Wednesday, October 31, 2007
I am in severe baseball withdrawal. This was the first year that I watched or listened to just about every single Red Sox game. Usually I don't start following until towards the end of the season. But ah I have discovered what a perfect pairing baseball and say, knitting makes. Neither requires your undivided attention, but done together you get to use all sides of your brain at once and still in a very non-taxing sort of way. I love listening to baseball and cooking, working, drinking, whatever. Last night after dinner I just didn't know what to do with myself. During Game 4 of the World Series I was probably the only Red Sox fan cheering for the other team, just so they could play at least another game. Just another game!
Game 6 would have been today, on Halloween, and with the weather as warm as it is, AH it would have been the perfect evening!
Woot! Big Papi at the Rolling Rally yesterday. Taken by Duck. I was too short to see anything.
While at the barber's the other day, Duck overheard that the way candy is doled out to trick-or-treaters in a Bostonian neighborhood where most people live in multi-family units is to just park yourself out on the front stoops and hand candy out from there. That sounds frightening to me, deliberately placing yourself in a position where you have to interact with strange little children or worse, teenagers who are clearly too old to trick-or-treat...But Duck seems up for it, especially when it means he gets to wear his Venetian Man-Bird mask. He's worn it, with a monk's robe, to parties past and while the beak kind of prevented him from enjoying the party drinks, it never failed to freak people out. 
I wonder how little children will take it.
Happy Halloween!
Filed Under: Life
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Have you seen this?
Twinkle's Striped Tunic, as it is called in Vogue Knitting's 2005 Holiday issue, is now the Butter Hill Funnelneck, part of anthropologie's fall 2007 sweater collection. Fascinating! So cool that as knitters we were able to be two whole years ahead of what was going to be fashionable in the stores! I only wish I had actually made this sweater like I meant to when I first saw this.
They're advertising it as an actual handknit, selling for $228.00. I might be crazy, but that price does not seem too unreasonable to me...
I mean I tried selling a pair of Red Socks once for more than that.
Here was an email I received recently from a Sox fan:
Hello, I was searching the Internet for Red Sox Socks and came across your website. I am look for a vintage looking pair of red socks to place in a shadow box with Red Sox memorabilia and was wondering if you would consider selling a pair of your custom knit socks. If so how much would you sell them for? They look identical to the socks emblazed on the Red Sox logo. You did a fantastic job. Please let me know if you are interested in selling a pair.
Here was my reply:
Hm this is an interesting dilemma for me. As you can probably guess, hand knitting is a very time-consuming process, and I've always wondered what the "retail" value of one of my handknits would be if I were to sell. I really don't have an answer off the top of my head. Materials would cost around $20-30. Factor in the labor, say 40 hours or so to knit these...would you be willing to pay $250 for a pair of socks? :)
And then here was his reply:
I think I pissed him off. Oh well, art isn't cheap!
(GO SOX!)
Filed Under: Life
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
While everyone and their cats were at Rhinebeck this past weekend, I was at WEBS. I had a strict game plan, I had a strict list, I had a strict timeline to keep the store experience to under 15 minutes. Any longer than that and my system starts to shut down. Still, from the second I stepped inside my mouth got real dry, my brain couldn't distinguish between sport and aran weight, acrylic from wool, I couldn't add or multiply, I couldn't read, I couldn't decide, I became color-blind. It was horrible.
I can't imagine what a few minutes at Rhinebeck would have done to my health. I don't want to know. I want to stay sane for a little while longer.
So this is what I managed to crawl away with from WEBS.
Noro Garden Silk I mean Silk Garden Lite, enough for 3 pairs of thicky socks. I wasn't going to do Christmas knitting this year but changed my mind.
Malabrigo worsted in Azul Profundo. My first Malabrigo! I'm so into blue, I'm so into this blue. They only had 4 skeins so I'm not sure if I can squeeze a simple sweater out of this, but I'm gonna try.
Remember my decree at the beginning of the year that I would not buy any more yarn for the rest of the year? I had included sock yarn in that decree, which was pretty stupid and is anyone surprised that I lasted for about a second. But aside from sock yarn, I pretty much adhered to the rules of the game: no new yarns purchased at all - until just this weekend.
Not too bad!
Filed Under: Yarn Stash
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
I finished the Marina Piccola socks some weeks ago.
Not particularly happy with these as they are probably THE sloppiest socks I've ever made. I don't know what happened but my gauge for the second sock was so off that the leg is more than an inch longer than the first, the heel and foot is loose, and as a result I ran out of yarn just as I was getting to the toe.
Yuck. Bleh. I wasn't even going to post about them but then last night Duck took this shot as I was lounging on the couch watching baseball and since it contains all the ingredients for a crowd-pleaser - some new handknits, some older handknits, some handknits in progress, plus bonus! a fat cat - I thought I'd share.
Don't we all look comfy, with our animals and our yarns? I am wearing the aubergine bolero - celebrating it's 2nd birthday! - and knitting the entrelac socks. Try to disregard the fact that the soles of my socks look like the underside of a Swiffer cloth.
Veebs is not usually a lap cat but lately he's been feelin' the love. Meanwhile, as he spreads out luxuriously along the length of my legs and purrs that gentle, bumblebee purr of his, my little kneecaps are slowly being turned inside out.
Filed Under: Completed Projects | Socks | Marina Piccola
Thursday, October 11, 2007
I'm flipping on and off like a light switch here.
These are Eunny's Entrelac Socks from IK Spring 2007. I'm using Koigu in the loveliest shade of royal blue and Sundara Sock Yarn in Bartlett Pear, both given to me as gifts. La, I love presents. I love this color pair. It's now my favorite combo du jour, replacing green and purple which had a long and fruitful reign, especially in the old house. But no more. We had barely moved out when the new owners came in and immediately painted the green walls red, and now I must have royal blue and chartreuse in my wardrobe and my bedroom. Our new place has putty-colored walls that would look so much better in a Golden Delicious appley sort of color. Picture that in a bedroom with a rich royal blue duvet cover. Yummy. Anyway.
The Middle East-wrap cast on method for toe-up socks is so cool and so easy that it just about blew my mind. And after I did a couple of tiers of tiles I couldn't stop, giggling like a madwoman as I knit. Because I'm in on the secret: entrelac socks are the simplest things ever! And the outcome is so freaking cool. They're going to be finished in no time.
Filed Under: Socks | Entrelac
Friday, October 05, 2007
After posting only the back side photo of the Side to Side Cable sweater because the front side was just too hideous to share (so tight! so lumpy!), and therefore I realized I hated it, I lost my will to knit.
I hoped trying something brand new would get me out of the funk. So I knitted this gnarly little scrap of entrelac.
Oh HAI do U like mai ontruhlack?
It's all I've done in the last week. Still not feelin' the knitting love yet. Boo.
Oh but I'm so ready to get my weekend on. Lots of sun and baseball to enjoy!
Happy October!
Filed Under:
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