Socktober debacle the second: Fraternal twins

I am a fraternal twin. For those of you without inclinations toward life science/biology, this means that my brother and I were formed from separate everything, not a split fertilized egg, which would give you identical twins. Don’t laugh, people ask me this stuff!

Even though I am a fraternal twin and even though I decided to make my twin a pair of socks for Christmas, I did not intend to knit fraternal twin socks.

Here is how you would knit them though, if you wanted to:

1. Knit first skein of Lorna’s Laces yarn into a sock using #2 US dpns.

2. Using the same pattern, knit second skein of Lorna’s Laces yarn into a sock using #1 US Addi Turbo circular needles.

And then, if you are me, you:

3. Realize when you come home from the mountains and compare socks that they are VERY fraternal, and fraternal is not what we’re looking for.

4. Put Addi Turbo needle in a sizer and realize that it is not the #2 you thought it was. Which explains the very bizarre pooling in Sock the Second.

5. Sigh. Mourn. Wonder why in heck you have 2 Addi’s in size #1 and what happened to that no. 2 needle?

6. Un-kitchener stitch the toe and cast on to #2US dpns just like the first sock.

This pair of socks will likely turn into fraternal-identical (Ok folks, stay with me: same egg, splits, fertlized separately) rather than identical, but that is close enough for me.

Mary at SnB made me feel better when she lovingly cooed at the first sock and said that using #2s made for a much more supple fabric, so I am resigned to being among the ranks of Socktober participants who still does not have a complete pair of socks to display…

SAFF Blogger Meetup blogroll

Here is a link to all the cool ladies - looks like they were all ladies - that we met on Saturday.

Freshground Knits (Amy)
Knitting with Dogs (Janice)
Fibremonkey (Emily)
Quiddity (Jane D.)
Knotty Girls (Jen and La)
Sticknits (Carolyn)
Urbangypz (Stacey)
PixiePurls (Brandy)
GraceKnits
Trailingyarn (Elizabeth)
Wool & Words (Anita)
Bavgirl (Claudia)
EmJay Knits (Jenny M)

And apparently, Bekka, who was a bit shy and didn’t come introduce herself!

Zag

I am moving. It seems to be taking forever. It is actually taking forever. Back in August, I had a house/cat-sitting job. Then I was going away in September, so the people living in the house said you can stay if you don’t have a lease yet. So I didn’t sign a lease. I went to Turkey, came back for 5 days, then went to DR Congo this month. Now I have finally signed a lease, but it’s been three months and my belongings have been stored or scattered.

Things were looking up, though. I moved one carload into the apartment the other day after returning from SAFF. Wednesday I will have the UHAUL truck to get the furniture moved in - although I have yet to recruit someone to help…

But in all this shifting around, it is difficult to keep track of anything. Today, that means that although I finished a pair of socks for Socktober, I can’t post the photo, because WHERE IS THE SECOND SOCK???

In lieu of that, and in light of my Jaywalker disaster, I bring you the Jaywalker-inspired Zag:

Pattern forthcoming.

SAFF summary

First off, Amy has the list up of the bloggers that we met on Saturday at SAFF!

It was great to meet everyone, and I’ll start making some rounds soon, since I haven’t seen your blogs yet.

Secondly, Amy and I took the “Natural Colors From Nature: In Our Own Backyard” workshop and learned about dyeing with leaves picked off trees and weeds picked from our yard, and alum as a mordant, as well as the value of boiling copper piping or a railroad spike.

We used only marigold heads but here is the big bag of whole plants that our teacher said would give us a greener tinge (obviously!):

Here is the yarn in pots, pokeberry and onion skins (dry photos tomorrow):

And here is a head band that our teacher knit from natural dyed yarn:

Also of interest - how much can a Monk’s Travel Satchel hold? Amy’s haul from the show:

Giganto knitted coat (note - Amy is 5′5″; do not store knitted coats on hangers…); Cute alpacas.

And look, I got an Honorable Mention for my Embossed Leaves socks!

SAFF!

Over nine months have passed since I moved to North Carolina, and I have seen little outside the Research Triangle. Mostly due to the fact that I am not a car owner.

And during this time, not only have I not seen the state in which I live, I have also missed non-NC events, namely NYS Sheep and Wool and Maryland Sheep and Wool.

This weekend, I will go to Asheville for the first time, which I am really looking forward to! Amy is going as well as S, and we will meet up with one or two other folks from our SnB at the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair.

I am bringing my spindle and a bit of fiber, some socks to knit, and a hat whose pattern should be available here on my site once I finish it. And I am thinking of entering these socks and my new purple and teal skein of homespun in the contests:

Fiber for both of these items comes from Three Waters Farm.

Also, very exciting - Amy and I are both taking a class called “Natural Colors From Nature: In Our Own Backyard.” I have a ball of plain natural white sheep roving just aching for some color!

Andean Plying

Do not do what I do.

Apparently my spinning book didn’t really make clear [or I overlooked it] the part about how you can take the yarn off every couple of winds and move it to your wrist. More like Amy’s example.

I am pleased with the final result, which worked out nicely once I got circulation back. My first plied skein!

The teal and purple sections worked out almost exactly even, and there is some variation in the fiber to natural gray, but only the last 6 inches or so turned out one color.

OK, I have a long way to go in adjusting the tightness of my twist, but I am still looking forward to making this into a hat or something. I have 95 yards or so and it should do nicely on a size 9.

Sock history

I realize that I am quite late on this post, which was from the first week of Socktober - bu my excuse is that I was in central Africa…

When did you start making socks? Did you teach yourself or were you taught by a friend or relative? or in a class?

I started making socks in 2003 when I was working for a yarn shop and discovered Melanie Falick’s Weekend Knitting. I have never taken a knitting class - I learned the basics from my mom back in the day.

What was your first pair? How have they “held up” over time?

My first pair was made from teal Koigu and was from a pattern in Weekend Knitting whose name I can’t remember right now. They were for my mom, I’ll have to ask her how they’ve held up.

What would you have done differently?

I would have knitted them on a size larger needle so they weren’t quite so snug, and I would NOT have bought so much yarn! I ended up with four skeins and I only needed two!

What yarns have you particularly enjoyed?

I love Koigu, Mountain Colors Bearfoot, and Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock, and the Regia Bamboo - and Fleece Artist, Trekking, man, the list goes on!

Do you like to crochet your socks? or knit them on DPNs, 2 circulars, or using the Magic Loop method?

I knit them on either DPNs or Magic Loop - but one sock at a time, unlike my mom, who does two at a time with Magic Loop. For a while I was die hard about the circulars, but recently I have reverted to DPNs as well.

Which kind of heel do you prefer? (flap? or short-row?)

Definitely flap - it provides more room for my ankle when I put the socks on. Though it’s the kind I have been using for years, so maybe I just need more short row heel practice…

How many pairs have you made?

I have made… maybe 11 pairs? And 3 more are in progress.

Socktober Update

I got a late start on my socks, but I thought with two weeks I could probably finish off two pairs. Here is the first:

“What?” you say, “It’s not finished!” That is correct. However, I have used all the yarn I have because somehow I HAVE LOST THE SECOND BALL!!!

This is the greatest sock tragedy I have suffered yet, much more than the recent loss of the previous set of #2 dpns.

So please get the word out:
If anyone has one ball of Diakeito Diamusee Fine in color #107 for sale or swap, please help save my sock!

In other news, the Black Watch socks for my brother (shhhh!) are going well -

I am confident that it won’t take me long to finish the second one: they are just stockinette after all. And once that’s out of the way, it’s back to the bellflower stocking project.

Not Knitting Once Again! – and Why not?

Dear fellow Knitters,

I have a newfound hatred for Charles de Gaulle (CDG) airport. My strong feelings used to be connected to the fact that any flight to DR Congo is routed through Paris if not Brussels, and since – I suppose – relatively few people travel there, the connecting AirFrance flight has always been routed through Terminal 2E, which is as far as possible from any gate into which passengers arrive. It was nearly impossible to make a connection with less than 3 hours layover time.

But traveling to Brazzaville this time, through Boston, my flight arrived in 2A and left from 2C (or vice versa?), which was pleasant and walkable, and I thought I was finally in recovery from my loathing for all things CDG.

No longer.

Despite published lists of TSA or specific airline regulations that lead you to believe that your plastic and bamboo needles are benign, do not think that you will get away with taking your knitting in your carry on from Paris (or perhaps anywhere in Europe?) back to the US. Unless you hide them really well in that inside pocket that never gets checked, rather than hastily stuffing your project in an easy-access outside pocket the way I did.

I am fairly certain that I took my knitting from Raleigh-Durham to London on my way to Istanbul, though I packed them in checked baggage for the London-Istanbul leg. And I brought them from Istanbul back to London with no problem. Traveling from Raleigh-Durham to Boston to Paris to Brazzaville – great! From Kinshasa back to Paris – wonderful! I finally started a Socktober sock! It was coming along swimmingly!

Quite a relief after facing ripping back my Swallowtail Shawl for about the 7th time.

The yarn is doing a great job striping, which works beautifully with Grumperpina’s Jaywalker pattern. [Finally I’m jumping on the Jaywalker bandwagon!] I turned the heel – good progress for a sleepless nighttime flight!

And then. I disembarked. I faced the injustice and wrath that is the CDG Airport Security Staff.

They were smug, rude, unsympathetic, and the manager had a crazy accent that made his French practically indecipherable.

I asked to see the relevant regulations. They could produce none. [It is up to the discretion of the security agent. They also took my 3oz. container of hand sanitizer, presumably because it wasn’t in a clear ziplock baggie.]

I told them I’d flown everywhere with them and never had a problem. No reaction.

I asked why they wanted to take them away. They said “pointy things” are dangerous on planes. Right. Bryspun needles – every violent person’s weapon of choice.

There was nothing I could do – I had to accept defeat.

I asked another security woman’s opinion, and she referred me to the same unintelligible manager. They stowed my needles in the clear plastic box of no return for “Dangerous Pointy Items That Could In Some Alternate Universe Be Used As Weaponry And On Display Here For All to See As A Warning To Future Potential Regulation Breakers.”

One point for the war on terror. Two projects unraveling for me.

The crowning indignity is that my Delta flight to the US left from inconvenient and distant Terminal 2E.

Still not knitting

Here is the new reason (other than no time) that I haven’t been knitting.

I ate some Indian food here that made me red and splotchy everywhere, and my fingers have been swollen and itchy for several days.

If only to get back to my blogging and my languishing Socktober fest efforts, I can’t wait to get back home.