Frog Bavarian Socks?

Bavarian Socks, should they stay or should they go? Isn't this a beautiful color Teal? Nice stitch definition, as always, from my beloved Cherry Tree Hill.

Hmmnn....I've been working on these for a few days now and you can see how slowly it is going. I can do the cables without the cable needle for the most part but it's SO tiny and still quite easy to drop a stitch with this slippery little yarn. The problem? I don't like the fabric. It's really lumpy to have cables on a sock leg. I haven't ripped it out yet but as I was knitting, I was thinking how nice this yarn would be for Embossed Leaves. The second problem? Embossed leaves uses little yardage. It seems such a waste to make it out of this beautiful teal Cherry Tree Hill yarn. Sorry that the picture is a little blurry, I was trying to crop out that hair at the top, I seem to be shedding again. Why do only the brown ones fall out?

In the meantime, Karen of the Village Knitter e-mailed me yesterday to tell me she has a hank of Dream in Smooshy In Vino Veritas for me. Isn't it gorgeous? I have seen some dark wine and some mauve so I don't know what I'm getting. I am very tempted to bring my needles and make something out of it tonight. My issue with Smooshy is that my other pair grew in length and width when washed. It just stretched and stretched right over the top of my sock blockers. I nearly have Froot Loop Kilt Hose.

They grew nearly 2.5" in length and you can even see how they got wider and longer by looking at the holes between the stitches. This was taken when they were wet and they did shrink back a bit but I still don't know how happy I am with them.

I must say, you know what I really like, as far as sock yarns? Valley Yarns Franklin. It may not be as soft as some others, a little on the coarse side when you start to work with it but softer after washing. I wish it came in nearly solids. That would make me so happy. At 450 yards for 20 bucks, discountable at Webs, you just can't beat it. I can get a pair of socks out of one hank and still have enough left over to make a baby pair for little Boobette. She'd be thrilled with the purple ones....

In other news, I taught DH how to make bread. He doesn't follow directions fully so he had a little sinking in of the top yesterday but for the most part, he's getting good at it. Here's his first loaf. (Ok, ok, I twisted it for him but he did the rest by himself!)

In other news, ponderings... the next debate is to be held at Hofstra University. My friend works there in a prominent position. Hmmn, do you think she could get me in? Do you think I could get close enough to actually say, "Here, hold this"? Which color would look the best with John or Barack? It'd be really hilarious to photograph them with a yarn named "In Vino Veritas" (translates to "in true wine") Hofstra is a mere 15 minutes from my house on a good day. Realistically, I could be standing next to the next President within, say 45 minutes of leaving my house, knitting in tow. I wonder how you get in? Invitation? Do they give out bracelets like American Idol or a Rock Concert? I would be honored...I could go Kinnearing. Regardless of who I have decided to vote for, I find it amazing that anyone has the gumption and drive to actually run for this office. The other thing is, considering what you have to deal with the salary is awfully low. ($400k, used to be alot less only a few years ago but they gave him a raise.) I may not agree with everything that Sarah Palin says (or does, for that matter) but I really admire her, too. She's working her way up the political ladder and she's a woman......do you think she knits? She might knit, it gets cold up there in the land of the midnight sun. And how about her beautiful family? They're so pretty, all of them. Ok, she names the kids with almost hippie names, Bristol, Trig, Track, Piper, Willow. Track and Trig are named after classes in school. I like the name Piper Palin for some reason. And, one more thing, she's distant cousins of FDR and Princess Diana. I think that may make her related to Nancy Reagan somehow who is also distantly related to the royal family. In fact, many people are distantly related to the Royal Family but I'm not one of them.

OK, stay tuned for an update on Shawl Collar Sweater!

Bavarian Socks

I started a new pair of socks. I know, I haven't sewn my sweater together yet but I can't do that at night, the lighting is bad and I have to be fully awake. I haven't even done the shoulder seams yet. This weekend...promise. It'll be sewn, collar knitted and fully blocked. I will get up at 5AM to work on it this Saturday and have the collar done by lunchtime if we don't go pumpkin picking.

(Crappy out of focus picture in fluorescent lighting.)

I have been thinking about knitting this pair of socks for the longest time. I knew that I wanted to make them out of Cherry Tree Hill because you get alot of yardage. There are 72 sts casted on so it can't be a fatter yarn. It also has to be a smooth yarn so the cables look beautiful. CTH it is. I really think that this is my most favorite yarn. I do like knitting with STR but they're so skimpy, the price went up and I hate the feeling of "I'm running out of yarn" which would certainly happen with this being it's a cable pattern. I wanted to choose a lighter color but only had this one, burgundy and lilac in my stash. I nearly went with the lilac, which was already wound into a ball. Instead, I chose this and had to wind it three times before I had no tangles. Lord knows why, it must've been the gremlins again attacking my ball winder. It's easier to do this with a lighter color but I think the teal will look really nice. We'll see.

In any event, I casted on last night and knit the cuff. I am doing these one at a time (SURPRISE!) because the pattern is very obvious and it'll be easy to count the rows. Also, I couldn't deal with the ball winder yesterday, I was very tired.

Time to do some e-banking before my bank fails!

Lost Leaves .. a New FO.

Another pair of socks in a week. I've finished the Embossed Leaves. As suspected, the pattern is lost in the yarn. Sigh...
But here they are in their heavenly completion:

Embossed Leaves

Start Date: July 20, 2008

End Date: July 26, 2008

Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome, Birches colorway

Knitpicks circular, Harmony US 2, 2.75mm

The jury is out as to whether or not I like this CTH Sockittome. It's got nylon in it, which isn't a bad thing. It almost feels acrylic-ish though. I'll see how it is after it has its bath. It is loosely spun and tends to split from time to time. The colors are beautiful though. I have three hanks of it which I bought on clearance when a store was going out of business last year. So, have to use it up! I like the more tightly spun yarns, they show the stitches better.

What's next? Smooshy Froot Loops, anyone?

How Much Do You Knit?

I should've joined the 52 pair plunge. I don't think that I would make it but I keep checking out the knitters and watching it, I'm like, ... glued. It's more exciting than the Olympics. Some people are off to a late start and some are on pair 10 already. Imagine, knitting 10 pairs of socks since Memorial Day? Geez Louise.... Some people knit '16 hrs a day' on the weekend. I wonder how much I knit?

How much do you knit? Maybe this week, (being I'm a math nut and find such things 'fun') I will keep track. I know that I knit an average of 4 hours a week in the morning. In the wee hours, before work. Sometimes, I walk on the treadmill and sometimes I blog, which would take away from knitting time. Then, I knit at night. Possibly three hours. Maybe a little less. Let's say that I do that almost every night. So, maybe 24 hours a week is spent knitting. That's one whole day and only a little less than half of what I spend working. Wow. It's like a part time job. No wonder I can't keep up with my housework, yard work, children's activities.....Then, there is all that time I spend glued to Ravelry minding everyone else's business, checking out what they made and in what color to see if I should do something similar or completely different...Oh well, time to show you my Embossed Leaves Socks which I started the other day.

Here's the cuff....

And here's what they looked like this morning....

Not that much done. Sunday night, I made a mistake, although I can't figure out for the life of me what I did. I didn't photograph it (because I didn't want to hear you howl with laughter) but I had a giant hole. I keep knitting along, too, thinking it would either heel when I wasn't looking or 'work itself out'. It didn't. Soon my leaves would be called Swiss Cheese Socks. So, I had to rip back about seven rounds on one of the socks, separating them and then putting them back together. That's always fun....thankfully, things are moving along swimmingly now.

This is Cherry Tree Hill in the Birches colorway. I don't know why I wasn't smart enough to knit this in a solid. I just don't have suitable yarn in my stash and it really is in need of an enhancement. Anyway, I like the colors in this. It reminds me of the sunlight going through the leaves in the springtime. There is some colors of the new leaves, the white light and some browns for the shadows. It's beautiful. This is Sockittome. Don't let it fool you, the yarn is thick and fat but when you knit with it, it goes skinny on you so don't think it's more of a heavyweight than it is. It's not. It has some nylon in it and it doesn't have as tight of a twist as the supersock but it's nice! Supersock is possibly my favorite sock yarn. It has excellent stitch definition, the multis don't pool, the colors are nice and there is adequate yardage for a pair of socks for people with chubby legs and feet.

I am a little further along than this picture and if the kiddies go to bed early (and stay there) I can do another repeat (16 rows) and start the heel flap if I'm not too tired.

I leave you with a poor photo of my blooming Lily.

Greetings from Sock Heaven!

I'm so happy! I finished my Spinel Spring Forward Sock! YAY!
Pattern: Spring Forward - knitty.com
Needle: Knitpicks Options - size US 1.5 - 2.5mm
Yarn: Socks that Rock Lightweight, Spinel
Date Started: July 12, 2008
Finished: July 19, 2008
Gauge: 7 sts per inch


They're super nice. This is an easy lace pattern, more of a snap than Monkey although I think that I like Monkey better. I am not so sure that I like it in the variegated yarn. I loved it in the beginning and was falling out of love with it in the middle. I was back in love with them after I put them on. According to Elizzabetty, it takes that with lace. "Lace Socks tend to look like Shar Peis until you try them on." Words of wisdom. See my little Shar Peis?


No sooner did I put them on that I decided the next project would be Embossed Leaves with long tail cast on, twisted rib and there is NO WAY I am breaking the yarn after the heel flap so stay tuned. That just seems silly to me. Especially in a place where (EEK!) one could possibly get a hole at a later date.


I couldn't decide whether to do these in a solid or a variegated and the Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome that I bought last year has been burning a hole in my dwindling stash lately. I wanted to try it out. I don't have a solid but for some reason I thought I had Cherry Blossom, which is more white than anything else. I have birches. BUT, look what they did to me!

The label lies:

ahem.... The scale doesn't. (Unless it's weighing me, of course.)

Yes, I weighed the entire thing before I started to wind it up and yes both of my yarn cakes weigh 45 grams so I'm good and should have plenty of yarn. But 9 grams is alot to be shy! Those Cheapskates. Weasels. Infidels. AND, this is my favorite yarn, more so than STR because it's thinner and nicer to actually wear. I like CTH, Valley Yarns Franklin and STR. In that order.


Let's see how this goes. This yarn looks really fat in the hank but smooshes down like the Smooshy when you actually knit with it. The twist is looser than STR and CTH Supersock. I'm liking the colors alot! It's Birches.


Stay tuned for pictures of my newest WIP!