Hey there stranger!

It's been a while, no? We have made it out of Houston (just ahead of a Flood of Biblical Proportions) and are comfortably ensconced in Vermont at the moment. I've taken advantage of the Grandmothers to get some knitting done. But in order to have at least a few posts over the next few days, I will not talk about all of it here.

First up: ta da! The first of the TdF socks is done in it's first incarnation (the cuff is going to be adjusted when I get to London and the rest of my yarn for this project).

Pattern: my own, to be available in late June.
Yarn: Cascade Fixation (98% cotton/2% elastic), 100 yds/50 gr. For a women's size 10 I used about a ball and a half.
Needles: US 1/2.25 mm
Gauge: 7.5 stitches/12 rows per inch.

These anklets are knit from the toe up, with an easy lace pattern reminiscent of the switchbacks on Alpe d'Huez, one of the most famous and storied climbs in the Tour de France. Easy, peasy and quite comfy for the hot days of summer, whether or not you're riding your bike!

No fiber today

It's another Friday, one week closer to our departure (exactly three weeks from today - someone please shoot me now). I know I'm getting stressed out because I'm tired all the time (sleeping only 6 hrs a night because of the fucking inventory we are doing of Everything.In.Our.House might have something to do with that too), and not really hungry ever - I'm subsisting on large amounts of The Nectar of the Gods/The Evil Bean Water* and whatever seems palatable at the moment, which is not much. I've decided that I am going to put a moratorium on knitting projects for the moment - my plan now is to take with me on the plane the projects that have been lingering for a while (aka the Sock Yarn blanket and a certain shawl that has been sitting on the shelf being ignored for the last five months or so) and commit to finishing those up. I'll send the yarn by shipping container with massive amounts of lavender, and hope that it all makes it there safely.

The wheel, however, will be going air freight. I have (some of) my priorities straight after all.

Another sign that I'm getting stressed out is that my brain is popping out design concepts galore. As of right now, in addition to the Tour de France projects I'm still hacking away on, I've got ideas for four sweaters, another pair of socks, and some mitts. The mitts have been knit in one incarnation, and I'm planning on a proposal to work up for a spin/knit combo pattern for an online magazine. The socks are pretty straightforward, but need to be written up and (gasp!) actually knitted. I've got yarn for three of the sweaters, but have no idea when I'll actually get around to them. I think it's my brain's way of aiding me in my denial of what I really need to be doing, i.e. writing a paper and getting my crap organized.

The good news is that I have three of the four TdF patterns charted and written, and one test knitter has her materials (and 82 row chart!) in hand. I'm working on the first of the two that I'm test knitting, and am rapidly proceeding up the foot. I've got two cuff treatments in mind, and I don't know if I'm going to just pick one or do both. And if I do both, I don't know which order to do them in. So it's likely that the top of this sock will have lots of ripping involved.

Can anyone identify the jersey (color has been adjusted because that's too easy)? And the specific inspiration for the instep pattern? I'll give you a prize if you can...

* My feelings and Ironman's feelings about coffee respectively.

TdF designing

I've been hard at work on mental designing* over the past year or so. Lots of socks. Some mitts. A lovely square neck pullover. But the actual putting down on paper and in yarn of my mental ideas has been somewhat lacking, since there are only so many hours in the day, and so many patterns out there already (damn Ravelry!). But there's an idea that's been stuck in my head for over a year now that I think is ready to come to frutition, and I'm going to share that process (partly because it helps me figure out what I'm doing and gives me some pressure to make progress, and partly because I have no pictures to show you today).

Four years ago in May, I was somewhat frazzled, extremely underwhelmed with parenthood, and stuck at home on maternity leave. We don't typically watch a lot of TV, but we broke down and got cable, in part so I could watch the Giro d'Italia at home. And then the Tour de France. And then the Vuelta in September, with ample exposure to Phil and Paul during the classics, the Tour of Georgia, etc. It was a cycling-filled few months, and repeated for the next few years until OLN dropped off of basic cable and then switched it's name. That was about the same time that Lance retired and they stopped really televising any cycling in the States.

The current design project is four pairs of cycling socks in honor of the Tour de France. One for each of the main jerseys (Maillot Jaune, King of the Mountains, the Points Jersey) and one for the Lanterne Rouge, who doesn't get a jersey, but probably should, just for sheer persistance. I've been charting out patterns and playing with swatches for a couple of weeks now, and yesterday I fell down and ordered a cubic buttload of Cascade Fixation to do the actual knitting of said socks. I'm hoping to get the patterns done and available by the Prologue, which gives me not very much time**. Five months may seem like a gracious plenty, but this is four pairs of socks to chart, test knit, and write up. Yikes! Not to mention another pattern I want to knit/write up for submission in June, and a pattern already written that I absolutely need to get up on Ravelry this weekend.

Anyone out there want to do some test knitting? Bonus points if your feet are small (6-7) or medium (8-9) as opposed to my large (size 10) clodhoppers. I'll provide pattern and yarn, you knit them and let me know where my arithmatic skills deserted me. Leave me a comment or shoot an email to porpoiseknitsATgmailDOTcom if you're interested. These will be ankle socks, so factor that in to your knitting time estimates, but the first pattern won't be ready for at least a month.

Now everyone be quiet while I go fight with Excel. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.

* For instance, last night I paused my episode of Alias so I could make a sketch of the cabled turtleneck sweater Sydney was wearing, with the absolute goal of writting up a pattern for it. It was gorgeous.
** Appropriately enough for Lance's return, Le Tour starts on July 4th***.
*** And, given that we're going to be in the UK, we seriously might get to go see some of it. Squee!