See my Stansfield #12s Blocked!

Well the socks that made my hands red made nice pink bubbles when I gave them a bath. I stirred and I swooshed them around and rinsed them three times. I threw in an 1/8 of a cup of white vinegar and that seemed to help lots.

I put them on my Blue Moon Fiber Arts sock blockers and put them on a towel. They dried quickly and nicely and into the most beautiful shape! Me, the skeptic, 'why block socks'? Well, they come out great...and make for nicer photos than feet.

So lovely they were, so shapely, so beautiful, almost ... like roses.

Tomorrow, update on Iris Afghan, review of the yarn I used for these socks and pictures of my Monkey!

Blue Moon Fiber Arts Package Pour Moi!

Today, I went to my NYC office for a little Holiday get together for our staff. We all brought in goodies and lunch things to eat. We had pumpkin cake, carrot/jello salad, blondies, grape leaves, flan, banana bread, pasta salad, pizza and empanadas. Yummy!

Ok, I am done with NYC until maybe once in the winter. I came home to this.

My STR came today!

A nice big box, and this was what was inside:

Comon gang, Brenda Lee voices, please, "Blockin' around the Christmas Tree, have a happy holiday..."

And then I tried them out with Stansfield #12 knitted in the kangaroo dyer's yarn from Webs:

Don't they look delicious?

And, my Monkey, WIP:

And, some socks to be:

That Spinel (far left) is nice and green not nice and blue. It's calling to me...Here there be Dragons Sock pattern from the Keyboard Biologist?

Ah, life is good.

Merry Christmas to all of you in Sock Cyberspace.

Stansfield #12 is Completed!

Hurray, another finished object to show you!

Pattern: Stansfield #12 from More Sensational Knitted Socks

Needle: Knitpicks Options, size 1, 2.5mm

Yarn: Valley Yarns Franklin, Cherries

Gauge: 7 sts per inch, 56 casted on

Date Started: 11/3/07

Date Completed: 12/6/07

They even fit! Well, I do think that I could've gone SLIGHTLY larger, maybe just a few more stitches. When I block these on my new sock blockers that aren't here yet, we'll photograph them again. I love them. I love the color. I love the yarn except that I am anticipating TONS of dye coming out of them when I wash them.

I almost entitled this post, "Want More Cherries" but I was frightened at what kind of hits I would get. However, this is lovely yarn and the color is just gorgeous and it feels lovely even though it hasn't been washed yet. I expect that it will soften up alot.

Well, time to go and rouse the children and get them off to school. It is VERY cold today, Jack Frost has been here and everything. It is only 22 degrees.

I am considering making a goal next year: knit 11 pairs of socks. Let's see how that goes. One a month and I'll give myself a month off for vacation. It's fun, sock of the month club.

Stay tuned for info on the next project, an update on the iris afghan and tales of woe from my aquarium.

Stansfield #12 and the First Snowfall

Well, it is beginning to look alot like Christmas. This morning, I got out of bed and went into my bathroom and it was dark. I was thinking that maybe the inevitable happened. THE THING that will happen, some day, according to my DS who is only five years old and worldly. He often asks me, "Mom, when will the sun go out?". There was nothing coming through the skylight. I looked out my front door and saw it.
Frost on the pumpkin, snow on the grass. Oh my. Christmas is coming and I'm still doing Halloween.

Well, it's been a rough week. The Christmas HOLIDAY party was on Thursday night. That means that I missed knit night. I had not one drop of alcohol and was in bed by midnight. I had one of the worst hangovers that I can ever remember on Friday. Needless to say, we did not do alot of work that day. I went to bed at 5:30PM on Friday night and got up at 7:30 on Sat STILL with headache. By 11AM Saturday, I felt better. This is pitiful. My non-drinking ability is really slipping!

And, to get all that extra sleep Saturday night to 'catch up' really put the icing on the cake. I thought I would have Stansfield #12 done by now. Instead, I have a nice picture of the eye of partridge, nearly complete, heel to show you.
It is very lovely to look at, a treasure to behold. I am really liking this yarn but I wish that I made this sock a tad larger. Oh well, plenty of more chance to make socks, God willing. The heel isn't as durable as regular heel stitch but is IS pretty.

I'm going to get with the program and try and get this sock done within the next couple of days. I am thinking about sending Miss Ruby Slippers Stansfield #16 to the frog pond for being too big. We'll see.

Stay tuned, I have a special surprise FO to show you for my next post.

And, lurkers, you know who you are, I would be so happy if you would leave me a small comment. I like them, I get so excited, I jump up and down and say, "Ya hoo!" I know you're out there but you never say a thing. I want to know your thoughts, what you're thinking about my blog, all sorts of things!

Stansfield #12 Sock Update

It's been a whirlwind! I was thinking last week that I would hit my 100th post by now but I didn't make it. This is 97 or so. I have been entirely overwhelmed with the usual suspects. Work, bill paying, work, kiddies, work, laundry, the puppy. So, for post 97, we'll show my sock. This is a snug fitting sock. I lied to you the other day, the gauge is on the Valley Yarns Franklin Sock label. Next time, I'll know better and use more stitches. It looks skinnier than it is, it DOES fit, albeit snug. The fabric is stretchy. Upload, crappy picture... I'll have to take a better one soon. As you can see, sock one is done and sock #2 is well on it's way. I'm getting up to the part that we all love the best, the gusset! Where one is obligated to pay attention.

I'll have to take a close up and show you the nice eye of partridge heel that I did on this. The color is beautiful and I get to enjoy it all day because it comes off on my fingers. I walk around and everyone thinks that I just ate pistachio nuts.

I just can't get any natural light this morning. The sky looks like this:

Ya know, that's what it looks like in northern Alaska for a very good part of the year. Actually, I like it, it's beautiful. Yesterday's was even better. Dark clouds with an edge of clearing and colors. A true fall sky. BUT, bad blogger that I am didn't have my camera. I will most certainly take it today!

Tonight is our department's (about 200 will go) Christmas "HOLIDAY" party. We are all working on Secret Santa ""WINTER WISHES" letters.

Politically correct, you know.

Well, it's still early enough to go knit . Wait, can't offend the other crafters out there!

Ugh..Do needlework?

Myths & Legends

To get the flu shot or not? Every year, I get a flu shot. DS and I have asthma. I do not want to get the flu. Having had the flu in the past, it is truly an unpleasant experience. So, I get the shot.

I will not bore you with the controversy but everyone has their opinion on this. "My wife got the flu shot and died that night" "I got mono from the flu shot" "The flu shot nearly killed me". But seriously, it is hard to link the flu shot to these things in most cases.

I got the flu shot Thursday at 4PM. I got a sore throat at 5:30 PM. On Friday, cold symptoms, feeling ok, runny nose. Friday night at 9PM, congested, badly congested. This morning, worse.

Coincidence? Myth or Legend?

In any event, DD and DS are at karate. I have exactly 30 minutes of sanctuary. DH is off teaching music lessons for the next 5 hrs. I am going to have to entertain the children in a little while. I think we'll make cookies or an apple pie or more soap.

I should be napping. Or knitting.

Onward to other things. This morning, I read some blogs, finally. I am happy that the harlot has some nice sweater pictures amont the little snowflakes. Ah, beauty of nature. I am sad that Grumperina has to rip out those lovely Bavarian socks. They're gorgeous! I am proud of Elizzabetty for posting everyday, even if it gives all of her readers a beautiful shot of my triple chin. It's called a 'waddle', isn't that what a turkey has? My mother had it and even my little daughter has it. We're fat necks. I wonder what Katherine Hepburn was hiding under that scarf? I suppose I could have it sucked out with liposuction but that's not something I would do. I remember when someone I worked with did it though and it looked great, after a month. She came back to work 10 days after the procedure and looked like she went 10 rounds with Sonny Liston.

In addition to feeling crappy, I got my braces tightened and three braces replaced. The two front teeth and one tooth are killing me. I am sneezing, have sore teeth and tired. A perfect day to knit!

Well, thank you everyone for listening to my complaints. Now, let me show you my stuff! My currently unfinished objects. Socks without toes! First up, Jaywalkers. Nearly done. Twins. Need toes. I have been working on these for months. I have recently unknit the toes and need to fix them and finish these once and for all.

Ah, the lovely spindle socks. So, what do they need? To be kitched. You'd think that I would finish them?

The lovely and beautiful Iris Afghan. Photographed for you in natural light in my messy room. You can see DD's little sweater in the pile of junk behind my glider. I love this afghan. I am sure that baby-to-be will like it very much as well.

Elizzabetty on the LIRR, fall leaves whizzing by. (she has one of me and I have one of her. The other riders thought we were tourists instead of seasoned commuters.) Below, Stansfield #12, commuting to NYC, with train ticket!

Stay tuned for more exciting pictures tomorrow in which I flash my stash and complain some more!

Punkinhead and the Three Socks

Once upon a time, deep in the forests of suburban Long Island, lived a little knitter. Her name was Punkinhead. Now, one day, she wanted to knit a pair of red socks. Her pal, Elizzabetty, who spent a lot of time in the far reaches of the northlands, got her some nice sock yarn from Webs. It was magic sock yarn, as it had been dyed by a lady who also dyes kangaroos. This magic allowed the sock yarn to possess strange powers. It was Valley Yarns Franklin and the color was Cherries. Click here for illustration.



This being special sock yarn, Punkinhead decided to do something special with it. She decided to do a picot hem. Now the kangaroo lady didn't have enough time to recommend a needle size or give a hint as to the gauge on this sock yarn, so, Punkin knitted a small swatch. 8 sts per inch. She decided to try a picot hem and casted on 72 sts for a sock. A nice knitted cast-on to start.








That looked about right. And she set on her way..It was a nice sunny day and everyone was out of the house. A good time to knit and enjoy the beautiful natural light streaming from the windows.




By and by, the sock was joined to knit in the round and 4 rows were knit and the picots were made and all was well in Punkin's World. However, this sock looked MUCH TOO BIG. So, she continued on her way to see if she liked the picot hem top and knit some more. After all, this was a 450 yard batch of yarn and a Christmas Stocking it could be...



The bottom stitches were picked up onto a DPN and then the cast on edge was knit together with the live sts and voila, a gorgeous, albeit large picot hem cast on. "Lovely", she exclaimed.



Just then, the knitting fairy appeared. The knitting fairy told her that this sock wasn't ever going to be loved. It would live its life at the bottom of the sock draw. Destined for a life of slouching and bunching up in her arch. So, she ripped it out....



She decided that she still wanted 72 sts cast-on sock so she casted on using her size 0 needle instead of the 1.5 one. "That should be just right!".



Well on her way, the size zero seemed to be making a sock that was also too big but less big then the first one. She decided to continue. Then, two inches into the sock, magic looping along, she tugged on the cable to start the next row and lo and behold, only the cable was in her hand. "It is an omen", she thought, "this sock is just not meant to be. So, she ripped it out.... The next day will be better...



The very next day, she cast on using the 1.5 needle and only 56 sts and started a new sock. Thinking that this was going to be the exact size she needed, she used the magic yarn. The knitting fairy had cast a spell on this yarn and gave it the strange powers to magically change gauge. This was unbenknownst to Punkin.

She knit and knit and knit. Soon the sock looked like this, a little tight.

The sky looked like this and it was getting to be bedtime.

So she went to bed and soon she was fast asleep. That night, the knitting fairy returned. She saw how Punkin had worked so hard on this sock and felt sorry for her. She whipped out her fairy dust and sprinkled it on the sock and the yarn. The gauge changed back to 8 sts per inch.

The next morning, Punkin awoke and tried on the sock. "It fits, it fits", she exclaimed, "although a little snug, this sock will work". "I'll block it on sock blockers and love it just as I would had it been a 72 inch sock". And she was very happy. And the sun shone brightly in the forest that day and all the knitters were very, very happy.

Sock stats: Valley Yarns Franklin in "Cherries". Stansfield #12 from More Sensational Knitted Socks, 56 sts cast on.

Editor's Note: Knitpicks Options needle size 0 is a very small needle indeed yet the cable is joined well. After a phone call to customer service, Knitpicks has sent off a new needle, not a problem and free of charge. Excellent needle and excellent customer service. These needles are highly recommended for their price, durability and performance.