The October contest is all about socks.
Here’s what you have to do:
Email me (“Contact Me” link in the sidebar) the URL of your favorite free sock pattern on the internet (apart from my free pattern, of course!) with a brief description of the pattern.
Please, just one email with one URL per person.
Doing this will earn you an entry in the drawing for this:
A kit to knit llama socks!
The kit was generously donated by Jo in NYC — thanks Jo!
Kureyon Striping
Thanks y’all for telling me your experiences with color striping in Kureyon yarn. It seems to be all over the map. I think I’ll stick to using Kureyon for felted bags and other small projects only, as the randomness of the striping would drive me batty knitting a sweater.
Interestingly, several of you reported a lot of “organic” matter in Kureyon. Of the three skeins I’ve used so far, there was nary a bit of anything in it but wool. Huh.
But I did (cough, cough) buy more. Here’s what my next Booga bag will be knitted from, color #88:
And I scored a bag of 10 skeins on eBay for a nice low price (50 bucks) so everyone will be getting Booga Bags for Christmas! Ian, I hope you like yours!
Just kidding.
And Margaret in Manhatten sent me a photo of some yummy Kureyon she’s using — Color #51. So now I need this, too.
Must . . . buy . . . more . . . Kureyon . . .
And Speaking of Booga Bags . . .
Here is mine in its pre-felted state.
Because today is a government holiday (and it didn’t come a moment too soon) I will be felting it today. Fun fun fun! Can’t wait to see how it turns out.
Q&A
Jenny writes:
A question (or two): I was thinking about you last night as I was knitting on my St. Ciaran Starmore design. (I’ve only been knitting about a year and this is my first Aran project.)
First Question: Have you ever knitted this design? (I didn’t see it on your gallery page, but I know you’ve been knitting longer than you’ve been blogging!)
Second Question: You’ve said that you have a photographic memory and can often memorize the Aran patterns fairly quickly. Now, can you memorize them quickly because of the exceptional brain in your head, or is it something that just comes with experience, with learning how all the cables work together?
Right now I’m beginning to think that you are a knitting goddess, as with the St. Ciaran I have to have my pattern with me at all times, each step of the way!
Okay, you knew I had to post that because of the phrase Jenny used: “the exceptional brain in your head.” That should now read “the exceptional brain in your swelled head.”
Answer to first question — I haven’t knitted St. Ciaran.
Answer to second question — um . . . all of the above.
Yeah, I’m intelligent. I am a member of Mensa and I didn’t even cheat on the IQ test to get in. But I sort of consider myself an idiot savant when it comes to my memory. I have a photographic memory about some things and I’m a total drooling moron about others.
In thinking about it, most of the stuff I remember perfectly is visual stuff. Like charts. Remember the Dark Side of the Moon sweater I posted a photo of a few months back? I created the chart for that with colored pencils on graph paper. I didn’t keep the charts, but I can see them in my mind’s eye as clear as day, down to variaitions in the pencil strokes. There is no doubt in my mind that I could sit down and draw the chart again if I wanted to (I don’t).
So any sweater I’ve knitted from a chart that has a repeating pattern, be it cables or fair isle, I could probably re-create from memory. I think the way I memorize charts is from the logic of the design — if that makes any sense. Once memorized, it’s probably stuck in my brain forever.
Now I did not commit totally to memory the chart for the Virgin Sweater — that’s a non-repeating chart. And now that I think of it, same for most of the Dale Olympic sweaters. The ones that have a complicated yoke pattern. I sort of switch my brain off for those, because I know that memorizing won’t do me any good. When I knit stuff like that, I do more or less memorize one row at a time, but I seem able to erase each row as I complete it.
Okay, I just said the photographic memory bit is mostly for visual stuff. But I remember every phone number I’ve ever had from childhood on. I remember the entirety of my second grade Christmas pageant that I had to memorize when I was 7 years old. I can recite the rock opera Tommy from start to finish (and did on a bet from my brother when we were drunk one New Year’s Eve. He was impressed.)
So there you have it. A peek into Wendy’s brain. Is anyone else as frightened as I?
Betsey asked:
Great tattoo, Wendy. Where do you have it?
It’s no my right shoulder blade and has been there a little over four years.
Pamela asks:
Lucy is a real cutie and much more photogenic than my little cat Pushkin.
How do you get her to stay still????
I get Lucy to stay still by pointing a camera at her and crooning “Who’s Mommy’s widdle cutie-wootie puddy-tat?”
Lucy usually stops what she’s doing and stares at me — probably in disbelieve at the inanity of my conversation and the nauseating tone of voice I use.
Hey Kathy, remember at the cottage last summer when you all laughed at me for saying to Suki “Who’s a cute widdle doggie-woggie?”
Do you also remember that Suki was gazing at me with rapt attention? Huh?
Mouse-a-thon!
We delivered two more shopping bags of mousies to Barbara on Saturday. And this weekend I received mousies from KeriAnne in Northampton, MA and Christina in Arlington, VA. Thank you both!
Mouse-a-thon Raffle!
The drawing for the raffle will be done next weekend! So the wait is almost over.
PiS Sweater
Some progress over the weekend. Lookie here: