Toes!
We love toes of all kinds around here. And regarding sock toes, my my there is controversy! We love controversy too! Alex, try that three needle bind off, it works, and you could purl instead of knitting too as suggested, see what works.
Oh, and I meant to mention that although I really prefer toe-down socks, when I do knit toe-up socks, I use Wendy's pattern. Essentially, I don't like toe-up patterns except Wendy's. Her pattern is good.
Uh, it don't work that way...
The bloke is feeling much better, finally. I should say for the record that West Nile Virus is only spread by mosquitos and not human-to-human, lest anyone taking my sick hubbie's post-it note as real medicine. You can touch someone with West Nile. It's OKAY. ;-)
Uh, what's with the lack of knitting, sister?
Well, hmmm. I had to work a bunch, so not much knitting. And I'm deciding about new jobs, so that's a little mind-intensive. Oh, and...
we kind of bought a house. Yah houses!!! More soon if it all goes through. Don't want to jinx it. But we could potentially move to GA in late November. Hooray!
In lieu of new content, here's a cute pic of another bunny I made from Toy Knits by Debbie Bliss. Unfortunately, the receiving child's dog ate this bunny not long after she was given to her. Oh well.
MONSTER TRUCKS!
So picture the MONSTER MONSTER MONSTER TRUCKS announcer voice saying "MASTER OF MY KNITTING UNIVERSE! [echo echo echo].
Doesn't it sound rockin? Becky and I were laughing one day about when you do something really cool in knitting, something you didn't think you could do, you feel so ROCK ON, like you are master of your knitting universe. Like when Becky and I CUT the bottom off a sweater, made a new bottom, and grafted the pieces together. Or when you turn a heel the first time, or say, turn a sweater into a skirt, you get the idea.
So, in true dorkblog style, I made a button: 
UPDATE! I made another button too: 
Take it, use it, but use it wisely, my friends. Ha!
You're Black, I'm Mad!
Anyone remember the Lethal Weapon movies? Boy did those go downhill. But I admit shamefully I saw all four of them. ;-)
Anyhoo, we are back in town. What a whirlwind trip, and what fun! The stitching was great - and as mentioned all my pics look like Carrie's so I won't post them here. But it was fun!
My poor boy is sick, though. I think he has a typical virus. He thinks he has West Nile. That's right, he knows best when it comes to medicine. ;-)
Ripping, ripping, ripping
So the secret project scarf started to piss me off, and I got really frustrated with the ribbing pattern, so I ripped it out. I tried a BUNCH of different patterns, but nothing worked. I got two new books - 365 Knitting Stitches a Year and 440 More Knitting Stitches and finally am happy with a pattern. It's called "Diagonal Ridges" and here's a pic:
It's really amazing how yarn makes the difference; how hard it is to see some patterns with variegated or fuzzy yarn, and this is both. I learned a lot!
New cool thing!
I didn't get much knitting done in GA. Before I left though, I did get something so cool! Kate said in her entry from 6/13 that she uses a bowl to keep balls from rolling around. I got a new basket that works similarly, but is lined with fabric and can cinch up around the yarn to keep it from the dustbunnies. Check it out!!!
Blasted Kitchener Stitch!
Alex asked if there are ways around grafting the toes of socks. There are, and one way is to turn the sock inside out at the end and bind the two remaining rows off with a Three Needle Bind Off. To turn it inside out you might have to put the stitches on waste yarn, turn it, then put them back on needles. And you need the same number of stitches on the top and bottom of the sock, but that's true of most toe-down sock patterns.
You can also knit toe-up socks, but I don't prefer them. I like to turn my heels. ;-)
Also: Here's a really good link for help with grafting - I printed it and use it when I finish socks.
Hope it helps! See you all later!
I've been everywhere...
Well hello and welcome! To HighEnergyKnits on the road. We are in Georgia, where I am interviewing for jobs and we are looking for housing. We are having a great time!!!!
SO! Guess what I got to do! I met up with Carrie, Anne Marie, Mary Jessica, and a bunch of other ladies for a knitting group here in Athens! It was so fun, I had the best time.
Everyone was so nice, and talked to me about living here, etc. I told my husband I'd be back in an hour, and 2.5 hours later I left but only because I had to! Thanks you guys!!! And everyone's knitting was really great. I was impressed.
I took pics, but didn't bring my cable for my camera (sad) so I'll put them up when we get back. Or I'll steal Carrie's pictures, ha! (our pics are like identical).
Give us some knitting, damn you!
The Conwy socks are coming along MAHvelously:
New Stuff
The yarn is to make a Honeymoon tank - Damn that Julia! The yarn is K1C2 2nd Time Cotton, and it is recycled from the textile industry, what a good idea! I'll let you know how it knits up.
The book is a gift from my best friend Alex, a fellow knitter. She got it on her trip to Australia! It looks really fun.
And Last...
So, I just about always knit from a pattern. I have never designed, really, I just feel so daunted by it. But I decided to do a scarf for a friend (kind of a secret, but what's the hell, I'll put a picture). Anyway, this time I just chose the yarn, and tried a bunch of patterns, and widths, etc. It was really fun! It was nothing like designing a whole sweater, at all, but it was a first attempt for me to break out of the box of knitting only by pattern.
Here's the scarf -
and here's a close-up.
Gotta go! Wish us luck in the house hunt!
Wow do my feet hurt!
So I did it - today I ran 18 miles. This is the longest so far, and believe you me many times I wanted to quit. I run a slow 10 min pace on my long runs so it took 180 minutes - I can't believe I ran for three hours! I feel pretty good! Thanks to everyone for the support!
Wanted: Good commentary, or how bout none?
We are enjoying the Olympics these last days, I think Greece has put together a classy show (no superbowel half-time, this.). I would like to punch Al Trautwig most of the time for his asinine commentary during gymnastics, though. Someone put that man out of our misery.
On the other hand, we are having fun mocking him ;-)
Let's hear it for cute toys!
I finished the "secret project" for my friend's kid, Kai. Here it is!
And here's a pic of him relaxing. He's made himself at home around here. Cheeky bastard. So I sent him to Hawaii. ;-)
He was made from Rowanspun DK, and his sweater from Rowan magpie tweed, and the pattern is from Debbie Bliss's Toy Knits.
And look who else has been making toys! Check out Becky's toy chicken! Pretty cool, eh?
Kate is getting done, and I will be a bit sad, cause I love this yarn! I guess I will have to get more, huh? My sister is here, so I have to go now. We went shopping and she made me get new clothes, since my closet is empty. She was mortified at the state of it. ;-) It was so fun! Have a good weekend!
Ok, I feel sort of better now.
So, I expect the occasional comment about "viagra" (usually spelled incorrectly), etc. And I delete them, no big deal. I could use MT Blacklist, but it didn't seem too much trouble yet, as my site's not that big.
But those losers selling poker games and penis enlargements have hacked in and deleted some of my entries, replacing them with their CRAP, and so my hard work is gone. I'm really irritated. Now, I should have kept copies (which I will do henceforth. I love the word henceforth!). But I shouldn't HAVE too. People suck sometimes.
For now, I have closed all my comments except the current entry, as I think they are getting in somehow this way. I am sorry you won't be able to back-comment, truly I am you guys, but I don't want to lose any more pages.
Any ideas?
UPDATE. My mother-in-law who doesn't believe in storing data on a computer, prints everything, and therefore I have copies now I can type in. Yay!
Camping!
We had a great time camping. Here for the fam and friends are some pics.
UPDATE: You can actually click on that link now. It's a new concept, this not-copying-and-pasting, but CLICKING to go to a new website. Everyone will do it soon, I swear. I'm onto something.
Knitting, for crying out loud!
Jess's socks had a lovely time camping:
AND! I got some Rowan Magpie Tweed and am so excited! It's a bit bluer than the picture. It's discontinued, so I got it on ebay.
Why do I have it??? To make THIS. You can buy the pattern here.
Many folks have made this sweater out there, and I WANT IT. Ha ha!
Well, must go for now. Have to work, hi ho, hi ho. My sister comes to town this week!!! FUN.
Well, campin' actually...
Hi there all. We are headed out to go hiking/backpacking for a couple nights, so it's a short post. I did finish the secret project, pics soon.
I think I will take the Conwy socks when I go, in true Harlot fashion (boy those Dublin Bay socks are well-traveled!)
Rock on, sista!
Remember the rust lace sweater I forgot I made? Well, I sent it to my sister, and she looks awesome in it! I'm super happy. It suits her well. She is allowing me to put a small pic on the site.
The pattern is "Luminous Lace Camisole" from IK summer 2003. The yarn is Classic Elite Imagine (cotton/rayon).
Have a good weekend!
New Project!
I love knitting socks, I really do. I've been holding off on starting any new ones for awhile, and I couldn't stand it anymore. I chose the pattern "Conwy" from Knitting on the Road and I love it. But first I started with Lorna's Laces sock yarn, and I couldn't see the pattern at all.
So I frogged it and started over with Trekking, and it looks good! These are for my good friend Jess. Just because.
I come from a land down under.
My beloved friend Alex is in Australia visiting her family, but suffering from a dearth of good knitting. She did pick the following Jo Sharp patterns, which are superb. She is so skinny, that skirt will be great!
I have also acquired some new Jo Sharp yarn, this time some Soho Summer...
to make this from her 7th book, "Family:"
Pretty green. I want to pet it.
Other bits.
THANKS for the birthday wishes you guys! I had a really nice day.
I am having trouble getting motivated to run this week, maybe it's the mid-marathon blahs? I can do it, right? I think I can... I think I can...
More updates on the lace undies (potential swap with Julia???) and Kate soon.
Whaddya mean, you got no alibi?
Well, hello there. Sorry I was absent so long. It was one of those weeks, you know the ones, where you are really busy but you can't quite account for how you spent your time... (you remember something about a bottle of tequila and standing on a bar, but the rest is fuzzy...)
Just kidding. But, Friday was my birthday, I turned 32. I fully intended to blog that day, but I also ran 16.75 miles that day, and I was so exhausted before my birthday dinner that I couldn't knit, couldn't blog, couldn't do anything. The book I'm reading (which rocks, btw), Infinite Jest, is about 1100 pages and it was too heavy to lift to read. That's how tired I was!
So sorry for the lack of communication. Becky cracked me up with this comment this am: "[Taps microphone.] Is this thing on?" Ahhh, I'm still chuckling!
Get to the knitting, already.
Well, I have accomplished some things:
First, I finished the Bra top from Mon Petit Chou from Knitty. It was so fun to knit, you guys! But the funny thing is....
It's too SMALL!
Hahahahahahahahaahahhahahahaaaa! [Wiping tears] Hahahahahahaha! [Gasps for air] Woo!
Oh my goodness. If you know me you know why that's particularly funny. But it was good practice. I'm going to start over in a bigger size in lavender.
Less Giggling, More Knitting
In other news, the back of Kate is done!
And, the "secret project" is coming along! I just have to put it together, which is the part I don't like as much. Oh, and knit two more bits for it...
Better go to bed, as I work again tonight! Have a good day!