Small Shoes To Fill

These are some Saartje's Booties that I knit for my imminently expected niece.

Best Swap Pal Ever!

Yes, it's been quite a while. I've been unabashedly more interested in actually knitting than writing about it.

Howevah....

Mary is the best swap pal ever! I am confident that this fact has nothing to do with her also being my first upstream swap pal ever as well. She is the best. Below is the proof!

I participated in a Red Sox Spring Training Swap over on Ravelry this spring. It was absolutely perfect! Knitting and the Sox, what more is there? I had fun putting together a package for my downstream partner, including yarn and needles for her to knit her first ever pair of socks.

I received Part I of my package just in time for Opening Day. It included some Oreos (mmm, my favorite), two skeins of deliciously luxurious Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk Aran, a set of 4 baseball stitch markers, and a pair of custom-painted Red Sox knitting needles! Mary did an amazing job with these!

Part II arrived a few days ago and to my surprise I have a new World Series 2007 Tee, World Series 2004 keychain, more Oreos, some really yummy vanilla soap, and best of all - an official cap! I have been wanting one just like this for some time now but somehow never got around to buying one. Mary to the rescue!

Thank you sooo much Mary, for your generosity, kindness, and talent!

Twilight and Dawn

I have a finished project tonight (erm, this morning)! These are my second pair of Jaywalkers and they were knit from the toe up. Now I can understand why some knit this pattern over and over and over...

I'm sure you all will notice the blatant pooling on the legs of these, but I actually like it here. As I knit on these, I realized that the way the colors were coming out reminded me of night and day, and when I finished the first sock I decreed that they would be called...

Twilight and Dawn Jaywalkers

Yarn: Lime & Violet Sasquatch in Fairy Fruits

Pattern: um...Jaywalkers (toe up)

Here's the artsy fartsy closeup shot. The color is also better in this one. Or at least, closer to true. Pose, ladies!

What I did on my summer vacation

Lots of knitting, that's what. Having so much time off allowed me to be a bit ADD with my projects, and it was really fun! I abandoned the Jaywalkers I was working on temporarily and started a few new projects. First up, a collegue at work was expecting his first child at any moment when I left for vacation. They knew they were having a girl, so I decided to make her a hat. Little Eva was welcomed to the world on Tuesday, so Daddy's at home with her for the next couple weeks, but when he comes back this will be waiting on his desk.

I love this lace pattern. A lot. There is a secret project that I spent quite a bit of time on over my vacation using this stitch pattern. Unfortunately I ran out of yarn, and of course it is discontinued, so the grand revealing of the project will have to wait until I've hunted down another skein. Sigh. I shall persevere though, and if all goes well, there may be an original pattern available here soon!

I also started a purse as a birthday present for one of my bestest friends. Its' going a lot quicker than I thought it would - a nice change from my usual scramble to finish things in time.

On Monday I picked the Jaywalkers back up. Monday night I was hanging out with my best friend, and had just cast on for the second sock. His boyfriend looked at the bit of yarn wrapped around a tangle of tiny needles I had in my hands and said...

"Are you building a raft?"

Hannah had a good vacation too, she hung out...

And slept.

A Walk in the Woods with a Monkey

The Monkey socks are finished! I luff them. They were so much fun to knit, and I really really love the colors. A lot. I knit these with size 1 DPNs out of Claudia's Handpainted in the Walk in the Woods colorway.


And I thought Hannah would like to tell you that she likes my socks too, but more likely she would like to tell me to get that stupid contraption that makes the bright flashes out of her face while she is napping.

Green Gable finished! -and other goings on

Finished, and I love it! It's not to heavy, it fits like a dream, was a breeze to make (I love the no-seaming!), and the man, Danimal, vociferously approves. [It's not everyday you get to use a word like that there!]

This is the first garment I have knit for myself that I am 100% happy with the finished item. I like the pattern so well, and it it so simple that I will absolutely knit it again at some point.

In other news, I had a birthday. Danimal made me salmon for dinner and baked me this cake. He is very very good to me.

I also purchased myself an early birthday present of some of Lime & Violet's lovely Sasquatch sock yarn, and an on the day birthday present of a swift and winder. Life just got a whole lot easier!

That's Possessive Propaganda, Fairy Fruits, and Box of Wishes from left to right. Yummy! Feeding the sock addiction is goood.

We also went to a butterfly sanctuary that day.

I got to borrow my dad's Digital Rebel SLR camera that day. It was so much fun. I took a lot of pictures, but I think these are two of the best. Borrowing my dad's camera made me realize how much I wished I had a decent camera, especially considering that my current one was flaking out periodically due to an iced tea incident. - Don't ask, I'm sure you can imagine.

This all brings me to my after birthday purchase...a new camera. My old one is an Olympus, and I really liked it, so I looked at Olympus again. I found the perfect one for me in the Stylus 780. LOVE IT. To continue the theme of the catch-up picture post, here are some neat ones I took with the new toy in the Lowell-Dracut-Tyngsboro State Forest on Friday.

The Lowell-Tyngsboro town line. I sat here and knit on my sock for a little while, until the mosquitos discovered me.

And I found that the Lady Slippers are in bloom. I was glad to be in New England that day.

Super Macro Mode also works very good on socks in progress...hopefully they will be finished in a few days.

Happy Knitting!

Table and Sheri

This is what I did last night, instead of knitting. I found a sale the other day I couldn't pass up. My apartment kitchen is very small and there isn't much space for a seating area. Before, I had a round table and could only fit 2 chairs. I only had 2 chairs and they weren't even mine at that. Not conducive for entertaining guests! Now, although I no longer have a chair back to toss my coat over (this is most likely a good thing), I do have a dining set that seats more, takes up far less space, and if I may say - it's pretty snazzy lookin'! The stools even came with a built in ass groove for a more comfortable perch. Sweeet.


In other exciting news, my Summer '07 Interweave Knits arrived today! I'm not at all impressed with most of the patterns in it, but I must say there is some really great sock stuff there. There is an article on toe up socks that is particularly catching my eye. I've only ever made socks in the toe up way. To be fair to cuff down, my next pair will be Jaywalkers and I am not going to use the toe up modification this time. I will give cuff down socks a chance before I decide they're not for me. Actually, I'm hoping I like them just as much. I really really really want to start making Cookie A's patterns, they are just sooo stunning! I don't think any of her patterns are toe up though. It shall be another knitting experiment.


Most of my earlier "squee!" was about this:

My Loopy Ewe order arrived today!! I can't say enough on Sheri's quality of customer service. If I wasn't convinced that I wanted to be a Loopy Groupie before just from hearing the glowing reviews on Lime and Violet's podcast, I am definately convinced now. On the left is Claudia Handpainted in the Walk in the Woods colorway, in the middle is Cherry Tree Hill in Indian Summer, and on the right is Claudia Handpainted in Purple Earth. Must. Go. Knit. NOW.