Birthday Socks are done!

Well, the post title pretty much says it all.  I finished them this morning with about 3 hours to spare.

They're currently drying outside after being steam-blocked.

Here's a better look at the pattern:

Oh, and if anyone ever says you don't need to block socks; that's not necessarily true:

The right sock is post steam-blocking with an iron, the left sock has not been touched.

I just got the socks wet and then ironed them, using the steam setting of the iron to keep them wet (see my steam-blocking tutorial if you're curious).

As much as these were awesome to knit, I'm glad their off the needles. That deadline got really -really- close.

Note to self: give more time for birthday and Christmas knits next time!

Birthday Socks and finishing by Sunday. . .

So, the Birthday Socks have to be done by Sunday.

I don't have any pictures of this frantic knitting, but it is frantic.  To keep my brain from exploding, I've started playing Knights of The Old Republic (and it was a trick to get it running on Windows 7, let me tell you!) Like most video games, I knit during cut-scenes and while waiting for Force Points to recharge.

That being said, though, KoTOR has an annoying tendency to crash-to-desktop. (It's supposedly due to the 'new' mult-core processors that are standard in most computers now).  While it does mean a bit more knitting time while it boots back up, it is rather annoying.

Anyway, this knitting and gaming has gotten me to the gusset decreases.  Considering that I only recently started the second sock, this is actually going surprisingly fast.

I'll have tomorrow and Saturday (including an RPG session) to finish the foot and toe.  And if I'm weaving in ends on the TTC Sunday morning, I can live with that!

Well, anyway, back to knitting and gaming. I get to go talk to the Jedi council now, and I want to see if I can finish the gusset decreases tonight.

Project Update -- August 19th

Ok, so a few new photos and general progress:

First, progress on the Birthday Gloves:

I've finished the chart, and ended up doing a few extra rows to get to the right measurement to divide for the fingers.

But they're a reasonably fast knit; and I'm not worried about making my deadline here.

Second, I went back to the mini-skeins from my EatSleepKnit order; and started working them into the Sock Yarn Blanket.  I haven't gotten to the Arroyo yet, but the Shibui Linen knits up quite nicely; though it's not a yarn I'm likely to get for myself.

 The square in progress there is actually leftover yarn from the Birthday Gloves -- like I said, I'm going to have lots of leftovers.

Finally, although there's no picture, I'm about half-way up the legs of the second of the  Birthday Socks.

That's it for updates for now, there will be more coming soon, as usual!

Birthday Knitting Reprive

So, I just found out that I've got an extra week on the Birthday Socks, since I won't be seeing my giftee until later in August.

Whew!

But, today is my birthday, so I feel absolutely no obligation to do any chores, and I don't have work today . . . so I'm just going to sit and knit on my fun projects for a while.  I'll probably take the socks to knit-night, just so that I do have impetus to work on them, though.  (That, and I haven't been to knit-night in a few weeks, with the new job and such, so I'm really looking forward to it!)

Birthday Knitting -- More Progress!

I've been productive over the last few days!

First, I finished sock number one on the Birthday Socks.

One more sock to go.  I might just get these done in time!  (Assuming I knit nothing else, which with my attention span isn't that likely. . . ) 

I took these to my cousin's birthday party.  Since I had a train ride to get there, that helped.   And, two of my aunts knit, so they and I sat in the living room later and chattered and knit. :)

Secondly, I got a good chunk done on the the Birthday Gloves.

(The picture keeps uploading sideways.  It's annoying, but I don't know how to fix it.  In the mean time, just tilt your head and you'll get the idea! :D)

Well, tonight was an evening meeting at work, and now I've ordered in some sushi.  I just intend to knit as fast as possible over the next little while.

So How Fast can I knit. . .?

Ok. 

So I've gotten work done on a bunch of projects. I got past the thumb on the Birthday Gloves (no new picture there yet, sorry!), and I got 6 more squares done on Christmas Scarf. . . .

The Birthday Socks that I now have 10 days to finish?

No,  I haven't worked on them at all over this marathon until today, and the only reason I worked on them today was because I was out and about, and my work meeting takes place about two blocks from The Purple Purl.  So, I went in and just sat and knit (and chattered to the owners) and got a few inches into the foot.  But I still have another whole sock to do. 

This is going to be interesting. . .   can I knit fast enough to finish these socks in ten days?

Knitting Marathon and a Yarn Order

Hello again all!

So, life's gotten somewhat busier.

1) My role-playing group just started up a new game (we're running a game in the Star Trek setting, after the Dominion War.).  It's the Last Unicorn Games version, which, while a little clunky, is still fun.

2) The new job isn't too crazy, but it is requiring an adjustment given that I haven't been working for a bit.  I'm still having to get in the mindset of 'going to the office.'

3) Given the new job, however, I splurged and got a few more skeins of Lady Godiva from EatSleepKnit.  It's one of their "Power Boost" yarns right now (they change them up once every quarter), where you get additional 'yards' for their loyalty program.  This yarn's going to be a Maddy tank. (Ravelry Pattern link here.)

4) And with all this (or maybe in spite of it), I'm really on a knitting marathon. I -need- to finish the Birthday Socks. I've got two weeks to knit the foot of one sock and all of the second sock.   I can knit during the role-playing session, like always, but I'm actually quite concerned about if I can get these done. So today, I started up season 2 of Babylon 5, (sorry, U.S. link only, also see here) and I'm just going to knit like crazy.

Also, as a useful resource, I found this. It's a shoe size and foot length in inches conversion chart that gives a really good idea of how long you need to make a sock based on shoe size. I needed it for the Birthday Socks.

Ok, that's it for now, now to get back to the knitting.

Deadling Knitting and Progress!

So many things to knit, so many deadlines!

First, I promised you an update on the Birthday Socks.
 

I'm almost done the heel flap.  I find I'm actually pretty productive at a Knit Night.  That's part of why I go.


Next up is my Test-Knit. These have a July 31 deadline, so they're rather looming over me right now.

 

 But, there's not a lot more to do with them.  I've only got 10 more rows of the chart, and then the toe decreases.  Since I'm stuck at home today waiting for a repairman to show up (and discovered that due to an emergency call somewhere else, they're not coming today. . . urgh!) I might as well make good use of my time.

And finally, a new project to this blog, my Christmas Scarf.

It took a few tries to get a photo of this that was remotely ok.  And yes, I've started Christmas knitting in July (actually I started this in April!).  :D  I don't want to be knitting on Christmas Day, like I was last year.


/I made my father fingerless gloves last year for Christmas (this was before I was on Ravelry, so the project isn't there), and I was weaving in ends while in the car to his place on Christmas morning.

He just laughed about it, and didn't really mind./


So yeah.  Lots of deadline knitting over the next few weeks.  The ability to play video games and knit is really helping me get through all of it. I'm currently re-playing Mass Effect 1 but I've bumped the difficulty to Hardcore.  It's not easy.  I get lots of knitting done while waiting for the Mako's* shields or Shepard's health to regenerate. . . 

In addition to this stuff, there's other things on my needles too, as you probably well know if you've read some of my other posts. This includes the Birthday Gloves, which I haven't really touched since last update.  There are also more Christmas/Birthday gifts in planning -- you can see them on my Ravelry Queue here, if you're curious.

And yes, some of those are Christmas/Birthday 2014 plans.  Those are things where I've already teased out subtle hints about design and colour from the recipient so that I know they'll like it, and I'm not really worried about those at all beyond having things written down.

It's going to be busy. 


*the Mako is a drivable tank that you can take to various planets in-game. It has shields, but they take a while to recharge after getting shot.

More Useful Links -- or, What on Earth is an RKI?

Hello again!

Quick post tonight before I wander off to bed --  I knew there was a resource I'd forgotten to post, and now I remember.

It's this.

The Birthday Socks are a pretty complicated pattern, and while I was working it, I found what was labeled as an RKI stitch.  I had no clue what this was.  It seemed to be some sort of increase, but I couldn't figure it out.

While the pattern included directions, the written directions for this particular stitch just didn't quite make sense for my head.

So, Google and a bit of sluthing gave me this resource, including a page all about lifted increases.  And the photos just made a lot more sense then the description in the pattern did.  That's no slight on the pattern, that's just how my head works. I have some issues regarding spatial and kinesthetic sense, so it's always hard for me to figure out exactly where the needle/hook goes, and it make take several different descriptions and tutorials before one sticks.

(And now I actually really like the lifted increases.   They're almost invisible.  If a pattern doesn't specify,  I'll either use these or an M1 increase, depending on what, specifically, I want.)
 
Anyway, hope that's helpful, and alleviates some confusion.

Happy Crafting!

Knit Night and grubby hands

So. . . remember how I mentioned I was going to work on my Birthday Socks at knit night?

Didn't happen.

Why not?

Because wheelchair plus hot ash-fault is asking for hands stained with black goop, which is exactly what happened. My hands were covered in what looked like soot.  It happens every summer, and I wasn't going to work on a relatively pale gift with goop on my hands that didn't come off easily.

(I didn't get pictures of my sooty hands, I didn't want to get that stuff on the camera!)

So, instead, I worked on these.

I'd already finished one mitten a bit ago (hence the not-so-great picture), and I started working on the second. I decided to make them as a solution to this exact problem (stuff on my hands and sleeves when using a manual wheelchair), and I'm going to be very glad when they're done.

I got about half-way through the cable pattern before I was concerned that I might not have enough yarn with me to finish the pattern that night  . . . and I'd forgotten my back of scrap yarn at home (I needed stitch markers to do the gusset increases).

So I came home early from knit night, but all is good anyway, since I came home to sushi for dinner. :D

Project Updates -- July 16, 2013

So, I've got a few updated projects on my Ravelry Projects Page, and thought I'd show the pictures here too.

1)  My current test-knit (test-knit thread is here, for those who are curious)

I've just finished the heel and am continuing on the foot.  I'm quite loving the pattern (pattern's not live on Ravelry yet, sorry!)

( Edit: Pattern went live and is here.)

It's funny -- I was worried about these not fitting, but they're actually a touch too small before blocking.  (And yes, before you ask, you -can- block acrylic no problem, when I get a suitable project done, I'll show you how I do it!)

Edit: And here's the tutorial, for those who are curious!

2)  Birthday Socks

Yes, the crazy birthday knitting (for the moment) payed off -- I'm 3 rows short of the heel.

And, with a bit of practice, the pattern is actually memorable.  It just took a bit longer to 'stick' in my head then other projects did, it seems (or I'm getting better at memorizing patterns -- that works too!)  That makes these my convenient transit project now, since I don't need to have the chart out in front of me any more!

Well, that's it for now.   I'll be heading off to my local Knit Night tonight, and I'll see how much I get done!

Crazy Birthday Knitting

So, we've already mentioned that I'm not a fast knitter, right?

But yet I'm knitting socks for an upcoming August Birthday?  And that this is the most intricate sock pattern I've done yet?

. . . . I know, I'm crazy.

But, seriously, now that it's back to a Monday, the fun knitting goes away for a while, and I buckle down and work on the stuff that has looming deadlines.

These have to be done for mid-august, and as you can see, I'm not very far with them.

I love the pattern, but it's unfortunately fiddly enough that it's not easily memorable repeats (and having a page of charts is just not conducive to transit knitting.)  So these are my stay-at-home-and-knit socks (though they do come with me to knit-night.)

Lets see how much I can get done on these in the next few days.  Even just getting to the heel would be a huge milestone (and a boost to my sanity!)