bioengiknitter

Phew, I just squeaked this last pair in here! The Summer of Socks ends tomorrow, and I finished my Roza's Socks last night. Went to take pictures before work this morning, and couldn't find the camera....grrrr.

So instead, you get a sneak peek into a day in the life of the bioengiknitter at work, taken with the camera in my phone. It's not great but is better than nothing as I wanted to get an update done by tonight. I had a hard time getting this beautiful taupe-y grey yarn to come out just right, but it looks pretty close on my monitor. I should mention that the socks look ripply in the pictures, but many of those are just dark places in the yarn, not ridges. If/when I get around to taking pictures in the sun, it probably won't be as much of a problem.

On with the tour!

First, we have the usual and somewhat uncomfortable shot from the sides, with the backdrop of my cluttered electronics workbench. This is where I build cables and solder stuff. That black rack panel on the desk will soon be filled with 48 connectors. I decided to put that off to next week. Ugh.

click for bigger

Next we have the wood shipping crate in the lab which is currently serving as a test bench for some new servers and data acquisition equipment. Oh, and the tops of the socks:

click for bigger

Here's a shot of my office floor, because I love the Koigu in stockinette. Sorry it's a little blurry:

click for bigger

Finally, this is my latest work WIP--an experiment system designed to measure aerosol particle deposition in the lung, which at some point we'll fly on NASA's Reduced Gravity Aircraft. We've flown pretty much all of this equipment before many times, but we've repackaged it into a rack for easier mounting and shipping, so I'm in the final stages of testing it out to make sure I put it back together correctly. So far so good!

click for bigger

Pattern: Roza's Socks, by Grumperina, from Interweave Knits Spring 2007
Yarn: Koigu KPPPM, color P300. This was my first time knitting with Koigu, and I have to say that in my opinion it did live up to its reputation. It was soft but seems strong, and the subtle colorway is beautiful. This is another pair I can add to my work-wearable collection.
Needles: US1 / 2.25mm DPNs
Gauge: 8 st/in
Notes and modifications:
- The pattern is written for a women's size 7-8, and I'm an 8.5. Doing these on US0 needles and 60 stitches would end up way too small for me--I usually do socks for myself on 64 stitches on US1s. Figuring that the brioche pattern was probably relatively stretchy, I knit the socks with 60 stitches per the pattern, but on US1 instead of US0. They fit great! Whew.
- The only pattern modification I made (that I know about) is to skip the purl ridge between the cuff and leg and replace it with a few rounds of all knitting. Because, you know, I don't like the bumpy.

And so ends my Summer of Socks 2007. My final count, four pairs:
- Mini Monkeys
- River Rapids
- Man socks
- and these Roza's Socks.

It's been a fun KAL, thanks to zarzuela for organizing us all, and to Jeanie for doing a great job reporting on our group every week!