I am really rather surprised I finished these and in less than a week.  I have been in some sort of knit funk lately.  I knit one lonely sock out of some Trekking but can’t get into the pair.  I started knitting the latest sock club sock and frogged it.  (You know, I’ve only knit one sock club sock this year.  One.  Not a pair, one sock.  The green one.)  Just didn’t feel like doin’ it, so I figured short socks would be the thang.  And, it occurred to me that I don’t wear tall socks so why in the hell am I knitting tall socks and tall socks only?  I think it’s partly cheapness on my part.  I don’t want to waste the rest of the hank by going short.  That’s why the Jitterbug worked out ‘cos I’ve got size 10 feet and those hanks of yarn are short.  So there ya have it.  My lazy, cheapass knit a complete pair of socks this week.  Now I am going to try and knit that Trekking match, although I do have some Shibui knits calling my name.  It’s pretty purpley too.  Maybe that’s my problem?  Not enough purple?  Onward.

I had folded it before the photos so forgive the creases. That’s Sis posing for me. I blocked that sucker at night and it’s hard hard hard to do right with blocking wires and brown yarn so the points are a little wonky, but whatev. It’s done. FINALLY!

Next I finished the Meheeco Socks, just like, 2 minutes ago. You get pics and I gotta get my ass off to packing. I am getting pretty nervous about this whole thing, truth be told, but I am definitely in. Cross your fingers that something doesn’t eat me.

I should be casting on for my socks later this week.  I decided to do the red ribbing/heel/toe because they are so lumberjacky, which amuses me.

On our ride we encountered this piece of lovely

That would be the grown version of The Baby Jesus rising out of the earth – like Carrie reaching her hand out of her grave at the end of the movie.  It reminds me of those huge Orcas outside of those reservation casinos in Washington.  I want to know how they got their parishioners to go for that thing?  Seriously.

I figure the aloe and jojoba oil will only enhance all the greazing up they do with a pedicure.  Anyway, it can’t hurt.  And no, I didn’t even bother matching the stripes.  I wanted to get as much out of the skein as possible and I did.  I still have 29 g left for frankensocks!

Next I got started on March’s RSC shipment, Leafling:

I really love this pattern.  The heel is worked in a semi-crazy way but it totally works out.  That gets the AWESOME ranking.  KnittingSuzanne’s toe mod gets the AWESOME rating, too.  So simple but it never would have occurred to me on my own.  I am glad she came up with it because it finishes the toe off really nicely.

I have knitted some other things along the way that aren’t really blog or Ravelry worthy, but I am producing:  hemp bags/dishcloths/towels…boring shit, that.  This weekend I’ve got gardening to do for MeMe – doesn’t matter how old Southern women get they’ve got to have their gardens – and for myself but I also need to get started on a Mother’s Day gift for Moms.  I’m thinking shawl, as in house shawl.  Something in a heavier weight yarn.  I’ll let you know what I come up with.  Leave it to me to wait ’til the last minute.

Now it’s time for cocktails and smack talkin’ on the front porch.  Catch y’all on the flip.

I used Cat Bordhi’s Riverbed Architecture and followed her Rushing Rivulet chart for the pattern.  Simple four stitch repeat.  The only thinking I had to do was to remember to increase my pattern on each side as I increased along the sole of the foot.  Otherwise the pattern was going to run up a strip on the top of the foot, which I didn’t care for.

I’ve already started ripping back the cuffs on the Inside Out socks, too.  They were the first shipment of the 2007 Rockin’ Sock Club.  With all the cabling and The Girl’s high instep the cuff just became too tight for her to get on as her foot grew even the littlest bit.  I think I may just knit them up in k2 p1 ribbing and call it a day.  I love the colors in the yarn and it will stand on it’s own nicely without patterning.

Speaking of RSC…I did join again for 2008 and received my first shipment.  Not my colors at all and I typically love orange.  Just not burnt oranges/rusts.  I’ve got a couple of takers though – both Moms and Mr. like the colors but I think the pattern will probably do better for Moms.  As liberal as I am I can’t see Mr. in lace socks.  I’ve got some other hanks of yarn in bright colors that he’ll like so I’ll have to get on the socks for him.  At least my speed has picked up so a pair doesn’t take forever anymore.  Anyway, I’ll throw the orange RSC into the stash and knit it up when the mood strikes.

God, I feel like I haven’t left the house in days which I guess I haven’t.  I went to see the doctor yesterday for my physical and then home again.  Today I ran out and voted and then home again.  That took all of 10 minutes round trip which was awesome.  I hate standing around waiting.  The Girl was like “that’s it?”  She’s used to those big state ballots when you have to vote for everyone and his brother.  The two clicks and it’s done – we’ve got a 1% sales tax increase up for grabs – was little disconcerting I guess.  Sunday I stayed in and Saturday I only left to hook up for dinner with everyone.  I even skipped the Yacht Club afterwards which just shows I was deathly ill.  I never pass up beers and laughs.  So all told, I guess I haven’t really been out out since last week.  No wonder I feel so humorless and flat.  Tomorrow though, tomorrow I get my hairs did which always makes me feel better.  Gotta get my sparkles covered and hear about Joey’s trip and maybe run around the corner to Knitch and see if they got any Louet  Gems in yet.  Maybe.  Maybe if they aren’t too covered in crazy women buying huge hanks of boucle mohair and 35mm straights and worrying about droppings stitches on the plane while they knit up a scarf.  The man she was with actually said I, I, should have helped her.  As if.  Holly can’t and won’t help crazy.  There aren’t enough hours in the day.

I am using the Riverbed Architecture out of New Pathways for Sock Knitters: Book One by Cat Bordhi. The yarn is Pagewood Farm merino/bamboo/nylon in the Sorbet colorway. I’ve got a few hanks of bamboo blend sock yarn in the stash but this is the first I’ve knit with. And that’s only because it was already wound and I was not feeling the get out the noste and wind a different hank of yarn love when I started these. Besides, they are for The Girl and she likes the color so it was a win-win. Especially since I can’t seem to wrest the last pair I made for her off her feet. Those I did with another pattern from the same book. That book is awesome, by the way, but also a little awkward in it’s setup. I didn’t knit any of the baby socks to learn the architectures but jumped in by measuring The Girl’s foot and using the Foxglove Master Pattern. Those socks, the ones she won’t surrender, fit perfectly. Perfectly. So I just moved on to the next master pattern I wanted to use only having to tweak my original numbers to work with my new gauge. Simple. I like simple because I am generally lazy and really like cutting to the chase. Which is why I didn’t so the baby socks and why, generally speaking, I am rather impatient.

Now it’s back to my sock. I’ve got to save my energy ‘cos there are pints calling later on at The Yacht Club. Beer always makes things better.

They are men’s size 11 – gawd, round and round and round in plain stockinette but I like the stripes – in Vesper Sock Yarn.  The colorway is “crew”.  Love the yarn and like I said the stripes are awesome.

Next I think I am going to cast on for Lenore – October’s Rockin Sock Club shipment.  Mom called dibs on those as soon as she saw the colorway and the pattern.  What do ya do?  It’s Moms.

I’ve been working away on the Fitted Tank. I knit the whole front but then decided I am not as big as I think I am, frogged the whole thing and reknit in the medium size. I swear, in my head I am 200 pounds. I spent all of last night finishing off the neck and armholes. The neck shaping on this sweater is just plain ugly. You get lots of steps and after trying the recommended purl bind-off finish I ripped it out. It just didn’t smooth things out enough. So I went with a single crochet edging for everything. I looks pretty good and lays pretty flat. Once I got the neck done I did slip it over my head to make sure I could get it on. One thing that isn’t imaginary is that I do have a big melon. I like to think it’s because I have an unusually large brain but I seem to be the only one to go with that theory, but I digress. It went over my head. Because I am freaky anal about getting things just right, I crocheted and tinked and crocheted again until I was satisfied with my stitches and the spacing and all of that. Hopefully later on I’ll have pics of the finished product, but right now I have this:

that’s it waiting for sewing up. The color is nowhere near accurate as Mr. fucked with enhanced the picture. It’s less garish than that in real life. Trust.

I’ve also got a pic of the lace RSC socks I finished a while back

they turned out pretty well actually. When I can I’ll get pics up of the latest RSC shipment. Really cool colors this time. Of course, I still have to finish up the last shipment. No excuse. I’ve only got like, four rows to go but spent a lot of my time catching up on MS3 which still isn’t finished but there isn’t any rush on that. Eventually.

That would be the June RSC kit. The colorway is Firebird and the pattern is a really quick knit. Kind of soothing after Grasshopper. All those yo/p2tog about killed me. I was starting to worry that I would be knitting on those forever, but I did finish them sometime last week. If Mr. would cooperate, I would have pics. hint hint A couple of more inches of cuff and my first June sock will be done. Which is good ‘cos as I was saying I was sitting on the porch knitting when this arrived:

That would be my fabulous Vesper Sock shipment. From left to right: Crew, Astro, Sherbert (sic), and Tartan. The girl called dibs on Astro. She wants to learn how to knit socks really badly so we’re going to give it a go. I’ve been forcing her to work on her tension and holding the Vesper out as the carrot. It’s hard to let go of it though. I had to stalk Knitterly Things for months to get my hands on those four skeins so they are very precious. I am going to knit up the Crew for Mr. I owe him socks in the worst way and he likes that colorway. His only request is that I use the same pattern I am knitting now. I guess I can do that but then it’s on to plain.simple.socks. in self striping deliciousness.