Stuck on Socks

Too Random for a Title

You've come for knitting so let me show you some of that first --

This is the first of what will hopefully be a pair of Circle Socks. (pattern is a free Ravelry download) The yarn is Lime & Violet Mermaid in the colorway Cowboy Up! Love those colors! I got some more L&V yarn at the same time called Suede Elvis. That was a required purchase don't you think? Anyway, this pattern is fun to knit and is going by quickly.

I've also finished the first Blogiversary sock:

The gusset on sock #2 was finished today so those are moving right along. On size 3 needles they ought to! In my Blogiversary post I said these were my fifth pair of Broadripples but I was mistaken - I completely forgot about a pair of pink/purple ones that I actually wear fairly often. So this is pair #6. Isn't that crazy? Evidently I love this pattern.

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I thought about calling this part "Beth goes to the Rock Show" but I'll add a few other music bits at the end in case rocker guys aren't your thing.

Lately, I've been enjoying some YouTube. I mostly peruse the music and I've been finding some concert clips. There's one in my music feature over in the right sidebar. If you want to hear Beyond The Fall's other music, just follow that link on their name to their Myspace and give them a listen. I can't figure out why they don't have a major label deal yet. Sooo talented! Every song on their EP sounds like a hit single. A few pics from the concerts on May 3rd and 6th:

Why yes - this is what front row looks like. :) And yes, I got to meet them. More than once. Jason and Phil remembered my name from one show to another. Does this make me a groupie? And is that a bad thing?

I tend to listen to a single song over and over - my odd version of OCD coming out - and my current song is by Good Charlotte called All Black. That's a YouTube link to a concert in Dublin, Ireland. Funny how as soon as the song starts, cell phones and cameras recording are thrust into the air across the crowd. They're the new lighters, you know.

Here's another I'm loving - Kate Nash singing Foundations on a British TV show. Is she amazing or what?

Hmmm... both of those are actually a bit melancholy in the lyrics but are happy on the surface with catchy melodies.

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I'm anxious for this next weekend to arrive - it's time for a Michigan trip to visit Still Blogless Jackie. This time we'll do fondue for sure. I'm considering taking my spinning wheel up with me. I haven't spun in ages and it might be nice to treat myself to some nice fiber that I've been saving for, well, who knows why we save our extra nice stuff? I miss knitting with handspun - I really enjoyed knitting the 2 pair of socks that I have from my own handspun and it 's time I had another pair. Maybe that will help break me out of my melancholy mood. With the natural disasters of the past week, and the coming cicadas (and my irrational fear of bugs), I sure do need something to make things lighter. Here - I'll leave you with a laugh - check this link - the area where the most are clustered? That's where I live. Go on, laugh it up, you know you wanna.

Hope you're having a great week.

Super Short Post

Thank you Aunt Angie! ______________________________________________________________

And many thanks for all the great blogiversary wishes!

I'm sort of in-between knits at the moment. I'm stalled on everything and searching for a pattern to inspire me. In the meantime, I have lots of non-knitting stuff I may blog. It's almost cicada time again. I've been going to see a cool band. I've got tickets to a different sort of show on Friday. There's a fiber festival on Saturday that I might or might not attend. We're heading to Michigan next weekend. And that's just off the top of my head for May. There's other stuff already planned for June and July. How did I get this busy? And this is without dog sports! Who knew?

Happy Blogiversary to me!

Saturday, May 3rd - that's the official start of my blogging year.

My first post was fairly pathetic and I'm afraid the quality hasn't necessarily improved with 4 years' practice. And frankly, the frequency of posts has dropped dramatically. Definitely the Ravelry effect.

I got the crazy idea while looking back to recreate my first blog photo. This was no small feat... It involved dogs, a cat, and a sock in progress. Well here, I'll just repost it:

L-R Pearl, Louie, Elvis

This was during the Broadripple KAL which was the forerunner of the Six Sox Knitalong. That was my second pair of Broadripples and I've gotta say that pattern has served me well these past few years. I guess I haven't put those first 2 pairs knit in Fixation into Ravelry but I do have 2 others that you can view, the Slytherin Socks and the Austerman Step Socks. That makes my current pair #5.

And oh, you wanna see those?

(insert my regular sermon on the benefits of training your dogs here) Training the cat is another matter. I purposely stopped knitting these at roughly the same point as the first photo specifically to make the pictures match. And I haven't been able to knit on them most of the week - just waiting to get this photo.

Every time I catch Louie napping on the back of the couch, he decides both dogs being near him is too much and he leaves for a less-crowded hideaway.

(Where are you going??? She said to STAY!)

I have several photos like this - proof that patience pays off. And yes, I have ugly, brown floral curtains right there - I cloned them out of the first picture so I cloned them out again.

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I wanted recognize my very first commenters -
Angela (who claimed she'd never have a blog)
Margene (master knitter, spinner & knitblogger)
Bobbie (who doesn't have an email or blog URL attached to that first post and I'm not sure which Bobbie it was!)
Vera (who has superb musical taste and shares my love for pro football)

And a big thank you to all who continue to read on those rare occasions that I actually post. Once there are photos, there will be FOs here. One that may possibly be my all time favorite knitted garment...

Math skills

I was never much for math in school, but I'm ready to DIVIDE!

All the regular "indoors-flash-tryingtoadjustcoloroncomputer" disclaimers apply. It's Cotton Ease in Turquoise, Gathered Pullover from Winter 2007 IK, on a size 8 Addi Turbo.

Natural Habitat

Although the weatherdudes threatened us with rain for today, I boldly took a vacation day anyway. And it was beautiful for a change. Low 70s, a little breeze, some sun - what could be better?

I spent part of the day in the natural habitat of the knitter: the LYS!

My most local store packed up last week and moved to a more promising location. Today was the big reopening and my SnB group was among their first customers at the new place. I celebrated by buying yarn I didn't need. Afterward we had lunch and then Angela and I ventured even farther afield to another LYS (no web site) that we hadn't been to since they'd moved quite some time ago. I'm not particularly thrilled with the first store's move but this other one - wow! What a difference. I'll definitely go back. Here are the spoils:

The Great American Afghan book and some Noro with a coordinating solid because who doesn't love to whip up a felted bag occasionally?

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Mud season continues here in Cincinnati. There are 4 different animal prints in this photo (dog, cat, raccoon, and deer).

And here are the dogs responsible for that part of the above photo:

They know how to enjoy time outside! They're romping in this year's crop of Marsh Marigolds. They seem especially lush this year which I should have expected with all the rain we've had.

Now back to my knitting. How many projects am I allowed to have going again???