Space Invaders

Warning! The Earth has been invaded! Or at least, my socks have.
Aren't these the coolest socks ever? If anyone asks you why on earth you would knit socks instead of just buying them at the store, point them here. I have space invaders socks. They are the bmp from knitty.

These were a long time coming, actually. They started out almost exactly a year ago as socks for an ex-boyfriend. Had abnormally shaped heels, and there was no way to get the cuff over his heel and yet stay up on his leg afterwards. This was a big pain, because I had already finished one sock, and was very nearly done with the cuff of the second sock.
In the end, it actually wound up being a good thing that these were on hold, because we broke up not too long afterwards. (He still made off with a pair of Irish socks though.) Seriously, I might have gotten myself arrested for something if he had broken up with me after I had made him hard-core colorwork space invaders socks.
Eventually, I got to looking through my stash, and realized that I still had these in much the same condition as when we had broken up. I decided it was time to reclaim these socks for myself. This wound up being a fantastic decision, because most of the hard work was already done. I had about 20 rows to do on the second sock's colorwork, then just the foot remained. On the first sock, all I had to do was rip it back until it fit my foot, and then re-work the toe. Socks seem really fast when you do them this way.

In retrospect, keeping the socks and getting rid of the boyfriend was a much better decision than doing it the other way around.

Oh, and I wore them with this shirt.

In Summary:
Yarn: Base yarn for Dream in Color Smooshy. White is undyed, black custom dyed for me. Orange is a bit of the Regia color from the heels and toes of the Irish socks. I thought it was fitting.
Pattern: Bmp from knitty
Needles: Size 0 , two circs
Cost: Probably about $30 for the yarn, but I used store credit at the time
Time: Over a year in jail, but not nearly that much knitting time

Walking Away

"Make a man a hat, his head will turn.
Make a man mittens, he'll wave good-bye.
Make a man socks, he'll walk away."

--Knitting proverb

God damn it. I hate it when those stupid little proverbs are true.

Sigh. I didn't even try to make him a sweater.

Oh Claire

The boy has a little niece named Claire, who is currently about eight months old and the cutest thing ever. She's a cute, happy little baby, always babbling and smiling.

Of course I had to knit her something.

And what's better than baby socks? I picked up some Cascade Fixation on a small field trip out to Ewe and Me in Sandwich, IL. It's a small shop, but it's all good quality, and they have a sock club (which reminds me, I really need to get out there and pick that up).

I was dying to try to the Fixation on some socks, and they had some adorable little baby examples lying around. I couldn't resist. The owner said she got two pairs of baby socks out of one skein, but we must knit at vastly different gauges. Still, I got one pair, and for $5.50, I'm pretty happy with that.

I love baby socks. Can I just say that? Love them. They are so little, which means they go so fast. I did these little guys with a heel flap, which meant that by the time I was done with the gusset decreases, I was almost ready to work the toe. This is wonderful, because the foot is usually the most interminable part.

The girls in the knitting group (especially Lorna) wanted to see them on Worfy, but he wasn't pleased with that idea.

Instead, please see them on Einstein.

Or there's this modern art variety, where I attempt to wear the bootie, and Worfy looks on. Either way.

In case you're wondering how to do baby socks, I'll do the pattern at the end. For the record, it's a lot like big people socks.

In summary:

Yarn: Cascade Fixation (98.3% cotton, 1.7% elastic, 100 yards), one skein, $5.50

Needles: Size US 3 (3.25 mm) dpns

Pattern: See end of post

Time: Less than a day each sock. I love baby socks.

Cost: $5.50 Did I mention I love baby socks?

Oh Claire

Simple baby socks

Gauge: About 7 sts/ in (2.5 cm).

Since babies grow so fast, gauge is not really crucial here, and your swatch would likely be about the size of the sock. However, Cascade Fixation is a very thick and stretchy yarn, so substitute at your own risk, and probably go down a needle size if you do. This should fit a little one in the 6 - 12 month old range.

I've tried to tell you not just how many stitches to knit in each region, but why. That way if you need to size up or down, you have a guideline.

Yarn: Cascade Fixation (98.3% cotton, 1.7% elastic, 100 yards) One skein will easily make one pair, two if you're lucky (I'm not).

Needles: Size 3 (3.25 mm) dpns, or whatever size needles give you an appropriately dense fabric

Cuff:

Cast on 32 sts and divide evenly over dpns. Join for working in the round.

Work in 1x1 ribbing for about 3 inches (7.5 cm)

Heel flap:

You will now be working back and forth over half the stitches (that's 16, in case you're bad at math). It is important to slip the first stich of each row, as it will make life much easier for you later on.

Row 1: (Slip 1, k1) across

Row 2: Slip 1, purl across

Work until heel flap is square.

Turn heel:

Knit until two stitches past center (10 stitches), ssk, knit one, turn work

Slip one, purl until two stitches past center (6 stitches remain on right needle), p2tog, purl 1, turn work

You will have created a center section of the heel with gaps on either side of it.

Slip one, work until one stich before the gap, SSK on right side (p2tog on wrong side) across the gap, work one more stitch.

Repeat in this manner until all stitches are used up

Gusset:

Pick up one stitch for each slipped stitch on the heel flap (plus one or two more to avoid a gap), work across instep in stockinette (or ribbing, if you prefer), pick up an equal number of stitches on the opposite side. Rearrange stitches on the needle so you have an equal number on either side of the gusset, with the beginning of the round starting at the middle of the heel.

Round 1: Work until three stitches before instep, k2tog, k1. Work even across instep. K1, ssk, knit even to end of round.

Round 2: Work even

Repeat these rounds until you have the same total number of stitches that you cast on (32).

Foot:

Work even in stockinette until foot measure about 3 inches (7.5 cm) from the heel.

Toe:

Round 1: Work until three stitches before instep, k2tog, k1. K1, ssk, work even until last three stitches of instep, k2tog, k1. K1, ssk, knit even to end of round.

Round 2: Work even.

Continue in this manner until 12 total stiches remain. Place the six top stitches on one needle and the six bottom stitches on another. Graft toe.

If you've never knit socks before, this tutorial is a good place to start. She has really good illustrations.

Two Cloths for Sister Sara

Okay, the boy's sister...in-law. But she is named Sara.

Here they are posing with my handsoap. I'm going to buy a pretty soap to wrap them up with.
The boy's SIL had a birthday about a week ago, and a huge party which involved the Beer Olympics (further details need not be mentioned here). I did not bring a gift, but that was semi-intentional, as I was determined to knit her some lovely facecloths and needed to scope out her bathroom first. I considered asking the boy, but you know what asking boys about things like that is like. He wouldn't have known, and would have asked his brother, who probably also wouldn't have known.

The bathroom is sort of a dark marble, but their towels are white, and that's what counts.

So I grabbed some Bernat Cottontots (cheap, but good), and knit up a couple of these. I had originally intended to make several with different stitch patterns, but I liked this one so much, I thought a matching set of two would go nicely.

The central stitch pattern was adapted from a vintage craft book, and it goes like this:

Row 1: Knit

Row 2: Ktog across

Row 3:Kf/b across

Row 4: Purl

Simple, easy to remember, a little lacy, but still sturdy. Perfect for a washcloth, I think.

(If you're further curious, I cast on 44 sts with a size 7 needle, knit 5 rows garter stitch, and maintained a 3 stitch wide garter border on either side, knit till it was almost square, and finished off with 5 more rows of garter stitch.)

In summary:

Pattern: See above

Yarn: Bernat cottontots, from the stash, about 1/4 skein makes two. 100% washable cotton, the stuff is available at box stores for around $3 a skein.

Needle: Size 7 (4.5mm)

Time: Maybe two hours each? That's being generous.

Cost: Free, since it's from the stash. But probably less than $3 anyway. Still, it's the effort that counts.

Oh, and dudes. Check out the new flickr badges.

This blog is officially 87% cooler.

Zapped!

Okay, so here's why I don't blog about works in progress.
Remember those socks? Those awesome really cool space invader socks?
About one and a half socks in I decided, hey, why not actually try them on the boy?
(I think you can see where I'm going with this.) They singularly, spectacularly do not fit. The fair isle portion (which if I do say so myself, is a particularly well done fair isle portion) is still too small to fit over his heel.
This I don't understand. How can the boy have such a big heel? They will absolutely fit around his ankle if he could just get them on. But...he must have the biggest heel in the world. We tugged, we pulled, I had a brief image of the fair isle snapping and spilling space invaders everywhere. It was to no avail. I tried them on over bulky socks to approximate the size of his foot, and they were still easy to get on. He just really has a big heel. And to think he's gone his entire life without knowing how serious this could be.
So now, here I am, one and half socks in, asking myself, and the socknitters group, "Now what?"
The correct answer of course, that all the sockniters tell me, is to reknit. I find this concept horribly painful. Reknit two entire 6" fair isle cuffs and one large foot? I just...I don't know if I could force myself to do it. The thought of ripping all that work petrifies me.
There's still a problem with re-knitting. I can't just make them bigger. If I make the cuff big enough to fit over his gargantuan heel, they'll fall down on his normal-sized ankle. That clearly won't work. I have thoughts on how to fix this, but consider my other crazy idea.
The crazy option that I am entertaining is to steek them. Do people seriously steek socks?. But if it goes bad, I'd be no worse off than re-knitting. Well, I'd be down one skein of sock yarn, but after all the work I've put into those socks it would be worth it on the off chance it works.
And whether I steek them or not, when these things finally get reworked, I think it's going to have to be with ribbed panels. I can't think of any other way to get it to stretch over the heel without adding serious width to the ankle.
What does this have to do with blogging? Well, if I hadn't already put it out here, I could hide it in the corner for a while. You should see all the hideous, half-attempted projects I'm hiding from you. Also, a few decent ones. But now that I've blogged, I'm forced to confront my problem right now. I can't cover my ears and go "la la la," right now like I usually would. I guess it's not all your fault. The boy is really excited about the socks and wants them as soon as possible.
But...steeking? Ribbed panels? Can I do this? I don't really know what my other options are.

Fancy Parties with the Boy

Now there's evidence.

Socks - Big Honking Men's Socks

I need to find friends with smaller feet.

Actually, these are for the boy's oldest brother (recently turned 30). They were supposed to be for his birthday party (which I was invited to) but I since I didn't go (I was sick), I figured they didn't have to be done just yet. So that was about 3 weeks ago. I've seen Brother #1 (he has 4) twice since then, but I ran into one disaster after another with these socks.

To begin with, I'm not really sure what I was thinking. Men have big feet. Very big feet, particularly compared to me, the only person I've ever knit socks for. Still, I had to knit socks for him. At one point, he expressed an opinion on the construction of socks - he particularly liked reinforced heels and toes.

Take a minute to absorb that. A male, non-knitter expressed a reasonably sophisticated 0pinion on the construction of socks. This, for a knitter, is a call to arms. Or needles.

Things started well at first. I picked up some plain black Cherry Tree Hill and a new pair of size 1's (I'm brutal on those things) while I was in DC and set about knitting. When I got home, I picked up some dark grey sock reinforcement from the secondary LYS for heels and toes. I did an afterthought heel, which was totally new to me, and kind of fun. I got to the end of the first sock with little problem, except for the heel and kitchenering the toe (something I had not yet successfully done).

The second sock, though. It's not that I have second sock syndrome, I really don't. One sock doesn't do you much good (especially since wearing one sock is a particular pet peeve of mine), so it's hard to think of them as anything but a pair. But this sock was cursed.

I had missed the deadline a little, but I thought I could finish them up quickly before I saw the brother again. Not so.You may remember seeing these socks when I went to go see the Yarn Harlot. Look closely at that picture. See how many needles are in that sock? Two, with a third haphazardly pushed in. (She kindly didn't mention that.) I was knitting with a set of 5 dpns. I managed, by throwing them in bag when I went to go see the Yarn Harlot, Queen of Socks, to entirely pull out two sock needles and drop a handful of stitches. I was so frustrated after that, and didn't want to recover from that mess, that the socks sat untouched for about a week.

When I was done being angry with them, I started anew. It wasn't as bad as I thought. I had only dropped a few stitches, and only a few rows down. The rest hopped back on the needles without incident. Okay, I thought. I could get these done in a day.

Not so fast. I brought them with on one of my long boring shifts (they may suck, but at least I can knit at work) and was ready to go. I finished toe #2 (sans kitchenering) and hopped back onto the heel. It turns out you can work an afterthought heel just like a toe. Isn't that spiffy? I'm going to try the more complicated heels at some point, but I really the way that works. Nice symmetry. I got a little help from the Favorite Socks book, which I got with a coupon at the LBS.

Unfortunately, I ran out of sock reinforcement. I don't know if I got a short skein, or what, because the ladies working at the secondary LYS assured me that one card would be more than enough for a pair of men's socks. The hours I was working did not permit me to get back into the shop for a couple of days, which was past the time I would be seeing the brother again. Sigh.

I complained the people at the secondary LYS, and they were very nice and apologetic. They offered me another card free of charge, which I thankfully took.

Back to the heel then. Except, then I started measuring it. I had planned on a fairly deep heel, but as I kept knitting, it became obvious that I had done something slightly wrong in the math. Never mind the fact that I'm a physicist, that I minored in math, that at this point I think calculus is so easy as to be boring. I can't do simle addition and subtraction. I was figuring out the length based on his shoe size and this chart, but I hadn't left enough leeway for a very deep heel. I really don't know what I was thinking. I had to pause again, and wait till the boy could try it on and let me know. I stopped the heel just at the point where it fit his foot. I wish I had made the instep part shorter, but I certainly wasn't going to rip back, so a shallower heel it was. The boy assured me it was a very comfy sock though.

After that, it was only a matter of kitchenering heels and toes. I hadn't actually done that before, mostly because I'm too lazy to get out a needle. All the socks for myself had a three-needle bind off, which I don't mind at all. But since these are a gift, and since a three-needle bind off wouldn't feel very good at the heel (you really can't feel it at the toe), I broke down and did my kitchener. It wasn't so bad, really, especially when you do all the grafting parts at once. I suspect that for myself, I will still be lazy and do the three-needle bindoff, just because I don't want to go find a sewing needle.

I have to say, I'm extremely happy with how they came out, after all that. They look really good with the reinforcement. I may do that again.

I know these are all pictures of the socks all unfilled and unformed, but I assure you, they look really silly on me.

Here's the boy modelling them, but he's not a very good foot model.

In other sock news, the boy wants a pair now. I suppose it's not fair to have them for his brother and not him. I'm planning on doing the Space Invader socks from knitty, but we'll see how long that takes. Maybe by his birthday (a mere 6 months away).

In Summary:

Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn in black (100% superwash merino) , 1 skein, with sock reinforcement in dark grey, 1.5 cards

Pattern: K2P2 ribbing at top, basic toe, afterthought heel, reinforcement at heel and toe

Needles: Size 1 dpns (set of 5), which actually survived this time

Cost: $22.50

Time: Could have been about a week, wound up being about three and a half

Off to Japan

Well dear and faithful readers (Mom), I'm off to Japan.
Before I go though, I must say one thing.
I love the internet.
The boy sent me a huge shopping guide to Tokyo (he's a keeper) and I found all sorts of goodies on the knittyboard about yarn shopping in Japan. It certainly didn't fail me in Prague (seriously, how much yarn did I come back with?), so I assume I'm going to do pretty well in Japan too. And I didn't speak Czech either, so I'm not going to be that much worse off.
I'm sure I should feel guilty, because I should go learn something blah blah murble schmurble, but they want me to "get the cultural experience." I'm sure purchasing lots of Japanese yarn will help me to understand the Japanese cultural zeitgeist. (Although I am convinced shopping is a universal language.)
See you all in two weeks, if I don't blog before.

Hat for the Boy v. 2.0

The previous hat for the boy was made when we had just started dating. It was near both our birthdays (he's one year and two days older), and this hat was going to be his gift.

That was in October.

I made that hat, but somehow it defies the laws of physics. I have a very small head. I'm fairly comfortable wearing children's sizes. He's Irish, and therefore his head has its own gravitational pull. Yet somehow, through some warp in the space-time continuum, it fits me, yet is too big for him. You'd think someone with as much physics under their belt as I have would be able to figure this out, but it's still a mystery. I think his head actually bends spacetime in a gravity well.

So I kept that hat, and it looks adorable on me. (Although my mother likes to say I look like a sailor when I wear it, particularly with the black pea coat. Well, ahoy, matey.) I finally (!) got around to making him a replacement. To his credit, he actually asked for it. (A man who appreciates handknits! Back off! He's mine!)

I decided to make this one ribbed all the way to the brim, so it would stretch in any direction, and super long, so he could just roll up the brim as high as it needs to go.

Turned sideways, it also looks like the giant bullets from the pirate ship in Mario Bros.

I'm not cheap enough to give it to him for Valentine's Day (aka Single People Awareness Day and Senseless Slaughter of Flowers Day, as I learned in the LYS last week). He got a proper gift, and he's coming over to cook me dinner tomorrow. It's a dangerous path, this knitting. First it's a hat, and before you know it, you're headed the way of the sweater curse.

In summary:

Yarn: Cashsoft Aran (oh, look it up yourself, I lost the ball band)

Needles: Size 7, 16" circ and dpn

Pattern: basically a k4, p4 rib

Time: about two days, once I got on with it

Cost: ~$18

Guilt level: Orange

Fancy Ball

There has been much knitting. My dad's sweater is now fully assembled. All that remains is to finish the collar, do the crochet edging on the bottom and the sleeves, and sew the zipper in (but I'll probably coerce my mom to do that anyway. The lace is around 70% done. And I managed to make a larger, simpler lace scarf out of cashmere, that remains to be grafted and blocked. These things will be blogged in due time. However.

I went to a fancy ball!
The boy's family has been going to this fancy ball at the Drake in Chicago for many a year. This year, he invited me (with two weeks notice). I panicked for a dress. I've
never even been to a real black tie event before. And this is at the Drake, and celebrities are rumored to attend (though I didn't see any). I couldn't really go to this thing in a random dress from the mall. (Or so I thought. Judging by the other dresses there, I probably could have, but still.)

I scoured the internet for a vintage dress, because I figured at least that would be cool. If someone asked me where it was from, I could casually say, "Oh, it's vintage," because then I would be smooth like that. Unfortunately, nothing in my size and price range appeared. I found every possible site, I sent out scores of emails (okay, maybe half a score), and still no luck. Finally, on etsy , I found a guy that made corsets to order. Since my dream dress was a red corset top and flowy skirt, I thought that sounded like a plan.

It was an insane plan, it turned out. It was difficult to take my own measurements, for one thing. There was a lot of stress about the shipping. First, he got my measurements. Then, he had to ship me the sample. Then, I had to ship it back so he could use it in the final measurements. All these were rushed. But the very rushed part was where he mailed it out on Thursday, and I was to get it Friday by noon. The ball was Friday evening. Not even night, it started at 6.

The packaged arrived before noon, but I was out. The packages are supposed to go to the office, but for some reason, it didn't. The slip said I'd be able to pick it up from the post office at 4:30. I screamed. Literally, I screamed. I think it scared the neighbors. I flew to the post office. There was a humongous line. I begged to ask to talk to the manager. I begged the manager to talk to the delivery person. She was still out delivering other packages, but at least I could hunt her down. I drove around a random neighborhood for a good half hour before I found her. Luckily, I got the package.

I picked the boy up, and gave his mom a lift as well. Turns out, I also happened to save their lives. They would have taken the train otherwise, and while we were driving a crazed gunman started taking hostages at the station they would have been at. I'm not just a pretty face after all.

I rushed to get ready, and we made it to the ball. His family was staying in the executive suite at the Drake, so we went there for cocktails first. He has a huge family, and they're all loud, charming, and completely insane. I felt right at home. His grandfather went around proud to be kissing all the pretty girls. He called me gorgeous, so I like him the best. He reminds me of my own grandfather a little.

The ballroom at the Drake was huge. There must have been 500 people there. There was a fantastic dinner, and his family even remembered to ask for a vegetarian meal for me. I'm not entirely sure what it was, but it was good, and I ate too much of it. Then there was a live band and dancing. Jim broke his ankle several weeks ago (Don't believe him when he says I hit him with a crowbar. I only tripped him and pushed him down.), so he had a cane all night. It was funny, but far more stylish than crutches, and people kept stealing it to dance with it.

We danced as much as we could, but the ankle slowed him down, and the corset and highly uncomfortable shoes slowed me down. But even his family kept pulling me out to dance too. It's a fun and crazy bunch. He says they liked me. But how could they resist? We were by far the best dressed couple there. Jim said we'll have to attend more gala events, and I heartily agree. I also intend to get my money's worth out of this corset.