The Suicidal DPN

Wherever I go, my sock bag goes. And as I was driving home last night I decided to cast on for a new sock. No, I don't knit while driving ... well, not often. But I do knit if I'm at a particularly long light. So as I made my way home I began casting on the 64 stitches I needed for my next project. Since I didn't feel like cooking I decided to stop at KFC and pick up dinner.

It was as I was walking back to my car that I saw it. At first I wasn't sure what I was looking at. I'd been up to the barn at lunch and it looked like a big ol' piece of hay was hanging from my car. But as I got closer I recognized it for what it truly was. A tragedy in the KFC parking lot. For there, hanging between my car door and the rest of the car was my DPN, still encased in 64 stitches of Claudia's Handpainted, colorway Pink Cloud. The tail end was gently swaying in the grease scented air as I surveyed the damage.

Who knows what demons had plagued my little DPN. How can we begin to imagine the pain it must have been in which caused it to leap from the passenger seat of my car and jump just as I closed the door. We can only mourn it's passing and rejoice in it's rebirth as a ... cable needle.

And that was only the beginning of what is becoming a bizarre weekend. There I was, bombing up the expressway today when my forward motion was halted by five or six cars stopped dead in the middle of the street. A group of Canada geese were in the curb lane, looking as though they thought they'd be able to simply saunter across to the other side. Canada geese are not the smartest birds in the world. I can say that because a) I'm Canadian and b) I lived for many years next to a park that was home to these wonderful pooping machines. But I still think they're beautiful and I certainly didn't want any of them getting squashed on the San Tomas Expressway.

So being the crazy Canadian that I am, I manuevered my car around the others and slowly started driving towards the geese, gently honking my horn. My car is brown so it's possible they thought I was simply the Head Goose. Honk, honk, there went one. Honk, honk, there went another. Eventually my Nissan Altima and I had all the geese herded back to the pond that they came from. Carry on everyone, another tragedy averted.

Here is the 923rd attempt at getting a new sock started. This is the Koiguuuuuuuuuu my Other Secret Pal sent me in the Baby Cable Rib pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks. It's a little early in the knitting to see the pattern but so far I like it. And I absolutely LOVE this colorway. Love love love it.

Sock Wars. Join now. Do eeet.

A Lotta Green

There seems to be a lot of green yarn action over here at Chez Insanity. The latest acquisition, from a swap I did on the Knitty board ...

This is from Furry Yarn's "Bear Sox" line, the colorway is "Jungle." It's 80% superwash wool and 20% nylon. I'm going to attempt the Fiber Trends Leaf Lace socks pattern. It looks kind of complicated so it'll be a solitary pursuit. But worth the effort I hope.

This was going to be my mindless sock ...

It's a very simple K2, P2 one round and then knit the second round. Piece o' cake. Perfect for working on while the T.V. is on (since I have cable now). But I don't think I like this colorway. I love the yarn itself, just don't like the colors. This was an eBay purchase, the yarn is distributed in Canada and is cheap cheap cheap. We're talking $4.00 a ball, 2 balls for a pair of socks. It's a combination of superwash wool, cotton and nylon and is MUCH nicer than Sockotta. So you know the drill. If YOU like it and will actually knit something from it, e-mail me at Sakkasie@hotmail.com . C'mon, don't be shy. Help me free up some room in my stash.

Which leaves me with the stalled Jaywalker which I tried on last night and am not crazy about. I also tried to start the Grown Up Wonky Lace socks which trek designed. Koiguuuu on US size 3 is not going to work. Mucho too biggo. I fear I am once again in the Bermuda Triangle of sock knitting. Maybe I should go knit some lace ...

The Colors Of Canada

As shown in the sidebar to the right, the Canadian flag is red and white. Hey, that rhymes! Go me. Canada is known for it's frosty winter climate and lots of snow. Snow is white. The prairie provinces, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba produce a phenomenal amount of wheat. Wheat is golden. Canada, especially B.C., has many trees. They are lovely shades of green. There are many lakes and rivers in Canada. And Canada sits happily between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Oceans, lakes and rivers are blue. The national animal of Canada is the beaver. A beaver is brown. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police dress in uniforms of brilliant red. Hockey pucks are black. These are the colors of Canada. This is not.

What colors do we have here? Well we have purple. We have orange. We have olive green. This is not Canada - this is an explosion in a 1970's rec room. As God is my witness, these are not the colors I saw in the photo on eBay. I sincerely apologize if this is someone's favorite colorway but in my most humble opinion, this yarn is hideous. I am almost tempted to knit it up just to see if it really is that ugly. *Almost.* You want it? You got it. The faster the better.

Sundara Jaywalker #1 has now had it's heel turned. I love everything about this pattern except for those dang double decreases. They're fiddly, they're hard to do and they make my neck hurt. So as much as I like the look of Jaywalkers I probably won't knit another pair. I tried to cast on for trek's Grown Up Wonky Lace socks tonight but umm, I don't have a clue how you knit garter stitch in the round. Duh.

Mail Call

My Other Secret Pal, she's a crazy woman. Look!

Tissues for my sweaty face, a postcard to make me laugh (because I could sure use one right about now) and some extremely cool highlighter tape for charted patterns. I collect crazy postcards and put them up in my cube at work. This postcard is a nice change from the ones I've already got. The other ones say things such as, "Like I Care", "I Hate Everyone - Please make a note of it", and my favorite, "I suffer from selective ignorance - and today I select you." Human Resources has had a few chats with me about my collection, I refuse to take them down. Maybe this one will shut them up.

This container is way cool. I've already put all my DPN's in it and Andy can't get the top off - bonus! And it's purple. Yay for purple! This comes from the Knit Foundry if you'd like to get one of your own. Cuz you're not having mine!

Koiguuuuuuuuuuuuuu. Isn't this a beautiful colorway? I'm going to use it for trek's Grown Up Wonky Lace sock. I think the colors are pale enough that the lace pattern will show up nicely. I'm EXCITED.

THANK YOU SECRET PAL!!!

Something New

In a desperate attempt to take my mind off the fact that my body was MELTING yesterday, I decided to try something new. Since wool is not �sweat friendly� the something new needed to be made from cotton. What is cotton good for? Dishcloths.

Over at Criminy Jickets, Dave had come up with a wonderful entrelac pattern for dishcloths. I haven�t seen much done in entrelac and what I have seen hasn�t really bowled me over. But there was something about these dishcloths �

Not exactly an auspicious start, eh? However, the pattern clearly stated that things would look a little twisted at first but that everything would get sorted out eventually. I�m not exactly the best stitch picker upper in the world but by the end of this pattern there was a definite improvement in my ability. And since it�s all garter stitch I got to knit knit knit to my heart�s content.

All in all, I think it came out reasonably well. There�s definitely room for improvement but it is, after all, a dishcloth. An added bonus is that Michael�s has this particular yarn (Sugar �n Cream, Cookies �n Cream? I can never remember the name) on sale this week for $1.00 a ball. Christmas 2006 � the dishcloth Christmas.

Yes, it�s unsanitary. But when a kitty�s eyes start bulging out and he�s panting like a freight train he�s goin� in the fridge. For as long as he wants.

Knit One, Sweat Two

There is no knitting content today. Why? Because yesterday was so FRIGGIN' HOT that I spent most of the day "watering" the cats. Have you ever seen a cat pant? It's not a pretty sight. In fact it's kind of scary. So there were a lot of dampened face cloths being rubbed over warm kitties yesterday. Wilma hates to be touched. Wilma is not amused. Andy, on the other hand, is very amused by the ice cubes in his water bowl.

Umm, help?

I am not what you'd call a "T.V. person." In fact, for the past three years I've not had cable which meant I got one station, NBC. Which was fine with me because all I watch is the news and Law & Order. Prior to that I was married. What is it with men and remote controls? I grew up in an era where if you wanted to change the T.V. station you got up, walked over to the T.V., and changed it. When I was married we had 18 million hundred bazillion remote controls. I'm not a dumb person but for seven years I did not know how to turn on the T.V.. If I was at home while my ex-husband was at work I had to phone him to walk me through turning on the T.V.. God forbid if I had to adjust the volume. So I gave up watching T.V..

However, if you live in America and don't watch T.V. you are excluded from participating in a great many conversations. People would talk about shows like "House", "Grey's Anatomy" and "Desperate Housewives." I would smile, nod my head and desperately try to steer the topic to last night's news broadcast. It would soon become apparent though that I was the only one who'd noticed that Lisa Kim had a new hairdo.

So yesterday Mr. Comcast Cable Guy came and through the wonders of technology gave me access to 400 channels of entertainment plus free movies "on demand." In less than 30 minutes. To say I'm a little overwhelmed is putting it mildly. So overwhelmed in fact that last night I watched a Law & Order marathon on the USA channel and then watched the news on NBC. I'm so glad I got cable.

Under The Sea Sock Bag

Last week I sent a few trinkets to trek in the mail because she helps me with my sock questions and I have a fondness for people who live in New Jersey. And because she's just that nice I got this in my mailbox yesterday! Is this adorable or what? Another sock bag to add to my growing collection of "Sock Bags By Trek." If you don't have a sock bag by trek, you don't know what you're missing. Now I'm wondering, if I have three sock bags does that mean I should have three socks going at once? That's an interesting question and one I will ponder as I sit here and sweat.

The Magical Sock

I am beginning to think that my Jaywalker is knitting itself while I sleep.

We're ready to do the ol' heel flap here and I don't quite remember knitting all this. Maybe it's the heat. Perhaps this sock is actually a combination of yarn and dried sweat. Is that a disgusting thought or what? Why I'm still knitting when it's 800 bazillion degrees outside is beyond me. But everyone says socks are the perfect summer project so who am I to argue, being a sock newbie and all. Plus I'm afraid if I stop making socks I'll forget how and then I'll be stuck with a HECK of a lot of sock yarn. A heck of a lot.

And because I have nothing else to report we'll fill up space with kitty pictures.

"Andy, you stink."

"Hold still, I need to wash your ear."

"Too bad you can't wash out stupid."

Today's Class - Justification 101

This is aija's fault.

I'm serious. I'm blaming the purchase of this yarn on aija because a few days back she posted a picture of the most gorgeous orange and white yarn on her blog. And then she posts a picture a few days later of some Fearless Fibers yarn she got. Now I've been eyeing the yarn over at Fearless Fibers for a while but it was so reasonably priced I figured there had to be a catch. But if aija, Sock Queen Extraordinaire is buying it, heck it must be good! And it is. Man oh man, it's loverly. The colorway is Sand And Sun. It's soft, it's got a nice twist and I can't wait to use it. High droolage factor here.

This is Phil Cosentino's fault.

Phil Cosentino owns the grocery store across the street from me. It has an extensive wine selection. From $3.99 to $100.00, they've got the wine you're looking for. I like red wine. I like to knit. However, after two glasses of wine one should put the sharp DPN's down and find something else to do. What's the next best thing to do after knitting? Look at yarn. And if it's midnight on a Friday night and all the local shops are closed then all you need to do is pour yourself another glass of wine and turn on the computer. Bonus points if you have your Visa number memorized. Like most things done under the influence (other than repeatedly singing the chorus to "Chain Of Fools") I should probably not shop. Thank heavens tomorrow is a new day and I can start my Yarn Diet all over again.

Some of you may have noticed that I seem to be spending more time knitting than crocheting these days. It's true. I've gone back to my first love and my new obsession, socks. Which leaves me with a few unemployed crochet hooks. These hooks are all hand made and they all need new homes.

So here's the deal. If you send me three 12" crocheted or knitted squares, I'll send you a hook. Then I'll pack up all the squares and send 'em to Drew (aka The Crochet Dude) to send on to Heartmade Blessings. 100% acrylic yarn please. It'll be first come, first rewarded which means if you want one of these beauties you'd best get busy. I also have a few Brittany Birch hooks that could use new jobs as well so don't panic if you're not the world's fastest crocheter. I'll let ya know when I run out of stuff.

Monkey, Monkey, Moo

My first job when I moved to the States was at a pet food wholesaler. One of the men I worked, ironically named Andy, was a most unusual individual. Each day he would stand in front of my desk and recite the following poem to me.

Monkey, monkey, moo

Who's a monkey, who?

I'm a monkey,

You're a monkey,

She's a monkey too!

Which might not have been so bad except that Andy did in fact resemble a monkey. So of course each time he sang this little ditty to me I wanted to yell, "Yes, yes you are!" However, being a polite Canadian and all ...

Fast forward 10 years and lookee what I got in the mail today from trek!

A Sock Monkey Sock Bag!!! Go on admit it, this is the cutest thing you've ever seen. I absolutely love it, it's even better than I expected. And all I had to do to get it was arrange a little swapper-roo with the trekster and it became MY BAG. These bags are the greatest. I take my cow bag everywhere with me. It's been to San Francisco, it's been to Santa Cruz, it's been to Los Gatos, it's a very well travelled bag. So what's going in the brand new Sock Monkey Sock Bag?

Sundara "Jaywalkers", thank you very much.

Hot Yarn

It's hot. Merciful heavens it's hot. I realize everyone in the country is hot but still ... it's hot.

But it's never too hot to knit, is it! Of course it isn't. Especially if you're knitting socks because socks don't sit in your lap and make your legs sweat. Like for example, crocheted blankets and cats.

Anyway, we are underway with the New Sock. My friend, trek the sock guru, came up with the brilliant idea that I should knit a pair of Jaywalkers. Of course I'd heard about Jaywalkers, you can't knit socks without eventually hearing about Grumperina's pattern. But, and this is no exaggeration, everyone in the world has knit Jaywalkers. And because I don't like to do what everyone else is doing (OK, so I finally learned to drive when I was 37), I wasn't going to make them.

However, I was bordering on desperation. The starting of the New Sock was stalled. So I took another look at the Jaywalkers pattern and WOW! No purling! Only 2 rounds of pattern! Heck, I could do this. So I am officially on the Jaywalkers bus. And I'm using my Sundara yarn which is working out very nicely. But I neglected to take a pic so let's just take a look at an old pic of the Sundara and pretend it's the New Sock.

Unfortunately not only do I not have a pic of the New Sock, I don't really have new pics of anything "April Related." So ABRACADABRA my blog is now a shopping mall.

Have you visited Dave's store? Have you read his blog? Have you met Miss Lulu Kitty? If you haven't, you should. Not only do you get to see wonderful pictures of Boston and read funny stories, if you go to his store you get to drool over yarn like this ...

Emerald Isle

And speaking of yarn, here's another favorite, Fearless Fibers. Five skeins of sock yarn, $60.00. Where's my Visa card? No, I didn't order it because as we all know, I am a) on a yarn diet and b) giving up knitting to focus my energies on learning to play the accordion so I can join a Polka band.

Lordy, it's hot.

No SSS Here

Broadripple #2. Finished. Done. Fits. Happy. So clearly we have no Second Sock Syndrome goin' on at Chez Insanity. No, instead we have NSS. New Sock Syndrome. I can't for the life of me figure out what I want to do next. I thought I liked the Cat's Paw in the Claudia Handpainted. I was wrong. I was knitting it on US 2.5 and it was far too loose. This of course is after I tried the Sundara yarn in 3 patterns (Waterfall, Bluebell and Chain Link) and the Sockotta in the Cat's Paw. Oh, I also tried doing the Sundara in the Cloverleaf pattern but I couldn't figure out how to read the chart. It's not like I have a shortage of yarns to choose from. Or patterns for that matter. But I just can't seem to settle down and get started on a new sock. Tragic.

It's midnight and it's 73 degrees. Is it just me or is there something horribly wrong with that? How am I supposed to sleep? But apparently I'm the only one having that problem.

The Saturday Report

It's been a busy Saturday. Which may or may not explain why I'm posting this entry at 2am Sunday morning. Or it might have been the nap I had between 5 and 8 which has left me rather WIDE AWAKE. Anyway, my hair is now two inches shorter than it was when I woke up this morning, I have freshly pedicured toesies and I have *cough* new *cough* yarn.

I decided to visit Uncommon Threads in Los Altos today. This place gets a LOT of bad press because the owner is rumored to be a bit of a shrew. Before today I had never been there so I decided to find out for myself.

To be honest, I quite liked the place. They carry primarily Rowan yarns and have a huge selection. They also seem to have one of the largest selection of needles I've seen and a ton of books. There were two ladies working in the store when I was there but being a polite Canadian, I refrained from asking, "Which of you is the snotbag?" The store itself is older but well kept and there's a large bench with chairs at the back for browsing patterns. The prices were quite reasonable, considering the store is in Los Altos, one the Bay Area's wealthier areas. Here we have my solitary purchase.

Since I spread the yarn wealth this morning by mailing six balls to trek and one ball to Wendy, I decided to reward myself. Uncommon Threads had a sample of this knit up and it was really, really pretty. Now to find a pattern.

Have you ever knit with yarn that makes you smile just by looking at it? This yarn does that to me. This is some Claudia Handpainted that I bought from Commuknity a while back. It's called "Pink Cloud." And you may not believe this but I like it just as much as Koigu. It's also a lot softer than Koigu, which I don't notice when it was all skeined (is that a word?) up. This is replacing the Sockotta which I was using for the Cat's Paw sock. The little kitty paws weren't showing up like I wanted them to. I have lost count of how many times I've ripped out socks this week, it's at least four. I'm using the Crystal Palace DPN's my super duper wonderful Other Secret Pal sent me and these needles are the bomb. They're soooo smooth and the ends are nice and sharp. Poke poke.

In other sock news, Broadripple #2 is 16 rows from completion. It would probably have been done tonight except for some reason I decided to only decrease for the toe on the sole of the sock. Which made the instep look a bit funny. That's what happens when you knit at midnight.

And never let it be said that we don't know how to party on Saturday night.

"Weeee, spin the ball again, Mom!"

Seasonal Confusion

It was hotter than heck here today and the weatherman promises it will get hotter over the weekend. So can someone please explain to me why I am knitting WOOL socks? I am a new sock knitter, why am I not knitting socks that I can wear NOW to show off my newly acquired skill? Instead of socks that I most likely will only wear when I'm home in Canada. Like duh, April.

Enter a ball of Sockotta cotton / wool / something yarn. I had tried knitting socks with this yarn a few months back and hated it. But what I think I hated was the Magic Loop method I was using to knit with. Because now I quite like this yarn. It's not Koiguuuuuuu but it's alright. And I do love the colorway. I'm doing the Cat's Paw pattern and it's dead easy. The pattern repeat is over 10 rounds but only 3 rounds have anything complicated. The other rounds are all knitted, except the first round which is purled. If you squint really hard you can see one of the kitty paws in the bottom left. I just hope all my kitty loving friends don't want a pair.

It would appear I've fallen off my yarn diet.

I am attempting to justify the purchase of this yarn because a) it is the CANADIAN colorway and b) the sellers name was bishopswife so I'm thinking of this as a religious donation. And frankly, this particular colorway is kinda fugly so I'm doing the Yarn Gods a favour by purchasing it. Because I doubt anyone else would. Can you see where it says Canadian on the wrapper? Cool, eh?

eBay would do me a really big favour by going offline every evening say around ... 10. Especially when people are selling yarn like this ...

Bearfoot Mountain / colorway Juniper

The auction has yet to close for this gorgeous skein so it's not mine YET. And it's already at my maximum bid so I doubt I'll get it. But if I do I think it will be made into socks for a Christmas gift. Ha, I'm getting better at this justification thing all the time ...

The other day I mentioned how I occasionally drive to Cosentino's grocery store even though it's across the street from my apartment. Granted I'm usually on my way home from work or running errands. But I'm not going to apologize for being such a lazy butt ever again after today. Because today when I came out of the store two people were getting out of a limousine to do their shopping. And while they were in the store the limo circled the parking lot. Welcome to California.

Brown And Blue Equals Ewww

There are a lot of color combinations that I love. Pink and grey. Pale green and lavender. Black and red. But there is one color combination that I detest. And I realize I'm completely in the minority here. In fact, other than myself I don't know of anyone that has such a strong dislike for the combination of these two colors. Of course, I'm talking about blue and brown. It doesn't matter if it's chocolate and navy or tan and sapphire, I just don't. get. it. It is completely beyond me how anyone can look at blue and brown together and think, "Oh doesn't that look nice." This combination seems to be a particular favorite among the male species. However, I take great pride in the fact that in our seven years of marriage, not once did my ex-husband leave the house wearing brown and blue at the same time.

So what exactly was I thinking when I agreed to swap 3 balls of Paintbox yarn for this ball of sock yarn? The only possible excuse I can come up with is that I read the color number wrong. Really wrong. I opened the package and immediately thought, "Oh God, blue and brown." And then I thought, "But hey, it's sock yarn." Followed by, "Yuck, blue and brown." Then, "But I can knit socks with it!" Back and forth I went but the reality of it all is that I will NEVER knit anything from this yarn. It's blue and brown. So if you like the looks of this ball of yarn and would like to knit something from it PLEASE e-mail me. Sakkasie@hotmail.com . PLEASE. It hurts me just to look at it.

We now have Sundara Sock V. 2.0.. But no picture since all I've done is the ribbing, which was changed from K1 P1 to K2 P2, and the first pattern repeat. And the new pattern is ...

Please forgive me for the poor quality of this picture. It's hard to take good pictures of very glossy paper and I realize this picture makes the pattern look like a bowl of oatmeal. But if you own "Sensational Knitted Socks" this is one of the eight stitch patterns. It's kind of a lacey cabley type thinger. It's challenging but not as challenging as the Branching Out scarf was. So I'm sticking with this one. Truly I am. Not changing my mind again. Nope, this is it ...

So Soft Sundara

With only a mere 52 rows left to go on Broadripple #2 I figured it was safe to start on the next sock. And it's not in Koigu! No, this sock will be in the absolutely beautiful Sundara Handpainted yarn that my Other Secret Pal sent me. Am I the only one that absolutely HATES doing ribbing? I think I must measure every two rounds to see if I'm done yet. So as we can see here, the ribbing is done and what we can't see here is the first six rounds of the pattern.

But that's not really important because I'll probably change my mind about the pattern again tomorrow. Not only do I hate ribbing, I hate purling. I don't know why, I just do. A couple purls per round is OK. More than that, not so OK. And this particular pattern I've chosen has a lot of purls. Which might make me cranky over the long run.

On a completely non-knitting subject, am I the only one who regularly loses their car in parking lots? I was convinced CONVINCED someone had stolen my car tonight from the Cosentino's parking lot. But I couldn't figure out why someone would want a beat up old '99 Nissan Altima with a bumper sticker that reads, "Real Horses Weigh A Ton." Turns out I was looking for my car in the area where I parked YESTERDAY. Maybe I should start going to the grocery store once a week like most normal people instead of every day. Or an even better idea would be to walk to Cosentino's. Since I only live ACROSS THE STREET.

Mr. Stud

It's still hot as all heck here at Chez Insanity. Which means Ralphie is on the prowl. Or on the swim. Whatever it is that male fish do. For a good time, just dial 1-800-HOT-FISH and Ralphie will take you back to his tank to show you his bubble nest. I'll even change the water in his tank beforehand.

Tricked Again

So here is the question of the day. If you purchase six balls of Cascade Fixation (in three colorways) prior to going on a yarn diet and you absolutely HATE knitting with it, can you buy yarn to replace it if you're still on the diet? I mean, it makes perfect sense to me but then I have been accused of being illogical at times.

Nasty Yarn

Now I am not a big fan of cotton yarn, but I thought with the elastic added to the Fixation it would have a little stretchy goin' on. OK, so the elastic makes up less than 2% of the yarn content but whatever. And it feels really nice when it's all knitted up so I was SURE this time it would be different. It was like when you get back together with an old boyfriend who was totally self absorbed and you realize ... still no give. Kinda the same thing. No give. Especially if you're trying to work a lace pattern with lots of K2Tog. Oh no, that little US size 3 needle isn't going to slide right through those two stitches, you're gonna have to dig that puppy in there and hope you don't break your toothpick. Ex-boyfriends and Cascade Fixation, both *bad* ideas.

Let's move on to happier topics. Say for example, a completed Stash Card from Knitting Arts.

Having one of these in your possession with all the little holes punched out means ... $20 off your next purchase!!! What can $20 buy you? Pfft, like I even have to say ...

Hands up everyone who's so sick of seeing pictures of Koigu yarn that they're about ready to puke. Actually come to think of it, I'm getting a bit sick of it myself. Pinky swear promise, we'll look at something else tomorrow.

Rejoice And Recycle

Today is day seven of my self imposed yarn diet. Last night I sat on my living room floor and rearranged all my sock yarn so that the labels were all going the same way. Then I put them back in the Rubbermaid container in the order that I was going to use them. After that I spent about an hour online looking at hand dyed sock yarn. Houston, we have a problem.

Back in January of this year I started crocheting the hat in the picture. I *thought* that the pattern specified two skeins of Koigu KPPPM in complimentary colors. The hat was crocheted holding two strands together, in single crochet, on an F hook. Ugh. But I persevered because I really loved the pattern. And so I crocheted merrily along until I realized that I was going to run out of yarn. Was my gauge really off? Had I increased by WAY too many stitches? I took another look at the pattern. Umm, oops. The pattern actually called for 2 skeins EACH of complimentary colors. Yes, I really liked the hat but I didn't want a $46.00 hat. So I stuffed the hat and the yarn away and promptly forgot about it.

That was until I woke up this morning, a drooled on copy of Nancy Bush's "Knitting On The Road" laying open on my pillow. And I remembered ... there was more Koigu in this apartment. Koigu that could be recycled and used to knit SOCKS. Was it in this box? Maybe this container? In this basket here? Blurry eyed, pre-tea, I tossed my apartment. Finally, at the bottom of what was once my knitting bag, I found it. But not only was the hat there but 'lo and behold, the Koigu that Andy had puked on. I will spare you the horrific details. Of course the yarn was washed and dried after he puked on it but yuck ...

Recycled Koigu

Ta da! It's almost like I went out and bought it! But all I had to do was undo the hat, make sure I'd gotten all the cat puke off the other two balls, and rewind it all on my ball winder. Now we all know that it takes two skeins of Koigu to make a pair of socks and none of these yarn cakes are the same. But I *think* that if I use one color for the cuff, the heel flap and the toe and the other color for the leg and the foot it might work. Especially if I just make ankle socks. At least I hope it works. Fingers crossed.

In other sock news, Broadripple #1 will be spending the summer at Knitting Arts as a store sample. I have no plans to wear wool socks this summer so I found the sock another job. I have entrusted her care to Marie who I know will take good care of her as I continue to spread the Gospel of Koigu.

Socks And Cats

More mailbox fun today ...

Vesper Sock Yarn in the colorway "TropiCali." Over on the Knitty sock forum people rave about this stuff so of course I needed to find out what all the fuss was about. It's very, very soft and the colors are nice and vivid. Will I like it as much as the Koigu? Who knows, I hope so cuz I LOVE Koigu. But maybe you already knew that.

Tonight was the weekly meeting of the Silicon Valley Stitchers. I took along one of my Sundara yarn cakes to test drive some patterns. Yes, I'm still searching. I didn't find anything at the meeting but when I came home I saw the Waterfall Rib pattern in Simply Sensational Socks. I think we may have a winner. Since I can't start the Sundara sock until Broadripples is done, here is a link to what (hopefully) the socks will look like when they're done. In a different colorway though. And in a different yarn if you want to get really picky.

The "Other" Tabby

This is Wilma, the most senior of my three kitties. Wilma doesn't get a lot of blog time because frankly, she hates me. Well perhaps hate is too strong a word. Endures my presence is more like it. Or maybe "suffers in silence." I adopted her almost two years ago because she's what the feline rescue world considers unadoptable due to her temperament. And she's older (9, maybe 10), she's missing most of her teeth and to top it all off, she has a fused spine. So it's kind of hard for her to get around. Which is why I have little steps everywhere so she can get on the bed, on the couch, on the coffee table, you get the idea. Wilma's favorite things, in no particular order are, 1) being left alone, 2) chocolate (no she doesn't get it, but that doesn't stop her from trying), 3) Whiska's Temptation treats and 4) my pillow, preferably without my head on it. She's just lucky she's got really cute feet or I woulda tossed her furry butt a long time ago. Seriously. Yeah.

Bits And Pieces

There were a few things in the mail for me today, all purchased before I went on my yarn diet. Pinky swear promise.

A shade card from Knit Picks for their Gossamer and Shadow lines. I figured for $1.50 it would save me a lot of grief in the long run once my sock obsession is over and I go back to being obsessed with lace. And along with the shade card was one teeny tiny skein of yarn.

Knit Picks Gossamer in "Leprechaun." This will make a pretty scarf for the fall I'm thinking. Maybe the Oak Leaf And Acorn pattern. If I ever get to be that accomplished of a lace knitter. And if I ever become a scarf wearer.

Pugs, pugs, pugs, oh how I love pugs. When I was married I had a "chug" which is a cross between a chihuahua and a pug. She was the lovely fawn color that chihuahuas come in but her body was all pug. Her name was Fanny. My ex-husband made me get rid of her after she ate the hamster. OK, well she ate MOST of the hamster. She left enough pieces behind as to leave no doubt where the hamster had gone. I apologize if anyone is reading this while they're eating. I guess I should have put up a disclaimer. Anyway, I'm sure a pure bred pug wouldn't eat a hamster, it was probably the cross-breeding that did it.

And speaking of strange animals, here is the mentally challenged creature known as the "Furry Wiggleworm" just moments before falling off the dining room table.