Submerged

It's taken almost all of October to find the right pattern for this lovely sock yarn, and I'm still not completely convinced, but for SKA October/November purposes, here goes: a repeat of Simple Skyp Sock by Adrienne Ku, with a beaded CO in memory of Adrienne Fong aka bellybuttonknits.



The yarn, Three Irish Girls Adorn Luxe, colorway Big Bang, is so beautifully cosmic, very nice, although the yarn is not quite as sproingy as I prefer. As part of the memorial sock-along tribute to BBK, I tried knitting up a replacement for my worn tabi-toed Send in the Clowns, didn't like it. Tried Kilauea, didn't like that either. Then I traveled too much, liked that some but didn't like the excess, and I saw Waterlicht, an immersive laser light installation in Manhattan.



My poor digicam was not up to the task of capturing the experience, and when I left I found myself feeling oddly rested yet similarly without words to describe it. The installation was lovely, numinous, wheelchair and family friendly, and well done – one never felt crowded or rushed, there were nice places to sit and contemplate, and helpful ushers with glow sticks to show the way. For all that, I overheard a young art critic sagely opine, "This is very cool, but also kind of boring." Well, the line to get in eventually wrapped around three sides of a city block. What I liked best, I think, was how one's sense of the city never really went away.



The sense of rising waters also never quite goes away. So many coastal communities along the Eastern seaboard are experiencing an increase in sunny day flooding, or street flooding from normal tidal action, not caused by unusually powerful storms or even king tides. Indeed, the projections suggest what have been the worst inundations in past will soon simply be the new normal, most of the time. Having slogged through the aftermath of hurricanes and nor'easters and bomb cyclones, even as Western states experiences worse and worse fire seasons, I'm looking for solutions. Of course it's ironic I've been traveling too much when my perennial favorite solution is carbon avoidance, especially transit avoided carbon, but one has to start somewhere.

Mid-February Convergences

Happy (?) Valentine's Ash Wednesday! Every once and again Valentine's Day and Ash Wednesday coincide, and while neither ordinarily are important observances for me, their convergence leads to a burst of daft churchy humor that I find irresistible for its skewering of the more extreme sentiments of both holidays. YMMV, of course.



Seriously, Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, a seven-week churchy season of self-improvement through fasting, prayer, penitence, and charitable giving. The season ends on Easter, which this year falls on April Fool's Day, another convergence. Ahem. At Church of the Improv one Lenten goal is to fast from using plastic. First steps include avoiding single-use plastic shopping bags and refusing plastic drinking straws at home and in restaurants. Easy-peasy – I already have an ever-expanding collection of reusable shopping bags and, on the rare occasions when I use straws, have some re-usable stainless steel ones. (I note the experience of bumping a metal straw against mouth or teeth, even very gently, greatly reduces any desire to use straws!) Anyway, MY big challenge is I'm still struggling with the vast amounts of plastic I use for stash storage. In the nine years since I started worrying in public about the matter, I have yet to find a good alternative. Hm.

Meanwhile, after much hemming and hawing, I discarded my previous plan and cast on my first Ravellenics project, a re-visit of Supporter's Socks by Linda Pankhurst. The first time around I used my own handspun; this time I'm using Fortissima Alpaka (and not liking the way it sheds). As I'm knitting along with Team BBMF, I'm fortified with my very own mini-Beyoncé and themed Sbux card. (To exactingly correct readers: Yes, I'm aware the Year of the Rooster gives way to the Year of the Dog in two days.)



The sock is also my first foot of the new year, yet another convergence. While it's not-normal to have waited six weeks to start my first foot, it's excitingly normal to be knitting along. The last few months years have been so difficult and have passed in such a rapid blur, it's quite the treat to sit and knit, and it's in that spirit of gratitude with which I'll start my Lenten journey today.

Edited to add the hideous news of a school shooting today, this one in Florida. I like to believe a better world is possible, that such sickening acts of violence are not-normal, but they have become so frequent and active shooter training for schoolchildren has become so common that it's clear the failure is not of imagination, but of political will. And that's a cause for repentence this sad evening.

Not Unlike Cowbell

The Sock Madness email that conveyed the happy news that I advance to Round 2 also contained a reminder to post more in-progress photos. To a process knitter that's not unlike telling the late Gene Frenkle, "More cowbell!" Can do, starting immediately, because once Round 1 was over, I frogged the to-me uncomfortable Alohomora star toes and knit wedge toes.

The process? First, I opened up the star toe and picked up stitches.



Then I frogged the toe. I picked up stitches before frogging because the ribbing stitches of the foot would have splayed in opposite directions when frogged, which would have made picking up stitches after frogging a little fussy, particularly in this yarn, which tends to split and pill. Less fuss is a good thing.



Next, I knit a wedge toe, which is more comfortable on my Frankenfeet than a star toe. Here's one star toe, one wedge toe.



Rinse, repeat. Here's two wedge toes.



I'm very happy with my pinky rainbowy Alohomora socks! It's just the palette I crave this time of year.



After suitable jubilation, it occurs to me the Round 2 pattern is likely to drop when I'm on the road and unable to do much knitting or take many progress pix for that matter. Oh noes! Will I be able to advance? To be continued....

Sock Foot 9 and 1/4

It's Pi Day! I didn't have time to bake a pie, so sent DH to The Pie Store, where the line was out the door and the bakers were baking furiously. He duly returned with a steak and ale pie for our supper.



Meanwhile, here's more photographic evidence my Round 1 Sock Madness socks, Alohomora by Malena Andersen, now a pair, were knit to specs: >9 inch (>22.8 cm) foot, five boxes on leg, six boxes on foot, star toe. I couldn't figure out how to keep the measuring tape flat whilst I took a picture, but when pulled flat, the sock foot measures 9 and 1/4 inches (23.5 cm). The flowerhead pins indicate the pattern repeats.



The regulations observed, let me further note that pattern was delightful to knit, with just the right amount of texture to enhance solid, self-striping, or variegated yarns. I enjoyed the yarn, Pagewood Farms Yukon colorway Rainbow, more than expected. To me YUKON suggests a certain fiber content – this yarn is 70/20/10 Superwash Merino, Bamboo, and Nylon. Huh? I sometimes haven't liked the combination, which can be slick and limp, but this yarn and the pattern resulted in a nicely springy fabric both to the eye and to the hand.

Equally delightful, this year I had enough knitting time to finish two socks and even blog before the deadline, thus earning a place in the competition. That hasn't happened since March 2010. Yikes. Suffice to say lack of knitting time = a difficult slog that's not over yet. It's nice to have more knitting time.

Alas, a star toe is very uncomfortable on my Frankenfeet. My feet do not taper evenly to a sharp point like a pencil, they're shaped more like wedges. So I left long tails on the toes and plan to frog the toes and re-knit comfy wedge toes sometime soon.

Lag and Jetlag

Once again I'm behind in my blogging. Not to mention today is Spring Forward Day in the U.S. Gentle readers, please to forgive my greater than usual lack of enthusiasm for this tortuous custom. Having taken the red eye from LA, my eyes are duly red and I have no idea what time it is. One manifestation of my chronological confusion: on the plane I spent an inordinate amount of time puzzling over what marketing genius named this snack box "sonp" and what deep import that might have. What is sonp?



Of course, I was looking at it upside-down. The snack is a pairing of chips and salsa – "duos" not "sonp" or "soup" or whatever else my poor fuzzy brain was trying to conceptualize. At least I was alert enough to refuse ice with my beverage.

While away I started a sock. Then the Sock Madness 9 warm-up started, so I abandoned it started the first warm-up pattern, The Stroop Stroop Socks by Ros Clarke, then abandoned it too started the Round 1 qualifying pattern, Alohomora by Malena Anderson. (Doesn't everyone travel with yarn and needles sufficient for three projects?) Here's the Alohomora singleton.



My poor fuzzy brain neglected to notice that the dread mods request a photo with markers on the sock indicating the pattern repeats to prove the sock was knit per the pattern (five blocks on the leg, six blocks on the foot). My sock was indeed knit to specs, and I'll provide photographic evidence... after I take a nice long nap.

ETA: Nap accomplished, here's the sock marked to show there are the regulation five blocks on the leg, six blocks on the foot, and a star toe. There's a giant image here.



As my Frankenfeet are not shaped like sharpened pencils that taper evenly to a point, but rather are pretty much wedge-shaped, a star toe is quite uncomfortable for me. I left a long tail in anticipation of tinking the star toe and re-knitting a wedge toe after the dread mods verify my sock status. I'd like to be able to finish the second sock in time to qualify for competition this year, which hasn't happened since 2010. Alas, lately that's not been entirely up to me. Should it be, patterns only status would be far more than OK – I'm grateful for the annual Madness.