wonder woman socks

I finished the first of the wonder woman socks. For Christmas, when people asked, the only thing I could think of that I really really wanted was a whole bunch of self striping sock yarn from Artistic Yarn by Abi. And Boy did people deliver. I got wonder woman, monarch butterfly, AND sock monkey.

It was really hard to choose which to start with. In the end, I went with Wonder Woman, hoping it would make me feel more heroic.

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Can’t have second sock syndrome when Wonder Woman is involved.

A post shared by Jodie (@ja_gardner) on Mar 19, 2019 at 7:31am PDT

I'm really pleased with how it turned out, but I did finish this two days ago and haven't yet cast on sock number two. I know that I will cast on soon (maybe today!) but at the same time I'm feeling a little hopeless with socks. Just mainly because I don't have any shoes that let me show off my really cool socks.

So instead I've been daydreaming about sweaters. It seems weird to think about starting to knit a full sweater on the cusp of spring. That seems like more something you do in January to cheer yourself up or in October to prepare for the coming winter. But NO! I am the person knitting the full on sweater in July when it seems way too hot to even think that you might ever be cold again. Or the one finishing a sweater in July when just trying it on for a picture makes you want to puke.

I'm not saying I won't cast on the second sock. I'm also not saying I won't spend an hour on ravelry today dreaming about the next sweater project.

Do you have a sweater you're knitting now? Drop me a link to a picture.

finished socks

Every week I put "Blog" on the weekly to do list and every week it seems I fail. I looked back though and since January 23, my weeks have been filled with snow days. So not really having a lot of time to think about what I have been knitting. I can't even really articulate why it is so hard to concentrate when the kids are home. Maybe because usually that means we are all home, as my husband also works in an educational setting that has weather delays and cancellations. Anyway, we usually have an average of 4 snow days all winter and this year we've had 12.

I do have some socks to show! I finished the black socks that I started way back in September.

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Weaving in the ends. Weaving in the ends We shall come rejoicing weaving in the ends.

A post shared by Jodie (@ja_gardner) on Feb 13, 2019 at 8:09am PST

I had a hard time being motivated to finish these because black yarn on black needles is really hard to see in anything but bright sunlight.

I also struggled with the yarn. You see I found a knot, which yeah whatever. The problem is that this knot was very much like a similar knot I found in another sock yarn in that it TOTALLY threw off the pattern of the self stripes.

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Summer ballgame socks. Slightly peeved at the pattern matching problem on the leg that is NOT my fault.

A post shared by Jodie (@ja_gardner) on Sep 11, 2018 at 1:56pm PDT

You can see it above in the leg of these socks. In that instance there were actually two knots, and I didn't realize the patterning was off until much later. This time, I saw it within a half inch of the knot. and I thought to myself, I can fix this!

My plan was to just pull the yarn out until I was back on track color pattern wise. Which would have worked.... except that the knot seems to be where the yarn then reverses the color pattern. I could find the stripes, they were just backwards.

Here's where I confess it took me way longer than it should have to figure the solution. I unwound the entire rest of the skein (Which let me check for additional knots), and then used my ball winder to wind it backwards. THEN I found where the pattern picked up.

Doing this sock made me feel like maybe I didn't like knitting as much as I used to, as I really didn't like picking it up. But All the troubles combined with the dark colors in this dark season must have been in, because less than a week ago, I cast on a sock with some yarn I got for Christmas and it is so much more fun to knit again.

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Wonder Woman socks!

A post shared by Jodie (@ja_gardner) on Feb 14, 2019 at 10:35am PST

quick

This is going to be a really quick entry to say just a few things.

1) I am in the process of taking my pictures down from Flickr and so there will probably be broken picture links in old entries. Sorry.

2) I finished a hat as a present for my stepfather at Christmas and forgot to show it off. Here it is:

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It occurred to me that I forgot to post a picture of this hat! It was a gift and I hope it is keeping its recipient very warm.

A post shared by Jodie (@ja_gardner) on Jan 23, 2019 at 10:47am PST

3) I am going to TRY to be better at updating than I have been. We are finally starting to settle into something resembling an actual schedule and I'm hoping that will help me both get more knitting done AND blogging done. We will see.

4) I actually have at least one more finished object to show off. And progress on my socks. So I'll work on that for next time!