Rainbow Knee High Socks

My mom asked me what I wanted for Christmas last year and instead of saying, "yarn" and sending her into a yarn shop with no clue what to buy I added 700 dollars worth of shit to my Knit Picks wish list and sent it off to her. Don't hate about the dollar amount, it was about having things on there for her to choose from, VARIETY.

Anyhoo, I added 4 balls of  Felici Self Striping yarn in Rainbow to the list. I wanted Rainbow knee highs.


BAD.

Lo and behold my mom picked the rainbow yarn, my mom rules everything. She's so smart.

What my sofa looked like during the holidays. Sorry family.

As soon as I finished my holiday knitting I decided to start on the Rainbow socks except my pattern disappeared. I decided to write my own. It was both harder and easier than I thought and educational. For now I'll leave pattern writing to the experts.

The socks turned out great. Here are some pics.

 My laptop sometimes does double-duty.

 I had to try it on. Disregard my dry ass legs, it's winter.

 Who doesn't love turning a heel?

 Detail of the decreases.

 OMG. This gusset was the worst thing ever.

Hey look, they match!

It took me 4 seasons of The West Wing (how I measure time) to make these. I'm super pleased with them and I get compliments on them. There is nothing more satisfying than saying "Thanks, I made them."

Finished.

New Ink

I will update on projects later. I've been seriously slacking on that, sorry.

I got a new tattoo last Friday and it fucking rocks!

Metal Mike at Tiger Rose Tattoo did an amazing job. I had been thinking about getting a knitting tattoo for years but had no idea what I wanted and doing a google image search for "Knitting tattoo" brings up a lot of yarn balls with knitting needles. I wanted something completely different.

When I finally decided that I was going to bite the bullet I emailed Mike and explained what I wanted and that I wasn't warm to the idea of having a ball of yarn and knitting needles. He replied saying not to worry about sending him pictures of tattoos from the internet but instead send him pictures of things I've made and like. I sent him pictures of my needles, a cake of yarn that I really liked, my scissors, other notions, and a very cool project I did. Here are some pictures.

The outline. My mom was so excited I had to text her this pic.

The top photo is Mike working. The bottom is the outline still being done.

Before color.

Finished.

I love that the needles look like Knit Picks Harmony's, the detail on the handle of the scissors is fantastic those scissors look like exactly like the ones in my knitting bag. The deathflake is a fair isle piece that I crashed and burned at but I still love the way it looks and I will make it again and I will succeed (you always have to get back on the horse). 

Time to finish this sweater I've had in my stash for a year now.

Pattern Writing.

So, I decided to write a pattern. Calm down, it's just for socks. The thing that lead me to writing the pattern was Rav, I could not for the life of me find a pattern for knee high socks that would accommodate my muscular calves. I like my knee socks fitted so they don't slip and literally nothing was to be found on Rav. I did find this guideline which has been super helpful. But math! I'm not great at math but I'm not terrible at it either.

So here I sit. Writing this pattern as I go, I've started decreases, my laptop now serves as a table on the sofa of doom to hold my notebook, pencil, eraser, and phone (it has a row counting app).

The good news is that after the first one is done the second one will be easy. Right?

Why I Won't Knit You Anything.

I love knitting. LOVE IT. I hate knitting commission pieces. Anytime someone asks me if I will knit them a sweater or mittens or anything, I get a little cranky. The only exception to this rule is my mom. My mom can ask me to knit what ever she wants and I will happily oblige.

Reason #1.
You can't afford my time. I'm really not trying to sound like I'm full of myself the fact of the matter is you really cannot afford my time. After working on Norma for the last two weeks I figure I have roughly 52 hours invested in her. She is a gift for a family member for Christmas. If I was to knit something similar to Norma for someone and charge for my time (say minimum wage) they simply would not be able to afford the piece. I'm uncomfortable quoting people what my time would cost blah, blah, blah. Stop asking me. I'm more than happy to teach you to knit though.

Reason #2.
Knitting is my hobby, not my job. I get paid to do things I kind of don't want to do, I like my job but it's not knitting. Knitting is the thing that I do when I get home from work since setting things on fire is illegal. When you start offering to "pay me" (see reason #1) my hobby starts feeling like a job. So, no, money never sweetens the deal.

Reason #3.
I have crafty ADD. Chances are if your asking me to make something, I've already made it. I've moved on to the next shiny object in my Ravelry queue unless I really liked making that object I probably won't make it again. Quit trying to drag me back to "that one thing" you saw me post on my Facebook page. I'm not exactly "loyal" to my projects. I have multiple things on needles and I switch between them often. I would hate to have you waiting on something because I saw a super cute something or other that I HAD to start. Also, only knitting one thing at a time because I have too makes me hate that thing and I no longer want to make it.

Yes, I know this sounds harsh and mean and I'm sorry for that (not really). I make things for people because I know they will love them and because I want them to have it.

Am I the only knitter that feels this way?

Risk Vs. Reward

I've only been knitting for three almost four years. I'm not a new knitter but I'm not an expert either. That being said, I will try to knit anything. Those things on the pattern that tell you how difficult it is, I ignore them. If I was confused about something on a pattern I looked it up on youtube or googled it. Knitting in the internet age is probably easier than it ever has been. When I first taught myself to knit I made all things dish clothes, I made lace ones, cable ones, straight stockinette, and knit on the bias ones. We had cotton dish clothes coming out of our ears. My husband actually said, "well, you've mastered dish clothes are you planning on making something else?"

I decided I would make an afghan. The pattern called for 15 x 15 seed stitch squares that would then be seamed into a larger blanket. I got real bored real fast but I have an afghan that my husband stole and loves even though the seaming looks like garbage. The point is I learned a lot.

Next up was the project that made me quake in my Chuck's.

The Twilight movie had just come out and there was a pair of mittens in the movie that everyone wanted. The Bella Mittens. A friend of mine wanted a pair. I thought I can do this even though I've never knit in the round and have no idea what Magic Loop knitting is. I'm a smart girl I can figure it out. I did figure it out and made like eight pairs of those mittens.

My point is, do not ever be afraid to take on a challenge. The internet has a ton of resources to help you figure it out. Other knitters on twitter will help, my favorite person to ask for advice is @atknitsend. She is so full of knowledge and her knitting is fantastic. Go check her blog. Now.

I guess what I'm saying is, be confident in your abilities, be bold, try something you never ever thought you'd be able to do. Forget the voice in your head telling you that it's too hard. That voice is an asshole.

What was the biggest challenge you took on as a new knitter? Were you successful?

Second post of the day... Since the first one was so happy.

Felted mittens. I am making felted mittens. I got a lovely skein of Stitch Nation Highland Wool (would love to put a link there but the site is down or something). I have cast these on probably five or six times. Not because the yarn is terrible or anything, it's because I just wasn't happy. I'm using a random pattern as a guideline but I've knit so many pairs of mittens I figured I didn't need a pattern. I do the same thing with plain socks. I just make them. The first time I cast on I decided my needle size was wrong, ripped it out. Second time I decided that I had too many stitches, ripped it out.Third time I had the wrong needle size and too many stitches cast on, ripped it again. By this time the yarn is starting to look pretty sad but who cares I'm felting them.

So last night before I headed downtown to hang out with the always hilarious Betsy at the Twins game (they lost), I cast on one last time. I am finally happy.

I got to The Depot at like 6:15 sat down at a table by myself and ordered a Premium. Let me tell you knitting in a bar full of people while in Downtown Minneapolis having a beer was GLORIOUS! (that needed all caps) I usually knit on the bus where people try to talk to me while I'm counting out loud so knitting in public isn't new to me. Knitting at the bar however is. Nobody bothered me but I did quite a few curious glances. Then Betsy showed up and said "I love that you're knitting right now." 

I loved that I was knitting as well.

Norma

Norma, Norma, Norma.

I love Norma.

I fell in love with this pattern the second I laid eyes on it. I rushed through finishing another project to get to this one. I ordered the yarn. I learned a new cast on. It feels like this pattern has tried to thwart me at every turn.

1. Halfway through the pattern I learned that the charts I was using would lead me to make a smaller blanket...

Great.

I went to the pattern's Rav page and got the chart I needed to make a larger blanket.

2. Not enough yarn. I had ordered yarn based on original instructions which called for 5 skeins of yarn. Two weeks into the project I learned I would need 7 skeins of yarn. The problem with this is it is incredibly hard to get yarn from the same dye lot 2 weeks later. I lucked out, Knit Picks somehow sent me two more skeins from the same dye lot. Dye lot fairy?

3. After 3 more weeks of knitting and 5 seasons of Weeds on Netflix instant streaming, I learned that I don't have enough yarn to bind off and have the really pretty border that the pattern has. This drives me crazy!

4. Ran out of yarn during the bind off. This sucks. Hard. I'm going to tink the bind off and use a bigger needle. Start hoping for me guys. I need some hope right now.

It's not the fault of the yarn, it could be the pattern, it could be me. Who knows.

Norma has fought me tooth and nail and I still love her. Like a child who argues too much and tells you "you are the meanest mommy EVER!" I still love her.