Kristie suggested calling these the Basket Of Spanish Lavendar socks. And Kathy voted for Basket Wave socks. I like both of those suggestions and can’t choose between them, so I am combining and calling these socks the Spanish Lavender Basket Wave socks.

Ah… I feel so much better when the socks on my needles gain a name. Silly, I know, but that’s when I know I’m going to actually finish them, and it just feels like all is right with the world.

I thought you might be interested in seeing how the sole side is vaguely striping in a sort of diagonal-ish way. STR, it seems, is never truly random. But I like the way the colors are combining. So — basketweave on left, stockinette on right.

I’m about 1/2 of a pattern repeat away from starting the gusset increases. It will be interesting to see how this yarn reacts over the gussets. I haven’t decided if I should knit the heel turns and flaps from the opposite end of the yarn to not disturb the non-pattern. Or what stitch I should use on the heel. Eye Of Partridge, maybe.

Decisions, decisions.

I’m really having a lot of fun knitting these. Which reminds me that I really had a lot of fun knitting the other pair of basketweave socks. The change I made to the toes on this pair makes for a better fit. And with such a short pattern repeat, it really feels like I’m getting somewhere. So maybe I should knit this stitch pattern more often, eh? But then I’d probably get tired of it. 🙄

And speaking of sock progress . . .

The other day I was minding my own business, knitting away at Tangle, when I heard Alice call from the back room: Judy, do you want to see our new sock yarn?

That’s kind of a silly question, isn’t it?

I will reveal nothing until the yarn actually gets here. But I will say that it’s scrumptious, out of the ordinary, and there’s a colorway that I think will be just perfect for my Sockapalooooza pal. And there may also be a really awesome lime green that might find a home in my collection. Just maybe.

When the yarn is in hand, then I’ll decide what to do with it. We shall see.

I notice that there are a lot of Sockapaloooozers who have already started their socks. Mine will probably be the next pair on my needles. But I have until August 2 to mail them. Tons of time. (famous last words) So the sidebar is now counting down to 08/02/07 instead of Christmas. We’ll see if that keeps me honest.

A survey apparently finds Portland the city with the friendliest drivers. Are they driving on the same roads I do?

P.S. I hope all of you moms out there had a wonderful Mother’s Day. I had breakfast with my former MIL and it was fun. #1 Son is in Canada, but he remembered to call, and that was wonderful, too. Can’t wait to have him home again.

Why does the word inventory contain the word invent? According to my Oxford, both words have the same root — the Middle English word meaning to discover. But we use them in such different ways.

Or do we? Obviously we discover new things as we create. What can we discover about our inventories?

Over there to the right is the sidebar of shame my list of unfinished projects. I do finish these every now and then. Note that the re-knit moebius is complete! And it’s the right length! And there was much rejoicing! (pictures soon) But also sometimes those projects tend to hang around forever for longer than I’d care to discuss.

Last Saturday at Tangle, Alice, K, Nurse Knitter and I discussed our projects: Projects present, projects future, projects of our dreams, projects forgotten, projects hanging around like sulky children whining for attention. Projects.

Since the others do not possess a sidebar of shame public place to flaunt their embarrassment handy place like a blog to keep track of their projects, someone more clever than myself suggested that perhaps having an inventory page that could be kept in a binder or file would be helpful in remembering just what projects may be buried in forgotten corners of unused closets temporarily on hold. We came up with a few useful categories that projects could be slotted into, and a few guidelines, and the intrepid Alice created a lovely little inventory form.

There was one knitter there who (I know this is hard to comprehend) only buys enough yarn for her current project, and never has more than one project going at a time. I had never really believed that such a mythical creatures existed, but there she was! I don’t think she quite knew what to think of my remark that on the needles was the best place to keep track of my stash.

These are the categories we came up with:

• On The Needles:
  • Active – projects that I am working on this week
  • On Hold – there are reasons I am not working on this, I just may not know what they are. (Items go from Active to On Hold when you let go of the guilt.)
• Future Projects:
  • Material Acquired – I have the yarn, pattern and may have even have done a gauge swatch
  • Plans – ideas I am thinking of, patterns I have acquired, I feel the need to add these to my life sometime in the future.
• Items to be Finished — off the needles, but not completed

If you would like a copy of the Knitter’s Inventory, you can download one from Tangle’s site (click on the link), or from my site by clicking here. You, too, can be amazed when you discover your inventory have a handy way to keep track. I’ve updated the sidebar of shame my list to fit these categories.

With wonderful timing, Ann & Kay from Mason-Dixon Knitting have started a new… slogalong. It celebrates those projects that just go on and on and on and on until you wanna stick one knitting needle through your right ear and the other one through your left eye because you know no matter how far in the future it will be (and hopefully it will be a long time) you will be buried with the #$(@% thing. If you have projects like that, head over to the slogalong site and sign up. We can all slog together.

Because I don’t have enough unfinished projects competing for my time, 🙄 I’ve signed up for Sockapalooza 4. What the heck. Chances are good, after all, that some time between now and August 2 (the deadline), I’ll knit a pair of socks. And it was a lot of fun last year. If you are interested in joining, head over to The Blue Blog and sign up. But better hurry — Alison will have registration open only until midnight! (Or maybe a little longer if the new baby — what a cutie-pie — keeps her busy.) It’s OK if you’re a new sock knitter. New knitters will be paired with new knitters, and there are tons of other knitters to help out if you have questions.

Thank you, everyone, for your comments about the pen pod (thank you Ann for the great, descriptive name). 🙂

Helen states:

And better still, you and the front loader got it done. Gives me hope for my front loader.

I haven’t had any trouble felting with my front loader. I use extra-hot wash and cold rinse, and throw in a few old towels. Fortunately I can stop my washer and drain it at any time, so I can see how the felting is progressing. So far everything I’ve tried to felt (admittedly not many objects) has felted quite well. Many people suggest adding a few pairs of jeans to the wash, but I don’t really need my jeans shrunk. 😆

~Kristie opines:

Nice to know that you “got gauge” with THIS moebius project. 🙂

hahahahahaha Can you just see a giant pen pod? Maybe I could felt my entire cube at work! That might raise a few eyebrows, though. But it would look so cool!

OK… you caught me. It’s not really a lane. It’s really just the way-too-narrow space between my house and the neighbor’s house. But it does have wisteria!

This is the view out my bedroom window right now. I love waking up in the morning and peeking out the curtain to see these lovely blooms hanging down.

During most of the summer, I have a constant battle to keep the wisteria from growing on to the roof and tearing it off, clinging to the gutters and tearing them down, and generally being a nuisance and taking over. But in the spring while the wisteria is blooming, the challenges become definitely worth while.

sereknitty72 asks:

Sockapalooza sounds fun! How does one join and can you tell me more about it?

Sockapaloooza is a giant sock exchange organized by Alison from the blue blog. I think this is the 3rd sock exchange that Alison has hosted. Sign-ups are only open for a short while. After sign-ups close, everyone is sent info on the person they will be knitting socks for, and then has three months to get the socks completed. On the appointed day, everyone mails their socks off to their sock recipient. This time 606 people from all over the world participated — check out the map.

It is a lot of fun. I’m not sure when the next one will be, but keep watching on Alison’s blog for news and updates.

Sharp-eyed readers will note that there are two items crossed off the things to do list! I don’t recall ever finishing two things in one day before. It was a very good day!

First up are the replacement Fair Isle fingerless gloves for #1 Son.

I finished the last finger in the morning and then wove the ends in while waiting for my oil to be changed. There was another woman in the waiting area also knitting. I think she was working on a pair of socks, but since she was very heads-down with her pattern I didn’t want to intrude.

Next we have the Beehive Cabled Sockapalooza Socks. I finished these up while watching a little TV on Saturday night. (Don’t I lead an exciting life?)

I just love these socks. The finished product is so soft and cushy. And I love the cables and the heel and the toe and the bind-off. It’s one of those finished objects that I look at and have a hard time believing that it actually came off my needles.

If my sock pal doesn’t like them, I will take them back in a heartbeat!

The particulars about both projects can be found on their own permanent project pages. You can get there via the link in the right side-bar, the FO-2006 gallery, or by clicking on the links in this post.

Since #1 Son released me from the need to have four cupcake hats completed by today, I went back to working on my Sockapaloooza pal’s socks. I really should get these finished, or at least far enough along to tell if they will fit, before starting a bunch of other projects. (Yeah. I know. Like that’s gonna happen. I can see you rolling your eyes out there.)

The pattern for these socks was fairly vague about gauge. It offered suggestions for the number of rows per inch. But stitches per inch? Oh… whatever…

I do have the rows-per-inch gauge. The toes looked wide, but I think the cables are pulling the width in enough. Of course I’m knitting the things backwards, since I’m a toe-up person. It’s a top-down pattern. But cables are cables in either direction, right? The toes look long and pointy. But, if you look at the pattern picture, the toes there look sort of long and pointy, too. I tried them on, and so far it looks like they are just slightly wide on my skinny feet. So I think I’m good to go! [fingers crossed]

I really want these socks to be nice, since they’re going off to someone I don’t even know. Hopefully the wonderfulness of this fiber will help my pal to overlook any little flaws. (I’m not suggesting overlooking not fitting. That would be a big flaw!)

I’m finding it extraordinarily difficult to get a good pic of this yarn. Of course, if there were any light around here it might be easier. As it is, I’m stuck with a gray sky (and snow fall). This was the best I could get. But you can see how I’ve done the first cable. The needles, unfortunately unseen in this picture, are my brand new 3.0mm Suzanne ebonies. ooooo… ahhhhh… yum!

… yep, that’s me!

Have you ever noticed how four-day weeks seem much busier than 5-day weeks? Perhaps because we try to cram 5 days worth of work into those four days. That’s certainly what happened to me this week. Work. Lots of it!

On the knitting front, I have 5 more pattern repeats to do on the ankles of the basket weave socks, and then I’ll be done, done done! And my needles will be free to start on my Sockapalooza pal’s yummy cabled socks.

I also have to get ready for the sock class. It’s coming up in 3 short weeks, and I have no materials ready. It turned out to be so popular that we are adding a second class. I don’t want to have more than 10 in the class, and I’m being hard nosed about people being able to make it to all three sessions. But it looks like both classes will fill.

So I’d better come up with a lesson plan, eh? 😆

Tangle will be having it’s first anniversary in June, and will be starting to carry Blue Moon yarn at about the same time. Alice has asked me to develop a sock pattern with Socks That Rock. I have a stitch pattern and a name, so now I just need to figure out how to turn my basic trial-and-error sock pattern into something that others can follow and actually end up with a pair of socks that fits. I’ll probably also do a toe-up cast-on clinic. We’ll see.

The pattern will be available here some time this summer, after a lot of test-knitting. Hopefully Knitty.com will have published the cast-on by that time also, so I can link to it.

The green sweater, Clapotis #2, the PNW Shawl and at least a couple of other pairs of socks languish in neglect.