn’t say in which direction. Anyone know?

Well, I’ve been *very* productive this week so I think I’ll be rewarding myself with a slightly shorter day today and knit. After I take a cool shower to cool down…

There may be a very exciting post on Monday, so check back…