Socktastic!!

I hate waiting for people to make decisions so that I can make decisions. It does my head in - my sleep goes for a dive, I am tense all over. Fortunately my canine and human support system is strong, and I have much knitting to fall into. 

Socks are moving right along! I am loving these big time ❤❤ 

  

I normally don't work on them at home, but I'm waiting for a pattern to knit up a frabjous fibers so fond of rainbows kit. 

I have been knitting so much on my little 2.5mm Signature needles that I have worked a painful cut/groove into the tip of my finger.  I still love that stiletto tip though. 

I finished Amanda's messy bun hat  I love it; I'm sure that she will too!  

Thanks to Woolly Wormhead for an excellent free pattern. 

 

More

Despite some uncertainties in my life, which is the definition of living, I am having fun!!  New socks on the needles!! This yarn has a softer hand than most commercially produced yarns. It doesn't have the machines stiffness; it almost feels like an indie dyed yarn. I'm impressed with that and the colours fill me with much joy!! 

I got up this afternoon with a mini cooking urge. I whipped up an onion chutney by Dan Toombs.

 

 I am excited for his upcoming cookbook; I might even pre-order!! 

 

Pappadums to go with the chutney and the curry I made Sunday. 

 I made a balsamic glaze to go over the pressed cottage cheese. I love that stuff - the best of cottage cheese without the wetness. The glaze is delicious - tangy and sweet; a perfect counter to a flavourless sponge. 

Phew! Well fed, and ready to work. And knit. 

Trending

Born Trippy is knit, blocked and ready to wear!! I loved knitting this pattern, and the yarn ... all the love!! 

Once I had decided to start with Hush (lavender) as the first CC, then realized that there was a solid MC section, I had to rethink my plan to go with a tonal

progression. I went with the brights in the centre, which if I was wearing it myself would have them on my face, finishing with Coral, so that it lays and compliments Hush when worn. At the end of the day, it still works out as a tonal progression! Go me!! 

 The living alone life kinda sucks for taking modeled FO pics, but Julie rocks this, so I'll leave it to her. From me, this is what you get - functional shot. 

I cast on for Amanda's Messy Bun hat last night. This style of hat is super hot and trendy at the mo, and Amanda was so excited when I tagged her in a Facebook post about it. 

 It doesn't look like much yet, the Charly print melange gives it a less than flat-black look. Those Signature Needles sex it up tho!! Amanda specifically requested "black" so I took that limit as far as I could and still stay true to what my client asked for. I *do* want her to wear it and love it when it's done. I also chose this yarn for its superwashness - Amanda isn't really the hand-wash kinda girl. 

With the work schedule that I have and the long days I'm putting in lately, I use weekends to go to the shops and cook. I love cooking and am still unable to cook for one or two, which works out well for meal prep. Yesterday I made another batch of curry, the sausage mix that I use to make omelets, and a new recipe - chicken parm stuffed peppers. They turned out fantastic and I'll definitely be making them again! 

I have a remarkable amount of food in my home for a woman living and cooking for mostly just herself. 

 

I buy a lot at Costco, then use my FoodSaver to portion it down and keep it freezer-fresh until I use it. I have a lot of ready to grab-and-go meals in the freezer. Working nights and not being able to pop out for something if I don't take food is a massive motivator, and saves money in the long run.

Trending

Born Trippy is knit, blocked and ready to wear!! I loved knitting this pattern, and the yarn ... all the love!! 

Once I had decided to start with Hush (lavender) as the first CC, then realized that there was a solid MC section, I had to rethink my plan to go with a tonal

progression. I went with the brights in the centre, which if I was wearing it myself would have them on my face, finishing with Coral, so that it lays and compliments Hush when worn. At the end of the day, it still works out as a tonal progression! Go me!! 

 The living alone life kinda sucks for taking modeled FO pics, but Julie rocks this, so I'll leave it to her. From me, this is what you get - functional shot. 

I cast on for Amanda's Messy Bun hat last night.

 It doesn't look like much yet, the Charly print melange gives it a less than flat-black look. Amanda specifically requested "black" so I took that limit as far as I could and still stay true to what my client asked for. I *do* want her to wear it and love it when it's done. I also chose this yarn for its superwashness - Amanda isn't really the hand-wash kinda girl. 

With the work schedule that I have and the long days I'm putting in lately, I use weekends to go to the shops and cook. I love cooking and am still unable to cook for one or two, which works out well for meal prep. Yesterday I made another batch of curry, the sausage mix that I use to make omelets, and a new recipe - chicken parm stuffed peppers. They turned out fantastic and I'll definitely be making them again! 

I have a remarkable amount of food in my home for a woman living and cooking for mostly just herself. 

 

I buy a lot at Costco, then use my FoodSaver to portion it down and keep it freezer-fresh until I use it. I have a lot of ready to grab-and-go meals in the freezer. Working nights and not being able to pop out for something if I don't take food is a massive motivator, and saves money in the long run.

Not Boring; done.

I finished them!! It was some trial and error knitting socks for someone else with just a shoe size, but we got there in the end. 

I amputated the ribs, then reknit them upwards with fewer sitiches. 

   

I don't know how I cast on using a simple long-tail cast on and it's perfect, but even a loose bind off is too tight. 

I cast off using Jeny's surprisingly stretchy bind off. 

 It's a bit flary, but this seems normal for the technique, and it functions as a stretchy bind off, so I can let it go.

I'm on the decrease section of the Born Trippy ... pics tomorrow!!  

Sock Love

So he tried on the sock and ... drum roll please ... 

 

His one comment was that the rib felt loose. I'll cut them off and re-knit them upwards. 

I am approaching the toe shaping on the last sock. 

 With luck, I can get it done tonight, then adjust the ribs tomorrow night. 

Also, check the near perfection on the matching!! 

 

With the exception of the heels and toes; I've used a different fluormania colourway as I wanted to ensure that I didn't run short of yarn. Again, a fortunate happenstance, but fluormania seems to do this more than any other yarn I've knit socks with. 

Top to Toes

Born Trippy is trippin' right along! I'm on to the last colour, Coral. It still is a remarkable thing how  blocking transforms wrinkled, undefined stitches into ordered loveliness.

 

 

Another bit of knitting magic that I shall never grow weary of. 

I finished Marks first sock, but I gave it to him last night to take home and try in before I thought to take a picture. Sigh. Hopefully his narrower leg translates into as narrow a foot. 

But I had a fantastically productive night on dock last night and am to the heel flap! 

 I don't know how it happened, but I have a slight bend on the tip of one of my Signature needles!!  

The needles were in the socks, which were in my TARDIS sock bag, which was in my backpack. I certainly don't use these tools as pry bars for anything. It's really a mystery!! Fortunately it doesn't adversely impact my knitting; it's an odd feeling on the tip of my finger as I shift the stitches along, but the knitting clearly goes on. 

We celebrated Craig's birthday a week late because we were both feeling so sick the previous week. The Keg had a prohibitive wait time, so we chose Montanas. Good thing too - there's a Birthday helmet tradition there!!Craig is utterly immune to embarrassment and soaked up his moment. 

 

 

It was a lovely meal and a memorable one. 

If the sock fits ...

Yeah. So it's been about 10 years since I've knit a mans sock, and not having measurements, it was a knit in the dark. 

Definitely looking too big. And Mark is a slight man, so I doubt he has massive cankles. 

 So I stopped short on the leg, powered through the heel and start of the gusset and sent it home with Mark last night so that he could try it on. 

He brought it back today with a 2" excess. Yikes!! So, 16 sts to decrease. I frogged it back to the ribbing, did some maths and am underway. 

Another extended night on dock should, optimistically, see the leg knit to 8". 
 

I am feeling much better! The soup did the trick on The Dreaded Lurgy, and with just a bit of a lingering cough and a healing cold sore, I'm none the worse for wear. 

So Not Boring

So I blocked out Born Trippy last night. OMG - the magic of blocking rivals only the magic of turning a heel on a sock!!

 

 Here it is folded upon itself to show the colour progression. I am thrilled with how it's turning out, and I rarely get so excited for a project before completion! 

While it was blocking, I got a bit more done on Marks sock. I'm loving it as well!! 

 This is the one that I had thought he would pick; there's no way this is going to be considered boring!! I'll have to hit up the stash to find a heel/toe yarn; I don't want to run short.

I had to run out, do a couple of errands today and make a Costco run. I had really been hoping for a whole weekend of couch-surfing rest, but needs must. 

I am home now, wild rice and pot barley simmering for the soup that I made yesterday. 

Ah yes, shit got real. Cold 2.0 vs Wannietta has been stepped up a notch and I brought out the big soup pot. 

Frozen chicken carcasses, celery and extra onions.  It turned out well, even without carrots, but needs the carbs, fibre and toothy bite that the wild rice and pot barley will provide. 

Okay ... now for hopefully my most difficult decision of the day; sock or scarf? 

Magenta

So I got started on Marks socks last night. I got this far into them,  

he inquired about what I had started on so I showed him. "Well, that's rather boring."  

So. Clearly since I know him only in a work capacity, and his wardrobe is ALP standard, I clearly made an inaccurate assumption. He said he loves wild and crazy colours. He named his first child Magenta as it's his favourite colour. 

Ok. Back to the stash. 

I have made some selections, significantly less sedate boring, and I will give him the choice tonight. 

 I've got my guess about which one he might choose ... 

Fret not, my evening was not spent idle! I pulled out Born Trippy and set to.

 It's coming along nicely, if I do say so myself. I was getting tired from the relentless coughing that this cold has gifted me with, so the last 1/4 was spent on being exhausted. Can't wait to get to Sorry, not Sorry, because pink!! 

If I had not had a back up project, like if I was a rookie or delirious from fever, I'd've just restarted the socks in my size. Hey, I can be sedate. Maybe not boring, but totally sedate. 

Sock-tastic

Great night on dock last night! I nearly finished my Indie socks, so I finished the toes after I woke up this morning. 

 I love them!! I don't remember what yarn this is, but it was a large skein as I still have 35g remaining. 

I went stash diving to find yarn for the next pair. I'm going to knit a pair for Mark, the dock Team Leader. He lets me knit and I know that he will appreciate the socks. I was cautiously optimistic about finding a colourway that I thought would be appropriate, but looky here - 

 

Result!! I think that he will not be displeased. He told me that his mom used to make him socks; I gathered that they were thicker ones, but he's agreed to give lighter weight ones a go. I'll have to pull out my Handy Book of Patterns  as it's been a long while since I knit socks for anyone else but myself. 

I'm waiting for the computer to install updates so I can download the snooks that Helen and Mark have sent me. 

I am determined to read more this year and be better at logging them on the 50 Book Pledge  I've been a participant for 4 years, but with varying degrees of diligence. 

Just enough time for a nap then before work ... self-care comes more easily when I'm feeling poorly. If I don't take care of myself, I can't take care of the rest of the lot! 

Dreaded Lurgy

Kicking off the new year with a cold. It's not quite as wretched as the last one, but it is requiring more rest, which cuts into knitting time. 

I have made progress on Born Trippy though. 

 Once I was home to mine and could weigh the yarn, my stressing over the colour progression went away. I've just added in the first stripe of Wish. I think that I'll block it out soon just to get a fair feel for how it will look. It's so scrinchy right now. 

I have excellent progress on my Indie sock last night at work!

 A couple more dock nights and I'll have another finished pair :)
 

Chica has this tiny piece of fluff from the bedding in their crate. She is so adorable about it; she wool sucks on it like a cat. 

 

If Petey cared about it, he'd have it gone in one swallow. Like he does with my earplugs, naughty boy. He finds them and swallows them if I turn my head away from my pillow for even a second. 

I hatched some excellent eggs recently!!