Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Arranging and Organizing

I started my new job last week, working a couple days a week part-time at the LYS nearby.  I think it will be a good change of pace.  Whether or not I will get to teach remains to be seen, but right now I can take things one at a time.  I have also been busy doing other non-knitting things that aren’t all that interesting. As for knitting; I finished the Peacock socks and in true Nana fashion started another pair of socks almost immediately as well as my “November” Personal Sock club selection.  I’m still slogging away on the Pi Shawl, I have one more section before the final increase and I believe there are only 4 rounds or so after that.  (I erred in the last post thinking I only had 16 rounds to go as I hadn't read thoroughly or far enough ahead in the pattern to realize there was another 30 round section coming up) It’s still not very photogenic.  The Watershed vest is coming along, but I set it aside this weekend to work on the socks and the shawl. I may have a few other stealth projects started as well.  Since I'm not planning on ruining any secrets, here’s a quick look at what’s happening in Nana-socka-palooza:

Finished:


Peacock Socks by Janel Laidman
Yarn: Mini Mochi in Neptune (color 108)
Magic Loop / size 2.25 mm needles

I liked this pattern.  I’m so-so on the yarn, I love all the colorways, but this is a soft single ply and doesn’t always play nice in the thick/thin department.  Also as all soft yarns are prone to being splitty and easy to break I can get a little frustrated if I have to rip or tink, which who am I kidding, happens more than I care to divulge when I knit. But overall, my only disappointment was in not being able to control the colors to get the really nice effect of peacock feathers that Janel did with her hand-dyed yarn.  Hmmm I do have a set of sock blanks that I got for my birthday.

Started:


(November PSC) Narragansett Bay Socks
Yarn: Knit Picks Essential in African Violet
Size 2.25 mm needles
Modified pattern from 64 to 60 stitches

Fall Stripey socks
Pattern: my standard 60 stitch sock / 2 row alternated stripes
Yarn Mini-mochi in color 304 and 108 (leftover from peacock)

Beyond that, I spent the better part of last weekend arranging my pattern binders, computer files/folders and Ravelry queue to get my sock patterns in order because sometime soon I plan to set up my Personal Sock Club bags for next year.  I can tell you I surprised myself with how well I’ve been doing in actually queuing patterns that I have on hand, but I still have a bunch that aren’t queued.  Oh well, the PSC helps weed them out and if I do bonus pairs each month that cuts it down even more.

Later on, I’ll have to do the same with the rest of the patterns, etc which I have collected for other things.  Everything is stashed somewhat neatly in binders, but needs to be matched with my queue at some point.  I did at least set up the other binders so that the tabs match the categories in my Rav queue and made sure that all of the binders are set up in the same order (about 2 hours worth of effort).  It’s nice to take a little time out to get more organized once in a while.

Since I doubt I’ll get a chance to blog tomorrow, I wish you all a Happy and healthy Thanksgiving.  I hope you have enough blessings in your life to feel as fortunate as I do.

Happy Knitting!

Nana

3 comments:

Lynn said...

I really like those socks! And the ones you started are really cool too. Will the tan be used for the heel and toe too?

SciFiTVFanGirl said...

I had a friend over for a play date a month or two ago and she also crochets and mentioned she was looking for a pattern to make a baby blanket, so I got out my pattern binder to let her look through and see if there was anything she might want to use. She was oohing and aahing over how organized my patterns were, and the whole time I kept thinking, Yeah, but I've got nothing on my mom.

I am glad you got a chance to get some stuff done and get some organization going. I am jealous, I have so much yarn to wade through and log!

Also, those peacock socks are gorgeous! I am sorry they were such a pain to make though.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Denise Bein Kroll said...

Lynn, yes I will be using the tan for the heel and toe, I turned the heel last night at the darkest color in that yarn and it looks really good.