The boy socks (1) are done and (2) ready for heels. This is my goal for today. Heels. Do I have an exciting life or what??

Yesterday, Zach's adorable girlfriend came over. She's a vegetarian so I am cooking without meat for her which is fine with me. Made lentil pilaf with several veggies, lemon peel, asiago cheese, fresh basil and it was .. ok. Not all that flavorful considering .. but ok. After he had taken her home, he rushed in the door saying, "I'm making Top Ramen. Dinner was good but not enough complex carbohydrates."

"Not enough what?" I asked and he repeated.

"What about the lentils (which were red, by the way) and the rice?"

"Not enough," he said.

Personally, I think Top Ramen is simple carbohydrate but I know better than to argue with a teenager .. especially when he's actually preparing food for HIMSELF!

Both boy socks are ready for toes. They seem to have about the same size feet which makes this easier. I have one here to try them on.

I have nothing to say about myself today but sending well wishes to everyone who's sick and everyone who's being visited by the Holiday Depression monster.

These are my newly finished Lorna's Laces socks in Tuscany and I love them. sighhhh (please ignore the blue thread showing on the top of the sock..it is no longer there.)

Zach seems happy with his hat. He wore it when it went to see his girlfriend yesterday (such a doll by the way!) and told me she liked it. "Everybody likes goofy hats," he said.

"Would she like some goofy socks?" I asked. He didn't seem so convinced about that.

You Are Socks!

Cozy and warm... but easily lost. You make a good puppet.

I decided on a finishing for the hat and had at it while the boy was at work. It's kind of loose .. at least on me .. and he may not like it. And I hope in a way he doesn't so I can send it to Afghans for Afghans. I think it would be useful there.

Here's the back modeled by a shy penguin.


Here's directions for the vinegar:

It's half decent while wine and half decent white (good brand name not store brand) white vinegar. We added fresh sprigs of thyme, basil and oregeno tied together with a strand of chives. A piece of garlic was dropped into the bottle and it sits for three months to ferment. You can get these wine bottles or other fancy bottles at those big container stores.

I keep going from one sock to the other:

Brown sock (2) has met with a mishap but is ready for the heel flap.

Red sock (2) proceeding nicely on the foot.

Orange sock (1) is growing a heel flap.

Blue sock (1) has a complete heel and the beginnings of a gusset. There was a worry that I didn't have enough of the colorway to complete the sock so the heel is done in green as will be the toe.

Whew!

I have finished the hat knitting and this person I've admired from afar named Nanette (knittingincolor.blogspot.com) has given me ideas for finishing it. I'm probably giving it to Zach as is and let him decide on what shape it'll take.

The two socks are not finished but just to keep boredom at bay, I've started two more. The orangey one (Opal prima) is for Zach and I keep asking him, "Are you sure you'll wear this?" The cool-colors one is heavier wool (Emu Superwash) and is for a young man in California. The socks can grow together as the boys sort of have.

This is the perfect little camouflage sock. You can see that I'm almost done with the heel flap on the second sock. There I was sitting in my chair looking for a dropped stitch when ... presto .. one of the needles vanished. I had already lost one so now I have three and can't finish the sock. I looked under all the furniture, took the chair cushions out, examined the afghan I was snuggled under, no needle. This is a size (2.25 mm) that I seriously think I never want to use again. I have 2.5 mm ones on the way.

Lorna's Lace Tuscany. I am loving this sock. It fits, is comfy and knits up fast with these 2.75 mm needles. I'm getting quite a lesson on metric math here.







And this is the hat as of the morning. The other day I had an html question for Zach and pretty soon he was looking at my website. He's a guy so MAYBE he didn't put 2 and 2 together and think about the hat picture. Anyway, I haven't wanted to post more of them. I'm not sure I have enough of the green. Hope so. It's my favorite color in here. I wish the tassels could be green also.

I am freeeeeeee!!! For some reason, I have been seeing my knitting abilities up to the effort of producing hand-knitted socks for various people. All these would be done by Christmas and would be perfect. So I was starting things and problems popped up and I was just frustrated, getting nowhere. I totally frogged a couple of things, put them back in the basket and am now free to work on the hat you see below plus some socks that have been started that will be for me. After all this knitting, I only have one pair of socks for myself. After the hat and after Christmas, I will be without deadline, relax a bit, and maybe make some gift socks.

After I do this green/pink formation three more times, the knitting will be finished. Cute, I think.

This is not Knitting 101. This is Knitting -101 maybe.

How the yarn starts.



How it ends.



How it should not be between beginning and end.



The almost perfect little sock I made has two choices in life:

1. I can make it a mate and then, like the kingsmen in Cinderella, go search for the tiny foot it will fit. Actually, it fits me but cosily. We will see.
2. I could frame it as proof I have knitted something that worked out.

I am making a Russian, tasseled hat for Zach form Charlene Schurch's book "Mostly Mittens." Because he's grown, it takes 180 stitches around. Somewhere on row 3, I saw an error in row 1 so I am unknitting (tinking). I neeeeed to sllllow down and check things often as I go.

Notice the two bottles in the picture with the ball of yarn. Those are herbed vinegars that I made at friend's house. She invited people over and taught us this tasty craft. Vinegar, it turns out, is made with vinegar. You pour some vinegar in a bottle, some white wine, throw in the herbs and set it aside for a couple of months. It's ready to consume.

Trivia: did you know the average woman's ankle measures eight inches?

Problems with knitting. I finished the sock and it's gorgeous. It is truly beautiful and I could never rip it out. But it's smallish. I used size 1 needles like the pattern said but didn't notice (and didn't gauge ... bad !!!) that her size 1 was 2.5 mm and mine was 2.25 mm. So it's snug and not meant for a gift like planned.

And the glove isn't working either. I made one pair which turned out very well but this one isn't. The other yarn was more forgiving. This one show every little problem, every stitch that's not the same size, every twist. The places where the threads join for fingers look horrible.

Saw some magazine on the stand this morning that had a tiny article about how calming knitting is. I am withholding judgement.

First, I want to show how friendly my cats are to each other. Acutally, Ivan (left) will try to be friendly but is usually rebuffed.

These socks are taking forever. The size 1 needles are smaller than skewers you barbecue with and it goes on and on and this is the first sock. It takes two, you know.

The green is another pair of fingerless gloves I've started. Hopefully, I'll be finished before Christmas.

Had to post this. Those who know me will faint.

Stuff you make ought to be cheaper than stuff you buy, right? And I guess it would be if you started with your own sheep and ended up with your own sweater. You'd already own a spinning wheel, of course, and needles and have the pattern. Then it would be free.

I talked with a woman making a gorgeous tweedy sweater this morning. Her yarn cost upwards of $160. It was part silk. Along with the sheep, I need some silkworms and ... whatever it takes to turn the cocoon into a string.