my long socks ready for their long trip

What a long strange trip it's been - one leg was too large and had to be ripped, then I changed my mind about the cable and ripped out an entire leg again, then I knit two legs, about 8000 little cables in those heels, and finally some simple feet.

look at how that swrily pooling matches up on the back

So, did you make it?

UPDATE: Oops! There was a bug in the database system. Those of you who attempted to update your info to include that you had sent out your socks should check your info again to be sure that it recorded that change. If not, click the button again. It should work now! Sorry for the inconvenience.

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

This week we got finishers and (almost) nothing but finishers. Cause there are soooo dang many of them! With over 100 new finishers, we're now up to 70% done on the big list - way to go! For the rest of you, a highlight from sock sister Ina: "For those of you 'looozers still knitting along, Pip and Tom's excellent Ode says it all."

By the way, I've already got six sock saviors working on make-up socks: Marti, Colleen, Alison, Ann, Lou, and Bev. They're the greatest!! If you want to be a sock savior, please let me know by accessing your info in the database and checking "sock savior". With this many participants, I know we'll be needing a lot. I can send any "sock savior needed" emails directly to you if you've indicated that you're ready in the database. Thanks!!

Alison's finishers:
Abigail has officially started her "guess which pair" contest. Check it out and make a guess!
Allie finished her socks and packed them up with a note from her 6 yr-old. Awwww!
Allison's Trekking socks are beautiful.
Amanda finished her socks.
Amanda promises that she'll be pushing the "socks knitted" button some time today. Check her blog for an update!
Amy_J kept the first sock she knit for herself, but bought more of the same yarn for her pal and finally finished them!
Amy's done with her cutie-patootie little ankle socks.
Amy says she'll send pics soon of her yummy purple waffle cashsoft socks.
Andrea's brilliant red socks are terminados!
Angel's done!
Anmiryam's all done!
Anne was worried that she'd run out of yarn on her pal's Jaywalkers, but she made it afterall!
Barbara knit her pal a gorgeous pair of embossed leaves.
Bethieee's done. Wheee!

(yeah, there's more! click away...)

Okay, some highlights too...

From Alison:
Allena was almost done with her Pomatami, but has had to do a little surgery. She's still pushing to make the deadline!
Anita is knitting down to the wire!
Ann-Marie has had a knotted mess on her hands for a while and hopes to get the better of it and finish knitting this week.

From Ashley:
Colleen already finished her socks--but is hard at work on a second pair as a Sock Savior! You are a good Sockapaloooza citizen, Colleen!
Brigid has one sock finished, and the second is underway!
Cyndi's got plenty on her plate with the Warming Grace project--but she's still managed to start some pretty green Elfines.

From Carry:
Elspeth hasn't quite finished, but she's working hard!
Emily is nearly finished, but expects to be finished just in time to stick them in the mail.
FaithFiberflash is still working on her socks. Her hand has been having a bit of trouble, but they do look great!

From Donna:
Kira is less than a foot away from being done with her pal's socks - she promises to post a progress picture in time for the update!
Karen's hoping to finish her pal's socks Monday and post a picture - in the meantime, she's got other fab finished socks for you to look at!
Kat finds herself staring Plan C in the face with just a few hours to go before the deadline - she says her socks will be in the mail this week. Good luck, Kat!
Kathy's finished one stunning red sock and is racing to finish the second.

From Erin:
MamaSnooze has had quite an ordeal. During her trip to Japan she attempted her socks. After using 3 different yarns, 4 needle sizes and 5 different patterns,nothing was working. It was ...too wide...too small...too baggy....unpretty... She now has one sock done (it's very pretty) and her dpn's are clicking away to finish the second.
Luanne is having some trouble with her second heelflap. Otherwise, her beautiful embossed leaves are coming along.
Laura has one down and is diligently working on the second.
Laurie has gotten off to a very late start, but knitting is underway now and will for sure have socks by the deadline.
Linda is still working on her socks, but should be finished and have them in the mail by the end of the week.
Louise will definitely finish in time. They are both done down to just before the toe decreases.
Marie has one and a half socks down.
Marie R. is within a couple of inches of finishing the second sock, and will make it!
Mary C. will be finished, and will mail on time.

From Jenipurr:
Rachel is nearly done with the first Pomatomus sock.
Renada finally decided the Pomatomus socks weren't working, so she's started over. She's not sure if she'll be able to finish in time, but she's going to try.
Rebecca is going to be delayed finishing her sock pal's socks (but is still working on them).
Saff ran into some unexpected difficulties so is going to be a little late finishing up her socks - but she's working as fast as she can to catch up.
Strangelittlemama is knitting as fast as she can in hopes of finishing her socks by the May 2nd deadline (wish her luck!).

From Ina:
Miss.Sarah has finished one sock and is on the instep of the second.
Monica is madly dashing through sock 2, although she paused to explain the design elements of her highly original sock.
Pam-M. has been knitting injured, but is determined to finish!

From Mary:
Shelagh underestimated the amout of time she would need to complete the socks, but is knitting on.
Jill has one sock done and is working on the other.
Johanna has turned the heel, much to her relief.
Pixie Purls is nearly done, once she's solved the problem with some dropped stitches.
Jillrachele is halfway there.
Songbird is working on her second sock but isn't sure she'll make the deadline.

Since last week, sockapaloooza has been non-stop update receiving, sock ogling, email sending, sock savior finding workapaloooza. I need a break.

crappy knitting mystery, take me away!

After reading Knit One Kill Two last summer, I couldn't resist getting the second book in the "knitting mystery series" (yes, it's a series!), Needled to Death. Don't know exactly why I'm so excited about reading this one. I mean, the mystery isn't really that suspensful or well-crafted and the knitting talk is often annoyingly basic (like a paragraph about how the main character can't believe how knitting in the round is going to make a sweater) or down right insipid (as many times as you say that the yarns look gorgeous and feel incredible, I still can't see or touch them). Still, there's something about the fact that the main character is always walking across the street to the local yarn store or squeezing in a bit of knitting that appeals to me. She seems so normal. So she's fallen into a rather mediocre mystery novel. She's a knitter, like us. Plus, this one has alpacas!

Okay, well first my host's server is having a little problem, so the blog might be mostly dead for a while. But just in case you can read this...

I tried my hand at using acid dyes! Pardon the lack of pictures, but I had giant gloves and a face mask on so wasn't really able to pick up the camera during the process. I didn't want to spend the time winding up a striping skein for my very first outing with acid dyes, so I thought I'd try hand-painting. I looked for some instruction online as to how much dye solution to make, found very few really helpful numbers, and then went ahead and did my best on my own. It did not go well.

there were supposed to be 3 colors, including white

Don't know if my skein was too wet or my dye solution too thin or what, but it no workie for me. Everything ran together into the brown poopy mess above. Yuck! I think I'm going to stick to immersion dyeing.

And just so my dye-swap pal doesn't get the wrong idea and think that poopy brown is like my favorite color, let me say here that my favorite colors are blues (natch), reds, pinks, oranges, and white. And I really prefer bright, rich solids and stripes to variegateds. So no poopy brown, please. Cause I've already got a skein of that!

I've had no time for knitting things for myself these days, what with those socks to finish and design projects taking over all my free time. So, I don't really know how I managed to finish the front of the purple t-shirt sweater. A half hour stolen here and there really does add up, I guess.

Poor neglected purpley sweater. (Poor neglected barely begun pink eyelet sweater. Poor neglected unstarted baby geek sweater. Poor neglected unfinished hubby sweater. Poor neglected hurting my hand afghan squares.) The continental projects still have the advantage in the battle for my attention though, so expect to see more of the purple sweater as time permits!

Just something that's been stuck in my head while I've been working on my latest pair of Gryffindor socks. The spell isn't working any better for me than it did for Ron. But I did finish the first sock.

And a little birdie told me that weasley knitalonger, Stephanie, finished her HP scarf! The name of that bird? Let's see was it Sirius, or Minerva, or Parvati, or maybe Nimbus?

Oh yeah, immersion dyeing is the way to go for me. More control. Less mess. Just the colors I wanted!

Now I'm excited! I'm off to wind more yarn. I'll mix more colors tonight after the boys go to bed. And tomorrow we dye.

Swap day at the Knitsmiths!

take a number and take some yarn

I recognized three or four things on the swap table that I had brought to previous swaps. They were sitting next to things I had picked up at previous swaps and was reswapping. Heh, heh. We swapsmiths may have been swapping with each other a little too long.

the sock yarn table

It wasn't all old stuff though: both of my first hand-dyed skeins of sock yarn were up for grabs on the sock yarn table. Johanna took the "poop on a fence" skein and Norah picked my self-striping skein.

loot!

I picked up some Steadfast Fibers Marvelous Mohair leftovers. Look at those colors! And then there were some old patterns that seemed so insistent that I felt compelled to take them.

But wait, it's a series! When you're done with that lumber coat, you need to knit a bed coat, quickly. Done that? Good. Now, knit a jerkin quickly.

Um, okay, what's a jerkin?

Holy awesome sock knitting, batman - we're at over 80% done! That's a better finished percentage than in the last round and we're only one week past the deadline. AND that means that as many socks have already been knit this time around as in the first two sockapaloozas COMBINED. You people rock!

And hey, check the sidebar for sockers who have recently received their socks. Don't forget to update your info in the database, everyone! It's the official record of who's finished and when you sent your pal's socks and who's received socks. I'll replace the list in the sidebar each week with the names of folks reporting in that they've gotten their socks in the last week, so keep watching it to see when your pal gets yours!

Finishers!

Mary's group:
Jen's socks are done. She's put up a good post about some of the issues she faced as a beginner sock knitter.
Emily's Broadripples are all done.
Jillrachele has finished her socks. Photos should be coming soon.
Johanna has finished her Koigu socks.
Laura's socks are done and in the mail. Well done!
Rebecca has finished her Jaywalkers and is picking up a few things to put in with them before she post them off to her pal.
Songbird has finished her socks, plus we get to see the socks she got from her pal.
Erin wasn't able to photograph he socks but they are done and posted.
Keli has finished and mailed her socks. She's also signed up to be a sock saviour - thank Keli!

Lisa's group:
Teresa finished beautiful blue socks for her pal. (Is it me????)
Tipper's posted the pattern for her gorgeous red/purple "Frequency socks".
No sock pics, but Undiestakr did get a shot of another couple of pairs!

Jenipurr's group:
Regenia has finished her grey gullwing socks and has shipped them out just in time, since she's in the middle of finals at school.
Regina has sent off her socks and hopes they make their new owner happy.
Rocket_Scientist wrote a letter to her finished socks as she readied them to be shipped.
Sarah has finished her socks and they're on their way to their new home
Sarah W had only a little bit left of the second toe at her last report, but she was feeling pretty confident, so we're going to mark her as done.
Sharon finally finished her blue striped socks.
Silke has finished and shipped off her socks. She used a beautiful lace pattern and a deep red yarn.
Sonya has posted pictures of Raindrop Lace socks, which are now winging their way to their new home.
Strangelittlemama got them done at the very last minute (and I think she means literally).

Ina's group:
Meghan "unvented" her own lace sock pattern, see the socks and a detail.
Michelle finished luscious sherbet-colored socks with mirror-image cables and eye of partridge heels. Her pal would seem to be blogless, too, so she's anxious for feedback.
After struggling with a too-small Jaywalker, Mindy finished a pair out of Vintage Socks. No pix, sadly.
Mindy doesn't have photos either, but has sent out her socks.
Miss.Sarah finished on time and gave the socks a bath and a block.
Monica's amazing Black Forest socks are good enough to eat!
Nanc gave her pair of Pomatomi a bath and sent them on their way.
Neysa has sent anklets off to California.
Nic has sent her socks off to the Netherlands! (Sorry, no pix.)
Patty's socks have been on the Continent, but are on their way along with a photo montage of their travels.

Erin's group:
Laura's spice socks went out on Thursday. And she has recieved her socks.
Linda J sent her socks on Friday.
Lori finished her socks, but she was delayed due to a computer problem. The socks were washed and blocked and sent out on Friday.
Lori S finished her socks and sent them out over the weekend.
Luanne finished her blue embossed leaves and they were sent out on Wednesday.
MamaSnooze sent her socks out Wednesday morning.
Marie's socks are done and have made their way to the post office.
Marie R. finished her socks under the wire but they needed to dry before they were sent on Wednesday.
Mary C has finished her socks and sent them out.

Sock sister Donna has finished her first short row heel (and toe) socks in yummy Koigu, and they are off to her pal, complete with a custom-sized set of sock blockers.
Karla's socks are all ready for her pal, and she hopes to heve a picture up by the time you click that link!
Kate's socks fit Becky perfectly, and Kate loves her cabled Koigu swap socks.
Katherine has a picture of the beautiful felted pouch she made for her pal's socks, as well as a picture of her feet jumping for joy in the socks she received!
KC is done and she received her swap socks as part of a great package from her pal.
Keohinani ran out of yarn for the backup socks she was making for her pal when the first socks stopped striking her fancy. Back to the first lime green pair she went, and not only are they done and in the mail, they look great!
Kira's lovely lavender Mata Hari socks are finished - and fabulous!
Kristen's finished socks are on their way, and she got a beauteous pair of Jaywalkers in exchange, all the way from Alaska!
Kristen's socks are in the mail, and they are a blue vision of loveliness - congratulations, Kristen!
Kristy's New England socks are on the way to her pal - hop on over and encourage her to post the photo you know she took before mailing them off!

Cathy's group:
Janine is done! With a beautiful pair of hand-dyed socks for her pal, and an extra pair also!
Jill has finished her gorgeous baby cable rib socks in Beryl Socks that Rock.
Julia has finished her amazing slinky socks!

Carry's group:
Deb
Dene finished her Yarn Over Cables socks.
Designated_Knitter finished her feather and fan socks.
Elspeth as finished and sent off her pal's socks.
Emily has proof of her finished socks.
Faith Fiberflash finished her socks and has included a fun giftee for her pal.
Gina has sent her socks.
Heidi has finished her socks, but hopes her pal has better luck photographing the evidence.

Ashley's group:
Brigid finished and mailed her socks. She forgot to photograph them before they went, but she does have some lovely peonies for you to see!
Carla finished hers last week--but her silly sock sister forgot her in the update! (Sorry, Carla!)
And speaking of forgotten updates, Cass was done by send-off Day too (again, a big mea culpa from sock sister Ashley).
Carola finished her beautiful red Pomatomuses.
Chloe Sparkle finished some really beautiful Walking Away socks in time for send-off Day.
Chymerikaen finished knitting her socks, only to be instantly rewarded with the arrival of her own pair!

Alison's group:
Allena frogged and reknit half of one sock in a day in order to finish up her pal's Pomatomi in time!
Amanda has sent off her beautiful babies to her pal.
No pics yet, but Anastacia reports that she's finished too!
Angela's socks are so fun, they had a final playdate with her before traveling to their new home!
Betsy's finished Bobble Bing socks are way cool!
And finally, Abigail has finally revealed which pair of socks was for her pal. Did you win the prize in her guess-which-pair contest? Go see!

If you're not finished yet, keep on knitting! You're not alone. Contact your pal to let them know that the socks are a little delayed and when you expect to be done. And if you're like me and still waiting for socks, enjoy the anticipation! :)

Look, I got flip flop socks!

When I was doing my sock updates a few weeks ago, I spotted the adorable little bonus socks that Beate made for her sockapaloooza pal with leftover yarn from the real pair. I commented on how cool they were and Beate knit and sent me a pair. What a sweetie! Thanks so much, Beate. I absolutely love them!

Now if only the sun would come out again here so I could wear them. (Seriously, there's no sun in the whole 10-day forecast! See ya in June, little flip flop socks.)

chocolate brown - yummy!

Thanks to fellow Knitsmith, Amber, who brought some bland Brown Sheep 6-ply to the Knitsmiths swap, I got to spend a few hours trying out different dyes this week.

dye me!

Up to now, I'd only used the ProChemical washfast acid dyes. But I'd heard so many good things about their one-shot dyes that I thought I'd give them a go. I chose some beautiful blues, mixed the dyes, and got cookin'.

the scene of the dyeing

cooking blues

I think I'm finally getting the hang of this dyeing thing. Of course, one color immersion dyeing is about as easy as it gets, but still, the whole process went a lot smoother this time. And I'm starting to feel like I might be able to try the handpainting again. Maybe I'll even try mixing my own colors. Better get some more practice yarn!

Oh, the results? You'll have to wait until tomorrow to see the finished skeins! I'm hoping that the rain will hold off today so I can hang them all outside to finish drying.

Sockapaloooza socks - at last!

hey, I remember lusting after these socks in an April update
(check out Kate under "Finished Sockers!")

My pal, Kate from Germany, was very good to me. I mentioned in my preferences that I've really been wanting knee-highs (I added that any length sock would be fine of course), and she knit me the most perfect pair of knee-highs I could ever imagine. The best colors ever! I love the yarn too - it's from Wolle Rödel, a really cool yarn chain that I've visited in a couple of different German cities. And as luck would have it, it's still rainy and cold here in Boston, so I can wear them today. Hooray!

But wait, there's more.... Kate made me two pairs of knee-highs. I'll give you a moment to think about how many stitches that is.

Awesome blues! And the yarn is Regia. How did I miss this Regia colorway in all my trips to German yarn stores?! Luckily, my pal found it. Because it's so me.

I couldn't have asked for a better pal or better socks. Thank you so much, Kate!

A big thank you to my friend Lisa who insisted that I knit some more of my crinkle cardi. I love knitting this project. It just makes me so happy. It's the pretty color and the pretty eyelets and there's also the fact that I'm not substituting yarn or adjusting the numbers for once. Even with the 8 row pattern repeat and the 12th row increases and forgetting how it all fits together after not having worked on it for so long, I am thoroughly enjoying every stitch.

It's still pouring down rain here, but I'm positively delighted to stay inside today and work on sleeve number two. Good times.

they're heeeeeere: Spongebob legos!

The boys are adding to their lego stash at an alarming rate (all a part of my plan to make my yarn stash look less conspicuously large - hee hee). We knitters should recognize all these classic signs... Such as stopping by the store because we just happen to be "in the area" (well, the Natick Lego store IS in the Boston area).

19 points for the big crane set

Trolling eBay for bargains.

yes, they are really looking at Legos on eBay

And finding that one amazing thing you simply can't leave the store without. Like the Spongebob legos. There was no talk of points or saving up for them, we had to get them.

look at the teeny tiny Plankton piece trying to steal a Krabby Patty!

And build them. Immediately.

that's one happy kid

That reminds me, there's something I need to get at the yarn store....

Finally, I can show you the yarn I dyed last week! After five solid days of rain (yes, it's still raining) the last little skein finished drying.

A delicious chocolate brown, blue blog blues, and a strawberry skein dyed with leftover red dye. (Look at how they match my new sockapaloooza socks - wow, did Kate get my colors right, or what?!) I've got no ideas as to what to do with these skeins of not-so-soft bulky yarn dyed in different colors. But I love them. I think I may put a shelf on the wall over my yarn stash just to show off these big bundles of color. That I made.

Well, sorry to have turned my blog into a dyeing blog. I really am knitting up a storm, but I can't blog about my design projects just yet. I can however dye while designing and knitting, so some days that's about all I've got to talk about. Except the adorable card "the boys" gave me for mother's day.

And the gift was perfect too!

I can hardly believe it, but we are 87% done! This is incredible! All you pals still knitting, you can do it. Let's get that number over 90%! I'll be sending out an email before the next update to everyone in the database who has NOT checked off that they finished knitting and sent their socks out to their pal. I'm just looking for a status report on where you are and trying to see if there is anyone out there who already needs a sock savior to knit for them. (By the way, anyone heard from Rachel, formerly of joyfulgirl.org? Rachel, where are you? UPDATE: I heard back from Rachel - hooray! That's one more sock pal done!)

Check out the updated list in the sidebar of those pals who received their socks last week!

Finishers reporting in this week:

No pics, but Anita is all done!
Celia finished her hand-dyed, well-travelled socks.
Connie finished her socks--they're on their way across the pond!
Cynthia's socks arrived safely--you can see them on her pal Courtney's blog.
Karlie has pictures of her pal's finished socks - they are soooo
cute! Who wouldn't love socks with a rhyme stitched into them?
Karen has completed a stumming pair of Pomatomi - they're so lovely you simply must look!
Kate's Kraft mac 'n cheese socks are done and on their way to her pal - she swears they're more orange than this photo shows - I think that's a great color choice!
Kathleen has lovely pictures of the socks she knit for her pal and the socks she received in return - I love that the colors are complete opposites of each other, and yet she likes them both!
Kim's lacy socks are red all over, and on their way to her pal - I looove them, and I bet you will too!
Kirsti's socks are finished and off to her pal - hop on over and admire her other sock knitting, and encourage her to post a picture of her finished Sockapaloooza socks!
Louise sent her finished socks out on Monday.
Minnie has finished knitting, photos to come.
Ta-da! Nicole has empathy and "Happy Divorce" socks for her pal.
In order to continue to keep her pal in suspense, Nomad will be posting photos in a few days.
Peggy finished her socks, but has Internet troubles and can't provide photos.
Here are photos of the socks Penny finished two weeks ago, with the clever sheep to yarn mug she sent her pal.
Phyliss finished her Big Mexico socks and included a memento of MDS&W.
Pip_and_Tom learned to graft toes and finished her socks.
Rhonda has finished and mailed off her socks (and her pal already received them).
Robin finished her socks and got them into the mail this weekend.
Spring has finished and mailed her socks.
Timothy is all done too!
Twisted Knitter has finished her pair of Trekking XXL socks.

And I received another little something:

I heart these slippers

Sock sister, Erin, knit and sent me these. They are so awesome! I've been wanting to make myself some of these sock slippers for the longest time, but I never could have done as good a job as Erin did. Look at that super sweet embroidery! And the denim is just genius - they should wear well, be very washable, and best of all, they're blue! Thanks so much, Erin. You rock!

I'm sick. S has been sick. We've been stuck in the house for days with all this rain. So last night I indulged myself by curling up on the sofa with the tv, some banana pudding, my second crinkle sleeve, and the telephone. I knitted and called in votes for American Idol for hours.

I fell asleep with only the sleeve cap left to go.

Knitbud Lisa trusted me with three gorgeous hanks of Malabrigo laceweight, which she couldn't stand because they were, in her opinion, the color of pee pee.

the Handpainted Yarn folks call it "butter"

She had seen the chocolate brown skein of bulky weight that I dyed last week and asked if I could turn that pee pee into chocolate.

Overdyeing the yellow resulted in a dark chocolate brown - I'll call it special dark - with lighter red/brown sections where the original yellow was quite light. I bet this is going to knit up really nice in lace. Hope she likes it!

I can't show you what I'm designing right now, but if you look very quickly you might catch a glimpse of some ends I've just finished weaving in.

Is it okay to say that I am getting tired of knitting these socks? I made this pair pretty long and although I'm thrilled to have finally made it to the second heel, I've lost the drive to finish the heel and knit that foot.

All together now: "Go, go, Gryffindor! Go, go Gryffindor!"

(For those who haven't seen this yarn before, it is Sunshine Yarns' hand-painted self-striping Gryffindor yarn. Check my "another weasley" archives for pics of my other socks knit in this yarn.)

S's blankie is officially terminal.

The little holes in his favorite corner have joined to form three mega-holes and the edges are starting to unravel around them.

The cast on edge has opened up again and it's so thin that there's no stopping it. Each morning there's another row in his bed that has unravelled and ripped off in the night. And several of the columns of lace stitiches in the very middle of the blanket have popped stitches and are laddering all the way down to the edges.

I explained to S that the blankie was going to fall apart completely in a couple of days. The rips and holes are too serious and in too many places. But then hubby says, can't you sew some of it? Okay, no DNR order, we're going for heroic measures.

The edging got several rows of stitches.

Then I sewed all around that poor corner. Can you see the crazy stitch lines following the sturdiest remaining pieces of yarn? I guess it's sort of like steeking, only the cutting happened before the sewing.

This is not a cure, but it'll give S a little exta time with big blankie. A few extra days, weeks, maybe even a month to say good-bye.

The stresses of twelve days of rain, a cold/stomach bug working it's way through the family, and hubby away on a business trip sent me running to my crinkle cardigan for comfort many times in the last two weeks. Now hubby's back, it's finally stopped raining, there's only one runny nose left to suffer through and I've got two finished sleeves and the beginnings of a front panel. Just a few more crazy weeks like that and I should be all done with this cardi!

We are at 90%! That's an A in school, so I'm calling this round a huge success (a big enough success to keep the sockapaloooza's coming - look for round four in the fall). Well done, everyone! We've still got a little more than 50 socksters who haven't finished. So keep knitting! Your sock pal's feet are waiting patiently. If you've already finished and your name is still in blue on the big list, please update the database and let me or your sock sister know, so we can turn you red!

Your finishers this week:

Ann's done!
Ann-Marie finished gorgeous blue jaywalkers - you gotta see!
Ann-Sophie reports that she finished Regia socks with a horseshoe lace pattern.
Bev knit beautiful sock savior socks in Koigu Kersti.
Colleen finished her sock savior Pomatami and loved the pattern.
Elise is finished!
Erica has sent and received her socks, hopefully her IT guy gets her pics working again. :)
Freddiefan is done!
Gina finished up some really great pink Regia socks.
Gracie is done too!
Check out Julie_C's beautiful yellow, lace socks!
Kathy has pictures of her pal's fabulous Aran Sandal socks.
Laurie has finished her socks!
Lindsey has finished her socks (two pairs!) and will send them out this week.
Minnie finished previously and posted a photo of her Pomatomi last week.
Not only is Pixeldiva done, she also promises the pattern for her picot cuff lace socks.
Rachel reported in and she is finished.
Tara finished gorgeous ribbed socks in Lorna's Laces.
Diane waited until her pal received the lovely Purl Lace socks she knit to post about them. So sneaky!
Jill knit beautiful blue anklets and waited until she finished them before opening her own sockapaloooza package!

Remember to update the database when you're done and have sent your socks. And when you receive your socks, do let the pal who knit for you know by sending them an email or writing a thanks in the comments here!

This is the beginning and the end of my green gable.

All the Knitsmiths were doing it: Thea made two; Johanna is almost done with hers; and Gayle just bought her yarn and cast on. So when Shannon said she was going to make one, I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon.

I cast on, misread the first row, ripped out, reknit row 1, figured out what I'd done wrong in the first place, ripped and reknit it correctly. Then I started the pattern, realized after 5 rounds that I messed up the initial marker placement, ripped back, redid two repeats of the pattern, noticed that the lace wasn't coming out right, and ripped again. I gave it one more try, got through three repeats of the lace pattern and again my stitch count was off.

Look green gables, it's over. It's me, not you. Except for your appalling lack of stitch counts you're a nice pattern. I'm sure you'll make many more someones a nice top someday. But you and I are just not compatible. Sorry.

Much to my horror, a new section of edging opened up on S's blankie just a few inches away from the edging that I sewed up over the weekend. And this section is dangerously close to those dropped stitches that I tied off on the plane trip to Germany.

I knew there'd be more stitching to do on this blanket, so I had left everything ready in the sewing machine, but I didn't think I'd be back at it again so soon.

With all the big holes tearing it apart and all the little tiny stitches holding it together, I can hardly stand to look at S's blankie. It makes me so sad. But he still loves it just the way it is.

Another sneak peek at a design in progress. But this one has a serious problem. Can you see it?

I couldn't see it myself until I finished the first piece late at night and held it up to the light to admire it and congratulate myself. Disaster!

Yup, two different dye lots of white. I work at a yarn store for goodness sake, you'd think I would have checked the dye lots! Nope. I've got 8 balls of the yarn, only two are from a different dye lot and wouldn't you know it, I picked up one of those to start the whole dang thing.

I'm not ripping. There's way too much knitting already done. I've loved knitting it, but I can't go back and reknit it all. Nope, it's gonna be cut and graft for this little design. For now it's in time out until I can forgive it for foiling me and myself for being so dumb.

I picked up some more dyeing supplies at IKEA yesterday - a new pot and the most comfortable plastic gloves that ever were.

And I finally got down to working on my dye-o-rama pal's yarn.

That was my practice skein. It's not optimal, but it's okay. I'm gonna try the real thing tonight!

Blue KidSilk Haze from my just renewed Rowan subscription, blue bucks back from Old Navy, and the prettiest blue crocheted bag from fellow sockapalooozer and super crafy girl, bySarah. Look at the beautiful blue beads!

I don't think I've ever owned anything with beads before. I certainly don't have the patience to work with them, but wow, what an amazing effect. Speaking of patience, look at all the ends Sarah wove in on that little bag. Thanks so much Sarah - I love love love it!

Getting a late start today because it's Memorial Day here in America. A day for barbeques, sun, and lots of red, white, and blue. We've actually got hazy sun today, we're going to a barbeque later this afternoon and I've even covered blue and white here on the blog in the last few days. That just leaves red.

It's a new baby sweater on the needles! We have this sweater in the store as a model and it is soooo adorable. When I heard that hubby's work colleage was having a girl, I knew I wanted to make this sweater for the baby. Mandarin Petit is the yarn and the pattern is from Sandnes Mandarin Petit book #0407. 166 stitches on US 3's and I'm loving it!

Attention everyone who signed up to be a sock savior! We're getting to that time where it becomes clear who the dropouts are. Which means that I'll probably be sending out some "desperately seeking sock savior" emails in the next weeks. If you've already got socks on the needles you'd be willing to donate, let me know. That really helps me find a pair quickly for those who are still waiting.

And on to this week's finishers:
Elise sent in a picture of the socks she finished last week.
Jaime sent off her Jaywalkers and received a beautiful pair of socks from her pal too!
Michelle has persevered and finished her socks! She sent Thuja socks knit while spending time with her sons to her pal to wear while spending time with her sons. Isn't that nice?
Nancy donated awesome stripy sock savior socks!
Okay, she's not done yet, but you've got to see the cool socks that Purly Whites is working on for her pal!
Renada knit lovely Cascade socks for her pal.

And a few more beginners have reported in too - hooray!
No pics, but Monique has gotten her socks out to her pal.
Pixie finished her pal's socks. She says there's a problem with them but they look great to me!
Tiffany's cat ate her socks - again! But she's arranged to send her pal some sock yarn instead of having her wait for a pair of socks.

We're at 94% finished, which is amazing! And I know that at least a dozen of the stragglers are still hard at work knitting away for their pals and have informed them and their sock sister. If you are still knitting, do keep your sock pal and sock sister updated. And if you won't be finishing the socks for your pal, please be considerate enough to let me know so I can find a sock savior for them. If neither your pal, nor your sock sister, nor I hear from you, you will be marked down as a dropout and a sock savior will be arranged for your pal.

And a final thank you to the my fabulous sock sisters who are still keeping tabs on stragglers and helping arrange sock saviors where needed. Thanks so much ladies!! Mmmmwah!