Monthly Archives: November 2006

Six years ago today, I did a pretty amazing thing. Want a hint? Man, I love that door mat- I wonder if Bed Bath & Beyond still sells those. Must find out. Okay, this is not about my (fantastic) taste in door mats.

Thank you so much for all the sock love, people. I tried to respond to all of you, well actually I did but Sprite my mail to you bounced. (Could you email me, Sprite? The addy is on the top right of the page.) Thank all of you for the encouragement, really it means a lot. And so many new people stopping by, and friends that I have know for a while (Hi Emily!) too- so exciting.

There was one thing I forgot to mention in my last post, well a few, truth be told. First, my beautiful and talented Toasty Toes Pal was Erin! She is so kind and gracious, really what a joy it was to knit for her. Go check out her recently finished and lovely Forecast. Second, I was in a tizzy that I might encounter Second Sock Syndrome. This was not the time to choke (which I did not do) or to worry too much (which I did anyway). Third, I was worried that the socks would have different measurements in different places (I knit my sleeves two at once). Being new at this I wanted to have certain techniques, ie- heel turning fresh in my brain when I did it for the second sock. Fourth, I was terrified that I would run out of yarn- for the record the final socks weighed 110 grams, two full skeins of Koigu and 10 grams from the third safety skein I bought- thank goodness I did.

SideBar: I can totally the two at once with socks in the same way I do as sleeves- up to this point I have been intimidated by the two socks at once thing, but now I really do see (in my head) the way to do it. Yippee! SideBar Over

What I did was I cast on and knit the entire leg, put the knitting on spare needles and cast on and knit the entire second leg. Then I knit the heel flap and turn on sock # 2, put that on a holder and went back to #1 and knit the heel flap and heel turn. Alternating back and forth really helped calm my nerves as well as provide some relief from the boring bits. Boring bit on one sock? Change to challenging bit on the other sock. Perfect and it kept me motivated.

I have already started by second pair of socks and they are for Angus, who will be turning six this week. Then there will be socks for Duncan. Then, finally socks for me! I went to my LYS two days ago and stocked up on many of the needle sizes that were lacking from my collection. How on Earth did I end up with FOUR 3mm circs, all 80 cm long? Clearly, I had to fill out the collection, sadly- I had to buy more Susan Bates. For shame. But look at the cute socks! Almost done! Should I do the instep in ribbing or plain? Advice please!

Why didn’t anybody tell me that knitting socks was so much fun? What a great time I had knitting these for my Toasty Toes Pal. She will be receiving them tomorrow- I can’t help myself when it comes to overnight shipping. It is a weakness in me about overnight shipping- how amazing is it that it can leave my house today and be thousands of miles away by tomorrow by Noon?

For a while now I have felt pretty silly buying LOTS of sock yarn and not knitting socks. I had started several pairs and then frogged them all but these were a breeze. They are the Basic Cabled Socks ala Brainy Lady. With a standard slip stitch heel flap and a Kitchenered toe! My very first! I have no idea how Kitchenering works but it does and look at that toe. It amused the hubbalicious to no end that grafting a toe is called Kitchenering- he went to University in Kitchener. Well, technically it was Waterloo- maybe in our house we should Waterloo the sock!

They are knit out of Koigu KPPPM on two 2.75 mm circs. Why are there two sizes of Size 2 needles? And why are the 2.75 mm so tough to find. All I could find were some Susan Bates and they were pretty awful. Effective but awful. Let’s just say I will be looking for a different brand- the size gave me perfect gauge but I really do not want to suffer through those needles again.

Even though I waited until the last possible minute to knit these it was all a joy and I learned so much. It was rather intimidating because my pal is seriously an expert sock knitter whose skills I greatly admire. I think that is why I put off knitting them for so long- I didn’t want to embarrass myself. Another reason I was worried is that my Toasty Toes Pal and I have very different taste in colors. She prefers very muted and heathered and I go for bright solids. I hope this color is muted enough for her- I have a hard time telling- I do think it is a nice color though. (The light was awful today and this is not the most accurate depiction of the color) I thought for sure they would pool differently and be horribly fraternal, I think they are maybe not identical but more similar than not. Phew!

Well, I think it is safe to say, that I will have to come up with some other way to embarrass myself- these look pretty great, if I do say so myself!

We have been very thoughtful here lately- by that I mean full of thought. There is a whole lot of transition going on around here-not just the seasons or the start of school but deeper, heavier transitions which I will disclose later. And all is good- not to worry!

But for today, look at the wonderful gifts that arrived at my house yesterday from The Other KT:

They really did bring tears to my eyes with the thoughtfulness and care that went into to the making of these gifts- Thank You dear friend

Every once in a while it is really nice to go off the grid. While I didn’t go to the jungles of the Amazon or Margaritaville (okay maybe once), it has been really great to take some time for me and reflect on what is important, why I blog and who I am in the big crazy blogosphere. Everything on the home front is great- teeth have been lost, Kindergarten started, Angus will be six in two weeks. Duncan started in the Primary classroom (they are going to a Montessori), he is behaving like a true three year old, complete with the lying on the floor having fits. Very effective birth control for Mommy.

There has been a fair bit of knitting and sewing. Waaaaaay back I signed up for Toasty Toes and look what I received in the mail yesterday from Allison: