January, you are such a hater.

I love how we all start these resolutions in January, which happens to be a total love/happiness/energy killer. It sneaks up all stealth on people too. Right after the holidays, you have this sense of awesome new beginning with New Years or maybe you’re thinking good riddance- still, there’s all that newness to look forward to. Then the cold sucks. The snow happens. Your car breaks down and if your cat is anything like mine then January is a total cat vomit extravaganza. Gross.

Still, I’m trying to stay strong and keep up with my resolution of knitting from my stash. So here’s my FO for this hater of a month:

Kalajoki [rav link]. I knit these with some beautiful Lorna’s Laces. According to that blog entry, I’ve had this yarn in my stash for three years and I honestly don’t know what I’ve been waiting for. Although it’s a surprisingly thin wool. These socks came out pretty light weight and sporty. I’d knit with the yarn before but I sent the finished project to my Granma.

This was my first time with a sock pattern that had an anatomical toe. Meaning I knit differently for the left and right sock and the toes are angled either to the left or right accordingly. While they look cool on…

They look really stupid off. They come to a really crappy point at the end of the toe and then sort of puff out at the foot giving it the same silhouette as a row boat that a kid would draw. I had some problems with the pattern. It wasn’t a bad pattern or anything and was definitely great for being free. However some things just weren’t spelled out enough for me. I was increasing wrong at first and it was making big holes. Then all the stitches fell off my needles (damn you double points!) and I had to rip back to the ribbing anyways. A sort of hidden blessing in the middle of my curses.

Eh, whatever. That’s how I’m feeling toward most things right now and these socks aren’t getting any special treatment. I’m trying to decide what socks to knit for February. Anyone have some that are must knits?

Happy Valentine’s Day!

For my Irish Valentine <3

I know it’s a day early but I figured, hey, I’m thinking about it, so I should probably do a post before I get back in bed and overdose on antibiotics. (I have the strep, like I get every year. This year I preemptive striked it by seeing a new doctor near our new place who wears some really swanky shoes. However, it was not preemptive enough apparently.)

Pattern: Be My Dishcloth by Kristen Patay

Yarn: Lily Sugar ‘n Cream solid in green

I don’t know how smart it is to knit a dishcloth for a boy for Valentine’s day. He’s such a weird boy that I’m hoping he’ll see it and say it’s the most perfect gift he’s ever gotten. However, I’m sure he would rather have an XBOX 360. Although in my mind, they’re pretty much the same thing, only this is useful. Poor guy. (We got the tulips at the grocery store the other day, they’re my favorite flower! I don’t know if it’s because I think they’re pretty, I’m pretty sure it’s because I think they’re smart.)

Also, this one has been brewing for a while but just in case she ever checks this blog (which I’m pretty sure she doesn’t) I didn’t want to put up the pictures of them finished. So here are the socks I knit for my Granma, she got them in time for Valentine’s Day!

Pattern: Hedera by Cookie A.

Yarn: Lorna’s Laces Sock in Periwinkle.

This was an edge of the seat nail biter type knit because I was so paranoid that they wouldn’t fit. That she’d be allergic to the wool. That I’d accidentally knit in one of those seven year chain mail curses and then she’d have to send socks out to fifteen people or it would be seven years of raining toads or something. Because… that happens all the time, right?

However, she maintains that she loves them:

My poor aunt Gerri got suckered into taking this picture and sending it to me.

socks! in! action!

Oh man, just typing that has taken all of my energy. (Also, I’m going to randomly insert here that my aunt Gerri is married to my uncle Tom. How freaking cool is that? Tom and Gerri, I love it!)

As for the socks, they were a great knit once I finally decided to set the shawl aside and just focus on the socks to get them done before Valentine’s day as a nice sort of present. I of course can see all the mistakes (especially the row where I don’t know what I was doing but it certainly wasn’t the pattern!) but Granma maintains that I’m the best knitter in the world and she’s proud of me, so… I guess I really can’t disagree with the woman.

Sax was irritated I got in the way of her silhouette campaign photo.

Socks, a dishcloth- whoa. I guess February really is the month to get thangs done. Like sleeping, I think I’ll get that done right now.

The Duality of Man

I just watched Full Metal Jacket for the first time the other day. Surprisingly, I’ve seen all of those Vietnam war movies… Apocalypse Now, Deer Hunter, Platoon. So John was pretty horrified when I told him I hadn’t seen Full Metal Jacket since it’s THE Vietnam movie OMGWTFBBQ.

We’re having people over to our place now that we’re respectable, with places to sit, things to set things on… and honestly I just want to show people my washer and dryer because I am ridiculously giddy about them still. Picture it like a game show… only you don’t win anything, you just get to look at the stuff. (So basically a pretty lame game show. A lame show.)

Cath’s cat Poo is the sechsie model for this picture. I freakin LOVE this cat!

This is the new project I started on, a pair of socks for Granma. Cookie A.’s Hedera… While I know that everyone is crazy about her Monkeys, I thought Granma would appreciate some lace in her life, since that’s our theme lately. BTW, I’m excited for the spring shawl suprise to start up. Although I’m a little worried about the lack of written instructions. Hmmm.

Oh yeah and I’m knitting those in some delicious Lorna’s Laces:

40% off baby!

I got the yarn and sent Granma some in ‘grapevine’ and forgot to take some pictures! So hopefully I’ll get to see the socks she makes out of it and can get a picture sometime. Apparently she has some sort of pattern that curves or something, so you do it differently for left and right feet. Leave it to her to find the crazy patterns.

Have you guys noticed that I have a problem? There haven’t been any FO’s in the past month and every other post I’m casting on for some new project or another. I’m getting too distracted by everything. I hope I can calm down and focus on stuff soon. In the meantime, I set up a thing in my closet for my yarn because I’m tired of it getting tangled in that bucket.

Which brings me to my next question/thing I wonder about… do most people who knit have a desire to collect things?

PS: He loved the blanket

He also loved the game my mom got him for Christmas. In the video he’s playing it with Jimmy. (Which I need to add that I think it’s adorable that Cath and Jimmy are married and both have blogs. TechnoMarrieds.)

Man, these blog entries just keep getting less and less cohesive and more and more wait- what?