“What have you knit this year?” Pirate-Husband asked me last night.

First there was the Jayne hat that I knit from Knitting Ninja’s pattern for friend Otel. This was a quick project. I had to borrow needles for it, which have since been returned. Although I probably have enough yarn for a second hat, I need to get the right size needles before I can knit it up. Not that I know anyone who wants a Jayne hat… I already have one, and Otel is the brownest browncoat of all my friends.

Then a Baby Surprise Jacket for friend Gwen’s second baby, a little girl. I loved the 100purewool yarn I used for this project; it is so soft and easy to work with! The pattern got tricky a few times, but with help from Ravelers I worked through it. I finished knitting only minutes before my deadline, but Gwen loved the sweater. It should fit on her daughter right about now; I’d love to get an ‘action shot’ from her to post.

Something for myself, a pair of Garter Rib socks! The pattern is from Charlene Schurch’s “Sensational Knitted Socks”. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to get the basics of sock knitting. These socks were knit up in Blue Moon Fiber Arts’ Socks that Rock lightweight, and I was short by about ten yards. Fortunately a kind Raveler had some extra in the same colorway that she was able to send me.

Something for the house, a quick and easy Swiffer mop cover from Noelle’s pattern. This project took about six hours, which is about my tolerance for knitting with cotton. I plan to make several more of these, with an additional pattern repeat so that when the cover curls, it goes over the edges of the mop instead of under. Pirate-Husband mopped the floors this past weekend and was disappointed to find that the cover I’d made had been used but not yet washed; he used one of the disposables instead and afterwards said that mine worked a lot better!

I’d promised Pirate-Husband a pair of socks last November, and in July of this year I finally delivered. He has very wide feet and I was concerned that I’d run out of yarn, after my experience with the Socks that Rock, so I didn’t make the socks very tall. I had a few yards left over at the end, so I guess it worked out just right! He wears them often, especially now that it’s cold out, and I know he’d love to have another pair.

After I finished Pirate-Husband’s socks, I cast on for the second baby knit of the year. This one was for friend Asa’s second child, but as she hadn’t chosen to find out the sex of the baby, I had to knit a gender-neutral blanket. Feather and Fan seemed fitting, as did these muted colors. Once again, I finished knitting the night before I needed to give the gift. Once of these days I’ll break that habit.

I sure didn’t break the habit with the Bloo Socks, knit in Trekking XXL for friend Michael. I finished these in the afternoon and gave them to him that very evening. I also didn’t learn the lesson of splitting the yarn in half before beginning; I used more than half of the 100g ball on the first sock and had to frantically call yarn stores all over the country to find another ball in the same dye lot. I’ll be writing this pattern up in the near future, as soon as I work out the heel and toe numbers in other sizes. There is a shortage of fine-gauge sock patterns out there. These were knit up at 45 stitches to 4″ on US size 0 DPNs.

Mom’s gloves will probably be the last completed project of the year. Her birthday present is knit up of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Silkie Socks that Rock in Ravenscroft. She’d requested a colorway that would go well with both her black wool dress coat, and her green winter jacket, so what better than a black yarn with subtle greens that glow in the sunlight? I am using Marnie MacLean’s Hooray for Me pattern, just making full fingers instead of partial. I’m sure she’ll love them; I just hope they fit!

Eight projects in 2008, not a bad tally! In other accomplishments, I read 23 books in the past year, and I learned to spin on a wheel. Pirate-Husband commented that I should knit more for myself, and I want to commit more time to spinning as well. Those will be my goals in 2009!

Thanks to Emm1e, here are my completed Garter Rib Socks! I knit the first one in five weeks; the second one took longer because I got caught up in moving, cleaning, unpacking, and all those other things that go along with buying a house. They were a quick knit, and a decent pattern. Some of the instructions, like the part for centering the pattern over the instep, could have been written a little more clearly. I think I put one too many rows (two, really) into the heel flap as well, but the socks seem to fit all right when I tried them on. I’ll have to see how they are when I wear them for a whole day instead of a whole five minutes.

I’m looking forward to showing these off at work tomorrow! Some of my co-workers have been following the saga of the socks. One of them even gave a little “woohoo!” when I said that I’d found a source for the little bit of extra that I needed!

I found out that another of my co-workers knits and suggested that we should set up a lunchtime group to sit, knit, relax, and teach anyone else who wants to learn. She smiled and nodded. I get the feeling that she’s not quite as into this yarn thing as I am…

This is the beginning of Pirate-Husband’s Plain Sock. It’s made with Regia 4-ply in colorway 1039, a manly brown-brown-black. I did 20 rows of ribbing (an inch and a half) and now it’s a long stockinette journey to the heel.

I shouldn’t be working on these at home; they should be my traveling sock. I should be working on the Pomatomuseses or the Ostrich Plumes scarf. But I’m tired, and they’re easy, and I want to give Pirate-Husband his socks sooner rather than later. My feet can wait for Pomatomii and that scarf may be done before I’m 40, but at this rate I’m not sure!

Someone else offered to wind off some Pirate’s Booty for me. Knitters are the nicest people! I let her know that I’d already spoken to someone and expected the yarn next week, and thanked her profusely. I can’t wait for those socks to be done. It’s like they’re taunting me with their unfinishedness – just a few rounds to go, and they sit on my desk glaring at me for abandoning them. It’s not their fault. They don’t know that I’m waiting for their toe-yarn to arrive.

Firstly, an awesome person from Ravelry was able to help me out with the Pirate Booty yarn. She has a whole skein but small feet, so she asked me to estimate what I needed and she’ll mail it to me. How great is that? I did the math and came out with ten or twelve rows remaining, so I told her that I guessed 12 feet would be enough. I hope that’s enough. I’m nervous now that it’s not, but I didn’t want to ask for more than I needed! Anyway, I expect that to come in the mail sometime next week, and then I can get this sock done.

Also, I am getting started on Pirate-Husband’s Plain Socks. I’m using Regia 4-ply in a marled brown/brown/black colorway, and just doing plain top-down socks with a flap heel and gusset. I measured his feet yesterday and took a gauge swatch off some other Regia socks I made. 9 stitches to the inch, times 10 inches around his feet, minus 10% for ease, gives me 80 stitches (okay, 81, but 80 is a nice round number). These should go pretty fast! I’ll take pictures when there’s something to show.

Curses! Darn, rats, phooey and grr! I have run out of yarn halfway through the toe of the second Garter Rib Sock. There are ten rounds to go and only ten inches of yarn left. Blue Moon doesn’t sell emergency mini-skeins, so I’ve gone to the “Socks that Rawk” group on Ravelry and asked them for help.

If anyone has leftovers of STR Lightweight in “Pirate Booty,” I’m willing to buy, beg or barter. And if not, then I’ll have to resign myself to having a mis-matched sock toe.

I knew the yardage of this yarn was on the light side, so I made the sock leg shorter than I normally do. Guess the garter rib pattern ate a lot of the yarn. Next time I use lightweight I will make the leg even shorter and pick a different stitch pattern… and after that I might just order mediumweight yarn, which goes further. Or I’ll stick to the yarns with more yardage.

My internet connection went out yesterday evening just as I was getting ready to sit down at the computer. I reset the cable modem, but that didn’t help. So instead of spending the last hour before bed on the internet, I spent it in bed with the Garter Rib Sock. (Exciting life I lead, isn’t it.)

There’s something to be said about not being on the computer. I got to lounge around on the world’s softest and fuzziest blanket, knitting with no distractions, and I’m now about halfway through the gusset decreases. It was quite relaxing and actually, kinda nice. I mean, I’m pretty well addicted to my computer, but every once in a while I like to take some time off from it.

Pirate-Husband and I used to do weekly “screen-free nights,” without the TV or the computer, and we’d spend the evening together. Either we’d play a game, or we’d curl up with books, or I’d knit and he’d do something else. I’m thinking it may be time to reinstate the screen-free nights. The problem is that he gets home from work two hours later than he used to, and I go to bed two hours earlier than I used to, so we don’t have as much time to spend with each other.

Without the distraction of television or the internet, maybe he’ll start knitting with me. I have a silly daydreamish vision of us working on a blanket. We could each do squares or strips and then seam them together. I know that realistically, this is never going to happen… but a Pirate can dream, can’t she?

P.S. The internet is back now.

Cailleach asked, Have you considered NOT doing heel stitch as ‘written’? I knit continental, and knitting is faster for me than purling.

I also knit continental, but I haven’t noticed a real difference in speed between knitting and purling. Then again, I have never seen anyone knit continental the way I do (though I’m sure someone must) – I wrap the working yarn around the needle with my left forefinger, rather than picking the working yarn up with the needle. Then the needle sort of ‘ducks’ out through the old stitch with the new stitch on it. The movement is the same whether I’m knitting or purling.

The Garter Rib Sock came from Charlene Schurch’s Sensational Knitted Socks. Because this is the first pattern I’ve knit out of the book, I decided to do it as written, with the garter stitch edging on the heel flap. It’s interesting, and it does go with the sock, but I’m not sure I’d like it all the time. The lack of a slipped stitch edge makes picking up the gusset stitches a little… well, a little picky, pardon the pun!

I think my problem with heel flaps is that I lose the rhythm that I get when I’m knitting in the round. Having to turn the work every 36 stitches or so means that I keep getting to ‘stopping points’ long before I’m actually ready to stop. Being slightly (okay, more than slightly) ADD makes it even easier to put the sock down at the end of a row. When I’m working in the round, my brain forgets that there might be an end of a row at which I could stop.

That said, I finished the heel flap and picked up the gusset stitches, and I’m cranking my way down towards the toe. I expect to get a lot of knitting done this weekend. Pirate-Husband and I are headed down to my parents’ for Passover. When we’re not cooking or eating, there will be lots of down time for knitting! I promised to show my mother how to do each of the stitches in the Ostrich Plumes pattern, too. They’re easy enough, but it’s been so long since she’s done lace work that she asked me for a refresher.

It’s not that I don’t like knitting heel flaps, exactly. It’s that I like knitting the rest of the sock so much better. I did get eight rows into it last night (of thirty-six) and I even remembered to bring it with me to work today (though I may have made plans to go out for lunch) and I do want it done before the weekend, so I can bring the sock to my parents’ house and work on it without having to keep picky count of how many rows I’ve done.

Knit a row, mess with the new projects-by-year pages. WordPress’s recent upgrade has me a bit frustrated; it’s no longer a simple thing to see a page’s ID number, but I need that number in order to include a page in the sidebar. I only went back to 2006, although I started knitting in the beginning of 2004. I wasn’t the best at keeping track of my projects back then, though.

Knit the return row, adjust the queue a little bit. I re-ordered, took out some projects that I know I’ll never do, and tried to assign yarns from my stash to the planned projects. I ran into the problem of having purchased stripy and variegated yarns, but having queued up socks that would look best in solid or semi-solid yarns. My solution will be to knit the stripy stuff first, empty out my stash, and then buy new solid/semi-solid yarns.

Knit a row, read the forums.

Knit the return row, check the blog stats.

It’s no wonder that heel flaps take forever. :)

Janis wrote,
I think self-striping sock yarns are a good standby for when you need a mindless knitting project. That way they look fantastic in just a plain stockinette. *enables*

Janis, I love you, but have you seen my stash lately? I so don’t need any more self-striping sock yarn! I do love the plain stockinette sock, and I’ll be making a pair for Pirate-Husband out of some brown non-striping yarn, but then I have six balls of stripy stuff, three balls of Trekking which may or may not be considered stripy, and three skeins of variegated stuff. That’ll keep me busy for a while, don’t you think?

Last night I sat down and put a couple of rows onto Pomatomus. I’m almost done with the second pattern repeat on the leg. One more to go, then the heel, then three and a half pattern repeats for the foot. Once again, I regret having such long feet!

I’d like to think that I’ll spend my lunch break putting the heel flap onto the Garter Rib Sock, but I know it’s just not going to happen that way. Ah well, there’s always post-work time.

…I cannot stop wanting to buy more sock yarn. Not only that, but the sock yarn that most appeals to me to buy is not the sock yarn that most appeals to me to knit. I found myself eyeing the KnitPicks Felici. What awesome colors! What great stripes! What a fantastic price!

Then I remember, I have a half-ton of self-striping sock yarn in my stash (Non-Ravelry link here), and a bunch of patterns queued up that have nothing to do with stripes, and not very much solid or semi-solid yarn. There must be something wrong with me – but sock yarn isn’t stash, right?

Speaking of socks, I’m up to the heel flap in the Garter Rib Socks. I am really cranking through them now that the baby sweater is done – I think I put almost two inches onto the leg at the shower. I am really looking forward to wearing them for the first time!

I called the yarn store and verified that they have a Sit ‘n Knit on Thursdays from 17:00 to 19:00. I’m thinking of going there straight from work anyway, which would get me there at around 16:30 – they probably won’t mind if I’m a little early! Must resist buying any new yarn. MUST.

There is a week left on my Baby Surprise Jacket deadline. This is really, really not good. I always procrastinate on these things, and then I’m up the whole night before seaming. Maybe instead of going straight to the yarn store, I should go home, get the BSJ, and bring that to Knit Night instead. As long as I remember to keep track of my rows, I think I should be okay. I hope. Maybe. There is a definite tendency to talk more than knit at these things, and to pay more attention to the conversation than to the pattern, and as a result to have to rip back when I get home and find mistakes. So maybe I shouldn’t bring it.

Either way, the two conversations on the Ravelry forums which were taking up way too much of my time are now fortunately winding to a close. I guess I’ll just have to be disciplined about knitting twelve rows a day on the BSJ, and it will be done on time!

Next time, I start the sweater as soon as I hear about the pregnancy. Next time, I buy only gender-neutral yarns. I have enough yarn left for one neutral sweater and one boy-color sweater. Next time, maybe I’ll just start the sweater before anyone’s actually pregnant, and then I’ll be able to lean back in my chair for nine months, knitting socks for myself, glorying in the pleasure that is a project completed before– oh, who am I kidding?

It’s not really a return, exactly – I’ve been getting a few rows done here and there. After a weekend of knitting a LOT, my wrists were really bothering me, so I took it easy for a week. Then this past weekend, I was too busy to knit. Now it’s Tuesday, the Baby Surprise Jacket is still incomplete, the shower is coming up, and I’m starting to get stressed over it. If I hurry, I’ll hurt my wrists again. If I don’t, it won’t be done on time.

On Thursday I’m going to check out the knit night at my LYS – it is a store I’ve been to once because it was far from the apartment, but now that I’ve moved, it’s only about 12 miles down the road. I’m pretty excited to meet some new people! …and I’ll probably bring the sock, since it’s my traveling project and I know I can work on it without thinking or having to count rows.

I am so glad I went to SnB last night. I’d really missed the companionship and conversation – and I made a new friend who lives near me! My favorite parts of going to a SnB are seeing what projects other people are working on, touching the yarn, looking at the patterns, and sharing tips and advice. Though it’s a wonderful community, Ravelry doesn’t quite give the same sense of togetherness as being in a room with fifteen or twenty other knitters all at once.

It took me about 45 minutes to get home, so insisting on leaving at 8:30 is the right thing to do. That gives me enough time to unwind a little bit before bed. Of course, I didn’t get very much knitting done, but I had a lovely salad and glass of wine for dinner, and a ton of fun. I’m not sure if it’s realistic to go every week, but I’m going to try to get there as often as possible. Next time, I should remember to bring pictures of the house. Everyone asked me how I like living up on the mountain, and I just grinned and said I love it!

The second Garter Rib Sock is about three inches long now, so maybe I got more accomplished than I thought. This weekend I will be attending an SCA event called Defending the Gate, run by a couple of my friends, and I’m certain that I can make a lot more sock progress there. Since the mother-to-be for whom I’m knitting the Baby Surprise Jacket will be there, and I would like it to be a surprise, I’m going to put that project away until after the weekend.

Lately I have been spending more time on Ravelry than actually knitting. This is because I have internet access from work, but I can’t sit at my desk and knit. Yesterday I re-organized my stash by breaking apart an entry that included several colorways of the same yarn, and re-listing them separately by colorway. Today I did some queue re-arranging. For those of you without Ravelry accounts, you poor things you, the next few projects include plain brown socks for Pirate-Husband, Clessidra socks for myself, and a Napramach bag (here’s a picture of someone else’s) for a gift.

I do plan to finish the four projects I have on the needles first, of course.

Then I’d also like to do some work on the progress bars that appear in the right column. There’s lots of help available and some wonderful examples of what can be done. I just haven’t had the time to work on them yet.

Tonight I’m going to SnB for the first time in a while. I’m meeting another knitter who also recently moved to Haymarket, and I’m quite excited to be seeing everyone again! It’ll also be nice to get some work done on the Garter Rib Sock. I’ve not touched it since I started the Baby Surprise Jacket, which has taken priority for knitting at home. The Sock-in-Progress, whatever it is, is always my traveling project.

There’s been so much going on lately that it’s keeping me from making significant progress on any of the knitting or spinning projects. I did get a lazy kate but I haven’t even taken it out of the box yet. Now that the bedroom is finished (with paint, if not with furniture) I think I’m going to haul the spinning wheel up there. It will make the room seem less empty, and I’m much more likely to spin if it’s upstairs, rather than hiding in the basement!

Yesterday was incredibly productive, but unfortunately not with knitting. While Pirate-Husband was up at the house spackling, I ran four loads of laundry and packed eight boxes. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but it took a lot of time! A half-hour before bedtime, while waiting for the dryer to finish, I decided that I deserved 30 minutes of me-time and took out the beginning of the second Garter Rib Sock. Two and a half rounds later, my head was nodding and I was forgetting when to knit and when to purl, so I put the thing away and went to bed. When Pirate-Husband came in, I mumbled that sounded like “can you turn the dryer back on?” At least, I hope it sounded like that.

At this rate, the second sock is going to take a lot longer to knit than the first. There is no time to knit today – I need to pick up more moving boxes, get to the polls and vote in the primary, pack up the contents of three bookcases and some more of the kitchen, finish the laundry, and somewhere in there I might like to eat dinner. It amazes me that my parents were able to move to a fixer-upper house with a six-month-old baby (that would be me) and get everything done, and here I am moving to a house that needs relatively little work, and there’s still so much to do! Times like these, I’m glad I don’t have any kids or kittens underfoot.

I also have a time-based knitting requirement coming up; friend Gwen is expecting a baby girl in May! I’m almost certain that she doesn’t read the blog, but I’m going to keep the project a secret just in case. I already have the yarn, and I’m excited about the project. It’s something I’ve never tried before, but I’ve seen many versions and I love them all. Baby clothes are great knits. They’re adorable, and they go fast because they’re so small.

Woohoo! Sock Number One of the Garter Rib Socks is completed! I began knitting super-fast at around 8:30 last night and was able to get the toe grafted and both ends woven in before bedtime. And – the best part – I tried the sock on and it fit perfectly! I have done the one-footed happydance of sock completion, and will take pictures soon.

To avoid second sock syndrome *cough*Pomatomus*cough* I immediately re-wound the remaining yarn into a neater ball and cast on for Sock Number Two. It would be so nice if I had a scale, so I could weigh the sock against what’s left and figure out if there’s enough. Ah well, intrepid knitting dictates that I charge full-speed ahead, and damn the torpedoes! I got a few rounds done before the cold medicine kicked in and I had to go to bed.

Unfortunately I don’t think there’s going to be much knitting time this weekend, because we’re going up to the house tonight and working like mad. I’m in charge of cleaning the rest of the kitchen and painting the bedroom closets, how fun! Next weekend we are going up to New York for my grandma’s 80th birthday party, and the weekend after that is Official Moving Weekend. I’m really looking forward to getting into the house and turning it into my home.

Being sick is only good for one thing – curling up in front of the computer with a half-knitted sock. I’ve made some significant progress on it today; there’s maybe an inch left before I start the toe. Then I’ll re-wind the ball of yarn so it’s neat again, and hope that there’s enough for the second sock…

I’ve heard that Blue Moon Fiber Arts is pretty good about sending out little mini-skeins to those of us with oversized feet, so I’m not too worried. If there isn’t enough for the second sock, I’ll know to make the next pair a little shorter in the leg to make up for it.

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.