I'm moving tomorrow (well, starting tomorrow--it is a three day process) and when it's finished I am going to be driving through the night to go to the Southernmost tip of Kyushu and start a 9-day road trip (we're camping). I am already exhausted and none of this has even started yet. UGH.

I started this sock last week in the hopes of having something simple and fun to work on in the car. But at this rate I will probably just be conked out in the backseat whenever I am not driving. Even with everything else that has been going on, it is nice to get back into the sock knitting again. Thanks for the encouragement, Carole!

Posted by Molly at 03:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Last week, I finally had a chance to tear myself away from my dishcloths to put the finishing touches on these socks. I made the same mistake I always did, and made them too short (curses!) but they will still be great in the Japanese winter. I hope it comes soon! I used the Sock Pattern to End All Sock Patterns, which definitely has the best short-row heel instructions as the final project came out with no holes! But next time I think I will be doing toe-up so that I can use all of the yarn and make the tallest socks possible. I am ready to try some new sock yarn that isn't Koigu!

I haven't had the energy to pick up my beast of a wool sweater in the summer heat, but would like to start working on it again soon so that i can decide what to do with it. Will it be worth finishing? Will the yarn actually make it as far as I want it to? Who knows. I would say stay tuned, but if I don't really care anymore, why should you?

I'm back to my dishcloths, trying to make the most of my dwindling Sugar 'n Creme stash before my supplier comes to visit--just two weeks, can't wait!!

Posted by Molly at 04:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

What's that they say about actually writing down your goals? I guess it works! I only made that list last Monday as a kind of joke, sititng at work wishing that I would have the time to do all those things. I should write things down like this more often--4.5 out of 7 is not too shabby!

1. Finished Block 9 on Monday night, less than 48 hours after starting it. It gave me hope that maybe my goals were reasonable after all!

2. Didn't actually cast on for new lace shawl, but did wind 450 meters of beautiful Fleece Artist into one massive pull skein during an installment of the BBC's Jane Eyre. It took more than an hour to wind the whole thing by hand, especially since it started getting to be the size of my head and a little difficult to wind towards the end!

3. This was easy! It's setting aside the time to work on it now that might be hard.

4. I finished this sock one morning BEFORE school! Getting up and going for a walk at 6:30 lately has given me time not only to eat breakfast and get ready for school like a normal person, but also to watch the morning news programs and fit in a little knitting before I leave. It's like a dream come true!

5. No second sock syndrome for me! Wound this skein on the train to Kobe this weekend (with the help of my own personal knitting assitant) and cast on straight away. As much as I love sock knitting, will be setting this aside to save for for those waiting room or train travel spurts of knitting time.

While in Kobe, I made a trip to the wonderful, 8-floor Yuzawaya craft store. It was overwhelming in it's abundance of craft supplies, but not as amazing as the Tokyo branch in Kichijyoji where I found it harder to resist temptation. I escaped after a brief run-through of each floor with just these adorable buttons. I bought two of each pack, and will set them aside for use, someday, on some baby knits. Anyone having a baby?

*Title taken from my new favorite lunchtime pastime, catching up on celeb gossip at www.bestweekever.tv. How else would I have heard that Britney shaved her head?

Posted by Molly at 11:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Wearing my favorite handknit socks (Trekking ribbed sock, right) and working on a new pair (Koigu ribbed sock, left) is the best way to spend this Thursday night. I've been unbelieveably tired lately from my new 6:30 am powerwalking routine, so it's nice to have a night in to knit and catch up on the ER tapes that have been piling up here for a while (thanks, Mum!).

I've finished BOTH of my stripy Project Spectrum fingerless gloves and they have even been passed on to their happy recipient, but I was too lazy to take a photo before handing them off. Unfortunately, I think I cut all the ends too closely on the wrong side and I've been shown on webcam that there are little bits poking through to the right side. Oops! I'm sure they look very homemade (in the negative sense) so they will be back in my hands for improvement (and photo op) soon.

Question: After you weave in ends, especially on projects with oh-so-many of them, how long of a tail do you leave on the wrong side when you do your trimming? I clearly haven't figured this one out yet.

Posted by Molly at 07:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just as most of the stories in my WIP parade begin, I started this sock long, long ago, with some fun and colorful Koigu that I'd had in my stash for a while. This Tropicana pattern looked fun and challenging, and it definitely proved to be true. But as fun and challenging as it is, I don't actually like wearing socks like this. I've never worn my beautiful jaywalkers out of the house!

So I rrrrrrrrrrripped it out and it became this. There's nothing I love more than curly koigu. I strrrretched
it out with my foolproof technique and next thing you know, I was ready to start on a new sock.

I'm using the "Sock Pattern to End All Sock Patterns" from knitspot and so far, so good! I really do prefer the toe-up sock because I can be sure to use all the yarn and not worry about running out, but I guess a little bit of uncertainty never killed anyone. Knitting this sock has starting to bring the enthusiasm back to my knitting, who would have thought!? I just can't stop that "one-more-row" thinking. I'm off to work on it tonight!

Posted by Molly at 04:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Ok, I'm not actually a dollar short, but this is a day late! These are my lovely green project spectrum socks for May that I finished last night. I finished them in May, I swear! I almost can't believe that I took this picture on a blue background AGAIN, so they once again look bluer than they really are. Just take my word for it, they're green, ok? It's that time of year, when I am starting to work up a sweat doing just about anything, so they have already been packed away with the winter wears. See them in the fall!

I've been going to be early with the anticipation of running most days this week, but I only actually made it out on Wednesday. It was hard to do for the first time because I didn't know how much time it would take and used my paranoia about being late for work as a deterrent on Monday and Tuesday. Never have I had such clear thoughts, laying in bed at 645 am. Today was my day off and I am definitely headed out again tomorrow. The running part isn't even that hard, it's just the getting up that kills me!

Although this has been cutting into my late night knitting, I have (per usual) been thinking about what to make next. A friend just had a baby boy so June seems like an opportune time to make something blue for them. But what does one knit for a baby when there are 4 or 5 months of stinking heat and humidity coming up? Any ideas?

Posted by Molly at 05:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

I finished my Jaywalkers! These used almost EXACTLY one skein of Koigu KPPM each, on size 2 needles. They were really fun to knit, but I definitely need to do some work to block them before I can really wear them. I had them on while I was knitting on the couch yesterday and realized that my toes fall asleep more easily in them probably because they're so tight. I might try to make some frames to block them with wire hangers.

I love this colorway! Even though they were my March Project Spectrum socks, I think there's enough orange in there to count for April, too. I started thinking about what to make for my May socks, and decided that I'd use some more Koigu that had been sitting around half knitted up into a glove for the past year and a half. Even if I ever finished that glove, chances were slim that I would a) ever knit a second glove or b) ever wear them. So socks it is! But the yarn was really REALLY crimped from being in that glove all this time so I had to break out some high-tech yarn smoothing equipment.

Luckily, I have all sorts of tools for hanging laundry out to dry so it was very easy to rig this contraption. Plus, it was a very warm and breezy day yesterday so it dried quickly. I almost can't believe how well it worked! The yarn is a little more multicolored than only green, but I think it looks a little bit more green in real life than in these photos (maybe because I shot these photos in a blue bowl--oops).

Before and after!!

This weekend has been great for getting all this finishing and starting taken care of, especially when there's a lot og ripping going on. (And it's raining today, yay!, so no guilt about being inside on a nice day). I started to knit a cable rib sock with this last night but the color changes are very stripy and the cables just didn't look so good. Instead, I'm going to knit a plain old stockinette sock that will be very wearable and look just fab with my new purple sneakers. hehe.

And about the fair-isle glove, you ask? No comment. That is for another day.

Posted by Molly at 04:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Today I found a hole in my sock in the middle of the closing ceremony for this school year. Considering that the teachers were just standing around in their socks, I was kind of embarrassed. Spent a lot of the time trying to hide it under my (luckily!) long pant leg. Ended up taking things into my own hands when I got home though and managed to turn everything around. I know, another crazy Friday night!

*This post, and the fact that I have finished a sock in less than one week, is coming to you thanks to Kat and her Veronica Mars DVDs. I'm hooked.

Posted by Molly at 09:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I did it! Despite my sesame disappointment, I pulled things together on my rainy Sunday (with the help of some key DVDs) at home and took care of business!

Project specs:
Yarn: Trekking XXL, color 100
Needles: Dpn, size 1
Pattern: Wendy's Generic Toe-up pattern, in 2X2 rib, with a stretchy cast off for my cankles.

I'm SO glad that I went with a simple ribbed sock for this yarn. The colors are so great, that any pattern definitely would have taken away from it. Thanks to all the wise, experienced knitters who pointed this out to me. I still do have one issue with my sock--it's the hole in the short row heel.

Can you see it? The holes aren't really THAT big or noticeable, but it just bugs, you know? I'm considering taking some of my leftover yarn and doing a few duplicate stitches over the problem areas to tighten things up. I think that with the next pair of socks I start (probably later this week--always have to have emergency train knitting on hand) I'll have to force myself to do a non-short row heel. As much as picking up the stitches can be a pain, I'm afraid if I go on much longer I might not actually be able to do it anymore.

Posted by Molly at 07:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)

I think I reached an all-time anti-social low tonight when I zoned out at a work party and started thinking of what I could be knitting at home. In my defense, they started talking about a lot of technical educational teacher issues and I just did not follow. Once my thoughts turned to how much (or rather how little) I had had to drink and the time, I realized that if I headed home soon I could still squeeze in some knitting before bed. It's sick! But I did finally make it home in time to post this and still knit on my sock before bed. One good thing about simple ribbed socks? Easy to knit even if you've had a fair amount of sake.

Tomorrow I have another office New Year party that starts at 8 am--it's a bus trip to the Sea of Japan to eat crab and get wasted, basically. Hopefully I can hold off the drinking til lunchtime, but I don't think there's any chance I'll get to knit on the bus. Have to get my fill tonight!

Posted by Molly at 10:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)