R.I.P. MommaMonkey

My God in Heaven. I just found out through Ravelry News and Lime & Violet that Gigi Silva, aka MommaMonkey of monkey-toes.net and the creator of Socktopia, has died from complications of a lengthy illness.

This is not just a shock because she was a fellow knitblogger (and confirmed sockaholic). It's a shock because last year I got to know her a bit through emails when I signed on to be a sock tester. She sent two sock patterns and yarn to me.

One bore the super secret codename Flames. It became Fawkes. My contribution is the orange one.

The other bore the super secret codename Sleep Socks.

Their destiny and true name will remain unknown. They wound up in hibernation, awaiting pattern corrections that, sadly, will never arrive. As I posted in the tribute thread on the Ravelry Forum (apologies to non-Ravelers for the link),

Every time I look at this yarn, I will think of the talented woman I came to know through blogs, emails and socks but not in person. Your family is in my prayers and you are in God’s Hands.

Rest in peace, MommaMonkey. I hope there is knitting in Heaven.

Any other tidbits I had to blog about are insignificant at the moment. But I'll tell you that Tyler is doing well, eating fine, and evacuating as expected. He's rejoined the herd. I've also been turned on to a supplement readily available at my LPS (Local Pet Store) for Feline Urinary Syndrome (FUS) that does the same thing as the Very Expensive Food and it's like a treat. I'll let you know how it works.

---

Labels: breaking news, cats, ravelry, sockaholism

posted by Jeanne @ 7:44 PM 3 comments

Almost An FO

My Waving Laces are nearly finished. I'm past the heel on Sock #2 and nearing the finish line. I really love this pattern. Once you've knit through the repeats enough times, it is easy to memorize. They will definitely be knit again.

Next in line are Cookie A.'s Red Herrings. Mine, however, are the Blue Herrings because I'm using Sandnes Garn Lanett in a teal blue and beige rather than brown and red. I got gauge on 0's, wouldn't ya know it. They're singing on my Addi's.

For my third sockaholism enabling, I also have Nancy Bush's Traveler's Socks OTN. I was going to knit them in Schaeffer Anne but since the I Love Ganseys got frogged and I love the Wildfoote yarn, I'm knitting them from that.

In addition, now that I found the Knitscene mag with the pattern in it (it was lost), I got gauge on the CPH and... drum roll... will be casting on either tonight or tomorrow.

Do I have a problem with monogamy? Only in regards to knitting, thank you!

---

Labels: ravelry, sockaholism, WIP

posted by Jeanne @ 9:39 PM 0 comments

Swatcha Dooin'?

Swatches, that's what I'm dooin'.

Call me crazy, but I'm gonna go through with it. I'm swatching for my next five projects, then washing and blocking them, then making notes so that when I get the urge to cast-on, all I'll need to do is CO and go. (CO&GO... COGO? New word.)

It's the cold medicine. Just ignore my weirdness. Damn that Sudafed. It makes me tired but wired. I'm wide awake and sleepy all at once. Ick. At least the headache subsided.

Anyway, these here are being swatched:

Central Park Hoodie*
Socks:
Scala
Caspian Sea
Red Herring
Winter Garden

*About the CPH:

Hey, aren't you the one running the CPH KAL?

Why yes, yes I am.

Hey, aren't you already four inches into the ribbing?

Why yes, yes I am.

Then why the heck are you bothering to swatch now? Isn't it a bit late?

Why yes, yes it is. But this is my first sweater. And after the sock nightmare, I'm rethinking my wing-it-and-go theory.

Hey, does this mean you may be frogging?

Umm...

---

Labels: ravelry, WIP

posted by Jeanne @ 4:22 PM 3 comments

Sock Stash Knitting

It's live.

KFYSS 2008 (Knit From Your SOCK Stash) is live and bloggable. The template needs tweaking (danged free blogskins, the Blogger bar is missing from the top) but otherwise, we're launched.

The Rules are up. To summarize, once you've committed to KFYSS2008, you must use stashed sock yarn for all socks knitted during the year (until September 30th). There are a few exceptions—if you're in sock KALs like I am, you can buy KAL-specific yarn. But the rules are, I hope, structured in a way to prevent the workarounds used to justify sneak purchases.

If you buy it, you must use it immediately. That's the gist of it.

Please note: let's avoid the whole "trying to kill the LYS" nonsense that went around last year after the rise of the original Knit From Your Stash. I'm not suggesting we buy no yarn; merely that we examine our sockaholism and try to get it to a manageable level by curtailing the "buy now knit later" mentality that is so easy to get into when dealing with socks.

Socks are small, quick, and require one or two skeins of yarn. The very beauty of the sock is also its danger. It is so easy to lull oneself into thinking, "it's only ONE skein". But one skein leads to five which leads to a stash closet larger than one's wardrobe (including the "I'll fit into these someday" clothes) and pretty soon, well... it isn't pretty to watch.

Think about it. One skein of handpainted such as my fave, Mountain Colors or Lorna's can go for anywhere from $10-20 per skein. Let's use $15 as an average. Say that every weekend, you get your paycheck and go to the yarn store. You pick up one or two skeins of sock yarn. It's only $30, right?

Multiply that by 52 weeks in the year and you have spent $1,560 dollars (one thousand five hundred and sixty dollars) on SOCK YARN and you have 104 skeins of sock yarn in your stash.

If it takes you 20 hours to knit a sock, you'll need 2,080 hours to eat up that stash or 86 days—that's 24 hours straight—to finish them. If you can knit four hours per night per week (after work, not counting weekends), it'll take 104 weeks to knit through the stash. (Also note I'm not a math whiz—if you see an error, please correct it.)

So at that rate, a person can knit about one skein's worth per week (one pair). If you knit faster, I commend you. But I can't. So I see the danger. I probably have about 25 skeins or sock projects on the dockets (pre-Ravelry organization, it may be worse).

Something's gotta give. Besides my closet doors.

---

Labels: KFYSS 2008, musings, ravelry, stash enhancement, yarn diet

posted by Jeanne @ 6:46 PM 1 comments

Knit From My WHAT? (A Novel)

My stash?

Um...

That Knit From Your Stash 2007 thingie?

Not working for me.

I set up my rules. I thought I'd be safe. I didn't count on a little thing called Sockaholism. Apparently, I need more than just a 12-step program and regular meetings. I need a goldurned Intervention.

My rules:

• sock yarn is exempt
• gift yarn is exempt if there's nothing in my stash already that'll work
• one Get Out Of Jail Free card
• yarn for dyeing experiments is exempt
• all UFOs must become FOs before COing a NUFO of a similar nature

My problem:

• I'm only knitting SOCKS. Sock after sock after sock after sock after sock.
• OK there are TWO hats (TKGA L1 project and a chemo cap for Yarn Haven).
  
• My stash = wool, alpaca, mohair, silk, acrylic and blends of all; my color range = purple, red, emerald, teal blue, black, hot pink. My gift recipients = allergic, itchy, cotton-and-acrylic-lovin' freaks who like yellow, orange, peach, acid green and other colors that on my body cause perfect strangers to hand me a bucket and run.
• I used my GOOJF Card in March, then I gone and dun it again two weeks later. True, the second slip up was mostly books and spinning fiber, but it was a hefty load of cabbage.
• Only six skeins (so far) for dyeing: two for the workshop, three cheapo Patons Classic Merino Wool and today, one skein that literally had my name on it:
  
  
• There are so many UFOs floating around here it looks like Roswell in 1947. Does that stop me from casting on again? Uh, no. No, it doesn't.
  

Then I went to Threadbear today.

Regrettably the purpose of my mission was NOT to attend Annie Modesitt's workshop though I would have liked to have participated. It was a bizarre coincidence that we were at the same place at the same time. I saw Annie, we made eye contact, but didn't officially meet as she was in the middle of her class and I was shopping. But I was surprised that she was much taller than I am (I'm 5' 8"). Yes, I should have thought to snap her photo with my cell phone, but I'm so new to this Knitting Celebrity Thing that I'm not yet in the cellpix mindset.

No, my mission was more mundane. My dear friend B's birthday is tomorrow. She's very much into stained glass, and Lansing hosts a rather large stained glass outlet. When I heard she was planning to trek up there, I mentioned the yarn store. ROAD TRIP!

I arose at 6:30 AM. Yes. The exact time I arrived home two weeks ago from the band meeting. B and I hit the road by 7:30. Had breakfast at a sit-down restaurant along the way. Did the grand tour of Michigan's rest areas (due to the coffee consumption). Visited the glass shop. She strangled her credit card and bought some glass and a kit. I was unaware of just how beautiful sheets of colored glass can be (almost as luscious as yarn). I planned out the cabinet inserts for my future dream kitchen, my bathroom, my foyer... uh... right.

Reality. Sorry. I'm back now.

On to Threadbear. Thank you, Sarah, for that tip about the Quilt Shop. Without it, we'd have passed Threadbear for sure. First impressions: It's huge. It's bright. It's stuffed with yarn. I grabbed a basket and started with the dyeables. Then I inquired as to the location of the sock yarn. When the saleslady (whose name I've misplaced) directed me to aisle after aisle of sock... *sigh* yarn.... I actually felt woozy.

Guess what came home with me?

SOCK YARN. That's it. Juuuuuuust sock yarn.

Well, OK, mostly sock yarn. There were a couple of skeins for non-sock gifts as well.

Here's the scary part. I didn't just go grab random skeins from the shelves in wild abandon. No. I went with a VERY. SPECIFIC. LIST. The night before, I sat up late into the night and worked up a Sock Notes spreadsheet in Excel—after first working up a spreadsheet for my Ravelry Sock Knitter's Anonymous Group KAL (SKA) projects for the year:






I intended to stick to said list. I wanted:

• 2 skeins dark and 1 skein light of Lorna's Shepherd Sock for Scala
• the 5 skeins of Dale of Norway TIUR required for the Caspian Sea Socks (free download when you joing Knitting Daily) planned for SKA Project #2 (Toe-Ups)
• the 4 skeins of TIUR necessary for the Winter Garden Socks from Betsy McCarthy's book Knit Socks!) planned for SKA Project #3 (Nancy Bush pattern)
• some sock yarn to dye
• Lanaset Dyes (if available)
• size 0, 1.5, and 2.5 circulars (16"-24" for socks, natch)
• (OPTIONAL) one skein each of the required yarn for Cookie A.'s Pomatomus and Red Herring, Sockbug's Crooked Cable, and Domesticat's Zephyr (all socks)
• to look at the swatches for Kauni that had just come in (not doing the Rainbow colorway that everybody and their sister is doing—yes, the one upon which the Harlot has been slaving away)

What I acquired (in less than an hour):

• Yarn for Scala except there wasn't any solid Lorna's—I'm substituting either Drop's Alpaca or Lanett (six skeins total, two different color combos)
  
• the FOUR skeins of Dale of Norway Daletta* (four because I'm an idiot and just realized I forgot to get the second skein of Rose—gaaahhhh! and because Tiur is being discontinued and the colors I wanted weren't available in Tiur) for the Caspian Sea Socks
  
• the THREE skeins of Dale of Norway Tiur with an optional contrast color (because I couldn't decide between natural/rose/green or natural/rose/grey so I got green AND grey AND because I'm an idiot and again failed to realize I needed TWO skeins of green, not one) for the Winter Garden Socks
• some sock yarn to dye (Kraemer "Jeannie", with my name on it)
  
• no dyes (no dice!)
  
• no needles because I still can't justify Addi's
  
• (OPTIONAL) one skein each of Twisted "Arial" in Regiment and Sleeping Dragon Handpainted Sock Yarn in Roses & Chocolate intended for two of the four extra socks
• 2 skeins of mohair for a neckwarmer for B (she picked it out)
• one skein of Schaefer "Lola" for B—OMG! The Barry Manilow reference just hit me which is so ironic because B is the BIGGEST Manilow fan in the world ("her name was Lola, she was a showgirl...")—for a pair of toe-ups because she picked up a skein featuring a colorway that perfectly coordinated with the shirt she was wearing and I had to go and say "Oh, you need a pair of matching SOCKS, don't you?"
• the Summer Spin-Off (for the article "Dye your own self-striping yarn!") which for some reason I'm beginning to think I might have already purchased (for the very same article)
• a good idea about the Kauni swatches. For a more subdued but equally-effective Kauni, I'm planning to get the two colorways in the brown/gold/wheat tones—one is light, the other dark. It's special order so I can sit on that for awhile
  

*Actually that's 3 skeins Daletta and one skein Heilos that I'm trading in for the same color in Daletta because Heilos is scratchy compared to Daletta

Did I mention that I actually PUT BACK one skein each of Cherry Tree Hill, Colinette Jitterbug, Trekking XXL, another color of Tiur, and something else I've now forgotten?

Did I mention that I somehow I forgot to grab the second skeins of two colors I need for two of the patterns?

Did I mention the shop is two and a half hours away?

Did I mention that occasionally I have a synapse misfire that causes me to forget little details like second skeins of discontinued yarn that may never mate with their own dye lot again?

Following the yarnage, we scavenged for food but we nearly didn't get any. The Middle Eastern place we'd mapquested isn't open on weekends. We chose to drive down big roads that logically should have provided all manner of sustenance, but were riddled with questionable housing and a QD convenience store (Hot Coffee! Fresh Donuts!) on every corner. We were nearly to the highway entrance when we spotted a sign for Sahara's (no webpage). We were in the mood for Indian, but in a pinch, Lebanese will do. After hummus, pita, mango smoothies, samosas, chicken soup for B and green bean stew on rice for me, we hit the road again.

Since then, I've been battling with Flickr to acknowledge my coughing up the dough for a Pro account so I can have more than three measly sets because Flickr is the preferred photo host of Ravelrers everywhere (so I can move all my photos from PhotoBucket and cancel that account? Oy, the blog nightmare that will be). Flickr gladly took my money but has yet to change over my account. When it does, I'll be able to post the photos of yarn that I actually took this time! (Because I only want to upload them to ONE photo host because of the Ravelry thing.)

Oh.

You wanted a total?

Gee. I thought I could squeak by without divulging.

I paid cash. I "found" the emergency cash stash I'd forgotten I'd stashed away. Don't worry, I saved some of it. I only spent $192 dollars.

This is my official resignation from KFYS 2007. I give up. I tried all summer but that "sock yarn doesn't count" clause did me in.

Next year, I'm hosting Knit From Your SOCK Stash 2008.

Any takers?

---

Labels: dyeing, knit from your stash 2007, ravelry, stash enhancement, yarn diet

posted by Jeanne @ 9:49 PM 5 comments

Ravelutionary

Yes, by God, Ravelry is the most amazing invention this year. I call it "Ravelutionary". (Maybe they'll use that on a t-shirt.) I'm looking forward to watching it grow and develop. To those of you still awaiting your invite, and especially to those who are poo-pooing it for whatever reason ("only for the elite few/exclusive club" is one comment I've heard), I can only say, it is TOTALLY WORTH the wait, it is beyond amazing when you get there, and everyone who wants to get in will get in.

Ravelry is a fantastic organizational tool, networking spot, and it's fun. It links everything! Your blog, your projects, your stash, your needles & hooks, your friends.... it's like one big knitstravaganza! Dare I say that I nearly had a knitgasm over it?

I realize I've been lack at posting photos. That will change as I begin to flash the stash and UFOs for Ravelry uploading. Right now, I almost have an FO. Yes! Me! An actual Finished Object! Almost. Michael's had some Caron Simply Soft Shadow—yes, I know, sue me it's Ack-crylic—on clearance (now you see why?) for $2.00 per skein (could I pass that up?) and I bought several since Sister would like a pair of WARM socks for Christmas and they can't be wool (she's allergic) and it can't be cotton (I hate knitting it) and they need to be able to survive the Maytag (handwash? dry clean only? what?). Therefore:

{[(Warm - wool ≠ cotton = acrylic) + xmas] + (affordable + washable)} = worsted weight acrylic on clearance

Since I've conquered the two circs method and the DPN cuff-down method (3, 4, and 5 needle variants) and am comfortable with the standard gusset heel, it was time to try Toe-up. Interweave Knits Summer 2007 has a great article on how to do Toe-ups using a short-row heel (two birds dead there), so I did a quick swatch to confirm my suspicion that I used #4s with the Code 4 Medium (aka worsted weight yarn) last time, then I began.

DANG these are knitting up fast! I "got" the Eastern Cast On right away and the short row heel wasn't any big deal at all (and I don't know why so many have issues with it, to be honest). It's great to try it on along the way, and the Tables for every junction along the way enabled me to make adjustments for a perfect fit. I'm almost finished with the cuff on Sock #1. I only cast on two days ago. That's fast for me (with all the other stuff going on).

I think I'm heading to Michael's to stock up. For this pair, I went with the Caron's Simply Soft Shadows 0006 Dark Moss, but the color on the website is way off. It's a gorgeous emerald green that has been plied intermittently with a teal blue, a buttercup yellow, and a hot pink. It's really nice Ack. The other two colors I picked up were the 0007 Mardi Grey (pretty close on the website) and the Opal Twist (it's black, not brown). I'd have to see them IRL, but I think I like the 0004 Autumn and the 0002 Plum Mist if they're close to the photos.

Yarn diet? What diet? Oh wait. That's right. Sock yarn doesn't count. No wonder I've been knitting Nothing But Socks this year—to justify buying more yarn while on a yarn diet! I am truly evil, being able to pull that over myself.

OK, back to the knitting...

---

Labels: FOs, ravelry, yarn diet

posted by Jeanne @ 6:37 PM 4 comments

Starving Knitter

Help.

I got my Ravelry invite and forgot to eat today. It's 10:04 PM. I've been on since... uh... early this afternoon. All I've had is cereal and coffee.

Must. Stop. Ravelrying.

For a minute, anyway!

Labels: ravelry

posted by Jeanne @ 10:03 PM 4 comments