Knit-Along: Sock Wizard Socks from The Modern Ewe - Day 3

Toes and ears...

As is always with socks, these are highly portable and easy to pick up whenever I get a spare minute. Tiny stitches aren’t easy for impatient folk like me, but I am glad for them because they play up the smooth and gradual color change that is the highlight of this yarn. Plus, such a fine gauge always guarantees the most yarn time for your dollar. A ball of Zauberball will run you somewhere in the neighborhood of $20, and I figure I’m looking at at least twenty hours of knitting (if not more) to get these socks done. There simply isn’t a better entertainment value for your dollar! Add a good audiobook downloaded for free from you local library (or, if your is like mine, they rent digital audio players, too) and the deal gets even better.

Which leads me to the subject of audiobooks. Audiobooks and knitters go together like knits and purls. Like many knitters, I’m a huge fan of the audible.com audiobook subscription service. A monthly fee gives you one credit (and most books run one credit) per month, with an astounding array of popular fiction and non-fiction titles. I load them onto my Blackberry so, like the socks, I can make progress even in tiny snatches of free time. I’m currently halfway through the behemoth 45-hour Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon, part of an outstanding series that begins with the classic Outlander). This is an instance where an sublime reader makes the most of fabulous settings and accents to make the audiobook an enhanced experience from reading the novel. In that same vein, my other favorites include Lisa See’s Snow Flower and the Secret Fan or her earlier work Peony in Love. Again, a skilled reader makes the most of exotic Chinese language to add a layer to the book I’d just never get reading on my own. Still another is anything by Alexander McCall Smith of the No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency fame (another great series), although I’m particularly fond of The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs and other books starring “the brilliant but bumbling Professor Doctor Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld.” The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs remains the one an only time an audiobook has made me laugh so hard I had to pull the car over. Good thing I wasn’t attempting Fairaisle or intarsia at the time!

In about another inch, i.e. by next installment, I’ll venture into the dangerous heel turn. Who knows what could happen then...

Knit-Along: Sock Wizard Socks from The Modern Ewe - Day 2

Don't provoke the lady with pointed needles...

Hey, I’m starting to get the hang of this! Now, I can’t even begin to attempt this continental style, even though the added speed might come in handy. It’s just too small a scale. If I stick to American style, though, it’s starting to feel calm. It takes a couple of sessions until you don’t have to think for a minute or two which needle you’re supposed to work with next. You do have a tendency to pick the thing up and say “Ack! What do I do now?” Eventually, I realized the yarn always came from the back needle, and the front needle always had a needle while the back needle held cable. I’m not sure that makes sense without a diagram, but I hope it will help you. Lots of people subscribe to the magic loop method, and this isn’t too far a jump from that. I’d never attempt these on any circ without a very, very smooth join, like an Addi Turbo, because there’s way too much sliding going on.

Despite Dana’s best efforts to wind the ball in my favor, these socks will not come out to match each other. At the moment, they sort of resemble each other, but I can already see we’re going to get to the grey and white sections far faster on one foot that the other. At first that bothered me, but I’ve decided I kind of like it. Matching, but not quite. Feels like how I’ve gone through life.

But yes, these are teeny tiny stitches. Twelve to an inch, it feels like, and I refuse to measure because it will only depress me. One bit of humor: when I’m knitting these in their current state, it’s rather fun to watch spectators try to decide whether or not to ask the burning “what they heck is that?” I see in their eyes. Headphones? Tiny hats? Some do, others just stare discreetly. Amusing people watching to be sure.

It’s not like they’ll do anything to provoke the lady with the thin, pointy needles...

Knit-Along: Sock Wizard Socks from The Modern Ewe

Elite feet...

Personalized socks. The stuff of dreams for any serious knitter. With the pattern--which takes my shoe size, sock preferences, knitting gauge, and prospective yarn into consideration--comes the prospect of supreme comfort....

...At a cost of gazillions of stitches. If I was looking for a good test of my new bifocal contact lenses, I got it. These stitches are teeny. And while this Zauberball is one of the coolest yarns ever, I wish I’d thought to have Dana wind the yarn so that the socks started with grey or white instead of black. Small black stitches are decidedly un-fun. I’m glad Dana walked me through Suzie’s Cast On right there in the shop, because I don’t think I’d have been able to do it on my own under these conditions.

This will be my first toe-up sock. While you certainly can’t tell from its present state, at some point I’ll be able to try these on and see how they fit. I like that concept. I also like the fact that while progress may be excruciatingly slow, I stand no chance whatsoever of falling prey to “second sock syndrome”--that nasty condition where you simply can’t muster the enthusiasm to make the second sock in a given pattern. So, while it may take me a fortnight to get done, once I’m done I’m truly done. I may not find this element so attractive when I’m attempting to turn two sock heels at once.

And both socks are on the same needle! While this looks like knitting KungFu, making others ooh and aah over your technical prowess, it does make for tangling yarns. At least until you can implement Dana’s coolest hint: tuck the balls into each sock. Brilliant! I’ve told this little secret to other like-the-idea-of-two-on-the-same-needle-but-hate-the-tangle knitters, who look at me wide-eyed like I’ve just told them how to eat chocolate without ingesting calories.

Squinty-eyed and ready to be impressed, I soldier on!

Knit-Along: Curly Sheep Needlefeltling from Fancy Tiger - DONE!

Sheep-shape!

Oh my goodness, it’s adorable.

The nose is a bit out of scale, but it’s too cute for me to care. I’m not quite sure yet what I’ll do with it the little guy. The next one...which might stand a better chance of proper body scale...will be a contest prize for my March book about a tiny four-ewe flock of sheep and their sweet librarian shepherdess. But this baby belongs to me, and he needs a place of honor. My desk, perhaps? Peeking out of a bookshelf? This will take some serious thought.

This kit is simply charming. It’d make an excellent cheer-up or get-well gift. A fun and unique hostess gift for the crafty person in your life. Even though it’s simple enough for a young person, that needle is wickedly sharp so I might think twice about giving it to kids. And believe you me, they don't stop at sheep. Check out this selection--it's sure to have something for that hard-to-buy-for crafter on your gift list

I wasn’t very keen on this at first, I admit. And I still prefer knitting to needlefelting. But I did have a load of fun with this kit and predict just about anyone would. It makes a refreshing “palate cleanser” between knitting projects, and that’s definitely worth its weight in wool.

Next up? Socks from The Modern Ewe with the smallest needles I’ve ever attempted. Will size 0 be too much for Allie and her new bifocal contact lenses? Can she soldier on from Suzie’s cast on? Is knitting two socks at once on the same needle more than you can ask from a writer on a tight deadline?

We’re about to find out...

Knit-Along: Curly Sheep Needlefeltling from Fancy Tiger - Day 2

Allie had a little lamb...

I was not expecting to enjoy this so much. It’s sort of like Play-Doh for adults--there’s a visceral joy to it that defies explanation. I’m not at all sure my sheep will come out looking anything close to the cheerful breed on the kit box, but it isn’t looking like a nuclear mutant, either. A little aardvark-y, yes, but I think it may be recognizable as a sheep in its final form. And yes, aardvark-y is a word. Professional writer at the helm here--I have a license to manufacture adjectives.

Two things struck me as I made the face and ears. One, that my sheep looks dangerously close to Nick Park’s (of Wallace and Gromit fame) creation Shaun the Sheep. It’s in the eyes, I think. It surely lacks the tell-tale toothy grin of Park’s characters, but the roundness of the edges reminds me of his style.

The other thing that struck me was a direct counterpoint to my surprising enjoyment of this project. I was startled by how elementally wrong it feels to stab something in the eye. Even if the stabbing is how that eye is created. Needle-felting is, at its most basic, stabbing roving repeatedly with a very sharp needle. I knew the ball of roving had no sensory perception. It could feel no pain. It could not be oppressed or assaulted. Still, I couldn’t get past the guttural revulsion of sticking the thing in the eye over and over. I was glad, relieved even, when the eyes were finally formed. I exhaled a breath I hadn’t even realized I was holding. Personification gone oddly wrong.

Further proof that this tiny thing is powerfully alluring? My teenage daughter wandered by as I was making the face and read the directions over my shoulder. “The kit makes two sheep?” she asked coyly. I knew what was coming: “Could I make the other one?”

We’ll see.

Knit-Along: Curly Sheep Needlefeltling from Fancy Tiger - Day 1

“Better than a poke with a sharp stick.”

This is the phrase that comes to mind as I contemplate my venture into needlefelting. I’m going to spend the next week poking something with a very sharp needle. Were I a bitter woman with an axe to grind, this might sound tremendously appealing. The sheep on the box is adorable, but I have grave doubts about my ability to recreate it’s fuzzy charm. My sheep might lack...um...appeal. Be warned--while I’m crafty in the knitting department, my art skills leave a lot to be desired. I’ve botched more MOPS crafts than I care to admit...

Since the kit tells me I’ll make two sheep, I’m hoping to make one of them a contest prize for my upcoming novella Bluegrass Easter, which has several sheep in the plot. However, it could be I will not end up with anything anybody wants to win. I’ll make the sheep one at a time--just like the directions say--so that perhaps my second sheep effort will benefit from the errors of my first.

Step one was to roll my grey roving into a ball. I think I can handle that. Basic first grade clay skills in this procedure. While it took me a few tries to get the roving to roll the way I wanted it (it’s tricky stuff), I was rather happy with the results.

Then, I got to poke my ball “over and over” to harden and condense it. And well, that was strangely satisfying. My husband happened to have Steely Dan’s “Josie” on the stereo at the time, and the tempo was just right. I found myself smiling as I did this. And no, Band-Aids were not required. I have not yet inserted the very pointy needle into my very vital fingertips. As a writer about to head into a tight proposal deadline, damaged digits would put me at a considerable disadvantage (but yes, you can type with Band-Aids on, so there’s still some hope.

Next episode we start on the tricky business...the head and ears. Things could get ugly...literally. Stay tuned.

Knit Along: Mohair Shrug from Showers of Flowers - DONE!

Ah-HA!

Well, perhaps a qualified ah-ha.

I finished it...with a few modifications. I did four pattern rows instead of five because the shrug felt just too big--all the way to my elbows--with the fifth row. And the fact that I had only hours until the party may have had something to do with it. For the same “volume of fluff” reason, I opted for a button closure rather than the ties called for in the pattern, but more because I had this really cool purple button than any time-saving inclination. It’s a stunning piece, and very warm. I wore it to a winter party with a sleeveless shell and was quite toasty. This will be my Christmas Eve adornment, I’ve decided. All in all, I’m happy with the results.

Will I go full-tilt knit-til-you-drop like that again? Probably not. I'm glad to know I can pull it off, but it took all the fun out of it to knit until my fingers hurt. While I did get very far in my audiobook version of Diana Gabaldon’s Echo in the Bone (and that’s a 45 hour audiobook!), it was just too much knitting. All achievement of product and no enjoyment of process. Still, I had a point to make. So much of my life has defaulted to “Plan B” lately that it felt insanely satisfying for something to go the way I originally planned. The shrug was as much emotional statement as it was fashion statement.

Two tips I’d offer:

1. The directions aren’t quite clear that you are doing the “knit one below” pattern on every row. Once I got that straight, then things went nicely. When I thought I had to just knit the wrong side rows, it just looked like a tangled mess.
2. With so fuzzy a yarn, it was definitely hard to see which stitches were knit and which were “knit one below.” I ended up putting markers every ten stitches just so I could count back easily when I needed to (which was often).

This piece taught me a lot. I learned a new skill, I learned when to go for broke to finish a piece and what’s gained from such a commitment. I learned I don’t like knitting for hours on end, up against a deadline, because us writers have way too many deadlines in our lives as it is. But I also learned that sometimes, knitting is the one thing in life you can control...and some days, that’s priceless.

Next up from Denver? An adorable, light-hearted needle-felted sheep. The perfect counterpoint to massive-scale knitting.

If I don’t stab my finger. Band-Aids at the ready...