Library Gestapo

this is way too much pressure. when did the library become blockbuster?

and no this is not the first book i've taken out in the last couple months that's had that sticker, its just that i clearly have no knitting to blog about.

sarah and ally i will be holding you responsible. kinda like how i bitch to my dad about the post office.

no clever title...

i can't come up with anything witty, so i'll just distract you with yummy sock goodness.




the anastasia socks are finally back on my trusty #2's now that my sockapalooza socks are finished .

i'm anxious to get my knitting back on track, i've been a bit preoccupied lately (don't want to jinx myself but i'd appreciate positive vibes around 9am tomorrow)

so yeah, excited to get back to some ufo's, i've still got to rip out the sleeve of ivy, that will come soon...first some yummy sock goodness.

Over the limit

I tend to have about 3 active projects at a time: one for at work on my lunch break, and two at home- a mindless one and a thoughtful one. Truth be told, usually i focus one just one or the other, but I like to consider them both "active". One of my goals this year is to clear out a significant number of UFOs, so I have been trying to make 2 of the 3 a revived old project. See how I like making up rules, then forcing myself to follow them?
Anyhow, my thoughtful, at home project that I chose to revive was started in summer of 2005. It is the Princess Pullover, a free pattern from Elann. I keep returning to this project because i think the finished product will be really beautiful, but honestly, this yarn is no fun to work with, and the pattern is written in that vague, German-y way that makes it frustrating at times. At this point, I have only the sleeves left to knit. Last night I sat down with a glass of wine and cast on both sleeves at once. By glass of wine number two, I realized my stitch count was no long working on one of the sleeves, so i took it right off the needles and figured I'd just proceed with one sleeve at a time. By glass number three, I was headed for bed, both sleeves ripped and vowing not to knit lace while A) drinking, even a little B) talking to ANYONE C) Watching anything on TV that I need to see to enjoy

Very sad. Fingers crossed that the new rules will lead to progress tomorrow.

Hearsay

I'll have to ask you to take my word for it, but I did finish another pair of socks last night. I have no real evidence to prove that I did so, nor will I be able to produce evidence in the very near future.

But hey, have I ever lied to you before?

You see, my husband Scott left for Mexico this morning for a 4 week trek, and I burned the midnight oil to finish some warm woollen socks for him to take along and think of me when the night gets cold.

How does that Paul Young song go? "Every time you go away, you take a piece of meat with you..."

Perhaps he'll send pics home of the socks in their exotic locale.

I hear this all the time....

Your Celebrity Boob Twin:

Jennifer Aniston

Who's Your Celebrity Boob Twin?

friday finished fotos

well here they are...i am so excited. i absolutely love them and i hope my pal does too!



here are the specs...

pattern: hedera by cookie a. , from knitty spring '06
yarn: cherry tree hill super solid in slate
needles: addi turbo us2 (after the frogapalooza )
mods: other than knitting it on two circs there were none. the pattern was great (as always with cookie).



these were great to knit, having never used cth before i was psyched. i will definitely be picking up more of this. the process was really awesome, from pattern and yarn selection, even through all the drama, these were a joy to knit. and i've loved my first sockapalooza experience so far, browsing the pligg, getting to look at all the great socks everyone else is working on. i can't wait for august 2nd!



and thankfully there was sun today so the pics are pretty true to the color too! now i just need to find some goodies to send my pal!

but not today, the sun is still shining and shhhh (it's my birthday and i am playing hooky from work), so i am off to have some fun!

debunking the myth

did you ever have one of those days/weeks/lifetimes where it seems like no matter what you did you just couldnt get it right? i'm not talking about making mistakes in knitting or calling people by the wrong names, i'm talking more like tripping up the stairs on the way into work with your staff coming up right behind you.

You know what i'm talking about, right? like talking with your boss and the pen not only flies out of your hand but it hits you square in the head and lands on your light blue skirt leaving a lovely black line?

how about hanging out with your girlfriends and some others you dont know as well (outside the office lets say) and accidentally sitting on a cherry, having to change into shorts 2 sizes to big while you tide-to-go your pants and realize that you have just debunked the myth to everyone around you that you really dont have your shit together?

oh, thats just me? ok then.

its funny really. how on the surface we can convince ourselves that we've got it together and all it takes is an old sandal with a bad heel, a piece of fruit and an unwieldy bick roller pen to bring everyone to the conclusion i came to a long time ago...i.am.a.spaz. it's really ok, i've known forever, i was just hoping to keep the myth alive a little longer.

oh yeah...i finished my socks - yipee! its too dark for a photo - will get to that on friday.

The Garden...

We have been having an amazing summer here in Buffalo this year. Lots of sun and temperatures in the high 70's and I truly feel bad for all the folks that have been soaked with rain and scorching heat. Our great weather has fortunately coincided with my inordinate desire to garden, resulting in what I would consider (and I use this term lightly) successful results.



It all began at some point this spring when Sarah gave me a book on square foot vegetable gardening. This book for some reason made me decide to grow vegetables this year. Now, after my Tomato famine of 2006, I swore to never again plant another food producing plant in my garden again. You water it, weed it, and in the end get one f*@&^!# tomato. For the amount of time I put into that damn plant I felt I had better get at least enough to make some salsa.

So, this year when the urge to plant a tomato and (gasp) a cucumber, and zucchini plant I tried to suppress it. But it was Sarah and her sprightly encouragement that made me reconsider. So far the stars have been in alignment and everything had been going well. I had an early aphid scare which I quickly got under
control with an organic pest control product, and (although I dare not say it out loud) am on target for a bumper crop of tomatoes, both heirloom and common, cucumbers and zucchini.

Also my flower beds in the front of my house and the lilies on the side of my porch are looking great.



It is difficult to see in the photo but my Cosmos and Cleome are over three feet high. I love them because the reseed themselves each year. The less work the better, and my Hydrangea,thanks to my grandmother's advice are looking better then ever.


Thanks Grandma...

Finally F.O.-tos

At long last, I'd like to present my Sockaplaooza 4 socks.



Pattern: Go With the Flow, Interweave, Summer 2005
Designer: Evelyn Clark
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock, colorway Java
Needles: US1




I totally love them. It was absolutely serendipidous. I got my sock pal info, and her tastes jived with mine well. She wanted earth tones and she likes wool. I knew right away what socks I would make her, and it was smooth sailing from there.

It was sheer luck- I often don't like multicolored yarns along with a lacy stitch pattern, but these two didn't compete, they just worked together naturally. The lace adds a feminine but not foo-fooo softness to the earthy colors. I think the result is downright graceful, if I do say so myself.

Toot!

Necessity one…procrastination zero

Well, after several weeks of absenteeism, much razzing from Stephanie and Sarah, as well as my neighbor, it was necessity that finally caused me to actually get back on the horse and post something. I think part of my problem was much like Sarah’s. I wanted my next post to include a picture of my sock pal’s socks. The problem however was that they were not going very well and I was distracted by gardening, my birthday and a virus on my computer.

My birthday is over, my garden looks good, and I actually was able to get the virus removed form my computer, and most importantly I’m actually on a roll with my socks. After ripping them out four times in an attempt to get the size right. I think I’ve got it now, or at least I hope I do.

The issue however, and I hope to get some insight on this from someone, is now that I am turning the heel I’m not too sure I understand the directions. The socks I’m working on (in case you don’t recognize them) are Monkey, by Cookie A. The directions indicate that from row 2 until row 14 (under Turn the Heel) you should slip the first 11 stitches then knit/purl…blah, blah, blah. That does not seem to make sense to me. I have done plenty of socks before and never turned a heel like that. So my question is, has anyone done it that way? I would think by slipping 11 stitches in a row you would end up with a long piece of yarn on the inside of the sock…no?

Any input would be most helpful…

Edited By Author - 7/2/07
I guess the old adage measure twice cut once should also apply to knitting as well. Translation...read pattern twice and knit once. When I got to work this morning Stephanie and I were talking around the water cooler about my heel issue and how strange the pattern was. For some reason Stephanie suggested we take a look on the Knitty site to see if there were any edits to the pattern. I was embarrassed to discover that in fact the pattern read Sl 1 not S 11. I guess when I spilled water on the pattern the ink ran causing the "l" to look like a "1". I guess on a positive note, at least I caught my idiotness first. SO, lesion learned... If a knitting pattern does not seem to make sense, read it again, out load, preferably to someone who knits.

On the bright side at least my blond moment got me to post something.

leave your drama in the driveway

so i am happy to report that after all the drama of frogging and such, i decided to put my anastasia socks on stitch holders and snag my number 2's for my sockpal and guess what?

perfect socks.



oh and i am so lucky that i printed out my sockpal's info, so when i grabbed it to use as scrap paper and jot down the name of a book i want to be sure and get from the library, i reread my pal's measurements. Oy, here i was operating under the assumption that she was a size 9 - not the case! i have NO idea where i got that notion from, but thankfully i looked. her foot is only 1/2 inch longer than mine, so these were whipped out pretty quickly.

i absolutely love them! (and secretly want to keep them).