Tuesday, July 31, 2007

I love fixation so much I could marry it

Hi all,



It's fun reading about other vegan knitters! And it's fabulous to know there are other "vegan knitting freaks" out there other than me!



So here's the lowdown on my life....

I've been vegan for about 15 years (vegetarian for 14 years before going vegan). I'm married to my DH for 20 years (yeow!), who is also vegan. We have chosen non-human children as our family and at the moment live with 2 rescued birds, 1 cat and a rescued foster dog.



I've been knitting for about 2 years and have decided that small projects are good because it gives me the illusion that I'm accomplishing a ton. I've knit one pair of socks so far....with fixation, which is wonderful to knit with. The socks are for my DH....they came out a tad small but he is excited about his new socks, which probably restrict his circulation, but he never complains. What a guy.

I live in California, rarely wear shoes and plan to knit myself a pair of socks next....barefoot toes get cold every once in a while.

No, ME!

I'd do anything for some Fixation. (wink wink) Love that stuff.

I live in the mountains of Eastern TN, mispronounced daily in the weather channel. (Appal-AH-chian) I have 2 teenage daughters that I laughingly and lovingly homeschool. I'm vegan, hubby and youngest DD are vegetarian, and my 16 yr old DD is happily carnivorous. Go figure. I also work as a petsitter.

Been knitting for most of this year- the moment I learned to knit (Mostly against my will) I felt a fire light up inside myself that hasn't gone out yet. I've always been artsy, but started suffering from severe hand pain a few years ago and had to give up my first love, quilting, and did nothing artistic til I learned to knit. I hadn't realized how needy that part of myself had become. Knitting rocks my world. I've been buying sock yarn for months, but would you believe I haven't knit one yet? I've knit plenty of beer cozies that would pass for socks if you were drunk enough, but this pair of socks that I'm casting on this coming Friday will be my first pair. Yippee Ki Yay.
I blog at http://shutupimcounting.blogspot.com
and I'm co-hosting the Vegan Pal 2 swap at http://veganpal2.blogspot.com/
Cass

Me! Me! Me!

So, I'll write a little something about my favourite topic: ME!

I'm 21 (by the end of the year 22), and live in Finland. I have lived here all my life, but I'm not planning on living here 'till I die. I'm a nursing student. I'm vegan (no kidding??) and loooove knitting (no kidding??). My other passions include music, movies, friends and karaoke

I didn't always love knitting. In Finland they teach us to knit in school in 5th grade (I think.. too long ago to remember) I used to HATE knitting back then, but I generally dislike everything that I have to do. I knit my frist socks in the 7ht or 6ht grade ('cos I had to) And they took me the whole year. I'm not sure if I ever even finished them.


In February 2005 I thought it was about time to pick up knitting again, and to my suprise I loved it. The first project I did then was socks made with some very chunky cotton yarn, and I finished then in a few days (see pic below) The feeling of pride was almost overwhelming. After that there haven't been too many days when I have not been knitting.



I don't really have a favourite yarn, but I have been known to like many cotton-acrylic blend yarns. I have been fondling some luchious bamboo at the yarn store, but I couldn't afford bying it as much as I would have needed. Maybe I'll buy enough of it to make socks. Socks are my favourite things to knit. I think socks are the comfort food of knitting.

Feel free to ask more, and try not to mind the possibile spelling mistakes

*torrance

(By the way, I picked up that name from a dumb movie! I loooove dumb movies)



(P.S. I think I should win 'cos I don't think you can get that yarn from Finland :))

Howdy Y'all

I'm Teresa AKA Affectioknitter and my blog is http://affectioknit.blogspot.com/ I'm a Southern Girl living and knitting in the upper midwest...

I've been knitting since I was 8 (1969 - I never lie about my age) - so that was a long long time ago - when my sister and I were rummaging through one of our Great Grandmother's trunks and found a ball of thin blue yarn (really thin for 8 year old fingers) - probably a sock or fingering yarn and a pair of bakelite knitting needles (size 5 - which I still have)

and a really old book called "We Tend to Our Knitting" - so I went running to my Mom and asked her to teach me to knit - she claimed not to know how to knit - (but I found out later that a missionary visiting my grandmother had actually taught her to knit when she was a little girl too!) - but she and my Nanny (paternal grandmother - in whose house the trunk was found - who crochets but doesn't knit) - sat at the table and looked at the pictures in the booklet and helped me hold the needles correctly - and voila an avid knitter (addict) was born...

As I mentionned earlier in this ramble - the blue yarn was very thin - so when we got home - my Mom pulled out a pink shawl that she had started knitting when I was a baby (remember I was eight - so this yarn was 8 years old and very crinkly - still it was better than the blue...) and frogged it for me to have some yarn that was easier to work with - I think I made a potholder with the pink yarn. My first wearable project was a straight garter-stitch boat-neck red and white striped sweater that I wore for years - the front back and sleeves were all just rectangles of garter stitch sewn together to make a sweater.

So there you have my knitting (love) story - I love to knit...

Little Contest!




Want some yarn? Some sock yarn? Ok, here's what you have to do to be entered:


To be entered into the contest you have to make a post to the blog introducing yourself, something about how long you've been knitting, favorite yarns, what you like to knit, how long you've been knitting socks... So make a new post, rather than comment on this one, to be entered.


You must be a member of the Vegan Sock KAL to enter the contest. Membership to the KAL is of course still open, so you can still join in if you already haven't!
What do you win? 2 brand spanking new balls of Cascade Fixation in the 9780 Purples colorway. In case you're new to this yarn, it's a cotton/elastic blend yarn that's very stretchy and works great in socks!
The deadline for entering the contest is August 3rd so enter soon! Winners will be chosen at random from all entries received. Good luck!

Monday, July 30, 2007

Tennis Socks

The tennis socks are progressing - I'm worried that they'll be too big 'though. I checked my gauge and it is right - it may just be that I haven't added the ribbing yet - we'll see...

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Opinions?

Hello all!

Thanks everyone who has joined the knitalong so far! And please, if you're a member, post about it on your personal blogs and try to spread the word.

Ok, so does everyone want to just post about their own socks that they're working on or does anyone want to all work on the same pattern? I'm thinking both could work, you know keep posting about whatever socks you choose but also have a pattern that we could all (or whoever want to) work on. Please post your opinions here, and if you have a pattern you'd like to nominate we work on, feel free! I'm gonna nominate the Monkey Socks because I've seen so many pretty ones done in Panda Cotton.

Thanks!

Friday, July 27, 2007

Tennis Socks/Anklets

Hi Everyone - I'll be knitting a pair of Tennis Socks from an old Coats & Clark Book No. 307 called Accessories from Head to Toe.

They're anklets really and I'll be using Aunt Lydia's Baby Denim for the first time so if anyone has any experience of socks knit with this acrylic/cotton blend please let me know.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Book Review: Getting Started Knitting Socks


I got this book a few days ago and thought I'd write up a little review here. The book is Getting Started Knitting Socks by Ann Budd, the former managing editior for Interweave Knits. It's a nice sized, hardback book with lots of basic, useful info about sock knitting. It goes into detail about all of the steps of making socks: The leg, heel, turning the heel, etc. After the basics section, Ann gives us basic sock patterns using various yarn weights, from fingering weight to bulky. There are also nice sections with rib and lace patterns to mix and match for designing your own socks. Two patterns in the book call for specific vegan yarns, there is one lacy sock in Fixation and one fuzzy comfy sock that uses TLC Amore. Overall, this is a great book for new sock knitters just getting started and for experienced knitters to have as a reference.

1 down, 1 to go


I already posted this on my blog, but I thought I'd mention it here too. I finished one of my broadripple socks! It's a free pattern from Knitty, and it was a very easy, fun knit. It was made in Cascade Fixation (love that yarn!) on US size 3 needles. I'm a couple inches into the second sock, I want it to be done now! The first sock is so comfy, I can't wait to wear the pair.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

the slow Södera

Yay for vegan socks! And yay for the first KAL I'm involved in. Thanks VeganCraftastic!

The socks I'm currently knitting are Södera-socks from Vilma's blog (see, she has the pattern in english too!) I'm using the same yarn that she did on hers: Novita's Kotiväki, 100% cotton. I think you can oly get it from Finland.. But hey, replacing yarn is not the end of the world.

It feels like I've been making them forever, but maybe it's just the fact that I started palnning on making them almost a yeat ago.

Monday, July 23, 2007

Welcome!

Hello vegans and non-vegans! Welcome to the Vegan Sock Knitalong blog! This is the home for discussion and sharing about the wonderful world of vegan socks. What makes a sock vegan? No animal fibers, that means no wool, silk, buffalo, camel, or whatever odd animal yarns they make these days.

I hope this blog will be a great resource for those looking to broaden their sock knitting horizons and for lots of friendly sharing of ideas. There will be yarn reviews, book and pattern reviews, project progress from members, and the ocassional contest, you know you all love contests! So if you're interested, send me an e-mail at craftytofuATyahooDOTcom.