Baby Daddy Has Cold Feet

Baby Daddy loved his socks. Yes, yes - the above picture is not a completed sock. Take my word for it...he has a pair of completed socks. It was nice to surprise him with them. I normally cannot keep a secret about a present for the life of me....but this time I could. I must be maturing. *grin*

These socks are perfect as a man's dress sock. The yarn, from Sugarbee (of course), is in shades of grey, cream and brown which match Baby Daddy's professional wardrobe perfectly. I have long tried to get him into funky socks and/or ties but it was not happening - he is just too conservative in his work clothes.

The pattern is "Double Fleck" from More Sensational Socks. It is a six stitch, four row repeat that is easily memorized. It is perfect for a man's sock because it has textural interest without being too fussy. It was also a great knit because the pattern kept me engaged enough and produced gorgeous results without a lot of fancy knitting.

ON THE NEEDLES: Rick from Cookie A and the Hanami
ON THE iPOD: Splendid Table
ON THE BOOKSHELF: Hooked on Murder by Hechtman
ON THE TABLE: Whole lotta nothing - too hot to cook

Betty Bangs - Jaywalkers

If you are a knitter who knits socks, then you probably have a "go to" pattern - a pattern that you have knit more than once, is easy to remember and gives a really cool finished pair of socks.

My "go to" pattern is Jaywalker. Apparently I am not the only one: Ravelry stats show almost 6,300 pairs of Jaywalkers either in progress or finished (at the time of this writing).

I have a lot of variegated yarns that do not translate well into lacy, cabled or intricate sock patterns (such as those from Cookie A). Jaywalker, due to its increases and decreases, is the perfect pattern for such yarns because it avoids pooling and displays a yarn to its best potential whether long or short color repeats are present.

When I say I have a lot of variegated yarns, I am not kidding. I have 43 hanks of variegated sock yarn. This does not include the 3 or 4 pairs on the needles right now.

I knit may 6 or 7 pairs of socks a year. I buy maybe 10 or 12 hanks of sock yarn a year. I may be really bad at math but I know this is not an equal ratio of input and output. That said, I am also OK with this discrepancy. One podcaster pointed out that if knitting has various phases of popularity (such as fun fur, lace, Zimmermann-mania, sock knitting and spinning, for example), then it is important to "stock up" on sock yarns. All the wonderful indy sock dyers may become a thing of the past. 6 years ago, the variety and availability of interesting, colorful, and inspiring sock yarns were just simply not there. This lends merit to the idea that we should stock up while the getting is good.

Currently on the needles are my Betty Bangs Jaywalkers. Sugarbee Studios (who else?) came up with a gorgeous sock yarn inspired by Betty Page. I immediately cast on a pair of Jaywalkers with it. I am currently on the second sock (almost down to the heel).

The tag is realllly cool. I am a huge fan of Betty Page for a variety of reasons but, of course, that is for another post.

The yarn is a fantastic mix of shades of purple, grays, and black.

The resulting Jaywalker is a great fabric to show off the colors without pooling. I really dislike pooling but can live with it if necessary.

I will be keeping this pair of socks for myself.

ON THE NEEDLES: Betty Bangs and Hanami
ON THE BOOKSHELF: The Graveyard Book by Gaiman
ON THE iPOD: Deconstructing Dinner (a food ethics podcast out of Canada)
ON THE TABLE: Chicken salad leftove from crockpot Maui Chicken

Happy Got Lucky!

Happy Got Lucky - Sock Club Yarn from the Politically Incorrect line by Sugarbee Studios. 440 yards of wooly goodness. Would you look at those colors!!

I don't do yellow in general. I look sickly in yellow. This is sock yarn, though, so my feet will be far from my face (with any luck) and it will all work out awesomely! Although I have a ton of older sock yarn, I am going to cast something on with this as soon as possible.

I have been perusing my Ravelry favorites for a sock pattern that would compliment this yarn and its colors. Options thus far (all free!):

Circle Socks by Anne Campbell (link is for PDF of pattern)


Sunrise Chevron Socks by Carol Sulcowski


Ampersand by Kirsten Kapur (link is for PDF of pattern)


Vortical by Phoenix Bess


My first choice is Ampersand and my second choice is the Sunrise Chevron Socks. Before I make my final decision, I am going to pull out my copies of the new (relatively) Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarns by Carol Sulcowski and Sock Innovation by Cookie A.

The first time I knit with this sock base from Sugarbee I was not sure how I was going to like it. I had only used superwash wool sock base up to that point. After the first few rows, I fell in love with the "new" base. There is a sheen to this yarn when you knit it up, no matter what pattern you are using. The stitch definition is just perfect. And, to make matters even better, the sock softens up even more after the first wash! I am now a true fan of Sugarbee's choice of base yarn.

Sugarbee is taking the summer off from all things fibery and who can blame her. Who wants to dye and card fiber when it is 100 degrees out. The fiber clubs will be back in the fall. I cannot wait to see what she comes up with next!

ON THE NEEDLES: Clapotis and Hanami
ON THE BOOKSHELF: The Graveyard Book by Gaiman
ON THE iPOD: NPR - The Manic Purl podcast
ON THE TABLE: Turkey salad on homemade Wheaty Rolls

Rainbow Tricorn

I purchased an amazing fiber set from Sugarbee of Politically Incorrect Fibers last year. The batts were absolutely breathtaking - a wide rainbow of color in a wool mix with some Angelina tossed in for good measure.

I prepped the fiber into thin strips of color and spun the prepped fiber in random order. Some barberpoling occurred but I really like this effect in these singles.

Because I was/am a fairly new spinner (one year under my belt), I still have somewhat of a disconnect going. I see the batts and I can visualize the end product yarn I want but I have not mastered the steps the flowchart of steps to get from "batt" to "my vision."

I plied the first singles and created a yarn - but I was not crazy about it. I didn't like the barberpole effect in the plied yarn, although I loved it in the singles. To be honest, I was disappointed. It was the first tangible reckoning that I lacked some serious knowledge.

I didn't love the yarn but still wanted to knit SOMETHING with it. I made it and I wanted to use it. I remembered a hat pattern that I have wanted to use forever (from an old book for Cascade 220 book which is out of print - sorry, guys!). The handspun was the perfect yarn for the hat.

As you can tell, my daughter looks awesome in it and the hat is not bad either (although she complains about it being itchy which we don't take seriously - she complains a lot about odd things....)



Moving back to the singles, though...

A lovely friend, MamaKnitter, taught us how to Navajo ply. I plied up some of the singles I had left and created a lovely yarn (albeit a bit overspun) but still...it was more of my vision that the plied singles.

Here are examples of the yarns:

(plied)

(Navajo plied)

(singles)

I am considering using these three in some sort of project - scarf, something - which will show off the diffent end products and showcase them all.

ON THE NEEDLES: Betty Bangs Jaywalkers (made with more Sugarbee sock club yarn!) and Hanami
ON THE iPOD: Living La Vida Low Carb podcast
ON THE BOOKSHELF: Organize Your Corpses
ON THE TABLE: Wheaty Rolls for the family