Sockdown February - Candy Cane Bellatrix

I chose Bellatrix Sock for the February Sockdown for Sock Knitter's Anonymous. The pattern was a quick knit and kind of fun with the drop stitches but I'm not super pleased with the end result. I was spot on with my guage, EXACTLY 8 stitches to the inch measured flat and in the round. The drop stitches makes them a bit loose. Its OK, I can live with it but they're not my favorite. I however love the yarn! Candy Cane from Holiday Yarns! LOVE IT!

Steffi Linden - A Sock Retrospective

One of the choices for the October Sock for the Sock Knitters Anomyous Sockdown is a sock by Steffi Linden. When I googled Steffi Linden, I didn't turn up much. With a little google/ravely magic and my mad search skills, I found her ravelry page. The first problem is most of Steffi's stuff is under her proper name - Stephanie van der Linden. And boy, does she have some nice stuff. I'm sticking to socks for this post.

Binsenkorbchen Socks

These are quite lovley. I love color work and I love geometric shapes. I don't think I'll do these tho since i'm doing Ziggy right now. (photo by punkin541)

Esther Sock

Whew this is very airy and dreamy. I love the flower look. (photo by schrodinger212)

Florenz

Another colorwork wonder! I love the texture and there's something about the stripped sole that I really like. I'm not super keen on the rolled cuff right now tho. (photo by steffilinden)

Glamour Socks

There's a cute touch of bead work at the cuff on this lovely sock. Very pretty, but its not doing it for me right now. (photo by steffilinden)

Grun ist die Hoffnung

WOW! Just wow! I might have to do this one. Look at that construction! You knit the top of the foot first? What? How is that possible!! (photo by steffilinden)

Honeybee Socks

Awwwwww. This are just simply adorable. Very romantic and quaint. (photo by knitchickmelly)

Komet

This is nice I guess, but I'm not in love with it. I like my socks to lay smooth. I'd be afraid it would be too puffy on my foot. (photo by steffilinden)

Livia Socks
Click the Twist link for the pic!
Simple, delicate, intricate twisted stitch loops. Simplicity at its best! This is a sock feature in the premier issue of Twist Collective (and the only patter Steffi has you have to pay for).

Lizzy

This sock makes me think of gothic catherdirals with those crazy arches. I love the detail on the instep. I'm thinking of doing Lizzy for the Sockdown. (photo by steffilinden)

Montgolfiere

How cute! I love the optical illusion-y effect of this sock! (photo by steffilinden)

Scala

More stripy colorwork!?!? This lady loves her stripes!! (photo by knitsynthesis)

Tanz in den Mai

OK, I'm sorry, I can appreciate the prettiness but I just don't like the nubby pokey out parts. (photo by steffilinden)

Sockdown by Sock Knitters Anonymous – Yes, The Mamajama is Crazy

The Mamajama has roped me into another insanity project. Well, ok, the arm twisting wasn’t so tough, after all, if I could complete a sweater in SEVENTEEN DAYS for the Ravelympics2008, nothing is impossible right? Right? C’mon people, agree with me here.

So here’s the concept – There is a Ravelry group called Sock Knitters Anonymous (SKA for short, not to be confused with SKP) and they run this yearly competition. Well, it’s not really a competition, it’s more like a challenge (don’t believe everything you hear, especially if it comes out of the mouth of a younger sister – I am NOT competitive). They post a schedule for socks, one a month, and you have a two-month window to finish the assigned sock. The choice of patterns is meant to challenge you or introduce you to new designers or to get you to knit out of the box. There will be prizes, however I’m not sure how that all works. I think they just pick a random FO (finished object) and send that sock knitter a gift. Kind of cool huh? I know I wanted to be part of this when I saw that Yarnissima was one of the featured designers. The first day I got on Ravelry, Yarnissma’s Firestarter sock hit my queue and I just haven’t gotten around to knitting it yet! Now is the time! So here is the schedule and my thoughts and mad-capped plans so far:

September 2008 – “Orange Socks or Cookie A or Mystery Sock”
Apparently every other month they will have a “Mystery Sock”. I’m not sure how this will work. Will it be like the Sock Knitter’s Pentathlon where they just surprise you with a pattern, or will it be more like a Mystery Shawl where you get clues once a week. We shall see. This is a tricky month. September is when the Sock 4 for the Sock Knitters Pentathlon (SKP not to be confused with SKA) is released. The requirement for Sock 4 is two colors for some stranded color work. Now, I could easily knit two pairs of socks this month, one for the Pentathalon, one for the Sockdown, but I do have other things in my life I’d like to do (like SPIN! Like DYE! Like DO MY DISHES!), so I decided to kill two birds with one stone (Note: No actual birds were harmed in the production of my socks). So that left me with a problem – Orange. Since I have to do the SKP sock pattern, the only way I can make this work for SKAis to knit the SKP sock in orange (ahh acronym-y goodness) . Ok, sure, orange is not my most favoritest color, but I can live with it. However, finding nice orange sock yarn is a challenge. What to do! What to do! DYE MY OWN! And hence “Molten” and “Pele” were born. More on that later.

October 2008 – “Holiday Stocking or Steffi Linden”
I’m not excited about the “Holiday Stocking” idea. Sorry, but my Christmas Crafting does not express itself in stockings. So a Steffi Linden pattern it is! I found Lizzy that looks delightful! Yarn choice will be a bit of an issue. I have decided not to buy any more yarn until Rhinebeck so I will either have to do this in Knit Picks Woodland Sage (loved the color online but now, meh), or dye some more (YAY! Are you sensing a theme here?)

November 2008 - “Slip Stitch/Mosaic Knitting or Wendy Johnson or Mystery Sock”

November will be tricky with a double whammy of the Pentathlon. Unless there’s a nice cross over with the two like there was in September, it looks like I’ll be doing two socks. This “Mosaic Knitting” is intriguing, must do research – To the Google we go! Hm, I wonder if “Bellatrix” counts as “slip stitch”??

December 2008 – “Socks made with leftovers or Almost Socks or Yarnissima”
A’hem. I do not have leftovers for socks. My leftovers are already dedicated to another insanity project. I have no idea what “Almost Socks” are but unless they are more kick ass (er, butt. Kick Butt. This is a family friendly blog, sort of) than Firestarter by Yarnissima, Firestarter will be my project of choice!

January 2009 – “Beaded Socks or Socks form a pattern from an online magazine or Mystery Socks”
Hmmmmmm What to do what to do. Online socks are not really novel as most of the stuff I knit is from an online magazine of one sort or another (we love you Knitty and Twist Collective!). Beaded might be an option for some super fancy socks like knit out of silk maybe? Cashmere? Or we might have figured out this Mystery Sock concept and give what a whirl.

February 2009 – “Socks for a Cause or Gigi Silva or Entrelac”
Entrelac Entrelac ENTRELAC! I love love love Entrelac!!! I started an Entrelac sock in the Springz colorway from Brooklyn Handspun and LOVED LOVED LOVED knitting it. Unfortunately it met the frog pond because I was a bad knitter and a) did not swatch and b) did not read the ball band and discovered late in the game that Springz was DK weight and not fingering. Well, February will be the perfect time for a do-over!

March 2009 – “Lace Socks or Cat Bordhi or Mystery Socks”
Again, another tough choice. It’s my birthday month so I’d like to do something nice and fancy for myself. Cat Bordhi might be a good choice. We do have some time to do a little research. Duh.

April 2009 – “Knee Socks or Under-appreciated patterns”
I’m not sure what qualifies as under-appreciated. Don’t know if I’m really into knee socks. Knee socks for the Nieces? Hmmmmm I’ll have to think on this one.

May 2009 – “Cables/Twisted Stitches or Anne Hanson or Mystery Socks”
I can’t say that I know of any Anne Hanson patterns and I’m not too sure if the Rivendale socks will qualify for “twisted stitches” but Rivendale would be my first choice here.

June 2009 – “Design Your Own Socks or Nancy Bush”
I feel a secret project coming on!!! (said in singsong)

July 2008 – “Fair isle/colorwork/Intarsia or Homegrown Designers (including DYO) or Mystery Sock”
See above

Yeah, I know what you’re saying “OMG Amy is this bizarre obsessive compulsive nut who plans out a year of knitting in advance??? Back away slowly!” No, I’m not a nut (keep your comments to yourself Little Sister!). Here’s the brilliant intention behind this planning spree… RHIENBECK. The New York Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck is coming up in October and frankly, I need a shopping list. I’m going to one of the Northeast’s biggest fiber festivals so I’m hoping I’ll find good deals, and great yarn and I can stock up for up coming projects. More on Rhinebeck later!

The Rents are coming! The Rents are coming

The Parents, the Mamajama and Poppy, are coming for the weekend. Of course I have a sink full of dirty dishes but I did manage to wash sheets and vacuum so my house isn’t a total wreck. And I just realized that I forgot to leave them a key to the house! OH NOS! It will work out one way or another!
We have an action packed weekend planned.
The Mamajama and I have some serious yarn dying plans. In one of her wacky plans, the Mamajama convinced me to participate in a KoolAid swap. In short, you send your partner Koolaid packages so that they can dye some yarn, then you dye yarn with the packages you receive and then you send your partner some of the yarn you dyed. It’s very complicated and I’ve already screwed up several times (mostly because I did not read instructions fully). Then we want to dye some yarn for the upcoming Sock Knitter’s Pentathlon. We need two colors for a stranded color work sock. Also, the Mamajama has roped me into participating in the Sockdown. Sockdown is another year long challenge (with prizes!) with each month having a designer or specific technique that you have to conquer. There will also be Mystery Socks! I’m not sure how that will work. So, September’s sock for the sock down needs to be orange. Now, I’m considering dying orange yarn in two different shades so that this one sock can count for both the Sockdown and SKP2008. Whew. That’s a lot of socks!
But the weekend will not be all yarnie goodness We’re going to this HUGE antiques show on Saturday. The weather should be cool and sunny, which will be perfect. But that also means there should be HUGE crowds! I’m hoping we can get out of the house early as I have a feeling that parking will be a nightmare.