The Mystery of the Missing Sock

I'm always a little sad when there is one lone sock after I fold the clothes. I'm usually confident that eventually the dryer will cough up it's mate. At least that's the case when it's a commerically-made sock, not one of my handknit ones. I got home from an overnighter on Friday of last week. I dumped the plastic hotel bag of laundry in the laundry basket without even opening it. My spouse is really great about doing the laundry - he even air dries my superwash wool socks, rather than putting them through the dryer! I had nothing to worry about - or so I thought.

Saturday night I went to put some of the laundry away (he doesn't do everything - but I'm not complaining) and there was ONE LONE HANDKNIT SOCK on the table, just one. I panicked. It was from one of my favorite pairs. I looked in the dryer. I re-folded clothes, thinking it stuck to something else. I looked in the pack where I had the laundry bag. I looked in the space between the dryer and the washer - just in case it stuck to something and was erroneously dried. I looked everywhere - no sock. I even had a little trouble going to sleep that night. During all of this my spouse was blissfully sleeping, content in the knowledge all was well in his domain.

Sunday, I couldn't think of a way to address the missing sock without it sounding like an accusation - after all, I really appreciate the fact he does the laundry and I don't want to take that job back. Every so often, I would peek in the laundry room to see if the missing sock returned, it hadn't.

Just before bed, I went down to bring up more laundry - both socks were neatly placed together. Long story, short - I still don't know where the sock went, but it's back, washed and neatly placed in the sock basket.

Felted Cabled Bag

I finally finished knitting the Felted Cable Bag from the Nashua Handknits Designer Bags! Calling it the "Felted Cabled Bag" is a bit of a misnomer at this point because I haven't felted it yet. It's made out of Green Mountain Double Twist. My big guy cat Hans is next to it eyeing it up. Green Mountain Double Twist is Hans' favorite yarn. He loves to lay on it, roll on it and sleep on it. I haven't had the heart to tell him that it's not made any more. The other Green Mountain yarn just doesn't quite meet his criteria - whatever that is. I hoping this bag shrinks a lot in the felting process because it is huge! I've put a ruler at the bottom for reference.

I've Become a Podcast Junkie

I love to knit and spin while watching television. This summer, there's only been one program I watch regularly and a couple others I try to remember to watch - not enough to get much knitting or spinning done. Then, I discovered podcasts. I am downloading to my iPod right now. I started out with one, the KnitPicks podcast. An acquaintance of mine was interviewed earlier this year and when I found out about it earlier this summer, I thought it would be fun to hear her podcast. I was hooked. In addition to the KnitPicks podcast, I subscribe to 11 other knitting and spinning-related podcasts! Fortunately, a couple seem to be taking a few weeks off right now. But this week alone, the download consists of nine different podcasts! And the crazy part is - I keep adding because at least one of the podcasters mentions another one she just discovered! At least this is a constructive addiction - because I am getting a lot of knitting and spinning done!

For some solid information on knitting and yarn, my favorite is the KnitPicks podcast. When I have a little more time and want a good laugh with some information thrown in, I really enjoy limonviolet's podcast. Then there are a few by some very busy moms: Brown-Eyed Mom, Knaked Knits, knittingatnight and She-Knits. I doubt any of these women sleep, because not only do they have time for their children, work or school and knitting, but they podcast regularly too! Pretty impressive! That's my short list of podcasts. I listen regularly to more and frankly, if they weren't good, I wouldn't listen!

I Dyed!

Here's my first attempt at space dyeing (as opposed to dying in space). I used chemical dyes and the cold pour method. I am still very surprised at how vibrant the colors turned out. There's yellow into orange, into vermillion, into teal. The next time I'm thinking either omit the teal or the yellow - but who knows, maybe once I knit this up, I won't feel that way!

Small Felted Purse

This is the Small Felted Purse designed by JoAnne Turcotte and made out of one skein of Plymouth Boku yarn. This was a free pattern if you purchased one skein of the yarn. There is a slight shift in yarn - it's a single ply, slightly overspun yarn - so it's no surprise. I love the colorways and the purse is a great size for essentials and slips into my computer bag or briefcase.

Easter Egg Socks

We travelled to San Francisco a couple weeks ago for a few days. I decided to take one of my sock blanks along and knit up a pair of socks. I used the toe-up two-at-a-time pattern on KnitPicks.com website and just about completed the socks during the trip - of course, getting our flight cancelled in Denver helped provide the extra time to do that! I guess there's a silver lining in every cloud! I'm calling these my Easter Egg socks because they really look like the colors on Easter Eggs - maybe that's what I get for using food color and vinegar to dye the sock blank!

Sock Blanks

I recently purchased two sock blanks from Knit Picks. I also purchased dye, but I knew at least one of my cats would likely participate (there's just no shutting these guys out), so I used food coloring adapting Julie Theaker's "cold pour method" described in her Knitting: Spring 07 article "Color to dye for." The photographs show the "wrong" side, but I thought that side photographed the best. The top photograph features my helper, Greta. I also relied on the McCormick Neon colors - the purple in the bottom photograph and the lime green in the top one are particularly striking. I wonder if any of the colors glow in the dark? Now to see how these knit up into socks!