Neither Hip Nor Funky

I bet many of you read that last post and were thinking, “Well that’s fine, but you know what that post was really needing? More Socks!”

And others were thinking:

“Shhhhhhhh, be vewwwy, vewwwy quiet; I’m hunting wabbits, heheheh”

Well, consider all your thoughts heard:

Another belated gift, some hunting socks for my father in law. Cascade 220 Superwash, pattern made up as I went.

Also belated: responding to the “You Make My Day Awards” kindly given to me by Gudrun (go check out her new hat pattern; I’ll have pics of my test knit of it up by the end of this week), Jillian, Knitography, and Jennie. Thanks guys….mentions like these alway make me smile; in fact you could say they make my day.

It is so hard for me to pick ten knitting/crafting sites that make my day because there are so many, so I’m going to broaden it a little (aka take the easy way) and list other internetty goodness that makes my day.

1. LOLcats: don’t need to say much here…only need to find a way for my cat to earn fame on the site.  Just a quick glance can make me smile in the morning before I’m off to work.

2. Slate’s Political Gabfest: The Most Adequate Political Talkshow.  They’re still working on a slogan, but I think the ironic humbleness of this nomination fits well. I love Slate in general, and I am alway informed and amused by John Dickerson’s articles.  The three mainstays of this podcast are intelligent, humorous, and straightforward.

3. Indexed: Brilliant commentary in small doses.  She manages sum up diverse issues in succinct graphs and diagrams in a way that she say helps her “make fun of some things and sense of others”

4. The Sartorialist: amazingly lit photos showing varied styles of people on the street

5.  Go Fug Yourself : okay, so sometimes I like a bit of snark.  However, I do like that the women who write this blog are usually snarky and humorous about the clothes but not mean to the people who are wearing them.

6. Etsy homepage: I love checking in to see what is highlighted. I also find the often monochromatic nature of the hand picked items soothing.

7. The Daily Show:  I watch the snippets online.  Oh, John Stewart, how I missed your commentary at the beginning of this presidential race….so glad you’re back.

8. Sundara: I just like to go and gaze at the pretty every so often, even when I know there hasn’t be a recent update.

9. Washington Post:  yup, I like my news. I find their website to be one of the easiest to navigate…which makes sense because they have won awards for it.

10. All the knitty and crafty goodness.  ( I really ran out of items here because the above sites are really the only sites I visit that aren’t knitting or crafting blogs. Considering I normally have between 100-200 posts waiting to be read in my Google reader, those blogs are really my fav part of the internets. ) Thanks for being entertaining and inspiring.

In the second mosiac there are a few items on the first row that I  hadn’t blogged yet.  The blue socks are made out of Yarntini and were a present for one of my sisters.  The hat was a jogging hat for my dad out of Cascade 220 superwash. And the pink socks on the right side were for my mom out of Sock Candy.

I don’t have too much to write about right now but I wanted to go ahead and put up these mosaics so that I can refer to them in my next post.  I will be posting the start of my Autumn Rose Pullover, baby!

For those of you who need an Autumn Rose fix now, may I suggest taking a gander at IndigoMouse’s stunning, completed Aqua Rose.

When my sister told my niece that I was coming to visit, my niece replied “To knit with me?” I said yes that is exactly why I was visiting. My niece has recently turned three, so I was quite excited that what she remembered most about me was knitting, especially since I hadn’t seen her since the summer.

So what did I knit for/with her? Some toys. (And she picked out some yarn for a hat, but that will be in the ‘08 knits)

Pattern: Yo Gabba Gabba Muno at Knituition
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash (I’m too lazy to go find the color on the label)
Needles: US4 dpns

My sister found this pattern and sent it to me because my niece had seen this show at a friend’s house and memorized the songs. However, she is not so good at the names and prefers to call this character “Yo wiggle wiggle.” I looked up the show on youTube and found the “There’s a party in my tummy” song. While watching it, I realized “This is what my friend was talking about when we all looked at him like he was crazy.” I completely understand now; it does get stuck in your head.

I altered the pattern a little by making the body longer and using a different kind of bobble. I also embroidered the teeth and made buttonholes for the arms and picked up stitches around the edges.

The other toy is probably more known to most knitters: Sheldon.
I originally planned to make him three shells so he could change outfits, but I only managed two by Christmas….maybe I’ll make him a new spring outfit later.

Unfortunately, Sheldon looks a bit mopey in this picture. I guess he was not so into the holiday spirit…which did match my niece as she was sick most of Christmas week.

Pattern: Sheldon
Yarn: Knitpicks Shine sport
Needles: US3 rosewood dpns and US2 bamboo dpns

So I really want to make a cool mosaic to show all my knits from 2007 like I am seeing on other blogs recently. I love seeing it all in one place like that, however I still need to show all my completed knits.

So here is one that was gifted to my mom:

Pattern: Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn A Clark
Yarn: unknown, bought a couple months after I started knitting
Needles: Addi turbo US3 and Addi lace US 3

Not a whole lot of notes: Mine is about 3″ shorter across that in the pattern, but I could have blocked it more aggressively. I now love Addi lace needles. I originally tried to make the nupps with the turbos, but trying to p5tog was driving me batty and I never would have finished it.

And the whoops….. well it is not a bad whoops. You guys gave me great advice on buying spinning wheels. It essentially boiled down to “try out as many as possible.” I really meant to follow this advice. In the spirit of following this advice, I visited a spinning shop while visiting family in Virginia. Lolly mentioned Colonial Fiber Arts on her blog a couple months ago and I made note of it since it is on the way from my parents’ house to P-funk’s parents, and we make plenty of drives back and forth when we visit. So I stopped in and…..well…..I fell in love and it was on a really good sale, a deadly combo. It made it back safely in my hard side suitcase, and it is my new friend.

My Kromski Prelude:

Complete with my first attempts at spinning. The purchase came with a lesson. Although you may not be able to tell, the natural fiber that I spun during and after the lesson is significantly better than my playing with the red and brown.

So I haven’t been posting, but I have been knitting.

Garter Stitch Mitts from Weekend Knitting, made from my Koolhaas leftovers

In fact, I even was early in starting my Christmas knitting, and I can probably get it finished. And my mom will be shocked but we even got a tree. I definitely have the least amount of holiday spirits in the family. (I’m guessing it got all snatched up before me, in a similar way to the boob distribution in the family. ) In addition, we are always out of town for Christmas, so we usually don’t get one. However, we were feeling all spirited over Thanksgiving weekend, and there was a tree lot within walking distance. So we decorated it while listing to Sufjan Stevens Songs for Christmas. One of the very few Christmas cds that I like, as my reaction to most of those all Christmas radio stations is the urge to crush the radio.

We are taking down the tree tomorrow, in preparation for our holiday trip. As another pre-trip activity, P-funk and I exchanged our presents last weekend after going to see the taping holiday edition of Live Wire (try out the podcast, they’re awesome). In another instance of how I might turning into a big old softie, I almost cried at the show. Peter Yarrow, of Peter, Paul, and Mary, was there and we all got to play sing-a-long time to Puff the Magic Dragon with him. I was instantly five years old.

When we got back home, and I became twenty-seven again, we exchanged presents.

I made Phil a Squid from the Squidalicious pattern and got him a “I love you more than zombies love brains” mug from folded pigs.

In return, well in return I got a spinning wheel.

Yes, I agree the gifting might not be exactly even this year, but we are both happy.  P-funk made a little wheel out of wire and hid it in the tree.  I was looking all around the tree, trying to figure out what present would fit in the tree, and then I squeed.

So any spinning advice, spinning wheel advice is welcome.  P-funk figured that I would want to pick out the model.  The other week Missamite brought her wheel to a knitting meet up at Abundant to teach Leethal how to spin and let her try out the wheel, as she was thinking about getting one.  Missamite was kind enough to teach me also, and very patient, as I didn’t catch on very quickly.    I loved it, though, and later that night, was already scouring the internets looking at wheels.  So now, I am incredibly excited and ready to start the research.  Any help/advice is greatly appreciated.

And don’t worry; I’m not going to forsake the knitting.  Oh, and I’ll get back to blogging and replying regularly again now that I’m a bit more comfy at my job; I’ve been missing you crazy kids.