Sox and Socks

OMG! First game of the World Series on tonight and the Sox are playing! I really didn't think they were going to make it this time! Of course, every year I say they're not going to make it, in hopes that I won't be too upset when/if they don't make it. Doesn't so much work. Game 7 of the ALCS was great, and I was knitting green (monster) socks, so they'll be coming out again tonight. Of course, we'll see if I can stay awake for the whole game - functioning on less than 6 hours of sleep doesn't work as well for me now as it used to...

Now it only goes to figure that the one time that I actually have non-sock items to show off, the weather's not cooperating with my taking pictures. All I have is some finished socks (that you've already seen singles of, alas) from the weekend, but at least it makes for a good post title. Hopefully the sun will come out tomorrow (bet your bottom dollar it's tomorrow), and I will be awake enough to exploit my natural resources...

Finished Firestarters, as mentioned before, in Zen String Harmony fingering, which I'll just say one more time, is perfect perfect for this pattern. This was a fun learning experience, with a different sort of construction (though I didn't pay quite as close attention on the second sock, so there are a few, not too noticeable errors). I do think that I'm all done with the magic loop method. I'm glad I stuck with it for the pair, and I feel comfortable using it, but I was so glad to get back to the dpns!

Here, of course, are the Scherherezade Slippers, finished while the Patriots crushed the Dolphins on Sunday. (I'm not really a huge sports fan, honestly, it's just a good time to knit!) They're in ArtYarns Ultramerino on size 2 (dpns, thank you very much). I think they're stunningly gorgeous - and they were another new construction for me), but since they come right to my calves, I do think I'll need to add a little elastic to keep them up when I walk...or I could just spend the rest of my life reclining gracefully in them...I'll have to ponder....

And finally, the Wine socks (really Nancy Bush's Whitby)! If all goes as planned, I'll be trading them for my case of wine on Halloween. Hopefully there will be pictures of them on the feet that fit them (instead of my much smaller ones!) as well as of a giant box of wine!

Go Sox!

Restless Me Syndrome

This is getting to be a bad habit, I think. I was sad and embarrassed when I was only getting around to posting every seven days, but less often than that?! shocking. It's been, and still is, a week in which I can't seem to do anything for more than a few minutes and then I have to go do something else. It's not a manic thing, just a flakey thing, I think. In either case, I've been very very busy getting nothing much done!

To distract from my lack of content, here is a link to a very odd children's show that Claire shared with me. It's G rated, but there _is_ singing...

One thing I _can_ say I accomplished this week (other than eating an obscene amount at a BikeJerk family reunion), is finishing the first half of my pair of Maia's Mystery sock/Scherherezade Slippers:

Isn't it amazing? Don't you want to make one? I'm ever so pleased with how it turned out. It's very tall on me since I have a short foot, and I love the lace pattern swirling up and around my calf. It actually comes to a nice point on the back, but I'm not quite flexible enough to successfully capture the back of my own leg on film.

And one final thing. This is the yarn I spun for a scarf I'm going to knit for my brother:

As you can see, it's autumnal and also sort of busy, with the light and dark strands plied together. I'm pondering what, if any, stitch pattern I should use - stockinette and garter are awfully boring, but do you think that this yarn would just swallow any sort of texture I tried? (I know, I should swatch, but that takes some willpower/attention span.)

Argh! I've been doing one thing for more than 10 minutes now. I'd better run!

October, baby, yeah!

I love October. It's somehow my favorite month. Partially because my wedding anniversary is on Halloween, partially because it's the first month that I can feel sure that it'll be autumn, which has always been my favorite season - the leaves, the lack of humidity, (new school clothes?), plus I love the peacefulness of the bare trees, etc. So I've been missing in action this whole first week of October because it's been just way too warm! I know many were glad for the weather in the 80s this week, but it made me cranky as all get out. Grr! Naturally, I'm ever so pleased that it's not supposed to even get up to 70 today. Ah! I'm happy, and the BikeJerk is happy, as he and friends are riding their bikes to Provincetown today. Hope it doesn't rain too much, guys!

So when I say 'missing in action' I mean that I haven't been blogging, or commenting on other peoples' blogs, or talking to my friends, or doing nearly enough of my research, but it doesn't mean I haven't been knitting. I started both my new sweater project and the orange lace project, neither of which is photograph-able yet, and I worked on these:

On the right are Boyfriend Socks for the BikeJerk. The Lorna's Laces is perfect for this cable-heavy pattern, and I love how they're turning out. At the same time, I'm working on the sock on the left, which I'm calling the Wine Sock. Even though it's Whitby from Nancy Bush's Knitting on the Road, it's the Wine Sock to me because when I finish the pair, I get a case of wine. Yes, a case. They're for a friend of ours who is the wine expert at a local liquor store. He's very excited for a handknit pair of socks, and I think these ones will be huge winners for his first pair - they're in Cider Moon Flurry, and they're SOOOO soft! Maybe he'll want another pair. ;)

Finally, above and below are socks for me, along with enormous produce from our CSA! Above, it's an art photo, below, you can see the sock

Which is the first of a pair of Firestarters (from Yarnissima, but available for free from the Loopy Ewe!) in Zen String Harmony Fingering in the Vitamin C colorway. I love this yarn so much - it's perfect for the pattern with its tencel blend making the stitches crisp, and the colors are so rich. I'm SO sad that I cancelled my sock yarn club membership with Zen String - I've never been unhappy with any of their yarns or colorways - silly me and not spending beyond my means!!

The pattern is certainly fun - toe-up with traveling stitch cables and an interesting construction - it's carefully organized and I love how the stitches flow up and around the gusset. It's written for the Magic Loop method....and....well, I decided to use it despite my previous frustration in it (with a needle with less than graceful joins). I have made this whole sock with the magic loop, and I don't hate it anymore. I feel comfortable in it, and stopped being annoyed by having to pull the needle up into place, but I just don't know how I feel about the method. It's sort of fine, but is it less annoying than dpns? I don't think so... As one of my students would say, I'm deeply ambivalent (because to college students, apparently, if you're ambivalent, you must be deeply ambivalent, just as any contrast has to be stark and any opposition has to be a binary one. Sigh.).