More Hipps Than You Can Shake a Stick (or a Needle) At

The Hipp parents and sister were in town last week. We had a great time with them and got to see some things around Southern California that have been on our to-do list for ages.

We all did a 5K walk/run to celebrate the 4th of July. I finished somewhere between 33 and 38 minutes (I didn't time myself exactly); not bad for someone who sits all day at work, then sits at home knitting (or reading blogs) afterwards. We spent some time hanging out on the beach, playing golf, and eating like there's no tomorrow. It was a great vacation and one I sorely needed after an endless parade of outbreaks at work.

Some time was taken from the general gluttony to visit the Getty Center and my dear alma mater, UCLA (go Bruins!). The Getty Center rocks. It is breathtakingly beautiful. But make sure you bring sunglasses...that white travertine is bright with a capital B.



I pulled a tendon in my foot during the 5K, so after hobbling through the Getty architectural tour and a few exhibits, I skipped the garden tour (sigh), propped my foot on a chair, and set a spell by a fountain to knit. I managed to complete the toe finished on sock #2 for my Sockapalooza 4 pal before feeling ready to limp to some fine art.

Yup, that means sock #1 is done! I ended up redoing the entire cuff in 1X1 rib; I think it will help hold the sock up a little better. Linda at Happy Sticks commented that her Roza Socks don't stay up as well as she would like, so I wanted to give it a little extra lift. Does 1X1 rib grip better than 3X3 rib? I'm not totally sure, but it seems like it would.


UCLA was more beautiful than I remembered. Much of the construction that was ongoing during my time there is complete. Powell Library was getting retrofitted for earthquake protection during my first year, and we had a temporary tent-like library that was christened the Towell (temporary Powell, get it?). When Powell was finished, it became a good place to study and, thanks to the cushy leather chairs and hidden desks in the book stacks, a good place to take a nap between classes.


My foot still hurt, but I had such fun poking around North Campus that I barely had time to defend myself against the Bruin Bear that tried to attack me.

I survived. But just barely. I used my knitting needles to poke it in the eye. It's back to work for me. Have a great week!

Comment Spam is Poop

For a blog that gets less than 10 hits a day - most of them from Mr. Hipp - I never thought Hipp Crafts would be the victim of comment spam. For those who don't know, it is similar to the spam you get in your email, but left in comments of posts. To avoid this sort of thing in the future, I've added a word verification feature to commenting. You will need to type in the distorted word that you see before the comment will be published. I really hope that this is not a deterrent to commenters, because I love seeing the feedback! Thanks for your patience. We will now return to our regular programming.

Guilt Socks

My mom seems to think that these Sockapalooza 4 socks are going to make their way to her someday. She has been leaving comments admiring the colors, wondering if the socks will fit a size 9 (happens to be her shoe size), and blatantly saying that she would take them as hand-me-downs. Sorry, Mom, these are for a sock exchange and will be sent to a sock knitter in a far off land!

But then I saw on Grumperina's blog that there is a yarn that wicks sweat away from your feet, and it's worsted weight for quick knitting. I knew the knitting cosmos was telling me "Knit a freaking pair of socks for your mom already!". See, Mom's a big hiker, and keeping sweat away from your feet while hiking is key to avoiding blisters. With fatty yarn, even I should be able to finish a pair of socks in a reasonable length of time, and the result will have the thickness as regular hiking socks.

I dropped a little email to my mom, indicating that if someone wanted to get me 2-3 balls of this cool wicking yarn, I could maybe be convinced to knit up a quick pair. (Mom's not the only one who can drop an obvious hint.)

Four days later, I got a gift certificate to Halcyon Yarn. And what do you know...they sell Wick!


Yarn diet maintained? Check. Mom looking forward to cool wicking hiking socks? Check. I can't back off now, especially after never finishing her Scholar Collar scarf (oops).

Grrrrr!

The top ribbing is done. Looks great, but the bind off is too tight. I can't even get it onto my foot! Grrrrrr!


I wanted to do a regular bind off for a nice tidy edge. The rest of the sock is knit on US4 (3.5mm) needles, so using US8 (5mm) to bind off should be loose enough, right? Wrong. Double grrrrrr. The next 30 minutes of my life will be spent carefully ripping out the bind off and redoing it in the stretchier, but less tidy, sewn bind off.

At least the yarn is still fun to work with. No pooling at 42 stitches to the round -- love!

Mammoth Lakes

It's been a long time since I posted anything but Sockapalooza 4 activity, but I think my recent trip to Mammoth Lakes deserves a special viewing.

There is still snow on the mountains in June!

The six hour drive was made bearable by my iPod and the promise of knitting (that's yarn in the plastic bag). Podcasts of "This American Life" turn any long drive into a treat. I had six hour-long episodes loaded on my iPod and listened to them all! I love you, Ira Glass, you and your smug little liberal smart-mouth attitude and your radio show that makes me alternate between raucous giggles and pensive quiet.


The moments of pensive quiet did not last for long, thanks in part to this winner...

His mother must be so proud!

I was spoiled with a fruit smoothie upon arrival at my brother's campsite. My brother 1) likes toys with engines, and 2) does not believe in doing anything half-way. Here he is whipping up the smoothie using a gas-powered blender. Yes, those handles on the sides rev up the blender and make it go vroom vroom! I am pleasantly surprised to report that the gasoline power did not affect the smoothie taste one bit.


My future sister-in-law modeled another one of the toys with engines that they brought along.


After polishing off my smoothie, I opted for non-gasoline-powered fun: handknit socks and a pair of hiking shoes.

These socks were sort of my first pair ever. I made the first one as practice before launching into my first ever socks for Sockapalooza 3 last year. The second one came along after I finished my pal's pair.

My little hike took me up and over a small ridge. The view was spectacular. If you have never seen the Sierra Nevadas in real life, you must add this area to your list of places to visit before you die. It will be worth it. Promise!


I'm approaching the end of sock #1 for my Sock Pal. That means next post will be back to the Knitting Channel. Have a great week!

Goal: Matching Socks, Gusset and Heel

My Sockapalooza socks managed to survive their weekend alone, abandoned underneath my desk at work. Here is I how I found them on Monday, huddled against an empty cardboard box and near some old sneakers.

I leave the sneakers under m desk in case I decide to go for a walk on my breaks. But what do I end up doing on breaks instead? That's right, knitting. At least my brain and fingers are getting exercise.

Time to remember what craziness I did to cobble together a gusset and heel:

• For the foot - Knit in pattern as established until time for gusset increases (19 eyelets from the toe, or 38 rows of the pattern after the toe).
  
• For the gusset - Increase two stitches on alternate rows as follows: On first needle (instep side), knit row 1 of pattern, knit through the front and back (ktfb) of last stitch (the 3rd stitch in a set of 3 knit stitches). Increases done this way look like a knit and purl stitch next to one another. On the second needle (sole side), knit to the stitch that was the ending purl stitch on the prior row, ktfb of it. Gusset increases will always be when you do row 1 of the pattern on the instep.
• Continue in this way until 16 stitches have been added (8 on each side of the instep).
• Do one more non-increasing round after the last round of increases.
• Knit in pattern across needle 1. On needle 2, purl 1.
• Switch to contrast color. Make heel as described in this tutorial. Use 7 stitches for the heel flap, making 14 rows so that you get 7 stitches on each side to pick up for the back of the heel.
  
• Follow heel tutorial until all of the gusset stitches have been incorporated into the heel.
• NOTE: instead of ssk, do slip 1 knitwise slip 1 purlwise, slip both stitches back to the left needle, knit both stitches together through the back loops. Doing the decreases this way seems to make th stitches lie better than a regular ssk.
  
• End heel with a wrong-side row (purling). Turn and pick up main color. Knit 2 together, knit along back side of the heel to the last 2 stitches, knit 2 together.
• Continue to front of sock in pattern (this should be row 2 of pattern). On needle 2 (heel side), p3k3 across ending with p3.
  
• Start using pattern all the way around sock to make the leg.

My sock pal's foot is a size smaller and quite a bit narrower than mine. These socks fit a uncomfortably tight on me so I think they should fit my sock pal perfectly. Ah, ribbed patterns are so forgiving!

Goal: Matching Socks

The unfortunate thing about knitting socks is that there are two of them. Two separately crafted objects, complete in themselves. My knitting often takes unexpected creative twists (aka, errors) that I might leave in as nods to the beauty of handmade goods or out of sheer laziness. But with socks, especially ones that will be given to others, those creative twists either need to be duplicated exactly or identified and corrected immediately. My addled brain and slow knitting speed do not lend themselves to simply noting the twists. I must record them, and diligently.

Since a blog is first and foremost a log, I think I'll use some posts to record in-progress pattern notes. Feel free to use them for yourself if you like.

• Socks are knit on one circular needle using magic loop
• Using contrast color, use magic cast on to put 11 stitches on each needle (22 stitches total)...so much magic in these socks!
  
• First round was all knit stitches (knit through back loops of second needle), followed by an increase round (knit through the front and back of first stitch, knit the the second to the last stitch on the needle, knit through the front and back of the next stitch, then knit one...repeat on the second needle); repeat these two rounds until there are 21 stitches on each needle (42 stitches total)
  
• End toe with one round of all knit stitches
• Change to main color; knit all stitches of first needle (this will be the top of the foot); purl one, knit to the last stitch, purl one on the second needle (this will be the sole)
  
• Launch into Roza's sock pattern on the first needle, continue on second needle as in the previous row

When I get through the heel, I'll post more notes on the gusset increases and the heel itself. Keep your fingers crossed for perfectly matched socks.

There would be a picture here of the socks in progress, but I left them at work! I think I am going to cry. They'll be safe until Monday, but I was so looking forward to working on them this weekend!

Started

Neither Hip Nor Funky has given me some inspiration for my Sockapalooza 4 socks. Check out her new socks in progress using two variegated yarns. I never would have thought of combining two variegated yarns together in a sock. Since I've only got one skein of of the Raspberry Chocolate, I want to make it go as far as possible.

I'm thinking leftovers from Mr. Hipp's Zen Yarn Garden socks, made last summer with a cable twist and short-row heel and toe pattern of my own design.

I'm thinking contrast heel and toe. I'm thinking a stretchy rib pattern to accommodate my Sock Pal's high arch. I'm thinking Grumperina's Roza's Socks from the Spring 2007 issue of Interweave Knits.


I'm thinking that I like it. I like it a lot.


I've adapted the pattern to be knit toe-up (gotta maximize that one skein of Raspberry Chocolate) and adjusted the stitch count down from from 60 to 42 since I am using a much thicker yarn than the pattern calls for.

Thing is, I'm pretty sure I am following the pattern correctly, but the originals look like they have two little "eyelets" per purl rib and mine only has one.


It may just be an illusion. It may just be that I am a knitting idiot and can't follow a pattern. Either way, I'm happy with the result. Let's just call it a design feature and let it be.

We Have a Winner!

The baby sock/swatch using the blue/white Socka Colori is finished. So bitty and cute! I really like the faded blue colors as they are -- like old denim. And look how the self-striping made the toe and heel stand out. Love it. I hope I can find a similar starting point for the next one so that they sort of match.


At this point, I think I am leaning toward using the Raspberry Chocolate yarn for my Sockapalooza 4 socks. I took the advice and comments to heart, and also had a little pondering time to myself.

Not to get all goal-oriented on you (oh, my mother would be so proud), but I think it came down to what I wanted to achieve with making this socks. This sock exchange is a great way to force myself to learn new things without making a half-assed effort -- a nice lady in a far off land is looking forward to receiving my handiwork; I cannot let her down! So do I want to focus on learning about dyeing and colors, or on pattern and technique? Given my current level of knitting, I think the logical choice would be to challenge myself with pattern and technique. The Zen Yarn Garden yarn is pleasurable to work with, it will be all the easier to keep focus on learning new knitterly skills. Experimenting with color and dyeing will be an excellent way to step it up after I have further mastered the process of knitting in itself.

Besides, this little blue bootie came out so well. It would be a shame to mess with a good thing.

And now, onto the hunt for a pattern...

Comments Rock!

Thank you THANK YOU thank you for your wonderful input! It is SO exciting to see the comments section fill up with encouraging and helpful words. Your comments are emailed to me in addition to showing up on the blog, but I cannot respond directly to all commenters via email. Bleh. I want to encourage more comments, and I think the advice was super helpful, so I will respond and summarize here. Perhaps other overly-apprehensive sock knitters can benefit from your comments.

Knitty Kat encouraged over-dyeing the sock since my sock pal, despite being a master sock knitter, may not have done this for herself. Great thought! I would love to give my sock pal something that is new and fun for her. (BTW, I have every other Monday off, but with "Heroes" ending its season last week I now have a void to fill on Monday nights. I may *sigh* have to devote that time to housecleaning but I'm sure I can insert some knitting time too!)

S B notes that dyeing yarn in the skein before it is knit up can produce better results than dyeing a finished knit; it hides the dyeing "imperfections". Great tip! She also really liked the Raspberry Chocolate...hard to argue with that.

Seanna Lea feels my "Heroes" lament and digs the Raspberry Chocolate, too. She asked about patterns -- I do have some in mind. I'm not big into knitting lace, but don't want to do plain stockinette. Something with a fun ribbed or cable pattern may be in order. I'll have to see what will work best with the yarn I choose. An upcoming post will be about my pattern options.

Muoriska says that she loves dyeing so much that she sometimes would rather dye than knit! Now that is a excellent red flag for me...the last thing I need is a new hobby! If dyeing is as addictive as knitting, I may be starting down a shadowy path of additional distraction and obsession. She likes the Raspberry Chocolate as well; good to know that even yarn-dyeing pros are into this colorway. Zen Yarn Garden certainly did a fine job.

Alison (the organizer of Sockapalooza 4!) sends words of wisdom regarding fears of knitting for a sock knitting superstar: "If she makes herself a lot of socks then she's a genuine sock-lover and will love whatever you make for her!" That makes me feel like a million bucks...thanks!

Carola offers some very practical advice -- you can't tell how the dyeing experiment works out until you're done. She also sends encouragement about knitting for a super sock-knitter: "...by participating in this exchange [she] signed up to the surprise. You will do fine!" So take heart, other newish sock knitters, the fun of these exchanges is in the surprise - not in the perfection - of the finished object. Very reassuring!

Jess Poskozim brings it home: "...if your petting and sighing is any indication, it will be fun to knit with something that soft". So true, so true. Using the same yarn (in a different colorway) to knit socks for Mr. Hipp was pure joy. The yarn is like butta, and it's DK weight so it knits up a lot faster than the fingering weight Socka Colori.

Some great food for thought. Thank again for your great comments!

Should I Dye or Reverse the Sock Pal Karma?

Sockapalooza 4 has arrived to Casa de Hipp. Just my luck, I have been assigned to knit socks for a master sock knitter. She seriously posts four new pairs of hand knit socks on her blog each week. I assume they are all knit by her, but since her blog is not written in English (international sock pal! super fun!) that assumption might make and ASS out of U and ME in the end. We have already exchanged emails, in which I have warned her that I just learned to make socks last year and she has generously said she will be happy with anything I knit for her. Woo hoo! Easy going...now that's my kind of sock pal.

Nevertheless, I want to make socks that will make this nice lady happy in her far off land. The first order of business is yarn selection. Thanks to the Yarn Lady Bag Sale (no worries, purchased pre-yarn diet), I have eight balls of Scholler Stahl Fortissima Colori Socka Color. Go ahead, say it out loud to yourself. "Schoeller Stahl Fortissima Colori Socka Color". Fun, huh? The balls I have are blue, white, and gray. The yarn is good stuff, but my sock pal had no mention of blues or grays in her color preferences. Easy going, yes, but I can do better.

My first thought is to use this yarn anyway and overdye it with Kool Aide into something that is better suited to my sock pal's preferences. I've decided to make a pair of baby socks as my swatch. I'll see how they dye up and go from there. With all the pregnant ladies around me, my swatch can be used as a baby gift, too. Two birds with one stone!


My second thought is to use the sock yarn sent to me by the person who was supposed to knit socks for me in Sockapalooza 3. She ended up not having time to knit me an actual pair of socks, but did send two skeins of gorgeous soft yumminess from Zen Yarn Garden as a karmic offering. I have made a pair of socks for Mr. Hipp out of one skein, leaving this one - Raspberry Chocolate - for me to pet and sigh over. Please excuse the cat-as-background. She decided that it was her time to join the cat-modeling fun.



If anyone out there has any thoughts on the matter, I would be glad to hear them. Off to do some chores before "Heroes" comes on. I don't know what I will do with my Mondays this summer!

Happy Belated Mother's Day

For all of the mothers out there (especially my own!), I hope yesterday was super duper wonderful. Yay, Moms!

My mom takes crafting to a whole other level. I think she sees it less as a hobby and more as a common-sense approach to getting what you want, how you want it, when you want it. Her crafts have included everything from remodeling houses, to sewing my homecoming dance dress (green velvet!), to building her own china cabinet. There is nothing she can't do, or at least won't try once! That's the kind of spirit that makes crafting not just relaxing, but also practical and rewarding.

And now for some Mother's Day news: the recipient of this baby knit arrived on Saturday morning, just in time for Mother's Day. I have also received word of two more mothers-to-be in recent weeks - that brings the count to up six pregnant ladies that I know (it was seven until Saturday morning!). My goodness!

Bootie Bootie Bootie Bootie Rockin' Everywhere

As promised, here are photos of the completed Debbie Bliss baby bootie pattern adapted to knitting in the round.

Can someone please call the police? Because cuteness like this cannot be legal.

And the i-cord ankle tie came out so perfect. Better than the original strap with a button, if I do say so myself...and no worries about a choking hazard!

I'm no Grumperina, but even I can tell when a pattern is in need of improvement. I can see no reason for this pattern to be knit flat then seamed up the middle except fear of being intimidating. The modifications I made to knit it in the round are certainly not intimidating, even to a big lazy knitting chicken like me. Certainly nothing that a beginner with some cojones and a row marker couldn't handle.

I guess Debbie Bliss' patterns do not cater to the cojones crowd. What a shame.

Are You Ready?

Sockapalooza 4 has 1,000 members! Wowza! I signed up -- did you?

The organizer of Sockapalooza 4 is also associated with a knitalong of Harry Potter knits. The knitalong is not just for fun, it's also for charity. I have previously been sorted into Ravenclaw. Raise your hand if you took notes in college using an outline format in four colors of ink and White Out to fix your mistakes right away! Hey, I am I the only one with my hand up?

Easter 2007

Happy Easter!

The North Carolina Easter Bunny (aka my dear mother-in-law) sent us a special package.

Yum-aroo! Our sweet teeth are set for at least a week.

Notice anything else in the basket besides candy and scratcher tickets? Yep, it's yarn! Mr. Hipp took the hint and got me some very special Harry Potter-themed sock yarn from Dani at Sunshine Yarns.

From top to bottom: Colors inspired by Fawkes the Phoenix, a Welsh Green Dragon, a Swedish Short Snout Dragon, a Hungarian Horntail Dragon, and a Chinese Fireball Dragon.

This yarn is amazing. I couldn't quite capture the rich colors on this cloudy day but I promise it is better in real life. Mr. Hipp has already called dibs on any socks made from the Welsh Green or Hungarian Horntail.

We're going to spend the rest of the day watching the Masters on TV and getting some quality knitting done. I'm working on the curved front hem of the Sunrise Circle Jacket. I'm attaching the hem as I purl and bind off all at once; it's a lot of keep track of but seems to be working nicely. Not having to sew it down afterwards is worth it! Sorry about the blurry picture, I'm going to try to get a better one taken later today.


After finishing the hem, I'll either start right into the other sleeve or go back to the baby booties. Choice choices choices. Have a happy day!

Coming Up for Air

Crafting content has been put on an unfortunate hold as I deal with this at work. If you've ever wondered what an epidemiologist does, this is a doozy of an example.

No pictures yet, but my attempt at knitting the latest baby bootie in the round is a success! I've decided that a button for the ankle strap is just a little too risky for my taste. Um, would you want to be the knitter who introduced a potential choking hazard to your friend's baby? So I'm going to try making an i-cord that's long enough to tie into a bow instead.

My mother gave up on waiting for her Scholar Collar. She found an acceptable substitute for herself at an REI sale - $2 for a 100% silk knit scarf! Sorry, Mom, that I didn't finish your scarf in a reasonable time, but I think you scored a major deal in the end.

Keeping checking back for my next gasp of fresh air! Send good thoughts to the ill people in this outbreak for a quick and healthy recovery.

Eye Candy Friday - March 30, 2007

Well, it's been a while since I've posted for Eye Candy Friday so I decided to make it a good one.

This is an old church reflected off of a new office building in downtown Dallas this February. I love how the reflection of the church is distorted but you can still see some of the design elements.

Have a happy Friday!

Dementia Prevention

This baby bootie is so freakin' cute I can hardly stand it, despite the weird instructions to knit it flat and seam it up the middle of the sole. Bootie #2 will be knit in the round, partially to get rid of that annoying seam and partly as some knitterly dementia prevention. If all goes well, I can rip out Bootie #1 and re-do it in the round to match. When a knit is this small, it's not too painful to unravel it...even for a slow knitter like me!

Harry Potter Sock Yarn Alert!

If you are allowed to buy yarn in your Knit from Your Stash 2007 rules, you might want to do so at 11AM EDT tomorrow. Sunshine Yarns is making a bunch of her hand-dyed yarn available for sale at her Etsy shop and promises Harry Potter-inspired colorways. You may have seen these great Gryffindor socks around blogland. (Think Mr. Hipp will get the hint?)

We've Only Just Begun

From Wendee on the "Babies Babies Everywhere" post:

I hear that we are having one of the biggest baby booms since, well, the baby boom.

That certainly seems to be the case for people around me. I know five expectant mothers right now, one with twins! Look at what arrived in yesterday's mail...


It's time to start another baby knit! Now, if I were a savvy knitter, I would start on each baby knit when I learn of each pregnancy rather than when I learn of each baby shower. That would be quite smart and organized of me. That would also make Mr. Hipp cry out, "Who are you and what have you done with my wife!?!" Savvy, smart, and organized aren't words that are often applied to me...at least not the knitter in me. (I try to bring a bit of savvy, smarts, and organization to at least my work life...I think that about exhausts my supplies, though!)

So in an effort to be a bit more on the ball, I have started this baby knit ASAP. Always the rebel, I cast on for a non-beaded, non-fair isle, version of Debbie Bliss' Beaded Fair Isle Shoes.


These are coming along swimmingly so far. They are knit more or less flat and have a seam along the bottom of the sole and up the back of the heel; it seems odd to have this sort of construction when it could just be made in the round. Good thing babies aged 3-6 months don't do much walking or else that seam would get really uncomfortable really fast.