Land o’ Sunshine

My sockapalooza 4 socks have arrived.   They are beautiful.  They were knit by Jennifer from TN.  

Here they are in the 90+ degree NC weather (ok, its really my living room which explains the crap pictures).  

The pictures don’t do the pattern or the yarn justice.   It is a blue-green-silver-grey color that is going to perfect for jeans or khakis.   The pattern is her first lacy one and it looks fabulous.   She did a great job keeping track of all those YO’s!!!  

Thank you for the wonderful socks.  

Today’s the big sockapalooza mail date!   Everything is packed, sealed, and postage done.  All that is left is for the mail pickup around 4pm.   Boy I hope the socks fit (is anyone else worried about that??).

There are some postcards, a few corny sock pictures from town, some goodies, the socks, and a new knitting bag.   Sock Pal, when you read this, don’t examine my seams to closely on the bag…I am a newbie seamtress.  The other important thing, put the cookie mix from The Old Mill in the refridgerator. 

I hurriedly put together a sock sleeve.   I wanted a contrasting color, but I don’t think the robin’s egg blue really works with the reds in the sock but I didn’t have any other cardstock that looked any better. 

Sockapalooza 4 was a great experience for me.   I enjoyed picking and buying a new yarn and finding a pattern that would look nice with it.   I loved working with Cider Moon (the yarn and the company are great!).   Before these socks, I hadn’t knit using a varigated/tonal yarn before.   I enjoyed traveling around town trying to find some postcards.  Who knew they would it would be a hunt to find a postcard?  If I had been more organized, I would have done a little information card about High Point, but time, life, and laziness got in the way of that one.   Besides, this isn’t the vacation swap, its a sock swap! 

I hope the socks fit! 

Well, the new camera arrived Monday (a 4:25pm arrival with a guarantee delivery time of 4:30pm.   That stuff steams me.).  

Our new potholder rug.   The kids like to slide it around the kitchen and family room.   I like it in front of the kitchen sink.   It could have been a little longer, but I didn’t want a $11 rug, so we stuck with the one bag.   These were cotton loops and I would highly recommend those.   I’ll let you know how much it shrinks.  

These are the Sockapalooza 4 socks.   Proof that they are indeed finished.  

A little washcloth for my S4 pal.   It is done in the remains of Wick yarn.   I love this yarn, but it really reminds me of how much I need to moisturize my hands.   It is super soft.  I hope she uses it…(or at least doesn’t think it is stupid).  

The Wallaby is finished.    It is still a little snug in the shoulders.    I washed and blocked it and it helped a little.    Pictures tomorrow.   I don’t think there will be action shots though.

They are complete!   The Sockopalooza socks are done!     For a while they were winging along so fast and then halfway through the second thought, they came to a screeching halt.   It felt as if they would never end.    Something clicked and they magically finished.   The ends are woven in.   They aren’t washed and blocked…yet.    Don’t tell the knitting powers that be, but, I wonder, why block socks?  I just wear my socks right off the needles.   So do you block? 

Despite the picture of the socks incomplete, they are finished…now where did I put them?   Oh, a little confession too.  I have been emailing and writing the pal these socks are intended for and the last email I…sent her a sneak peak of her socks.   Normally I would post this on the Pligg, but b/c I have flashed the sock pal with a preview, I won’t do that. 

Here are the particulars:

Pattern: Campfire Socks from Cider Moon

Yarn: Matador colorway in Glacier

Needles: Size 4 DPNs

Modifications:  None. 

Time to Complete: About 2-3 weeks.  Man, I really need to keep better track of this. 

Thoughts:  I really liked working on these socks.  Not only did they knit up quickly, the pattern really kept the pattern interesting.   I’m sure that I will do another one of these socks again.    I am trying not to be too critical, but I am still finding imperfections.  

Let me tell you why I don’t have a  picture of the TWO socks.   Our Cannon Powershoot is winging its way back to the Cannon repair facility.    Hopefully (cross your fingers!),  Cannon will be replacing the CCD (I have no idea what that is) inside the camera and we will once again be able to take awesome decent pictures.   If the CCD is not broken (?), then who the hell knows what that means for our camera, our budget (ha), and our checkbook.  

So no new pictures for a few weeks.   Since there is no camera around I am sure there will be THOUSANDS of times I will be cursing Cannon.   I am almost tempted to go get a disposable camera for those camera moments.  

I wanted to share some of my latest sock yarn acquisitions.  

I am not really a stash kind of girl, but I couldn’t resist when I saw this lovely bit of goodness.   The best part?   The price!   Check out Good Yarn Karma and share some of your yarn that is unloved!

This is Apple Laine yarn in the colorway Blueberry pie.   I am “almost” ready to cast on for a new pair of socks.   This is such yummy yarn.   Any suggestions for patterns??   25 Favorite Socks is winging its way here, so maybe there are some ideas there.

Next up some yarn from A Piece of Vermont.   There is a ton of yarn in this skein.  

This is the Aloe colorway.   Another awesome yarn to love and touch.  It too needs a great pattern.  

In non related sock news, my sockapolooza socks are FINISHED!!!   Since the rain is gone, I will try and post a picture of them.   They are wonderful.   It is a good thing my pal has such longer feet than I do.  I might never send them off.   Now I am hard at work to find some frugal things to pack into her box.  

Those were the words I heard yesterday afternoon as I met the mailman at the box.   “My favorite kind of package, nice and light.”   Postmark?  Ohio.  O-hi-O means Cider Moon!   Yeah.  

So this is the beautiful yarn that so lightly arrived yesterday.   The colorway is perfect for my sock pal.   I do still love the “hot flash” colorway, but the yellow in it would have been a disappointment.   There will be lots of pinky-red goodness.   (Thanks to Cider Moon for winding the yarn into a ball for me before they sent it.)  

In addition to Matador, there were some samples of other colorways.  AWESOME!  

This samplese are great, especially the two semi-solid colorways.    It was great to see the weights of the yarn too.   I am excited to see how Matador knits up. 

Casting on begins tomorrow!    

I spent WAY to much time on Friday searching for the “perfect” yarn.   I wanted something I hadn’t knit with before–ok that really opens it up to just about EVERYTHING–and something that met the requirements of my pal.   It was fun to look, but after a while I became seriously overwhelmed at the choices. 

This was the perfect one for a while, then this, then something from A Piece of Vermont (which is now gone), then this, then AHHHHH, I have carts open at all sorts of yarn shops and I can barely keep track of where I have been or what I like.   I finally decided on Matador from Cider Moon .   I really like it.  It is solid enough for me to knit and hopefully variagated enough for a little change.   It wasn’t becoming much fun, so at least I have decided.  I should have it by the end of the week (along with a little somethin, somethin for ME!!!).  

My pattern will be the Campfire Socks from Cider Moon.   It looks like an easy knit with a little bit of pattern that should showcase the yarn.   Ironically, I had decided on the pattern before coming back to Cider Moon for the yarn. 

I am searching for knitting songs.  Do you have/know of any songs that have knitting themes/lines?   Is there a site that will allow me to search lyrics?  Let me know your favorites!  

Hopefully YOU have heard from your sock pals.  Hang in there if you haven’t.   How are YOU getting to know your sock pal?   Emailing back and forth?  Do you ask him or her questions?  For you more experienced sockapaloozers, let me know.   I’d like to get to know her, but I don’t want her to think I am a weird stalker sock knitter.  

They are out!   Sock pal matchups are up.   Buzz Buzz.   I have already contacted my sock pal and I will be on the lookout this weekend for the perfect yarn! 

Can’t wait to “meet” my own sock pal.   

 Yipppeee!