Gray Wednesday

The last few days have been rainy so I've actually had a bit of time to knit and read. Sorry the pics are so drab, my socks as well as the weather are gray. I'm embarrassed to admit that gray is actually one of my favorite colors. What can you expect from a former accountant turned librarian?! These are my first pair of socks worked on circular needles, and aside from a few glitches I think that I am a circular needle convert.

I used two circulars rather than the magic loop. I'm still intimidated by that whole loopy thing, and think that the whole business looks rather awkward. I was reluctant to abandon my double points - there's something about them that makes me feel connected to the past. Maybe it's all of the lovely artwork out there that depicts women working so industriously on their socks. (Though I must admit this young lassie doesn't look all too excited about the task at hand. Is that a dreamy far off look - or a bitter 'when in the hell will I ever be done with this freaking sock look' ?)

That said, cables are wonderful because you never lose them, as I'm always losing those tiny double points, and you don't lose stitches when you put your work down because you can slide the stitches safely down onto the cable. My only trouble was that against the advice of the yarn shop owner I insisted on purchasing the bamboo needles rather than the Addi Turbo's. Don't get me wrong I love Addi's, and in retrospect I should have bought the Addi's, but I fell in love with those cute little bamboo needles and the elegant gold join, that would later prove to be the bane of my existence. You see the stitches are essentially divided in half between the two cables. Work half the stitches, then slide the stitches down onto the cable, drop the needle and pick up the other cable needle working the remaining stitches. Note that the stitches need to slide onto and off of the cable after working the stitches on each needle - here was my problem, that pretty little golden join was not smooth at all - and even after loosening up my stitches a bit to accomodate the join - the last two stitches were always a bit tighter and very tricky to slide back onto needle.


This became rather annoying as you can imagine with the zillions of tiny stitches that go into the making of a sock. So live and learn I guess, or save yourself some time and go straight for the Addi's.

By the way April 1865 is a very interesting book for any of you Civil War buffs out there. I felt very apropros knitting a gray sock while reading it even if I am a Northern girl. By the way I can't actually read and knit simultaneously - that's just a dream of mine, I have to take turns.

I Am a Terrible Mother

Caroline's birthday was in November, we had her little girl party in June. Enough said. The party is done and it was lots of fun, so better late than never I guess. Caroline wanted a Chinese princess party. We have two nieces adopted from China, so my girls just love anything Chinese. Rather than favors, each girl got one of these cute little dresses to wear home.

The weekend was crazy busy. I worked frantically in my gardens and cleaning my house so that all the moms bringing their little girls to the party wouldn't think poorly of me. Peer pressure is a wonderful motivator. Frankly if it weren't for the fear of company coming I wouldn't get anything done, and since we live in the country people don't just pop in too often. I would rather spend my time with my husband and kids, or reading, knitting or running, but I also hate to get caught with my house in disarray...I am a complete fraud. I often wonder when I read some of these blogs where everything looks so perfect, is it really that way? Beautiful crafting, fabulous children, lovely homes, lofty reading... is there really a huge mess lurking just outside the range of the camera lens? Anyhow I didn't knit at all last weekend - so of course today rather than cleaning, I'm blogging and knitting. Blogger has been really wonky this morning and it's taking me forever to get this post done...so now I'm done!

While My Computer Was Sleeping...

I've been working, watching many, many soccer games, not cleaning my house, not getting into my garden enough, and knitting a little. The Fingerless Mitts were completed just in time for summer (she said sarcastically). But my Alissa loves them and thinks they are very cool to wear while she's playing her drums. These were very easy to knit up - can be done in an evening or two and used just one ball of Noro Kureyon. I tried to throw caution to the wind and knit the mitts including that strange section of rust colored yarn, but in the end I just had to chop out the whole rusty chunk - it just did not seem to belong there.

I've also squeaked in some reading, movies, and further progress on the PBSJ. The yoke and sleeves are done, and I'm started on the back - which I think I need to make a bit longer than the pattern calls for, but I'm daunted by the task of figuring out how to do it properly with that pleated back and diamond pattern.

Anyhoo - loved the Movie as well as the book (Geisha that is) it's beautifully filmed - but sad, sad, sad. The Country Life I'm not lovin' so much. It's about a woman who abandons her life in London, in order to go live in the country and care for a young disabled man. Three-quarters of the way through it's just been a series of silly situations she gets herself into, and is just FINALLY beginning to explain why she bagged everything in her previous city life. I'm hoping that maybe it will somehow redeem itself in the end.

Guess that's all for now - I feel there's so much I want to say after being away so long, but I don't want to bore everyone to death.