农历新年

Happy Chinese New Year everyone. It is the Year of the Rat. Rat is associated with aggression, wealth, charm, and order, yet also associated with death, war, the occult, pestilence, and atrocities (seriously....that doesn't sound that good).

Well, on that note, I present to you my (not-yet completed) Chinese New year socks, in Dragon Dance from Sock Club.

After my initial frustrations with them, they are turning out quite nice. The short row heel is a huge improvement over my first short-row heel experience. I have no gaping holes and the wraps look, well, nice and neat. I am managing the knitting socks on 2 circs. The jury is still out as to how well I like it compared to my preferred method of DPNs, but I'm expanding my horizons.

I also got some good knitting-related birthday loot.

My husband has finally figured out this knitting thing isn't a passing fancy - check out the books.


I have been flipping through them a lot and deciding what I'll try and design first - socks or a sweater or a wrap.....so many possibilities.

And of course I can count on J. for some knitting goodness. She showered me with yarn and new socks (yeah!). I am very spoiled (but I think I deserve it).

Wishing you all the best this Chinese New Year brings....well at least heavy on the wealth and charm, and light on the pestilence.

Ode to T.

Who could forget T.'s birthday tribute to me? It was truly.....interesting.

In a vain attempt to reciprocate, I give you the following....

Ode To T. - A Knitting Haiku in 5 Parts

I taught T. to knit
A few years ago and now
It's her obsession.

She knits in her home
And at work. She would gladly
Knit for a living.

T. likes to make green
Anything, and orange things, too.
See Ravelry queue.

T. is one of my
Best friends. I'm glad to have her
To knit and dye with.

And surprisingly,
Knitting isn't all we discuss.
Happy Birthday, T.

Progression.

Today is called - Super Tuesday. Of course it's Super Tuesday - It's my birthday!!

I am 34 today. I'm older, I'm wiser and I'm better than I was a year ago. Why you may ask? Well, I can't give away all my secrets but I have broadened my knitting horizons and I have taken my first knitting class. I have now been married for 10 years and I'm no longer the mother of any babies. Things are progressing, and it's all good.

In celebration of this event, I knit myself some birthday socks - I am quite happy with them and their simple design.


I particularly like my heel.



My STR socks are also progressing...they're a little more rocking than they were on the weekend.

So things are progressing on all fronts. And I'm enjoying the ride.

This Week in Knitting...

I've been really smitten with socks lately. That's all I to want to knit.

I started my Cozy wrap but haven't gotten very far.

I would just rather be knitting on some new and interesting sock pattern.

Like this stuff that I hand dyed myself! Tuesday night, T. and my SIL came over for a dye fest. T. kinda knew what she was doing. We experimented with food dyes and some acid dyes. Let me just say it's not nearly as easy as I had hoped. None the less, I present to you my first skein of hand dyed yarn.

I believe "interesting" is the word you're looking for. At first, I thought I would overdye the whole thing but now I want to knit it up and see how it looks. There is only one first so you might as well enjoy it. I think it's fair to say that we'll be trying this again.

Here's one I finished this week. It's knit inside out so that the right side of the sock is in reverse stocking stitch. The pattern is called Reverse Psockology and I think it's great for variegated yarns or ones that might pool.

I had finished one sock from this pair when my Socks that Rock showed up. I'm sure you've heard that this is the best sock club ever so I won't bother saying it. Let me just say that it was a toss up for me on Thursday night. I had to decide between Lost and reading all about my new sock yarn.

I finished one of these socks today. Would you like to see it? I'm not sure how people feel about this whole sock club thing. I know that I didn't want to see the yarn before I got it, but I imagine that most members have at least received their yarn, even if they haven't started knitting yet. Let me know in the comments if you'd like more gratuitous sock pictures.

This week looks promising. I have two pairs of socks to finish.

I'm not rocking it.

I'm currently questioning my abilities as a knitter.

Got my first Rockin Sock Club shipment - it's fabulous. Fabulous.

But it's not going so well otherwise. I cast them on last night. The pattern calls for 2.25mm needles, which I don't have, so I thought I'd try my 2.5mms. No go. Too much pooling. The pictures show the yarn giving this lovely stripey effect. Not so much.

So went to the yarn store and picked up some 2.25mms. Heck, I thought, why not try 2.25mm circulars instead of DPNs. That should be good. Try a new technique, expand my knitting horizons.

I've been at this for an hour and a half. I have sore fingers, frogged yarn and a bad attitude. And I still got f^%#*ing pooled yarn. I'm a good knitter. This shouldn't happen to me.

My socks aren't rocking, not even a little bit.