sockdown – Sara Morris Design

things, they are a’changing

July 30, 2008by fyberduck3 Comments

After a hellish day – catching up with 4 sick-days worth of work is never easy – I was nearly in tears when I found a parcel on my step. FluffyKnitterDeb, fellow admin and mod of Sock Knitters Anonymous, sent me a cheer-up gift:

A pair of socks knit using this month’s Mystery Pattern for Sockdown: Ravelry!

Where she gets the time to organize the group (I’m completely AWOL, I admit it) and knit mirco-gauge socks, I never will know. But I am deeply grateful for the thought and effort she put into them. Thank you, Debi! I might just wear these to work tomorrow.

Let’s see. We’re painfully overdue for an update, but… well, I’m in the midst of some crazy sh!t and don’t know where to start. I’ll just go over what’s taking up the most of my attention:

We’re officially another pair of hands short at work as of today. Details will be released later, when I can articulate fully.

We’re about to be another pair of hands short when J goes on Maternity Leave.

Now, those two things would be enough to make me panic were it also not for the fact that (deadline fast approaching) the Knit Purl Sock Club still hasn’t sold out. I’m beyond the panic stage. Admittedly, we’ve sold over half the spots, so that’s good. But, eep! If anyone has any suggestions, I’d love to hear them.

Open application for Berkeley Business School begins on August 15 and I don’t have anything ready. Now, even if I were to get accepted (not counting on anything), the term I’m applying for is Fall 09. Time, at least here, is on my side.

I’m also behind on my New Designs schedule and can’t see the floor of the laundry room.

Someone, please, kidnap save me.

(I can even pay you in yarn.)

Grows a red, red rose

June 9, 2008by fyberduck1 Comment

Blast. Can’t find the original lyrics I liked best. Hardly matters, everyone knows the song, right?

Worked yesterday. Long day full of short bursts of activity. Sundays tend to be quiet in most businesses, I guess. I have to go to work in 45 mins, so this post is going to be short and sweet since I still haven’t washed my hair :P

After closing, I met up with Mum and we went for a walk in the International Rose Test Gardens. Remember them? The roses were quite impressive, despite the continuing wet and cool weather. As is my own unique talent, I didn’t manage to take any good photographs, but here’s a passable one:

After walking through a cloud of rose perfume, I was very excited to find a red-black rose that matched my Sockdown: June! wip:

How perfect is that? And, before you ask, the challenge this month is Design Your Own – which means I’m making up the pattern as I go. The yarn is “Roxanne” by Tempted Yarns. I got it from The Loopy Ewe. I LOVE this yarn. The color is do deep and vibrant and the base yarn is sooo soft.

That seems to be everything. I have to leave in less than half an hour now. Toodles.

Some slight changes

May 14, 2008May 14, 2008by fyberduckLeave a comment

Remember those two Mystery Sock clues I posted? Throw ’em out. No errata, never fear. But some of the knitters brave enough to try my Fair Isle infested pattern have requested instructions for how to shorten the cuff chart on Clue #2. And I, being me, decided to redo both clues just to make my life easier in the long run:

Clue #1 (PDF)
Clue #2 (PDF)

I’m even, to show willing (and curiosity, I admit), going to CO tonight and try out the new chart…

Honestly, I’m a bit amazed that 12 knitters were crazy enough to take on a Fair Isle-themed Mystery Pattern. It just goes to show what kind of people make up my beloved SKA.

Oh, and just so you don’t feel like you read all this for nothing, here’s a much better picture of the sockies:

Just a little clue.

May 8, 2008by fyberduckLeave a comment

Well. Maybe not so little. Here’s the next installment of the Sockdown: May! Mystery Sock pattern:

Clue #2 (PDF)

Have fun, I know I am!

I’m off to Sip’N’Stitch and my Adamas shawl…

gimpy

April 28, 2008April 28, 2008by fyberduck1 Comment

My new work nickname :)

Going up and down the stairs was hell, but at least the swelling has gone down enough that I can actually bend my knee now. Of course, having spent the past day and half with my right leg elevated, I got a lot of knitting done. I’m to the heel on my second Distracted sock – which, in accordance with it’s name, I screwwed up as I waited for the bus this afternoon. Note to self: do not attempt to knit whilst, and at the same time, watching for your bus.

As a result of this afternoon’s adventures, I have a new definition of extreme knitting: tinking back a heel on a crosstown bus.

Oh, yeah, baby. I like to knit dangerously.

The other progress I have to report?

I’m past the heel of my first “Pretty Petals” sock. The name just doesn’t work for me. I’m going to have to come up with a nickname for them, since the yarn is so bloody fantastic. I totally have to get more yarn dyed by Knitted Wit in the future.

And, on the subject of yarn p0rn, here is a photo of one of my high holies in the stash:

Blue Moon Socks That Rock Lightweight in “Knitters Without Borders”. I have 2 skeins set aside for knee-highs and another for a Sock Knitters Anonymous prize. And, if you’re thinking of raiding my house, Blue Moon has promised to make the colorway available on their website very soon.

That’s nearly everything. But, since I can’t post the details of the Knit Purl Sock Club quite yet and don’t have a banner or badge or anything for my new Guild, more updates will have to wait. Back to watching Top Gear and knitting for now.

boo boo

April 26, 2008by fyberduck1 Comment

The day started out so well. Sunny and warm and not raining. I met Opus downtown for breakfast and Peet’s even had Jasmine Lime tea again for spring. We headed over to the store for the Oleana Trunk Show. Oleana is a Norwegian fashion house, and all it’s garments are designed by Solveig Hisdal, author of Poetry in Stitches. All her knitwear is just exquisite.

I’m not certain I’m allowed to publish photos on the web (flickr friends can look at them), but the display outside the store should be okay.

Anyway. After trying several of the garments on, we took down sizes and styles and went on our merry way (the store was packed). We decided to hit Saturday Market, since I had never seen the Spoonman’s booth. Opus was a good sport and introduced her sock to all of the spoons:

But soon we started to have Eugene flashbacks and escaped the throng. That’s where things went, hmm, not sour. Maybe a bit tart. After we hopped on and off the MAX, we started walking in the direction of Twisted and I, being me, took a hard fall off of a curb.

Opus walked and I limped to Twisted, and I refused to even look at the mess my knee was until I was sitting down somewhere.

Ick. Thank goodness they had a first aid kit and Ibuprofen. I sat down, got help cleaning and bandaging the mess, and decided that knitting on the couch was looking good (Opus and I had talked about finding a park and knitting in the sun). So I CO these:

My Sockdown: April! project. Jeanie Townsend’s “Pretty Petals” socks, with Knitted Wit’s Superwash Merino fingering in “1970’s Locker Room”. It’s looking really, really cool.

Still, even with my leg propped up and my knitting to console me, my knee started to swell (and bleed through the bandages) painfully. Eventually, I bought some comfort yarn (a skein of Chewy Spaghetti’s Spaghettoni in “Vainglorious”) and went home.

After keeping my knee up for a while, some of the swelling has come down, but I won’t be walking very far any time soon. I guess I’ll just have to sit here and knit.

Wait… that’s not too bad for a silver lining :)

keeping ME honest

February 5, 2008by fyberduck7 Comments

Oh, my. Do you know what arrived in the mail yesterday??

(sigh) Ravelry swag, to award us in Sockdown: Ravelry! for being the best KAL/CAL on ravelry. The Bobbys team even included a certificate (woot!):

And, well, a box o’ ravelry swag not available for sale yet:

a ravelry tote
a bag of assorted ravelry pins, including a Bob and ravelry icon
a Bob sticker
2 shot glasses – “frogged” and “ripped”

Heaven help me. I will not hide this box away and pretend it never arrived. Which is why I’m posting now, before temptation wins. The shot glasses made me laugh, off and on, for close to an hour. I was seriously tempted to bring them to work to show off, if I didn’t think they’d get snatched faster than chocolate.

Moving on.

Working on many projects now. Too many. In a good way. I’ll try and post a picture tomorrow.

Honestly.

FO: Watercolour Monkeys

February 3, 2008by fyberduck2 Comments

Let’s do the Good News first. I finished my second pair of Monkey socks today, whilst lounging at Twisted:

Start date: January 21, 2008
Finish date: February 2, 2008
Pattern used: Monkey by Cookie A
Yarn: Zen String Fingering in “Twisted”
Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm)
Notes: Modified the heel to continue the lace pattern down the flap (see second photo)…

Love ’em, love the yarn, love the pattern. S’all good :)

I also bought a skein of Dream in Colour Smooshy, in “Good Luck Jade”, which I CO on for Sockdown: February! For this month’s challenge, they have to feature a heel that’s new to me. Since I only CO a couple of hours ago:

I don’t have to worry about that quite yet. I’ll figure out what heel I’m trying out next when I get that far. At the moment, I’m really liking the yarn – the feel of it, the way it knits up, the colours. My own complaint is that it appears to be overdyed, and now my fingers are a delicate shade of green.

Ohwell. Nothing’s perfect.

Now. The Bad News. Which isn’t bad, not really. Opus and I went to Yarnia and, uh, I forgot to get a picture. My review? It’s, well, going to be a great store for machine knitters. Not so much for knitters like Opus and I. So… yeah, that’s that. I think that they’ll be perfect for the machine knitters in town, since no one really caters to them anymore. Well, except for Yarnia now :)

And that’s about everything. I think I want to sleep now. It was a looong day.

What will it be?

January 1, 2008January 2, 2008by fyberduck1 Comment

Somehow, I volunteered to design the Mystery Sock pattern for January 2008. Ravelers who are also participants in Sockdown: ravelry! might actually understand that last sentence. The SKA decided, as a group, to challenge ourselves for a year. One of the requests was for Mystery sock patterns. Much like the Mystery Stole 3 KAL. Only with, you know, socks.
And, since it is officially January 1, 2008, it’s time to get this Mystery KAL started.

I can’t really tell you much about the pattern, without ruining the surprise. But, here’s what Deb and I have deemed to release:

it is, of course, a pattern for a pair of socks
there will be intarsia (Sockdown: January’s chosen technique)
and, lucky you, there is a sneak peek.

Clue #1 (PDF)

Big ‘thank you’ to FluffyKnitterDeb for test-knitting and editing the pattern and to ShibuiKnits for providing her with the yarn…

CO if you dare. I’m going to participate (yes, I know what it looks like, sorry, BUT I haven’t knit it), and even bought my yarn last week. I’ll try and CO tomorrow. To entice you Classicist knitters out there (I know you exist), I’ll let you in on another little secret – the theme of this pattern has to do with the origins of Valentine’s Day in ancient Greece and Rome.

socks, finished!

December 21, 2007by fyberduck3 Comments

Headache. Tired. But, look, socks:

Start date: 12/06/2007
Finish date: 12/20/2007
Pattern used: I made it up as I went
Yarn: ShibuiKnits Sock in “Autumn” and ShibuiKnits cash-sock
Needles: US 1.5/ 2.5mm (2 22” circulars)

Stayed up late last night for the holiday Sip’n’Stitch/ Food Drive (got home around midnight?), but achieved good things. Like finished socks (see above). And another swatch for my next attempt at socks for Maggie.

I also wanted to mention that I got a really cool package from Penny but have flaked 3(?) days in a row with the taking of a picture in natural lighting. Bad me. Thank you, Penny!

Um, and I’m also getting paid to blog now – over here. Not too big a deal, but I’m splitting my time between the two, so that should explain why I’m not updating here as often as I’d like. I’m only doing ‘store stuff’ there (while at work), and personal stuff here (at home). Thus, effectively not devoting enough time to either. Am I completely babbling?

Yes. Time to stop. Bye.