Clue 1

Photo taken after clue 1. I am using Panda Superwash in the colour Evening blues.

the mystery sock kal

begins....NOW!

check your emails for clue 1. if you don't receive it, let me know so we can figure out what happened.

i can't wait to see your socks!

ps. i figure that it is august 21st somewhere in the world! LOL!

Fingerless Mittens

It was a pretty quick knit... this pair of Fingerless mittens. Have experimented with a pattern, but it disappeared into the colours of this yarn. Might do it again with a solid yarn, but for now I am content with how they turned out.

Yarn used: Maizy, in the colourway Retro. 1 ball was used.

mystery sock kal countdown!

first clue will be sent via email on friday, august 21st!

i am getting so excited!!!! and nervous....

the blog has room for one more new mystery sock member. if you are interested, please email me for the invite.

if you are already a member and want to play, please email me too. clues will only be sent to those who signed up for the mystery kal.

do you all have your yarn and needles ready?!

edited: we are full. if you are still interested, please email me at carefreekal at gmail dot com and i will see if i can make room for you.

Cathy's 52 week challenge - August

I finished my August project for the 52 week KAL challenge!

Pattern: July SKA mystery sock
Cast on: 7/1/09
Needles: US 2 (2.75mm) 40" circular
Finished: 8/9/09
Yardage: 300 yards (meets the requirement of a sock with 4" leg)
Yarns: (all CPY yarns!!) :-)
Panda Soy - natural ecru
Panda Soy - poppy red
Maizy - cactus (green)
Maizy - bittersweet (dark brown/almost black)

Really looking forward to the CPY mystery sock starting on Friday!!

52 Week Challenge - Brenda (Owlsrook)

My August in progress photo - these are going to be a pair of ribbed socks, knit in Paton's Kroy - Colour is Mulberry Stripes. Just a simple pair of socks to wear in running shoes.

Brenda in Alberta
(Owlsrook on Ravelry)

julie's sharing!

her pattern for her "tour de france" kal socks here. go check it out!

yeah, done

Here are the finished pics of the Palindrome scarf (on Ravelry) for August. Over 312 yds of one skein and 1/3 of another. I had to make it longer. Now to play until the mystery sock starts! My hubby had to take the picture. I could not get far enough away to take the picture ( I am vertically challenged only 5'4"!) Have a great weekend!

Jody

August 52-week scarf

Hi, I finally finished my palindrome scarf today! Will post later!
Have a great day!
Jody

Green Goddess socks finished

I started this pair months ago and finally finished the 2nd sock this morning. :) Cream Patonyle that I dyed in the crock pot with food coloring. Used 89 gms of the 100 gm ball. The Nancy Whitman pattern calls for 376 yds. I love the way this pattern fits. The pattern is stretchy, but also snug.

August Socks

Here's the socks I just finished in that sock yarn hubby brought home. I ended up using about 370 yds. This is my first time using this yarn, and I'm pretty happy with it HOWEVER I'm pretty gosh-durned excited to pull out that new Maizy Tan Suede I bought for the KAL.....but I've got plenty to do in the meantime! so much yarn, so little time....I love this problem. Can you imagine so much time, so little yarn....surely Dante wasn't a knitter or he would have written this in.....

MORE WINNERS! & I'm one - YAHOOOO!

I wanted to say thank you for the prize. I wanted to share what I chose for my yarn & color - I have been wanting to try 'Maizy' - http://www.straw.com/cpy/yarns/Maizy-scans.html - so here is my chance! I chose the solid color 'cactus' - it looks like a lovely light lime sort of green. I think I shall use it for some nicely patterned socks that need a solid color to show off the pattern.

Thank you again for me being one of the winners!

drMolly

mystery sock kal update

good news! i've finished writing up all the clues. YAY for me! the clues will be emailed to the addy you used to sign up for the blog. if you want me to use a different addy, please let me know so i can change it.

and because i've managed to get this all written up sooner than i expected, howsabout we kick-start the mystery a few days earlier?

schedule for clues:
clue 1: aug 21
clue 2: aug 24
clue 3: aug 28
clue 4: sept 2
clue 5: sept 7

finished pairs of socks must be posted to the blog by wednesday, sept 30th (or at least by the time i wake up on october 1st) in order to qualify for the prize drawings.

how many prizes? well, that will depend on how much encouragement you give your fellow mystery kal knitters to finish their socks. the MORE socks, the MORE winners!! susan will donate one prize (2 skeins of yarn -winner's choice of yarn and color) for every 10 pairs of socks finished. in addition, there will be a special drawing for those who knit their socks using crystal palace yarn!

someone has asked about doing 2 socks at once on magic loop or 2 circs. i would recommend against this as there will be some shuffling of the stitches but it will be up to you!

so, are you all ready to RUMBLE?!!!

don't mind me...just too much wrestling...LOL!

housecleaning & a mystery

i've done some housecleaning with our member list on the sidebar. if you aren't listed and are a member, let me know. i may have removed you accidentally and i may need you to rejoin the blog.

get ready for the mystery sock kal...

if you want to play, i need you to email me at:

carefreekal at gmail dot com

i will be sending out the clues by email so want to start an email list. i will be posting a materials list with yarn recommendations within the next week or so.

you will need to be a member of the carefree kal blog in order to receive the clues. if you are not currently a member (see list on sidebar), please contact me for an invitation to join.

if you do not receive your invitataion to join to blog within 24 hours, please check your spam folders. or contact me for another invitation.

8/4 morning: i have sent out invites to all who have requested one.
8/5 am: invites out to all who requested. there are some invites that still need to be accepted in order for you to become a member of the carefree kal blog. please email me if you are having problems accepting.
8/06 10:30 pm: invites have been all sent. if you've received an invite and you don't see your name on the list, then it could be that you still need to accept the invite to become a member of the blog.

no more invites left
waiting list if you are interested

MORE WINNERS!

announcing the winners (yes, winnerS) from the tour de france sock challenge. it must have been a rough race because we only had 8 finishers out of 25 starters! and i really did start a sock, honest! (we won't talk about maz who managed to finish THREE PAIRS! of very complicated, designed her own socks...nope. maz, you put us all to shame!)

the winners from the random drawing (done the old fashion way with pieces of pattern and a jar) are:

JULIE H

and


DRMOLLY

you each win two skeins of crystal palace yarn of your choice and color. please email me at carefreekal at gmail dot com with your snail mail addy, along with 2 yarn selections and 2 color selection. of course, failure to do one of these will result in forfeiture of prize to MOI! gotta love being a mod! LOL!

congrats to the winners! now, on to the mystery!!!!!!!!!!

the "mystery" begins...

i will be sending out the yarn requirements to you today via email. not because it's a secret but because i want to make sure that the group email system works. i will be sending this to the email addy that you used to sign up for the mystery. this is sometimes different than your email addy for the blog.

if you want me to use a different addy, please let me know. if you don't receive the email, please let me know. i may have left you off the mailing list. OR it could be that you have not completed the process to join the blog. there are still a few of you who have not "accepted" the invitation to the blog so you are not "official" yet.

if your name is not on the "mystery sock kal" list, then you are not an "official" member. if you've accepted the invite and your name is not on the sidebar, let me know so i can add you. i may have missed you.

what do you think about starting the kal a bit earlier? maybe august 24th? that will give you a couple of weeks to BUY yarn if you need/want to? (like most of us really NEED to BUY yarn- LOL!).

8 AM (PDT) email with yarn requirements has been sent. if you do not receive it, let me know.

August project done

My lace project is done. Used somewhere between 750 and 800 yards to make this one. Yarn used is semi solid moss alpaca and cashmere 3 ply from The Knitting Goddess. I am also thinking that this pattern would work well in CPY Kid Merino, but unfortunately I don't have that much Kid Merino at home. The pattern design is my own.

danger! will robinson, danger!!!!

i have an idea! yes, danger! i can be very dangerous.

i bet everyone here for the mystery sock kal is on ravelry? what if we do our chatting over there but used the blog to post official type progress and finished socks? i think it might be easier and more fun to chat about yarn choices and how you are doing with the pattern if we did it on ravelry. it's cumbersome to have to dig through comments to see what's going on.

we would be on the crystal palace yarns: kal's and other things forum.

leave me a comment. let me know what you think.

welcome to all!

Hi, welcome to all of our new members. Lots of new people at once, whee!
Jody

Hello from the US Pacific Northwest

Posting from the Pacific Northwest,

The local temperatures just dropped back to our normal summer lows so socks are once again on my brain. Weather like the just over extreme heat wave we had is the only time I don't wear socks thus a continuing supply is essential to my everyday wardrobe. I look forward to starting another new pair soon.

Suna

hi to everbody, from ny

hi all,
i'm iris a/k/a risiko on ravelry and everywhere. i'm so excited to be a member, there is nothing more fun than a mystery sock ! i've already started 2 other mystery socks on the needles this month, but i always make room for a design by adrienne or laura. i don't have a digital camera, because i keep spending the money i get saved up...this time on a pre-loved schacht matchless and a ladybug for a very good price, so i will have to post scans, unless i can find my 23 year old son and borrow his camera. and now i have a great excuse to blow my yarn diet and get the mini mochi i have been coveting since it came out.

Hi from Italy/Germany

Strange title you ask?

My name is Kerrie, I am pretty excited about a mystery sock KAL and I must be equally insane to commit to it too!

We are a military family living in Italy and are literally packing a move to Germany as I type!

I love to knit, especially socks and I love spinning and dyeing as well.

52 Week Challenge August - beginnings

Another month has started and so have I, LOL

Here is something that will make sense to wear within weeks from now. Summer will fade away and I will be happy to enjoy autumn as every year as my most-beloved time of the year.

Dark dark green, merino extrafine, and as usual something with cables or leaves or diagonals, here it is cables and diagonals as a pattern from a German book that now makes it into my sweater.

a warm welcome

to all our new members. i'm so excited!

while we are waiting for the mystery sock kal to begin, please feel free to post any projects you are working on. we all love seeing new things (to add to our "future projects" lists).

just a reminder to those who have been a member for a while, i do need you to email me to let me know that you are interested in the mystery sock kal so i can add you to the mailing list.

Newbie from Germany

Hello everyone,

thank you so much for letting me join. I love knitting socks since I learnt it at school (long time ago...). ;o)
I´m glad I read about the KAL at Ravelry and I´m looking forward to this adventure. I don´t have a blog but most of my knitting could be found at Ravelry, I´m Bea23knits there.

Happy knitting and best wishes from Germany
Bea

Goddess Knits Mystery Shawl #13 + The Enchanted Sole

Hello, everyone!

I am a new member of this blog and I was asked to put up some pretties for everyone to ogle. So today I bring you my current WIP - the Goddess Knits Mystery Shawl #13. There are two clues out so far, and I finished the second one last night and took a few pictures - one of all of the shawl so far, and one a bit more close up.

I have to be sure to take a picture of the shawl on something super light or else the haze of my yarn - which is KnitPicks Shadow Juniper Heather - makes it hard to see the details properly. I love the zigzag pattern that is turning up!

Here's a close up so you can see the beaded pattern a bit better. The beads are Dyna-Mite brand size 6 - silver-lined, square hole, with a rainbow sheen on them. So they turn up all sorts of slightly different hues, even though their base is a nice dark green that matches the yarn pretty well. I got them at Fire Mountain Gems.

The orange lifeline, of course, is marking where clue one ends, though it's 2 rows off into clue 2 because I had forgotten to add it.

As for why I included The Enchanted Sole in my title - the author of this awesome-looking sock book has been hosting a contest in her blog. You just comment on her entries and every day she picks one person who commented to win one of the patterns from the book. I won Mermaid a few days ago, so I am super excited!

Mini Mochi Shawl

I made this shawl to be auctioned off Aug 15. The proceeds will go to help fund Para Olympics. I hope she brings in some $$.
This is Mini Mochi in Neptune colorway. It is so pretty and soft. I did finish it Aug 1. Sorry about the poor pictures. This blue baby was finally dry close to sunset. So the lighting is not the greatest.

Fair winners!

Ladies, thank you so much for encouraging Katie to knit. She turned in to the county fair the items she made for the Holiday KAL and veggies from our garden. She won a first place for her cat toy and a participants ribbon for her cat blanket. I also won for the barcelona socks I entered for the 52-week and five other past Kal projects. I actually won a judge's choice ribbon and first place for the socks. You have all inspired us to strive for higher sights in the knitting world (especially socks for me.) I can not wait for the book so I can see and make your lovely designs. This has inspired her to finish the items she has and do more for next year. Seeing her pride in a job well done and being rewarded for it by meeting you all have touched this mommy's heart this weekend. I will remember the joy on her face for a long time to come. Thank you all so much.

Jody

tdf kal (and anything went)

The lace was inspired by the geometric design of the Brazillian flag. A 3-stitch lace pattern evolves into a diamond with a circle in the middle. The socks were knit toe up with an after-thought split-toe. About 302yds of Panda Silk, color bamboo green, dpns US 1.5/2.50mm. I finished them this morning.

What kept me from these socks was finishing up the yellow cardigan. That was finished on July 29th.

Bamboozle in yellow.

52 Week Challenge, Almost

Last minute as always, and rats. about 25 yards shy (hence the "Almost, in the title). Oh well, it is what it is (or they are what they are), knit with Panda Jet Black, which is really a yummy midnight blue.

...may i have the envelope, please?

***clearing throat***

and the winner in the category of "anything goes" is:

*

*

*

JANE


the winner in the category of "52 weeks" is:

*

*

*

KADEZMOM


and now the moment you have been waiting for.

the winner of favorite project of quarter #2 is:

*

*

*

DEBBIE (GRANDMA07)
for her production of solid socks mystery kal (#9)
and accepting the award for her is:

*

*

RADKA
maizy soccks (#11)

as debbie won the favorite project for quarter #1 too, she will be awarded all the honors and accolades. (YEAH! debbie!) however, in the spirit of sharing the wealth, the yarnie prize will go to the favorite project runner-up, radka!

congratulations to all the winners. jane and kadezmom each win 2 skeins of yarn of her choice. radka wins 4 skeins of her choice for favorite project. and debbie may just be declared favorite cpy knitter of the year!

please email me at carefreekal at gmail dot com with your mailing address and choice of 2 yarns/2 colors and i will forward your requests on to susan. failure to complete any of the requirements will result in forfeiture of prize to ME! (wicked, evil cackle!)

we will be changing the favorite cpy project next quarter to a drawing from all the projects made with crystal palace yarns. as much as i love having you vote for your favorite, the response has been very poor. my sad....

and again socks...

The last pair of an ordered knit is ready. The yarn used is Trekking XXL Tweed, and for this pair of socks I used 390 whopping meters.

My TdF KAL socks are done!

I made the deadline by a whole week almost!

some socks I've finished - 52 week challenge

'February' socks from the SockaThon's February sock pattern of the month, pattern by Margret at http://www.maz-wolldesign.de/ - done in Zwerger Garn Opal Cotton color# 2008.

52 Week challenge maz

My most fascinating knit ever. Finished. I am so glad to have opened my secret treasure chest for the yarn. Would you believe that they even fit?

For a long time now I wanted to do those socks inspired by a turkish pattern and knit toe-up the very special way they establish the toe and foot.

If you knit such a dense texture at 10 sts per inch in stranded knitting they are going to be warm and insulating. Therefore I wanted to have them longer on the leg. They will be my "winter couch potatoe luxury footwear".

As my heel-instep-width is rather big the fear was they wouldn´t fit in the end because of a longer leg. Examples I found in blogs and forums didn´t show legs as long. So no helping idea there.

The sole shows a pattern we all are familiar with but which is also one of many traditional patterns used with such socks. Obviously I would never have been able to make them pass over my ankles and therefore left the original form and added my heel, but added black rows to have a visual end on the sole/heel part.

The cuff ends in two wide tucks that repeat the tucks at the side "seams" that I thought to give an additional touch to it.

Used about 550 -600 yards. Am very happy, even a bit proud of finally facing that task.

what i've been doing

This pattern will be posted soon on the Crystal Palace Yarns site ... i wanted to showcase the Mini-Mochi colors in toddler socks... don't you love the colors?

Poof....July is almost gone

Here July is almost over and I have not knitted a pair of socks this month. But I have been knitting.

I will try to go in order of finishing items. First off were a pair of clogs for my DIL's grandma. I so enjoyed her that I just knew I needed to knit her a pair. My dil showed hers off and the family loved them. So I did these as fast as I could. I finished them in 2 days. I can not show pictures of them felted as they are shipped to Wisconsin.

Here they are completed as far as I could do it.


The shawl bug bit me hard this month. I was so very lucky to get to test knit this shawl. I used a cone of yarn that I had had for many many years. I did not know how it would look but thought I would use it anyways. I love it.
Here those beginning rows that go oh so quickly.

Then here is my Sweet Tango Shawl all done and pretty. Have I said I love it. I am so happy with how it turned out.
In here should be 2 more shawls that I have started but later I will show them.

So I went on a road trip this past weekend. I brought some cotton and a crochet hook. I just played and this bag was born. Lucky I remembered to take a picture before I completed it.

I also started this bag. Which if you look closely at the crochet hook. I attended the NW Needle Market this past weekend close to Seattle. Wow many new fall yarns were shown. Oh my what fun. A new lace yarn that is coming out is oh oh oh. My lys did order it as I loved it so much. Visited with Cat Bordhi. Together we chatted about knitting socks and shawls out of the new yarn. She was a lot of fun.

Oh so back to the crochet hook. Rooms and Rooms filled with yarn.. What did I buy? A crochet hook. I have never owned a fancy hook. So this is a new one that Lantern Moon is coming out with. I had to play with it. So I made another bag.

Then the 2 bags together. I finished both of them up today. Then after completing them. I got the chance to test knit a hat. Here is the start on my clivia plant. It had 4 clusters of blooms this year. Was really pretty.
A few hours later and in 90degree weather I finished this hat. I do not care for pompoms so I made this one big. I thought a wool hat needed to have its picture taken by corn stalks. Most fallish I could do. If you look close you can see my Christmas snowflakes that are solar lights. I keep them up year around. When it is not Christmas I call them flowers.

OUCH!!!!

I got bitten by a bug... the lace bug!!!

Am almost half way with my scarf in green lace - the name of the colour is semi solid moss, and it is a mixture of cashmere and alpaca. Got frustrated on my own pattern first, but now I truly love it.

The photo shows the beginning... and my wedding ring. LOL! That kept me busy in the last few stages of Le Tour de France.



Adrienne... who did win the CPY#2 favourite contest? I am just curious!!!

Hi guys. I need to get a sock blocker, but Darin is still unempolyed. Any ideas? I love how you all have "fake Feet" to show off your creations too. Are there legless manequin's running around in the world (or not with no feet!)
Jody

WOW!

you gals have been very busy! wonderful sock projects! i have even watched a bit of the tour de france myself. what a challenging event!

i have posted all the finished projects so far. if i've missed yours (which is quite possible), please let me know so i can add it to the finished list.

i did start a pair of socks for my son using panda superwash in dark knight and was going to declare tanzania as my country! LOL! did you know there are no flags in black, green, and blue? i was going to fudge the yellow and say that you could see a thread of it in the green....really stretching the colors there but doubt that i will finish in time. i've been busy working on a "MYSTERY!"

you have another week to get your socks finished and posted.

who won the tour? i worked this weekend and haven't even checked!

tour de france

Hi, Finished this right as the last stage ended. Katie made up the pattern! You can see an alternating K2P2 rib and knit rows. This was so much fun. I loved the red/white and blue colors but too short for my toes. She wanted them to not match on purpose. Made me nutty but they are hers for school! Now to finish the 52-wk scarf. Almost done with the palindrome scarf and loving the color. Jody

Girasole progress

My 8 weeks of asthma finally calmed down enough to let me work on this alpaca (allergy to it) blanket that I started a few months ago. I was concerned about how to do the edging, but once I ignored the chart and just followed the word instructions it was easy. All the other charts were excellent and I zipped through this project. I'm using the 8 ply natural fawn colored yarn from our friend's alpaca farm, "Quanden Springs". I love knitting with this yarn and can hardly wait to block the blanket. It has been great to have on my lap during the winter here. The pic doesn't do it justice, but I couldn't wait to show you my break from socks for a while. I do plan to finish the green Bamboo pair for August. :)