A festivus for the rest of us!

Come on, someone had to say it! Motivation (or was it peer pressure?) got me going on my lovely Atomic River socks. I LOVE it! It was nice to knit with soft yarn from non-psoriasis suffering sheep. I did miss the burrs though. I finished the first sock today during lunch and I hope to start the second one tomorrow, if not tonight. I can safely say no one has socks like these and that you'll be able to see me from a mile away. Actually, I may get started on the Foliage socks for the dentist just to get some of the gift knitting pressure off my back. I found a chart that converts shoe size to foot circumference once, but of course I can't find it anywhere. Does anyone know what I'm talking about or can tell me what size to knit for a man's 9.5 shoe size?

Oh yeah, I finished the cardi with the Yarn-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named. It's still a little damp (I'm telling you there's no sun here, only constant rain) and I still have to sew on the buttons (the pink ones), but I figured I would just post about it now.

Pattern: Marylin's NSS
Yarn: Do you need to ask?
Needles: Addi Turbos 4mm 32", 3.25mm 24"
Date Started: 09.15.05
Date Finished: 10.11.05

Did it really take me that long? I didn't even realize it since I was having so much fun! Seriously now, the yarn just kept me away from this project. I think my hate for it has been well documented so I won't bore you with it anymore (though how I managed to grab the yarn made from a little dry-skinned, rolling in burrs, and most likely shunned sheep baffles me). I'm thinking I shouldn' t have blocked this though, the sleeves were nice and tight before it hit the water. Now the sweater is kind of stretched and I don't think it's going to spring back. Actually, I was warned about this yarn's lack of elasticity from a reliable source before I was done and now I'm passing it on to you.

The pattern was alright to knit, nothing really too exciting here. Some of the wording in it confused me at times and other times I either just ignored it or figured out my own way to do it. I didn't make the raglan as deep as the pattern suggested (since I didn't know what it was telling me to do) and in turn I removed some of the ease built into the pattern. Thankfully I did this, since the sweater stretched out quite a bit. Other changes I made were: adding about three inches to the length, using two colors, picking up more stitches at the underarms and then decreasing them (no holes!), knitting instead of crocheting the ruffles, only knitting one ruffle per side vs the two in the pattern.

I'll grudgingly wear this, it's getting cold after all, but it's not my favorite knitted item. Besides the problems I had with the yarn, the resulting fabric is a little too flimsy and has an odd drape for my tastes. I'm also worried about how much stretching this thing is going to get after wear. Actually, I'm more worried about the wet sheep smell that won't go away.

The yarn is a definite loser, the sweater? We'll see, it's in the middle right now heading toward loserdom. It's one of those wear it and see situations. Don't believe me about the yarn? I have two skeins left that you can have for free. Free yarn! All you have to pay for is shipping, which is a small price to pay to proove me right, I mean to test out the yarn.