Wow! Again?!?

Thanks, Secret Pal! You're wonderful! I came home from work today and found my mailbox stuffed full of goodies. I'd recently ordered a cable to connect my cell phone to my computer, and that came today. There was also this lovely package from my very own Yarn Fairy! THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

It contained some absolutely FABULOUS chocolate bars (my favorite flavors, too: chocolate/mint, chocolate/peanut butter, and chocolate/orange), some gorgeous Koigu yarn in shades of browns and pinks, and a sock pattern called "Fanning the Flame". It looks quite challenging: the socks are constructed fan by fan, rather than in a continuous spiral. I'm excited to start (especially with that yummy Koigu yarn!) but I've got a long list of socks to finish first: the Crazy Colors socks, the Lace Leaf Socks, and my Mom's Wild Blue socks (which I have-ahem-yet to buy the yarn for). Thanks again, Pal!

On a slightly different topic, I have a friend coming over tomorrow evening to learn how to knit SOCKS! She saw me working on the first Crazy Colors socks at the church 4th of July picnic, and she wanted to learn how. She knows some of the basics already. I think it's going to be just a lesson about knitting in the round, and eventually we'll get to things like heel flaps and gussets and grafting. All in good time. Although, I wonder if it would be better to show her how to knit toe-up, rather than top-down...

Hmm...

Deedle Deedle Dumpling

How does that nursery rhyme go? Something about "one sock off and one sock on" right?

I'm back from my short vacation. I still have tomorrow off before I go back to work, but I came home early because I need to get some chores done before I run out of free time. I finished one sock while I was up at my parents' house. I underestimated how much knitting time and zen I would have and didn't bring the second ball to start the second sock. Oops. On a positive note, I really like how this sock turned out.

I gave my sister the Jaywalkers I made for her birthday (and never got around to sending...) Now my mom wants some socks. Bright blue ones. Fine with me--I can always use an excuse to buy more yarn and start more socks. I like the occassional commission. It gives me my "new yarn and new project" fix without guilt!

What a LOVELY feeling...

It feels GREAT knowing that I don't have to go into work tomorrow, or the next six days after that! Next Wednesday won't be so much fun, but I'll ignore that gloomy thought for as long as I can. Tomorrow morning, I'm driving to Indiana to visit my family for a week. My brother is coming home from his mission in Brazil and I CAN'T WAIT to see him! Sometimes July 2004 seems like forever ago, and yet at other times, 2 years never seemed to go so quickly.

So I won't be posting for a week or so. Before I go, I thought I'd better put up a picture of the Lace Leaf Sock I've been working on for weeks. So far, so good--I've not frogged it yet, which is marked improvement over most of my projects.
(Like the Crazy Colors sock, which I believe is now in its fourth or fifth incarnation.)

Oh, Wow!

What a great day! I came home from work and found a key in my mailbox, which is always exciting. It opens one of the two package boxes below the residents' boxes. Thank you, Yarn Fairy! The package contained a lovely edition of "Jane Austen: the Complete Novels" and some yummy chocolate, and bookmarks and a keychain! Lovely!

Thanks again--you are WONDERFUL!!

(Sorry, no pictures of the chocolate. What I haven't eaten already is in the refrigerator recovering from the heat.) :)

Still here, still knitting

But no pictures to show for it. I'm working away on the Falling Leaves socks that I got from my wonderful Secret Pal (thanks again!). It's really enjoyable. It's interesting and I'm learning new things. I've never done a picot edging before. It took me a couple of tries to figure it out.

However, it's taking a LONG time because I have to look up nearly every stitch on the chart. Almost everything else I've done before has been easy to memorize. The nice thing about this slow-going challenge is that I don't have such a need to start new projects (and spend more money on yarn!)

Has anyone ever done this pattern before? When the instructions say "work charts for 7.5 inches" before setting up for the heel flap, does that 7.5 inches include the picot edging, or just the stitches knit from the charts? I suppose it really depends on how long you want your socks, right?

I've fallen off the Side of the Earth

My goofy little brother wrote that in a letter to me once to explain why he hadn't written me in a while. He's currently serving a 2-year mission for our Church in Brazil (he get's home in 2 weeks--HOORAY!!!!!!!) and his English has suffered as he's become more and more fluent in Portuguese. I think he meant to say "I've fallen off the face of the earth" but this one's much funnier!

I haven't been knitting much lately--life has been busy busy busy. But I do have a Finished Object to show:

I'm not so happy with the lining, though. I just wasn't really sure how to construct the lining on such a skew-wompy shape. I've got fabric left, and I'd like to add a lining to the flap. We'll see.

Thank you, Yarn Fairy!!!!

Look what yumminess came in the mail today! I didn't get lunch today until almost three, so when I came in, the mail had come:

Sock yarn, Bamboo DPN's in size 2.25mm (US1) and 2.75mm (US2), a pattern for "Autumn Leaves Lace Socks" and a really cute card--I love pink and brown together!

I've already cast on for the swatch.

Thanks, pal!

A new man in my life...

Meet Jamison:I brought him home from the animal shelter today. Isn't he adorable!

Mattie's not sure what she thinks of this intruder yet.


I hope they get to be friends; I adopted him so that she'd have someone to play with during the day when I'm at work.

Of socks and bags and blooms

It's been a busy week. I'm all moved out of one apartment, but I'm not really unpacked yet. I've got pretty much the necessities unpacked, and now I seem to have just lost my zin for unpacking. I don't wanna do it anymore! For one thing, I'm not really sure where to put things, because I have a friend that will be moving in. But I don't really want to wait for her--she won't be here until the end of July. I do not intend to live out of boxes for six more weeks!

I have been knitting, though. Here are the socks that I brought with me to my trip to Grandma's. I didn't get very far on them, though, because the colors kept doing this weird pooling thing. Then I found Melanie's Twist Stitch Pattern and it seems to be perfect. The stretches of color are too long to be random, and I'm too lazy to alternate between two balls. In fact, I haven't even wound the second skein into a ball. I like how the colors are kind of making stripes.

The socks in natural daylight:

Here it is again, blurry and taken indoors at night, but it shows how much farther along I am since the other picture was taken.

I've also been working on another quick project: A felted Sophie bag, made from handspun yarn I bought from Laura at CosmicPluto. Is it sacreligious to use handspun on a felting project? I hope not. I've had the yarn for months and I just didn't know what else to do with it!

And finally, some BEAUTIFUL flowers that one of my customers from work sent me to say thanks for helping her on a project. This boquet is ENORMOUS (those are DVD's on the right). It was definitely a pleasant surprise--it made my day! The only way it could have been better was if they had come from the guy I was interested in...

But no complaints, of course!

I'm BAAAAK...

I had a great time on this whirlwind trip. Cute car, great family, awesome friends, and a little knitting time.

REALLY not a flattering picture of me at all, but my Grandma's so CUTE! She's in such great shape for someone born in 1906. She had a big receiving line (like at a wedding) and she had a nice chair to sit in if she got tired, but she hardly ever sat down. She was usually up and walking around and talking to people.

I went to visit some old college roommates, and this is the view from outside her front porch. Incredible, huh? I LOVE Kentucky (it's so green and pretty), but I do miss the mountains. What you CAN'T see from this picture is that it's only about 55 degrees outside. The clouds are clearing away but it was FREEZING cold and rainy all day Saturday and half of Sunday. It started to get nicer the closer I was to leaving--of course!

And Enterprise gave me a cute "vanilla" colored PT Cruiser to drive this weekend. I signed up for an "economy car", and expected to get something like a Toyota Corolla or a Honda Civic, but this is what I got. I was thrilled! It's cute and fun to drive, but I don't think I would buy one because it gets TERRIBLE milage--only about 22 mpg on the highway. I'll keep my Camry, thank you very much!


I did get some knitting done on the plane, but not much, and I didn't take any pictures...

I'm in the process of moving apartments right now. Some friends from Church came over and helped my move my measly four items of furniture (kitchen table, bed, tall bookshelf and glider-rocker). I borrowed a cart thing from work and I think I can handle the rest myself. But moving is so TIRESOME...bleah!

One Hundred!

My great-grandma is turning 100 years old this weekend, and we're having a veritable family reunion to celebrate. Aunts and uncles and cousins coming in from everywhere from California to Maryland, and Utah, Wyoming, Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, and who knows where else. It will be lots of fun. Hooray for families!

I'll be spending some quality time in the airport, so that means knitting time! I guess I'd probably better stop by a store and pick up some plastic or bamboo needles, though, since I've heard that the TSA doesn't really care for pointy metal things on the airplanes...

Anyway, I'm off for three days of fun, family, and flying! Oh, and friends, too! I'll be stopping by to visit friends from college who live in the area. You know, it's nice to be older than 25 and not have to pay the "young driver" surcharge when you rent a car anymore!

All together, now

Here are the socks all together. They're not too bad, I don't think. I was worried about them being tight around the heel when trying to put them on, but it's actually okay. To be honest, they're kind of slouchy. I probably should have either cast on fewer rib stitches at the cuff, or knit on smaller needles for the ribbing, or both. But oh, well. I think my sister K will like them.

Bandwagon

Look what came in the mail today!


I bought it on e-bay from this store. It wasn't expensive, and probably not as high quality as these spindles, but I didn't really want to pay much since I wasn't sure I'd even like spinning. So far it's kind of fun. The spindle doesn't spin for very long, but that's okay for now. Once I get better, I'll probably want either a nicer spindle or a wheel. I saw one the other day advertised online--it's very pretty.

I like that it's sleek and smooth and classy, but still rather traditional-looking. Hmm...maybe someday.

Half a Day!

I had a half day off of work again today (meaning I have to work on Saturday). So far, I've spent a couple of hours watching part of the BBC/A&E Pride and Prejudice movie (it's one of my favorites!) and working on my sister's socks. I've turned the heel on the second sock.

I found this yarn at a discount store a few months ago, and I wanted to try some self-striping yarn, but I'm not such a fan. It's superwash wool, I think (I've managed to misplace the band), but it's really stiff and scratchy compared to the Koigu I've been working with. I started some toe-up Jaywalkers, because I think I'd be really bored with just a plain stockinette or ribbed sock, but I'm just not really feelin' the love. Might rip it back and do it plain anyway. Just to get it out of my stash.

What I really want to work with is THIS: Artyarns Ultramerino #106. YUM! I love the greens and purples together. It's soft, too. I guess I'm more of a yarn snob than I EVER EVER realized!


I really should go and do my laundry, since I have a day off...but who wants to do chores?

To All You Mothers Out There

Happy Mother's Day!

"The Responsible Woman" by James C Christensen

One Down, One to Go

Here it is--One Jaywalker done. I really ought to cast on for the second one, but I'm not going to. It's late and I need to go to bed.

No news on the new apartment yet. I went in and looked at it last week. My managers haven't told me when I can move in, but they said something about wanting to re-paint it first. I can handle that.

Holy Flying Jaywalkers, Batman!

This pair of socks is going so fast! Check it out: (sorry about the bad picture, it was taken at night).

I'm worried that they're a little tight coming around the ankle, but we'll see. Maybe blocking will help.

(I'm dang cute and I know it.)

Did you notice?

I've added a link over in the sidebar to a page of "Things About Me". Eventually, it will get to 100. But we're not there yet.

Finally! I actually finished something!

Random Socks
Koigu KPPM (don't remember what the color's called)
72g (about 1 1/2 skeins) on size 2.25mm dpn's
Started: November 2005, frogged many, many times
Finished: April 29, 2006

My "Random Socks" are done! They're "random" because there are lots of little weird things about them. For example, if you look closely, I used a figure-8 cast on for the toe of the sock in the back, and a short-row tow for the sock in the front. I wish that I had been a little more patient and made the cuffs taller. I guess I like tall socks. But really, for a first pair, they're not too bad.

I talked to my landlord today and looked at one of the bigger apartments that they have available. The one I think I'm going to move into isn't available yet; the current tenant will be out by May 1st. They still have to have the carpets cleaned and so forth, so I will probably be moving in around the Ides of May, or maybe the beginning of June. It's so BIG--about 2 times larger than my current apartment, but since I'm going to be rooming with a friend of mine, my rent is actually going DOWN. Yay!

I actually have an FO today--I finished the second sock! It's had a bath, and it's blocking right now as we speak. I'll have pictures tomorrow.

I actually have the day off! (yippie!) I plan on getting a lot accomplished: I have a package at the post office to pick up, laundry to do, and my apartment to deep-clean. I found out this week that I'm going to be moving to a new, larger apartment in my complex. The manager told me on Wednesday that it was going to be available "at the end of the month." What she didn't say was if that meant "in four days" or "at the end of May". I should find that out tomorrow.