cookie a designs – Behind the Smile

June 24, 2010June 24, 2010

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.

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).

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:

I got curious so I installed Google Analytics on this page. I feel like it’s 2002 all over again! Good times, good times.
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.
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
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.
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.
Burritos.

Hope everyone is having a great Thursday!

May 10, 2009June 24, 2010

Superbizzy

Yow, this year is blink-and-you’ll-miss-it, huh?

Last week my friend Julie came to visit from Biloxi, MS and it rained pretty much the whole time she was here, so we weren’t able to do everything that I was planning. But we did make it up to Sacramento and the Jelly Belly Factory and saw Wolverine which we liked. It was a little strange – Julie met Malvina and Sam, and none of my Texas friends have met any of my California friends until now. But they seemed to get along, so that was nice!

For Mother’s Day I took my mom to see the new Star Trek and it was soooo good!

We really liked it, and I think everyone should see it on the big screen if they have a chance. Though I do think it’s funny that in all the articles I’ve read about it, people are talking about the cast being a cast of “unknowns” which I wouldn’t agree with – I mean, Karl Urban! (Eomer on Lord of the Rings) Zachary Quinto! (Sylar on Heroes) SIMON PEGG!! (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz)… Anyway, I’d heard of everybody in the cast, and even spotted some JJ Abrams regulars popping up here and there.

I finished a couple of pairs of socks:

Pattern: Lacunae Socks by Anne Hanson of Knitspot
Yarn: Valley Franklin Yarn /dyed by the Kangaroo Dyer from Webs
Mods: Not a single one!

Pattern: Kai-Mei from Sock Innovation (Cookie A)
Yarn: Fleece Artist Merino Sock 2/6 in Pixie
Mods: None!

I like both pairs. The green ones were made for Abby, but the purple ones are for me. I really liked working with the Fleece Artist yarn, and I apparently have another skein in my stash, so that’s pretty cool.

My current problem is what to knit next because I don’t know what to do, or what to knit it out of. Phooey! I think it will probably be another Anne Hanson pattern – I really liked knitting the Lacunae socks, and I have a couple other patterns by her in my pattern collection.

I do have a couple other projects planned – some more Hearts Afire socks for Malvina, finish Abby’s rainbow Monkey socks, etc. But I want to start something else, too, and that’s where I’m coming up empty. Wah.

I’ve been so busy lately, but I hope to start updating a little more. *hopes*