Monkey Sock Swap THREE

Just heard about the Monkey Sock Swap and rushed to sign up!! Looks to be a whole BUNCH of FUN!! IF you haven't signed up yet, RUN, do NOT walk over and sign up QUICK!! Sign-ups close on August 31, which means there's only a couple days left, so don't delay!!

Monkey Sock Swap THREE Questionnaire

The basics:
Do you consider yourself a beginning sock knitter, an intermediate, or have you been doing this so long you could probably knit a pair in your sleep?

Hmmmmm, except for the most intricate of details that I'd surely need to pay attention to, I'd probably say I could do most in my sleep.

The measurements:

Shoe Size: 7.5-8

Foot circumference: 9.5”

Foot length: 9.5”

Yarn Preferences:
What colors do you love?
Never met one I didn’t like

Do you prefer solids or variegated?
Variegateds (I don’t mind “pooling” – in fact I’m kind of intrigued with it and prefer it over striping)

Do you prefer wool, cotton or acrylic yarn?
Wool first, then cotton

What colors would you never wear?
None that I know of, I like em all.

What are your favorite brands of yarn?
STR, Seacoast, Koigu, Cider Moon, Fleece Artist, J-knits, Hand Maiden, Interlacements, Lisa Souza, Schaefer, ShibuiKnits, Wollmeise, Yarn Pirate, etc, etc (I could go on all day!! J )

Are there any new brands you would like to try?
Dream in Color, Yarntini, Zen String, Wooly Boully, Scarlet Fleece, Posh Yarns, Apple Laine, Misty Mountain Farm, Fiesta, Chewy Spaghetti, (LOVE the “indies” and would eventually like to try them all).

Cookie A. Patterns:
Which of her patterns have you already knit?
Monkeys, BFF, Baudelaire, Pomatomus, Hedera,

Which pattern(s) would you like to knit and don’t already own?
ALL of them (tho I do own them already)

Other pertinent information:

Would you be willing to have an international Monkey Pal or do you prefer one in the US?
I wouldn’t mind having an International pal at all, it sounds like great fun.

Do you have any allergies?
Only to meds ending in “caine”

Will your knitting be exposed to smoke or animals?
No

Are you on Ravelry yet? If you don’t mind having new friends, what is your Ravelry name?
I am on Ravelry and can be found under “Sandysays”

Five sizes and counting

Pattern is working out nicely so far! Still have a couple adult sizes, infant's and toddler's to work out and then off to be tested!

Seems like I should be farther along at this point, but I guess I shouldn't complain. Since this past Thursday, I've done the 2nd Sasquatch size, the women's large (blues), and the kid's pair (on the far right there).

Started a pair yesterday for our oldest granddaughter, got all the way into the heel flap and remembered that I'd intended to use "Bellatrix" for her pair, and here I was moving right along with another size for this pattern! What's a G'ma to do? Frogged it back to the cuff and started over! Got into the cussit gusset before calling it quits last night. Hopefully by tonight I'll have them done.

GOT to get as far as I can with the knittin while I can. Daughter-in-law is bringing our (I'm ALMOST 6 G'ma!!) granddaughter down tomorrow to spend a few days. I'll meet up with Mom somewhere around halfway between our place and theirs on Friday to pass her back.

Knitting time is pretty much limited to late at night and early morning when she's here. She'll give Papa a run for HIS money when it's time to feed the beasties! She LOVES to sit on Breeze and ride him around while he follows Papa to get his grain tub. I've GOT to get some newer pics of THAT action! The links are from when she was a little over 2, and here she'll be 6 next month! Child has ALWAYS scared the snot out of me around the beasties! She has absolutely NO FEAR whatsoever! She and Papa are totally relaxed and nonchalant about her riding Breeze and the thought of her on/around THAT 1350 lb package of solid muscle absolutely scares the stuffin out of me! Siiiiiigh!

Best get back on that pair of socks while I can! Y'all have a great one!

Bad blogger - no cookie

Where HAS this summer went? The days have all seemed to melt into one another and disappeared already. Seems like yesterday that it was starting to warm up, and here it is almost mid August already.

Our summer's been bassackwards weatherwise to the usual pattern of HOT, HOT, HOT to HOT monsoon with humidity by August. So far it's been humid all summer and now that we SHOULD be in monsoon season, the humidity has dropped dramatically! Still way too high for me to tolerate being out in it for more than a few minutes, but it's not as bad as what it's been in the past. Will be sooo glad to see the temps drop into a range that I can stand to knit things other than lace and socks!!!!! While I DO love both, it gets a bit monotonous after awhile.

Finally after a whole bunch of lace, I've got my sock mojo back (I "think"!). I'm almost to the heel flap on the first sock of my 6th pair since last Thursday.

First up was the J-knits that youngest son brought me from Texas at the end of spring when he was there for his 4th year classes. Started out with a pair of Monkeys for myself. Then I moved on to a pair for one of our granddaughters. Sheesh! Can't find the link to the original pattern for the Blueberry Waffle socks, but that's the stitch I used. EASY stitch! Just knit two rows and then work a k2,p2 rib for two rows. Finished off that skein with a dress for her Barbie to match. That was a plain tube of 40 sts to the waist, k1,p1 rib for about an inch and back to stockinette for another inch and bind off.

Moved on and made myself another pair from a skein of Merino Sock! from Lisa Souza in the "Can't Elope" colorway. Also made another granddaughter a pair out of the leftovers. Used the same stitch on those that I used on a pair for my Sockapalooza pal (dag nab it! Plum forgot that THOSE were the first socks I did when I set the lace aside!). NEED to get some more pics taken this morning and uploaded on flickr. I'll get those and the current Sasquatch pair I'm working on this morning. I thought hubster had big feet, but the grandson the current pair are for has a pair on him that are even bigger yet!

Current pair are also the same stitch from the Sockapalooza pair and the granddaughter's pair. I've got a little more experimenting to do yet and then I'll get it written up and sent to some testers first and then upload that pattern here. So far, I'm really liking it in anything I've used the stitch in. I've used Cherry Tree Hill, Lisa Souza's and the current pair is Jitterbug from Colinette. Seems to kinda break up pooling and has a feel of a thermal texture to it. Hope when it's uploaded y'all like it as much as I have so far. It will be available in sizes to fit from infants to those men with Sasquatch feet like hubster's and our grandson's.

I know as soon as I save and upload this a dozen and one things are going to pop into my head that I SHOULD have added, but the mind is fading on me this morning. As if all the thoughts running around my head on what I want to do with this sock pattern aren't enough, there's some proposals and design submissions that I NEED to get completed and sent before the deadlines jump up and smack me upside the head!!

Til next time......

ps.... if you have time for a quick knit (say within a week?) and would be interested in testing this sock pattern let me know. email me at : sandy at sandysays dot net (replace the "at" and "dot" with "@" and ".") and please put "sock testing" in the subject line. I'll have mail filtered into a special folder using the subject line as the filter. Have a GREAT weekend everyone!!