Sock Leave

I've been sick for the last week. Like the fevered, coughing, mucus-oozing kind of sick. It sucked. But I'm getting better, thanks to some time off and some medicine. I got pretty much no knitting done during that time; sadly, I have yet to master sleep-knitting. However all is not lost on the blog posting front. Before getting sick, I had already finished the first Seduction lace sock:I also had a plain sock to work on for theater and movie going. This was started during Arcadia - a play I love love love - and quickly finished:
The yarn is 5th Avenue Socksation in the oddly named Black/Brown colorway. It's really more blue/light brown/dark brown, don't you think? There's no black in it at all.

And then there's the little bit of fever-addled knitting I did manage to do:
Finger socks! Hah! You know, like for when your finger tips get cold...somehow way colder than the rest of your hands... yeah, that's it. They're so adorably pointless, I think I'll make more. I certainly have lots of leftover sock yarn!

Stitch & Pitch '09

I started a new sock in Jersey which I'm working through slowly back at home.
This is an easy lace pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks, worked over 64 sts. The texture combined with the variegation result in a pretty busy-looking sock, but I can live with it. The yarn is Blue Moon Fiber Arts Seduction in the colorway Fluorite. I also worked on the sock during the Nationals Stitch 'n Pitch.
The Nats lost, but it was still a fun evening. Exxon-Mobil gave me a hat:
Thank you, petroleum! The stitching section was in a nice shady area, but it's nice to have backup shade available as well.

The sock helped me fill out the All Star ballot.
Those pointy needle tips came in handy. They're still using paper ballots, hanging chads and all. I hope they won't need a recount, because that would take forever, and possibly even a Supreme Court decision, to settle definitively. Plus the always amusing Presidential Race had an exciting photo finish.
Good times at the ballpark.

Heart & Sole Update: Coats and Clarke did send me replacement yarn, as promised.
They sent quite a lot actually, enough for a couple of long pairs. I'd better get knitting.

Everyone's a Winnder!

I survived house sitting and the cats survived me so, like this dim sum place, we're all winnders! Yay! I started a sock:
This is Paton's Kroy Stripes. It's more a sport weight than a fingering really so it's good for a speedy sock, so speedy in fact that they're done.
They're for Jersey Girl, who's getting a writing award this week. She's a winnder too.

Bunny Ears

I went to Sheep and Wool and showed remarkable restraint. My stash is now only a few skeins of sock yarn and a bit of silk plumper than it was before. Perhaps I was destracted from fiber buying by some incredible cuteness: I could really use ears like that. I've been house sitting, and I don't think I have ever appreciated paid TV as much as I do right now. I will give my FiOS DVR many smooches when I get home.

Not that I'm totally without entertainment. These are my two victims, er...I mean charges:
They're a sister and brother duo with very different personalities, though I cough at both of their furry sheddings equally.

I finished the yellow striped socks and gave them to my beloved smother for Smother's Day:

As I said last time, I sent a complaint to Coats and Clark about the badly dyed sections I found in this color, and also in the Razzle Dazzle color way from these socks, and wonder of wonders, they replied! They said they would send me replacement yarn for the inconvenience, which is a nice response. Their explanation for the problem was a little weird though. They said the self-patterning dyeing process wasn't always consistent. I've used other brands of self-patterning yarns and have found them to be very consistent. As long as you start in the same part of the color repeat for each sock, you'll get pretty much identical socks (or whatever it is you're knitting). Is their dyeing process different from other manufacturers? Is it a quality control problem? I dunno, but I do know from experience with other yarns that consistent machine-dyed self-patterning yarns are very possible, and I don't think it's too much to expect that kind of consistency. Also, the Coats people wanted me to send them samples of the leftovers, which I will. If I hear back, I'll let you know.