When work interferes with blogging...

We're doing a photo-shoot here this morning, featuring process pictures of steeking and other Fair Isle techniques, so the last few days have been very busy with preparations, which is why there wasn't a blog post yesterday. My friend Nick is taking the pics, and my hands may star. It should be interesting. Maybe I'll take pictures of him taking pictures.

In the meantime, a few updates:

#1. The water is beginning to recede. Not quickly mind you, but the water levels are lower than they were a couple of days ago.

#2. We finished watching the DVRed first season of Men of a Certain Age, and were totally blown away. All three leads, Ray Romano, Scott Bakula, and Andre Braugher, were excellent. The story lines were complex and believable, and the mix of comedy and drama perfect. Ray Romano is surprisingly good in this dramatic role, and Andre Braugher deserves an Emmy. I am very glad that the series has been renewed.

#3. I rented The Other from Blockbuster and watched it while knitting yesterday. It's really dated (and the kids playing the leads were awful actors), but the story is still chilling. There's a small, but interesting appearance by a very young John Ritter in the film.

#4. I also rented The Others and watched it again (I guess I was amused by the similar titles). This one is also quite spooky, and the first time around, I didn't get the twist until about 3/4 through the story.

#5. I'm still about 28 chapters from finishing  the Librivox version of The Mysteries of Udolpho. As always, the story moves at a glacial pace. Once in a while, our beleagured heroine Emily shows a glimmer of intelligence, though a couple of days ago, she did something so monumentally stupid that if I had been reading a physical book, I would have thrown it across the room. I don't quite understand why she's such a Stalker Magnet, but no fewer than 6 men are in love with/obsessed with/want to own/intend to marry/plan to kidnap/are willing to rape her. I rather like the dense, talkative Annette though- she's a much more likable heroine.

#6. While I was in liqueur mode, I put together a couple of quart jars of Blackberry Brandy. This concoction doesn't take as long to steep as Limoncello, but it ought to be really good.

#7. Sock of the day:

These were made from handspun Merino, which should not work as sock yarn, but these have held up very well. My friend Dana dyed the roving, and I spun it fine and 2-plied it to a hard sock yarn with a lot of twist.

You can see by the toes that I should have done that *alternating two balls* thing to avoid such a sudden color change from one skein to the next. On the other hand, no one looks at my toes anyway.

#8. Miley Cyrus on American Idol tonight? As a Mentor???????? Give me a break.

Rain!, Udolpho, Socks

We have had snow on the ground since Thanksgiving, and I think Sioux Falls went 93 straight days without the temps getting above freezing. I know that other people have leaves and grass and flowers and blossoms, but The Prairie is a long way from spring. However...

Do you see that? That brown patch under the tree? That's lawn. Not snow. Actual lawn. Which I have not seen for over three months. It rained last night, and the snow is melting a little. Unfortunately, we have to wish for a very slow thaw, or the record amounts of snow we got this winter will cause even nastier problems in the liquid form. But for this morning, I am happy just to see dirt and dead grass. Wet, sloppy, slushy dirt and dead grass. (btw- no one thinks this is the last of the snow- our heaviest snowfalls usually come in March, but spring will get here. Eventually).

So things are finally happening in Udolpho. After a month of glacial pacing and travelogue descriptions, suddenly we have dastardly doings, treachery, sword fights, near abductions, and something terrifying glimpsed behind a mysterious curtain that is, of course, never described or explained in any way, shape or form, but by cracky, it's scary. It's about damn time.

Sock of the Day: I bought this yarn at Great Yarns in Everett, WA, a few vacations ago. It's Monarch Sock Yarn from Angora Valley Fibers. I love love love this yarn, it's pure pleasure to knit with, and the colors are fantastic. I chose the wildest neon that I could find (though Pat Fly dyes all sorts of color combos).

Of course, these are the famous Monkey Socks. I knitted this pair exactly to the pattern (this is a slightly heavier yarn, so the socks were a bit big, but I didn't care). Subsequent pairs (and there have been many) were tweaked to omit the twisted ribbing cuff, and flap/gusset heel (I do short-rows whenever I can). It's a wonderful pattern, and if you haven't made a pair, you should.

These socks have held up extremely well. However... and I want this understood from the get-go, I ignored the label instructions and machine washed and dried the socks (they're superwash, but the label absolutely says to hand wash and dry). I was encouraged by the fact that Koigu and Noro Silk Garden seem to wash and dry perfectly, and they're not superwash (or labeled so). That worked just fine for about the first 15 or so launderings, and then they felted. Not a lot, mind you. Not enough not to wear them. Just enough to make them a little thicker and a little stiffer. So, I hand wash them now.

That has happened with a couple of pairs of socks (machine washing and drying for a period of time just fine, and then felting slightly), though in each case, I ignored the washing instructions. I no longer do that...

Udolpho, Wine, Sock of the Day

 I sort of wish I'd read The Mysteries of Udolpho when I was 12. That's how old I was when I first encountered Jane Eyre and Rebecca. Back then, I was romantically enchanted with brooding, passive/aggressive heroes. These days, I want to tell Jane and The Second Mrs. DeWinter to run like the wind, and find themselves someone previously unmarried, with a sunny disposition. That's how I feel as I listen to TMoU (and listen and listen and listen- I'm on the 19th audio file, each running from 20-40 minutes long, and we're just now getting to some mildly foreboding stuff).

We're supposed to love Valencourt, and root for his and Emily's eventual Happily Ever After, but really- his passive is annoying (accusing Emily of not loving him because she won't elope), and his aggressive is worrisome (he's more than a little stalkerlicious). And he's massively stupid, sending letters openly to Emily, begging her to sneak away from her cruel Auntie, knowing full well that Auntie Cruel, and her ooky new Italian husband, both hate him, and that they inspect every piece of paper that comes into the palacio.

Of course, sweet, faintable Emily seems short a few bricks herself. And if she thinks that Valencourt isn't skulking along behind them as they travel The Alps (gorgeous scenery), she's even dimmer than I think she is.

But they're in Italy now, and I think we may finally be getting to some mysteries. And maybe we'll finally meet (or at least hear about) Udolpho.

On to less mysterious subjects (though so far, nothing could be less mysterious than The Mysteries of Udolpho). The 3 gallon batch of Chablis is in the carboy for secondary fermentation.

And we started a 3 gallon batch of Barbera, which is sort of an underdog red varietal. I'm more of a white wine person (and a sweet white wine person at that), but I like the occasional red, and we like to have it on hand for company, and for gifting. This is the first time we've tried Barbera. I'll be curious to see how it goes (and tastes, of course).

Next in the primary, a 5 gallon batch of Gewurtztrauminer, one of my favorite wines. And for the record- we don't make this many wines every year, just when we're in the mood. Evidently, we're in the mood.

We get all of our wine making supplies, including grape concentrates, from Northern Brewer, btw.

Sock of the Day- my friend Melanie gave me the yarn for these socks a few years ago. It's Marks & Kattens Clown cotton/wool sock yarn (and it took me about a dozen searches to find it- I lost the bands long ago, and didn't remember the name exactly enough for Google). The good: the socks have worn pretty well (I had to repair the heels, but I have to do that with a lot of my socks), they machine wash and dry easily, they're not quite as warm as wool/nylon socks so they're nice for spring and early fall, they look good.

The bad? These suckers bled like a dying animal. The yarn was deep red and pure white when I knitted the socks. They're pink and pinker now. And for many months, I had to wash them alone because it took forever for the excess dye to wash out.

I'm perfectly happy to have pinkish striped socks that I can wash with the rest of my laundry, but that's not what I expected when the yarn arrived.

Getting Caught Up, Sock of the Day, More Udolpho

It has taken me a couple of weeks, but I'm finally caught up on the paperwork (well- computer work) for the new book. I should slap myself upside the head for putting off the pattern writing and sizing until I had a whole stack of projects to deal with. I've been doing this for a long time, and I know better than that... whack.

But, I'm caught up now, at least for the projects that are done, and patterns are written for those projects that are currently going to other knitters. Tomorrow, there may be more, but for today- I'm done. Which means it's time to hit the needles. And some DVD's for entertainment- I have the Joss Stone Tudor Years to watch (historically speaking, Henry was a fool for not seeing that Anne of Cleves would have been a sturdy bearer of children, even if she did smell), and more discs of Harper's Island, which is pure fluff, but enjoyable.

It's only 4 degrees out there, but my tootsies are nice and warm in these Socks of the Day. Every book has a few projects that don't make the cut, and this yarn ended up being not quite right for Yarns to Dye For, which is okay since I've worn these socks for several years now. This yarn is superwash, but I can't remember if it's Henry's Attic, Mission Falls, or Brown Sheep. I do know that it's superwash (nicely so- these have been machine washed and dried repeatedly), and that it took the dye well (this was one of those 40' skeins).

I have had to repair the heel, but that's not unusual for 5 year old socks. And they pill a bit (I think there's some Mohair in there), but otherwise, they still look pretty good.

So, finally we're getting to something interesting in audio version of  The Mysteries of Udolpho- a selfish (and maybe cruel) Auntie has shown up, and she may well make poor, orhpaned, in-love Emily's life unbearable.

It's interesting to listen to the different readers pronounce things- I've heard Emily's last name said: San Oh-BEAR, Sant Oh-BEAR, Sanober, and Saint AW-bert. And one reader thinks that the leader of a team of mules is a mullah-teer.

But the 1500's French scenery sure is purty.(Side note: I don't ever get the sense that this story is set in the 1500's even though it's supposed to be- it feels and sounds exactly like the Austen and Bronte settings to me).

Sock of the Day, Chablis, Udolpho

Sorry it took me so long to get to today's post- I hate when work gets in the way of playing online (which is so much more fun than working). Not that I have a whole lot to say today, but here goes:

These socks were knit with yarn hand-dyed by my friend Betty, from Betty's Loft. If I remember correctly, she only had one hank of this mauve/gold/brown variegated worsted weight wool/mohair yarn (probably Brown Sheep), which isn't enough for a pair of socks. But I fell in love with the colors and bought it anyway, and then happened to find a ball of solid mauve Brown Sheep wool/mohair in my stash, plus some solid brown for the heel and toe (gotta love big stashes). The cuff and foot were knit in stripes (which you can't see- that's one good accidental color match). I used my usual worsted weight pattern (48 sts, size 5 needles, short row heel over 24 sts, star toe).

These socks have held up very well (it's the mohair- that stuff wears like iron), and they're very warm, cushy, and comfy, and they have a nice halo (which didn't show in the photos). Betty often has one-of-a-kind hand-dyed yarns in her shop, and they're always gorgeous.

Since we're in wine mode in Taylorville, we started a 3 gallon batch of Chablis too. This one will be a lot less fiddly than the Chokecherry/Riesling, since there's no fruit-pulp involved (and therefore no straining through pantyhose). We began with a can of Chablis concentrate, and only had to add water and sugar, and the usual additives (acid blend, and yeast nutrient). I stirred the yeast in yesterday afternoon, and by this morning, it was bubbling merrily away. We get most of our winemaking supplies from Northern Brewer, by the way. We are very happy... hic... customers...

And The Mysteries of Udolpho are progressing, if progress is the word I want to use. Probably, it's not. But finally, something spooky happened: a doggie startled the heroine.  wooooooooooo

Sweet Cherry Wine, Sock of the Day

Okay, not so sweet, I'm just in a Tommy James and the Shondells mood.

We're starting a 5 gallon batch of chokecherry wine with the 18 lbs of chokecherries that we picked last summer and froze.

They have to thaw and come up to room temp, and we have to pick out bits of leaves that we missed last summer, but come tomorrow night, we should be able to add the yeast, and in 2 days, it should be bubbling away.

We have all of the ingredients, and will add a quart of concentrated Riesling juice (all of our fruit wines have a grape base). And since it's that time of year, we will probably also start a 3 gallon batch of Chablis. Expect many pictures (though not a lot of tasting, since the chokecherry wine won't be good until it ages a few years).

I can't remember what number this Sock of the Day is, so I'm going to stop numbering them. I do know that they were knit from Opal yarn, and I believe the colorway was called Bumblebee, which is now discontinued, and evidently hard to find (so hard to find that I couldn't locate a confirmation of the colorway name. I'm relying on my often faulty memory).

I made them with my usual generic sock pattern (2.75 needles, 60 sts, 15 rnds K2 P2 ribbing, 6" cuff, short row heel, 6" foot, Star Toe), and they've held up pretty well (a minor repair in one heel). Opal yarn machine washes and dries like a dream.

Linkies, and Sock of the Day #10 (I think)

I have about two weeks of work to cram into 4 1/2 days before I leave for Yuma, so this will be a quickie for your amusement...

What happens when you cross a goat with a gun? (seriously)

and How would various Lost characters make a PB&J?

And Sock of the Day #10 (I think).

These were the third pair of self-striping socks I ever knit. The yarn was Opal, but I don't remember the name or colorway. They used to be whiter, but we have an artesian well that is very mineral heavy, so all of our white things come out rusty looking eventually.

I knit these before I learned to make short-row heels, and before I got my generic sock pattern down pat- cuff is a little loose and the foot is a little short for me, but I stretch them out each time I wear them (rather than tearing the toe out and knitting another half inch because I am supremely lazy that way).

They have been well loved and worn, and frequently repaired. I've had to reinforce the toes a couple of times, and fixed gaping holes in the heels. Eventually, I'll probably reknit the entire foot. But until then, I'll keep on wearing them. These socks, like all socks from Opal yarn, machine wash and dry perfectly.

Update and Sock of the Day #7

Google failed me. My friend Butch Hudson pointed me in the proper direction for a papberback copy of The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, which was right there on Amazon, which is where I should have looked in the first place. Thanks Butch!

I am happy to say that the disposition of the shipwrecked Spanish sailors has taken up several chapters so far, and this story is just as engaging as the first volume.

Sock of the Day #7 was knit from Noro Silk Garden.

I'm pretty sure that they were my first experience with Noro, and I learned immediately that the lovely color repeats are absolutely not uniform. I cut bits and pieces from three balls to make these socks even marginally matching (and marginal is the best I could manage). That said, they're holding up very well

with only the minor sorts of repairs that you'd expect in socks regularly worn for 5 years. I hadn't quite gotten my heavy-sock pattern down pat when I knitted these: they're a shade too loose. But they're warm and comfy and pretty. A side note: I've machine washed and dried these for years with no shrinkage, no fading, and no pilling. I have no idea if all Silk Garden yarn behaves like this (Kureyon felts easily). I'm not recommending that you all go out and toss your Noro things in the washer- but it has worked for me. So far. (and we'll see in later SOD entries, that early superwashability isn't always a guarantee of permanent superwashability).

Heat Wave, Sock of the Day #6, New Road Sock

No kidding, it got above zero yesterday. Not only that, it was almost up to freezing, which makes the air temp nearly 60 degrees warmer than it was on Friday! We went for another walk on the creek, which popped and cracked rather alarmingly (ice always does that, but it's still disconcerting).

We found the main coyote den.

Proof

See? It was warm in the sun.

Sock of the Day #6

This is Pulled Taffy from Decadent Fibers. It's 55% Mohair, 45% Merino, and hand dyed beautifully (as are all yarns from the Decadent gals). It's listed as sportweight, but I knit it like a heavy fingering weight with my usual sock pattern. I think the colorway was Salsa, and the tones have faded just a bit in the last couple of years, but the yarn is holding up like iron.

The socks are toasty and and extremely comfy.

And since I finally finished the Koigu Mini Cables, I was able to cast on a new Road Sock.

This yarn is Kiddie Scoop Soft Serve, from CraftsMeow.  I picked up 4 coordinating mini skeins  (all greens) at the Sock Summit. I was intending to knit a pair of this style Mitered Square socks, adapting this pattern (knitting a plain foot in the round). But I realized that I needed some truly mindless knitting to offset the book work.

So plain bands it is, and they'll be very cute, I think. This yarn is soft and lovely, and I'm enjoying working with it on the few moments I can steal away from deadline stuff. I'm taking a short road trip today, so I'll probably get to the heel of this one by the time we get back home.

And speaking of Sock Summit- I am hearing through the grapevine that there will be another in Portland in '11. I am so there.

The Sock Club Week #4, and Sock of the Day #5

Mouse reports that the Sock Club didn't meet much in December because... duh... December. But they did meet

and Amy is ready to poke her eye out, but Wilda is helping her. Amy got heavier yarn and is going to start over. Given the amount of travel that I'm doing lately, I think I need to find a way to Portland so I can help Amy myself.

Sock of the Day #5 was a most happy accident.

Not that the yarn was dyed accidentally, but that I was dyeing with Frog Girl, and we accidentally stumbled on the method for producing self-patterning spirals, not that we knew that fact until after I knit the socks up. (And that, my friends, is the power of taking very good notes. If I had not written down exactly how the yarn was dyed, I would never have been able to replicate the process.)

Frog Girl dyed this particular yarn. The method, after a bit of modification, made it into The Big Book of Socks, and I've taught the process in class several times (including at SAFF and NCFF, whose page seems to be missing this morning).

I've worn these socks for years (holes were fixed pre-Sock Summit Darning Class, obviously) and it always makes Frog Girl smile proudly when I wear them (I didn't knit the yarn up for her because I do not give small children hand-wash socks. That's too much of a burden for the launderer). The yarn was Knit Picks original version of Merino fingering weight Bare, and the dye colors are still vibrant. And the stripes match!

Sock of the Day #3- Hand-Dyed, Crusoe, and The Coming Storm

Sock of the Day #3:

This was my first successful experiment in dyeing self-patterning yarn. I dyed and knit this yarn before I thought of writing a book on the subject, back when I wasn't quite sure it could even be done on a small scale. At the time, we were living in a single-wide trailer while we built the house we live in now. I made the long skeins by stringing yarn from the kitchen cabinet knobs, through the living room, down the long, narrow hall, around the bedroom doorknob, and back to the kitchen. Over and over and over again. I used Rit dye because that's all I could get my hands on.

Luckily, the notion worked. I don't remember what brand this yarn was- I know it was peach colored (the spaces between the stripes are the yarn's base color), and that I got it on eBay on a cone. For cheap.

I also know that it was totally unsuitable as sock yarn. These socks have been repaired multiple times.

Both of them.

The latest repairs were made after taking Merike Saarnitt's darning class at the Sock Summit (you can tell which ones they are- they're the ones that look neat). I not only fixed new and previous holes, I did some pre-emptive reinforcement of weak spots. They're good for another round of wear.

(Side Note: you may remember that I am a tad anal about stripes matching on my socks, so you might also expect me to experience discomfort when my repairs don't match the original fabric. Nope. I don't care at all. In fact, I rather like the mish-mosh of yarn colors on the soles of my feet. Go figure).

I've started listening to Robinson Crusoe, and am enjoying the story, though I'm only a little over a chapter into it. I have noticed that a great many of the volunteer Librivox readers are tentative and herky-jerky in their delivery for the first couple of chapters on any given book, and then smooth out and relax for the remainder. I hope that happens with RC, because this reader tends to pause every third or fifth word, whether the text demands it or not.

This is what our yard looks like this morning:

Cold, white, and wintery.

The Weater Service is predicting a major storm slated to begin later this afternoon, and continuing maybe until Sunday. We may get up to 16" of new snow, and 40mph steady winds. They're saying that it could be the worst blizzard  since '67, which is before my time here. I've seen some pretty big snowstorms in my nearly 40 years in SoDak, and we're smack in the middle of the warning area, so this one is going to be a humdinger. We're stocked up with food and booze, and I have all the ingredients for turkey dinner tomorrow (and Heath Bar Fudge, if a real emergency arises), lots of wine, the presents are wrapped, and we have a generator (not that we expect to lose power). And I have wool socks enough for everyone's feet. I'll keep all y'all posted. And I'll take pics.

Sock of the Day #2- Opal Something or Other

Since I'm on a roll, here's Sock of the Day #2. This yarn was from the Opal Rainforest line (fingering weight, not the heavier stuff). Not Tiger, but something that had orange and black (obviously) (I just looked around- it's some sort of Butterfly, from the Opal Rainforest 2 Collection).

I like Opal yarn- it's not particularly soft, but it knits up very nicely, and wears really well (as long as you don't go around in your stocking feet any more than necessary- but that's true of all handknit socks). I do love self-striping/patterning yarns and Opal practically invented the stuff (or was Regia first?). In the world of sock yarns, it's medium priced (around $18 per ball these days, I think I paid $15 for this) and fairly widely available (online and in yarn stores). I bought this in Portland, OR, probably at Knit Purl, 4 years ago or so, while on vacation. I knit the socks while on vacation as well (this stuff is wonderful for car-knitting. No thinking, just knitknitknitturhheelknitknitknitdecreasetoe).

I'm a bit anal about matchy matchy feet, and my stripes line up whenever I can make them do so. Opal happens to have fairly regular, if long, pattern repeats, so it's not too hard. And this stuff machine washes and dries very well. I do turn them inside out to reduce pilling, when I think of it (which isn't always).

Though I have had to darn several pairs of older Opal socks, these are not even wearing thin anywhere yet.

Sock of the Day #1- Border Leicester Lamb Handspun Cable

Welcome to a new When I Can't Think Of Anything Else To Write About, Or Nothing Much Is Going On That I Can Write About (Because I'm Working on Book Stuff), Or Whenever I Feel Like It feature, because certainly, the world is avidly interested in all of my handknit socks... heh...

Anyway, these socks were knit with a 2-ply handspun yarn made from some undyed  Border Leicester lamb fleece that I washed and carded myself. Border Leicester is a nice wool to spin- it's sturdy (read: not soft enough for next-to-sensitive-skin but fine for outerwear, socks, and mittens). It is classified as a "long wool" (with a staple 4"-6" long), and has a loose crimp, which means that the yarn has next-to-no elasticity. My fleece, which I got in a trade for a shawl, was a lovely silvery-tan color- and amazingly enough, I found an old, small picture of the washed and carded fleece:

Which eventually knitted up into these:

The socks weren't entirely successful. I knitted a short-row heel, which isn't proper for a yarn with so little stretch. The socks are hard to get on, though once they're on my feet, they feel fine (and are toasty warm). And I forgot to add more stitches to compensate for the cabling, so they're also a little tight.

But the yarn was spun in '03 and I have worn these socks on a regular basis since then, and they're showing no sign of wear. That makes up for having to yank just to get them on.

edited to add: when I washed the socks, I found a small, nearly invisible repair in the ball of each foot, so there was some wear in the socks that I forgot about (probably from walking in my stocking feet on the rough tile in our kitchen). But still, the socks are holding up very well, given that they're 6 years old.