Taking a Bow!

I did it! I finished the last sock for the Japanese stitch inspired book last evening at precisely 7:41 PM EST. The box of socks is heading to my editor in New York via UPS today.

I have one toe instruction to rewrite and send to the tech editor and the pattern writing is done. I'll be working with her for several months on pattern clarifications and creating charts but the knitting is done, done, done.

I can see the finish line -

OK - I have three of the last four socks on needles! One pair will go quickly as it's a pair of Manos del Uruguay knee socks on size five needles. The other two are fingering weight knee socks with 24 and 30 rounds of pattern, respectively. I work and work on them and seem to make very little headway.

Most of the patterns are completed and off to the tech editor and the charts have been sent to her too.

Surely, I am nearly done. Introductions are being edited as is the techniques chapter. All I have left is the book introduction and a page of acknowledgements and credits to the yarn companies who provided the yarn.

I'm hoping I'll be finished in time for the pre-season football games so I can relax and enjoy them!

Deadline looming

I know it's been a long time since I posted but all I have been doing is knitting socks and more socks. A couple of weeks ago, I shipped off a box with seventeen pairs of socks to my editor and another box with seven more pairs is going today. I have twelve more socks to knit for the book and have five of them on the needles right now.

Unfortunately, two pair that have to be done are very fine fingering weight yarn and I have to make knee socks! My eyes are giving me fits these days from staring at the tiny stitches. I believe one of the patterns has 32 different rows and one has 24. I have what was "stable" macular degeneration but I'm suspicious that it has become unstable at this point. I'm seeing the eye doctor next week.

I received yarn for two more pairs this week and both yarns are heavy worsted weight. Apparently, my editor feels that people don't want to just knit socks in fingering and sport weights. I believe that at least five of the thirty-two patterns will be worsted or heavier at this point.

My original dealine to have everything done was August 1 but since it is the editor holding things up by adding patterns and changing yarns, it is being moved. I have three editors at this point - one who edits text, one who edits patterns and my primary editor who oversees it all. I sure hope that this book will be a success as it's really been a lot more work than I expected.

A new direction for the book -

I've finished five of the pattern introductions and they have been edited and, hopefully, this weekend, I'll do five more. My editor had to drag in another editor to work with me since she says I respond so quickly that she feels pressure to do that too and she's working with a lot of people, not just me. The new editor is supposed to be "in touch" on Monday morning.

When I proposed my book idea it was supposed to be themed as Japanese "inspired" but the publisher thought it would fit as one of the "Knitting New" series. Now that they are really seeing the patterns and the cultural introductions, they are going to change the book back to reflect my journey through the Japanese stitches. Hooray! My editor was ordering the books I used and was going to have a Japanese knitter review them and see if there's anything critical I am missing. I warn the reader that my patterns may be "imperfect" versions of the originals, by the way.

Meanwhile, I finished the child's socks and am working on a fingering weight knee sock (editor's idea, not mine)as well as an interesting one that combines some elements of the feather and fan with ribbing. Life's never dull with a new sock on the needles!

More socks and on to intros -

I know I have been very quiet lately. I finished two (nearly three) sock mates last week and cast on for another one today. When I finish one inch of foot and a toe, I will have completed six sock mates for the book.

At my editor's urging, I wrote introductions to two of the patterns and although she found them interesting, she wanted me to add more specifics about the pattern rather than just the Japanese inspiration for it. So - I rewrote them and sent them to her. Of course it is a long weekend and she's not working so I won't hear back until after Monday sometime.

This week I am starting a toe up sock (rare for me) in birch colored Regia wool and a rose colored lace sock using yarn from Elann.com. I was told to get yarn from many manufacturers and I think I ended up with twenty different companies before I was done. Who knows what it will be after the new colors are chosen.

Be careful what you wish for -

Well, I heard from my editor and many changes need to be made. Four socks need to be reknitted in new colors. Two need to be in new colors and made into knee socks. One pair of child's socks need to be knit in sport rather than the original fingering weight. The Over the knee socks need a different colored cuff! The legwarmers need to be made longer - thigh high, in fact.

So much for my plan of getting all of the knitting done by the end of June.

The editor and graphic artist are going to review color samples and decide what colors the "changed" ones will be knit in. My brain hurts!

The good news is that the socks I took a chance on knitting mates for were all unchanged except for the child's sock so I haven't been wasting my time while I waited.

Tomorrow should be the day -

I finally heard something from my editor. She is meeting with the graphic artist late this afternoon to discuss the thirty-one socks I sent her. They will make the decision of which ones will finally be in the book. She said she would get back to me tonight or, more likely, tomorrow.

While I have been waiting to hear from her, I have felt like I am developing an ulcer. I also am apparently not paying proper attention to my knitting as I have had to rip out several rows of the pedicure sock I was working on, two times now.

And yesterday, I cast on for the Samurai sock and was merrily knitting along when I got to the seventeenth round of the sock and realized that one needle had two stitches less than the other three and had to rip it out and start all over on it. I am sure this is all stress related. Either that or I have a seriously fast developing case of dementia.

Still "On Hold"

My editor didn't contact me yesterday, so I guess it won't be until Monday now. Meanwhile, I'm ignoring her advice to wait until I talk to her to start the second socks. The Japanese Seaweed is down to the heel flap and the Fuji Pedicure sock is about at the same point. At least I don't feel like I am wasting my time while I am waiting and these are all patterns she really liked so hopefully, I am right about them.

I spent a fair amount of time trying to scan Japanese stitch charts into my computer. It dawned on me today that I really ought to be putting all of this stuff on disks or flash drives in case my computer takes a dive at some point.

I have to write the intros for all of the patterns and I guess I could be doing that too but you know I have to keep knitting.

It's All About Me!

I can relax a bit as Melanie has my box of socks. It's not missing in the great void. She says she will be in contact with me today or Monday. An here I was envisioning her opening the box immediately, being thrilled with what I did and calling me immediately.

I keep forgetting that she has a full-time job with a publisher and is working on other things than my book! She had the nerve to take a week off recently and I was freaking out.

The hardest part at this point is that I can't be sure which socks will be in the book so am (theoretically)on hold. I'm supposed to be knitting thirty socks during May and June! I'm losing valuable time! I decided to go ahead and start knitting ones I know she really likes and take a chance rather than sitting here twiddling my thumbs. I finished one yesterday and started another. Why didn't I scan all of them before sending them? It would have been so easy and I would have been sure that my instructions were right and that it really was two repeats plus twenty more rounds. I look at the sock and wonder - was it really three repeats?

I was wrong!

Well, I heard from Melanie yesterday and the ribbing I thought was the "right" one for the Kabuki boot wasn't the right one! How could I have written a pattern and put in seven rows of the wrong rib pattern? My brain must have really been on overload that day!

She encouraged me to go ahead and start writing the introductions for the patterns while I am waiting for her to get the last box of "first" socks. When she gets them, she will call and we will discuss them and then she will decide which ones will be in the book. Then I will have to knit my fingers off, trying to finish thirty "second" socks (actually, only twenty-nine since I did send the Sumo sock with the recent box). My deadline is August 1 for the entire package of socks, charts, intros and all other writing. This is going to be a memorable summer.

I just couldn't wait without knitting in my hands so I got out the rest of the ball of Strawberry Cream colored Panda Silk and began the second sock of a pair for a child because I know she loved the pattern and chances are good it will be used. There is also an adult sock to match and I'll probably start it next.

Arrgh!

I decided to go ahead and start the second Kabuki boot even though I wasn't absolutely sure if I was doing the rib pattern that I used in the first one. Lorraine Erlinger pointed out that I should have taken pictures of all of the socks before sending them off. Unfortunately, her advice came too late to help this time.
I also have to confess that I will not have enough yarn in a single skein of this sage colored Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted to finish the sock. I contacted my Brown Sheep contact via email and begged for a second skein. When I bought it at my LYS, I didn't know what I was going to do with it at the time.

This morning, I scanned what I had done and sent it to my editor in hope that she can tell me it is "right."

I figured I didn't have time to waste so got my last pattern into the computer and sent to my pattern tester. Then I began the job of scanning pattern charts, cropping out the single repeat and saving them to send to the graphic artist to re-format for the book. I thought that as I do "second" socks, I'll do this too so that they will all be ready when the deadline hits.

Now I am going to beg my editor to tell me I can start another "second" sock.

One down - twenty nine to go

I heard from my editor yesterday and will ship off the last batch of "first" socks to her on Monday. She said if I was anxious to get started on second socks, I could go ahead with the Sumo and Kabuki socks. Hooray!

I quickly printed off the patterns for those socks and got out the yarn. One of them uses very bulky yarn and I worked on it most of the day and finished it. It's going to go to her tomorrow along with the last sample batch! That means I have only twenty-nine more socks to knit for the book by the end of June.

I got out the yarn for the Kabuki socks and cast on and discovered that my pattern was incomplete - only seven rounds of twenty were written on the pattern! How could I do that? OK - no panic. I have a box of index cards that have all the patterns written on them and those are what I worked from originally. I can just look there and find it.

So - firt thing this morning, I dug through the box and found a card that said "Kabuki" on it and it's not even the right pattern! Argh!

She said she would send back the originals if I needed them so they would be sure to match but I thought I could get through them without it. If I could just see it for a minute, I would know what I did. I believe I know as I found the rib pattern I think I used but altered to some degree but can't be sure.

Well - at least one of the second socks is done!

I just can't stop!

I finished the thirtieth sock for the book. I could take a break. So - what did I do? I cast on for the thirty-first sock. There was one pattern that I really liked and wanted to see what it would look like and I just happened to have some gray Regia silk handy. True confession time - I have one inch left to go before the toe and it's done. Since my editor is apparently on vacation, I didn't send the last batch of ten socks and now it will be eleven instead. I'm mailing them to her office if I don't hear anything over the weekend from her. She only goes into the office in New York a couple of days a week but at least I'll know they are there.

My pattern tester and friend, Barbara, came into the shop yesterday and I was telling her what I was up to and she suggested that maybe I have a second book of sock patterns in me. That may be true but I can't think about that now.

A strange let-down -

I finished the blackberry kneesock and now have the strangest feeling. All thirty of the first batch of socks are done and I feel like there is a black hole trying to pull me into it. I haven't heard back from my editor with answers to my questions, including where to send this last batch - home or office. I have the last pattern to enter into the computer but don't know what to do next.

I could start the mates for the socks I know she loved and take a chance. I could start scanning charts but don't know if they want them in hard copy or online. I guess I could start writing introductions to the patterns. I could even knit whatever I want for a day or two but have no idea where to start with the zillion UFO's I have hiding in my closet. Or I could clean out the linen closet, reorganize my closet for summer or clean out the refrigerator - Who am I kidding?

Final sock - first batch

Hooray! I am into the foot of the 30th sock for "Knitting New Socks." I am wondering if I will get the first ones back from Melanie so I can be sure that the mates are the same size. If I wrote the patterns "perfectly", I should be able to duplicate them without the originals in hand.

I still have two and a half patterns to plug into the computer but, hopefully, that won't be too tricky to accomplish. Gee - I reached the target number of thirty socks and still have yarn and designs for four more. What do I do with them? Maybe the yarn companies will want the yarn returned.

I'm wondering if the charts will have to be sent as hard copies or electronically. Computers have certainly made designing and writing books much simpler than it would have been twenty years ago.

Getting Close -

OK - The Harmony sock done in the mulberry Lisa Souza hardtwist petite yarn is done. I just have to get the pattern into the computer and to my tester. I have two more items for the book getting fairly close to being done. One is a sport weight blackberry colored knee sock and the other is a worsted denim colored legwarmer.

The next step is to send the ten "socks" to the editor and wait to hear from her to see which ones will end up in the book and need mates knitted to go with them. Maybe I will sneak a day off (or two)and knit something I want to do rather than something "socky" for the book for a change. Then it will be back to work to knit thirty socks which I want to send in by the end of July.

Everything has to be done by August 1 and turned in. I will have to do some re-formatting of patterns but at least they are all written (and tested at that point).
Hopefully, everything will go smoothly enough to squeeze in a daily swim come warm weather. It's a good thing I am a fast knitter, huh?

I will have to write the introductions to each of the patterns. They have Japanese names and use Japanese stitches (except for the Origami sock that uses the Creative Knitting technique). Technically, the Harmony sock I just finished should be called Chouwa which is a Japanese word for harmony.

Well, back to the knitting.

Almost There!

Almost There!

My(hopefully)last batch of ten socks should be ready to send to my editor by mid-week. The last three are on the needles and I should be able to finish them and get them in the mail by the end of the month.

Once I know which ones Melanie wants for the book, I will have to start knitting their mates. I also have to copy all of the charts so that the graphic artist can re-do them in our "normal" style rather than using the Japanese symbols. Some of them are the same, but many are different.

I am paying someone to test the patterns and edit them as I go and when I work from them for the second sock, I should catch any errors that got through. Hopefully, this won't be a book full of errors to mess up the knitters who buy the book.

Artsy fartsy sock

Halfway there!

I am officially half done with the last batch of ten socks to be sent to my editor.
I finished the Origami sock last evening, using the Valentina Devine method of "Creative Knitting" that I learned from her at a Stitches event years ago. Since my book is called "Knitting New Socks", I figured that this would truly be "new" to sock knitters. I actually did a pair of socks this way once, years ago, for Lion Yarns who wanted some truly different socks for a big fashion show. My husband referred to them as the "Artsy Fartsy" socks at the time. I'll have to see if I have a picture of them hiding in my computer for you to see. I can't show you the new socks as they, technically, belong to my publisher.

I am hoping to have a batch of ten socks ready to mail by next Wednesday - Thursday at the latest. I have number seven to the point where I have two inches plus one toe to go. These is the Bonsai sock and is a beautiful, leafy design lace in loden green Cherry Tree Hill Yarn. Number eight is the gold boot sock and I think I will concentrate on it next. Number nine is the denim legwarmer and number ten is the blackberry knee sock. So what am I supposed to do with the two other socks I have on needles? I got carried away and have more going than necessary! If I can finish them, I'll send twelve socks instead of the ten required. I'll bet that will be a first!

I had good intentions -

I thought I was going to finish those leafy green socks yesterday but never touched them.

I did say that I would work on the Merino 5 Over the Knee sock and I did. I got it out and worked on it yesterday morning while I sat in the sunroom, enjoying the view of the mountains and blossoms and all of the birds. We even had a chipmunk on our deck rail, eating some loose corn.

When it was time to go to the shop, I tossed it in my shop bag and took it with me and when I left, I was not only done with all of the patterned part, but had turned the heel and picked up the gusset stitches. Well, now I was way too close to put it down so had to keep going. I finished the foot during the evening and what did I do - work on the green sock? No - I wound a skein of denim blue Lorna's Laces worsted yarn that I just had to try a new pattern on for a legwarmer. Yes, I like it! And it's not too hard either. My editor keeps cautioning me that there have to be some fairly simple things in the book.

While I was waiting for my computer to boot, I just had to play with some Baby Cashmerino and you know what that means . . .

Back to Work

Yes, I really behaved well yesterday. I finished the cute, ruffled sock made of Schaefer Anne yarn in the Greenjeans color. I hope it passes the "editor" test. Now I need to get the pattern into the computer and send it to my pattern tester.

When I was finished with that sock, I picked up my loden green Cherry Tree Hill sock that was past the gusset stage and worked on that the rest of the day.

I guess this is the time for a confession though. Before I did either of those socks, I cast on the gray Regia Silk, did the cuff and got into it enough to see that the pattern works with it. OK - I'm not perfect!

Today I will be going to Loopville, the LYS I sit at a couple of afternoons a week, knitting and helping folks that got seriously stuck in their projects. I probably should take that green sock and maybe I can finish it. I haven't touched the over-the-knee sock in days and I think maybe that will be my project of choice today while I am home.

I need ten more socks for the last batch to be sent to my editor and I have fifteen on the list. This is going to be interesting.

An almost "lost" day -

I've been fighting a cold bug and when I got up yesterday, I thought it had really broken through my wall of echinacea. I thought maybe it would be a good day to just finish up fairly mindless parts of socks and I did work on a plain foot for a little bit -

But then I couldn't resist picking up that blackberry colored knee sock I had sitting next to my chair. OK - I had tried several patterns the day before that didn't work but today would be different.

Sure - about four or five different tries later, I sat down at my computer and printed off a pattern I had written for one of my original samples for the book. Then we had dinner and I started trying this pattern and it worked! Before bed, I got through a whole 28 round repeat! I felt like I had won the Oscar or a Grammy.

Do you suppose that maybe I can stick to some of my "established" patterns and finish up some things today or will the gray Regia silk have to jump on needles to test that pattern I spotted for it yesterday? And then there's that really cute pattern I saw that would look great in the butterscotch colored Panda silk.

I wrote down the projects I am working on or have planned and it turns out that there are fifteen of them and the book only needs ten more. Do you suppose they could use more than thirty patterns for it?

A mixed up day

It was a day of mixed blessings. The biggest thing that happened is that I got my first royalty advance check and promptly deposited it in my account. I guess this is all real, huh?

I took my boot sock to the shop to work on and people kept stopping to admire it. The owner said her first thought when she saw it was "I could do that." My editor keeps cautioning me to not get carried away with complex lace designs as there are alot of people who wouldn't buy the book because they didn't feel they could knit them. What do you think?

Then, when I got home, I found two skeins of Lorna's Laces worsted weight yarn in a denim color for me to use for legwarmers. Also in the mail box was a package from Crystal Palace with their yummy Panda Silk in a butterscotch color. It's wonderful to have yarn companies just sending me whatever I ask for to design with! My office has baskets of yarn overflowing at this point.

The rest of the day went downhill, at least as far as designing went. I really wanted to use a pattern I had tried out with fingering weight, only I wanted to adapt it to a sport weight knee sock. My math brain was apparently on vacation and I struggled with trying to figure it out for a couple of hours. I finally thought I "had it" and cast on and did the ribbing. Then I promptly messed up the first rows of the pattern and had to rip it out. Maybe it just doesn't want to be this pattern. Maybe the knitting gods are trying to tell me something.

Three tries and I win!

OK - My editor wants me to include a "boot" sock in the book. Apparently, a boot sock is like a legwarmer with stirrups and a cuff that folds over your boot. Ok - I got it.

Now the tricky part begins. I figured out how to do a very cool looking cuff since that's the only part that will show when it is worn but it has to fold over a boot and then the wrong side becomes the right side for the rest of it!

I know how to do a purl row to make a turn row on a hem so tried that. Nope - didn't work.
Ripped it out.

Then I did it with rows of ribbing following the cuff but it didn't fold properly. Remember, it has to go over a boot.

Since the cuff had quite a bit of purl in it, I tried knitting two rows for the fold line. Yes! It folds.

Now I did some ribbing to make sure the sock would stay up reasonably well. Now came the tricky part - changing the wrong side to the right side. I ended up just turning my work and working backwards and joining the round at the end.

Now that I am past that part, I am just crusing along.

I can't believe I did that!

I am in the middle of knitting socks for a new book - my first ever at the age of 71! I have already sent two batches of ten samples to my editor and am working on the third batch.

Last night I thought I was ready to start the foot of a sock when I realize that I had inadvertently knitted four extra rounds about thirty rounds back! Yes I had to rip it out and tonight I will have to re-knit it.

I am talking to my editor tomorrow to get feedback about the last batch of socks I sent her. She liked nine out of ten in the first batch. My contract says I have to provide "25 to 30" projects so I am hoping that she likes them.

Originally, I was naive enough to think I would only have to knit a single sock for the book but apparently they will be on models' feet and I guess they have two of them. Once I know which ones pass the editor-test, I will have to knit mates for all of them.