FO: Prissy Socks

Self-striping socks seem to be all the rage these days.  It seems you cannot turn anywhere in the online knitting world without running into someone raving about how awesome they are and how much they love X dyer from whom it is of course just impossible to score yarn.  I admit, sometimes I get annoyed with hype and dismiss things that seem to be fads, but when it comes to self-striping socks, well, I am totally smitten.

I picked up this skein of Lollipop Yarn on a Ravelry destash, which is probably the only way I will ever be able to acquire any of this yarn because her updates sell out so fast.  This skein of Prissy is on her 75 wool / 25 nylon base and is a joy to knit.  The yardage is so generous that at 425 yards per skein I could probably knit a matching set of wristers.

Of course I waited to take pictures of these until last night and then a huge storm rolled in so my photographs are not nearly as fun as I was hoping.  I decided to knit Virginia Rose-Jeanes' Vanilla Latte Socks pattern, allowing the simple pattern to show off the stripes to their full potential.  I went with a 3x1 rib and subbed in my go-go garter eye-of-partridge heel from Hermoine's Everyday Socks.  The texture added just enough interest to keep me going and I love the way the ribbing looks going down the foot of the sock.

The real highlight for me was getting the stripes to work out going into the heel and matching across both feet.  I did not think that I would care, but it was oddly satisfying in the same way getting all of the laundry done and all put away and all of the carpet vacuum can be.

For more FOs, check out who else has linked up over at Tami's Amis!

Work in Tangental Progress

Did I tell you guys the good news?  My sister is moving nearby!  She got a job at a hospital about an hour and a half from our apartment and we could not be more excited.  This weekend she came up to visit and we went apartment hunting on Monday.  We found some nice options, the not so great part of town, and I turned the heel on my sock.

 

What's that you see?  Oh yes, we also went to see Star Trek: Into Darkness in IMAX.  I really enjoyed it in the way I really enjoyed Enterprise as a younger teen, but I don't know if I am as wildly opinionated about it one way or another as a lot of people seem to be.  I grew up on Next Generation, so I am not as invested in original Trek as others may be, but I like to think that I've just learned to keep as open a mind as possible when it comes to sci-fi reboots because nothing will ever be as good as the original.

We had a really weird encounter while in line that brought back to the forefront of my mind a disturbing trend I have been seeing in geek circles.  There was a woman who was clearly very opinionated with no real basis for her opinions, but who was determined to chat with someone.  Chris was wearing his Chad Vader tshirt so she immediately latched onto our little trio as geek-friendly and somehow decided that my sister was the geekiest of us all.  At one point she was very loudly talking to someone else about the Hulk movies and could not decided "who was in that one with that Liv Tyler".  She went on and on and finally turned to my sister and pointed and said "I bet she knows".  My sister just kind of shrugged, so I finally gave her the answer, and the woman and the creepy gentleman who had joined her by that point went on to praise my sister for her knowledge.  I know I was giving off a "don't talk to me" vibe at the time, but I was still confused as to why the woman had not asked me even though I was clearly part of the group or had even looked at me after I clearly gave my sister the answer.  It soon dawned on me that she had been pointedly ignoring me not because I had only slightly smiled at her when we walked up before playing with my phone, but more likely because how I was dressed.

I know I could be drawing broad conclusions that are completely mistaken, but I tell this story to illustrate a trend I have noticed lately.  See, I was not wearing jeans, a geeky tshirt, sneakers, or anything that screamed geek.   Instead I was wearing a short dress, cute shoes, had a flower in my hair, and was wearing lipstick.  If she had been a guy I doubt she would have asked me no matter what I was wearing.  But the fact is that as our culture realizes more and more that women are geeks and starts to market to them, we women are becoming more and more judgemental about other geeky women.  It is not enough to just be a woman who likes geeky movies or reads sci-fi or plays tabletop games.  You now have to do it all.  And you have to dress the part.  Based on how "hard core" you are, or wish to appear, you now have to embrace the careful look of not caring and the wardrobe of geek slogan t-shirts and ripped jeans or some variation thereof.  Don't get me wrong, I have a closet full of tshirts and am down to one pair of unmarred jeans, but I like to look cute too.  

This may be something that is only apparent in the microcosm, like the college feminists who feel that they aren't considered feminist enough unless they go to the extreme and burn their bras on the fraternity lawn, but it has been on my mind for the past few weeks.  So many geeky women are multi-faceted and many of us make parts of our own wardrobe.  But if a woman has nothing on her person that says "I know the secret to the Leia bikini ask me how" she is often relegated to the category of non-geek, trophy, or air head, and a "how could she possibly appreciate this" attitude then clouds any further assessment of her.  And that is just wrong.  If we as geeky women do not stand up for one another, how can we possibly expect anyone else to?  What leg do we have to stand on when we complain that gaming companies don't understand their demographic if we make snap judgements based on physical appearance?  In other words, be good to one another.  And next time you go to a geeky film, don't just dismiss the girl in the stylish outfit.  She may just be expressing another side of herself.

For actual non-tangental WIP posts, head on over to Tami's Amis.

Heel Turn Hubris

I'm back!  Actually, I got back Monday night, but I was exhausted from having too much fun, so I took a little extra time.  Stitches South was so much fun, and I promise to get into all of that tomorrow, but today is WIP Wednesday, so I need to share some actual progress with you.

When last you saw the Prissy Sock it was just a cuff.  I took this and my secret knitting with me to Atlanta and actually got quite a bit of knitting time.  I am knitting the Vanilla Latte Socks with a three by one ribbing and a garter eye-of-partridge heel.  I am particularly proud of the heel, which I managed without breaking the striping pattern.  I was sitting on my friend Taryn's couch, dodging the kitty and watching bad horror movies (Night of the Lepus anyone?) when I was struck by inspiration.  Because the pink stripe is the same width as the white and brown section and the white comes on either side, what if I stopped the stripe in the middle.  That way, no matter what I ended up with on the other side it would theoretically match up.  I am not sure if this would work on any other striping sequence, but I am pretty excited about its prospects for these socks.  So excited, in fact, that I want to get back to knitting this one before I head to work.

For more WIPs, check out the gang over at Tami's Amis!

Secret Progress

Somehow I find myself working furiously on knitting that I cannot actually show to you.  It's a gift, and it's a secret, and even though I am under the impression that the recipient does not read this blog, on the off chance they happen to read this post and happen to see that there is a certain item in a certain color I just know that they will figure it out.

So instead I offer you a really lame photo of a really bland project.

I got some rather good news at work, so in celebration I bought this skein of Lollipop Yarn from a Ravelry destash.  Prissy is a three color stripe that changes up the amount of rows in each stripe and has more stripes of one color than the others.  And if that sounds vague that is because I don't quite know how it is going to work out.

You can see a very clear break down listed here, but it is all gauge specific and I am already seeing my rows get a little off from the card.  I'm not sure how this will work up on my sock because I am not very far, but I promise to keep you posted as I am sure you are riveted by the sight of a tiny striped sock cuff.  There will be more after I see Jurassic Park tonight and hopefully my weekend on holiday with give me more time for knitting.  If only you could see what I am actually working on.

For actual WIPs and real progress, check out the gang over at Tami's Amis.  I'm sure they have actual stuff to show to you.