Washing Machine vs. Socks

My washing machines eat socks? This is the great sock vs. Washing machine war the socks have never won. Now that I'm knitting $Pricey$ socks this may have to change. For many years now I have been collecting single socks, figuring that when I find only one sock in the dryer eventually the other one will show up and I will just go to the one sock bin and will find the mate.

I'm the only one who uses the my laundry, I'm very possessive with my washing machines. Yes I have two, because the old one got demoted to washing dirty dirty stuff like rugs and rags etc. and the new one is for our clothing. I do not let my dear husband wash because his white tee shirts turn pink and same goes for the maid.

I allow her to iron and put clothes in the dryer but not to touch MY washing machine! After many a times maids have shoved way too many things in the machine and overloaded, turned the knob some weird way and broken machines, I have found if anybody is to break this machine it will be me. This way I won't be blaming others which sometimes I've been known to do. If our underwear turns pink or pale green I will try and convice my husband that is the latest and besides it's underwear who will see it? As long as their clean who cares if they are pink or a nice shade of green.

When the one sock bin is about a year old (depending on the season of course) and chuck full of one socks I finally give in and toss them and start the whole process all over again. Carefully separate the wash according to color and gender, and throw it in the machine carefully selecting the proper soap and temperature and off it goes, then I throw it in the dryer and at the end I usually end up with one lonely sock.

They disappear! Where do they go? I've looked behind the machine in the filter bin but no they just simply disappear! I know this does not make any sense and it has baffled me for many years but it is true. Either the machine eats them or those pesky gremlins come over and steal them because they love mismatched socks.

Help I can't stop....

I can't seem to stop knitting socks! Yet another pair, this one camouflage in case I'm in combat. You never know it's a jungle out there!



I knit tight stitches and there are no holes here! Used 5 tiny needles size 2 and just knit like a "Whirling Dervish".



Yes I made 2!



The yarn is Blue Moon Fiber Arts "Socks that Rock" 100% superwash merino lightweight wool. Nice and warm and soooo soft and comfy. Thank you Brandi! It was a gift and it came from one of my local yarn stores Wildfiber. About $25 dollars for 360 yds. But maybe I could have gotten the yarn slightly cheaper online right from the Blue Moon site but it was instant gratification and by the time I would have paid for the shipping it would have cost the same.

You can never have too many socks and yes most of them are $Pricey$. But heaven to wear!

Candice Bergen at the Emmy's

This one I just can not let this one go without a comment, Candice Bergen WHY?

Who dressed you? Were there no mirrors?

Candice is so pretty and is one of my favorites, usually elegant and classy but somehow last night at the Emmy's she was fugly.

What I love about Sockmaking....

- I love that you can never have too many of them, so I can just keep making them.
- I love how portable they are as a knitting project.
- I love that they are finished quickly.
- I love that I don't need that much yarn to knit a pair.
- I love that I can make up all kinds of patterns and figure out new techniques.
- I love how I never seem to get tired of making them.
- I love wearing handknit socks that fit me like a glove.
- I love how they feel.
- I love that you can gain or lose weight and your socks still fit.
- I love the colors that look good on your feet that would not look good next to your face

- I love .........

Let me know what you love about hand knitting socks?

I don't have the patience for that....

Frequently, when I'm stopped in public by someone who has seen me knitting or wearing one of my knitted garments, they often ask me, how do you have the patience to do that? Especially when I'm knitting thin yarn on very small needles!

This is a total misconception you see handcrafts are not for the patient, the people who can sit idle with their hands still and do nothing. It's the impatient members of society, those whose hands twitch when we're forced to sit in a doctor's office or waiting for anything.....

You see to me these idle moments are opportunities to create. The utltimate "multitasking" is doing two or three things at the same time. The bonus is getting a pair of socks at the end and not just some old socks but socks that fit like a "glove" and socks that feel define! There is nothing as delicious for the feet as wearing a pair of hand knit sox.

Sometimes though I actually do sit and just knit for the pure pleasure of knitting, but those are times when I need some "down" winding times from all the stress and the buzz of the day. I've actually heard somebody remark that knitting was the new Yoga! Oh yeah it was a new knitter up on Montana in Santa Monica and she also said that the new black was navy blue!





I had yarn left over from this project, now I have a matching set but I do promise never to wear them together! Too much matching make me twitch.

Sea Sock Cruise.....

Yes folks we are going to knit socks on the high seas!

Socks Rock!

Sea Sock Cruise!




If you are interested in more information there is a blog:

Sea Socks Cruise & Yarn Expedition

What's a blog without a dog?

I have been having problems uploading pictures with my preferred browser Safari, it's worked like a charm and now it doesn't. Those pesky gremlins! But after years of using computers I've gotten used to these unexpainable phenomenas! (That's probably so gramatically incorrect, but ....:-)

I downloaded Firefox, and like magic it works, so from now on if I want to post with pictures I'm guessing I better use Firefox. When I get used to a certain browser it is uncomfortable to change, but I must say Firefox transferred all of my bookmarks very elegantly, so maybe this browser might be ok.

Oh the dog, he is cute isn't he? "Mac" a Lhasa Apso & Silky Terrier Mix, but look out he Bites! Hates everybody! His bark is so loud that he could wake up the dead! But it's his sister who rules the house! Pifi his sister is smaller and does not bite and seems like the most gentle animal on the planet, regulates her brother.

She is the alpha dog and would like to be the alpha of the household and I must admit sometimes she is the top dog. She certainly has us wrapped around her little paws. Yes she demands and we jump! Go figure, it's so wrong to spoil them but we do it with great pleasure!



See her sitting in my "knitting" chair? Yes I actually have a "knitting" chair, this is a designer chair my husband rescued from the swap meet. He bought it for $3 dollars! But it needed some tender loving care, so he reupholstered it for me in red leather! Never mind that the 3 dollar chair is now up to $200. I love the chair! It sits very low and has a slight slant towards the back and the backrest hits just at my lower back for that "back" support. Great addition to my knitting tools!
@

$$ Pricey $ocks...

I've gotten a lot of eMails asking me where I bought that expensive yarn and needles.

At one of my LYS (Local Yarn Shop)... Wildfiber in Santa Monica and it's a lovely shop and Mel is sort of nice and she has some lovely yarn but yes the price$ are pricey.



Mel the owner is currently featured in the Vogue Knitting Magazine:



Mel and Tracy Ullman have published a new knitting book, not out yet but coming soon. Mel wrote all the patterns and Tracy does the hype. Perfect....

Wildfibers is just one of the yarn stores that I frequent, simply because they are located so conveniently in my path, just down the street from the CoOp where I shop at least once a week. You know one of those markets where you see a lot of people wearing "Birkenstock" sandals, yoga mats and various "weirdnesses", but they are "organic". They have some products that I like and believe it or not the prices at the CoOp are cheaper than other stores. (I have to save money somewhere to afford expensive over priced yarn.... priorities ....

Wildfiber's have a lovely selection of high end yarn but at a lovely mark up and high price$. Now for the friendliness......

Don't even get me started on this one, yarn shops are bizarre because in most shops you can sit down and knit for a spell or browse the book sections and touch the yarns ask for help etc. Now how friendly they are I guess depends on how the owner sets it up. Some are much friendlier than others.

I found that if they totally do not know you at Wildfibers they will just collect your money and want you to go as soon as possible. Now if somehow they see something you've knitted according to your skill level they if they deem you to be an expert knitter or just a novice scarf knitter is how they will talk to you. They have been sort of friendly enough but with a kind of "you really don't belong here" attitude.

After all we are an exclusive shop, we have movie stars clients etc. etc. but after a few visits we will tolerate you. But still I can't seem to stay away, they do have a wide variety of yarns and needles often sizes and brands not carried at other shops and they are geographically conveniently located.

I will review L'Atelier which is another yarn store located in Santa Monica, on the she she Montana strip.

And by the way this current issue of Vogue Knitting Magazine has a lovely section of Socks, guess what sock knitting is in! Just in time, I started knitting socks, I am so relieved to know that sock knitting is in. Socks do Rock.

The needles are:


Blue Sky Five Inch Double Points. Sets of five petite wooden needles come in a nice little tin. Surina wood is from the Lal Kohla (Elegant Tree) in India.

The ad tells me that:

Highly trained and skilled artisans craft this strong, lightweight, flexible wood into exceptional knitting needles. A lustrous polish is given to the smooth wood, enhancing the superb grain without the use of any harmful chemicals.

Now these are interesting, when I first started knitting with them, I really did not like them they were splitting at the tip but still had a nice "pointy" tip so I took my nail file and gave them a little help and since then I love them. They are $$$

Socks Rock

I love knitting socks! But what I love more than that is wearing them!

This is my summer sock, just a little shortie made of 100% cotton. Love the colors and love the way it feel wearing them with my colorful Crocks.

I have now knit about 5 pairs so I'm getting better handling the "sticks"



I like to use 5 little 5" needles. I got a new set:



Knitting is not a cheap hobby, two sets of needles and two balls of cotton yarn.

Summer top "Lepke"

All original pattern, actually I just started knitting and kind of built it as I went. Rayon yarn, easy and loose and lots of holes for those hot hot days of summer. And it really goes well with my Parrot vest.

I actually feel pretty good about this one it fits great and feels good. The yarn I used is from Blue Heron and it's verigated and has some gold specks, kind of shimmers as you move. I felt that making the whole thing of this "shiny" gold shimmery was a bit much so I also used a rayon yarn I got on Ebay it's a couple of shades of gold one is darker. Then I just started knitting and built it as I went along.

Tried it on, then I knit some, tried it on again and then I knit some more. I knit part of it on my Brother Bulky knitting machine, then took it off the machine and hand knit part of it, then put it on a circular needle and knit the bottom. Just for good measure I crochet an edge in the front to weigh it down a little. It is shorter in the back then the front, because I feel more comfortable with the garment this way. When I wear it with my vest the hip area is flatter, it stops at the waist. The front where my tummy is there is more room, for that tummy syndrome of old age.

Finished a Modified Mermaid "The Parrot"

I call it "The Parrot" because I really like to give each project a name. For several reasons, one that when I refer to a project I know which I'm talking about to a knitting friend. It's much easier to say "The Parrot" then the brownish orange thing etc..




The original desing is Hanne Falkenberg's "Mermaid" and I heavily modified it.

The most obvious modification is that it does not have sleeves. So it's a vest not a sweater, then I made it in a 100% cotton fiber. Also there is an extra short row panel in the front, and just for good measure and a bit of crochet edge. Pinned together with my favorite bakelite broche and voila! "The Parrot" is done.



For the summer it is lightweight and soft and comfy.

(in case you are not familiar with the "Mermaid" by Hanne Falkenberg you can see the design here:
http://www.knit.dk/mermaid2.htm )

Finished in record time and it was a great knit. Shish that was so much fun, I want to do it again.

This one I'm calling the Blue Parrot.

"The Parrot"

I'm Half done!