Stash Diving, the Attack by Jack and a New Sock.

Sometimes a girl just needs to brag. Pictured is the beautiful (and capacious) cedar chest that my Beloved designed and built for me as a christmas gift. I love it. I want to hug it. He may notknit or understand my obsession with knitting and all things yarn related, but he made me a cedar chest for my yarn. It makes me love him extra. It's curently the repository for the sweater - sized amounts of yarn, my alpaca collection (because alpaca is like crack to me, I can never have enough), my umbrella swift and skein winder. The last two items are also courtesy of the Beloved. He rocks.

Stash diving was kind of fun - I spent a lovely afternoon rooting around in there, rediscovering what I had. For instance, I reacquainted myself with some Briggs & Little single-ply sport weight in a nice marled green and some in a natural cream - perfect for a pair of fancy mittens. I also discovered 2 balls of Rowan Soft Baby - where that came from I have no idea, nor do I know what to do with it. I'll let it marinate in the collection until something suitable comes along.

I also found a bag with an assorted collection of left over sock yarn - you know you have on e too, a little stash of leftovers that are too big to throw away and too small to use. I'm going to keep collecting until I have enough obb bits left to make The Ugliest Socks on Earth. They will be fabulous I'm sure.

Jack the cat also enjoyed stash diving, particularly when I relented and tossed him a ball of leftover something. He enjoyed himself thoroughly.

In my last post I wrote about some Lorna's Laces that had just arrived in the mail and said that I had some plans to make a fancy sock. And so I did. Throwing all other projects aside (sorry Dad, sorry Ruth), I cast on for a pair of 9-to-5 Socks by Nicole of allbuttonedup.wordpress.com. What a great pattern. It satisfied my hankering for a fancy sock without being too complicated.

The pattern is well written and well thought out and introduced me to a new stitch. I realy enjoyed how the spiral rib flowed out of the ribbing and continued down either side of the heel.

The heel flap pattern was a nice change from the usual standby and really complemented the overall design of the sock. The sock is pretty, patterned and stretchy, as well as fun to knit. A keeper I say, now let's hope Nicole os nice enough to share any of her future sock designs with us.

I liked the yarn almost as much as I liked the pattern. It was my first project with Lorna's Laces and I'm looking forward to working with it again. It feels delicious, almost silky, and seems to knit up nicely. I haven't washed these yet (okay, this one, as I just finished this sock this afternoon and cast on for it's mate this evening), so I can't comment on how it holds up in the wash. I'm holding the Cranberry in reserve for a pair of Roza's Socks - thanks to Deb for the suggestion! [Everyone should check out Deb's blog - that woman is a sock knitting machine. The way I look at it is, if Deb recommends a particular pattern for a particular

sock yarn, do what she says, she knows socks. She knit 79 (!!!!!) pairs of socks last year. I am both awed, inspired and kind of intimidated. Plus she's very nice. Go check it out.].
Knowing that I have not knit 79 pairs of socks last year, or ever, I feel compelled to go finish my Dad's christmas socks (don't look at me like that, he and his girlfriend have been in South America for the last 4 weeks, they didn't need woolly socks down there). I will post pics when they're done. Happy knitting!

Meet Stan

Greetings gentle reader! It feels like ages since I last posted. I've been diligently beavering away on the Grey Man Socks and one of the Unbloggable projects. There's really only so much one can write about GMS and the other is a secret - which leaves me precious little to blog about. So instead of writing about my knitting, I'll write about someone else's.

Meet Stan. Created by the lovely Mammals, Stan is an early gift for my birthday. I love him! He's green, he's knit and he's a robot - what's not to love? Mammals has knit a few of these nifty robots and I was pretty excited to get one - in my colour no less. I felt pretty special as Stan was accompanied by a pan of tasty, tasty Rice Krispie squares. Delicious. So far, it's been a great birthday and it's not officially until sunday. Some days, it's good to be me.

In other knitting related news, I got to meet Miss. J's new baby girl Frances Ophelia. Cute, cute, cute. And so little. It's not until you get to hold a new baby that you realize how small they really are. Needless to say, no knitting was accomplished. When little Frances gets a bit bigger, she'll have an enviable wardrobe of lovely knitted goods. Miss J. has made some fabulous little sweaters and I wish that I had taken some photos of the baby and her knits. I was distracted, what can I say?

Well, a quick post, short on content. I apologize and will try to tackle a project that I can actually share with you. Hope all is well out there in KnitLand. Happy knitting!

Grey Man Socks

I am dying, absolutley dying to post about my unbloggable projects, but I can't. I want to, but I won't. I will say that I am really happy with what I've managed to knit up so far -thank you L.K. Yarns for the technical help( I love those ladies, they're always so nice to me.) and I can't wait to share the photos and all my trials and tribulations. I will just say that Tvåändsstickning- that's Scandinavian double-ended knitting for you - is a frustrating endeavor to undertake when on a bit of a schedule. I will revisit it, but not when I feel pressured to get things done by a certain date (you know, like christmas).

Since I can't write about my favourite WIP, I will share with you the glories of knitting Grey Man Socks. I know, calm yourselves, it is exciting stuff.

My Beloved requested man socks for christmas; "hey, you could make me socks for christmas. Not fancy ones though, you like to make fancy socks, I just want plain guy socks. Grey ones." Awesome. Grey socks for big guy feet. Bring it. So, being the loving girlfriend that I am, I dutifully took myself to my favourite LYS (see above) and bought 3 balls of Phildar Preface in Gris Moyen. I bought 3 balls in an olive green too. It's not like this man ever asks me to knit anything for him (which is good, because after last year's 3 hat I-don't-like-any-of-them episode, I mostly gave up). I had a hard time finding a suitably plain sock pattern and ended up using a the 3-Ply Ribbed Sock pattern from a vintage Beehive pattern book my mom found at Value Village for 69 cents. The pattern is just like it sounds, ribbed. The book itself is kind of neat and the pattern is easy to follow and fits the criterion to a T. The yarn is hard to get excited about, not that it's bad, it's just a study-ish sort of slightly heathered sock yarn and doesn't set my heart to fluttering like some other brands do. No slight to Phildar, but not every yarn can be a Fleece Artist yarn.

Let's see, what else is there to write about? I've been missing my weekly knitting and lunch with with Miss J., but she's been busy with her brand new baby girl Frances. I am so happy for Miss J. and can't wait to meet little Frances. I forsee very little knitting getting accomplished, what with all the baby cuteness to distract me. Happy knitting!