Naughty blogger

Ok. I've been bad.

My socks are still where you last saw them. They are heel-less, and will remain so until I:

1. get a little bit of time to actually knit
2. finish with my classes
3. get over my fear of doing these heels because I think they'll have little gaps in them

However, we had a concert tonight that went smashingly well! Now that I don't have to worry about rehearsal time for a while, some knitting might actually get done.

Thank you for being patient, gentle readers.

And by the way, can you believe it's almost August? What on earth happened to this summer?

Tally Ho!

The socks are now ready for heels!


Ah yes, it's great to have no more exams for the summer!

Nothing to do with knitting

Ok.
Today I got to play doctor.

Check it out:



Yes, you are seeing that right. That's me putting a big long metal camera down someone's throat to look at their vocal folds.
And I didn't chicken out!

Hey there, wanna see my socks?

Ok, you needed an update.
The pooling continues, and I'm just learning to live with it...

Here's what I've got so far:
The soles (my favourite part!):


And my tops o' socks:




The lace pattern isn't picking up so well on the photos, but you get the general idea!

Once my exam is done on Tuesday, I'll have a lot more time for knitting. (And yay! I finished my paper!)

Truly, madly, deeply

There hasn't been much knitting... what with the exams and papers... but there has been shopping!

Oh yes, I am so in love with the package that came for me this morning:


You definitely need to go get your own!

Advice for Pooling?

Ok... I've got two toes again. And because nothing is easy, I've also got two of Cara's Shazams! (Also known as two pooling socks):


I think I'm doing a pretty ok job of moving around the pooling when it occurs... but the way I'm taking care of it means I'm going to have a whole bunch of ends to weave in. (Yuck.)

And I'm thinking I'm liking this pattern, which you can't really see yet, as it's a 28-row repeat... so it's still a bit of a surprise. So I'd love to keep it. But really, this pooling is just crazy.

See -- one yellow pooler:


And one pink pooler:

Yarn for the Cure...

Ok, knitters. As you may or may not know, Knitty.com has a team again this year for The CIBC Run for the Cure.

And in that spirit, the talented Danielle from No No Kitty Yarns is donating some beautiful hand-painted yarns and stitch-markers. I couldn't resist, the colourways are so gorgeous (black and pink or white and pink). Plus, all proceeds go to the Run for the Cure.

Here's what will be winging its way in my direction (with cheap and fast shipping!):



Mmmm... Kid Mohair.

Grrr... I have no toes.

Yep. No more socks. They got frogged.
I thought I'd do the Pretty Petals pattern top down. But guess what I've discovered? Now that I love toe-up so much, I never want to do top-down ever again!

So... we need a new plan.
Definitely a new toe-up plan.

Another thing to love about being in the States

There are tons of alpaca ads on TV.

And man, are they cute.

Oh, bother.

Pretty Petals so isn't working.
I rejigged it to make it work... because I'm doing toe up.
And discovered you can't just do that.

Grr.

turns out the ^ and the v make two different patterns, and you can't just start a top-down one from the bottom and expect it all to work out.

However, I think Pretty Petals would look awesome with this yarn.
So now the question is... do I start them again, and do them top-down? Do I find something else?

Maybe 11pm isn't the time to figure this all out... sigh. I guess I'll sleep on it until morning.

I got two toes...

I present to you a still life:


I call it: Two Toes, One Circular Needle and A Keyboard.
And honestly, I have no idea what pattern to follow next.

I think there may be ribbing across the top of the foot, but see... I'm stumped.

Any suggestions?
- Cables?
- Ribbing?
- The "Pretty Petals" design I've been thinking about?
- Something wild?
- One Sockapaloozer even did a palm tree - you'll have to scroll down to June 26 to see it, but it's a palm tree!

I just don't know.

I got one toe...

So everytime I think "Sockapalooza" I have to yell it in my mind. I don't know why, but apparently I'm very excited about the word itself!

What with all the studying, there hasn't been much progress. I am here to do intensive courses, not to knit... although I should try do something about that.

However, I present to you:

One toe:


And one Tangle of Dooooooom:


Tonight may involve detangling the centre-pull ball.
Why oh why did this happen? I just don't know...

Oh dear . . .

I have been thoroughly, thoroughly spoiled.

My Knitty Secret Pal is fantastically wonderful, and has managed to know just what I like! (She's also good at wrapping; everything was SO pretty!)

And that's a good thing. This was definitely the package I needed to make my day!

So of course, I'm sharing photos:

A book to keep me happy, and some gorgeous yarn:


In fact, I got a mountain of this yarn! There will definitely be a sweater coming out of this:


Oh, the cutest card in the whole world - with a puppy that looks just like Ben, the daschund I grew up with. Plus the prettiest scissors I've ever seen! (The instructions say to save them just for fibres... I'm definitely going to do that... and I think they're going to also be decoration once I'm at PennState):


A set of HANDMADE stitch-markers in blues/greens (sooo gorgeous!):




And probably my absolute favourite, the orange/reds:




Ok, now I really do have to get back to work, as tempted as I may be to just sit and play with wool and stitch markers all afternoon! I guess you can't knit just to get the chance to cut something, hey?

They're done!

Yep. In the spirit of Yarn Harlot, my socks came with me to the mountains on Saturday:


And so, my socks got finished!
Here they are in their sedate, natural state:


And on my feet:




So, for the wrap-up:
Yarn: Koigu PPPM. Oh man. This stuff is delicious!

Neeldes: 3mm (80cm long) Addi Turbo Circs

Pattern: 2 socks on one circ, toe-up following Stasia's Percentage-Based Toe-up No-Swatching Pattern plus some random cables (one on each side, and one up the back) - Yes. This pattern was a treat to knit. The figure-eight cast-on for the toes was my favourite part. And these were my first toe-ups. I don't think there's any other way now...

I still can't believe I have socks that fit me absolutely perfectly!

The yarn has landed

Well, I got my first package here in Denver yesterday -- and guess what? It was my merino sock yarn for Sockapal-2-za!

Oh yes.

There is much excitement going on.

In fact, there may be knitting in the mountains by lunchtime.