WIP Wednesday: A Plea and Gloves

Knitting:
The chocolate socks seems stalled, perhaps permanently in this iteration. I did indeed find more yarn, ordered it, and gleefully began knitting with it. In the poorly lit room I knit it I could tell it was a little lighter but that didn't seem to be too much of a problem. The next day I took it with me to fighter practice where I could work in the sun. There I realized just how light the new yarn was. Even Lynn commented on it. He also pointed out, as I sat there contemplating, that I needed to be happy with the final result. I realized I wouldn't be happy with the color change, and I'd probably never wear the socks, so I ripped back all the new yarn and set it aside. I do have various plans for the new yarn as I 2 skeins of that and thus plenty of yarn to make a pair of socks. In my mind though, the cubes pattern, for me, really needs to be in a dark brown. You know how it is when your heart is set on something.

So ... I have a request for my friends that have knitting stores somewhat close to them. Would you be willing to call them and see if they 'happen' to have Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Chocolate, Dye Lot 6094? You can contact me via ShadowsKnits@gmail.com. I'll pay the cost for somebody to purchase the yarn and ship it to me. I'm well aware it's a last ditch hope and that it may not pan out. But I've contacted Lorna's Laces and the yarn stores here that carry it and none of them have that color. If this doesn't work then I'll pull the socks out and set the yarn aside for gloves for me or something and move on.


(The finished sock, the half done sock, the lighter yarn)

So since I can't work on that I've been working on other things that have been patiently waiting for me to have time for them. Case in point, a pair of wrist / arm warmers for myself. These are working up super fast, just a couple days for the first one to be finished.



Writing:
Fey Led - More Edits.
Thanks to Kathy and her incredible notes as well as a bit of help from Kara, I've got some really good feedback and I'm working my way through those.

National Novel Writing Month (NaNo) is coming up and at first I wasn't sure about participating this year. I was considering focusing on my editing and getting my current stories cleaned up. And then a voice pipped up in the back of my mind with a question ... so I may have an idea after all. We'll see. If nothing else I do have a fantastic background that will surely inspire me to write courtesy of  Dragon.

Reading:


World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks. I'm 'really' not a fan of zombies, honestly can't stand them. I'm a fan of cerebral horror, not the blood, guts, and gore horror. But, this was one of those books that was a big hit and I like to grab those and read them when I can. So far, and I'm about halfway through, it's not focused on the ew factor. Between the writing style, the layout, and the focus of the subject matter, it's more about the collapse of society, how it happened, and the aftermath. It makes it a story of humanity and how humans deal with everything falling apart. Certainly there is the ew factor there, as the zombies are described, but with it being a sharing of other people's stories it's not an immediate feeling with the guts shoved in your face, so to speak. I'm really enjoying this book, which is a happy surprise.

WIP Wednesday: Colorfully Skewed Socks

Knitting:
I was happily knitting along on my chocolate socks, fairly certain that I'd finish them by Friday since I'd just started the foot on the second sock. And then the end of my yarn popped out of the bag. :( Apparently going up a needle size and losing a repeat from the leg does affect the amount of yarn used that much. *sigh* So I've hit up Ravelry to see if anybody there that has it marked as "willing to sell / trade" will reply. If you happen to have Lornas Laces Shepard Sock in Chocolate and are willing to sell, I'd be interested.

So, yesterday when I had my little yarn disappointment I was frustrated. Nothing else in my stash really appealed. I didn't want to start a new project, I wanted to finish the one I had. But picking through my stash I finally came across the yarn that Dragon bought me for my birthday last year. Seeing it made me remember the smile he had when he handed it to me. "Yarn, lots of colors, colorful socks for you." So I pulled the yarn out of stash and started a pair of Skew socks.



They shall be 'very' colorful socks,

Reading:

Dune by Frank Herbert. This would be a delightful story if I could give it more time. I've been so distracted with other things lately that I just haven't had a whole lot of time to sit and read like I'd like to. I did end up taking it to the bath with me one day just so I could relax and read. I need to get a move on though because the rest of my to read list is getting antsy. Plus I 'might' have fallen down and bought 2 more books last night ... I submit that it's not my fault since I 'had' to buy one since the author was there to sign it and since it was the second in the series I needed to get the first one as well, for completeness sake.

Writing:
Nothing just yet. But, after a good talk with a friend yesterday .. and the realization that I've let a rude, mean person stop me from something I enjoy ... I will start again. So this is a note to say that if I don't have something going in the writing section next week you should offer, and follow through, with beatings.

Yarn Annoyance

Caron Simply Soft is supposed to be Soft. When I'm knitting with it it should be cushy and feel good under my fingers.

It should not be wiry. Or hard.

I just cut about 3 feet of yarn out of a skein because it was gross.

Last night I was knitting along while watching tv. Something didn't feel right. I chalked it up to being 'very' tired and went to bed. I picked the knitting up again today and knit a few stitches. Nope, still off. So I did the silly thing and looked. The black yarn is about half the thickness of the white yarn nestled next to it.

*sigh*

So I begin working my way down the length of yarn back to the skein. I pass a little bump where some of the yarn has been pulled awkwardly. On the other side I compare it, still undersized and hard. Further down is a tangle of fiber fuzz so I cut that off but the yarn hasn't returned to plump and fuzzy happiness. Even further down is a knot. And there is where my expected yarn returns. Out come the scissors, snip snip, and I've cut away the offending bits. Now to unpick the 8-10 stitches with the bad yarn and redo them with the good.

I'd complain more but out of the 7 or 8 skeins of this I've used in the past, I think this is the only problem I've found.

In brighter news, I'm on the last repeat of the piano scarf so it should be done very soon. Perhaps even later today.