Shut Up & Knit!

I can't hear you over those socks

I don't think I will live long enough to stop being cranky about the fact that men have dainty little ankles.  I think that fact of life will always annoy me.

What? 

Oh, hai.

I knit socks for my best guy friend.  He wanted ORANGE but had to settle for ORANGE AND PINK that may or may not be seen in space.  The yarn is that Neon Now stuff from the other day.  It bleed like a mofo.  Shocking, right?  I added some vinegar to the soak and everything got better. 

Smooshed onto too small girlie sized blockers for the photo taking only.

The pattern is my usual go-to.  Partly because I don't really have to think much, but also in part because it's been a long time since I made this man socks.  CCSR toes and heels, knit toe-up using Magic Loop, a sewn bind off and 2 x 2 ribbing. 

Like close to a hundred other pairs of socks I've shown all y'all over the years.  Although, I think this is the first pair that have been this bright.  This pair of socks was a good cure for the ghosts of socks before.

Oh, and he loves them.  Imagine if he got hand-spun, hand-knit socks.  ;^)

Outlined in Pink

 

Outlined

Project Page

A friend, whose style I really like, suggested Outlined as a possible knitting project for me.  Twelve inches of ease through me for a minute, but I had a yarn that I figured would/could work and an interest in knitting something new.

Thanks to this pattern I am now the slightly confused owner of three pairs of circulars and I'm okay with that.  The construction of those pattern was interesting in a good way.  I used an i-cord bind off because the Vikkel Braid and my yarn did not get along.  I'm okay with that.  I think the i-cord works well with the three-needle bind off at the shoulders and under-arms.

I used Bamboo Pop, which is a bamboo/cotton blend.  A bit splitty but I've worked with worse.  I chose the yarn because I had the Strawberry already in stash and because I wanted a warm weather top.  While friends are already dealing with snow and frost warnings, it's going to be 100F again today.

I spent a slightly shocking two weeks and two days on this project, must to the shock of my friends who figured it would take less than a week.  Perhaps I could done in that time if I wasn't busy being social and having fun now and then.

Shocking, right?

Perhaps even more shocking is that I am currently working on a pair of socks for my best friend.

/gasp

Happy Friday, people!  Make it count!

Testing...

Hmmmmm...

Sometimes I do as I suggest

I linked a girlfriend to the Citrus Coaster a couple of months ago. She's a stylish thing, who enjoys crocheting, and is always looking for something fun and creative to do.  After knitting Happy Half Moon, I had some leftover yarn and an evening with no real plans...

where I found out I hate crab stitch...

I made exactly one.  Thought it was cute and moved on.

A week or two later, it is my coaster of choice and I may need to make more.  Make more if I ever finish that sweater. 

Yes, I am really still working on that sweater. 

Yes, I am shocked, too.

Yes, I know...

Wrapping it up...

Tomorrow is Labor Day here in the US. 

That marks the unofficial end of summer and the official end of the Summer of Socks.  For as long as I've been involved with the Summer of Socks, every summer, I have knit socks.  Until this year.  I have not knit a single sock, have not missed knitting socks and have only talked socks twice.  Once with my best friend, who may be getting socks sooner rather than later and with a lady I met this morning at the yarn store.  I tricked her into joining the Rav group before I left.  That's my good deed for the day...

However, I did buy sock yarn.

I will never admit to how much sock yarn has been purchased this summer, but this is the most recent buy.  No, not for me.

Why no socks this summer?

Because last summer was such a nightmare and, in a way, all I did that summer was knit socks.  Oh, I did other stuff, too.  My mother was dying and there were trips to the ER and hospital stays.  There was bullshit drama, fake friends and people who just don't get it... and a lot of mindless socks knit while waiting.

No, not my normal socks full of love and magic.  These were socks full of sorrow, frustration and loss.  There will never be another summer of socks like that, and, for that, I am truly grateful.

So no socks.

However, it really is okay...

I'm working on a sweater.

A sweater from a pattern with no issues, dramas or mistakes.  It's sort of brillant compared to recent projects.

Still no spinning.  Still don't miss it.  Although, occasionally fluff follows me home.  Not entirely sure how that happens, but I don't mind.