I plan to switch from Movable Type to Wordpress in the next month or two. Once I do that my old feed won't work any more. I've setup a feedburner feed that will transfer when I make the move. You can point your RSS reader to the blog right now (the feed link has been updated), and if you need the link itself here it is.
I'm all prepared for the Ravelympics tomorrow night! I have my patterns, yarn, and needles. I've had the projects picked out for weeks now and it's been so hard not to CO right. now.
My goal is to knit 2 pairs of socks in 17 days - roughly a pair a week. With President's Day on Monday I'll have 7 weekend days out of the 17 Olympic days. When I say it like that it sounds so simple, right? Piece of cake. Do you convince yourself of craziness like that too?
I purposely selected 2 simple patterns - both are just St st - because I LOVE watching the Olympics and can't imagine needing to keep track of a stitch pattern or read a chart at the same time. Plus, I'd never get two pairs done if they were patterned. Oh yeah, and I'm using stash yarn exclusively.
I'll be representing two teams - Team Tufty from the Sock Knitters Anonymous (SKA) group and Team Knitmore from the Knitmore Girls podcast.
The pair for Paul is St. Peter Port Stripes from Folk Socks by Nancy Bush. Grey for the main color, blue instead of the black stripe, and orange instead of the white stripe. I can't wait to do that little latvian braid!
The pair for me is also a Nancy Bush pattern - Hiiumaa Mismatched Mates from Knitting on the Road. I'm using leftovers from my Baktus (about a half skein of each) of Creatively Dyed Calypso.
Have any of you knit socks out of Calypso? It seems a little thick for my standard sock gauge.
Almost exactly 24 hours until CO. Are you ready yet?
I plan to switch from Movable Type to Wordpress in the next month or two. Once I do that my old feed won't work any more. I've setup a feedburner feed that will transfer when I make the move. You can point your RSS reader to the blog right now (the feed link has been updated), and if you need the link itself here it is.
My first FO of the year.
Pattern Child's First Sock in Shell Pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks
Yarn Tess Yarns Supersock and Baby approx 370 yards
Needles 1-24" US 1.5 (2.5mm) circ
For a relatively simple sock I did a lot of frogging - the ribbing, the short row heel (the first time I didn't center it), and an unnecessary attempt to add mini gussets above the heel (I didn't need extra fabric afterall).
Mods
- My first CO was too tight to go up far enough on my calf. Since I liked the fabric I got on the 1.5's I didn't want to go up a needle size, so I added one more rep on the leg.
- I did a short row heel with 10 sts left unworked
- I reduced down the extra leg rep by working mini gussets of 6 sts per side
- Nancy's toe is more pointy than mine is. I was feeling nostalgic so I wanted to try her toe but I'll stick with mine from now on.
This FO helps me with three goals for 2010 as well - stash yarn (why was this in my stash for FOUR years?!?), neglected pattern books (I can't believe I never got around to making a design out of this book), and knitting more socks. I also knit this as a part of the Sock Knitters Anonymous January Challenge (btw, what an *awesome* group).
I have 3 pairs planned for February - my two Olympic pairs (more on that later this week) and my SKA February challenge. My goal is to knit 5 pairs before Maryland, and with these I'll be at 4. I have a few sock UFOs too and they'll count as well so I should be all set for Maryland.
Who else is in the Olympics this year?
I've joined the Knitting Olympics this year. I didn't join last summer's and I missed it.
I've been thinking a lot about what I want to do but I haven't come up with THE thing yet.
I could focus on my single socks - I have six singles right now. Challenging? Yes. Enjoyable? No. Ok...nix that.
I could pick a sweater's worth of yarn from my stash, but guess what? I don't have many sweater quantities of yarn any more (I've been selling off most of them because I'm not interested in them any more). The few that I do have probably need to go on the selling block too.
It's not speaking to me though.
So, what we get to (yet again) is working some more of the sock yarn stash. Knitting Child's First Sock has reinvigorated my love for Tess yarn. So much so that I want to be able to buy more Tess Sock yarn at MDSW in May.
Yep, I'm fully aware of the nonsense that that statement makes when paired with my "reduce sock yarn stash" goal.
My latest thinking is to get through enough yarn for 2 more pairs of socks during the Knitting Olympics. Leading up to it I may even try to knock out at least 1 of my sock WIPs.
How much sock yarn do I need to knit through to be able to get some more Tess in May? I'm thinking at least 5 pairs of sock yarn - that's over 1 per month. Doable, but not easy. Guess I best get knitting.
