Yes, Officer?
Do you know how fast you were Jaywalking?
Yes, Officer, duh. They don’t call them Addi TURBOS for nothing!
Have I ever told you my goofy story about my Addi Turbos? I was a fairly new knitter – eh – I don’t know – maybe a year in? And I had seen these Addi Turbos at yarn stores and I was intrigued. But I was nervous. Everything I read said they were super fast. I wanted something fast – it would make me feel like a real knitter, I thought. But how fast was fast? So I’m in an LYS buying some yarn with a non-knitting friend and I say to the sales person, “So do these needles go really, really fast? How fast are they?” (I guess I was looking for some kind of miles per hour equivalent – like minutes per row? MPR?) She looked at me in all seriousness and said, “Well, they go as fast as you can knit.” DUH! I love that story. Not sure my stupidity translates so well in the retelling, but trust me. I felt mighty stupid.
Anyway, it’s been suggested in the comments that maybe I have a problem with a certain yarn and a certain sock pattern and a certain singer whose first name begins with B and last name begins with S. I’m just saying. Why can’t the Jaywalker pattern become my stockinette sock? If I’m getting results as wonderful as the ones in the picture above, why should I get bored? Or feel the need to move on? And for some reason – I’m not sure I can articulate it – these socks go RIDICULOUSLY FAST for me. Maybe it’s because I know all the numbers in my head? So I can count my progress and immediately know where I am in the sock? All I know is that it took me a month and a half to finish the cuff on my Retro Ribs socks, a pattern I will probably never pick up again, and they’re only a couple inches longer and have less stitches. I know the cuff is short on these, but I don’t think they’re THAT short. Whatever. I’m not making excuses, I’m just casting on again:
Last time I checked, the blogpoll race between Carbon and Hard Rock was still pretty tight, so I’m sticking with my plan to do one Carbon, one Hard Rock, blah blah blah. I can’t WAIT to see how the Hard Rock knits up. I’ve finished the ribbing and did one pattern repeat. Today I’m going to visit a friend in the hospital, so I think the progress will be good. I’m not going to kill myself on this sock – read finish it in three days by staying up until past 2AM three nights in a row. I’m freaking exhausted. I need to break the stay up late cycle. I have too much work to do and I’m tired of the holidays already. Yeah. Bah Humbug to you too.
I’m updating the Jaywalker KAL page with names, and also Natalia has started a pair toe-up with some notes, so I’ll put a link on the page as well.
I’m a novice sock knitter…when I say NOVICE, I mean, uh, really, really new to sock knitting. However, I THINK I may be able to handle this pattern…you have inspired me. And the STR is just drool-worthy.
OH MY GOD, Cara. “How fast do these go?” Hilarious. However, I have a similar story about Addis that I overheard, and I’ve been wanting to blog it, but have never felt I could explain it well enough to get the true feeling across. A non-knitter was in there wanting to get started, and she was asking advice what to buy. Of COURSE she wanted the novelty yarn scarf, and even though we all know what a disaster that is for a first project, the store clerk really couldn’t convince her to use a sensible straight wool for her first project. So the clerk, whom I really like and is usually very straightforward, was helping her pick out the stuff she needed to get started, including needles. And she said to her, “Well, it all depends what you want (oh, god, I’ve always hated that kind of advice, but I digress). These are really nice needles, but they’re very slippery and if you are worried about keeping your yarn on the needles, they might not be for you. You see, they’re really FAST — see? It says right on the label, ‘turbo.'”
I actually had to leave the room and go in the bathroom to pull myself together. All I could think of was that scene in “This Is Spinal Tap,”:
“See? The dial goes all the way to ELEVEN!”
I juste started mine, too. I have a picture up but you can’t really see much yet. I’ll let you know before friday if I have another update. For the moment the priority are boy’s socks in simple ribbing (sigh).
Ya know, everybody needs a fall-back sock pattern. I believe Cassie’s is feather and fan. Yours can certainly be Jaywalker.
I have two skeins each of three STR colorways, so I’m ready to make some (long) socks ~ please add me to the knitalong!
Hi. I have never knitted socks, but this pattern looks so beautiful! Do you think it is simple enough to a beginner? I want to join the knitalong!
Other question: isn’t the cuff too big? I wonder because 76 stitches, is that gauge, should be around 9.8 inches. But as everybody is making such beautiful socks, maybe it all works out in the end!
your jaywalker socks are lovely 🙂 I’m knitting some too, but they’re a top-secret Christmas present. what yarn is the black/red/pink yarn? that’s GORGEOUS 🙂
I love that sock pattern. I’d like to try it myself sometime, but I’m only on my third pair of socks ever right now, so I want to wait until I feel like I can do it justice. If mine look as good as yours, (ha!), I’d stick with that pattern, too.
Go with what you know, eh? Comfort knitting is the perfect thing to get us through the holidays and we know what’s comfortable for you;-)
I think that having good sock YARN effects speed as well! The softer and smoother the yarn, the faster it goes for me anyways.
Fantastic, and of course do the pattern that you know and love, again and again and again! 🙂 You’ll have a nice sock drawer full of jaywalkers.
Count me in the knitalong, Cara! And I say go with what works. the pattern does rock, and it does go quickly!
You are the fastest sock knitter I have ever seen! They all look great!
I would like to be included in the knitalong. I just placed my first order for STR yarn- can’t wait to get started!
Add me to the Jaywalker knit-a-long, please! This is a great pattern, why do anything else? I’ve already planned another pair in this. It’s fast, impressive, and easy. What more could a knitter want? 🙂
Beautiful sock! I love the way it turned out! Can I be included in the KAL?
Awesome! I’m totally excited to see how Hard Rock comes out because… well, I totally appreciate your attempt to talk me out of buying yarn, but I just wasn’t going to be happy with Meteorite for this pattern. I just got off the phone with Blue Moon. I ordered Azurite and Hard Rock (I’ll be using Hard Rock for the KAL), and the woman I was speaking to laughed and said “you’ve been on Cara’s website!”
Wow, I voted for the Carbons which look great but the Hard Rock looks like they will be even better. I love black with bright colors. I’ve got a few inches done and the pattern does fly. I started a blog so I could post pics of my Jaywalkers for this knitalong!
Cara, Awesome sock girl…I just love that pattern!
I can’t knitalong the Jaywalkers because my needles are already pledged to about 4 pairs of socks this month. I’m tempted though… yours are beautiful!
I knew the Jaywalker/Addi Turbo joke had to be coming soon. 😉 They look fab. And guess what? I get to see them in person in 1 WEEK!!!!