Wherein I Do Not Actually Slack....

Occasionally I feel like I'm not accomplishing very much on the knitting front.  I don't churn out lace like my sister, designs like several good friends, or various other large quantities of projects like some of the bloggers and pod/videocasters that I follow. However, I do have my little triumphs.

I realized the other day that the two pairs of socks that are currently on the needles are pair 11 and 12--for 2011.  Someone asked and I counted in Ravelry.  Since the beginning of the year I've knit

New Green Socks
Languishing Socks
Corn for Cristy
Indulgent Green Socks
What New Socks
Ugly Work Socks
Subtle Stripe Sunday
Purple Pond Socks
Footsies
Summer Sky Socks

Now, granted, I had been working on the Languishing Socks for a while and there is one pair of footies in there--but none of those are infant sized. 3 pair are for a size 9 shoe, the other 7 pair are for a size 7 shoe. Considering we're only in July (granted, August is soon upon us), I think it's fairly safe to say that I'll have finished at least a dozen pair of socks in 2011.  Quite possibly that number will be on the far side of 15.  Considering I've knit a few other things and I do work, that's quite a hefty amount of knitting I think.

So, those 11th and 12th pair

Rainbow Stripes is being knit out of the KPPPM in what I'm calling Easter Basket.  I finished the first sock a week or so ago, haven't cast on the second sock yet. I've been having some soreness in my hands, leftover from blowing them out in Michigan (knitting nonstop for about 36 hours) and size 0 needles really seem to exacerbate that.


The pictures are a little fuzzy---the colors are really painfully obnoxious with the flash so I went with fuzz over obnoxious bright.

And then there are the Do You Feel Lucky Socks.  *pause to praise, yet again, BMFA Medium weight for all it's squishiness* These are less than 10 rows from done.  I'm working on the toe of sock 2 and then they just need a quick wash/block.  So close....

And of course, because 12 pair can't possibly be enough, I now have a pair of basic black 2x2 vanilla rib socks that are intended for the Incredibly Patient Mother. No picture at the moment but imagine about two and a half inches of cuff on my size 1.5 needles. 

I'm hosting/attending a two day conference this Thursday and Friday, so hopefully in between taking lots and lots of notes and presentation summaries, I'll have some extra knitting time. Maybe. 

There Will be Bunny Nuggets

When the Philosopher and I first started hanging out, he indicated an interest in learning amigurumi in efforts to make children's gifts for friends who are starting to have children. I was blunt in that my talents with the crochet hook are rather limited and that I much prefer the pointy sticks. He was amenable (especially after watching me knit and eat, knit and walk, knit and talk, knit and sleep--wait, that's just a hopeful wish) to learning to knit.

I set out to find something small and stuffed animal like that he could learn some shaping on and remembered that I'd seen Laura L talk about making Monster Chunks for her student workers. I didn't want to make Chunks but I found another Rebecca Danger pattern that I did like: Bunny Nuggets.

And, if a girl is going to be knitting Bunny Nuggets, why not just go down the path of knitting monsters and inflicting them upon unsuspecting friends.

Gypsy approves (and the Incredibly-Patient-Mother has already picked out her favorite monster).



I wish I'd known about these when I was knitting with my kids in La Crosse. It simply teaches techniques, gives you rapid gratification, and can be altered a million ways to use up scraps!

Birthday Yarn and Fall Baskets

Alright I know I said I'd stop with the stash yarn but I  never showed you my birthday yarn, did I?

The Incredibly Patient Mother has a spinning wheel (though I need to nudge her back towards it) and Sibling the Elder sits down and a lace shawl falls off her fingers when she stands up five minutes later.  These are good women to have shopping for you when you are a bit of a yarn-a-holic. Which I might be. Perhaps.

Anyway....back to birthday wool.

My sister knows I love all things blue and teal and purple and green and such. I'm in good company, if the Sanguine Gryphon and Wollmeise updates are anything to go by--those always seem to be the first colors that sell out. 



So she went in search, this sister of mine, for yarn that bore my name and was of a proper shade to fit in with the rest of my stash.




Isn't it pretty? :) Apparently, there is only one store in the United States that carries this particular type of Schaefer yarns. Others carry Schaefer Anne and other such but not Abigail. She tracked it down, called the shop and put in a special order for 2 skeins that are a gorgeous shade of blue with hints of gray. Lovely and squishy.

She also knit me a stunning shawl.  (I know, I'm incredibly spoiled) But I have not been in her presence or that of a certain Cartoonist or Restaurant Man of late and I need someone with a good camera. We'll do something at Christmas probably to rectify this error.






Now, my mother is also wise in the ways of the Hedgehog. Wise mother has heard me lament--at great length--that indie dyers aren't doing black and teal combinations. Brown and teal I can find in excess but not black and teal. I'm fussy, I want black. So what did she find me for my birthday?



Blue Ridge Yarns--in black and teal. Not just pretending to be black and teal but truly and vibrantly black and teal.

No clue what I'm making yet but isn't it stunning?






She also got me some handy yarn storage.  I'm sure she probably meant it for other uses as well but really, in this apartment, it's yarn storage.



Now, there are three of these, progressively smaller. And it was to my surprise not that the cat claimed them but how. She likes to sleep on top of the largest one. When she curls into a round, it's perfectly cat sized. We're still having discussions about not using ones claws on them but she's doing pretty well.

Processing Along...

I make no effort to hide that I'm a process knitter, nor that I mostly knit because I need something to do with my hands. Other than an occasional "what are you working on now?" for my friends it's just par for the course. My co-Kiwanians (Tuesday lunch group) actually find it more disturbing if I don't break out the knitting. 

Computer knitting of late, thought it should be the blue/green mitts, has been a one row handspun scarf (Yarn Harlot pattern) out of some Wool-Ease Thick and Quick that's been taking up space in the den/library/stash area/storage/computer space portion of the apartment. I started it in August's heat (as memory serves) and the weekend's 85F highs seemed oh so appropriate for finishing it, as I did yesterday. That took about 1.25 skeins of yarn and of course, what is a scarf without matching hat.

I grabbed my friend Tina's Sugar Twist Hat pattern, which I have been meaning to make for a while, and cast on. I remembered something thing as I worked: I don't like using DPNs with super bulky wool.  Note to self: invest in size 10, size 10.5, and size 11 16" needles (also, why doesn't the US have a 7.00 mm needle?).  But the good news is that the pattern is less than 40 rows and then you're done! Hat!

Only, I don't need another hat and scarf. I have several lovely hats and several scarves. Aaaaaand it doesn't really fit on the gift list for the excess of holiday knitting that I really should be working on right now. Fortunately, I mentioned this dilemma to the Incredibly-Patient-Mother and she offered to take them off my hands.  Which is good because the "random project" basket is getting full.

I keep casting on and knitting projects without any particular direction other than that I feel like knitting them.  A second Sock Head hat because one is never enough? A green/purple shawl? Fingerless gloves in a shade of red I don't wear? I grasp that it's never bad to have a stash of knitted gifts in reserve but some of these are a little eclectic. 

Fortunately, of the 5 hours I spent knitting today (approximate but it was at least 1 disc of Big Bang Theory Season 3 plus extras, 1 disc of Ranger's Apprentice Book 7, and some other time in between) , I did spend a large chunk of time working on the red Clapotis.  It's come out of the Project Chair for BBT Season 3 and I'm happy to report that by the time I got through all the extras (and The Beatles' Hard Day's Night at wee hours of Sunday morning), I had reached the decrease rounds. I have Season 1 of CSI-Miami to tackle now, which really should see me through two or three shawls.

Not tonight though, wired as I am, my hands are starting to ache a bit.Though I have to say the super bulky green/taupe afghan that I started last year for instant knitting gratification and no planned recipient is starting to look like fun to pick up again...