I'm a Winner, at Least in My Own Mind

Pair of Campanulas
Originally uploaded by sunasak

Yay, there are now two, count 'em two, Campanula for the Cure socks and thay are on my feet. The picture isn't great, but I was in a hurry to take it, because I thought maybe I'd be the first person in the KAL to finish their pair.

And I think I am! Huh, my first Knitalong and I finished first. I think the usual speedy knitters weren't doing it, and that's the only reason, because I really was NOT hurrying on these. I skipped a day more than once, and spent a lot of time with all that frogging (on sock #2 I re-did the entire heel because I got lopsided somehow). I am not sure if I get a prize or anything for "winning" but like the title says, I am a winner in my own mind.

Of course, on the last repeat or so the pattern began to make sense and I messed up less--the chart was very helpful. I was asked if I was planning on making another pair of these...um, not right now, anyway. I do think they'd be lovely in a darker color, and I do have some J. Knits in light purples (New Jersey colorway) that would look nice with it...but so many socks, so little time, as they say.

So far everyone who has seen these socks has commented on their beauty. They were well worth knitting. I encourage you to check out the website and give these a try! Many thanks to Ramona to the pattern and Maggie for the chart!

Details:

• Pattern: Campanula Lace Socks (available at link above)
• Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy in Pale Fire (from Loopy Ewe)
• Needles: Size 0 Knitpicks circular
• Modifications: Toe started with Turkish cast-on, gusset increases and decreased done one stitch inward to createa little drama, stopped leg after 4 repeats because I liked that length. 8 rows of twisted rib at the top (the purled cast-off worked nicely).

I am going to move on to working on the thick Boomerang Bee socks while in the car or at work, and getting back to the surplice top (remember it? Started in June?) at home.

Knitting Potpourri

Bee Sock
Originally uploaded by sunasak

I spent yesterday knitting a lot, but on three different projects, so not much got done on any of them.

Here you see the Bee socks, which are really Kaylee socks and are supposed to be fireflies, which makes sense if you ever saw that Firefly TV show. I still think they are bees surrounded by honeycomb, so I will name mine "Bee" anyway. The color in the photo is sorta weird, but I promise better pictures as soon as my camera is back from the warranty repair place (today!).

I am knitting these on size 1 needles (GASP, such huge needles!) and the yarn is thick, so they are sturdy li'l things. But, they'll be perfect with Birks or around the house. Love love love love love Boomerang.

The Campanula socks did get more work done yesterday, too, and I have only one repeat to go before the toes. That will ALL go much more quickly now that I have a CHART. So many thanks to Maggie who posted the chart to the Campanula for the Cure blog!! I love charts as much as Fiesta Boomerang.

AND I started the top to the Pentagonal Bag (yes it is a bag). It is turquoise SWTC Bamboo. And getting it started was hard on my hands, but it's moving along now. I will take a picture once I have a bit more done. This is going to drive poor Dragonfly and YvonneP crazy with waiting. I just hope I figure out a handle for it, eventually.

Pentagon Is Felted; One Campanula Down

Pentagon Is Felted
Originally uploaded by sunasak

The Pentagonal Project has been felted. That's the best the front-loading washer would do, but I think it's felty enough. I had to be creative with what to use to shape it, so there are a number of food boxes and a wine bottle in there. Later, when the sides were dry I flattened the bottom with some Tupperware container with holes and a jar. Didn't have any cardboard I could cut to size hanging around.

I hope to get working on the next phase, which involves the crocheted line on the inside. THAT part was interesting--it's bamboo, and it didn't felt, but it lost whatever it is that softens bamboo yarn, and now feels more like linen, or raw bamboo. Interesting!

I did finish one Campanula for the Cure sock yesterday. It about killed me, though. Very frustrating knitting day for Suna. I went to the LYS and was rolling right along, when two women needing help showed up. One just needed to be reminded how to knit (thought she'd forgotten, hadn't!), but the other was a sweet lady who was little anxious and wanted to be taught how to knit in the round on DPNs (not my fave task, either) so she could make mittens for daughters up north. But, I got her to buy some expensive yarn so I figured she deserved some quality help time. It is SO awkward doing that at first, and she was nervous, so of course she made some errors which I was glad to help her with. And she left a happy camper (yay). It required me to stop and start a bit on my own stuff, naturally.

So all the attention focus changes got me all distracted and when I went home I forgot what row I was on. And for some reason could NOT read the knitting in the previous row to get back on track. I erased a bit and got to a part where I was sure where I was and knitted an entire pattern repeat. I put it on my foot. And I saw that I had repeated a section. There were two of the same "flower" in a row. I said to myself that there was NO way I was going to knit all that a third time. So, I erased it all and thank fully managed to get it back on the needles (lace, argh). And I knitted the twisted rib border from THERE.

I tried them on, rather upset with myself. Then lo and behold, I realized, heck these socks are plenty long enough as is. If I'd done another repeat they'd almost be knee socks! So, it worked out well in the end. I just really need to be able to concentrate to do these socks. Non-charted lace just requires too much concentration (it's just fine when I can concentrate, though).

To remind myself I am not a total knitting bozo, I started another sock, in Fiesta Boomerang, which is pretty thick and not really traditional sock yarn. The color is Star Gazer, which is some happy pastels. I figure I will make house socks. I am making a pattern (will look up the name) that looks like bees, with honeycomb on either side--another pattern that says "make a toe" then "make a heel." But, it's fun as all get-out, with lots of dropped YOs that make wings. And I just love that yarn. It is wound very interestingly and feels wonderful. I can work on those in public.

Not That AGAIN!

Pentagonal Project Ready to Felt
Originally uploaded by sunasak

One more exciting photo of the pentagonal item before felting. I give you a peek into the inside, where you will note a very bright stripe. That is a crocheted band all around the border of the small squares and the top striped edge. It is bamboo. Why? Bamboo doesn't felt. Let's see what happens when it comes out of the wash!

No other knitting progress due to having lunch with a friend, which means the Campanula for the Cure sock languished. I hope to finish it by tomorrow and get rolling on #2. I am supposed to take it many places and discuss it, according to the Knitalong lady, so I guess I'll blab about it at the LYS and band enrollment day at the high school.

At least I didn't buy any yarn yesterday, nor will I today.

PS: I hate it when I write a long opinion thing and no one says "you rock" or "you suck." I always know that to guarantee no comments on a post, all I have to do is put my opinion about something in it. All my political posts on my personal blog are like that, too. But, if I post a quiz or something, people are all over it. (Link to personal blog is available on request.)

Pentagonal Progress Again

Pentagonal Progress Again
Originally uploaded by sunasak

Oh boy, another picture of the lumpy Noro item. I said I'd post progress reports! Last night I finished the row of small squares across the top of it, and started a band of plain stockinette that I picked up along the top edge. I hope to finish it tonight, barring too much back-to-school shopping and the phone ringing.

Then I will do one more little task to set up for the next stage in the project and felt away. We will see how the front-loading washing machine does. Pat at the yarn shop says hers felts fine, and that woman has felted a LOT of flowers and purses.

I got a ways up the sock leg yesterday, at lunch and a bit after work. But when my youngest is asking rapid-fire factual questions of me (Mom, are there such things as small sharks that are the same as big sharks? Well, there are baby sharks...), I find it very hard to keep track of where I am in the written-out instructions for the lace (it is not a memorizable pattern, at least for me, though I can tell if I mess up). I am wistfully wishing for a chart. I do see that the floral pattern with so many twists and turns, might not chart well.

People Are People

[Editorial Content Alert. Opinions Included.]

Now. Someone on an email list I read got blasted by list members for something she posted. (And by the way, I don't consider something an "advertisement" if you are sharing a contest, resource, sale or pattern with others--only if you are making money off of it would I call it an ad--how else would you tell people about something you found on the Internet that might be pertinent?) She wrote that she was hurt, and I felt sorry for her. But then she mentioned that she thought that type of knitter were all kind, like-minded souls who would not treat each other harshly. Oh, sigh, sigh sign.

I just have to tell you that assumption is ALWAYS false. In any random group of people drawn together because they have one thing in common, there will be all kinds of folks represented. Nice ones, smart ones, talented ones, slow ones, snippy ones and clueless ones, among others. They will run the gamut in political and spiritual beliefs, too. That's why more successful email lists stick to one topic and keep off-topic chit chat to a minimum. You're less likely to offend a snippy, clueless or nasty member that way, and less likely to get hurt.

How do I know this well enough to put an absolute like ALWAYS above? Decades of email list administration experience. Heh, there's a reason I don't administer lists any more. I was afraid my tongue would fall off after being bitten so long when people said unkind things to me.

I used to work for a nonprofit organization where all the members (all women) shared one thing in common. For some reason, that led a large number of them to assume that also meant they were all nice, kind and polite, too. But, then they'd also assume all members shared their religious or political views and YOW, that kindness thing would go out the window. And organizational disagreements and power-plays certainly made it clear that all mommies are not sweet "let's all play nice" kinda people.

I've seen the same thing on church email lists (please, NEVER make a joke about Christians on a Unitarian Universalist email list), school email lists...yadda yadda.

The point is, unless you hand-pick list members (and I do have a list like that!) you will need to remember there are many kinds of people on the list. Ideally you try to follow the rules and be polite. But if you mess up, accept that you'll get some sniping, mostly based on simple misunderstandings. However, I no longer try to explain myself. I just say I am sorry and drop it. Focus on the nice people who remember that all spiritual traditions have some version of the Golden Rule, and you'll be OK.

No set of people will all be "nice." Not writers, teachers, knitters, mothers, conservatives, liberals, agnostics, Quakers, comic book collectors, marching band parents, chocolate lovers, folk musicians...you get it (and I am all of the above except one adjective!).

I'm just knitting, reading and doing the best I can. If I mess up, I'll punish myself plenty and delete rude posts as soon as I see where they're heading. You can't engage in a flame war if one party doesn't flame back!

Pretty Knitted Necklace

Knitted Necklace
Originally uploaded by sunasak

Today's knitted item is not by me, but is one I own. My LYS colleague Amy has taken to knitting these beaded necklaces, and I loved them so much that I bought this one off her (feeling slightly guilty because this color really brought out the blue in her eyes, but hey, she can make another one).

I have ordered one with reds and silvers in it. I hope she finds some red beads!

I love the pattern she uses, which is a simple short row pattern that makes the necklace hang nicely and keeps the beads facing forward. I am guessing the most time-consuming aspect of making the necklaces is stringing the beads. She uses a nice combination of "fancy" beads and your garden variety craft-store beads (which sparkle just fine, thanks).

I'd enjoy doing these, but with my queue, I know it won't happen. So why not support a fellow knitter, I say! I am so lucky to know so many talented people, both online and in real life!

Progress Report

I finished the heel and started up the leg on Campanula Sock #1. I seem to be about as far as some others on that project. Much of the evening I spent thinking about projects, reading the new Annie Modesitt book, Romantic Hand Knits (very pretty stuff, though mostly for people less lumpy than me) and thinking about home improvement projects.

I've been thinking about home improvement a lot because we (actually, Lee) just painted the guest room a pale grass green and lavender. I contributed by ordering a dainty coordinating set of sheets, comforter and curtains, though. Now the home of my knitting books will look spiffy. The summer of bedroom makeovers is almost complete!

Bad, Bad Me

Back to knitting, sigh. I ordered more yarn. A LOT of more yarn. There were some fascinating new things at the Loopy Ewe yesterday, and because for once I got there before everything was gone I "had" to snap up some interesting sock yarn (Woolly Boully was neat--comes in amazing colors. And then there was this Duet stuff, with coordinating solids to match a selection of really different and interesting variegated yarn--there was a pink, black and white one I loved but knew I'd never wear, which is, of course, all gone now).

Then today, sigh, I ordered all these new and hard-to-find fall Trekking XXL yarns from Astrid's Dutch Obsessions. I love Trekking XXL. And um. That Kauni stuff that makes the cool sweaters. And, very guilty about this one. The new Regia sock yarn with pom poms on it. Heck, I just want to SEE that stuff in person, and they don't sell it here. At least it will take a LONG time for the Dutch yarn to arrive. No more yarn for a while. I swear and affirm.

Plus, there are two items I am just dying to buy: the new sock book by Cat Bordhi and Evelyn Clark's new booklet on making her wonderful triangular shawls. A lot of the shawls I have knitted were designed by Evelyn Clark, so I am extra excited about that one--I would like to try designing some like hers on my own.

PS to Yvonne: yes, it is.

Pentagonal Progress Report

Pentagonal Progress
Originally uploaded by sunasak

Here's progress report #2 on the Pentagonal Project. It's going a bit slowly because I am also working on the Campanula sock. It's nice to go back and forth.

You can see it's easy and fun knitting. I made a mitered square off each end of the pentagonal base, and now I am making a row of half-sized squares on top of that. Not all the big squares are so similar--just those two in the photo. I have not yet decided what to do after this row of squares. There will be one more Kureyon element, however, and then it will get felted. You will have to wait and see what happens next!

Campanula Progress

Like I said, I am also moving along on the Campanula for the Cure sock, and will post more about it on their blog (listed in the blogroll at left). I am enjoying watching the flowers grow, and am almost to the point where the gusset starts. I'd be way past there if I hadn't been so tired from some hard web design work, paying bills, and doing tarot readings last night. I just couldn't knit and went to bed early.

Also I knew I'd be woken up before 5 am for some annoying-yet-humorous high school band tradition involving seniors waking up juniors, dressing them in funny clothing and making them eat breakfast. The photo of my son showed he was NOT amused. I am certain he's laughing by now, though.

Completed Neptune Socks

Neptune Socks
Originally uploaded by sunasak

Here, with a lovely pink blanket background are the Neptune socks in all their completed glory. I finished them in the new pickup truck, AKA the Limo, on the way to scenic rural Yorktown, Texas.

I sure do like them. They are going to look really sharp with shoes and jeans, and perhaps even dress pants. Lately I've been hiding socks I knit under my dress pants because it is COLD at work. (Today I am wearing Coupling socks and my Juliet sweater, PLUS a hand-knit necklace by my LYS colleague Amy (photo to come). I all hand knitting, all the time.)

I didn't bind off quite as loosely on sock #2 and it looks better than sock #1 off the foot, but they look the same on. The heel came out more interesting on sock #1, though. I truly enjoyed knitting with this Sea Wool yarn using the interesting textured pattern, and know these will be favorites for years to come. They fit SO well, too.

Other Progress and Cheer

I did start my Campanula for the Cure socks in the car on the way home yesterday. I am well into the third pattern repeat. I did the toes differently than the pattern asked, since I still don't really like to do short row toes (I will do the heel suggested, having seen others have issues when trying a different heel on those socks). I did the nice Turkish cast on toe, starting with 14 stitches. It came out fine. The Pale Fire yarn looks great with the Campanula lace--it's slight color variations don't detract at all from the flowers.

Whew, the lace pattern is not for the faint of heart. No chart, just words, and different numbers of stitches on different rows. Even a teeny bit of pattern on the "resting" rows! And my favorite stitch, knit 3 together through back loop. At least the KnitPicks needles let me manage it successfully. The resulting flowers are really lovely, though, and Ramona did a great job mirroring their directions. I will post a photo tomorrow or the next day!

I also want to post a photo of the mystery pentagonal project. It moved along a bit this weekend, too. It's becoming quite festive, but needed more Noro Kureyon on Saturday.

Here's the sweet story of how I got more Noro: at the LYS on Saturday, a lady came in with a store-bought sweater she had hoped to get fixed. Pat was looking at it and thinking it coulld not be fixed, but a bunch of customers came in so I said I'd take a look. It turned out to be an intarsia ribbon-knit sweater and one of the knots between colors had come undone, causing one stitch to unravel. I told the lady I could fix it, and she said she'd leave it and come back. I said, no, it would just take about ten minutes. She was incredulous at that. So, I got a little crochet hook and fixed the dropped stitch, then tied it all back together. Even I was impressed--you couldn't tell I'd been working on it!

The lady wanted to pay me, because she adored the sweater and was thrilled to have it back, but really, I just did it to be nice. Heck, it was fun to fix it! When she insisted I suggested she buy me a ball of yarn. I pointed to the two skeins of Kureyon I was going to pick up, and she insisted on buying me both of them. So, the mystery project will not be too expensive after all, and I won't rue wasted money if it doesn't felt up the way I want it to.

So, good knitting karma all around! Stay tuned for more tomorrow!

I Joined a KAL, Oh My

I have never done a Knitalong before. Shocking, but true. I guess I just never wanted to be making the same thing everyone else is (hey, you tell me, you've been making a lot of popular socks lately!). But still, never done a "KAL." But, when I read about the Campanula for the Cure one, I decided to join. There are a number of reasons:

1. I was looking for a nice sock pattern to be the next in line.
2. I had just bought this pink yarn, Pale Fire, in Smooshy by Dream in Color (I bought it BEFORE everyone and her Aunt bought it, honest).
3. It's raising money for a nice charity in Canada.
4. My mentor, Roberta Bishop Johnson, died of breast cancer, and I still miss her. (The link is to a tribute to her that I wrote back when I worked for a nonprofit organization she helped shape.)
5. I have one UU church friend undergoing chemo right now, and at least two other church friends who are doing well after dealing with breast cancer.
6. My own mother died of cancer (lung, a lifelong smoker) in 1984, and never got to see my children or see me happy with my wonderful man Lee.
7. Ramona, who started the KAL seems like a really sweet and caring woman.

So, for all these reasons this is the KAL for me.

Like I said, I already have pink yarn (I don't need to post a picture, since someone posted a nice photo of it all in a yarn cake to the KAL blog already). I just need to finish the Neptune socks and off I go! Neptune will get done tomorrow, probably, since I have another long trip to south Texas to see Lee's dad (recovering from haveing a large skin cancer on his head removed, coincidentally). I will post photos.

You are encouraged to join the KAL (linked above). They are giving out lovely prizes to participants. And, most important, the socks are really pretty!

PS: Mystery Pentagon Project is rolling along. I will need to get more Noro tomorrow at the LYS.