Posted on

Navy Rainbow Socks (FINALLY) & Etc.

I actually finished these socks in early May, shortly before we hied off to Environs Unknown (the midwest). I forgot to blog about them till now.

Navy Rainbow Socks

Man, these took For-Freakin’-Ever! I like how they turned out, though, and so did Abby – which was the point. As part of the never-ending “I Should Never Have Opened My Big Mouth And Said I’d Knit You A Bunch Of Stuff Since You Made Me That Fabulous Quilt” project, I am now three pairs into a five pair project that started oh. so. long. ago. (2008)

Anyhoo, that’s okay because if it hadn’t taken me so long to finish on this project, Knitpicks wouldn’t have come out with their rainbow yarn and as such, Abby gets a pair of those, which I think is pretty cool! (No those aren’t much further along than the last time I showed them. Shut up.)

So, these socks are the ever-famous Monkey pattern, which I have knit four times. And I do not plan on knitting them ever again. (Note how I didn’t say never… just in case.) I am tired of knitting Monkeys. Not that it’s not a fabulous pattern (it totally is) but four times is more than enough when there are so many OTHER fabulous patterns out there. Still, I will always hold Monkeys close to my heart because it’s the sock that taught me top-down socks. Before this I always knit toe-up because I was confused by and afraid of heel construction. Nowadays, I prefer top-down construction because heels are my most favorite thing to knit (you can file that under the WTF category).

The yarn is Perchance to Knit Sock Yarn, and I forget where I got it from, but I am assuming the Loopy Ewe. It’s very nice yarn and complements the pattern well.

Here are all the monkey socks I’ve knitted. Two are mine (the hot pink and turquoise) and two are for Abby (the blue/purple and navy rainbow).

monkey socks mosaic

It’s been a good run, Monkey socks! Now, onto something else.

***

Here’s some of the recent jewelry items I’ve made:

I’m definitely into antique gold/brass and bright colors right now. While I do love silver, it’s just so overdone these days.  Everybody wears silver. I would argue that people need to broaden their horizons and get on the “other metallics rock too” bandwagon.

***

A few other things on my mind:

  1. I got curious so I installed Google Analytics on this page. I feel like it’s 2002 all over again! Good times, good times.
  2. I want to make macarons, the sandwich cookie kind. I found this great article on how to do it. Only problem is it calls for grams of ingredients instead of cups/tablespoons. I have been wanting an excuse to get a kitchen scale so this could be it.
  3. Tomorrow I’m going to help Abby buy a flat screen TV. I like watching other people spend a lot of money. She says she needs me there to sigh dramatically and say things like, “Just buy THAT one already!” hehe
  4. I actually am really tired today and feel kind of rotten. There has been much lolling about in these parts. I’m not sick – I don’t think I’ve been getting enough sleep.
  5. I’ve been organizing the back end of my blog all week, and when I was working on tags, a list of the most popular tags that I used popped up:

    I would say that about sums it up.
  6. Burritos.

Hope everyone is having a great Thursday!

Posted on

In which I acquire a bicycle

I got a bike! It is the awesomest bike ever.

It’s a Trek Navigator 3.0 and it rides like a dream with built in suspension. It even has a bell. Once I get into better shape with it I plan on using it to bike all over the place. Today I biked up to the Iron Horse Trail entrance, turned around, came home, and threw up! I fully expect this to be a beautiful relationship.

This was my 30th birthday present from my parents. My birthday is not for two weeks but my dad and I went looking for a bike on Saturday and found this one. What really made me like it was not its lightweight construction or easy maneuverability, but it’s sweet sweet handles. They are ergonomic and awesome. I will eventually get some sassy saddlebags for it, maybe for Christmas. They have these ones that snap on and off and even have a shoulder harness.

The only thing I need now is a lock so I can take it places.  I live about a mile from the Target so that would be an easy ride. I am pretty excited about this whole thing!

I guess the other thing that’s going on around here is that I redesigned the look of the blog, sort of. Full Disclosure: I upgraded to WordPress 3.0, and it is both magical and delightful. I also REALLY love the new default theme Thelonius. I was previously running K2 which I liked a lot, but I’m not gonna lie: Thelonius is way more user friendly plus it spans the entire screen rather than being centered in the middle. And it’s very customizable and includes widgets which is why I was using K2 in the first place. If you haven’t upgraded your WordPress to 3.0, you won’t be disappointed. Plus I am here to tell you that the one-click upgrade from the Dashboard didn’t break anything, which is nice because I totally neglected to back up the blog before I did it.

That is how I roll.

Currently I am working on my jewelry stuff. My desk is a disaster area and here is sort of how it looks on a micro scale:

I will maybe show some of the things I have been working on later.

Plus I’m working on designing a new blog header for my sister’s blog. I hope she likes what I’m working on.

Posted on

Things Wot I’ve Been Working On

So, here is what I am working on for now:

Berry Nice Socks Malvina's Birthday Socks

I am ready to turn the heel on the orange socks and will soon be done with those. They are pretty intensely orange, I have to say.

I have already turned my mind to my next sock project, and I am thinking of doing Popsicle. (rav link) I got some really fantastic green yarn from the Loopy Ewe and think it will do nicely with that pattern. I also want to get started on a pair of socks for my sister Abby, which are part of a trade – I once mentioned that it would be nice to have a quilt in “all the colors of the ocean!” which then prompted her to, um, start making me one, so I said I would knit her five pairs of socks in return. Now she is almost done with the quilt and I have made her one pair of socks.

Since she’s allergic to latex and can’t use elastic, she pretty much only wears handmade socks. My mom has been chugging out the socks like a machine, but I am a little more willy nilly about the whole thing. Abby wants some leaves socks, and I will be tired of the Embossed Leaves pattern when I’m done with Malvina’s safety cone orange socks, but I was thinking the new leaf pattern in the new Knitty would be nice. I have some Shibui in the wasabi color that might be cool. I also have thirty other greens that would be cool too. heh. And I still need to use some of the Dream in Color Smooshy I bought! (And 75 other skeins of yarn but whatever).

Pendants

It also occurs to me that I could make some jewelry with the above pendants, but man, I am not feeling the jewelry mojo. I’m sure it will come to a shock to none that those pendants represent but a small portion of my ultimate collection. Hahaha! I am a collector apparently.

I’m tired. Don’t forget to watch the Heroes premiere tonight!