Saturday, November 10, 2007

Second Wind

For those of you dear souls who actually read all of my posts, this is really a continuation of the Marathon post below. Otherwise, jump in! There's actual knitting content here.

First though, we have to take care of some coffee swap business. Holly wants to know:

As the cold of winter approaches, do you change the projects you work on? Do you work on gifts for others or do you continue working on projects for yourself?

You mean other than socks?! I'm supposed to be doing some lace and other holiday knitting, but there are November/early December birthdays that require some knitting too. I'm not working on anything for me right now, and the goal is to not knit for myself until after the holiday knits AND my Pay it Forward knits are complete. As this was my first calendar year of knitting, I did find myself picking non-wool, smaller items in the heat of summer, save socks of course.

No, I haven't finished the Jaywalker yet, but thanks for asking. It seemed like a good plan at the time to knit my child-footed mother inlaw's socks on #0s, but - DUH? - little needles mean little stitches, which all adds up to taking forever to knit one friggin' sock. I do love the pattern, so that helps, but after whipping out the Knight's pair in no time, this is a humbling reminder that even short woman socks can take a long time.



So how 'bout those finished Fred socks? They're lovely, the really are. (And yes, the Knight wanted them that short.)

Details:

Pattern - Beaded Rib from Sensational Socks.
Changes - I'm in love with the magic cast-on from Cat Bordhi, so that's what I used. Yes, toe-up, with a short-row heel.

Needles - Size #2 circs, my Harmonys.

Yarn - Alabama Fiber's custom, Fred's Yarn


And now, those pesky, tiny Jaywalkers. They're being done in KnitPicks' Felici, in Hummingbird. I am in love with this pattern. It might replace the Monkey as my favorite sock pattern, but you know I'm fickle. I'm almost done with the foot decreases now, and with a not quite size five ladies shoe as my goal and a 2" toe, I really think I can finish them tonight. That is of course, if I quit blogging and return to knitting, but a girl's gotta' eat, right? I can blog and eat, but I can't knit and eat, so cut me some slack, will ya'?


The other thing that slows me down on these socks is about every ten rows or so, I have to stop and admire 'em. If I didn't know that I'd get to see them nearly every time they're worn, I don't know if I could give them up. Soft yarn, pretty stripes... Yeah, that's why they call it yarn porn. I do have more Felici for the Knight - in the Firefighter colorway! - but I'm thinking I need another colorway for me too. I might not get around to knitting them in the next decade, but when I do, I'll love the way this yarn and this pattern groove together!

I'm doing beach laundry and missing the sound of the waves breaking. So to console myself, I offer this:
It's the view off the front porch on a clear day. I miss you, OBX. The good news is, we'll be back. My aunt and I spent 40 minutes on the phone today, talking about the beach. They're headed down tomorrow for a couple of days.

Last, but hardly least, I offer some evidence of non-knitting crafting. I've mentioned before that a group of us gathers monthly to scrap and stamp. Last night, they got all organized and we had both a scrapping "take away" and a stamping workshop. I know some of you enjoy those crafts too, so here's what we did:

Creative Memories door journal box:












Stampin' Ups gift tags and card:




Please note all of the purple. Gah! It's growing on me. Especially when paired with a green, I'm starting to like it. Not that I had a choice; these colors were pre-selected for the mini workshop.


Well, dinner's done, so that means I should wrap it up here and return to the sock. Thanks for reading!

11 comments:

Virtuous said...

I never did get my 1st wind on knitting! :op But there is still time!

Love the Jaywalkers! Yep it would be hard to give them up. I take it you are lovin' the pattern?

I am sure MIL will still love her belated socks!

BEAUTIFUL beach view!! I can almost smell the ocean!!

OOH! Stampin' and purple!! STOP IT!! :oD Haha!

vegasangelbrat said...

First I am so in that picture..see me sitting on that beach :)I can almost smell the salt air!
Fred socks look even better then the first pic..great job and Jessi did a fabulous coloring job on the yarn!!
Love the Jaywalkers..all those pretty colors :) and yes, purple and some greens look great together!! Purples not so bad...lol

Bubblesknits said...

I'm glad that the colors didn't pool on the Fred socks. I was worried about it. :-)

It looks like you came home with lots of yummy yarn!

Scrabblequeen said...

Your Man Socks look perfect for The Knight. You did a great job, and sounds like no angst either. Hurrah for you!

NH Knitting Mama said...

Those Jaywalkers are awesome - I have some of the Felici yarn, and I think it's time to take it out and make a pair of these!

The OBX beach pic is beautiful. Wow, I see why it was so hard to leave!

Wendy said...

Fred's socks are bee-u-tee-ful! I'm sure your knight is going to attempt at wearing them every day. You may find yourself doing a lot of wash!

Devonshire said...

The Jaywalkers are looking great. I really love those stamps/cards. They look fantastic. Mark's socks look beautiful or since they are for a man - they look very handsome. :-D

Anita said...

Lovin those Jaywalkers!! I can see why you have to stop & admire them!! I have been doing the same with my cable socks. he he!

KSee said...

oh, looks like I'm going to have to buy some more of KnitPicks' Felici, in Hummingbird. I just loved this yarn and have been wearing my pair ever since the weather changed. They wash beautify in the washer. I let air dry. Oh, I'm right there with the rest sitting at the beach.

Lapdog Creations said...

The Fred socks came out absolutely wonderful!!!!

Alana said...

Those Fred socks turned out fantastic!

And your Thursday pic of Mugsy just cracks me up! Those goofballs always seem to know just what to do with a pillow, don't they?!? My Jayda was using my felted purse to rest her head on the other day, and you should have seen her "tilt and look quisically" when my cell phone went off!