FO: Anniversary Socks

 

I actually finished these socks sometime last week, but it wasn't until the weekend that I had time and daylight to get photos. (Who knew that graduating takes so much work??)

This pattern is Anniversary Socks by Nancy Bush, which I knit and loved once before, and always meant to make again. This time, I used one of my favorite yarns, Ella Rae Lace Merino, and bumped up the stitch count a bit. I've knit four pairs of socks from the Lace Merino now, and although it's not the hardiest yarn I've ever used, it makes for a wonderfully soft and delicate sock. I find the extra darning is worth the prettiness.

And honestly, these particular socks are so beautiful that I wouldn't mind having a drawer full of them!

Details on Ravelry here.

FO: Waving Lace Redux

  

At long last, my Waving Lace socks are done! It took way too long to knit these, but now that they're finished, I couldn't be happier with them. They're a beautiful color, which sets off the lace just perfectly. The yarn, Intrepid Otter TWIST! in Mother of Dragons, which was super lovely to work with: its snappy twist and soft color variation is exactly how I like my sock yarn.

The Saga of the Socks can be followed here:

Part 1

Part 2

And details on Ravelry here:

Waving Lace

Edited to add: Also - the shoes are Chie Mihara, in the style Wespa!

WIP: Anniversary Socks

  

Years ago, when I was a very new sock knitter - and very new knitter in general - I knit Nancy Bush's Anniversary Socks from Favorite Socks. It was during an intensive monthlong EMT class, and I knit them during early morning lectures to keep myself focused when coffee wasn't quite enough. I remember thinking while I was knitting them that they were the most beautiful, delicate thing I had ever made, and I was secretly very proud every time I stopped at the end of a round to look at them.

Even in the years since then, I've never forgotten that feeling: the magic of making fabric on tiny needles with tiny yarn; those little holes and twists producing something even more lovely than the sum of their parts. And even though I moved on to different projects and my sock knitting lessened for several years, I still thought of those socks sometimes. And then thinking of them turned into a plan to knit them again. And then I picked out a yarn from my stash that I thought would work.

And then I waited.

So the other day, I finished my Waving Lace socks and immediately wanted to knit another sock, so I went upstairs and grabbed that Ella Rae Lace Merino that I made those grand plans for, and I cast on.

And everything about it was just as lovely as I remembered.

Happy Monday!

<3

Cory

WIP: Waving Lace Redux (Part II)

  

I started these replacements for my favorite pair of socks back in December as my Christmas vacation knitting. I finished the first sock really quickly, and blew past Second Sock Syndrome by casting on so I could knit them working the booth at Madrona. (I was pretty chuffed with myself at this point, which should have been a sign that something was about to go terribly, terribly wrong.) Of course, in a moment of clarity I decided that I was too hardcore for the pattern, which meant I didn't need to bring the first sock or my copy of Favorite Socks with me to Madrona after all.

Hah! Hah! How blithely and adroitly I totally screwed myself.

I knitted merrily away on them for two full days, turning a heel and picking up stitches with breaks to sell Socks That Rock and Pom Pom Quarterlies to happy knitters. By the end of the weekend, I was about to start the toe shaping when I looked at the sock and realized that I had left out 3 whole rounds of the pattern - and the mistake was barely an inch into the cuff. My bombastic self-confidence withered, I put them away: I could bear neither the idea of ripping back an entire perfectly good sock, nor the thought of leaving the damn mistake in.

And then there was this really fun period of a month or two when I misplaced the finished first sock. (I took that as a sign from the universe that I should focus on other, more important things, like ballgown.)

Then the other day, I was tidying up in my studio, and had a sudden tingly feeling, like: my sock is near. It's near, I can feel it... and I think I need to apologize.

So with a deep breath and a small glass of wine, I ripped out eight or nine tragically lovely inches of sock, steamed the crap out of the noodly yarn, and started over.

And wouldn't you know - I think we might be friends again.

WIP: Waving Lace socks

Sometimes all you need is the ease of something you've done before...

...and a quiet moment between shuffling in which to do it...

...to finally cast on for that goddamn second sock.

Outfit of the Day: January 25th. Now with more yarn!

I made a bunch of progress on Miraldette last night while watching a Will Smith flick called Seven Pounds.  Some of the critics didn't like it, and I have to say there were one or two gaping plot holes, but overall it was a beautifully acted and poignant story of a man's search for redemption in one of the most literal ways possible.  Expect tears if you check this one out.  By the end my movie-watching companion and I were both bawling like children.

I haven't been thinking about my outfits quite as much in the last couple of days, because, right on cue, Ohio dumped a bunch of snow on us.  Which means back to the snow boots that don't go with anything except jeans.  Today I'm wearing flats on the plowed walkways and praying that it doesn't start snowing again.  This time, laziness won out rather than necessity and I'm wearing jeans again.

This outfit is composed of some old stuff, but definitely good stuff!  I bought both the lacy grey undershirt and the flannel vest when I was in high school, and have worn them a ton, especially together.

Details:

Grey lace undershirt: Brass Plum at Nordstrom, circa uhhh... 2003?

Zip flannel vest made from vintage men's shirt: Brass Plum at Nordstrom, circa 2004

Belt: Petal wrap belt by Elizabeth Kelly on Etsy

Jeans: Levi's, borrowed

Eesh.  I definitely need to trim my bangs!

I'm also starting to brainstorm some new on-the-go projects.  I've made the Waving Lace Socks from Favorite Socks once before, and despite ruining the color (Lorna's Laces Sheperd Sock Solid in colorway Grape; thanks for being superwash, LL!) in a load of laundry that was done too hot, they've held up well and are super cute and comfortable.

Yesterday I was really proud of myself because I managed not only to do 5 hours of translating, but I also got a bunch of knitting and some blocking done!  It's been taking a while for my blocked knits to dry, but once they have I'll get some pictures up.  Stay tuned!

What's working; what's not

I've been working like crazy. This last weekend, I spent between four and six hours a day studying; the last of my three exams is this afternoon. I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy the process just a little: packing up my books, hunkering down in the library with my computer (for knitblog breaks and problem-set answers) and a little square pillow stolen from the window-seats. There's something very zen about diving into a subject with nothing but a textbook, some good music, and pencils with erasers worn down to little nubs.

All that being said, I think that I've come to a conclusion in the last week or so:

while I love chemistry, I don't feel like majoring in it significantly advances my career goals or overall happiness. The fact that I am dreading almost every chemistry class and requirement (woooo physics) I have left leads me to believe that I should leave it at a minor, and pursue the subjects that make me happy - East Asian studies and the arts.

There. I said it. We'll see if I change my mind this time... but I have a feeling that I won't.

But oh, hey, right! Knitting! I've been doing that, too. I cast on for some Retro Ribs with some Shibui sock yarn, kindly picked up for me at Webs by my friend Ondrea. I'm not sure what the colorway is, but it's a really beautiful, rich green. I didn't like the striping at first, but it's definitely grown on me.

I keep on having this weird problem lately with my socks. The first sock is reasonably tightly-knit, probably because I don't know the pattern well enough yet. And the second sock... well, it's not quite a needle-size looser (and hence I can't fix it by going down a size) but there is a marked difference in the way it fits my foot. I think I just get comfortable with the pattern and start knitting looser. It's beginning to drive me crazy, as it has happened with 3 pairs of socks now, at least. It's not bad enough to rip, but it's bad enough to deeply offend my perfectionist sensibilities.

Oh yeah. You know when you get knitting lust, and you have to cast on for a particular thing right now or you're going to keel over into a sad, twitchy little puddle of goo?

Hello, Zetor Scarf!

Even more socks.

Here at Oberlin College, we are (apparently and according to some marketing guy who said so) Fearless. Well! Just to show how Fearless I am, I finished another pair of socks. And may or may not have another finished pair say, tomorrow. These ones are orange - which seems entirely fitting to me. 'Cause hey:

....it's kind of fall outside.

I've been swatching for a mandarin-collared jacket with some dark purple Silky Wool, set to be edged by some light olive piping. I've also been studying for midterms in a strangely zen fashion. This afternoon, I was reviewing vocabulary for my language midterm when a boy walking past me started talking to me... in Japanese. I babbled something back about how I was a first-year Japanese student (which isn't exactly true; I studied it over about 5 years in middle- and high-school, and went to Japan when I was 16) as a lame "I don't even know what that conjugated verb tense means, kid!" sort of excuse as to why I can't speak correctly. It sounds like I'm gnawing marbles à la Eliza Doolittle when I actually try to speak in complete sentences. Meh!

In happier news, Bethany and I had our midterms in knitting class today. Did I mention that we're teaching an Exco called Fearless Knitting? Oh yeah, because we are. We're teaching socks right now, which has been a long process - but it was so awesome to see their finished midterm socks all piled on the table. My little knitters... growing up so fast.... sob.

Bethany is making Blaze (ravelink) in a lovely shade of reddish brown. We are currently trying to introduce our knitters to the joys (and collegiate time-suck) of Ravelry. Seriously, it's worse than facebook.


In conclusion, I have decided that I am going to run away from Ohio to get a degree in underwater basketweaving, move somewhere that is cold in the winter, and wile away my life knitting socks. Cheers!

Anniversary Socks

Yesterday Emily, our coworker Zach, and I drove out to Letchworth State Park and went on to Nunda for the yearly carnival. On the way, we stopped and saw Mark Twain's gravesite, which was pretty awesome. And, while Emily was driving, I finished my Anniversary socks!

At last! I started them last year during my EMT class. They were too short for my toes. I got fed up and dropped them, and started knitting the second one in October. Then, I found out that I had massive gauge issues, and that the second sock fit much better than the first. Since I'm ridiculously finicky about my knitting, I decided to rip out the first one and reknit it so that the gauge matched.

And it does! Here are my socks chillin' at Letchworth next to the falls.

Since the toe was too short and I was using a ripped sock for yarn, I had to dip into the leftovers from the second sock in order to finish the third one. Luckily, it was just in the toe - I can't even see the color change. Success!

I'm slowly but surely whittling down the number of projects that I have on my needles. I'm working on Hexacomb again, and it's going pretty fast since I divided for the fronts and back. I still need to block a couple of my projects, but I figure I'll do that when I have a little more space and I'm not living in the basement.

Finishing extravanganza!

This week was uch - I had two exams on Friday, which went half-well. I felt pretty good about my chemistry exam, but not so much the calculus one. Damn you, infinite series!! But I did finish two projects, one of which had been in progress for over a year. Behold, pink sweater:

I wasn't really able to get a full picture of it, due to my ridiculous lack of Skills of a Photographer. But you can see the button band, which actually turned out pretty well, and which was the reason I dropped this project last June and never picked it up again. I happened to have the perfect color of thread to attach the buttons, so I wove in the ends and sewed on the buttons on Tuesday and wore it on Wednesday. I saw a couple of my knitting friends around campus, and they all smiled at me knowingly and asked if I had made my sweater, to which I could finally say, "Heck yes I did!"

The boy person approved. We went out for a walk and some whole wheat donuts at the little memorial park right off campus, and while we were sitting on a park bench, he petted my shoulder and made faces at the sweater. Hahah.


The weather in Ohio has gotten absolutely amazing in the last week or so. The magnolias are blooming everywhere, and the apple and cherry blossoms are starting to come out, too. I spent a lot of time outside this week, studying calculus on the porch of the student union, underneath the massive amounts of bee-filled magnolias. And the only reason that the above picture isn't full of hippies is because it was 8 in the morning, way too early for them to be awake!

Oh yeah, and - big surprise! - I finished more socks.

Even more socks!

So, I finished another sock and started on the second. These are the Go With The Flow socks from Favorite Socks (yes, another pair from that book), and the pattern is really simple and relaxing to knit. They're excellent knitting-in-class socks, since they require basically no attention to detail. I really like this yarn - it has a similar twist and sheen to Koigu, but is a completely solid, bright color. I bought it right before I went on vacation with my friend Ben and his family last year... I knitted almost the entire cuff of the Uptown Boot Socks, got scared of yardage issues, and ripped it out. I think I might have actually brought it with me when Ben, his sisters, his stepdad and I went floating down the river on rubber rafts, when my knees got so sunburned that they stung for a week. Although I don't think I would be able to forgive myself if I dropped any of my yarn into a river.

Anyways, I'm slowly chipping away at all of the projects I have left to do. My roommate is out of town until Sunday, so I suspect that I will be knitting in the library a lot this weekend. It only took me 5 days to finish the first sock, so I'm hoping that the second one will go fast, too!

In other news, Calculus is not my friend. We're working on Sequences and Series, which is making my brain hurt with all of the infinite limits and rules, summations and all of that crap. I've started getting my classes lined up for next semester, and I'm really excited because I'm probably going to take Organic Chem, Japanese 101, and one humanities class to be determined. And, if it works out, I will be co-teaching a knitting Exco. Gah... I'm off to knit my socks, write a presentation, and beat my head against some Sequences and Series homework. Woo.