Last night, before the ball dropped, I finished my last holiday knit gift, the too big tech guy sock (read the sad saga here). I even managed to add a fun embroidered design before the countdown began. I don't have any pictures, as the recipient was with us for New Year's Eve and wore the socks home. I'm sure I'll see them again though and they'll have their moment in front of the camera.

For now, I'm as proud of my gold star as a grade-schooler with her first graded homework assignment. And I can ring in the new year by knitting something new and exciting for me!

Happy happy.

A major Lego crisis kept me from posting earlier. Apparently tardiness is my lot. For example, this Christmas, my husband and I finally moved into the 21st century and got an iPod.

I don't have much music ripped (remember?), but now that I feel like I'm legit with an actual iPod, I thought I might check out all those hip knitting podcasts I've been hearing about. (You don't need an iPod to listen to them by the way. I was just feeling too inadequate about always behing behind the curve of cool and not worthy enough to listen.)

But not anymore! I spent New Year's day listening to some great interviews on Knit Cast while the boys were building Lego contraptions (and losing all the pieces they needed this morning). It's so interesting to hear the voices and personalities of knitters you've so often read or read about. (Did you hear the interview with Lily Chin? I really get a kick out of her. I loved watching her on Knitty Gritty too.) I've still got a dozen or so podcasts from the archives to listen to - I'm trying to listen to them just a little at a time to save them - and am particularly looking forward to some of the upcoming interviews like with Kerrie from MagKnits and Annie Modesitt. It is so fun!

But the podcast that I really love is Cast On! While Knitcast is more like a brief newsy Q & A with a knitting celeb, Cast On is usually about an hour long and feels like a real knitting show. There are great stories, well written and well told, and awesome music. And the host is just a pleasure to listen to. Knitting to it is a delight, like having a little private knitting group in your living room. There are only a handful of episodes so far but the host says she'd like to start doing a show every week. Fingers crossed!! (Check out all the episodes here. I especially enjoyed the Holiday on Ice episode!)

But I'm sure you knew all this already. Forgive me, if this is all old news. I'm slow to catch on to these things, you know. So talk to me about podcasts. What else have I been missing out there??

After long deliberation about what sweater I should knit for myself to put an official end to the gift knitting season, I chose to make Bless in the Rowan Cork I received in my subscriber gift packet last year. (NOTE: I bought four more balls, because Bless calls for 8 in total.) I decided that what I really needed was some instant gratification and knitting a stockinette cardigan on US11's was going to be just that. Then I swatched. Well, I didn't like the fabric on Us11's, so I went down to US10 1/2's. Then I didn't like the edging (three rows garter stitch followed by several rows of moss stitch), so I decided to do ribbing instead. I also wanted to add some waist shaping, so I picked out another pattern in the Cork book to crib those numbers from. Okay, finally, the preparations were done. I sat down and blissfully knit a bit.

And it's too small. I'd heard that Cork grows a bit with a wash and wear, and I did see a little expansion in the swatch that I wetted, so although I was knitting the yarn at a slightly smaller gauge, I hadn't changed the pattern size that I was knitting. But this was really way too small. Rather than accept my own responsibility for this mistake, I punished the pattern by putting it back in the pattern library and immediately finding something else. Something I'd be willing to go through all these trials for. Something like the Lace leaf pullover from Loop-d-Loop. (I hope you saw Julia's incredible version of this sweater!) Of course the Cork yarn isn't anywhere near as bulky as the yarn called for in the pattern. And the pattern isn't anywhere near a simple as the Bless cardigan. But I was way past instant gratification on this project, so I pulled out the calculator and started reworking the numbers. New Year's knitting has gotten me this far.

It's coming out much better than I had expected. Frankly, I'd expected it to be too small again. Luckily, knitpal Shannon was with me as I knit most of this to say "no it isn't!" everytime I whined that it was coming out too small. I slipped a lifeline in and tried it on and it is indeed big enough. Phew! Another nice surprise is how the lace leaf detail came out so much smaller in this gauge. I never did quite understand the chunky sweater with openwork thing. Seems like big holes would defeat the purpose of having a big bulky sweater. Doing the pattern in this "small" gauge (I'm still at 3.5 stitches to the inch!) has made the leaves into an almost dainty and delicate detail.

Well, I'm still sitting around in my pajamas.

I was catching up on email and hoping, hoping, hoping that my shoes for the Knitty Gritty knit boot project would arrive. But no mail delivery yet. Once I have the shoes, I've got a trip to the yarn store planned to buy some yarn and another pack of dpn's. And then, oh boy, oh boy, there's the marking, and then the drilling, heh, heh, and all that funky knitting, woo hoo! I am WAY too excited about these boots.

But apparently I will have to wait a little longer. Guess I'll have to get myself and the kids dressed today after all.

More lace leaf pullover knitting.

The first sleeve and it's - wait for it - too small. It barely fits around my wrist. And I've got small wrists, people. I think I may have gotten confused when I was doing my math as to which size I was working up. Cause the math must be right. It has to be. (If you can't trust math, well, I don't know what you can rely on!) Just in case the yarn could make up for my error, I actually washed this piece. But I didn't see significant growth after drying, so it'll be ripped. I don't know what I was thinking anyway, following the sleeve shaping of the pattern. I like long, straight sleeves, especially for a sweater like this. And if I knit them straight, then there's no way they'll be too narrow at the wrist!

So it's back to the ball winder for more ripping. I'm gonna blame it all on the yarn. I'm enjoying knitting with the Cork so much that, I'll admit it, I keep knitting even when I'm feeling like the piece isn't coming out right. Bad Cork. I mean good Cork. Bad good Cork!

Are you all done with your holiday knit gifts?

jump for joy!

It's time for the holiday knitalong contest! There are five gifties to give away to the generous knitters who participated in the knitalong and made so many incredible gifts for their friends and families.

1) 1 ball Calmer in white (great for the Aura cap or Shedir from last fall's Knitty surprise issue)
2) 1 skein Atacama alpaca in variegated pinks - this would make such a fabulous hat!
3) 1 skein handpainted worsted from Woolarina - 160 yards of beautiful blues
4) set of beautiful stitch markers made and donated by Raellyn
5) Rowan's Froth gift pack, including two skeins Kid Silk Haze and scarf pattern, donated by Stephanie

So get your final number in to me today, get your gold star, and I'll pull names over the weekend!

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And on the thirteenth day of Christmas, my UPS man gave to me... (sing along now)

Two capezio shoes. And I'm ready to make the knit boots!

Annie wrote in that she made a Hermione bag, based on the cable pattern from the hat and mitten pattern - I love it!
Heather finished the L on her daughter's weasley
Phoebe finished an Azkaban scarf and Gryffindor socks for her little guy - check out the cute pics!
Susan finished her weasley just in time for New Years!
and Amysue is working on a Hermione hat and Slytherin socks (no pics yet)

I finished the first Hermione mitten. Here's my pic:

Here's S's pic (I love it when the boys help out with the photography!):

And look what hubby put on the iPod for me!

B is taking over the blog today with a little photoblogging. When he was helping me get some good pics of the Hermione mitten the other day, the phone rang.

hi!

I left for a brief moment - yes, I left him holding the digital camera! - and he took all these pics:

the tree

the new IKEA chair

brother S

S's blankie

the safety gate

the window

The eyes of a child.

My lace leaf pullover is most definitely jinxed.

I finished sleeve number one (after having ripped it once already) and set about to knit the second one and get this sweater done in record time. It looks good enough.

But looks can be deceiving. Dunno what happened to my gauge, but with the same number of stitches and rows, it's much looser and floppier looking. Then there's the fact that the lace pattern on it is completely wrong.

It's perfectly lovely but - can you believe it? - I totally misunderstood the directions! I thought I was just supposed to do row one from the lace leaf chart. Didn't see the "lace pattern" listed there in the stitches section at the beginning. Doh! I actually kind of prefer this lace pattern. But I have to reknit the sleeve anyway. It just seems thick-headed to knit it "wrong" again on purpose.

And of course, the upper body is way too small.

Well, I think it is anyway. There is an outside possibility that it could be okay, but since it's constructed so oddly, who knows? I tried sewing in the good sleeve (which, it is clear now, is too long - so that's two sleeves to reknit) to see if the body will fit, but I've only got the front part of the body done. I'd really need to knit the whole front and back to see if it will be wide enough to cover my shoulders and be comfortable in the upper arm. Still, I know it's going to end up being too small. I know it.

So clearly, it's jinxed. I've actually already knit 7 of the 8 balls I have, but both sleeves are goners, as is, most likely, the upper body. Luckily, it's only taken me one week to get this far. If I can just bring myself to forgive the sweater and the knitter, I could still be done in record time!

And the holiday gift knitalong gifties go to:

Calmer to Stephanie
Atacama to Liesel
Woolarina handpainted to Karen
stitch markers to Emily
KidSilk Haze to Ruth

(Winners were chosen using an online random number generator. Winners, please contact me by email with your address, so I can send you your prezzie!)

Thanks to everyone for making the knitalong such an enjoyable experience! It was a real pleasure to check in each day and see so many wonderful gifts being knit.

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Sockapaloooza sock sisters needed!

In order to keep up with the updates this time, I'm asking for four or five VERY RELIABLE gals to "watch" a certain number of blogs, take update emails, and send me a weekly round-up for my tuesday post.

Meanwhile, my sock savior socks are finally underway:

And the tech guys are brainstorming about sign-ups. More info next week!

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And I am so ready to kick it! I got my yarn for my boots picked out and am excited to start drilling! Look, Johanna even loaned me some goggles.

Let the fun begin!

... try, try something else. Introducing the cure to my lace leaf pullover blues:

A zip raglan (from Last Minute Knitted Gifts) for hubby, who is long overdue to get a sweater. He said he wanted something soft and gray. While the Manos in the original is lovely, I didn't think it would pass the soft test, so I focused on finding some merino. And a quick peek in hubby's side of the closet revealed that he already had several gray sweaters, but could use something blue. So I compromised with blue-gray Bingo. It's not the same gauge of course, but after swatching it appears that I can knit the next size up to get the proper measurements with my yarn. (Who's made this sweater before? What's up with the four inch difference in finished sizes? If I were on gauge, I'd have a terrible time deciding which size to make!)

Shannon is making one for her guy too and we're sort of knitting along together. With her encouragement (read - she came over having already knit about four inches!), I've managed to get this far already.

One ball almost done. Only fifteen more to go. Jeesh, men are big!

With the whole cork-sweater-down-the-drain thing and the whole knitting-for-hubby thing, the new year's selfish knitting has really fallen to the wayside. Enter Dani and her fabulous hand-painted yarns.

She calls this colorway "neapolitan" and it is just as yummy as it sounds. In one selfish night of knitting I made it all the way to the heel! It was just what I needed. You know, when you're feeling down, there's nothing like ice cream to cheer you up. (That and maybe a little shoe drilling and boot knitting. Coming tomorrow!!)

And we're off!

First, tape is put around the bottom edge of the shoe to mark a safe line above the sole to drill. Now, I couldn't find any Post-It tape as called for in the pattern, so I used Scotch tape. It was easy to tear into short pieces and it came off reasonably easily.

Since there was no way that marker marks would be visible on my black shoes, I used a thumb tack and poked tiny holes to mark where to drill.

I put on the goggles and hubby drilled using the smaller bit. (Yeah, he's got drill skills, so I let him do it. Good thing too, because occassionally the leather would twist up around the drill bit and I wouldn't have been able to wiggle the bit loose as well as he could.)

With the pilot holes done, we switched to the larger bit and drilled into the same holes again. These went so much faster than the first set.

And without too much difficulty, I've got holes exactly the size of the crochet hook and am ready to cast on and knit! THIS. IS. SO. COOL.

(Don't laugh, but I am already shopping around for another pair of shoes to drill!)

My Hermione set is finally complete!

I wore the mittens the first day they were finished. It was a beautiful sunny (and luckily, cold) day and the colors were so gorgeous in the light that I couldn't stop staring at them! I only wish I could think of a reason to buy more of this Manos. (Well, that and I wish I could get a decent picture of the color.)

Just sew crafty just finished a pair of Hermione mittens too. In purple. Look at that beautiful cable! And Kammy is starting a weasley for her son. Check out the Gryffindor hat and scarf she's already made.

And finally, finally, hubby finished book 6, so we can talk Harry Potter around him again.

Today it's my son S's turn to post a few pictures. I gave him the camera and asked him to snap some pics of a few of his favorite things:

Hey, it's the knitted tea set I made two years ago!

Our new IKEA chairs in S's favorite color.

A close-up of the Children of Catan game, with the most important part: "4 years"

Blankies.

Legos.

What more could a boy want?

I know better than to be fooled by Shannon's attempts to convice everyone that she's lagging behind in our little two-woman zip-up raglan knitalong. Despite what she says, I could just see her, every night, knitting away on the jacket and then showing up at knitting group having already started the sleeves. (Note: My fears aren't completely irrational, as I'm knitting at a smaller gauge and am also not usually as monogamous to one project as Shannon is.) So I've neglected my other projects, like the failed cork sweater and my neapolitan socks, and have been knitting as much as I can on hubby's zip-up. I'm at about 12" now and am just a smidge ahead of Shannon, who generously knit something else at knitting yesterday.

While I sit knitting at top-speed to "keep up" with Shannon, I can't help but think of my son, B, the older twin, who always wants to be first at everything. Yesterday, both boys got up from the dinner table to use the bathroom - not exactly something you think he could turn into a competitive sport. However, when B was all done and standing in front of the bathroom trying to pull his pants up from around his ankles, he caught sight of his brother coming down the stairs from the upstairs bathroom and immediately started running to beat him back to the table. He made it about 10 feet before the pants tripped him up and he took a header into the Playskool toy garage. We've tried explaining to him that everything isn't a race, but he only seems to remember this principle selectively, like whenever they're eating or building Legos together and B thinks that S is ahead. B will admonishingly remind his brother, "it's NOT a race!"

It's not a race, Shannon. (Wink, wink.)

Sockapaltwoza sock saviors are still hard at work:

Jamie knit make-up socks
Christina received make-up socks from Bev
Karen received make-up socks from Kate
Tiffany knit "solid savior" socks
Tracy made Whitby's

And my make-up socks are half-way finished, with one down to toe grafting and one more to knit.

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Sockapaloooza, anyone? Next Tuesday sign-ups go live. I haven't decided on the exact time yet, or the exact number of participants. And I haven't chosen the official sock sisters yet. (Check Sunday's post for all those final details.) But there's no reason you all can't get ready while I make the final decisions.

First, for those new to the Sockapalooza, here's how it goes. I'll collect names, addresses, and sock preferences from lots of people. Then, I'll assign each person another person to knit a pair of socks for. So someone will be given your info and will knit a pair of socks for you and you'll be given someone else's info and be knitting socks for them. And the person you're knitting for will be knitting socks for another person, and so on, and so on..... There are two groups: a beginners group and a non-beginners group. If you've successfully made socks before, you're not a beginner. Beginners are those who really haven't made socks before and they will swap their "first try" socks with each other. I think most of the beginners in the last rounds enjoyed learning how to knit socks and receiving a pair from a pal who had also just learned. So if sock knitting is new to you but you really want to give it a try, join us!

We'll all start knitting around February 1 and will send our socks out in May, that way everyone should receive their socks around the same time. And remember, it's a secret swap! Don't tell your sock pal you are knitting for them until you send off their socks to them. It'll be much more fun if it remains a surprise.

And here's a preview of all the info you'll need to sign-up.

- BASIC INFO: name, email address, blog address, mailing address (don't worry, I won't be sharing your email or mailing addresses with anyone but your sock pal)
- GROUP INFO: do you want to be in the beginner group? are you willing to ship overseas?
- FOOT AND SOCK INFO: foot measurement from heel to tip of big toe AND foot circumference measured at the ball of the foot, plus any other measurements or info that your pal needs to make socks fit your feet

Also include any of the following sock details that are important to you:
fiber preferences - got allergies? prefer wool socks?
color preferences - solids/variegated colors? specific colors you hate?
design preferences - do you like crazy socks? lacy socks? stripes or solids? prefer calf length/ankle length?
Include whatever you think your pal should know. If you're up for anything, just say that and your pal can have fun with your socks!

See you next Tuesday then!

No knitting around here. I'm sick, sick, sick, and my nose is running like a faucet. It's all just a little too yucky for knitting. But I can still plan new projects!

how will we look with gray sofas and pink curtains?

I'm starting to pick a peck or two of Manos to make an afghan for my in-laws for next Christmas. I've never taken on a big afghan project, so I wanted to get as early a start as possible. Hubby has approved the colors above and likes my pattern idea.

from Rowan's Classic Weekend

I won't be doing stripes, but I just love how the little x forms in the middle of each mitered square! I can't go too wild with pattern because the in-laws have pink and white striped curtains all over their living room. There's no competing with that pattern-wise, so I decided that subtle would be best. Plus, mitered squares are wicked fun! I don't know yet how big to make the squares or how many squares I'll need, but I'm so excited already.

To be honest, I NEVER thought that I'd be doing an afghan project with squares that need to be sewn together, but after I participated in last year's Mason-Dixon Afghan Sew-Up, I've deluded myself into believing that it's possible. I've got twelve months, right?

Yes, I am officially done with the lace leaf pullover. It's not finished, but I'm done. I did actually knit every single piece at least once, some multiple times, and still only one of them is a keeper. So there's that. What really put the nail in the coffin though was seeing how the shoulders and sleeves fit together.

oh, it all looks lovely from a distance, doesn't it?

If you look closely, you'll see that there are smooth raglan-style decreases at the top of the body to make the shoulders. At this point the sweater is knit in the round. Then the body is divided into front and back sections and the sleeves are later sewn in with one or one half stitch going into the seam. After I sewed in the sleeve, I took a look at that little pucker where the stitches that were part of the body are brought into the seam and thought, "you know, sweater, I'm just not that into you." And I was done with it.

The same day, I happened to see fellow Knitsmith, Shireen, in one of my favorite of her knits, the cowl pullover from Stitch and Bitch. It took about five seconds for me to decide to rip everything and try to turn it into that.

knitting a new sleeve directly from the old sweater

Of course, I don't have enough of the Cork (that garter stitch is a yarn-hungry little beast!), but I found some more in a different dyelot at the semi-annual Wild & Wooly clearance sale that I'll probably use on the back. And I think I'll do the cowl neck in a different yarn entirely.

Unless the jinx returns.

Now that I've kicked my nasty little cold, it's finally time to start those kickin' boots!

I pulled the yarn through the holes with the size E crochet hook, as instructed, and managed to get the stitches arranged on 10 double-pointed needles. I'm knitting size 10 shoes here. Using 10 dpns was kind of pushing it - I definitely could have used 11 or 12 needles - but I only have two sets of US9 dpns, so I was determined to make it work. (This also means that I'm only doing one shoe at a time, rather than both at once as the pattern recommends. Sorry, it just wasn't worth it to me to buy two more sets of dpns!)

look at the little cast on row inside!

After some difficulty (think small holes, small hook, big unspun yarn), I cast on and knit the first two rows. If you want to remember what it feels like to learn to knit all over again, then this is the project for you! With those dpns locked so tight against the shoe, every movement you need to make is a bit tricky and it feels like the piece is sort of working against you. It's hard to get the spare needle angled into the stitches correctly and you kinda have to make these giant arm movements to wrap the yarn. It's slow, slow, slow but I loved every second. And after just one night, the knitting is already far enough to cover the shoe!

Love it! Seriously, how can you not?!

Onwards and upwards!

The knitting became much easier once I got past the shoe. It was still a little like knitting in slow motion with big movements (although I can totally see how knitting continental here would minimize this), but it went relatively quickly once the decreases were well underway. For those of you following along in the pattern, I did make one tiny change: I didn't cut the yarn when the little instep gusset was being knit, because I didn't feel like dealing with another end to weave in later. I just knit around to that spot and turned to start the gusset. Otherwise, I did everything as instructed. A few rounds of ribbing and voila, a knit boot!

It came out just like the ones on the show - what a relief! By the way, for those of you knitting along, judging from my leftovers, I think one ball of Blizzard (66 yds.) might be enough to knit both boots. The BurlySpun yarn the pattern calls for may have a lot of yardage, but I can't imagine you'd need it all to make the boots, so keep that in mind if you're substituting yarn.

But now, what they didn't (wouldn't?) show you on television, the try-on! Drumroll, please....

Hey, it's okay! Really, it isn't bad at all. Of course, the shoe isn't the most comfortable, but I imagine that with wear (yes, I do plan to wear these sometime), the leather will soften up. As for the knitted part, it's comfy: not too snug, not too hot. The Blizzard split a bit here and there and doesn't look like it'll hold up to too much wear and tear, but as long as the shoe holds out, I can always rip out the Blizzard and reknit the boot from the same holes. As for the style, I really like the look of the ankle boot, but when wearing it, I think I might prefer either a short knitted shoe like in the pictures from yesterday or a higher boot. Sock height would probably feel the most natural. I may try it out by making the leg longer on the second shoe.

Still I consider this shoe to be a huge success. Such a success, in fact, that I've already bought another pair of shoes to make! I've got plans to put a pattern on them - maybe a cool cable, possibly even that Hermione cable I love so much. For now, on to shoe number two!

THIS IS YOUR 36-HOUR WARNING! Sockapaloooza sign-ups will be open all day this Tuesday, that's 12:01am - 11:59pm US Eastern Time. So stay up a bit later Monday night, or sign-up before work on Tuesday morning, or if you're in Europe, get up a little earlier on Tuesday.

I WILL POST A LINK TO THE SIGN-UP PAGE in a new post and in the sidebar just like last year. Click on the link, click to sign-up, and then fill in all your information in the spaces provided. Please read the instructions clearly and do your best to enter your info properly. Click Submit and a final screeen will appear telling you that your info was put into the database. Just to be clear, DO NOT SEND YOUR INFO TO ME IN AN EMAIL. YOU MUST SIGN-UP THROUGH THE SIGN-UP PAGE.

Again, for those new to the Sockapalooza, here's how it goes. I'll collect names, addresses, and sock preferences from lots of people. Then, I'll assign each person another person to knit a pair of socks for. So someone will be given your info and will knit a pair of socks for you and you'll be given someone else's info and be knitting socks for them. And the person you're knitting for will be knitting socks for another person, and so on, and so on..... We'll all start knitting around February 1 and will send our socks out on May 2, that way everyone should receive their socks around the same time. And remember, it's a secret swap! Don't tell your sock pal you are knitting for them until you send off their socks to them. It'll be much more fun if it remains a surprise. (More details can be found here).

A few more clarifications:

- You do not need a blog to participate. I'm happy to post progress pictures for those who don't have a blog.
- You decide if you are a beginner or not. If you've knit perfectly good socks before, there's no need to put yourself in the beginners group. If you're just getting started with sock knitting, then you probably should be in that group. You'll be exchanging with other beginners, so keep that in mind as well.
- When you are sent your pal's info, you will also be sent the name and email of the sock sister who'll be in charge of keeping up with your progress. Keep in touch with the her! Send updates of your progress, links to pictures or blog posts, and inform her of any delays or problems you might have. And be sure to let her or me know if your email address changes!

Finally, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE DO NOT SIGN-UP IF YOU ARE NOT SERIOUS ABOUT PARTICIPATING IN THE KNITALONG. When you sign up, you are making a commitment to knit the socks on time, keep your sock sister updated on your progress, and send some sort of thanks to the pal who sends you socks, so they know that they have arrived. Remember, your pal is sending in their preferences, so please try your best to make socks they will enjoy. You may need to buy some new sock yarn or try out a new pattern. Try to plan the knitting so you will be done within three months, so we can all send out socks at the same time. Send in updates your sock sister so you can appear in the weekly wrap-up posts. And if you have any problems, contact us, don't just disappear!

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Again, here's a list of all the info you'll need to sign-up.

- BASIC INFO: name, email address, blog address, mailing address (don't worry, I won't be sharing your email or mailing addresses with anyone but your sock pal)
- GROUP INFO: do you want to be in the beginner group? are you willing to ship overseas?
- FOOT AND SOCK INFO: foot measurement from heel to tip of big toe AND foot circumference measured at the ball of the foot, plus any other measurements or info that your pal needs to make socks fit your feet
- PREFERENCES: Also include any of the following sock details that are important to you:
fiber preferences - got allergies? prefer wool socks?
color preferences - solids/variegated colors? specific colors you hate?
design preferences - do you like crazy socks? lacy socks? stripes or solids? prefer calf length/ankle length?
Include whatever you think your pal should know. If you're up for anything, just say that and your pal can have fun with your socks!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

See you Tuesday!

Years of complaining that I don't have any friends with babies to knit for, and now this year it looks like I'll have a half-dozen baby knits to make! For the first two, I've picked out patterns from Last Minute Knitted Gifts (a book that I both love and hate - more to come on my trials with another of its patterns later this week!).

After making a pair of those super cute angora booties for the store this summer, I've been waiting for an opportunity to make a pair for someone. When my mom mentioned that a colleague of hers is having a baby, I offered to knit a pair for her. I looked at a lot of the mega-fluffy, mega-pricey angoras, but ended up choosing Louisa Harding's Kimono Angora for the lovely variegated colors.

It's still plenty fluffy and super soft, and as angora goes, it's a steal. Even Clara likes it! I may make a matching hat as well, if the angora doesn't end up tickling my nose too much.

One baby is already here and so I'm getting started on her present first. She'll be getting the baby placket-neck pullover from Last Minuted Knitted Gifts in some salmon- colored Cotton Spotlight I got at a Wild & Wooly sale a while back. I picked out the yarn for myself, but I haven't used it in a year and a half, so it's fair game. I'm using stash - woo hoo!

And with the new improved pattern, I'm flying!

Okay, before you go sign-up, let me just remind you one last time that by signing up you are making a commitment to do three things: make socks for your sock pal on time, keep me updated with your progress, and let the pal that knits for you know when you receive your socks.

Alright, GO!

(Sign-ups are now closed. You can use the link in the sidebar to correct the info you have already submitted.)

Remember, you must sign-up through the above link. DO NOT SEND ME YOUR INFO THROUGH EMAIL. For details on the information that you need in order to sign-up, see this post. Please also note the following:

-- The first name you enter in the NAME box will be the name that appears on the participant list on my blog. If you use a web alias, this is the place to put it.

-- The ADDRESS box should contain your full name and address.

-- All the information in the PREFERENCES box will be sent to the pal knitting for you. That is the spot to include everything they need to know.

-- The COMMENTS box is for comments you have that are just for me. Don't put any stuff in here that's for your pal - they won't get it!

After you have submitted your info, you should get a new screen telling you that your information has been added to the database. Once you get that screen, you're all set! (If you realize later that you made an error when you entered your info - did you forget you're moving? measured your feet wrong? -, you can correct your information without contacting me. Follow the original link again and click on "Change your information". An email will be sent to the email address you used when you signed up initially with a link for you to click on to change your info. Click on the link in that email and it will take you to a screen where you can edit your information.)

I will close sign-ups at midnight (EST) Tuesday night. I hope to send out sock pal matches on February 1st, so we can all start knitting as soon as possible! The date for sending out socks will be May 2nd.

Let's get this party started!

Okay, you warned me. You told me that there were big problems with the decreases in the men's zip raglan jacket from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I had no idea how serious you were. It's bad. Let's begin by looking at that pattern picture again.

So the front of the sweater in the picture looks great. When the ribs come up to the raglan decrease line from the body and the sleeve, they match up. Where there are knits on the body, there are knits on the sleeve. It's all lovely. Now, if my calculations are correct, you cannot achieve this look following any of the instructions as given. The only way I can imagine that she got hers to line up is that she knitted the smallest body size and the largest sleeve size. Those are the only sets of numbers in the pattern that can make the ribs match.

Here's the problem. The ribbing on body and sleeves is a 4x4 rib. When you divide the body at the armholes after knitting in the round, she has you put eight stitches on a holder at the sides where the sleeves will be joined in. For every size except that smallest size those stitches are an even rib repeat (4K 4P or 4P 4K). So far, so good. Now, these eight stitches will be sewn to eight stitches from the sleeve for the underarm. In order for the ribbing to line up in the raglan decreases as it does in the picture, the ribbing needs to be at the exact same point on body and sleeve. That means, you'd need to remove exactly the same section of ribbing from the sleeve that you do from the body. But she has you knit the sleeve so that the round starts and ends with purls. Even if we ignore how the increases affect our stitch count, there's no way that the last four and first four stitches in the round are ever going to match the eight stitches from the body. Because the sleeve begins and ends with the SAME type of stitches, they just aren't ever going to form an even rib with 4 knits and 4 purls. Add to that the fact that in one of the sizes, the increases leave you with just 2 purls in the middle and in another size 6 purls, and it's clear that the sleeves are the real problem here.

Shannon and I put our heads together and worked out exactly what needs to be changed in order to make things work. First the body stitches have to be divided as in the first size, with 2K - 4P - 2K (or 2P - 4K - 2P) being removed for the underarm. And then the sleeve increases need to end as in the largest size, with the sleeve beginning and ending with 2P (or 2K), so that there will be 4P (or 4K) in the center to fit nicely into 4x4 rib. (Yes, you could change the sleeve so that the first stitches and the last stitches are opposite, but then the increases won't look as nice in the center of the sleeve. See....)

beginning with K1, ending P1

beginning and ending with P2 (as in original instructions)

With just a few changes, you can still follow the instructions as written for body and sleeve, keeping even ribbing on the body and a symmetrical line of increases on the sleeves and still make the ribs line up.

BODY:
For the ribs from the body to match up with the sleeves, the body stitches should be redistributed.

39 1/2": follow original instructions
42": 38 sts for front, place marker, 80 sts for back, place marker, 38 sts for front
46 1/2": 42 sts for front, place marker, 88 sts for back, place marker, 42 sts for front
51": 46 sts for front, place marker, 96 sts for back, place marker, 46 sts for front

SLEEVES:
For the sleeve to begin and end with 2P (or 2K), the stitch count has to be 64 or 72.

39 1/2": cast on 48 sts, beginning and ending round with K2; work only 8 increases to 64 sts
42": cast on as instructed; work only 8 increases to 64 sts
46 1/2": cast on as instructed; work 12 increases to 72 sts
51": cast on 48 sts, beginning and ending round with K2; work 12 increases to 72 sts

So that's what we're doing.

In contrast to yesterday's post, let me share with you my progress on the Child's Placket Neck Pullover, also from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. This sweater has the exact same structure as the man's zip raglan, but without the ribbing (and with the new corrected pattern) it's a whole different story!

babies are soooo much smaller than daddys!

The only change I made to the pattern was to add one buttonhole on the placket (the pattern doesn't have you make any and calls for beads that can be pushed through the knitted fabric instead of buttons). I've still got the seaming at the underarm to do and a little girly embroidery (I'm embroidering the baby's initial "E"on the front, see?), but the knitting went super quick. And I love how it came out. I was worried that the style wouldn't be girly enough, but seeing Wendy's beautiful finished sweater helped me change my mind. And the color of this Classic Elite Spotlight is so amazing that it convinced me. It seems so perfect for a little baby girl sweater, that I'm not even having the slightest regrets about taking it out of my stash and using it. Really no regrets. The remaining five balls are already earmarked for another baby sweater. I'm so proud of myself!

After a little break, I've finally managed to cast on for boot number two. Wanna watch?

Insert crochet hook.

Catch yarn.

Pull loop through and place on needle.

Amazing what a little boot-knitting experience will do for you. This time was much easier. Until I got to the last hole.

Then this happened.

Which begs the question, why do I have a wooden crochet hook?! (Okay, I know the answer to that one actually. Two years ago, I was desperate one day for a hook - no idea now why - and it was the only one in the proper size that the store had. Still, a bamboo crochet hook? Why?) Anyway, I dug up my metal hook set and, luckily, an F hook also fit in the holes.

Alright, boot two on! (Hey, how are my knitalongers doing out there? Anyone else casting on??)

Erica has another weasley sweater to show us! This one is for her other little girl and was knit by her mother-in-law. What a great pair those girls make in their weasleys!
Kitty Kitty finished her husband's Azkaban scarf - in Aurora 8, yum!

Kylie joined the knitalong and is planning a weasley and a Gryffindor scarf
And Erin has already started a weasley. She admits that making her own HP scarf was the reason she began knitting in the first place. A girl after my own heart!

Since we're admitting things today, look what I bought on eBay:

The boys have so many Legos, I figure I'm allowed to have one too.

The only problem with steeking is that the things that get steeked are usually the most beautiful knits you've ever made or seen.

Like this Koigu vest knit by fellow Knitsmith, Nancy. Nancy is an artist, doesn't follow patterns, and makes the most incredible knits. But she doesn't have a sewing machine. So, it was my job to sew in the steeks on her vest.

see where the steeks go?

basted and ready

sewing several rows inside the basting line

The boys watched. They are fascinated by the sewing machine. Click here and here for the boys' eye view!

et voila, columns of little orange stitches

Nancy wants to do the cutting herself. It's a special moment between a knitter and her knit. I wasn't about to take that moment away from her, so I handed back the vest just like that.

I will get to cut Claudia's fair-isle however.

Claudia was giving this away. (I'll pause for a moment for you to take that in. Yes, she was giving it away!) She'd worked on this giant 80's style fair-isle back in the day and was never going to finish it. She said that someone unafraid of steeking should take it and cut it up and make something (pillow cover, felted bag...) out of it. How could I pass that up?! Just look at that incredible corrugated ribbing. I'm so excited about cutting this baby!

They may be the most beautiful knits I ever seen, but when it comes to steeking, it sure does help that I didn't knit them!

With the third round of Sockapalooza ready to begin, I'll officially close the doors on the Sockapaltwoza, the second second swap with a staggering 352 participants. What fun it was to watch all those socks being knit and knowing that hundreds of socks were being sent around the world last September! Thanks to all who successfully participated, especially to the dozens of generous sock saviors who knitted make-up socks.

Here's a few of the latest sock savior sock pics:

Jenn finished sock savior socks (close-ups here)
Tara finished a beautiful pair
fellow Knitsmith and fellow sock savior, Ariel and I worked on our sock savior socks together at knitting group this week!

I finished mine and they'll be off to a very worthy and patient recipient today.

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sockapaltwoza
(another sock exchange)

summersock tour: June 15 thru September 15, 2005

We've got 606 participants this time around in 21 different countries! That's 497 in the US, 40 from Canada, 22 in the UK, 13 from Germany, 4 from Spain, 4 from Sweden...we've even got 4 in Japan! This is soooo cool!

Hubby's been having fun plotting out all the palooozer-cities in Google Earth.

sockapalooza takes over the world!

And the tech guys have worked up a Google map so we see where everyone is.* Click here (you might need to wait a minute for the location dots to load), then zoom in and find yourself!* Use the mouse to scroll your way around the map. Can you find the 3 people in Singapore, the 1 in Israel, or the 1 in Hawaii? Look for the person in the Northern Territories and say hi to all the Australians and New Zealanders too!

where will your sock pal be?

Sock pal matches will be sent out sometime tomorrow, February 1st. If you need to make any corrections to your foot measurements or sock preferences, do it today! (Remember, the link is in the knit-along sidebar.) Some of you have only entered a shoe size - it would be VERY helpful if you went back and entered the length of your foot from heel to toe. Shoe sizes vary from country to country and the measurement is really the best way to judge the size.

After you receive your sock pal info, you will not be able to change your preferences. You will still be able to edit your mailing address and blog address info, however, and there will also be boxes to check off when you've finished knitting, sent your socks (don't send them until May!), and receive socks from your pal.

I'm looking forward to a great sock sock swap!

(* - To maintain privacy, the map does not contain any identifying information. Only zip codes or cities are represented. The dot for you will be somewhere in your county or town and could stand for multiple people in that same postal code. Therefore, the map is just for fun and is NOT a way to check if you are in the system. If you received the screen saying that your info had been added to the database after entering your info last week, then you are in the system. Don't worry!)

UPDATE: I know the map was having problems loading in Internet Explorer. My master webmaster has fixed the problem, so IE'ers, take a look!

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Since we're looking ahead to the knitting, let's get some sock pattern and yarn suggestions. Leave your suggestions in the comments and I'll add the best ones to the list in the sidebar again.

And hey, good news, there are a few folks who sell hand-dyed and hand-painted yarns offering discounts to sockapaloooza participants!

My pal Dani is offering $2 off each skein of her gorgeous yarns - contact her before buying through the etsy site to arrange the discount
Lorraine is offering a 10% discount off her lovely sock yarns to sockapaloooza participants, including custom jobs
Roxanne is giving sockapalooozers a 10% discount on her beautiful yarns
and Melissa is also offering $2 off as well!

Thanks so much, ladies!