Jaywalkin'

First of all, thank you to everyone who extended their well wishes to DF's family and me over the past week. It was very much appreciated. We returned from Ohio last night in a haze, so I guess that means we're back to our regularly scheduled programming.

When we last left off, I was traveling and having a fantastic time (an anomaly for travels involving work, I must admit). I hopped up to San Francisco for the week and managed to make it to TWO knitting related events: Chicks with Sticks and Knit and Wine at Urban Knitting Studio. The ladies (and gentleman!) at Chicks with Sticks were very open and friendly and two are even fellow knitbloggers. Cristina has tagged me for a meme (I swear I'll get to it) and Beth made sure I didn't get lost on the way back to my hotel (she also managed to find a way to stretch a turkey from here to Friday). Go check out Cristina's and Beth's blogs to find out what the heck I'm talking about.

The Urban Knitting Studio hosted a great little get together. The owner Helen has fabulous taste in yarns and I've never seen that kind of selection of yarns before. Helen stocks more than just the standard Debbie Bliss/Rowan/Cascade mix, so if you're in the SF area, go by and check out her store. I managed to extend the non-yarn purchasing stretch just a bit longer. I scored back issues of IK (Fall 2004) VK (spring/summer 2004, winter 2004/2005) and Rebecca (25) for half off. I also picked up Rowan 37 for full price, but the LYS around here don't have any in stock, so I figured that was a find. I'm not sure that I actually like the Fall 2004 IK, but since it was sold out on the IK site, I figured that it must be a commodity of some sort. Heck, if I didn't already own the FBS pattern, it would have been cheaper to buy the whole magazine at this price rather than just the pattern anywhere else. I may put it up for trade at some point, but I'm debating about trying to collect the whole library of IK magazines...

Since I had the opportunity to stay in SF for an ENTIRE WEEK, I did get a chance to breathe a sigh of relief at the return of common sense. For example, when your parents told you as a young child to look both ways before crossing the street, what did they tell you to do in the following scenarios?

At a crosswalk with cars coming:
a. step out in the street and hope the cars have good enough brakes (which are never required to be formally inspected by the state) so that they can slow down from twice the speed limit to zero within 20 feet
b. wait for cars to pass, then cross

At a red light with no cars coming:
a. wait for walk signal, then cross assuming that all the cars who run the light will swerve to get out of your way
b. cross

Not at a crosswalk with no cars coming:
a. Walk over two blocks to find a crosswalk and step out into traffic
b. cross

I'm happy to report that pedestrians in SF tend to choose B in most of the above scenarios. I can't vouch for LA pedestrians.

Speaking of the road rules, I did manage to finish DF's birthday present and only be a few hours late!

Jaywalker Socks
Pattern: Jaywalker by Grumperina
Materials: Vesper Sock Yarn by Knitterly Things (100% merino wool, 440 yards). 1 skein in Neapolitan (test batch so it's different from what's available now) gifted from Keohinani. 2 Size US1 Addi Turbo circular needles (24", 32")
Gauge: 10.5 sts/in in pattern
Finished size: 8" circumference, didn't measure length of foot and cuff, but fits SNUGLY on DF's size 11 feet

Started: December 26, 2005
Finished: January 29, 2006

Notes:
Worked as 2 socks on 2 circs. Cast on 38 sts with Turkish cast on and turned short row toe (decreased to 20 sts unwrapped). Knit one round across cast on row and toe sts then increased evenly around to a total of 84 sts. Worked in stitch pattern as for larger size. When length looked "right", turned short row heel on half of the sts (decreased to 16 sts unwrapped) and continued in pattern. Started ribbing when DF complained the yarn left over wouldn't be enough to make ribbing as long as he'd like. Kept going until I ran out of yarn.

Summary:
I think I get why everyone in blogland is making a pair of these. First of all, they count for my J in the Sock-A-Month KAL (thanks Chrissy for posting these pics for me in time). More importantly, they really show off self-striping yarns and make it look like you did a whole lot more work than you really did.

For the knitpicky (ahem, *me*) there were some things I thought worth pointing out. First of all, I still can't quite close up the hole at the ankles when turning a short row heel. The toes don't have this problem, but it's a whole lot more noticeable on the heel. SEE?

If you didn't notice so much from the picture above, somebody up there decided to align the sun, the moon, and the stars so that the striping went completely uninterrupted across the cuff and the instep despite not doing an afterthought heel. Makes the OCD knitter in me extremely happy. And for the thrifty knitter, the beauty of knitting toe-up:

Yes, that's less than 1/2 yard of leftover yarn. A word of caution though, binding off takes a whole lot more yarn than you think it will, especially if you go up a needle size to avoid the tourniquet effect. I thought I had enough for one more round before the bind off, but the bind off ended up taking what seemed like twice as much yarn. So I had to tink back ON THE NIGHT OF DF's BIRTHDAY. I tell you, if it weren't for that, they wouldn't have been done on time!

Clearly, I didn't really follow the pattern as written, but I'm still calling them Jaywalkers!

I'll leave you with one last pic of how DF feels about his new socks...

*note to self: do NOT take pictures of DF after he's had a nightcap*

Previous posts about this project:
I'm on the wagon on 1/24/2006
Pretty in Pink on 1/18/2006
Gotta love having a camera on 1/17/2006
Beware! on 1/16/2006
Good to be back on 1/11/2006

I'm on the wagon

I thought it was bad when I jumped on the bandwagon to knit Jaywalkers (which btw, are nearly there... they even cover DF's ankles!) and Clapotis. Now, I've gone and done it. I actually signed up for Sockapalooza!

Sign ups close at midnight (GMT -5:00) TODAY, so go there now if you're interested...

Short post with no pics today since I'm actually on the road this week. More about that later...

Pretty in Pink

Okay, since I'm on a pink roll...

Let me just put a disclaimer on this before I start: I am often still asleep when DF leaves for work in the morning. To my dismay, when DF came home from work yesterday, he was wearing this:

I think he looks fantastic in orange, and pretty in pink. I'm apparently not hip enough to be able to combine the two without turning into Mr. Yuck. I'm wondering if DF has Duckie fashion sensibilities. Which, if he does, that's totally cool, because I always wanted to be Molly Ringwald when I was a kid. Only problem is, Duckie didn't get the girl...
This, by the way, is total fodder for DF's second favorite website of all time: http://www.thingsmygirlfriendandihavearguedabout.com/. The all time favorite? A now, apparently, defunct website dedicated strictly to the combover. Visit here for its US counterpart.

No knitting content for today. I cast back on for Clapotis and turned the heels on Jaywalker. Nothing earthshattering to show, so no pics for you!

gotta love having a camera...

Okay, my picture taking skills suck, as evidenced by the pictures on my last post. But since there was a request, I did finally take a picture of the lovely stitch marker that Chris sent to me. It's true color, and the fabric in the background is much closer to true color of DF's zippered raglan than the hot pink version I posted yesterday.
Also, I got a better picture of the pink variation in the Jaywalker socks. It's really hard to tell, but if you look closely, there are actually two different shades of pink between the khaki stripes. One is more peachy and the other is closer to cotton candy pink.
Not that DF is at all embarassed to wear pink. He may be accused of being a bit metro for it, but I still think he looks kind of hot in pink.

Must say though, I'm much happier with blogging now that my camera's back in my possession. One of the last pictures we took on the camera before my parents hijacked it:

Just outside Red Rocks Canyon, NV; November 2005

Beware!

I decided that I couldn't bear ripping out the Clapotis just yet... I still have to get up the nerve to rip out my first finished object of 2006 all the way to the beginning (the gauge was just not right). So instead I decided to cast on for something else on Saturday night. Let me present to you, the DF's zippered Raglan from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.
Yeah, not much to look at, is it? I'm most of the way through the first ball (out of an anticipated 7) of Malabrigo in burgundy. And might I say, there's nothing about this that could possibly make this a last minute gift. Let's face it, who can knit a MAN'S SWEATER at the last minute? I worked on this for hours and got a whopping 4.5 inches! Those are handmade stitch markers from Chris, by the way... I know, the picture just doesn't do it justice.

To try and relax from the slow progress on DF's sweater, I decided to work a little more on the DF's Jaywalkers. I'm just about ready to turn the heel on these babies, and maybe, just maybe I can have a FO for DF's birthday at the end of this month, and ALSO qualify me for a double entry in Chrissy's Sock-A-Month KAL. Just a word of caution though for anyone who does 2 socks on 2 circs... pay attention to what you're doing or you might end up with this (really bad picture... why can't I take indoor pictures?):

Anyone notice anything weird here?

Good to be back

Ok, so I don't really have the time to do this right now, but I'm going to post anyway.... Thank you for everyone who noticed that I had been a bit MIA in the past 3-4 weeks and welcomed me back to the world. I'm really sorry for being so far gone. As promised, a nice LONG post to update you on where I've been hiding all this time. And it's numbered because I like numbered lists.

1. Christmas Giving
As some of you may have guessed, I was a bit busy finishing the 9 Christmas projects I had planned. All but one was finished. Unbiased Redux wasn't looking like a winner, so it got scrapped. It was a bonus gift anyway.

If any of you were guessing exactly when I'd finish and guessed that it would be Christmas eve, then you'd be mostly correct. I finished the knitting on Christmas Eve around 11:00, but I was blocking and installing zippers as of Christmas morning. BTW, if you need to install a zipper by hand, do not leave yourself 2 hours to install 2 zippers. It just won't happen. Especially if you're OCD. I ended up having to give the garment and the zipper with a note, "Some assembly required." Just trust me that it's a bad idea.

Overall, I think the Christmas gifts went over well. My grandfather thought I made his vest for DF but gave it to him instead when it didn't fit DF. Here's a pic of my grandpa trying it on. A moment of panic washed over me as I was wondering how big of a noggin he had as it just wasn't fitting over his head.
Turns out, it fit him just fine. Of course, I look at the picture below and cringe at how the ribbing around the V-neck was causing the chest stripes to pull. But overall, the fit was good, and he was happy.
I couldn't get a good picture of my grandparents wearing their matching hoodies. Here they just look confused, and well, maybe a little bit embarassed. But give them a break. It was like 80 that day, and probably closer to 85 in the house. My grandfather just isn't a hoodie kind of guy. I'll have to recommend that he doesn't wear it up unless he's really cold...
And my great grandmother thought that her Charlotte's Web shawl was very pretty. Too pretty in fact to wear. Her comment was, "This would be really pretty... if I were younger. I'm too old. Don't make me anything anymore." Okay, so I'm kind of sad about this because honestly, I just don't want to think of my great-grandmother going anywhere. But I told her that I made it for her to wear it, not put it somewhere where it wouldn't be ruined. My mom told me last weekend that my g-g wore it to her doctor's appointment last week. :-) I didn't get a good picture of her wearing the shawl, but here I am trying to put it on her. That hat she's wearing was a gift I made her last year, btw.
DL's hat was perfect! DF did a really good job. We did have to argue a bit about whether or not to add a pompom/tassle on top. But when DL received the hat, he just remarked, "Well, sometimes women are just right." Word on the street says he wore it all weekend snowboarding. He wears it off-center, for a "jaunty" look as he puts it. I think it looks better that way too. As you see below, the skull right above the face just looks like too many faces and just a bit weird. Wait, what am I saying... it's a PINK hat, how could it not look a little bit weird?
2. Christmas receiving
I was very lucky to get a gift this year from a Secret Santa! She managed to pick out a lot of different things that I am REALLY looking forward to working with. Look how generous:
Not pictured: delicious Funyuns. They just didn't last long enough to make it into the picture... shown here counterclockwise(ish) from far left: enough Jaeger Baby Merino for a short sleeved top; Knitpicks Shine which is destined to become a cute baby hat for the numerous babies on their way this year; some very cute, very awesome hand knit socks (see below for just how WELL they fit!); Knitpicks Shadow which is most definitely going to be a purple Flower Basket Shawl; hand beaded stitchmarkers (in the purple sachet, but not pictured separately); and a calendar, which will be a good reminder as I dive headlong into planning TBD (the big day). Also, my favorite part of the whole package, if I had to pick one... right in the middle is a handmade Christmas card with just the sweetest note that I ever could imagine. Secret Santa, you spoil me!

As if that weren't enough... I also got RAK'd! Apparently, some people just have that yule attitude. I was too excited when I opened my package to take a good picture, but along with some incredibly beautiful stitch markers and a pin, I got Vesper sock yarn!!! Yay, I know just what to do with this. Thank you SO much, Jill...

3. Real Live Knitting Progress!

I have been coveting time to make socks ever since Socktoberfest. Thanks to my RAKer, I have the perfect excuse to start the infamous Jaywalkers for DF. I cast on for these 2 days after Christmas, and boy, 2 socks on 2 circs with a new cast on method (Turkish) toe-up using short rows for the toes was just a bit overwhelming at first. Thankfully, it got a whole lot less so once I finished the toe and was on to the main part of the sock. Here's the progress as of last Thursday. Since then, I've only completed 2 more of the beige stripes and I'm preparing to turn the heel. I'll let you know if I throw them out the window at that point...

A word to the wise, if making socks for man-sized feet, don't pick fingering weight yarn if you want to remain sane. Oh, and especially don't combine it with a stitch pattern that requires MORE stitches per inch than normal. Sigh. Well at least I'm finally making SOMETHING for DF. DF's sweater is in this stage:

Yup, that's a BRAND SPANKING NEW swift. DF made me promise not to leave it set up with the ball winder on the coffee table all the time. For now, I've faithfully put it away to leave the coffee table free for things like, um, coffee.

I also jumped (somewhat belatedly) on the blog bandwagon of 2004 and cast on January 1 for Clapotis using Southwest Trading Company Phoenix soy silk. I think it's looking quite lovely except for some pooling going on. I was seriously considering ripping back to the increase rows and taking out one increase section because it looks like this number of stitches is perfect for stacking the colors on top of each other. Can you tell that all the turquoise is in that pool on the left and all the lavender is in the pool on the right?

4. Projects for 2006

Oh good god, this is ridiculous. But, here we have a short(ish) list of projects I was hoping to cast on for in 2006 (in no particular order):

1. Jaywalker socks
2. Clapotis
3. Raglan zip front sweater for DF from Last Minute Gifts
4. Union Market Square Pullover from IK Fall 2005
5. Hoodie from VK Fall 2005
6. Blackberry from Knitty Fall 2005
7. Unbiased Redux in Kureyon
8. Un-Blaze
9. Flowerbasket Shawl from my Secret Santa package
10. Lace Throw from IK Fall 2005
11. Arisaig from Knitty Fall 2005
12. Embossed leaves socks from IK Winter 2005
13. Bad Penny
14. Karabella Ruffle Shawl in Gossamer
15. Handwarmers
16. Head wrap
17. Split Neck short sleeve polo for DF
18. Baby gifts

Well, I didn't quite make it to 20 on the list, but the sad thing is (but probably not surprising) that I have yarn for all of these projects already. And a whole lot more left over.

5. Other announcements

In case you didn't notice, THAT'S MY FACE in the pictures above. New for 2006, I will not be camera shy. Granted, I'm not going to fold my feet behind my head to model new socks just to get my face in the picture, but I won't go out of my way to smudge out or cut off my head in pictures anymore. Unless of course it's a REALLY bad hair day. Who was I kidding? What web stalker is going to look for knitting blogs for their next victim? Plus, I like seeing what people look like in their blogs. It makes meeting up with your blog friends in real life much easier.

Planning for TBD is in full swing. If I don't post for long stretches of time, you'll know why. No other decisions other than date and time have been made yet, but I don't think anyone really wants to read about the minutia of wedding planning here. I don't want to hijack my own knitting blog with this stuff.

Anyway, there are 500 unread posts in my bloglines account right now. Umm, yeah. Don't know what to say about that one...