I’m sort of participating in Knitting Olympics, in that I’m knitting and watching them. I did cheat (not with steroids), but by casting on the toe and knitting it before the opening ceremonies. This yarn’s color is “Lemon Drop” and the stitch pattern is a bit lemon drop-y too. Adam, without seeing the label, remarked [...]

After my most recent comment from a member of what the late William Safire would have termed the Gotcha Gang* I did some internet research and found out that sher-BERT, though an accepted spelling variant of sherbet,  is considered the less classy pronunciation among linguists. (Well, at least according to some listserv that I cannot [...]

I was inspired by this Fig and Plum post, which she called “The UFO Chronicles, Part I.” I, too, have many Un-Finished Objects, so perhaps blogging about them will inspire me to get a move on and finish them. If only I didn’t have startitis.
Anyway, the socks. They’re almost done–I’m doing afterthought heels on them, [...]

New York: Still hot. Socks: Not yet complete.

Pattern: My own. They’re not really a pattern, just basic socks with a bit of ribbing. These are toe-up, with a short row heel. The body of the sock is *k2, p1, k4, p1,* repeat as necessary. Finish with k1, p1 rib. I used More Sensational Socks as a guide, but they’re pretty basic.
Yarn: Bonkers [...]

I don’t know what it’s been like in the rest of the country, but this summer has been the year of non-stop summer rain in New York. Like EVERY DAY. I think we need to build an ark soon.
Here’s my latest second sock. I like knitting socks because they have definite stopping points…knittttttttttt and then [...]

We came back from our annual trip to the Jersey Shore yesterday and it rained (a lot), but fortunately, not for the whole time. I turned the heel on the sock on the bus going down to the shore, and on one of the first days of downpour, we went bowling (photo 1). We did [...]

Adam looked down at my sock the other day and said. “Those colors are HIDEOUS.” Whatever–as my friend pointed out yesterday, I bought these truly hideous white T-strap Birkenstocks ten years ago, and they have since become the height of fashion. (She was like “God, people are still wearing those horrible shoes you bought in [...]

I’ve taken up sock knitting again, and moving my socks out of hibernation. The squares and the sweater are just too difficult to knit on the subway. I’m trying something new with these Loud Monkey socks–I’m knitting them on 9″ circulars (Hiya Hiya brand). It’s definitely a different feel than DPNs. I think I prefer [...]

Pattern: Basic sock recipe from More Sensational Socks.
Yarn: Three skeins of Koigu, from Knitty City. Two in navy and one in grey. Two packages of navy reinforcing thread, one package of grey reinforcing thread.
Needles: Size 0, Susan Bates DPNs.
Project started/ended: Started December 1, 2008 or so, finished March 24, 2009.
 

I promised these socks to Adam a long [...]

The colorway name of this yarn is “Secret Garden” and at first I was like yeah, right, if by “secret garden” you mean NEON*, but I went to the Orchid Show at the Bronx Botanical Garden this weekend, and it’s true, many flowers do come in shockingly bright colors. (*Also, the name “secret garden” sounds [...]

The sock and I had to go out of town. Where is the sock? (There is no prize, um, except bragging rights that you guessed right.)

Adam’s sock. In the picture above, I used the white balance function, in the one below I did not. Small things. Big differences. Anyway, both of these photos were taken outside my window…it’s like that movie Smoke, but with knitting.

We had a big snowfall here in New York (the top photo was taken last Thursday). [...]

Pattern: Jaywalkers, by Grumperina
Yarn: The elusive Regia Nation 5399, aka Rainbow. This color is a little hard to find (and now discontinued) so I grabbed two skeins ($8/each, for a total of $16) when I saw them at The Point.
Needles: 0 and 1, Susan Bates
Project started/ended: Started July 3, finished September August 30
Notes and Modifications: Since everyone [...]

We went to the Jersey Shore for a week, and I did a little knitting.

Here is Zoltar, the magical fortune teller who transformed Tom Hanks into Big. Well, or one of the Zoltar’s kind. He is skeptical about the sock. “But how can I grant your wish, sock?!?”

The sock appreciates the view down to the [...]

 So the shawl is pretty much done–it just needs to be cast off and blocked out. I had wanted to finish it before the 4th of July, but you know, life gets in the way.
We headed up to Ithaca for the holiday weekend and I took along a ball of rainbow sock yarn, intending to [...]

  
Pattern: Swirl Socks, by Sulafaye
Yarn: One skein of hand-painted merino fingerling (or maybe sport-weight?) wool from Traveling Rhinos, color: Northport, 440 yards. I bought this last year at the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn [see the yarn in skein form here]. This year’s fair is coming up again in June, if you’re interested.
Needles: No. 2 Inox DPN, [...]

Sometimes, I hate learning new things. I like doing things the way I always have, and assume, grouchily, that no new way can be better. I am, however, determined to try all of the different ways of how to knit a sock, and this pattern (Swirl Socks by Sulafaye), required learning how to knit toe-up. After some [...]

Pattern: Tropicana, from MagKnits, by Sabine Riefler.
Yarn: One skein of Koigu KPPPM in P319 (pale purple and orange), and one skein of Koigu KPPPM in P113 (peacock) from Article Pract, in Oakland, California. Each skein is $13.50, so $27 for two.
Needles: Inox 8″ DPNs, size 1, also from Article Pract. They come in a set of five; I lost [...]

Adam has become obsessed with Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series. So obsessed in fact, that he was champing at the bit for volumes 2 and 3, which no Barnes and Noble had in stock. We had to go to Forbidden Planet to find them, and inside, we saw this Dalek [which due to Adam's other nerd [...]

  
Pattern:  Stella’s Razor’s Edge, from Spunky Eclectic.
Yarn: 1 skein of Watermelon Slice, from LoveSticks, on Etsy. (And check out The New York Times Magazine’s article about Etsy in today’s paper, if you haven’t already.) This skein was a gift from Adam, but I think the skeins run around $20 (not including shipping) or so. This color [...]

Adam and I were discussing what constitutes a hobby, with Adam arguing that reading was not a hobby. His argument boiled down to two points: If the activity in question is a commonly listed question on an online dating profile (favorite book / favorite movie / favorite tv show)* and if it doesn’t require gear, it’s not a hobby. Though I agree [...]

Pattern: generic top-down sock pattern
Yarn: 1 ball of Sockotta, 5% cotton/40% wool/15% nylon, $9 from The Homespun Boutique, in Ithaca.
Needles: Inox 2, set of 5
Time to make: Started February 20, finished September 8
Not much to report–the yarn is kind of stringy, and the pattern rather ugly, but I actually really enjoyed knitting the self-striping pattern. [...]

Michele from Knitsane tagged me with a meme, but I’m still thinking it over. In the meantime, you get this photo–I think it’s one of the better ones from this traveling project gimmick. 
The AMNH is kinda racist* but still cool. I love the dinos, the gems, the whale room, and the old-school vitrines.
* See this photo of a vitrine [...]

Many people, including me, have been defeated by Robert A. Caro’s massive biography of Robert Moses, The Power Broker. I own the book, and got as far as Chapter 5 in a week, and I’ve been stuck there since November 2006. Anyway, I went to see two of the Robert Moses exhibits currently in New [...]

 
Yarn: Trekking. My co-worker gave me this ball of yarn, so I’m not sure about the price and color.
Needles: Susan Bates 1s. One set of 5 that I had all year, until last week, when I lost one needle at BAM while attempting to knit while watching The Namesake.
Pattern: Classy Slip-Up, in Knit Socks!: 15 [...]

Here’s a sign (below) that I thought was funny. it was for a laundromat.

I’m trapped! In Alcatraz!
The nascent sock and the finished sock are planning on escaping from the jail cell for knitted objects!
You probably can’t knit in jail, especailly in Alcatraz, ’cause you could hurt someone with needles!

Sock-a-roni…the San Francisco treat!

The sock goes to visit Laughing Sal at the Musee Mecanique

The sock…ready to defeat terrorists!

The sock, in its relaxed vacation mode. “Man, I love hanging out here on the grass…smoking weed…” Kidding! No weed was smoked. But the sock looks relaxed, no?
Anyway, first sock is done!
Here is a snippet from a hilarious [...]

I haven’t forgotten about the sock…here it is post-heel turning. The stockinette is real purty and smooth, albeit somewhat painful to knit on the size 1 needles. I think I have early-onset SSS (Second Sock Syndrome), hence my itch to start something new with that other yarn.

So it all began on Friday night, when I used a gift card given to me by Sarah to buy the sock book, Knit Socks! aka the book shaped like a sock. Apparently I was so sucked into my new excitement about a future of sock knitting that Adam came right up next to me and [...]