What I accomplished yesterday.

1. 3 (or was it 4) loads of laundry (INCLUDING folding and putting it away!)
2. Many, many dishes.
3. Ran and emptied the dishwasher.
4. Picked up the two rooms we live in, plus the boys' room.
5. Cooked a big fancy dinner for ILs who ended up not coming, so DH and I ate it (crock pot ribs-a new recipe that I ended up really not liking and didn't eat, rice, salad, corn bread which was really good).
6. Spent 1.5 hours at the doctor's office confirming that DS1 did NOT have appendicitis. Worried over DS1 anyway when his temp hit 102 (in the armpit!).
7. Swept the kitchen approximately 4 billion times.
8. A nice nap.

You'll notice that knitting is not on the list. That's not entirely true. I did 128 stitches (aka 2 rows) on the Monkey #2 cuff. I was just in domestic mode.

The list for today is a tad different...

1. Survived a day with a much better feeling kid who is still quarantined from the temp but had ENERGY.
2. Built an AWESOME train track.
3. Finished the cuff and did three lace repeats on Monkey #2.

My house is a disaster and we had mac and cheese for dinner, but I'm feeling not quite so worn out today. :)

FO!

And it technically counts as TWO, right, because it's a PAIR of socks! I know, a FO that isn't a hat or a dishcloth! I am so excited. But, on to the details.

Yarn: Plymouth Sockotta "Fake Isle" in 6674. Purchased eons ago and the ball band is long gone, but I'm sure that's what this is.

Needles: 2.75 mm Knitpicks Fixed Circs, 32". (Have I mentioned how much I adore these needles?)

Gauge: ? I could go measure but the socks are in the other room.

Pattern: My own. There wasn't even really one. I cast on 32 stitches using Judy's Magic Cast-On, and then increased until it looked like it would fit but not be too big (60 stitches).
Then I knit stockinette until it was about 8 inches (I think my foot is 10", so that left 2" for the heel). Then I knit one-half row on waste yarn and reknit it for the afterthought heel. Then I knit for a while until it seemed long enough (60 rounds), and then did 10 rounds of 1x1 ribbing. Bind off was EZ's Sewn Bind-Off.

Thoughts: Technically, I am happy with these socks, for the most part. Remember how I was raving about the afterthought heel? *enh* I was not feeling the love on this second sock. Maybe because I had hit that point in the project where sticking the needles into my eyes sounded more appetizing than finishing, you know? (Oh, you don't?) But yeah, picking up the stitches from the waste yarn is a PITA. I also wasn't thinking clearly and picked up two extra stitches at the beginning of the heel, instead of the one (I was looking for 4 extra stitches over all), but it all worked out. Here's the deal. I love knitting socks. I love wearing hand knit socks. BUT I have yet to find a heel construction that I love. So far I've tried short-row heels (top down and bottom up), heel flap and gusset (top down and bottom up), afterthought heels. I am sure there's lots more that I'm missing but they all annoy me at this point. Oh and I am also a tad concerned that the purse-string closure of the after-thought heel leaves a small bump that's going to be a bummer on my heels. That's why I *have* to finish all socks-in-progress (SIPs) before I try Cat Bordhi's new sockitectures, because I fear I may never go back. :) Her short-row heels look less irritating than the classic short-row construction.

My other beef with these socks is the yarn. Now, Plymouth Sockotta, IMO, is not a high-end sock yarn (Webs has it for $8.99 per 100 gram ball, so much much less than the $24 for 2 50 g skeins of Koigu that I just spent!). It doesn't feel like a high-end yarn either. It feels more string-like to me. This isn't a complaint. The resulting fabric is a little rough, but certainly wearable and comfortable enough, I think. This yarn gets good reviews in terms of durability of the resulting socks, which is very good. It's machine washable, which is EXCELLENT. It wasn't a pain to knit with (like the TOFUTsies, for example). My main beef is with the self-patterning aspect, which is as much a beef with my own personality as anything else. With variegated colors, I have learned to release control of how it looks because, well, you don't have any! The yarn is going to do what it's going to do. It's helping me in my pursuit of Zen calmitude. BUT, this stuff, man, it made me so anxious! Sometimes the patterning did what it was supposed to do, sometimes it didn't! To be honest, I'm not even sure WHAT the purple was supposed to do! The dying wasn't consistent, so for example, with the green, there wasn't always the same amount of space between green parts, and the green parts weren't all the same length. AND, the patterning wasn't consistent. Now, I personally prefer fraternal twins in my socks, I feel like in contributes to the hand-made funkiness of them, but if you are someone for whom this is an issue (L, I mean you), then don't use this yarn! So, the yarn is okay, but it's not good for me. I think the socks are *fine*, and I'll wear them with joy, but the pattern kerfuffle will bug me just a bit.

All in all, a worthwhile project, I learned some good stuff, blah blah, but time to move on! I cast on Monkey #2! Woo!! I just love Koigu.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go eat some of my Trader Joe's Peppermint Jo-Jos Cheesecake.

I want to have something to post about!

I truly do. I am just not in a knitting space right now. I was knitting during nap/quiet time, and before bed, and I am now spending those times, well, sleeping. I did do about 10 rows on my afterthought heel sock, so I've got 25 left to do, plus the heel. If I just were to buckle down, I could finish it. And then I'd have a pair of socks to wear! And show you! But alas, we had a much later night out than we usually do (my goodness, we were out past 8:30 pm!!!), and I'm just wiped. So, alas, poor knitting, tonight is not the night. Tomorrow ain't looking good either.

Does this count as a FO?

So, I am currently OBSESSED with Cat Bordhi's new book. As in, even though I'm not working on anything from it, it's the only book I took to the Berkshires this weekend (and I am a VORACIOUS reader), and I read it each night before going to bed. I cannot wait to try these patterns!

So, when I got home, I spent some time poking around online for the letter stitch markers to see if they were for sale yet (they're not). So...I toddled off to my local bead store (LBS?) and made some! This picture is really dark; I think they're a lot prettier than this! I am not entirely convinced that the 9 mm split ring is the right size, I think it may be too big. She does have some patterns on larger needles, so that's fine, but I might make another set with a smaller size. I need to file down the ends of the posts a bit too, as they're sharp from the wire snippers and might snag, but all in all, not too shabby for $13 and about a 1/2 hour of my time! I haven't done any wire and bead work in FOREVER, and I felt very clumsy. I have a feeling if I made a bunch of them, I could really get into a rhythm.

Now I just need to knit: 1 green stripe toe up sock, 1 monkey, 1 falling leaves and finish the sock I've got going now, and THEN I can start some new socks!! Hah, like that's going to happen any time soon? Ah well, a woman can dream, right?

State of the KWAP

KWAP = Knitting with a Purpose, in case you were confused! :) I pronounce it K-WAP in my head, with an exclamation point. Sort of like a radio station.

You know, I love me some KnitPicks, I truly do, but I am aggravated by their system. They seem unable to retain my login identity! So each time I try to order something, I have to re-register and re-enter all my info. It's not THAT big a deal, of course, but it's sort of vexing. I just ordered more sock needles. Do I need them? No, not really. Hmm, I guess there's no "not really" about it. NO. I don't need them! But, I'd like to have more than one pair in the two sizes I use the most often (2.25 and 2.5) and the KnitPicks are fab.u.lous. for Magic Loop. And they're cheap! So I just got more! I splurged and decided to try some of the Harmony needles too. We'll see, they're so pretty! I do like the nickel-plate though. But hey! I'm all about the options. And think how many single socks I could have in progress at the same time! It's staggering, really.

Very little knitting going on here now. I am too tired. I did finish sock 1 of the Falling Leaves lace and ooooo, it's so pretty. I do love a lace sock. Now I just need to knit, you know, more than ONE IN A PAIR, so I could actually wear them! These are knit with TOFUtsies and I just don't love the yarn. It knits up to a nice fabric and all, but it's annoying to work with, so I probably won't again. Err, except for that whole "second sock" thing. Yeah. Anyway, if I were doing this again with this yarn, which I won't, I do it on 2.25s instead of 2.5s. (Swatch? Huh? This is me we're talking about.) These fit nicely and all, but I think I'd prefer them just a tad snugger, to show off the lace pattern a bit more. But they'll do! (Well, this ONE will do.)

In terms of what's still on needles...I have another 40 rows or of the self-patterning sock. Then I need to do the other green stripey sock and the other monkey. THEN. Only then can I break out the New Pathways book and try something different.

Except that I'm going away to my ILs this weekend (with my kids and without my husband as he's gallivanting off to Seattle this weekend to visit his best friend and BOY DOES HE OWE ME* AFTER THIS) and I am maybe actually going to get some alone time, so I might bring some practice yarn and some needles and do the practice socks. Maybe. No, no! Must finish what's on needles! Must. Not. Give. In.


* How telling is it that I just typed "Boy does he OWN me" at first. It's true, he does. :) But, you know, in a good way.

Well, that's a bust...

Meaning not a heck of a lot of knitting going on right now. I'm not feeling 100%, so instead of knitting at night, I've been sleeping. I've also been attending to life outside of knitting (is there such a thing??). I've got a few things going on right now, and I actually made some progress. I've almost finished Module Two (out of 7) of my Childbirth Educator Program, which is exciting. I think this is the least interesting module to me: prenatal testing, physiology, that sort of thing. Not where my interests lie. I'm much more interested in the psychological transformation of pregnancy and becoming a parent. Which makes sense, what with my having spent, you know, 7 YEARS getting a Masters and Ph.D. in psychology!!

I did knit about 6 rows on one of my simple stockinette socks. I'm hoping to get the leg done tonight, and maybe even get the heel stitches picked up (afterthought heel), so I can get it done. Then I'll have an actual pair of socks to wear!! I hope to have pictures for you by the end of the week. :)

1 Year Today

Happy blog-aversary to me! I can't quite believe it's been a YEAR since I started blogging. In some ways, this blog hasn't turned out to be what I thought it would be...more serious musings on life, knitting, parenthood, etc. It's turned out mainly to be a record of, well, my knitting. :) That's okay, it may just mean my thoughts aren't all that deep right now. I recently had this exchange with my older son:

Me: And after lunch, we're all going to take naps!
DS: Actually, mama, you're going to sit on the couch and stare off into space.

Busted.

Anyway, in honor of my 1 year anniversary of this blog, I thought I'd post a picture of an ACTUAL FO.

I feel like my knitting is sort of reflective of my life right now. I have a ton of projects in flight, I'm really nowhere close to finishing any of them, and they're piled fairly chaotically in the bin in the living room, as well as strewn about the couch. I need to get organized, I need to get some things DONE. I actually started this dishcloth almost entirely so that I could actually finish something! How sad is that?

On with the project.

Yarn: Sugar'n Cream self-striping in Baby Stripes
Needles: Size 7 Clover Bamboo
Pattern: Snowdrop Lace from the Dishcloth Boutique

I am not loving this, to be honest. I mean, it's perfectly FINE. But, I think I'd like this yarn better for a hat or something. I'm not sure the stripes and the lace pattern actually really work. It's pretty, and it makes me happy to use it, but I don't think I'll use any more of the striping Sugar'n Cream for dishcloths. I think I prefer variegated dishcloths.

There is one thing that I am loving about this though. Did you ever have someone do something really nice for you, completely randomly? Something pretty outrageously generous? Someone (who is fabulous) did that for me. She sent me a random box of wonderful PRODUCTS from Origins, a company we both love. This box included the Ginger Soap. I *love* the smell of ginger, especially now. I don't get a lot of downtime in my life, or a lot of pampering. As a full-time mom, I provide quite a bit of it, but I'm not so much on the receiving end. I find it ironic that when I *had* the space in my life for me time, I was not healthy, (emotionally) enough to enjoy indulging myself, but now that I am, there's no time! But anyway, I digress. :) There's something pretty neat about using a special gift on a cloth that you made yourself. Every morning, I use that soap and feel...taken care of.

And the best part is that after the first time, I burst out of the shower announcing "I smell gingerlicious!" Now my 2 year old has picked up the term, and uses it all the time. "You smell ginger-wishous, Mommy!"

Now I have to take my gingerlicious self off to work on (what else) a sock.

I just can't help myself.

I had a lovely, though not too relaxing time in VT, celebrating my mother's birthday, and remembering my uncle, who died 3 years ago. Miss you, Uncle Bob.

I did manage to sneak off and get a little time to myself, so of COURSE, I had to do my usual tour of the local yarn stores. I have NO idea how it happened, but a few goodies happened to make their way home with me. *innocent look* It's truly a mystery.

Let's see. Now residing with me are:
2 skeins of Regia Cotton Color, in Colorway 5407
2 skeins of Koigu KPM in 426
1 skein of Araucania Ranco Multy in 310 (I've never heard of this yarn but it's so pretty! Hmm, this one doesn't seem to be on their website. Well, it's gonna be socks, big surprise.)
Cat Bordhi's new book New Pathways for Sock Knitters, Book 1.

And from the local Ben Franklin, one ball of Sugar'n'Cream's new self-striping yarn in Baby Stripes.

I cannot WAIT to start on the NP book! It looks SO cool and the socks are pretty and look like they'll be so fun to knit! I have got to finish ALL pairs of socks in flight first. No, really. NO REALLY, I DO. :)

I think I may qualify as knitter-crazy.

You know how I decided that since I can't find any fun and funky socks that I like, that I needed to knit myself an entire sock wardrobe? Yeah, hopefully before it snows I'll have some pairs done. (Given that it's predicted to be 90 degrees on Wednesday, I'm not too worried about imminent snowfall!)

So my thought today was...why don't I knit myself a bunch of sweaters!! Then I'd have sweaters that I love to wear in the winter! I'm having a heck of a time finding long-sleeve t-shirts that (a) fit me correctly (b) come in colors that I like and (c) don't cost a fortune! I need to finish my socks and then think about this. Webs had a couple of patterns that really appealed to me. My main requirement is that it's gotta be knit in the round because I hate (and suck at) seaming. Maybe I should take a seaming class...

I am going to order some STR!! The big question is...lightweight or medium weight? My current absolute fave sock yarn is KPPPM, if that's any comparison.

I just started another big project, but I'm not quite ready to talk about it. I'm not sure how it's going to come out.

And we're back on!!

I wonder if there's anyway for me to share pictures here from Flickr. Anyone know? I just loaded a few pictures of WIPs up to put in Ravelry and I am not sure I have the energy to redo it here. I got the heel turned on the Falling Leaves sock today. I am not loving the TOFUtsies yarn, it's sort of annoying to work with. I got another cable repeat done on the scarf. That's about it, but I'm feeling reconnected and excited about my knitting, so it's all good. Anyway, if you want to see any of it, go here (but come back and tell me what you think!).

One annoyance...I went apple picking and wore the Purple Poncho of Doom, and it's just too damn big. It slides off my shoulders in a most irritating way. Too bad because it's awfully pretty. Now I need a good poncho pattern of something that WON'T fall off of me. (Yeah, I know, I'm a tad behind the fashion times here.)

Tick tock, tick tock...

That is the sound of time passing and no knitting getting done. I've been in a bit of a slump, my mojo's gone missing. I'm sort of not in the mood for any of my projects, and I don't have the time and space at the moment to work on the things I *want* to be working on.

However, that may be changing. I had an Unfortunate Knitting Incident, related to a KKI*. One of my older son's friends thought the scarf I was knitting would make an EXCELLENT flag, and gave it a vigorous wave. Excellent it was, right up to the moment where it flew off the needle (bamboo even!) and unraveled. It's a more complicated cable pattern and I had no idea how many rows raveled. I blame myself for leaving it out at all. My kids are pretty well trained at this point and know (for the most part) not to touch mommy's knitting, and it just wasn't on my radar. Ah well, it's certainly not the first thing I've had to redo, due to a KKI. I was pretty peeved, BUT it's actually turned out to be a good thing. I wasn't completely happy with the pattern, so I had a chance to add just a bit more too it (mainly I wanted it a bit wider). I had only knit two cable repeats, and I've already redone one (after about 6 starts to get it right), and I'm definitely happier with this pattern. So, I wouldn't say I've got my mojo back entirely...perhaps just my mo'?

When I get more done, I'll post some pictures. I realized that I don't post enough pictures of WIPs.


* Kid-Knitting-Interaction

No, I'm not sleeping.

My melatonin has failed me, so I'm still awake. Not a lot to report here. We had a lovely long weekend, but I just wasn't in the mood to knit. I've made some progress on the baby blanket since I just got hooked on Roswell. Since the blanket is simply garter stitch, I don't even really need to look at it to knit. I've also gotten the band done for the flat-top hat, but I need time and space to concentrate on knitting the triangles for the top, which I haven't really had.

I did get beach time and good family time this weekend, which is always a plus!

I know summer doesn't officially end for a couple more weeks, but somehow Labor Day always feels like the end of the summer to me. My older son starts his second year of preschool on Wednesday and turns four (FOUR!) on Friday. Big family weekend and party planned. I need to buckle down and keep working on my CBE stuff. I got somewhat reconnected to it over the summer, and I just need to finish typing up the answers so I can send Module 2 in. It's one that I'm finding not that interesting (mainly about prenatal testing stuff, which I'm not sure we'll even really cover in the class), so it's hard to motivate.

So, oh well, not much knitting going on. I did drop off another set of NICU hats, and that felt good. Socks are all in limbo. I want to swatch up the Lion Suede for my younger son's sweater so I can do the math for that. I've been digging around in my stash and finding yarns and thinking "Oh yeah! I had planned THIS project too!" I should get all that into Ravelry!

Full of updatey goodness!

For some reason I am in a really great mood. It might have something to do with the fact that my kids are off with the babysitter. :)

I've gotten a ton done today, most of it not knitting. I cleaned a bunch. We had a nice play date and lunch with a friend. I remembered that I should give my son a birthday present and found the Right Thing at Target for much less than I had planned to spend. I cast-on a winter hat. Yes, I know, it's 84 degrees F out there, but whatever! It's the Artyarns Hat P51, in the Artyarns Supermerino, colorway 109. You know, while this yarn is so soft and lovely, I am realizing that I don't LOVE the way they variegate (is that a verb?) their yarns. They have sort of a main color and then some very small bits of other colors interspersed (like 2 stitches) and I think I prefer longer...what would the word be? Slower transitions? It's still very pretty, but I think once I knit up what I've got, I'll probably not use their yarns again. There are so many lovely yarns out there, anyway!

I also finished two NICU hats. One was just about done, it just needed two little leaves added. I can't find the yarn that goes with the hat, so now I've got an apple hat with the red body in Samoa, the brown stem in Sugar'n'Cream, and the green leaves in Tahki Cotton Classsic. Somehow I don't think the babies will care. :) I also started a little lemon hat on Sunday and finished it last night, also in Tahki Cotton. I just used standard Ann Norling Fruit Hat Pattern, from memory. This was knit on Knit Picks Options size 4, Magic Loop and is quite cute. I now have several hats to take into the unit (though I may just send them this time). I haven't taken anything in to them in months, so I'm glad to get back into it. I really appreciate the reminder of perspective this knitting gives me. I feel so grateful for my life, and how full and rich and just plain wonderful it is, most of the time. Most of our crap is little stuff, you know? It's good to remember that.

Triple Argh.

I am feeling extremely frustrated, not just with knitting, though that's high on my list. Nothing BIG is wrong, just lots of little things going on. I just frogged the feather and fan sock I was doing. I hadn't gotten too far, but I accidentally pulled my needle out, dropped a ton of stitches and just couldn't recover. Recovery from these kinds of incidents is not something I'm great at and why I'd rank myself much more as an early-intermediate knitter. I was knitting the sock on 2.0 mm needles, and I don't love them. Also, the sock was going to be too small, I think, so I need to go up a size. I have to order some 2.25s from KnitPicks, because the HiyaHiya 2.25s I have are too annoying for Magic Loop. So that's one project down.

Then, I was working on the Boho Feather and Fan scarf last night and somehow put a HUGE pull in the back. This yarn is pretty but I am coming to hate it. It's so slippery that it pulls easily which makes me worry about whatever you make with it being too fragile to wear. I wasn't havin a good night last night anyway, and I almost pulled the whole thing out. I think I'm just going to snip it and knot it and live with the knot in the back, but still, it's frustrating. This yarn and I just Do Not Get Along.

In non-knitting life...we're going away for the weekend AGAIN, which I don't want to do. Well, I do want to see my SIL and I want the boys to be with their cousins, but I am tired of going away. We've been gone a lot this summer, and it's just tiring (and expensive).

Our lovely cat is sick and she doesn't like her new food so I'm worried she's losing even more weight. Which could be the food or it could be cancer. No way to know without putting her through expensive painful procedures, which we're not going to do. "Not knowing" is really hard for me.

I just feel sad and weepy today and knitting isn't helping, which is not usual.

And now with PICTURES!

I haven't posted any pictures in a long time, so here's a few things.
First, here's the doomed Feather and Fan Boho scarf. Isn't it pretty? Too bad it would be far, far too short. I think it'll look okay with one less repeat, right?

Next we have here the felted Booga Bag. Also, IMO, quite pretty! I took it out last night to ladies night at the Melting Pot in Framingham (Oh. My. God. Now THAT was an event!) It got some compliments!


And here are the Purple Felted Slippers of Doom. Not so doom-like now! They are very comfy and cushy, but the sole is waay slippery. I've got to figure out how to make it more grippy or I am going to break an ankle!

And here we have my boys!

Even *more* frustration!

So the Boho and I? Don't get along.

I started a scarf out of the Raspberries, Strawberries colorway, and there's no way I have enough. By my calculations, I'm going to have about a 28" scarf and that just seems a tad short to me. Call me crazy. It doesn't have to be 6' long, but it does need to be longer. The good news is, the Feather and Fan looks really pretty with this yarn, so I think I'll just drop one of the lace repeats (I was doing 3, now I'll do 2) and redo it. This will be about the 10th time I've frogged this particular skein! It does rip out like a dream though...perhaps the designers knew this sort of thing would happen. Could they be that devious?

It's turned into a battle of wills at this point. I survived a lot of stuff, got a PhD, and gave birth twice. I am not going to let some pissant yarn get the best of me!!!!!

In other news...the felted slippers are still drying. Dude, that double sole is THICK. I can't wait to wear them!

Frustration!

Remember my obsession with the Magic Waves Shawl? The one that resulted in my ordered 8 balls of Boho/Boho Colors (in a coordinating colorway that is not my favorite), but the colors on my computer screen lied so what I ordered didn't coordinate so I had to order 4 more, and couldn't return the ones I got so now I have 12 balls of this stuff (and might I add the Boho is $8.85 a ball and the colors is $9.85 a ball which means I have $110.20 worth of this yarn), and the 4 extra balls are totally unknittable (though I may have thought of something to do with them - feather and fan scarf? What do you think?). Anyway, remember all that? So, 8 months later, I am trying to knit the thing. The pattern that Webs gave me was all funky and weird, so I tracked it down on the 'net and was all ready to go...and the pattern is WRONG.

Here is the pattern as written:

Row 1: (RS) Knit
Row 2: Purl
Row 3: k2 tog 3 times, *(yo, k1) 6 times, k2 tog 6 times*, repeat * to * end k2 tog 3 times
Row 4: Knit.

I am knitting the smaller version, with a cast-on of 80. You have a 4-stitch garter edge on each side.

1. When you do the row as written, it just doesn't work. For a cast on of 80, I have the following:
K4 [4 stitches], k2 tog 3 times [6 stitches], *(yo, k1) 6 times, k2 tog 6 times* [18 stitches x 3 repeats = 54 stitch], k2 tog 3 times [6 stitches], k4 [4 stitches] = 74 stitches, with 6 left over

2. It also seems to me, as written, that each time you knit row 3, you're losing 6 stitches, right? From the k2tog 3 times at the beginning and end? The middle section, the yo's compensate to the k2tog, but there are those extra ones at the beginning and end.

As far as I can tell, there's no way to contact the pattern author and ask for the correction! ARGH. I am so frustrated.

Oh, yay for LJ knitters - someone posted that she thinks it's a Feather and Fan, and gave me the corrected pattern for that! So, I can do something that'll look right, anyway.

Just not tonight.

Gigantic Purple Slipper of DOOM!!

I just like that as a description of what I'm working on.

I picked up the Fiber Trends Felted Clog pattern while I was in VT, and some Lamb's Pride, so I cast it on. I finished the first one today, and spent all evening knitting, so the second is almost all done. This is SUCH a clever pattern! It's also definitely a case "trust the pattern, young Skywalker". If you actually do what it says, it works! I was concerned about yarn yardages and cut it closer than I like with my main color. By my rough calculations, I have less than 8 yards left of it. I used two skeins for the soles/cuffs and one skein for the main part of the slipper.

I cannot wait to felt these suckers, as they are hysterically LARGE right now. I will post pictures, just not tonight (yeah yeah, I know).

The one issue is that I realized that these colors absolutely clash with my favorite winter jammes (which, oddly enough, are red). So either I have to make another pair that match, or get new jammies. Hmm, off to google jammie patterns...

Nothing to see here...

No, really. I've been away - not just away from home, but away from computer access, for NINE whole days! I spent a week at my parents' house in rural VT. They do not, needless to say, have high speed internet. I spent the weekend with my ILs, who DO have DSL, but there wasn't a lot of time for blogging. Lots o' life though, which is always good.

I finished my Sockotta sock and it fits quite well. LOVE the afterthought heel. LOVE IT. Have I mentioned that I love it? Yeah, it's like that. Luuuuuuv.

I don't, however, love the way the self-patterning yarn patterned. I am sure my gauge is off a bit (yes, swatch lords, I hear you). That's not going to stop me from knitting another sock exactly like the first one (if I'm lucky) and I know I'll wear them happily but I love other socks I've done more. I'm stalled on the lace sock because it takes more brain power than I've got right now.

While in VT, I picked up the Fiber Trends Felted Clog pattern and some Lamb's Pride Worsted in purple (M56 Clematis) and grey (M76, Misty Blue), and cast on for that tonight. I managed to restrain myself from purchasing yet more KPPPM as I have too much sock yarn already that has to get knit up. Also, it turns out we're sort of poor right now so I need to go on a yarn diet.

That's about all in knitting right now...lots on needles, not much time or focus. Life is pretty grand though. It was really lovely to spend time with my family, to reconnect with some old friends, and spend time in my hometown. I was at my 20th High School reunion. 20 years is almost long enough for the BS to settle, which made it very enjoyable just to chat. The woman who was my closest friend in HS, with whom I'd lost touch, not only is an accomplished knitter now, she OWNS alpacas, SPINS HER OWN YARN, and knits it. I am in awe. Think I could fit a couple alpacas in my 1000 sq. ft, third floor walk-up apartment?

I don't see having the time our space for a few years, but I am longing to learn to spin and dye my own yarn. How cool would that be?

OH WAIT! I completely forgot the coolest thing! I got my Ravelry invite!! (I know, I know, for those of you still waiting, that's so not what you want to hear, right?!?) I got signed up over the weekend, and did some poking around tonight, and it's so neat! I can't wait to really get my stuff loaded in. I don't have time right now, of course, but it's going to happen! AND, because there is more to life than knitting, I also got my LinkedIn profile going (my husband sucked me into that one). I am so connected! :)

Why am I awake?

My body has this super annoying habit of being unable to return to sleep for several hours, if woken up in the middle of the night. I'd say this has happened 7 of the last 10 nights and I am SICK OF IT. But, I thought I'd blog a bit. Whee! Middle of the night blogging! Better than middle of the night angsting, which is what I usually do, right? Right!

My new favorite sock heel is the afterthought heel, and I haven't even done it yet! We'll see how I feel about it once I actually complete it. I am happy with the sock so far because the striping has stayed in pattern. Hey, here's a question - say you knit one sock, and realize that you don't like something about how you designed it (just, hypothetically speaking, say you knit a sock in self-striping yarn and did a short-row heel and now it bugs you that you didn't do an afterthought heel). When you do the second sock, would you change your design? Which would bug you more - having two socks that are out of striping order, or having two socks that don't technically match? I think I need them to be identical, but I'm not sure.

I have started and ripped out the scarf for my friend about 25 times. It turns out, when I have an idea of what I want to do (a cable knit scarf), substituting all sorts of other things (fake cables, twisted stitch patterns, faggot lace) doesn't work for me. I am not sure why I am surprised by this, as this is completely my personality, but hey, there it is. So yeah, after many more design hours than I anticipated, I just picked a fairly complicated cable, and I'm just doing that. I finished the first set of pattern repeats and I'm fairly happy with it. The cable crossings aren't making me want to poke myself in the eye with a shiny stick, so that's good. The yarn is great, it's KnitPicks Swish in Deep Ocean which shows the pattern really nicely. It even withstood being knit and yanked a LOT without too much pilling. I could see this yarn being a nice sub for the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran.

So, I've been having fantasies about dying my own yarn. Shh, don't tell my husband, I think he would be...well, to be honest, he'd be completely amused and supportive because he is the Best Husband Ever, and tends to be supportive, but given the variety of things we have coming up over the next year, I don't think I'm going to have time for this for quite some time.

I also want to learn to spin my own yarn.