We will beginning scheduling events for next year in November 2009. If you are interested in scheduling an event with me, please contact my awesome event planner Aimee at aimeeATfairieknitsDOTcom
My Patterns For Sale
My original sock patterns are available for sale at:
Ravelry Pattern Store Visit my Ravelry Pattern store here.
I am madly knitting along on the second Bamboo Sock and according to my calculations, I will complete it tomorrow.
See, on the first sock, I knit 99 rounds for the leg after turning the heel. I am currently on Round 80. I am averaging 26 rounds per day on my commute (to and from work), and I have 19 rounds rounds left for tomorrow. Piece of cake. (Mmmmmmmm, cake!)
Did you see what I did there? Math. Please hold your applause.
I almost always count my rounds when making socks. I facilitate this by attaching a row counter (via an 0ld stitch holder) to my sock in progress.
When I knit socks for myself, I know that to get the foot the proper length I need to work 56 rounds after completing the toe before I start the gusset increases. Then, after the heel turn I keep track of how many rounds I knit for the leg, so that my second sock will match exactly.
Now, if I am making a sock with easy-to-count pattern repeats, I don’t bother with the stitch counter.
Speaking of socks, there is a fabulous, comprehensive entry on short rows over on the TECHknitting blog, here.
Speaking of socks, I have jumped the gun and written up the pattern for the Bamboo Socks. It is a pdf download, here. It is also linked to from my Free Patterns page.
And now for something completely different. A photo of part of my desk at work.
The following important items are present in this photo (and easier to see if you click on the photo to enlarge it, if you really care):
a plastic hair clip
a rearview mirror
birth announcement for my brother’s grandson
photos of Lucy
headphones
my Stitch-a-Day calendar
the label from a skein of Alchemy Juniper
the list of Wollmeise colorways that I own
a post-it note with my Mega Millions lottery numbers on it
a letter from the Professional Hockey Players’ Association that I just responded to but am too lazy to file away
headphones
a postcard with a giant Dala horse on it
my coffee cozee
water bottle w/ filter
phone charger
ipod charger
coke bottle caps
among other things.
This tells me I need to clean my desk.
Lucy is happy — her Momma will be home this weekend!
This past weekend I taught my leftover sock yarn class for the first time. A big part of the class is all about mitered shapes — how to knit ‘em, and how to attach them to each other to actually make things.
I have a mitered square piece that I started before class, and I added to during class. Here is what it looks like now:
I thought it would be fun to post a pic of it periodically. I don’t plan on doing much knitting on it outside of class, but thought it would be fun to keep track of my progress on it.
I’ve done my last teaching gig of the year, so don’t expect to see this again anytime soon.
About that class . . .
Included with the class was a handout with 7 other fun little projects you can create from leftover sock yarn. I posted a photo of them last week:
Since then, I’ve gotten a whole lot of emails asking if I’d make the patterns available for people can’t get to one of my classes. I wasn’t going to just yet, but have changed my mind since I’ve had so many requests. I’ve made the 7 patterns available as booklet and you can purchase it for $7.00 (that’s $7.00 for 7 patterns) from my Ravelry store. Here is the Ravelry link for the pattern booklet. These are all very speedy little knits that would be great for quickie holiday gifts and adornments. All details are on the Ravelry page.
I realize that there are some of you that might want just one of the seven patterns and paying seven bucks to get it seems a tad steep. Sorry about that! I did give a fair amount of thought to pattern delivery, and decided to go this route.
And now for some Assorted Random Bits.
Random Bit #1:
When I got home from work today, I found that Lucy had been arranging some of her toys.
She does this quite a lot. I always wonder what her purpose is.
Clearly she is worn out from that endeavor.
Random Bit #2:
A couple of weeks ago I got some free samples of a bunch of natural/homeopathic stuff — and this was one of the samples:
Notice anything funny about it?
Random Bit #3:
I’m a-working along on my second Bamboo Sock. My goal is to have this pair a done deal by the end of the week.
Random Bit #4:
It was pouring rain when I went to work this morning. At noon it was sunny with blue sky. Driving home from the train station it looked like this:
Crazy weather.
A Serious Note:
KnitNana Sallee sent me information on a member of her community, a young woman who has been missing since October 17: Morgan Harrington. There is a website with information about her here. You can probably imagine the horror her family is going through right now. I’m just helping to spread the word in my little corner of the world. Take a look at the site, keep your eyes open, and spread the word if you can, please.
And back to my regularly scheduled knitting projects. I don’t believe that I ever showed you that I completed my first Bamboo sock:
And a close-up:
I finished that last week before I left for Oklahoma. And I’ve made some decent progress on the second sock:
I’m also knitting on my Two-Thirds shawl, though you probably can’t really tell that I’ve made any progress, given its blob-like nature.
Last night I gave Miss Lucy a special gift:
This is a mousie knit by Keri. The pattern is from my “what to do with leftover sock yarn” class, and Keri whipped out two mice at blazing speed. She says her favorite part of the pattern was the direction “decrease for the butt.”
The mouse is a gift for Lucy from Keri’s boy kitty Slick, a demonstration of his undying love for her.
I returned home last night from my Oklahoma City, totally exhausted from a fun-filled weekend. How is it possible that the weekend flew by so quickly?
MY plane landed in OKC late Friday afternoon and I was met at the airport by three of my very favorite people in the world: Stacy, Keri, and Muriel. We checked me into my hotel, then headed over to Cattlemen’s Steakhouse, where Mary, Courtney, and Laura were waiting for us and we had a very yummy leisurely dinner. The place was packed and we were lucky to be put into a private room.The food was fantastic! I’ll be sure to watch Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives this weekend, because Cattlemen’s Steakhouse is one of the featured eateries on this episode.
Here’s just Muriel and me with a full view of the statue:
The rest of the weekend was spent at SWAK in the City: classes, a party, and just all-round yarny fun!
Here is the one photo I took:
Oklahoma sunrise!
On Saturday night a bunch of us headed over to Muriel’s house for good food, margaritas, knitting, and a whole lot of laughing.
Here’s Muriel and me under a tree outside her house. I love seeing the leaves change!
I had such a wonderful time, but was happy to return home to my sweet Lucy. Today she’s been staring out the window:
This is what she looked like when I left the house on Thursday:
While I was away, it turned into autumn here. The view out my window:
And another view:
Book Giveaway!
The Random Number Generator chose Susie B to win my copy of The Polymer Clay Cookbook.Susie, I’ve emailed you, but my email has been wonky today, so if I don’t hear from you soon, I’ll try again!
Speaking of The Polymer Clay Cookbook, the authors have posted a tutorial for making stitchmarkers on their blog, here.
The green is Madeline Tosh Lace — (colorway called “Grove”) .It’s 100% merino (superwash) with 950 yards per skein.
The variegated is their Pure Silk Lace, which is 100% tussah silk and has 1000 yards/skein. The colorway is “Wren.”
I have purchased these yarns purely for research, honest.
Flippin’ Burgers!
I found out that there is a bonus video from the creators of the Polymer Clay Cookbook — how to make burger charms! Watch and learn:
Still plenty of time to enter the book giveaway — see yesterday’s post.
Oklahoma, OK!
I’m off to Oklahoma City tomorrow for a weekend of fun at SWAK in the City. I’ll be teaching toe-up sock toe and heel techniques, but will also be debuting my new class on things to do with leftover sock yarn. Here are a few of the things you can do:
No blog post tomorrow or Sunday, but I’ll be back Monday. See you then!
