all gussied up and ready to blog

I'm back from spring break and I managed to wash all the NYC dirt off myself. Yes people, I even SHAVED MY LEGS for this blog post. Trust me, I was overdo for getting shorn (ha HAAA GET IT! SHORN. Like a sheep. And I KNIT!). That's how much I love my reader(s). I'll even shave my legs for you, as if this is a date. And I'm going to put out.

So while I was in NY I finished the first in a pair of Grumperina's Jaywalkers for Ali, the world's best composer/music theorist/spinner of yarn. They're Blue Moon Fiber Arts Sock Candy, in Lemongrass, knit magic loop-style on a 40" US1 Addi Turbo. I'm going to have to have some words with those needles, though. Mainly because I HATE THEM. The stumpy tips drive me insane, the cord is too $*$(&^#@ long even for magic loop, and I BENT THEM. Apparently I have fingers of steel, because these suckers are severely warped. I'd say at their worst they were bent at about a 30 degree angle. I kept trying to bend them back, but that's HARD and it hurt me. I started the second sock on the plane on the way back from NYC, but I think I'm still going to order new needles from Knit Picks (does anyone make bamboo needles in a US1 I suppose? Or would I just snap those like twigs?!!) before I stab something out of anger.

Oh wait, you couldn't even stab a bowl of mashed potatoes with these needles they're so fucking stumpy.

Anyway, the yarn is great - I can't say enough nice things about it. The socks feel so amazing and sproingy! And being cotton and all they won't roast poor Ali's feet in Eugene, the land where wool socks aren't really necessary...


My main modification to the pattern was that I knit these socks toe-up. I used these tutorials on toe-up sock knitting as rough guides and mostly followed my instincts, which, as it turns out, is a good way to go. I used the provisional cast-on as described on knittinghelp.com (here - scroll down - I love these videos. SO. helpful.), a short-row toe and heel, using this tutorial on Misocrafty so as to avoid holes. (By the way - Misocrafty?!?! That's the best craft blog name EVER. I so wish I had thought of that.)

Well, I'm through cursing like a sailor about socks. Here are some more pictures of my finished sock:


And another:


Agh, is it me or do these photos look better in flickr than on my blog? Why IS that?!?!!

And, because it's SO HARD to blog without including a dog photo of some kind, here's me wearing my sock and Cato wearing his socks, so daintily: