Sunday, December 31, 2006

Happy Knitting New Year!!!


I am not a drinker, I do not stay up/out late, and other than dancing around a yarn shop with glee I have hung up my boogie shoes. All that being said, this is shaping up to be a joyous New Year's Eve. My hubby and I are home together with a warm fire, my house is clean, and the laundry is done. I am probably one hour's worth of work away from finishing the second modular sock.

Thanks to some kind encouragement from FKD and my mom, I have finished a difficult project. I found a friend who loved this colorway, and I knit them to her size. This will be my final project for 2006.

They were knit with Koigu yarn, and the pattern is called Diamond Patch Socks from Heartland Knits.

Surprisingly enough, my next project will also be a modular project, and hopefully a quick one too. No one is more surprised than I am, believe me... As a hint, it appeared in the holiday edition of Interweave Knits 2006. For fear that some of the recipients may read this, I will post the picture once they are ready to be presented to their intended recipients.

Santa Claus gave me a gift certicate to the LYS this year for Christmas, and I got a swift, two hanks of Koigu, and a ball of Inspiration. I don't know that I set out to get a swift, but my mother snatched one up, and gave me an acute case of swift envy. Since there was only one left, I snatched it up, whipped out my gift card, and danced around the counter with joy!














My mother is on the right, and my grandmother is on the left.

Now I ask you, is this the face of someone who could inspire swift envy? You betcha, baby! She is also the one who taught me to knit and finish my projects - I don't which lesson was tougher...




This is what Santa Claus brought me from the LYS this year, and I must have been good...














I turned 40 this December, and my life is far from perfect, but I have made peace with my inner demons. In doing so, I have decided to count my blessings and just be...

Happy Knitting and New Year's to all!

Monday, December 04, 2006

The Frog Poncho Lives!

I have decided to continue on with the aforementioned wretched sock, and its mate as well - much to my own chagrin, because one of the most accomplished knitters in Blogland mentioned it would be a great gift to an adventurous sock wearer. I have just that sort of person in mind, and she has exclaimed undying love for the colorway. It will be my pleasure to give them to her as a gift for Christmas. I would rather she had mentioned that to me two weeks ago when I stopped working on the wretched thing, and then I would have had purpose. Like all knitters, things for myself can wait - things that are a gift require knitting at breakneck speed!

Besides, encouragement like that from FKD is akin to a papal blessing on your knitting.

Off to the frog poncho!

Friday, December 01, 2006

I Hate That Damn Sock!!!

PROBLEM #1: The sock has little to no stretch as it was knit on size 0 needles. My feet and ankles are wide, and this will never fit comfortably, and I do not like tight socks!

PROBLEM #2: According to the teacher in the class for the modular sock, "Gauge doesn't really work on this project. Just cast and on follow the instructions." I must tell you, GAUGE MATTERS!!! Also, said knitting teacher has very narrow feet and small ankles. Note to self - remember to hate her.

PROBLEM #3: For all the hooplah about how great and glorious Koigu is, I would like to officially say it's not such big whoop. I much prefer Cherry Tree Hill for the sheen and twist in the yarn. Some people think the two yarns are nearly twins. To them I say - NOT SO MUCH...

CONCLUSION:

I hate that damn sock. I am not going to finish the pair. I am going to attempt to return to the two unused skeins of Koigu, and count the one skein I knitted with as a total loss. I am at the point where I am to pick up stitches and add the heel, as well as evening out the points at the toe, and then of course pick up stitches there and add the toe. I see no point to wasting knitting time on a project that I won't/can't wear. Even if this hateful thing did fit, I like socks that stretch, not a modular prison for me feet.



To add insult to injury, I can't even frog the sock as each modular piece was knit individually by picking up stitches, and then cut. I have included a photo so that all may embrace the horror. Even my DMS told me the sock "is the ugliest thing she has ever seen, and it looks like a frog poncho". I have never seen a frog with a poncho, but to that I say, let the frogs have it then...