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Category Archives: STR

Where were you a year ago?

07 Thursday Jul 2011

Posted by knitteratii in Baltic Cruise, Holland America, Socks That Rock, STR

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I was at LAX, ready to leave for Copenhagen. It was a hot day, they didn’t turn the air on in the plane during boarding. I had plenty of sock yarn available for the flight, books ready for prolonged listening on my ipod, and my sock monkey, who attends all knitting-related trips as this one. Here is the obligatory monkey pic. He is holding the toe of the travel sock I started after boarding. Toe-up Personal Footprints for Insouciant Knitters in STR lightweight, a Rare Gem colorway. I had a contest on this blog to determine which of 3 colorways I should knit. The Rare Gem came in first, Plankton Ooze second, and Pond Scum was 3rd. Remember this?

Monkey made friends on the trip. So did I.
Revisit this sight as I recall the cruise. It was awesome. My plan is to follow it along, day by day. Photos too.
Please comment! I would love to hear from you! Even if you weren’t on the Baltic Cruise!

The Gifting of the Socks.

04 Wednesday Aug 2010

Posted by knitteratii in Blue Moon Fiber Arts, Fixation, Opal, Regia, socks, STR

≈ 4 Comments


Ever since I picked out the clothes for my mom to wear, I wrestled with the idea about how I would deal with the remaining 19 pair of handknitted socks I had made for her. This idea popped into my head sometime during the night before her services. After the service, family and close friends would be gathering at Robbie and Blanca’s house. What better time to gift them than this afternoon when everyone was gathered together in remembrance of my mom? I picked the socks up at my mom’s house. In the living room at Robbie and Blanca’s, I spread them out on the floor, sorted by method of construction. Top-down heel flap and traditional gussets, then toe-up Personal Footprints. I sorted each section according to fiber content—100% merino superwash, 75-25 blends, cotton-lycra blends. For those who know sock yarns, you can see lots of Blue Moon Fiber Arts STR, a couple of Regia, one Mini-Mochi, one Colinette Jitterbug, and some Opal. As I sorted them, I told the story of each sock. It was stroll through my life and my sock-knitting life starting in 2002.
In the journey that is life, my knitting marks where I was, what I was doing, and what I was thinking at that point. I remember I started with the self-striping yarn from Opal, I discovered it when I helped Carson move for his first semester at Brown. From Opal, I moved into Jitterbug and Brown Sheep hand dye, played around with Cascade Fixation, and fell totally under the spell of the Blue Moon. I was constantly in search of the perfect sock and my mom was a more than willing participant in my quest.
My mom loved these socks. She told me once, about 2 weeks before Christmas, that the only socks she could wear were the ones I knitted for her, all others hurt her feet. At that time, I had 2 pair finished, one about halfway done, and another pair that I had just cast on. I turned up the knitting to high speed and I think I gave her 3 pair with the 4th on the needles.

In the telling of the stories, more and more of the giftees became entranced with the socks and how they played into the life of my mom and I. Each one had its own history, when it was knitted, where the yarn came from, why some of them were worn more than others. What kinds of shoes she worn them with. What her likes and dislikes were as far as fit and color. She loved to wear denim, so many of them were blues. Differences in construction, heel flap and gussets as opposed to personal footprints. Monkeys, Jaywalkers, purl when you feel like it, hand dyed, self patterning, toe up, top down, Rare Gems, Socks That Rock, and on and on. My mom loved them and I could think of nothing better than for each of them to have a part of something she really loved. One of the asked if I was going to give them out, I told her no, I wanted them to each pick a pair- first come, first served. It was a shark-feeding frenzy that ensued! While listening to the story of the socks, unbeknown to me, they were all eyeing them and had located the ones they wanted. When given the go ahead they pounced on them and claimed a pair. I am sure my mom would approve. After a while, we gathered for a photo session. After everyone picked out their socks, I was asked several times “please tell me the story of my socks again, what is the name of my sock? what is the name of color of my sock? Where did my sock come from?” It was therapeutic and it turned a task that would truly paralyze me into a wonderful thing to share, The Gifting of the Socks.

Please help me make a decision!

29 Tuesday Jun 2010

Posted by knitteratii in STR, travel sock, vote

≈ 1 Comment

OK, so I am ready for my next project which will be a travel sock. I have actually been pretty disciplined lately with my knitting, which means I am not casting on with reckless abandon. It is hard- very very hard not to cast on 4 or 5 new things whenever the mood strikes me. I figured out that the upside of being disciplined is that you actually finish projects. Who knew? My dilemma at the moment is what sock to knit, and which pattern. Which is where you come in! Here are the color choices, all Blue Moon, natch, and the pattern possibilities are all on Knitty–click on the pattern name to go to the link. I chose these patterns because they are are mostly stockinette and I can do them Lever-style ala Yarn Harlot with DPNs (aka, back to basics) so they will go really fast. Not much brain power needed. The only thing needed is the decision about which pattern with which color. These colorways would all look good in any of the patterns. But I just can’t decide. Sometimes the name of the pattern combined with the colorway name is interesting, like Scum Bubble Monkeys. Or Sunday Swing Pond Scum. Or Rare Gem-RPM. Or Plankton Ooze Monkey.

So help me, please, by voting. You will be seeing the winning combination in my next few posts. Vote frequently and vote often. I need to wind the yarn on Friday, so vote now! Have your children vote! Close your eyes and vote! For my new knitting friends I have yet to meet, please vote!
RPM
Monkey
Sunday Swing

And the color finalists are:

Pond Scum. I love me some Pond Scum.

Plankton Ooze.

Rare Gem.

Scum Bubbles. In real-life, Scum Bubbles is related to Pond Scum.

Memorial Day is here!

24 Sunday May 2009

Posted by knitteratii in Froggin', Leyburn socks, Mason-Dixon Knitting, Moderne Baby Blanket, Rocktober, STR

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Ahh, a 3 day weekend!  Today we cleaned house, now it is time to get a new post out.  And I have some photos of finished objects too!

The top photo is my finished Leyburns in Roctober, finally ready to wear1

The next photo
is a snippet of my Froggin Personal Footprints I started at Sock Camp. They are Cat Bordhi’s newest pattern, so I can only show a snippet of the sock but not the whole sock because I am sworn to secrecy until her book comes out!  Their fit is superb and easy, also a fast knit, you must get her new book!  T

This Moderne Baby Blanket from Mason Dixon Knitting belongs to Mr. Ozzie Ortiz.  It will be gifted next weekend.  I will get a photo with him modeling his blanket next weekend!  It is knitted from Lion Brand Cotton Ease and I think it will serve him well!     Until next weekend, happy knitting!

More of Camp KnittyhaHA

14 Tuesday Apr 2009

Posted by knitteratii in Blue Moon Fiber Arts, Camp KnittyhaHA, Sock Camp, STR

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Tina “smooshing” color as only Tina can do.  Beautiful in an instant.  Magical where the colors meet.
Ever seen a crab who knows how to knit?  This is one does , and he wasn’t the only crab there who knew how, there were at least 5 or 6 other crabs with projects in various stages of completion.
And this is Cat Bordhi  (Socks Soar on Two Circs, New Pathways for Knitting Socks and many more wonderful books)on the left and Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (The Yarn Harlot) on the right with their “Chicken of the Sea”.  A late entry into the homework presentation.  Some art just lives on forever and ever and ever and ever…………….

This is the view out of the huge atrium-garden dining room.  Beautiful .  Just to the left of this was a giant totem pole that was a favorite perch of 3 bald eagles.  
It was soooo 
 fun!  These photos don’t even start to do it justice.  The most fun you can have as a knitter.  Imagine 60 other, wait—make that 58 other women and one man, all like minded knitters who love knitting socks.  From all walks of life.   Nurses, teachers, surgeons, college professors, airline pilots, housewives, yarn store owners,  lawyers, professional dog competitors, and on and on.  All with one goal in mind for 5, almost 6 days.  Socks and fun.  You don’t have to be an expert knitter.  In fact, you don’t even have to knit socks.  Both years I met at least one person who had never knitted a sock, and one didn’t plan on learning.  
I want to go back right now!

Life at Camp KnittyhaHA

03 Friday Apr 2009

Posted by knitteratii in Blue Moon Fiber Arts, KnittyhaHA, Sock Camp, STR

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 If you are going to learn to dye yarn, why not learn from the best?   Here is Tina Newton from Blue Moon showing us how………………….

  

     
And here are my 3 hand dyed skeins of STR Mediumwt!
And here is Ozzie’s Monkey to be!

Melissa’s wedding and Cow Clogs

28 Saturday Mar 2009

Posted by knitteratii in Blue Moon Fiber Arts, Sock Camp, Sock Monkey, STR

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Ringo is the luckiest Drunken Party Monkey ever ! Not only did he stow away in my bag, he got to smooch up on the bride!  

And here he is …………………………………………………………and here are my new Cow Clogs, Carson got them for me for my birthday!  They will look great with my STR socks!  The agenda for this afternoon—Lush at Universal Studios, then on to Arc Light to see Sunshine Cleaning, by the same people who did Little Miss Sunshine.  Next Blog post—final touches on my “knit something from the sea assignment” and repacking!  Later!

FInished Socks!

06 Friday Mar 2009

Posted by knitteratii in cat helper, Cloning Anemones, finished objects, Incredible Shrinking Violet, Monkeys, STR, Tang, Tide Pooling

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I mentioned them in my new “list of things knitted in 2009” in the side bar, so I thought I’d show you pics.  I pledge to keep a list of all things knitted in 2009.  There are 2 Christmas presents for my mom that technically were slated for completion PRIOR to Christmas but didn’t make it.  Those don’t count in this list.  I also pledge to get all knitted Christmas items finished BEFORE Christmas.  I need start planning towards that end right now!  OK, so here they are—

The first two are the Incredible Shrinking Violet Monkeys for Karen, which are being inspected by Tang.  
The next two are my Cloning Anemones in Tide Pooling.  I love the was the one above pooled.  Seems like most people don’t like the pooling, but I really like it when that happens.  I think that in this pattern it shows the stitch pattern much better.
Off to work on the ridiculous goals I have set to be completed before Sock Camp!   Photos to follow soon (I hope)!  Happy Knitting!!!

Baby Surprise X 3

11 Tuesday Nov 2008

Posted by knitteratii in baby surprise, Prudence Mapstone, STR

≈ 1 Comment

From top to bottom,  Baby Surprise Jackets by 3 different knitters with 3 different needle sizes and 3 different outcomes–

Top–Kelsie’s Baby Surprise, knitted by me on size 4 needles with 1 skein STR lightweight.
Middle-Crew’s Baby Surprise knitted by Shirley  on size 5 needles with 4 balls of Louisa Harding’s DK.
Bottom-Gage’s Baby Surprise knitted by Helen on size 6 needles with 6 balls of Knitpicks Palette.  
Next time, we will do the buttonholes differently–maybe bind off two instead of one stitch, and rather than yarn over to replace the decreases, wait until the next trip by and do a couple of  knitted cast-on stitches.  It would make for a much neater buttonhole, we think.

Gage’s Baby Surprise!  Knitted by his Nana’ and ready to keep him warm over Thanksgiving.  Helen used Knitpicks Palette yarn, held double (6 balls), with a size 6 needle.  
This BSJ will be gifted to Kelsie today. I used one skein of Blue Moon STR lightweight in Goody Goody, the RSC yarn for July.  It looks great.  There was enough left over to crochet some bouillions ala Prudence Mapstone for decoration.  A lot of her publications can e purchased on line and downloaded to you computer.  
I have a bunch of these bouillions as well as other small crocheted and knitted objects for a purse but haven’t

 as yet put them all together on the purse form.  Darned day job keeps getting in the way of my knitting!

That’s it for today, my knitting friends.  If you haven’t checked out Ravelry yet, go to 
http://www.ravelry.com  and sign up to join.  It is like my space for knitters and crocheters.  It is a great resource, and it’s FREE.  It might take a week or so for you to get the invite to join after you sign up online.  It is worth the wait though.  
I have to jump back into my holiday knitting.  
The pile of projects keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger.

A Big Monkey for the Little Guy

11 Friday Jul 2008

Posted by knitteratii in Blue Moon Fiber Arts, Sock Monkey, Socks That Rock, STR

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Here is the Little Guy today after his 2PM feeding. Ready to get the UV light turned back on. His bilirubin is still high, so he still has to be under the UV light. They gave him a different light today, it provides a much greater surface area and will hopefully help him to return to normal levels faster than the other light. His color is actually much better than when I first met him on Tuesday. He up to 2 ounces of formula today. He was visited by the speech pathologist and passed all of his tests with flying colors. These tests are done to assess any developmental problems and are all centered around the sucking reflex. It also is used to determine if he can move on to the bottle and/or breast. Tomorrow he will be visited by the physical therapist. We are all taking an infant CPR class tomorrow. Tune in tomorrow for an update!

Here is Jackson’s Big Monkey and his matching blanket. He needs a name (the monkey, not the Little Guy). Hmmmm….George is too obvious. Is Queck a possibility? (inside joke) He looks serious in this photo. He is visiting my office. Let’s have a naming contest. Leave me a comment with your ideas. The winner will get a hat or scarf custom knitted for you in whatever color you desire. Unless of course, you ARE a knitter, in which case I will do a stash dive in my “Yarn Sanctuary” (aka extra bedroom) for you.

He is praying that someone will come up with the perfect name, because he’s pretty sure he doesn’t want to be named Queck.

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tin can knits

joyful seamless knitting patterns

tomofholland

Makes, remakes, mends, darns, sews, arts, and crafts.

madmanknitting.wordpress.com/

it takes balls to knit!

Knitting the world together, one stitch at a time!

Blog

A look into the wonderful world of Skacel

Outlander Online

Your #1 Source For All Things Outlander

DianaGabaldon.com

Cat Bordhi

Goddess Knitters

We Do Not Have A Knitting Problem

Yarn Harlot

tin can knits

joyful seamless knitting patterns

tomofholland

Makes, remakes, mends, darns, sews, arts, and crafts.

madmanknitting.wordpress.com/

it takes balls to knit!

Knitting the world together, one stitch at a time!

Blog

A look into the wonderful world of Skacel

Outlander Online

Your #1 Source For All Things Outlander

DianaGabaldon.com

Cat Bordhi

Goddess Knitters

We Do Not Have A Knitting Problem

Yarn Harlot

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