Eight Little Loops of Yarn

Do you see the six loops of yarn around the crochet hook? That represents an hour of effort. 

And, despite an hour of effort and multiple attempts, it's not the right number of loops. I'm fairly confident that the loops I do have are looping the right way and doing the right thing...but I'm going to have to start over yet again if I want to get through the cast on and onto the knitting part.

The Magic Circle Cast on is hugely popular and probably everyone but me knows how to do it...but I don't and I can't and the whole point of Sock Madness is to learn new tricks, but my fingers aren't dexterous enough for this and the whole doing a right hand thing left handed, which is almost never a problem with my knitting, is kicking my butt today. (I did find a video showing the cast on left handed if you need the same thing I did.)

I'm not on an actual team this year so no one is going to enforce rules against me if I use a different cast on. Do I let eight little loops of yarn stop me from going any further? It sounds like such a silly little thing, but after trying to get those loops to loop, I can assure you that it's not as easy as it sounds.

Smock Madness and Snakes

My single sock was done in time to qualify me as a Sock Madness cheerleader. That's the best I could hope for this year, and it means that I'll keep getting the patterns and be able to learn new skills along with everyone else. 

The sun was shining enough for me to open all of the windows and to take pictures outside. (Those little smocks are HARD to get clear pictures of!)

And it's warm enough for the local wildlife to cross paths with the teenage boys and my knitting...

Slow Smocked Socks

I don't know why I'm knitting so slowly these days. Smock Madness is going much more quickly than Finding the Yellow Brick Road, but it didn't seem like I could possibly get them done in two weeks even under the best circumstances. This past week hasn't been the best circumstances.

I'd forgotten about the Sock Madness cheerleaders. As long as I can get the first sock done (properly) by the deadline, I'll keep receiving the patterns and can keep knitting along. I just won't be in the official competition.

Half a foot an a toe in four days. That should be easy.... Any other time it would be easy....

Smock Madness

I don't know if there's any chance that I'll finish these before the deadline, but I'm going to keep knitting and see what happens. 

Pattern: Smock Madness

Yarn: Drops Fabel 

I hadn't done smocked knitting before. It's reasonably easy and looks pretty once it's stretched. Just hanging from the needles, it didn't pucker nearly enough to get the right effect. 

Plenty of Time...

I keep hearing that we've got plenty of time to knit this pair of socks before the deadline, but each round takes absolutely forever. I've got it down from twenty minutes a round to a little over ten minutes. That's an improvement, but I'm not sure it's enough of one.

On the bright side, I'm loving this yarn -- Knitpicks Hawthorne, Sauvie Island. It looks questionable in the skein but in this stitch pattern it's gorgeous and completely lives up to the manufacturer's description of "woodsmoke drifting over a pumpkin patch."

And speaking of green trees and pumpkin patches, if I was trying to match up yarn and a book I couldn't do any better than combing this one with Bitter Harvest by Wendy Tyson.



I picked this book to read because of its gorgeous cover. The first few paragraphs immediately pulled me into the world of Megan Sawyer and her farm, Washington Acres, and I didn't read the rest almost straight through. The characters are fully developed and their conflicts are believable. I haven't read the first book in the series (yet), but I didn't feel at all lost.  There's one reference to Megan's land that's obviously from the first book, but not knowing what was going on there didn't detract at all from my enjoyment of this one. I highly recommend Bitter Harvest.



The Trophy Child by Paula Daly promises a glimpse behind the scenes in a family dominated by an obsessive tiger mother type. But Karen Bloom is really only focused on the success of one of her children. Even before tragedy strikes, things in the Bloom household aren't as perfect as they appear on the surface. The plot twists and turns in some mildly entertaining but improbable ways, concluding with a revelation that still has me puzzled. I enjoyed the author's previous book, Just What Kind of Mother Are You? more.



Based on the book's description, I was hoping that Kneaded to Death by Winnie Archer would help me learn more about the Mexican pastries our family has been enjoying so much lately. (I probably need to find myself a cookbook.)  It's the background that motivates me to pick up a new cozy series. There is a lot of focus on the cooking classes, but it wasn't quite what I was expecting. The mystery is complicated, but it all manages to tie together. I'm hoping that a couple of characters who really intrigued me will make an appearance in future books.

Disclosure -- I was provided with an advance review copies by the publishers. All opinions are my own. This post is linked to Patchwork Times, Yarn Along, Crazy Mom Quilts , Wrap up Friday  

Invitation to the Dance

 Pattern: Invitation to the Dance   Yarn: Knitpicks Stroll (Dogwood Heather and Ash)

Sock Madness 11 has started! I was hoping to get the warm up pair finished before the first round's pattern became available. Then I got sick and decided that it wasn't worth making myself crazy over since this pair is optional, then I started feeling better...and I got them done by the skin of my teeth.

My favorite thing about Sock Madness is that it makes me push myself. In order for the pair to qualify, it has to be knit exactly as the pattern is written. Which means I not only tackled the colorwork, I also  kitchnered my toes and did an eye of partridge heel. AND got them done in time.

As soon as this is posted, I'm casting on for the Round One socks, Twisted Madness. Ever since I downloaded the pattern this morning, I've been shifting between "That looks do-able" and "I don't know how to do that..."

Wish me luck!

{Sock Madness} The First Night

My favorite thing about Sock Madness last year was that it forced me to learn some new techniques. This year it looks like the first one is going to be colorwork.

Seriously, why didn't anyone ever tell me that instead of holding both yarns I could do the round with one color first (slipping the stitches of the opposite color) and then go around again with the second color? I could've made the We Call Them Pirates hat years ago!

I Did It!

My round two socks are done and I can't tell you how giddy I am to have these finished before the deadline. 

That beaded cast on was absolutely brutal and then, after I'd finished the cast on for the second sock and knew I could mange the legs and heels and toes, I got hit by a headache that would not go away. It would fade a bit and I'd knit a few rows and it'd flare back up. I lost days to the beaded cast on and days to the headache. Thank goodness they weren't the same days or I'd be ready to be fitted for a nice snug straitjacket.

The socks are done and they fit and yup, that's a spider. I didn't notice him until after I'd uploaded the pictures...and taken the socks inside and put them  on my feet for those pictures. I kind of hope he didn't come inside with me. I'm sure he would have been much happier outside and not in here crawling up the inside of my jeans.   shudder

Pattern: Rose and Thorn Socks by Ronni Smith
Yarn: Knitpicks Hawthorne Fingering, Belmont

Sixty-Some More Rows...

I should have been able to finish these socks yesterday or maybe the day before, but my head been throbbing for the past few days and I've only been able to manage a few rows at a time. The slots for round three are filling up fast and if my blood thinners (which keep me from taking the ibuprofen that I'm pretty sure would make me function again) keep me from moving on to round three, I'm going to be one ticked off knitter.

Halfway through the second foot, it's starting to look like I might make it.

It was the cover copy that made me pick up The Visitor by Amanda Stevens.  Here it is, from Amazon:

My name is Amelia Gray. I'm the Graveyard Queen.

Restoring lost and abandoned cemeteries is my profession, but I'm starting to believe that my true calling is deciphering the riddles of the dead. Legend has it that Kroll Cemetery is a puzzle no one has ever been able to solve. For over half a century, the answer has remained hidden within the strange headstone inscriptions and intricate engravings. Because uncovering the mystery of that tiny, remote graveyard may come at a terrible price.

Years after their mass death, Ezra Kroll's disciples lie unquiet, their tormented souls trapped within the walls of Kroll Cemetery, waiting to be released by someone strong and clever enough to solve the puzzle. For whatever reason, I'm being summoned to that graveyard by both the living and the dead. Every lead I follow, every clue I unravel brings me closer to an unlikely killer and to a destiny that will threaten my sanity and a future with my love, John Devlin.

I didn't realize at first that this is the fourth book in a series. Although I was obviously missing out on a lot of backstory, the book stood well on its own. The creepy atmosphere pulled me right in.

Disclosure - The publisher provided me with a review copy. 

I Don't Want to and You Can't Make Me, But...

The second round of Sock Madness started on Sunday and I almost dropped out after reading the pattern. That cast on, which is Judy's Magic Cast On with beads thrown in, looked brutal.

If I was making these socks on my own I'd do something different. But for Sock Madness, we're required to knit the patterns as written. While knitting the first pair, I learned a new toe and a new heel and did a slip stitch pattern with two colors for the first time in years. They're not my favorite socks ever, but I enjoyed the challenge. I'd enjoy this pair too, if I could manage to get started!

After most of the day and lots of encouragement with my team mates, I'd managed this. I think it's right, but I won't know for sure until I knit another two dozen rows and join the part I've been knitting to the live stitches with the beads.

What do you do...Avoid patterns that are obviously over your head? Learn new things so that you can make projects exactly as the designer intended? Simplify it so that you can do the part that appeals to you?

SlipStripeSpiral

Pattern: SlipStripeSpiral
Yarn: Paton's Kroy (Summer Moss Jaquard) and Knitpicks Stroll (Forest Heather)

I love the way the stitch pattern creates a plaid look. What I don't love is the color combination. After seeing the pretty socks that other Sock Madness competitors were knitting, I could think of half a dozen other yarn choices from my own stash that would have been better. But by then I was halfway up the fist foot and  not about to start over.

It's not obvious from the pictures, but these socks have proper toes. I'd tried a similar technique before and just couldn't get it to work, but these were a lot easier than I expected. I'll be using that cast on again. The heels are a short row technique I'd never used, the Sweet Tomato Heel. I'm a lot less enthusiastic about that one.

These socks were knit in seven days. Not a personal record I don't think -- I've made faster progress on long road trips -- but for learning new techniques and working with more than one color, I was pretty impressed with myself.

I took a picture each night before bed to keep track of my progress:

I'd hoped that Sock Madness would help get me out of this rut I've fallen into. It worked, but now I'm not sure what to do with myself until round two starts next week.

What Madness Looks Like

Sock Madness is in full swing over on Ravelry. I've never done this before and I'm still not quite sure what I've gotten myself into, but I'm making fast progress on my first pair of socks and taking a picture each night before bed. 

Here's what I had done as of Friday morning...

The pattern calls for two fifty gram skeins of yarn, so I pulled out one of those single skeins I didn't know what to do with now that my little boys have big feet and and cast on with a solid green yarn that didn't look like it would clash too badly.  Hubby was scheduled to work a lot of overtime this week and I wanted to knit while the knitting was good. The self-striping yarn would be pretty on its own, but the dark green contrast color was a poor choice. I've got ugly Christmas sweater socks going here.

But I'm using up a single skein that wouldn't have used otherwise and learning a new toe and heel, so I'm not complaining.