SOCKS!!

I *just* finished these a short while ago. I don't think i got the maths perfect this time around, but--they fit, and they are finished, and they are finally off my needles! Just a simple ankle sock in simple ribbing, using simple sock yarn--Red Heart Heart & Sole ("mellow stripes" colorway).

They are bright, happy colors, though Red Heart does need to work on their quality control a bit--see that section on my left foot, where there's some white stripes going on? those are supposed to be blue stripes. And yes, i know they aren't a perfect match; i didn't care about that so much, since i was making them for me, and they are only my second pair of socks, and I'm not fully 100% clear on the math of socks yet--I'm still making my heels and toes a bit too tight, and my ankles too loose. Math was never my strongest subject, but i tended to do better in applied math than abstract math even though as a leftie, I'm supposed to be abstract. I'll get there in the end.

Silvie is also coming along, but--no new pictures of him, again because he is a twin of the front half of the bag. I'm up to the top of his cheeks though. Hm, what else is going on....Eh, not too much--day off today, and I've pretty much just spent it sitting at my computer, listening to music on Pandora, reading posts on Ravelry and struggling with my socks. Note to self: size 0 needles are not your friend. Stick with the size 1s that are your friend.

Technology

So, i got a new phone. Not just any phone though, an Apple iPhone 3G. All in all, it is a nifty bit of technology, and I've been having fun browsing through the applications--there's a few available specifically for knitting, some paid, some free--I've snagged the free ones. *lol* Also managed to find free apps for Pandora radio, the local news, a selection of free books, and various apps related to health and wellness. Sooo much cool stuff!

I also just got myself a twitter account; now that i have this cool phone and all, why not, eh?

In knitting news, i am still working on Silvie, and have moved on to the back panel--which is going to look identical to the front panel. Sorry, no pics--but really, since it looks identical to the front, you can look at the pictures I've already put up of the front panel, and get the idea.

A thought on Sock Summit '09. No, i did not get to go. I wasn't planning on it anyway, but after seeing pictures on various blogs, Ravelry, and the Yarn Harlot's blog about the event, i am kind of sad i missed out--it looked like a total, and absolute blast! I am deeply impressed and amazed by what was accomplished, even with all the bumps along the way. I hope that another summit is planned for the future--there are rumors about 2011 being the next date--and i hope that, if there is a future event, i am able to attend. I don't quite know how I'm going to justify a sock convention to my boyfriend/fiancee, or the amount of money I'm likely to spend at such an event, be it in lessons or in yarn, but i have plenty of time to figure that out.

After all, he is encouraging me to go yarn shopping at a local shop with one of our friends, who we recently learned is a knitter. And he is planning on saving as much as we can for when we go to Maine, and to the Common Ground Fair. Knowing full well that i am going to buy yarn there--and possibly even raw fleece and a drop spindle, and learn how to spin. Well, okay. He may not know about that last part. But he does know i am going to be spending money on fiber, and is planning for it!

"Yarn? What yarn? These are my kittens..."
~~Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, aka the Yarn Harlot, on stash management.

Still busy, even on vacation!

So, I'm off for two weeks--and today started the second week, going back to work next Monday. I haven't been very idle on my down time though, between cleaning the apartment (and having a friend who loves to clean is a major bonus!) and knitting up a storm. But, i have been enjoying myself, and i haven't been thinking about work too much, so I'd say, vacation is successful!

I've finished the front panel of Silvie, though the only recent picture i have is from where i was almost finished his face, as you can see here. Now, I'm working my way up the back panel, almost to the bottom border--and trying to decide if i want the back to match the front, and add another Silvie to it. I have enough yarn, so that's not an issue, but do i really want to do that much stranded knitting again? I think....maybe. I still have time to decide, and to be frank, it might be of a benefit to the final sizing of the entire piece when it comes to fulling/felting it later.

I also have finished (finally) the Third Monkey bag of Doom. The second one still lives in limbo, but that's because it doesn't have a recipient yet other than myself--and I'm not in any particular rush to finish it. All it needs is for the lining to be cut and sewn, and now that i have my sewing machine running well, and a new straight edge ruler to go with my fabric cutting board, i should be able to get all that done relatively easily. Because i was lacking that simple, stupid piece of acrylic, i couldn't cut a straight line to save my life. Also reconfigured my rotary cutter for left-handed use, so that helps with the straight lines too.

More pics:

The monkey bag:

Done in Red Heart Super Saver solids (acrylic, of course) for the majority of the piece; the monkey's brown hair was done in TLC (another acrylic with a slightly softer feel), the lining is 100% cotton with a print of palm trees on a sky blue background, and a blue 19" zipper at the opening.

The bag isn't intended as a real book bag, given that the straps are knitted, and likely have a lot of stretch to them, but the recipient is going to be using this to help carry her own stuff around at the beach and such--so her mom doesn't have to feel like a pack mule. I chose acrylic for the project in particular for its easy-care properties; this is something which can get used and dirty and washed, and still keep going.

And my beautiful beauty of a sewing machine:

She's a Singer, obviously, but she's MINE! Her serial number is AH932372, which tells me that she is one of 50,000 class 15 machines (she's a model 15-91) manufactured in the Elizabethport factory in Elizabeth NJ, November 29th, 1948.

I picked her up a few years ago, when someone local was having a yard sale--the machine had belonged to the woman's mother-in-law, if i recall correctly, and said mom-in-law was a seamstress by trade. I was told some of the history of the machine that way; the rest i learned via the serial number.

She was being sold because the husband did not have any particularly serious attachment to the machine itself--he had other things and ways to remember his mother--and his wife didn't know how to use it at all. Even though it had been a long time since i had touched a machine myself, i have a soft spot in my heart for these old Singers, and an interest in learning how to sew again, possibly even dabbling in quilting.

This machine is in beautiful condition, and after a bit of tinkering and replacing the power cord, runs like new! When i had first gotten ahold of her, the poor girl, although kept in good condition, was very dusty, and frozen tight--she was in serious need of a good oiling amongst other things, and her frozen condition was due to her being started up and run without being oiled up first. She came with the cabinet she is sitting in, a bench which needs a new seat cover, and the buttonholer accessory, which i have yet to tinker with. Partly because i am still learning my way around the machine itself; i don't want to dive into the various attachments that exist until i understand the basics of her, and the basics of sewing again. Fortunately, i was able to find not only a user manual for her online (she didn't come with one), but also a maintenance manual that shows how to fix just about every single part on the machine--particularly beneficial when it came time to take apart and re-assemble the tension knob correctly.

Updateyness

Yesh, i know it's been a while...it had been a very busy month!

First off, I hope everyone had a wonderful Lughnassadh yesterday if they celebrated, and a happy day if they didn't. *lol*


So, for quick updates--i finished the bat shawl early last month, but the only pictures i have of the finished thing are while it's laid out for blocking. I may re-block it again later, because it didn't hold it's shape the way i wanted it to, but. It is a shawl. It is finished. I love it. And i regret not snagging it on my way out for breakfast with my sweetheart this morning, because it was cold in Denny's.

Before blocking, laid out on my bed:

During blocking, pinned out on a couple of old towels, on my bed:

I also knit another shawl, a simple garter stitch rectangle, as a "feel better!" gift for one of my co-workers. He's been ill lately, and lost weight he really couldn't afford to lose (the man's already a bean-pole; now if he turns sideways, he disappears!), and a constant fever. I'm more concerned that he regain his health and feel better, stronger, more like his old self, than finding out what is making him ill--that's the doctor's job. No pictures of that shawl exist, but it is done in a dark grey colorway of Lion Brand Homespun ("Edwardian").

Lets see, what else. Oh, there's the hat that has been sent to the frog pond; I recently learned that a friend of ours is a knitter who is interested in developing her skills beyond knits and purls, into the realm of shaped objects (she wants to make socks), so she started with a hat. I bought some of the same yarn she's using, but in a different color, and worked on it to help show her the techniques she didn't know, or couldn't figure out from looking at pictures--mainly cabling and SSK. She finished her hat, i frogged mine--the yarn will go to something else, eventually.

I am still working on my fraternal twin mellow stripe socks; they are going to be the same size, but their stripes and colors don't match up correctly. Thus, they are not identical twins, but fraternal twins. That's still my "on the go" project, and really, it should be finished by now, but it's not a priority. I'm an inch or two from the toe shaping.

I also cast on for "Silvanus," the surprise design from the Anticraft October 2006 issue, "Fear Itself." And i have to say, stranded knitting is a lot easier than i thought it would be--with the bonus of few yarn ends to weave in. I'm still a bit concerned with how the felting of this bag will go, but i have high hopes.

Silvie from the front, work in progress--you can see the chart I'm working from in the top of the picture, and my favorite skully stitch markers that one of my Anticraft friends made for me, and gave to me in a trade.

And flipped over, showing the strands from the back. Janus the Cat decided to test it out as a pillow/blanket for her, and refused to get out of the camera shot.

I'm a bit further along on this now, but only up to his nose--in these pictures, i was at his bottom lip. Since it is storming out, i may go and simply work on him for a while though. If i just work on him, i may be able to get him finished, and start on the back of the bag before we go to the movies tonight, actually.