Starting yet another sock....

Taking it Easy

I have been relaxing this week readers, I have been knitting quite a bit but still do not have a lot to show you. I finished the second sock out of the Knit Picks dancing yarn.




I am not very excited about that though, glad to be done with it. I went to Unravelled, a knitting shop in Vancouver Washington, which is close to where I live in North Portland and found a ball of Opal Sock yarn in the most amazing colorway.It is inspired by a painting by a German artist, Hundertwasser, I think. I love it, you can see a close up of what I have knit so far on my photo page. I did not check gauge and recklessly cast on for a sock. It is too small and is going to be a glove which is fine as I need some and I think it will be very fun.
I also started some socks for my grandma today as she did not receive any for Christmas.

Eye Candy Friday

Sunset from my house in Joseph, Oregon

Second Sock Syndrome

Here are my glorious most recent single socks, two out of three have a mate casted on and one of these is past the heel. Can you guess which one that is?

Almost Done

I finished this sock on Sunday, will post a less blurry photo soon.

Eye Candy Friday

This is my 9 month old American Staffordshire Terrier, Pedro. He is even cuter in real life and very difficult to keep still long enough to photograph!

Quick Lace Scarf

So here is the quick lace scarf I made this weekend for Megan. It is a vine lace stitch from Barbara Walkers Treasury of knit stitches, volume 1, in Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk Aran, knit with US 10 1/2 needles. I was concerned that it might be too pedestrian but was very happy with the results once it was blocked, I wish you could touch and feel it. Being fellow fiber fetishists I think you can imagine the luxury of it.

Remember to Knit for Yourself

I finished the socks for my mom, whipped out a huge lace scarf for my friend Megan and made mini mittens to adorn other packages all weekend. I am tired, not of knitting but of knitting the particular projects I chose as Christmas gifts. I am pretty good at completing projects but I resent time constraints and the inability to go off on a creative tangent. I am reminded today of something my friend Kim said to me once about knitting, she said; "only knit for yourself". I thought at the time that this was very antithetic to the spirit of knitting, putting love and time into making usable gifts for friends and loved ones. Today though I resumed a pair of socks for myself that I started many moons ago and it felt very good to be knitting something just for me.

Christmas Knitting Be Damned

Here it is, the second sock for mom. I have passed the heel and finished the gusset. I looked in my bag just now to find the first sock to photograph them side by side but it wasn't there. Let's hope it is at home!

Modernization

Most of the time being an adult is a drag; working , paying bills, acting like a grown up or some approximation thereof. I feel like a kid today because I bought myself a laptop for Christmas and gave it to myself a month early. I mean really, am I seriously going to leave it in the box for a month? I don't think so. It's not like Santa put it on his credit card.
So, I am writing this post from a cafe in North Portland, wirelessly. The novelty of this technology is amazing to me. I love that the whole world has become so accessible and interconnected.
I have my knitting with me, the second sock for mom and the lace sock I started because I just have so much great Socks that Rock yarn in my stash crying out to be knit up into fun and interesting new sock patterns. The second sock for mom is on the needles and about 2 inches long though so all is right with my Christmas knitting schedule.
Morgan and I spent Thanksgiving with friends in Olympia which was really lovely and I had the opportunity to meet their friend Hillary who is an accomplished knitter and who inspired me to knit a sweater for myself finally. I bought the pattern and yarn today online and will start when my Christmas knitting is completed. A little incentive to get through some projects that haven't worked out quite how I had dreamed but still will be great if and when I complete them.

All the Trimmings

A Wonderful Celebratory Saturday

Today is such a wonderful day! I am blocking lace and my husband was accepted to nursing school! Whew, this is such a serious weight off my shoulders folks, I can hardly believe it is true.

My husband has an undergraduate degree in Psychology which proves useful for playfully manipulating loved ones but not much else. He decided a year and a half ago that he would go back to school to be a nurse. He diligently took all of his science pre-requisites and was a model student in every way, only to apply and be rejected (one wait list...just to keep his hopes up) by every nursing program in the Portland area. So he got a job, phlebotomizing (yeah, I know?) at a plasma donation center (yeah, I know..) and re-applied. Our future has thus been up in the air for close to two years now...until yesterday when I came home from work to see a large manila envelope sticking out of our mail box. I saw that it was from a school and tore it open, probably shouldn't open others mail I know but I just couldn't help myself. This has been such a journey for us I almost feel like I was accepted! I popped open the bottle of pink bubbly that has been chilling in our fridge in preparation for this moment and met Morgan at the door with the letter.
Ah....once again can I tell you how relieved I am.....aah Thank Goddess!
Yes, the knitting you see here is a lace scarf in this amazing cashmere purchased at the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival, produced by Still Waters Cashmere in Twisp Washington. I am also blocking yet another baby hat which I finished this morning for my dear friends John and Christina who have a baby due on Christmas Day.

Lace Baby Hat

This photo is kind of blurry but it is a lace baby hat that I knit last weekend and I wanted to show it off because I made the pattern up myself. I searched all over the Internet for a lace baby hat pattern and all I could find were bonnets, so I bought yet another volume of the Harmony Stitch books and experimented. It also came out the appropriate size the first time which amazed me. I am not very good about doing gauge swatches especially since I often start knitting without knowing exactly what it is that I am trying to knit.

Baby Acorn Squash

So, after knitting the aforementioned baby hats to keep my mind off more pressing knitting deadlines I asked my husband to photograph the hats. These gems were the result!

Cables for Cody

This is the Basic Cables Hat from SNB but I have added two more cables and an extra pattern repeat. I find that the hat turns out too small in most yarns otherwise. I have made this hat over and over, it is good for men and boys and very quick to knit up. It also holds it's shape well. This one was for my brother in-law Cody for his birthday. I made it in Oakland Raiders colors at the request of my husband. He enables my knitting so you know...gotta give back a little.

Felted Bags

Last winter when I was teaching myself to knit again, I went through a felted bag craze. It was a good way to get back into knitting and make sure my gauge was even. I don't even want to think about doing this much stockinette knitting now.

I Love Socks...but

I absolutely love knitting socks. The first thing I knit was a pair and they were the most hideous, worsted weight, fuzzy, fit for Yeti creations ever but I recall being very proud of them nonetheless. I think it is because they are so utilitarian. You can never have too many pairs of hand knit socks, especially if you commute by foot and bus in rainy Portland.

I also love to knit in public, am very shameless about it actually to the horror of my signifigant other. The result of knitting all these beautiful socks on tiny needles in public is everyone asking for a pair for Christmas. I never thought I would say it but I am starting to feel nauseous when I take those single socks that still need mates out of my knitting chest.

I have turned to hats and most recently baby hats, scads and scads of them. I'm in denial, I know it. I do have pregnant friends but only one is due before Christmas.