Socks – Page 5 – Sheetar.com

Speshul Snowflakes

By Sheetar 7 November 2010 7 February 2012

Since the club cycle had completed for the year, I figured I ought to update on all the socks I’ve knit from the club yarn. The club is Sheepy Time Knits Speshul Snowflakes Yarn Club. I really love how the club is set up, that there are two colorway choices and a wide variety of yarn choices every shipment. You pick the yarn/colorway one month and then it’s shipped the next month making for 6 total shipments. Back at the beginning of the club, I decided that I’d kit each shipment as it came in so that I’d still be knitting socks and the yarn wouldn’t go into the stash and be forgotten. I’m really glad I kept up with it, and here are the results from a year’s worth of shipments. Looking forward to next year’s club again and knitting more socks!

	Pattern: Hanging Vines Socks Designer: Kelly Porpiglia Needles: US 1 (2.25mm) Yarn: Sheepy Time Knits, Sheepy Feet in, “Green Eyed Monster” –Ravelry Project Link– They are GREEN green for sure. These have already gotten a ton of wear and I think I love them a little more every time I wear them. The base yarn feels strong yet still soft and has incredible stitch definition. Also, not even one little bit of pooling in that variegated colorway. Not a single bit.
	Pattern: Komet Designer: Stephanie van der Linden Needles: US 1.5 (2.5mm) Yarn: Sheepy Time Knits, Yarn That Shall Not Be Named in, “Teel Deer” –Ravelry Project Link– I’ve already blogged about these, but I still LOVE that colorway. It’s funny how a knitted item can remind you of where/when you were knitting it and for me, these will always remind me of our trip to New Hampshire, knitting and cozy in the lodge while the husband was skiing. And the epic adventure of showshoeing down Mount Washington.
	Pattern: Jabberwocky Socks Designer: Mandie Harrington Needles: US 1 (2.25 mm) Yarn: Sheepy Time Knits, All Your Base in “Blackberry Martini” –Ravelry Project Link– The dyer designed these socks and I just couldn’t wait to get the yarn and cast on. The construction of the sock is not typical and I really LOVE how she got the pattern on the side to go straight down to the foot. And again, THAT COLOR.
	Pattern: Angler’s Loop Socks Designer: Andrea Mules Needles: US 1 (2.25 mm) Yarn: Sheepy Time Knits, Panda Feet in “Creamsicle” –Ravelry Project Link– I probably could’ve knit the larger size on these for a little more ease around the cable, but they still fit fine. The base is super squishy and comfortable and the cable was just enough knitting interest to keep me engaged but not overwhelmed. Do you see what’s happening here? Variegates, no pooling, tons of different patterns, but no pooling. I’m still in awe.
	Pattern: Passerine Socks Designer: Cookie A. Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm) Yarn: Sheepy Time Knits, All Your Base in “Foggy Dew” –Ravelry Project Link– So these were a challenge. I just wasn’t feeling the pattern (it’s gorgeous, don’t get me wrong) and they took FOREVER to knit. Totally worth it in the end, and the pops of green in the grey are just perfect. See, again? No color pooling.
	Pattern: Lichen and Moss Socks Designer: Joanna Ryan Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm) Yarn: Sheepy Time Knits, Yarn That Shall Not Be Named in “Lichen” –Ravelry Project Link– Well when I found the colorway and did a search for “Lichen” in Ravelry, I just had to knit the pattern named Lichen and Moss. Seemed perfect. The simple yet elegant pattern was SO fast to knit (under a week!) and the color worked out perfectly. This base is a big favorite of mine (Oh that stitch definition) and feels super strong yet completely enjoyable to wear. And of course, no color pooling again here.

Domestic, Socks

Komet

By Sheetar 29 March 2010 7 February 2012

Komet tl;dr
Pattern: Komet
Designer: Stephanie van der Linden
Needles: US 1 (2.25mm)
Yarn: Sheepy Time Yarns Yarn That Shall Not be Named in, “Teal Deer,” from the Sheepy Time Knits December 2009 Club
–Ravelry Project Link–
This is the second installation of the Sheepy Time Knits club for February 2010. I picked a different base this time, and managed to pick a pattern that worked perfectly with the yarn. These were knit over the span of a week-long vacation in New Hampshire at Attitash Mountain. We, the husband and I, went up for our somewhat annual ski trip, but what ended up happening was him skiing three days of the week, and me spending a lot of time getting to know all the inner workings of the lodge. I did one run down the mountain and decided that I was really out of shape and just not cut out for skiing this season. The pattern was a touch tricky – there’s a 4×5 cable cross in there and I actually needed to break out the cable needle for that one. This is the cable needle that I used only one before since I do all my cabling without a needle – so much faster that way. The result is worth it though – the design is super cute and I just love the brilliant teal color of the yarn. The base is similar to another yarn that shall not be named, but starts with a “W” in case you were wondering. Another fun club knit!

Oh, Teal Deer or, tl;dr for short, is internet speak for, “Too Long; Didn’t Read” (or Too Long; Don’t Read) for posts on message boards that ramble on and on and on. ie:
tl;dr – socks are awesome, yarn is lovely, vacation was great, but I’m not built for skiing.

More on that vacation though, because I really did spend a few days outside the lodge. Tuesday, we went up to Great Glen Trails to take the Snow Coach halfway up Mount Washington. The road up the mountain isn’t plowed through the winter and cars are only allowed to drive up in the warmer months. During the winter, a specially built van (van + tractor treads = Snow Coach) takes visitors to a halfway point up the mountain, weather permitting. We were having some really fantastic weather which was maybe not the best for skiing, but great for playing tourist. It was about 45 and sunny at the base, and about -20, sunny, but the winds were blowing at around 40mph. We decided to go for the snowshoe rental at the base and bring them with us in the coach. Nixxed the idea of getting out at the midway point (4300 ft approximately), but jumped out somewhere around the 4 mile mark on the auto road (3500ft elevation). We strapped in for our first time snowshoeing and headed off. The Snow Coach driver mentioned a trail that would take us up to Lowe’s Bald Spot. We took the trail only to find that it went nearly straight up and was pretty battered from some knucklehead who tried to hike it in plain boots (and sunk in a good foot with each step). We managed it anyway and came up to a bald spot with some spectacular views. Hiked back down, and made it back to base after nearly 6 miles of snowshoeing. It was exhausting, but well worth it for the experience! We did end up coming home with snowshoes since we loved it so much – here’s hoping we get snow again in Philadelphia (maybe not *quite* as much) next winter too.
We also took a side trip up to the LL Bean flagship store in Maine. On the way back, we stopped off at Cold River Vodka to have some samples. Their vodka is made from potatoes and is sweeter than most other vodkas I’ve had. The Blueberry vodka is really something special – the aftertaste is as if you’ve just squished a big, juicy blueberry in your mouth. Perfect. Needless to say, we took some home.
On the way home, we stopped at a winery we love – Flag Hill. Last time we were in New Hampshire, I didn’t knit, and clearly didn’t notice the farm selling yarn and roving right down the road. So, we stopped at Riverslea Farm too. 🙂 Found some great roving and yarn.
Overall, a really great trip! It was nice to get away from our snow and see someone else’s snow.

For more photos, click on to this Flickr photo set.

Midway up Mount Washington

The Snow Coach

Husband in his snowshoes

Cold River Vodka

2009 Knitting, Socks, Spinning

2009 Knitting Resolutions – Wrap up

By Sheetar 9 January 2010 9 January 2010

2009 is over and gone, and I’m going to check through my list and see how I’ve done.

1. Clear the WIP queue from last year by the end of the month.
There’s still one outstanding WIP from 2008 in my queue, but otherwise, I did pretty well on the clean-up! We’ll consider this one not complete, but close, right?

2. Knit two sweaters this year.
I got one! I blogged about that one here, and got a good start on the second one, but haven’t yet finished it. Hopefully soon.

3. Knit one pair of socks per month.
Oh boy did I EVER do this one. And I think I deserve a HUGE GOLD STAR. Because I’m awesome.

I knitted a few socks this year. Here are my official 12 per the year, but the total count is 19 pairs *finished* this year (some were started in 2008). The links below are to flickr and the original post on my blog.

1. January flickr – blog	2. February flickr– blog	3. March flickr– blog
4. April flickr– blog	5. May flickr– blog	6. June flickr– blog
7. July flickr– blog	8. August flickr– blog	9. September flickr– blog
10. October flickr– blog	11. November flickr– blog	12. December flickr– blog

4. Spin four ounces of roving per month.
I might not have gotten them all in on the right month, but here we have it! Some of those are 8 ounces, so I don’t have 12 photos, but there are more than enough ounces to count at least four for every month of the year. Yes, I realize October is missing, but there are two entries for March, so the math works out in the end, yes? Yes.

1. Jan/Feb blog	2. Jan/Feb blog	3. March Flickr
4. June/July blog	5. June/July blog	6. August blog
7. September blog	8. May blog	9. March blog
10. November blog	11. December blog

5. Dye more yarn and roving.
Oh yeah. Did that. Hosted a dye-day at my house with the local Stitch n’ Bitch and it was super fun.

6. Knit at least one pair of stranded socks.
Nope. Not even a little. I really over-extended myself this past year.

7. Finish holiday gift knitting throughout the year instead of all at once in December!
I guess I got this one? Sorta cheated since I only did one item for one person. It’s so hard knitting gifts when there are five sisters-in-law to knit for. I’ve opened up next year for requests, so we’ll see what happens.

8. Participate in another test knit.
Yep. A few of them. I think three total?

9. Work on an original pattern.
*buzzer* Not even a little bit. It was a nice idea though?

The tally comes to five out of nine. I think the list for 2010 is going to be more conservative. More on that later, while I think up some goals to set.

2009 Knitting, Socks, Spinning

December Knitting Wrap-up

By Sheetar 6 January 2010 7 February 2012

December (and all of 2009) is gone and it’s time to update on the knitting resolutions.

3. Knit one pair of socks per month

Hanging Vines of Envy
Pattern: Hanging Vines
Designer: Kelly Porpiglia
Needles: US 1 (2.25mm)
Yarn: Sheepy Time Yarns Sheepy Feet in, “Green Eyed Monster,” from the Sheepy Time Knits December 2009 Club
–Ravelry Project Link–
There was just no excuse for this one to be anything than what it is. It’s the December colorway since I’m a speshul snowflake, and thus, these socks had to be knitted. They’d been in my queue for a while and when this yarn popped out of the mailbox, I KNEW, just knew what the yarn was destined to be. Not a super-easy knit, challenging enough that I wasn’t bored, but I definitely needed the chart the whole way through. The results are very much worth it and I’m totally jazzed about how they came out.

4. Spin four ounces of roving per month.
I made up for last month and covered this month too.

This is 8 ounces of Handspun alpaca. The roving comes from Black Diamond Alpacas, a local gal who sends the fiber from her animals to be processed together. The names of the alpacas used in this blend were even on the label which is just too cute. Unfortunately, the fiber was REALLY dirty and I think it’s probably from an oil or grease used during the process that draws out the roving to keep the fuzz from flying. It washed out (after four rinses), and I’m rather happy with the results. I ended up with about a worsted weight, approximately 350 yards. This wasn’t so much a spin for a specific project, but I’m thinking a pair of thrummed mittens may be in order.

And that’s all I’ve got. I have to get a few posts together this month for a resolutions wrap up as well as a 2010 resolutions (*gasp* 2010?! DID I JUST SAY THAT?!).

2009 Knitting, Socks

November Knitting Wrap-up

By Sheetar 7 December 2009 7 February 2012

November is gone and it’s time to update on the knitting resolutions.

3. Knit one pair of socks per month

Plain Old Socks
Pattern: None – plain Stockinette socks
Designer: Me?
Needles: US 1 (2.25mm)
Yarn: My Handspun from dkKnits Superfluff roving in, “Shooting Star”
–Ravelry Project Link–
I had so much fun spinning up the yarn and then knitting the socks. The yarn is a basic fingering weight yarn that was spun on my SpinOlution Mach I and then navajo plied. I broke the yarn at the heel and started from the other end of the ball so that the color progressions on the leg and instep would be continuous. Yeah, it’s a few more ends to weave in, but. Look at that! Becky always does such a fabulous job with colors.

4. Spin four ounces of roving per month.
See above – the yarn was finished spinning about mid month. Then it jumped in front of everything and decided to become socks.

2. Knit two sweaters this year.
Still working on this. I really hope to be done with the second by the end of the month, but I’m just not sure that will happen.

I’m really looking forward to January so that I can post a big follow-up to this year’s resolutions and set another batch for next year. There are going to be some good ones, I can just feel it. Also looking forward to lining up all 12 photos of socks from this year and patting myself on the back a whole bunch of times. Speaking of which, I should probably start the pair for this month, huh?

Socks

Socktoberfest wrap-up

By Sheetar 5 November 2009 7 February 2012

As promised, here’s the run down of the socks I knit during the month of October.

	Thrilling Jaywalkers Pattern: Jaywalker Designer: Grumperina Needles: US 1 (2.25mm) Yarn: Wollmeise Sockenwolle 100% superwash in colorway, “Thriller” –Ravelry Project Link– Still my favorite out of them all. The yarn has already proven to wear like iron and the socks are comfortable too. And, the colors are just so Halloween, you’ve gotta love it.
	Mystery Sock Pattern: Mystery Sock ’09 Designer: Kristen Kapur Needles: US 2 (2.75mm) Yarn: BMFA Socks That Rock Lightweight in, “Scum Bubble” –Ravelry Project Link– This is the first mystery sock knit-along I’ve participated in and it was a ton of fun. I’d feverishly knit each new clue the day it was released, giving me time to knit other things during the week (you know, like, more socks). The colorway is SO awesome and I’m happy with how it worked in the pattern as well. Yum. Scummy socks. Love it.
	Diamond Rib Lace Sock Pattern: Diamond Rib Lace Sock Designer: Kathleen Taylor Needles: US 1 (2.25mm) Yarn: Twisted Fiber Art Kabam! in, “Minstrel” –Ravelry Project Link– Isn’t that dye job incredible? Gotta hand it to Meg, she’s just a genius. The sock pattern was originally meant to be a child’s sock, but with a small amount of tweaking, it sized up very easily to an adult’s sock! And, I LOVE LOVE LOVE that zig-zag eyelet running down the leg as well as the cuff.
	Make-Up Sox Pattern: Make-up Sox Designer: Kristen Kapur Needles: US 1 (2.25mm) Yarn: dkKnits Technicolor Bounce in, “Teacher Teak” –Ravelry Project Link– These are toe-up which isn’t really a favorite of mine to knit, but the pattern is really so gorgeous (and the name so cute) that I really couldn’t leave them out. The yarn is just the perfect color and SO cozy – it’s a great match!

2009 Knitting, Socks

October Knitting Wrap-up

By Sheetar 2 November 2009 7 February 2012

It’s that time once again. This month absolutely FLEW by, so it’s time once again to update progress on my knitting resolutions.

3. Knit one pair of socks per month

Thrilling Jaywalkers
Pattern: Jaywalker
Designer: Grumperina
Needles: US 1 (2.25mm)
Yarn: Wollmeise Sockenwolle 100% superwash in colorway, “Thriller”
–Ravelry Project Link–
This project is part of Socktoberfest, a celebration of knitting socks in October. I managed to knit up four whole pairs of socks for Socktoberfest, but these are definitely my favorites. Squishy and BRIGHT, plus the colors are just perfect for Halloween. These are modeled by Abbie at the Fonthill Castle.

4. Spin four ounces of roving per month.
This just didn’t happen. I maybe got in about an ounce, but I spent the whole month knitting socks and really doing nothing much else.

That’s really it for the knitting resolutions this month. I’ll put together a post later this week going over all the Socktoberfest knitting!

2009 Knitting, Socks, Spinning, Sweaters

September Knitting Wrap-up

By Sheetar 1 October 2009 7 February 2012

YES! September is already over – can you even believe it? The weather got cool so quickly, I feel like fall just came around and slapped me in the face with a wet trout. Or assaulted me with acorns. No wait, that was the squirrels. Anyway, on to the knitting!

Just going back, again, to the Knitting Resolutions.

3. Knit one pair of socks per month

Twisted Flower Socks
Pattern: Twisted Flower Sock
Designer: Cookie A.
Needles: US 1.5 (2.5mm)
Yarn: Madelinetosh Tosh Sock
–Ravelry Project Link–

Still going strong on the one pair per month goal. These were rather challenging in that there were a lot of twisted stitches, cables, and I had to pay attention on every row, but the result is a gorgeous pair of socks that I’m proud to have conquered. These came together in a trip to Loop in Philadelphia, on a whim, and just ended up being the pair-of-the-month. Dear friend Abbie graciously modelled them for me.

4. Spin four ounces of roving per month.

I got this one too! That is some lovely alpaca from dkKnits in the colorway, “Wheat Fields” and I’m just dying over how soft it is. This is the first time I’ve spun alpaca and it was like butter through the fingers – a very enjoyable spin! We came out to 400 yards from the 4oz of fiber which makes it fingering weight. Not sure what this will become just yet, but I’m sure it’ll let me know someday.

2. Knit two sweaters this year.

Wicked Sweater
Pattern: Wicked!
Designer: Sarah & Rachel
Needles: US 6 (4mm)
Yarn: dkKnits extrafine superwash merino squish
–Ravelry Project Link–

IT’S DONE! One sweater down and one to go. This blocked out perfectly and the color is just spectacular – it looks much more incredible in person. The yarn is soft and squishy and really easy to work with, not to mention, again, the incredible custom dye job that Becky put together for me. I’ll probably be wearing this to Rhinebeck, so if you see me, come say hello!

To wrap this all up, Socktoberfest begins today and I’m all prepared to cast on for a mystery sock. There are four total socks that I’ll be doing this socktoberfest, so wish me luck!