January One -- Embossed Leaves Socks

April 04, 2006

Too Good To Be True

Yesterday I felt like crap most of the day so I didn't clean for Wendy. She, in her infinite cuteness and generosity, took this as a sign that I really, really, really love her. In her thinking, I would only really clean for someone I was intimidated by, or uncomfortable with - as I wouldn't want to reveal the slob I really am to a stranger, but to someone I love and am close with they get me warts and all. I can see her logic - I would tell her not to clean for me either, but my house is so disgusting these days I'm almost looking for an EXCUSE to clean, you know? I will be doing a bit of lysol handiwipe wipe down and a bit of vacuuming. Because I will feel better.

I have a good excuse for the state of disrepair that is my house. I've been trying and trying to get it all straightened out and cleaned up but a consultation with the calendar the other day proved that I haven't been home two weekends in a row since before New Year's. And I will continue to be gone every other weekend through June. That's a lot of time away. And not a lot of continuum to get things done. While all of the away time has been good time, I'm kind of sick of it.

G did book us a mini-vacation though! That's okay! We're going here. It'll be a hectic ten days - wedding on Saturday (better get kicking on that BDFS!) then Bermuda M-Th, then MDSW F and S. Then I'll be home for a weekend then off again. Then home, then off. Then home, then off. Now that I think of it, I might have two weekends home in April. But that's right before our big week.

So when I wasn't cleaning yesterday I spun a little - I'm trying to get this pink stuff done because I'm anxious to spin up my new PS Yellow/Orange. Then I pushed to finish a sock. It didn't take as long as I thought:

I'm still not sure about how it looks on my foot. And I'm really not sure about the toe.









Gives camel toe a whole new meaning. I mean, my toe looks like I've got a hoof. I'll make the other one, but I may just go back to a regular toe. And then I'll redo the toe on this one. Otherwise, I'm happy with my modifications: I added another full repeat on the leg - 4.5 - and I did the first two repeats on size 2s (Addis) then switched to size 1s. I did my regular jaywalker heel and I'm very happy with that - if it ain't broke - don't fix it!

I was going to change the title of the post because I was originally going to be talking about this niggling feeling I've had - you know when things just all of a sudden start to fall into place and everything is going really well and then you wake up in a cold sweat and think everything's going so well! What's going to happen now? Then I thought I woudn't talk about it but I'm kind of in that place. I was telling my sister about all the good stuff that's been happening while she was away and then I kind of had a mini-panic attack. Are things supposed to go this well? I mean, I've worked hard to get things where they are, but still? Shouldn't it be harder? Or not as good? Or what's going to happen now? I don't like this about myself - this pessimism for lack of a better word - and I'm trying to just enjoy the moment but I can't help thinking the other shoe's about to fall. Is Mercury still in retrograde? Because I'm a Capricorn and we usually do well when eveyone else is miserable - so that we can get back to our miserableness when everyone else is doing well, which is most of the time. Better go check my horrorscope. Right after I clean a bathroom. Thanks for reading.

Posted by Cara at 10:27 AM | Comments (25)

April 03, 2006

Monday Monday

It's one of those mornings. Daylight savings time really threw us for a loop. I'm up by 7:30AM every day (even on the weekends) and today I slept until 8:30. Then G was really late and I drove him into the city so my morning was pretty much shot. Add to that some seriously hurting boobies and a massive sinus headache and I'm just so freaking happy today!! Yeah MONEY!

I did, though, have a very fun and productive weekend. Saturday was CAR day. G and I had narrowed it down to three cars after all our (his) research and spreadsheets and statistics. We had one more test drive Saturday morning: one was already pretty much out of the running because of cup holders (all things being equal, it's a dealbreaker), one was on the top of the list, and then one needed to knock our socks off. Didn't happen. Then we went and test drove our first choice again and we were both once again COMPLETELY WOWED!! We love this car. It's different - not many people have it all - it's fast - it drives like a dream - it's safe. Everything we want. We're not in a complete rush - we have a couple of months before we have to give our car back, so they're working on finding exactly what we want. (We always go for a weird combination of color/extras that's kind of hard to find.) On Sunday we actually changed our minds a bit about the interior color and G sent the guy an email. Wouldn't you know it? They found the original car we asked for at the port, but now we'll have to wait again for the color combo. I'm so excited!!! I would tell you what car we got, but it's so perfect for the ABC A-Long Letter R that I don't want to give it away. ;-) Suffice it to say we're EXTREMELY excited about our new purchase. It's going to be a blast!!!

Friday I worked diligently on a job and rewarded myself by starting my Sockapaloooza socks.

And the whole time I'm knitting them (I got about two pattern repeats in after the picot edge) I'm thinking this yarn would look really really good as...



...you guessed it. Some people may claim to be a harlot when it comes to their knitting, I'm just basically a whore. I scraped the sockapaloooza socks and started a pair of picot edge jaywalkers for moi. So crass. I knit the entire cuff on Saturday going from car dealer to car dealer. G was nice enough to drive the whole time - usually I'm the one behind the wheel. The heal has now been turned and I just have to pick up the gusset. Before you go and accuse me of being the worst kind of charlatan, the yarn just wasn't working with my chosen Sock Pal pattern. I've since ordered some new fantastic yarn from Tina at Blue Moon, which should arrive later this week, and this yarn is guaranteed to be PERFECT for the pattern and my sock pal. GUARANTEED. And since the socks I've chosen are short, on size 2s with an easily memorizable pattern, we're good to go by the deadline.

The best way to gain back interest in something you claim to be bored with is to actually SAY you're bored with it. All I did this weekend was knit socks. I picked up the Embossed Leaves sock again - and found that I had made a mistake with the instep pattern somewhere after I picked up the gusset so I ripped. Then counted wrong and ripped again. FINALLY I'm on my way to finishing the foot. It's going pretty fast - I think I've got a repeat and a half to go before I start decreasing for the toe. There's only one itsy bitsy problem. I think I like them better on the needles than I do on my feet.

I dont' know. It's weird - I think they look really cool off - the colors the yarn the pattern, but on, they seem just eh. Oh well. I will finish them. I think it's pretty funny that you all got so concerned when I said I was bored with socks. I mean, I don't really consider myself a sock knitter. Of course, I knit socks, but basically I've knit the same sock a million times. I often get questions about socks and sock knitting and I rarely know the answer - unless, of course, you're asking about jaywalkers. I don't know anything about heels or toes or short rows - in fact, I put my normal jaywalker heel on my embossed leaves sock. Not that I mind being thought of as a sock knitter, it's just not really how I see myself. That said, here are the three socks I've got on my needles currently. Two need the gusset picked up and one needs a foot.

Yesterday, I finished another job and sent it off to the printer! YAY! And I'm thisclose to getting the taxes done - I just needed some stuff from G which he provided late last night. Today they will be finished. And then I have to at least make an attempt to clean. A bathroom at the least. Bookish Wendy is coming for a couple wild parties with the girls over at MDK. I hope they don't get sick of me because I plan to go to see them Tuesday, Wednesday (with the LI Crew in da house!!!!), Thursday and finally Friday in Philly! WHOOHOO! I lurve me some Ann and Kay.

Last but not least, I flashed my stash on Saturday. Many of you stopped by to see. When I was taking the pictures I didn't really think much of it - it's just another blog thing why not, but after getting all the comments and traveling around to other people's stashes I actually was kind of uncomfortable about showing mine. The few posts I read about excess and waste didn't help matters, but I glossed over those. I mean, I know I have a decent amount of yarn. Some of it I should really get rid of because I will never knit with it and deep down I know it but I'm not ready to part with it. Besides STR (which I'll get to in a minute) I haven't really been buying a lot of yarn lately. Most of what's in my stash was bought last year: my first experience with elann.com. My first trip to Maryland. My first pair of socks. Since I've gotten rid of all those firsts, the only yarn I've really bought had a pattern to go with it. And I've been trying to knit from stash when I can. The STR is a whole other ball game. I think of that like a collection. And the truth is that I do knit it up - I've got STR socks on the needles (right now three pairs going) at all times since I started buying it. I'm going to Maryland next month and while I will probably come home with some yarn, I don't have any intentions of buying any. I won't be buying any STR (unless I see something I've really been looking for, but I doubt it.) I will be looking for fiber and spinning stuff. That's this year's obsession. Right now I'm too busy making my own yarn to buy someone else's. ;-)

The thing is my house is also filled (and I mean filled) with books. I doubt anyone would comment on the excess of that. Just an observation. I could be wrong, and I'm sure my feelings of discomfort are just that - my feelings. No one said anything unkind to me - it's just the impression that I got from the comments. And no need to stroke my ego in the comments today - it's all just thoughts off the top of my head.

Off to finish the taxes and clean a toilet or two. Ghost story winner announced tomorrow.
Have a FANTASTIC DAY!
L, C

Posted by Cara at 01:50 PM | Comments (20)

March 15, 2006

Frantic

Hi! Let me introduce myself. My name is Cara and I used to blog. A lot. Oh god how I miss it. I'm home again folks and I can only hope you missed me as much as I've missed you. And miss you I did! I'm SO out of the loop. I forgot not one but TWO birthdays: two of my best blog buds Margene and Wendy. How awful am I? I pride myself on being an excellent friend - I work hard at it - and I totally dropped the ball. So much so Margene sent ME a present for HER birthday! How ridiculous is she and how much do I suck?

Bunnycrack from Kim! Awesome, no? That Margene. She rocks. Happy happy birthday to you! And a FANTABULOUS birthday to the BOOKISH Girl! Sorry guys. Next year I'll do better. I promise.

So G and I had our homecoming last year night (But oh man it felt like a year! Being at my sister's - no matter how much I love her, the kids, spending time with them - is NOT a vacation. I work hard. This time there was lots of work and lots of sick so I'm happy to be home.) and it wasn't what I had anticipated to say the least. I'm on the train coming up from Philly and I get a call from G-Love. He had arrived home a couple of hours earlier and when he finally got home from the airport he realized a mistake had been made! Right out of our favorite movie, G had picked up the wrong suitcase at the airport!!!! Now, before you start snickering and think to yourself WOW! She bagged a winner! I saw the suitcase he picked up and it was identical to his bag. And to make matters worse, the bag itself is very different and easily identifiable. Georgie is the last person on earth (I guess, now, one of two) to NOT have a roller bag. Know what I'm talking about? He carries a soft suitcase (not a duffel) and it's got this bright orange/yellow trim and the word LUCAS on it. So here comes the same bag on the baggage carousel and right next to it - TOUCHING it - is his other bag. He was on the phone arguing with the car service guy about where to meet and I was ringing in on the other line and he just picked up his bags and left. It wasn't until he got home that he realized he had the wrong bag. When he called me I was all like OH MY GOD it's FRANTIC and what if there are drugs in the bag?! Apparently only an I-POD, ten pairs of sneakers and some condoms. Somebody had fun in Miami.

When G called me I was like no biggie - pick me up at the train station and we'll head over to the airport. I always come into Newark Penn Station and the airport's like ten minutes from there. One problem though - G flew into La Guardia. Nothing like a midnight run to LGA. While we were going through the tunnel we got a call from American Airlines informing us they had his bag. Whew. We got to the airport with a little detour (missed a sign) switched out bags and headed home. Thank god we made that little detour because we took the BQE home and there was like a ten mile back up going TOWARDS the airport. Which we would've been stuck in. Maybe until today. Sometimes there is such a thing as luck.

So we're home. Safe and sound. I miss the kids terribly - I've spent A LOT of time with them this month and now they're off on a fabulous family vacation. The baby and I had some great bonding time. As sad as it is, it's a great ego boost when the little guy cries every time you're out of his line of sight. Awwww.

Knitting was sporadic. I found that weaving in ends on Short Rows was a great nap filler. I'm almost done, believe it or not. I have another new goal for this sweater - I want it done by Passover. And I have a FANASTIC new project on the horizon - details later in the week I hope. I need it for an event at the end of April so I have to start it soon, but it's something I've been dreaming about for awhile and I think it will be phenomenal if I can pull it off.

Socks, socks, socks! I finished a jaywalker and cast on for a mate (not this sock's mate - but you know how I like to switch socks up.) And the embossed leaves saga continues!



Looks like I haven't made any progress, doesn't it? Uh uh uh! Looks can be deceiving! No sillies! It's not the second sock or anything as ambitious as that - it's still the first sock. Only a brand new incarnation! I got to the turning of the heel, believe it or not, and decided it wasn't right. I had done about 15 rows of ribbing and the 3.5 pattern repeats called for and, well, it looked short. So I ripped back to row 12 of ribbing and started knitting the pattern on size 2 Addis. I continued on 2s for two repeats, then switched to 1s. Right now I've got about 3.5 repeats done and I'm planning on doing 4.5 and then starting the heel. Everything's going along pretty well now. I'm happy with it.

Anyway. I'm back. And I hope to be back for good - for a while at least. There's still a lot of running around this month and now it's extending into April and May but, it's okay. I'll deal.

Hope you're having a GREAT day!
L, C

Posted by Cara at 02:18 PM | Comments (24)

March 04, 2006

Embossed Leaves

God I just LOVE jumping on someone ELSE's bandwagon. Love it! So I'm making these pretty socks from the Winter 2006 IK in Koigu #P704. I've decided that the spackly spotty Koigus are my favorites. What a surprise to knit! Every now and again such a shocking color rolls past my needle - something I'd never expect and seems so out of place - that I have to laugh. Very nice. (Although for the record, STR is MUCH softer than Koigu. Surprisingly so.)

Okay - so the socks. I LOVE the pattern. So much so I'm planning on knitting 8 million versions of this sock as well. There is a problem though. I followed the cast-on directions (even though they don't really seem like what I thought a tubular cast on was supposed to be) and I did the ribbing on size 2 Addis (3mm) and then after fifteen rows of twisted knit ribs, I started the pattern on size 1 Addis (2.5mm). Now I'm thinking I should've done the whole thing on 2s. Or even start over and do the ribbing on 3s and the body on 2s. They seem too tight. All you embossed leaves knitters out there - what say you? Yeah. Yeah. I didn't do a gauge swatch. They're socks. Do you really swatch for socks? Isn't it just easier to rip out and start over? Thanks for the thoughts.

I washed my yarn and hung it to dry and you were all right. It seems a lot better. Thank you all so much for your advice and encouragement (and offers for a good home for the yarn. The yarn appreciates it, but I think I'll keep it.) I think my problem was I really thought my spinning was improving by leaps and bounds (and I still believe this) but when I went to ply and was reminded of those bits of the spinning where I HADN'T improved - I was disappointed. It's a one step up and two steps back kind of thing. I'll get there. I know I will and I can't wait to spin some more.

Unfortunately though there won't be much spinning this month. Although I'm going to kick ass to get the Project Spectrum Spinning in. It seems I'll be on the road a lot this month - G's away a few weekends in a row and I'm on my way to Philly today. We've got some family stuff going on this weekend that I don't really want to talk about, but I will absolutely appreciate any good vibes you can send my way. I'm awfully open on the blog - but only when it comes to me and me alone. Stuff that affects my larger family I like to keep pretty quiet and it hasn't been the best of times for us lately. Tomorrow is just another chapter in the continuing changes that we're all still struggling to get used to. Blah. Let's all sing together: It's just another Xanax Sunday la, la! (Apologies to The Bangles.)

I be back home on Thursday, so I'm not sure how much I'll be blogging between then and now. I'm on kid duty a lot - I'm actually going to help out my sister - so my computer time might be kind of scarce. Look for late night shout outs. Have a great weekend! See you soon!
L, C

Posted by Cara at 08:44 AM | Comments (45)