Esoteric Knitter

I’ve been on a sock knitting frenzy but sadly they are all single and lonely. The reason for all these singles? I really wanted to see how my hand dyed yarn would look knit up since my first one way back when didn’t turn out so well. Anywho, I totally dig my happy rainbow colorway. Yay! I used the Monkey pattern without the purling and so…I dub thee…Rainbow Monkey (If you have kids or love the cartoon network, this is definitely a reference to the KND)

(Left to Right: Plain stockinette with Regia, Pomatomus, Raninbow Monkey)

I picked up a cute Della Q pouch project bag at yarn4socks.com and it occurred to me that I haven’t had a contest in awhile. So here is a semi-half-@ss contest for ya.

It’s just a silly guessing game. All you have to do is guess which sock mate is in the pouch.

Is it the Rainbow Monkey, Pomatomus, or colorful Regia?

As always, if there are many correct guesses, the names will be put through a random generator.

Let’s have this contest end on Saturday night 11:59pm Central 5/3/08. Winner will be announce on Sunday. (hehe this will give me an opportunity to blog more than just once in two weeks. hmm yeah, I need to blog more. wha-da-ya think? lol)

Have a wonderful rest of the week!

ETA: How could I have forgotten to mention the prize?!? Ya’ll should know by now, it’s gonna be a delicious pick of sock yarn.

I know, another post so soon?!? This is just a shortie. I had a chance to dye my Knit Picks Bare sock yarn with easter egg dye yesterday and wow!!! Dyeing for the second time is so much easier when you know what to expect and what to do. I love how vibrant and bright the colors came out in my first skein. And I’m utterly digging my second skein because it feels so…I really can’t explain…its just…awesome. I randomly mixed what I had left after dying the bright colors to get the second look. I have so much appreciation for the indie dyers out there because it is a long and messy process. I only dyed two and it felt like forever.

So…Whada-ya think?

Happy Rainbow

Rustic Rose

8)

I’ve been working on the infamous Pomatomus pattern and I must say it is a lot easier after lots of sock knitting practice. lol I had originally tried the pattern out last year when I first got into sock knitting and well, I had a huge frog party and never looked at the pattern again. But after seeing so many pretty Pomatomies and especially with a bit of encouragement from KC, I tackled it again.

The yarn is Schaefer Anne, and well, when I first started knitting with it, I wasn’t a fan. It’s thinner than what I’m use to. Working with Mohair was interesting. Once I got into my knitting groove I started to like the yarn. I really like the color combo and in real life the blue doesn’t “glow” like it is in the photo.

Okay, so why is this blog titled DIY and all I’ve been doing is going on and on about my sock? Well, the charts from Pomatomus made me think that I should really invest in a chart keeper since I had to frog more than a few times because I was reading the wrong row of the chart. I remembered Knit Picks carrying just the thing I wanted. Their Chart Keeper is reasonably priced at $9.99. The only problem was that I would have to wait until 5/29/08 before they could send me one. Hmmm what to do?

Make my own of course! Off to Walmart for some supplies. I picked up a magnetic dry-erase board and some magnetic tape.

I opted for a decent size board instead of the smaller one. Plus it was on sale for $5 so I had to get it. The magnetic tape was on sale too for only $2. The only catch, I had to walk all around Walmart to find the freaking tape since I don’t like to ask people for help. Yeah I know, my own fault. If you’re wondering, I picked it up in the craft/fabric section.

Since it’s magnetic tape I had stick two pieces of the magnet together. I had to cut two pieces the same length, peel, and stick.

There’s quite a bit of magnetic tape left, so if I needed to, I can make many more different lengths. I had fun and only spent $7. Plus I have a nifty dry-erase board with marker to jot down random notes as I follow my charts.

Happy Hump Day! I’m off to knit my Pomatie’s mate.

This sock drove me crazy only because I could not seem to get a good short row heel. But for now things are okay and I suppose practice will make it better.

Yarn: Sockina Cotton
Color: 0004
Info: 55% cotton, 25% polyamid, 20% acrylic

I liked working with this yarn because it’s really soft and felt nice sliding through my fingers. My only gripe is that these socks don’t bounce back after you try them on.

Remember my test footie awhile back where I thought I’d test the Araucania in the washer and dryer to see if we really had to handwash the yarn? Well, sadly this is a handwash must. The footie came out about and inch shorter lengthwise and a bit fuzzy. But if you accidentally put your socks through the washer and dryer, I think a one time oops will be okay. Since my footie still fits, just a bit on the snug side.

Pattern: Woven Stitch from Sensational Knitted Socks
Yarn: Araucanica Ranco Multy
Color: 310
Info: 75% wool, 25% Polyamide
**Must handwash**