I Think The Mariachi Player Is Trying To Tell Me Something

This was a painting on the wall at our local Mexican restaurant, where the food is good and the service is pure crap, but as long as you're prepared for the bad service, it's not so bad. I had to get a picture of this painting, because it made me giggle all the way through dinner. Why? Do you see it? I'll give you a moment to ponder it.

FYI: Knitty has its surprise patterns up. (Shrug.)

I cast off the back of the Eyelet Blouse last night, finally. I'm pretty sure it's going to be, ah, snug. I'm hoping it won't be too tight for me, but I'm harboring no grand delusions about my own size - it may not fit. I'll either slim down like I keep telling myself I'm going to do (might we be planning to join a gym? it's a possibility...) or I'll find a slimmer friend to give it to. I really just want to knit it - of course I want to wear it too, but right now it's all about process for me. I NEED to finish one garment besides my poor Picovoli. (Which is gargantuan and I should have knit smaller and I knew that and so I have left it in the hamper for three months now.)

Okay, now back to that photo. It's a rooster. It's a guy with a guitar. It's a guy with a guitar, and a rooster.


Rock out with your cock out.

Heh. I can't help it - apparently I'm twelve.

I Promised You A Little Kinky Yarny Somethin'

I need to make another promise: I will start taking decent photos. It's getting bad. It's the lighting in my house, coupled with my camera's inability to take a decent photo with the flash - I have to take grainy poorly-lit photos and Photoshop them into visibility. I'm going to have to start taking photos of yarn pr0n on the bus, the only time of day when I get to see the sun.

My score from Brooklyn Handspun and The Loopy Ewe. How super-cute are my new sheepy sock-blockers?? Allow me a moment to sing praises, like a good little Loopy Groupie - I have very rapidly become a complete Sheri-Stalker. I started reading her blog, and I thought, "This is a good lady. I should buy yarn from her." I have done that - twice in one week - and more....joined a sock club, commented repeatedly on her blog, and offered myself as a human sacrifice test knitter. Why? Because Sheri is remarkably stalkable. She even seems to welcome the stalking. When the sock club thing came up, I didn't jump on in time and ended up on the wait list. We emailed back and forth maybe six times on that, and she eventually opened up more spots to accomodate more folks, so I got in and did a happy dance - then I found out she'd allowed 150 people in. Dudes, if 150 people emailed her as many times as I did that day? My head hurts just thinking of the emails. And she responds lightning-fast to every comment, every email, every order - I'm beginning to suspect she must have ghost writers. Or 40 fingers.

Seriously. Best. Yarn-Lady. Ever.

So my List O' Amazing Internet Businesswomen Who Rule My Pocketbook now includes Yahaira, Michelle, The BMFA Ladies, and Sheri.

But that's not to downplay my Brooklyn Handspun!!


I've been stalking the shop waching for an update for weeks - ever since Schrodinger first posted a progress update on her now-complete-and-glorious Brooklyn Handspun socks. Finally, I get my own skein - and it is delightfully squishy and in a colorway I LURVE. (And shipping? A dollar!)

And then there's the Posh yarn I got from Sheri's shop.


It's 70% merino and 30% cashmere, and it's all set to make me some Wedding Socks. I'm thinking....Baudelaire. Definitely Baudelaire.


Mmmm....close-up.....

Finally, there's a contest going on where ya gotta show off your sock knitting in public. Lord knows I'm not the least bit shy about knitting in public - I'll knit absolutely anywhere - but most of it during the week takes place on the bus. I don't feel anything is unusual about knitting in public - but taking a photo of myself holding up a sock on a bus? That felt a little nutty.


I took a later, less-crowded-than-usual bus home today, but there were Muggles present. Since they're not visible in this photo, as they're all seated in front of me, I took a picture of the Muggles too.

Of Nostrils And Badgers

If the title confounds you, read on. There was nothing particularly bad about this weekend, but it was interesting. I'm still sick-ish, but I really only whine about it at home. My excuse for this is thus: I will someday have screaming children, irritated pets, and a overly busy husband demanding most or all of my time. I will someday have to pretend that the sniffles don't exist. Therefore, I get to be a spoiled snotty - literally - brat for now.

Like this:

Me: I want a sammich.
Travis: Aww, okay, I'll make you a sandwich.
Me: NO!! I don't want your crappy homemade sammich. I want a Publix sammich.
Travis: (sigh, sound of keys jingling)
Me: And you might as well get some Stouffer's while you're there, or you know I'll send you back at dinner.

(I only eat Stouffer's macaroni for dinner when I'm sick.)

I've said it before, and I'll say it again - I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS HOT MAN IS WILLING TO MARRY ME AND PUT UP WITH MY WHINY BULLSHIT FOREVER.

Seriously. Look at him:

And he gets me sandwiches, shrugs off me having full-blown conversations with the cat, and declares the fact that I spent most of the entire weekend on the couch cramming tissues up my nose and leaving them there to be "cute". (It's not cute. I took a picture of it to be sure. Definitely not cute. But you know I'll post the picture because I have no humility.)

And by all appearances, he absolutely adores me. Nut.

I got a delivery from The Loopy Ewe on Friday....and promptly placed another order that same night - I'd ordered the perfect Wedding Sock Yarn for me, but not for Travis, and he wants Wedding Socks too. (I keep him in socks, he keeps me in sandwiches.)

And in a fit of totally-forgetting-that-thing-about-my-dad, I drove down to Bartow (about 70 miles away) on Saturday to visit him. That thing I'd forgotten about? He SUCKS at giving directions. He's perfection in many other ways....but that ain't one of them. It took me THREE HOURS. THREE!!! Seventy miles! I got horribly lost last year trying to visit him at the same event and had finally given up and gone home - so I told him this year I would only go if he provided explicit directions.

I failed to specify, "explicit, CORRECT directions".

I was instructed to take I4 to toll road 595, then take 19 south. Easy enough, right? Except neither of those roads exist! I determined, many hours later, that he'd meant toll 570 and 17 south. Sigh. So you can see why it would take three hours. It was only my inate and stunning sense of direction that landed me smack in the middle of 1840.

No, no, that's really where I ended up. My dad likes to periodically pack up a canvas and some sticks and go camp out with a bunch of other grown people who like to pretend they're grizzly. It gives him joy, and he doesn't make fun of my pointy sticks, so I indulge - I even knit him period-appropriate socks for him to wear to keep him warm. He's crazy, and I love him. (This, of course, doesn't mean that my mom and I don't giggle about him when he's not around. But I figure the two of them probably do the same about me, and I know he and I do the same about her. We're family.)

I can't even begin to describe the scope of these events and what they are like, but my father wears elk skin clothing and pals around with a guy who wears a badger on his head. Well, sometimes. Sometimes he wears his wolverine.

I wish I was making this up. And I was too befuddled by it all to remember to get pictures, of course.

I did get authentic 1840 root beer in a blown glass bottle, though. And a fry bread. Because for me, the 19th century was really all about the food.

I'll post yarn pr0n photos soon - that Loopy Ewe order included some delicious Posh sock yarn that you just HAVE TO to see, covet, and buy.

You're Like A Dyson - Guaranteed To Suck For A Lifetime

(The title of today's post is my favorite new insult, one my brain generated last night while I was watching Travis get his ass whooped in Burnout.)

Would you believe I'm getting sick AGAIN?! I don't know if it's just going dormant for a while and then returning on me, or if I keep catching every strain of The Crud that pops up, but this is the third time I've fell victim to said Crud since Thanksgiving! Come ON!!!

Hey, I joined yet another sock club, bringing my grand total to two sock clubs and a fiber club. Look, I can't help it, okay? I'm weak. And The Loopy Ewe is just so awesome. (And I have all that commuting to do now.)

Sometimes little things give me such a thrill - like when I found the ABSOLUTE PERFECT gift bag for Susan's Jaywalkers. Check this out.

Speaking of thrills - food. We went to our reception location on Wednesday night for a tasting. Well, they call it a tasting. I call it a full-contact buffet. We shared a table with this great couple who was as boisterous as we were (I'm sure there's a reason we were seated together) and it was the groom-to-be's birthday. He kept going on about how awesome it was to get a free dinner. I didn't want to pee in his Cheerios by saying it out loud, but I couldn't help but think, "Man oh MAN is this not a free meal. You're payin' for it, buddy. This is gourmet in installments." Which is why I had no guilt whatsoever about eating three plates of food. (Small plates. But still. And only of the meatless stuff and seafood - I made Travis try all the meat to see what was good, but obviously that wasn't going to be a sacrifice I'd be willing to make.)

So yeah, here's the spread we saw when we came in.


It was like heaven for me. And then? They brought out four - yes, FOUR - slices of cake for dessert. True, small tasting slices so we could get a feel for the options - but dude, every meal should end with four slices of cake.

And this was probably my favorite part. Instead of writing our names on a placecard or something, they put these at our seats:


Is that great? And only when I put them together for the photo did I notice that they were a bride and a groom. She even has on pearls! Mr. and Mrs. Strawberry are currently rolled up in foil in our fridge. I couldn't stuff them down that night, and I didn't dare leave them behind. But they're so cute, I don't think I'll be able to eat them.

Kamikaze subject change: You know that "Six Weird Things About Me" meme that's all over the place? I won't do it, but I've been seeing my own weird stuff popping up on other peoples' answers, and I never thought I was all that weird. So now I guess I have to confess. Here's one. I, like many other people, talk to my pets. Well, mostly Rooster. But not in a "Hi there, kitty-kitty" kind of way, but in a totally two-sided conversational way. For example, here's a verbatim transcript of a conversation from last night:

Rooster (jumping up on couch with me): M-OWW.
Me: Oh, about 30 minutes or so.
Rooster. Merrr-ow. (plopping down and looking vaguely annoyed)
Me: Okay, well I'll let you know.
Travis (without the slightest edge of "bitch, you crazy" in his voice): What'd he say?
Me: He wants to know when I'm going to bed........you know, thank you for never accusing me of being a nut job.
Travis (shrugging): It's a respect thing.

I'm probably mild to moderate insane - but for the record, I'll state that I don't really know for sure what my cat is saying. I just figure it's polite to respond.

Just Can't Get Enough

Okay, so I concede that these socks will certainly not qualify under "New Stuff Wednesday" (which I missed and will get to in a moment). It's Susan's birthday (she of the remarkable knitterly gifts) and I had a hunch she wanted socks. (Mainly because I would overhear her saying things like, "Alyson, I want handknit socks.")

I'm calling them my first pair of 2007, since I just finished them recently, but they're also a child of 2006 - and only my third socks ever, sorta. I knit the first one way back in April, and when Susan said she really liked the yarn and it matched her favorite pajamas perfectly, I finished the first one and set it aside (nine months to her birthday.)

I finished up the second one earlier this month, and presented them to her today.

(I did not, however, take many pictures.)

Project Stats:
Pattern: The omnipresent Jaywalkers - yet again
Yarn: Artyarns Ultramerino, Color 127
Needles: Size 1 Susan Bates DPNs for the first sock, Size 1 Crystal Palace DPNs for the second
Start Date: April 4, 2006
Finish Date: January 8, 2007
Project Notes: Seriously? It's Jaywalkers. What more is there? (My only beef - the heel flap is kinda big. Probably not likely to stop me from knitting this pattern again.) As for the yarn, I really like it - it softens quite a bit in the bath. I don't think it's superwash, though, which is its only downfall in this climate. That's certainly not enough to turn me off though!


I'm pleased with how well they match up, given that they were born nine months apart. (I've named them Sean Preston and Jayden James.)

I can't wait to find a new pattern perfect for striping or variegated yarn. I know they're out there - but are there any that are better or even close to Jaywalkers? I need to start going through my stitch dictionaries...surely I can create some alternatives.

My "New Stuff" for this week is HUGE for me. It's tiny to anyone else - but see, I'm not a big fan of the sub sandwich. When I do get a craving, I want a sub with only: mustard, tiny bit of mayo, provolone, swiss, lettuce, tomato, lots of pickles (and I mean lots), and Beano sub dressing. And last week, I had a sub with all that, PLUS jalapenos and banana peppers.

See, I told you it didn't sound like much. But I've eaten the exact same sub for 15 years. This is huge.

(For someone as adventurous as I am - especially when it comes to food - I can be surprisingly stubborn.)

What Lighting?

I've finally gotten around to noticing that my Flickr FO gallery I had posted in my sidebar was for my 2006 knits. I've added the 2007 gallery, now that there's more than one little pair of socks in it.

I finished my commuter socks today. I have officially given up on trying to get pictures in good lighting and have just fallen back on Photoshop to make things look as best I can.

This is my third finished pair of socks of the year.


Project Stats:
Pattern: My own slapdash socks
Yarn: All Things Heather in Charcoal (purchased from The Sweet Sheep)
Needles: Size 2 Crystal Palace DPNs (perfect size for this yarn)
Start Date: January 9, 2007
Finish Date: January 23, 2007


I will definitely use this yarn again, and I highly recommend it and its glorious squishability, not to mention its near-sportweightness. (Yes, sportweightness.) Plus, the socks are super-comfy.

Pattern? Uh....well, I cast on 54 stitches and worked in 4x2 rib for six inches.


I worked an eye-of-patridge heel flap (my favorite) over 28 stitches, picked up the gusset, and decreased to 50 stitches for the foot, which I worked in stockinette. After 7.5 inches, I started a regular ol' wedge toe, grafting at 20 stitches. Cakewalk.


They're exactly the same size. Thank God - I'm pretty bad at that sometimes. The idea was for them to fit Travis perfectly...they fit him almost perfectly.

But they fit ME perfectly. Well oops. S'okay, he can stretch them out. (I love that we can pretty much share handknit socks, though.)

My Monkey socks will be converted from home-knitting to commuter-knitting, since I'm working on the eyelet blouse at home. I hope I don't have too much trouble keeping track of what I'm doing on the bus....we'll see if I end up with socks or dishrags.

Public Service Announcement

It'll start popping up all over blogs - but I'll say it anyway.

Spring Interweave preview is up.

Grumperina socks. Eunny socks. Norah top. Veronik top. Kate sweater. Glampyre top. Lots of goodies. And you know, I actually like several of the staff projects too, which I normally don't consider as must-knits. But they're doing delicate little things, and I think they're rather sweet. I'd normally never knit underwear, but the pale blue silk thong kind of calls out to me as a prime wedding-day-knit candidate. (Besides, Travis already teased me about knitting my wedding-night lingerie....careful what you wish for, buddy!)

Ah, speaking of wedding-day-knit candidates - I found the yarn. In the colors. And while I REALLY wanted to splurge and buy myself some fabulous Manolos or Louboutins for the day, the truth is, as much of a shoe person as I am...I guess I'm more of a sock person now. (Thanks, knitting!) Well, and Travis is only about two inches taller than me at best - so if I go sock-footed, we'll look better than if I wear faboo four-inch stilletos. No one sees under the dress anyway...well, until I start flashing my socks. Which will only be a matter of time.

Now, go, look at the preview!

Absolution

Torture update: Yarn Pirate has some really gorgeous fabulous semi-solid sock yarns up in superwash BFL, and I WANT SOME. I will refrain. Please buy some for me. I don't mean buy some and give it to me, but buy some on my behalf, and knit something delicious.

I have thoroughly forgiven myself for the yarn purchase on Saturday. I realized that I really don't have much stashed in the way of garment yarns....I have lots of yarn, but I don't have many bags of one kind of yarn - if I had wanted to knit that blouse I wanted so badly without violating the Stash rules, I would have had to wait until next year. So I guess when I have big projects I want to start, I'll have to break the rules. The only other option is to spin the yarn myself. Uhh. No.

I'm already about halfway done with the back of the eyelet blouse - I knit up a ball of yarn on it yesterday. I want it finished quickly, both so I can wear it and so there's a chance there will still be a ball or two of yarn at the LYS if I run out.

I've also made the decision to rip my Hourglass sweater, even though I'm probably halfway done with the body. Between the Picovoli and the eyelet blouse, I think I've knit enough plain stockinette-based designs already. I think I'll use the yarn for Hourglass to knit the cable-and-bobble (sans bobbles) sweater from this issue of Vogue. It's a variation of Hourglass anyway - same wide boatneck I love, same waist shaping I absolutely require - but with interest.

I Suck At Restraint.

I made it 20 days.

20 days.

That's just sad.

I got an email last week from the LYS. Big sale coming. (For the record, I think it is SO NICE of Doni to send those emails out weeks before the sale - so you know if you can wait, you should.) I made it a point to firmly reject the idea of the sale and erase the dates from my head.

Or so I thought.

"I'll just run in. No big. Just run in. I'll take Travis, so I'm not compelled to spend tons of time in there."

I'd forgotten that Travis is as much a sucker for a sale as I am, and one of the biggest enablers ever, especially when it comes to getting a deal on stuff.

Before purchasing anything, I quietly asked Beth..."Did I get an email, something about this weekend?" (I didn't see any signs and wasn't sure if it was a mailing-list-only thing.)

"Yep! Twenty-five percent off!"

Even better than I thought - I'd remember it as twenty. Wait...

"Just yarns, right?"

Beth (very cheerful, happy to impart good news) declared that no...the sale was indeed 25 percent off of EVERYTHING. Yarn? Yep. Needles? You know it. Books? Sure, why not? Stuff already on sale? Oh yeah, you betcha.

What am I supposed to do???

(I didn't realize the picture was so lousy until I'd already put everything up...so lousy picture it is.)

I can defend all these choices, I swear. I needed a new needle case! My poor needle binder is busting at the seams, it needs an assistant! I had given away away my first copy of this issue of Knitscene, and there's a sweater in here I want. And I'm still working on getting a full collection of needles, so if they're 25% off, why wouldn't I splurge and get the nice ones I love so much!? Some soy silk sock yarn for that guy who's allergic to wool...and eight skeins of Louisa Harding Grace, which both the LYS's Doni and Pure Knits' Yahaira said is an unbelievably fantastic yarn. With it only eight dollars a skein, and the Ruby colorway calling out and begging to be something I really wanted to cast on for....ooh, and hey, it's a DK weight, so I can pretend it's sock yarn and doesn't count as a Stash violation? Right??

(FYI, Grace is a 50/50 silk/wool blend with a stunning sheen to it, similar to Lorna's Laces Lion & Lamb only in a DK weight. And wicked cheaper. Pure Knits has it here.)

While I broke most of the rules previously established, Travis spent some time with one of the shop's mascots.


Staring contest. Travis still swears the sheep blinked first.

Tomorrow's going to be the Day of Reckoning - I have some WIP ripping to do. 'Cause I have WIP guilt....I didn't even wait till I got home to get started on yet another project....but I have such passion for it.


Even got gauge on the first try. Oh, it's gonna be sweet.......

Trendy....What?

I don't know what happened to me. I don't like trendy knits, as a general rule - I like classic things that I'll still be wearing a year from now, because it's way too much effort otherwise.

So while I do usually pick up Vogue Knits, I don't ever really see anything in it that I'm dying to do...I put off getting the most recent one because when I looked at the preview, nothing called to me.

And yet when I picked it up to leaf through it last night at Borders while killing almost two hours before a movie (Pan's Labyrinth, which was insane and nuts and good and Travis was totally not expecting to be in Spanish because I might have forgotten to mention that)....I fell hard and fast for FOUR complicated trendy projects.

This is probably the most confounding to me. I hate any article of clothing that is not meant to serve any real purpose, and the bolero is the most guilty in that category. It's not a sweater, not a wrap, not really an article of clothing but not really an accessory either. And yet.....I LOVE THIS THING. It's beautiful. Maybe it's just the Norah Gaughan-ness of it. But I'm very tempted.

Then there's this:


Oh God, the bobbles. I hate bobbles. And there's literally dozens of them all over this sweater. And yet, I love it. I may do it. (But, uh, I think I'll skip the bobbles.)


Okay, this is classic enough to pull off. I love how feminine and beguiling this is...I even love the color as it is. (That's one thing I'll hand to Vogue, they make fantastic styling choices - I almost never even want to change the yarn or color the sample is knit in.) It reminds me of a Eunny knit - sexy, but not in an obvious way. Ladylike sexy. (It doesn't hurt that this model is ouchie-hot and the knit seems to suit her perfectly.)

Finally, I will NEVER EVER knit this. Too much work. But I think it's perfectly stunning.


Could just be that same pretty-in-everything model again, but I really fell hard for this coat. It reminds me a bit of the equally-coveted beautiful fitted Camel Silk jacket that Olga just finished. (If you didn't see it, you should click the link - it's really a wonderful knit.)

Oh, it's not Wednesday, but I have something new to mention - a new job. I got promoted to a training coordinator position at my office. It's a step up, and I get a bigger, semi-private cubicle. I'll have a desk AND a table. With chairs! I just hope it won't be too overwhelming for me. (The job, of course, not the table and chairs. Nothing very intimidating about office furnishings.)

Maybe I should knit myself a bolero to celebrate.

Happy List...And New Stuff Wednesday

How's this for new stuff - working until 7:30 from home. That's new. It's also shitty. But it's new.

(I goofed in a big way and ended up having to work almost three hours late because of it. Bad YoYo. Bad.)

What got me through? Periodically glancing at goodies from my pal!

Pardon the cruddy picture...but look how she pays attention! I wanted that brown bag from Knitty - she sent a color copy of the pattern, in a sleeve, along with the perfect yarn - not just your regular ol' brown-bag-brown, but a beautiful handpainted tobacco shade - and I'm anxious to get started...I think I need to tinker with the pattern, though, so I can be sure it'll be big enough for tupperware. There's also a little book of cruise tips (ha!) and a super-cute tape measure (I love cute tape measures) and mints...and there's wool and a pattern for little catnip felted kitty toys.

Like this cat needs drugs:


(He's a total catnip junkie, actually.)

Thanks, Adelle!!!

Travis pitied me so much for having to work uber-late that he stopped at Starbucks on the way home to bring me not one, but TWO iced grande solo caramel macchiatos. I think I'll marry him.

I got a new haircut on Saturday - it's dangerously close to mullet territory, though. (It wasn't when he styled it - but when I just wake up and wash it and run out of the house late with wet hair, as I usually do, it's kinda....mullet.) And Travis got his first ever fancy haircut. He's always been a six-dollar-haircut kind of guy, but he's growing his hair out longer, so I encouraged him to get a real cut-and-style. (I am a big fan of him growing his hair out long - he's working toward what I call "Dr. McDreamy hair", and since I find Patrick Dempsey to be the kind of guy I could easily see myself throwing to the ground and pinning, I am all for Travis looking as much like him as he wants to. Plus, with longish black wavy hair, Travis will officially be The Guy Who Has Every Handsome Feature I've Ever Dreamed Of Seeing In One Person.)

Anyway, back to fiber stuff.


This is the first skein of sock yarn I spun up for my pal. It's 275 yards of two-ply in 50 grams (that's one fine fingering weight!) spun up from Sweet Georgia's Blue Steel blue-faced leicester fiber.

And here's my big New Stuff for today:


Emily, who's doing my jewelry for the wedding, was telling me about yarn she found with Swarovski crystals spun in. (Not Tilli Tomas.) But it was over a dollar a FOOT. I thought, "Hell, I can probably do that."


My first attempt was a navajo-plied single, and it was too much of a challenge to get all the beads in any kind of reasonable configuration. The fiber was too fabulous to waste too much of (50/50 cashmere/silk) so I went back to what I know.


I was just trying it out, so I didn't go too nuts - I only spun up about ten yards. But it might suffice. I can see why one would charge so much though - kind of a pain, threading all the beads onto the single and then sliding them down while plying....fuuuun. Still probably gonna do more soon. :-D

No Commuting = No Knitting

Four day weekends are fabulous, but they make for surprisingly little knitting.

(Okay, it was a three-day weekend, but I'm working from home today, and as far as I'm concerned, if you can spend the day in your jammies, it's a weekend. Even if you have to work.)

I received this really wonderful prize yarn from Rosi, but I have yet to be able to manage a good accurately colored photo of it. It's a very elusive bit of yumminess....

Oh, I know why I didn't get any knitting done this weekend - I was spinning up a storm. The close of Secret Pal 9 is almost upon us, and I have to finish my pal's lace sock yarn. (I was shooting for sock, but I'm getting awfully close to lace. 275 yards in 50 grams...it's really pushing it, but if she wanted to use 0 needles, it'd be okay...)

I did start a new home-sock. (My travel knitting is socks, my home knitting is socks - I should probably try breaking out of this rut...) It's Cookie's Monkey sock from the Winter Knitty, and it's in Socks That Rock's Lucy colorway. (I figured I better try out the yarn, since I'm already committed to the sock club.)

Yeah, we're in the heart of Pool City. But I actually really like it pooled up like this.


And I'll tell you why:


Because it looks more like what it's supposed to look like when it's all pooled. Rooster keeps curling up with this sock when I'm not knitting on it - I think he knows it's his. (Sorry he's blurry here - he was wiggling around trying to get me to pet him with my sock hand.)

Wanna know what's super-strange? My awesome Secret Pal spoiler, Adelle, is knitting the SAME SOCK in the SAME YARN. (Cue the Twilight Zone theme.) We have an awful lot in common - but man, that's just bizarre.

(And yet, hers looks totally different - isn't it just too strange how that works?)

Finally - I'm destashing yet again. Want any stuff?

Fox In Socks

A lady on Jeopardy last night incorrectly identified Fox in Socks as the Cat in the Hat. Duhhhh. Come on, put me on Jeopardy.

Anyway, point is, I got some pictures of me in socks. (I'm the fox, get it? Heh.) I'm truckin' right along, man....

Here's the first pair of socks I finished in 2007:

They're very shy. (It's a surprise - but I assure you there are socks under there.)

Alright, so I was kinda yankin' you on that one, but I'll show them sooner or later - here's a real finished pair.


Project Stats:
Pattern: Domesticat's Zephyr Socks
Yarn: Wool/silk blend from my Secret Pal (yummm)
Needles: Size 2 Crystal Palace DPNs
Time to finish: About four days - I did the first in a single day, and the second I started Sunday and finished Tuesday night
Thoughts on pattern: I didn't change a thing, and I love it - this is a rockin' fast knit, fun and easy to memorize. The only thing I might should have done differently is to use a slightly heavier yarn. But they're still fabulous.


Oh, the fit! Maybe a hair snug, but really quite nice. And I have enough yarn left over to knit a pair of anklets.


I knitted them as mirror images, as suggested. So clever.


Whaddya think those jackhole bankers who didn't believe in the concept of a sock yarn club would think of a girl who shaves her legs to take pictures of a couple of socks? (It was half past 'bout time anyway....but it's always a good motivator.)

And I am tellin' you ....wait, hang on ....

....

....

Sorry. I needed a moment to burst into a short chorus of "And I Am Tellin' You (I'm Not Goin')". I only look like a regular ol' white girl.**

So anyway, as I was about to say - I'm telling you, I love commuting. Yes. Bold love. I cast on for this sock on Tuesday night:


And I'm almost done. The bus rocks my socks....rather literally. This is All Things Heather sock yarn in Charcoal, and it's beyond squishtastic.

Knit on!

**No, really. A few years ago, a local community theatre put up a production of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. There weren't really any roles I would have liked to play that I was right for, but on a hunch, I showed up to audition. Sure enough, the right type didn't come in for the role of Jewel, the house's soft-spoken matronly housekeeper, and I was cast. I was dying for her number - a big raunchy throaty song that would be right up Aretha's alley. My reviews were the best of my career, and I actually got recognized on the street...it's still one of my favorite roles on my resume. And not one of the reviewers even mentioned that I was the wrong age, size, and race for the part. So I choose to cling to the possibility that I COULD one day play Effie in Dreamgirls.

Because I Need One More Thing To Keep Track Of...

This all ends up going somewhere...wait for it...

So 2006 was the hottest year on record, with temperatures more than two degrees higher than average.

Global warming deniers unite!

Well, my little town (Orlando still acts like it's not a part of the problem) has finally decided to implement a bit of 50 year-old technology to help alleviate the traffic, congestion, and fuel consumption problems. FINALLY.

Trains? 21st century mass transit solutions? That monorail they keep talking about and even budgeted for but will never actually happen? No way.

Park and Ride. Hey, I'll take it.

The bus system is alive and well in the major metro area - and you wouldn't want to set foot on it - but there was a big old one-finger-salute to all the outlying area commuters for years. My almost three year-old Prius has almost 70,000 miles on it, thanks to my 70-mile daily round-trip commute. The $4.00 in tolls isn't the greatest either...

I haven't really ridden a bus since high school. But there are a lot of upshots to this one. Saving gas, and wear-and-tear on my car, and avoiding traffic, and helping save the planet....those are all decent reasons for me to take the bus to work and back.

But the REAL reason I decided to give it a shot? Two extra hours of knitting time a DAY, baby! WHOOOOOO!



There I am! Ya see me? I'm lovin' it! I'm ROCKIN' the commuter knitting, dude - I'm going to be turning socks out like Wendy now!

This has given me an idea for my Theme of 2007. This is the year when all sorts of fun new things are going to be happening for me - not the least of which will be marriage - and I've accomplished so much already, what with the stash commitment and the Project Spectrum and the clubs and finishing things and whatever else might be going on in my regular ol' life that doesn't have to do with knitting...

I hereby declare 2007 "The Year of the Trying of New Stuff"!! To that end, I implement....

NEW STUFF WEDNESDAY!

I'm gonna try new stuff as much as possible, and once a week I will attempt to chronicle the stuff. Hopefully it will be interesting...and more often than not, it may be yarny. And hey, feel free to join in with me in the trying of and trumpeting of the joy of new stuff!

If 2006 was the year of truthiness, then 2007 is the year of newiness!

My Plans For 2007

Let me wrap up 2006 first. Remember Susan, the non-knitting coworker with a wicked good eye for gifts?

There's a bag of something....see it? Right there next to the might-as-well-rip-it-all WIP basket? Let's see if we can get a closer look....


Oooh...kind of a big bag....what's that, maybe a pound? Something fluffy? Maybe fiberlicious? (To you and me, anyway - a coworker asked me if I was carrying around dead cats in a bag.)


Lookit! It's a wool/llama blend, a whole POUND of it. (Or it's a whole pound of wool/alpaca blend...we're not sure.) Either way, it's yummy - straight off the animals, carded - it still smells a bit of sheep and hay (both of which are scents I just adore) and there's plenty for a sweater...if I can stop picking it up and sniffing it long enough to spin it. I'm thinking a nice zippered cardigan for Travis. Maybe that one from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, with a contrasting zipper.


Definitely in red....maybe with a red motif somewhere, either tribal armbands or a sun on the center back of the neck? I don't know, I'll play with it...

Susan rules. (Did I mention she's doing my bouquets for the wedding? Susan double-rules.)

Okay.

2007.

There's a wedding, and - God willing - a honeymoon. Seems like a good year to commit to that insane stupid Knit from Your Stash virus that's going around. I'd normally shun the idea as hopelessly doomed from the start, but since there's a few little safeguards built in - sock yarn, fiber - I can probably make it. Besides....



...it's not like I could run out of yarn. (The trunk is full to the brim with nothing but spinning fiber and bulk yarn, the skeins I have enough of to make garments. Oh, and that thing you see on the left is my new felting kit, a Christmas gift from Mom. I'm anxious to try that out, too.)

I'll still buy yarn as gifts, and for projects that are gifts. I'm even going to try - though I'm not making any promises - to avoid sock yarn and fiber. I'm signed up for the Socks That Rock Club, and The Sweet Sheep's fiber club - so I'll still get new stuff periodically.

As an extra incentive to knit, knit, knit, I've joined in on Project Spectrum 2. We're supposed to be extra-crafty and think outside the box - but I'll be knitting soundly in my little box, thank you. Probably socks. Lots and lots of socks.


Shouldn't be a problem.

I'm almost finished with my second pair of socks of the year though! Too bad I'm not knitting anything but socks....but I'm on a kick!

Hey, check this one out too:


I don't think I've ever secured all four of our pets in one photo! Poor Brodie - he always wants to play so badly, and Rooster always just looks at him with that, "Uhhh, how about no," stare.


There's something vaguely reminiscent of Wednesday Addams in the face Rooster's giving here. Like, "Yes. I know the perfect game. It's called Guillotine. Come with me."