Socks, socks, socks

I guess there's not much one would envy me for these days, but these socks are!
I got the Spring Fever socks from Julie - Woohoo!

My sincerest appologies for not blogging about them earlier - they did arrive well in time - good job, Julie, thanks! However, one good reason is of course that I was completely stunned to receive such beautiful socks. The other is, well, let's postpone this until later...

It does feel a bit stupid to write a post without being able to follow up other blogs let alone comment on them, but this one, of course, is mainly to make you all jealous praise my Bloomin' Feet pal Julie from stoneview and the Bloomin' Feet goddess and queen of the more intimate sock swaps, Amanda. Thank you both so much!

But now, do you want to see details of the socks?

Thank you so much, Julie! You did an amazing job knitting these beautiful socks. All the little embroidered flowers and beads! They are simply stunning. I already got compliments on them from many people who never bothered to comment on the socks I knitted myself. Some even remembered them and commented on them several days later (like when I was wearing my if I may say so pretty Embossed Leaves socks - "hey, you were really wearing some amazingly beautiul socks the other day"). Julie, you are not only lifting my spirits, you are also lifting my image as a sock knitter. No, of course I gave you the full credits!
Julie did not stop by just knitting these beautiful socks, and sending them, of course. She also added some many extra goodies. I only managed to take a picture of the cute little hanks she added for if there should ever be the need for darning. Very much appreciated. I do hope, I can keep them a long while just looking cute, but I am afraid, these socks will experience a LOT of wear. They are just too adorable! There was also some Debbie Bliss merino aran. Great feel, great colour, I love it!

The obligatory sweet treat has partly vanished and I somehow forgot to take a picture. I also didn't take a picture of the other great, great gift she added: sock patterns. One of them is the Gothic Spire sock pattern by Cookie A and I am soo tempted to knit these socks up right away. I got also some other patterns by designers yet unkown to me and I am sure, they will appear on this blog sooner or later. Maybe even for Sockapalooza 4? Julie, I am amazed how generous and thoughtful your package was packed and what an amount of work, skills and love for knitting went into the socks you made me. Thank you so very much, I am still overwhelmed - and very happy!

My sock headed towards their destination with a slight delay but should be arriving a-n-y m-i-n-u-t-e. At least I do hope so!

I have to thank all the commenters (and again, I am very sorry for not replying to your helpful suggestions!) . I really felt encouraged to go with the leaf design. I do hope, my pal likes them, too.
For the record, they were knitted in Socks That Rock, colourway Rose Quartz on bamboo dpns 2,5mm. I might consider to publish the pattern one day, but I can't bother at the moment, sorry.
I am still or more again feeling really really bad in my back. If my doctor would know that I am sitting down in front of the computer at the moment, he wouldn't be pleased with me at all. No sitting for me! It is so boring and I am seriously becoming very impatient about the slow healing process. But better this then going to surgery I am told.

Well, see you all soon for Sockapalooza 4!

Bloomin' Feet: Confusion, choice and collaboration

Thank you all so much for the compliments on my Elfine's socks. I like them, too. In fact, I love them very much and that's why they are MINE ;-) I deserve them.
Not that my Bloomin' Feet pal does not deserve something so lovely, far from that! But the Elfine's are for me, me, me. For my Bloomin' Feet pal - I had and have other plans!

It is somehow not surprising how it came to the confusion that I would give away my Elfine's [gasp!]. In desperate need of STR for swatching I used the lemongrass yarn. As a matter of fact, it is still part of my project.

But now, I need your opinion.
I wanted something flowery for my Bloomin' Feet and especially after I decided for the Rose Quartz colourway. A rose pattern would obviously have been the perfect choice, but I couldn't find any. That's why I went for leaves instead.
I imagined the leaves somehow entwining around or along the foot and I wanted an organic look. I came up with a design where the leaf tendril sort of sprouts from the toe.

Please, do tell me how you like it. I am going to finish this sock for myself anyway (my pal has the same size, yeah for the match, Mr. Clothesknit!) and I quite like it. But since it is my baby I am not impartial.
The other sock (right side) is, you surely recognise it, Baudelaire by Cookie A from knitty.com. I came across this this pattern when looking for a toe-up heel flap for my Elfine's and I let me tell you: this is the best heel I have ever knit! What a stroke of genius! The fit is not only much, much better than that of any short-row heel I ever knit, it is also so much prettier. You have to try it!
However, after copying the heel and being so very pleased with it, I asked myself what are the chances, that the whole sock is very clever? My educated guess was very high. As a result, the Baudelaires will be my fallback solution aka Plan B socks. That is, until you tell me that they would be the better choice for my Bloomin' Feet pal. Go on, tell me. Please! And be honest, I can handle criticism.
Need more pictures?

Many thanks for tiny things!

Yesterday evening, the postman delivered my Wee Tiny Sock, knitted by Darlene

Thank you Darlene, the sock is lovely. (And do you all see the card? How cute is that!!!)
And thank you, Emily, for this idea. It is such a small thing to do (knitting a tiny sock) but seems to evoke exponential fun. At least here. Maybe my excitement is a bit over the top because Darlene also included a tiny sock blocker!
I had seen those cute little sock blockers on Emily's blog, of course and had to order some myself. Not for me, no no no, but to give them away.

Well, I might have considered to keep one for myself... But now - I got one - just for me!
Hooray for mini sock blockers! Can you resist to get some for yourself? No? Go and visit feltupdesigns and talk to Debbie. She does an incredible job making and shipping them. Thanks, Debbie!


The hint of sunlight in the pictures above encouraged me to go out for another photoshoot. Finally, my Bloomin' Feet yarn aka Socks That Rock in Rose Quartz arrived ...

...and I am swatching and sketching for my grand design.

Wish me luck.

Hindrances

Meet my best friends these days...

Even though it might by now look like this blog is turning into a "fishing for sympathy blog" - this is not my intention. Today, I stumbled across some rants concerning the right and meaning of blogs without comments. Fortunately, I get comments and I appreciate every single one of them (even though I do not answer them all, partly because of blogger's flaws, partly because of my laziness - sorry! - but I do try to track people down and comment on there blog in return - honestly). But I also write my posts just to keep track of things, mainly my knitting projects, or just because it feels good sometimes, to "talk" about things that happen, affect and move me which, unfortunately, is not always possible in real life. As a result, my blog is a selfish hobby that turns into a wonderful, lively, encouraging, sometimes nagging or enlightening little communication tool when others participate. Thank you, every single one of you!

But what about the pain and ache this time? I have been home on so called sick leave (well, they stop paying you after two weeks, don't they?) for quite some while now. First, my doctor suspected a lumbago but I didn't agree because it just did not feel like it should (it's all out there on the internet, you know!). Unfortunately, I was right and a CT revealed that I have been suffering from a considerable herniated disc. Ouch!
What really causes me some pain in the arse (pun, pun!) is the fact that I can neither lie nor sit without pain and should in fact walk a lot. However, the weather beggars all description, and surely, slithering on icy pavements with sleet blowing down your collar isn't really fun, either. Walking around in my not so roomy apartment, however, I always find something to do that I rather shouldn't (you don't want to take a look under my bed after three weeks without vacuum-cleaning!)
Well, I thought it was at least time to knit up a Hot Water Bottle Cozy (links to a word.doc), designed by Canadian knitter Maggie who visited Iceland (and sort of me) back in May (so much for the community aspect of blogging). Go over, visit her blog and say hello. She knits adorably little toys and also sweaters, apparently in the blink of an eye.

Yeah, knitting... I'm kind of in a knitting blues. Not to be able to sit all that comfy takes the fun out of it. Plus, I am not easy to please with my projects these days. There are plenty new things I would like to start (see: bottle cosy) but my stash is savely stashed away in no-go areas, such as the attic or cellar, both only accessible by ladder.

There is of course Bloomin' Feet '07! While I am following the progress of the other participants, there's not much I can do. Reading my pal's preferences, together with my intention to make a theme sock, I could not resist ordering some STR in Rose Quartz. So cute! Never for myself, but nonetheless.
I placed my order looooong time ago and it arrived very soon afterwards at my sister's in Germany, who was due to send me a parcel anyway. You know, all the tricky sideways I go to avoid the impertinent custom fees here. Apparently, in Germany, they are back to delivery by stagecoach or maybe even attempt to walk the parcel here. I think, the parcel is travelling now for four weeks. And so is the new Interweave's Favourite Socks which I ordered on amazon.de because a friend wanted to have a look at it before she would send it here "second hand". Apparently, the book left Amazon on 20th March but the post's tracking service informs me that estimated delivery date is 28th April. Beg your pardon? We are talking about 300 km distance!

So, what does this mean to my Bloomin' Feet socks? I swatched, I browsed the internet for patterns, I contemplated designing my own pattern, I swatched, I swatched..
I am thinking cables. I am thinking little leaves. Why not design leaves and mini-cables entwined around the leg?
Nothing so far made me really happy but I still believe that the exactly right yarn (and not some STR substitute in another colour!) will do the magic trick.
Meanwhile, I found out that I did not in fact re-invented mini-cables but merely remembered the Cablenet socks from knitty plus all the enlightening articles on designing them by Ariel Barton. However, this pattern is evidently is not the best choice for variegated yarn and STR might also be just a wee bit too heavy.

And that is why I am stuck with Elfine's socks once again. Since I managed to knit past the heel now I can only laugh about it: The fact that I tried four different types of toes! First, according to the pattern, than the m1tfb method and finally two different wrapping sort attempts of short-row toes. All of them easy as pie. Just not now. When I was finally satisfied with the look of my short rows, I realised that my eye-of-partridge-ball cushion was way off the position it should be. Of course - I couldn't even try them on because I am just not able to dress myself in these parts, these days. Ah! Rip again...

Last but not least:

1. Have you noticed the little sheep stitch marker? Aren't they cute!? Katie from Straying Power designed them for this year's Project Spectrum Sheep Club 2.0. Go and visit her etsy shop and get yourself some! They are just as cute as the bigger sheep but more practicable for smaller projects like socks. However, if I would have to decide for one or the other, I couldn't. Luckily, I own both variants because - can you believe it - Katie sent them to me on a quest for checking out the international shipping service. What a nice surprise, thank you again, Katie! Potential customers, be assured, Katie does a wonderful job, packing and shipping them. They are very happy here now, maybe a bit lone, I should get some more ;-)
   
   
2. To my Bloomin' Feet pal: not to worry! There's a plan B pair of socks in the pipe. They might actually turn out better than the plan A ones!