Stained Glass Bubble Socks

It's finally official. Meet the cousin of the Stained Glass Bubble Hat & Scarf:


These colorful socks are worked toe up with short-row garter-stitch heels and toes. Bubbles ripple across the top of the foot and encircle the leg; the foot sole is a comfortable stockinette fabric. An example of dropped-stitch mosaic knitting, this pattern combines the look of two-color knitting with the ease and speed of only ever knitting one color per round. And, of the six rounds of pattern for one row of bubbles, five rounds are plain knitting. You’ll have a pair of bubble socks in no time!


The pattern is eight pages and includes instructions for sizes child through adult. The stitch patterns for the foot and leg are written out (there are no charts; the bubble pattern, once learned, is quite simple; charts really aren't necessary).


Yarns used are Zitron Trekking XXL and Louet Gems Super Fine fingering weight, 1 skein of each, both 14 wpi. Another variegated yarn could be used in place of the Trekking, although it may not give the same finished look. Or pick your two favorite colors and go solid!

Gauge: 36 stitches and 52 rows = 4 inches in st st & bubble stitch

Suggested needles: US 1.5 (2.5mm) & US 0 (2.0mm)

Sizes: Child S[Child M, Child L/Adult S, Adult M, Adult L]

At the above gauge,
~ Foot width: 2.75[3, 3.25, 3.5, 3.75]
~ Corresponds to U.S. shoe sizes Child 4-8[Child 7-11, Child 10-2, Child 2-6/Woman’s 2-6/Man’s 6-8, Woman’s 7-9/Man’s 8.5-10] according to www.yarnstandards.com
~ Foot length & leg height are easily adjustable.


The pattern sells for $6 US. If you are in Portland, Oregon you can pick up a paper version at either Close Knit on NE Alberta or at Twisted on NE Broadway. Or, from the comfort of your own home, you can purchase the pdf either through Ravelry (search for "Stained Glass Bubble" or see my profile under sunnydayknitter) or here:

(Note: clicking the button above will take you to Ravelry's Paypal site. Ravelry will delivery the pdf to your email address. If you have any problems, please let me know! And I'd love to see photos of any Stained Glass Bubble socks, in progress or finished--please share!)

Webs

Spotted while walking to the dog park this morning.

This is an amazing article about a tapestry made completely out of spider silk. Beautiful.

Happy owl day to me. Recent knitting-related birthday gifts (how do they all know I like knitting?):
This ceramic owl is from Oaxaca, Mexico. He is currently guarding my stash.

A beautiful slate-blue skein (richly variegated from being dyed over natural grey) from Sarah, acquired in person near her home in the San Juans. I met the lovely women who run Island Fibers at Madrona last winter. They have wonderful colors.


In August my friend Laurie went on a knitting cruise to the Baltic Sea. She gifted me this wonderful knitting bag from Estonia. (Front and back, above. Detail, below.) It is made with wool although woven, not knit. I am not sure if some of the stitching was done during the weaving process, or if it was applied upon the woven fabric. Either way, I love it. The bag is lined with a cotton fabric and is the perfect size for holding a pair of socks or mittens in progress.

Laurie also gifted me these booklets of Aino Praakli's:

I have two of her books, purchased through Wooly West. Some of these booklets contain the same mitten patterns as the books, but most include patterns new-to-me:

From Leigh, a sweet children's book with humorous illustrations:

I also received a gift certificate to Beaverslide Dry Goods, which I think I will save until I finish some current projects. It's always nice to think about what one might get--the gift lasts longer that way.

Laurie also brought back some knitting books which I promptly added to my collection:

A Russian book, published in 1957. It contains a variety of stitch patterns, some of which I've never seen, including this chrysanthemum-looking one which would make a wonderful summer shell or cardigan:

And this Estonian mitten book:

which is chock full of beautifully charted patterns, including some interesting cuff designs and some unusual (to me) color work. My favorite pair right now is cream and dark brown with a small blue motif at the top of the cuff.

And to help close my schizophrenic web identity, my sweetie gifted me this: go to either sunnydayknitter.com or sunnydayknits.com and you'll be redirected to rainydayknits.com. Thanks, sweetie!

Turkish Ocean Revisited

Not meant to be an ad for Apple, this is Meg Swansen's Turkish Ocean pattern, which I started at Camp 2 last summer (2008), put aside for awhile, and now have happily back in progress. I'm really loving the pattern; I didn't get far enough before to see what a lovely rhythm there is in it. I hope to be wearing this this winter.

Given my gauge last summer, I was worried about the sweater coming out too wide. Thanks to smart advice from Joyce Williams (does she give out any other kind? I don't think so), I took out one of the smaller panels on the side. Now, I'm thinking I could have left it in, but in the interest of finishing before spring, I'm forging ahead. If it's too too slim, I may experiment with steeking and adding the panel pattern back in, although that would involve four inserted panels. Nah, not worth it. It will fit, come h#ll or high water! (This is interesting; who knew "ambassador of Morocco" was a vulgar term for a shoemaker? There must be a story in that.)

On a completely different note, this afternoon I taught a class at Twisted on the techniques employed in my Stained Glass Bubble Hat & Scarf pattern. What a wonderful group of students they were: already smart knitters, they were individually and collectively kind, interesting, talented, and engaged in what they were doing. Thank you, class!

Sock Summit, Thursday morning

Most times I travel by car or plane to attend a knitting conference or retreat. This time, my mode of transportation was my trusty steed:

(Note primary fuel source.)

My Thursday morning began with a one-hour wonder course on Judy's Magic Cast-on by the Judy Becker herself. Judy is a fabulous teacher--someone who can stay cool, calm and collected in the face of a horde of disciples. While I'd learned her clever cast-on online from Cat Bordhi's fabulous YouTube video (worth watching just for the animal sounds alone), having the person who invented the method demonstrate it and mention additional applications was worth every minute. And, as in every lecture & class I've attended this weekend, I had the joy of sitting next to very smart & interesting knitters from near and far.

Next was an hour lecture on Turkish Stitches with the lovely Anna Zilboorg. A few of my favorite socks from her collection:

AZ's first exposure to Turkish knitted work was through this book, one I am glad I ordered a summer or two ago from Schoolhouse Press as it is now difficult (and expensive) to get ahold of. For carpool knitting this coming school year I'd like to work up some pillow covers using these simple yet beautiful designs. AZ spoke to the difficult life Turkish people live and how the foot coverings, typically worn inside the home, were made to help make life beautiful. When discussing the rhythmical & mathematical repetitions inherent in the designs, AZ described the patterns as singing when worked. Can't wait to hear their songs.

One interesting fact I learned is that Turkish knitters traditionally knit tensioning the yarn around their necks, knitting with their thumbs while facing the purl side. I had first heard of this tensioning & knitting method from Brazilian knitter Andrea Wong. Now I see from Andrea's website that her mother was taught by a Portuguese knitter, and that the method is indeed practiced in Turkey, Egypt, Greece, and Peru.

Being an attentive knitting student all morning called for a luxurious lunch hour at the local J&M Cafe. Ah, how I love me a breakfast burrito any time of day.

Bubble Sock Debut

OK, I'd normally wait to post this once the pattern is ready for sale, but in celebration of Sock Summit 2009 (SS09), I would like to share with you my newest project. Meet the Stained Glass Bubble Sock:


If you are in Portland this weekend (August 6--9) come to SS09 at the Oregon Convention Center to peruse and help support the many, many vendors from near and far who will be offering their fabulous wares at the biggest sock event of the year (nay, decade). Many thanks to Sally of Close Knit who will have the sock pictured above displayed at her SS09 booth, #214 (thanks, Sally!). Local stores Twisted, Knit Purl, Yarn Garden, Dublin Bay Knitting Co., The Knitting Bee, Woodland Woolworks, and Abundant Yarn will also be present, as will local businesses Lantern Moon, Queen Bee Creations, Travel Knitty, Gardiner Yarn Works, and Clogs-n-More, among others. Books and patterns, buttons, and more fiber than you can shake a stick at will be available in the SS09 Marketplace Friday, Saturday and Sunday, details here. Just based on their names alone, I am particularly looking forward to visiting the booths for Rainy Days & Wooly Dogs (#922) and Sweet Grass Wool (#322).


OK--back to the sock. Once the pattern is ready for sale I'll post more details, but for now, here's the intro to the pattern as it stands:

"These fun socks are worked toe up with short-row garter-stitch heels and toes. With the help of wrapped stitches, bubbles ripple across the top of the foot and encircle the leg. An example of slipped-stitch, or mosaic, knitting, this pattern combines the look of two-color knitting with the ease and speed of only ever knitting one color per round. And, of the six rounds of pattern for one row of bubbles, five rounds are plain knitting. You’ll have a pair of bubble socks in no time!"

Yarns used are Zitron Trekking XXL and Louet Gems Fingering wt., 1 skein of each. I'll post more details with the final pattern information. For now, many thanks to my good friend Leigh who is currently helping to test the pattern (her first bubble sock was knit while on trip to Ireland--lucky sock!). As soon as I have the pattern ready to go, I will let you know. For now, I have the sock logged in Ravelry on my projects page so people can favorite it if they like.

Cheers!
jen

Stained Glass Bubble Class & SS09

Twisted's fall class schedule is up and my Stained Glass Bubble Hat & Scarf class is on the list! I'm terribly excited; I only hope I will have some students. Now, to finish the handout!

The other exciting news is, of course, Sock Summit 2009 which will be taking place THIS WEEK in my VERY OWN HOMETOWN--yippee! I am so thrilled about all of the people coming to PDX for this singular event. I was somehow lucky enough to make it in to several classes and lectures, and I am going to eat up every minute of the experience. Here's what I have to look forward to:

Thursday
morning: Judy's Magic Cast-on hour
& Anna Zilboorg's Turkish Stitches lecture
afternoon: Priscilla Gibson-Robert's Ethnic Socks & Stockings lecture

Friday
morning: in line for a ticket to be part of the world's knitting record at noon
& Meg Swansen's & Amy Detjen's Arch Shaped Stockings class
(homework:)
afternoon: volunteering at the doors of the marketplace

Saturday
morning: Barbara Walker's How I Became a Knitter lecture (thanks to the last-minute lottery!)
afternoon: Meg Swansen's & Amy Detjen's EZ's Wearable Art Stockings class
(homework:)
evening: Ravelry meetup, World Forestry Center

Sunday
morning: Deb Robson's Cross your Cables and Dot your Purls
afternoon: Luminary panel

I am so looking forward to seeing old friends and making new ones. This coming week will help to make up for what was a bit of a let-down for our summer vacation. Technically, C and I (& Jackson the dog) weren't expected to return to PDX until next Monday. A week ago Friday, while on the island in Maine, we received a phone call from a neighbor that someone had broken a window. Well, it turned out that that someone had broken in to the house and busted out five windows from the inside out, shattered the glass in our old front door, and busted the two back doors. Thanks to the quick calling of said neighbor, the police were able to catch the guy a few blocks away. He had other peoples' ID on him but none of his own, as well as some of my jewelry.

Ultimately this isn't a huge deal--no one was hurt, thankfully, and most can be repaired. But, it was hard to leave our time in Maine early, to miss seeing more of C's family who were coming up to visit the last week, to miss our niece's performance in her theater camp's production of "Music Man," and to come home to a wrecked house. Thanks to my sister who did yeoman's duty cleaning up the worst before we came home, the cleaning company who picked up most of the glass, and a very good neighbor/contractor/restorer of old houses, we should be put back together soon. For now, the building excitement of SS09 is a welcome reprieve.