Socialization!

So, I went to my first ever Maine SnB today. I was watching the community access channel at 3 am, because that's just how punk I am, and there was an ad for "Library Knitters" at the town library on Saturdays from 1-3. Cha-ching. So I actually went today! The most awesome parts?

• I was the youngest person there by at least 25 years
• I taught a woman who could be my mom and had been knitting longer than I'd been alive (she had a 27 year old WIP with her!) how to connect DPNs for socks
• Everyone was fascinated by the fact that I can knit without looking
• They wouldn't leave until I finished my sock
• Did I mention the 27 year old WIP?

Basically, it was awesome. And of course, the library is closed next Saturday so I can't go again before going back to school.

It was also the grand debut of My So Called Scarf, which was very beloved. Definitely made the right call on the yarn. I wore it to my friend's house tonight and looked quite fab. Eventually I'll get a pic of it up.

My grandmother's socks are in progress. I finished one today and I should have the other by this time tomorrow. I like the yarn, but the color and pattern are just too old lady for me.

Old lady socks fit for... an old lady

So my grandma decided that I should make socks before I go back to school. Uh, okay. So we went to the LYS yesterday so she could pick out a yarn. For once, she didn't pick out the first thing she saw. I ended up with Rowan True 4Ply Bounty, a yarn who's very existence is dubious, according to the internet. Maybe because it has such a stupid name. (OH, BURN, ROWAN!) I love the feel of it, but she really picked out the most Old Lady Gray Blue shade she could. I'm working them in garter rib, which also looks henny to me.

She loves them.

I'm on the first sock, and I'm just now starting the foot. I've gotten into extending the leg pattern on to the heel flap, which is big for me, as I may never be bold enough to extend it to the top of the foot. My comfort zone: let me show you it.

And eventually, I'll find a mini USB around here to post pics of them, as well as the finished So Called Scarf.

Glitter Socks (FO) & My So Called Scarf (WIP)

I finished my socks and even worked in the yarn ends tonight! I really thought this would be one to be finished in the morning. It let me cast on for my next project, My So Called Scarf, which I of course found on Ravelry. There was a video posted in the comments that made the difference between success and tossing the needles across the room for me. I'm just a little concerned, because instead doing it in the admittedly beautiful Manos, I'm using some stashed impulse yarn, Patons Rumor. It's a color called Moonstone Heather, which is a shiny rainbow spun with black. It's got alpaca in it and looks great. I'm just afraid it's too busy to let you really appreciate the stitch work. So maybe I'll just have to make another one of these scarves later.... I really want to make this and also really want to use the stash yarn, so I think I'll just hope it shows up better, or let the detail be special to me, not the not-so-close world.

Going back in time

I absolutely love how my Glitter Socks are turning out. One is done and the other has a close-to-complete leg. But it makes me think about some of the socks in my drawer that I don't wear. I used to make socks really badly. Too baggy in the leg and no shape to them at all. Most of this is the fault of how I used to make heels. I used to do just a short row heel, no flap, no gusset, so it barely looked like they had a heel at all. They just looked like sacks. I'd really like to just frog the life out of them and redo them. But I still have so much sock yarn for original socks. I don't know. They're not getting any use just being in my drawer, and adding some pieces and probably length (they always looked longer on the DPNS because a lot of the leg gets sucked into the heel) would also use some scraps. It might be my next Really Big Project. Last January, I had sort of an epiphany about how bad all my socks were, and thus, my "Stop Being So Lazy" socks. All the parts they should have, plus a cable pattern. Ever since, my socks have been beautiful and I've been more open to risks. There's more to life than 2x2 ribbing.

These are the socks that changed me so. Yes, the heel is weird because I wanted to try something new that gave them a weird nipple. And one leg is a bit bigger because apparently, I couldn't fudge my gauge as much as I thought. I love how the ribs make the legs look so skinny.

How fab.

Okay, attempt #3 at a knitblog. Probably knitblog #3 to be abandoned. But I just joined Ravelry and I want to have blog entries on there, and I looked back on my other posts in the old blog, and just, bleh. And I misspelled my username. How horrifying. So, I have 4 things up on Ravelry, not that that's even close to the amount of socks alone I've finished, and it's looking decent. So are the socks I'm making right now. Some glittery yarn that I can't remember. I think the label looked like Plymouth Sockotta, but I don't think that's what it actually is. I charted the pattern in Excel, because I'm nerdcore like that. Fairly basic cabling, but I never used to do cables on socks so it's still a big deal for me. And if I ever locate a mini USB while I'm in Maine, before I go back to school, I'll actually put up a picture.