green (sneak peeks)
June 26, 2011
1. Stripe study shawl in green and black. Finished back in early May but still not properly photographed on account of indecision over whether it wants blocking first or whether that’s a waste of time with superwash sock wool. Clearly the indecision has gone on long enough by this time that the answer is: block it. Okay then.
2. Pair the second of loose gauge sock yarn legwarmers, with sporty stripes because we watch a lot of football in our household (American friends, that’s soccer to you lot). “Finished”, but not modeled yet because one needs seaming. So. . . not really finished. But! Close!
Currently on the needles is this, sort of; or rather, a since-ripped and restarted slightly smaller version of this:
Which was going to be, as part of the ongoing effort to rid this house of unused sock yarn without making any of it into socks, legwarmers pair the third. But the cuff made it clear it didn’t want to be just another legwarmer, it wanted to be a cuff on a thigh high green sock (pretty much going against the “no socks” thing, but whatever). One mustn’t go buying more yarn of the exact sort one is trying to use up and be done with (also, the whole thing with knitting legwarmers instead of socks is because I’m tired of all the small-gauge sock knitting yielding lovely socks I put my foot through on the fourth wearing), so this sock has a sporty yet lacy-looking ribbed cuff knit at a loose gauge in sock yarn, and a main body of worsted weight yarn, which knits up much faster! and, more importantly, was available in my studio in a good amount of non-earmarked skeins of the exact colour I wanted. Please don’t say this is going to be disastrous and end in tears, because here at jodi’s weblog we’re already well aware of that and are determined to soldier on regardless. ALSO. Since we like to keep things exciting around here: the green yarn is Knit Picks merino. And these socks will have their FEET knit out of that (I know, okay? I KNOW). Yes, I have a darning egg. And I know how to use it, too.
Posted by jodi on June 26, 2011 at 5.03pm
green
June 1, 2011
Posted by jodi on June 1, 2011 at 11.17am
red on red
May 29, 2011
For Project Spectrum: cozy red legwarmers, completed just as the weather got warm, as is the custom around here (I haven’t even shown y’all the shawl I finished 3 weeks ago, because I’ve got all summer to block it, now). These are knit in a 2×2 rib with two different red sock yarns that change halfway down. So I can wear them two days in a row with my boots and nobody will know!
Probably they won’t actually be worn like this, but rather will be flipped the same way so as to be matchy.
Whoops, I didn’t mean to show off quite than much leg (but hey, check out my strong new thigh! Everybody loves a bonus bare thigh shot, like that time last fall when Sergio Ramos went out on the pitch in the wrong shorts and then had to change them on the sideline. . . oh, oh yeah).
This is finished object #2 in my ongoing project of getting rid of all the sock yarn with which I will never knit socks (and freeing up a whole lot of studio storage in the process); finished object #1 was that shawl you haven’t seen yet (soon!). The semi-solid dark red is something I bought from Mama E years ago, ball band is long disappeared but it feels like merino, soft and a bit pilly. The red/black is “newspaper” from Spritely Goods, which I think might be a discontinued colour. I’d originally planned knee socks with it, and had one sock completed before burning out on the second. These legwarmers, while goofy, will probably see more wear than the socks ever would have.
Come winter, depending on what sort of new home the Brawlers find for skate practices, the legwarmers may also be worn rather frequently like this:
Or rather, similar to this only with knee pads. Safety is sexy, yo.
Bonus bare thigh shot! Not quite as much bum as our broadcast showed, but still, I’ll take it.
Posted by jodi on May 29, 2011 at 4.12pm
red blanket squares
May 23, 2011
Posted by jodi on May 23, 2011 at 3.19pm
evidence to suggest that the sticks are still wielded here
May 4, 2011
It has come to our attention here at jodi’s weblog that sock yarns take up an awful lot of valuable studio real estate with little or no return on that storage investment. Sitting around looking pretty in clear plastic bins will only get a thing so far in this studio if that thing is not actually a useful thing, and if one were to weigh the time it takes to finish a pair of socks against the speed at which holes appear in sock feet around these parts, it’s clear there’s only one conclusion to be drawn: it is time for some legwarmers, mis amigos.
Ugly legwarmers, at that. Legwarmers that change yarns periodically while staying within one colour range; legwarmers that may end up being long enough to attach to a garter belt, because here in the land of the trousersless we are always looking for extra warmth under our skirts in winter. So, obviously, starting to knit legwarmers on the first of May is a top priority. Clearly anything is a higher priority than finishing those socks which were begun years ago and are now being unraveled into something new.
In concordance with the traditions of Project Spectrum, these legwarmers will be several shades of red, and the goal will be to finish them within May: an easy goal to meet, depending on what the finished length ends up being, and if they’re finished before the end of the month then the next pair will be orange. There is every colour of sock yarn taking up space here, even the dreaded purple. And come autumn, there will be warm legs.
Posted by jodi on May 4, 2011 at 2.08pm
aurora borealis socks, finished
March 24, 2009
It doesn’t take much for me to callously toss aside a project in favour of something new, no matter how burning with passion I might have been for that project yesterday. This Noro sock yarn (on the left) has given me a lot of grief: first by having purple in the mix, which I always have to take out; by knitting up into a too-tight sock THREE times (not its fault, mine, but still); by not quite striping to my satisfaction until I started alternating four rows each from both ends of the skein; by being coarse and inelastic and generally hell on the hands. Sometime a month or so ago I dove into the stash to find a few softer, gentler yarns with which to satisfy my urge for stripes while not killing my hands.
Enter the Aurora Borealis socks (on the right). Four-row alternating stripes of Lizardman merino sock yarn from Twisted and Marrakesh merino sock yarn from Fearless Fibers. Soft and cozy, if a wee bit falley-downey at the moment (nothing a bit of elastic in the ribbing won’t fix).
There’s no pattern, just a bog-standard toe-up customized to fit my largeish calves. I used my favourite toe technique of casting on a few stitches (8, in this case), knitting a little rectangle and then picking up stitches along the sides and the cast on edge. An afterthought heel, because I prefer the look of the decrease edge to that of a short-row heel. And because I’m a wanker and don’t care for the look of a stretchy bind off, I cast on and knit the ribbing bands separately from the top down and grafted them on. Tedious, but worth it.
Posted by jodi on March 24, 2009 at 9.11am
