Knitting and spinning. The fun never stops.

Wendy can’t come to the blog right now, but she and Lucy wish all our American friends a wonderful Independence Day. Everyone else, have a great weekend!

I know that a number of you are fraught with worry about Golden Boy so I figured it was time to post an update on his condition.

Golden Boy is doing surprisingly well. In fact, he’s happier and peppier than he has been in lo these many years.

You see, Golden Boy now has a harem.

A harem of barrel row counters that actually work!

These stitch counters were sent to me by Tiny Tyrant and Amelia. Thanks to these ladies, Golden Boy has friends and helpmates to ease him along his journey. So y’all can relax and not worry about him

LOL Lucy

Thank you to those of you who voted in the LOL Lucy Captioning contest! The top three captions are:

1. i gots bild own hooman kit…sum asembly rekwired.

2. iz saving rest for snack

3. Hi Mom. U look diffrent todai… OMG WHERZ THE REST OF U?!?!?!?

So the three who submitted those entries, Imbrium, Katrina Grace Craig, and Carey, please contact me (you can use the form at the “contact me” tab at the top of the page) and tell me which one of my sock patterns you’d like to have (check ‘em out at The Loopy Ewe and give me your snail mail addy, I’ll send them out to you.

Einkorn Sock

I am about to turn the heel on the second Einkorn Sock! Try to contain your excitement!

Lucy was so jazzed she had to take a nap!

A blog reader (Hi Karen in Atlanta!) emailed me to ask about the yarns I use for my designs: are there characteristics of some yarns I don’t like. She asks “Is there a lot of functional difference in wool fingering weight sock yarn?”

Yeah, I think there is.

My most favorite type of sock yarn is one that is pretty firmly spun with a tight twist. The yarns that use Louet Gems (or a yarn like that) for their base are my faves. My current “yarn crushes” for this type of yarn are Tempted Good Grrl, Sanguine Gryphon Eidos. ShibuiKnits, and Neighborhood Fiber Company Studio Sock. Others I like are Fleece Artist Merino, Cherry Tree Hill Supersock, and Claudia Handpainted Fingering.

This type of yarn is wonderful for texture work, like my current sock project, my Einkorn socks. The firmly-spun yarn really makes the texture “pop.”

But I also love Dream in Color Smooshy Sock, which has a totally different spin. I’m not sure what you’d call it, but it works very well in texture as well, but I particularly like it for lace work.

What I don’t care for when I’m knitting patterned socks are yarns that have a fuzz or “halo” because that will of course obscure the patterning to a certain extent.

And yarns that are loosely spun and soft feel lovely, but unless you knit them at a very tight gauge, work up into socks that won’t wear very well.

There’s my 2 cents on the subject.

I’ve started the second Einkorn sock:

Lucy LOLCat

Yeah, sorry, there’s no way I can choose. Y’all vote for your favorite among these captions (these are my favorites) and I’ll send each of the top three caption-writers the WendyKnits sock pattern of his/her choice. Voting will close at the time I post to my blog tomorrow.

Lucy is feigning indifference and having a snack.

I sometimes wonder what the building engineer thinks when he comes in my condo twice a year to replace furnace filters and check the smoke alarms. Apart from the spinning wheel and yarn everywhere, this is not an uncommon sight:

The first Einkorn sock is done.

I’m pleased with it, so the second one is on the needles, but just barely.

(The pattern will show up at The Loopy Ewe eventually, by the way. Thanks for asking!)

Bellamoden asked in the comments:

How do you make some heel flaps look wedge shaped, and others look more squared, more heel-flap-y?

I think it’s a matter of different patterns for different heels. My slip-stitch heel pattern yields the squared heel flap, while my gusset heel pattern makes the wedge-shaped heel.

Loribird asked:

I’m curious: what made it difficult to find a foot-mannequin the “right size?”

All the female mannequin legs/feet I’ve seen thus far are identical — with the standing on tippy-toe arched foot. That foot is smaller and narrower than my size medium sock. I guess most of these body parts come from the same manufacturer. I’m still in awe of Dani and how she managed to find a foot that fits my socks exactly.

And Barbara-Kay commented:

That photo of Lucy with the foot model might seem strange to a non-knitter.  What about a lol-cat caption?

Excellent idea. Let’s have a caption contest! Look at the photo of Lucy with the foot model:

Now come up with a good LOLCats caption and leave it in the comments for today’s post. I’ll pick a winner or two or three, depending on how many entries I get, and the winners will receive something good!

Do it by 3:00pm EDT tomorrow (July 1) to be eligible to win.

Lucy sez:

“I’m not sure I approve of this use of my image . . . “

That was the theme for the weekend. So low-key, in fact, that I didn’t do much of anything.

I did do a bit of knitting on my new sock-in-progress:

I’m calling this design “Einkorn Socks” because I think the design looks a bit like stalks of wheat.

Note that I have a new foot model. This foot was sent to me by Ms. “ Yea, I Knit” who is, as far as I’m concerned, the epitome of awesome. After I whined about my inability to find a mannequin foot that was the right size to model my socks, she actually found one and sent it to me! I cannot begin to tell you how happy this makes me and how much I appreciate it.

Nanner Socks

At the beginning of the month I designed a sock pattern for a group of my friends on Plurk. Because I want to keep the pattern just between friends and make it sort of “limited edition” and a gift to this special group, I won’t be distributing it to anyone after June 30, and I ask those of you who have it to not send it to other people either after that date. Thanks!

By the way, Lucy was a big help in today’s photo shoot.