Rock Your Socks Off Storytime

I did a pajama time family story hour last night at one of the other library branches. I got to pick any theme I wanted, so I chose...SOCKS!!!

It was a LOT of fun. The program included:

New Socks by Bob Shea

Smitten by David Gordon

Where's My Sock by Joyce Dunbar

"Black Socks" (One of my favorite Girl Scout songs.)

An insanely long time dancing around like crazy people to "At the Hop"

And a flannel board that I did for a poem about socks that I found online.

I wore my crazy Sesame Street Socks and let all of the kids take their shoes off.

We even played a game where they had to put things in order from sheep to sock:

A stuffed sheep

Wool Roving

A Skein of Yarn

A partially knitted sock still on the needles

A finished sock

Some moms nearly had apoplectic fits as their children messed with the needles of the sock-in-progress. I quickly reassured them that it had been knit for demo only, and was not an actual project I was working on. (How crazy are they to think that I would actually let 3 year olds unravel an actual sock sock? Silly non-knitters!)

Happy New Year!

I rang in the New Year with all my friends from church. We threw a big party at the house. (And by "we," I really mean "they." With "they" being my foster family.)

I spent the evening doing all the things I love the most:
-Laughing and playing games with my friends. (We played Risk.)
-Getting hugs from the small folk.
-Snacking
-Knitting.

Yes, that is correct. It is quite possible to play Risk while working on a 2 row striped Noro scarf.

Was I mocked? Yes. Did I care? No.

Two last things:

1. It is astonishing to note how quickly people can become acclimated to your knitting in their presence. The guys: Broseph, Matador, and JoNo didn't even blink when I pulled out my needles.

2. Ark crawled into my lap part way through the evening and asked me if I was knitting a sock. Now, I realize that a 16 inch length of striped Noro scarf looks NOTHING like a sock...but every time I babysit Ark and his little brother Fish I bring a sock to work on. (They love watching me try it on, and giggle when my toes peep out the ends.) So, in Ark's little 4 year old mind needles and yarn=socks in progress...no matter what the project looks like!

Second Hat Syndrome

There is a baby board book that I absolutely adore. It is called Urban Babies Wear Black. When I found out that my hairstylist was expecting, I knew I just had to buy it for her. Since I have spent a lot of time knitting in her salon's waiting area, and in her chair, I knew she also needed a hand knit baby gift. Inspired by the book itself, I decided to make a black baby beanie. (Generally speaking, baby knits are pastels or brights...it was actually quite difficult to find nice cushy soft dk yarn in black!)

There was just one hitch...as there always is with my knitting attempts...Hairstylist was having twins! That meant 2 baby hats, because while I could and do expect them to share one copy of the book, I couldn't very well expect them to share one hat!

I will be going home for Christmas, so I made a hair appointment for while I am there. (Hairstylist is the sweetest person in the world, she is actually coming into the shop the day after Christmas just for me! I do not deserve her! Although, granted, I do travel hundreds of miles so that she can still do my hair, so some accommodation can be expected.) I plan on giving her the baby gift then as a part-congratulations-part-Christmas present.

I ordered the book online and it has already been delivered to parents' house. I have even finished one hat. It is adorable. But I just can't seem to get around to finishing the second hat. It is worse than socks. When I knit socks I either use exciting yarn or do a fun stitch pattern. The hat is a plain, and boring, 2x2 rib, and it is solid black. I did cast on the second hat, and I even knit most of it. I am actually all the way to the decreases. I just can't get motivated. I have cast on three scarves and a sock since starting this hat, and I am running out of time.

Here's hoping for motivation or a miracle in which the hat knits itself!

COMPLETED!

My frequent buyer card is, as of 10:23 this morning, full! I now get $25 toward my next purchase! (And there is no minimum purchase amount. If I buy $26 worth of yarn, I only have to contribute $1 and the buyer card!)

Now, what to buy?

Does this mean I can finally give in and buy the hand-painted beaded silk that is over $50 a skein? (Pros: I will stop coveting and drooling every time I walk into the shop. Cons: I will still have to spend over $25 for the one skein which is not large enough to do anything with.)

Should I use it toward finally buying the yarn for the Abotanicity sweater I have been planning? (Pros: The sweater calls for a lot of sock yarn, and this would be a useful savings. Cons: The shop doesn't have enough of any one color way to make the sweater and I am not sure I can use the buyer card on special orders.)

Should I be practical and use it for needles or notions? (Pros: They have gorgeous Lantern Moon needles and Addi Turbos that are pricey. Cons: I already have a zillion needles and don't really need anymore.)

ARGH!!!! TOO MANY DECISIONS!!!!

I think it best if I just think on it for a while. Wouldn't want to do anything rash...the stash is already full of rash decisions!

Blood and Shadows

I really liked the Twilight books by Stephanie Meyer, and I had been looking forward to the release of the Twilight Movie for over a year. I made arrangements to go to see it with B1, Jester, and Pizza at the midnight showing weeks before it came out. And, as I usually do, I spent a lot of time pondering what I would wear. I wanted something appropriately festive...black and/or red. But, at the same time, I did not want anything "costumey" since I don't want to be one of those fans. So, being me, I decided on jeans, a long sleeved black shirt, and...a hand-knit Twilight inspired scarf. The only problem...I did not have a hand-knit Twilight inspired scarf. Still, it was over a month until the movie, which should have been plenty of time for me to make one.

I went to my LYS (Knit This, Purl That) and bought some beautiful variegated red, black, and grey wool yarn. It had some uninspiring name like color #something or other, I lost the ball band so don't remember what it was, or even what brand. I immediately renamed the yarn and the scarf "Blood and Shadows!" But, I didn't want to make just any old scarf, this was for an EVENT. It called for zip, zest, and zeitgeist. Since I have always gotten a lot of compliments on my meandering mohair scarf, I thought I would go with something like that.

After bemoaning the fact that all of my knitting books are in storage, I decided to bite the bullet and do an original design. It was only a scarf...how hard could it be? I had just made a set of coasters for the Sister, and so had mitered squares on the brain. I came up with a design that was a series of interlocked mitered squares, cast on, and merrily began knitting. Now the pattern itself was fairly easy. The only fidgety bits were when I had to cast on at the end of the rows to increase again for the next square.

There was one teensy little issue. My beautiful yarn was sock yarn, and I like really long scarves. It takes me long enough to knit socks, let alone a whole chain of socks. The scarf took forever. It was a black hole of time and effort. No matter how long I sat there and knit, it did not get any longer. Weeks passed and it still was nowhere near finished. (Confession...I worked simultaneously on another project, namely the berets and a sock, and grad school was really work intensive this quarter.) Needless to say, the scarf was NOT finished by the movie.

So, instead of wearing it TO the movie...I knit on it AT the movie. I had many hours of waiting for the film to actually start, first in line and then in the theater. Pizza thought it was hilarious that I was actually knitting, and Jester took a picture.

Once the movie was over, the rush/need/desire to finish Blood and Shadows waned considerably. If it weren't for the fact that I had to stay home from work sick one day, and have been spending a lot of time on the phone (lets hear it for hands-free that lets you chat and knit!), it still might not be done! I did finish it though, and personally think that it is quite lovely. I actually got it done in time to wear it to Berkeley's going away/graduation party. It is one of my favorites, so will not be given away...and it has good memories associated with it (the movie and the party). Not to mention the fact that everytime I wear it I think of Edward and all his wonderful vampire-ness!

Parade of Berets

I have been on a beret binge.

First, I made one for Blondie. She has been so great ever since I moved here, truly like a sister. I told her I would make something for her, and so we went to the yarn shop. We originally planned on a scarf, but she was drawn to some alpaca wool that told her it wanted to be a beret. (She had some scarves already, but no beret.) Sadly, she has been camera shy so far...her's is deep purple and similar to Kirsten Dunst's in Elizabethtown.

Next up was my friend Berkeley, who is finishing her master's degree in engineering. I felt that she needed a congratulatory present...especially since she is 1/3 or my new rock band...but what to get her? While we were at Disneyland a few weeks ago with Blondie and Mama Liszt, she noticed the prevalence of berets. She mentioned that she would love to have one, and I pointed out that I could make that possible as her grad present. When we got back to our neck of the woods, I drove her over to Knit This, Purl That. She was noticeably overwhelmed by the variety and sheer volume of choices. She selected a lovely dk wool in variegated rainbow colors. Very South American/ethnic/Berkeley vibe yarn. So, using a pattern that I had previously used from Knit Cafe, I whipped up a beret for Berkeley.

Finally, Jester. Her birthday party was actually the night Berkeley, Blondie, and I returned from Disneyland. I had TOTALLY not had time to go shopping, the poster I planned on getting her had to be ordered online, and I was flummoxed. Then, I remembered what I was doing for Berkeley, and wrote a note on Jester's birthday card. It promised her a trip to the yarn store, a hat/scarf/or wrist warmers, and coffee. She chose a chunky merino wool blend in shades of magenta and red. She also wanted a beret. I ended up adjusting the Knit Cafe pattern to suit a much larger gauge. (In fact, I had to frog most of it when I was nearly done, and re-knit the whole thing, otherwise Jester would have been channeling Strawberry Shortcake! it was HUGE!!!)

The ironic thing is that I finished Jester's beret before I had had a chance to give Berkeley her's, so they were delivered the same Sunday morning. I ended up wearing my alpaca/silk beret to church that night, so that we could be the Beret Triplets! (Blondie was out of town, or we would have been quadruplets!)

So...Who is next? Anybody else feel the need to beret it up? Or, perhaps a more appropriate way of putting it: Voulez-vous un beret?

Blimey! I Forgot About The Blarney!

So, after posting about the Bremerton Bamboo Stitch Socks, I realized that I never posted about the completed and beautiful Blarney Socks! HOW COULD I HAVE FORGOTTEN THESE GORGEOUS DARLINGS?!?!?

I worked on them during the spring grad school residency...and let me tell you, it is NOT easy to juggle circulars, yarn, and a cable needle on the bus.

I also worked on them while I had laryngitis last spring...thanks to Dad.

I am more proud of this particular pair of socks than any other pair I have ever made. In fact, I think I am more proud of them than I am of anything I have ever knit period!

Part of my pride comes from the fact that I developed the design myself. I took the pattern for the braids from my stitch-a-day calendar. I then infused it into the basic sock pattern that I got out of one of Mom's sock books. (I would give credit to the author, but I honestly don't remember...either Schurch or Bordhi...) So, while it is not an entirely original-from-scratch design, it is an original hybrid! (Kind of like rose breeders who don't try to reinvent the wheel...I cross pollinated!)

Anyway, I finished these before I moved...I think in May. Wish I had posted then. I took the pictures then.