Sock project bag

day73
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

This is the prototype of my sock project tote-along bag. It closes at the top with a drawstring, but I haven't decided what sort of string to use. I have several spools of this thin silver elastic cord that I might use. Jasmine (black and white blur at upper right) has already chewed through the cord on this bag. The little monster just loves it. I took the picture with the bag open so the lining would show. The lining fabric is also on the outside bottom.

I've been having big fun going through my fabric stash and creating pairs of fabrics. I've got so many that I may end up selling these when I finally get the bugs worked out. I'm thinking of decorating them with little charms that could double as stitch markers. The markers would have a theme to go with the bag. Wouldn't that be cute?

Danger, danger, Will Robinson

If you're clicking through the Project365 ring, you might want to reverse your direction pretty soon. About 3 or 4 clicks from here, I hit a page that has so much stuff on it that it takes forever to load. I tried to get the load to stop and not only does it not work, it took my browser down.

You've been warned.

More idle speculation and a confession

Sock Wars: the Yahoo list appears to be taking on new members, but no new posts. Could it be that someone with some power got fed up with an email box full of b*tch*ng and moaning? Whatever the reason, I applaud the change. If it's going to announcements only, that should make that location okay for War stuff. My poking around the web on this topic turned up one piece of information I didn't have. The original blog that many of the first War people got their information from had to be abandoned due to the blog being hijacked. That's why a bunch of original warriors in SWI didn't play in SWII.

I missed a second picture in Project365. Day20 was taken, but it's on my brother's camera so I may get it before the project is up. Day22 was cropped out of Day21. Day72, yesterday, was missed completely. It should be of the receipts I have for having my car worked on. I was distracted by the sudden increase to my credit card balance. Who knew front brakes could wear out in 16,000 miles?

I did work on my Baudelaire socks while waiting for the car to be fixed. I should never have used the yarn I did, but I'm not frogging them. The yarn's just too variegated for the pattern to show up well. See?

Scavenger Hunt Swap Questionnaire

1) Do you knit, crochet or both? How long have you been doing it?
Both about 50 years on and off. Really.

2) What is on your needles/hook right now?
There are several UFOs (a sheep, a sweater, among other things). I'm working on Baudelaire socks right now.

3) What is the most frequently used tool in your knitting bag? Tapestry needles.

4) What are your 3 favorite yarns (fiber type or brand)? What are your 3 least favorite?
Favorites are wool or wool blend sock yarns, especially from indie dyers.
Least favorites are acrylics, cotton, and anything that splits easily.

5) What is your favorite color?
Periwinkle, that color that's not quite blue, not quite purple.

6) If you had a 5 minute shopping spree in your LYS, how would you plan your attack?
I'd plan to grab all the good sock yarn and then any expensive fibers I wouldn't otherwise be able to buy.

7) What is your favorite FO and why? (post a pic if you have it!)
My current favorite is a pair of socks I just finished. They are my favorite because I spun the yarn with my very own little drop spindle.


8) What are your favorite things to knit/crochet?
I'm obsessed with sock knitting lately.

9) Do you collect anything?
Not in any formal way.

10) What are your five favorite things (not necessarily knitting related)?
My cats, my computer, yarn, fabric, watching tv and knitting.

11) Are you on Ravelry? What is your ID?
Yes, Paula.

12) Do you drink tea/coffee/cocoa?
Occasionally/yes/rarely

13) Favorite Sweets?
Carmel and chocolate

14) Any allergies?
Milk and I don't get on well. Otherwise, no.

15) Do you have pets? kids?
Two cats, no offspring.

Sock Wars III: some speculation

stash1
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

It was just announced that SouthWest Trading Company's Tofutsies is the official sponsor of Sock Wars III. Signups begin on (Bloody) Valentine's Day with the War to begin in the spring.

• The only think I think we can be sure of is that the pattern will be designed using Tofutsies. Tofutsies is fingering weight. Scar (SW II pattern, DK weight) was 6-7 st/inch on US 4 needles. Tofutsies is 8 st/inch on US 2.


• Fingering weight is going to slow the whole thing down. Even speed knitters such as myself will not get a pair out in 36 hours. Could this mean that the War will be structured in a different manner than it has in the past?


• I don't think that the sponsorship will make using Tofutsies a requirement. [later: I was right about this.] There are enough vegan knitters and people with allergies out there who won't find the yarn usable. Tofutsies is a blend of superwash wool, soysilk, cotton, and chitin (shrimp and crab shells). It ain't cheap: the skein I have in my stash is marked $16.95. It isn't available at every place on the planet that might have a knitter in the War. I imagine that there will be enough people using Tofutsies, though, to keep SWTC happy.


• Organization/communication will have to improve. The number of participants is expected to quadruple. In the same sentence, they mention 800 participants "in the last game". There were 800 in the original. There were 162 or 164 in the most recent game. That's either 700+ or 3200 people in SW III. (There are around 450 in the Sock Wars Yahoo group at the moment). No matter how you do the math, the chaos that was the original Sock Wars can't happen again. I don't think it is an accident that the participation level dropped from 800 to 160 between the first two Wars.


• I think we can expect a new location for SW III on the web. I can't imagine that 450 or 700 or 3200 people posting on a single thread on a Yahoo group is going to work. I'd go insane weeding through the whining and complaining to find any useful information. I'll keep my whining and complaining here, in any case. :)

I've got my ball of Tofutsies set aside. Yes, there's pink in it, but blue and green, too. I hope I don't get a pink-loathing or vegan or allergic target.

Sock challenges and clubs

• Sockamania-I'm not playing for January. There's no way the socks will fit my legs. They're too long and will not be wide enough.
  
• Sock Knitters Anonymous-I just frogged the mystery sock. The leg was okay but the foot was coming out huge. I'm switiching to Cookie A's Baudelaire. With a slightly shorter leg, these should work.
  
• Rockin Sock Club-December 2007. The yarn and pattern and the ball winder are sitting in a little pile. The pile's sitting next to my sewing machine. Did I mention that I hadn't started the sock bags yet, either? I have an excuse: I still need some supplies that I don't yet have.
  
• Paula's Sock Club 2008-I looked through my personal sock club stash and packed it all up again. I've got other things I want to work on first (Baudelaire, the RSC for December, Ravelry socks I'm inventing, and two different kinds of yarn I spun with my own likkle paws). It's a good thing I didn't sign up for another year of RSC.
  
• Yarn Pirate-I signed up for this, but can cancel my subscription whenever if I need to. Yarn's not expected for a while, thank goodness.
  

Sock bags

day63
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

Julie, fearless leader of Sock Wars, has opened a Cafe Press store. It has Sock Wars merchandise. Profits go into the war chest for Sock Wars III. That's how I justified buying it. Heh heh.

I've got a bunch of sock projects queued up. I would like to have them all organized in their own little bag, so I'm about to make some project bags. The one I got from Melissa in HSKS3 is very handy so I thought I'd make them about the same size. Then I started digging in the fabric stash.

My yarn stash is relatively small. My fabric stash is not. A fat quarter here, a fat quarter there, a yard of something I really like: after a while, it adds up. My original intention was to make a bag or two. I kept coming up with fabrics that looked so cute together that I have to use them. Even while trying to control myself, I've got enough for 5 or 10 bags.

I'm also going to finally finish my Knitting Olympics button bag. It's got many (hundreds) of web buttons printed out onto muslin. I've just got to go back through the fabric stash to pick a lining. I was going to use 'Knitmare on Elm Street', but it needs to be something where it is the outside of a bag. Maybe I'll make sock bags out of it to send to victims in the next Sock War.

It's no wonder I'm not getting much done.