Finished Horcrux!

Just finished these -- 2 minutes before midnight on Monday, so its officially a one week project! I started these last Tuesday afternoon.

Wanted to get some pictures up. I'll probably add more about them tomorrow morning.....

These are the Horcrux socks from the Six Sock Knitalong on Yahoo Groups. The lace part, which is very hard to photograph, is a zig-zag pattern that mimics the scar on Harry Potter's head. Speculation is that the scar contains a part of Lord Voldemort's soul (known as a Horcrux) - only time will tell, book 7 is released at 12:01 on July 21. I imagine I'll be wearing these socks for the release party at our local library, despite what will probably be 90 degree heat and high humidity in the height of summer here in NJ.

They are in blue & silver, which are the Ravenclaw house colors. I've been sorted there at least twice. Blue is Fortissima Socka, grey is Trekking, and there is a DMC silver thread carried along in the lace part, giving it some sparkle.




And this is the darn Eye of Partridge heel which caused me such consternation. Its a square heel, for the record, and I'm not too crazy about it even though it fits. Next time it will either be a round heel or my favorite short row heel.

Horcrux socks

I've made significant progress on these socks, considering I bought the yarn on Tuesday and these pictures are from early Friday morning. But, as always with flap heels, I have a problem.

The heel flap is done in Eye of Partridge on 35 sts. So, here is the flap at 36 rows:

This clearly isn't a square, and the flap sure isn't long enough. Anyone know why I always have this problem? I always have to add on tons of extra rows to the flap, which leaves a lot more sts to be worked off in the gusset.

Just for fun, the sock so far:


And its mate. 50 rows in the heel flap to get it to about the right length.

New yarn

As I've already said, the HP socks have been eating at me. And that Wildfoote from the stash just wasn't working. So yesterday, my friend and I headed out for a yarn & craft expedition. So, here is the haul.... not shown - the newest Interweave Knits, obtained with a 50% off coupon at the craft store. Boy, they had hidden it well.....


I've been place in Ravenclaw by a few of those "sorting hat" tests, so I decided to go with Ravenclaw's colors. Yes, the blue is a bit dark, but you try finding solid colored sock yarn these days! As you can see, I've been quite busy with them in the last 24 hours, but it is an easy pattern to knit. The Trekking is this great tweedy blue-gray, and I'm carrying some DMC metallic along with it to give it some sparkle. The heels will be in the same Trekking, but without the carry-along, I'm afraid it will be too abrasive and cut through the yarn in that spot.

Don't you just love the zig-zag in the Horcrux part, just like Harry's scar?

And I shouldn't forget to mention these as well:

Took younger son camping this past weekend and had to buy some reading material for the trip. I'm not sure I needed the Simply Knitting magazine, but I couldn't resist the little notions bag that came with it. Its got balls of yarn in all different colors on it, so cute!

The Stephanie Pearl-McPhee book is excellent, as you would expect. Kept me laughing and laughing. I'm about 2/3rds done with it, have to make some reading time this weekend.

Tagged: 7 Random Things about me

So, I've been tagged. Rules say I have to tell you all 7 random things about me, then tag 7 more people. I don't know if I know of 7 other blogs to tag..... but I can, at least, tell you about me.

1. I collect craft stuff. Beads, bits of elastic, the inner tubes of paper towel, origami paper.... I just never know when I'll need something. Yes, it is all a mess, but I can't part with any of it.

2. I can knit continental and English. I can also knit backwards, to avoid purling. And, although I am a righty, I can knit & purl lefty (although a bit slowly) and I always teach left-handed people to knit left-handed (unless they are already knitting right-handed successfully). They are always amazed that I can demonstrate how to do it for them.

3. I become obsessed with lost things. It just really, really bugs me, and I have a hard time going to sleep if I know something is missing.

4. I haven't dusted the house in years. Spot cleaned occasionally, but I don't make an all out effort against the dust on a regular basis.

5. My favorite time of year is the spring. Can't you just smell the warm weather on the breeze?

6. My favorite flower is the daffodil. I have them planted all along the driveway and outside the kitchen window so I can see them when they are in bloom.

7. Creative ideas get stuck in my head. There is then no peace until I actually make the item. Hence, my trip to Home Depot yesterday to buy $1 worth of stuff. And a trip to the LYS. Probably cost me twice what I spent for the gasoline.

New projects...

Okay, still haven't woven the ends on those socks for DH. And both the Rona Shawl and the Moc Croc socks are still on the needles. And yet, I have a burning desire to start a pair of Horcrux socks. Joined the Six-sox-knitalong group at Yahoo to get access to the pattern, and use the tips people have posted.

I went stash diving yesterday morning, and even started the socks (Brown Sheep Wildefoote in the Brown Sugar color). After an hour of work, and about 20 rows, it became apparent that the 60 sts just were never going to get over my ankle and I needed to make it on 70. Funny, because the Moc Croc's are 60 sts on size 00, and these will be just fine, but the 60 sts on size 2.25 mm were too small. It must be that black hole in the knitting universe, I can't think of any other explanation.

Anyway, I tried casting on the 70, but on the second round it became apparent I had missed a stitch, and I had dropped what looked like an excess stitch at the join, and you know how it goes. Fling across the room in disgust.

Truth is, I don't think this yarn is working for this pattern. Today will be expedition day to the LYS to find something else. These socks aren't all that complicated and should move really fast......

In the meantime, a few hours in the hospital waiting for a family member to recover from a test was exactly the kick I needed to get going again on the Moc Crocs. Only a few more repeats on the leg on the second sock, and then I'll be ready to do the heel turn on both.

Posting of the results of the yarn expedition to follow later..........

Finished object!

Okay, finally done!

Well, except for the ends. Socks for hubby of the very large feet.....



And yes, the temps here in NJ are now consistently in the 70's. Much too warm for these.

:-(

Slump....

Okay, I admit it. I'm in a knitting slump, or at least a slowdown. While I've been plugging away on the socks for hubby, they are frustrating - 84 sts, size 1 needles, way too long for each row, and then you don't see any visible progress.

The Rona Shawl has been sitting abandoned for at least 3 weeks. I picked it up today to work on while I pedaled on the exercise bike and couldn't even remember what row I was on. Took a few minutes, but finally figured out it was row 86 -- the first on the page...... very disheartening.

The Moc Croc socks are even more abandoned.

On the other hand, I did get the old iPod that hubby gave me working. Loaded on some knitting podcasts and accomplished a ton of housework yesterday and the day before while listening to some of them. And yesterday I went and bought some yarn at JoAnn's to make a cover for the thing -- the cover hubby gave me is really annoying, you can't get to the stop button quickly when the phone rings. I settled on the Microspun yarn and crocheted it for stability. Problem now -- how do I clip this to my waistband? Does anyone sell clips? Do I buy something inexpensive and use it for parts? I think I'll also sew in some clear vinyl to protect the screen.

Must get out of this slump. Thought about starting a "Curved Shawl" from Victorian Lace Today with this really great boucle-y yarn I picked up at the LYS sale a year ago. But that would mean accepting defeat on the current projects. I think I'll force myself to plug away at the Rona Shawl for now.

There is a Harry Potter sock exchange starting -- might be interesting. A good excuse to go buy sock yarn, right? I'll ponder for a while.

So, here are all the projects OTN:

Yes, that is ball #3 waiting to be used - both socks have run out of yarn and are short by at least 2 inches. REALLY BIG FEET. I know you didn't believe me.....

Oh, FYI, I did just use the reinforcing yarn however it came out. There would never had been enough if I tried to match the stripes.