Psst...

I won!! Hehe.

Train Knitting

So this has to be a pretty quick post, because it's C's birthday today. But I thought I'd give you a few pictures of the finished Tubey, of the Monkey socks, and from my trip to Freiburg this past weekend. So here you are:

Cast-On: ??? End of April 2007
Finished 20 June, 2007
Pattern: Tubey from Knitty
Yarn: Lana Grosse Numero Uno and Numero Uno Tweed
Needles: 5 mm dpns and a 5 mm circ
Pattern Notes: I did an i-cord bind off for both the sleeves and the bottom. The back is a little too wide on top and it poofs out a lot. Also, the green yarn was slightly thinner than the black and made a little too airy of a fabric on the 5 mm needles. I'm not entirely pleased with it, but the pattern was good. Maybe I'll try again sometime.


Otherwise the Monkeys are progressing OK. I finished the first one while we were in Freiburg and cast on for the second on the train ride home. Trains are excellent places to knit. An old lady came up to me on the train ride there and looked at my sock and said "Schoene Muster" (nice pattern). It was cool. Anyways, here are some pictures of the sock:

With some Bio-beer in Freiburg

Freiburg loves knitted socks!

I cast on for the Simple Trekking socks as an easy tv sock. I'm only about 10 rows in. And the picture really sucks, haha.

Well... to finish the post, here are some pictures from the weekend. I'll post again later when I have more time. It's been kind of crazy around here though since I move in 3 weeks, and am applying for jobs in the States while being over here, etc. Hopefully later this week I'll have time.

Freiburg pothole cover; view of the Freiburger Muenster (church) from Schlossberg

Yes, that "gargoyle's" hole is in his ass; stone crocodile in the canal

Pretzel mosaic; skydiving launch from a mountain near Freiburg

A wood mill built in 1621; pretty wildflowers

Ravelry!!

So apparently I had to go on vacation in order to get my Ravelry invite!! I got the email on Friday sometime. Anyways... if you're on it.. add me! My screen name is kniteurope. I've added who I remembered had it (not many people), so if you have it and I'm not your friend yet, add me.

I've been doing some stuff on it, but a lot of the yarn I have isn't on there (and I don't have good pictures/am clueless as to what each yarn weight is). But it's awesome so far! I'm very excited.

I will add photos from the weekend later. It was a lot of fun though. I am done with one Monkey and part way down the leg of the second. More tomorrow..

Day One

I was so excited to begin knitting today. I brought my yarn to work so I could cast on over lunch (Summer of Socks began at 5 am EST... or 11 am here in Germany). And I proceeded to knit while I was "waiting on an experiment." And then I knit on the bus ride home. And most of the evening (I stopped to go to the grocery store and eat dinner). And all night. And now it's 3 am and I'm this far:

Sorry the picture is crap. I just took it and obviously the lighting at 3 am kind of sucks for picture taking. But anyways, as you can see, I've already turned the heel. People say that the Monkey socks go fast.... and man they weren't kidding! I'm knitting them on 2.5 mm aluminum needles. And it's in the Wollmeise superwash sock yarn in Campari-Orange (soooooo pretty.).

That's all for now I suppose... I should really get to bed. Oh, also wanted to say that C and I are headed over to Freiburg for the weekend, so there won't be any updating between now and Monday. Plenty of knitting will be taking place though... long train rides are good for that!

Happy Knitting!

Summer of Socks Preview... and a little more

Well since the start of Summer of Socks is just around the corner (aka TOMORROW!!!) I thought I would tell you a little about the patterns I'm looking at and the goals I have for the summer.

First of all: Goals. I talk a big talk, but really I haven't done much sock-wise. All of the (3 pairs) socks I've made (successfully) have been top down, heel flap, either stockinette or some knit/purl rib combination, and on 5 dpns. Yes, I've started both the Jaywalkers and Snicket socks-- and had no problem with executing the stitch patterns themselves-- but they were too small and I only reached the gusset of the first sock of each before having to frog. So here are my goals (in no particular order).

1) Do a toe-up sock. There are a couple patterns that I want to do that are written for toe-up... so I hope this will be accomplished easily.
2) Do a lace sock.
3) Do a cabled sock.
(Both 2 and 3 will be accomplished easily based on the patterns I'm looking at)
4) Try something other than dpns-- though this would require purchasing some circs, so we'll see.
5) Short row heel

OK.. now for the patterns that I'd really like to do (also in no particular order).

1) Monkey
2) Jaywalkers
3) Snicket
4) Zokni
5) Brigit
6) Elfine
7) Aran Twist-- from the Sockamaniac Sock-a-long Yahoo! group
8) Cable Twist
9) River Rapids
10) Sidewinders (though I've been having trouble getting gauge)
11) Vinnland
12) Mock Crock
13) Wyvern
14) Leyburn
15) Bayerische
16) Simple Trekking
17) Clessidera
18) Ampersand
19) Rhodie Gus

Right........ so that's more than a pair a week if I want to do them all during SOS. And some of those are really complicated. But those are just a few of the free patterns I've seen online that have caught my attention. I'm really excited about this though and have quite a few long travel days ahead of me in which I can get a lot accomplished. Hopefully.

I also wound my Wollmeise into balls (I recently discovered that the nice "center pull" ball that I made is really tangled, so I decided to just wind the Wollmeise into a ball as to not subject the beautiful, squishy yarn to the same fate) in preparation for Summer of Socks.

On a Tubey note, since 5/6 people said to just finish it in green.. I decided to follow your advice and am working diligently on it. I hope to finish it tonight (not much to do.. maybe another inch, bind off, and weave in the ends).

Since I'm at work right now I'm not going to take the time to add links for all the patterns-- and I have a few pictures of my Wollmeise being all pretty and balled up. I'll add these later today once I get back to my apartment.

ETA: Links and:

My version of a swift-- computer chair with a stool on it

The balled up Wollmeise... oh so pretty

Campari-Orange colorway. I am OMG in LOVE with this color! It's going to be my first pair of socks for the SOS-- monkeys

Birkenrinde

Gewitterhimmel-- the colors didn't show up very well. There is a beautiful subtlety to this colorway.

A little present for myself for the start of SOS. 2 sets of 2.5 mm (US "#1") 80 cm (32") addi turbo circs!!! Yeah, I was in a LYS today and saw that they were pretty much half the price of what I could get them for in the States.... so I bought them.

Quick Poll

Ok, so I just can't decide. What should I do at the bottom of my Tubey?

I would like to finish it before the 21st when the Summer of Socks starts.. so you only have a couple days to respond. Thanks for the help!

On and Off the Needles

Well there's been some knitting in the last couple days. I was hoping to finish Tubey this weekend, but I had a little more knitting to do than I thought. This is what it looked like yesterday afternoon when I put it on some waste yarn to try it on...

(Don't mind the pooch...)

Notice anything funny?

Yeah, notice those big things sticking out at the armpits? I guess I made the back a little too long. Oh well. It's looking ok though, and fits a lot better than I thought it would as my first sweater and not using the yarn called for. I definitely need to knit a few more inches though. I want it to be on the longer side. I put it back on the needles and have been knitting on it some more, but still have about 5 inches or so to go according to my measurements.

I also frogged the Snicket Socks. I know that 4 out of the 5 people who took my poll said to try to rework the heel again, but the yarn wasn't standing up to frogging very well.. and I didn't think it would be good to frog the heel another 2 times (4 times total). I'll cast on again for them with another 2 repeats maybe. I'm going to wait until Summer of Socks starts up though.

Lastly, I went to a local flea market today and found some good deals. I got all of this for only 2.50 euro (the 3 50 g balls of sock yarn were 1 euro, and the krug was 1.50 euro)!

It's a nice red color yarn.. and it came with the little reinforcing stuff for the heels! I'm not sure what brand or anything.. Roedel I guess?... but who can pass up 150 g of sock yarn for 1 euro? Not me, that's for sure. Haha.

A FO and a Secret Pal!

You guessed it... the C-socks are done!!

Cast-On: 6 June, 2007
Finished: 14 June, 2007
Pattern: My own. Based off of the Triangle Ribs stitch pattern in Harmony Guides Vol. 2, heel flap, gradual standard toe (I don't know what to call it... you decrease 1 round, knit 3 rounds, [decrease 1, knit 2] (x2), [decrease 1, knit 1] (x3), and then decrease to the number of stitches you want and kitchener them)
Yarn: "Funny Strumpf Color" (Coats GmbH) 6-ply in color #7108 (this is a link to it at the store I bought it at... a LYS in Erlangen). It's 75% superwash and 25% nylon. I used a little more than half... don't have a scale for exact measurement... off of 2 150g skeins (ie, I used a little more than 1 skein).
Needles: Inox 3.5 mm dpns
Pattern Notes: For some reason my gauge was a little looser at the start of the second sock or something and I got a 1/2 less repeat in the ankle than on the first one and the same number for the rest of the sock. This meant that the heel flap and toe on one sock began with a mostly knit stitch row in one and a mostly purl row in the other (the one on the left-- his right foot-- above is the second one ending with mostly purl stitches before the toe, while the other one is mostly knit stitches)... something that bothers me slightly. They also slouch a bit at the ankle... but I wasn't about to rip them out, lol.

C's been wearing them when possible even though it's been too warm for them (he was wearing the one while I was working on the second.. lol)... so I know he likes them at least.

In other news, I got my partner for the Facebook Secret Knitting Pals!!!! I'm so excited! I have some very excellent ideas of stuff to send. Unfortunately my pal doesn't like orange, so I'm going to have to find something else to do with my Wollmeise yarn in the Sonne colorway. I'm thinking about taking Elemmaciltur up on the invite to come down to Munich (last Saturday of June-- the 30th?) before I head back.. so maybe I can arrange a swap with someone down there. I know that Bockstark Knits used that colorway in the past.

I've been knitting on Tubey since I finished the socks, but no real noticeable progress. Speaking of which... the new Knitty is out. I really like the Coachella pattern. I already ordered yarn to make Tempting II in a "knit a long" of sorts with my friend Jenny though.

That's all for now. I'm hoping to finish Tubey this weekend though.... I think I'm getting close! I have to get ready for Summe of Socks.

Forgot to say...

After getting the comment from Elemmaciltur asking if the C-socks were from the Wollmeise Gewitterhimmel... I realized I hadn't mentioned what yarn I was using for them! It is in fact NOT Wollmeise *gasp*! It is a 6-ply brandless? (Coats GmbH) yarn I picked up in a LYS a while back just to make socks for him. It says "Funny Strumpf Color" on the label and is color #7108. It is blues and purples and greys versus the Gewitterhimmel's more green colors and is no where near as vibrant, lol.

Also, "Hi" to all those new readers of my blog! It's great fun getting all these comments from people who are near me! It's so sad that we didn't find out about each other sooner... since I will be leaving to head back to the States in about a month.

Anyways, that was just a quick note to clarify things. I will be doing a more thorough update (ie have pictures) later in the week.

Big Feet and more

Well, I got a lot accomplished on the C-socks in the last few days. It went so quickly that I amazingly didn't have second-sock syndrome!

C-socks with the Snicket socks for size comparison

I would be a lot further... but I decided that I shouldn't neglect Tubey so I finished the ball of yarn I was knitting off of.

I've knit about 9.5" of the body so far. I want it to be a fairly long sweater, so am expecting it to end up at 19-20" (I'm short..).

As for the Snicket socks... they're still where I left them. So far the majority of the poll is saying to redo the heel and finish the sock. I'll probably end up doing that, I just really don't feel like it at the moment. Which is really too bad because I really enjoyed the pattern.

I'll leave you with a little teaser. I knit up a swatch out of the sample skein of Wollmeise I received with my package of sock yarn. I have an interesting idea that involves buying more of her sample skeins....

A swim in the near future?

Hi again.

Well the Bergkirchweih is over and Erlangen is returning to normal. Here are a few last photos from the festival before I get into the knitting content.

A sign telling you about the ox on the spit (this one is named Max VII) and me with our last meal at the Berg (ox roast, kloss, apfelrotkohl, and of course a giant pretzel)

The Berg the last night and the ferris wheel coming down the next day.

Now on to knitting. I've been working on various projects since my last post. Mostly on the Snicket Socks.

I had some issues with doing the heel as written (including losing a needle full of stitches with yarn overs about 4 times) and had to frog it twice.

This side of the heel turned out nice (correct)

This side of the heel turned out weird. It was the purl side... maybe I was doing the yarn overs wrong.

But that is not the big problem. The big problem came when I tried them on (well, attempted to). They were WAY too small. They had looked kind of skinny all along, but the stretched a lot and I could get it over my foot, so I figured it'd be ok. But it wasn't. Sigh. I must have some bad sock-size juju or something because the Jaywalkers I had started, as seen here, were too small too. I don't know what to do. So I'm turning to you...

For now I'll just let them sit on the needles (but I only have the one set of 2.5 mm metal dpns, so I need to decide soon!).

Because I was so frustrated with the Snickets, I decided I needed to start on another pair of socks. I've had some DK weight yarn sitting around to make some socks for C's giant size 13 wide (that's size 47.5 for those of you in Europe) feet. So I had him look through my stitch dictionary (Harmony Guides Vol. 2), knit a swatch, and cast on.

Yeah, I've already turned the heel... they're going suprisingly quick!

Stitch pattern: Triangle Ribs (page 27 of Harmony Guides Vol. 2)

Eye of Partridge Heel

iPod nano for scale

They seem really big, but they fit on his foot (almost) perfectly so I'm really happy with them.

No real progress has been made on Tubey. I've knit a few rows, but that doesn't make for very exciting pictures.

It Came, It Came, IT CAME!!!!

I was just about to get out of bed this morning when my doorbell rang. I opened the door and was given this:

(OK, so it wasn't open when it was given to me. I was just so excited that I broke into it before realizing this is really something I should blog about.)

It was my Wollmeise package! It came quickly since they just shipped it on Friday. I had seen it on several blogs (Elemmaciltur and Bockstark Knits and pictures from the Summer of Socks Flickr group)and decided that since I was in the same country as them, I just had to have some! (plus my trip to London fell through, so I had some extra cash lying around and never having bought hand dyed yarn I thought it was my chance!)

So I ordered 4 skeins of their superwash sock yarn:

Campari-Orange: Beautiful purpley reds and yellow and orange.

Birkenrinde (Birch bark): Black, grey, and an off-white

Sonne (sun): Bright orange and yellow (it's a lot oranger than on the website and I'm not sure if I like that or not. This may end up in a secret pal gift or yarn swap or something)

Gewitterhimmel (Stormy sky): All sorts of shades of GORGEOUS blues.. teal, navy, azure?

And she even included a sample skein of the thicker yarn in the Zenzi colorway (Zenzi is apparently a common name for a milk cow here in Bavaria and it is grey and brown and cream)

So that was my excitement for the day! I haven't decided what to knit with it yet (most likely socks, but I have no clue as to patterns.. there are many I am looking at). Maybe one will be the first yarn I knit with for SOS '07!