finished 'em!
Hah! Got the second man sock done on the morning of Christmas Eve--and had 'em wrapped and delivered by the afternoon. :::sigh::: Now to focus attention on the Sockotta pair--their recipient has a birthday in January, thank goodness.

a few notes
Regarding the man socks (OK, I can reveal it now--they're for my dad!) I knit the first one with the two circular needle technique, and did the second one on dpns (since the two circs were/are in use on the Sockotta pair). I noticed some interesting things, most notably that I knit a tighter gauge (which is a good thing, IMHO) with the two circs as compared to the dpns. I think I'm the only one who'll notice though, and hopefully after the first spin in the washer/dryer the inconsistencies will even out between the two socks. I do think the two circular technique is just a bit faster also, but not by a whole lot. And as you can see, I didn't even try to make the two socks match perfectly. Variety is the spice of life, right?

next up
After I finish the Sockotta pair, I'll begin swatching for my husband's scarf (he's also got a January birthday--late January, thank goodness!). I picked out some luscious Filatura Di Crosa 127 Print from the LYS in color 12 (gray). It has beautiful stripes of earthtones sprinkled throughout--pictures soon. No yarn diet for me!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas--we ate too much at my house. Still have some cookies left--want some?

sock status report
I'm frantically trying to finish up at least the mansox by Thursday. Would like to complete the sockotta pair also, but I'm so d*mn slow! Not like Wendy and Yent (who can whip up a beautiful felted cat bed in a matter of minutes) or Bonne Marie (who cranks out another Bucket 'o Chic just by stopping to think about it). Nope, I'm still plodding along, taking my own sweet time. Maybe it's about time I learned to knit Continental. Anybody else out there switched from throwing to picking and noticed an increase in speed?

light at the end of the tunnel
There is a bit of good news in all this--I don't have to work anymore (until Jan. 5) as of lunchtime Monday (Dec. 22) so there will be more time for knittin' and otherwise getting ready for Xmas. I have managed to buy most of the gifts, so that's a plus. More later, enjoy your mondays, everyone!

P.S. Does anyone else feel like this this week?

domino knitting
I bought this book a couple of weeks ago when I was visiting Borders. I almost didn't even pick it up--I've seen so many sweaters that I don't like (mainly in Knitter's magazine) done with this technique that I remember thinking "hah, let's see how bad this is!" Well, I was in for a pleasant surprise. The photos and projects in the book look interesting and knittable, especially the shrug toward the end of the book. It's a slim volume, but jam-packed with what appear to be good instructions for a whole new way to join pieces while knitting. Once these darn socks (hee-hee, pun intended) are completed, I may do some playing around with the technique. Jackie, do you sell this book? I didn't see it, but I didn't crawl the entire site. That reminds me--go check out karp styles for all your needle, pattern and sock yarn needs--Jackie's got a great selection!

Have a great Friday everyone--and wish me luck, my company Christmas party is tomorrow night. This is the one day a year (well, almost) I get dolled up with high heels. If yer lucky, I might post triumphant survival pictures on Saturday!

warning: NOT about knitting!
No knitting tonight. Been decorating these cookies for the office luncheon tomorrow instead. Doing this is surprisingly fun (as long as you have 3 or more hours to kill). I made these cookies with my new cookie press from Wilton and used the Peanut Butter Spritz recipe (with store-bought icing--hey, I'm not Martha either). Even though this is technically cooking, there is so much fine detail work in the decoration that it seems like a craft, and a temporary one at that! :::munch munch:::

she's here!
Because I couldn't wait to show you guys--here's belle! Pattern and more photos to follow later this p.m. Also I've learned a few things I'd like to pass along to anyone who knits either version, so I'll put together a tip sheet too. What do you guys think?

update
Check the elle-along page for your free copy of belle, or just click here! Thanks for the great comments everyone--I hope you like.

more sox
I've decided that someone else on my gift list this year needs a pair of hand-knit socks. I picked up this cotton/wool blend from one of my three LYS (the snootiest, I might add) and almost croaked when the little old lady who I suspect is the owner said to me (after she saw I was in the checkout line with this yarn) "Would you like to see how it knits up?" I said "sure!" and she then proceeded to bring out a sock that she's been working on with another colorway of this same Sockotta, complete with the nifty patterning. She's never even given me the time of day before--maybe the fact that knitting is becoming popular? mainstream? has softened her up a bit.
The discerning among you might wonder: why is the yarn wrapped around the skein? Well, this brings me to what may be my biggest knitting pet peeve: when I have a big fat pull skein of some great yarn and instead of pulling out the single end thread to begin, I pull out an entire handful of yarn trying to freakin' FIND the end. :::sigh::: Oh well, it's always a motivator to knit faster so I can use up all that I've pulled out.
Have a great weekend everyone!

new knitty
The new knitty mag is out, and I must say it's the best ever. I liked a few of the patterns in the fall issue but I thought most of the designs were sub-par. Everything in the winter issue is worth investigation--lots of great designs! Congrats to chrisknits for her adorable Flappers pattern--nice goin'!

belle
I've almost finished belle--which means that those of you who've been afraid of the fair-isle in elle will no longer have an excuse! Belle is striped with no zipper. She'll have an optional flower embellishment but otherwise has the same shape (we hope--felting pending!) as elle. Is there anybody out there who plans to knit this (besides my big-headed buddy Gib)?

new project!
Okay you guys--I've gone ahead and done it. My first for-sale pattern is now available over at Karp Styles, run by my pal Jackie. She has a wide range of great knitting and crochet patterns and supplies, and I feel honored that she's agreed to peddle my little pattern. I wanted some way to help with the bandwidth problem, plus I'm coming out of the stash closet to say that I dream of being able to make a living at designing knitted items from home (especially when we finally get our little girl). So although I plan to continue to provide free patterns right here, I want to see if I can sell some, too.

zipple
The svelte and gorgeous model for zipple is my li'l sis Pearce--doesn't she look great? And if you view the main photo on the purchase page (and on the pattern itself) you'll see that she's posing right next to my a stranger's Jag we happened upon the day of the photo shoot. We decided to try to sneak a few photos since the owner was clearly nowhere in sight. So I set up the tripod and started snapping away, and right in the middle of the shot you see here, we heard this voice say: "Would you like to get some pictures with her behind the wheel?" I almost lost my lunch as I turned around to see the owner and his lady friend coming toward us. Luckily he was completely friendly and did allow us some shots with Pearcey sitting in the driver's seat--unbelievable! This experience reinforces my belief that the world belongs to those who have the chutzpah to take ownership of it (and ask nicely!).

the pattern
This pattern is easy to knit using size 10 needles and Classic Elite's Zoom. If anyone out there wants to knit it, I'll start a Zipple gallery and we can have another knit-along right here! What do you guys think?

scary

I've dated myself here. At least it was fun!

knitter's elbow?
Between all the knittin' around here and the online gift buying, I think my poor left arm has a case of knitter's elbow. I think I've had it before, but I just can't remember how long ago, nor how long it was before it went away. I don't think it'll stop me from knittin' though! Speaking of such, even though I have gifts to finish, I started (and am about half finished with) the other dark blue baby bootie. I think I just wanted something to be able to call a Finished Object, plus taking a tiny break from man-sock-generation may make it easier to cast on and finish sock #2.

awesome new site
You ladies of the web may've already heard of it, but I found the kewlest new (to me) site yesterday: craftster.org. It's chock-full of wonderful projects and ideas, including knitting. All I really want for Christmas is some more TIME so I can learn how to make my own soap/sew an outfit/quilt/weld/woodburn/make a paper-mache piñata! xoxo