Moving Along

Traveler sock has progressed from the awkward seven-needle stage and is looking more coherent.



The design cleverly places the pre-strung beads on the purl background of the cables, where they sit serenely and aren't tempted to slip to the wrong side of the fabric. I tweaked the highly embossed cables a little and in the process messed up one crossing, but decided it didn't make that much difference.

The seamless pocket required closer to 20 yds, not the 10 yds specified in the pattern, and I'm wishing I had left extra long tails for the grafting yet to come (sigh). Of course I had to try loading it with the family silver and other valuables.



Items smaller than half a credit card fit – it's a treasure pocket, not a cargo hold. And in a nervous age of would-be shoe bombers, perhaps it may not be the best way to transport ferromagnetic loot, licit or illicit. Hm. Maybe I'll forgo a pocket on the second sock.



Still, it's fun and I'm enjoying the pattern. I'm less happy about the yarn. Although STR usually is beautifully spun, this skein has some frizzy patches. Let's hope it's not a trend.

Silk Road City

Having polished off three socks of shame, I felt emboldened to cast on for January Sockdown. It really is still January, despite today's monsoonal wind and rain and unseasonable warmth. For the first sock cast on of the new year I went with Traveler by Janel Laidman and Socks That Rock Lightweight colorway Blue Moonstone because of the new year's blue moon and my present mood. The sock is a little involved at the moment.



Traveler includes beading, cables, and a seamless secret pocket, shown in progress. The designer's description makes me think of fabulous tales of Marco Polo and the travel clothes with secret jewel compartments he had made in Samarkand. The sock is fiddly and absorbing, which I appreciate because the Silk Road city I've been thinking about lately is Kandahar.

In church each Sunday we read the names of U.S. KIAs and also pray for our enemies. Yesterday the shift from one theater of war to another was heartbreakingly noticeable, both in the numbers and the ages of the dead. There were many, many more killed in Afghanistan and they're getting younger, stark indicators of escalation. The prayer practice has been going on for a very long time, but someone objected strenuously the other day. I guess there's nothing like present reality to deflate both romantic history and legend.

A couple months ago, I won a drawing for a sample skein of St. Denis yarn, which arrived over the weekend. Merci, Veronik Avery!



The mini skein of Nordique is a lovely raspberry sportweight. I'm eager to try it, but the skein was so tightly twisted that it had the effect of overspinning the yarn. It needs to relax a bit; perhaps we all do.

Socks of Shame #11

Just down from the clothesline and on my feet: Fox Faces Socks by Nancy Bush worked in String Theory Caper Sock, colorway Bee's Knees – formerly Sock of Shame #11! The first sock was finished September 2009, the second sock was finished yesterday evening.



These socks truly are the bee's knees. Ordinarily I don't care for yellow socks, but this is another inspired pairing of pattern and yarn, if I do say so myself. I'd happily use this soft, luxurious yarn again. It's subtly mottled, dense and not as sproingy as some, and feels fabulous when worn. And I'd happily knit this superb pattern again, the September SKA mystery pattern. I love the vikkel cuff, lace rib (which compensates nicely for lack of sproing in the yarn), and birdseye heel. The only modification I made was to the toe. I knit the fancy toe in the pattern...



... but it proved to be uncomfortable on my Frankenfeet, so I frogged back and worked my usual round toe.



Three empty clothespins! I daresay this calls for cake. Given the frequency and severity of cake fail roundabout Exit 151, that's no small matter.



Tralala.

Blooming Tea Show and Tell

One of our more novel holiday gifts was a blooming tea set, a small glass teapot and an assortment of tightly furled tea balls. I'm generally a stuffy purist when it comes to tea and tend to think blooming tea is to good tea what faux fur is to good yarn. But the show is entertaining, so I thought I'd share it.

Tea balls start out about the size of a walnut and usually can be used to make several pots of tea. Here's one sitting in the well of a saucer.



Some blooming teapots are proportioned like coffeepots, taller than wide; this one is a conventional teapot shape. It makes two servings.



The tea ball unfurls rapidly in hot (but not boiling) water. The pink flower is a globe amaranth, which has little aroma. Some tea balls smell like tea, some like jasmine or lily.



The color and flavor of the tea develops more slowly. Blooming teas tend to be on the mild side, the better to show off the flowers. For reasons that escape me, this teapot lid fits so tightly that when it's in place, the tea won't pour. Maybe to keep subtle fragrances in? Except there's nothing particularly subtle about blooming tea.



The tea itself looks like tea, so I didn't bother to take a picture of it. Some tea balls turn into tasty tea, but I threw out this particular pot after a couple sips. I suspect it could unclog stuck pipes.



Above is a different tea ball after a couple uses, sitting in the same saucer, with a Western tea ball for scale. The blooming tea ball expanded a lot initially, but didn't change much after its first immersion in hot water.

That's blooming tea as I know it. The End.

Sock of Shame #8

Outside temperatures warmed up enough today to show off Juta's Stockings, formerly Sock of Shame #8. The first sock was finished December 2008; the second this morning.



I'm inordinately pleased with this pairing of pattern and yarn. Others have reported that Malabrigo Sock tends to pill and bag – I'll have to see if that happens, but for the moment I have happy feet.

My socks may no longer deserve shame, but the contemptible remarks of some in the wake of Tuesday's devastating earthquake in Haiti earn them my deepest opprobrium. Shame on you, Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh, you fall lower than my socks!

Those with greater compassion (and less wacko paranoia) may wish to respond to the Yarn Harlot's Knit-Signal calling for donations to Doctors Without Borders aka Médicins Sans Frontières (MSF). MSF had 800 staffers in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, before the earthquake. Their good work is greatly complicated by the massive damage to infrastructure and the overwhelming need.

For those who feel a responsibility to repudiate Robertson's brand of Christianity, my church has joined with other mainline Christian denominations in the OGHS Haiti Earthquake Relief appeal. Sadly, it is anticipated the Child Sponsorship program, which helps orphans, will need to expand, too.