Here are my new socks! I’m calling the pattern “Crosshatch,” which may not be too original, but that was the first thing that popped into my head and stuck when I saw the way the slip-stitch cables cross back and forth. It really reminds me of doing crosshatching in art class.

Details:
Started: June 25, Finished: July 7, 2008
Pattern: Crosshatch by Me!
Yarn: Tofutsies, color 728, 1 ball (with tons leftover)
Needles: US1 Brittany Birch DPNs

As soon as my test knitters have confirmed that the instructions are correct, the pattern will be available for purchase at Ravelry.

1. New sock pattern: Pattern is written, and being test-knit. Had some issues with the instep pattern, but hopefully it’s correct now. Test knitters will confirm soon I hope! Knit, girls, knit!

2. New socks: My pair is done. Need to take photos. LOVE love love the color. They make me so happy. Wishing I had a sock model handy. Emily’s feet need to grow so I can use her. :) Grow, feet, grow!

3. Sock blockers: Got a set from Fearless Fibers, as recommended by Dave. Just waiting on the shipment to arrive! Faster, mail, faster!

4. Ravelry: I got one of the hotly-demanded tote bags. NYAH! Also ordered the Frogged & Ripped Pint glasses, and a button pack. Again, faster, mail, faster!

5. Next project: I’m crocheting! I’m making a ripple blanket, using This pattern. I’m about halfway through the second row and have realized I’m doing it wrong. I’ve picked up stitches through only one of the loops, instead of both of them. But it’s not that bad that I’m going to rip it out. I’ll just do it right from the next row on! I’m using up my mass quantities of Lion Brand Cotton-Ease. Should be a very colorful blanket. Crochet, Natalie, crochet!

6. UFOlympics: I think I’m going to cut off joining on Friday of this week. There’s already so many people (which I think is great!), too many more and it’ll be too hard to keep track of things. I really want to create a spreadsheet/scorecard of some sort to track who finishes their events. Type, Natalie, type!

7. Sold 20 skeins of the Lana d’Oro yarn. Shrink, stash, shrink!

I have decided to finally get a set of sock blockers.

Recommendations please! I think I’d prefer wood over plastic.

Time to get rid of some yarn that I am just never going to knit.

20 skeins of Cascade Lana D’Oro in Lichen (219). A few skeins have been wound into center-pull balls and knit/ripped/rewound. $50 (includes shipping).

20 skeins of Cascade Lana D’Oro in Wisteria (218). $60 (includes shipping).

I’m willing to break those up into sets of 10 skeins each.

There’s a few others in my “trade/sell” page on Ravelry. If you’re interested in any of them, make an offer!

So far, the new sock pattern is working out!

I chose this stitch pattern to combat the pooling that I knew the Tofutsies would do.

But it’s still pooling. The pattern breaks it up a bit, but it’s still pooling.

I still like it though, so I’m going to forge on!

It’s giving some “substance” to the Tofutsies yarn too. Tofutsies is a little thinner than most other sock yarns, and this pattern is helping to give the sock some body.

My dishcloth binge is over. My dishcloth cotton is all knit up (that means I’m allowed to buy more when it’s on sale now, right?), and my wrist is starting to heal.

It wasn’t happy with my marathon-cotton-knitting.

I got 6 dishcloths out of the rest of my cotton:

Clockwise, from top left: Just plain garter stitch, garter & eyelets, Garterlac, and the Ballband pattern.

Then after all that, I had just a little of 3 other colors. So I went for the Ballband pattern again, and just knit until there was nothing left to knit!

Next up on the needles: a new sock pattern!

Thanks for the comments about my glove!

But please, save your being impressed for when I actually finish the 2nd one. :) Hee hee.

In the mean time, I have no “must work on” projects.

So I’m taking a little dishcloth break!

I’ve knit 2 so far. I’m just going to knit them until I use up the rest of my cotton stash. There’s not too much left, just some partial balls here & there.

I’m starting with one and knitting until it’s gone, then picking up the next one. So these are going to end up being some funky colored cloths!

I just hope I have enough of one of the solid colors to make Kevin the Transformers Cloth. He’s going to love it.

Because it IS a glove!

3 years, 1 month, and 8 days in the making.

Glove #2 is going to be my UFOlympics project. I’m challenging myself to complete the whole 2nd glove during the Olympics.

It’s almost time for the 2008 Olympics! The US Trials start this weekend, so it’s time to start planning our UFO projects for this year!

Here are the rules:
1. No starting on your designated UFO before the opening ceremonies start. (August 8, 2008)
2. Finish before the flame goes out. (August 24, 2008)
3. You may choose 1 or more UFOs, depending on how much is left to do. All UFOs you intend to finish in the 16 days MUST be declared prior to the event.
4. You cannot join both the Knitting Olympics and the UFOlympics. The point of the Knitting Olympics is to start a new, challenging project. The UFOlympics is about finishing those unfinished objects laying around.
5. If you really truly need to get your designated UFO to a good stopping point, you are free to work on it through July 25th. As of July 26th, needles and hooks down!

The UFOlympics is not associated with The Knitting Olympics. They are separate events/KALs.

We have a Ravelry Group this year, so join there, or feel free to post comments about your projects on my blog here on any UFOlympics post if you aren’t a member of Ravelry (and if you’re not, why the heck not?). I’ll be starting a thread for declaring your events there today, or feel free to leave a comment here! You don’t have to choose your event yet either, we still have a couple of months to go, so there is plenty of time!

Whew! Talk about a labor of love. I am so happy to have these socks done! Definitely had some second sock syndrome going on.

After starting with the Opal Handpaint, frogging, restarting, frogging again, restarting w/ the Cocoon yarn, reworking the gussets about 10 times before I figured out what the problem was, finishing sock #1, writing up the pattern and sending it to the test knitters, starting sock #2, finalizing the pattern, and putting it up on Ravelry…I was pretty much over it. :)

But, I love the results and I love the yarn. And I’m pretty darn proud of myself for creating a sock pattern. And especially one that is fairly popular (lots of queues and favorites on Ravelry, and 4 sales so far!).

Jaimi was the first test knitter to finish her socks. I can’t wait for the others to finish and post their projects on Ravelry so we can all see them!

Details:
Started: May 2, Finished: June 12, 2008
Pattern: Bevel by Me!
Yarn: Cleckheaton Cocoon, color 0003, 2 balls (with very little leftover)
Needles: US1 Brittany Birch DPNs