Like a stuck pig.

Wash One:



Wash Two:



Wash Three:



Having noticed that my Uptown Boot Socks had turned my toes the tiniest bit green, I decided to give them a quick dip in some lukewarm water and dish soap before tossing them into the laundry with every other pair of socks I've ever handknit, just about. And hey - that was a good decision.

They don't look all that faded, but then again they're not completely dry yet. I was surprised at how dark the color was compared to how it looked on the Lisa Souza site, but maybe it'll be about where I was expecting now.

I am knitting on the same stuff I have been. Knit knit knit. Maybe one day I will finish something. And then I will show it to you.

and I can read the warning label on that can of crazy

This is where the sweater stands:



The yarn is what's called for in the pattern: Naturally Harmony 10-ply. And, if it weren't right there in the name, I'd have no idea this is a 10-ply - it feels as though it's felted. Not at all what I was expecting, but it's nice and light, sproingy, and not splitty at all. I think I'm about ready to start the part of the pattern with cables, and have temporarily abandoned this to tend to the roving bands of socks stalking the house. And re-find the issue of IK that the pattern's printed in.

My goal is always to have several socks at different stages of completion, so I can pick things up to fit the time I have. In reality, I end up places like here:



Start-o-rama = graftastic. I like grafting, though, so it's okay. I grafted (graft? grift? Wha?) these three toes today, and started each pair's mate. Also started the Tanzanite Silkie Uptown Boot sock for Mom, which is just ribbing at this point. Here's the Tanzanite, though:



The silk strand stands out more than I'd envisioned, but I like how it's knitting up just fine.

And to get philosophical about socks for a second, I've been thinking about toes recently. And realizing, now that I'm wearing these socks I knit up over the summer on a regular basis, that I don't really like the typical toe. It's pointy, and my feet are so not pointy - or, rather, the pointy part is not in the middle. I've taken to starting the decreases later and then leaving more stitches to graft (14 or so), but even that isn't really the shape of my foot. I think I'll try the short-row toe soon, but even that gives the same basic shape.

What my brain keeps veering toward is the idea that my feet are not identical, so why should my socks be identical? Hence, why don't I make a Righty and Lefty sock?

I'm already a bit - specific, let's say - about my socks, in that the left one always goes on first. I considered it a big step when, after knitting my first pair, I was able to put one on the left foot and one on the right foot without checking to see which one had a smidge bigger blue stripe at the top, which meant it was knit second, which means it belongs on the right foot. (See how uncrazy?) So the knitting two different socks seems like it might be a step down that slippery slope.

How do your toes fit?

...in fact I may be smooshing it a little bit right now

Ho-kay, so, Dream in Color Smooshy*? Is freaking awesome. If I didn't have four (FOUR) socks on the needles - and not a one of them second socks, all first socks - I would be casting on some of this right now. Recently I've been finding myself more drawn to semi-solids - or perhaps I just mean unusually frustrated with variegateds - and both the November Muse and Giant Peach colorways have such a pleasant, gentle color variation. My general attitude is that life is too short for solid-colored socks, but the variegated yarns are probably actually making my life shorter at this point, so semisolids it is. (My head knows that there are some really good uses for solid-colored yarn, but my heart says zzzzzzzzz...)



Over the weekend I made some good progress on the OSU house scarf (while AT an actual sports bar with my parents, watching the Buckeyes win - if that's not injecting good karma into the scarf, I don't know what would). It looks about the same as it did.

*Oh nooo... as I was linking this, I saw they've added new colors. Chinatown Apple, I want you! Deep Seaflower and Beach Fog: will you be mine?

Socks that what? Socks that ROCK.

Oh, Socks that Rock. First I had no socks in you and now I have three socks in you. Perhaps I could use to learn some moderation.



Here we have Uptown Boot Sock #2. Or the beginning of Pair #2, so Sock #3. Hopefully soon you will be seeing some Uptown Boot Sock #5 and #6 action too, because I've got some Silkie Tanzanite winging its way here to become a Christmas gift for my Mom, who love-love-loves purple. I'm ready to turn the heel of #3, but didn't have the book with me today.

Here, in kind of a weird shot, is Dreidel Pomatomus. In repose.



Dreidel Pomatomus, aside from a minor setback in which I completely just did the pattern wrong on the row to pick up gusset stitches and then proceeded not to notice for five more rows (for I am smooth), is going well.

(The third is a plain stockinette sock in Calico, Awesomest Colorway Ever.)

My main knitting problem right now is that I don't have time to knit, despite carrying my projects with me wherever I go. Every morning in my sleepy haze, I imagine some freak scenario that will give me no possible way to actually work (as in "my job, the one that pays the money") and hours of time to knit. Like... I have no idea. But remember when those people got trapped in their cars for like 10 hours when it snowed in Pennsylvania last year? My first thought was like, damn, that's a sock right there.

I am being disciplined and working at least a couple rows of the Buckeye House Scarf a day, although it's not going to go traveling with me any time soon. If you've ever worked with Cascade 220 Superwash, you've probably learned that the balls really need to be re-wound, despite looking all pretty the way they come. I didn't re-wind, and the ball exploded into a tangle of almost-knots and loops in my project bag, and I'm coaxing a few feet at a time out of the angry yarn nucleus.

Oh, yes, and with Christmas coming up and me being a kindhearted, generous knitter and all, I've decided that the time has come...



...to attempt knit myself my first sweater.

FO: Uptown Boot Socks

Yarn: Lisa Souza Sock! Merino
Pattern: Uptown Boot Socks (From IK Favorite Socks)
Needles: KPs 2.75mm, Brittany Birch 2.75mm
Modifications: Made the leg a little bit shorter and heel flap a little bit longer - nothing major.



Once I decided to cast these on next, I dragged my feet a bit - they for some reason felt onerous and complicated to me before I started them. Once I got going, though, I loved them. The repeat is a nice four rows (eight, but four if you consider that the one cable row is just offset every other time), which makes it a nice I've-got-20-minutes-to-knit project. The fabric it makes is just delightful - you can't really see the pattern until you put it on (no amount of stretching your hand out inside the sock makes the cables pop the same way).

The toe of this pattern fits better than any other toes I've knit.

I didn't really like the Lisa Souza Sock! Merino - It's thin, doesn't take frogging too well (and really, if you happen to be my sockyarn, you need to take frogging well), is splitty, and isn't horribly soft, at least in the skein. These needles were probably too big for the yarn, because if you look closely at the sock, you can see right through it. I'm wondering how it's going to wear, too.

I think Lime 'n Violet mention that one LS Sock! is a lot better than the other, and it must be that the Sock! is better than the Sock! Merino. Leave it to me to guess wrong.

Anyway, I'm really really happy with how these turned out, and I'm hoping they'll hold up.

fight the team across the field

This is a take on the Year 3-4 House Scarf from Charmed Knits. It's for my brother, who, the DAY before Christmas last year said casually to Mom, "I sure hope [orooni] knit me a scarf." This while I was in the middle of knitting a pair of Fetchings for my other brother, screwing up every possible part of the project and eventually presenting him with Fetchings about 3 sizes too small, which he seemed to like because they looked more "hobo" like that. ("Hey, pretend to warm your hands over a fire in a barrel. Yeah, there you go.") I also gave him a scarf, which actually did fit and didn't imply that he lived under a bridge.

But, so, Middle Brother wants a scarf. Middle Brother happens to be fanatically obsessed with the Buckeyes, so picking colors is never difficult.

I'd been kind of dreading 83 miles of single rib, but really, it's nice to be able to completely zone out. It's four moves: yarn back, forward to knit, yarn forward, forward to purl. Which turns out to be a great 1-3 kind of motion. Slap on an iPod, slouch a little, and voila, there goes my lunch break. Since my socks, which are supposed to be my meditation projects, are giving me lots of trouble right now (I'm looking at you, Koigu P1052), this is perfect.

I may be able to finish the Uptown Boot Socks tonight... with such a long gusset I've found myself surprisingly close to the toe. Here's hoping!