The Knitting Pirate

I am just past the gusset decreases on the Garter Rib Sock. Here it is, showing its stripy wonderfulness. This colorway should be called Mardi Gras instead of Pirate’s Booty – the greens and purples and golds are so vibrant.

And at last, the Noro Kureyon Sock Yarn is here. It took more than two months from the time I ordered it; there’s been an incredible demand for the stuff. I’ve already seen some really beautiful socks knit out of it, though I’ve heard it can be hard to get good gauge due to the thick and thin nature of the yarn. We shall see!

Last night I finished the gusset decreases on the Garter Rib Sock. I took a gauge measurement and re-measured my foot, and I think it will fit okay. If it’s a little loose, well, then it’s just like all my other socks. Better a little loose than a lot tight! I will try to remember to get a picture of it this afternoon. The colors are really vibrant and I love the way they’re swirling around the leg of the sock. I wonder if they will swirl on the foot, or pool.

This week I got a skein of the new Noro Sock Yarn, in colorway 188 – greens and purples. Because green and purple have always been “my colors,” I’ve made a conscious effort to avoid buying too much green and purple yarn. This stuff was irresistable.

Next week I’m driving (again) with a friend up to Canada, and this time we’re going to actually stop at WEBS instead of just talking about it. I plan to buy the yarn to make Revolution from the Fall 2005 issue of Knitty. I’m thinking a warm brown for the body of the coat, and maybe a sage green for the accent color?

Tomorrow we’re closing on the house. While this project has severely impacted my knitting time, I’m so. freaking. excited. about this. In the fairly near future I will have much more time on my hands and much less spending money… but I’ve got a serious yarn stash that should keep me occupied for quite some time to come. I’m also going to buy some fiber with my birthday money, so I’ve kept up on scouting Etsy for beautiful roving. I have a mental image of myself, spinning by the fire, deer cavorting in the yard, a 50-mile view laid out to the east… it’s a nice daydream which will be a reality soon!

It’s amazing how easy a pattern is when you follow the right numbers, isn’t it? Last night I got the heel turned and all the gusset stitches picked up. Once the gusset is (mostly) done I can take another gauge count and decide if I want to decrease a little further than the pattern calls for, or leave it as-is. The gauge I seem to have, combined with the measurement of my foot, put me right between one size and the next. Slouchy ankles on socks are acceptable, even welcomed, but loose socks on the foot are just uncomfortable!

I finally got a chance to wear the alpaca socks that my friend Ky bought for me in Peru last year. She gave them to me in August, a rotten time to wear super-warm socks, and they’ve been hiding in my drawer ever since – but yesterday was cold and snowy, and I felt that it was the perfect evening to wear toasty-warm alpaca!

There’s more good news, too. The yarn that’s been backordered since November has finally shipped! Hooray!

Tonight, gusset decreases.

My parents and my grandma sent me money this year for my birthday. I had a good long conversation with each of them last night, and they pretty much said the same thing – “We’re sure that you want something to do with knitting or spinning, but we have no idea what to get you, so we sent money. Please tell us what you pick out when you get it!” So I ordered a copy of Deb Menz’ book “Color in Spinning” and spent a very long time drooling over roving on Etsy. I’ll also be ordering a tensioned lazy kate for my wheel so I can get to plying.

It’s snowing here today, and it seems like a perfect day to curl up with some yarn and hot chocolate. Knitting is a perfect winter hobby, isn’t it? I can’t wait to move into the house so that I can have a fire on days like this.

No kidding, there I was, knitting along on the heel flap of the Garter Rib Sock, carefully counting rows. I double checked the pattern for the heel turn. Remembering that when I started this 32 (40, 48, 56, 64…) sock, I had cast on 64 stitches, I noted that 64 was the fourth number inside the parentheses.

Heel turn: Sl1, p8 (10, 12, 14, 16…) p2tog, p1, turn.

I slipped one, purled 16, did the p2tog, p1, turn. I kept going along, doing the heel turning thing. About halfway through I noticed that things were off-centered. I knit one more row to be sure. Then I counted, and yeah, totally off-center. What the heck? I checked the pattern. I checked to make sure I’d remembered to p2tog or ssk where appropriate, and I had. I unknit half of what I’d done and recounted, but the heel was still off-center.

Frustrated, yet certain that hundreds of people would have noticed an error in such a popular sock, I went online to search for other 64-stitch socks with 32-stitch heel flaps. One of them would surely save me. Then I looked more closely at the sock.

What I have is a 36-stitch heel flap. And 18 stitches on each of the other two needles. I have a 72-stitch sock. I remember this now. The gauge swatch and the foot measurement and the pattern is ribbed and so draws in a little and… yeah. I have been following the wrong numbers.

It’s a good thing I ripped back that heel turn; my flap needs four more rows now.

I swear, if this sock is too big after the last one was too small, I am going to laugh a very frustrated sort of laugh. I wonder if I should decrease to 64 stitches for the foot.

The secret gift project is done, finished up this morning. I have a picture of it ready to post, but that’s going to have to wait until it’s been given… or it won’t be a surprise! Not too shabby, I think, finishing a project in the first two weeks of the year. I doubt I can keep that pace, since most of my projects are longer-term. I’m not the kind of person who can finish a pair of socks in two weeks, though I know it’s not impossible.

House news: The closing is still scheduled for January 25. I’ve been shopping around for homeowners insurance, getting quotes and making comparisons. Since some of you asked, it’s up on Bull Run Mountain, north of Haymarket, Virginia. My commute is going to be about 40 miles each way, which is stinky, but considering it’s 30 miles now, it’s not much of a difference. It helps that I love my job, but I’m still going to try to arrange to work from home sometimes.

Apologies in advance if I don’t post as often as I’d like in the next couple of weeks. Packing up the apartment is going to be a chore, and then moving all our stuff up the mountain and unpacking it will be another. I don’t know when I’m going to find time to knit, let alone write about it, but I’m really excited and happy to be moving.

I haven’t been posting in the past week because I really haven’t been knitting in the past week, and the reason I haven’t been knitting is because I’ve been busy *buying a house*.

For those of you who haven’t been keeping up on the story, there have been three houses in this hunt. The first one needed a lot of fixing. Our first offer was rejected, but when the other buyers disappeared, they came back to us. Meanwhile, we had found a second house that we really liked, but it was a short sale and the bank was taking forever to process the paperwork. We withdrew our offer on the first house, deciding that it would be too much work for us, and were waiting patiently for the second house to come through, when…

Pirate-Husband found a log house on top of a mountain. You can see pictures of it here (flash slideshow). I’m sure this link will expire eventually, but it’s still working now.

We went to see it December 29. We put an offer in on December 30. We got an answer back on December 31 – negotiated a little bit, and agreed! The inspection was yesterday, and most things were in good shape. There are a few here-and-theres to fix up, but nothing that would prevent us from going ahead with it!

Closing is January 25. I am alternating between “oh gods what have I done,” and “wow, this is gonna be great!”