Weird and Fancy

I finished one of the Tabi socks last night. Again, great pattern. It looks just like the picture - I used the recommended yarn, a washable wool/silk/polyamid blend called Regina. I like this stuff. It feels nice on the hands. Probably nice on the feet, too.

Yup, the pattern is really good.

It's probably even better if you follow the instructions more carefully than I did. I got a little confused when separating the big toe from the rest of the toe section - there's a spot where you "make 6" and then add the new stitches to the holder for the big toe. I added them to the main toe section by mistake.

So now the big toe part on the right foot is a little snug, but I can live with it. This is now a feature rather than a mistake, 'cause I'm not going to undo the work at this point. Don't the Amish deliberately put a mistake in their work because only God is perfect? Hey, I can do that.

Rather proudly, I showed the finished right sock to my boys and asked what they thought of it. Teenage boys aren't too caring about their Mom's knitting projects (unless it's for them), so I should have know better. But I didn't and asked anyway.

Older boy: "Weird..." He wasn't too sure of the separate big toe and wondered why I would make such a thing. He then turned back to his video game.

Younger boy (after seeing his mother's look of disgust given to his brother): "Fancy, Mom".

Already my younger boy know how to deal with women better than his older brother.

The Good and the Bad

Bad news: my camera is not compatible with Windows 7. Don't know if I'd have gone with W7 if I'd have known that - I really like my camera. Must figure out a way to get it going here...

Good news: While the evil hat is still in timeout (see last post on this) I've almost gotten my really cute Tabi socks done! Just need to do the toes now.

This pattern has been a lot of fun (especially after getting my butt kicked by that stupid hat - I'm sure Jared Flood is off somewhere, laughing himself silly at my problems with his hat design. I mean, it's beautiful, but EVIL.). I love lace. Lace is good. Much better than colorwork.

That hat may never see the light of day again....

The Hat from Bottom-Most Pit of Nastiness

Stupid hat.

I almost got to the end of the 2nd chart on the Beaumont hat and realized that my hat did not look very much like the picture.

Or really anything at all like the picture.

This hat is supposed to have color popping out in graceful swirls of geometric patterns, a beautifully choreographed dance of colors. Mine looked more like a tweed pattern gone bad on an acid trip.

Seems I got off the color pattern a little bit.

This is where I started calling the hat all sorts of bad names. (Creative swearing at it's best - no one can do that like a knitter who's realized that her past week of tedious work was unrepairable and had to be ripped out - again.)

The hat didn't reply to my rantings and threats. It just sat there silently, taunting me with it's obscene tweedidness. I swore at it some more but the hat still said nothing. They don't, usually.

Don't know why that would be any different this time.

How many times can you rip out angora before all the fluffy parts go away? The only things that keep me going on this project is love for my daughter (the proposed recipient of this item) and my own stubbornness.

Updated score: Jen 1, Hat 3.

Knitting Enabler

I had the honor of teaching someone how to knit yesterday. It was a lot of fun watching my student trying to figure out how to hold the needles and keep the yarn from falling off as she took her first tentative stitches. She'll get it in time.

My friend's niece is having a baby soon and so she wants to make a cute little hat and booties for the baby. (I love knitting for babies! They can't argue about what you're making them wear and they just look soooo cute! Almost makes me want one more - NOT!)

I hope my friend enjoys knitting as much as I do. And I'm glad to be a "knitting enabler". Knit on, my friends!

Fashionista

I got an email today from a friend saying how fashionable we are. Her justification? A link to a $1400.00 sweater.

No kidding - they really are asking $1400.00 for the sweater. And $1400.00 for the skirt, $55.00 socks and $495.00 for the shoes. That's $3350.00 for the outfit, not including tax or any undies. I'm sure they're extra - they're called foundation garments. I call 'em skivies.

I also don't pay out the nose for them.

A sweater like that takes some time, but having the self-satisfaction of making it yourself is priceless. And the SOCKS! $55.00! Are you out of your mind?!

We've been making things like that for a while. Recipients of our handmade items have politely said thank you and then stuffed the item in a drawer somewhere, never to see the light of day again.

I don't know ANYONE who buys clothes at that price. But if you do, send them my way - I can cut them a great deal on a handmade sweater or pair of socks. ;)

Malabrigo

It's 104 out today and what am I doing? Playing with some Malabrigo, of course!

The new 1st Fall Issue of Knitty is out and I wanted to play with a couple of patterns in it. The first one is Purliue and the other is Lamia - both of which would make excellent Christmas gifts. (OK, Christmas? I know, it's JULY. And hot. Really hot. And working with 100% heavy worsted weight wool is not going to help any with the heat. So why now? I'm starting now to see if I can make things up in time for Christmas. Don't want to wait until the last minute like I always do and not get anything done. Gonna try, anyway - we'll see how it ends up.)

I really do like working with the Malabrigo. It's soooo soft.

Hat Score Update

Well, the Beaumont hat & I have come to terms. It won't hide the pretty colors if I don't knit too tight.

I'm knitting with no stranding technique, just letting the non-used color float in back. It's really helped the colors to "pop" out. It's hard to let myself knit so loosely - I feel like it's going to be full of holes, but when I look at the hat (in progress) it looks fine. I just gotta let go of my tension...

Pictures to come later. Got a new PC and have to install the camera software, but I have to find afore mentioned software first. There's always something, isn't there? :)

PTBL

Ok, one more thing: go check out http://www.ravelry.com/twir/77/ask-a-knitter-20. How many of you know how to do a ptbl? Great video demo of this.

I Just Need to Go Knit

It's Friday night once again and I tell ya, I have been really stressed out this week at work. The whole drive home I was thinking, while clenching my jaw and doing the death grip hold thing on the steering wheel, "I just need to go knit for a while & calm down".

So I got home and did some knitting.

Know what? It worked. Just like magic. I could feel the stress flowing out of my body.

I love knitting. It's cheaper than therapy, nobody gets hurt, and I don't go to jail. How did I ever cope before I started knitting?

Going back to the needles now....