Adherence to the Repeated Meme

I won't elaborate, because you *must* have read it elsewhere already. But:

1.) Read THIS.

2.) Link to THIS.

3.) PING.

Do it, people, in the name of SCIENCE!

Frog Proof

Claudia Handpainted is frog proof.

You see, before these were plain 'ol ordinary stockinette socks with a plain 'ol ordinary gusset heel . . .

Hello, cankles! And hello, stash! (There, in the background, you can see what you might call the tip of the iceberg.)




. . . before that (a year ago), they were Jaywalkers that were too big . . .

. . . then Jaywalkers that were too small . . .

. . . then (again) Jaywalkers that were too big . . .

. . . then picot-edged socks that had *no* stretch because I was knitting too tightly . . .

. . . and then once I finished the first plain ol' ordinary sock, I promptly cast on four too few stitches for the second, getting all the way through the heel flap before realizing it (Doh!) . . .

. . . but still, after all that, the yarn is beautiful.

In a related story, I have jumped on the insane-making-a-blanket-out-of-leftover-sock-yarn bandwagon:

From left to right, leftovers from the Doctor's First Oversocks (Regia Strato); Mum's Birthday Socks (Plymouth Sockotta); My Greece Socks (Lorna's Laces); My Striped Tweedy Socks (Meilenweit Colortweed); and My Plain Claudia Socks (Claudia Handpainted, probably in Carousel). Gee, three pairs for me since the blog started . . . now that's what I call GREED. Tasty!



Other knitters who are (or were) on this bandwagon include:

Shelly at The Heathen Housewife (Trendsetter! With the KAL and everything . . . )
Gail at Gail's Good Yarn
Gwen at Shoes and Yarn
Noricum at Soapbox
and at least one super-extremely-famous knitter, Wendy at Wendy Knits

Anyone else out there in Crazy Land?

I Might Be Broken

Still not working on what I should be working on.

Can't seem to knit anything but socks!

So here's a new one (The Elfine's Socks have hit the point where they really need to be tried on by zee Mama before I go any further; the Doctor's New Socks are in a similar state):





This is a version of the "Gentlemen's Fancy Sock" from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush. The yarn is Trekking XXL 100, which I have been craving for near on six months now.

I love the stitch pattern:





Closer, you say?





Stupid, stupid, stupid I didn't read the detailed pattern description before casting on the first time. Although it is titled as a sock for the gentlemen (as the pattern was its original publication), Ms. Bush explains in the somewhat finer print that she has resized the sock for the ladies with the 7 1/2 inch circumference feet. WHO HAS FEET THIS SMALL?

In any event, I started with the 80 stitch cast-on called for in the pattern, and what with the 2 mm needles, etc. . . . Way too tight, plus I think the pattern looks best when it isn't fully stretched out.

Here, just slightly stretched out:





I could have cast on a few extry stitches and moved up a needle size, but what do you know? All my other sock needles are occupied. (Wonder how that happened . . . ) So I stuck with the smaller needles, went with the intuition, and went for a whopping 100 stitches.

And so this is taking a while!

(But I really, really like it.)

My favorite bit is where the ribbing meets the road:





(Don't you think that a fitted, long sleeve sweater in lozenges like this, but of varied lengths, would be awesome?)

I think these will fit me very comfortably.

And I am very much looking forward to wearing my new socks.

But.

They could probably also very comfortably fit someone else (a particular someone else) who might be interested in some extremely colourful, randomly striped woolen socks. (He's even wackier than me . . . .)

On some days it is way more difficult to be generous than on others.

Funny, That

So now that I have more time to knit, I find I'm doing less knitting. Whaaa?

But I have finished those socks in Lana Grossa Meilenweit Colortweed (no pattern):




They might look a little skinny when off the foot (that's the magic of 2x2 ribbing), but I assure you they fit perfectly:

I'll Bet You Were Beginning To Think . . .

. . . that I would never again finish a project! (I was beginning to think it.)

And although weaving in four ends barely counts, it does count. (Barely.)

Another Cloud Hat (A.K.A. Dulaan 2007 Item #9):





all the leaves are brown,
and the sky is grey . . .

V. V. Bad

Remember all that tough talk about concentrating on finishing up a few things this weekend? You know, the low hanging fruit? A few ends here, a few buttons there, and voila, five finished projects!

Well.

You see, first there was this laceweight that just appeared in the post. Totally unexpected! (eBay, super-cheap, unknown quality.) So then there was some spontaneous experimenting with the 2 mm circulars. . . . (V. Bad.)

Then I felt bad about spending all that time on something that I won't call a new project. But I still didn't feel like facing ends or buttons. So I fiddled around more than a bit with the Doctor's boring socks. But still too small!

Couldn't quite yet face re-frogging the Regia Strato, but didn't want to give up on socks for the Doctor. So (even worse!), out came another ball of sock yarn:




A rebellious cast on of 80 stitches, and upping the needle size to 2.75 mm, and the cuff was finally pronounced "not too small." (I rather think it is now "too big," even for "oversocks," but I don't suppose the Doctor was willing to tell me so in that moment . . . )

So still not sure about the size.

But can I just say that knitting goes a lot faster on 2.75 mm needles than on 2.25 mm needles?

And can I also just say that the Trekking Ombres (even the ones that look a little dull in the skein) are gorgeous?

I thought this yarn was a sort of a muddy, dark maroon. (And in the photo, I guess that's still what it looks like.) But in the light, and in sock form, it is really more of a black pearl color. But not, you know, in a girly way. In a respectable, gentlemanly way. (In a respectable, gentlemanly way that would look even better on the ladies than on the gentlemen. Why did I tell the Doctor this yarn was for him?)





And can I also just say that I remember the bus being a lot more comfortable than it actually is? Just sayin'.

(Is it me or is it the bus?)

Inventory & Plan of Attack

This full accounting is less for readers of this blog than it is for me, first to remind myself to not start anything new for a while, and second to help me decide in what order to tackle things.

Anonyknits' Works-In-Progress (ordered chronologically by approximate cast-on date):

1.) Handspun socks (for Dulaan) -- nearly done. UPDATE: DONE! (1/07)

2.) Demin mitered squares blanket (for the Strategic Baby Handknits Reserves) -- stalled. When I switched from regular miters to no-sewing miters, my gauge totally changed! So either I'm making *two* demin blankets (unlikely), or I have some serious thinking to do. Maybe this project is not actually a blanket. Maybe it is something else entirely.UPDATE: I no longer consider this a "real" project.(1/07)

3.) Posy (for me!) -- half done.

4.) Claudia Handpainted socks (for me!) -- half done, but stalled due to frustration with my own stupid overconfidence. (There's a story there, which I will probably own up to later.) -- UPDATE: DONE! (11/06)

5.) Dale of Norway Zippered Hoodie (for Baby X) -- Hard to say, maybe 1/5 done?

6.) Lizard Ridge (for ?) -- 1/3 done, not including seams and border.

7.) Katia Jamaica Mitered Squares Blanket (probably for Baby X) -- only need to weave in the ends. UPDATE: DONE! (1/07)

8.) Noro Tidori Swatches-That-Might-Turn-Into-Something-Someday(Maybe-a-Blanket) (for who knows who) -- who knows how far along this project is? I don't even know what it is. UPDATE: Not a "real" project.(1/07)


9.) Striped Cloudesque Seamless Raglan, a la Elizabeth Zimmerman (hereinafter, "EZ") (for Dulaan) -- One-third done. Started the sleeves, but then set it aside when they looked too narrow in the cuff.UPDATE: Frogged in favor of Cloud Hats.(1/07)


10.) Nth Cloud Hat (for Dulaan) -- only need to weave in the ends. -- UPDATE: DONE! (11/06)

11.) Felted Coasters (for ?) -- Need to felt.

12.) Pink Baby Surpise Jacket (probably for Baby X) -- Nearly done -- just needs shoulder seams, buttons, and ends woven in. -- UPDATE: DONE! (12/06)

13.) Red and Grey Prime Rib Scarf (for Dulaan, unless the Doctor claims it) -- 1/4 done. UPDATE: DONE! (1/07)

14.) A Rug (for the cats) -- 1/6 done. But this is crochet -- maybe it doesn't belong on the list?

15.) Avery's Short-Row Hat in Noro Kureyon (for V) -- Nearly done, if only I can figure out how I want to deal with that darned seam. -- UPDATE: DONE! (12/06)

16.) Scarf to go with Short-Row Hat (also for V) -- Barely started.

17.) Cotton Garter Squares Blanket (probably for Baby J, who was supposed to get the pseudo-Prairie Blanket) -- Maybe 1/3 done? Hard to tell, since I don't know how big it will be.

18.) Cloudesque Child-sized "Adult Surprise Jacket," a la EZ (for Dulaan) -- maybe one-third done? (I've started the body increases.)UPDATE: Frogged in favor of Cloud Hats. (It was just too ugly.)(1/07)


19.) Striped Socks in Regia Strato (for the Doctor) -- was half-way done with the first sock, but it was too small. Frogged, cast-on again, now have about 2 inches of cuff done. -- UPDATE: FROGGED (11/06)

20.) Sock Yarn Leftovers (for the heck of it) -- Unlikely this one will ever be done. Will tell you all about it later.

21.) Elfine's Socks in Koigu (told myself they were for me, but I think they're actually for my Mama) -- barely started.

22.) Tweedy Ribbed Socks in Meilenweit Colortweed (definately for me!) -- half done with the first sock. -- UPDATE: DONE! (11/06)


So . . .

I think the thing to do is start with the low hanging fruit. If I just concentrated on it, I could easily finish four, maybe five, of these over the weekend.

Then there is some stuff with deadlines -- the Avery Diamonds hat & scarf, stuff for Babies J and X. Probably I should attack those next, since as the deadlines approach, I will be less and less inclined to work on them.

After that, who knows. Maybe if I finish all that stuff, I'll be back under 10 projects again, which I think is (for me) equilibrium.

In Which I Prove I Can Count

All the non-knitting craziness should be over, at least for a while.

So it is time to return to the knitting craziness.

Not that the knitting craziness hasn't been present the entire time.

It is just that I've been studiously ignoring it. Pro-actively not worrying about it.

It seemed like a good idea at the time. ("It's just two months. How bad could things get?")

Now that I am returning to "normal" life -- whatever that is -- I'm realizing that, in retrospect, that seems more than a little stupid.

I'm taking stock of all the knitting projects I've started in the last two months or so, and I have to say that I really had no idea that the situation was quite as dramatic as it is.

I had told myself, quite firmly, that I should spend less time knitting, because I really, really, really needed that time for other things.

Clearly, though, what I heard myself say was something closer to "You can knit as much as you like, as long as you have plausible deniability." That's a policy statement.

In general-but-practical terms, of course, this translated to something like "You can knit as much as you like, as long as you don't appear to be making any progress on any of your projects."

But I'm a nuts-and-bolts person, so probably what I ultimately heard was this: "You can start as many projects as you like, and spend as much time as you like on them, so long as no small project is finished and no large project approaches the half-way point. And don't blog."

Two cases in point:

1.) A small project. I "started" an Elizabeth Zimmerman Baby Surprise Jacket. It almost got away from me, but I was able to stop short of weaving in the two ends and sewing on the buttons. So I argue that it must be said in all fairness -- and particularly since I didn't blog about it -- that I really didn't work on it much at all.

2.) A large project. I "started" a Lizard Ridge afghan. Blogged about it a little, but managed to stop after 9 blocks. Hid them in a box. ("Lizard Ridge? What? What's that? An afghan? You do know that afghans are huge, right? I assure you that if I were working on one, you wouldn't be able to miss it. Do you need to be driven to the doctor?")

Plausible deniability. (Say it with me, everyone!)

And so it went.

For two months . . .

My people, I count twenty ongoing knitting projects.

Not counting the pseudo-praire blanket, which I am determined to frog.

TWENTY.

And not counting that last, final, "just one more," newly cast-on project I allowed myself yesterday as a reward for keeping it together (well, almost) these last two months:

Elfine's Socks by Anna Bell in Koigu.



So that would be TWENTY-ONE. (See, I can count. I just generally choose not to.)

So why do I say that this whole approach to "not knitting" only seems stupid?

You see, the thing is, I know me.

(And I know that I know me.)

Because I know me, I know that I knew all along that this would happen.

Knowing that I knew, all along, that this would happen, the only logical conclusion is that I wanted this to happen.

All along.

And if I wanted it to happen, how bad can it really be?

And if twenty-one projects really isn't that bad, you know, really, logically speaking, what's one more?

Ribbed Socks in Lana Grossa Meilenweit Colortweed, colourway 1004.



Hey, how did that get in there?

TWENTY-TWO . . .

(If you think this is bad, you should see the stash. I'd show it to you, but there are laws against obscenity.)