Two weeks on a Beach (I wish!)

So, in record time (the second one took a full week), I have my next socks:



Beach part b) was grafted up last night, and they were worn today. Next?

Well, Grasshoppers are ongoing, but have slowed even more because:



a) being knee socks they're getting long, and heavy, and I can no longer really walk'n'knit them
b) doing two at once on a long circ, they're heavier, I can no longer walk'n'knit them
c) even switching from a p2tog to k2tog, the stitches are a bit tight and fiddly to do, and they're hurting my hands.

Oh well. I'm halfway through the 6th of 7 increase chart repetitions, then we'll see if I need more length. But they now need to be at-home socks so I can work with the weight of them on my lap or table.

So, what's the new portable project?



This is the Bird of Paradise yarn from the Pick Up Sticks club June package. The pattern will be Fawkes from Sockotpia, however. I discovered Socktopia today after a Rockin' Sock Clubber pointed out the Fawkes pattern suggesting the RSC Firebird yarn would go nicely (and it would!) but all in the theme of flaming birds, I thought Bird of Paradise would too, and my conscience is clearer in doing so.

You see, when I joined TWO sock clubs to feed my obsession, I promised myself I would make up the kits to the club specifications - club yarn, club pattern (alterations for fit and fidget notwithstanding). So, using Firebird for Fawkes - not quite right. But I got an inadvertent out with Bird of Paradise. Due to completely reasonable personal circumstances, the Pick Up Sticks exclusive "club" pattern didn't get produced for June. Connie was super and to make up for it sent us TWO alternate patterns along with the June yarn. But since neither was a special "club" pattern anyway, I'm OK doing this one in Fawkes. Flaming Birds of Summer it is! (Firebird will be done next in the Solstice Slip).

And, Today's Gratuitous Cat:



This is the view from my bathtub. Maui is the Bath Monitor. While the tub is filling, he runs back and forth from bathroom to the nearest person with progress reports. While someone (me, nearly always) is bathing, he regularly checks to make sure no one has drowned, and reports to other people (Adam, pretty much) that the Stupid Human is Still In The Big Water Bowl.

Perhaps he was a lifeguard, or a Newfoundland dog, in a past life. Or perhaps he is aspiring to be one in his next life.

Or perhaps he really is the evil little beast we sometimes think he is, and is yelling: "Is it done yet? Is my soup done? Turn up the heat and throw in some pepper, dammit, that big lobster-like thing is still moving around in there!"

Another slow day in the cube farm.

Ridiculous consumerism...

Though I'm far from perfect, and as susceptible as the next educated skeptic to a good ad campaign, I saw something today that really tipped off the stupid-o-meter. I sincerely hope none of the few, but smart and lovely people who check out this blog, would ever make a purchase based on this.

Secret Deodorant "40th Anniversary Special Limited Edition".

Ummm... .huh? Procter and Gamble thinks they're bleepin' Disney now? WE'RE TALKING ABOUT ANTIPERSPIRANT PEOPLE!!!! How dumb do they think consumers are? Actually, what frightens me more is how dumb could consumers be that something like that is a viable product hook? It's a noxious chemical you smear on your stinky pits to avoid offending co-workers. But do we explain product info? List contents? Even give inflated but possibly viable information on why this product is the better one? NO. We release "40th Anniversary Special Limited Edition" stinky armpit treatment. Are we supposed to save this one to sell on EBay when the value increases exponentially? Is it a series? Do we collect the whole set?

For the record, I don't use antiperspirant, I use deodorant and since the very few of them still on the market are becoming fewer all the time, well, P&G isn't in danger of getting my business anyway. But - gah. I hate the consumer market sometimes.

Fastest sock to date!

Wow. 1 Beach is done in less than a week.


Pattern: Beach by Meghan Jackson
Yarn: Seacoast Panda (merino/bamboo/nylon) in "Seaside" colour custom dyed for Pick Up Sticks' Sock Club.

Check out the seashell cuff.


I'm impressed with myself on this one. Cast on Thursday night, kitchenered up the toe Tuesday night. Probably one of the more complicated sock patterns I've made, and I didn't mess up - no frogging, not more than a stitch or two of going backwards, no major messes. I think the fastest single sock before this took a whole week, and that was a plain sock. Beach is a tiny bit snug, but that just means the pattern is stretched out when it's on, it still fits. Though if I make 'em again I might use a slightly larger needle, or a yarn with a touch more give in it. It's a nice yarn, but the bamboo gives it a hint more stiffness than pure wool. But I like 'em! I give credit to Meghan's excellent pattern for them being much easier than they looked. Well written.

In other news, today's gratuitous cat photo is again, da Sprout!



Andrea and Angela commented after last week's similar pose on her sleeping position. I should clarify, she doesn't sleep like this - this is a pose she learned from her late, great mentor, Panda-ov-Toes, in order to solicit tummy rubbings with all the cuteness she can muster. She lies on the bed and frantically flips herself back and forth, side to side, then pauses, tummy-up. Rubbing gets you purrs and snuggly licks, until she's had enough - we have ALMOST got her trained out of the "I've-had-enough-now-you-will-die-rubbing-hand-*CHOMP*-grrrrr" response. She mostly licks frantically then rolls away.

She's a bit dumb but really takes a good picture. Check out my gallery link on the right, or the Cats section under Adam's for more.

and again, Happy Canada Day.

Something occurred to me this evening, standing on the roof of my building watching displays of fireworks 360 degrees around. This is a day for contemplating all that is wonderful about Canada and being Canadian. Not the least of which is that we live in a country where huge explosive devices going off barely above the rooftops of our homes means only that we are celebrating. Be proud of your country, and spare a moment too to think of those for whom the situation may be different. Happy 140th, Canada.

Laws of Sock Physics...

So anyone who has read Yarn Harlot knows about the knitting "Black hole", where you knit and knit and knit and your knitting does not get bigger. I have wondered if this is a phenomenon related to the socks disappearing in the laundry and somehow via a wormhole in the space-time continuum turning into wire hangers in the closet, or pens in the junk drawer. I think I have accumulated some more evidence of this.

Observe, after 48 short hours:



Beach has made astounding progress, for being a very complicated, lacey pattern involving two large charts. Here it is with my arm (not leg) in it, to illustrate the pattern:



And check out the seashell motif - it repeats 3 times around the cuff, but Megan also worked it into the heel!



Now, I have spent about the same amount of time on the Grasshopper socks as on Beach. And if you want to see how far they've come, well - look at the post a couple days back. The appear to be no closer to my knees despite more hours of knitting.

SO - I am coming to the conclusion that the phenomenon of missing socks in the dryer recurring as tangled hangers and pens has a corollary in that those yarnovers and K2togs on the Grasshoppers are in fact transitting the same wormhole and adding to the YOs and K2togs on the Beach. It's the only way I could have produced that much sock that fast, ALL my knitting time went to only one sock. That's gotta be it.

Happy Canada Day, anyway, everyone. I'm going to head up to my roof tonight to see if I can see the fireworks from 3 km north at Columbia Lake.

WIPs

"Works in Progress" or WIPs, or I guess correctly WsIP but that's awkward, are distinguished from UFOs or UnFinished Objects by being, nominally, still being worked on as opposed to buried in the stash and blocked from sight and mind out of frustration.

Lemme tell you, the Grasshopper socks were getting close to the UFO transition. However, I finally got my groove on, and we're continuing.



While I am normally a "process" knitter - one who knits for the act of knitting - I think for this particular project I'm leaning towards becoming a "product" knitter - one who knits for the end result. Simply because, with all the frogging and fiddling already, these socks have gone on too long, and now that I've FINALLY got a reasonable gauge going - they're getting boring because they're going to go on a lot longer because I'm determined after all that, I want the knee-high model, dagnabbit.

It's a good thing I love everything about this pair, assembly aside. I love the STR Silkie yarn. I love the colours, and I love the way it was knitting up with kindof an impressionist-watercolour look to it. I like the lacey stitch, now that I've got the trick of it. I just want to get 'em done now, though!

To take the edge off, I started something completely different:


and was pleasantly surprised. This is the first 10 rows of Megan Jackson's Beach pattern from the May PickUpSticks Sock Club. I was intimidated by the pattern, which includes two very complex looking charts, but it's written out row by row and I got through the first 10 rows of the first chart without a mistake. I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would, and it was the perfect foil to the two-stitch Grasshopper, and strangely, easier to manipulate.

And finally, faithfully providing my couple-of-rows-before-bed distraction:



The Seasilk Stormwater is slowly growing. The trick to making this piece livable is threading in a pre-emptive "lifeline" EVERY repeat of the pattern, or actually I'm doing it every half repeat. The pattern is the perfect mix of a variety of stitches but with a short enough repeat interval that it's now been committed to memory and is manageable. But if I drop one stitch - it's gone, and it's being ripped. So, I just run a length of cotton yarn through every 8th row and the most I'll lose is 8. So progress is steady.



So those, along with my still-neglected homework, are my weekend plans. Happy Canada Day!

Gratuitous cat photo.

Absolutely nothing else I feel like blogging. Off to be mad at all my crafty projects and fumble around with my new point'n'shooty camera I don't know how to use.

Next!

For a brief hour this evening, there were no socks in progress. Since the universe abhors a vacuum, I've corrected that, and Grasshoppers attempt #4 are now both cast on to a magic loop to try my next take on how to make them not so floppy.

In the meantime, here's what's been finished:



Parrot Puree (cat not included) will be on their way to their new feet shortly.

Here's a close-up:



I guess I didn't update the blog after I threatened to rip them out, but as you can see they survived. Their new feet said they would like them very much. So they are done.

And, for a wee little peanut who I will be meeting for the first time this weekend:



Teeny Trellises! This is a slightly reworked version of the Trellis pattern from the April Pick Up Sticks Sock club. When I first got this first kit of the series, I was a mite disappointed. Not that is wasn't nice and all, but it was baby-coloured pastels which are the farthest thing from "my thing", and a fussy, lacey pattern - ditto, or so I thought. But then when I kinda clued in that I have two neices, my friend's little girlie, and now a coworker who has just had a baby girl - WELL -this is going to go to very good use. This pair took up about 10% of the yarn from the kit, so there will be at least a couple more!

More Bike for your Buck - Thank You!

Well, we did it. Spousal euphemism and I managed to ride about 45 km (Rode to the Bike and Hike event, rode the 25 km route, rode home), cold, with no real training up so far this season.

I raised $705, thanks to all who contributed. Each of your dollars is worth two for hospital, as my employer doubles all the team funds. I don't have final numbers yet, but as of this morning, with counting still going on, the hospital had over $185,000, so likely once all funds are in we will have again beat $200,000 raised for Cardiac Care in Waterloo region.

I am now off to soak my screaming quadriceps in the whirlpool tub.

Oops, then.

Moments after our last update, our intrepid knitter tries on the toes of the Grasshopper, and realizes it's a damn good thing a) these are toes-up and b) there was only about an inch done.



To the frog pond we go (I realized I've completely absorbed knit-speak. "To the Frog Pond" meaning, the knitting was frogged. "Frogged" being what happens when you muck up knitting - or quilting, for that matter - and "rip-it, rip-it").

The other comments about this pattern and yarn REALLY relaxing were spot-on. I was stitching up the "medium" width, going with the idea that my feet, though short, are exceptionally wide. Well, this sock is exceptionally stretchy. Small size it is.

After ripping and picking it all back up at the toe, I realized I hadn't ripped far enough by one row, so I have a couple to tink, too. But I'll be back where I was by bedtime.

Change is as good as a break?

Hmm... been home sick for a couple of days (though I worked half a day from home today, too). I don't know if it's the virus, the Magic Loop, the guilt over neglecting my sock clubs, or the weather, but these:



... just totally lost the love today. Strange given that I got really determined about them just this week. These are Fleece Artist Nova socks, pattern from the ball band (Tilting Blocks), colour Parrot. Parrot Puree as it knit up. You saw it in the ball a few posts back. If you look at it up close:



It still has all those crazy-brights that captivated me when it was wound up in a skein. I should have taken a picture then. But the overall effect is just muddied out on me, somehow. I think, looking at my colour wheel, that the colours confuse too many of the colour-wheel geometries at once and because of the short repeat they randomize when stitched and just all wash into muddle. The Blue-Orange direct complement caught my eye, but the Blue-Yellow is 2/3 of a triad and the yellow-green is half a tetrad. All at once. Meh.

So, I haven't gone to frog pond with it yet, but I did blow the surprise for the intended recipient and sent a photo to ask what she thought. If she likes - they will get finished. If not - froggy it is, and I'll maybe make a plain sock on a different needle to see if I get something more harmonious.

So, taking the edge off that disappointment:


I finally started the Rockin' Sock Club April sock. We likes this, we does - colour and yarn and all. Silkie Socks That Rock is even nicer than Socks That Rock. And even though you lose the colour a bit in the lace, I'm liking the way this blends. Note that I'm back on DPNs. Magic looping got me this:



A wee cutie of a Trellis from the PickUpSticks April kit, but I only did one at a time as I was experimenting. Given that I had Parrot Puree on a magic loop, both at once, and now I'm shy of it, I didn't want to start Grasshopper both at once in case I get it wrong (given what I've read, the pattern really stretches) and then have to frog another pair at once. I didn't dislike the ML, I'm just feeling faster on dpns, for one thing, and maybe ML will be nice when I do want to zip of a pair together, but I think I'd save it for things I've already tried once.

So, one Grasshopper at a time, much trying on as I go.

Inevitable

The Blue Cat, aka Blue and formerly Bluey, while not in the feline intellectual ranks of my departed Lenny or Panda, is probably the smartest of the quadrupeds in my current assortment. She's definitely curious and a bit mischievious.

This photo is my stash closet:



It's generally stuffed and with the exception of WsIP (Works in Progress) and a box of Blue Moon I haven't put away yet, the stash lives here and is contained. I often don't close the door, because Blue Cat can open it anyway, and the other two follow her. Generally this is not a problem because the ground level of the stash shelving contains old towels, intended for some eventual make-do quilt batting for practice, and the cats generally sleep on those. All quilt stash is in sealed bins. Yarn stash is mostly in ziplocs.

Note the gap there on the left of the shelf. My bin of quilt cotton charms is out, because I was sorting the last of my charms into my colour-grouped, ziplocked packets, and it's a bit of a task. I didn't think much of it when, just before going out to the store, I saw Blue eyeing the empty shelf space. She could hop up there, but there's not too many places to go, and the bin on the right there is full of yarn but most of it is in plastic and there's only an inch between top of bin and next shelf up, so what could she do?

I went out and came back, and returned to the 9-patch squares for the quilt-in-progress. I then heard a rustle behind me that sounded like something caught in a plastic bag. Since I have some stray plastic bags hanging on my doorknob, I thought one of the cats was playing. Turned around. Saw nothing. Turned back. Heard rustling. Turned around. Still saw nothing. Said "Blue?" and got an answering Siamese mumble.... from the depths of the stash closet.

I looked in at the bottom shelves, thinking maybe a bag got dragged in with the towels. No Blue. Looked behind door. No Blue. Then she grumbled again, and the noise was much closer to my height than one usually finds Blue. I looked in that little 1-inch gap between the top of the yarn bin and the top shelf. Well.



Cat in the Stash. I suppose it had to happen.

Happy Birthday, Waterloo!

Apparently my city is having a Sesquicentennial Party. A parade is going by outside my windows.

Started off with a marching band striking up the Maple Leaf Forever, and one of the classic/antique vehicles that went by was a barrel buggy from Joseph Seagram and Sons. Considering I live in the Seagram Lofts, one of the older properties in the center city and formerly the barrel warehouse for Joseph Seagram and Sons - that was kinda fun.

I think the drums are freaking out the cats, though. Maui just ran away.

Meeting Stephanie

So, last night I did something I've never done before - I went to a "fan" event of a sort, and actually asked someone for their autograph. Yep, bought Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's latest book, had her sign it, and got to say hello. I told her who I was, referencing the emails we had exchanged when I sent her a tip about tickets for the Police concert, and she yelled across the store to her husband, Joe, "Hey! Joe, this lady's the reason you're going to see the Police!". He smiled and waved.

It was a crazy crowded night. As the knitters might have guessed - not enough chairs. Indigo staff seemed a little befuddled, but very nice, and pleasant about having to do crowd control. The drive there was nearly two hours, then I had to park and run a block to the store to get there barely in time - and I was stuck at the back behind a post. This also meant I was nearly last in line to get my book signed. By the time I got up to the table to say hi, I was feeling shy-ish, realizing how much of the crowd seemed to be in-group that I didn't feel I was - so I didn't get my picture with the Travelling sock or anything. But Stephanie is as nice as her writing makes her out to be, a VERY funny speaker, funnier than alot of comediennes I've heard, and she stayed probably an hour or more later than originally intended to make sure she met everyone who wanted to meet her. It's nice to know a public personality is still so genuine, I'm sure many Famous-with-a-Capital-F Famous authors would have just said sorry and cut the line off.

And she said my hat was nice and thanked me for donating it. It didn't look like much next to some of the offerings, but it's very nice to have it acknowledged.

Funniest line of the night (so many, it's hard to pick): "Yarn? What yarn? These are my KITTENS!" If you were there, you know.

Hat In A Hurry, Hey!

A cat, and a Hat!



How 'bout that? Hat completed in ~ 48 hrs. Pretty much improvised after reviewing Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's "Knitting Rules" hat basics. Despite the fact that it looks like a mold-striped souffle in that picture, it's nature is somewhat more toque-like when on a head. Since I have not mastered the art of the self-portrait in a dim room with a cel phone camera, it is being modelled by a small mostly cube-shaped computer speaker above. But, having tried it on, it is a wearable hat and I would not be humiliated to be seen in it. In colder weather than today, anyway.

Check out the top. I'm kinda proud of the way that worked out.



This looks more like I meant to do that.

The yarn is a Regia 6-ply "Crazy Color" #5264 that I dug out of the bargain bin at the back of the LYS for about $3/ball. It took 1 50 gm ball plus about a metre of the second (so I can still probably make kid socks of the 2nd ball). Pattern, like I mentioned, was improvised around the Yarn Harlot's hat structure outline.

If anyone cares, here's the basics:

I tested gauge, sort-of, my test was wrong but I recalculated from there, and started.

Cast on a multiple of 4, which at my gauge was 108 st, and knit about 2 inches of K2P2 rib.

Knit a round of stockinette, increasing ONE stitch to 109 st.

I then knit K3P1 all the way around. The one odd stitch meant that the 4-st repeat moved by 1 stitch each row, and the sides of the hat actually have a spirally mini-rib from that.

Kept going until a tiny bit less than hand-height as it seemed like enough.

Purled one complete row, DEcreasing one stitch back to 108 stitches. I like the little turning ridge this makes between sides and crown.

Began a Knit X, Knit 2tog decrease pattern, starting with X=10, and subtracting 1 from X each decrease round. Stephanie explains it better, go read her book. Knit 2 stockinette rounds between decrease rounds for X = 10 to about 7, then knit 1 stockinette between decrease rounds. Once I was down to 18 stitches in a round, I just did K2tog all the way around until I had 2 left, and threaded the tail through and wove it in.

Voila! Inexpensive and quick but thoughtful (I think, anyway!) warm hat for someone who might otherwise not have one.

Off to cast my Trellis baby sock back on again, so I might be identified as a Pick-Up-Sticks'er at tomorrow night's book night.

Life's a Beach, and then you Knit!

Happy Squish in the mail today:



This is my second month of the Pick Up Sticks sock club. Niiiiice. A wavy, lacy cabley pattern called Beach and a custom colour of Seacoast's "Panda" merino-bamboo blend called Seaside. I'm still workin' out getting something done with last month's installment, Trellis in the Spring Garden yarn, but this one looks quite jump-innable. I'm very happy to find I like the feel of the yarn, too. Hearing the world "bamboo" associated with textiles doesn't make most folks think of something silky-soft to cuddle up to, but this really is. Since sustainable/renewable resources are important to me, bamboo yarn is something I really WANTED to like, so very nice to find I do!

But first, must finish this:



Looks like a strange, green striped yarn jelly fish right now (Blue seems to think so, by her glare) but I hope it's going to be a hat. The Yarn Harlot, who has been traversing the US rallying knitters to good fun and good causes, finally has a Canadian book-talk date in Toronto on Friday and I'd like to go (waiting for colleagues to step up and help with the pager). A cause she has taken on for this book tour is to gather and donate hats to the needy and homeless of the communities she visits. Knitters are invited - never required - to contribute a handknit hat, which are then distributed through grassroots street aid groups. Toronto's donations are going out through StreetKnit.

So, if I get enough time (like maybe not blogging so much!) to finish this, I hope it turns into a warm if ugly winter hat for someone.

Off to laundry, and of course, knit!

Phew - recovered, for now

So I was going to blog the completed and now delivered parental socks, but I got home to discover Tourmaline (that's my home PC) gone all boot-loopy. That would be the 3rd time for that since this zarking Shuttle motherboard met Windows XP. No start, no safe mode, no "last good configuration" and not even recovery console would work.

This time, better than the last two, however, did not require a complete re-install, the "repair" install worked. After the recovery console failed, mind you, and it took two restarts of the repair install.

Tourmaline's days may be numbered. As I've got all the yarn and quilting projects I need for a while, and replaced my walking shoes... next item to save for is a MAC!

Happy Holiday weekend

Today, I'm off work, and just enjoying the day. The spousal euphemism and I are off to a wedding reception later this afternoon. The wedding is actually at two, but the euphemism couldn't get the day off even though I had booked it (before the wedding). This is what happens when friends have surprise weddings they announce 3 weeks in advance via email, scheduled to happen at 2pm Friday afternoons. You end up with more than a few guests who just come later to the dinner reception, crude as Miss Manners might find that to be.

Since I wasn't even sure until this week if we were going at all, I spent part of this morning trying to look presentable at the last minute. Manicure and a hair wash/style. Luckily, I live a short walk away from numerous salons and on a Friday morning of a holiday weekend, most people are heading up to cottages or camping, so they could take walk-ins.

Now I'm stuck here for a couple of hours and can't do too much with a fresh french manicure on - I wreck manicures nearly instantly, or at least by bedtime of the day they are done. So, while knitting seems OK, I'm a bit slower as I don't want to scrape my nails on the needle, and housework and gardening are out.

Speaking of gardening, our just-retired superintendent complimented me today on the clean-up of my little patio-yard. I have zero gardening experience, and just a few vague ideas about what I want, so I did pay someone to do the hard work of digging out old crap, re-soiling the beds and drawing out a plan for me. Here's some of my progress:



That is my little Pixie cutleaf red Japanese maple. I hope she's doing OK. She's a clump-form tree, with 6 branches grafted onto the root ball, and 4 of them are leafing up lovely. The other two have lost every leaf they had and are looking a little twiggy. I'm going to wait it out for a bit, maybe she just got too cold as I bought her a teeny bit early in the season, but Grobe Garden Centre does provide a 1-year guarantee so long as I follow their planting instructions, and I did.

This one:



is a wee cute Blue Star Juniper who has lived her longer than we have. She was in the opposite corner of the patio and I had the gardener who cleaned up the back move her over. So she and Pixie are sharing a patch.

Along the other patch, I've planted a hedge of miniature spirea, a couple clumps of ornamental grass, and a few of these:



I know, doesn't look like much now, but look at those teeny little green and red points - those are going to be gladiolas! I love glads, and since I couldn't afford the total outlay for two banks of designer perennials at once, I picked up 3 inexpensive daylilies and an armload of gladiola bulbs, as you can buy mix-and-match for about $0.25 each. I don't even remember all of what I bought or where I put them, but as long as they grow I'm sure I'll see them again.

Yay! I have a garden.

Is it 5 yet?

Blogging from work again (so no pics in this one).

Slow and quiet today, which always makes me nervous around here that someone's going to phone me at 4:45 pm with a doozy of downed system or something. I have in the meantime been making myself busy going through case logs and mailing contacts who are ignoring me - I have to mail them 3 times and be ignored before I can close their service tickets.

Spent sometime reading other blogs. YarnHarlot and the Blue Moon RockinSockClub community blog are the regulars, and Sissy's band-mate Angela sometimes reads and comments on mine - so I got caught up on hers. (Reciprocal blog-watching is good for hit counts!).

I am currently two club-socks behind on starting, with the May PickUpSticks sock in the mail this week. Not that I don't want to knit them, and not that I'm not knitting (still on the Monsoons the Second), but I'm pondering what would be BEST to do with the exclusive and pricey Socks That Rock Silkie April club kit. I really wanted the knee-highs but keep reading how they're too loose and fall down. I've asked for some input from the other Rockin' Sockers and a few have provided their tips.

While pondering that, the Fleece Artist Parrot colour from the last post has been cast on to a two-at-once Magic Loop with an Addi Turbo Lace I picked up. I then decided I needed a smaller needle, but the Lace needles only come in 2.5 mm - so I now have a regular Addi Turbo to try. I'm not sure if I like the loop better than dpns or not. I have to untangle it. But I don't drop needles. We'll see. I've decided the colour, which looked so bright and happy in the skein, is a Pureed Parrot in the wound and knit forms. Looks a bit busy. Those will be for crazy-sock days.

Oh, and apparently, the Yarn Harlot has finally got a Canadian stop on the Casts Off tour, and will be speaking next Friday night. I'm trying to get back-up on the team pager so I can go. Anyone want to join and go see if Stephanie Pearl-MacPhee is real? We're supposed to knit a hat for the homeless if we can. I might be able to do that.

Small weekend accomplishments again....

Finished!


Sunsets V.2.2 are done, modeled here on my feet for convenience. Should be off to their new home sometime soon.

In Progress:



Monsoons the Second, from my traded extra ball of STR Monsoon. I won't do the full cable on these, might modify to just do one cable at the sides of the ankle.

And this:



Which looks like a muddly placemat full of holes, is the beginnings of the Stormwater Shawl. I set myself the loose goal of doing 4 rows/night and an extra 4 on the weekend, which means I get one full pattern repeat done a week. I don't know when this will get finished, and it's in a timeout right now because my stitch markers keep snagging the yarn. I'm making new stitch markers.

The soon-to-be-started lineup:



On the left is a Fleece Artist Merino in "Parrot" which after I wound it, I have renamed Parrot In A Blender. Middle is the Silkie Socks That Rock from the April Rockin' Sock Club, from which I've started and ripped out a toe, twice. You see, problem there is I'm waiting for two more of it to do the Knee High version of Knee High to a Grasshopper. I ordered two extra from the club-exclusives in case the dye lot differed from the first, so this actual club skein that came is destined for something else. Don't know what, but something. On the right is the Spring Garden exclusive from the Pick Up Sticks April sock club, which I think I will make some little-girl sockies out of once I re-engineer the pattern for small feet. And the little raspberry-red thing on top is one of a lot of 11 Koigu I won on Ebay, this one destined to be a whole bunch of test swatches since Koigu is a little too pricey to mess up. Since thanks to Ebay I've acquired a bit in some colours I'm not totally enamoured with I figured I could sacrifice this one to some swatching.

Going to replace the stitch markers on Stormwater, have tea, do laundry, and go to bed now.

Meme of the Moment....

Today's distraction.



I'm
a Ravenclaw!

Travelling Sock, Pedestrian Style

Well, the yoga moment thing kinda ran down, I guess. There were more of them, just didn't get them blogged before I ran out of steam. That's OK - if anyone really cares about my mundane little yoga insights, just ask.

Here's the heap of slowly-in-progress artsy pursuits:



Hard to tell, but there is progress. The quilt is being reassembled into ever-smaller pieces. The Sunset Socks V.2.2 are both past their heel turns now. And the longer one:



Which you can see on the bottom, has made most of that cuff progress just today, during 2.5 hours of walking. Yep, it's spring again, and I decided to boot it to work for the first time this year. 50 or 55 minutes one way. And for kicks, I decided to walk the sock.

To give credit where it is due, Travelling Sock (tm) belongs to the revered Stephanie, the Yarn Harlot - she has truly elevated her travelling sock to cult status. It's a jetsetter. It hangs out with stars (or at least, Toronto Club musicians and choreographers). It flies across the continent regularly. My sock is not nearly so well travelled.

However, to steal a little credit back, I came up with the idea of carrying one of my socks around in my pocket, and later a little case perfectly sized for a one-ball yarn project, independently, before I began reading the Yarn Harlot all the time. Indeed, one of my reasons for choosing socks is that they are portable. My quilting habit kept me busy enough, but you can't take the Janome along to stand in line at the Drivers and Vehicles Licensing office and stitch up a few squares, eh? So focusing on small knitting projects seemed perfect.

Despite the tendency for the Sunsets V2.2 to fall into the knitting "black hole" with their thousands of tiny stitches, we made about an inch of progress while dodging bicycles, construction equipment, and Crackberry enabled RIM executives on the Laurel Trail. I manage to see enough scenery at the same time, too, and I can still pay better attention than most pedestrians seem to. I bet the guy I passed who had the Crackberry in one hand and iPod in the other had no idea he walked past someone knitting a sock despite the fact that he'd have trampled me if I hadn't dodged onto the grass out of his way.

So hopefully I can add a day or two of the sneaker commute to my week, having the sock in a beltable pack and having re-ordered my purse into a backpack again for the nicer weather. I might get the darned things done before Christmas after all.

Yoga Moment 4: City Yoga

Toronto People Are Different And Unique People

Part of my Yoga weekend was spent on some streetcars and city wandering. Yoga practice has an aspect of finding a way to "be". I was observing the city with this in mind, given how I'm often not at ease in big cities. People watching in Toronto can be strange. While wandering about, I saw the following:

A young woman dressed on the top half like the Mennonite girls I see around Waterloo, and from the waist-down like a punk.

A scrappy little Asian shop-owner trying to take on some big bruiser in Kensington Market over what he thought was a shoplifting incident, while a couple of women wearing dreadlocks tried to intervene and explain about the other character they saw run down the street.

A pair of what looked like glam-goth Morris Dancers wandering Chinatown

On my way back out to Union station, I passed a busker playing mellow spanish guitar on a beat-up old steel string. Wearing a paper bag on his head.

Toronto people definitely work out their own way to be.

Yoga Moment 3: Tech Yoga

Yoga People Are Smart People

I should preamble here. In an esoteric sense, one answer to "what is Yoga?" could be "Yoga is everything you do". The uninitiated, and indeed many yoga practitioners of some skill, interpret yoga as an exercise form. While physical conditioning is part of it, and sometimes all of it in the Western world, what I'm learning about yoga tells me it's a bit more. The physical conditioning is a tool for connection with the self, the mind, the world around us, and the divine/spiritual/occult/super-entity of your preference.

Yoga is about being where you are, and reaching out from that point. The use of physical movement and posture, sometimes difficult and uncomfortable ones, is about exploring the physical placement of where you are in order to advance.

I know, it doesn't make sense.

Yoga Conference Day 1 was spent in a workshop titled Anatomy and Asana, led by a very well-educated kinesiologist and published author on the topic of anatomy as related to Yoga practice. This was a very technical workshop which nonetheless included some excellent aspects of the "physical" yoga leading to the "spiritual" yoga.

It also tuned my upper back up something amazing. I've had issues all across the thoracic spine level lately, extending even down to my fingertips. This workshop gave me a great yogic look at the exact same stuff my physiotherapist had worked me through on it and I think I learned a few more tricks for dealing with this hotspot.

Even the same knowledge from a different perspective can lead to alot of new knowledge.

Yoga Moment 2: Chance Yoga

Yoga People Are Coincidental People

This is more just a note. I got off the train to head for the MTCC where the conference was, but wasn't sure where I was going. A woman up ahead of me had a yoga mat over her shoulder and was heading the same way - so I thought I'd follow her. A block later we were at the door of the North building and she turned around to hold the door for me - and hey! Darned if it wasn't one of Adam's coworkers. I knew she was a yoga teacher, but had no idea if she'd be at this conference or not.

Turned out we were even in the same session for the day, and as there was partner and group work involved, we had a nice time working together and even had lunch. We were off to different things for the next day and I didn't run into her again, but it was nice to have a familiar face around.

Yoga Moments 1: Travel Yoga

Train People Are Kind People

I have a few entries but I'm tired and still in my workout pants - so I will relate the simple beginning of my Yoga Conference.

First of all, when the train pulled in to my departure point (Kitchener) at 6:30 Thursday morning, I had a brief moment of wishing I could show my nephew. He loves trains - and I got to ride to Toronto on the SPIDERMAN train. I guess VIA's raising some revenue by renting out billboard space on its engines, and the entire engine was wrapped in one of those bus-ad type graphics, for the new Spidey 3 movie. It was all webbed up with Good Spidey and Bad Spidey facing off across the side.

My train yoga moment occurred later in the trip at the 2nd last stop. An elderly lady had boarded at Kitchener, with her daughter, or maybe granddaughter or companion, I don't know, and her walker. She had lots of help boarding as the attendants let her on first, they stowed her walker in baggage for her, and she could carefully walk her way down the aisle bracing herself on all the empty seats while her companion was close behind.

At her stop, Brampton, the woman was concerned that she not miss her stop and even though her companion was trying to settle her and tell her to wait, she became very anxious to get to the door - many minutes before the train had stopped moving. Walking a narrow aisle on a swaying, bumping train is not easy with no mobility challenges and this lady had a few. She also had a death grip on a handbag with no strap that she wouldn't give to her younger companion, it seemed. She quickly lost her balance struggling up the aisle.

Instantly and without thought, every passenger seated on the aisle began reaching out to offer a hand. Some did so without even looking or really knowing what was up, as they had their backs towards this scene but saw the passenger across from them reach. Nobody crowded or jumped up, but hands went out all the way down the car and our traveller was graciously helped along from seat to seat to seat either by someone grasping her hand to steady her or putting her hand on their shoulder and having her lean on them as she went by. There were more hands than were needed (which is probably good as min were tangled in yarn and I was afraid I might stab her with a stray knitting stick). Her companion was apologetic that the woman was so anxious to move and caused a fuss, and felt she had to explain that she was afraid to miss her stop, but both of them were met with nothing but smiles and winks and "no worries!".

The car attendant had her walker ready for her at the luggage cage and she was waiting in plenty of time to be helped down when the door opened at her stop.

Sockknitters ADD.....

RSC SPOILERS BELOW. If you're cruising by from the RSC or the Rockin' Sock Ring, and DON'T want the April surprise ruined, please move on by. Nothing to see here, nope, move on move on....

In the interim we bring you a gratuitous cat photo:



You know the dude with no fur in the front - my under-the-halogen space is getting tighter since Ms. Blue also figured out it's warm there. I have daily rolicking cat fights under that lamp now.

So, I started off today mad at the mailman, but he made it up to me by noon. For the last 4 or so packages I've received, I've noticed some oddnesses with the delivery timing. My first RSC shipment delivery notice showed up on a Monday - but I noticed the card was dated for the Friday before and said I would have been able to pick it up Friday. Two other online purchases in the interim wandered... I was tracking them on-line, and saw twice that delivery attempts were made - yet I got no delivery notices. The first of those I picked up when the online system said it was at the post office - and the delivery card for it got to me a full week later. I thought it was the card for my NEXT expected package, so was most confused when I went to the PO to be told they didn't have a package and had no idea why I got a delivery slip - until we realized it was the slip for the package I got a week ago. For the 3rd one, I found it online, at a DIFFERENT (though closer) post office, and I never did get the delivery slip.

This morning, I got an online notice saying my Pick-Up Sticks Sock Club HAD BEEN SUCCESSFULLY DELIVERED, YESTERDAY. It was not. I wasn't home, and there was no package left, and no delivery notice. I was about to phone Canada post and yell, as I'd opened a ticket after the last few oddities, but I decided to go home and check at lunch. And I caught the postie red-handed! He was in the mailroom, door open, and I popped my head in and asked about packages. He said "Oh, yeah, I tried you yesterday and you weren't home, so I left the packages here. I put them by your door today" - which he usually doesn't do, but someone must've let him in for something else.

So, mystery semi-solved. I think I've found my local postie leaves stuff in our mailroom - which I can't get to, of course - and makes a second try. Ironically this delays me getting stuff, because it's locked up away from me but if he took it to the local PO across the road right away, I'd get it that night. Oh well.

So, today's packages and the spoilers!!! Check this out, the April RSC package:



I don't know how readable that is, but this is not just a new colour of our much-loved Socks That Rock - it's a whole new yarn! The Blue Moon Ladies found a merino-silk twist blend, and the silk ply in it takes the dye a bit differently, so there's this wonderful barberpole stripe to it. It is named Silkie Socks That Rock, colour as we knew is "Walk on the Wild Tide", pattern is "Knee High To A Grasshopper". And it's SOOOOOoooo squishyable. I let it sit beside me at dinner. I am resisting, forcing myself to finish Monsoons the Second and Sunset V2.2 (which is now lookin' lots more fitting, but still a slow knit). I have also heard rumour that Blue Moon may make additional lots of this yarn available, as they've teased us terribly by sending a pattern that includes a knee sock length but only 1 skein of yarn for the shorter version. I will have to ponder whether to splurge for more if they do that.

Here was the second package, the one I actually saw the notice for:




Also much yummyness. Connie's Pick-Up Sticks business is a small online shop specializing pretty much in small-production artisan-dyed sock and lace yarns. Her sock club is a little different than BMFA, so we don't get yarn she produces, we get "proprietor's choice" of those she supplies, this one is Zen Yarn Garden merino dyed in a just-for-Pick-Up-Sticks custom colourway. While the spring pastels wouldn't be my first choice, they're very cute, the yarn is also plushy if a bit finer than Blue Moon, and the pattern looks like a fun challenge. If I don't like 'em, they'll make a great gift anyway.

I'll be off for the weekend if anyone is looking for me, or at least until Sunday. I'm booked for The Yoga Show and conference in Toronto and am treating myself to 2.5 days of Yoga workshops and some evenings with friends in town. I'm taking the projects-in-progress, not the new yarn-pets, to try and get them stitched up and off the needles, and we'll see about the new kits when I'm back.

I'd rather be...

Anywhere but here. I have been sneezing alot at work lately. Just at work. Now my eyes are burning. My team lead is actually wondering if I'm allergic to the place.

It's nice out. It's nice at home. It's not nice at work. Not awful, just not an appealing place to be on a sunny and finally warm-ish spring morning.

Here's some progress of late:



So, yeah, it doesn't look like much but it was a couple of hours of my time sewing 2.5 x 21 inch strips together into 3-colour 6.5 x 21 inch strips that look like KooKoo candy (am I showing my age? Anyone else remember KooKoos?). It would only have been 90 minutes of my time, but I did indeed sew one wrong sides together. That took talent, considering I'm working with Batiks. Batiks don't have "sides". Except for exactly TWO pieces of my fabrics that have a print on the batik - one metallic and very obvious, and one a subtle watermark. I somehow sewed the obvious metallic together wrong side out. That took work.

Sunset Sock V.2 has had its second build attempt rejected and is now beginning release Sunset Sock V.2.2, as I frogged it again after concluding that garter stitch foot bottoms just won't work, the top and bottom lengths end up TOO different and I can't get rid of the bunching. It worked somehow on the Forest Weave sock (Sissy! Send picture before something happens to it!) but I think that was because the basket weave stitch included enough garter that the top was shorter too. But garter bottom and ribbed top don't go. So we're doing a reverse stockinette bottom, rib top. The good news is that might go faster (a bit. It's still 800+ teeny-tiny stitches per inch). Monsoon Socks the Second are progressing slowly, I'm into the foot of sock 1. Sunset is my walk-around sock, and Monsoon is my desk sock right now. I think I will take both next weekend when I'm away at the Yoga show as I'll have two hours of train time plus evenings in hotels (or out at yarn shops!) to work on them. And I don't want to travel with Stormwater, which is now somewhere 'round row 28, as it's too delicate and perfinicky to work on without complete focus - and even then I had to tink a whole row when I lost a yarnover on the 3rd stitch and didn't notice. I sure hope it turns into lace like the picture. At the moment it looks like moldy spaghetti.

Back to making myself look busy.

Oh by the way ....

Forgot to show this teaser. This was not an accident:



Rather, I finally got to acting on a plan that's been formulating since Sprout! the zippy kitty shredded our lovely batik duvet cover some years back. She didn't mean to, she just likes doing cat-acrobatics on the bed, and she digs in for traction. The duvet batik, a bit flimsy for all its loveliness, is being re-incorporated along with a bucketful of gradually accumulated fat-quarters into a new quilt.

Given that the "lap" size quilt took over 3 years, don't hold your breath, this might be all we see of it for a while. Who knows.

... then my car must've broke down by a yarn store. Ooops.

To take the edge of the disappointment of mis-calculating Sunset Sock v.2.0, I bundled Mom into the Echo and we went to check out Spun, a new-ish yarn store that has popped up in Burlington near Mom'n'Dad's place. Actually, it's in an interesting corner of a suburban strip-mall type place. There's Spun, a sewing store, and a dance store all in one corner, one next to the other. All my hobbies in about 30 feet of storefront, wow.

Spun was neat. Cozy and friendly, and the nice sales assistant was helpful with some sock engineering discussions, and happy to help us rootle every basket in the shop. Vaguely hoping Mom might find something to interest her in crochet again, I nonetheless figured we would at least find a yarn she liked for her next socks (once I figure out the design) and she's mentioned a couple times she wanted a neat winter hat. We found both:


It might be a bit hard to see, but we got some self-striping Regia Cotton yarn in a denimy-blue scheme, and we found a Sweaterkits silk-alpaca hat kit, in a purple, which Mom has started liking. The hat will be quick to whip up for her, as I made one already and have done all the frogging and gauge fiddling before. The picture of my black one is over in the Gallery, click left and look up the Sockumentary.

Then, this was the next accident, of the variety that Yarn Harlot has described as "I fell over in a yarn store and may have swiped my credit card on the way down".

Guess what?:



Oh yeah, right you are:



I had found it. The elusive Fleece Artist Thrummed Moebius, by Cat Bordhi. Spun had two, a brown-on-brown-on-brown one, and this one, with a joyous muddle of black, purple, green, yellow... I likes it, I do. I am going to require myself to finish Stormwater and several socks first, but this new pet is in a place of honour on the top of the luxe yarn stash bin.

My friend Alison has this theory, that if you can't find something you own, like your hammer or one of the 23 screwdrivers you have, you should buy another. The new one by its very presence will attract the other one(s) back. She says this is why she had 3 identical hammers in her student apartment. I am wondering if there is a related concept for yarn, as I had essentially given up on the thrummed moebius kit and gone with the Stormwater, only to find one not a week later. Maybe the Fleece Artist was jealous of Handmaiden getting all the attention.

I think, for now, I am done with string-related accidents. I will therefore, while not depriving myself (because starvation diets don't work either), work to stick to an orderly plan when it comes to string for a while (kinda like attempting a healthy meal plan!).

There are presently two socks and Stormwater on the sticks now.

There is Chapter 2 of the BMFA Rockin' Sock Club which should ship this month, and chapter 1 of a local home-grown sock club on its way soon.

There is my trip to Toronto for the Yoga Show, during which I may visit Lettuce Knit but will do so with a reasonable budget in mind. (I CAN actually do that, believe it or not, partly because well-stocked yarn stores can be so overwhelming I am paralyzed).

There is Blue Moon's 10% coupon which I WILL use, but not until I have earned it by finishing sock kit #2, as well as the next assignment of what I really SHOULD be doing instead of knitting, blogging, and losing track of my debit card in yarn stores:




*sigh*. Logging off now to hit the code.

...... then there was the experimental design accident....

Since it's been seen by it's eventual owner, I can now introduce you to the new Sunset Sock v.2.0:



and promptly tell you that it has now met its demise and is a ball of string again. That was painful, this yarn is so fine it was about 1000 st/inch of sock! But, it wasn't going to work. Sunset Sock v.2.0 is my attempt to work out a diabetic-appropriate sock for Mom and her touchy feet and ankles. I am incorporating wool/cotton/elastic yarn, really stretchy ribbing on the top of the foot and around the leg, an increase at the ankle for swollen ankles, and a garter stitch sole to make it cushy.

However, the mix of garter st. rib on the bottom and vertical k3 p1 rib on the instep made the top and bottom two different lengths essentially, and put rumples and wrinkles in the sock at the top of the instep. Not good when trying to avoid pressure points. The good news was the stretchy ribbing and the increased diameter on the leg DID work. So I'm keeping my proportions but adding a bit more engineering around the transition from instep to ankle into the next attempt, we'll see.

Final installment to come...

It all started with a quilting accident....

I have long come to grips with the fact that I'm a bit of a yo-yo when it comes to creative pursuits. Interests come and go, and I sometimes find myself with say, a bucketful of paint brushes and some fabric dyes I may not use again (it was supplies for a workshop, and the workshop WAS rather a hoot). I'm OK with that. A bit of luck and a lot of hard work in the last several years of my life did land me in a position where some experimentation with a textile habit won't interfere with the mortgage.

So last week my slightly longer-standing textile habit, quilting, was back at the forefront when, in a fit of head-cold-induced restlessness, the Spousal Euphemism and I drove over to visit my old town, Guelph, and pop in to Greenwood Quiltery. The point of that trip was to pick up the latest (and last, I found) installments of my Swatch Club. Greenwood has recently added a "for Knitters Too!" by-line, and is one of a few stores in the region that carries the lovely, Canadian luxury yarn lines of Fleece Artist and their offspring, Handmaiden Canada Fine Yarns. My Fleece Artist encounters so far have been with their basic Merino sock hanks, the first of which turned into socks yesterday that promptly ran away to live with my sister (picture coming. I really liked that forest green!). I have seen many other lovely yummy Fleece Artist and Handmaiden kits, but since I wasn't into shawls and scarves or a "Maid Marion" vest, I have reverently squished and petted them in stores, but refrained. I DID become very, very intrigued with one of their kits I had seen on-line - a Thrummed Moebius by Cat Bordhi. I've wanted to learn to do Cat's Moebius trick since I read about it - it's the perfect thing for a mathematically-oriented artsy, and if I were to wear a shawl, it would be something geeky involving the word "moebius" I'm sure. Alas, though, at every Fleece Artist dealer I've been to they either have never had that kit, or sold out, or doesn't know about it at all or if they can get it ... so I remained without any Fleece Artist ambitions besides the socks.

Last Easter Saturday at Greenwood, though, I came across the Handmaiden Stormwater Shawl kit. Now I had seen this kit before, often in bright/light pastels. The pattern looked intriguing. If I were to knit a shawl OTHER than a moebius maybe it would be something like that, the pattern is a sort of tesselating wave look (being an engineer by education, I seem to be one of few knitters/quilters who IS enthusiastic about the math concepts behind the designs). The yarn for this kit, called SeaSilk, is lovely. But I wasn't into shawls, and the colours I'd seen hadn't grabbed me - until this one at Greenwood. It is a charcoal black-grey and brown variegated, but because of the sheen of the yarn, the charcoal gray looks like a dark pewter, and the brown, a bronze-copper tone. I was quite intrigued. I petted it a bit, squished it - and talked myself out of it, paid for my swatches and two fat quarters, and left the seasilk in its display basket.

So here's the quilting accident part - I arrived home to a message from Greenwood advising that they made a mistake at the cash, and owed me money back. I hadn't even noticed - I guess I'm used to accidentally spending more than I thought when it comes to fabric. And I did have a head cold, which means my IQ was covered in snot and hence lower than usual. Greenwood was closed by the time we got home, so I would have to call them back about the refund on Monday.

That night, I dreamed about the pewter-copper seasilk and the Stormwater pattern. I woke up pondering it the next day. I wondered if it would still be at the store the next time I went. I often talk myself out of purchases to find I never give them another thought or if I do, that thought is that yeah, I really didn't like that anyway. So when I DO start wondering "did I really want that after all?" the answer is often (though not always) yes.

On Monday I phoned Greenwood about the refund, and they said they would pay me back but I'd have to come in with my debit card. They also offered of course store credit if I preferred (also requiring me to visit again). We concluded that since I was a somewhat regular visitor, I didn't need to rush back with my card and they would keep a credit note on file for next time I was in. I thought about the Stormwater kit, and dismissed it without saying anything, thinking that I'd get back there in a week or so and maybe think again *if* it was still there, and if it had gone in the meantime, so the Fates would have meant it to be.

An hour later I called back and asked if they would hold the kit with my credit note. I said at the latest, I'd come back this Saturday, or maybe on a lunch hour late in the week if I could get away. I couldn't get away that exact day, as I had an hour-and-a-half conference call booked with a customer over my lunch.

An hour after that again, my customer had called to cancel. I get "flex time" at work - so long as my 8 hours gets put in and the required work is done - I can take a long lunch and work until 6. I concluded at that point that the accidental overcharge, required re-visit for my refund/credit, the fact that I actually DREAMED about the shawl, and my cooperative customer were all telling me I did indeed want that *particular* Stormwater shawl.

So this:



...is indeed cozied up on the corner of my desk. I've started and pulled it out twice, as SILLY ME - it's lace and therefore has those "yarnover" thingies that caused the Alligator socks to kick my butt three tries out of four. However, I'm reformulating my plan to involve many many stitch markers and will cast on again today.

This is not the end of this particular story. To Be Continued....

Order me up another weekend, please, this one was defective...

So Thursday just as I was leaving work I started feeling that back-of-my-sinuses scratchiness that precedes everything from mild head cold to full-blown strep. It didn't go as far as strep, but did degenerate into the bruised-all-over, joints-about-to-explode feeling of just about any virus I catch. I'm barely starting to feel better today, so will probably be fine for work tomorrow. Heck of a long weekend.

Just had a wire malfunction that occupied sweetie's time for an unintended hour trying to figure out which end of which cable to replace. Now I'm staring at my homework again and feeling really not motivated at all. So I'm puttering about and cleaning things. In my little world that seems to mean shuffling stuff from one side of the desk to the other while wiping up dust - dust which instantaneously reappears somehow.

I think I shall go wash my last installments of Greenwood Quitery's Swatch Club. Despite feeling like roadkill, I wanted to get out yesterday so we drove over to Guelph, to have a wander about, a meal, and pick up my quilting swatch subscription (50 little squares a month). They're used to me leaving it for a while and picking up 2-3 at a time. They warned me that April was my last one - they're discontinuing it. I'm a little disappointed, just because I'm a textile hound, but I suppose I must have about 1000 little squares now and I've used relatively few - a bunch of the kid prints went into Holly's quilt. I have an Atikinson Designs pattern I want to make up in a big size for our bed, though, and it involves lots of little squares, so I'll use up the Batik swatches on that. Then I'll have to act on my vague intention to make a tumbling blocks type quilt from charms. So I'm hardly short of stash - just disappointed that I won't get more. They have two other clubs - cotton and batik - where you get 8 fat quarters every two months, and a pattern and such, but maybe I'll forego that given my sock club interests, for now, anyway.

Off to laundry.

WHAT kind of knitting needles?

Along with the "what cute animal are you" (a frog, apparently), the Webbiverse has now given us the "what kind of knitting needles are you" quiz.

What kind of knitting needles are you?

You are interchangeable.Fun, free, and into everything, you've got every eventuality covered and every opportunity just has to be taken. Every fiber is wonderful, and every day is a new beginning. You are good at so many things, it's amazing, but you can easily lose your place and forget to show up. They have row counters for people like you!
Take this quiz!

Sleeping, Sweating, Stitching....

Oh my goodness where did another weekend go?

I am definitely facing an extension for my programming course... if I don't get a good whack in at the assignments on a weekend, they just plain don't happen until the next weekend, and if I'm busy then... so it goes.

So in the last 4 days I've seen a naturopath, a traditional doc, a whole gaggle of sleep technicians for an overnight stay, and spent most of two days with a room full of crazy women hopped up on club music, taking Laura Furtado's "Strip to Fit" instructional workshop. She's a rockin' young woman with more energy than I've EVER had, and really impressive entrepreneur. Despite the title, clothes were kept on - she spins this different ways depending on the audience, with more strip-oriented stuff happening at bachelorette parties and "sensual dance" being more the theme for gangs of fitness instructors like us.

Being one of the shortest, and THE roundest person in the class, I doubt this will be my true calling any day soon. But it was fun, and if my knees ever forgive me I might have a new dance step or two next time I'm up for a hi-lo aerobics class.

I was a little more "on" today than yesterday, because Friday night, I was at a lab all night for a sleep study. I'm not sure how they can think they get an accurate picture of your sleep profile in one abbreviated night in the lab. You're sleeping in a strange place with strangers all around. You're wired up like some experimental chimp, and the electrodes on your head are GLUED down. The rest are taped, and I'm allergic to adhesives apparently. Lights out is at 10:30 and they wake you up to un-wire you and kick you out at 5:30, but I was already awake by 5 having woken up repeatedly through the night. I walked home with blobs of glue in my hair and slept on it for 3 more hours, then had to go to the aerobics workshop. Even after washing my hair 3 times, every time we did some "sexy" head-flip or ran our hands through our hair (provocatively, of course) - I found more glue bits. And the rash from the adhesives was popping up all over. Add to that my wardrobe includes lots more regular-fit t-shirts than crop-top racerback tanks - I was definitely not sexy-dance material yesterday. Today I dug out the top of a bellydance costume and some nicer flare-cuff yoga pants, so it was a better day.

In between all that, I've been looking at my textbooks - and deciding to knit as I'm too braindead for Java. Mom's sock is working, slowly, but I think it's manifesting one of those "knitting black holes" the Harlot has written of - I haven't made it to the heel turn yet but I've knit and knit and knit. To get out of the gravity well, I cast on a toe for something else while I was at it, so am back to having an "upstairs" sock and a "downstairs" sock, or if I prefer, a "travelling" sock and "home" sock. We'll see.

I'm not showing pictures so it can be a surprise - the sock actually looks rather different than I expected from the yarn, but really cool.

More later. I need a shower, there's still a bit of glue behind my ear.