Christmas knitting ... and a Christmas miracle

It's been done for weeks, and the recipients have received them, so it's time to blog about them!

Knit out of a hair over two skeins of Regia Tweed (thank goodness I bought three!), these socks were started in August 2008. Yes, I know. Embarrassing! It was a visit from my brother in October that kicked my butt into gear and got the first sock finished, and the second one followed soon after. These were knit cuff-down with size 1 needles, and each sock was 80 stitches around, so that's my excuse as to why they took so long. But because they're knit so tightly (and it's Regia), I'm hoping they last forever! I got a text message from my brother that "These socks f---ing rock!" So I know he's pleased. =)

Next up are socks knit from Colinette Jitterbug for my mom. She picked a skein out at a visit to a LYS here more than two years ago (gulp) back when I was new to sock knitting. I was worried the yardage so I got a half-skein from The Loopy Ewe and alternated them up the food and leg (they're knit toe-up). Boy, Jitterbug is plump and lovely to work with! I just wish skeins didn't have knots ...

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Finally, these are socks for my dad. My dad has large (size 13 feet) and I knit the first sock in FIVE DAYS! I just couldn't put them down. (Overall, the pair took about two weeks.) It's Universal Pace sock yarn on size 2 needles (I learned my lesson ... no more size 1s for my dad and brother!). I'm hoping the nylon content means they'll last a long time.

I have been quiet on the blog front because I've been going through some rough stuff lately. My dad was diagnosed with anemia, and he had a colonoscopy to check things out ... they found a mass on Dec. 9. So for eight days, we were in pins and needles waiting for the results. It was one of the toughest times of my life. But thank goodness, tests showed it was precancerous, not cancer, so they caught it in time! He will have surgery in early January and life will go on. It is the truly the best Christmas gift I could ask for!

With the anemia, he is cold all the time. So I've started another pair of socks for him. I started them during the waiting period between his colonoscopy and finding out the results, so I was knitting them with lots of thoughts of healthiness and cancer-free results. (And I'd like to think it helped in some way!)

So these are happy, hopeful socks now. And I can't wait to finish them!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing my American friends lots of happiness on Thanksgiving!

road trip to the Outer Banks

I nearly forgot to blog about the trip I took a week ago! My pals Tiffany, Tasha and I took a road trip to the Outer Banks to visit Knitting Addiction in Kill Devil Hills. I had been to the store's old location but this was my first visit to their new spot. I have to say, it is REALLY nice! The store was abuzz with activity when we were there, but the employees were helpful. It's a really nice, airy, large store. They have lots of Malabrigo and Spud & Chloe to boot. I came home with a beautiful skein of locally dyed DK weight yarn.

Sea Star Handpaints, colorway Avalon Pier

There are 460 yards ... I'm thinking about some kind of gorgeous knee-high socks.

I also bought a pair of Addi DPNs -- they are really nice. I'm using them on a pair of socks for my mom and the socks are just flying! I've knit a sock and a half in a week on them.

Thankful Thursday No. 2

The astute among you might've realized that I missed Thankful Thursday last week. Oops! In my defense, I had a 12-hour day at work so my blogging time was slim to none. So here are some things I am thankful for:

1. Fall weather. I've been taking advantage of these cool, crisp, not-a-cloud in the sky days as much as possible. Today, Josh and I took Gracie to the dog park and threw a ball for her over and over again. I know she enjoys getting the chance to run freely. And I just love walking the streets in our neighborhood with crunchy leaves underfoot.

2. Trivia games. Last night I competed with seven colleagues at an annual trivia competition. We came in 2nd in 2007 and 2009 and 1st in 2008. Well, we regained our title last night! It requires lots of knowledge about current events and world leaders. We were so surprised to win -- our main competition is a local defense contracting firm, and they're really, really good. This just adds to my desire to appear on "Jeopardy!". I'm on the e-mail list, but they so rarely announce auditions. Someday ...

3. Colinette Jitterbug. I've never worked with this yarn before but it's so lovely. It's squishy and works up at a nice gauge (only 60 stitches around for a sock is unheard of for me). The only downside? The knots and fuzzy joins. Still, though, it's got a great twist and I've got more than half a sock done in three days.

It's finally sock weather!

I'm so excited that I can wear wool socks every day and NEED them. Compared with a year ago, I probably have twice as many handknit sock options. And these are the latest added to my collection:

Yarn: Opal Kaleidoskop (90% of a skein)

US 1 needles

Time to knit: 20 days, all of which were in October, making these a nice pair of Socktoberfest socks!

Rav details

I'm hard at work finishing up a pair of socks I started for my brother TWO YEARS AGO. Holy moley. The first was on the needles that long but I finished it during his visit last week. The second is flying and I'm already past the heel flap. Let's hope I don't put it down for another two years just because he has enormous feet!

In other news, I'm thinking about signing up for a Woolgirl kit for my birthday month -- the theme is Victorian Writers, which I am perfectly fine with, but I'm more excited about an Anne Hanson sock pattern + sock yarn. It would be a lovely birthday treat!

I'm also looking forward to a road trip my knitty girls are planning, down to the Outer Banks to Knitting Addiction. No doubt I will be wearing handknit socks for the occasion. :-)

Thankful Thursday

I found out about the idea of Thankful Thursday on another knitting blog and thought: "I can totally manage blogging at least once a week. The idea behind Thankful Thursday is that you list three things you're thankful for, on each Thursday in November. So without further ado:

1. My brother. He flew in from Ohio a week ago and we did the Wicked 10K together. Most people dress up since it's Halloween weekend. We put together our Star Trek uniforms (patches from roddenberry.com), phasers from Amazon, my ears courtesy of a costume shop in Ohio -- thanks, Mom!) We walked the race (because of his bruised rib and my general feeling of yuckiness) instead of running, and it was a nice time. While he was here, we went down to the Outer Banks and played some pool one night, too. It was lovely!

2. My beau. Maybe it's getting to be that time of the year when I get all gushy and reflective around the holidays, but I just feel so lucky to have him in my life. He's hilarious and smart and cute and generous.

3. Lest you think I'm all about the humans ... I'm thankful for my flat-iron. After years of borrowing them from roommates or just going curly, I plunked down a little cash for a flat-iron of my own. It does not take anywhere near as long as I thought it would. I picked one of the top-rated ones on Amazon, and I'm definitely impressed.

a round-up of FOs

oh hai.

Vacation + life got in the way of blogging -- but not knitting! My beau and I went to Vegas a few weeks ago and had a blast. I even did lots of knitting, thanks to long flights each way.

Most of my vacation knitting was a Sockhead Hat out of some luscious Madelinetosh Sock in Clematis:

It took for-EVA to knit this thing. Four inches of ribbing + nine inches of stockinette. But I really love it and it's so soft and cushy. I can't wait for it to get cold enough for me to wear it...

Next-up - a beret for my friend Barbie, who designed some tags for me to attach to knitted gifts. This was knit out of Malabrigo Worsted in Emerald Blue.

A friend from college had a baby girl, so I whipped up these socks from leftover Trekking 100 and mailed 'em off to Pennsylvania:

And finally ... a pair of socks for me!

The yarn is Malabrigo Sock and Trekking 100. I used about a half a ball of each.

And that's it! All the knitting I've been working on. I've got a couple more socks in the works right now -- it is Socktoberfest, after all ...

Earl Earl Earl

This hurricane is on my mind! I work at a newspaper so this is prime time for being busy. I picked up an OT shift Friday night.

I live in an area that is 'cushioned' by the Outer Banks, so we won't get a direct hit, just tropical-storm-force winds and rain sustained for about 20 hours straight. It will start as I'm at work this afternoon and won't let up till noon or so tomorrow. (Then I get to drive to work in the mess. Fun fun.)

I picked up some supplies at Walmart after work the other night, including this:

Now I'm ready to knit in the dark. Bring it, Earl!

the sock report

I've got a bevy of finished knits to show you, but first up will be the knitted good nearest and dearest to my heart: socks!

These are my first Christmas gift of the year -- socks for my brother's girlfriend in Ohio State colors.

Yarn: Loopy Ewe Solid Series in Strawberry and Smoke (about a half skein of each)

US 2 needles

Time to knit: About 2.5 weeks

Rav details

I'm happy with how the joins turned out, too:

I think Meg will really like them. She's been coveting the Ohio State mittens I made for my brother a couple years ago.

Next up is a pair of socks for myself. Also stripey!

Yarn: Vesper Sock Yarn, colorway Lovely Lollipop Sky (a summer 2008 Vesper Sock Club offering)

US 1 needles

Time to knit: a month and a half

Rav details

I'm really happy with them -- I got lazy on the first one and bound off a little early, so they're not the tallest things. But that's OK. They're so bright and cheery, I smile every time I look down at my feet!

These pairs are nos. 9 and 10 of 2010, putting me ahead of schedule for my goal of 12 pairs in 2010. I already have two new pairs on the needles ...

If you'll excuse me, I will return to my knitting. I have a pot of chili in the crockpot for dinner tonight. Yum!

Perhaps I will return to blogging more frequently now that this is in my hot little hands:



I finally upgraded my 6-year-old Compaq laptop! The breaking point was sitting down at the computer as I ate my morning cereal (as I do every day), clicking on Firefox to open a browser window, and eating all of my cereal before the damn thing loaded. I decided to stop waiting and just plunk down the money!

Of course, I'm blogging from the old computer right now ... I have to transfer my iTunes and various files over to the new one with the help of a Flash drive. For some reason I'm being a baby and am insisting on waiting until the boyfriend is home from work to do it. Oh hai, I'm a helpless female.

I can show you this: the socks-in-progress for my brother's girlfriend. These will be her first handknit socks:



They're pretty cute, if I may say so myself. Yarn is Loopy Legends Solid Series -- I didn't care for its hand at first, but it's growing on me now that I'm well into the second sock. I'm knitting these 4-row stripes on size 2 needles, but if they were for me, I think I'd have gone down to a 1 for tighter gauge. She has small feet (US women's 7.5), which is the smallest adult sock I've ever knit! So wee!

This is probably as good a time as any to confess that I am rather ambivalent about knitting any more socks for my family for Christmas. It's not that the socks aren't worn, or that my family doesn't know the work that goes into them. That couldn't be further from the truth. And it's not that I'm pushing sock-making duties off on my mom, now that she's knitting socks. I must confess that I am just itching to knit more socks for myself! I know my feet so well that I can knock out a pair of stockinette socks for myself in a week or so, but gift knitting seems to drag and drag ...

With four months till Christmas, I'm hopeful I can overcome this ennui and kickstart my gift knitting again!