… in a good way!

If you like blue;

and,

if you like sock yarn;

and,

if you like German things,

you’d better hurry up and go read Bockstarkknits to get in on her first “Taste of Germany” sampling.

I’m feeling pulled in may directions by my knitting. On the precipice of feeling scattered-brained and wanting to start three new projects. Torn between design, production, gifting and being selfish.

I have three active-ish socks, a truckload of yarn to photograph for Ravelry and re-organize by weight, new yarn sitting at work awaiting my first issue of IK that I’m buying tomorrow night, Cat’s new book (who’s two baby socks samples I’ve already knit) begging to be begun in earnest, the imminent arrival of BMFA sock club shipment, as well as Scout’s. And I still haven’t sent my sister her package of socks, Knitty Gritty half-done bag to finish, and her xmas presents.

On top of all that good friend at work is leaving to focus on his art career who deserves this (and for which I’ll have to buy a US3 circular. Dear friends (her blog, not his) just had their second son (BSJ in STR? need another circular US3). Luckily they are both easy knits, and only Brancusi 2.0 is competing for my immediate attention (about to start on the heel flap).

If anyone would like to win the lottery and sponsor my life so I can devote more time to knitting, I’d greatly appreciate it. Working 9-11 hours a day really cramps my style.

I’m really Stephen, but play along for the sake of the title.

Last week a skein of Adam’s Yarn Nerd 900MHz sock yarn in Ting! arrived chez me. Blue, orange, steel gray… what’s not to love?

I love his company name so much, I’d proudly wear some swag. In the meantime, I’ll have to settle for this t-shirt:

Sorry for not mentioning the pattern, Vinnland from The Anti-Craft. So simple you can knit an extra repeat (see ripped bits on right).

Yarn: CPY’s Panda Wool, bamboo and wool blend.
Needles: I mixed it up here, casting on with 2.5mm at the toe, switching to 2.25mm for the sole and finishing with 2.25mm for the entire cuff.

I’m not the biggest comic fan, but should this colorway be named after Dr. Bruce Banner’s alter-ego’s wardrobe instead of Violets?

I just finished weaving in the ends of these this weekend. Such a speedy and simple knit. I really loved this pattern. It took a smidge more than a week (with a few days of vacation) to pound these socks out.

It was my first time using Crystal Palace Yarns Panda Wool, bamboo and wool blend. It’s also a joy. I’ll be knitting with yarn again soon, were it not that I had so much more sock yarn. (Damn you, Ravelry, for making me face my stash!) I’d go so far as to say it’s my favorite commercially-produced sock yarn.

As is, they are a little tight on me, so I think my sister may be getting them. She’s butch like that green guy who wears purple.

I got to spend the other night knitting and chatting with the woman attached to these famous feet. Perhaps you’ve heard of her?

We got along like old friends, picking up where we left off the first/last/only time we met for 20 minutes or so back in December chez Knitty Gritty. I’d hang out with this lady whenever given the chance. I’ve always wanted to go to Toronto. She’s a hoot, a holler and a handbag all in one!

It was my first time to visit my new favorite South Bay LYS, Purlescence. I’d met co-owner Nathania at Sock Camp back in April. Like her, her partners in crime all happen to be published on Knitty, Sandi (of Spanish Dancer fame) and Chloe Sparkle (of Twinkle Toes infamy, no relation to Janie Sparkles). The welcomed me warmly, with open arms, and sent me home with a couple hundred yards of Colinette Jitterbug and Amy‘s book.

In addition to seeing Nathania, it was a reunion for one of my mom’s and my super-duper dinner dates from camp, Debbie! I hope it’s not another 3+ months before the next time we hang out. (It shouldn’t be. She’s going to be up in the city next week for an ASL interpreter’s conference.)

Now if only every weekend started out with this kind of laughter and late night-knitting with the girls and (lest we not forget) some handsome fellows (whose blogs I do not know)!

So, here are the ill-matched fruits of my labor. There wasn’t quite enough yarn for the second Brancusi sock, hence the scraps of my Sock Wars sock. Therefore, I’m withdrawing my design from the sock pattern contest. The goal of the contest was to design a pattern for the yarn you receive. My pattern uses more yarn and may not be the best match for such a thick yarn.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the pattern. LOVE it. It will be knit again, but worked on a finer yarn. I need to alter the pattern and hopefully resubmit it in Round 2. That’s right, Hill Country Yarns is doing it again in the Fall. The winning sock patterns from the design contests will be the patterns in their upcoming sock club.

I’m flattered so many people enjoyed the pattern, both in comments here and on Ravelry. I hope I get a chance to share it with you… once the contest winners have been drawn in the next round.

In the meantime, I took a break from twisted stitches and whipped up a refreshingly stockinette (and speedy) Vinnland sock during our three days in Eugene, OR. I’ll post a picture once the second one is started.

Brancusi is dead. Long live Brancusi!

Hey, there, new readers! Did you come here after seeing the episode of Knitty Gritty? Thanks for coming by, make yourself comfortable and poke around all you like. If we ever meet person, I don’t usually talk out of the side of my mouth, and, for the moment, I have a shaved head, not that hacked up ‘do.

I wouldn’t be knitting if it wasn’t for Betsy, dear friend, swim teammate and knitter fabulousa. She gave me my first balls of Crystal Palace yarns. Susan at CPY provided all of the yarn and needles for this project (as well as a sock that I knit this past weekend, more later).

Lastly, the whole reason Knitty Gritty found me, thanks to Wendy Eidson’s documentary Real Men Knit. And Wendy found me via MenWhoKnit.com. Thanks, Darrel for creating our community online.

DIY Network has posted the pattern here. (Vicky, the crew, and most of all, my producer Sonya were so great. I had such a great time on the set.) The pattern originally was part of the winter issue or MenKnit.net from Michael, aka Tricky Tricot and Dan, my first-ever publishers!

See this here messenger bag? I’ll be knitting it on Knitty Gritty. The episode I taped last December will air on HGTV on July 16, 7:00am ET/PT.

This time next week I’ll be cringing in front of the TV. All you East Coasters will have already seen it. I don’t know how it works for those in the middle of the US (do you have electricity? ). Us West Coasters will have 15 more minutes before it starts.

You’ve been warned.

This here sock has been taking up all my spare knitting time for the past month. It’s my entry for the Hill Country Yarns Sock Pattern Contest. Meet Brancusi.

I had been all coy about showing it in progress, but now that it’s been submitted, I’m all for showing it off. I won’t know until August 31st if it was selected as a winner. I’m pretty darn proud of it. It took three sock sketches to arrive at the final pattern combination.

I graphed it out on June 2, the day we arrived back from Paris and started knitting it then. It’s been full-steam ahead since then, stealing 20 minutes at breakfast before work, a round or two between meetings and before-bed toiling. I’m at the heel flap of the second sock, so that should be finished within a week or so.

Inspired by Brancusi’s “Endless Column” these socks serve as support and compliment to one of the world’s greatest pieces of art: you. A densely knit, top-down sock with a hemmed stockinette cuff, a geometric twisted stitches and traveling cable pattern, an eye of partridge heel flap and anatomically-correct toes.

While they could be knit with a finer yarn, the thick Instant Gratification yarn and small needles pay tribute to the solidity of materials explored in Brancusi’s work, resulting in a long-lasting, hard-wearing, handsome, sturdy sock. The yarn tag calls for US4-6, but I needed 64 stitches for the pattern and didn’t want a baggy sock. That’s right, some DK-weight knit on US2/3.0mm!

Special thanks to the following inspiration peeps:

• To Cat Bordhi, for demystifying sock knitting with two circulars.
• To Rachael “Yarn-a-go-go” Herron, for helping me grow and stretch my mind as a designer.
• To Sile, of Knit One One for hosting and getting my butt into Rachael’s class.
• To Eunny Jang, for sharing the joys of traveling stitches in her Bayerische socks (now I gotta finish mine!)
• To Stephanie “Yarn Harlot” Pearl-McPhee, for showing me my first eye of partridge heel and hemmed stockinette cuff
• To Vogue Knitting Magazine’s Stitchionary Volume 2, for feeding my cable habit.