Tempting

Here are the world's most impossible socks---impossible to knit on without a microscope and a giant halogen boom light, impossible to finish for some reason even though I swear to buddha that I have knit 5 trillion rows on these freakin things since I started them at the turn of the century, and impossible to photograph. This would be photographic attempt #15,378.....

and #15, 379....


You will notice, despite the blurring and poor definition, that these socks still have no heels. Yes, I started a heel flap and then frogged it---between the splitting of the yarn, the slipperiness causing a giant long stitch at the start of the heel flap that didn't become apparent until 10 rows later, and the size zero needles they are being knit upon which is making me blind, they seem to just really be going nowhere right now.

But for reasons unknown to even me, I have forbidden myself to cast on another pair of socks until I somehow suffer my way through this pair to the bitter end. I mean, I didn't always have the hate for these socks---I love the cuff pattern and the colors. But suddenly it seems to be a case of them against me, so I have to come up with a solution to finish the rotten things somehow.

I'm not feeling the love for the standard heel flap, especially with this tiny, splitty yarn, so I'm thinking I might want to try a short-row heel, but.....

I have never yet tried to knit a short-row heel and I'm not sure how I feel about doing my first new heel experiment on a pair of socks that took so long to get this far. Perhaps I should save that attempt for a more plain sock that I haven't spent so much time on up to this point. I'm sorta feeling that there may be more bad juju ahead if I try my first attempt at a new technique on these socks, but there is always the lifeline option.

And there is a third solution that I have been pondering (besides frogging their nasty little butts into oblivion).....How about if they don't become socks at all? How about if they become a very lovely pair of nice, and better yet, almost finished, wrist warmers?! Ooooh, pretty!

Oooooh yeah---pretty TEMPTING!

Obviously, I can't seem to make a decision and if I don't make one soon, I will never get to cast on another pair of socks! (Again, I don't know why I feel I cannot cheat on these socks with a new pair---I guess I'm too loyal and feel I should have closure on this relationship before I move on to another.)

So what do you all think?

Slog back through the regular heel flaps?

Take a risk and try the short-row heels (keeping in mind that I usually screw up grandly the first time I try something new---that's how I learn), risking the demise of the pretty socks altogether?

Or turn them into a lovely pair of wrist warmers and move on to a relationship with a new sock. A sock that fulfills me and supports me emotionally. A sock that gives as well as takes.

I leave it to you to advise me whether I should kick the socks to the curb or give them another chance....

Meanwhile, you can find me fondling my sock yarn stash and hunting for that one special yarn, dreaming about if whether we could have a future together. Maybe even a sport-weight (yes, size does matter!). One without the tendency to split on me when things get rough. One that won't laugh at my size 2 or 3 needles, or leave me blind and alone at night when I need it most. One who has my need for warm feet in less than 5 years at the top of its priority list.

A good relationship is hard to find, my friends.

ETA: Oooh! Oooh! Found a great swap for the New Year! Go check out the Mmmm....Hot Cocoa Knitters Swap. Who couldn't use a little chocolatey and yarney goodness during the darkest, dullest part of the year? (If you decide to join in the fun, be sure to let them know in your comment that you saw it here!)

Happy Magical Wednesday

Wednesday is a good day. Wednesday is the day of my weekly day-off escape from the nurse boiler room operation. It is Wednesday today, and I am happy and free to knit or blog or sit around on my butt and do nothing (but that rarely happens---can't waste a good day!).

However, Wednesday is also the day that I weekly sit and ponder if I really want to return to the nurse boiler room operation for the rest of the week! The jury's still out on that one, but there's still a warehouse full of those gently used Flowbee's to be sold, so I guess I'll keep showing up there for the rest of the week until I figure it out....and keep in mind that I do like to eat and have a roof over my head....and buy yarn.....must remember the yarn...

But for now, Wednesday is still a happy, carefree day of doing whatever I want! And that also makes it sort of magical in my book. But what also helps to make it magical is this...

Got a new book last weekend!

I am a big fan of Cat Bordhi and her wonderful, creative mind and techniques, and this is her new book, hot off the press! I have had hours of knitting fun making moebius scarves and baskets from past books, and used one of her books to learn to knit socks on two circulars---the sock knitting technique I use almost exclusively now.

I have been waiting for this book for a while. I went to a 4-day workshop with Cat in Newport, OR in April of 2006, and the book was due to be out shortly after that, so it's been a long wait!This book is full of sock patterns with the foot shaping achieved in may new ways, both cuff down and toe-up. Not that I've exactly mastered the standard sock architecture so far---I still have not even done a toe-up sock. But I've been intrigued with what this book would hold since that workshop over a year ago, especially since we were given a little teaser of then top-secret patterns from this book and the two more to come after this one!

I haven't actually attempted one of the patterns yet---there is a baby-sized sock pattern for each new technique for learning. But I am getting prepared. I made these this past weekend...

These are my first attempt at making my own stitch markers by the way, so not quite perfect, but completely useable! Why the alphabet letters? Most of the patterns in this new book have you do increases/decreases at particular marker points on the sock to go along with the techniques used to build the sock, necessitating the need to know at which marker to knit a given instruction. (I made two sets because I like to knit two socks at once, being a sufferer of a serious case of Second Sock Syndrome.)

You don't necessarily have to have lettered markers to do the pattern, but since my powers of concentration are less than stellar at times, this definitely will make it easier to keep track of what I'm doing! For those who are lucky enough to still have half a working brain, you can keep track in any way you choose.

Cat mentions in the book that she has designed some lettered stitch markers, called Cat's Magical Markers, that are going to be sold by Skacel, but I haven't seen them anywhere yet. I've been meaning to learn how to make some stitch markers for a while, so this was a good project to get me started. (Besides, I really don't need to spend any more money to purchase what would probably be the thirty-gazillionth stitch marker in my possession...).

Oh, and about that frog pond tale.....

In case you didn't figure it out by looking at my progress bars, this was the true-life lace victim of the story.....sad but true...

The Mermaid Wrap, version 2.0, is no more. I'm beginning to think this was a project that was just not meant to be. I mean, after the irrepairable yarn-tangling debaucle of version 1.0, and having to switch to a variegated color from the desired solid which was no longer available, it may have been doomed from the start. Not to mention, I really wasn't feeling much love for those little colored boxy patterns were appearing due to the way the color changes came up in the yarn. I tried to like it, but I think those little boxes of color interfered with the vertical pattern too much.

I fully intended on finishing the wrap since I had put so much time into it already, but then came that ill-fated meeting with that rotten little frog and his pond, and so it went. I have salvaged the precious Sea Silk this time, and will find another pattern later that will work a little better with the way the yarn colors pool, to try to avoid the little-boxes look. Perhaps something with a lace leaf or flower pattern that has more curved shaping to it.

And no, in case you're thinking it---I did NOT will the wrap away to the corn field because I didn't like the color boxes! The frog just had it in for that wrap from the beginning, so I put the blame squarely on him. heh heh. bad pun.

Poses, Noses, and something for my Toes-es

It's really hard to blog when you seem to suddenly have no life other than getting ready for work, traveling to and from work, the work itself, and doing all the things you need to get done because you're always at work....sigh.

With the above said, is it stating the obvious that my knitting time has been severely curtailed of late? Not to mention time to blog....or anything to blog about....Yes, I could tantalize you with tales of rush hour on I-405, or titillate you with tidbits about packing my lunch, or anecdotes about the many patients I talk to every day, who act like I'm a telemarketer selling a used Flow-bee when I call them to talk about their health. But no, I am not a cruel woman and I will spare you this.

So, what does that leave a frustrated and time-squeezed knitter to blog about? Yes, that's right---it's time to bring out the dog and pony show.....or, um, in my case, the cats and sock-knit-on-toothpicks show!! I know, you are so excited you can hardly stand it.....so let us begin with some minion-y cuteness, shall we?......

Here's a picture of Toebi and Mochi doing their best imitation of a Calvin Klein ad....

Toebi: I must go, and take your catnip mouse with me...

Mochi: No! Don't leave me!....Well okay, go ahead, but leave the mouse....

Here's another of the toe-cat (Toebi) and the technocat (Mochi) enjoying a moment together on the cat tree...(well, Toebi enjoying....Mochi, not so much. Mostly doing his best to ignore Toebi and not get squeezed off of his prime viewing area...)

(I can't believe my little toe-cat is growing up so fast---he weighs as much as Mochi already!) Lovely large mitts, no?

And finally, here he is in all of his grand minion-y-ness, making a rare blog appearance---mostly because I can seldom get a picture of him that isn't either blurred (he's a little ADHD, you know...) or so black that he looks like a spilled puddle of pudding with eyes in the middle---

Mini!

Not a great picture of the Chief Minion himself---but the best I could get out of 30 pictures of a blurred black blob with a double-exposed head! Even the action-shot setting doesn't work on this one! I keep hoping he'll hold still one day soon---in the light---with his eyes open. Problem is, when he sees the camera come out, he runs up to me to very excitedly see what I'm holding.....

And on the knitting front---

Seems the only projects I've been able to complete lately are the cold cup cozies. I've finished a couple of more of them, because I like them, they are quick and can be worked on one or two rows at a time without messing up anything---perfect to bring along to work for the occasional 5 minutes of knitting I might get to do on my break! No pictures, but cute, colorful and they work great!

A little progress on the Tofutsies socks, which is hard because the only time I can work on them is in broad daylight with the addition of a miner's headlamp and a magnifying glass! (kidding). But damn, this yarn is teeny! Having not gone completely blind yet, here is three pattern repeats done on the cuff....

Yes, this picture is to scale. They are about 3 inches long. Well, maybe I'm exaggerating just a little, but let's just say it is taking a LOT of knitting to get some distance on these socks! Also hard to photograph the pattern with the bright raspberry colors and the variegation in the yarn. Here's a little closer view, but not sure it's any easier to see...

I'd love to report some fabulous progress on some of my other WIP's, such as my Mermaid Shawl, but unfortunately, other projects sit unattended and lonely in the knitting basket at home while I'm away most days....

BTW, looking for good suggestions on how to get fired (in a good way, of course, with no repercussions to myself) so I may continue my formerly happy life of actually getting to knit once in a while.

In the meantime, you know where to find me if you need me....at a secret nurse boiler-room operation somewhere near Seattle, trying to sell some used Flowbees, cheap, to some unwitting patients who don't want to talk about their damn health anyway....

This and that.....random catching-up

Finally, a chance to actually make a post to my blog! I think this has been the longest I have ever gone without being able to post, and I've really missed it! I never thought when I started this blog that it would be something I would "miss" if I couldn't do it, but I have.

With such a long time having passed since my last post, I guess this will have to be a post of some randomness and rambling, as one tends to do when trying to make a long story short (something I'm not very good at, but I'll give it a go...). It's just that there are so many random bits, I can't begin to even try to tie them together cohesively. So this will have to be a post of this and that and the other thing, all stuck together so I can quit storing it for later in my poor, tired brain.

Even on my best days, I can somewhat be the queen of the non-sequitor and non-sensical segway. But now that the last of my brain has been squeezed into a dried apricot by my current schedule of 14-hour days, a string of non-sequitors might make more sense to read. Oh well....if it gets confusing, you can skip down to the actual knitting content near the end...

"Graduated" from training at my new place of wage-slavery. Yes, there was an actual lame graduation with presentation of a certificate in front of the rest of the current slaves. We were told at about 4pm the day before that each class had to present something---skit, speech, song, whatever---to the attendees. Say What? My 5 fellow trainees and I looked at each other in horror. This couldn't be good. Suffice it to say that out of desperation for something to do at the last minute, I made the mistake of joking that I play the ukelele.....

Just a message to the wise: If you are ever desperate for lame ideas for a needed performance, don't ever let jokingly slip to 5 desperate nurses that you play ANY type of musical instrument, as you will then be forced to play said instrument in front of about 150 co-workers you barely know. You know, just to cement your new professional reputation amongst the colleagues. Not only that, you will then be forced to write a lame SONG to sing along with the bad ukulele playing!

Let's just say that there was an ugly scene at graduation of me playing the ukulele and all of us singing a song I wrote to the tune of "Tiny Bubbles" (a la Don Ho----sorry Don, don't roll over in your grave too hard...). There is a tradition of "Aloha Fridays" at my new place of employment, so it did fit in with a theme, and everyone seemed to enjoy it, especially since I added in lyrics about the training making us need a cocktail----mention of cocktails seems to please crowds of nurses, for some strange reason.

And oh, yes, this performance was complete with lei's and bubbles being blown by our trainer and fake cocktails with little umbrellas in pink plastic martini cups for all. Good times! But let's not forget that all of those other rat-bastard fellow trainees got away with a little bad singing, while I had to play a musical instrument (badly) in front of over 100 people!!! Let's just say I really took one for the team on this one, and those bi-atches (and I call them that in the most loving way) owe me BIG TIME!

And in a totally random change of subject......Have any of you ever entered contests on anyone's blog and won? Did they actually send you a prize? I only ask because I have won only once, which I mentioned gleefully on this blog a few months ago. And what did I receive as a prize?....Nothing, nada, zip!

Edited 7/25/07 - I am happy and relieved that the contest blogger mentioned above just sent me an email explaining the circumstances. Said she sent a package in May (which I didn't receive), and then wrote an email later, which she inadvertently saved rather than sending it. Thanks for emailing....I feel much better now that I know what happened (and that it wasn't intentional or due to a bad life turn...).

Official Knitting Content:

While the past 6 weeks have been like a never-ending freeway roadtrip with extended daily breaks of brain-draining confusion at work and occasional 4-hour peeks at my own bed, I have actually managed to knit a few rows here and there. Not much, mind you, and not enough to be particularly satisfying, but at least I got to touch some yarn and knitting needles, which made me feel a like I remember how to knit. Humor me here, I'm trying to feel better about pictures of very little progress....

Some progress on my Mermaid Wrap....

While taking the pictures, I really started to notice how the yarn is patterning in little "boxes" of color. Not sure I'm crazy about that, but I still love the colors anyway. However, I think I still would have preferred this pattern in it's original semi-solid color.

Here's a picture of very little progress on my Tofutsies socks---two cuffs. Believe me, I've tried to let these see the light of day once in a while, but working on size zero needles after 9pm has not exactly been within my abilities this past few weeks...

The MD Moss Grid Hand Towel has fared a little better. It's about 3/4 done at this point, and beginning to feel like a bit of a boring slog, but I'm hoping I can actually finish it soon!

And finally, in a last-ditch effort to feel like I could actually have an FO, I decided to make this cute little cup cozy out of Fixation yarn. We have these plastic cups at work that sweat like crazy when filled with ice water, and I saw this pattern for a Java Jacket that Chris wrote up and thought it was kinda cute! Besides, I needed something to work on that I could knit with no time available and minus a brain....

I have to say I wasn't sure about the actual usefulness of this cup cozy in the beginning, but after road-testing it for a few days, I can say it actually works really well! No drippy water cup on my desk all week! I liked it so much that I'm making another one in a different color to carry around in my purse for those drippy iced latte cups in as well! And better yet, it only took me (the world's slowest knitter) about 2 hours to knit up!

Instant satisfaction and a cute pink FO---just what I needed!

(Pay no attention to those poor, ignored, unseamed and unfelted, clogs in the background...)

Keeping the Socktoberfest Spirit alive.....

....Or that's my excuse, anyway. Yes, as embarrassing as this may seem, I proudly present my (finally) finished Socktoberfest socks!! (recently renamed Parade socks)

It IS still October, right? (never mind that calendar situated to the left of the socks...) Okay, so I'm a little late. But I'm still representin' for the Socktoberfest Spirit! Someone had to knit the last completed pair, right? (help me out here, I'm justifying as fast as I can.....). At this rate, I'll be completing a whopping TWO pair each year! I wasn't actually working on them for the entire five months, so that lets me off the hook a little bit. Considering the humongous size of my sock yarn stash and how many possible years of life I have left, I now have an excuse to live to the ripe old age of around 120 years old to make sure I knit it all up into socks!

Had a fun weekend---On Friday night went to a pajama party at VY&T. Bought some great new yarn from the Yarn Pirate. I got a great colorway called "Rosie," which has the bright, beautiful colors of one of those fun, vintage oiled tablecloths with the cherries and picnic baskets on it---shades of pinks, blues, greens, red and white. (sorry, no picture yet...). I can't wait to find just the perfect sock pattern and knit it up!

On Saturday, went to lunch at Blue C Sushi and hung out in Seattle for a while with cute husband. I love going to Blue C. The sushi plates are on a moving belt that goes past in front of you---see it, like it?, grab it, eat it! Very fun and delish.

On Sunday, met a friend for a fun afternoon of gabbing, lunch, more gabbing and off to a Sunday knitting group, where of course, there was lots more gabbing with knitting thrown in! All in all, a fun weekend! Hmmm, maybe that's why it takes me five months to finish a pair of socks---too much gabbing?.......Never!!

Thanks to Rachel, I started on a very cute dishcloth that she created for St. Patrick's day. Still need to sew up the seams on those felted clogs so I can felt them, but I've been suffering from a bad case of sewing avoidance.

Here's a so-cute pic of Toebi from this past weekend. Now, that's a kitten really knows how to get his nap on. Wish I could sleep like that!

Have a great week!

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