Sock Pirates Ahoy - Spoil(er)s Ahead

Lookie here what landed on my doorstep this afternoon.

A parcel from Blue Moon, with the latest Rockin' Sock Club shipment. If you're desperate for spoilers click on the picture of the parcel or go here since I can't figure out how put a jump cut in this post (I'll move the photos back over here in a couple of weeks).

The yarn is amazing! Easily the best club kit ever. I can't wait to start working on these tomorrow!

P is for procrastination, plain, and pieces

What have I been up to the last few days? Well, I haven't been working on the 120-page summary that I need to pass the 100% final I have tomorrow, but I do have a spiffy sock to show.

After having made it through the first sock and a bit, I am still wavering between loving them and being a little meh about them. Despite my ambivalence, I'm enjoying how quickly these are coming along and am more amused than I should be by the way that the yarn is pooling at different points along the way.

I tried to fancy them up a bit by deviating from my usual recipe and adding a 1x1 twisted rib cuff and an eye of partridge heel flap (in case you're wondering why the cuff is biasing). The yarn is Lightweight STR in a colourway called Jewel of the Nile (the above photo being a pretty accurate representation of the colour).

Progress on the Sand Dollar Pullover has been slow. Here's a photo of all of its parts, with the front pieces laid out to illustrate how they're supposed to come together.

Everything has been blocked and the seaming has begun (meaning that of the 11 seams that must be sewn, one has been finished and one has been pinned). I'm still a little worried that things are not going to fit together quite like they're supposed to, despite my careful measuring.

This is a closeup of the seam that has been finished (click to big-ify). Although it looks a little lumpy (nothing a good blocking won't fix), I'm pleased with the result.

Now to make friends with the Canadian Income Tax Act and finish studying for my last law school exam, and possibly my last academic exam ever.

Reckoning

I don't like to think of myself as a yarn hoarder. A yarn aficionado, yes. One that is appreciative of all things woolly, yes. A hoarder, never!

That is why, during a fit of reorganization I found this to be especially troubling.

That is enough sock yarn to knit 34! pairs of socks. Sadly (or happily depending on how you see these things) this doesn't include the 4 skeins currently winging their way to me. This combined set of factors was enough to convince me it was time to consider picking up these again.

This sock is in its sixth incarnation. It started off as a plain toe-up. It then found life as a top-down jaywalker, which was later ripped to make way for a larger jaywalker. After some serious pooling, it became a sock of my own design. Problems with the design led to a sock with a clock/cable motif down the side and now it's been ripped back to once again become a plain old sock. The picture above is one taken during life #5, the clock phase, and thus is a little outdated.

I'm still not loving the plain sock but I've decided there's no fighting the yarn on this one. It if wants to be a plain sock, then and a plain sock it'll be.

Also, I've finished knitting and blocking all the pieces for the sand dollar pullover. More on that next time.

A sweater is born

No time to chat, but a few photos of the latest bit of knitted comfort (please excuse the self-portrait charm of these puppies). I present: the oft-resented, now loved new sweater.

Project Specs: Under the Hoodie (Stitch n' Bitch )
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted Merino in Geranio, Lettuce, and Cuarzo
Amount: 6 hanks of Geranio, 1 of Lettuce, and 1 of Cuarzo
Left over: enough to make about three hats worth (one in each colour)
Needles: US 7 straight and US 9 circ
Size: Small (36") to fit a 36" bust
Started: November 2005
Completed: April 2007
Modifications: I added some length to the body and sleeves. The rest follows the pattern pretty closely.

After a few wears, this sweater has proven to be a cosy (read: warm and distractingly soft) spring chill chaser. I was a little unsure about the colours at first, but now that it's finished I find them cheery and not at all overwhelming as I initially feared (I expect that the amount of excess fuchsia dye that bled from the MC is to blame for that concern). I'll admit that while tackling this project, I also had reservations about Malabrigo's tendency to pill. They remain unfounded since the sweater is holding up much better than expected (perhaps it's the tight gauge).

Time to throw myself back into the isolation cave (a.k.a. my apartment), where I will lead a sheltered and knit-free existence until I survive my first set of exams.

Have I mentioned...

I despise finishing. It takes the courage of 1,000 strong-willed knitters to force me to tackle any kind of finishing. I've always found this to be an odd personality trait given my general elation with both the finished product and the shorter to-do list.

Exhibit A: The malabrigo sweater

Nothing has better demonstrated my completion aversion than the malabrigo sweater.

The yarn for this project followed me home in November of 2005 as a birthday gift from my mother. I cast on immediately and didn't put it down until I had the whole sweater knit about 6 weeks later. After this initial affair, the whole thing was shoved into a dark corner of the stash for another 8 months (putting us comfortably in the month of August, for those that are keeping track). After a half-hearted attempt at setting the sleeves, it was again forgotten. Spurred on by the cool weather in late October, I struggled through half of the finishing then gave up until just now.

Spurred on by this month's project spectrum colours, I finally locked myself into a distraction-free zone and forced my way through the seaming last night (over a year after completing the knitting). Now there are ends to weave in and I feel my interest waning once again.

Exhibit B: The books

The additional evidence suggests that my aversion to finishing isn't knitting specific. It also taints my legal studies.

I am fortunate enough to be in the final semester of a twenty-year education. One would think that after a particularly gruelling three-year stint in law school, I would be raring to finish my studying and move on with my life. The pristine, above-pictured books suggest otherwise.

For better or for worse, one more week and I'll be through the worst of both.

Send strength.

Mail Call

I've been meaning to post this yarn for the last week and a half or so. It is the latest Blue Moon Fiber Arts Rockin' Sock Club shipment (there are still twenty spots left if you want to join). The colour is called Monsoon and comes with a really interesting reversible sock pattern.

Here's a better picture of the hank's colours that should give you an idea of how they'll blend together.

This is definitely not a colour that I would have chosen, but it's really starting to grow on me. I love the leafy green and muddy brown tones. It makes me want to grab a pair of rubber boots and go puddle jumping like I did as a child.

I'm hoping that I'll get moving on these socks in the next couple of weeks. It is unlikely since I already have a couple of pairs on the needles and am feeling compelled to finish at least one of those first.

Reflection

A quick photo essay of my February and March Project Spectrum projects.

Stay tuned for all that is planned for April and May's colours: green, yellow, and pink.