Blathering On and On

Self-Portrait Sunday

1. I can be very possessive.
2. I can also be horribly, hatefully mean if I choose to be…
3. …And spiteful. (And no, I am not particularly proud of 2 and 3.)
4. I almost always expect the best of people…
5. …this frequently leaves me disappointed or with hurt feelings.
6. I am a stickler for the rules. (speed limit, grammar….)
7. I love (relish, really) explicit, detailed, written instructions. I think this may be part of the reason I haven't embraced knitting charts. I like the written directions.
8. I am a neurotic list maker. I love lists. During particularly hectic/stressful times, I have been known to put things on my to do list that I have already done, just so I have something to check off as done.
9. I do modular origami. I do the regular kind, too, but modular is my favorite. (I do a lot less origami since I learned to knit.)
10. I am a visual learner. Most of the time, if you show me something once, I will be able to do it from then on. Usual.
11. I like houseplants . . . but just in a vague, “oh isn’t that nice” sort of way. My husband is the only reason that our houseplants stay alive.

Some Knitting Pictures

I have some pictures to share with ya'll. I feel like I have been doing a crazy lot of knitting lately but then when I got the pictures together, there really isn't that much to show. Whatever. Here goes.

I've made some fun fur hats for Kate's project. These two are from the Patons ChaCha, in Salsa.

This one, which I have since finished but didn't take a new picture of, is black Patons Allure combined with a partial ball of purple fur and lime fur.
I have a little more fun fur laying around and may decide to knit another hat before the 28th of February but for the time being, I am going to get these in the mail.

Earlier this week, I finished my mother's socks. (I believe I heard the angel choruses singing when I was weaving in the final toes.)
I took them to her and she (not at all reluctantly) put them on immediately. She declared them very comfortable and a good fit. And really, what more could a knitter ask for with her very first attempt at socks?

The sock minutia:
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in the Peacock colorway
Needles: Size 0, Susan Bates metal dpns.
Pattern: A basic sock pattern, spoon fed to me by RC. (Thanks again!)
Review: I love this yarn. It is very soft and dreamy to work with. As a general rule, I am a comparatively tight knitter. I would not use Size 0 needles again with this yarn. The final socks were pretty thick/sturdy, and while they are excellent socks, they are more suitable for house socks. They probably wouldn't be very comfortable in her average shoes. I am sure I will use this yarn again (because I have several skeins of it and it is fabulous) but I will use the Size 1 needles.

After finishing the socks and the hats, I was feeling a little restless. (Do you ever get like that, after you finish a project, not sure what to start next?) So, I worked on a hedgehog and then another little something I am working on and then I got to thinking (a dangerous pastime, I know) and I decided that the next time I knit socks for someone, it would be nice to have a little knitted something to put them in.

Sidenote, I can't remember if it is in the book Weekend Knitting or in Last Minute Knitted Gifts but one of them....it talks about wrapping knitted gifts, and the added touch of a knitted receptacle. That's what got me thinking about this.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. . . I came up with the idea of making a little felted pouch/container/bag. Here it is.

Front & Back, Pre-felting:
After I Sewed Them Together: Post-felting, Front:
Back: So what do you think? Silly? Lame? A waste of knitting time?

Personally, I am pretty happy with the results. It is actually exactly what I was going for.

The details.
Yarn: Cascade 220, navy and green (I can't remember the specific shades.)
Needles: Size 7 Knit Picks Options (which I got from my sister for Christmas)
Pattern: My own design (which I am happy to share with the world. I created it in an Excel file, though, and don't know if I can post an Excel file on the blog. I am sure with the new blogger and being tied in with Google and all, there is probably a way. I just don't know it. I can convert it probably, but I just haven't fiddled with it. I just completed the pattern yesterday afternoon.)
Size: Pre-felting 8.5" tall by 7.5" wide (exculding the button tab on the front.)
Post-felting 6.25" tall by just shy of 6" wide.
Notes: I am not a fan of intarsia. For some inexplicable reason, whenever I do intarsia, the stitches of the inlayed color look all wonky. The only satisfactory solution I have come up with for me is to felt anything that I do intarsia. Because it is all pretty close together, I used one one ball of navy and one ball of green and carried along the back. For the sickos among you who like to see the dirty details of the back of the work, here you go.

So, all in all, a successful experiment.

I don't knit from charts but I laid this out in excel, drew it basically, and then wrote out the instructions from that.

Whew!! This has been a long and rambling post. Thanks for sticking it out to the end. I am going back to work tomorrow...so who knows when I may post again. Have a great week!

Today's Quote:

“If the work of God could be comprehended by reason, it would be no longer wonderful, and faith would have no merit if reason provided proof.” Pope Gregory I, c. 600

Self-Portrait Sunday & Coming Out of the Woodwork

Self-Portrait Sunday

1. I am a hoarder. I keep things forever. The less delicate among you might even call me a pack rat. I don’t throw stuff out because I am certain that there will come a time that I will need said stuff. (I have been developing my need for a yarn stash long before I became a knitter.)
2. I am a terrible housekeeper.
3. I love grocery shopping.
4. I hate doing laundry.
5. I love to cook but I hate to clean up – especially, I hate washing dishes.
5b. My husband claims that I am not content with a meal I have cooked until I have dirtied every pot and pan in the kitchen. I tell him that every girl has to have something that she is the best at and I guess that's mine.
6. My favorite color is red.
7. I am a Christian. I was raised Southern Baptist and continue to attend a Southern Baptist church. I am proud of my religious upbringing.
8. I spent time in the Ukraine after my senior year of high school with a church group.
9. It was one of the best experiences of my life. Given the opportunity, I would go back in a minute. Without hesitation.
10. As household chores go, I like ironing the best.
11. I like vanilla and vanilla-based ice creams the most. Baskin-Robbins’s Pralines & Cream is my all time favorite.


Why Call It Self-Portrait Sunday If It Seldom Includes a Picture?

Once I can walk around again on any consistent basis, I have vowed to myself that I am going to take more interesting pictures - both of me and my knitting and of other people. For now though, I took this picture on Tuesday after I came home from my visit to the doctor. It was the first time I'd put make-up on since having surgery so I decided it was a photo-worthy occasion.



So What's Been Going on Around Here?

It seems I haven't had much to say lately. I have been knitting socks. See?

That is sock number 1, just past the gusset. Actually, it is the second sock. I knit the first one through the heel turn and then cast on for the second. So, while it was the first sock to make it this far along, it is actually the second sock. Not that that matters to anyone but me....

That sock is now to the toe decreases stage and is resting on a piece of scrap yarn while I knit the second sock to the same spot. (The second sock is currently about 1 inch beyond the gusset decreases so there has been significant progress made as a pair.)

A thousand wooly thank you's to RC for holding my hand - all the way from PA! - through this new and scary and fabulous sock knitting business. I am thrilled and mesmerized by the wonderful miraculous world of sock knitting. I am well and truly hooked. I have, in fact, already placed an order for some new and delicious sock yarn. Does anyone have any experience with Lisa Souza yarns? I've read lots of rave reviews throughtout blogland and decided to take the leap when I discovered what may just be the perfect red. (St. Valentine)

As for the ankle, the staples came out Tuesday and it's feeling pretty good, considering. I was spared the cast (hurray) and as soon as I can get it on without crying, I will be in the boot. I had it on yesterday for nearly 5 minutes. (Yes, it does occur to me that the fact that I am celebrating 5 minutes with the boot on is a sure sign that a) I don't have much to celebrate and b) I may surely be heading squarely off the deep end.)

So that's it from this end. I am going back to work later this week. I've been working at home the last few days and will until I go back to work Wednesday. I am half thrilled about it and half horrified.

Further, in the spirit of updating, thanks again to all of you for your kind words and warm wishes to the SIL, Lori. She is well on her way to mending and is heading back to work tomorrow. I will be waiting for a full report from her on what we've missed in the last two weeks.

Knitting Philosophy and Self Portrait Sunday

I have a confession: I hate wooden knitting needles. Not only do I not like wooden needles, I love metal needles. There. I've said it. I have wooden needles and I do knit with them sometimes but I am happiest when I am knitting with metal needles. Why do I feel such knitting shame/guilt over this? I guess because when I first learned to knit, all the books and other things I read insisted that bamboo and birch needles were the best. It seemed that to really be a knitting aficionado, you had to love wooden needles. From what I could gather, metal needles seemed to be the loud, brash, white-trash cousins, living on the fringe of knitting society...the ones that the other needles tried to pretend didn't exist. I have recently come to terms with my love of the metal needles. If it really is true that the wooden needles are so much better, then I am resigned to being a fringe knitter. My 16" Size 7 Addi-Turbos are my favorite needles - I seek out reasons to knit projects using these needles. I have even bought yarn specifically because I knew I would use these needles to knit it up. Running a close second, my 16" Size 8 Boye needles that I think I got at Michael's.

Sheesh. I'm glad I've got that off my chest.


Self Portrait Sunday

1. I don’t have a particularly keen fashion sense. I wear things that Katy says will look nice on me (or things that she doesn’t wear anymore and passes along to me) and I do my make-up the way I do because either Katy or Lori has told me, “You should do this with your make-up.” I can acknowledge that I need help in these areas and most of the time their input doesn’t offend me. Most of the time.
2. I almost always wear lipstick when I go out of the house.
3. I love my family. We have our warts and our weirdness but somehow this makes me love them more. I sincerely enjoy family get togethers. Frequently this includes board games. We can be very competitive.
4. I miss my Daddo so much. And I wish I had had a chance to get to know my Nana (his wife) better before she passed away. (I was 3.)
5. I love my little dog Sally more than I consider reasonable.
6. I bite my nails – and I have as long as I can remember. I have tried to stop but have been unsuccessful. This is not a habit I expect to be able to kick.
7. I have issues about toilet paper. In my house, we only use the very best toilet paper. 2-ply. Very soft. We eat off brand cereal and use generic ibuprofen. There are things you can skimp on and things you can't. Also, when I put the toilet paper on the roll, it has to come over the top, NEVER from the bottom.
8. I am accident prone. It is sad, really. Once in a while, I think I’ve grown out of it, and then I do something clumsy again.
9. Sometimes I have trouble sleeping. Then I will have a night where I get like 12 hours of sleep and then still go to bed on time the next night. Is there such a thing as a binge sleeper?
10. For the longest time, I didn’t want to learn to knit because I had learned to crochet years ago and absolutely hated it with a burning passion. Now I knit voraciously.
11. I do modular origami. I do the regular kind, too, but modular is my favorite. I do a lot less origami since I learned to knit.