The first 52 Pair Plunge has officially ended.
My final tally was 88 pairs, with only one pair in the final month.
Another Plunge will commence on June 1, 2008. I highly recommend getting involved.
Sign up info is here.
Thanks, eKNITabeth!
As promised, the sock stats for the year 2007.
Total pairs completed: 79
Total pairs completed during the 52 pair plunge part of 2007 (April 1 - December 31): 63
Average pairs per month in 2007: 6.5
Average pairs per month during the 52 pair plunge: 7
Fewest pairs completed in a given month: 2 in December
Most pairs completed in a given month: 9 each in June and August
Breakdown by month:
Phew! Someone needs to take break and knit a sweater!
Do keep an eye on the Lime & Violet Daily Chum for the next few days. The Chum is a wonderfully informative blog, and the L&V gals are my favourite fellow addicts enablers podcasters. I recently completed an interview with the delightful Peachy, discussing my experiences with the 52 Pair Plunge.
to coincide with the exact date and time when I finished the 52 Pair Plunge.
Between 12:01 am on April 1st and 7:19 pm on October 13th, I hand knitted 52 pairs of socks.
The summary is here.
I went through times of sock mania, sock rebellion and just plain ol' hissyfits, but I'm one happy bunny today.
Will I knit more socks? Abso-freaking-lutely, but I may wait until I get more holiday knits (on and) off the needles.
In the interest of completing my ridiculously painstaking account of the Plunge, I give you the Final Four:
Pair 49, Sea Wool anklets with the mock cable gusset borrowed from Cookie A's Titania's Revenge.
Pair 50, Spiraling Coriolis from Cat Bordhi's New Pathways Book. This book is brilliant, and inspired me to keep on plunging. The new architectures are a revolution. For this one, I used the master Coriolis pattern, carrying the spiral pattern up the leg and into the ribbing. Yarn is from the KOL swap, and I believe it came from Natural Dye Studios.
51 is a hybrid between a Cat pattern and a Kate Gilbert pattern. I worked the Sky architecture from New Pathways, inserting a repeat of the Marina Piccola pattern along each side of the arch expansion area. This is finally the end of a Cherry Tree Hill Supersock mill end I obtained from an ebay seller last summer.
Last but certainly not least is Jeweled Steps, also from New Pathways, in Koigu KPPPM. I carried the Jewel pattern up into the rib, and worked until there was a scary-small amount of yarn left. These are mine, all mine!
I have many other things to share, including some thoughts on my new favourite knitting book and more Lazy Knitter details. For now, I think I'll go roll around in a very large pile of socks.
...and I'll never finish.
The Plunge plods on. One gal has already finished, and no, it's not me.
48 is done.
Cheapy Online sock yarn, fraternal on purpose.
Pair 49 is some Sea Wool anklets with an asymmetrical cable gusset. Sock 1 is done.
Beyond that, I've got nothing.
After frogging the Posh no less than three times in the last week alone, I've come to a conclusion: it's a very, very bad yarn and needs a time out. It may even need a new home. Lovely yarn, just not right for me. I'll decide its fate when I'm not so mad at it.
It's good news, bad news in other knitting. The good news is that I'm using old, stashed stuff. The bad news is that I'm using said stash to start project after project!
FBS in Cherry Tree Hill Supersock.
and another in Knitpicks Shadow.
Speaking of Knitpicks, my Harmony circulars arrived this week, and I'm in deep, mad love with them. They're as slick as the nickel-plated ones, but lighter and quieter. It will be hard to resist the urge to buy tips for my Options set.
I also picked up some Risata, their new solid, to work either Bayerische or Clessidra. Thoughts?
Head-to-toe to follow soon, as I'm off to NB for a family thing tomorrow. Back for turkey time!
I don't wanna! I'm not gonna!
Now that the foot stomping and general angst is over, I'm just knitting other things.
Anything else I can get my hands on.
Before total rebellion set in, I did finish Plunge Pair 47. They were for my new boss, and his reaction made me want to knit for him over and over again.
[even with his size 12 feet. He's just that sweet.]
With socks on the back burner, I finished a few things. Sea Lettuce, for one.
The colour change is neither your imagination nor your monitor, but it really doesn't show when worn. Such is life with mill ends. I still love it.
Kiri! My silk and camel concoction! Click for bigger. Better photos will follow when I can get some daytime light.
I've knit the equivalent of at least 2 pairs of socks with my Posh, which fortunately is none the worse for wear from repeated frogging. I can't seem to find a pattern that's perfect for it. I'm looking forward to working the Marina Piccolo pattern in a different yarn sometime, but I'll wait for inspiration to strike.
Thermal is chugging along, with the body and facings done. She needs sleeves, buttons and a little block. I'm very happy. Click for bigger.
The facings (not shown) are in twisted rib and really pull it all in nicely.
Next up is a Flower Basket Shawl in some Knitpicks Shadow from the KOL swap. Photos to come.
Speaking of KOL: girls, I worked 8-4 brought the kids home from daycare, fed and dressed them for dance, then sent them to dance with T and went to a CNIB board meeting. Returned from there at 7pm for bath and bedtime. So sorry I missed you again. And Ms. Patient, the Knitpicks order hasn't arrived yet, but I do have high hopes for the end of the week, and will deliver over the weekend if it arrives. (And your e-mails re. the order are adorable.)
Off to cheat on my socks. Bye for now!
With lots of blog hits, the addition of Back to Basics to many Ravelry queues and even some new subscribers, it's been a great blogging week. Unless you count the total lack of blogging. Picky, picky.
First off, thanks to all for the nice comments re. the Back to Basics pattern. It percolated in my wee brain for some time after meeting Cat Bordhi, who first proposed moving around a sock's construction elements. Several prototypes later, voila!
I'd love to see photos of your finished socks, and will start a gallery if I get enough FO photos.
I'll also post a slightly smaller version of the pattern shortly. My feet really are larger than all of yours!
In other sock news, I hereby retract my goal of completing the Plunge at the 6 month mark. Could I do it? Probably. Could I do it without going out of my freaking mind? Not likely. I'm so bored with socks, I could poke a sock needle in my eye.
But in the interest of sharing, here are the projects provoking such sick thoughts.
Pair 46 in their eye-gouging glory, Cookie A's Titania's Revenge in Louet Gems Pearl, citrus orange colourway. Keeping the pattern while shaping was a major bitch, but I love the wandering mock cable and will use it again.
[Don't feel badly if you don't like the look of them. They're a bit on the fugly side, I must admit.]
47, plain, slightly ribbed socks for my manager at work. He has a size 12 foot, so there's a great deal of real estate on the feet of these. I am bored beyond description, but the yarn (obtained at KOL swap night) is nice to work with.
48 is in my new Posh Lucia from the Toronto caper. I love the yarn, I love that the colourway makes me think of pink lemonade, and I love the way Kate Gilbert writes patterns.
I think I'll give myself a sock vacation and work on some neglected projects, perhaps Thermal or Sea Lettuce. I'm PEI bound this week, and hope to get some quality knitting done between meetings and kid wrangling.
Did somebody say, "gratuitous kid shot"?
[I thought you had. My bad.]
I'm getting really, really close to finishing.
Now that it seems my goal is reachable, I will share it. (That way, if I don't make it, I can know with certainty that I will be ridiculed by my tens and tens of readers. *snort*)
September 30th. 6 months. 52 pairs
Can it be done?
Pair 42 says yes. Opal Rainbow. Vanilla stockinette, toe-up.
Pair 43 chimes in with a "hell yeah!" Jaywalkers in Regia Canadian, Quebec colourway, toe-up.
44 agrees. These may look familiar to some.
[I heart them so. I may wear them until they fuse to my feet.]
45 is unbloggable and just about finished.
46 will make an appearance once I've changed the batteries in my camera. I'm using Cookie A's Titania's Revenge pattern and Louet Gems merino solid. Really fun pattern, but a real test of my ability to maintain pattern while shaping. I love the wandering faux-cable panel that starts from the gusset, and will definitely use that again.
The mailman was kind once more today, bringing my e-bay treasures and not looking too scared when I squeed at him. I now have three skeins of STR in the stash, all in lightweight and from the storm series (Downpour, Stormy Weather and Mudslide). They're all combinations of neutrals and perfect for fall knitting.)
In stash enhancement, I visited Suzy at Sunrise Mercantile and picked up a cone of Louet Gems sportweight in Caribbean Blue. Since this year will truly be the year of the gift shawl, I'm amassing gift yarn without guilt. Again, no photos until I replace the camera battery. Think blue and very, very pretty.
Waiting for Fall Knitty? Me too. I know it's coming soon, and I know of one pattern that I hope you'll really like. Set aside a skein of Fleece Artist Merino sock and we'll chat later, 'mkay?
Forgive me, I'm packing and planning.
And knitting. A lot.
Plunge Pair 42, Opal Rainbow. Love.
Pair 43, Jaywalkers in Regia Canadian. Second sock traveling with me tomorrow.
Pair 44, Garter Rib from More SKS, Fleece Artist Sea Wool. Really soft and spongy pattern.
Pair 45, the reason all else has been dropped. The BMFA Club sock. It's delish. It's worth the wait. It's my new favourite, like they've all been so far.
Last week was KOL swap night (thanks, Ninja, for your hard work!), and I really scooped. Among my spoils was a full skein of 65% silk / 35% camel from Tangled Skeins. I rock-paper-scissorsed my way through two extremely well-tempered competitors to earn it, and I cast on with it the minute I got home. The pattern is Polly Outhwaite's Kiri, and I'm now well past this point.
Another day week brings another backpack, this one in Patons SWS. I had a pretty major felting disaster with it. The bottom rolled down and felted to itself, losing about 2 inches and necessitating the painstaking clipping away to unroll the edge. The result is just fine.
I'm Toronto bound in the am, and a little excited about it. Bye for now.
As the BMFA wave began to spread over the planet, I prepared by clearing my needles. Every sock needle must be clear for the arrival of the Rockin' Sock Club kit, so that everything can be dropped upon its arrival.
I finished Plunge pair #39, T's Regia Canadian Colour stripey, long socks.
I relieved my slightly smaller needles of their Tofutsies.
And I even banged off one more pair.
I'm super thrilled with these ones. They're in STR lightweight, Chapman Springs Colourway. I started from Cat Bordhi's Turned Toe (from Socks Soar), then worked a stockinette foot, added a 6-row micro-gusset and short row heel. I then did a long cuff in the Coupling stitch pattern, a bit of twisted rib, and voila! I worked from both ends of the skein for maximum length, and had, seriously, less than a yard left over.
I had a false alarm this morning, when a decidedly poofy envelope was waiting in my mailbox. It wasn't my STR package, but it was an awesome e-bay yarn shipment.
Cherry Tree Hill Supersock mill end, 13oz or about 1365 yards. From one of my all-time favourite sellers, emtnestr. Her recent switch to offering "Buy it Now" pricing on some of her mill ends mark be the death of my marriage credit self control. No idea what this will become, but I'm thinking about a lace shawl.
My Ravelry tells me I currently have 4 projects on the needles, none of them socks. Emma's backpack will be done tomorrow. The Diamond Fantasy is a longer-term project, but I hope to work a repeat or two over the weekend. Sea Lettuce is my pick-up-and-work-a-few-rows-here-and-there knitting, so also a longer-term commitment. Thermal will need some attention if I'm to wear it on my trip to Toronto, just 2 weeks away.
While I save myself for Socks that Rock, do knit some socks on my behalf, would you?
