Life, Knitting and the Pursuit of Roller Coasters

We covered a lot of ground last week, driving through at least 10 states, putting almost 3,000 miles on my car and adding some new coasters to the counts. It was a blast, it was exhausting, there were a few hurdles, but for the most part everything went smoothly and we had a great time.

Holiwood Nights was an incredible event for the second year in a row and we had a blast hanging out with all of our friends who were able to make it there. Camden Park was a little scary, but a lot of fun. Dollywood was crazy busy and we were glad this was a repeat visit for both of us, as we wouldn’t have gotten a great impression of the park this time around. Busch Gardens was amazing as usual, and we took two days to take it all in at a leisurely pace. Six Flags Great Adventure was also crazy busy, but we managed. Clementon was a quick stop, Memorial Day traffic around Philly was a nightmare and an unplanned last-minute overnight with friends in Pittsburgh gave us an excuse to swing by Cedar Point for their new coaster’s opening day on the way home. All in all, a great trip.

Now, one doesn’t put nearly 3,000 miles on a car without finding a little time for some on-the-road and in-park knitting. The purple stockinette sock got some quality time at Holiday World, including a start to the heel. I did get some strange looks and comments knitting in line, and took the dorky walkback photo posted a couple posts ago during the “backstage” tour of the Voyage. The first sock in that pair is just in need of a little more work on the foot and a toe before it starts to gain a mate. Had I realized Maverick at Cedar Point had bins for stuff in the station, I wouldn’t have left the camera and knitting in the car, and the sock would probably be finished. Now I know for my next visit in a couple weeks.

My in-the-car knitting was primarily the Aran Sandal Socks, and while Mikey was sound asleep from Dramamine in the hotel in Williamsburg, VA about halfway through the trip, I finally put the toe on my second Aran Sandal Sock and wore them in the park the following day.

What can I say about this pattern? The appearance makes them look so complex (then again, what cable pattern doesn’t look complex to the uninitiated?) but really, 3 relatively simple cable patterns spaced out with some twisted ribs are all that make up this pattern. It was a little tricky figuring out how to go from in the round patterning to back and forth for the heels, more so on the smaller cable pattern that trails down the heel than on the main diamond pattern though. And the row counting gets a little trisky with different mismatched cable rows, but once I got into a groove it wasn’t that bad.

And I absolutely adore how they came out. Squishy, attractive, practical, bold, subtle, comfortable. There were a few cool clever details to keep things interesting. The pattern continuing down the heel while a little tricky to devise, is by far my favorite feature of these socks. The seed stitch gussets that continue down the side of the foot just add one more textural element for added interest.

These have definitely boosted my confidence for other cabley patterns, and now that the needles are free, I’m ready to dive into those Austrian Socks for Sockapalooza.

Bloglines is a scary place right now… so is the laundry room.

Photos from the trip are uploading here.

There’s a finished pair of socks buried in there that will get it’s own post once I’m caught up.

Meanwhile, to distract you from my laziness and lack of any real updates, check out this cool thing my brother did this last weekend.  Especially the video.

Enjoying the knitting and coasters where I am, hope all is going well where you are!

It’s a random day today, I’ve got too much going on and pulling me in a zillion directions.

Knitting has been scarce around these parts the last few weeks. I’ve been cleaning like crazy (successfully for once) and just have some quick bathroom scrubbing to wrap up tonight. Mike gets here tomorrow night, I’m working Wednesday and we’re on the road as of either Thursday night or Friday morning.  Almost two full weeks of much needed vacation in the works though. We’ll be roaming on the road for a week of that getting to Holiday World, Camden Park, Dollywood, Busch Gardens Europe, Six Flags Great Adventure and Clementon. Had to go with mostly big parks this year since the small parks aren’t open during the week yet.

It’s not all cleaning though. I’ve also been sacrificing some knitting time to discussing and organizing knitting stuff over on Ravelry. I totally lucked out and got on the invite list early enough to get in early last week. I love this site! It’s totally addictive in it’s current form and all the features they’re looking into adding will make it the be all and end all resource for project planning, community networking and just about everything else you can think of that relates to knitting.

On top of that, I’m loving the Pligg Alison set up for Sockapalloza after we broke blogger. I’ve more or less just put a lot of focus on reading about knitting and not as much into actually knitting.

Although, I did finish a pair of socks last week. 

These are the J-Knits lightweight sock on size 1s that I started when the Harlot was here. There was a ton of yarn left, enough that I could probably get a pair of footies out of them, and will definitely go toe-up with calf shaping when I get around to knitting the other colorway I have.

I’m making some progress on the second Aran Sandal Sock, and once those are done, the needles will be free for my Sockapalooza socks. Based on the comments on the last post, no one can decide on a varrigate, but the lavender color got rave reviews all around. Of the cabled patterns I had in mind, I think I’m going to give the Austrian Socks a shot. I haven’t seen any show up in blogs so they’ll be more unique than some of the other socks out there. Plus the construction intrigues me. (If you haven’t looked that closely at the pattern, they’re constructed top-down by making an i-cord, grafting it into a circle then picking up the stitches along the length of the i-cord.) If that is too much, I reserve the right to try a different pattern later if these don’t work out. But I have to give them a chance, they’re too pretty not to.

In the meantime, I need to get back to the scrubbing and packing, I’ll probably post some from the road where internet is available.

The options are never ending.. I was given free reign on my Sockapalooza recipients socks, and I’m at a loss for what I want to make. She said she’d love anything from a textured solid to wild colors in stockinette and everything in between. Well, I think I can probably produce anything in that range without too many issues, so what’s an indecisive knitter to do?

That’s where you all come in… reel me in some, help me narrow down the choices.

For Your Consideration:
I’m almost certain if I choose a solid yarn it’ll be the lavender colored Louet Gems I just bought this last week.

The patterns I’m considering for the solid are many however.

I’m leaning towards the more cable-y patterns for a solid. Bayerische, The Austrian Socks from Favorite Socks, or Twisted Flower from Cookie are the higher contenders here I think. Although there are a lot of solid-worthy patterns out there that have caught my eye, and I could be steered in a number of different directions with this one. Easy yarn choice, difficult pattern decisions.
Where as, if I go with a varigated yarn, I’d be more inclined to make Monkeys or Jaywalkers or even go with a basic stockinette, but the yarn choices are endless.

Yarnmonster Summer Swim

Another KimiK Merino this one in blues and greens.

Sunshine Yarns Tiger colorway

Cherry Tree Hill Rose Garden

STR Scottish Highlands

Koigu in a wilder Orangey redish color with various colors mixed in

The opposite problem here… easy pattern choice, difficult yarn decision.

So, leave a comment, steer me in a direction…. complex pattern in a solid or fun and crazy colors in something more familiar?  It’ll be a little while before a set of needles is free to start the actual knitting, but I do intend to start something soon. However, I kind of want to put this out there and see where popular opinion directs me in the meantime.

I’m going to post about socks again. It feels a bit like a broken record. But that’s still where my head and needles are. The chevron scarf is still growing slowly getting a few rows here and there occasionally, but it’s slow going too.

I did finish the blue/green/yellow (colorway AC-130) stripey JKnits stockinette socks on Thursday night and wore them to work on Friday. You’ll have to use your imagination, I didn’t get a photo before end of day on Friday and now they need a bath before I can photograph them. There’s a ton of yardage in this yarn, and I could have easily gotten knee socks out of them. I think that’s what I’ll plan to do with the other colorway I have in this yarn. Soft, really light and a little splitty, but not too bad. That puts me 3 pair into the 52 pair plunge, almost 2 pair behind the pair a week pace. But I’ve got a single baby sock that can get a mate and a couple pair that are on the second sock, so I’m not too worried.

I’m also digging through the stash trying to decide on a yarn and pattern for my Sockapalooza pal. I’ve been given free reign to do anything from texture in a solid to stockinette in something crazy. Based on her blog, she seems to primarily makes herself textured socks in solid yarns, so I’m not sure if that’s a sign to do a textured solid sock, or do something like my Pomos-in-progress where it’s a varigate, but not a real wild color variation or do something with one of the wilder varigated yarns I have. I’ll narrow down y choices and maybe post a survey or something later this week.

That urge for lots of little cables on little needles that I mentioned a couple posts back?

One down, one to go…

Pattern: Aran Sandal Socks from the Socks.Socks.Socks book

Yarn: Reynolds Soft Sea Wool Color 0650

Obsessed? Me? Lets just say the other projects haven’t gotten quite as much attention as they deserve this last week. Plus I cast on and am halfway up the foot of the STR sock club sock and that’s causing another diversion. That’s only 5 socks on the needles… I still have some sock needles free, that means I can cast on more, right?