Even Little Loopy was fed up with the noise at the office today. See?

He spent the day like that.

Before you start accusing me of abusing poor Little Loopy, let me point out that he is actually much safer at the office than at home. I took him to the office when I caught Lucy looking at him with interest. She was no doubt thinking that he would make a fine kitty toy.

In non-noise-related news, I am turning the heel of the second sock.

That can mean only one thing:

There’s a new sock design looming on the horizon. And I’ve decided that this one will be a doozy.

I think the level of dooziness will make this by necessity an at-home sock project, so I’ll also start an easier commuting sock project.

Book Giveaway

The Random Number Generator has spoken. The winner of my extra copy of How to Eat Supper is Stephanie.

Thanks to everyone who offered a recipe. They will provide inspiration for me for quite a while.

Thanks!

My dad asked me to say: “Please send my thanks to all your readers for all the great birthday wishes in English as well as in Swedish.”

Lucy sez:

Momma is such a killjoy, taking Little Loopy away from here.

He was a big help with some tasks. He did some photocopying for me.

He was less helpful when it came to boiling water for a hot beverage.

You see, the pot was too heavy for him to lift.

You can tell that blog fodder is thin on the ground when I resort to posting photos of Little Loopy frolicking at the office, can’t you?

In other news (and speaking of Loopy), Sheri placed another big order for my new patterns, so I’m working to get those done and shipped to The Loopy Ewe, so they should be back in stock soon. I’m so flattered that you all like ‘em so much. Thank you!

Sock the Second

I am knitting along on my second Summer 2008 sock.

Because I will be spending the evening stuffing patterns in plastic sleeves, I will likely have little progress to report tomorrow.

(Channeling Forrest Gump) And that’s all I have to say about that.

Recipes! Boy Do I Have Recipes!

You guys have been awesome, leaving recipes in the comments for Monday’s post. If you haven’t left a recipe yet for a chance to win a copy of The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper, you still have some time to do so. I’ll pick a winner for the book tomorrow afternoon and announce it in tomorrow’s blog.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Today is my Dad’s birthday. The big parental birthday extravaganza is a week from Saturday (for both my dad and my mom, whose birthday is the 30th), so there will be much more celebrating to come. But if you would like to wish my totally awesome Dad a happy birthday in my comments, please feel free to do so.

Lucy Sez:

Happy birthday, Grandpa!

After our deluge yesterday it has cleared up nicely today and the sun even came out. After decidedly autumnal temperatures, I think we are back to spring weather for a while.

And I have finished the first Summer 2008 Sock.

This was great fun to knit. The stitch pattern is a snap to memorize and it is easy to knit. The fabric has a tendency to bias slightly, but the presence of one purled row in the pattern sequence helps to keep it on the straight and narrow. And on the foot, the biasing goes away.

This is a very stretchy pattern, so it is very forgiving, size-wise. It’s also –

- - - -

Okay, I got distracted there and lost my train of thought. I have no idea what I was going to say. The world may never know. Such a loss . . .

Hey, if you wanna finish that sentence, do so in the comments. Feel free to get creative.

I was going to tell you that my five new sock patterns (Alana, Costa, Spring Fling, St. Louis, and Twisted Logic) went up for sale at The Loopy Ewe today. But FPS, they are all sold out! I’ll send Sheri more soon, in case you had one of them on your wish list. I’m so flattered that they got such a warm welcome. It’s always a little scary sending your babies out into the world.

Okay, I need to go cast on the second Summer 2008 Sock.

Lucy is in a pensive mood . . .

Actually, she is probably just wishing I’d stop shoving the camera in her face.

Lucy and I thank you for all your good wishes on “Lucy Day.” It hardly seems like it has been five years since Lucy came to live with me. She was in quite an affectionate snuggly mood yesterday. But then, she usually is.

She’s come a long way from the frightened, timid kitty I first met five years ago!

The pattern for the Unnamed Sock has been sent off to Gryphon, along with the sock itself. I’ll be sure to let you know when the pattern is available for sale at The Sanguine Gryphon.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch . . .

It’s a new sock in progress. What a surprise, eh?

This is being knit from ShibuiKnits sock yarn in the Orchid colorway (color #4201), on my ubiquitous 2mm needles. The pattern stitch is easy and fun to knit, and nicely stretchy, too. And it looks good in variegated yarn, so what’s not to like?

I’m calling this pattern “Summer 2008 Socks.” While it is not a particularly creative name, it is appropriate, because this pattern will be a freebie available only to the members of the Summer of Socks 2008. The pattern will be written in at least 3 sizes to make it as versatile and appealing to as many people as possible.

If you haven’t yet signed up for the Summer of Socks 2008, you still have time — sign-ups close May 15th. So hustle yourself over to the SOS ‘08 sign-up page and get yourself signed up. Note that you *must* have either a blog, a Ravelry account and/or a Flickr ID to join.

Speaking of Socks

I revised my Sportweight Gusset Sock (pdf) pattern to cover a range of 4 sizes, from small to extra-large. It can always be found by clicking on the “free patterns” tab at the top of the blog.

Hey Grandpa! What’s for Supper?

I recently got review copies of the book The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper. I’ve really been enjoying delving into its pages. Not only does it have many drool-worthy recipes, but lots of good tips and basic information.

I don’t know about you, but I’m always on the look-out for recipes for stuff that is yummy, healthful, and relatively quick.

Would you like a copy of The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper? I’ve got one to give away, as I received two copies. Here’s what you’ve gotta do to be entered in the drawing for a copy of this book:

In the comments for today’s entry, leave me a recipe (or a link to a recipe) for an easy and healthful dish — it can be an appetizer, soup, main course, side dish, dessert — pretty much anything. Leave this comment by 5pm Eastern time on Thursday, May 15. I’ll choose a winner at random from among the comments.

Don’t be alarmed, by the way, if you leave a comment and it doesn’t show up right away. If there is a link in your comment, it might be held in the spam filter, but rest assured, I do check the filter a couple of times a day and release all non-spam comments. Sort of a catch and release kind of thing.

Lucy doesn’t understand the concept of catch and release. She is all about the catch. But not right now. Now she is all about the nap.

Lucy and I are celebrating quietly at home.

I have a completed sock:

This is the sock knit from the colorway to be named later from the Sanguine Gryphon. How is it that I am knitting from an unnamed colorway? I’ve created this design for Gryphon - it will eventually be available for sale in the Sanguine Gryphon shop.

In other news . . .

I was lucky enough to win a prize in the recent Ravelraiser event. I won a zipped pouch from Splityarn. I love Caro’s zipped pouches and fun stitchmarkers.

Here is the pouch I just received as my Ravelraiser prize:

I recently purchased a couple of pouches from Caro in a fun houndstooth check:

As you can see, all of them coordinate beautifully with my latest purse acquisition.

Lucy sez:

“Momma is too busy playing with me to post a long blog post today. Happy Mother’s Day!”

I am very happy with the way it is turning out, so it will live to see a heel!

By the way, the Costa Socks pattern will be available at The Loopy Ewe soon.

Speaking of sock patterns, I’ve updated my basic toe-up slipstitch heel sock so that it now has instructions for 4 sizes: small, medium, large, and extra-large. Previously it was written for just medium and large. The pdf of this pattern is here.

You can also get to it from my Free Patterns page which you can access from the tab up there at the top of my blog. (Picture me pointing up to the top of the page.)

Allow me to clarify/add to a couple of things I mentioned yesterday.

1. When I said that I spent the whole day yesterday fighting off the terminally befuddled and confused, what I really meant was that I spent the whole day fighting off drooling idiots.
2. I brought another apple to work today, purchased at the same time as yesterday’s oddly pigmented apple. This one looked normal, and tasted good.
3. I know that 2.0 magnitude earthquake is laughable. I was making a feeble attempt at humor when I said it was a “whopping 2.0 in magnitude.”

Thank you.

A Couple of Worthy Causes

Janice is training to run a marathon in November to raise money and awareness for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. Janice is one the nicest people I’ve ever met, and the photo in her blog (and on her donation page) of her with Jared, a little boy with with AML (Acute Myelogenous Leukemia) brought tears to my eyes. Go Janice! I’m delighted to support you!

And Claudia, another fabulous knitblogger who I’ve been lucky enough to meet in person, is doing her annual fundraising to fight Multiple Sclerosis. Claudia’s donation page is here. Go Claudia! I’m delighted to support you too!

Lucy sez:

“Give til it hurts. I’d donate some of my Wildside Salmon if it would help . . .”

Did you ever have one of those days when you seem to spend the whole day fighting off the terminally befuddled and confused? Today was one of those days for me. And there is not even a full moon. And to top it off, I did not win the Megamillions lottery last night.

And the KOARC today emailed me this screenshot showing the last several lottery draws, directing my attention to the Mega Ball for the last three draws:

Mighty suspicious, don’t you think?

I brought an apple to work today, as I often do. My web developer came into my office and exclaimed over it because it had a unique coloration — one half was decidedly redder than the other with a perfect line of demarcation between the red and not-so-red sides. She told me that I could not eat the apple because of its unique qualities. After some heated discussion, which included my demanding that she buy me a comparable apple and her laughing hysterically, we compromised on taking a photo to record it for posterity. She used my point and shoot camera:

Well, you can sorta see the line . . . it’s clearer if you click on the photo to view the large size.

Incidentally, I did endeavor to eat the apple and was disappointed to find that it was remarkable in its mediocrity of flavor. So much so that I discarded it half way through.

Ooh, we had an earthquake on Tuesday! A whopping 2.0 in magnitude. It was centered less than ten miles from where I live, I think. But I was at work in downtown DC when it hit, and Lucy tells me she did not feel a thing.

But she is not a particularly reliable witness, due to her tight nap schedule during the day.

Oh, yeah — I started my new sock.

I would have been further along but I ripped back to the toe once after doing 16 or so rounds, so I could adjust the pattern slightly. Now I am pleased with it.

The yarn is from The Sanguine Gryphon, and it is in a yet-to-be-named colorway. The pattern is my own and it is a yet-to-be-named pattern. Here it is, on my dainty hoof:

Isn’t that colorway glorious?

Lucy really hates it when she is yet-to-be-fed.

Which one you use really depends on the pattern and just how much the pattern is off. Here are some of the highlights:

Add one or two stitches on each side of the sock. If the pattern is centered in the middle, this is a viable option, and won’t degrade the look of the sock. Look at my Pagoda Lace or Garden Path sock patterns — you could add stitches on each side of these and the pattern would look just fine. If you were to add 1 or 2 stitches on each side of the instep of these socks (leaving the sole stitches the same so you don’t mess up the math for the heel), you could add a quarter to a half an inch to the circumference of the sock. You could also remove a stitch or two to make ‘em smaller. (This is more difficult for my Garden Path socks, as the stitch pattern is almost the full width of the smaller size. But you could do it by moving the outer zig-zag motif in a stitch or two before removing the outer stitch.

If the stitch pattern has a small repeat, try adding an extra repeat to the sock. My Healthy Spine sock, for example, has a small pattern repeat, so that’s one that would be do-able.

If possible, add or remove a stitch to/from each pattern repeat. This would work with my River Run and Snapdragon sock patterns, for example. Tangled Vines, too, for that matter.

Use a slightly heavier/slightly finer sock yarn. Not all fingering weight sock yarns are created equal. Some are beefier than others. For example, Fiesta Baby Boom is noticeably beefier than Lorna’s Laces and knit with the same needle size, gives me a slightly larger sock.

And of course, there’s knitting the instep on a larger needle than the sole, as I mentioned yesterday.

Kindly note how I slipped all the self-promotion in up there, in the guise of helpful hints and advice. Continuing in that vein, I should mention now that there will soon be four new WendyKnits sock patterns available at The Loopy Ewe: Alana, St. Louis, Spring Fling, and Twisted Logic. I just shipped the patterns out to Sheri, so they’ll be available for sale in a week or two, I expect.

And lookie here — I’ve finished the second Costa sock.

And a close-up:

I did have some trouble getting a good photo of these socks. See?

So tonight it is onward to a new sock in a particularly yummy colorway.

But we can speak of that tomorrow.

Lucy, meanwhile, is in a contemplative mood.

On to the business of the blog . . .

Liz in Indiana left the following comment on Sunday’s blog post:

I bought a lovely and popular sock book (because yours doesn’t come out until next year!), and have discovered that most of the patterns are designed for narrower feet than my own. Their suggestion is always the same: change needle size to get gauge.

Is this the standard solution? Doesn’t this affect the . . . integrity of the fabric? At the moment, I knit fingering wt yarn on 2mm or 2.25mm to produce the sock fabric I like. The book’s sock patterns *start* with a larger needle size than that (to make socks too narrow pour moi). I’m concerned that sizing up for gauge will produce…floppy sock fabric. And nobody likes “Monsieur Floppy.”

Is this a standard solution? Not for me, it isn’t. Does it affect the integrity of the fabric (love that phrase)? Heck, yeah.

I don’t know about you, but when I find a pattern that makes size adjustments by advising you to change the needle size to adjust the gauge, I think that is lazy designing.

While I do have a few patterns that are written in one size only, I’ve offered those up as freebies, following the philosophy that you get what you pay for.

For the too-small socks Liz mentioned in her comment, you could always try the trick of knitting the sole on the smaller needle and instep on a larger needle. That way the part of the sock that gets the most wear will be knit to a firmer gauge.

About my Costa Sock, Celeste asked:

Since the pattern starts so close to the tip of the toe, do you think these would wear hard on the toes while wearing shoes?

Actually, the pattern doesn’t really start that close to the tip of the toe. The mannequin leg that I have has a foot that is rather small, so the sock I knit is too long for it. I sorta folded the toe down when I took the photo. You can see what the toe really looks like here:

I wish I could find a model foot that is larger, but they do all seem to be the same size, at least that is what I’ve found when googling for body parts. (No doubt the FBI will now be tracking my online activity after that statement.) The foot is even smaller than an L-B-sized foot (and she has dainty little feet). So I really don’t want to knit my socks to fit the fake foot, because I’d be hard-pressed to find a human the socks would fit.

I am currently working on the second Costa Sock — see?

Apropos of nothing, today I had reason to walk down to the lobby of the federal building where I work. As I passed the main entrance, I saw two of the security guards playfully wrestling and punching each other. A third security guard was a few feet away, by himself, dancing a little jig and singing an idiotic song to no one in particular. This is what is protecting us? I feel so . . . safe.

Lucy is continuing her hard life of lying around and occasionally asking for a bon-bon.

That is why I work the top (instep) of the sock on a 2.5mm needle while the bottom (the sole) is on my usual 2mm needle. After the turning of the heel, when I continue the pattern around the back of the sock, I work both halves of the sock on the 2.5mm needle.

To do this, you really do kinda sorta have to knit your sock on two circulars. You can’t do two different needle sizes if you are magic-looping (duh), and while you could conceivably do so with dpns, you’d have one heckuva time keeping track of which needles were which, unless your two sets were of wildly different color or composition. Even if this were the case, I know I’d screw up because I get myself into a sort of fugue state when I knit socks and stop paying attention much of the time.

Making this sort of adjustment is helped along by the great range of sizes available in the Knitpicks needles. In the fixed-length circular (which is what I use for all my socks) you can get 2mm, 2.25mm, 2.5mm, 2.75mm, 3mm, 3.25mm, 3.5mm, 3.75mm. Well, more sizes, but this is the range I use for knitting socks. Holy tiny increments, Batman! Gotta love it.

Of course, if you are a die-hard dpn user (cough::L-B::cough) you could simply knit the entire sock on a needle one size larger than you would usually use. For example, if you usually use a 2mm needle, use a 2.25mm needle all around. But I like keeping the sole and heel on the 2mm and going up two increments for the patterned bits.

Here is the first Costa sock, completed.

I am very pleased with it.

A close-up:

Meanwhile, Lucy takes the fine art of relaxing to new levels.