Glass Half Full

Christmas is in 8 days. Here's a project you can do in 2 hours--1 if you're quick.

Find a picture or words that you like. If you're doing words, be sure to leave some space between the letters and choose a really blocky font. Trace the image on contact paper.

Cut out using scissors or a box cutter. I find the box cutter to be easier. Tip: Don't lift the blade. Rotate the contact paper to change directions instead of picking up the knife. Be sure to cut this on a couple layers of cardboard so you don't scratch your table.

Buy a glass. Target had these for $1. It has to be glass, not plastic.

Wash the glass, then rub the area you're going to use with isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol. Stick the contact paper to the glass. Do not freak out if it's not perfectly level. This is handmade, people.

 

Using a small foam brush, cover the cut-out area with a fairly heavy layer of Armour Etch. Tip: Watch the glass to make sure the Armour Etch isn't being thwarted by gravity and running off the contact paper. If it is, lay the glass down and prop it with something so it doesn't roll.

 

This isn't Half Full. It's a glass a friend did of Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster.

Let the Armour Etch sit for 10 minutes, then rinse off under running water, blotting gently with a paper towel.

Be excited that you just etched glass. Do not be concerned that it is imperfect. That's part of the charm. Like all projects, it's important to focus on glass half full.* (I made this myself since the etsy seller didn't have it in stock when I wanted to buy it. I refuse to be thwarted.)

Spend the next half hour daydreaming about other things you can etch, looking at everything glass in your house and wondering if it can be improved. This will freak out your partner a bit, but it cannot be helped. Think about that aunt who's difficult to shop for. Wouldn't she love a casserole dish with her name etched on it to take to church dinners? Sure, she would. (My mom did, anyway.) The friend with the perfect Christmas decorations would love a glass ornament with her initial on it. Your beer-drinking buddy might like an etched beer glass. The possibilities are mind-boggling, and you've got a lot more Armour Etch to use. Etch on, my friends.

The tutorial I used is here.

*See what I did there?

Lotus

It's December, and everyone knows that means there's tons getting done and nothing that can be made public. 

I did, however, embroider another pillowcase.

I have no interest in being perfect at embroidery. Imperfection is a-okay. I like to do it, and that's enough. I'm not averse to learning though. From this pillowcase, I learned that I really need to wash the fabric first. I didn't, and it puckered on the far left.

I found the lotus online as part of a coloring page, I think. I used carbon transfers from Sublime Stitching to put the design on the case. The swirls I sort of freehanded, which taught me that I need to be better about covering the carbon lines with floss. I had trouble getting them to come out in the wash.

I have another pillowcase planned, and I expect to keep doing little projects like this until it isn't fun anymore.

Hanukah Miracle

Andrew has a shelf in the yarn storage dedicated to yarn he's picked out for himself. I grabbed a skein of Fleece Artists's Hand Maiden Casbah Sock in Phoenix (Andrew has excellent taste) to make him socks.

 

That yarn is delightful. Squishy, pretty, and very soft. I believe I will need to buy a skein for myself.

 

It has 325 meters, which is 355 yards. More than once I've run out of yarn making socks. I like the legs to be fairly tall, and I've screwed up a pair for me and a pair for Andrew.* I was determined not to make that mistake again.

 

Toe-up.

 

I don't particularly like toe-up, but that's because I think increasing is fiddlier (technical term) than decreasing. There was no way around it. Toe-up would be the smartest way to utilize the yardage and make sure I didn't up with a toe of a different color.**

 

Time Traveler Socks (mine raveled here),

knit in Fleece Artist's Hand Maiden Casbah Sock in the Phoenix colorway

 

Not only did I have plenty of yarn to make these socks the height I wanted, but I had enough leftover to make a surprise Christmas something.

 

Four of them.

 

I couldn't understand it. How could I have plenty of this yarn when I ran out of similar yardages? The Silkies socks I made for Andrew had the same yardage in the skein as these. The stitch pattern was similar. The needle size was smaller for the Silkies socks than for the Time Traveler Socks. It just didn't make any sense.

 

Then I looked at the calendar. It's Hanukah. My friends, I believe I've experienced my own Hanukah miracle. I am thankful to the spirit of the Maccabees. Knit on.

 

*It's a painful story.
**I'm looking at you, Lycaena virgaureae socks.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope your day is filled with the human equivalent of this.

 

Bring It On

I'm ready.

The thick gray cowl, mittens and hat went on the walk with Dexter first thing this morning.

I wore the more colorful cowl, mittens, sweater, and socks to work.

Ravelry links:
Clara Cowl
Swirly Mittens 2.0
Zig Zag Chevron Hat
My Favourite Things Infinity Scarf
Helleborus Yoke Sweater
Grieving Socks

This is one of those days when it is impossible not to feel smug as a knitter.

Ribbed Hat and an Update

I've made Andrew a few hats, with varying degrees of success. Last year, he was wearing a storebought hat. It was a nice storebought hat, but I've begun to find storebought winter accessories slightly offensive. He told me that the storebought one was lighter weight, and he needed that when the weather wasn't extremely cold.

Fair enough. I could make that. So I made him the Brain Wave hat. It's a great hat, but I realized that it's not really lightweight. Sure, it's lighter than a worsted weight hat, but it's still stranded knitting. Even in fingering weight yarn, stranded knitting is dense.

I have remedied the situation, making a hat that is one thickness of fingering weight yarn. Lo, the Ribbed for His Pleasure Hat.

2x2 Ribbed for His Pleasure (mine raveled here),

knit in Knitpicks Chroma Fingering, Misty Morn colorway

This is not challenging in the sense of technique. It is challenging in the sense of patience. There are 160 stitches in a round, and it's entirely in 2x2 rib on size 2.25 mm/US size 1 needles. I started it on dpns, but switched to a circular and am very glad I did. I had to buy the right size circular, but it was worth the money. Forty stitches on a single dpn is just a few too many. They kept trying to jump off the needle.

I persevered. Snug. Lightweight. Covers the ears.

Andrew's adorable. Who wouldn't knit a jillion stitches for this guy?

Update: Anyone remember my Year of the Heifer? It didn't work. I've decided that's okay. A bummer, but okay.

A New Beginning

My mom taught me to knit by knitting a washcloth.

Well, something slightly resembling a washcloth. 

Anyway, two of my friends were married Tuesday. I thought hard about what to make for them.

What better than something that always makes me think of new beginnings? I knit two plain washcloths in colors I thought they would like. 

Garter Dishcloth with Pointy Corners (mine ravelled here),

knit in Lily Sugar 'n' Cream in color 2235

I also made one that was fancier and love-ish.

Heart Dishcloth (mine ravelled here),

knit in Knitpicks Dishie in Jalapeno

May their life together be simple, beautiful and strong. May it be filled with love and happiness. Congratulations, guys!

Cascade Socks

We're here to sing and cheer 'neath our Hoosier sky

for the team that's from Cascade High.

 We'll fight tonight. We'll win that fight for vict'ry is our cry.

Throughout the north, the south, the east and the west, we'll protect our fame.

No matter where we go, the folks who see us know

that Cascade is our name.

I've knit five pair of socks for my oldest sister. Every one of them is predominantly red. Granted, red is her favorite color, but I still need to branch out. My niece and nephew are in 9th and 8th grades respectively, so my sister spends a lot of time at school functions. I think these socks in the high school's colors will get a lot of wear.

Cascade Socks (mine ravelled here),

knit in Ladybug Fiber Company 400 Sock 80/20 Self-striping

in custom-dyed Cascade Cadets colorway

Go, Cadets!

Felt Ornaments

I'm not even sure what started it. It was probably Pinterest. You know how it is.

I became obsessed with felt Christmas ornaments. Yesterday, I made a dachshund for my mom with similar coloring as her dog, Oscar. (Get it? OSCAR WEINER?!)

Inspiration from here (scroll down)

I made a chicken one for a cousin who raises chickens and collects chicken-related stuff.

Inspiration from here

And I made a couple Star Wars ones for a friend who is a Big Fan.

Inspiration from here

These are fun and fast. Well, relatively fast. These are fast if you're comparing them to knitting. (That's another positive thing about knitting. It's changed my perception of time. Stuff like this doesn't take long. The fabric already exists! I'm not making it from string!) They're also really inexpensive to make. Sheets of felt were $0.29, so I bought a rainbow's worth for a few dollars.

Want to see some others that caught my eye? How about these vintage-looking ones, this fancy one, these that are probably easy if you understand how to use a sewing machine (I don't, particularly), and these are beautiful. Have fun!

This Is Not Small

“That’s how it is at first. You knit to save your life.”

Scarlet, a character from Ann Hood’s The Knitting Circle says that to a new knitter as she’s reassuring her that her scarf will be done quickly. Sometimes when you hear something, does it ever strike you as So True that the words almost physically hurt?

That’s how these words were.

I work a full-time job in which knitting has no place except at lunch and perhaps while fighting a virus on a workstation. My life does not revolve around knitting, but it is important and is the way I choose to spend a significant amount of my time.

I knit because I can see progress. Whatever else is happening in my life, whatever makes me feel like I’m just running around in circles, I can see progress in knitting. I had 4 rounds done. Now I have 10. I have created 6 rounds of a tangible thing. This is not small.

I knit because it is creative. One of the lines in Rent, my very favorite musical*, is “The opposite of war isn’t peace. It’s creation.” Life can feel destructive. Sometimes I can feel destructive. When I knit, I put creative energy into the world. This is not small.

I knit because it makes me immortal…. sort of. I want my knitwear to be used, and that means that it will wear out. It will get dirty. It will even get lost. Some though, will outlive me. This is not small.

I knit to show people I love them. I love you, and I will knit you stranded mittens. I love you, and I will knit you kneesocks. I love you, and I will knit you fingerless gloves depicting gay deer sex because it will make you laugh. I love you, and I will custom order yarn so it is the perfect colors for your favorite team. I love you and I will knit boring socks out of scratchy yarn for you because you want to hang them on a peg on your wall. I love you, and I will knit you as many pairs of socks, as many hats, as many scarves as you want because my life is infinitely richer with you as part of it. Knitting allows me to create a tangible item that says, “I love you so much that I invested hours and hours of my life making this for you.” This is not small.

I knit to honor others. I knit a baby hat for an expectant mother** because I recognize that creating another human being is an astonishing miracle. I have no desire to do that myself, but I recognize it’s a bfd. A hat isn’t enough, but it’s something. You spent nine months giving your body over to this task, and you’ll spend the rest of your life raising that kid. I honor that with a few hours of my own time. It’s not enough, but it’s what I can do. This is not small.

I knit because sometimes it’s the only thing I can do. When my sister called to tell me Grandfather had died, I picked up sock yarn on my way out the door. Grandfather was so important—is so important—to me. He is the reason Andrew and I have a good marriage. With Grandfather and Grandma, I knew it was possible and that I just had to work to make it happen with someone who wanted to work to make it happen as well. When he died, it felt like a light went out. In the days that followed, my hands made the motions they knew—over and over and over. Everything had shattered, but doing this thing that I knew how to do meant that maybe, maybe I wouldn’t shatter, too. This is not small.

Maybe I do knit to save my life. 

May every single person have something they can do that saves her life as well. So say we all.

*Please don’t tell me if you don’t like Rent. I try to be reasonable, but it would be difficult for me to look past that admission and still be your friend. I know that’s a failing of mine, but do try to accommodate it for both our sakes.

**I am passionate in my belief all people are valuable. I believe the father is important. However, I believe the father isn’t as important as the mother when the mother’s body is involved. She’s the one who is pregnant. She is the one who gives birth. She is the one who feeds the baby with her own self. That’s important. That doesn’t make me a rabid feminist. It makes me honest about biology.

Colette!

I finished Colette! The gray race is won.

Colette (mine ravelled here),

knit in Lion Brand Superwash Merino Cashmere, Color 150 Slate

It's not a difficult knit, but it's not terribly interesting. Most of it is stockinette, although you wouldn't think so from looking at it. The two fronts are knit only to the diamond pattern, so they're primarily stockinette. The sleeves and back are primarily stockinette. The focal point of the sawtooth lace is added on at the end, well after you've lost interest in this sweater. I suggest looking often at Rachael Herron's to stay motivated. So pretty!

There's a TON of seaming. So. Much. Seaming. I had said there were eight, but that was not including sewing the sawtooth lace pieces along the front edges, so there were really ten. It was not for the faint-hearted. Glass half full: I got lots of practice with the mattress stitch.

I think it could have been smaller--I will never wear it closed so I probably could have gone down a size. But I don't think it's radically too big either. All in all, I'm really happy with it, and I plan to wear it to my family's Thanksgiving!

Now, back to Christmas present knitting...

Delias eucharis Socks

One gray project finished!

Delias eucharis Socks (mine ravelled here),

knit in Blue Moon Fiber Arts' Socks that Rock Lightweight,

Deep Unrelenting Grey colorway

These socks are stunning. I love them very, very much.

They're not fast, but they're worth it.

Another Benefit of Knitting

Knitting does a lot of good things. It keeps the brain active. It develops fine motor skills. It supports a slew of small businesses. It keeps me from killing people in a waiting room. It allows me to show people how much I value them in a concrete, unique way. It provides patterns for the cat to lie on while I'm trying to knit in the evening.

It also keeps me humble.

I'm knitting the requested Packers hat. No problem. I'm doing four-row stripes, and I'm knitting the first row in every stripe so my purl bumps don't show. I'm slipping the correct stitch to make a jogless stripe.

I'm rocking this hat, in other words.

This afternoon at lunch, I smugly get ready to decrease.

Round 1 done.

Round 2 - Huh. This doesn't line up the way I'd expect. Still, it's probably right.

Oh. I've run out of stitches but haven't yet run out of pattern instructions.
I'll just tink (unknit) this row.

No, I probably don't need to tink the whole round. I'll just adjust on the next round.

Except I can't figure out how to do the next round since the first two don't line up. 
No problem. I'll tink the second decrease round.

Huh. I still can't figure out why this doesn't line up.

I'll tink the first round.

No, that's silly. Surely I don't need to tink the entire round. 

I'll reknit those stitches I took out.

Um, I still can't figure out how to fudge round 2.

This went on for longer than I care to admit. Of course, I ended up tinking both decrease rounds completely. When I started round 1 again, I realized that I had been doing something entirely different than what was written. What I was thinking, I don't know, but there was no way I was ever going to be able to fudge those.

After a half an hour, it still pretty much looks like this:

Cambridge Watchcap (mine ravelled here),

knit in Berocco Vintage, 5152 and 5121

Thanks, knitting. I probably was getting a little overinflated.

Hooray!

Yesterday, I e-mailed my doctor.

Dr. B,

Wow, shingles suck. I stopped getting new blisters last Friday, so I think the antiviral helped. The pain is still significant, but not bad enough I can’t manage it. The only way out is through, right?

My real question is about being contagious. The day after I found the beginning of a rash and the day before I came to see you, I knit a hat for my neighbor’s newborn. I haven’t given them the hat because a neighbor who gives a newborn chicken pox is the worst sort of neighbor.

Are there any guidelines about being contagious? If I wash the hat in hot water and machine dry it, does that kill the virus? Am I better off just pitching it? What about the remaining yarn? Does the virus stay live on it? For how long am I contagious, until the rash is completely gone or longer?

Thanks!

This morning, he called me and assured me that the person would have to "have their nose right in your rash" for it to be contagious. Do to the placement of my rash, this is highly unlikely. He reassured me the hat wouldn't give the baby chicken pox. I asked if just to be safe washing it in hot water would kill anything that happened to be on it. He said if the yarn could handle it, washing it in hot water was fine. Overkill, but fine.

Obviously, I'm going to wash and dry that booger, and then I'll probably ask Andrew to wrap it instead of me because there's no harm in being careful. Better crazy than a contagion, right?*

Let's take a moment to thank my doctor for allaying my fears and praise God I used acrylic yarn.

*I think I've just stumbled upon a t-shirt design for OCD folks.

Seaming with the Ladies Who Lunch

Seaming is not knitting. Seaming is suspiciously like sewing, and I did not learn to knit anticipating spending hours hand sewing. That shows you what I know.

I don't hate seaming, but it's slow and careful work. Yesterday I found something that helped. I imagined three ladies in white cotton gloves, tea-length party dresses, hats, and perfect hair. They were on the edge of their seats watching me seam. They said things like, "Ooh, that's lovely." "Did you see the way she handled that mattress stitch?" "It's such a pleasure to see good seaming like this." They clapped their gloved hands with glee at my work.

Hey, whatever works. Seven seams down; one to go.

Order

The Colette sweater marches on. The real beauty of it is the edging that travels up each of the fronts and around the neck. That is knit separately and sewn on, which means most of the sweater is uninteresting to knit.

The only way out is through.

The sleeves do have a nice edging that makes it possible to finish the stockinette everywhere else without abandoning it for something more interesting.

Once the five pieces are finished, the instructions are to steam block them before sewing them together. I have never, ever steam blocked anything. I went online to figure out the difference between steam blocking and wet blocking, and I found this discussion of blocking, which I took as approval that I could wet block if I wanted. In fact, I am pretending that wet blocking is actually better. This may be a lie,  but I choose to believe it.

Once I get past the initial stress of "Omigosh, everything's too big" and pat the pieces into roughly their intended measurement, there's something very soothing about blocking. It brings order to the whole in a very Sunday in the Park with George sort of way.

And when they're dry, they have transformed from five curled up wads of stockinette into something better.

Something that can be folded and, hopefully, sewn without cursing.

Today I seam.

Christmas Progress

I'm doing pretty well on my Christmas knitting. I just received the self-striping yarn I needed to make socks for my oldest sister, and they'll go quickly. I was feeling pretty smug about my progress when I went to a friend's house on Saturday.

Her son asked if I'd make him a Packers hat. I have some Berocco Vintage in green and gold in my stash already. Months ago, I was looking for fingering weight yarn in the right green and gold for socks he wanted, and I couldn't find it. I stupidly and desperately bought the Vintage thinking I could make him thick socks. That's nutty--it's not that hard to find the right colors online--but it means I already have the yarn to make the hat.

Another friend asked if I'd knit her another cowl. She loves the one I gave her for her birthday, but it clashes with her winter coat.

GAP-tastic and Fluted Cowl (mine ravelled here),

knit in Knitpicks' Biggo, Calypso Heather colorway

The pattern is a mashup of two patterns: the Fluted Cowl and the GAP-tastic Cowl. (Notes are on my ravelry page.) It really does make a lovely cowl, and I would have been tempted to keep it if it was in another color. Now that I need to order yarn to make her a second one... well, there may be one of these for me in my future as well. I keep telling myself I need to wear the Clara Cowl and see if I like it, but the temptation to buy three more skeins of this yarn in gray is great. A girl only needs so many fluffy cowls, right? Right?

Not Quite Half Full

I have shingles.

I am thirty-five. No, I'm not under any unusual stress. Things are great. The chicken pox virus decided to reactivate anyway.

I am not amused.

There's not a lot else to be said about it. Yes, it's painful. Let's talk about something else.

I decided I deserved a I Have Shingles present, and I was checking out my wishlist to see what I wanted to buy myself.

I decided on this glass from etsy. I wasn't feeling very optimistic, but this would be a nod to the Universe that I was trying.

It's no longer available.* The only glass the seller has in his/her store has a deer head on it.

Very funny, Universe.

*I've sent a message to the seller asking if he/she will be listing more of them, so there's hope.

A Clump of Hats

I was working on the gray items. Really, I was.

Then I realized that I was meeting a friend for coffee after work on Friday, and I can't read charts or count while drinking coffee and chatting. So, I started a hat.

Ann Budd's Basic Hat Pattern (mine ravelled here),

knit in Blue Moon Fiber Arts' Gaea, Jabberwocky colorway

My coworkers and I sponsor a couple families for Hanukah each year, and one of the adult women requested a warm, knit hat. I decided to use the yarn left from the herringbone hat disaster. When I reknit Andrew's hat, I didn't use the yarn I had used originally. I used the other half of the skein. The yarn I had frogged from the hat was slightly felted. It worked fine reknitting it into a plain hat though. This yarn is so busy that it needs a very plain stitch pattern, so I knit it following Ann Budd's hat instructions.*

Because I am skilled in the art of denial, I pretended this wouldn't grow when I washed it. I'm still not sure why I did that, since I have painful memories of this exact yarn growing. Maybe I thought it wouldn't grow because it had already grown in the wash.

The hat's too big.

Pretty colors, but too big.

I'm planning to take it to a friend this weekend and see if it fits him. He has a big head. I choose to remain hopeful.

Because I am a Glass Half Full kind of person, I've decided this is for the best. The woman for whom I was knitting lives in a nursing home. I cannot depend on the person who does her laundry to handwash a hat. It probably would have gotten felted. Then she would have been sad.

So, I went to Michael's and shopped the acrylic. I made this on Sunday.

Ann Budd's Basic Hat Pattern (mine ravelled here), 

knit in Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable, Echo colorway

I know this yarn is Red Heart. I, too, try to avoid Red Heart whenever possible. However, the colors are pretty and the yarn is soft. This is no Super Saver, and the color shifts are interesting.

In this midst of those two hats, I saw my neighbor. She is pregnant. Very pregnant. She said she's doing a lot of walking, including up and down her staircase, in hopes of encouraging the baby to make her appearance. I kept thinking about how astounding it is that this woman is making another person. If she's making a new human, the least I can do is make that human a hat.

I picked white because their baby will be dark-skinned, and I think white will look beautiful against the brown.

Otis Baby Hat (mine ravelled here),

knit in Bernat Softee Baby in white

The pattern has an 8-row cable, which you repeat two and a half times before doing the decreases. I changed this to a 5-row cable as the result of misreading the pattern a careful design choice.

I think I'm done making hats now. Back to gray!

*Ann Budd's The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns is indeed handy.

The Gray Race

My favorite color is gray. You may think this is odd. I am okay with that.

I love the way silvery or charcoal gray looks with other colors. Pink? Orange? Red? Blue? Green? Purple? All yes. The only color that really doesn't go with gray is brown, and, let's face it, that's brown's fault.

Sorry, brown.

As a result, I knit a lot of gray. I have learned, however, that it is a mistake to knit gray in the winter. As much as I love to wear it, focusing on gray yarn in a gray world makes me sad and puts Ani DiFranco on a loop in my head.* I realized last night that I have two gray projects I really want to wear, and it's October.

Time is short.

Delias eucharis socks (mine ravelled here),

knit in Blue Moon Fiber Art's Socks that Rock Lightweight,

Deep Unrelenting Gray colorway

Those socks are part of the knitalong for Hunter Hammersen's (Violently Domestic) Knitter's Curiosity Cabinet, Vol. II. They're lovely, although the cable on round 8 has proved to be a pain. I think I have it figured out now, and I appreciate everyone ignoring the fact that there are some mis-crosses near the beginning.

The knitalong goes through the end of November, but I'd like them done by Halloween. November will require neon colors.

 Colette sweater (mine ravelled here),

knit in Lion Brand Superwash Merino Cashmere

I saw that sweater and shrugged. Then I saw Rachael Herron in that sweater. It looks fantastic on her. Part of the reason is because she's adorable, but I suspect another part of the reason is that it's not closed in the front. I like the way it looks open much, much more than closed. I've started the back, and it's going to be a bit of a slog. There's a lot of stockinette and not a lot else. However, we started watching season 7 of Doctor Who last night, so stockinette with a smidge of shaping is probably all I can handle.

In my head, I'm wearing this sweater at my aunt's house on Thanksgiving, and I look fab. I'm still shooting to have it done by the end of the month though--a goal that may be unreasonable. I'm going to try anyway.

The race to finish gray is on.

*I do love this song, but it's not one to listen to in the winter.

What Christmas Knitting? I See No Christmas Knitting.

Currently, I'm knitting washcloths requested by Andrew's grandpa. Andrew's grandpa is awesome, so I would knit him kneesocks if he wanted them. Luckily, a couple years ago he wanted a scarf and this year he told me his washcloths were wearing out. No mention of kilt hose at all.

However, I am being tempted to drop the knitting. One of my friends just gave me this:

It's the Crafty Characters embroidery pattern from Kitschy Digitals. I really want to embroider a pillowcase with knitting needles and happy balls of yarn.

My friends are the best. Thanks, Rachel!

That's a lot of cables.

We celebrated some birthdays this weekend, which means I can show you another knitted present!*

03 Cabled Over-Knee Socks (mine ravelled here),

knit in Knit Picks Stroll Sport, Peapod colorway

This was an instance of trying to find a pattern on ravelry and then being stunned that it said I already owned the pattern. It was positive reinforcement that I need to keep my ravelry library updated.

The pattern is from the very first Debbie Bliss magazine from 2008. When I went back to the magazine, I'm not surprised I flipped past it. It shows the sock all scrunched up around the ankle. That, my dear, is not the way to display a kneesock.

The pattern had a completely plain foot (why?) and also had me breaking the yarn before starting the foot and shuffling the stitches around (again, why?).

I didn't like the way that looked, so I did a heel flap over 31 stitches and then decreased down to 61 stitches for the foot. I continued the pattern down the top of the foot, omitting the cables because of the bulk.

I am amused by mirrored socks, so I did a 2x2 right cable on one and a 2x2 left cable on the other.

These are very tall, and they can be worn either over the knee or with the large, ribbed cuff folded over. My hope was that the folded cuff would keep them from slipping. That doesn't seem to be the case, so I ordered a pair of sock garters to go with them.

*Let's take a moment to notice Rachel's dress. It's so very pretty, and she found it on clearance for $8. Excellent work.

It's My Pinterest...

...and I'll organize how I want to.

My love for organization is pure. One of my favorite pastimes as a kid? Organizing the big box of crayons by color. It's harder than you'd imagine because sometimes the actual color of the crayon is lighter than another but its paper is darker.

This is the sort of thing that troubled my young mind.

Really, very little has changed.

I have to be careful not to over-organize people in my head. My instinct is to see someone and immediately put them in a labelled box.* I have to work to remember that people are complex and don't fit into a color-coded filing cabinet.

Anyhoo, I spent some time yesterday with my Pinterest boards. I had all the knitting and crochet in one board, and it was unwieldy. I separated it into several boards.

I don't crochet, but there are a few crochet items that I find particularly compelling.

Click here for this pin and here for my crochet board.

Pins of knitting that I actually plan to make are here.

Pins of knitting that I like but probably won't make myself or have already made and therefore no longer in my queue are here. It includes things like this:

Click here for this pin and here for my knitting to admire board.

Techniques and tools are here.

Thinking and writing about knitting by people who get it are here.

Finally, some pretty yarn is here.

I am not able to control many, many, many things, but I have a very pretty Pinterest page. I'm calling it a win.

* My box is tagged with Knitting, Vegetarian, Buddhist-loving Nerd. 

For Wizards and Sisters

This is a pattern I've had in my favorites for a long time. My oldest sister told me she could never have enough socks, so I decided to try this pattern with a self-striping yarn for her birthday.

Hermione's Everyday Socks (mine raveled here),

knit in ONline Supersocke 100 in the Comedy colorway

This is a super easy four-row pattern. I've recently decided I prefer my sock patterns to be simple. I want to be able to tell where I am by looking at the sock, not by following a 24-row chart. If I want something really hard, I'll knit a wrap where everyone will see it all the time. Very few people hang out around my feet. I try not to take this personally.

That being said, you bet I'm going to knit the Delias eucharis socks from Knitters' Curiosity Cabinet Vol. II as part of the October-November KAL on Ravelry. Will they be easy? Probably not. Will they be gorgeous? Definitely!