Socks

I’ve been to sock yarn heaven and lived to post about it! Oh. My. Gosh. Our little hometown is on the sock knitting map! Look at this adorable storefront:

Have any of you ever heard of Simply Socks Yarn Company? It’s a BIG on-line sock yarn company and she is local. Who knew? Two weeks ago, my quilty friend Gurney sent us peeps an e-mail to let us know that the on-line company would be opening a real-life store front. (Thanks for the awesome tip Gurney!) Allison is the owner and she had her grand opening on Saturday. All week long, that’s all I could think about (well, that and the Children LOL) ! This is the view just as you enter the front door. I LOVE that checkered floor. Not to mention ALL that sock yarn!  (Please ignore the finger — I was too excited to pay any attention to the location of my appendages.)

I’ve never seen so much sock yarn in one place.  Holy. Cow.  Just look at all the solid colors.

I was particularly interested in the solid colors ’cause I’ll admit it.  I saw these socks on Allison’s blog and they’re what drew me in (among other things).

ANNE!!!  LOOK!!!  IT’S SHEEPIES!!!!  I’m sorry.  I AM screaming!  It’s SHEEPIES!  How perfect for a pair of socks.  The pattern is free on Allison’s blog and you know that yarn had to come home with me.  I would have been haunted for weeks if I’d left it there at the shop.  (Oooh, I got a color card too — I forgot to take a picture of it.)

The grand opening was really fun.  Allison was just as sweet and helpful as could be.  She greeted me when I entered the shop (in spite of many other customers) and helped me find those sheepies right away.  After that, I took a look around.  Look at this awesome idea — a table where you can try several different yarns and see if you like them.  (Or maybe Allison is brilliant and this is a way to get some socks knitted LOL!)

There was so much yarn everywhere and there are several pictures that I didn’t get.  I missed the food tables.  Lots of yummy looking cakes and cookies.  But really.  Who can think about food when faced with such a fab selection of yarn?  Look at these cute things.  You buy the gradiated (methinks that’s not a word) yarn in groups…

so you can knit something like this.  Yummmmmy.

Lots more yarn that caught my eye.  I’m looking forward to visiting the shop again.

Simply Sock Yarn Company is still primarily an internet business and she has pretty limited store hours, so if you decide you need a little road trip, be sure and check the hours on her blog.  It’s WELLLLL worth the trip. (Plus there’s a bakery and chocolate shop in the same neighborhood and two other yarn shops in town.  And, well, Jenny and I are here — what more could you ask for???   If only we had a quilt shop, we’d be THE destination!!!)

Ok, one last thing — I suppose you’d like to know who won the Children at Play giveaway??? I made TheRandomManoftheHouseGenerator a good dinner tonight, so he faithfully performed his duties and burped up 27.

WooHoo — Ms. Periwinkle, Come On Down!!!! (Haha, maybe it was the dinner that made him pick a number from the UK.)
Have a good week!
XOXO,
Anna

If you can believe it.  It’s been SO long since any knitting has happened on this little blog — what a sad state of affairs.  I finally finished the socks that I’ve been working on  forever.

The yarn is the Lorna’s Laces custom dye that I picked up at Cami’s shop (sadly no longer in business) a few years ago.  The pattern is the Mockery Sock free download.  I’ve used this pattern before and I love it.

I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with Lorna’s Laces yarn.  It’s VERY comfy and it wears and washes like a dream, but I always have problems with pooling.  The pooling in these socks wasn’t too bad — except for the area where the sock gussets were being created.  That’s the area where the skinny brown and white stripes are on top of my foot.  Otherwise, I love the way this yarn played out.

Don’t ask me what the heck I did to those heel flaps.  I did half of the flaps and then the socks matured in my stash for a few months.  When I picked them back up, I though I was doing a different heel pattern.  I was too lazy to rip them back and fix it.  It’s a little easier to see the mistake in the first picture.    Anyway, it’s nice to have them done and dusted.  They’re really cozy and I know I”ll get lots of wear out of them.

Sorry for the absence this week.  It seems like lots of things have been breaking and needing attention around here (to include this happy little blog — she suffered a few fainting spells earlier in the week.)  I’ll make it up to you this coming week though — Tuesday is Randi’s Recipe Box Swap and on Wednesday, I’ll be participating in Pat Sloan’s Aurifil Blog Hop.  There will be prizes.  Should be fun!

Have a great weekend!

XOXO,
Anna

A month ago, I read this post over at Karen’s and saw the prettiest cable socks ever! I commented and asked Karen if the pattern was available on Ravelry. Not yet, she said — it’s her own pattern and would I like to test it for her?   Would I???  I jumped at the chance, as I’m a BIG fan of cables.

So, I set about test knitting and had the best time. I had big plans to be able to take the sock pictures in our pretty snow, but it’s been raining here and the snow is almost all gone. I was able to muster up enough for a little bitty snowman. With a little bitty hydrangea hat.

But I digress — we’re talking socks here! Karen’s pattern is beautifully written. It has several pictures (her socks are a much prettier blue than mine) and she writes the instructions for the cables three different ways — row-by-row, on a graph, and formula-like — so no matter what kind of “learner” you are, she has you covered.

The yarn I used is a Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock hand-dyed yarn in Cookies’ Deep Dark Secret colorway. I wanted a plain yarn so the cables would really stand out.

Thanks to MyDadLovesMeBestSister for being the sock model.  We were taking pictures on top of this wall, then decided to hang her feet over the wall.  When we did that, Mr. Snowman yelled “Wait for Me!” and jumped over the side.  He managed to cling to the edge for approximately 7.3 seconds.

Poor little guy — he’s all melted now. But, the cables are still around and if you love them like I do, you can get Karen’s pattern here, on Ravelry. (And in case you’re wondering, I don’t get a bonus or anything — I just think these socks are darn cute!)

Oh, and I have one more teeny little recommendation for you. The Young Victoria. We saw it this afternoon and I loved it. It made me cry. Did I tell you, I loved it?

XOXO,
Anna

Haha — that was some serious fun, reading all the comments on my last post.  I really enjoyed seeing where you all stand wrt the holidays.  There are a few of you over-achievers who are all done with your shopping (!), but I’m happy to say, I’m not the only one still sitting around waiting for the lightening bolt.  I will say that I’ve at least…Oh Wait.  I can’t say anything — there are big eyes lurking and I wouldn’t want to give anything away.  Oh well, it wasn’t anything earth shattering anyway — just a little start.

In the meantime, I FINALLY finished up this pair of socks.  Since I rarely travel for work anymore, I’ve lost my prime sock-knitting time so it’s harder for me to accomplish much in the knitting department.

I love the blue and green colors.  But, oh dear.  My friend the camera has rudely pointed out a little bitty (well, not so bitty) mistake in these socks.  Do you see it?  That left heel down there — right across the middle.  It appears I’ve missed a row of pattern.  Ooops! I didn’t even see it until I was downloading the pictures.

Oh well, it’s WAY too late to fix that little problem now.  That’s ok — they’re super comfy, just in time for winter.  I have no idea what the yarn is (sorry — I bought them from a pile at Cami‘s and they didn’t have a ball band).  I just used my standard sock knitting method and knit a plain ol’ stockinette stitch for the bulk of the sock.  Easy Peasy!

In other news, remember when I told you about Penny‘s big drive to get everyone to sign a petition to bring back Flea Market Fancy?  She’s having a big ol’ jumbo giveaway over at the Flea Market Fancy Blog — you should definitely RUN over there and check it out!

Bring on the weekend!  TheManoftheHouse and I have a BIG closet cleanout scheduled for tomorrow. Hopefully boxes won’t fall on us and kill us….wish us luck!

Have a great weekend!
XOXO,
Anna

…but all I found were some shingles.   We had a LOT of rain and storms and WIND (with a tornado in the area.) Lots of wind. Remember my sad looking roof? I think we’re pushing that poor ol’ roof a little too hard — after the 70+ mph winds some of those poor ol’ shingles aren’t there anymore. Oops. We’re in the middle of getting new roof estimates — they just aren’t coming in as fast as the wind.  Pass the buckets, please.

So, anyway, there’s been more knitting around here.  I finished these socks a few weeks ago in record (for me) time.  Started on Monday and finished on Friday.  That will almost surely never happen again — it was a lucky week with lots of airport time.  Now I can be Melly’s twin — someday she’s going to take me on a Harley ride and we’re going to wear our matching socks, right, Melly?

I got this yarn at Cami’s the last time we were there.  It was sitting on top of a shelf in a tangled mess, but Melly’s socks were in progress, so I knew I had to have it.  While we sat and talked, I untangled it and then Sweet Blogless Rob put it on the ballwinder for me.  I don’t have a ball band, but Cami says it’s Trekking 126.  It was great to work with and I love the colors that scream neapolitan ice cream.  Although, what’s up with that icky lighter brown stripe there?  Don’t tell me that doesn’t remind you of diaper poop.  You know it does.

I would have been happier if they’d just left that poopy color out.  Oh well.  They still make me think of ice cream anyway.  Yum-m-m-m-y!  Put that on your grocery list this week for a few extra calories!

And speaking of extra calories, have you all seen the Happy Weight Calculator?  You can calculate your ideal weight, and oh boy {note of sarcasm} it says I don’t need to lose anything.  Gr-r-r-eat.  Translation:  I’ve reached an age where it’s acceptable to be portly.  Oh joy.  While I was there, I took the liberty of putting MyDadLovesMeBestSister’s stats into the calculator, and it says she needs to gain 20 lbs.  Even with the unhappy weight calculator (i.e. conventional wisdom) she needs to gain 10 lbs.  Now you know what I’m dealing with.  Can I have a little sympathy please?  I’m thinking about changing her name to SkinnyB*tch.

In the meantime, I’m having another bite of ice cream.  And I’ll console myself with the fact, that after I wear holes in these socks, they’ll make a matching ice cream cozy for neapolitan ice cream.

Have a Happy Week (I hope it has ice cream in it {wink}{wink})!

XOXO,
Anna