I finished my first pair of socks!

[oyceter]

Giant rat photos



Ruki lazes about in the wheel.




Ren! Ren is the sweetest rattie. He begs for scritches and will just lie down and sit with you as long as you scratch his cheeks or behind his ears.

It's a little hard to believe that when I first got him, he was mean and bitey.




Ren investigating something or the other.


Giant knitting photos



I finished my first Jaywalkers!

Pattern: Jaywalkers from Grumperina
Needles: Addi Lace 2s (love. love love love.)
Yarn: Blue Moon Fibers Socks That Rock in mediumweight, Monsoon colorway, from the Rockin' Sock Club

Modifications: I used the toe-up version with a few modifications because my row gauge was much larger, and I also knit them both at the same time. Yay for 47" circs!




The back of the Jaywalkers. The sock is a little too long, despite all my futzing with the gusset length, so I think I will give them to someone who likes the colorway better and has larger feet. Also, yay slip-stitch heel!




Side view. I think it's a little odd how it changes from striping to ... complete randomness, but oh well. I sort of like the stripiness, though I'm sure it would drive other knitters insane.




The modest beginnings of a giant shawl! I actually ended up ripping this out three times and going from 4s to 3s to 1s. The original size is 88" across, which is huge! Also, I wanted a less loose fabric so that there was more contrast for the yarn overs.




And the beginnings of Cookie A's Baudelaire socks from Knitty! I love the pattern so far, especially as it's one of the few toe-up patterns she's written. The yarn is subtly variegated, so the lace pattern does get a little lost, but oh well.

Also, my row gauge is larger than the original, which means the gusset is too big again, but my stitch gauge is smaller than the original! Argh!

Oh well. I will simply futz it, like I do with everything else.

Comments

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

I am so impressed that you can make your own socks!

And your ratniks are adorable.

[oyceter]

Yay socks! I still need to make a few more to get the fit down, but they're actually surprisingly easy!

I love the rats so much ^_^. Even if Ruki is evil.

[ginny-t.livejournal.com]

Ruki! *_* (Great, another LJ animal master. That makes 3 now (the others are everyonesakitty's Smeep (who could resist a cat with that name?!) and jmeadows' Diego (a cabana boy ferret — again, how could I resist?!). My kitties are getting jealous.)

The jaywalkers look great! I took Baudelaire's gusset & heel instructions to make toe-up Monkeys (I'm on leg now, trying to decide how far I'll go) — it worked very well. But I didn't check my row gauge. I have no idea whatsoever how you can adjust row gauge. (2 on 1 circ is a godsend!)

[oyceter]

Animal master? If by "animal master," you mean "looks innocent and cute but is actually an utter terror and a yarn terrorist," then yes ^_^.

Ooo.. that is a good idea for the Monkeys! I am sure I can take her Potomus pattern and make it toe-up, but I sort of want to try a top-down one some time as well.

[ginny-t.livejournal.com]

I am powerless in the face of my cute fuzzy overlord. *_* Ack! I'd suppressed the memory of that act of yarn terror.

I was a little disappointed in my pomotamus socks. I did them toe up with an afterthought heel, and they came out awfully snug. :/ However if your row gauge is loose, that could work in your favour. I recommend testing the fit frequently.

[oyceter]

OMG! Cute fuzzy overlords! That is exactly what I have!

Hrm, thanks for the pomotamus tips! I hate my weird row gauge... means I have to recalculate all the patterns, but, oh well. Hopefully it will also make me think more so I get the fit right.

[jinian.livejournal.com]

Yay socks! I love how the striping turned out. (Just how large might "larger feet" be anyway? Have I mentioned that mine just grew?)

I am totally confused by your gauge problems. How is that possible? But I think part of being a good knitter is developing a strong futzing skill set, so you're doing fine.

[oyceter]

Mine are size 9! It probably is ok here, but it is very frustrating in Taiwan because they literally don't make shoes my size.

I am totally confused by my gauge problems as well. I am knitting Regia on 3s, which is bigger than recommended, but my gauge is even smaller than 32 sts./4". But my row gauge is 44 rows/4" instead of 48 rows/4". It is really weird.

[keilexandra]

Size 9 is pretty easy to find in the US. I'm blessed/cursed with tiny size 5 feet and no ability to go back to China to shop anytime soon.

[oyceter]

Yeah, it is good to finally be living somewhere I can actually buy pants and shoes that fit!

[kintail.livejournal.com]

Ooo, very cute rats and very impressive socks. I'm still on my own first Jaywalker, which I started, um, an embarrassing long time ago. But they sat idle for months, and then I had to knit, rip out, and re-knit the first two inches after the completed heel no less than *four* times to get it to fit my ankle properly. I expect the first time I wash it, that section is going to explode into a mass of pills from all the abuse. I feel like I've got second sock syndrome already without having even finished the first one, I keep finding myself plotting my next pair of socks while I'm trudging along on it, so I really need to try two at once next time.

[oyceter]

No! Not the ripping! I hate re-knitting things for the umpteenth time, grrr.

I am currently knitting one sock, so... we'll see about second sock syndrome! I am hoping that the pattern is cool enough to keep me going.

[rayechu.livejournal.com]

Awww, cute ratties. I read about flying giant rats today and thought of you.

The socks look so cool. I wish I could progress enough in my knitting to do something like that. I want to play with the circular needles because they look so cool. But I really like how the striping came out on them.

[oyceter]

Flying giant rats! No way!

Circular needles are actually pretty fun! And socks aren't too difficult -- I just had to take the time to sit down and read the pattern.

[rayechu.livejournal.com]

Yep. It was just a snippet in Wolf Star (http://www.amazon.com/Wolf-Star-Claidi-Journals-Tanith/dp/0142301523/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-6611437-5333616?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182371299&sr=8-1). It is a kids book and the second part of the trilogy, but I wish the author would have saved the idea and made a longer more adult novel out of it, as there were a not of neat things like moving rooms, humanoid dolls, and of course altered animals, like the giant flying rats.

[marzipan-pig.livejournal.com]

The ratts are so cute! I used to have mice as a kid and rats are BIGGEr and SMRTer (and maybe sweeter?).

[oyceter]

The ratties are definitely sweeter! I used to have mice as a kid too, and while I loved them, they weren't very interactive. My rats are total dorks ... they sort of fling themselves at the cage bars late at night when they want to be let out to play.

[pinkdormouse.livejournal.com]

Rattie in wheel: awwwww!!!!!

[oyceter]

He is so cute! Yet so scheming!

[inalasahl]

Those socks are really cool.

[oyceter]

Thank you!

[fourthage.livejournal.com]

Those jaywalkers turned out really nice. I love the colors in the yarn, too.

[oyceter]

Oh, thank you! The yarn was really gorgeous; I think I will be buying a lot more from that company.