Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Well, I didn't make it . . . .

I had hoped to get at least one of my Socktober socks finished before the end of the month, but it was not to be. I'm getting close on Sock #1, but I've continued to have PDA problems, and when that happens I'm absolutely focused until the issue is fixed. I think (knock on wood) everything's back to normal now, so maybe I can finally get these socks done! I spent a lot of time knitting on Sunday and had a very sore hand on Monday, so I need to ease up just a bit.

Yesterday was absolutely beautiful, pretty and warm, but a cold front came in last night, and we're expecting a freeze tonight. I came home from work yesterday and decided to clean up the "garden" and plant my pansies before it got too cold. It's amazing to me that it can take days to get things planted and set up in the spring and no time at all to tear it all down in the fall. I'm glad it's done, though--I'm ready for a garden break, I think.

It was a bit chilly this morning, but Maggie had the right idea:


(She was cuddling with her teddy bear under there.)

Happy Halloween!

Sunday, October 29, 2006

Back on track

I'm finally getting somewhere on my Fall Foliage socks:


Not the prettiest picture, but I realize now that having to frog back and redo the leg was a good thing because I was not knitting the pattern right. This looks a lot better.

And look at this pretty heel:


Participating in Socktoberfest has had several benefits. There have been some great tutorials, including this one on short row heels by misocrafty. This is the first time I've been able to actually pick up wraps and not have holes. Isn't it pretty?

Maggie, however, is not impressed:

Saturday, October 28, 2006

Saturday Sky--I got nothin' else

Saturday, October 28, around 9 am CDST:


The trees are slowly starting to change. Yesterday was really, really cold and gray, with winds upwards of 30 mph. It would have been a great day to stay at home and snug in, but that was not to be. Today's beautiful--sunny, no wind at all and 73 degrees at 430 pm.

I haven't accomplished much since this morning. Missy had a small Pampered Chef brunch earlier today, so I was over there until a little after noon. I ran a few errands, including finally stopping for some pansies and mums, and got back here around 2. Right now I should be out cleaning up dead plants and planting flowers while the weather's pretty, but I just don't have the desire or the energy--much like the rest of the week has been.

I have no Socktober sock to show. I had to rip the heel out a second time because something just didn't work right, and I've not touched it since last weekend. I think that's where I'm headed right now--to the couch to knit for a while.

Maybe I can get one sock finished before the end of the month.

Monday, October 23, 2006

Here's a better photo

of the FO yarn from yesterday:


How many times have I done this now, and I have yet to get it through my thick head that the yarn doesn't look as good on the bobbin as it does when it's finished? I'm always amazed at how much more "yarn like" it looks after it's been washed and dried.

Yes, I know, yarn IS yarn, so it would not only LOOK yarn like but BE yarn like, but you know what I'm saying, right?

I'm actually kinda obsessed with this skein--it's so much prettier than I thought it would be. I have more fiber from the same eBay vendor, and I'm hoping they'll be as nice as this. The spinning actually turned out pretty good; there's a couple of bad spots, but nothing I can't work around. Total yardage from 4 ounces is about 432 yards of close-to sock weight. Not too shabby at all!

Keep your fingers crossed--my main boss is supposed to be leaving town tomorrow on business until Friday. Every time we get a trip like this scheduled, it gets cancelled at the last minute, and I really need him to be gone for a couple of days--I have a lot of filing to catch up on, and I can't do it when he's in the office.

I still haven't cleaned up the "garden" and put out the pansies and mums. I meant to do it last weekend, but it got so cold that I'm glad I didn't have any hard and fast plans. Maybe this weekend.

Yesterday's internet problems continued with my Palm until this morning. While I was in the shower I realized how I might be able to reset the wifi radio and get around restoring its settings, but I didn't have time to try it before I left for work. Being truly obsessive about this damn piece of machinery, I couldn't wait until tonight to try it, so after I got to work I wiped out all the data on the Palm, established that the wifi was working correctly, and then restored everything except the wifi settings from the last SD card backup that worked correctly on Saturday, and voila! It's working like a charm. Crisis averted. This is why it's important to back your Palm up regularly. (My "Palm buddies" are sick of hearing me say this.)

And that's the end of the "Advice from the Geek" for today. This Geek is now retiring to the couch to work on her sock. See ya!

Things I have done and HOPE to do

I found this on Ann's blog and wondered how I'd score. I have to say, I'm surprised.

Bold is what I've done and italics signify what I'd like to do:

1. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
2. Swam with dolphins
3. Climbed a mountain
4. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
5. Been inside the Great Pyramid
6. Held a tarantula
7. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
8. Said "I love you" and meant it
9. Hugged a tree

10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa (I was there but the Tower was closed—bummer!)
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables

18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars

20. Changed a baby's diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon

22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne (too many times to count)
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking

37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was shit faced (god, yes, more than I want to think about)
42. Had amazing friends (still do!)
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip (I used to be the by-myself road-trip queen--haven't done that in a while)
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love (nah, you don't really want to know)
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain (I used to imitate Gene Kelly in "Singing in the Rain")
65. Gone to a drive-in theater (the one I went to growing up is still there and open every summer)
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business (I taught piano in high school, I guess that's a business)
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie ("Fast Charlie, Moonbeam Rider," 1979--I was an extra)
74. Crashed a Party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice (I was there—does that count?)
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an expert
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage (back in my younger days . . . .)
85. Been to Las Vegas (I wanted to go during the Rat Pack days)
86. Recorded music (again, back in the day . . . .)
87. Eaten shark
88. Eaten fugu (pufferfish)
89. Had a one-night stand
90. Gone to Thailand
91. Bought a house
92. Been in a combat zone
93. Buried one/both of your parents
94. Been on a cruise ship
95. Spoken more than one language fluently
96. Performed in Rocky Horror Picture Show (sorta--I was a stagehand and sang backstage--it does too count!)
97. Raised children
98. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge

102. Sang loudly in the car and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking--still felt like an idiot, though.
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn't have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication (I used to edit articles for medical journals, and believe me, sometimes there was more writing than editing)
106. Lost over 100 pounds--maybe someday . . . .
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane--only for a minute or two!
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone's heart
111.Ridden a bike
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone--my right little toe; don't ask how.
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had surgery (knee arthroscopy, gall bladder, thyroidectomy, a bone taken out of my little toe)
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours--5 college finals in two days--what else?
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents

125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper (I grew up in a small town--this was pretty common, although I did make the cover of the entertainment section of the "Edmond Sun" once. Not that that's a MAJOR publication.)

129. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad and The Odyssey
135. Selected one important author who you missed in school and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions--most definitely!
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream (someday . . . .)
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair--who doesn't?
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone's life

And I'll add a couple of other things I've done:

151. Shook hands with the President of the United States

152. Sang at the Metropolitan Opera (not during a performance, but still . . . .), Notre-Dame in Paris, and St. Patrick's in NYC

153. Been to the Sistine Chapel

154. Met Maria VonTrapp

155. Had to be carried down the Olympic ski jump in Insbruck, Austria, because the air was to thin for me to breathe.

156. Had a designer teddy bear named after me--it wore the clothes I designed. (She had a boy bear friend named Randall--they were too cute!)

The later years are a little sparse, but it's not too bad. Makes you think, I guess.

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Say goodbye to summer

Yesterday morning's pretty Saturday Sky turned into cold, overcast, and windy in the afternoon. I went out about 930 last night and picked the last of the tomatoes before going to bed:


I couldn't stand to leave them outside in the cold, and we're under a freeze warning tonight. That's not all that came in:


I'm hoping to keep some of my herbs alive for a while. There's rosemary, lavender, dill, and thyme here. Unfortunately my oregano has already bit the dust. Now I just have to find some place to put them out of the way.

And praise (insert your own specific deity here), I FINALLY finished plying the merino/silk blend:


I tried to make this look pretty, but I was too tired to care.

I think I'm going to tear out the little woven coin purse I started at retreat last week and use this yarn instead--it's so pretty, I think it would look really nice.

Man, I need to work on my spinning mojo--I am out of shape. I thought my left arm was gonna fall off, it hurt so bad. Then I bent over to my lazy kate and had a cramp in my midsection that took my breath away. I need to spin more, obviously.

My internet connection was down for several hours this afternoon. Somehow it lost the IP address--I have no idea why. I only realized it when my Palm started crashing every time I tried to open a problem, and that was without having the wifi connected. That was totally weird. After unplugging rebooting, I finally got it working again, but I was about to tear my hair out. You don't mess with my internet connection!

I picked up the Halloween/Fall quilt to work on tonight, but I was having trouble seeing the stitches, so I had to put it aside. Maybe tomorrow night under a better light.

It's hell getting old . . . .

Saturday, October 21, 2006

A very special wish

Most of us are lucky to have people in our lives who care about us, family and friends that we can enjoy during the good times and lean on during the bad. I'm an only child, and most of my family and several of my close friends are gone, so these relationships are very important to me. But I have one friend who I truly think of as "my sister."

I met Missy a little over four years ago when I started my last job. She had just come back from maternity leave, having had her first child, the one we lovingly call the "Crackhead." :<) I quickly learned that she was sharp as a tack, truly appreciative of a good joke, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, and strong as iron. It wasn't long before we had become good friends. She was always willing to answer my questions and listen to me gritch and scream about anything and everything.

At some point after that, I don't remember when, she asked me to teach her to knit. Now, I'm not really a knitter (I just play one on the internets), and I was a little hesitant. But we gave it a shot, and she persisted until she figured it out.

And those two needles and that yarn have bound us together ever since.

Missy's the friend I wish I'd had as a kid. It's so easy to talk with her about anything and everything, and we enjoy so many of the same things that we always have a good time together. She's the one who prodded and nagged me to start a blog. She and her husband have welcomed me into their home and allowed me to experience the joy (and frustrations) of raising two wonderful children. You may remember that I was at the hospital when baby Kelsey was born in April, and it was one of the best nights of my life. And even though we call Braden "Crackhead," I love it when he calls me his "aunt."

I left that job almost a year ago, but we are still very much in each others' lives, almost as if we were still sitting ten feet from each other five days a week.

She is my fiber sister and totally understands and looks the other way when I spend way too much at the LYS. She's the one I call to gripe at when something goes wrong, the one I talk to about movies and politics, food, who's cute, who's mean, who's funny, and who sucks. She understands that it's "normal" (at least in my world) to obsess over a knitting pattern, stay up way too late watching movies, or want to spend the day going on a "wine crawl" to every liquor store in town when she's 8-1/2 months pregnant (her, not me--just making that perfectly clear).

She's practical and crazy, protective, supporting, and loving, and absolutely, TOTALLY wonderful, and I'm so grateful that she's chosen me as her friend.

So please go over to Blue Candy today and wish Missy a happy birthday.

And Missy, thank you for being the sister I always wanted and finally got.

Love, me

FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Saturday Sky and a slight "oops"

Saturday, October 21, 2006, around 9 am CDST:


The days are pretty right now, cool in the mornings and comfortably warm in the afternoon, low to mid 70s. Why can't the weather be like this all the time? Although I'd like a few more cool, cloudy, damp days, to be sure.

The Socktober socks are coming along, and they're quite pretty. I like the stipeyness going on here:


I've decided to use Wendy's Spirit-Trail Sock pattern for this pair, and I'm well on the way to getting this one finished pretty quickly. But last night I decided to try it on, and there's a problem.

I always make my sock feet 7-1/2 inches in length. I know I measured these, but when I tried them on last night, they're too long--not much, but still. I think it's a gauge problem--I didn't measure, but these look to be knitted a little looser than the last pair I made, and I'm using the same yarn, same needles, and same cast-on number. Comparing them shows that the foot is way longer than it should be.

What the heck was I thinking? This is further proof that there are times when I have no idea what I'm doing.

Luckily, I'm not that far along on the leg, so I plan to frog back past the heel to get to the correct length, and then start over. Oh well . . . .

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Last day of vacation . . .

and to say I'm sad is an understatement. Why didn't I take the rest of the week off? Oh, yeah, I was afraid my boss would stroke out. I feel lucky to have been able to take four days. (And for those of you who think this job is as bad as the last one--it's not. I have a much better chance of getting a day off now and then than I ever did before.) While I'm sure Thursday and Friday will be quite the catch-up time, at least it's only two days until the weekend. That won't be so bad (hopefully).

I'm happy that Mother Nature took pity on me today and gave me a nice, cool, overcast day instead of bright and sunny. I'm tired of bright and sunny.

While I haven't gotten anywhere near done the things I wanted to accomplish, the best thing is that I've been able to step back from everything and focus on what I wanted to do and not on work or anything else. Why can't we do that more often?

Socktober is moving along quite nicely:


Some day I'll figure out how to take a more accurately colored photo. The sock is actually much darker and not as red, and it looks almost velvety because of the little spots of dark purple in this yarn.

You know, I'm finding that it really doesn't take that long for me to make a sock (at least not the kind of socks that I knit). If I'd just take a little bit of time every day, I could turn out a lot more finished pairs that I have been. I need to do better about that, because when I said before that I had enough yarn to make maybe 20 pairs of socks? Yeah, I was way off--it's more like at least 40 pair. Believe me, that made me do a double take. I swear, the stuff reproduces on its own.

Since this is my last day of freedom, I'm gonna go play in my fiber room. I'm still slowly getting stuff put away back there, and I'm amazed at how much I've accumulated in such a short amount of time. At least if I can get it organized, I'll surely be more aware of what I have and what I DON'T need to buy. Right?

Yeah, I don't really think so either.

Monday, October 16, 2006

Socktober score: 1 pair complete!


Wendy's Fan and Feather Sock pattern (toe up) with Size 2 needles
Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Potluck yarn, "Blues/Purples"
Started September 3, 2006
Finished October 15, 2006

Okay, so I started them last month, but I'm counting them anyway. This was a pretty fast finish for me, and I'm hoping I can continue the mojo with the next pair.

I love, love, love this pattern--in fact, I think my next pair will be made the same way:


More Cherry Tree Hill Supersock, this time in the colorway "Fall Foliage." How can I go wrong with a name like that during Socktober?

More yummy goodness--I bought this from Emmalita at the retreat this weekend. I was so taken by the color and the texture that I forgot to ask what it is:



It still has some lanolin in it and this is the first time I've spun something that wasn't processed, and I'm enjoying it. It's definitely different than using roving or sliver, and it takes a bit more concentration, but it's really nice.

Unfortunately, I have to put aside the fun stuff for a while and go clean house--the bug guy's coming tomorrow. At least I still have a couple of days to enjoy before going back to work.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

More photos from this weekend

Elabeth has posted some photos on Flickr.

Okiefiber pool

Saturday, October 14, 2006

Well, I'm home . . .

absolutely exhausted and totally exhilarated at the same time.

What a wonderful weekend! I want to thank everyone who worked so hard to put the OkieFiber Retreat together--Leava, Emmelita, Gwen, Kati, and all the others whose names I am forgetting. We had close to 50 people, and many were from Texas-we're so glad you could come! I can't tell you how much fun we had--if only we could do this every weekend (with someone else doing the setup, teardown, cooking, and cleaning, right?).

I have lots of pictures (apologies to those on dialup, but I have to share). This morning I took Leava's "playing with silk" class. We played with hankies and tussah, but I have to tell you, in my case, the hanky lost big time--it got a little burnt in the microwave! Here are some of the nicer results, all dyed with Kool-Aid:


This is mine:


It doesn't look like much right now, but once it's dry and it gets drafted a bit, it will be really pretty.

As usual, I didn't get many pictures during the classes, but after lunch and before the last classes, we had a show and tell, and here's some of the great stuff people brought (again, my apologies--I'm horrible with names):

Marlene and her needle-felted hat:


Jeff had an absolutely gorgeous sweater than he designed himself, but of course, I didn't get a photo of that. I did get this, though:


Handspun knitted fingerless gloves:


Kati's shrug, her own design, using handspun:


This isn't a good photo, but that sweater's Kati's holding--handspun cashmere--wow!


Deux Clapotay:



This shawl was planned down to the inch--550 yards, there was less than a yard left:


Jessica showed off her hand-finished wheel:


We had several vendors, and of course I had to buy something from everyone:



Peggy showed us a how to use a sock-knitting machine--I watched her make a sock with a short-row heel and toe in like 10 minutes--honest!


At the end of the day I got one more chance to do some dyeing. Jessica opened the kitchen up after her last class, and I jumped in with the pound of superwash that I've been carting around for over a year. I'm calling these "10-Minute Dyeing, Inspired by the Twisted Sisters:"



Closeups:



I basically threw the fiber into a bucket, squished it down, pulled it out and squeezed out the water, put it in a pan, picked up as many bottles of dye as I could find, and started squirting. I wanted that haphazard look, and I definitely succeeded. Then I threw them in the microwave for four minutes, let them rest for a little, put them back in for a couple of minutes, and then rinsed. The Twisted Sisters book has some roving that has been spot dyed, and this was my version. I can't wait to see how it will spin up. After this weekend, I definitely have the dyeing part done for the Twisted Knitters-along!

Thanks again to everyone for such a great time. Now I have to go find a place to put all this new fiber!

Oh, and here's my Saturday Sky, shot one handed as I drove down Route 66 toward Yukon on my way home:


Get your kicks on Route 66 . . . .

Friday, October 13, 2006

I had SUCH a great day!

I'm back from El Reno and the first day of the OkieFiber Retreat. What a great day--beautiful weather, a lovely drive (even if I did take the wrong highway out of town--no big thing), and we got to play with fiber and dye--how could it have gone wrong!

I don't have a lot of pictures of our dyeing class, because my hands were busy (obviously), but here's what I did take:


There were six people in my class, and our teacher was Jessica Eastin, who owns Yarnitopia! in Henryetta, Oklahoma (that's Jessica in the tie-dye shirt). We used Jacquard dyes and had a great space to work in.

Jessica uses plastic chip and dip bowls for dyeing. This was after we prepped our fiber:


After this, it all got a little hazy. We had to pick colors, and we must have had almost 50 different shades to choose from. This was HARD. But I finally pulled a few and hoped for the best. We each had 8 ounces of fiber and/or yarn, so we could try two different combinations of colors. Here are the results:




This isn't the best picture, but aren't these gorgeous? The primary-colored yarn on the corners looks like a Mexican serape to me.

Here's how my dyeing came out (excuse the bathroom shots--everything's still drying):





Jessica helped me mix the dye for the pink, green, and dark red roving and yarn. She had some of this sitting in her booth, and I really like the colors (again with the pink!). The yarn on the left--I'm calling that "Odds and Ends." We had a lot of dye left, and I had this yarn, and I hated the idea of throwing all that dye away, so a couple of us went after it with about 12 different colors, and that was the result. I really like it--it's kinda autumnal, with a hint of left-over summer as well.

Tomorrow morning we 're dyeing silk with Kool-Aid. In the afternoon I'm taking a class to weave a coin purse. I thought it would be a good time to try it out and see if I like it or not.

More later. I'm going to go see if I can figure out how to become a professional dyer . . . .

Thursday, October 12, 2006

I'm FRRREEEEEEEEEE!

Until next Thursday, that is--yippeeeee!!

Tomorrow afternoon and Saturday is the OkieFiber Retreat, and I have a dozen things to do tonight and tomorrow morning before I can head to the big town of El Reno for some fiberly fun.

For some STUPID reason, last night I thought I'd ply the merino/silk blend that's been sitting on my bobbins for a couple of weeks now.

BIG MISTAKE--it's taking me forever, and some of it's breaking like crazy because it's been sitting too long. I may have to take the whole damn thing apart and put it aside and just take my two remaining bobbins with me for the weekend. What the hell was I thinking?

However, I shall perservere. I'm only taking one class that might have a slight bit of spinning in it, so I surely shouldn't have too much need for a lot of bobbins.

Now, I'm off. I still need to eat dinner, and I have to get all my crap together and a list made of all the things I need to do in the morning.

Oh, and at some point I'll explain how my mailman has pissed me off, but I'll save that for later. Why spoil all the fun?

Sunday, October 08, 2006

How time flies when you're having fun

I can't believe it--I went into my sewing room to work for a while, and the next thing I know it's almost 7 pm! I've got to get a clock for that room or I'll be in there forever. But look what I did today:


Here's a closeup:

Yeah, it's not perfect--one cat's bigger than the other, but I think it looks "primitive." So how I'm going to do a little bit of quilting on it and bind it, and I'll have a Halloween quilt. Woo-hoo!

But now I gotta go eat--I'm starving!

It's Socktober!


Lolly has posted some questions for the SocktoberFest participants, so here are my answers:

When did you start making socks? Did you teach yourself or were you taught by a friend or relative, or in a class?

I started my first socks in September 2002. I really didn't know how to knit, other than having made a teddy bear sweater and maybe a scarf years before. I was looking for something to take my mind off work so that I didn't stress out over the Labor Day weekend that year (my first really big civic event for work was the next week and I was freaking out). I'm basically self-taught, although my grandmother had showed me how to knit and purl when I was a kid (she didn't knit, either).

What was your first pair? How have they "held up" over time?

My first pair was a pattern from a Leisure Arts booklet, and I used Lion Brand Woolease (I didn't know anything about really good sock yarn then) and size 3 metal needles, I think. I don't wear them much, mostly around the house, but they do fit pretty good. They've pilled quite a bit, but I'm still really proud of them.

What would you have done differently?

I don't think I would have done anything differently. I didn't know that socks were supposed to be "hard" to knit and that using multiple needles was "difficult." I think if someone had told me that, I wouldn't have even tried, since I wasn't a knitter.

What yarns have you particularly enjoyed?

I love Cherry Tree Hill and Koigu (of course), and Bearfoot yarn (the socks that I started earlier this year and had to frog because they were too small) is really nice. I have stash yarn from Socks That Rock, Sunshine Yarns, Interlacement Yarns, Lorna's Laces, and others that I'm planning on trying soon. I love the self-striping yarns, but I've found that it takes some concentration when you're using some of them because gauge can make a difference in how the patterning falls.

Do you like to crochet your socks? Or knit them on DPNs, 2 circulars, or using the Magic Loop method?

I'm strictly a DPN kind of girl. I attempted the Magic Loop method, but because I knit "weird" (totally different than anybody else I've ever seen--I'm left handed and basically knit "backwards"), I didn't get very far with that method. I'm intrigued by the double-sock method in the new Knitty, however, and I'm tempted to try that, but I really like my dpns. Stick with what works for you, that's what I say.

Which kind of heel do you prefer? Flap or short-row?

Since my favorite sock is a toe-up version, it's short row for me. I like the way the flap version looks, but I hate picking up all those extra stitches and doing the decreases. I have trouble remembering where I am.

How many pairs have you made?

Eight pairs, I think.

Wow, that's depressing, since I have enough yarn for at least 20 more pairs.

MUST MAKE MORE SOCKS!!

Saturday, October 07, 2006

Saturday Sky and a tummy ache

Saturday, October 7, 1115 am CDST:


Not very exciting, but it's 64 degrees at almost noon--can't complain about that.

I seem to have been battling some kind of little stomach bug for the last few days. A couple of the bosses have been sick all week, and of course they had to come to work to spread the joy, but I feel nowhere near as bad as they have. This is mostly an upset stomach and a headache. This means that today I'm torn as to whether I want to take a nap or actually do something constructive. I have a lot of things I both need and want to accomplish this week, especially gathering everything together that I'll need for next week's FiberOkie retreat. So I'm thinking maybe a short nap and then something constructive.

I'll leave you with a more exciting morning sky shot, taken as I pulled out of the driveway Wednesday morning to go to work:


Pretty, huh?