Malta

Just got back yesterday from our adventures in Valencia and Malta... and boy were they adventurous! I was extremely ill in Valencia, and so we saw very little of it... in fact, I have no pictures whatsoever. And I have NO pictures of knitting or me knitting in any of these fancy places as I was either ill or exhausted most of the time.

But we made the best of Malta and saw as much as we could in the short time we were there... I would definitely recommend it, but with the precaution that it is still relatively undeveloped for a European country (they are part of the EU and use the EU currency), so you need to know a bit about what you are doing / where you want to go / what you want to see. BUT, and this is probably a bonus for a lot of North American travelers: English is one of the official languages, AND the people were extremely friendly, so when it was hard to find your way, etc, it was pretty easy to find help.

I promise, there will be knitting content... SOON. And the International Sock Swap is just a few short days away from starting, so that will keep me busy for a lot of the summer! Yay!

almost seneca, originally uploaded by gradschoolknitter.

Now that it's really starting to get hot in Madrid, I'm close to being done this 100% wool sweater. Ah, timing. It's going to need a good blocking too... the garter cuffs aren't quite doing the job on their own to keep it from rolling up. (Pattern is Jared Flood's Seneca, been in the works since last fall but was on hold for a long time for gift-knitting)

In other updates: the International Sock Swap has 49 members! And there are still 12 days until entries will be closed, so if you're interested there is still time! I'm really excited about this and can't wait to send out the partners.

Until then, I'm going to have a visitor starting this weekend and leaving June 1, so I'm going to be a bit absent... we're hitting the road (or the skies, rather) and heading to Valencia and Malta!

rico finished

rico finished, originally uploaded by gradschoolknitter.

Well, there they are. I don't know if you can see the differences based on this picture (not the best picture, but I'm in that "I'm fed up with these so let's just get on with this" stage) but the right one is definitely more difficult to get on than the left.

Anyway.... I don't want to get too deep into, but they're done! (I wasn't feeling great yesterday, so I stayed home and finished these up... now I have to run to the library and make up for yesterday's indiscretions.) And hopefully the boy will be able to get them over his heel (the left should be fine, lots of give... it's the right one I'm worried about), or I guess I get a new pair of socks and he'll have to wait a little while longer.

Pattern: Rick, by Cookie A, from Sock Innovation
Yarn: Zitron Trekking XXL
Needles: US1
Mods: Cast on 72 instead of 60, stopped the pattern on the foot after completing the slants, continued with ribbing.

who knew?

rick differences, originally uploaded by gradschoolknitter.

Who knew that one stitch (ssk vs k2tog) could make such a difference?! I started the 2nd rick sock Friday night, and they have mirrored patterns... and as you can see, the first sock is MUCH skinnier than the second. It's probably a good thing that you do the right sock first, because if I had started with the left sock I probably wouldn't have ripped it back and added the extra stitches. And then I would have had one perfectly fine sock and one that would be too skinny and too tight to ever fit an adult human.

As is, I'm still worried that the first sock is going to be too small for the BF. It does fit me though....

International Sock Swap!

OK, so after I posted the clarifications last night, a couple more people commented and said they were interested in joining, so this morning I made the ravelry group!

If you have already indicated interest on the original post, I sent you an invitation through ravelry. If you didn't, but want to join, it's open for ANYONE until June 1, 2010, midnight EST. All you have to do is fill out a SHORT questionnaire and send me a PM through ravelry with your address so I can give it to your secret swap pal.

If you are NOT on ravlery (why not!?) leave me a comment here and we'll see what we can work out.

Here are the details (also listed on the group page) essential to making this a success:

1) you must be willing to ship anywhere in the world.
2) swap will take place between June 1 and Aug. 31. If you don’t think you can complete and mail your socks before Aug 31, 2010, please do not join.
3) if you do join and something happens that impedes you finishing, please let us know asap! we will try to re-arrange things so that your partner still gets something!
4) once you have joined the group, please go to the “questionnaire” thread and complete the questionnaire. Everyone who has signed up by end of day June 1 (EST for the sake of argument) will be messaged, via ravelry with their partners ravelry name. This is a SECRET swap, so you will not necessarily be knitting for someone who will be knitting for you.
5) Although it states “International” there are no guarantees that you will receive or send a package to someone in a different country - it will be based solely on who signs up. I’ll do my best to match people internationally, but it will all depend on numbers.
6) New rules in Europe impose a 16% tax to the RECEIVER on packages deemed of more worth that 22euros (approx. $30 US), so please keep that in mind if adding goodies. I would suggest that any goodies included in packages on top of the socks be kept to $20 US or less, no matter where you are sending to / from.
7) Don’t use UPS internationally - they have extra charges to the receiver, especially if it goes through customs. No one wants their swap partner to have to pay to receive a package!!
8) Please read the “how to” post below for more information on this particular swap and links on how to make an afterthought heel!

YAY! I'm super excited about this, and I hope you guys are too!!