Clear Shoes to wear w/ socks Jilly by Soda

Searching for "CLEAR" shoes to show off Hand Knit Socks.
I've found some scarry stuff that I'll post at the regular Rubyintherough.blogspot. But here we'll explore the real contenders.
Obviously, they'll mostly be Man Made products.
Personally, I'm looking for comfortable shoes to wear to work in an office in the city. But, I do live in the country, so things can get wet and muddy any time of year. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. Not being much of a slave to fashion, there's not too much of a concern for style.
Affordable, comfortable, and practical are essential.
Eccentric, creative, and quirky are OK.
Inappropriate or Strange probably is not OK.

These are available on a site called Shoes on a Shoestring for $6.50 and an additional $8 shipping. Which would put them at about $15. If you order more than one pair, the shipping is still $8, so volume ordering would pay off. So, they're definitely affordable.
They're a low heel slip on with a circle motif in the open uppers. Pretty classy for a Jelly, I think.
Might work for "dressy" socks. Probably not so much for really chunky homespuns. I was never a fan of wearing Jellies without socks. They just aren't that comfortable to me. I might worry about the holey pattern wearing the socks out faster than usual.

Wooly Nylon?

The Sock Wars site has had some discussions on reinforcing for heels and toes. There's only on NS LYS within my range that ever has "real" reinforcing yarn. And it seemed expensive for a tiny amount.
Over at Sock Wars, Helle aka Gracie the Graceless Ghost has suggested Wooly Nylon. So, I've been scouring the area for Wooly. A few of the phone calls that I made yesterday got those giggles from the operator. I'm not sure that I was taken seriously a couple of times. But, that's OK. Talking to my coworkers about Sock Wars has strengthened my spirit to withstand such treatment.

When you are on the cutting edge, people look at you differently.

The Ram Club for Men's Socks

Help me eeeee! I don't remember exactly what lead up to it, but I think I signed up for a "Men's Sock Club"? The Sock Club for Men? hee hee heee. Well, I do have plenty of "Men" in my socalled life that I could knit for, right? Maybe it was the Ram thing. I'm heavily influenced by Aries.
It's at theuniquesheep.com. I vaguely remember finding it during March Madknits when I was looking for Jayhawk color yarn for Jaywalker Socks. Or maybe it was when I started searching for Sock Wars. Today, I had to go to PayPal to find out what the actual website was. When I got there, it is soo cool. But, they're not going to start shipping stuff until August. Whew! I've got to get through the Six_Sox and then there's going to be Sock Wars III in May. I'm soooo into this stuff. But, I have got to stop buying 4 or 5 new yarns for each One that I use up. All my stash hiding spots are overflowing. I started to use the Ravelry stash list a while back and really got to get back into it.
A few days ago, I came across a blog where a woman has listed how many Yards of Yarn she owns.
Is there anyone here that actually KNOWS how much yarn they have? Exactly, down to the Yard ?
Boggles the mind.

Sock Wars III - an epic adventure on knitter scale

From the Sock Wars files:
Sock Date 4/23/III
Who's getting ready for Sock Wars III?
Got yarn? TOFUtsies is optional, but has it's rewards if you Start your first Weapon with TOFUtsies. You only need to provide the yarn for ONE pair of socks Soldier! Unless you've Volunteered for the Valkyries. (Those intrepid, selfless knitting addicts that walk unseen among mere mortals).
Got Sticks? DPNs, 2 Circs, long Circs. Several sizes.
Waiting impatiently for release of Proposed Gauge from the Supreme Commander.
Planning the schedule for weeks of deployment.
Practicing: Knitting a pair in TOFUtsies Pedal Pushers, but not that pattern.
Shipping out preparations: Getting the materials ready with Postage for sending out in most expedient mode of delivery.
Stealth: Nom de Guare

Preparing for Sock Wars III

Warriors Prepare for Battle! Man your TOFUtsies ! Look sharp there Addi.
During March Madness, I was searching high and low for Jayhawk yarn for Jaywalkers socks. Two Blue balls of ToFutsies ended up coming home with me on the theory that I could maybe dye part of it Crimson. But, then I got off on the Regia tangent. So the ToFutsies survives to go to Sock Wars III, maybe?
I mysteriously ended up with a Bag of 4 Tofutsies Collectors Edition (I think it's from Stitches?) recently. As I was cleaning up after my March Madness fall off the Buying Ban, it just seemed to appear out of the back of my car. Anyway, Is there any chance the red / pink in there is the 733 colorway? I can't remember now. In my memory, it looks a lot like the 733 Get your Feet Wet color on the SWTC website (on my monitor). Boy, that's a lot of ifs and buts.
Anyway, I've been swatching with circs (I Always do 2 at a time) in various sizes to see what gauge I get. Tofutsies is a very fine yarn! So far, I've used #2 and #1, getting to the #0 tonight. I really love how it feels.
As for allergies, I was worried about it when I first read about the "ingredients". By all accounts, I should be allergic to half the stuff in there. But, I'm willing to risk it. I'm doing the "knit a necklace" test starting tonight.
I'll knit a skinny mobius or something and wear it all weekend to see what happens. Maybe a headband? I would do an Ear warmer band if it was colder. It has occurred to me that a "good" use for swatch squares might be to tuck into the side of a bra? (at this point DD would be sighing "T M I Mom!" Too Much Information") That would really test the allergy tolerance! Anyway, the Tofutsies has not caused my hands to itch at all. A couple of other kinds of yarns have given me itchy hands, but after I washed the FO, it was great.
I used to be totally convinced that I was "allergic" to wool. Now, I spin and knit and everything. Wool, alpaca, angora bunny, you name it. I still can't wear the skirt that Auntie brought me from Scotland, or the outrageously expensive dress pants DH gifted me. Not even with heavy pantyhose. I've washed, and dry cleaned both, and I hasn't helped those particular articles. It really must be something that they use to treat the wool, or maybe the fabric after it's made. Once, I even got some hand dyed alpaca from a RenFest that was lovely, till I started knitting it. Something in it, maybe the dye?, caused me to cough, choke up, sneeze, tear up, the whole nine yards. ;-) But, another color that I bought from the same booth was just fine!
Anyway, Off To The Races: May the best knitter WIN!

Jayhawk Jaywalkers are Finished

The finished Jayhawk Jaywalkers Socks ! Yeah

They fit really well. As they should since I frogged them back at least 3 times to get the fit right.
And the frogging went really well with the Basketball games. Knitting, frogging, screaming, knitting, screaming! Wow, those last couple of games were really tense.

And I love how the colors came out. I'm usually fanatical about the stripes matching on the socks, but I just could not stand to loose any of the yarn. Each sock used exactly One Ball of Regia. See earlier posts on how I over dyed it to get the Crimson and Blue just right. I'll be looking for Jayhawk colors far ahead of time this year. I will find the perfect yarn next time!
Rock Chalk, Jayhawk, Go KU! Another Championship!

Photos finally

The Jayhawk Jaywalk Socks
These were started with 10 stitches (5 on each side of the needle). The toes increase 1 on each side of the instep and 1 on each side of the sole for 2 of every 3 rows until there are 25 on each sole and instep (50 total). Then I started the Jaywalker pattern.
All was going great until I tried them on after turning the heel. I had knitted straight too far. So, when I tried them on, the foot was obviously too long. And the Gussets were getting too big by that time I had increased by 17 stitches on each side. They were frogged back to the red stripe. Heels turned, again. On the right foot, the blue now pretty much just starts in the heel, but the first time the blue was a whole stripe before the heel turned.
Anyway, they really fit. But, where the pattern stitch starts, there are some really lumpy parts. I hope they work out when they're finished and blocked.
Can't wait until the game starts!

March Madness Socks

So, if you've been following along, you probably know that I've really gone over the bend to get the perfect pair of Jay Hawk Socks for March Madknits or Madness.
So, to catch you up and try to refind my sanity:
I searched high and low for the perfect yarn.
There wasn't any, but I was willing to try Regia in a colorway that turns out to be Inca.
The toe / swatch turned out to be far too big in the gauge, and not at all the colors I was expecting.
So, in the throes of March Madness, I frogged them out while watching Thursday Night's Basketball round one.
Friday's spare time was spent finding dying hints and getting the exotic materials at the grocery store.
Then, all of Friday Night Madness was spent tying the two balls of Regia into garlands of yarn puffs to separate out the Jayhawk worthy color sections from the sections that needed to be dyed more Red and the sections that needed to be more Blue. What little time we slept Friday night, the yarn was soaking in vinegar.
Saturday was spent Dying some puffs Red and some Blue. And in true March Madness Miracle fashion, by Sunday Morning, I had the perfect Jay Hawk worthy yarn for my Jay Hawk Jay Walkers.
So, Sunday after Easter services and lunch was spent watching Basket Ball and restarting the frogged and dyed socks.
Updates later, the photos of the process were too scary to publish.

March Madness Socks

Today, after great thought and planning, I started a new pair of socks.
Big surprise, right?
These will be toe-up Jaywalker socks a'la Natalia Knits. Unless of course, I change it until it cannot even be recognized.
So, I was searching for Crimson And Blue for the perfect Jayhawk Jaywalkers.
I settled on a Regia. What, of all these words on this ball band, is the name of the Color?
There has to be a name on here. Doesn't it?
4-Fach Haltbar, 6-fadig, Marokko Color.
Hmmmm, there seems to be a web address..... Off we go to find our name.

What happened to Socktopia?

Does anyone know what happened to Socktopia?
I know the posts that I'm finding on the Blog/KAL or whatever it was long ago, but can't hurt to try.
I'm getting a "this might be for sale" message when I go there.
I totally missed the Harry Potter series, and am searching high and low for "dragon scale" like knitting patterns. The photos I'm seeing online are absolutely awesome!
How did I miss this? Well, I thing it was during my LACE phase last year.
There is just sooooo much cool stuff out there, how is one to keep up with it all?
Let me know if you know where I can catch up to the patterns or Socktopia.
TIA everybody...........
Ruby

Cat Bordhi Socks

Anyway, Cat Bordhi is awesome. Do you think she teaches the way she writes? I had this book for a long time before I actually dove into it.

But, back to Cat ...
There are many, many cautionary statements at the beginning about how helpful it will be to you if you knit the little sample socks BeFore you go on to the real socks. And, not wanting to have an orphan sock, and very small; I decided to do two at once. And, of course, I'm thinking: It's a little tiny sock - how much yarn would I need? So, I picked out a leftover camo color that I had made a nephew a hat from earlier. The first sock in the samples is a top down. Therefore: I have TWO Toe-LESS Camo Kid Knee Socks. They're very cute, and I'm sure they'll fit when he's about 3. And, yes, I'm sure that I'll be able to find some coordinating yarn to finish off the toes sometime in the next 2 years. But, jeeze, this is exactly why I like to do top-down sweaters and toe-up socks!
I know it's an OCD thing: I want to knit 'till all the yarn is gone. And I want the project to be finished when all the yarn is gone. It's the knitter's version of 10 hot dogs vs 8 buns.

Ok, so I knit in a little gusset at the top

In the interest of keeping the footies on the feet, I picked up stitches along the opening edge and then knit in a 5 stitch wide gusset where the shoe laces would be on tennies. I think it looks OK, and it's very commfy. And, they stayed on.

Well, the footie socks are a flop, or at least floppy

Well, I wore the (Essential) Crayon Footies all day, and was going to wear them to keep the feet warm to sleep (DH not being home to warm my tooties on). But, due to their footie nature, they simply would not stay on while reclining with blankets. The heels and back ankles are nicely ribbed and they stay up whilst sitting at the computer, and knitting in the recliner. They even stayed on during some (admittedly not very taxing) house work. But, whether it was due to them being as tired out as I was or a mistake in their design, they just won't stay on. I think the slit down the front instep is just too dramatic for them to hold their structure. So, the next step is washing (cross ed fingers for SuperWash) and blocking to see if that'll help.
Or, I might 'fill in some of the toeish part of the slit top to give them more structure.
Later ya'll

Finished the Crayon Footies

Photo goes here:
I finished the Crayon Footies. I'm going to have to research the yarn more though. I got it from Knitpicks and it's a self-patterning sock yarn. I thought the colorway was called Crayon, but now I'm seeing that is actually a Cotton Yarn that they stock now. And, to top it all off, it was a Clearance sale yarn when I got it. Therefore: it was a Great Bargain and, since it's from Knit Picks, it's great stuff. But, it's not on the website anymore. And the DH's cleaning up has probably gotten rid of all traces of the order, the shipping, and the ball bands. I used the Two at Once Toe-Up Sock Pattern from KnitPicks as a starting point. So, it's probably "Essential" yarn. The colors of mine are primary red, yellow and blue with white patterning.

Content:
75% Superwash Merino Wool, 25% Nylon
Weight:
Fingering Weight
Gauge:
7 - 8 sts = 1" on #1 - 3 needles
Amount:
231 yards/50 gram ball
Care:
Machine Washable/Tumble Dry Low


One more reason to start one of those project scrapbooks I've read about.
Someday.......
Anyway, I'm test driving the Footies today. They don't look at all attractive before they're put on. But they're comfie and just warm enough wearing them as slippers today around the house.
Photos soon.....

Crayon Footies

Ok, I've started some footie like socks. I think this will work. I started at the toe, and I'm about to the point where I can cast off for the open foot look that I'm going for.
It's some Crayons yarn that I got from Knit Picks last fall. It's not using up much yarn.

Free Patterns at Knitting Daily / Interweave Press

Very good free pattern from Interweave Press for Caspian socks.

They're a toe-up sock on size 2 double points. I'm going to have to try them on circulars. Can't leave anything well enough alone, you know. And the pattern calls for Dale of Norway Tiur yarn. Since I know I don't have any, I'll be hunting down the specifications for that to see what I do have in my stash that needs using. It looks like a fairly difficult technique, designated as Intermediate in difficulty by the Interweave Press writers. We'll seee.........

Anyway, if you sign up for the Interweave Press Knit Daily newsletter, you get this free pattern and one for a "comfort shawl" that looks really good too.

Sidetracked by Knitting Pattern-a-Day 2007

Yes, I confess, I bought it for myself, and right before Christmas too.

And then I had to buy another one for my daughter.

And I didn't wait until the New Year to start looking at them.

And I'm not doing them in order, at all. The other daughter has been "helping" me figure out what to do next, and has confused them all hopelessly. There's some really gret stuff in there, but it's distracting me from the socks. Are Mits close? Surely I get practice points for "mits on 2 circs", right?

I did finish a pair of my version of the "Dragon Scale Mits" or wristwarmers. I did them in Incredible tape, shades of blue, and they really did look like dragon scales. Once again: No photos were taken before I gave them away.

Why do I continue to forget the pictures?

SNB Page a Day Calendar

Ok, the SnB calendar found one of my favorites, again.
The Socknitters site is great. And they're sooooo helpful.
Reams of pages of great information.
Don't miss their "Museum of Odd Socks", it gave me great encouragement.
and convinced me that I really do need to be a two socks at one time knitter.

It really got me off on the right foot when I started, back at the beginning of time, what? 6 months ago, or so?

Running Sock Total

Ok, so far the running total of socks is:
1 pair multi-color self striping, toe up, lacy socks. D2 wears them to school even though they are way too huge for her. She has cabbaged onto them in a big way. They look very interesting with her bohemian denim, calico, and lace skirt and her black Mary Jane shoes. Yeah, and you thought your mother dressed you funny.

1 pair black, alpaca and silk, top down socks. Sister in Law #5 was admiring them when they were partway done. They might make very comfortable Labor & Delivery socks, but I'm not sure how well they would wash out. Eeeeewwwww, gross! I'm still thinking, got a couple of weeks before the due date. Really, how can you refuse a pregnant woman?

1 pair barely started socks that got sent off to Sock Goddess in Sock Wars 2006. I died so early, it was pitiful.

Started, unfinished:
1 baby soft pastel & white DK sock toe
1 variegated baby pastel sock that I started in 1983. Red Heart yarn. I did get the baby hat finished for Baby #1 to wear home from the hospital. So there.

Started, and then ripped back completely
1 pair burgundy silk & wool

Enough confession. If I find more, I'll add them later. No guilt! None. really. I think.

A second try at Sock Wars Socks:
I know I was soundly defeated early on in Sock Wars, but,
I'm part of the Never Say Die group
So
I started another pair of Sock Wars Socks using the same pattern, but these are for myself. I think. The top cast on edge seems to be a little tight for my chubby calves.
But, they're in KnitPicks beautiful Elegance. Alpaca and silk. It feels so good to knit this. I'm doing bost socks at once, top down on two circular bamboo needles. I've gone back and forth between one and two needles a couple of times so far.
Last night I started the heel flap, so we'll see how it goes.
(Post Photo Here)