Big Basin Stuck

I am obviously a little further along than in the above picture.

I have never knitted a pair of toe up socks on 2 circulars before, and now I am STUCK. I finished turning the heel and am supposed to be picking gusset stitches up from the instep needle onto the sole needle. However, I can only seem to get one side, since the configuration of needles doesn’t let me get at the stitches from the other side. I’m not sure what to do, short of pulling the socks off the needles onto stitch holders and then getting them put onto the needles the right way.

Any suggestions?

Two Socks, Two Needles

I am still not sure how I feel about the two-socks-at-a-time-on-one-needle method, so I decided to try out the basic sock instructions for two socks on two circular needles from Knitting Circles Around Socks. I think I like this method better, although with worsted weight yarn it was a bit of a bulky project say to take on the bus. I do like having two socks finished though!

Yarn is called Moor Ragg (apparently no longer available, this was really old stash yarn) from Green Mountain Spinnery (in Putney, Vermont). (By the way, they have some really cool new sock yarn that I just noticed when finding the link.)

Roza ég prjóna lykkjurnar þínar

(Apologies to Megas)

How appropriate for Socktober than socks made out of corn. Only the first one is done (men’s socks seem to be very slow). I am using Grumperina’s pattern Roza socks from Interweave Knits, and the yarn is Maizey, which is made from corn fibre (for anyone who hasn’t been following along).

Guy Stuff

Seems like the guys have been picking some of the movies we watched lately, a real testosterone fest. (Maybe it’s revenge for that Brokeback Mountain? ;)) Surprisingly, they were much better than expected. We watched The Guardian the other night, which was selected while I waited outside the video store with the dog. And we watched Flyboys a while ago, which also surprised me. And of course James Bond the other day. Anyway, it must have rubbed off or something, because when Ingi and I went to pick out a movie for the two of us to watch, I suggested 1408, which is a thriller based on a Stephen King story, sort of like The Shining. That one was really fun.

My knitting is guy stuff too…. guy socks.

Also popular with the guys, Amy Karol’s amazing pumpkin muffins. I made these the other night with a pumpkin I bought at the farmers’ market.

A-maize-ing

I haven’t posted in a while because things have been insane busy at work.

I have been on the lookout for good non-wool sock yarns that don’t come in fancy pretty colours. Kind of a difficult search, isn’t it? Then the other week when I was getting a replacement needle for a sweater that I abandoned a long time ago, I found Crystal Palace Maizy, 82% corn fiber, 18% elastic nylon, per the label. It’s an interesting yarn to work with. It’s a little bit annoying, because the fibers are kind of loosely plied and they keep separating as I knit. And then, I am working on the apparent Cursed Sock which I have had to frog twice, and this yarn is not so forgiving about frogged and re-knit repeatedly.

But it does have kind of an interesting texture knit up. I think it would be very nice yarn for a baby garment; it has a slightly bumpy texture and it is very soft. So here is the sock in its first incarnation (now I have not quite re-knit to where it was at this point):

(If anyone notices, a lot of my pictures seem to have the same backdrop. That is because my house is surrounded by trees and there are only like 3 spots in my house where I can get decent enough natural light to take a decent photo.)