Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Getting Ready

We had a great trip to WA and the weather actually cooperated during the outdoor wedding ceremony.  I can't believe how fast this summer has been zooming by!  It seems like all of my knitting projects lately have been tied to the next event or trip.  I don’t even know where to start with catching up so.  The best I can do is to just show you what I've been up to: 

First up June socks.

 
Fool's Rush Socks




Fools Rush - this was my June personal sock club selection.  A very pretty, quick and easy pattern.  I knit them in Claudia Handpaint which was a bonus because the stuff is like melted butter in your fingers... especially after knititng with cotton and linen yarns. My ususal 2.25mm needles on dpn. 
 Next up; the challenge for SKA in June was to create a DYO pattern.  I may have gone a little overboard... I did three.  I have the patterns written up and am lining up test knitters as I type this. I'll add these to my design's page once the test knitting is complete.  
Western Wear Socks

Keeping it Simple Socks

Rain at the Falls Socks

Western Wear - Lions Brand
Keeping it Simple - Noro Kuryeon Sock - Color S150
Rain at the Falls - Dream in Color Smooshy - Cloud Jungle


Then June became July and there was a new SKA challenge... Stranded socks.   I took the bait on the mystery socks and started a pair of Zirkel.  These are still in progress because there was a little frogging due to size issues, but they are coming along nicely.  Sock #2 may have to wait until august though.
Zirkel (really bad picture)

And for my personal sock club, I may have fudged a little to pull the bag with the stranded pattern inside (keeping it all in a theme you know):
Jack Sparrow's Favorite socks:
Stranded in the Seaweed

I knit the Jack Sparrow top-down instead of toe up.  I used the Claudia again (Chocolate & Scouts Honor) and a little bit of some Sunshine yarns sampler that I had in my stash.  Those little mini skeins are really coming in handy!

Also, do I need to mention that Sock Summit is just about a week away? I am so excited! I am looking forward to the trip tremendously. I have been fussing over which yarn to bring for my classes, what unofficial events I want to participate in, in a frenzy making stitch markers for the stitch marker swap and project bags for a couple of people from Rav who deserve treats,

Reversable!
printing up agenda’s, figuring out what to wear and most importantly which knitting bag to bring.  That seems to be giving me the most trouble at the moment.  I have to consider many important issues when it comes to a choice of bags (I have several to choose from) since I really need to limit what I am traveling with.  1) It has to be a reasonable size – not too big, not too small.  2) It should have pockets 3) it needs to be flexible for the different activities I’ll be doing – 4) It should be lightweight (very important considering what will be inside it) Alas, none of my bags fit all my criteria, but I can make concessions if I opt for my back pack with a few smaller bags to accommodate different things for different activities… I just think my back pack is ugly and boring and not a very good knitting bag.  Sigh, I’ll figure it out before I leave.
Well if you aren't overwhelmed yet, I might be just a little.
Let me know when it's safe to come out... she's crazy!

Happy Knitting

Nana