Chronicle of a Sock Foretold, pt. 2

I know it's difficult to see, but the arrow represents approximately where I was at the end of my post last night. I made it pretty darn far, I'd say! I even got a late start tonight, about an hour past when I meant to get started. I got home from work late because my wish was granted, and I got to move my desk to a more harmonious-for-my-sanity-and-ultimately-the-company spot. Let's not talk about the 14 or so inches left to go before the heel turn, ok? Ok. The next post will probably be Wednesday, because tomorrow is our weekly "date night" with our main friend couple unit. Thing.

Chronicle of a Sock Foretold

As you know if you have read some of my earlier posts, I have a nasty habit of not finishing what I start. On Thursday night, I started making the Highland Schottische Kilt Hose and I would reallyreally like to finish them. So, I am going to try an experiment, and document my journey in the hopes that it will give me the kick in the ass I need to finish them. I've honestly made it quite a bit farther than I thought I would, so hopefully that's a good sign.

I cast on Thursday night, the day I got the book in the mail, and got about halfway done with the top (or bottom, I guess) of the cuff. (The cuff folds down, covering up the clever-ribbing-put-there-to-hold-the-thing-up-when-you're-wearing-it. You knit the cuff and the ribbing, and then turn the sock inside out and knit the leg in the other direction.)

Friday night, I finished the top/bottom of the cuff and also cleared up a little mystery, which will help me finish Tsantsa. I didn't understand the concept of an embossed stitch, but now I do! Hurrah! So, there is once again the possibility that my camera will be carried around in a little shrunken head. Of more immediate concern, I also made it through the first repeat of the argyle cuff pattern.

Saturday. In between another one of our orandas dying, the ill-fated hunt for a replacement and the purchase of new winter gear (oh, and playing some Lego Star Wars), I managed to finish the argyle pattern and start on the ribbing. By "start on the ribbing" I mean "I knit one row and then went to bed at 8 because my head hurt so bad I couldn't see straight." It's been a good long while since I've knit that much all at once. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the Long Island Tea AND White Russian I had had the night before ........

Currently, I've got about 1/2 inch of ribbing left to go, and then I start on the actual leg. I'm so proud of me!

The little dangly bit at the bottom is one of my spiffy stitch markers. I hope to have more to show for myself tomorrow night.

Guy Fawkes

As it does every year, this year my birthday fell on Guy Fawkes Day. I got quite a good haul, for being 26. Jason gave me the complete Star Trek: The Original Series, so I have all the Shat I can handle. My manager at work, who has spent the past 6 months being scandalized because I don't have a slow cooker, bought me ... a slow cooker! I've used it twice, to varying effect. The first time, the recipe for some reason had about a cup of juice in it, so of course at the end of the cooking time, it was all blackened and stuck to the bottom of the crock pot ... er, slow cooker. Right now, I'm making a chicken curry dish of sorts, with potatos and veggies. I think that it could have used some rice, but maybe not because of the potatos? I don't know. Anyway, I purchased "101 Things to do with a Slow Cooker" today, and it has some fun-looking recipes, including Holiday Wasail and Lemon Custard Cake.

I finally ordered "Folk Socks" by Nancy Bush, as our trip to her yarn store in Salt Lake City was thwarted by my dad being grievously injured at work two days before we left Fargo. (Long story short, some heavy machinery that he was using malfunctioned, and both of his legs and feet were broken in about 5 different places, in addition to his heel being crushed. He's doing well, awaiting the removal of the pin in the bottom of his heel so he can start learning to walk again. So instead of wandering around Salt Lake, we drove 5 hours one way to my hometown to see him.) Anyway. I have half of the cuff done on the Highland Schottische Kilt Hose, using my Knit Picks Essential in Burgundy.

Last, I have a Moogle head! The body will come later, as I am using the needles on the Kilt Hose. Jason and I decided that if we do have a kid, it is going to be a Moogle. They're so much easier to take care of!

Valley Con 2007

I finally finished my Katamari Damacy earmuffs yesterday, because I had to wear them last night! Our local sci-fi convention had a "Monster Bash" with costume contest, and I was cajoled into entering at the last minute by my human Katamari, Amanda. We didn't win, but we made Ernie Hudson (otherwise known as Winston from the Ghostbusters) and an old guy dressed as Death laugh, so it was probably worth it. Here is the finished product, along with my friends Megan and Chris:

I got lots of "Your costume is AWESOME!!!"'s from lots of drunk people (and a few who might have been sober). The ears are a little droopy and the antenna a little lopsided, so if I make another one ever there will be more poly fiberfill.

Yesterday, before finishing up the earmuffs, I also baked a Hot Buttered Rum Cheesecake with rum-caramel sauce. Excellent cheesecake, except you probably shouldn't serve the rum-caramel sauce around the kiddies, because the alcohol wasn't baked or boiled out. Or you can just use rum flavoring.

News

I've taken up a new hobby - origami! It's pretty relaxing, not as much as knitting, but I'm having a good time with it.

It's starting to get cold, so my next project once the newness of origami wears off is a pair of convertible glove/mitten thingies. I made a pair from this pattern last year and it's a good pattern, but the yarn I used, Wool-Ease, sucks. The yarn started to pile before I even finished the gloves, and after a week of wear they looked terrible. I'm using more of my Knit Picks Palette, with stripes of the various shades of gray. On the first pair, I didn't use the chart and don't plan to on the second one. I might find something in one of my Vogue Knitting books, we'll see how fast I start working on them.

A new yarn store opened up in Fargo! I've gathered that it's a leetle expensive, and we all know how I feel about expensive yarn, but I would still like to go. They had their grand opening on Thursday night and I fully planned to attend, but then it slipped my mind and by the time I remembered, I was immersed in God of War and had a couple of Bacardi Limons under my belt.

Clever things that I made

Something neat that I "made:"

I use the quotes because my creative contribution to this project included getting the needle-nose pliers out of the toolbox in the closet and using them to pry apart little figure eight connectors. These are some fun stitch markers that I've had in mind for a while. The purple charms came pre-made, and cost $1.47 for a pack of 4 at Hobby Lobby. The turtle was more expensive at $1.79, the figure eight connectors were 99 cents for a packet of 60, and the clasps were $2.94 for a packet of 10. So, I paid $8.66 total, or about 96 cents each, for 9 stitch markers. I like the clasps, because they're easy to clip on to the yarn or the needle. The ones I bought easily clip on up to a size 7 needle, but they make them in different sizes. And maybe someday I'll make my own charms instead of cheating!

I haven't seen the show "Firefly" or the movie "Serenity." In fact, I just had to go look up which is which. But when my friend Amanda needed a Jayne Cobb hat, I was up to the challenge, and here is the result:

She. loved it. I think it's a really cute hat, but the colors are ghastly. I might be up for making one again, just not in those colors. My favorite part is the pom pom, the first one I've ever made. Yay me! The pattern for this hat can be found here. The yarn is Lion Wool - I had the orange, and it was about $10 total for the yellow and red, but I ended up just paying for it all myself (instead of having her pay me back for the yarn) because I didn't even use half of a skein of each color. It was a really quick knit - after I got the gauge figured out, it took me about 3 days to get it done.

Last weekend, I made a very, very yummy carrot cake. It turned out really well, and the day after I made it, as I sat staring at my yellow thumbnails (caused by grating carrots into three cups of usable goo), it occurred to me that this might make some pretty yarn. I was further inspired by a) this article, conveniently e-mailed to me the day before I made the cake; and b) the story in one of the Little House on the Prairie books where Laura and Ma dye their freshly-churned butter with finely grated carrots to make the butter (and the table) prettier. (Incidentally, I spent a lot of time with my cheese grater and appreciate the effort that Pa put into making theirs - he put a bunch of nail holes at an angle in the top of a tin can. Brilliant.) Up until this point, I've only had a passing desire to ever dye my own yarn. A Google search came up with one person who had attempted to dye yarn with carrots, in a blog entry with little to no details about the process. On that far off day when I get ambitious, this is what I will attempt.

New Book

I have before me a copy of "Knitted Animals" by Anne-Dorthe Grigaff. The book itself is very small, and I definitely wouldn't have paid $30 for it based on its size. (Oops, I guess I kind of judged a book by its cover.) The animals are really adorable, though. The patterns are very simple, geared toward kids around 7-8 years old. Most of them are just one or two knitted squares folded and sewn together in clever ways. I appreciate that the author isn't tied to one brand of yarn, or really any brand of yarn at all. For example, to make the mother duck and ducklings, you only need "Duck-colored yarn." The most specific she gets is to say a type of yarn, like angora or mohair. She does get rather specific when giving instructions for finishing the animal, which I think a lot of books pass over. The two patterns that I can't wait to try are Peter the Hedgehog, (because really, how many hedgehog patterns have you ever seen?) and the Growly Bear with Big Heavy Paws. So, an adorable book, and if you can find a cheaper copy, all the better. (BTW, this is an import from Denmark, which might explain the price.)

**Edit** Something that could be important, but might not - while the author is very flexible about what yarn you can use, she (with a few exceptions) fails to mention how much yarn you should use. It looks like one 100g ball should be more than enough for most of the projects, but it's still something to keep in mind.