Small things

Finished: Work socks. I wove in ends yesterday morning and wore them to work. A vast improvement over the store-bought socks I usually wear. I'll have to do this again soon. (Considering I've been buying work-appropriate sock yarn since the spring, I don't think there will be a problem there...)



64-stitch cuff in a 3x1 rib, going down to a 60-stitch foot. I dig it.

Started: Anne-trelac socks. Pink and PINK, Lorna's Laces. They seemed kind of big, but I put them on waste yarn and tried them on, and they'll be fine. I'm amused by the construction. Learning to knit backward a bit.



They're going fast. Ish. I pick them up and want to finish a tier, so they'll be done soon. As long as I keep picking them up, that is. They may be a gift. Not sure how much I need them.

And here's a baby sweater:



Or at least its sleeves, which I started rather than swatching. Got gauge on sleeve one, so full steam ahead. This will probably be done soon, because it's yummy.

And here's a box-o-yarn. The Olympics are a very few weeks away, and I am prepared.



Whoo hoo. Epic plans. Need to crochet a strip of afghan approximately every two days, so that's going to be a doozy of a couple of weeks.

And before they wilt and fade, here is a small thing that makes me happy outside my door every day:



Hope you have a great day!

Plans, News, and Travels

Not in that order.

News: I got a job. Like a full-time, 5 days a week, reasonable-pay-plus-benefits job. Yaay!

Which means that a) I'll have more yarn and fiber money very soon, and b) I will have less yarn and fiber time very soon.

I am excited. I start August 18. Classes start August 25.

Plans: And the Olympics are over August 24. My summer classes are over on August 4, and the Olympics start on the 8th. I have yarn and a pattern and need to swatch for the afghan I'm crocheting as my Olympic project. I'm hoping to get the majority done the first week, but we'll see.

Nearly finished the neverending grey/black work socks. Started a cotton-blend pair for my mother-in-law, and they're more grey and less blue than I had hoped - the striping at least is amusing, though. I'm thinking they're not going to be long in the cuff.

Travels: Last Thursday I headed south for a weekend with friends and family. In my quest to hit every yarn shop along I-65 I caught two new-to-me ones, first Clementine's Dry Goods, which I had encountered at the Hoosier Hills fiber festival, but had not been to the shop proper. The shop is bright and inviting, the front is full of quilting fabrics, the back has sofas and comfy chairs, where I was invited to sit and knit before I'd even begun browsing. And the middle part is yarn. Lovely stuff, some basics and a few handpainted sock yarns that you don't often see in brick-and-mortar shops. I picked up a kit of variegated-plus-semisolid Yarn Love Elizabeth Bennet in Shipwreck. I seriously was stroking this yarn all the way to Birmingham. It will make some lovely luxurious socks for me! all mine! The group sitting knitting was friendly and inviting, I really didn't want to leave.

Next stop was Bowling Green, at Crafty Hands, where they stayed open a few minutes more so that I could browse, bless them. They are serious sock knitters there, and had a huge selection of European sock yarns. I very nearly bought another ball of Trekking in the colorway that my Stupid striped socks were made in, just because I love it so. And I have a Trekking weakness anyway. But then I wandered over to their needle selection. And they have Darn Pretty Needles. And all yarn thoughts went out the window and I have a new set of size 1 dpns. Not that I needed them, but oh, I did. So those fueled the rest of my trip home.

And the fact that I got passed by an IRL team truck on its way to the Nashville race.

My mom loves her new socks, so that's good. I met people who are important to my Dad, and that was fun. I met and worked some with old mathy friends, and that was pleasant. Knitting the mobius while working on math was good, and when old friends got me cranky in the way that new people just can't, I had the Quinn bag to keep me distracted and not killing people.

Anyway, that's the story of the past week. The camera needs recharged and flickr is being difficult, so pictures next time. I may have finished a sock or two by then!

Victory is mine!

Mother's Day socks are finished, only a couple months late. Well, the knitting is finished. There are still ends to deal with, but that can happen easily before Thursday's trip.



Probably the last time I work with Regia Bamboo. I know some people love it, but it's not something I enjoyed knitting.

I finally checked out Cat Bordhi's magical mobius book, and had to immediately start a mobius wrap. Wow, but this method is cool! Mine is the purl ridge variation, cast on 144 stitches, on my Denise set's longest few cords, and a size 13 needle. Oh, and it's chunky Malabrigo, so it's perhaps the coziest thing ever. I'm almost through one skein, I have two more, so we'll see how big it gets. If I don't feel the need to keep it for myself, it may become a Christmas gift.



Yum.

And here's a snapshot of my life: I've been watching enough Doctor Who lately that when we turned to CSPAN the other night to watch Question Time with the Prime Minister (which is fun, we should totally do that here), I kept waiting for the killer aliens to descend.

Much to do today, so I'm going to get to it.