FO: Reid

I am happy to announce that after a year and a half, Reid is done! Last week was crazy at work.  As soon as I finished on Friday, I dove right into social mode.  A friend came in from out of town and I spent the weekend eating and playing.  I had a great time, but I am exhausted and very little knitting was done.

The exception to that was finishing Reid.  I seamed it together during my snow day on Thursday and only had the crochet boarder left.  This is the second time I've ever crocheted and I'm proud of the results.  The last time I tried, I had difficulty keeping my loops loose enough to really do anything.  This time I made a effort to keep it open and loose.  I was worried about not being consistent and having really loose sections when I was paying attention and tighter sections when I was distracted.  My fiber comfort must have grown, because I didn't have any troubles at all.

Really the only issue is that it is backwards, or inside out... I'm not sure which.  I think I followed the directions correctly, but to do that i was hooking it on with the wrong side facing me.  There is a slight difference between one side and the other, but it is not enough for me to want to rip it out and start it over.  In fact, the only reason I noticed is because a lady I work with has some great knitting/crochet skills and she let me know.  You can take a closer look so you can notice:



I think this sweater is adorable. I am very happy with it. Now I just need to find a little girl to wear it.

Love for My Farmers' Market

I know that I've mentioned it before, but I love my farmers' market.  We have a great group of people who show up every weekend and they bring incredible food and wine. We had another snow storm on Wednesday night and it is still piled up everywhere.  This is what the world looked like inside the park:

From Hubby

From Hubby

But just outside the park, it was lively and colorful.

From Hubby

From Hubby

From Hubby

I cannot get over how wonderful it is to have them there. I really am spoiled.

Queued: Shur'tugal

From Alice Yu/Socktopus

Shur'tugal was in line to be my next pair of socks right up until a friend gifted me the Viper Pilot pattern. That was right before Christmas 2009, and the Viper Pilots were just finished this month. I haven't started these yet, but it sounds like they have something in common with the Viper Pilots other than just their timing in my queue.  The Ravelry comments mention some crazy twisted stitches. It sounds like I was destined to be learning to twist in 2010.

I am still enamored with these socks.  I think the pattern and the texture are fantastic.  I plan to make them in a solid or semi-solid. I'm sure I have something in my stash that will match up with them well, but none of it was calling to me during my last stash perusal, so this pattern may need to be patient for a bit longer

Follow Friday: A Rare Bread

From  Julia Baum

From Julia Baum's profile page:
Some say we're going extinct. As a redhead myself, I think the world needs more pictures of our Rare Breed

For A Rare Breed Julia Baum takes fantastic photos of some of the world's best looking people. Redheads! If you are a red head, if you love a redhead, or if you simply recognize their beauty, you will appreciate these occasional photos.

A New Old Movie Trailer

This isn't quite animated.  It may count as un-animated, but I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.


Via GeekDad

There is a bonus smile (and then perhaps a grimace) for those of you who notice the hidden Mike Wazowksi!

Queued: Boys Can Wear Pink

From Kate Oates

This is a crazy week at work, so I haven't been knitting at all. Fortunately, these are just the occasions the Queued idea was created for. There may be a couple more this week.

Boys Can Wear Pink was designed by Kate Oats. This is such a cute sweater and that little boy is melting my heart.  Don't be confused by the fact that I have queued this boy's sweater or that I am making Reid.  I do not have any children.  I love kids and I love little things, so I am drawn to kids clothes despite the lack of people to wear them.  

Really, look at him.  Look at that cute tie. How could I resist that? Here are some others that I also think are fantastic. (Rav Links) To be fair, I think the charismatic young men in those photos might have a lot to do with promoting this pattern.

Queued: Rag Bathmat

From Julie Weisenberger

Rag Bathmat was designed by Julie Weisenberger. She has a lot of great patterns.  There is so much to like about this one.

First of all it looks great.  I cannot think of a better way to mark your home as a knitter's domain than with a chunky cabled bath mat. (Ok maybe a beautiful display for your stash would work too.)

Another thing that I love is that it is made out of scrap fabrics. The one in the picture is made of a couple cut up sheets.  Julie even includes a great tutorial on rag knitting. It is up-cycling and eco-friendly at their best.  I had a pile of old white t-shirts that I was going to cut up to make this, but they were accidentally swept up and taken away in a donation trip. Now I'm waiting to collect a few more to rip up and knit together.

The final part of this that I love is the texture.  Just the thought of these bumps and cables made out of soft cotton under my feet, makes my toes happy.

Secret Knitting

I think it is time for another secret knitting sneak peek!

Pinned

Reid is pinned down. Over the course of knitting various project, I have learned a lot. Finishing this project really made clear what that I hadn't learned when I started. Two of them became very evident today.  First, I usually highlight the size instructions or take notes on my pattern now.  I hadn't done that for this project, so when pinning these down for blocking, I had no idea which set of measurements I was supposed to use.  I easily could have pinned these at the largest size listed, but then I ran into issue number two.  I did not use a very stretchy bind off for the first four pieces of this sweater. So, restricted by the edges, it looks like this will be a long medium.

For the fun of reference, here is the lace pattern opened up:

A Decision

Thank you to those of you who made it all the way through my Project Planning post and voted in the poll. I now have an action plan.  When I started writing that post, I thought that I would want to be casting on my Seattle Socks, but after working everything out, I've found myself going a completely different direction.  Instead of cabled socks, I'm going for lace sweaters.  I've decide that first, I am going to finish Reid.

I've done a little bit of work on it, and there are only 6 rows of knitting left.  That's it!  There is still a bit of finishing left to do.  I'll need to block the pieces, seam them together and then put the cute edging on.  I think that there is going to be a perfect overlap of finishing this and starting Myrtle.  While my blocked pieces are drying I can start swatching, and since my swatch will need to be washed and blocked, that will be a good time to do the seaming.  Then I'll either need to redo my swatching or I'll be able to read up on other people's modifications and comments on the Myrtle pattern while I finish up the edging.  Once I finalize Reid, I will be completely ready to go.  I'm also hoping I'll learn a few extra lace sweater lessons finishing up this child size sweater before I dive into one big enough for me. My goal for the weekend is to finish, soak and pin out Reid.

And just because before and after pictures for lace blocking are the best, here is a good look at Reid:

Follow Friday: A New Dress A Day

From A Dress A Day

A Dress A Day does not have an about section so this was taken from the About the Author information associated with Erin McKean's new book The Secret Lives of Dresses:
Erin lives in California south of San Francisco and spends her free time reading, sewing, blogging, roller-skating, and arguing about whether robots or zombies would win in a fight (lasers optional). She loves loud prints, quiet people, long books with happy endings, and McVitie's Milk Chocolate Hobnobs.

Sewing is not my craft, but I admire those who do it.  Despite not being able to even consider the possibility of sewing a dress, I cannot stop reading Erin's blog. She shows off fabulous fabric, and great patterns.  The absolute best part is her revelations of what the women in the pattern example images are really thinking and talking about.  She is a grammar advocate with great taste and a wonderful sense of humor.  I recommend everyone check out one of her pattern story posts for a smile, and those of you who like sewing should stick around for a few more posts.

Twitter Bonus: FakeErinMcKean

Queued: Knitted Kaleidocycles

When I decided to start blogging every day, I new I would run out of catching up on FOs and WIPs.  All along I've had a plan.  I am starting reoccurring feature called Queued.  Unlike Follow Friday, I don't have a set schedule for these posts. To be completely honest, I am going to write one of these when I don't have anything else I want to update about.  Today for example, I am still wrapped up in secret knitting and I cant tell you anything about it. As I mentioned my goal is to just write regularly, so I am introducing Queued.  In these posts, I will be showing off a pattern from my Ravelry queue.  I'll write about why I like it and hopefully feature some other knitter's projects that I find inspiring.  My queue currently has 960 projects and it's growing.  Let the project parade begin!

From Brent Annable

Knitted Kaleidocycles was designed by Brent Annable. This is a fantastic little toy that I am certain could mesmerize me for hours.  Hubby has already requested one (or more) for his desk.  I think it could be soothing to have on hand at work.  I also think that Dad would enjoy one as well.  Really anyone who likes to fiddle with things would probably enjoy one of these.  Fiddly toys are rarely as soft and cuddly as hand knits so this one this one gets extra points.

If you haven't seen this pattern before, you are probably wondering why I am using words like mesmerizing and soothing and talking about fiddling.  Well, you will just have to see them in action. This video is from the designer and it will show you how great these really are.






What do you think?  Are you hooked?  I agree with Brent, I'd like to pick one up and just give it a turn.

FO: Viper Pilots!

The weather man won't promise me any sunshine so I decided to go ahead and take pictures of my Viper Pilots inside.  The lighting is horrible, but it is good enough to show you that I have a FO!


Since the pattern for these socks was a Christmas gift, I cast on at the very beginning of my Christmas trip in 2009 and I brought them along for this last Christmas trip as well, it seemed only appropriate to take their picture up with all of our Christmas cards. (Yes I've taken down the tree and all of the decorations, but I haven't been able to part with the cards yet.  Many of them are great pictures of our friends and family and I love seeing them when I come home from work every day.  Besides, I just received one this week; it certainly hasn't gotten its fair share of display time.)

All of the pictures I have taken previously focused on the vipers that run down the front and back of the leg. Seeing them on the sock blockers really made me love the swirly clouds that run down the sides.  Those cables required a cable needle, so now, it is great to be able to look at them without complete frustration.

It was a challenging patter, but I love this finished product.  As an added bonus, I've decided that there is nothing at all unprofessional about this royal blue. They will be keeping me nice and cozy at work tomorrow.

For the Love of Acronyms

I work with grants.  Most of them are research grants.  I get to see a lot of acronyms.  They often try to be cute and witty. Today one of my proposals had one that may make my top five.  It wasn't trying to be cute. In fact, I think it was an acronym from a British title, so if it was trying to be witty, it might have gone over my head.  The acronym was NIMROD and it referred to a piece of equipment used for very precise scientific measurements.  It made for a great proposal full of great statements like, "The recent arrival of NIMROD has opened up major opportunities..." "the purpose of NIMROD is to strengthen the synergy between experiment and theory," and "NIMROD provides continuous access..."  I may have a fifth grade sense of humor, but I was thoroughly amused all day.

Project Planning

I've just put my Viper Pilots in for their pre-blocking bath. That means it is now time to plan a new project. Instead of making a plan and coming back here to tell you about it, I am going to try to make this a little more stream of consciousness and write as I go through the planning.  I don't know how well it will work, but hopefully, you and I will both get to see how I work when I'm starting something new.  There might be a lot of Ravelry links in this post.  I'll try to note them, but I apologize to any non-Ravers in advance.

To the stash!  I usually go to one of two places when I'm looking for inspiration, my Ravelry queue or my stash.  I've been wanting to knit more out of my stash lately, so I've just pulled everything out of my toy box (yes, I keep my yarn in the toy box that I've had since I was a little girl) that struck me as next project worthy. Now I'm going to go through it one yarn at a time and look at my queue to see if can find the perfect combination.

First up is my Noro Sock yarn.  I just bought this over Thanksgiving as my souvenir Seattle yarn.  I think I want to make some simple socks out of them.  Glenna has a perfect pattern (Rav Link) designed specifically for the yarn that I think would be best. If you had asked me three months ago if I'd be casting on another Glenna pattern as soon as I finished my viper pilots, I'd laugh. Her stuff is beautiful, but intense. This patter, however, is even titled simple and a review of it doesn't include any Ktbl stitches so it is probably safe.

Next I have some left over Knit Picks Felici. I originally used this to make some leg warmers for Sydney, but I have quite a bit left of each ball.  I thought they would make some adorable toe up ankle socks.  It would be a simple project with some quick gratification.

I've also got just over 2 balls of Knit Picks Andean Silk left over.  I've used this for my Francis and a pair of mittens. I don't have a project picked out for this, so I'm going to queue to see what I currently have in there that needs knitting. Hats and cowls are what I'm seeing. I like Coline, Ribbed for Your Warmth (PDF), Fenimore, and Bas Relief Hat. I don't have any tams and I have a complete knitter crush on Jared Flood so if I go with this yarn I may just have to do Fenimore.

Next up, I have 8 balls of Rowan Cashsoft in a beautiful shimmery grey.  In the queue that may work for this is the Austin Hoodie, Myrtle Cardigan (Rav Link), Folded (Rav Link), and Dulce de Leche. The amount of yarn I have would be cutting it close for a few of those.  I think my favorite would be the Myrtle Cardigan.  I wouldn't have to worry about the yarn, and the lace cardigan would let me brighten up the grey color with whatever I'm wearing underneath.

Digging in my toy box, I also found Reid. This is an adorable Knitty pattern that I started in May of 2009.  I wanted to make it just because it is so darn cute, but since I don't have anyone to make it for or any sort of deadline, it has been untouched for a long time.  I'm on row 56 of 70 for the final sleeve.  It just needs to be blocked, seamed and edged once that is done.  Not much work at all to make this an FO.  I still have no idea who I'd give it to though.

Speaking of unloved WIPs, I also have a feather weight cardigan hibernating. Before I can work on this again seriously, I will have to figure out why there are two sets of needles in the bag.

I have two skeins of Knit Picks Imagination that I need to come up with a new project for.  I originally bought them for socks, but I think I want them to be repurposed.  I have a pair of Imagination socks that I love.  They are like  having a teddy bear cuddle with your feet all day.  They have slightly felted so they are perfectly form fitted to my feet, but they are a little too thick for my shoes and shed quite a bit. Besides this yarn should be admired more than my feet. I recently gave away my Hibiscus Shawl, so maybe another wrap would be nice.  My queue has a lot of great things, but I want to keep it simple since the yarn is so colorful.  I think Multnomah (PDF), Simple Things, Gaenor, Linen Stitch Scarf, and the Sango Shawl, would work well. The last two would prevent pooling, but the first three would really show off the yarn.  I torn on this one.

That's a lot, so I'm going to revisit and I'll throw the projects into a poll just so I can learn how to do that. Why do you tell me what project you think would be good.

What do you like?
	Seattle Socks
	Stripy Ankle Socks
	Purple Fenimore
	Grey Myrtle Cardigan
	Finish Reid
	Finish Feather Weight Cardigan
	Undetermined Shawl
pollcode.com free polls

That took longer than I expected, but now I think my socks are done bathing and ready to be blocked. Hopefully I'll have pictures this week!

Surge in Activity

Those of you following along have probably noticed the dramatic increase in activity and posting here. the very observant of you, will have noticed that it began on January 1st. You will just have to believe me when I say, this wasn't an intentional New Year's resolution. The truth is, I was inspired by my uncle while we were visiting over Christmas.

He's writing a book. Reading his chapters and listening to him talk about page counts made me think about how little writing I've done over the past few years. I had a writing intensive undergraduate program and during my graduate program I kept a blog to work out my ideas. My current job has a lot of writing involved but most of what I do is editing and working with other people's ideas. For the past couple years, I have toyed with the idea of taking an open source course to start writing again, but I have also been enjoying not be a student for a little bit. It wasn't until this Christmas that I started to remember how fun writing can be. I also realized that value writing and my post-college adult life was missing it.

I've decided to start in again by blogging. I don't expect this blog to full of lofty or remarkable ideas. I just want to get use to expressing myself again. Daily posts are a goal, but not a promise. I cannot think of a good knitting picture to complement this post, so I'll share one of my amazing uncle instead.

He is the best at making me laugh.

Secret Knitting

Because I am completely distracted by the new Knitty, here is another sneak peak!

Follow Friday: 1000 Awesome Things

From 1000 Awesome Things About page:

1000 Awesome Things is just a time-ticking countdown of 1000 awesome things. Launched June, 2008 and updated every weekday. Published as The Book of Awesome in April, 2010.

I was late in discovering 1000 Awesome things. I didn't hear about it, until the book was published, but now I'm hooked. What can I say, he's got me pegged. Every morning, I am reminded of something small that I find completely awesome. It is usually something simple and situational. Each post sparks a memory of the time that I experienced that something awesome, and memory always gives me a little smile. I am in full support of taking a moment out of each day for good memory and a small smile.

Twitter Bonus: @1000Awesome

Playing With Colors

So I've already broken the rule. While working on my secret project, I shouldn't be working on anything else that isn't for me. Last night I brought my brother's blanket to a new knitting group. It was just the perfect project for the occasion. My secret project is a little fiddly, and my Viper Pilots require a little extra attention. My brother's blanket on the other hand is simple and it fosters chatting and never suffers from distractions.

Instead of pretending that this never happened, I'm confessing and embracing (just for a moment) this fantastic project. The pattern from Woolly Thoughts comes with a line drawing of what the finished object will look like. I was able play with it in paint and work out a bunch of fun different color options. Here is some of combinations I came up with.

Bottle

Hubby has referred to me as an animation snob. I, of course, do not think that I am a snob about it, but I will confess to having some very strong opinions and pretty high standards for cartoons. Really what I think happened is that I never out grew what most people consider children's media. As I got older, I added new interests, but I never stopped enjoying animation and puppetry. There was even a time when I was actively pursuing animation as a career. These interests mean that I have been absolutely giddy about the growing number of animated shorts finding their way to the Internet. I've been especially impressed with the recent surge of stop-motion animation. I've got my fingers crossed that even more great things will be coming in the future.

Since I love seeing these short films so much, I expect I'll be sharing more of them with you. Today I want to share "Bottle." I find the whole message in a bottle concept really romantic. In fact, my wedding invitations were messages in bottles.

Bottle from Kirsten Lepore on Vimeo.

It doesn't seem like litter at all when it is traveling across the ocean with a purpose like delivering a note or a gift.

Secret Knitting

So now that the holidays have passed, I can get back to my super secret knitting project. I did not have to be super secret about my grandpa's socks, because I knew he wouldn't see them online and no one could see them would spoil the surprise. I started a secret project back in October and now I can work on it again. Here is a sneak peek:

Viper Pilots Continued

Back in the beginning of November, my one and only goal was to finish my Viper Pilots. I started them on my Christmas train ride to Chicago in 2009. I really didn't want these to be on the needles for a full year. Shortly after that, I decided that I absolutely had to knit Grandpa some socks. So, I didn't accomplish my goal. Those Viper Pilots are still on the needles.

Not only are they on the needles, they actively being worked on. They are my purse project, so I work on them in the subway everyday. (That sounds like a lot.) With all the cables and the twisted stitches, that means I average just over one row a day. (That doesn't sound like nearly as much.) I am knitting them two at a time. (That's sounds like twice as fast!) I think that after just one more viper pattern repeat, I will be able to start the toes. The FO is in sight!

I Baked!

My oven does not get any of the love it deserves, but today I filled it with great cookie smells. Today, I finally made some time to bake cookies for Freddy, our doorman. I wanted to make him something for the holidays, but it wasn't until I read about Bezzie's Chocolate Orange Cookies that I knew what to make him.

I know it is a little late for holiday gifts, but I over estimated the time I would have in between all of our traveling in November and December. When we returned from our Christmas visit to Chicago, our oven was broken (there's no telling how long that had been a problem.) Guess who took care of getting it fixed? That's right Freddy. He also kept our sidewalk shoveled and ice free during and after the blizzard. He rounded up space heaters for us when our heat was out for a full week and he helped us keep out the mice that infiltrated back in July. I decided it is never too late to say thank you to Freddy. I baked up a full batch and gave the prettiest ones to Freddy.

These cookies are really good, but not quite as orangy as I was hoping. I think I may have skimped on the orange zest a little. I hate orange peels and as I was zesting, I couldn't help but think about how absolutely disgusting it would be to bite into a piece of peel that didn't get chopped quite small enough. (There are cookies from my childhood that haunt me that had huge chunks of orange peels in them.) By the time I got to the very end of the dough, I was getting bored with the cookie shuffle (emptying and refilling the cookie sheets every 10 minutes) so I just dumped the last of it in the middle of my baking stone.

The Joy of Stats

I am currently geeking out over this video that was shared with me by a couple friends, so today, I share it with you.

Follow Friday: Knitty Blog

If you don't tweet, you may not know what Follow Friday is. It is not that hard to figure out, but I've decided start it as a regular feature on my blog. I am going to go through my blog roll and share with you who I follow in my RSS feed.

From the Knitty Blog about section:

This is the blog for Knitty magazine, which lives on the web at knitty.com.

The four women that make Knitty happen write about things here. We write about Knitty and Knittyspin, and more often, about whatever else we think is interesting. Or silly. Or both. You can tell who’s written a post by looking next to the date.

I follow Knitty because of their obvious awesomeness. Knitty is my favorite online magazine. The tutorials are fantastic and their patterns are always fun. Their blog is just as wonderful. They are of course a go-to source for what is happening in the fiber world. They have some fun contests and giveaways. I trust them to share with me the latest and greatest yarn bombs. Their posts are full of fantastic pictures (many of which are drool worthy yarns and fibers.) If you didn't know that the ladies of Knitter were blogging, please go check them out.

Twitter Bonus: @knittydotcom

Edited to add Twitter account.

The Bro Blanket

I have gotten my very first knitting request! My awesome little bro (who is quite a bit taller than me, but little none the less) asked me to knit him a blanket. I love him, and I couldn't tell him no, but since it is such a big endeavor, I told him that he had to get involved in the planning. I sent him a bunch of links to patterns and made him help me pick out the yarn. I had sent him a link to a Woolly Thoughts pattern and while he was on their site, he settled on the Curve of Pursuit. Hubby is jealous because he asked for one of these back in 2008 when I was considering it for a girlfriend. My bro gets his because it turns out I can be bought (for a blanket's worth of yarn.)

When I did the practice piece for this blanket, I was worried that it would be miserable because of all the ends since the yarn is broken after each triangle is knit. Fortunately, Owen's blanket taught me to sew in my ends along the way. This was my vacation project over Christmas, and I'm happy to say this was the perfect knit for the holidays. It is all knit stitches, but you have to pay just a little of attention. It is easy to work on while watching football or chatting with the family. It also carries enough impressiveness to wow the people who only see my knitting once a year. The best part though is the geeky little tidbits that I got to share when people asked me about it. It turns out this blanket (like a lot of the Woolly Thoughts patterns) is mathematically fantastic! Here is one of the cool little quirks about this pattern: When you finish any square (four of the triangles) you can weigh the blanket and you will need half that weight in yarn to complete the next square. (How cool is that!?!)

eKnitting Books

I have recently become the proud owner of a brand new Kindle, and for Christmas I was lucky enough to receive an Amazon gift card. I know there are so many wonderful things to buy on Amazon, but I am still excited about my new toy. I, of course, want to buy books.

The number one book on my wish list is Knitting Mochimochi and it just so happens that Amazon has a Kindle edition. So, I am wondering what you guys think. Have you bought any eKnitting books? How did you like it? The interactive Table of Contents seems like it wouldn't be too troublesome to get from pattern to pattern. Generally I get most of my knitting inspiration from the pretty pictures and brilliant modifications on Ravelry so I think I won't miss flipping through the pages too much. I am really close to having my mind made up to get it, but I think I was to hear about how much someone loves having their knitting books digital before I go for it. So tell me about it. To ebook or not to ebook! That is my question.

Out of My Element

There is one other gift this year that I wanted to craft, but this time I had to step out of my element. I decided to make my girlfriend a art/crafting apron. I know absolutely nothing about sewing, but I am lucky to have a quilting MIL. I asked her for some help during our Thanksgiving visit and she sent me home with all of this:

There was not a single part of this project that I found easy. I can't draw or cut a straight line so just getting the fabric ready to think about sewing was intimidating. Thanks to the encouragement of my MIL though, I pushed ahead and even included lining and made each piece double sided.

I would like to proudly say that I only sewed through (yes completely through) one of those cute little flower shaped needle heads. It took all of the Christmas specials I own and two full glasses of wine, but I made a full apron!

Sewing is definitely not my craft. I missed cuddling on the couch with Hubby and bending over the dining room table for the evening made my back feel much older than it should. So maybe I'm not a quilter, but it was nice to overcome my fear of the sewing machine. Maybe I'll reach the point of empowerment where I can do my own hemming and small alterations.

Bull Cozy

If you need a little New Year knitting inspiration, I think this will do it:

I like the idea of our market being wrapped up in a nice warm yarn cozy. I think it could only help and bring us luck in the new year.

Christmas Socks

I have decided that I do not like Christmas knitting. There is too much stress and pressure, and I'm tempted to make gifts that I know I can complete on a deadline rather than gifts I think the recipients will like. This year though, I was stumped on what would be the perfect gift for my Grandpa. The more I thought about it, the more I thought that he would probably like some knit socks. In mid-November I accepted that the idea was stuck in my head and nothing else was going to seem like as good of a gift. I cast on some basic socks and spent every knitting moment I had working on them. These were my couch and subway projects. I even lost a DPN to the subway tracks in all of the frantic knitting. I knit through my lunch breaks at work. I wouldn't let myself sleep at all during our cross country trip to and from Thanksgiving with Hubby's family because it was prime knitting time. (Fortunately that meant I was awake for a delightful History Channel special on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.)

I decided to knit these from the toe up. I knit the first leg as short as I thought I could get away with and left the stitches live on some scrap yarn. When I finished up the second one, I assessed my time and decided they both would get another inch and a half on the length of the legs. Hubby has never had a problem with the legs of his socks, but he must like them short. Both his dad and brother commented that theirs were too short. Despite Grandpa having smaller feet than Hubby, they still seemed to be some crazy long socks that went on forever. I did finish them on time though. Two hours into our train ride to Chicago all of the ends were woven in and everything was complete. I had hoped to block them, but I wasn't certain my family would be ok with the guest room smelling like wet wool. (They are not the converts that I am.) Grandpa seemed to like them, but Grammy was definitely giving them an envious look. Unfortunately, despite all of that buildup, I do not have a good FO picture to share, so instead I have this picture that Hubby took of the tree at Rockefeller Plaza. I hope your holidays were great. Happy New Year!

Birthday Warmth

The past couple months have been extremely busy, but I have managed to get some knitting done. Unfortunately, I haven't been very good about sharing it. Hubby and I are great friends with a woman from our campus. When her November birthday was coming up, it was Hubby who said that we needed to knit something for her. Our friend is from India so she is not very keen on these New York winters. Thanks to Kelley, I (and Hubby by proximity) discovered the joys of hot water bottles last year, so we decided to pass on the warmth and knit our friend a hot water bottle cover.

I knit the cover and Hubby knit the patch on the front. This is his first attempts at colorwork, and I have to say I'm really proud.