Then again--

Oh, the Knitting Gods are laughing now. "No holiday knitting, huh? GUESS AGAIN!" What can I say, I've been thinking of dear old Dad a lot lately, and just had to start on his Steelers socks. I bought six hanks of the Steelers colorway by Claudia Hand Painted, meaning to make a pair each for Dad, Disco & myself. Well, Dad wears size 10.5 shoes, and his socks were gonna take more than two hanks. So last Thursday I carried Disco over to the Haus of Yarn & bought some kettle dyed black fingering Malabrigo--my very first Malabrigo, woo-hoo!--which I'll be using for the heels & toes of all 3 pairs. If I have any left over, I might make either Tiny Baby Bunnies or Hamsterbeans--you seriously need to search Ravelry for Hamsterbeans! Very silly & cute. The Tiny Baby Bunnies are by Anna Hravoc (?sp?), some of her mini-mochi's. Also very cute. Neither of these patterns is actually suitable for small children, but for bigger "kids" they'd be cute to tuck into unexpected spots (the lunchbox, the linen closet--that kind of place; get yer head outta the gutter!). Check the comments on the last post--got a reply from the Thanksgiving Creature-watcher! And I corrected the effects guy's last name...I think. While I was gone from the office, my name was drawn for the October perfect attendance prize--4 free movie tickets!Sounds like I'll be seeing a holiday movie soon.

Back again

8/21/10 Back in the library, to return Pride & Prejudice -- I finished it this morning. All in all, I'd say I enjoyed it. I had the annotated version, and at times the notes got a bit in the way of the story, but they were also very enlightening. I don't know if I'll read another Jane Austen right away, but I will likely read one later.
8/25/10 Amazing how fast a week has gone by! I haven't been back in the stacks or requested any more Jane Austen. I HAVE been checking Crazy Aunt Purl daily, to see if maybe she'd fallen off the face of the earth. Not yet! She posted again (whew! had me scared for a bit!).
In knitting news, I've worn & washed my MocCroc's twice now--and I love them! I'm still plugging away at the F&F stole, but Dolly Blanket #3 has been in an extended time out. I washed DB#2, inside a zippered pillow cover--which it absolutely needed, as there was a mort of multicolored fuzz inside the cover when it came out of the dryer. The pillow cover will be sent with the blankie. Sooner rather than later, I need to start on two KALs I've joined--one for Wendy Johnson's Pi shawl, & one for the OK Mitts. There's a major stash dive in my future.
DiscoDame has run out of money (who didn't see that coming?), so now she's doing the big cleaning jobs around the house as her payment in lieu of rent. This is fine by me, as long as we discuss it first. Yesterday she tackled the inside of the fridge, and it looks great now. Very empty, but nice & cliean!
The Plaidman got thru his cataract surgery #1 ok, and has been back to the opthalmologist since: his distance vision in that eye is now 20-20! Makes me wish I had cataracts, so I could get insurance to pay for surgical vision correction! He's still using many different and terribly expensive eye drops, and will likely continue those for a while after his second surgery. He's been back at work since the Friday after his Tuesday surgery.

Hey, y'all! Watch this! (Part Deux!)

Lookee, lookee! Brand new hand-knit socks! And it only took me 2 years and 3 months to produce these! I am so ready now to cast on another pair. Let's just have one more look, shall we:

Gotta take some pictures!

I'm nearly to the toe shaping on the second Moc Croc Mark II! And I'm working the third column of mitered squares for Dolly Blankie #3. I went to Bliss Yarns on Friday the 16th, and picked up some more solid colors for this blankie. One thing I noticed there -- a whole basket of Noro sock yarn mill ends, most just a few grams. They sure were tempting! I can see me getting about 8 different colorways, and putting them away for my own mitered square throw. But not just yet; I really need to buy less & knit from stash as much as possible. One of the projects that needs some time: unraveling all those thrift store sweaters I bought for the yarn! I should show DiscoDame how to do that, she loves frogging. Right now, all those sweaters are just in a bag behind the dresser in the living room, waiting for attention. Some are cashmere, some merino, etc -- can't wait to see how much yarn I get out of 'em. I've actually worn one that I bought at a yard sale, labelled as lambswool, and a very nice navy cardigan. It was meant to be unravelled for the yarn, but got picked up & worn. Guess I can keep it as is!
***About a week later (7/26/10): I finished the second sock on Saturday; after remembering that the first one was just a little bit short for my foot I added another repeat of the pattern to the foot before starting the toe. Now, I've frogged the first one back to just before the toe, Russian-joined in some more yarn, and I'm almost ready to work the toe (again! 3rd time better be the charm!). I must take some pictures!! And decide what pattern to use for that red Cascade fingering yarn. I'm thinking I could get pretty crazy with texture, since it's a solid color. I'm going to post this without pics, and add another post when I've got something to show!

"Take a style, kid!"

Years ago I heard of an aerialist family, showcasing their newest star -- a teenaged granddaughter of the Pater Familias. She was up on the highwire, no net beneath her, and doing great! She'd made it all the way across, turned and was halfway back when she lost her footing and fell. Her grandfather caught her! He immediately put her on her feet and told her to "take a style": she was to act as if her fall was part of the act, and make a grand fluorishing bow. She did it too. Well, here's mine:

TAA-DAA!! An entire new Moc Croc Soc, Mark II! And the mate's been started, with about 2" of the leg done already. This "first" one, on the Addi 40" with Magic Loop, was done a lot more quickly than the absolute first one, which was done on DPNs. Back then (April 2008! I've taken my sweet time on these!), I wanted to knit socks like the Harlot. I'm so over it now. I think I could actually work two at once on the Addi circs. I have sock yarn, just need to decide on (FREE) pattern(s). I have a gold/green/tan/brown mix, self-striping, that will need a pattern that doesn't get lost in all that color. I have a bright cherry red that needs some texture or lace to make it pop. I have various other self-stiping yarns, which were a bit less expensive (Heart & Sole), but I'd especially like to hear anyone's ideas for the gold/green & red yarns. I've been studying what's available on Ravelry, and my head's about to explode from info overload. So, I've got like 200 sock patterns favorited on Ravelry, loads of photocopies from library books about socks, and of course several books in my own library to consult--whew! I wish I could do a giveaway of some sock yarn for ideas, but folks there's no telling when I'll be able to buy yarn again! So what's in the stash is my "lys" for the time being.
I have another commission, for an earflap cap for a baby/toddler, with a look of a monkey face to it--of course, there's tons of earflap cap patterns out there, and just as a coincidence I happen to have the colors requested in my stash--so when I use them up, & get paid to do so, I'll have a little $ to set aside for future yarny purchases.
Let's just see it once more, shall we?