YO! Jaywalkers!

There comes a time in this knitter's life when it becomes necessary to knit another pair of Jaywalkers. They were my first socks, so in some sense I feel they are likely to be among my most frequently knit socks.

Pattern: Jaywalker by Grumperina
Yarn: Regia 4fadig Mini Ringel Color (75% wool, 25% nylon), colorway 5216, two skeins
Needles: two 12" US 1 (2.5 mm) Addi Turbo circs
Started/Completed: May 19/May 27
Mods: I used YOs instead of k f/b for the increases and eliminated the slipped stitches on the side of the instep through the foot

These were not the most pleasurable to knit, the Regia being among the scratchier sock yarns I've used, but I know they will wear well and soften nicely in the wash, so I put up with the callouses they caused for a few days. I've never been a huge fan of the knit-front-and-back increase, so I decided to try something a little different this time around. I think I might like the look of these better than the normal Jaywalkers, and they were certainly easier on the hands to knit.

This next shot is for Melissa, just so she can see that I can line up my stripes and make my socks match when I want to:

(Apologies for the weird shot -- I discovered that it's rather difficult to take a picture of your feet while sitting sideways on a hammock and not fall off.)

Thank you all for your extremely nice comments on The Mister's sweater. I actually caught him on the blog the other day reading all the comments, and he was clearly tickled by your compliments! Having knit this sweater twice now, I'm fully convinced that it's a genius pattern, and I can assure you that you haven't seen the last of the Seamless Hybrid! I may need a small break before the next one, but I'm thinking that my father will be getting one this winter and perhaps I can convince The Mister that he needs one in a brighter color, too.

I didn't want to post a photo here and risk spoiling anyone's surprise, but the May Rockin' Sock Club shipment arrived yesterday with some truly stunning yarn in it. You can see it here and here, if you like. Its arrival was icing on the cake yesterday -- we officially sold our house! I celebrated by spending most of the evening at my wheel, finishing up my first yarn in quite some time. I'll show that to you just as soon as it's dry and I can do a proper photo shoot.

I hope you are all having a great weekend!

Return of The Blob

It's back -- the sweater masquerading as the Blob:

There are two circular needles and two dpns in that pile of wool. It's officially reached that stage where it's too cumbersome to move around, so it will stay on this couch until it's done.

The good news is that it should be done in a matter of hours! I'm halfway through the second saddle shoulder, and then all that's left is the back "saddle," the neckband, grafting the underarms, and weaving in a few ends. With any luck, I'll finish the knitting today and be able to block it this weekend (just in time to pack it away for the movers!).

I feel guilty showing you nothing but drab gray stockinette, so here's a little color, the Jaywalker I finished yesterday.

This is self-striping Regia; I'd forgotten how unpleasant it is to work with -- just too rough and scratchy. But I know it does soften up upon washing, and it wears like iron, so these will be good socks.

Look for a finished Seamless Hybrid post in the next couple of days, and have a great holiday weekend!

Jaywalker Salad, Anyone?

Thank you for your comments on Trellis. I'm glad that I can help some of you out by giving you my opinions on the pattern. I know there are many people out there who really like the sewing up and finishing of sweaters; I'm just not among them. I do want to add that the pattern makes for an adorable sweater, so I hope I didn't discourage anyone -- I just want you all to know what you're getting into! For what it's worth, I'm glad I knit it, because the reaction of baby Samuel's parents when I presented the sweater to them was priceless! I have no doubt that he'll be wearing it a lot once he gets big enough.

I'm getting pretty darn close to finishing the second Pea Pod sweater -- all that's left is the second sleeve, the collar, and the seaming -- but I did finish the final pair of socks for this year, pair number 39 of 2007. I returned to one of my old stand-bys:

Pattern: Jaywalker by Grumperina (September '05 Magknits)
Yarn: Knit Picks Felici (75% superwash merino, 25% nylon), colorway Arugula, two skeins
Needles: two 12" US 1 (2.5 mm) Addi Turbo circs
Started/Completed: December 18/December 30
Mods: lengthened the cuff by 1/4"

There's not much to say about the pattern -- it's easy, it looks great, it works so well with self-striping yarn, and it fits me perfectly. Simple and satisfying.

I do want to give my two cents on this yarn. I loved it. It's quite soft, but it feels like it will be quite durable as well. It's only slightly more expensive than my regular go-to sock yarn, and in my opinion it's well worth it. I'm hoping that in the new year Knit Picks will come out with some other colorways of the Felici; right now it's only available in striping colorways.

This pair did mark an important milestone for me: For the first time, I didn't worry about the stripes on both socks matching up.

In all honesty, this was probably due more to laziness than to "letting go," because the stripe sequence is quite long and I didn't feel like cutting and having a million ends to weave in.

As usual, as soon as the ends were woven in on the second sock, I cast on for a new one. You see, I made a trip to Knit One yesterday to buy some gift yarn, but I could not resist the allure of this. It's definitely a different knitting experience, but I'm enjoying it thus far.

Finished: Another Pair of Jaywalkers

As it turns out, I may have been just a tad bit off in my estimate of how much yarn I had left for my second sock. Just a bit.


Pattern: Jaywalker by Grumperina (September 2005 MagKnits)
Yarn: Socks That Rock lightweight (100% superwash merino), colorway Lucy, one skein
Needles: two US 1 (2.5 mm*) 12" Addi Turbo circs
Started/Completed: April 28/May 11

I know you're wondering just how much yarn was really left in the end. The answer? This much:

This is about the size of the "emergency sock yarn" you get in each Rockin' Sock Club shipment -- in other words, not very much. But it was enough, and now at least I know that one skein of STR is enough to make a pair of Jaywalkers to feet my enormous feet.

There's not much to say about the pattern. Obviously it's genious and it fits me perfectly and it's one of my favorites (or else I wouldn't have knitted it so many times already). This won't be my last pair, I can promise you that.

The yarn? There's plenty to say about this yarn. It is FANTASTIC. Soft, luxurious, and fabulous color. I'm glad I have four skeins still in the stash and several more to come in club shipments. STR now ranks up there with Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock as one of my favorite sock yarns.


*It was recently pointed out to me that I've been posting the wrong size (in mm) of my Addis. I had assumed that my US 1s were the standard 2.25 mm, but on closer inspection of my needles I discovered that they're actually 2.5 mm. Leave it to the Addi folks to be different!

A Quick Update

I just got home and we have friends coming over for dinner soon, but I wanted to post a quick update a couple WIPs that you might see finished over the weekend.

First of all, Forecast is finished. It's still a tad bit damp, and it's still sans buttons, but it's done and it fits and it's wonderful. J had proclaimed it my Best Sweater Yet. Three cheers for seamless construction!

I'm also almost done with my latest pair of Jaywalkers, although I'm convinced that I'm going to run out of yarn. There's very little left and I still have an inch and a half of foot before starting the toe. Damn my big feet! I guess this pair will be one of a kind, as one sock will have a contrasting toe -- or maybe I ought to rip out the toe of the first one and make them both contrasting? Opinions, please!

Watch this space for some FO reports this weekend. Happy Friday!

80 degrees? Bring on the wool!

Spring appears to be in full force and it is HOT, especially on the third floor of my house, from which I'm blogging. It's not really the ideal condition in which to be working with wool -- but I just can't help myself. Last night I finished the second sleeve of my Forecast. All that's left is to weave in the ends (a couple of which you can see in this picture) and knit the button bands.

I'm aware that the ribbing at the bottom of the body and sleeves makes this sweater look quite mishapen; I'm planning on giving this garment a severe blocking when it's all done. I've planned for this to be a very fitted sweater, but I also want it to be able to button in front and not flare in strange places. If J is amenable, we may make a trip to Jo-Ann's this weekend to buy buttons and perhaps a zipper to finally finish off his sweater!

The two pairs of socks I have on the needles are progressing, though at drastically different rates. I don't think I've mentioned my latest pair of Jaywalkers, done in Socks That Rock. The first sock was finished shortly after returning from Chicago and the second is only a few rows away from the heel. Meanwhile, my Grasshopper socks, which I'd only just started before we went away, were frogged and restarted while waiting to board the plane because I thought they were working out too large. I did several repeats of the stitch pattern before putting it down; I'm a nervous flyer, and the p2togs are hard enough without my hands being shaky and sweaty and the plane moving around. I'll pick the sock up again once the second Jaywalker is done.

Today I had a nice surprise waiting for me when I got home, besides the gorgeous weather for the ride.

I'd ordered these on Amazon last week and received an e-mail that the box had shipped on Monday. Despite Amazon's tracking function predicting I'd receive the package next Monday, it was sitting on my doorstep today. Do you think they purposely overestimate their shipping time so that you'll be extra pleased with their service when it arrives earlier? I wonder ...

I'm taking my knitting down at least one floor, where it's cool enough to work on it.