My boyfriend is the best ever, and other subjects

This birthday (number 27, even though none of you asked, which was very polite of you) was, quite simply, the best birthday I've ever had in my entire life. :) Work was at 6am (which was lousy, but meant that I would be out by 3pm, not so lousy), and when I got to work, it was snowing. Birthday present #1; thanks Mom-nature. All the kids (and I can say that, since most of them are still on the other side of their twenties) I work with sang me happy birthday over the overhead pager before the store was open. That was embarrassing in that way that is fantastic. Everyone wished me a happy birthday, and no-one gave me a hard time all day. Love it.

Got home, and the Robb-man, who hadn't had time to shop before this, wasn't home. He'd mentioned that he was going to go out and do some errands, so I thought maybe he'd come home, presents in hand, but I was trying not to get too worked up over it. What good does that do, right?

He calls me, on his cell phone, from just outside the apartment. "I'm outside," he says, "And the presents aren't wrapped, so you have to close your eyes."

I did as commanded. Presents were on the line. Would you have argued? I think not.

First thing I got:


Are those not the comfiest looking slippers in the entire world? They're purpler in real life, but they have an inch or so of some kind of gel material in the sole which makes them soooo squishy to walk on, and they're purple, and they look like gigantic sneakers. I am totally in love with them. They might cause me to actually create a Halloween costume this year at work. It could happen.

Then, he gives me the "us" gifts. These were very well marketed gifts, I must say. They consisted of two DVDs and a soundtrack (Superman the animated series, Lewis Black, and Serenity, respectively) that we both like and wanted, but the way he presented them was cute: "I got me some DVDs, and you some cuddling time." I wouldn't have been upset about receiving either of the DVDs on their own, but that was a cool presentation.

And then, he pulled out this.
Isn't it completely gorgeous? Amethyst. He picked it out all on his own. He even got the right kind and length of chain, which is impressive, since he didn't know that pendants don't come with chains until he bought this one.

Yep, on top of being wonderful, caring, and loving, he has good taste in jewelry when pressed. He's officially a keeper.

Now, in other news! A week or two ago, I mentioned getting a package from a friend of mine, but didn't have time to tell you about the contents. Most of the package was made up of books that Artemis had borrowed from me so long ago that I didn't actually remember that she had them, but the real treasure...this lady took up spinning, what four months ago? And look what she sent me.


As usual, my camera is ganking the colors, imagine everything three shades darker and deeper and you'll be there. But this is merino silk yarn, and it is smooth, and constant, and gorgeous, and as far as I know, it's spindlespun, which makes my jaw just about hit my knees. Amazing, truly amazing work, and she sent it to me to see what I'd turn it into. !!!

I'm waiting for it to speak to me, but I have a few ideas. We'll see what the yarn decides to do.

And then, kitchener'd the toe of Rolling Thunder #1 tonight:


The only change is that, unless I'm *very* mistaken, the instructions should read that you put on 144 beads for an adult sock. I ended up four short, and I double checked my math, and then just figured out a way to stick them on, so that my beads wouldn't be all willy-nilly. I'll double-check when I make sock #2.

We're also going with the usual sizing theory, which is that the sock is a little too small for my monstrous feet, so it should fit someone with normal feet just fine.

My sock got a little bit...weird in the toe, because I'm being stubborn and refusing to knit this one on two circs -- there aren't any cables or any other funny business, so I couldn't justify it to myself -- and somehow, although I had the right number of stitches, they were distributed strangely, so I had to kind of wing the decreases, but it was all right in the end.

And how can I complain, when the cuff looks like this?

I was going to be good and cast on for #2 right away, but I'm a little bit overwhelmed by the pink tonight, so i think I'm going to crash on the couch with some Justice League and some Scheherazade.

Soon, I'll pin this out, and you can see how my pretty wine-red-pink mohair is fairing.

Until then, happy New Year.

Ahem.

Happy Birthday To ME!

Happy Birthday to ME!

Happy Birthday to Meeeeee-eee!

Happy Birthday to Me!

AND MANY MOOOOOOOOORE!!


Thank you. I now return you to whatever it was you were doing before.

Recovering.

All limbs are, in fact, intact. Survived work today, and the ravening hordes of returning, giftcard spending, irrationally irritable, shoppers. Spend as much of the day as possible off the floor, staying away from the grouchies. It's sometimes better that way.

Madge asked what I was knitting in the New Year. Answer: Finish everything I didn't finish last year.

That's not entirely true. But it's funnier when I say it that way.

First, a story.

My Aunt Diane has not had an easy life. She's had a lot to drink, a lot to smoke, a lot of work, and a lot of stress, and she hasn't stopped for a minute. In 2002, she found a lump in her breast. A cancerous lump. They operated, removed the lump and several lymph nodes. No chemo, no radiation, all was well for awhile.

This spring, she was more and more tired, and she couldn't get back under herself. Her son finally panicked and bodily hauled her to the emergency room, where they discovered her unbelievably low red cell count; if Kevin had let her sleep in bed one more night, she would have probably passed in the evening.

The diagnosis was a form of pre-leukemia. Enter a course of mild chemo, shots to make her bone marrow do a better job of making mature red blood cells, and a lot of prayer. And she got better. Stronger, healthier. And she got so better, I think we all forgot the part of the diagnosis where the doctors flat out said that this disease only gets worse, not better.

About three months ago, Aunt Diane was feeling worse again, and this time the diagnosis was full blown leukemia. Into the hospital, strong chemo and radiation. This time, all her hair fell out, she got infected practically everywhere she could get infected, but still, the cancer was beaten back. But it was a near thing.

Back to the doctor for another bone marrow draw just before Christmas. And the news they had for us was...less good. Essentially, their recommendation is that she try and get into a particular study where she would take a low dose chemo pill for 21 days, and then be off it for 7 days (like one of my friends said, like Birth Control! but different). If she doesn't get into the study, they'll continue to monitor her, but they're recommending that if she falls out of remission again (and they mean when) she skip the chemo. She let them make her comfortable. And she's more or less agreeing with them.

I've been expecting this news. I talked to my sister, who is in med school, for a long time when we first got the preleukemia diagnosis. I made her help me sort through all the medical jargon, and essentially, I knew this was coming. But it always feels too soon. It could be days, it could be months, it could be years. There's no way to know.

I just know she has to be around long enough for me to finish these.


The colorway is, appropriately, Miss Violet's Pink Ribbon, by Lisa Souza, the pattern is Rolling Thunder by Sivia Harding, out of the most recent Knitty.

The beads are gilt lined opal (I think that was the name) from Earth Faire.

Here's an up-close of the edging (and it's proof I adore Sivia, because I did a hemmed edge for her!) and the gorgeous opally beads.

Sivia's design is reminiscent of the Thunderbird totem symbol, which is especially good, because in particular stories, Thunderbird has the power over life and death. Neil Gaiman picked that up in one of his more recent books -- it was either American Gods or Anansi Boys, I forget. But anyway. Thunder and Free will...good things to give to a woman facing a life-or-death decision. And yarn that Lisa made absolutely glow with positive energy and love and adoration.

When I can't handle the symbolism, I fall back on Cat Bordhi's Flow Motion socks; I haven't knit another stitch since the last time I posted about these, but I took a new picture, just because I haven't in a long time.

These are two strands of Trekking XXL and soooo warm, so good for comfort when I am a sad-K.
I hope everyone's Christmas was better than the sucky parts, and as good as the wonderful parts, of mine.

What are you knitting for the New Year?

Officially survived.

I think. Tomorrow, I'll have to count appendages.

Did you know that it can take felted wool 4 days to dry? I had no idea. Oh well.

The slippers were well received. I need a week off before I start the pair that my aunt requested while visiting. At least.

My hands are soooo tired from all the knitting.

And I completely forgot to take any pictures of anything before I wrapped it all up. Oh well. There were felted slippers and two little coats out of Oh My! (a yarn that I will never use again, thank you VERY much). Starting tomorrow, barring extreme circumstances beyond my control, there will once again be socks on this blog. And pictures of the wonderful handspun my friend Ashley sent me. And pictures of ... I don't know, probably something else too. :)

And I have a $50 gift card to spend at the local Ben Franklin's. I'm dizzy with delight. But I bet they don't have swifts, which is the one thing I really really want. Maybe I'll luck out, who knows?

for now, I'm just glad that I don't have to knit any more slippers for a little while.

Take care, you all.

And Merry Christmas.

A quick note

from the world of the irrationally sleepy.

Four pairs of slippers are felted. Side note: Lamb's Pride bulky felted in hot water in Mom's top loader in 15 minutes. Seriously impressed with this.

One and a half more pairs of slippers are done. These can get felted on Christmas eve. Can I put them in the dryer to get them a little dry, or will it shrink them further -- anyone know?

Baby sweaters -- just don't ask.

I hate being sick. I'm tired of working six days a week (this is the last week of that, although they did try to call me in today, on my day off -- they were graceful, though, when I said I just couldn't.)

My car is deceased. I don't feel like going into it -- it's probably safe to drive, really, but the damage to the undercarriage is bad enough that the mechanic didn't charge me for the oil change and brake inspection and new light for the passenger blinker. He didn't feel that it was fair.

I was so depressed when I left Midas that I didn't even go to Joann's for sock needles like I meant to. I mean, Wow.

On the other hand, I did get to buy some Manos, which I've never bought before, to make some felted slippers for my aunt who's visiting from Arizona. This should be very, very fun.

I'm going to try to knit one more slipper before I just collapse into a little pile of exhausted K.

Oh, and I placed my order with Ellen at Earth Faire.
After Christmas, when I have time to breathe, I have so many pretty things to show you. Ashley, I got my box -- that is BEAUTIFUL. I can't wait to prattle about it, and I promise I'll do my best to do it justice.

Saved by the non-matching beads

Somehow, somehow, the Socks that Rock yarn snuck out of its protective plastic wrapper. No, I have no idea how that happened. Stop looking at me like that.

And I have no idea how my meager bead stash crawled out of its box and started arranging itself artfully on a skein of yarn. The bead tubes grew legs, its all I can figure.

Do you have any idea how relieved I am that none of the beads I have would look even halfway decent on this gorgeous red yarn? I am completely over the moon thrilled. First, because this means that I get to play on Earthfaire and pick out four or five new colors of beads that I think *might* match the yarn, order them, and see which one works best (darn), AND because it means that I will leave the yarn in the skein until the beads are ordered and have arrived -- the better to compare them to, my dear.

However, I do have another present in mind for someone, involving the second, more wildly colored skein of yarn. If I can decide to part with it. Or I might decide to order JUST ONE skein from the website.

We'll see what happens.

But for now, I am remaining strong.

We'll keep our fingers crossed for the future.

I don't even dare post pictures.

I heard Cookie A had a new pattern.

Someone keep me safe!

A pile of slippers

Vermont is experiencing this thing. I don't remember the name for it. S... s... ...n? sol? Sern? Sooon? Something. I don't remember.

It meant I could take pictures this morning (!!!) and show you things that were actually kind of accurate in terms of color (!!!!!).

So, here, we have a gigantic pile of unfelted slippers.

We have one and a quarter Superman Socks.

I don't know why this picture came out so blue-scale, but I couldn't fix it, just made it worse, so I decided to let it be. The photobackground was white, and the red actually stood out, when I originally took the picture. I think I will be upgrading from my free camera to a nice camera, if this whole FancyJob thing holds out.

And last, but never least, my socks-that-rock yarn.


I was going to take it out of the package to photograph it for you, but thought better of it at the last minute. I am not that strong. :)

No time for pictures

must keep knitting.

Four and 3/4ths pairs of slippers done. Deadline: Friday, so that I can felt.

Two baby sweaters, each half done. The third just needs buttons sewn on. No worries here.

Socks for Robb? Probably going to get done.

Socks for Mom? Not unless I can shut off the world for a day or two. Ain't gonna happen.

My BMFA Socks that Rock kit arrived yesterday, with two skeins -- one in Mustang Sally, with a Sivia Harding pattern (bestill my beating heart, this will be my first post-Christmas knitting, before I get down to the serious work of knitting through some stash), and one called "Rare Gems" that are the so-called mistakes of the BMFA dyers.

I would show you pictures, but I don't dare to take the yarn out of its protective plastic bubble for fear I'll fall into a trance and then find that it's the day after Christmas, and that I spent all week knitting socks instead of working. While it would be fun, it would be bad for my checking account.

A very detailed update on December 26th. I promise!

A brief rant

On why all patterns need skematics and measurements and things to help me not be crazy.

I would have sworn that my stepbrother's baby was due in February, so I wasn't worry about knitting anything for them for Christmas. Apparently, December. Oops.

So, at the LYS the other day, as I was picking out buttons for the two Oh My sweaters, I spyed a Plymouth pattern for a Matinee coat. Pretty adorable, knit on biggish needles, no problem, I thought. I bought the recommended yarn (Plymouth Dreambaby DK) in a lovely antique rose.

This pattern drove me crazy the entire time I knit it for all sorts of reasons -- to save space, presumably so the back of the pattern could be a full page ad for two patterns that are not included in this pamphlet, short lines (i.e. k5, purl to last 5 stitches, k5) of knitting code are included on the same line as the end of the last line, or the beginning of the next row. I missed rows a couple of times and had to frog back.

But what really got me -- gauge was given for the pattern in stockinette. no part of this sweater is knit in stockinette. No skematic was given for the pattern, no sense of what the various pieces should measure. Now, after a full day of knitting, instead of a sweater that is about 18" in diameter and about 9" long, I have a sweater that is about 14" in diameter, and about 7" long. So, instead of a sweater that would fit a newborn, and probably be useful until summertime, I have a sweater that would fit a large preemie.

I am very, very irritated. I'm not frogging the entire thing, I'll lay it by and know it's there when someone -- as someone always does -- delivers a little girl a little too early. And I have two more skiens of yarn, so I have enough to knit another sweater. But I am seriously annoyed. Should I send Plymouth a letter, or is this all my fault?

Opinions gratefully received.

Oh, crap.

I think I sneezed or something when I was deciding what size to make for the girly slippers.

Instead of the ones for size 8 feet (about 9 1/2 inches, by all the charts I can find) I made slippers for about size 5 feet (about 7 inches. )

Dear God, why me? Wasn't it enough when I managed to knock over SEVEN tills this morning? Picking up about $60 in change off the floor and sorting it back into appropriate drawers wasn't enough? The lady who spazzed about the Gossip Girl novels and informed me that I was collaborating with the male patriarchy, that wasn't enough giggles?

Four slippers to frog down to the sole. It's a darn good thing I have another three and a half discs of Buffy to watch tomorrow, God, or we would be having a little conversation.

(I hope my grouchy blaspheming has not offended anyone. I don't mean it. I really do have the highest respect for the deities that about in the universe. But seriously. I think I'm having my very own person Friday the 13th.)

On Thursday.

The 14th.

Oh, nevermind.

I think it's time for Ks to go to bed. Yes, that sounds like a VERY good idea.

Warm up the knitting needles...

...I am off work tomorrow!

I may end up at my mother's for a little bit, we'll see -- I have to figure out how to knit another baby sweater in all of this, or maybe little baby Molly gets a Valentine's Day present. We'll see what I can take by then.

But I figure...lots of day, four more discs of Buffy Season 5 to watch...I'm a-gonna knit me some slippers.

Starting to feel a little...

...panic.

I'm working on several different things -- Josh's hat, slippers galore, Robb's stealth-socks, Sammy's sweater -- so there's little noticeable progress on anything. This is incredibly worrying to me. I can't make my brain think about having four things half done, it just sees the pile of completed things and sees that it hasn't grown. But I really do need to spend all knitting-time-sans-boyfriend cruising on SupermanSocks, so the other things get put aside when he goes to work...

but it's stressful. That's all I'm saying.

I'll try to have something worth photographing by tonight. That's my goal.

Nothing to report, boss

Or at least, very little, and nothing really worth taking pictures of.

Started another slipper, in purple this time.

Working on the hat -- almost done the straight part of the sides, finally have the stitches loose enough on the 24" needle that I can be over my looping phase -- only a disappointment because I was going to get CameramanRobb to stand over my shoulder and take some pictures. Maybe once I pull out that Cashsoft and work on his hat again. Nearly to the brim, which will require a trip to Joann's (darn) where I will be forced against my will to purchase plastic canvas and more of those incredibly awesome Susan Bates sock needles.

Superman sock continues apace. I'm done the gussets, and I accidentally decreased more than I meant to, but it's still matching up to the measurements of the sock that was pronounced to have fit "really well" so I think I'm okay.

I'm considering buying myself a domain name. $15 bucks and I can stop being at blogspot, but I want to play around with Wordpress a little more first. The blogs I see on that site I like, but what I'll probably do is play around and see if I can design a blog I like, and go from there.

I think I need to learn CSS. /cry

And that's all the news that's fit to print.

Watch out, Christmas, I'm gaining on you!

When I tell people, knitters and non-knitters alike, what I have to knit before Christmas, they get this kind of glazed look in their eyes. "Really?" they say. "Just eight pairs of slippers, three pairs of socks, one hat, and one baby sweater? No partridge in a pear tree?"

It's easy, I try to tell them. The slippers are easy, they're on size 13 needles with bulky yarn, the hardest part is being patient while they felt. Two of the three pairs of socks don't have to be done until after Christmas, as Mom's shawl was possibly also a Christmas present, and I won't see my sister until March or April. And the other pair of socks is worsted. The baby sweater is with easy yarn on gigantic needles as well, almost done there. So really, it's just the boredom factor while I knit slipper after slipper after slipper.

Observe:

Two pair done. Big green ones for Dad and little turquoise one for his wife. They are easy-peasy, requiring approximately two and a half episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer per slipper. Six pairs to go, three gigantic for boys, three dainty for girls. Cinch.

But the boredom. And the handcramping from the gigantic needle. Remember me, the girl who thinks size 6 creates stitches too big to be worn in public most of the time? I'm in agony with that thing. The gauge is also a little on the small side, but they're felted. What's half a stitch every two inches between fulled friends, right? Don't tell me if I'm wrong about that, I can't take it.

But, after two pair of slippers -- one yesterday and one today -- I needed a little break. So I cast on Topi regardless of my brother's lack of interest in the circumference of his head. We all have abnormally monstrous noggins in my family. If I make it big enough to be loose on me, it'll fit him.

So I cast on (Blue Sky Cotton, brown) with my dpns and that nifty crotchet cast-on dohicky that let me make no hole in the center of my hat. Good times. Got almost all the way out to the sides of the hat, too, but I'm going to do one extra row, because it was specified that the hat should be "kinda wider" on top.


I started out with DPNs, but can you see what happened? Those are not 16" circs, people. Those are 32" circs.

Do you know what this means?

I'm magiclooping.

NO!!!!

I know there are people out there who magic loop everything, who love it more than life itself. I always respected people who made that decision, but said it wasn't for me.

And then I was stuck between needles -- too many dpns made my head spin, but the 16" circ cramped my hands. Not enough stitches for a 24". So I was brave.

And I don't totally hate it.

I'm kind of afraid.

It's not a yarn accident

if you spend $200+ on purpose.

Right?

The good news is that all the yarn I need for all the Christmas presents I want to make is purchased.

This is the exciting stuff:


Also known as Blue Sky Organic Cotton for my brother Josh's hat (only he wants the hat longer and the brim shorter, and my requests for the size of his big head are going unanswered, so I'm kind of winging it, which combined with my gauge-resistance to cotton could make this the "interesting" present of the season). You also see Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted in Jeans for worsted socks for my brother Chris, and Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in Spanish Moss for Lacey Socks of Undetermined Origin for my sister.

Here's the boring stuff:

Eight different colors of Lambs Pride Bulky for turning into Fiber Trends felted slippers. That's right, sister(s and brothers) read em and weep. I have three weeks to knit eight pairs of felted slippers. It's plenty of time, but my eyes might be bubbling from boredom at the end of it.

And yes, you do see a skein of Fiesta Rayon Boucle tucked away back there. It's a long story...it goes something like this. When VK did that issue that had all the slightly-naughty items in it -- I want to say Spring or Summer of this year -- they had a lovely little corset-kinda-number that was knit out of Fiesta La Luz and Rayon Boucle. I fell totally in love with it, but the yarn is damned pricey, and I've heard lots of things about La Luz fuzzing up if you sneeze at it, so I've put it off sort of indefinitely. but when I was browsing the site, I fell totally in love with this color, called Aster. It's...so pretty. Today, I decided to have it. I'm not sure what it will be yet -- I'm thinking a Clapotis type scarf, much narrower, and possibly on bigger needles?

Also, missing the photo shoot, was some Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock for Lacey Socks of Undetermined Origin for my mom; this is the second last priority I have, not because I don't adore my mommy, but because I did finish the Shetland Garden shawl in time, and I warned her that it was likely to be her Christmas present as well. But if I can get her some socks done, she'd be over-the-moon thrilled. The color is Lakeview, and it's all deep blues, her favorite.

So, sixteen felted slippers. One down already; let's see about those other 15.

And of course, two pair are for guys with gigantic basketball feet.

Dear goddess, why am I always related to giants?

How's everyone else doing on their Christmas knitting?

Christmas comes early

Which makes me very happy. First, when I woke up today, the world was still kind of brown and frost-green, which is depressing in Vermont in early December.

By the time I got home from work at 3pm, the world looked like this.

Bad blogger for taking the picture through the window, but I was cold and exhausted. Please forgive.

After I snapped this shot, I tucked my headcold-ridden self into bed and slept until Robb called me about an hour after I fell asleep. I have the vaguest recollection of our conversation, and then I slept for another two hours. Woke up feeling even sicker, but completely incapable of any more sleeping. So I adjurned to the couch for Buffy and knitting.

The stealth socks continue -- we're almost done gusset#1, and the Superman mojo gets stronger with every round.

The baby sweaters are doing great; the little girl's sweater just needs to get sewn up (it did not crumble into dust in the washer, so I'm hoping that whatever it was that I snipped was not crucial), and I'm done the back and one front on Sammy's sweater. Depending on my priorities tomorrow, I might get them both done.

I'm also going to take my customer appreciation card over to the yarn store and buy the yarn for four pairs of FiberTrends felted clogs for Christmas presents. I should be able to get those done in the next week, if I spring for nicer needles in that size (I hate using bigger than size 8s, so I bought the cheapest 15s they had, and they *squeaked* with every stitch). At that point, I can decide if I make more slippers for the ladies in the family, or continue on with my fingerless glove plan. Or buy them all pretty jewelry and nice soap. We'll see how things are by then.

But the best part of today? The part that made going to work sick and staying at work sicker and putting up with Robb's mid-evening cell phone tantrum all worth it? He came home resolved to stop working these insane hours, to talk to his boss and point out that Dave always makes comments about how Robb should propose to me, and not let me get away, and blah blah blah -- and Robb's basic point is "Then why don't you let me see her?" Not in so many words, exactly...but growing up with a workaholic dad I hardly ever saw, and then seeing how immersed Robb was becoming in his job...

...this is the best Christmas present I ever could have gotten.

He's totally getting that sweater next year, whether he gets me a ring or not.

Who's happy dancing with me?

Spreading the word

If you're a Lime N Violet fan, you've probably read this by now. My heart goes out to Miss V, and I send her all the love and healthy wishes I have to offer.

And, because I always want more sock yarn, I'm going to do that too. Violet's Pink Ribbon...whoever knew I'd willingly buy something pink. Go figure.

Anyway, I have to get ready for work -- I just thought...well, that I'd widen the distribution of all of this one tiny little bit.

Be well. All of you.

Super socks

Stealth knitting is harder when the subject of the knitting is actually around. While I seriously dislike Robb's current schedule of 4pm-12pm shifts, I have to admit that they're convenient for knitting for him.

So I've gotten no farther on the socks, but I've managed to get a pic I don't totally hate.



The color is decent, but in real life, the blue is bluer, and the light blue and red are more apparent.

Other than a headcold that is making me tak lik dis, nothing much else to report.

Just like Martha would have made...

...if Clark hadn't been impervious to cold. But maybe he liked handknit wool socks anyway.

However.

I can't show you the socks right now. See, I tried to photograph them last night, but the light is so crappy in my non-sunlit apartment that they looked like a big blue blur. I would photograph them now, when the sun is out, but Robb is awake.

0.0

I know. Awake before noon, who knew it was possible? Certainly not me.

But we went out for breakfast (this was very very good), and now I work at 11am. No big. But he's sitting here with me, so I can't exactly whip out his Christmas socks and either start knitting or start snapping pics.

So you'll just have to imagine that pretty yarn in a sock. Let's see -- the cuff is a k2p1 rib, and it's maybe two inches long. Then straight into the heal -- I did the eye of the (peacock?Pheasant?Bird?Ineverremember) -- flap. The red did this pretty zig thing through the heel, and made a lovely sort of slipstitch pattern. Dutch heel, for something different. And as I got off the bus last night, I had just picked up the stitches for the gussets. But today, I am taking the car to work, so probably not much more knitting today, unless I am still awake when Robb goes to work at 11pm tonight.

If I can manage to get a decent picture, you all will be the first to know. Until then, :)

Lisa Souza is my new best friend.

So, today was all about what I love in retail. I was busy, my nine hour day flew by in about twenty-seven minutes, and I didn't have time to stop and worry -- am I doing a good job? Am I working enough hours? Am I doing what I need to be doing? Am I doing it well enough? -- all I could do was help customers and put books in their hands and enjoy the day.

But by the time I got on the bus for home, I was beat. Completely and totally wiped.

I thought nothing could make me stop on my way in the door, on the way to the bed.

I was wrong.

There was a package in the mailbox. A pretty white envelope that had travelled all the way from Lafayette, California. Do you know what I'm getting at?



It came!!

Three skeins of Sock! Merino; one in Gingerpeach, one in Graphite, and one in a by-request colorway that Lisa named Superman.

See?



It's the Gendarme colorway, basically. I'd shown Robb that yarn and asked what he thought (he's a man's man in terms of colors, green is ever-so-slightly suspect unless it's nearly indistinguishable from black) and he grinned and said "Those are Superman colors." But I'd seen a couple of Gendarme socks knitted up, and the gold came through the strongest, with the red and blue as highlights. So I asked Lisa if it would be possible to make the blue the main color, and the red and gold the highlights.

And lookee lookee lookee!!



Superman Bear thinks it's perfect.

I may even fight through the fog to ball it up so that when I wake up from my nap I can start knitting. We'll see.

Oh, and what am I doing with the Gingerpeach and the Graphite? Stash? What are you talking about? No, I do not have too much sock yarn -- how dare you say such a thing. :)

I'm totally psyched. Baby sweaters can wait until tomorrow. :)

I feel like an UberKnitter

But I can't show you why, as Blogger has currently lost the ability to post pictures. BFS, right? Oh well, I'll edit tomorrow (I hope) and add in the pics.

The reason that I feel like an UberKnitter is that I'm knitting a baby sweater in an almostworsted yarn, on size 10 needles. Both fronts, the back, and the sleeves were done in slightly more than 24 hours; started the hat, and it should be done momentarily.

The pattern is from Plymouth and uses their Oh My! yarn (which I think is a new line, but I wouldn't want to be held to that.

I'm not entirely sure what I think of this yarn as yet. It's very very very soft, and makes me want to pet it and cuddle it, and call it George. The colors are pretty, and in slightly less pastel shades than normal.

However.

My knitting is usually insanely regular. The stitches are even, there aren't big gaps between things...lalala. Except for in this yarn. It's not consistent -- but there are entire columns of stitches that look loose. Weird.

Also, at least in terms of the unknit yarn, it snags sooo easily, and if you are silly (like me) and try to trim the snag, the yarn will literally fall apart in your hands.

Tomorrow (i.e. when I have patience) I'm going to stitch this baby up and do the finishing; I will take it to Mom's when I do laundry and drop it in the machine, see how it washes and dries (it's meant to be machine washable and dryable). If all goes well, one baby sized Christmas present is done. If not...well, we'll go have a chat with the yarn store.

I hope that it holds up well. I want to like this yarn...but I'm somehow suspicious.

Updates as news warrants. :)