She had rings on her fingers and bells on her shoes

And I knew without asking she was into the blues
She wore Fire on the Mountain Socks That Rock
I knew right away she was not like other girls
Other girls.

I’ve been listening to The Dead all morning, and to be honest, I forgot how much I really enjoy them. I’ve been dancing around in my seat letting the arms fly. Of course, I’m wearing my socks. Tina – you are my HERO! I know I’ve gone off before about Socks That Rock and I may be sounding like a broken record, but this is my favorite yarn. Tina – YOU ROCK! (Warning – copious amounts of sock pictures to follow.)

That should do it, no? Jaywalker pattern by Grumperina. Socks That Rock in Fire on the Mountain. Size #1 Addis. PERFECTION.

It was a hard weekend. Meaning, I worked really, really hard. Three shoots – five kids. Now I’ll be strapped to my computer until the next shoot next Saturday. I’ll be so happy when it’s January. Don’t get me wrong – I love what I do and am extremely lucky that this endeavor seems to be working out, but it’s hard with a seasonal business. You get a couple of jobs sprinkled over a month or two and then BAM. Nonstop work. Like I said, I’m really happy about it – just tired.

What’s up next knitting wise? Well since Baby Xavier is here, I better get cranking on his Prairie Blanket. Sorry baby! I promise you’ll have it before it gets warm. Or cold. But not before it gets warm AGAIN. What is up with this weather?!

I need mittens – I want cozy warm handspun mittens from some of the stuff I bought at Rhinebeck. Then I read Nona’s tutorial on i-cord finger gloves and by golly – I know EXACTLY the koigu to use for gloves.

And I have to start a pair of angel socks for the Sockapaltwoza. Weird things happened there with my own angel, but I’m not going to blog about it – let’s just say the effort was underwhelming in the least. I know they’re angel socks, but c’mon. Again, I want to thank Alison for all she did with this knit-along. By almost all accounts it was delightful. And I will be signing up for the next one. Anyway – I’ve got to make angel socks and I think I’m going to do the Go With The Flow sock pattern from IK Summer ’05. I searched the blogs for info on these socks and it seems the consensus is they’re a bit small knitted as written. I will be using the specified yarn (coincidence) but I’d love to hear if anyone made these and had size issues. Right now the plan is to add one extra pattern repeat. Maybe I’ll cast on today.

And the Vesper Yarn is calling me like an obnoxious man with a bullhorn. I HEAR YOU! I may wind it up today. You know, just to touch it a lot. I’ve decided that I will be doing a few rows on the Sunshine Socks every day BEFORE I’m allowed to knit anything else. I want those fuckers finished. If I can make two pair of Jaywalker socks in about three weeks time, I can make a stupid st st sock in a week. Just because I’m so not liking the yarn is no excuse. Besides, I want a month’s worth of socks like Margene!

Question for you all (actually I have two today) – what shoes do you wear to show off your socks? I need some new shoes and I want them comfortable (I generally live in my Merrells) and I want them open a little bit (preferably slip ons) so that my fantastic socks show through. Any and all suggestions welcome.

And my second question? Well, I’m so sad to report that my Almost Everyday Cardigan is pilling horribly. I have one of those stone things and I tried to use it but I’m afraid it made the situation worse. Please help me. I want to LIVE in this sweater – and it’s crazy pilling. Georgie got in the car after the last time I wore it and asked me if I was shedding. I had been pulling off the pills while I was driving and there was a nice little pile of red yarn left for him. Not fun.

Thanks for all the encouragement to run on Friday – I DID! And I’m off to run again now. I leave you with this –

Well I ain’t often right but I’ve never been wrong
It seldom turns out the way it does in the song
Once in a while you get shown the light
In the strangest of places if you look at it right

Comments

  1. Dare I say Jaywalkers #2 rock even more than the first? I’ll drop you a line when I update the gallery (very Cara-centric at the moment, hehe). You will love the Prairie Blanket! (didn’t you already start it just a little while ago?)

  2. LOVE the socks, C. I’m so in the mood to dance around your living room.
    Oh yes, Xavier is a patient baby – I keep telling him he owes me five weeks of prep time, so he can owe us both five weeks (at least!). 🙂

  3. Those socks are stunning. Love them! I am going to try out Jaywalker in my new Vesper yarn. I don’t know about good shoes — I wear my socks with my Lands End clogs and just take them off to show my socks — confirming to my friends and family that I have truly lost it with all of this knitting 🙂

  4. Fiiirrre, Fiiirrre on the Mouunnntain…I’ll be singin’ all day! (It’s tough not to want to dance around the office!) The socks ROCK! I feel like I’m waiting for Christmas instead of the SOAR market on Thurs. where I hope to meet Toni and STR IN PERSON!

  5. I just want to say that because of your two AWESOME pairs of Jaywalker socks, I had to try it myself. I got me a nice skein of Socks That Rock (nice? Nice? Hell – they rock!) and got to it. And I am so loving how it’s turning out. This is the perfect pattern for STR yarn (IMHO). So thank you. Thanks to Toni. And thanks to Grumperina! Y’all rock!

  6. Hey Cara,
    You are quite the influence. I started Jaywalker socks yesterday with Trekking. So far I’m really liking the pattern. Go knit the Vesper, baby. You know you wanna!

  7. Those are definitely dancing socks…Maybe Grumperina should change the name, just for you 😉

  8. Those socks really do rock. Nicely done. If you are in the mood, you might want to check out this site [http://www.archive.org/audio/etreelisting-browse.php?cat=Grateful%20Dead]
    They have a fantastic collection of live shows, you can stream them directly into I-Tunes and keep that groove going while you work.
    I think I need some socks that rock, maybe with a touch of grey or something to bring out my scarlet begonias?

  9. My favorite shoes to show off socks? My dansko mary janes — a newer model, the Mariel. Plus, they’re Danskos, so they are super comfortable and durable.
    Love the socks! That’s it, I need to find some socks that rock at MD next year…

  10. Really Rockin’ over here! My STR are plugging along, and not nearly as cool as yours, but they have their own charm.
    Sucks that the Manos pilled so badly (my typo almost said pissed so badly…..). It is time consuming, but I use little scissors and trim any pilling on my sweaters.
    Off for my run, and it is taking a lot to get me out there today.

  11. Socks are great!
    Unfortunately, it seems as though pilling is in the nature of the Manos. I have a cardi that I **love** and same freakin’ thing. I just end up picking the little suckers off by hand. And I think you’re probably right about the sweater stone — may make it worse. 🙁

  12. personally, i like to wear black loafers and blue jeans to show off fun socks. you get to show off a bit of the top of the foot and some of the ankle of the sock. and since i’m a black, white or grey t-shirt with jeans kinda gal, it sparks up an otherwise plain outfit.
    i think i might have to start some jaywalker socks in the very near future.

  13. You’ll probably get lots of comments from people who know a lot more about fashionable shoes than I do, but here’s my suggestion:
    http://www.hottershoes.com/hottersite/pages/product/product.asp?prod=SUN
    I got mine at our local mall, but I don’t know how widely they’re sold. VERY comfortable and easy to get on and off because of the velcro which closes the strap.

  14. I agree the Dansko maryjanes are the best for showing off handknit socks — my vote is for the Marcelles (and my new ones are arriving from Zappos any MINUTE!)
    And the Go With the Flow socks fit my feet fine as written, but adding an extra repeat probably wouldn’t hurt.

  15. Gorgeous socks! I immediately thought of hand knit socks when I bought myself a pair of birkenstock mary jane’s recently. They aren’t slip on but the strap is velcro so super easy to get on and off and a little bit of sock showing at the front!

  16. The socks are just awesome! I may need to get some of that lovely yarn!

  17. i have dansko (most comfortable) and hannah andersson (most colorful) clogs.

  18. your socks will definitely rock in many more colors in Crocs! ok, so i’m not great with a rhyme, but http://www.crocs.com has a shoe or two for you. oops, i did it again.

  19. Hot! Those looks so great, C! Did you start these in October? just want to make sure I don’t miss a Socktoberfest update 😉