Shark Week 2017 Socks!

Another Shark Week pair of socks bites the dust (pun intended). The intarsia (gray fins) sections took some work, I had to rip back once to make sure I had a tension that allowed me to actually WEAR the socks...but now they fit well and I'll be able to add them to my Shark Week sock wardrobe!

Fall Soccer Must Be Starting!

If you see me with grass in the background and knitting on my lap...it's a good guess that I'm watching Little Man at soccer. It's his first game and I'm working on my Shark Week 2017 socks. I know they'll be great now that I've gotten past the intarsia sections...so I'm at a section that is easy to knit while watching his game. Look at me multitasking!!!

Shark Week 2017!

Another year of Shark Week, another shark-themed project to tackle (pun intended). Jimmy Beans Wool had a limited release of the Shark Bait colorway and stitchmarkers and the pattern I'm planning to tackle is by Lara Smoot. She designed the Jaws socks I knit last year as well as the Fright Night socks I made.

Little Man is ready for Shark Week too!!

New Shark Stitchmarkers!

Yes, I already have shark stitch markers. But, since shark-themed crafty items bring me joy,they're pretty inexpensive AND they take up no additional room because they all fit in my stitch marker storage...AND these were REALLY ingenious...I ordered them!

Silly Sheep Designs doesn't usually carry this set, they were created ahead of Shark Week. The were really fun to unwrap...everything was in a pretty cellophane package with a floral decoration. There were stickers and a bag of tea AND a shark water toy!

All the stitch markers were shipped on a storage ring to keep them together (love that) and I love the jaws marker...it moves! The jaws open and shut! It'll take some self control to keep from playing with it when I have it hanging from my knitting!

Shark Bite Socks!

 I had a couple of do-overs with these socks, but I'm so happy with how these came out it was worth it! I had to restart the intarsia section because the shark was puckered...then the foot was off so I had to rip back and start it over. But you know what? It's worth it when you're happy with the project in the end. And these were so much easier than the Shark Week socks I made! I used the yarns called for by the pattern, and I love the colors!

Tennis and Pool Fun

How has the summer flown by so fast? I had so many plans for everything I wanted to do with Little Man, and it feels like I only did half of it! We were able to get out today and play some tennis together. And then we headed to the pool to cool off. I took lunch with us and I knit a little too.

I took a photo of my knitting and you can see the shark bag and DPN holder that matches it!

I love this set! It makes working on my Shark Bite socks so fun...and really convenient for carrying around!

I Told You I Needed More!

The sewing machine was already out...so it was nothing to quickly sew up this shark DPN holder!! And it's just in time to hold stitches on the needles of my Shark Bite sock!

Pictured below is the 2nd sock. I knit the entire intarsia (picture part)of the first sock, then planned to knit the entire intarsia part for the 2nd. But I changed how I carried the yarn on the 2nd sock and didn't have the puckering that I had on the first...and decided I needed to take the 1st sock apart and knit it again...because it would have bothered me too much to have a rippled looking shark on my sock...can you see the difference? I didn't carry the yarn on the better sock. It made the knitting a little more of a pain...but the shark looks SO much better!

No bueno...hated how this one looked! Glad I took the time to redo it and make it better!

Shark Cuddles

I am here to tell you...when I saw this huge stuffed shark I had to have it. It was at IKEA and it was soft and cuddly...pretty inexpensive too. So I picked it up. Bought it. We got it home and Little Man quickly wanted to make friends with it. I had to tell him it was mine. I share, but keep my ownership rights...he's the one who loves to cuddle it during Shark Week though!

Shark Bite for Shark Week!

While we were traveling North to visit my family we stayed overnight in West Virginia. We ate dinner and then came back to the hotel so we'd have some time for Little Man to swim in the indoor pool a little. Then, in a moment of pure bliss, I grabbed a glass of wine from the cocktail lounge and sipped it in the room while I watched Jaws on the iPad and cast-on my Shark Bite socks. I was hoping to get one sock done before Shark Week and then knit the other one during Shark Week...we'll see how that goes. I haven't made a ton of socks...but this pair will be different in a couple of ways. First, they have intarsia colorwork....so there will be a "picture" knit in them by changing yarn colors. Second, these you start by knitting them flat,then after getting through the cuff and the 67 rows of intarsia you stat knitting them in the round for the heel, foot and cuff. Then you seam up the leg portion. I'm so excited for another pair of shark-themed socks...and these seem like they will be SO much easier than my LAST pair. Which is a good thing!!

It's Not Safe To Get Back in the Water!!

Because the Shark Week socks are finally finished!! These were such a bitch to knit. Thank God for Ravelry because some of the instructions I don't think I would have figured out myself. Every section is hard...and then, just when you think maybe you "get" the designer and how she writes things up she totally threw you for a loop. There weren't stitch counts for the majority of the knitting and you have to flip back and forth between multiple pages of the 50+ page booklet that is the directions...oh, and then I ran out of yarn...BOO. BUT, where there's a will there's a way, and I finished these bad boys and will wear them for Shark Week for years to come! They'll be a badge of honor...the hardest project I have EVER knit!

We won't talk about the issues with the socks...we'll just ignore them and focus on the fact that they look like sharks and socks!

Shark Week 2015

Ugh, Shark Week was early this year and though I tried to finally finish my Shark Week socks I ran into a snag and didn't quite make it, though I was able to get really close before the week ended.

Little Man has really gotten into watching the specials with me the last 2 years, and it's fun to not watch by myself.  He really loved cozying up to the shark I found at IKEA that I HAD to have!

I realized 2 weeks before Shark Week, while I was making amazing progress...that I DID NOT HAVE ENOUGH YARN!!!!! ARGH! The yarn was custom-dyed for the kits, the designer (and keeper of the kits) had just tragically passed away, and there was no solution in sight.  Until I went onto Ravelry and posted a pitiful call for help. A beautiful knitting soul said she had also ran out of yarn previously and had contacted the designer and was sent a whole skein...so she would have yarn to send but wasn't finished yet to send it. A week later I received a sizable amount of yarn and was off again. I had put the socks down for months because of being frustrated, but now, with a deadline in sight I pushed forward.  I learned how to do a provisional cast-on, and knit-on!

I even dared to break them out during a knitting get-together!

Stay tuned to see if they turned out the way they were supposed to!

Shark Week Sock Bag

Did you make resolutions for this year? Anything crafty? I love hearing or reading about resolutions from other crafty people.  One year I decided I would tackle steeking...another year I had a project to finish.  This year I have several.  One of them is to learn how to sew project bags for knitting.  With all the great patterns out there, I think it would be a fun thing to learn.  And after a successful trip to Jo-Ann Fabrics with my Mom I really want to sew a Christmas-themed project bag...more on that later...can't wait to show you the fabric!

Until I learn how to sew them myself, I thought I'd share a great one someone else whipped up that I came across on Etsy.  Sewn by Bird Leg Bags it's the perfect bag to hold my Shark Week Socks while they are being worked on.

The workmanship is great...she considered every detail...just look at the zipper pull!!

Shark Week!

 I'm a fiend for Shark Week! Every year for a week the Discovery Channel has all new shark-themed programming focused entirely on sharks.  My family and I love learning about sharks...and you may remember I love a theme...so a few years ago when I saw this pattern for socks called Shark Week...I knew I would have to knit them.  But unfortunately the pattern wasn't available for purchase.  As part of a club the designer posted that the pattern would be available in 2013...and then when it did become available (only as a kit) it was only if you could make it to a Northern fiber festival.  And then... the week before Shark Week...I received an email from the designer's mailing list.  At high noon, she would open up a flash sale of a limited number of kits that were available for purchase and would be mailed in time to start knitting for Shark Week.  It was a dream come true!!!  I set the alarm on my phone and was ready exactly at noon to snatch up a kit.  After some technical glitches I scored my very own Shark Week sock kit. (All the kits sold out in less than an hour) YES!!!

My huge pattern booklet, custom yarn dyed just for this kit, and misc other required items arrived in a package with everything bundled in a net-like bag.  

While at the beach...while watching Shark Week and Jaws I started them..over and over again.  This pattern is unlike any I've ever encountered.  I had to restart 4 times and get help from kind knitters on Ravelry in order to make it past this section...

to get to this section...

for every section I hold my breath hoping I get it right and don't run into any more issues.

but every night I've tried to knit a little further.

And while the fit isn't perfect

Sock #1 definitely is looking like a sock! Wish me luck!