Same old same old, but with a finished sock to see.

Holey McMoley, was the traffic crazy yesterday! I think the entire state of New Jersey was either at my gas station, or on the road. I set out to visit the Mommie for lunch. I had to get to the post office to mail off some yarn, and I needed gas. OK, easy to do. What I hadn't counted on was the traffic. And I travel on local roads, not on the highway. So I got to her senior residence just after all the lunch stuff was put away. Good thing I brought her chocolate-covered raisins from Trader Joe's. Man,was I hungry when I came home.

Yesterday I mentioned this incredible yarn swift I just bought through Etsy. The thing can easily be disassembled and stored away. When you use it, it sits either on top of a table of on the floor. And it winds like a dream. I first heard about it from Lime and Violet's Daily Chum. Hubbo, who is an engineer, was very impressed with it.

The sourdough starter is beginning to ferment. My kitchen is cool, so this thing will take forever to ripen. I'll have to wait for the full 10 days to be able to use it. I borrowed Daniel Leader's book on interlibrary loan, aka ILL, so if I don't like the results, I'm not out any money. Being an impatient person, I want to use it right now! I think what I'll do later this week, is make up a biga, and use that in my dough while I wait for the sourdough starter.

Knitting Knews (terrible word play, but I've always wanted to use it. Now I have it out of my system.)

Way back, I posted a pic of a sock I was working on. I finished it, wore it, and finally photographed it. Ta da! I give you one of the neatest knitting patterns of all time. Equally good in a sock and in a sweater. The Basketweave Sock!





I've used this pattern on a couple of sweaters, and on a bunch of socks. It works very well on variegated yarn because it breaks up the color repeats. Lots of knit-purl patterns are awful in a busy yarn, but this one always seems to work.

The yarn is one I dyed for myself back in the summer. I have no idea how I dyed it; it's one of those unrepeatable yarns. I can do something a bit similar, but it won't look like this one.

The pattern is a basic basketweave pattern, listed in a gazillion books. It's not quite as mindless as Roundabout (see earlier post), but very easy to do. You do have to pay a little bit of attention, but it's a great pattern for tv, or knitting in public. When I have time, I'll post the pattern.

The yarnie stuff that's keeping me so occupied is the sock club. I know the colorways I'm going to use, and patterns are easy for me. What I'm working on are the sign-ups (which are going well, I think), and a questionnaire to help me customize the yarns. I want to ask questions that don't give away the colors. Kind of tricky, but I'm almost there.