Super sockapalooza socks I've seen so far:

Finished: Suzie's pretty pink socks, Jenn's awesome blue stripey socks, Grauwal's fabulous fair-isle socks, and Timothy's first sock ever!

In progress: Cece's pretty purple sock, Angela's blue/beige stripes, Kate's swirly, frilly sock, Margene's red hot salsa sock, two, count 'em two pairs of Friday Harbor socks (by Nancy Bush) underway - Sandy's and Deb's -, and more Nancy Bush - Erika's Travelling socks.

And although they're not sockapalooza socks, Kim's argyle socks (scroll down to Jan 21 - it's worth it!) and Jenn's nipper ripple socks are just too cool for me not to mention.

And no, I still haven't decided on yarn or pattern for my sock pal. Too many choices out there!

Note: anyone without a blog, I'd be happy to post pictures of your socks in progress! Just send me an image by email.

- - - - - - - - - -

Same goes for February fixers - send me pics of your ripping/reknitting and I can post them in tuesday knitalong updates.

For those of you who are ready to rip, a few links about washing your yarn to get the kinks out.
Theresa's page on reusing yarn
joyknit's quick how to
some pics from my own frogging saga

And you can recycle yarn from store-bought sweaters too, you know:
How to Unravel a Sweater
Yarn Tomato takes apart a Gap sweater
Knitty Gritty's Sweater Redesign episode

In fact, I just found these in my closet that could be fun to cannibalize! A gigantic Banana Republic cashmere blend sweater and a stretched out Tweeds sweater in 100% silk - not bad! And since both have survived several years of wadded-up neglect in the closet, I think the yarn is pretty sturdy. It's worth a try, right?

Are we ready?! (I know Laura is, 'cause she's already done!)

Update: The link to Theresa's page on recycling yarn has been updated. All the images should work now. It's the tutorial I followed to help me rip and reuse yarn for the first time. It's all you'll need to know to get started!

I'm just starting to make forward progress with my january sweater and here it is February already!

january's back at the blue blog!

Can you believe that I messed this up yet again?! I'd followed the shapings of the first pattern so many times already that I didn't quite catch the subtle difference in shaping of the new pattern - decrease on each edge 4 times every 6 rows vs. decrease on each edge 6 times every 4 rows. Whoops! I wasn't in the mood to rip it back again. So the waist shaping will just be a little more subtle. We'll see when I'm done with the front if I can live with it. And if I can't live with it, then hey, February is for fixing anyway, right?

Koigu color #P320

I fell in love with this Koigu at my LYS and found that I couldn't leave the store without it. I was thinking that this fabulous color would be really cool as the retro rib socks (from this winter's Interweave Knits) for my sock pal. But what do you all think? Is the color too powerful? Is it something that might turn people off? What if my sock pal is usually a pink/purple kind of gal (but still open to a surprise, according to her info)? Is this too much?

Any opinions would be much appreciated!

A to do list.

Sockapalooza pal socks. Thanks everyone for your support about the Koigu. I'll do a bit of swatching and see how the pattern looks in the yarn. If it looks really good, I'm going back to buy two more skeins for me!

January sweater. Maybe I can finish it in February, so I can start on....

February shrug. I'm thinking that in February, I might have time to make a pretty little shrug. Mindy's shrug pattern looks perfect for keeping my chilly arms and shoulders warm (Jenn just finished one in that incredible Softy yarn). I've got some Peruvian wool that Shannon had left over from her fabulous neckwarmer that I think would work well.

Pop redesign. I WILL finish pop this month. And all you February fixers are really inspiring me to get this one done!

Rosebud redo. Just a little shortening in arms and she'll be all better.

Yarn harvesting. A little ripping to relax the soul. I've got the two old storebought sweaters to rip and then greensleeves for sure. I'm considering ripping elizabeth and turning her into a Clapotis. What'cha think?

Fry-Up. Stacey has cooked up the silliest knitalong ever (next to those crazy sweatpants we all made last year). I gotta make this one - it's just too wacky! But I don't want a purse (let's not even discuss the hat) and will have to substitute some of the breakfast items. This one still needs more planning and yarn to get going.

Hubby's xmas socks. That Morehouse Merino yarn is still waiting to be turned into socks.

Jodie's socks. Found some fabulous sock yarn at Knitting Zone for my mom's friend who wants more handmade socks, including this supermerino. Pretty, pretty.

That should be enough to keep me busy until the spring thaw!

Hi ho, it's off to work I go! I'll be working for a few hours this weekend at my LYS, A Good Yarn, as they find themselves suddenly a bit understaffed. So stop by and say hi!

While I'm at work, the boys will be having tons of fun with daddy. They've come up with a new way to play with my leftover yarns. Previously they'd just run through the house holding the end of a ball and wrap yarn all over everything, remember? Now they have a new contraption. Inspired by their attempts to play with the cord on the venetian blinds, daddy hooked a strand of yarn for each of them over the entrance to the kitchen and made a loop at the bottom large enough to hang one matchbox car on. Attach car, pull yarn back, let go, and the it flies into the kitchen and then right back at you!

At least I won't have to rewind entire balls of yarn when I get home.

Down to the paperwork: math and charts (and a few loose ends), oh my!

I got a question in the comments about sweater design software. I have to admit that I don't even know what's out there. Does anyone have any experience using these programs that they want to share? All I know I learned from studying other patterns and reading Maggie Rigetti's Sweater Design in Plain English and Cheryl Brunett's Sweater 101 workshop. And if you're looking for a sleeve tutorial, you've got to check out Jenna Wilson's awesome Knitty articles on sleeve design here and here!

Another trip to the craft store with the boys! After the now traditional discussion in the backseat of whether we were going to the crap or the crack store (S: "it's crack"; B: "no, it's crap"; S: "crack!"; B: "crap!"), we arrived without resolution at the A.C. Moore. Can you tell that the boys like shopping for yarn at the craft store?

I heart Red Heart

While they were browsing the Red Heart, I was looking for something for the fry up bag. My plan was to turn the purse into a backpack (a la the punk backpack from Stitch 'n Bitch), cause my mom, the only person I know kooky enough to acutally use a fry up bag, doesn't do purses. Then I saw the new Lion Brand landscapes yarn.

I remember seeing Libby's cloche hat a while back and thinking how cool the yarn looked, so I've been searching for an excuse to get some and try it out. And I recalled that mom loves the rainbow colors all mixed together (from some recent online sock yarn browsing). So I got it instead.

That'll be one fry up, but substitute a pack for the bag and hold the breakfast foods!

It's going to be a short post today. Except for posting, I've been offline for a few days catching up on some much missed sleep. I haven't even checked my email! Another day of r&r and the blue blog should be fully operational again. For now my misadventures in knitalongs.

I started my sock pal sock and although I love that color, I'm still not convinced that my sock pal will. The rib pattern at the top of the sock looks good, I think, but I suspect that the rest of the retro rib pattern will get lost in the colors. I'm putting this one in time out for a bit, until I decide how to continue.

And I have actually failed in my first attempt to frog a store-bought sweater! I started with the ribbed cashmere blend Banana Republic sweater. All the seams looked good for ripping, so I gave myself the thumbs up.

I began with the neck, but the tubular bind off wouldn't reveal its secrets so I had to cut it and pick out a row to get a piece of yarn to start the ripping.

And then it wouldn't unravel! It seems that the first and last knit stitch of the 3x3 rib are knit a row higher than the rest of the stitches in that row. Perhaps this is some way of making the ribs lay flatter? I could unravel it, if I were willing to pull the yarn by had through each of these stitches every row. I of course am not. Too bad!

So everyone how are you doing? I hope your knitting and ripping is going a lot better than mine. The comments box is wide open awaiting all your knitalong updates. I promise to take the time this week to come visit you all!

They say that an apple a day keeps the doctor away, so I'm out today on a mommy's day off - yes, the whole day to do whatever I want(!), courtesy of my wonderful husband - to eat a year's worth of apples. See ya tomorrow.

I had a great little vaca day.

I did some knitting, spending a few hours visiting my LYS and making some progress on the front of my january sweater. Isn't it weird looking with that placket opening starting at the navel (seriously, at the NAVEL!)? I also finished a sleeve, so january should be done soon!

I did some shopping, picking up a lovely cashmere sweater at my local vintage store. I've been wanting to go into that store for four years, but double-wide stroller and vintage store go together almost as badly as two toddlers and a vintage store do. I was determined to find something fabulous to take home.

And I did some browsing, discovering Beadworks up in Harvard Square. I'd never seen a bead store before, and I'm betting this is one of the best. Wow! It was like the first time I walked into a real yarn store - gorgeous colors everywhere. I wanted to touch everything. I don't even wear jewelry or have a real interest in beads, but everything was so overwhelming that I got a little caught up in it. I may have to sign up for one of their beginner's stringing classes just to get this out of my system!

Just what this mommy on the edge needs - another blankie rescue! As the boys were watching their morning shows last week, S. looks up and casually says, "there's a hole in my blankie." A whaaaat?! I check it out and indeed, a large, gaping hole had formed just under the edge that he'd rubbed away a few months ago.

Back then I added a single crochet edging to that corner to hold it together. Mission accomplished: apparently, he didn't even bother rubbing the edge anymore, but kept rubbing the weak stitches right below it. And now they were gone. Nothing left to do but knit him a new corner. I mean the rest of the edging looked just fine, no reason to rip out a whole inch of 4 feet wide garter stitch border and reknit it, when all he does is flip and rub the corners, right? One new corner, coming up!

I picked up some stitches below the danger zone, knit garter stitch rows to the edge and mattress stitched the new panel to what remained of the old garter stitch border. I pulled out that crochet edge I'd added and trimmed (yes, with scissors!) the holey area, tacking the remaining frayed stitches to the new corner.

I tried to explain to S. that he needs to use the other corners more otherwise this one would keep falling apart. B. heard this and said with a sort of Eureka enthusiasm, "these blankies are old; we need new ones." And in my most sensitive and compassionate mommy voice I replied, "that ain't gonna happen."

The front of january is all finished! Looooove that neckline.

And I tried the keyhole opening on pop one more time. I managed to come up with a version with a one piece front. It looks much better on than before. But I'm still not convinced that this is not the right neckline for my striped version of this sweater. The opening throws off the pretty lines of the stripes too much. So back to the drawing board again.

And thanks to Jenanne, I was able to rip out the neck on that Banana Republic ribbed sweater afterall. She was absolutely correct that I was unravelling in the wrong direction. It's actually very clear in the link about unravelling sweaters that the neck should be separated from the body first and then ripped from there back to the edge. Doh! So I picked and snipped and finally ripped that neck out. The boys even helped wind the yarn into hanks.*

* (They actually turned their attention away from "Lazy Town" as soon as they saw the swift come out. And if you're a mom of a NickJr.-watching toddler you understand what kind of power "Lazy Town" has over kids and can appreciate my shock when they literally turned their backs on it to play with the swift.)

My sock yarn from the Knitting Zone arrived and the colors are just as fabulous as I'd imagined. I simply could not resist the bright green, orange, and yellow lorna's laces. As much as I love them, I could never wear them, but I'm pretty sure that my mom would love some bright, bright, bright stripey socks for the spring. (My sock pal dodged a bullet there, huh?!) I'm thinking about this stripey pattern that I keep seeing on some of the Six Socks gals' pages like Dawn's and Alison's. (Note to beginning sock knitters: check out the other sock tutorials and free sock patterns at the Hipknitism site. They look good!)

After perusing the sockapaloozer sites, there are a few more socks I'm dreaming about:

Retro Ribs in Lorna's Laces China Blue, just like Anja is making.

Marks & Kattens Clown socks in the orange/pink colorway that Cara is using (Brenda made some socks last yearn in this yarn. It's so pretty.).

Peppermint socks, like Jenika's.

Some cable socks, like Maeve's, or Nicole's (I've already ordered the book the pattern is from!). Or maybe the cable rib socks from the new IK (look, Liz has already started these!).

Wait a minute. What have we here? Erika's cable sock is fabulous, but do you see that Poetry in Stitches cardigan?! I've just stopped dreaming of socks.

February fix-it month is all about loving your knits. So here it is Valentine's Day already - are you in love again yet??

My son is loving his blankie. Bonne Marie is loving her reclaimed yarn. Laura is loving her Lauralund. Lu is loving her sockapalooza attempt number two. Sarah is loving her thrift-store Manos. And I'm loving the cashmere from my old Banana Republic sweater! Yes, I attacked the sleeves this weekend: I snipped, ripped, wound, washed, and swooned.

Elsewhere this Valentine's Day, Susan is attacking store made sweaters like it's going out of style. Deb is fixing by felting. Melissa just says no to her Heather. Karen has ripped her purple monster. Steph has fixing fever. And I think I've actually fallen in love with the misfit projects that Nadia plans to rip! (Hey, Nadia suggests that once we're all done with our adventurous - and virtuous - fixing, we should all buy or start something totally frivolous on March 1st. How fun!)

For anyone who's fallen in love with the idea of ripping and reclaming yarn, be sure to check out the article "Recycle, Re-knit, and Re-use" in the new Interweave Knits and the accompanying knitting projects on their project page.

And for those of you still frustrated with frogging and fixing, some words of wisdom heard during the Valentine's Day Coupling marathon: "It's a relationship, someone's bound to get hurt!"

We did our fixin update yesterday, so on to the socks!

Mine are coming along pretty well now that I've settled on yarn and pattern and actually gotten started. I'm sticking with the turquoise Koigu and the retro rib sock pattern. But since the purl ridges alternating up the center of the ribs really weren't showing up in my yarn, I'm just continuing the rib pattern for the cuff all the way down the sock.

I'm up to the gusset now, which has been giving me some trouble. I hate starting a new needle with a purl stitch and this pattern is unfortunately kind of set up like that. (This is one reason I prefer to make a sock in stockinette or simple ribs. But I was determined to try something different for my sock pal, because I think she especially likes patterning.) So I slipped the stitches around on the leg to allow me to start each needle with a knit, but when I tried that on the gusset, that of course messed up the placement of the gusset decreases. Doh! And back to the heel we go. C'est la sock knitting!

Did you see Stacey's sockapalooza survey? I missed it, but it seems like a lot of you helped her decide what yarn to use. Cool!

Have you googled "sockapalooza" recently?

Some of my favorite in-progress socks that I've seen so far include:

Mary's patterned beauty
Jessica's beautiful Birch Leaf sock
Nona's incredible wave sock
Mary-Heather's suckapalooza-no-more socks (hee hee)
Amy Lu's rainbow sock
Kristi's own cable and lace design
Jenny's fancy walking away sock
Mary's Koigu retro rib sock (great minds think alike, I guess!)
Parikha's beautiful brown sock
Silke's red Regias

And we've got bunches of awesome finished socks as well:

Anna's amazing green pompom socks
Chris' striped socks
Gill's Sour Apple Sock in Cherry Tree Hill yarn
Donna S.'s Mountain Color socks (hey look, they match Gill's!)
Leandra's purple patterned socks
Kristel's beautiful purple variegated socks
Michele's green cabled socks (check out the close up here)

Will one of these pairs be yours?! It's so exciting isn't it?

Oh and a brilliant (absolutely brilliant!) idea from Angela. How bout if we all include a postcard of our home town/state with our socks when we send them out to our pals, so they can see where they came from? Sound good? Let's do it!!

I can't believe it myself, but l'm already done with the knitting on january! Here are the sleeves, just finished blocking and ready for seaming.

(note: finished magknits project on the desk!)

And add to the list of things you don't want to overhear your children saying to each other in the other room: "hey, you want to make the fire?" Whaaaaaaat?! Luckily, the boys were making a pretend fire out of Legos. And now all together in our best Tom Hanks "Cast Away" impersonation:

"I have made Fire!"

I can't wait to use this cashmere!

that's two sleeves and the neck's worth

Before I rip out the rest of my old Banana Republic sweater, I took note of the gauge and actual measurements of the original sweater (as suggested by Kristi's very helpful page on recycling yarn from old sweaters). The boys were happy to oblige when I needed an object for scale.

biiiiig sweater

It is so big, I'm really hoping to have enough yarn to knit an entire sweater. But choosing a pattern for this special yarn is proving just as hard as choosing a pattern and yarn for my sock pal was. Since it's cashmere, I was kinda thinking something classic, simple (no cables or fancy details), and maybe a little vintage. Any suggestsions?

I was up late last night doing all the neck edging on january.

I should be wearing her very soon!

seen in Parents Magazine, March 2005
click for the BIG version

Why does this annoy me?

Back working at my LYS today. See you there!

I'll leave you with a picture of my yarn storage system that I got from IKEA a while back. Some of you seemed genuinely interested to see it with my stash inside.

I can't believe I filled up the whole thing!

With every new issue of Interweave Knits there will be a pattern that catches my eye because it's so original and cleverly constructed (like this issue's Fitted Dolman or Fall 2004's Sideways Spencer) and inevitably it's by Annie Modesitt. It's not always something I could imagine wearing, but I always want to knit it just because it's so cool looking and I wanna see how it's made.

Last summer, her bright, brilliant little tea set inspired a tea party. Thanks, Annie!

the tea party

summertime 2004

I had a long list of projects to rip and reknit this February, but got sidetracked by my cashmere Banana Republic sweater. Instead of ripping the rest of it this weekend, I decided to move on to another knit I've fallen out of love with, one that I did knit myself, my greensleeves (able) pullover. When I made it I was a few pounds heavier and it was already a loose fitting style. Once I stopped nursing and lost the last of the baby pounds, the sweater seemed way too big. The style is also meant to have a lot of drape - the pattern called for summer tweed - but the yarn I used is a stiff wool tweed and just felt too heavy and rigid for the style. I think it would work better as a jacket, maybe even this jacket. As soon as I got excited about the new pattern, I couldn't wait to start ripping.

looking for seams

back in pieces

riiiiiiip

ahhh, yarn

Almost as fun as ripping my own projects is watching others rip theirs!

Grauwal has ripped one project gone wrong and a cashmere thrift store find! Patti ripped out her Klaralund. Mary ripped a silly little sweater she wasn't going to wear. And Shannon ripped her dreamy creamy. Rip, rip, hooray!

Need some inspiration to rip and reknit? Here are some success stories from the February fixin':

Bonne Marie finished her tank to cardi adventure (steeking a store bought tank and adding sleeves - is there nothing she can't or won't do?!). And she's already blocking the body and picking out necklines for her new cardi in her reclaimed cash iroha. Colleen successfully shortened her Top Secret. Amy fixed up her mirror mirror sweater. Erica's posted before and after pics of her scarf redo. And my favorite success story of all, Jo pulled out her blankie-to-be-fixed and discovered that she loved it just the way it is. Awwww!

Fill me in on other updates!

Sockapalooza sock #1 reporting for update.

I'm actually almost done with this sock now, but this picture I took a few days ago captures the turquoise color of the yarn better than any of the other pictures I've taken.

Alright sockapalooz-ers, get ready to start drooling. One of these fabulous pairs of recently finished socks could be for you!

Mary-Heather's incredible socks (closeup)
Margene's salsa twinkletoes
Karen's earthy striped socks
Maeve's blue cables
Lindsay's fur-trimmed ankle socks
Liz's fun stripes
Angela's cute little striped ankle socks
Kate's mermaid socks

And some sneak peeks at socks-in-progress that might be yours!

Kim's chocolate sock (scroll down to Feb. 13)
Mia's chocolate socks (Yum!)
Anja's blue retro ribs (oh these socks are calling to me, I MUST make myself a pair!)
Jackie's pink retro ribs
Dawn's flame retro ribs
Polly's New England sock
Lisa's super stripes
Barbara's pink stripes
Emma's lovely Broadripple
Cathy's beautiful patterned sock
Jessica's dainty fair-isle socks
Sandra's purple waves
Stacey's Crusoe
Julia's Crusoe
MA's ribbed Koigu (hey look, some weasley progress too!)
Jennifer's increasing stripes sock
Stephanie's blue wave socks
Angela's violet varigated sock

Those of you who haven't started yet, time to kick into high gear! We want to make sure that everyone gets a pair of socks. Go, go, go!

International sock pals, you might think about sending socks out at the end of the month. Those of us sending within the US will be sending things out on or around March 15, so socks will be still en route for about a week after that. So plan accordingly, given what you know about your country's postal service.

And remember to include a postcard if you can from your home state/country!

After working at my LYS for a few hours this weekend, I came home with a little bag of goodies.

Rowan Denim for Leigh's tasha bag. After seeing Sandy knit a couple of these, I've decided I gotta have one! I have a feeling that denim is going to be my next big crush. One of the Knitsmiths is making some denim baby overalls, which are so sweet! And I've got some denim jackets planned for the boys for spring.

Some Crazy sock yarn, which makes such neat little stripes. I started the crazy socks with my sock class last night. They're sort of my reward for all the socks I've made for others recently.

Simply Noro, cause Klaralund is next on the chopping block and I'm gonna transform her into something completely different! Don't worry, I haven't given up on Klaralund - I plan on making another one in a different yarn that will be softer directly against my skin.

After working on the sockapalooza socks on tiny needles so much that I'm getting little cramps in my hand, I decided I could use some big needle knitting. Lion Brand Landscapes and mom's un-punk backpack to the rescue.

The knitting on this one's going to be a breeze. But it's no quick knit. Once the four rectangles are knitted, then comes the seaming, the lining, and the zipper. I'm already feeling the finishing procrastination.

I've decided on a pattern to use for the cashmere yarn recently reclaimed from my old Banana Republic sweater!

After swatching, I peeked at all the great pattern suggestions you made last week (I was so tempted by that new vintage cardigan in IK!). But then I randomly opened a few mags that I had lying around (I so need to organize my pattern stash!). While shuffling stuff around, I found the hourglass pattern from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. The look is casual and yet classy and the gauge is spot on! And there's a knitalong for it. Cool!

Since I've only ripped the sleeves of my sweater so far, I've started with a sleeve. (No, I'm not doing the sleeve in the round like the pattern calls for. I was too impatient to go out and look for smaller circular needles!)

You can't imagine how soft this is. It's going to be a real pleasure to wear.

I heard about this "wacky knit" from one of my friends who's on all the cool net discussion groups. It's crocheted, not knitted as he (and probably most of those who are linking to it) thought, but it is wacky.

order them here

It's a Katamari ball hat. Apparently, Katamari Damacy is a video game where you roll a sticky ball around picking up stuff (here's a QuickTime trailer of the game). As the ball gets bigger and bigger, with all the stuff sticking to it, it can pick up larger things, like people, buildings etc. (Katamari Damacy, so I've read, translates into something like "clump of souls". Yuk!). Anyhoo, a crocheted Katamari hat. I think it's actually kind of cool.

But then again, I thought our knitted tea set, the retro fry up bag and that crazy womb were cool too!

Other wacky knits that people have pointed me to:

freaky ski masks (with knitting instructions!)

more knitted food

knitted rock bands

(Thanks to Matthew, Jason and Allyson for the fun links!)

It seems like it's been ages since I've finished a project. It's almost March already for goodness sakes! With that fact in mind, I decided I'd better finish up my january sweater while it's still February.

Me likey! This Tessa yarn is really amazing. The color is fabulous of course, but after washing and blocking the yarn changed from being your basic wool (like Cascade 220) to having a wonderful drape. The long body and sleeves are even more elegant with the added drape of the fabric. It's very comfortable to wear and I love the deep split neck, which is kind of a surprise because it looked shockingly low while I was knitting it! With the edging though, it's quite cool and should look great with a turtleneck or just a tank underneath.

Conclusions:
1) Wild and Wooly does it again! Every time I've gone to their biannual clearance sale, I've come home with yarn that ends up being one of my favorite knits.
2) Phildar patterns rule. No surprise there. This one from the cover of their Automne 2003 book was on my wish list for a long time.
3) February fixing? Phooey! What a great way to end the month of frogging and fixing. After the last sleeve was in, I slipped her on and immediately thought to myself, "now here's something I won't be ripping!"

(Although we weren't doing a knitalong, Ann and I have both been working on this sweater and are both finishing around the same time. Check out her almost done sweater, in the original Phildar yarn!)

Aw, it's nothin' but a t-shirt.