Thursday, January 25

Shhh...I'm talking about it.

I know I said I wasn't going to tell you anything or share any pictures of my intended sock swap socks. HOWEVER, I feel I need to share a little somethin', somethin'.

The pattern I am doing (not telling!) calls for size 1 needles. I bought size 1's months ago and returned them shortly there after. I snapped three of five in one round. Thank god I bought Britany brand. That lovely 5 year thing is just that. Lovely. I pulled out my new set yesterday to get cranking and knew it was going to be tough. I snapped the TIP of one needle. Just the tip so I grabbed a pencil sharpener and nail file and fixed it up. Good as new! Then I went and posted on the Tp over at MDC to get METAL ones. Whoever thought it was a good idea to offer needles that tiny in wood was silly. And drunk. And having mental disturbances that should have required mediciation.

The yarn (not telling what kind!)...I was unsure of this yarn when I first got it. It was an impulse buy since I had gone in there with her colors in mind. I totally forgot that she prefers thinner socks so in all actuality I did excellent in picking yarn. For her. It must have skipped my mind that I am the one who has to knit it. With tiny snapping needles. The cast on was tough. Oh my it was tough. In fact I threw it all at one point. I don't know if it was the tiny yarn or the fact that I was trying hard not to break my tiny needles but it WOULD. NOT. WORK. No worries. I did get it.

In fact as I started my toe increases and got in to a rythym I was actually very pleased and happy with the project. yes I have to be careful of the needles but the yarn is smooth and glides through my fingers. It's all lightweight so my wrists don't hurt and the colr. The color is GORGEOUS! I am so glad I bought this one actually. And if it weren't for the fact that she knows about it and the husband knows about it and I am essentially a good person I would totally keep these socks for me. I can see myself buying more of this yarn to make some for me actually. It's a feminine yarn for sure. I can't imagine the man here shoving his foot into something so delicate seeming. Oh god it makes me shudder to think about it. :)

I know. It seems like nothing has been done on it BUT that's because I don't want her to accidentally see it. There has been much progress since this picture was taken. I wanted to show it off without showing too much. I mean this is good but what is to follow is orgasmic. Yeah.

Wednesday, January 24

Patience IS a virture

A.K.A. insert foot.

I emailed the two sock related swapees the other night and received prompt responses from both ladies. One was slightly onery so I didn't feel bad about being imaptient with her. The other. Well the other I should have been more patient. Her tiny tot was sick and not in a easy going way. Top it off she has a newborn. Yeah she has her hands full. I take it for granted that my house revolves around the Internet due to the business and forget that not everyone sits in front of their computer on a daily basis like I do. There is a reason my house is usually a mess and we rarely eat on time. I am an Internet addict. :) I pointed her in this direction in case she wanted to see her yarn. I'm sorry for my impatience! I'm not really as onery as my other post makes it seem. :)

Since we have been talking back and forth I got a sneak peek at the yarn she is using for my socks. GORGEOUS!! I cannot wait to get them and put them on my feet. My toes itch at the possible lusciouness of them. I bbought her yarn yesterday. She likes purple and I have some fantastic Art Yarn in purple that I was going to use but everytime I picked it up it didn't seem like her. That and she didn't want an ankle sock...something above the ankle but not too high. I know the Art Yarn makes an ankle sock so off to the store we went! I got her some rather pretty yarn if I do say so myself. The skein (and the resulting wound ball) seem tiny though so I am worried abbout having enough. The husband asked me rather innocently last night why I didn't get three for that just in caseness. Yeah I know. I should have. HOWEVER! The pattern I am using (which I am so excited abbout trying despite his gloomy prediction) calls for this exact amount AND the picture shows a rather nice height of sock. My only issue is it is done on INSANELY tiny needles. Size 1 to be exact. That's ok though. It looks like a really fun pattern and I am excited to try something I've never done before.


I'm not giving any details about it though in case she continues to read here. Nor will I post WIP pictures....we agreed it would be a surprise. Isn't it purtty!? The color here is pretty accurate too....maye a little brighter than in real life since i was sitting nextto an open window but close just the same. She said she liked purple so purple she gets!! There was one there that had three of five of her favorite/preffered colors but it looked like......the 70's and 80's got together, bumped uglies, and then split. yeah. Not pretty offspring. :)

Sunday, January 21

Knitting? What's that?

I'm a big ol' slacker. In the last week I have done some knitting. Not a lot. Like barely anything. I did ten or so rows on an MDK kimono and then stopped. My needles do not agree with the yarn and so everything is sticking. With a capital S. It was so frustrating that I purposefully hid it at the bottom of my knitting bag. I think I will either change needles or frog it. I'm not in the mood to knit baby things right now. I started on a nebornw WHW wrap and did two (2!) rows before it came off the needles. Just not feeling the motivation.

The only other thing I have worked on is a sock. And only because my toes are freaking FRIGID! If our freezer were to dye I could keep everything frozen by placing it all on my feet. No exaggeration.

I'm not sure it's going to fit right. I'm having a hard time with toe up I think. This is the roundest one I have gotten so far but even flat it's stilla little too pointy for me. Almost. It's odd. I increased to a smaller number than I was on my purple ones. Those were turning out to be too loose. These may be too tight. I am done with the increases here and am working on the foot portion. I think I need to increase to my original number and then decrease two so that I have that in between. The color here is actually pretty accurate thanks to the big window behind me flooding the living room with light. It is slightly darker looking but not much. I am hoping I could just finish a freaking pair of socks already. I know it's all about trial and error to find the perfect set of numbers for your foot but good grief! I think my main problem is the first sock I did I was still knitting twisted so working a new oneoff those measurements is producing too big of a sock. Oh well. it WILL happen. :) And yes, I still love the magic cast on.

The other night I decided to sell some things on the Tp over at MDC. One of two sold crazy fast! I was so excited to have paypal I had to buy something! So I did. :) I got the LTK earwarmer hat pattern AND some fantastic Dashing Dachs Superwash Sock Yarn. I wasn't so sure about it at first but got to see the colorway knitted up and now I cannot wait. It should be here so soon! Likely tomorrow or at the latest Tuesday. I cannot wait to get my hands on it and to knit it up!

I am in two sock exchange type things. One is a sock bag swap and the other is a sock exchange on Knitty. I'm irritated with both. I have emailed my sock bag person and asked a yarn specific question and she has yet to email me back. I sent the email over a week ago! I am hoping it jsut got filitered to junk mail and she accidentally erased it. In which case no biggie. I need to know though so I can get everything mailed out. I'll email her again. The swap is neat. You either make or bbuy a bag large enough to hold a sock knitting project. Toss in some yarn and goodies and off it goes! I made her a bag but am thinking i may have to make another just in case. It's big enough but it is on the small side. I don't want her to feel jipped so I'll send her two and hope they bother work.

The other sock exchange is simply that. You knit someone else a pair of socks and mail them off with some goodies. Fine. Good. Easy. My partner and I both checked the list late and didn't get in contact with each other until abbout two weeks after the list was posted. No problem. Out of the 7 weeks we had we still had 5. I have emailed her TWICE asking her for information and she has yet to get back to me. I think I am now down to three maybe four weeks. To knit and for her to receive them. I am getting very irritated with her. I am doing toe up so I need her measurements NOW. I can't wait until I get to the toe decrease to worry about it. I am going to send her yet another message and hope she gets back to me.

And the last sock related thing. :) I had posted on MDC that I was going to be knitting many baby things on the yarn forum. I've gotten many enthusiastic congrats! and even offers for knits. Someone last night offered to knit the wee one (the one currently trashing the living room) some socks!! I am so excited. I have this mama's handywork and love how her socks turn out. I sent her the required measurements and am now waiting for her reply. She is on a trip and has four days worth of driving so she needs some knitting. :) This will be nice since DD has few socks AND sicne she has no mama knit socks. I have tried. Don't get me wrong. But that damn Lion Brand Magic Stripes is cursed. I started on a pair for her FIVE times before i gave up. Too many stitches, too few, a screwed up heel, too short etc. It was ridiculous. I am thinking I may have to trade it so that someone can use it. Although I did use it for some fish. Maybe I'll do more of those....

Sunday, January 14

It's been awhile...

because I have had absolutely no desire whatsoever to knit a damn thing. :)

Why you ask? What could be sooooo pressing that I have not cast on a single project? What could be so dire that everything that was cast on is now frogged?


Well this.

Seriously. I have frogged everything. Even my MIL sock. I'm not sure why my lack of motivation equaled an intense day or so of yanking out projects but it did.

I did start on a Kimono from MDK last night. I got 11 rows in and put it away. :) Go me. I am feeling the itch though so I have a feeling things may start churning out. I am wanting to spin lately. I came close to getting a spinning wheel but the deal fell through. So sad. :( My spindle is in the car right now and it's not here so I am S.O.L.

I know. Super boring blog today but I figured i should probably say SOMETHING. :)

Oh yeah! I forgot to add the link for the fabulous cast on in my last post. why share something if I'm not going to share something right? :)

Magic Cast on. If you use DPN's the directions are nearer the bottom.