FO: Baltic Knee Socks

Ravelry project link here.

Pattern: Clementine's Baltic Socks [free PDF], by Diana Jones.

Yarn: Less than one skein of Fearless Fibers (blog here) Superwash Merino Wool Sock Yarn in Brick House.

Needles: Size 1 bamboo DPNs.

Size: To fit a size 6.5 foot.

Mods: To make the socks knee-high, I added shaping in the handy stockinette side panels, and made the ribbing at the top longer.

For: Me!

Time: Casted on July 2007; finished February 2008. They kept me company during two moves and a job hunt. We've bonded.

Thoughts: A great pattern. The pattern repeat was easy to memorize, and those stockinette panels made my first time calf-shaping attempt. They're my best-fitting pair of socks yet, although they'll need some elastic woven in to actually stay up. The Fearless Fibers yarn -- which I was lucky enough to have picked up back when it sold for $14.50/550 yards (still a steal at $19) -- was a wonder. It just going on and on and on -- there's still a good chunk of it left. It was also still my first short-row heel. Overall -- I love them!

Most recent podcast: Cast On.
What I'm reading: Mozart's Women, by Jane Glover.

State of the Union.

Tangled Yoke is blocking as I type -- in the garage, so I'm sure she's going to smell like gasoline for the next few days. Thanks much to Mary Lynn for the wonderful comment. I really do love the sweater, it's just that frustrating little perfectionist voice in my head that gets in the way -- but I still can't wait until it's done blocking so I can add the buttons and wear it!

With TY nearing completion, I've been scouting new projects, and reconsidering the old. I've got the Baltic Socks on the needles, as well as the Urban Aran that desperately needs a new collar so it can be worn, the poor neglected thing. The Bella Blouse has floundered while I try to figure out the ramifications of substituting Tahki Cotton Classic (Ravelry) for the Berroco Touche (Ravelry) -- the yarn shop recommended it. No real gauge is used for the patterned details, but using the Tahki my bottom band is much longer than the finished measurements of the top. My other two projects, Capecho and Kiri, have been classified as hibernating for now (explaining their removal from the sidebar over there). You see, when I moved west, I sort of assumed that I'd find a job within a month, make a final move and settle in to a new place. So when I landed here in southern Washington, we crammed all of our (mine and TreeHugger's) belongings into storage as best we could. Leaving my yarn in the back corner of a 5'x10' storage space brimming with what you see below. Well, that was two months ago, and no job yet. So Capecho and Kiri are unreachable, as are all of my patterns and the supplies for the Romantic Cables and Lace vest, Spiral Boot Socks, The Inga Hat, and several other unnamed projects. Which frees me up for the Hemlock Ring Blanket (yarn to be ordered later today), of course, but without an income I'd really like to get at that box. Frustratingly, you can see it in the picture below -- that box on the upper right. Grr!

Otherwise, progress continues on Joel's hat. It's been funny to make the leap from big and/or somewhat focus-intensive projects to *k2, p2, repeat from * in the round. It's just flying by:


TY should be done by Friday, and hopefully I'll get a little photo shoot in over the weekend.

Most recent podcast: CraftLit Episode 54.
Currently listening to: Brandi Carlile's The Story.
What I should be doing: Preparing for this weekend's party, returning email.

The Duck has landed.

I have landed! Battle Ground, Washington, about 2o miles northeast of Portland, is my home for the time being. TreeHugger boyfriend and I are crashing with some great friends here. The Duck and I were greeted with a welcoming feast of cheese, fresh-picked raspberries, and Scotch. Lovely!


The trip was more enjoyable than it probably should have been, given I was driving 8-10 hours a day, alone, but I can entertain myself endlessly. I saw friends and family, caught up on my podcasts, and got excited at the first sight of mountains, canyons, trees, the Columbia River, Safeway, and windmills. I saw a license plate from every state but Hawaii (I once got all 50, plus the District of Columbia). This is my eighth cross-country drive: back and forth with friends once; four times by myself; twice with TreeHugger boyfriend; five times west, three times east. I have to admit that I'm a little disappointed that I probably won't get to do it again any time soon.

All of that stopping in between the driving allowed for a lot of knitting time. Knitting served particularly well as a way to release some of the energy stored up while sitting in a car for an entire day. I focused mostly on the Baltic Knee Socks, with excellent progress to show for it (excuse the pale legs):
Including my first short-row heel:

Not perfect, but not bad. I won't show you that the other side has a hole an eyelet in the corner. I enjoyed making a different heel, and I'm looking forward to perfecting my technique on the second sock. I'm loving the Fearless Fibers superwash merino in Brick House (the color is more accurate on my screen in the second picture). The yarn just goes on and on and on, and I've never received so many compliments on any other colorway. And besides, I think the yarn is just glad to be home!

More to come. I've got to spread out the blog lovin' (blovin'!), particularly since I'm unemployed and don't have much else to do (and I'm loving it!).

Most recent podcast: NPR's Story of the Day.
Currently listening to: a humming refrigerator.
What I should be doing: Responding to email.

A brief update.

The cross-country-ing (cringe, you grammar fiends!) is going quite well. I am a very strange person who enjoys long, long drives across the country. This is the eighth time I've driven across the country, the fifth time by myself, and it still has not gotten old.

Not a lot of time for updating, but: the socks grow. I missed Stitches (it's all for the best). Gella's in Hays, Kansas is fabulous. I am super excited to be back in the mountains. I'll write in full soon!

My companion on the trip. You can chart our progress here.

They really like me!

My copy of Harry Potter did not arrive today, contrary to UPS and Amazon's tracking systems. And so I'm blogging.

So yesterday, a lovely surprise showed up in my inbox: my Ravelry invite! (You can find me at WildThingsRun. Fast wouldn't fit.) I feel loved. I've spent the better part of the last 24-hours playing around, and I have to agree with the general buzz -- it's wonderful. No more Googling and Technorati-ing to find details about projects I'd like to attempt, or to see how a certain yarn works up. (Image edited from Ravelry.com.)

I also enjoyed Ravelry's feature to let you check on your invite status (of course, I only noticed this after I'd been invited). I requested an invite on May 31st, and was 6062nd in line. As of yesterday, 12,693 people behind me! I can't wait until Ravelry gets up and running at full speed, I really think it's going to be a great resource.

Of course, this means that I haven't gotten to finish my mini-review of my NYC-area yarn binging; but I have just started two new projects. Since finishing the monkeys, I've been searching for another sock pattern. I had a few in mind -- the Spiral Boot Socks; Clessidra; Pomatomus; Sweetpea -- but the sock yarn I had wasn't really speaking to any of them. I'd had some gauge problems with the Jaywalkers that I didn't want to revisit. I'll reveal my inner geekiness here and admit to creating a spreadsheet to track my sock stash and patterns. While doing some research I came across the Knitting Philistine's review of Clementine's Baltic Socks [PDF] won me over, and worked well with the Fearless Fibers superwash merino sock yarn I had in my stash and have been antsy to use. There's so much of it (550 yards per skein!) that I had knee socks in mind, and the Baltic Socks' stocking stitch allowed for a simple modification for this first-time-knee-sock-knitter. Here's a picture of the beginning:


And a larger project: Norah Gaughan's Bella Blouse [PDF] from Interweave. I was looking for a good summer knit, and this one caught my eye back when it was called Pomegranate-something-or-other. I think maybe Orangina would have been a better pick, but I can put that in the queue. Although I really liked the colors shown in the Bella pattern, I don't think they would flatter me. So I went with a very saturated navy blue in the Berroco Cotton Twist and Tahki Cotton Classic to stand in for the Touche. Here's the bottom band:

Whew. Hope y'all are enjoying your weekends, and thanks for reading until the end!