FO: Mona Lisa Dragon Rider

So you know how a few weeks ago I told you about drinking the koolaid and falling down the rabbit hole of stripey socks?  Well, here is further proof of my addiction.

This was my Camp Loopy 1 project.  The prompt was to knit with a yarn I had never used before, which was the perfect invitation to pick up another skein of self-striping.  The Loopy Ewe carries a lot of lines I had never tried, but I finally landed on Desert Vista Dyeworks because this colorway, Mona Lisa, was such a departure from my usual socks.

What really makes these socks is the pattern.  Alice Yu's Shur'tugal is one of those magical patterns that looks great in any kind of colorway and so was perfect for self-striping.  It kept the color without obscuring the pattern and was a lot of fun to knit.  Seriously, every time I find myself wanting to knit socks I start with Socktopus.  That book is amazing.

To find more great FOs, check out the gang over at Tami's Amis!

Knits on a Plane

The time has finally arrived!  I am flying out this week to go to my cousin's wedding, staying with several different family members over the course of four days, and traveling by plane, car, and possibly bus.  But before I can leave I have to answer the all important question -- what am I going to knit?

I had originally planned to knit Bad Oyster by Alex Tinsley, but then I ended up casting on last week and . . . well . . .

At this rate I may be done before I even leave for the airport.  The pattern is just that addictive.  It would make great travel knitting, but since I am so far along I have wound two skeins of Knit Picks Imagination for the Nasturtium Socks.

But wait.  These are anklets.  What happens if my plane is delayed or I have to wait longer for my ride than anticipated?  There are so many reasons I could find myself stuck with only one pair of anklets to knit.

So I'm packing extra yarn.  There's no reason I need more than two projects worth, right?  I mean there are yarn stores in the universe.  Then again, maybe I'll pack a sweater . . .

To see more productive works in progress, check out Tami's Amis!

FO: Woodland Grave Beret

I don't know when hats became a big part of my wardrobe, but they seem to be here to stay.  They are one of those items that I did not realize I wore a lot or knit with great frequency until a family member I had not seen in some time knew about my hats from pictures.  Then I began to assess my hats, wonder if I should knit fewer, give some away, stop wearing them as much.  But I quickly realized that I love my hats.  I'm completely addicted to them and so far I have not found a point which I would consider too many.  That being said . . . I seem to be on another hat kick.

But how could you not knit another Alana Dakos leaf beret pattern?  This only makes three (I gave away a fourth).  And they are just so well written and charted that they are a dream to knit.  Pressed Leaves is has a lot more purling than the others I have knit, but it is just as satisfying

.

I bought the yarn specifically for this pattern while at Stitches South at the Cephalopod Yarns booth.  The purchase itself was an impulse buy, but I justified it by only buying one skein for which I already had the perfect pattern.  Traveler is an excellent yarn.  It is DK weight, which I do not knit with all that often, and brought out the stitch definition in the pattern perfectly.  And don't get me started on the color (Candy Kingdom).  Since when do I have a thing for pinks?

To see more FOs, head on over to Tami's Amis!

Geektastic Thursday: Gorillapod

I'm sure many knitters go through this.  You knit something awesome.  You finish it.  You immediately want to take photos of it to put on Ravelry or your blog to show everyone, but of course this is the one time that there is no one available to help you out.  I am blessed to have a husband who has learned how to help me take pictures of my knitting, but we are not home at the same time for much of the week.  I often end up scrambling to get his help taking an FO photo because the light has gone or I have not quite finished weaving in those ends.  On Tuesday I had a later shift than normal, so I dug out one of my favorite wedding presents and decided to give it a go all on my own.

This is the Joby Gorillapod.  It is a flexible tripod designed for small cameras and specifically made to be used in a more rugged environment.  The legs are made of multiple ball joints with no straight pieces so that they can be wrapped as tightly as possible around tree branches, park benches, and just about anything else you can think of.  The swivel head also pivots so that you can take a shot from any angle.

I had an absolute blast playing with ours.  I went into the woods behind our apartment and climbed over downed trees and was able to use the gorillapod and the camera's self-timer to take shots more in line with what I had envisioned.  Nothing is more fun than scaring the neighbors by hanging almost upside down trying to see if that gets a better look at the stitch pattern (it didn't, but it was a cool idea).  The shots I got were not the best ever, but with some more practice and creativity, I think this will become my new go-to way to take knitting photos.  You can rest assured my husband will be glad that we won't be running from any more lightening any time soon.

Spontaneous Legwarmers

I see a lot of knitters talk about how they plan for their next project.  When they decide what they are going to knit next and how they keep track of what order and what yarns they want to use next.  There are spreadsheets, charts, lists, cabinets -- it gets pretty intense.  Well, I think we can all agree that I'm much more, um, shall we say spontaneous.

I have wanted to knit Prana for what feels like forever but which logistically cannot have been more than a year and a half because that's how long ago The Knitter's Book of Socks was published.  when I put in my Camp Loopy 2 order I decided to add some new needles to try and then one thing led to another and I had these lovely ChiaoGoo Red Lace needles in US 3 and I was casting on a pair of socks.

Of course as soon as I cast on I realized that the yarn I had originally picked did not have enough yardage and you would have thought this would have gone back to the bottom of the idea pile (Because that's what my organizational process is.  A giant pile of ideas that I sift through in my brain), but oh no.  Enter my mother-in-law to the rescue!  Several months ago she sent a skein of Regia Hand-dye Effect that she picked up in the LYS by the salon where she gets her hair done.  I knew I liked that woman for a reason, not the least of which is that she, like my mom, will appreciate that I am knitting purple leg warmers in the sticky heat of summer.

For more works in progress, have a look at the linkage happening over at Tami's Amis!

Sweater Indecision

Yesterday was my Monday off, which means that normally I would plop myself down in front of the tv and marathon my way through something and knock out a huge chunk of knitting (there, the secret is out -- you think I make all this progress?  Really I just don't do anything but knit on Monday), but we had our big quarterly meeting at work which meant that I needed to bake for the potluck style desserts.  In between batches of raspberry coconut macaroons I gave in to my sweater longings and finally decided to swatch.  But since I still could not decide which sweater I want to knit first, I decided to swatch both.

I thought that maybe whatever sweater I hit gauge on would help me decide.  Then I would not have to worry about things like math or what not and that today I could just cast on.  Nope.  Would you believe I hit gauge on both?

Something's gotta give or these sweaters are doomed.

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!