Spoiled Rotten

A box arrived today from Jennie, my Sockapalooza pal, and boy did she spoil me.

The first thing that greeted me upon opening the box was fiber in the form of dyed locks. I read Jennie’s lovely card and carefully unpacked the contents of the box.

There was fiber – dyed locks on the left, coopworth roving in maroon, orange and gold in the middle, and an undyed silk hankie on the right.

There was pottery – made by Jennie! Unbeknownst to her, I found her site a few months ago and fell in love with her yarn bowls. Now I have one of my very own. The wee pieces at the top are magnets. So cute.

There were yummy treats. I haven’t tried the chocolate yet, as it was a bit melty (the heat wave continues – we hit 106°F today), but it’s in the fridge and solid again, and will still be yummy, I’m sure. The ginger chews are quite tasty – sweet and spicy all at the same time.

Last but certainly not least, there were the socks. Pretty socks with cable and ribbing, made out of Cascade Fixation perfect for my southern climate.

The fit is perfect and after taking pictures, I continued to wear them the rest of the day, and in fact they’re still on my feet. (This decision was influenced a bit by the fact that I had just finished a particularly bloody surgery and had blood on the socks I was wearing. But mostly it was the desire to wear these pretty, comfy socks.

I can’t thank Jennie enough for her generous gifts. They are loved and appreciated and will be put to good use.

From the other direction in the Sockapalooza stream, I heard from my pal Rachael. Her package arrived on Monday, but she’s been out of town so she just got it today. She loved her socks as well as all the other goodies I sent her.  I didn’t take pictures of everything else before I sent it off.

My silk socks now have heels.  The length of color run in one skein is a slight bit longer than in the other, so that althogh they match at the cuff, they are now about a round off on each color change.  By the time I reach the toe, they may not match very much at all.  On one hand, it doesn’t bother me (much) but on the other, this self striping yarn is not hand-painted.  Both skeins are from the same lot.  The color repeats should be the same length.  But it is slight, and by the time it becomes noticeable by anyone but me, they will be hidden in shoes.  I can deal.

The Cable-Down Raglan looks like this now.  I haven’t worked on it since I posted yesterday, but I braved the sweltering outside to get you a picture.

FO – Math Whiz Socks

My Sockapalooza’s Pal’s socks are done. I’ve modeled them on my own feet, since they look so much better that way (Not to worry, Pal, they’re enjoying a bath as we speak.) and her foot measurements were very close to my own. I love these socks! This will probably surprise no one who knows me well, as my love for Anne’s patterns is strong and frequently vocalized. The yarn and the pattern just work fabulously together, and even though they were Plan B, they came out as good as if not better than what I had in mind to start (although I will come back to the Plan A pattern just not with that yarn eventually).

There’s no ribbing on the cuff, you go straight to the pattern stitch; yet, they don’t curl or slouch, at least on me. I think there’s enough elasticity in the stitch pattern as well as an even enough distribution of knits and purls to make it work.

I also love how different the yarn looks in the knit and purl sections versus the stockinette. I’ll definitely be making this one again.

Specs:
Pattern: Math Whiz Sock by Anne Hanson
Yarn: Fleece Artist Merino in the colorway Mermaid
(procured from Simply Socks)
Needles: 2.75 mm (US2) 2 socks/2 circs per my usual
Modifications: No significant ones. I substituted the short row heel in the pattern for my preferred short row heel, as that’s the one I’m most comfortable with.

Since it is Summer of Socks, and since I am me, I have, of course cast on my next pair.

While they are still at the ribbing stage, they will eventually become Embossed Leaves. The replacement for the Plan A yarn arrived a couple weeks ago. While there was one flaw in it, it was fairly close to one end, so I can work around it pretty easily. It’s still so much better than what I started with.

The back of my Pehuén shell got a fair bit of love this weekend. When I took this picture earlier today(while I still had light) it was ready for the armscythe shaping. It’s a bit further now.

When I got this yarn, I knew between the colors and the texture of the yarn, I needed a simple stitch pattern and clean lines, or it would be just too much and in conflict. But when I swatched, the stockinette side just didn’t do much for me. It still doesn’t. But flip it over:

LOVE! Deep strong abiding love. I think reverse stockinette shows of the texture of the yarn to its best advantage.

Did you lose this dog? He was found running along the highway in front of my hospital a couple weeks ago. His owners have until the end of this week, then I’m heartworm testing him, vaccinating him, neutering him and finding him a good home (we have several leads already). He is young (a year give or take by my estimate), playful, friendly, and didn’t look like he’d been fending for himself for too long when we found him. We’ve named him Butch.

A Midsummer Day’s Socks

Not too much progress here. My Dad has been in town (staying with my sister) since Sunday, and yesterday we had lunch together. This was a last minute trip, and I only found out he was coming on Saturday. Monday and Tuesday he was on my end of town for an auction, and I tried to get him to come to lunch with me at Shealy’s, but it didn’t work out. Instead we ate at McAlister’s. He left for home this morning.

I am nearing the end on my Pal’s socks, and was hoping to have them done for this, the first day in the Summer of Socks 2007. I will probably finish them tonight, but right now, they look like this:

It isn’t really clear, but I am not quite to the middle of the toe shaping.

Since it is the first day of Summer of Socks, I spent a bit of time winding yarn and considering options. I am a bit undecided what my next sock should be, as I have several good ones lined up. The choices I have in mind include Anne’s Waterfall Sock pattern, which I think would look spectacular in CTH Wild Cherry (bonus – Project Spectrum color!), Embossed Leaves in CTH Loden, the Knee High to a Grasshopper socks from the Rockin’ Sock Club April kit that I haven’t started yet, my June Rockin’ Sock Club kit, which arrived in the mail yesterday (no spoilage here), my Hokies yarn from Scout that would look good either in plain stockinette or as Jaywalkers, Waving Lace in Lorna’s Laces Denim, Bluestocking socks (don’t remember the color name, but appropriately blue), or I could work on my idea for an original design, since I did enter the design competition. Too many choices. I’m leaning toward starting with Embossed Leaves, as I’ve wanted to make them for a while now. Let me know what you think.

I put a few more rows on my shell as well. I have just started the increase portion of my waist shaping.

Sharp Pointy Things

The last several days have been full of sharp pointy things.

On Saturday, my nephew Patrick and I went to see Pirates 3, which is full long sharp pointy things. It was all right, not a bad way to spend three hours, but this series continues to suffer from sequel syndrome, where attempts to make each subsequent movie bigger and more spectacular only lead to making this movie somewhat disjointed and major subplots were left dangling all over the place. The first one is still my favorite.

On Sunday, we drove up to Charlotte to attend HeroesCon. This is an annual ritual we have done 4 out of the last 5 years. We had to miss it a couple years ago when Patrick had poison ivy all over including in a shall we say very delicate area. He is almost 14 now, and has come a long way from the shy 9 year old who wouldn’t even go up and talk to an artist without extreme prompting from me. He cleans up every year in the dollar comic bins. He also added a wee bit to his anime collection.

I bought a few things as well.

First and foremost, I got a long sharp pointy thing of my very own. This is a great addition for my pirate costume. I have quite a few swords already, but a pirate can never have too much steel, right?

These are Black Phoenix perfume oil samples (Imp’s Ears) inspired by characters from Neil Gaiman’s books. Mr Nancy and Spider are from Anansi Boys, while the other five are from American Gods. They are not available on the Black Phoenix as imps only as full sized vials.

All proceeds on the sales of these fragrances go to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting freedom of speech and fighting censorship in/against members of industry, including writers, artists, and store owners.

I spoke with Peter David, but had not had an opportunity to buy his new book. When I told him I would have to catch up with him at Dragon*Con to get it signed, he offered me his display copy at the end of the con. We didn’t want to stay that late, so a friend picked it up for me and I’ll get it when I see him next month (Thanks, Mike). Hopefully, Peter remembered to sign it for me.
We declared the outing a complete success, and returned home with our spoils.

Yesterday, I used sharp and pointy things of any entirely different kind.

Do I need to point out what’s wrong with this picture? In case there are any doubts, that largish, round white thing in the middle-bottom – yeah, that’s not supposed to be there. There was no doubt she needed surgery.

This is the stone I removed from her bladder. It is an aggregate stone formed when smaller stones fused together into one big mass. It is almost the size of a golf ball, and I took it out of a ~35 pound dog. Her improvement has been almost immediate.

What, you wanted knitting content? Not so much sharp, but definitely pointy:

Lest you think there was no knitting accomplished, my Pal’s socks are about half way down the foot. I’ll have these babies done by the end of the week. I’m still loving the yarn and the patten, and the way they work together.

I also started a new top. I plan this to be a shell/tank type top. The yarn is Araucania Pehuén, a cotton bouclé I’ve had marinating in my stash for about a year. I am planning on putting it together with the reverse stockinette side out, as I think that side shows the texture of the yarn off to its best advantage. I reserve the right to change my mind. I have a bit of Quellon, a cotton/viscose blend chenille in the same color that I plan to use for some kind of wrap or cover for cooler weather, but I haven’t gotten further than vague planning stages on that one.

FO – Bubbly Curtains

So, FO week on Knitting the Light Fantastic comes to a close today.  It seems somehow right that the epic project fall at the end (and needed every bit of this last week to finish them!)

They were finally wired up and pinned down at about 12:30 this morning, and I got up early to unpin them, so I could get photos in daylight.  The joke was on me, because after having pretty weather in the morning followed by late afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms all week, it decided to rain pretty much all day, and there were no pretty outdoor pictures to be taken.  I had to make do, so I enlisted some helpers with the promise not to show more than their hands.

The other one looks pretty much the same.  They came out beautifully, and I know my sister will love them, but honestly, if they were not a gift that she specifically picked out and knew was coming,  I probably would have frogged them long ago, and gotten her something else.  I’m glad I didn’t.

The honkin’ huge ball o’ crochet cotton ™ is now a shadow of its former self, but it still could take down a regular ball of crochet cotton in a fair fight.

I’ll post a picture of them in their new home when we get the installed in my sister’s kitchen.

Throughout the week, I’ve added a round or two here and there to my Sockapalooza pal’s socks, and lo and behold, today I found myself ready to make heels.

The Malamute puppy at the office acquired a half sister this week.  She is almost ten weeks old, and I swear she is part goat.  She chews on anything and everything that holds still, and I have resorted to tying my shoe laces in double knots.

They look innocent, no?  Trust me, they’re not.

And now, I’m off to work on socks and catch up on much needed sleep.