Self Knitting Socks

Socks that knit themselves you say.....yes I say....believe it or not.

In fact, these socks knit up so fast that they didn't even get a chance to aquire any mojo.

WHAT? NO MOJO you say in horror. Yes, I'm afraid that I did wrong by these socks. What makes matters worse is that they were traveling socks, destined to be a gift. Let me explain and maybe you'll understand.

It all started, as all socks do, with sock yarn that I fell in love with.

Please Stand By Yarns came up with this very yummy skein of yarn. I saw this skein at the vendor's night one guild meeting. It was love at first sight. Apparently it was a good choice as it caught the eye of someone else when I flaunted my yarn booty of that night graciously let someone pick the yarn for their next pair of socks, from my purchases. 

If this person wasn't so amazing I would have chosen another yarn. Who is to say that this person would have remembered choosing this yarn even if it does have a really cool name.

Yes that is what she named the yarn. I'm beginning to think that I want this woman to be my new best friend.

In March I went on vacation...are you jealous yet? If not you soon will be. I left during a snow storm and arrived to sunshine and 25 degrees. I told you that you'd be jealous.

So through the air I flew and I knit along the way. I arrived at my destination and I knit, watched tv and I knit, took the train and I knit. There were road trips, a Stichnn'Bitch, alpaca petting, camping, wine tasting, fishing, movie watching and I knit through it all. The holiday was 2 1/2 weeks long but for some reason I found myself with a finished pair of socks well before the holiday was over. 

Seriously what is up with this? Somewhere in my archives you'll read a post about how slow I knit. I even wrote a song about how slow I knit!

UMMMMMM.......

I have a confession......even though these were supposed to be my traveling socks....

I couldn't resist starting them well before my trip started and the momemt I stepped on the plane, I was working on the heel of the first sock. The colours mesmorized me and I couldn't stop myself. I was a machine, a wild and crazy sock knitting machine. I don't know how it happened, it was like a scene from Harry Potter. The yarn just flew around my needles and didn't stop until.....

Good thing I brought a second pair of socks to knit.

Until next time
Yours in Yarn,
The Fibreholic

Tank Avoidance Techniques

I don't like to do housework...yeah I know....you've heard this one before. But I really don't like to do it. There is nothing creative in the whole picking up, vacuuming, laundry, washing thing. No matter how I try to convince myself that this is what I should be doing, something more interesting comes along.

HOWEVER.......when you are trying to avoid knitting on a certain tank top, your brain goes a little screwy. It was a snow day and the kids were home. This always means if I sat down to work on something I wanted to knit, world war three would have started. Since I'm all about world peace (especially in my own home), I had to find something to do.

DH and I sit in very comfy chairs to watch TV. Needless to say, there is a generous amount of knitting surrounding the area. My brain is screwy, I'm trying to avoid a tank top and avoid having to deal with crisis negotitations, so what do I do? Sigh...I clean.

Now before you think that I've lost my marbles, I am only tidying up my TV Knitting area. (Other knitting areas will come later) In this flurry of action, I managed to get a grocery bag of yarn together to be given away, throw out a few things plus I found a WIP. I had started these socks about 3 1/2 years ago and finished all but the toe of the second sock. They were supposed to be for DD#1 but ended up being too small.

I should title this post....why I had more than one kid.

I tried the first sock on DD#2 and they fit...more importantly...she likes them. I finished the second sock and she is wearing them to school today.


UPDATE

We did get the water back on after 30 hours. I have never enjoyed a shower so much in my life. DH says that next time it won't take as long because he now knows what he is doing.This by the way, is a very scary thought. And Kristen....you crack me up!!!!

Until next time
Yours in Yarn,
The Fibreholic

Big Wishes in Little Packages

For many years now, I've bought tree ornaments for the kids. Each year I try to get something unique that can be personalized with their name and the year. Earlier this year, I bought the book Charmed Knits and using the pattern for the ornaments, I decided to make the kids their own Weasley sweaters.

The sweaters are great for using up scraps. All you need is 10g of DK (8ply) for the sweater and an arm's length of a contrasting colour for the initial. Because I needed so little yarn , and because I have a lot of scraps each kid was able to pick the colour for their sweater. DH had some wire that I used to make the hanger. What do the kids think of them? They love their sweaters!



I'm sure that you all remember how I use up leftovers of sock yarn with my crazy socks. Here is another way I use up the leftovers.

Please note: This is a pattern for those who already know the basics of sock knitting.


Sock Ornament

Under 5g of sock wool
2.25 or 2.50mm (US 1 or 1 1/2) DPNs

Cast on 24 sts (leave a long tail- this will be what you use to hang the sock on the tree). Divide onto 3 needles and join for working in the round.
Rib for 2 cm (3/4")
Change to stocking stitch and knit until leg is 6 cm (2 1/2")
Using 12 sts make a short row heel. Make sure that the cast on tail falls in the center of the heel. (use the last 6 sts from previous round and the 6 sts from the next)
Knit until foot is 3.5 cm (1 1/5"), then begin toe.
Decrease toe until there are 12 sts left, and finish the toe with the kitchener stitch.


I'm wishing you all the best this Christmas Season. All I ask is that you remember that the best gift of all doesn't cost a cent.

Until Next Time
Yours in Yarn,
The Fibreholic

How to Survive a P.D. Day

The Great and Powerful school board has decided that I just don't spend enough time with my children. To rectify this lack of parent/child time, they occasionally proclaim a Professional Development Day. Yesterday was one of their randomly selected "stick it to the parents day".

My two youngest played outside in the leaves the majority of the day, but the teen was another story all together. After exhausting all forms of entertainment available, without stepping a foot outside, she decided to do her hair.

My mom bought her a curling iron and every now and then the teen likes to experiment with the whole heat and hair thing. When I went upstairs I found her in the bathroom with curling iron in hand. She had curled one side of her head into long ringlet type curls. She looked very Scarlet O'Hara in this Gone with the Wind hairstyle. Not wanting to let a good thing pass me by.

ME (in my worst Southern accent): Oh! Elly-Mae....I do declare! Oh help me Elly-Mae. As God as my witness, I'll never go hungry again. (in a much lower tone of voice) Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn.

I'm sure that even she'll admit that she looked ridiculous with only one side of her head curled. The teen laughed at my antics then said the magic words.

Teen: You've better not put a picture of this on your blog.

I deserve to have a little fun now and then, don't I? I grabbed the camera and waited for an opportune moment. I tried to be stealthy, but she managed to get some cover.Now before she could go into the triade of "you're ruining my life", "I hate you", "I'll kill you if you put those pictures on your blog", I threw her these. Yes folks, you're not seeing things....it's a FO. Teen: Wow mom, are those mine? They're cool. I love them.

Yup...she can be bought with hand knit socks. Life is good.

Until next time
Yours in Yarn,
The Fibreholic

Can I lend you a hand?

Remember me ranting about how much I hate knitting mittens? Okay maybe I wasn't exactly ranting on my blog, but I was having a major rant fest in my head. I've finished the the wretched things and am quite pleased with how they turned out.

They needed to be trigger mitts so instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, I found a pattern. Problem is, I got the pattern from a book notorious for errors. Okay so I've only found one other pattern in this book with an error. But since this pattern's error was even screwier than the other....I have to worry about the lack of technical editing. The sizing was WAY too wide across the palm and I don't know about you but my index finder is not longer than the rest of my fingers. Obviously the mitts in the book were meant for some kind of mutant.

I hate knitting mittens. But having to rip back and re knit mittens because I tried one on DH and it was pathetically too big to the point of being laughable.....is enough to drive me around the bend. I frogged back to the cuff, as it was the only thing that fit, and started again. Using DH's hand as a model, I ended up with the perfect trigger mitt. I even got feed store guy to try them on twice during the knitting process to make sure of the fit. He is happy with them.

I've been to a crafter's seminar where the facilitator told us that if you change 5 things than you are able to claim the work as your own. I had to change far more than 5 things on this pattern to make it work. DH suggested that I can now write up the pattern and sell it without any fear of copy write infringement. Don't know about that one.
DH likes the mitts but he knows better than to ask for a pair.

Until next time
Yours in Yarn
The Fibreholic