two knits of ivory

I have the best sister ever and I know so because this is what I got to open on Christmas morning: Yessireebob, that thar is four (FOUR!) skeins of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that friggin' Rock . Like the ingrate that I can be, I was a bit disappointed in the Downpour colorway. I even blamed BMFA for sending her the wrong colorway. But we have email proof that I myself picked out that dull, rainy day skein. I don't know what I was thinking. When you see the little circle, with all the color strands represented, I kinda, maybe, sorta can see what intrigued me, but with that colorway looking just like the dreary woods outside my dining room window, I'm thinking it may take the red hot heat of summer to kindle any desire to knit with it. I apologized up and down for the poop I was about it. It's in my nature to say exactly how I feel. Though I totally know how awfully rude that is to the gift giver, I just wasn't in control of that all important facility known...

So I did wind up taking Project Stole and La Digitessa to Arizona. But after I had packed Saturday night, I rethought my knitting plan and decided I needed a more portable knitting project for all those stop and go moments that travel throws at you. La Digitessa couldn't fill those boots and neither could all 60 inches of Project Stole. As I sat on the couch that night one skein of the Rhinebeck STR beckoned me, the effervescent Seal Rock . I had been staving off the urge to knit this yarn for a long, long time so it seemed the perfect gift to myself to help face the horror that is contemporary, holiday, economy airline travel. It worked out perfectly. Whenever I needed it, my Seal Rock Socks kept my hands busy and my blood pressure down. It even brought me close to celebrity. As I knit away at Logan Airport Sunday morning, I must have seemed innocuous because the inimitable Terry Francona and family sat right behind me, as it turns out they were taking the same flight. I could...

I do have a pre Christmas FO that I haven't had a chance to post about, my Candy Socks . I brought them out to AZ in the hopes of getting this post out but it didn't happen. All I did manage to do was get pictures of them in that fabulous Arizona sun. I offered them to my sister, but she declined. I like to think it was the colorway she wasn't too fond of, rather than her modesty in accepting another gift. Taken as a whole, all knit up, the colors may not necessarily be the most inviting to an adult, even an adult woman. But knitting with this colorful yarn was satisfying. The constant changing of the colors from the dusky teals melding into scrumptious olive to the bubble gum pinks transforming into burnt orange, I was in color heaven. The one problem I can't seem to master, even knitting toe up, is gauging how much yarn to use per sock. I still have about 28 grams of yarn left over. Yarn Cherry Tree Hill in the Water colorway. 100% superwash merino wool in a ...

Six and a half months and 100 posts later, I am still here. I'm not one to take stock of my life at milestones dates; I have never made, much less contemplated, a New Year's resolution in my life. I've had the kind of life where getting by takes all my effort. I don't have the bandwidth to plan for the future, with the exception of budgeting those all important finances. I've always been okay with that because I've seen a lot worse and I know I've come pretty darn far. I don't wait until New Year's to realize how lucky I am to be where I am in life. I probably have a bit too much pride in how often I do stop to acknowledge the blessings in my life. It's the only thing I have to keep in check my anger at what I have had to face and what I continue to face as an Aspie. But for a person who has never been able to maintain much consistency, I am damn proud that this here is my 100th post. I'm still posting and still knitting and thanks t...

What I was afraid would happen did. I purchased two sets of size US0, US1, and US2 KA circular bamboo needles at Now and Zen Yarns on Long Island this summer. On Thursday night I confirmed two of the three sets are worthless. Worthless. The size 0 and 2's metal connectors snag anything that crosses their path. I've known about the size 2s for a while, but I've never had an occasion to try out the size 0s until last night. I had planned to begin La Digitessa socks on the plane but I had a feeling I'd have to deal with snagging so I decided to cast on the toes before travelling in case I had any problems. This is not something I wanted to deal with at 30,000 feet. My hunch was on the mark. What do people do when they buy defective needles? It's not like I can return them to the store, I wont be down in that area until next summer at the earliest. A helpful booth owner at Rhinebeck implored me to contact the manufacturer directly, but I think I'm too lazy for that...

On Tuesday I succumbed to the cold my husband had been fighting for a week. I'll blame it on my weakened immune system that I totally gave up on the tubular cast off technique for his Xmas Spice socks. After three or four stitches into the tubular cast on I said f- it. I had no interest in learning a new technique. I totally felt like a failure of a knitter. A loser with a capital L. But I ignored this and moved on. So I was not a process knitter on that day. Big whoopee. I still have a lovely pair of socks to give my husband for Christmas. That's definitely the more important point here. If you click to see it larger you can see there is snow fallen on the socks. Snow. Again. For the 3rd time in a week. It was supposed to be a dusting Wednesday into Thursday. Instead it snowed for 24 straight hours I think. I don't know for sure b/c I've been busy in my own world trying to feel better. Which I finally do this morning. It's like a miracle. I'm always so deliriou...

I am one of those people that looks at the clock on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon and thinks woefully "Gee, if I sit down now, I'll only have six hours to knit." Yet, if you put me in a car or on a bus, train, or plane for more than an hour I'm a friggin' Mexican jumping bean. On my own I'm quick to find a couch, but once I'm cooped up with no choice of movement, I'm a ball of nerves. Recent discoveries in technology have changed all that. My hubby bought me a portable DVD player two years back and it's therapeutic benefits are consistent. I can now face being cooped up with aplomb, as long as I'm well stocked with movies. I can look forward to the five or six hour plane ride with thoughts of productivity, not hysteria which is good because in the last few years my Christmas tradition has taken on the form of travelling across the country to see my sister and her family in one of the least Christmassy of locales, the American southwest. It...

The past two weeks have been all about the two pair of Cherry Tree Hill socks I've been working on. I still haven't had the presence of mind to bind off the one sock of Candy I finished over a week ago. I scoured the web and Ravelry for information on tubular casting off and found some conflicting information. I found one source says that it must be in k1p1 rip and scads of bloggers and posters at Ravelry saying they just do it no matter what rib pattern they've knit up. My Candy Socks are k2p1. Oddly enough many Ravellers and bloggers referenced Montse Stanley's The Knitter's Handbook , which so happens to be one of two knitting books I purchased when I began knitting five or so years ago. I rarely ever reference it because I am a visual learner and it's pictures are drawings, rather than photographs. That has always put me off. So here I sit on the tubular cast off bible and I'm still no where near attempting it. In my defense, I have been trying...

At the end of last week I was working on mastering Judy's Magic Cast-On for toe up socks. I still am having some problems with basic math, but the actual knitting part came easily once I remembered it must be done on circular needles. I also kept forgetting that in order to get the final # of stitches I have to cast on an amount that is less than a number that is divisible by four. Even with these two, I wound up fudging the numbers a bit. Aside from some toe fuzzying, I love these two Cherry Tree Hill socks I cast on last week. I haven't knit DK weight socks in a while. They knit up so quickly, they are total morale boosters! That's not to say these haven't been a pain to get right. Saturday morning saw us on the road running errands. Seeing my Candy Socks in the light of day was a bit dispiriting: The blues and ambers were pooling on either side of the sock, and on both the top and the bottom of the sock. I ripped back to the toe and reduced the stitches by ...

I've come to realize this week that I cannot seem to muster the interest in finishing a single project that I love, that is just for me. I don't count the Watermelon Firestarters since I knit these because I loved the pattern, not necessarily as a knit for myself. I have several fantastic projects on needles. First, Blueberry Moon has received nary a glance for almost two months. I just can't commit to the design element. That it's hogging up all my size three circulars hasn't facilitated completion says enough on it's own. Then there is Project Stole . Last this project saw action was as Thanksgiving weekend travel knitting. That was two weeks ago. I could really use this extra warm, ultra luxurious wrap at work. What's in my way here? Then there is my Queen's Forest scarf, which, truth be told, is in hibernation. I only cast on the project to reduce the tension in the yarn cakes. I still feel strongly that all scarf knitting must be chan...

I finished my Watermelon Firestarters last weekend. I have been waiting for the sun to come out so that I could take a decent photo of them. It's so hard getting a decent photo of anything without the sun. And it's not just for photos that I'm craving the sun. December is a dispiriting month because of it's obvious absence. It's no wonder our ancient forefathers put the craziness of Christmas right at the end of the winter equinox. It gets our minds off how blighted things are now that the leaves are gone. It's harder to ignore the grey days when all around us nature is grey too. The garishness of garland and Christmas lights are needed to distract us from how little we see the sun. I'm obsessed with December 23rd, not December 25th. On December 23rd the days finally begin to get longer. My turning 40 years old next week, which has taken front and center of my mind all year, is a blip next to my obsession with December 23rd. Since the end of November arrived...

My Grissom has made his debut on the lolcat website icanhascheeseburger . Can you guess the movie reference? If you want to vote on him, please do !