Hey look! More socks! I started these on Sunday, while in Michigan visiting the Fam. I decided to make them more interesting I would start both socks at the same time (but on separate needles) and sort of “race” them against each other. I knit one toe, then the other, then 10 rows on one, 10 on the other, and so on until I finish them. I was really hopeing to have these done lightning fast, and it was looking good, I knit practically all day Monday, and turned heels on Tuesday, and then, well hardwood floor took over my life.

Oh yes, the last 4 days of my life have been devoted to tearing up carpet, and pulling out 8o million staples, and a bunch of tack strips, not to mention cleaning like a women possessed. All in preparation for hardwood floor installation this weekend. My family came down from Michigan, and at 7 this morning, my dad, brother, and his buddy have been laying down flooring (we are nothing if not do-it-yourself-ers). It’s loud, my whole house is in utter chaos, my cats are terribly confused, and it will all be so totally worth it. Goodbye ugly shitty burber, hullo hardwood!

So, if you’re worried that you blinked, and missed Wednesday’s shop update, don’t worry, there wasn’t one. Likely it will be very slim for updates the next couple of weeks. The floors should be done by Monday, but I’ve got other home improvement plans in mind over the next little while.

And before I forget, the IS going to be a Fall sock club. I was so hoping to have sign ups ready by now, but, well, see above. I’m trying for tomorrow or Monday. This is how it will work, current members will have first sign ups, then depending on how many renew, I will have spots available for new members, and possibly open up more spots, as I think I can handle just a bit more than last time.

Filed by Julia at 8:34 am under Socks!
8 Comments

You know what? It turns out knitting man size socks isn’t so bad. For size 11 man feet anyway. I think these took about two weeks, knitting on and off. I finished them on Sunday. I powered through the whole freaking leg. I bound of at about 11 that night, I think, things were kind of blurry at that point. Brandt loves them, he put them on walked round and declared them winners. And then asked if I could do Argyles. What did I start?!?

Some Specs:

Pattern: My own standard toe ups with short row heels. Love knitting socks this way.

Yarn: Knit Picks Essential, 2 skeins Grass, 1 Skein Pumpkin. I still have a bunch of yarn left over too, I only used 28g of the 50g skein of pumpkin!

Needles: Knit Picks Circulars, 32″ Size 1, 2.5mm. Used Magic Loop style.

Overall: Love. You can read more about the beginning of these here.
And Ravel them here.

Next up for socks, guess.

If you guessed manly Steelers socks, you’d be correct. I dyed up a couple of skeins last week, and should be able to eek out Game Day socks for the both of us out of these.

Filed by Julia at 8:29 pm under General,Knitting,Socks!
10 Comments

My own handspun, “Seared Retinas”dyed by Funky Carolina,
and received in a swap between the two of us.

Yup, it’s Wednesday, and that means a Shop Update. Plenty of yarn in stock, in both my signature self striping, and there’s also alot of variegated.
This Wednesday’s update gets a proper post, because I expect to hit another shop milestone this week. That would be my 2000th order. !!! I can hardly believe it, in almost half the time it took to build up to the 1000th order, which was achieved last November, if I remember correctly.
To mark that occasion, I gifted that awesome lady (Hi Terri!) with custom dyed handspun sock yarn. This time will be no exception!
To my lucky 2000th customer, I will send 4oz of Handspun Superwash Merino sock yarn, dyed to their specs, to knit a completely unique pair of socks, that might pattern a bit like these.
This stuff is fun to knit with too, I’m working on a mountain of roving for myself!
So get over there, check it out, and Good Luck!

Filed by Julia at 2:32 pm under General,Stash Enhancement
9 Comments

One sock down! I think that was pretty good timing, I finished it on Wednesday, I think. Currently I’m halfway through the foot of the second sock. See the diff in size from my original sock to his? Crazy.

I decided to not rip out any of the first sock, and to knit him two brand new fresh socks. Fitting, I think. I’m still keeping the first sock as is, it is world traveled, after all.

Knitting socks for Man Size feet isn’t so bad. I think mostly because I like knitting socks for him, well, knitting anything, really, because he appreciates the time and effort and skill that go into these things, and wears them with pride. For instance. He was wearing the first one after I finished it, and we were watching TV, and he kept looking at the sock, and feeling the short row stitches of the heel. I asked if it was bothering him, if it was at all bulky, and he replies, “Oh no, I was just admiring the craftsmanship.” See? Worthy, I’m telling you.

Filed by Julia at 7:10 pm under Knitting,Socks!
8 Comments

A long, long time ago, I cast on this sock. It flew across the Atlantic with me to Europe last summer, had it’s photo taken in Amsterdam, Barcelona, and Venice. When I got back to the states, all I had to do to finish was to knit the orange at the top of the cuff. Trouble was, I couldn’t find the orange yarn. Anywhere. I’m still convinced it got left somewhere on the trip.

Months later, I finally ordered a new ball, this is Knitpicks Essential sock yarn, btw, in Grass and Pumpkin.
But still, I don’t finish the sock, so it gets hibernated in the stash somewhere. Fast forward months and month later, like, 4 or 5 days ago, I go stash diving for yarn for this, and unearth The Sock. What the hell, I’m almost halfway to a new pair of socks, so I bring it out, find the orange ball, and take stock of what I’ve done, try it on, and It feels a bit big. Count stitches. 68st. 68st? 68st?!!?

Now really, I don’t ever need more than 56-60st for my foot, a women’s 7.5, so I concluded I must have been drunk when I worked that number out way, way, over a year ago. As I’m deciding whether or not to rip the whole stinking thing out and be done with it (in disgust), it occurs to me that this too big for me sock might be a perfect fit on someone else.
The second that thought occurs, I run over to Brandt, assault his foot, and yep, we have perfect width, with a little lengthening of the foot, we’ll have a perfect fit. So how about that, I’m halfway to having a pair of man socks, the first pair for him too, when we didn’t even know each other when I cast them on? Like Cinderella, uh, some kind of manly version though.

Filed by Julia at 1:30 pm under Knitting,Socks!
12 Comments