Bloggiversary

Blogging on a regular basis is hard. And feels a bit like shouting down a well. But because I believe that it will get easier with time, and because I've just discovered that my sister-in-law's bloglist labels me a knitting goddess (who knew?), I've decided to keep at it for another year. My goal will be to publish a post every weekend. I think I can do that. Unless we go away for the weekend...

Speaking of which, we went away for the weekend just before Christmas. The family get-together was severely interrupted by the weather, and I learned a valuable lesson about the place to which we are planning to retire, to wit,

this:

results in this:

Or put another way, being holed up in a motel room watching a blizzard, while not conducive to visiting relatives, does result in the completion of ones first pair of argyles. At least in my case.

I vowed to learn how to knit argyle socks over the summer, but didn't actually get around to it until this fall. Since my brother-in-law volunteered to be a guinea pig, he got the first pair for Christmas.

Yarn: Knit Picks Essential fingering weight, in Navy, Ash (looking tan instead of grey in the photo for some reason), Dusk, and Burgundy

Knit Picks was the only place I could find solid colors of sock yarn. The yarn was lovely to knit with, and knit up very smooth, warm, and soft. I am used to sock yarns with a lot of twist, so my brother-in-law is on notice to let me know if they don't wear well.

It took me entirely too long to realize that the Rule of Pull Skeins does not apply to this yarn. Instead of finding the outside loose end tucked in and pulling the yarn from the center of the other side, for this yarn you pull from the same end the outside yarn was tucked into. As a result of my failure to recognize a trend, I managed to eviscerate nearly every skein used in the completion of these socks.

Pattern: Leisure Arts' Argyle Socks

Mods:

• used the same color for both cross lines, instead of two different colors (I had enough trouble coming up with these colors; it's not my strong point);
• changed all the k1, sl 1, PSSO 's to SSK's;
• refused to wind bobbins, preferring to have my minions unwind the skeinish tangles a la Franklin Habit's wonderful cartoon in It Itches.

I did measure and cut the burgundy lines, I'm not crazy. But they're knit in, not duplicate stitch added later. I considered that option, since the pattern offers it, but my mom (my consultant since she made more than a few pairs back in the day) was appalled by the prospect.

It was so much fun I've cut the pattern down to my size and am knitting myself a pair in grey with blue and red diamonds and navy lines. I'm especially charmed by finally managing to continue mattress stitch from stockinette into ribbing while maintaining its lovely invisibility. I just wish I knew how I finally did it. It just clicked. I hope it stays clicked.

What in the world is that?

Why, it's a Dalek. What's a Dalek? I really have no idea. Something in the Dr. Who universe, which means that practically any member of three generations of my immediate family could tell you more about it than I could. My brother-in-law commented that his new kitchen sink had a faucet that looked like a Dalek, and sister J asked if I could knit something to make it look even more like one. Thanks to Google Image Search, I discovered what Daleks look like, and knit this up.

This was my first attempt at beaded knitting, the version where you actually string the beads on the yarn. I learned to always order more beads than you need, because some of them will be too wonky to string. Other than that, it was a blast.

Yarn: Patons Brilliant in Marvelous Mocha
Needles: #5 dpns (which I have since misplaced - to Daleks eat metal?)
Beads: 4mm copper shiny rounds from eebeads.com
Pattern: measured faucet, measured gauge, made it up as I went along. Mostly k5, p1 rib to preserve the paneled look of your fashion-conscious Dalek.