the Akamai Knitter

I finished the Wyvern socks today at the dentist’s office. This was a great pattern to knit up. The back of the socks are done in K2P2 ribbing so they really fit well. I might modify some other patterns and just keep the back of the sock in ribbing so that they have that extra grab in the back. Slouchy socks are just not my thing.

Here’s the detail of the stitch pattern. I like how subtle it is and how it shows off the variegation in the yarn’s colors. I really appreciate a pattern that can show off a beautiful yarn and keep me interested.
Thanks to everyone who gave me suggestions on where to buy more KPPM online. I’ve been browsing and drooling. I’m generally indecisive as to what colour I want to get next, but it will most likely be something in green. I’m also debating on whether or not I want to get more KPPM or if I want to try some Socks That Rock or even some Lisa Souza yarn.

In other news, I have picked up Flirty Ruffles again. Thanks to my trusty row counter and highlighter tape, I was able to find where I had left off without a fuss.

Next up, Gentleman Socks in Trekking 109.

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Last night I started on the Wyvern socks by Marnie McLean. Thanks to Barbara from Acornbud’s Yarn for turning me on to such a neat pattern. This is the first toe-up pattern I’ve tried and thanks to the Tip Top Toes Feature in Knitty, I was able to breeze by the toe and the heel without a problem.

I particularly love the Koigu that I’m using and I’m thinking that I’ll have to get more of this lovely yarn. The only question is where. If anyone has any suggestions on a good place to get some online, please let me know. Either leave me a comment or email me at akamaiknitter at yahoo dot com.

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Yay! I finished Hedera in 6 days. I can’t believe how quickly I knit these up. Of course there were problems in the first sock that I wish I could fix. In the picture I carefully covered up the toes of the first sock because I didn’t akamai! I just blindly followed the pattern so I ended up with a toe that was too short. Oh the shame!

If I were truly a perfectionist, I would knit 3 socks. The first sock would be a test knit and then the other 2 would simply be perfection. I’m not sure what I’d do with the extra socks, but I’d then have perfect sock pairs. Maybe I could use them for holiday decorations, or possibly start a new fashion trend of ill-fitting mismatched socks. Of course I could just rip out the toe of the first sock and do it over again. That’s logical. Nah this one will just squish right into shape and it’s not like anyone is going to inspect my feet. If they did, it’s not my sanity that would be in question.

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Last night I finished reading the Yarn Harlot’s Knitting Rules! and the chapter on sweaters got me to thinking on why I don’t knit sweaters.

1. I live in Hawai’i. Obviously I don’t wear sweaters too often here in Hawai’i. This doesn’t seem to be a good enough reason. I don’t wear socks that often either, yet I have been fiendishly knitting socks. I even find occassion to wear them when previously I could go without. So yes, I live in a tropical climate, but I’m sure I could find a way to wear sweaters if I really wanted to.
2. I hate knitting with cotton. Once in awhile I’ll knit up a dishcloth and have a great time doing it, but usually I’ll get sick of cotton yarn by the time I’m binding off the dischcloth. I can’t imagine how I’d feel knitting a 42″ sweater out of cotton. Sure, there are better cottons out there. Earlier this year I knitted up a shrug in Brown Sheep’s Cotton Fleece and even though I love the finished product I wasn’t happy with the process. Plus, knitting with cotton hurts my hands. It doesn’t matter that I knit with bamboo or with wood, it hurts.
3. I hate measuring myself. This is probably one of the top reasons as to why I dislike knitting sweaters. The Yarn Harlot says that in order to knit a successful sweater you have to be completely honest with yourself about your body and I recently gained a bunch of weight that I haven’t been able to get off. Knitting a sweater would be like committing myself to the weight I’m at and I’m not ready to do that. So in my mind, knitting a sweater that would fit me now would be like committing myself to staying at this weight.
   
4. I’m afraid of the ugly sweater. When I was 12 years old I knit a sweater for my mother. I had no idea what gauge was. I had no concept of what would happen if you substituted one yarn for another or what measurements were for garments. I lovingly knitted this shell top for my mother and when I was done she couldn’t get it over her shoulders. I will never forget the pain of that moment and even though I’m older and wiser, I still seem to have some residual trauma because of it.
5. Sweaters bore me. Since it has been establised that I don’t knit sweaters for myself, the only other person I would knit a sweater for is my mother. Her taste in sweaters runs toward the very boring. I’ve been trying to knit a simple tank top for her with one yarn or another for the past 10 years. I always get bored after about 6 inches and I end up putting it aside in favor of more interesting projects. The combination of sweater terror and sweater boredom makes the knitting of the tank top a rather interesting experience.

So there you have all the reasons I’ve had for avoiding the sweater. I can’t do much about reasons 1-3, but I can definitely do something about reasons 4 and 5. I can take my current boring mom tank with me to an Aloha Knitters meet and spend a couple of hours a week on it there. So my intentions will be out there for everyone to see. I want to finish a tank top for my mother to overcome this silly fear of the sweater.

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Last night I was able to finish the first Hedera sock last night thanks to all the knitting I got done in the car on Wednesday. I almost envy the folks who commute and get all that extra knitting time every day. If I worked away from home, I would catch the bus or car pool just so I could get that extra time to knit socks. Then I would pat myself on the back for saving all that gas money. Gas is up to $3.27 a gallon here in Hawai’i so that would be quite a big pat. (At least that’s what one gas station had listed today.)

This is how much progress I made on the second Hedera sock today while running errands. Since I started knitting in the car again, errands have been made into a much more pleasant experience. I’m a terrible backseat driver. It’s like my mouth runs on seperate controls from my brain and I just start snapping out commands.

I wonder if it’s from too much empathetic experiences with Captain Picard or Captian Kirk. “Warp speed, dammit! Warp speed!” Now when I’m told to put a sock in it, I can literally, put a sock in it. Furthermore, I’m more extremely happy to comply with putting a sock in it. *Mrrf!*

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