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I just reconnected with an old friend who gave me a fantastic idea. I immediately went yarn shopping and for the last two days I have been drawing and knitting like crazy. I think this is the most knitting fun I've had in a while. I'll post some FO pictures soon.
PS: Happy (American) Thanksgiving! My turkey dinner is not until Saturday. Thanks, everyone, for the great turkey tips.
As I've mentioned before, San Diego is very car centric and my apartment compound is no different. If you are in a car, you can drive through the front gate, however, if you are a pedestrian, you have to make a big detour in order to go out the pedestrian gate. At every opportunity, I will try to sneak through the car gate, which can only be opened by the car's remote. Last Sunday, on my way to meet my running partner, I sped up from a brisk walk to a full blown sprint in order to make the gate. While I was switching into high gear, I felt my hip do something a little funny. I didn't realize I had actually injured myself until well after I had returned from the 6 miles run, showered and was at lunch later on in the afternoon. My hip was sore - old lady sore. Walking was painful. Sitting was painful. Even lying down was painful. I tried Tylenol, alcohol, yoga and whining - none of which did anything to reduce the pain. I was miserable. I became old lady cranky. The only thing that has helped is rest, ice and not running. Luckily, there was knitting.
I finished my brother's birthday socks. I'm absolutely in love with them and if I hadn't made them in his size, I would keep them. I know I pledged never to wear socks again, but these are very smooshy.
I also finished the Lace Ribbon scarf from knitty. I can't wait to see how it looks after it's been blocked.
In other news, I'm hosting a Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday. This will be my very first turkey. Any tips?
My yarn acquisition is getting out of control. After Sn'B on Monday, two more skeins of yarn came home with me. One of our members is a sales rep for Lonesome Stone yarns. She just got in a whole bunch of Mountain Feet in the BFF colourway. I loved them all. I only bought one but took home a second skein to knit up some sample socks.
I would say that I could quit any time, but I know it would be a lie. Please send reinforcements.
To take the edge off while my husband was in Toronto, I biked to Pacific Beach for a little Stash Enhancement eXpedition (what did you think I was talking about?). I was in search of some fingering weight yarn to test knit my latest mitten design (more on that later) and thought I should check out The Needlecraft Cottage on Grand Street. I reasoned that if they didn't have what I wanted, I could bike up the coast and stop in at Knitting in La Jolla on the way home.
The Needlecraft Cottage is a cute little store that is chock full of gorgeous sock yarn, including the Malabrigo sock yarn I have been coveting. It was so pretty in person I almost bought a skein of Rayon Vert. It took an enormous amount of will power to put the skein back on the rack. The staff at NC were so friendly and helped me search the store for a skein of black and a skein of white fingering weight yarn. Nothing was really suitable, except the Malabrigo sock yarn, but I didn't want to pay $40 for this project.
I hopped on my bike and started up the Coast. It was a gorgeous bike ride. There was a nice breeze off the ocean and over a dozen colourful kites dotted the horizon; kite boarding was very popular that day. It wasn't long before I arrived at Knitting in La Jolla and, wouldn't you know it, they were having an anniversary sale! I ended up picking up two skeins of Cascade Heritage and a skein of Malabrigo lace for a Christmas present.
The S.E.X. was definitely satisfying although I lamented not getting the Malabrigo sock yarn. I rationalized that there was a skein in the mail and that I would have it in a few days. You can imagine my shock when I checked my mailbox that night to find that Persia had arrived. Best S.E.X. Ever!
On Wednesday, my husband woke up extremely early to catch his flight to Toronto. Being a nice wife, I got up with him, even though it was "OMG you've got to be freakin' kidding me" o'clock. As I was wiping the sleep out of my eyes, it dawned on me that I still hadn't woven the ends in on the hat I had made as a birthday present for his best friend, who my husband would see on this trip. I finished the toque, weaving at lightening speed, while my husband was in the shower - I had no plans of showering until it was at least a reasonable hour. That way, there was still some hope that I may go back to bed after he left.
Unfortunately, it was too early for anyone to model the toque without looking like shit.
This is the BasicSimpleLazy toque by John Brinegar. I used Debbie Bliss cashmerino, which was really soft but may be a bit too lofty for this project, on US 5 needles (US4 for the ribbing). It was a really quick knit and I've gotten reports that it fits perfectly. Phew! I'm so relieved because my husband's BFF has a big head.
Later that day, rationalizing that my brain was much too tired to do anything but weave in ends, I finished Ranch. Sorry, no pics here until after it's gifted. There are some on ravelry, though.
It’s been a long time since I’ve had that feeling about yarn. You know, the one where you see something and have to have it. Since moving out to California, I’ve been trying to be frugal reasoning that I can go yarn shopping once my work permit comes in and I get a job. After all, there is still some great yarn in the stash. I’ve been pretty good, too. In the two months we’ve been here, I’ve only bought yarn for my brother’s birthday socks. Then, Malabrigo came out with sock yarn. I learned about it on my Stitch n’ Bitch’s Ravelry page. I immediately clicked over to the Webs website to see the colours and fell in love. I wanted all of them. Eventually I narrowed it down to three but then my conscious kicked in and I reasoned that I should be saving my money. Also, Webs was only doing a pre-order. Who knows when I would actually get the yarn? I clicked the browser shut and tried to put it out of my mind.
(the photo is from yarnzilla.com where they are selling the malabrigo sock yarn)
I am in the final stretch of Ranch, but can no longer bear to look at it. I'm at a very fiddly part in the pattern, but I'm not in the mood for fiddly. I want predictable. I want tried, tested and true. I want mindless click-clack between my fingers as I focus on Jack Bauer's next move. Ranch has been abandoned for my brother's Birthday Socks.
Because they are a surprise, I didn't measure my brother's feet and have had to guess at how many stitches to cast on. A survey of free men's socks pattern was helpful and I think I'll use the Harlot's Knitting Rules to figure out the length. I would have used my husband's feet as a model, but he has gigantic feet which are not representative of the normal human species. He is possibly a sasquatch with a deleterious mutation that has rendered him virtually hairless. Or maybe it's a dominant mutation and sasquatch have been roaming among us, undetected and playing professional basketball, for decades.
Anyway...I am really enjoying these socks. I had forgotten how much I liked the Lorna's Laces Sheppard Sock yarn. It's very smooshy and the colours haven't started doing anything to make me crazy (and hopefully won't start). These socks are so relaxing in the storm of job interviews and writing deadlines that is my life right now. This is deliciously ironic because the colourway is "Baltic Sea" which doesn't exactly conjure up images of calm or relaxation. It fact, it makes me a bit cold. Another respite in my California life.
