Cedar Creek Socks done!

Yay! I *finally* finished my Cedar Creek Socks. I strayed away from these because I really wanted to get started on that Clapotis and other things. And I started to get bored doing the second sock, which does not usually happen to me. I think I am one month behind on my sock a month goal. Oh well. All I can do is push on. One of the socks is a little tighter than the other.....ugh. I am too much of a tight knitter sometimes.
Pattern: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Cedar Creek
Yarn: Socks that Rock Lightweight in "Lucy" Colorway

Source: Blue Moon Fiber Arts

Needle: Size 2 Bamboo DPNs

Hey, that reminds me that Brooks Farm still hasn't written back to me regarding getting more yarn for my Clapotis. That is not cool. If I don't hear from them within a week, I am going to have to start calling.

I am close to finishing the Dream Swatch. I hope to finish later today and post it soon. It is quite pretty. I just hope it looks decent on me! That I do it justice. :)

Halfway done on Cedar Creek...yay!

I do not like to get into political opinions or commentary on my blog, because it tends to be too divisive. Many people cannot have a friendly debate in which they keep political beliefs separate from judgements about personal character. Or personal attacks. I do not judge people as being worthy of my kindness and friendship based on their political opinions; my friends are from all points in the spectrum. That may have something to do with growing up in Alaska where people are BIG individualists and love to have friendly debates. But on my blog I will occasionally delve into social commentary. I think we all do; we voice our frustrations in our blogs. Enough of Anna Nicole Smith already! This ongoing 24-7 coverage of her tragic life and death is too much! There are people dying all over the world from genocide, starvation and disease, and this is what our media chooses to feed us. To keep us as ignorant and stupid about the world as we want to be. Argh! This is why I like to look at foreign media sometimes. And exactly why I spend more of my time watching the financial news than regular news.

Enough said for today. Just please, I hope that you all make it a point in your life to branch out and seek knowledge from other sources of your own choosing. Whatever they may be.

I finished the first of the pair of Cedar Creek socks yesterday. I have already casted on the second sock, and it is too funny. The picot edge on the SS took me maybe a few minutes, when the first time I did it it must have taken 2o minutes to half an hour? Granted, I was really exhausted the first time I did it because I felt under the weather. That is the great thing about sock knitting, getting better and faster on the SS.

I also showed off my Sockentine Swap socks at my Monday Needleworkers Anonymous meeting. Everyone loved them. My pal did a great job!

I am totally inspired yet again by Knitosaurus to try to do the Rogue pattern (sometime this year). (An aside: the Knitosaurus knitters do some of the cutest knits and I love their beautiful pictures modeling their knits against SE Alaska backdrops. They are too cute.) I know some of my NwAnon friends want to do it someday too. Torn between Jamieson's Aran and Green Mountain Spinnery's Mountain Mohair since I have heard both of these work well for the pattern. Jamieson's would be cheaper. I don't really want to substitute a yarn cheaper than Jamieson's, unless I hear of one that absolutely holds up and retains beautiful cable work. I figure if I am going to do that much work on a sweater, it is worth investing in a gorgeous yarn so that it will last a long time and I will want to wear it more. Let me know if you all have any opinions out there in blogland.

I may have to disappear for a few days, as I need to clean my house and try to accomplish as much work on an applique square as humanly possible before my class on Thursday. I have not started AT ALL. Oh well. I just take too many classes at once to get everything done.

Lizard Ridge Progress

I am going to start off today by answering another question in my comments:

YarnThrower said...
Hey, I'm a quilter, too! Gotta love hobbies that require measuring and some number crunching! How are you coming on your lizard blanket? I'd love to see pics of that! Thanks for the tip about the yarn you're using. I did some research, and there is a local yarn store (which I didn't even know about - shame on me - in a neighboring town) which carries it, so a new place for me to check out. So fun! Thanks again!

Yes, quilting is number crunching. Quite a few of my instructors at my Local Quilt Store are former engineers (even an EE like you) or draftswomen. So I feel right at home there. The one thing that I don't like about quilting is that it is not as forgiving or reversible as knitting. One mistake in cutting, and you are screwed! I say this because I joined the Thimbleberries 2007 Club, and there is no extra allowance in the fabric. So I have to wait until tomorrow to go and cut some of my pieces, when the Club Coordinator is there and she can advise me...because I swear my pieces are 2 inches off the straight of grain. And I am afraid to mess up right now. :)

And because of your post, I felt that I had to show some progress on my Lizard Ridge square, so I worked on it last night. One without flash, and one with flash.

The thing that is nice about the Universal Yarn is that the color sequence changes much more frequently than Noro Kureyon. So, I am not having to stop and change the yarn every 6 rows as the pattern calls for. Yay! So it is having a little bit of a different color effect. Usually all of the bobbles are different colors/shades, where as if you used Kureyon you would mostly have the same color across all the bobbles in a row. I don't have a direct comparison to show you, so try comparing my pic to those on the original pattern on Knitty. Also, I think some others are wishing that they had selected this yarn instead of Noro because it IS softer. But because I am a slow knitter, and have so many other projects, I wonder if I will be working on this project until I am 80. :)

I have joined the Sock A Month 3 KAL, to further reinforce my sock a month resolution and the Lime N Violet Sock Marathon. But since I have so many projects going on, I am going to have to really work on meeting my goal.

I want to really thank you all who have posted comments on my blog. It is like Christmas morning every day. You are the wind beneath my wings...yes, I am a cheeseball. :) But you probably figured that out by now.