This Socktoberfest was all about the process for me. I thoroughly enjoyed working with all of the yarns, and I even managed to have a pretty good product; two and a half pairs is a new record!

Silk Garden Lite Socks

Autumnal Equinox Socks

…and one Green Macaw Anklet…

How did you fare during Socktoberfest 2007?

Did you achieve a goal by learning a new technique or by stashbusting? I still have plenty of yarns to work through, but I am happy to have a few sock yarns out of the stash and onto my feet!

Please share your thoughts about this year’s Socktoberfest. Yes, it was much more “laid back” than previous years… did you like that? Did you find it a tad boring and uneventful? I can take some criticism – please let me know what you thought!

 

 

 

There must have been a hex upon my house – everything I touched on Saturday night turned out wrong. I hit a major snag on my Aran Accent Vest – I dropped an important cable stitch off the needle and it laddered down far into the previous repeat. It was a very bad thing. In a fit of passion, I decided to rip everything I had done.

It was probably for the best – once I started ripping, I realized that it was going to be too wide.

I wish I had the same talent for Aran cabling as Jody.

Maybe it just was bad timing – I think Aran and I will reunite in the future – the match of pattern and yarn is just to perfect to ignore.  Right now, I need some time and a boost of cable-y confidence.

 

 

*cough cough* Thank goodness colds are not contagious through the blogs. I am happy to see the end of this week, I must say. The week’s highlight was Tuesday night’s dinner with a friend and an amazing lecture at National Geographic Society; after that, the week is a blur of rainy weather, sitting in traffic, and coughing. (To spice things up a little on my long rainy commute home from work, I did a red light camera series of photos. It made the drive a little better.)

…enough of the kvetching! everyone has those kind of days (weeks)!

On to the socks!

Autumnal Equinox Socks
Yarn: Lang JaWoll Color
Source: All About Yarn
Needles: Size US 1 DPNs
Pattern: 68-stitch stockinette with Dutch heel

I enjoyed working with this Lang yarn, and would definitely do so again. Each ball of yarn comes with a reinforcement thread of yarn for the heel and toes. I actually forgot to knit those in, but I did go back and go over the toe, and run the thread through the heel flap for an extra lining. The colors are what obviously drew me to this yarn – I saw it at one of the local yarn shops last summer/fall. I knew I wanted something simple to show the stripes of color, and the basic stockinette was just right. Another pair for Socktoberfest – this is the first year that I have completed two socks in the time frame (well, almost… I started these the last week of September, but whose counting, right?) Do check out the lovely socks pouring in at the Socktoberfest Flickr group! I have enjoyed the low-key “fest” this year, and I hope you have too, and its not quite over!

This weekend is quiet and perfect. I will wear my new socks and curl up in my cozy green chair, catch up on my reading, and nurse my cough with some yummy tea. I am about half-way through Diane Ackerman’s An Alchemy of Mind: The Marvel and Mystery of the Brain and it is just as beautiful as her other books (although my favorite is still A Natural History of the Senses – the first one I read by her) … and I just got a copy of one of the new knitting books on the market, and from initial observations, it may be the best informational knitting book out there. Stay tuned to find out more about that!

We are in the home stretch of Socktoberfest 2007, and while I am still living in the moment and finishing up my own socks, I am thinking just a little about next month’s activities!

Shannon is hosting the second year of National Knit a Sweater Month (abbreviated to NaKniSweMo)! While I am not quite sure that I can beat last year’s personal best of TWO sweaters in one month, I am thinking about doing something a little out of the ordinary…

Recycling the wool of an Old Navy men’s sweater – bought at the thrift shop for repurposing the yarn. I only unraveled one of the sleeves, which will be more than enough for what I have planned.

Aftur from Lopi 25

I am planning to change the color scheme of the traditional Icelandic yoked pullover – not because I don’t like the original, but because I am making it work with the yarns in my stash!

The indigo blue in the back row will be the main color. The yarn is Botanical Shades, a small natural fibers/natural dye company that sold at Maryland Sheep and Wool festival in 2006. This particular yarn is a alpaca, wool, and mohair blend. The main yoke will use the Lite Lopi colors, paired with the one skein of the recycled wool. The yarns are all similar in gauge, and should yield a very nice sweater – I hope I can do it!

…and just in case I finish this pullover with some time to spare, I will have plenty of time to devote to the long-suffering Cabled Hoodie and the Aran Accent Vest.

 

 

As I finish up the second sock of the Autumnal Equinox pair, my mind wanders to the next potential sock project… I have so many patterns to consider, and even more yarn on top of that. I am in a steady stashbusting mode, and I am committed to whittling down my stash. Looking through my stash, I have rediscovered some of the beauties inside.

Possible color combination for Laila’s Socks (I love Terhi’s)

The yarn was originally slated for Hilja’s Mittens, but after an unfortunate accident with a passive-aggressive black lab mix with a yen for destruction (Kris’s words: “You shouldn’t have left it out for her to get to!”), the mitten was ripped and no permanent damage was done… I considered the mittens again, but the gauge was a little wonky anyway, so I may go with some socks – like the Snickets. Isel’s lovely pair convinced me that I needed some too, and into the queue they went. As for the other colors – I was thinking about some Charades?

This lovely Koigu really caught my eye. I loved the speckles in the yarn. I have no idea what to do with it. Of course, there are no shortage or patterns out there, maybe you have a suggestion? After seeing Theresa’s little wristlets this weekend in the same colorway (or one very close) I could easily be swayed in that direction!

…speaking of the weekend: Theresa, Eunny, and I had a great Saturday! We went to see the Pittsburgh Penguins/Washington Capitals hockey game. We had a minor scare by a security officer who wouldn’t allow our knitting needles into the arena, but once we explained that we were friendly folk who meant no harm, he let us go… if he hadn’t this (unfocused) photo would not have been possible.

Yeah, we are quite blurry (thanks stranger girl…) but we all have socks in hand! Knitting socks at a hockey game – the perfect way to celebrate Socktoberfest! (and the Penguins won 2-1! yea!) More photos from our fun night are here.