And the results are in!

Monday was the last day of the 2013 Minnesota State Fair. This also meant that today was the first day that I could pick up my socks and see what the judges had to say about them.

I was pleasantly surprised.


When I picked up the socks, the woman who brought them out to me said anyone who knits socks deserves an award. I thanked her and she told me to come back and enter something next year. I said I definitely was going to be back next year. As I walked away from the building to my car, I opened the judging sheet and saw this:

I turned around and walked back to the building. I asked what was a perfect score, which turns out to be 100. That seemed to be the instinctual answer but you can never know unless you ask. They seemed curious why I had asked and I told them that this was only my 4th or so pair of socks (it may actually be more than that, but details) and I was thrilled to have received a 94. I was closer to getting a ribbon than I thought I was! Turns out that there were a lot of really awesome textured socks this year. Next year I apparently need to do a harder pattern (Ha! I guess that it's okay since this was the "easy" Cookie A pattern from June) and to work on my kitchner stitch. There may also have been giggling when I got out of the building....

As I walked to the car I called my mom. I made her guess what score I got. She guessed 87. She was thrilled that I had done so well! She was definitely proud of my work.

Tomorrow I'll be wearing these socks to show them off at my knitting group. Of course, I've also got some building (as in lumber) to do tomorrow at work, so maybe I'll bring my socks and wear them to knitting group.

Better picture.

Artistic shot.

Trip to the State Fair

Thursday August 22nd was the opening day of the 2013 Minnesota State Fair. It was a lovely day, not too hot or humid, and there wasn't much going on at work, so I decided to take the day off to go to the Fair.

We parked on my side of the U of MN campus and walked over to the stadium that for a free shuttle ride. I had my knitting along.

Pedestriyarn: Here I am knitting and walking at the same time.

The first place we were going to go was the Creative Arts building to see how my socks had done. We got distracted but did eventually make it there. It took a bit to find them, but I did find them on display. No ribbon but I honestly didn't expect anything.

Pardon the bad reflection...

Wanted one, yes, but I know I'm still essentially a beginner and I know there were things that needed fixing on the socks. The heels weren't my best as it was my first time doing a short row heel. At least they were blocked, which there were many other socks displayed that weren't.

We walked around the building a little bit and looked at the amazing things that did win.

Then we headed out to get some food (I was still walking and knitting). Lunch was a very tasty Mexican sandwich (I don't remember what it's called and I didn't take a picture; food was too tasty smelling). We then headed over to the Eco Building to see some of the other Tesla owners. Husband ended up sucked into talking about the Tesla (it's really easy), so I wandered away with my knitting to look at some other things on site. An hour later I rescued him.

We ended the day by going to get cookies and milk. While we were at the "All You Can Drink" milk stand, I noticed a banner that declared Alpacas. Since I'd humored Husband by letting him get sucked into the Tesla vortex, he let me go over and bet the yarn and chat with the owners. I actually managed to not buy any yarn! This was the second place that there was yarn to pet. In the dairy barn, there was a booth with yarn and fiber for sale (I don't know why). I didn't realize it when I dragged Husband in to look at the butter sculptures.

I do feel very encouraged to work on my knitting and submit more items next year!

YOP #5 or How I was Project Monogamous for a Whole Week

I'm late on getting this week's post up. I was going to do it Sunday but that was an exhausting day with not enough sleep. There was plenty of knitting though. This last week at work, we were home to a physics conference. I spent most of my stage managing time sitting in a dark corner listening to advanced physics whooshing over my head while I worked on my Tiberius socks. I'd really hoped that they would be finished but alas, they aren't.

A friend snapped this picture of the progress on Saturday (I'd finished the heel and was starting the foot).

I've included her commentary because it amused me. I tend to be hyper-critical of myself. I see people finishing projects in a week or less. I've been working on these for a month and they aren't done yet. Perspective is nice that way. Here I've been thinking that I'm "okay" and "passable" at knitting and then a friend who has been knitting for decades tells me I have a gift. Absolutely humbling.

Last week I mentioned walking and knitting on a blanket at the same time and I was surprised at how many people can't do that. I stole the idea from a book on the history and techniques of knitting which showed some Irish women walking with peat on their back that they'd just gathered and knitting at the same time. I figure if they could do it, then so could I. These socks have been worked on while I've been walking.

I had hoped that if I worked on them, and only them, for the week, that they would be finished before our next Cookie A packet came. This didn't happen as I needed sleep. I did end up dreaming about knitting these socks in my sleep though, which probably means I was a little too intense on them. Husband says I'll be finished with them by Thursday. We'll see if that's the case though I'm thinking it won't be until Friday that they are completely off the needles. There's about 2 inches of the pattern left and then 2 inches for the toes.

There are also lots of things I need to cast on, so that's the goal for this coming week, once these socks are finished. I want to cast on two shawls and get more work done on the baby blanket. I want to be past the halfway point by Sunday, which might happen. I'm running the lights at church this weekend and I can knit during the band's rehearsal time and I've got D&D which the blanket is an awesome knitting project for as I don't have to think too hard about it. It also keeps me from building dice towers. I also want to cast on another pair of socks. I think I should always have a pair of socks going if for no other reason than socks are cool. I'd also like to use the yarn that my bonus kids gave me for Christmas, which is going to become socks.

Finished Objects

• Japan Scarf
• Birthday Bag

Works in Progress

• Tiberius Socks
• Baby Blanket

New to social knitting

Back in June, I went to a knitting group that meets at a local bakery. I've been lurking on their meet-up page for a while but hadn't been able to go as there were other priorities, mostly work related. It was a lot of fun and then July happened and I wasn't able to get back. They started to do the 2nd and 4th Sundays as well and last Sunday I decided I was going to go to it. I made a point of doing some work around the house (mostly cleaning up my craft room) and going to the Scary Place (Costco) for some much needed milk and other supplies so that I could go and eat a French dessert and still feel like I had done something productive at home.

It was a much smaller group but it was a lot of fun. It was nice to simply sit and knit and chat for a while without having eye rolling from my husband. I love him but knitting isn't really his thing. He doesn't always appreciate yarn the same way other knitters do. Everyone was impressed with my self-dyed yarn for my Tiberius socks and they were all impressed with the pattern. I had no idea that Cookie A socks were so impressive! I mean, they are beautiful and a lot of fun to make but I didn't realize how many people seem to be intimidated by them.

Last night I went to another group that I've been meaning to get to, but they only meet every 1st, 3rd and 5th (when there is one) Thursday of a month. This group met at a church, which I kind of like better than the bakery. The bakery has very yummy things but there are also other people who tend to be loud. Not that knitters are the quietest group of people on the planet but it's nice to be able to not worry about speaking over people in a bakery. I saw some lovely patterns and my Tiberius yarn was again admired. It was a very lively bunch and a lot of fun.

I hope to keep going to both groups. While I've hung out with friends and worked on crafts before, there was something different about going to a place that wasn't someone's home and knitting. I really enjoyed it. It was a chance to be social in a smaller group without having to dive into the drama of my life, which my closer friends are use to me doing, but getting to be around people. It was also dedicated time to knit with nothing else demanding my attention which was nice.

The best part? I came home last night to a box of yarn from my mom! Some of it she had even spun herself for me. It's quite lovely. Now I just need to get faster at knitting....

YOP Update #4

No pictures this week but there has been much progress. I've started on my second skein on the baby blanket and it's around 12" long! Baby Blanket 1.0 was onto it's second skein when it was frogged and was maybe 6" if I'm lucky. It's been my walking to and from the car to work project though it's starting to get a little too long for that. I also walked from work to a crafting group, which was about 3 miles, while knitting on the blanket. It was nearly one full repeat of the pattern while walking but the tail of the 1st skein kept getting stuck between my legs. If it hadn't been 80 degrees F out, this probably wouldn't have been an issue but it was kind of awkward.

The Tiberius socks are coming along nicely though I waited until the end of the week to work on them. A 90 minute car ride is an excellent time to work on them. They aren't a walking project because I need to refer to the chart too often, though I imagine I should actually be able to knit without looking at it. It's easier to look though as it makes it harder to get lost. I went to a knitting group this afternoon that traditionally meets on Tuesday but they've expanded to the 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month. It was a lot of fun and it was nice to work on a project and chat with fellow knitters. The yarn has also seemed to decide to behave. I'm hoping that this trend will continue.

I'm not doing so well on the getting my stash smaller. I did get some yarn recently. One skein was to have enough yarn to make a vest for Husband who now doesn't want a vest. Apparently I shouldn't believe him when he starts day dreaming about knit items. The other skein is called Temporal Rift and knits up stripped like the 4th Doctor's scarf.... It's going to become socks. I'd love if Husband would wear them while dressed as the 10th Doctor, but I don't think he's going to agree to that. Maybe I should just knit them anyway and he'll fall in love with how comfy they feel...

YOP Update #3

Since last week, I've actually managed to make decent progress. I have a really awesome chiropractor who adjusted my neck and arms last Monday so I was able to work on my projects. One even got finished.

Birthday Bag

 Back in April when I went on the yarn shop hop, I purchased a kit to make the above bag. It included everything I needed to finish it. It was mostly completed back in June. I waited until I got home to block it as it would be silly to block it and then to pack it in my luggage. Then I needed to run the string through it. The blocking went smoothly but I kept putting off adding the string. Mostly because I knew it didn't have to be finished until this week. I had purchased it to make and give to my youngest step-daughter who loves not only the color purple but also purses, bags and containers that she can hide things into. It was fairly easy to do once I looked back at the pattern to remember which row was the eyelet row. In the photo above, it's standing so nicely because it has a napkin stuffed inside of it. Without that, it sort of lays limply on its side. It should be fine once it is filled with gifts for a 9 year old.

Baby blanket

Now that I've got the 3rd repeat done of the pattern on the blanket, I'm liking it. I'm glad I didn't get discouraged and rip it out. It's about a fifth of the way done and is just over 2 feet wide. It's currently around 7 inches tall. The nice thing about it is that I can mindlessly work on it while doing other things, such as playing D&D, which is exactly what I did last night. Using much larger needles is speeding the process up so I think I'll actually get through this before the end of the year. I should check with Husband and see when is his cousin's daughter's birthday as it would make a nice birthday gift.

Tiberius Sock

These socks are from the June 2013 Cookie A Sock Club. I made myself finish the socks from the April shipment before starting these. I decided I wanted to make them in yarn the color of Captain Kirk's uniform. My mom happened to have dye that was the "correct" color so we dyed some white yarn that I founded at a local shop while I was at home. I had purchased a skein of "Snow" Cascade Heritage Sock Yarn.

While this yarn felt amazing and took the color beautifully, it's been nothing but a headache. When we went to dye it, neither of us noticed that the skein was only tied off in one place. This meant that as we soaked it before the dying that the yarn became a tangled mess. While we noticed right away, there wasn't much that we could do. After it was dyed, we tried to wind it into a ball. The skein was such a mess that it wouldn't even fit on the swift. Mom ended up winding it into a ball without a winder. When I got home, I rewound the ball. Twice because it kept knotting up. When I finally got to the color change (my choice), the yarn, which I pulled from the center, eventually became horribly tangled. I spent a large amount of time on Friday trying to untangle the mess that it had become. The yarn ended up having to be cut a couple of times as the mess was impossible to untangle. And since I was knitting both socks at the same time, there wasn't a free end that I could use to help. Additionally, I didn't want to rip out what I'd already knit in hopes that the knots could be taken out.

I spent part of Saturday going through my yarn stash. I've pulled out yarn that I know I'll not use. It either has too much acrylic content (yarn I'd bought before I paid attention to fiber content) or is an unknown material or is too small for me to feel I can make anything useful. These will soon be re-homed elsewhere. While I know my step-daughters would love them, they don't actually do anything with the yarn they already have. The younger one wants to learn how to knit but I don't know how to teach her. The eldest makes crocheted chains. That's it. When she makes a "dress" for their dolls, she just makes a chain and then wraps it around the doll. And until they actually make things, I think it's safer that they don't add more to their stash.

Finished Objects

• Japan Scarf
• Birthday Bag

Works in Progress

• Tiberius Socks
• Baby Blanket