Fibery Goodness

dollyvarden
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

Five pair of socks are currently in progress. I watched Battlestar Galactica stuff for about 4 hours and got maybe 2 inches of the Viper Pilots done. I guess I must've put my knitting down a few times to make sure I didn't miss anything. It was good. I'm not the sort of person who watches, let alone cheers, when someone is strangled. I was last night (she'd chucked the guy's wife out an airlock, for frack's sake!) Also, I think Starbuck was actually a Cylon.

Back on Paula's Planet, more fibery goodness arrived in the mail yesterday. The batt pictured here came from Alaska and is a blend of superfine merino, bamboo, and angelina. I wish the puter had smell-o-vision because it smells really good. One of my cats stuck her head in the middle of the batt to get a good sniff. The colorway is called Dolly Varden, which is a fish. In the same swap with this delicious fish was kit called Culinary Colors. It was an undyed skein of Douceur et Soie, which is baby mohair and silk. It's almost as soft as the Dolly Varden. It came with some green kitchen-safe dyes. This kit is the carrot. Five pair of socks are the stick. When all of the socks are done, I can dye this stuff and knit a purty shawl.

Moving on

::picking up pile of project bags and moving from the competition side of Sock Madness Arena to the knit-along side::

It was the rules that got me. They require that a picture be posted of completed socks on adult human feet. That means whatever socks are knit must fit me since I'm the only adult human here. The first pattern has a German Twisted cast-on. The rules require that one use said cast-on to make the socks. Despite the reputed elasticity of this cast-on, it does not stretch enough to make socks I can wear.

I've got FOUR partially knit pairs of socks at the moment. I got two Cookie A patterns in the mail today. The Intentions swap should be supplying a couple more patterns, maybe even today. Do I complete a sock? No. Do I pick up a pattern I already own? No. I read a post on the Yarn Harlot's blog about a pair of Battlestar Galactica-inspired socks. Tonight's the last episode ever, so I had to buy the Viper Pilots pattern so I could start them tonight. I'm off to stash dive for the perfect yarn.

Great Knitspectations

The divisions on Sock Madness 3 all have literary names. I am in Great Knitspectations with 49 other players. The first socks only require about 300 yards of yarn. I knitspect (heh heh) that the pattern will be lacy, short, or both. The pattern's supposed to show up on Thursday morning.

The pattern intended (heh heh) for the Intentions yarn should show up in the newsletter sometime today. I've got three second socks (that's the second sock in a pair, not socks knit in three seconds) to finish.

It'll be interesting to see what gets worked on in what order. Sock Madness will go to the top of the queue when it shows up. Intentions will probably go to the bottom of the queue, but that could change once I see the pattern. I picked the sock from the new Knitty to finish first, because it doesn't call for the needles I think I'll need for Sock Madness. I really should step away from the computer and pick up the pointy sticks.

Good Mail Day

miniswap
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

Pictured: my last swap until I'm employed again. Donna sent me this cool stuff.

Not pictured: The first shipment from the Intentions Yarn Club. I don't want the Spoiler Police to come after me with pointy sticks. I have a picture of it on the web, but it isn't in my Flickr account. You won't find it unless you're in the group on Ravelry or if you're very, very clever.

SAS or SSS?

sas
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

I almost always finish a pair of socks before starting another pair. I've never suffered much from second sock syndrome, where you knit one of a pair and never get around to completing the other. This week was different. I was working on Primavera (the purple sock). I knew I was going to spend a bunch of time sitting around waiting for my car to be fixed, so I wanted to have plenty of low concentration knitting to do. I decided to start Rivendell (the green sock) so I'd have an at-home project to work on.

I knew that Sock Madness was about to start, so at least one of the socks needed completion to free up the needles. (Yes, I have lots of stitch holders and could move the socks to them. I didn't want to.) I got them both done and then realized that Sock Madness was still a week away. I had to have something to do until then! I started Cachoeira from the Spring issue of Knitty. With half of the foot to go, I've put Cachoeira down to do a mini sock.

It isn't second sock syndrome, it's a short attention span.

Bagged and Tagged

bagntag
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

With over a week to go until Sock Madness* begins, I'm on top of things. I carefully went through the list of possible yarns needed and found them ALL in my stash. Those that needed winding are in tidy little cakes. Each is in it's own project bag**. Each project bag has a tag on it, explaining which socks should be knit from that yarn. You'd think that somebody would like to have an employee who is so thorough. Until I find that somebody, I'll be here, knitting socks.

*That's Sock Madness upper case. sock madness lower case is pretty much ongoing.

**It's nice to have an excuse to have so many project bags. "Only" 5 of them are my own creation. The dragon (bottom), green and silver striped, and green bag behind the monkeys were all swap gifts.

Sock Madness 3

Signups are still open for Sock Madness 3. I've decided to play this time. I managed to find all the yarn for it in my stash. The socks will do double-duty, in that I can add the yardage knit for the L&V sock marathon. Yay!