Ravellenics Day 7 Progress

I've fallen behind on my knitting due to a couple of days of migraines,  I'm hoping to be able to catch up so I'm knitting like a fiend.   My set up is working out well for me,  no major knots.    My next hurtle is going to be the turning of the heels and the gussets.  I'll burn that bridge when I come to it, but I have a couple of ideas in my head how to deal with it and plenty of extra  needles laying around.

Ravellenics Day 2 Progress

I'm finally past the awkward twisty stage of working on 2 circulars and should be able to start making real progress.   Each round was taking me nearly an hour to finish, but now with the weight of the cuffs holding the needles straight I should be able to cut that time considerably.   Cuffs are finished on 2 of the socks.

Let The Games Begin!

So the Ravellenics have started.  I started my 12 socks at a time and after one mishap,  I stared at the wall for awhile and dropped my needles resulting in a big tangled mess,  I got some decent progress. 

Photo evidence:

Ravellenic Games Here I Come

So with all the hoopla over the name Ravelympics,  the RC and Powers that Be on Ravelry had to change the name to Ravellenic Games.    A lot of people don't like it.   They wanted something more ummm,  don't know how to say it without it sounding insulting.   Ravathon was really popular,  personally it made first think of Jerry's kids.  Which of course the USOC seems to think we all are.  Then it made me think of Marathon,  which it isn't.   The other that was really popular was Ravelrumpus.   I stopped reading Where the Wild Things Are in High School.   Still one of my favorite books,  but I decided it was time to move on to more mature things,  like Pippi Longstockings.

I personally like the new name.   The Panhellenic Games in ancient Greece encompassed 3 major Games, one of which was the Olympic Games.  The irony just makes me smile.

OK enough of that talk.  Name is changed, we're moving forward.   As of this posting I'm entering 7 things.  6 pairs of socks,  and 1 partially finished shawl that has just been sitting there because it needs to be ripped out.

First off,  the one thing I'll probably finish.   My Feldmäuschen Girasole by Jared Flood using Wollmeise Lace in Feldmäuschen.  It's going into the Frogging event.   It will be restarted with the same yarn and hopefully a better idea of what the hell I'm doing.

The next is 6 pairs of sock knit at once.  Each pair will be entered separately even though they will be knit at the same time.   They are as follows:


Pulsations Socks by Amy King - Dizzy up the Girl Classic Rock Sock in Gotta Be
Candlepower Socks by Emma Antunes - Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in Port
Owlie Socks by Julie Elswick Suchomel - Wollmeise Twin in Spice Market
Toasty Twist Socks by Teresa Fox - Colorbug Yarns Stella Sock in A Beautiful Butterfly
Watercolor Paintbox Socks by Laura Cummings - Great Adirondack Silky Sock in Parakeet
Twisted Mockery Socks by Lisa Stichweh - The Sanguine Gryphon Bugga! in Sharpshooter Leafhopper

So there you have it.  I have 17 days to complete 6 pairs of socks and rip one shawl.   If I have enough time I have a WIP I would like to finish,  but I doubt that's going to happen.   If I set my mind to it I can finish a pair of socks in 3 days.   It's Ramen noodles and sandwiches for dinner for 17 days.  I hope the roomie is prepared.

Go Team Apathy! or not, whatever.

Talk started all over Ravelry about the Ravelympics.   I got excited.  I thought it might be fun to participate, I never had before.  The 12 at a time socks are laying there,   ripped twice and contemplating their fate.  I figured I could do them for the Ravelympics and knit my way to glory.  
So I started watching my groups.   Since I'm all about the image I was going to join groups teams with cool names.   Imagine my disappointment when the names chosen were either cutesy or just meh.   It took a total of a week for me to get completely apathetic about it.   Where were all the awesome names?  Even the name Team Motherfucking Pterodactyl was shot down.  
So I messaged someone and told them I give up,  I'm holding out for Team Apathy.  She messaged me back asking if there was a Team Apathy and I told her no.   She said if I started one she'd join.  So for kicks and giggles I created Team Apathy.   We even have a motto.

We Don't Care if We Finish or Not.

One other person joined us and we figured it would be the three of us.   To our surprise people started joining.  I don't know how many team members we have.   But they're a fun bunch. 

I think my first Ravelympics is going to be fun.  Even if I don't finish anything.   

Houston, we have a problem...

So in working, albeit slowly on my 6 pairs at once project I ran into a problem.   Although my gauge matched what the patterns called for some of the socks, 4 pairs to be exact, were coming out too big.  I wasn't far enough into them that it cause too much discomfort to rip them out and start again.  I'll be using the same yarns, but different patterns.   I have the patterns chosen and I'm casting them on again.  I will update once I have finished casting on and gotten a few rows worked.   

I'm also behind on my knitting for other people so once these are cast on they'll lay aside until July when the Ravelympics starts. 

I should really try to not be so lazy about my posting and do updates on other stuff I knit.   Really,  I knit all the time.   I just never post about it.  I should do that. 

Post edited.   I won't be doing the Ravelympics.

Further Proof of Insanity

For those of you playing at home, one more thing to prove that I'm a little left of center.   

I decided some time ago that if I could knit 2 socks at a time on 2 circulars, then I could knit more.  4, 6, 20, hell I could knit 500 if I could find a needle long enough.   OK, 500 might be a bit ambitious.  Let's keep it fairly simple and not have to find a 500" needle in size 2.  I decided on 6 pairs, 12 socks at one time.

I'm by no means a pioneer,  Meet Brian.  14 socks on one 120" circular needle.   I read the blog,  looked at his set up and tried to figure out what I could do to make it work for me. For about a year I have thought about it on and off.  Six months ago I had accumulated enough pattern ideas and sock yarn to seriously contemplate the idea.   So I started researching. 

2 major issues arose:
1. Keeping the yarn from tangling.
2. The weight of all these socks on my wrists.

The weight I realized would pretty much solve itself.  Because of the length of needle I would have to use most of the weight would be resting in my lap. (this certainly isn't something I can walk around and knit)  But the tangling issue needed further thought.   Even knitting 2 at a time you can have a bunch of pain in the ass twists. Brian's set up was nice,  but I wanted something that was a bit more portable and since jobless bum is jobless, something cheap.  I had been talking to the roomie about this idea and he surprised me one day by bringing home a small wine box from work.   A cardboard box with an insert dividing it into 12 small compartments.   BOOYAH!     I set to work. 

I cut the box down to 4" and the inserts to 3.5".   I covered the rough top edges with duct tape.   I collect interestingly shaped paper clips and have a bunch of spiral shaped ones that I clipped on to the side of the box to use as guides for the yarn.  I also couldn't just work from both ends of the yarn like I normally do, so I had to divide the skeins into 2 balls.  With a little help from a scale this was a fairly easy task. 

Divider with yarn and 47" addi turbo needles:

Next was finding patterns that would work.  I wanted all cuff down patterns because this is just what I prefer.  The patterns must all have a gauge of 8-9 sts per inch and most importantly, no shifting of stitches.   I'm not one to knit a pattern more than once so each sock was going to have to be different.  I searched the Ravelry database for hours on end and finally found the 6 patterns that I would knit.  

So here we have it.


Top Left:  Dizzy Up The Girl in Gotta Be  -  Pattern: Summer Lovin' Socks by Dawn Matkovic
Top Right: Madelintosh Sock in Port  -  Pattern: Gentian by Lisa Stichweh
Middle Left: Wollmeise Sockenwolle 80/20 in Spice Market  -  Pattern: Unraveling Rib Socks by Amy Tyszkiewicz
 Middle Right: Colorbug Yarns Stella Sock in Beautiful Butterfly  -  Pattern: Jekyll & Hyde by Sarah Wilson
Lower Left:  Great Adirondack Yarn Co. Silky Sock in Peacock  -  Pattern: Harvest Dew by Rose Hiver
Lower Right: The Sanguine Gryphon Bugga! in Sharpshooter Leafhopper  -  Pattern: Twisted Mockery by Lisa Stichweh

My goal is to cast on before Black Friday.  Wish me luck!