FO: Dale Olive Socks

I kind of like this new focus on finishing things. I like it that I now only have two pairs of socks OTN. Really, one is enough. But I can live with two.

Yarn: Dale Baby Ull in Olive Green
Needles: Crystal Palace 1.5US double points
Pattern: One of my favorites, the ribbed baby cable from Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks.

Notes:
Not much to say that I haven't already said. This yarn is wonderful. One of my perennial favorites for socks -- durable, colorfast, washable, and incredibly comfortable to wear.

The Stash Logging Project

I've photographed every bit of yarn in this house. I've made notes about all of it. I've uploaded maybe a third of it into Ravelry. It's a start.

I don't know how much more yarn I have in storage, but I'd guesstimate that I've processed about three-quarters of the stash so far. The rest is in unreachable boxes and will have to wait until it's time to move. My plan is to pull out the yarn and set it aside as I'm loading the truck to move. I have a couple of boxes of wool sweaters that are too small for me now, and I think I ought to pull those aside, too. I just want to bag all the wool with sachets to protect against insects. You know how those storage places can be.

I have to start repacking the yarn tomorrow, or maybe tonight. It's EVERYWHERE. The hard part will be deciding what to keep close to hand, and what to send to storage. I can't even begin to wrap my mind around that decision now! It's like freaking Sophie's Choice!

Status Report: Olive Baby Ull Socks

Sometimes I forget how much I love the Dale Baby Ull. Then I pick it up again to knit with it, and fall in love all over again. It's springy, round, soft, and durable. The colors are marvelous and stitch definition is fantastic. I swear, I could knit a whole wardrobe out of this stuff. Including underpants.

I don't think we'll need to talk about politics any more. I watched both conventions, did my due diligence on the candidates, and made my decision. I will watch the debates, but barring any huge revelations of importance in the next two months, I won't be changing my mind.

The new Knitter's magazine arrived at Nana's today while I was there for the Catherine Parr/ knit-your-own KAL. (That's the KAL that started off as a Catherine Parr KAL, but quickly expanded when some folks wanted to knit other Starmores, other sweaters, other items.) I thought this was the best issue we've seen in a long time. Too long. There were several decent, knittable patterns. Yes, there was still the insane moment when they started doing something for no better reason than someone figured out that it was possible -- the "party trick" knitting that is all flash and no substance -- "OMG, you guys, look what happens when you knit upside down and backwards!"

This month's party trick was knitting intarsia using two balls of the same yarn. Ooooookay. There was also a cowl/yoked/tank/heftybag thing that could be worn right side up or upside down, a most excellent choice for drunk chicks trying to scramble away from their one night stands. Dude, who cares if it's inside out. Just get dressed and get a cab. Fast.

But I'm glad to say that for those of us interested in actual knitting, there were several good patterns in this issue. Dare we hope that this represents a rebirth of Knitters? The cover sweater is good. At least two other sweaters had me thinking about which yarn I might use. All in all, a marked improvement, and one which I am glad to see.

Presto, Change-O!

Once upon a time in a land quite near to here, the permanently befuddled Knitterary cast on a sock and started knitting in a slanted lace pattern:

























And it was not good. Hard to say why. Just didn't feel like the right pattern and yarn combo. So, as any knitter would do in her situation, our knitter shoved the lot into the back of the closet, where the most secret of all knitting magic occurs.

One day, the yarn quite clearly piped up from the back of the closet, "I know what I want to be now." So with a wave of the needles and a carefully articulated incantation ("Malabrigo-Malabrigo, Rowanorowan, Addilicious!"), a cloud of frogged green yarn appeared where once the not-so-good lace half-sock used to be. And mere hours later, this appeared:


























Much better.

We Interrupt This Blanket....

The baby blanket is at 15.5", so I'm past the halfway point. It'll be 30" or so wide through the body, and will pick up another inch or two on the border.

So I decided to give my wrist a rest and knit a little. I'd cast these socks on some time ago but didn't get very far, just the cuff and a smidge of the first pattern repeat. This is one of the Charlene Schurch patterns and the yarn is Dale Baby Ull, my perennial favorite for socks. I put in another hour or so on it to get as far as you see in this picture. Which isn't very far. But at least it's not dayglo acrylic crochet.

It's hard to knit right now. Honestly, it's hard to do much of anything right now. The foundation-repair dudes got over being quiet. They have this enormous drill doohicky and when they use it, the whole house vibrates. But I'm not complaining (much). I can already open a window that was wedged shut because of the foundation problem, and there's a nice breeze through my office today. The noise will stop eventually. Perhaps the pounding in my head will then follow.

I also sorted through some of my yarn stash today. And GUESS WHAT!!! I found a sock yarn bin with room for another 3 or 4 skeins of sock yarn, easy. And here I thought they were all jammed full to the brim. Heh. Take that, Guilty Conscience. It's not as bad as you keep trying to tell me.

The noisy drill dudes are leaving for the day now, which means I have a few hours of relative peace to try to get some actual work done. They promise to be back at seven tomorrow morning. No rush, guys. Really.