Stuck on Socks

This just in...

I cast on for a new project using a little bit of the yarn on the left and much, much more of the yarn on the right.

No idea if the project will stick yet, I'll let you in on all the trials and tribulations if it does. You can see that I did finish the baby socks peeking in the top of the photo. Definitely a nice easy knit - go cast on some if you have a baby to knit for this holiday season.

So I'm just home from the eye doctor where I endured the sticky yellow eyedrops and then the pupil dilating eyedrops. I pretty much look wasted right now. What better time for a blog post than when I can't see all the typos I'm making? hehe If nothing else, it's entertaining for me.

You know, if you want to save on energy bills, you could replace all your 100 watt bulbs with 50 watters and walk around with your pupils the size of dimes. My apartment has never been so bright!

Vicki posted a link to the AT&T 'where do you live' thing that lets you combine all the places you frequent. Then you can have them plastered onto various items for purchase. Here's mine:

It's a combo of Milford + Owensville + Cincinnati = Milennati. I couldn't bring myself to put Cincinnati anywhere but the end 'cause you gotta love the 'Nati.

Favorite food of the moment: Clementines! My Kroger has had bags of them that peel like a dream, are seedless and very, very sweet. Pearl is begging for a slice as I type, but I'm not sharing. Because I'm cruel and selfish. I share almost all my food with my pups, but not these. And yes, Pearl would eat it. I know a lot of dogs wouldn't eat citrus but, well, Pearl'll eat anything.

On my way out of Kroger, a young duo were playing Christmas carols on their string instruments and mom watching over them was knitting a sock. (They were collecting for the Salvation Army - probably the fullest I've ever seen the bucket!) I had to stop and see what she was knitting and I immediately showed her that I was wearing handknit socks too. She probably thought I was on drugs - giant pupils, you know.

My spinning class for Sunday was canceled. Not enough people signed up. I'm pretty disappointed but I'm sure I'll recover. Especially since my Spunky Club fiber arrived today. It's very pretty but I didn't think to take a photo yet. And really, I can't tell if anything's in focus or not just now.

So the weekend plans are: play with wool, cuddle with the pups, watch some football. What are you up to this weekend?

Last holiday gift

When it's as long as Elvis, it's done. Right?

Why do you make me pose like this?

Actually, it's knitting very quickly when I make the effort to sit down and work on it.

A couple playful pup shots for Dogs on Thursday. They seem to use their paws a lot while they wrestle with each other.

That's it?

Yes, this is the sum of my holiday knitting:

Well, actually I finished the second Herringbone mitten but I want a nice snowy FO picture for that - not desk at night with flash. And I also knit another set of bumps on the green alligator scarf - also not photogenic after sundown.

But inspired by Alison's bunny hat (scroll down), I knew I had to knit it for my new niece Andie. She'll be 4 months old at Christmastime so I hope this will fit. And there is an adorable pompon on the back for the tail but the picture of it was blurry. I've started the second Pieces of Eight sock - maybe it'll still fit, maybe not.
My black Friday purchases: Woolease with sparkles for this and Simply soft shadows for the earflap hat.

The earflap hat is adorable but I just couldn't see me taking the time to sew a lining for a baby hat knit from Kureyon. I think the Caron Simply Soft Shadows works really well. The pink Cascade will be used for tassels/pompons, embroidery, and edging. It was so easy to knit that if my nephew Alex is even remotely envious, I'll offer to take him to the Evil Empire to buy yarn and I'll knit him one right then. While we're all camped out at my mom's house over Christmas, of course.

I seem to have lost my sock knitting mojo. Again. I'm going to frog the Dublin Bay sock - I needed to use fewer stitches and/or a smaller needle. Plus the yarn was splitty and had a knot that I didn't deal with very well. I'm sure I'll get going on socks again. After the holiday knitting. Maybe with something in more of a sportweight? I think all I'm really working on is the alligator scarf (and finishing this little baby sock). Is that possible? It's not December yet! I'm sure I'm forgetting things.

Thanksgiving

This holiday I'm thankful for my hooligans.

I'm also thankful for being able to knit.
Here's the first mitten of the pair - they're the Herringbone Mittens with Pompons. Slightly smaller pom than on the pattern but I think I like it better. I seem to be unable to take a picture of my own hand without bending it back a bit and creating a bulge at the wrist. It really does fit great. The second mitten looks like this - Which is actually a picture of the first but I just put the thumb stitches on waste yarn and I swear, they look just alike.

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My holiday knitting is all on hold until I get the mittens out of my system. But I put down the purple alligator to start a green one for my nephew. Oh look - winking!

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I managed to pawn the mohair scarf off to Nancy. So that's one less thing to whip up before Christmas. Thanks Nancy!! (waving) So that leaves the Bunny hat from Itty Bitty Hats (not yet started) and maybe the mate to this adorable little sock.

This is Susan's Pieces of Eight baby sock - mitten shot for scale. It was very quick - surely I can get squeeze this into the schedule.

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So how did I manage to go outside to take pictures just as it started to rain? It's pretty on the last of the fall flowers though.

One last picture of the hooligans - a breeze blew by as they were posing and they just had to raise their noses and get a big whiff.

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's...

A bad idea

Too much sinus headache for a Dogs on Thursday post this week. :(

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It was a bad idea when I decided to ply the Spunky Club July Shetland "Celebration" with allergy-inducing mohair. But it was pretty.

It's an even worse idea to start thinking it would be cute knit into a Corrugator scarf for my 14 year-old niece for Christmas. But it's pretty.

I'm not committing to anything here but a little more Benadryl. We all know I don't knit for other people...

Weaver's Guild

On Saturday, my mother came to the big city to visit. I took her to lunch and then to the Weaver's Guild's annual sale, followed by a short hop over to St. Theresa's Textile Trove. I admit that I had an ulterior motive for dragging my mom to the Guild sale (she's a quilter and not really interested in knitting/spinning/weaving). I wanted to check out the possibility of taking a spinning class. Yes, I can spin. But I don't know the difference between woolen and worsted, what sort of draw I use, etc. I need some foundation information. So that's where I'll be on 3 Sundays in December. So if you're in the area and interested, come join the class too!

At the Guild sale I bought one thing - a handwoven dishcloth:

And closer - who says orange, pink, and purple don't go together?

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How about a Finished Object?

Pattern: Koolhaas Hat by Jared Flood
Found in Interweave Knits Holiday issue 2007
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers in orange
Needle: US 7 dpns, US 8, 16" bamboo circ
Time to knit: About a week (off and on)

A few more pictures - don't laugh, it's hard to take pictures of your own head.

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Cinci-area readers: Think about that spinning class! You don't have to own a wheel - you can use one of the guild's (one of my main reasons for taking the class - an opportunity to test drive a few brands). It could be fun... :)

Wow! (aka my longest post ever)

Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes!! It sure takes the sting out of getting older. :)

I've got an assortment of random 'stuff' for you today. First up I think should be some loot that arrived from Karen in New England.

This is Seacoast Handpainted in the perfect colors! Teal, violet, and white to set it all off. And check out the yardage: 560 superwash yards! I can make anything out of this and not worry about running out of yarn. And she didn't forget El, Pearl, & Louie:

I'll admit right up front that I tend to stage my "cute" pictures of the dogs for the blog, but here's evidence that Pearl is a Stinker (yes, with a capital S). As soon as I started to focus, she swooped in to grab the smelly one. Like I wouldn't notice. In the picture, the card and the Bertie Botts beans are for me (I might be a little afraid of eating the jellybeans - there's good ones, but there's also some less-than-good ones...) but everything else is for my babes. Pearl is stealing the Kitty Kaviar. I have no idea what it is, but they all seem to want it and Louie has already sampled it and made a nuisance of himself asking for more. The Kitty Kissers are sliced and dried bits of Calamari. Très exotic! El & Pearl got some Zukes Power bones and Breathies which is duck jerky with mint and parsley for better breath. Pearl sees no reason to actually chew these. We're going to work on that. :)

Thank you Karen!! Everything is perfect!!!

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Time to jump to another Karen. Let's call this one SnB Karen. We tend to browse the knitting magazines at the bookstore during SnB. We've also got our fair share of actual subscriptions. For months and months we've both wanted the Morehouse Merino Alligator scarf kit having seen the ad over and over and over... So for my birthday, that's exactly what she got for me.

Well, yeah, I started it. Duh. LOL The funny part is this...back in October, I started planning ahead for Karen's birthday (November 23rd) and ordered.... the Alligator scarf kit (in green). She has to wait though - fellow SnB bud, Nancy is doing the wrapping. And yes, I had to go ahead and tell. It was too funny to keep to myself! Mine is a little further along now - this is a fun knit!

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Oh - I got some more fabulous yarn in the mail recently....

This is the yarn I chose with my Wooly Wonka gift certificate won in Kathy's comment contest. Anne dyed it especially for me in the Vermont Maples colorway. Oooooohhhh - the oranges and reds are so gorgeous.

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Could I possibly have anything else to show you? Well, yeah - I tend to withhold knits on the blog. I start a LOT of projects and then abandon them pretty quickly when something else catches my eye. All this in the course of a day or two, so no time to get them up here for you to see. But I'll show you this one since it might actually make it in the long run.

More orange - this time it's the Koolhaas hat designed by Jared Flood and found in the Holiday Gift edition of IK. I'm using a partial skein of Cascade 220 and I'm fairly sure I'll have enough yarn. Rows 1 and 5 are fiddly but the rest zoom along. I've got 1.5 repeats done here but no bets on when it'll be finished. I've been distracted by that Alligator scarf after all!

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Dogs on Thursday!!!

In October, Elvis & Pearl's skeleton costumes won them a prize and it arrived last week. There was a baggie of super smelly/yummy (it's all the same to E&P) treats that was quickly devoured and these tennis balls - possibly their favorite toy.

Thank you Auntie Paula!!

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And last -

I work in a small town. Out in the country. The sort of town that might invite jokes from Jeff Foxworthy. Here's an example why:

I'm not overly sensitive and also not overly devout. And yet, I'm a little bit offended by this. Larry the Cable Guy is now officially the equivalent of a rock star out here.

I made...

... Novelty Yarn!

Spunky Club July (?) offering: Shetland Wool in a colorway called Celebration. After seeing Leah's and discussing it with her, I decided I'd try just spinning a single and plying with something black. I was going to use something with more mohair (and then have a severe allergic reaction), but instead spun the wool a little heavier and used Paton's Lacette which has a little more body than something like Kid Seta and also only has 25% mohair. Just for the record, yes, 25% was still too much.

280 yards, pretty chunky weight, Novelty yarn that I can't knit with... Whoooo boy. I'll spin something I can actually use next.

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And remember the Goblin Eyes yarn from just my last post? Can you believe I did something with it already? Introducing the Goblin Hat:

No special pattern, just 2x2 ribbing. I was going to be silly and put a tassel on the end with the last bit of yarn but got carried away and closed the top and wove the ends in before I even made the tassel. But I did make the tassel...

I still like it.
ETA: Wow - in this whole post, the tassel is easily the best picture. It makes it look like I can actually spin some seriously usable yarn! And purple!

Close call

My Goblin Eyes yarn is ready for its close-up:

This is the October Fiber from the Spunky Club. It's Romney which was another new-to-me breed and when club members mentioned how quickly they spun it, I thought: Yeah, right. I normally feel like the world's slowest spinner. But then I sat down on Thursday evening to spin and it just flew onto the bobbins. I plied it Friday when I got home from work, skeined it, washed it, and it dried overnight. Now that's fast! One more shot among the fallen leaves:

On my way to the woods, I happened to see a doe right across the street:

And yes, the street is quite busy. I had to carefully time the picture so it wouldn't include a car zooming by. Then when I was crouching down taking pictures, a big buck came tromping up into the woods from the road.

My camera was still on the macro setting and there's also a good bit of brush in the woods (and I may have been slightly unsteady there...) so I've inserted a helpful arrow for you to see him better. Actual distance from the deer - approx. 20 ft. When I took the picture, the flash might have gone off. Ooops. He whuffed at me, and I grabbed my yarn and ran away like the fraidy-cat that I am. The deer around here aren't afraid of people and I've come close enough times to know they could hurt me. Sometimes running away is the smart thing to do.

BTW - no dogs were present on the photo shoot. Thank heavens.

The 7 facts meme

Vivian tagged me for the 7 facts meme so here you go:

Here are the rules:

1. Link to your tagger, and also post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are TAGGED by leaving a comment on their blog.

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1. I managed to finish my Socktober socks just in the nick of time.

Yarn: Jitterbutt (Jewels colorway)
Pattern: 3x1 rib
Enough yarn? Way more than enough. Why do I worry about that so much???

2. I take my dogs trick or treating:

Actually, I was handing out candy not looking to bring it back. Even though I'm complimented all the time on my dogs' good behavior, I'm mortified on a regular basis at how horrible they are. (yes, I know this is all subjective) But tonight, they were fantastic. (with the brief exception of when the girl in the dog costume with a real rawhide bone tied around her neck leaned over and Pearl took it...) They got to meet and be petted and hugged by so many kids (in costumes no less!) and they loved every minute of it. I'm so thankful to have dogs with such perfect temperaments.

3. Morelli Cupcake or Ranger Babe??? Ranger Babe! Which are you?

4. My favorite food is fried green tomatoes.

5. My fantasy football team (the Touchdown Hounds) is UNDEFEATED!!! Tony Romo, I love you! (more than Britney - she's not right for you, so just move on - she's a distraction - save it for the off-season)

6. I didn't spin at all this past summer - Saturday was the first time in months.

Thrums from Spinderella. I don't remember what she called the colors but there's wool, alpaca, silk, mohair, nylon sparklies, and other stuff in here. Big hunks of other stuff which made this a quick spin since I couldn't be so concerned about keeping things even and smooth. 240 yards - mostly sport weight. Enough mohair to be allergy-inducing but don't worry, this skein already has someone interested in adopting it. BTW - I like this photo. I played a little with my new, little camera's exposure settings and this is a pretty good representation of the colors - inside, with flash, at night. Who knew? (Nikon CoolPix L10 - since someone's bound to ask)

7. My interest to knit St. Brigid has been renewed. The search for the perfect yarn has begun (again). The link is to Vicki's fabulous sweater but since I've been surfing the past few days (and also thanks to Ravelry) I've seen so many other nice ones too. I know that this would be a long-term project. I also know that I'm not good at those. It's a problem.

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I've seen this on quite a few blogs so I'm not tagging but feel free to grab it and run if you need some blog fodder.

Bonus photo:

Very Tired Puppy