Tuesday, February 27, 2007

a match made in heaven

Nothing makes your day like a FO.



It's a sunny day, there's the sense that spring may one day come, and I have a new pair of socks. No second sock syndrome here!!!

These ones fit much better than the first pair, more details here if you're interested. Fraternal twins, but I never made any effort at matching the stripes. I'm just not that kind of girl.

Thanks for all your concerned comments about my car accident. My back has been pretty sore, but mostly it's just a big hassle to deal with an insurance claim, estimates, repair shops... and so on. Perfect addition to an already busy life.

Now... more socks. Must knit more socks. I have caught the sock bug (as evidenced by the purchase of Sensational Knitted Socks AND Knitting Vintage Socks in the same week. And I already own Knitting on the Road). Does anyone have any suggestions for deciding how to pair sock yarns and patterns? (self-striping, random variegated colours, solids, etc). I have a whack of fabulous sock yarn, but I'm a bit skittish about knowing what kinds of patterns will work well with what.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

a yarn intention

Nope, not a yarn accident. An yarn intention.

I got rear-ended on Sunday afternoon (yes, I think I'm okay - thanks!) on the way into Toronto to visit some friends. I had my whole day ruined, waiting for roadside assistance to put on a spare, going all the way out to a collision reporting centre, then in a panic to get the car road-worthy enough to get back. I ended up staying overnight, and while waiting for the car to be serviceable, I went to Lettuce Knit. SCREW the yarn embargo -- I got hit from behind and I DESERVED a treat. Or three. (or six, if you count the way I'm gonna knit it)

Some sexy new sock yarn. Above, some lovely Sweet Georgia in Angel, some Colinette JitterBug in Bright Charcoal, and some Fleece Artist Sea Wool (70% merino, 30% seacell) in that yummy orange colour that will make me smile every time they grace my feet.

There are things that happen accidentally, and things that happen intentionally. This was a mission.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

these made me happy

These made me happy today, so I thought I'd share.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

miss fortune

I like my asian take-out. You'll find no shame here -- there are days when odds of consuming dinner are greatly improved by picking up take-out. Usually not more than once per week, but occasionally...

My last three fortunes, over the last 10 days or so, are as follows:



  • Boys will be boys, and so will some middle-aged men.

  • Be mischievous and you will not be lonesome.

  • A lifetime friend will soon be made.

This proves nothing, except that I like my take-out (which I knew), but when you put them together like that, they're kind of fun. As for mischief... well, I'm sure I can dream something up.

Knitting... right... this is a knitting blog. I've been working away trying to make sure my sock has a date for Valentine's day, but sometimes things don't work out the way you'd like them to, and I've been so freaking tired that even plain vanilla sock rounds have been too much in the evenings. So it doesn't look good for Sock. I guess we'll be single together. :)

Oh, and did anyone else think there were an awful lot of "tunics" in the new Vogue and IK?

Monday, February 12, 2007

I love me.

Happy V-day (almost).
I took this opportunity to collect a few things just for me. Some are from my mom, some are from "the dog" (via mom, I'm just guessing), and some I bought just for me. Didn't even break the yarn embargo, as the sock yarn was purchased by mom!



See??? A new, sexy gym bag from Lululemon, my magazines, some Meilenweit and some Fleece Artist sock yarn. Check out the ear-piece telephone mic thingy so I can knit while chatting on the phone (without the neck cramp). Also some gift cards for Chapters (knitting books already enroute) and Puretracks (I'm a musician, and I'm against illegal downloading...). This is the best V-day present ever.

Saturday, February 10, 2007

I came, I saw, I thrummed

Thrummm, thruh-thrum thrum.
Thrummm, thruh-thrum thrum THRUMMMMM!


My LYS had a free thrum demo today, basically a come-play-with-roving-we'll-explain-it thing. Never one to pass on a new knitting technique, I grabbed a friend (go and encourage her!) and headed up there.


Well... thrumming. I think it's safe to say it qualifies as "overly fiddly", and therefore goes fairly low on my list of stuff to do. But I was glad I got a chance to try. That purl-into-the-back locking stitch is a pesty thing to do, and it seems clear that thrumming should only be done (whenever possible) in the round, so that one can KNIT into the back to lock. Somewhat more reasonable thing to do over and over again.


Here are the pics... I intentially tried a few different things to see what would happen (different amounts of roving, finger-rolled roving) and twice I managed to catch the wrong part of the roving while locking... in the top right thrum, I tried to see if I could invent a way to fix it on the fly. I couldn't.


Sorry for the dark images. The light has been sucky in my apartment for days. In any case, this
knitter gives only one squishy mitten thumb up for thrumming. Overly fiddly for the given result. I'm going to save my little sample to use as an eye patch. Very practical, no?

In other knitting, I have had very little knitting time this week, and as a result am a grumpy, high strung individual. I am about to take a few hours now to set things right. I'm hoping to have a partner for sock the third sometime soon.


In other news: I am going to be a quasi-Aunt again in August! Baby knits, coming soon!!!

Sunday, February 04, 2007

I'm late on this... oh well

Did everyone hear about this? The second annual Brigid in Cyberspace (Silent) Poetry Reading.
I did actually think about it on the feast of Brigid (Groundhog Day), however I was seduced by a sock and just didn't get to it...

I leave you with e.e. cummings:

somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond
any experience, your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully, mysteriously) her first rose

or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly,
as when hte heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;

nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility: whose texture
compels me with the colour of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing

(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands


and a little more e.e. cummings... this one, as Kate suggests, should definitely be read in the manner of that scene in Sylvia (faster! faster!):

love is more thicker than forget
more thinner than recall
more seldom than a wave is wet
more frequent than to fail

it is most mad and moonly
and less it shall unbe
than all the sea which only
is deeper than the sea

love is less always than to win
less never than alive
less bigger than the least begin
less littler than forgive

itis most sane and sunly
and more it cannot die
than all the sky which only
is higher than the sky

And given my recent relations with knitted socks, Pablo Neruda's "Ode to my Socks", which I send you here to read.

Saturday, February 03, 2007

What the...?

I can't even believe this is a real movie. Probably written by the jealous ex of a devoted knitter or something. Freaky...





And just WHAT are we expected to believe went on in the "you wouldn't understand..." scene???
Thanks to Karen for this... I think.

Friday, February 02, 2007

Oops, I did it again...

Once you've had good socks, you just can't help yourself...


Mate coming soon.

Yarn is Regia 4-ply jacquard, colour 5180. FROM THE STASH (be proud of me, knitters -- haven't bought a thing in WEEKS)
I'm not sure I like the jacquard thing -- I may have been heard to describe it as looking "like a mangy dog". But I like the stripe colours so much, and it feels so nice on my foot that the mange is forgiven.
Harlot's basic sock recipe on 2.75mm, eye of partridge heel (ooh, she's expanding her repertoire!), and this time I kitchenered the toe with 20 stitches left instead of 16... less pointy and weird-looking on my foot. Also, had a better sense of sizing: how much heel flap to make, when to start the toe decrease, so this one fits better than the first pair. I believe in Darwin - adapt, adapt.
I feel inclined to mention, too, that I cast this baby on SUNDAY. Which means I knit a sock in less than 6 days. As with new relationships, I've been spending time with sock much to the exclusion of all else... if I don't do laundry soon, I shall have to start knitting underwear (and given some of the recent pattern books I've seen, I don't want to go there...).
So... please excuse me while I cast on for sock the second, then I've got to do some housekeeping.
PS: why won't the stupid new blogger (I was required to switch to) allow me to leave line breaks between paragraphs???