Spinning, Socks, and Socialization

Lately I've been spinning more. I got in a 5oz piece of roving from Fat Cat Knits (75% SW merino, 25% nylon), and it's the first thing I've actually finished spinning in quite some time. It's refreshing to remember that hey, I really would have free bobbins, if I just finished spinning what's on them now. I spun this up as a sock yarn, chain plied it, and last night gave it a good soak and let it set the twist of the yarn. Today, I'm starting on the first sock, and I have no idea at this point what it's going to be like.

I'm also about halfway done with the Nudibranch that I owe Hastur from years and years back, which once I started actually working on has been going really fast. In between these two projects, I've been working on PSS Prime, but not nearly as much as I should be.

In other news, I have become completely hooked by Plants vs Zombies. If you have not tried this game, go try it. Right now. I got it from popcap games, and it's amazing. You'll thank me for this later - it's almost as addictive as knitting.

Bring Out Your WIPs!

So, the moving process has been an interesting one for me. Yes, yes, I know, I should already count as moved because I'm actually living here in the new Casa del PenName and have been for a while, but I am still bringing stuff over from Mr. Ex's house, so bear with me.

I have found so many works in progress, just by moving my stash over. The most recent, which I am working on right now, is a sock knit up in Cherry Tree Hill's overdyed Louet Gems yarn, with a picot hemmed cuff and what was a half-finished twined-knit heel, which I have since completed and turned.

So, yeah, other than those two small points, this is a completely plain, stockinette sock, which I don't think I've done often. No stripes, no holding yarns together, just a stockinette sock with pooling stripes, and an interesting heel that I'm hoping will hold together well. I went up a needle size (1 from 0) for the heel, to keep gauge, and I'm about to pick up the stitches for the gusset. I considered trying to go and dig out the second ball of this from within one of my big boxes o' stash, but eh. I'll work on this one in the traditional manner - get one done, get second sock syndrome, eventually find first sock again and think why didn't I ever finish these?

You know. The usual.

Weekend, and New Socks

It is the weekend, hooray!

This has been a hell of a week, but I feel now like I'm finally settling down into my new life, and that's good. A friend of mine is coming up with her son (my godson!) for his fourth birthday party, and we're going to hang out all day and have fun.

The day I took Grue back to her foster mom, I came home after hours and hours in the car and needed to unwind. I picked up Persian Star Prime, but I just wasn't feeling lace right then - too much brain work. So I grabbed the square DPNs I got last time I was in Austin, and some sock yarn, of course, that I got to test out the new needles (Cascade Heritage Paints, in the Feathers colorway) and started making a toe. I haven't done socks in... months. Since the Bayerische socks, which remain half-finished in a box in my bedroom, waiting for me to rip the heels out yet again so I can reknit them in the right size. That was around christmas, wasn't it?

So I started on these socks. And I'm doing a garter stitch short row toe, because that's my usual fallback, and for some reason the garter ridges reminded me of this stitch pattern I'd seen on the bus one day, I'm thinking on someone's scarf? I wrote it down in my Idea Book (I love my idea book) thinking to make a hat of it, but you know, that would make a pretty sweet sock pattern too. So I did the math, and hey, what do you know, my usual 80-stitch sock just so happens to fit the pattern perfectly!

So I've been working on those, and I'll probably post the pattern up when I finish them. A simple, textured sock, for some near-mindless comfort knitting.

Dizzy, Dizzy, Dizzy!

Okay, so remember how I told you that the prozac was giving me some side effects? Well, the worst ones are of course the depressive episodes and suicidal thoughts (none since Monday, yay me), but the most annoying are the very light sleeping, and the vertigo.

So, Tuesday I went and saw the doctor, and she told me to take two of my pills until my current supply is empty, then to get the doubled prescription filled so I can take one twice-as-large pill. So, okay, I took my second pill that day when I got home, and two each morning since then.

Now, yesterday I did drive Grue back to her foster mom. Hastur came by and helped me load Grue into her crate (two person job, I tell you) and by 10 a.m. I was on the road. I dropped the dog off, then had lunch with some friends who live in the area, hung out with them for a little while to recover from the massive drive, then made my way home again. I got home at 9 p.m., tired, eyesore from concentrating on the road, and certain in my bones that I should not make a huge trip like that in one go until I get this vertigo thing beat but good.

Today the feeling of vertigo is worse, much worse. Worse enough that I'm feeling it with my eyes open, sitting at my desk at work, and I'm swaying a bit in my chair. I am so, so glad that I did my driving yesterday, because I do not feel that I would be safe on the road today. It's like the feeling you get standing somewhere high up and looking down, where you lose your sense of balance and feel like you're falling even though you haven't moved. I have that, sitting down, wide awake (though tired, I slept only lightly again last night), with my eyes open and my feet planted firmly on the floor.

I do not think this prozac is great for me. Eventually, I will have to drive again, if only to get groceries or go to the laundromat or visit family during the holidays. I can't afford to sway like this on the road, it's like being drunk only without all the pleasant actual drunkness or tasty margarita flavor. I'm hoping these side effects go away soon, or at least get back to their previous levels. I'm going to keep a record of them, and if they persist until, say... the 15th? I'm going to call my doctor again. I know these things take time, and I want to give my brain that time to adjust, but this is not a good sensation.

In more happy news, since I don't feel up to working on Persian Star Prime while effectively high, I started some socks. I had picked up the yarn and needles (those nifty square DPNs) up at the Knitting Nest in Austin last weekend, and last night it occurred to me that the stitch pattern I'd jotted down in my idea book (was it from a scarf someone was wearing on the bus? I don't recall) would make a pretty nifty sock. So I cast on for a garter stitch short row toe, my perennial favorite, and this afternoon I hope to get into the actual patterned portion of the foot. It's ribbing based, but interesting, and I think it'll complement the dark blue colorway I got nicely.

It looks like the internet

is back up, for now. Sorry for the delay.

So I got a raise. How cool is that, right? I'm almost making as much now as I would have at the pathology lab, and I'm not cutting into dead things. A $0.50 difference per hour is definitely worth it for that, and I'm hoping it will help ease the blow to my dad when I tell him that I like my job and will not be looking for another one (in this city, at least) any time soon, even if it means he doesn't give me the car, which is what I'm betting on.

At any rate, knitting is going well. I started a pair of socks with some Louet Gems dyed by Cherry Tree Hill (beautiful gem tones), top-down picot-hemmed Jaywalkers with twined-knit heels (which takes forever, in case you were wondering, but makes a wonderful, thick, elastic fabric. Remind me to borrow Hastur's camera and post a tutorial on it), and guess what? I ran foul of the usual complaint with Jaywalkers: Too small. I can get them over my heels, but with major effort, so they're going to be undergoing some major surgery when I can bear to look at them again. I'm going to rip back to where I picked up for the gusset, snip the final row of cuff before I started the heel, provisionally cast on over the instep, and do plain stockinette down to the toes. Then I can pick up around the ankle, knit up a cuff with what's left, and yay! Socks. Just not socks right now.

Right now it's all Cuddlefish, all the time! I finally figured out what pattern I want to use on the head (staggered diamonds, the simplest thing ever, with lice patterns on bottom), so I've attached the siphon and started working in earnest. It should definitely be done by the time Yarn Harlot comes to Houston.

Dichotomy Socks - Note to Self

Okay, so those Dichotomy Socks I posted a pattern for recently? The ones with the gague of 8 sts/inch? Yes, they don't fit me in the cuff. The pattern works - it makes a sock that looks like it should, that gets the correct gague in St st, is pretty to see and (in theory, anyway) fun to wear, and it does. Not. Fit. Me.

Is it the cables? Is it the cotton? Is it the fact that I really really should have done a gague swatch in pattern? Who knows? It could be any one or many of these things. The pattern will be adjusted to reflect many sizes of feets, once this olympic stuff is over. I'll probably just add plain ribbing inbetween the cables.

It does, however, fit K., and she did just have a birthday recently, so... happy birthday, here's a half-done sock!

... you know, I think it is the cables. I knew they pulled in when I wrote the pattern, it's hard to do cables and not notice that, I just figured the yarn overs in the lace pattern would stretch enough to account for the pull. Note to self: they don't. They account for the decreases in that selfsame lace pattern is what they do.

I think I've noticed something, though, with cable patterns. It seems to me that a 6-stitch cable takes up about the same width as a 4-stitch rib. Could there be a 3:2 ratio of cable crossings to stockinette? I should do some comparative swatching and find out.

Dichotomy Socks

(Picture forthcoming)

Gague: 8 sts = 1" on size 2.25mm DPNs in St stitch

Materials: Senso Cotton Wool (70% cotton/30% wool), 3 balls purple, 1 ball white (approx. $8 total)
Set of 4 or 5 2.25mm DPNs (I prefer 5, and this pattern is easier with 5)
Set of 4 or 5 2.0mm DPNs

Ribbing Pattern:
-IIII--II--II--II--II--II--II--IIII-

Twin Leaf Panel: (Barbara Walker's Second Treasury)
Row 1 and all odd rows: IIIIIIIIII--IIIIIIIIII
Row 2: IIIIIIMOIO--OIOWIIIIII
Row 4: IIIIMIOIOI--IOIOIWIIII
Row 6: IIMIIOIOII--IIOIOIIWII
Row 8: MIIIOIOIII--IIIOIOIIIW
Repeat rows 1-8

Abbreviations:
I: Knit
-: Purl
O: Yarn-over
M: Sl 1-k2tog-psso
W: "Ssk and pass", Barbara Walker describes this as "ssk, return the resulting stitch to left-hand needle, and with the point of the right-hand needle pass next stitch [on left needle] over and offthe needle; then sl the stitch back to the right-hand needle."



Conceptual Directions:

(in white) CO 72 sts in 2.0mm needles and work in Ribbing Pattern for 2". Switch to purple, and larger needles.

The p1 on either side of the ribbing pattern acts to hide the seam and create consistancy across the rows. Starting with the K4 area, the leg will go as follows:

Odd rows:
*P1 K4 P1 K24 P1 K4 P1; Repeat from * three more times.

Even rows:
*4 stitch cable (crossing on rows 4 and 8 of lace pattern), p1, k1, one row of the lace pattern, k1, p1, 4 stitch cable. Repeat from * once.

This will continue for 6"-ish, ending on row 1 of lace pattern.

Switch to white with out cutting the purple, and do your favorite heel, starting from the purl before the third cable. At the end of that half-row, your white thread should be next to your purple. turn it and keep going :) Minimum ends! When you're done turning the heel, leave the stitches on the needles and go back to the old start-of-round with the purple thread. This should be at the start of the instep.

Instep follows the same pattern of even and odd rows, only worked in half (no repeats on even rows, one repeat on odd rows. When you do the first instep half-row, pick up whatever stitches need picking up (along the heel flap if you did one, or just the stitches on the needle if you did a short row heel) and work them in purple with your favorite gussets or lack thereof worked in stockinette or favorite sole stitch along the bottom of the foot.

Complete for length of foot minus a few inches.

Switch to white, knit 1 round, then do your favorite toe.

Written-Out Directions:

Cuff:

(in white) CO 72 sts in 2.0mm needles and work in Ribbing Pattern for 2". Switch to purple, and larger needles.

Row 1 (and all odd rows): *P1, K4, P2, K10, P2, K10, P2, K4, P1; Repeat from *.
Row 2: *P1, K4, P2, K6, ssk and pass, yo, K1, yo, P2, yo, K1, yo, sl 1-K2tog-psso, K6, P2, K4, P1; Repeat from *.
Row 4: *P1, K4, P2, K4, ssk and pass, K1, yo, K1, yo, K1, P2, K1, yo, K1, yo, K1, sl 1-K2tog-psso, K4, P2, K4, P1; Repeat from *.
Row 6: *P1, K4, P2, K2, ssk and pass, K2, yo, K1, yo, K2, P2, K2, yo, K1, yo, K2, sl 1-K2tog-psso, K2, P2, K4, P1; Repeat from *.
Row 8: *P1, K4, P2, ssk and pass, K3, yo, K1, yo, K3, P2, K3, yo, K1, yo, K3, sl 1-K2tog-psso, P2, K4, P1; Repeat from *.

Repeat rows 1-8 until cuff measures around 6", end on row 1. Transfer the first 36 sts to stitch holder, or 1 needle.


Heel: (feel free to substitute your own favorite heel)

Do not cut the purple, but pick up the white yarn. Remember to leave a 6" tail. Starting from the second needle (or just after the stitch holder), work 1 row in Heel Stitch as follows: sl 1, *k1, sl1; repeat from * until you reach the end of the round (you should have worked half a round in white). You will only be working with these white stitches for the rest of the heel. Turn the work, purl across. Alternate rows of slipped regular stitches until the heel flap measures your preferred height. I tend to do 2.5 or 3", but I have big feet.

Turning the Heel:

I like to continue the heel stitch pattern in the turning of the heel, but it's not strictly neccessary. If you prefer, just turn the heel in Stockinette stitch, though you should continue to slip the first stitch in the row.

Row 1: Sl1, (k1, sl1) 11 times, k1 , k2tog, k1, turn.
Row 2: sl1, p13, p2tog, p1, turn.
Row 3: sl1, (k1, sl1) 7 times, k2tog, k1, turn.
Row 4: sl1, p15, p2tog, p1, turn.
Row 5: sl1, k1, (k1, sl1) 7 times, k1, k2tog, k1, turn.
Row 6: sl1, p17, p2tog, p1, turn.
Row 7: sl1, (k1, sl1) 9 times, k2tog, k1, turn.
Row 8: sl1, p19, p2tog, p1, turn.
Row 9: sl1, k1, (k1, sl1) 9 times, k1, k2tog, k1, turn.
Row 10: sl1, p21, p2tog, p1, turn.
Row 11: sl1, (k1, sl1) 11 times, k2tog. (please note, no k1 and turn)


Gusset:

Round 1:
Leave the heel stitches on the needle, and go back to the instep stitches and the start of round. Remove from stitch holder if neccessary, and place on single needle (this is now needle 1). With the purple (which should not have been cut, please recall), work row 2 of cuff, without the repeat, and on a new needle (needle 2) pick up gusset stitches on left side of heel flap, and knit the gusset stitches through the back loops (to avoid holes, pick up one extra stitch between instep and gusset). Knit across heel stitches (needle three), pick up right side of gusset stitches, including extra stitch (needle four) and knit through back loops. In order to make things a little more balanced, add the # of stitches on needles 2-4 together and divide by 3, then starting at needle 2, move stitches as needed so that that number of stitches is on each needle (if 1 stitch is left over, place on needle 3. If two stitches are left over, place on needles 2 and 4). If you would prefer, you may continue working the stitches of needle 3 in Heel Stitch until the gusset is complete.

Round 2: (and all even rounds)
Work the instep in Cuff row 1 excluding repeat. On needle 2, p1, k3, ssk, knit to end of needle. Continue in Stockinette st until last 5 sts on needle 4. k2tog, k3, p1.
Round 3:
Work the instep in next Cuff row excluding repeat. p1, knit to last st on needle 4, p1.

Repeat rows 2 and 3 until you have decreased back down to 72 stitches. Rearrange stitches on needles 2-4 when needed to maintain easy knitting. At the end, there should be 12 stitches each on needles 2, 3, and 4.


Foot:

Continue to work instep stitches in cuff pattern excluding repeats, and work needles 2-4 in Stockinette stitch. Continue until 2 or 3" from the ends of the toes, try to end on row 1.

Heel-Stitch Star Toe:

Switch to white, remember to leave long tail on both yarns.

Round 1 (and all odd rounds): Knit.
Round 2a: Knit needles 1 and 2. On needle 3, ssk, k4, place stitch marker. Starting from the marker, redistribute stitches so there are 19 stitches on the first needle from the marker, and 18 on the other needles. The row now begins at the bottom of the foot.

Round 2b: k1, sl1, k1, sl1, k2tog. There are now 70 stitches on the needles. *sl1, k1; repeat from * to last stitch, sl1.

Round 4: *k8, k2tog; Repeat from *
Round 5: *k7, k2tog; Repeat from *
Round 6: *k6, k2tog; Repeat from *
Round 7: *k5, k2tog; Repeat from *
Round 8: *k4, k2tog; Repeat from *
Round 9: *k3, k2tog; Repeat from *
Round 10: *k2, k2tog; Repeat from *
Round 11: *k1, k2tog; Repeat from *

14 stitches now remain. Graft toe and enjoy!

1/10th of the way there!

That's right, folks, the green cotton Friday Harbor socks had their grand debut last today, as I wore them about town and to campus, in long jeans that didn't allow them to be seen XD However, I did stop and talk to all the folks I knew and showed them off, so they didn't feel too abandoned ^_^

Oh, Yeah...

I forgot to mention I made a New Year's Resolution! I like to kinda stagger these things, so that there's more of a sliding scale of resolutions than one grand mega-resolution. The scale goes as follows:

Step 1: I will bring the number of socks I've knit up to ten (counting the two I made in december).

Step 2: I will bring the number of pairs of socks I've knit up to ten, including the december pair.

Step 3: I will knit ten pairs of socks, all in this year. Baby booties totally count.

Step 4: I will knit ten pairs of socks, all in this year, for myself. Any socks or booties knit for others will not fill this requirement.

In preparation of this, I've picked up three more skeins of Opal, and about a million balls of that senso cotton that's so nice and cheap. I'm almost to the heel flap of the second sock that pair, and I'm really liking how the first one wears. If I finish by the end of this week, I'm going to have to find some kinda of pretty new shoes to show them off in :)

In other news, classes start up again tomorrow. I'm kinda iffy on this semester - I'm taking the fewest number of hours I've ever taken on purpose, nine, but they're all upper-level psych courses, and, incidentally, the LAST of my upper-level psych courses. Isn't that crazy? I mean, if I do well on these classes (and there's no reason to expect I shouldn't, I've got a 3.8 GPA in my psych classes thus far), then I've got, what, one semester to go? Make up that last english and history class? And since we're not taking the Iran trip after all (a cousin from Germany is coming to the US, and staying at dad's place, so he's staying to take care of her) I'll have plenty of time in the summer to finish that up. Could I be graduating? Like, graduating this year?

It's kinda scary, to be graduating. I haven't given any thought to grad school just yet, aside from the fact that I know I want to go. I don't really have a great, lasting relationship with any of my advisors or professors, aside from maybe Dr. Copeland, probably due in part to the fact that I've only been on this campus for almost two years now. This'll actually be my fourth semester at the main campus, since I took half a year at Blinn when my loans didn't come in, and now I've got to think of letters of recommendation and writing samples and whatnot? It's really scary. I've been toying with the idea of taking up teaching, but I'm afraid that maybe it's because I'm afraid to go to grad school, which is total crap since I haven't been accepted to any, you know, because I haven't APPLIED.

And then I have to stop and think, what about women's studies? My feminist theory prof said that I had a really good grasp of the second-wave literature, that the essays we wrote would go a long way to getting into women's studies program - into a GOOD one. And I really enjoyed it. But I really enjoy psychology, especially social psych, and I'm taking classes in how people learn, how cognition works, and it's all just so lovely and fascinating.

But if I'm graduating, I'm going to have to get a new job. I can't stay a student worker forever, especially when I'm not a student any more - that's how I GOT the job, the last guy graduated out. And I know I don't want to be a kept woman, I don't want Sweetie to have to support us both, even though I know he could right now. I'd like to get my masters. I'd like to get my doctorate. I'm the first person in my family to go to college in I don't know HOW long, I'll be the first to graduate, and I really want to see how far I can go. If I don't go, I'll regret it forever. I need to prove to myself that I can make it in a hard science (and psych IS hard science, my friend), prove to myself and to my family how smart I really am, how worthwhile I am, really vindicate me as a person. If I can do this, if I can go and get into grad school and GET my doctorate, if my last name can end "Ph. D", then I've done it. I've shown everyone that I'm worth something, and I've shown myself as well.

Ringing in the Year of the Sock

So, I'm totally in love with RoseByAny's concept, Two Thousand Socks. I mean, counting this in with my resolution to knit myself ten pairs of socks this year*, I myself could account for a whole percentage point in this baby! How awesome would that be, eh? Plus I plan to knit at least one or two pairs for Sweetie (since I kinda sorta rid him of most of his store-bought socks), and booties for J-who-is-with-child (can't wait to see the baby, should be born this semester!), so who knows? Maybe I could be a two-percenter in more ways than one :)

Ah, aggieland. If nothing else, you supply me with puns.

*Sweetie's first sock, the Friday Harbor socks out of Knitting on the Road? Yeah, doesn't fit him. But it does fit me. Yay, my first sock for the new year!

Socks!

Okay, so the green socks I made over the holiday? They will always have a special place in my heart - your first always does. But now? I am beyond them. I have entered a higher plane of sockmaking existance. I've now got needles from 0-2 in plenty, resting lovingly atop balls of yarn that thy are destined one day to conquer. Right now, though, I'm making the Friday Harbor socks from Folk Socks for sweetie out of that Senso Cotton from Hobby Lobby. It's about as cheap, per pair of socks, as Magic Stripes, and I like the feel of it better. Plus, being a solid color, I can actually play around with, you know, interesting patterns that aren't Jaywalker. Self-striping is nice, but there's definitely something to be said for a well-made sock with texture. I hope to finish this pair by Monday (yeah right!) so that his boss-who-likes-me may be suitably impressed.

More Socks

Okay, so the green Kathmandu socks turned out very well indeed :) They were knit on 2.5mm needles, at 7 stitches to the inch, with short-row heels and toes, and they are marvelous. Obviously, the next step is to try Magic Stripes on 2.0mm needles, and see how they turn out. I picked up 3 skeins over at Hancock's, the first one I'm trying is colorway 206 (for myself - obviously, I have to try MY socks before I can do any for my sweetie. Right? Right? XD) I found a cool online retailer of patterns, and a cheap fix for Regia, so here's the listing:

Regia 50% off:
Regia!

Patterns:
Heel and Toes Gazette!

"Random" in the sense that it isn't.

Okay, so my plan? Was to make socks with random crazy-stripes, different widths, different placement, etc. etc. I finished one, just changed colors whenever I thought it could use a good bit of changing, and it turned out really nice. So, I go to start the next one, again, just chaning colors when I thought it could use it, and not even LOOKING at the other sock (which was in my purse).

The end result? The same. damn. stipe. pattern. Only not exact enough that the socks are actually, you know, a pair.

To frog or not to frog? This is the question.