whoops! i guess i forgot to post for a few days in there! it isn’t as if i have been extraordinarily busy, i just got a bit sidetracked! i feverishly knit to finish the pair of falling leaves socks, and then the business of housework took over my life for a few days as we (that is to say, i) prepared for a dinner party featuring my mother in law and the guest of honour. needless to say, i hope, i had to make sure there was not a speck of dust, dirt or grime in our apartment, lest she think i am incapable of taking proper care of her son.

i succeeded, by the way, the place looked great and i felt good having all the crap picked up and properly put away for the first time in months. and now, it is back to the same old. occasional web work for my dad, bored unemployment housewifery stuff, and knitting. but the knitting gods (goddesses?) refuse to smile on me this week. for lo, the tubular cast-on for the second charade sock? fell spectacularly apart as i pulled out the waste yarn. started a mary jane toe up slipper sock? despite properly measured gauge, came out large enough for the foot of someone sized more like shaquille o’neil than my size 8 feet. and while knitting my grey sweater, last night, the cable pulled right out of the knit picks interchangeable needle i was using, dropping 35 stitches and rendering me unable to progress on said sweater until a replacement arrives. and knowing canada post? that could be anytime between today and two months from now.

so, what is a girl to do? keep trying. eventually, i’ll get it right. so if you’ll excuse me, i’m going to make a koigu sacrifice to the knitting powers that be, and hope my next project starts on a better path.

the hubster and i had a fairly quiet weekend, which was nice. we basically spent all of saturday in our pajamas conked out in front of the television, watching almost the entire first season of dexter. now that is good tv!! i really didn’t think i would be interested, i think i was afraid it would be too in your face violent. but it was surprisingly sweet and really funny (well, there were disturbing bits, too). i imagine it is very difficult to write a sociopath as a sympathetic character, but there you go! adam wrote a great review of the first season dvd set over at dvd verdict, in case you’re interested!

i also managed to finish the first charade sock without further damage to my person. kc suggested that i was a ‘pusher’ type knitter, and she’s absolutely right. try as i might to stop, i’ve never been able to. it never caused holes in my fingers though, until the lovely knitpicks circs came into my life. oh well. pointiness has its price! the sock is, of course, gorgeous. the sock is also resting for a bit, waiting for a mate (gotta let that hole heal up!). in the meantime, i finished the second sidewinder!! the grafting was a touch less vile the second time around, but it took just as long, if not longer (well, i was watching dexter!). as always, full size photos and extra boring details available over on my flickr.

so, another pair complete. i had a goal of finishing my three outstanding pairs of socks by september first, but i am not going to make it. i’ll have the falling leaves that i started last november finished, but charade won’t make it in time! but that’s ok. once these three are done, i’m back to concentrating on the raglan pullover i started- and i think i’m going to cast on for amy boogie’s sprout with some black cotton ease (the old kind) that has been hanging in the stash for ages. and! new socks. who knows what gorgeous sockies will grace my feet this fall!

and as a reward for reading the rambling so far, if you have, i give you a little family portrait that i doodled today. i think it really showcases all i learned in art school. or, er. well. see for yourself! cheers!

i really love the knitpicks options needles. i purchased a few sets of the classic circulars when they were released last year, and found them to be quite stellar for knitting socks with the magic loop method, which is my preferred way to knit socks. i got the interchangeable options set last year as well, and really enjoy the feel and smoothness of the metal needles.

that said. i think the 2.5mm classic circulars are trying to kill me, or at the very least, my finger tip!! this gorgeous pattern that i’m knitting makes a very dense fabric and this combined with the super sharp needles of death have put a giant hole in my left pointer finger. this is not the first time this has happened but for some reason, it seems worse this time!! does this happen to anyone else? as much as i love these particular socks, i think i’ll have to take a break from the charade before i commence sock #2. and for now, my band-aid will have to serve as a barrier, protecting the wound, and enabling me to finish this first sock.

but really? i mean, look at this sock! it is so worth the pain.

well! i had the best birthday, possibly ever! i hope it was a sign of things to come for my twenty-eighth year, because if so? i’m going to have a pretty great year! i was lucky enough to have a birthday dinner with some great friends at my favourite restaurant, i was totally spoiled by the generous gifts i was given by my friends and family (including about a hundred and fifty dollars to blow on yarn and fiber!!!! YAY!). adam got me the amazing yoga toes, that i have been going on and on about for months. if you have foot pain or bunions or whatever? i suggest you get some of these, i mean- don’t my feet look really happy??

i got absolutely no knitting done over the weekend, despite starting a sock specifically for travel. hubster and i spent the weekend in cleveland, attending the festivities for my cousin’s wedding. it was a beautiful ceremony and reception and we had a lovely time, dancing the night away. its always great getting to spend some time with my family- especially my little sisters. i don’t get to see them as often as i’d like, and even less now that i’m living up here in canada. so that was pretty fantastic. i think i’m headed to new york around the end of september to spend a week with the sisters and dad and stepmom. that should be good and definitely something to look forward to! and, i came back from cleveland with a little cold, so while i’m feeling poorly, perhpas i’ll make some progress on both my sweater and my socks. oh, and maybe do a little online yarn shopping. that is suppose to cure what ails ya, isn’t it?

i saw this on kc’s site (and have seen it, or a variation, floating about for ages), and decided i should let you all know eight random things about me, especially since we are all just getting to know one another!

1. i’ve owned three cars in my 11 years of driving. their names have been: jerry carcia (a green subaru i drove when i turned sixteen, which happened about a week after jerry garcia passed away), gordon (a green honda named in honour of the barenaked ladies), and my current vehicle, hedwig (a black mazda that wouldn’t tell me if it was a boy or a girl, and named after the hedwig with the angry inch). i liked jerry carcia best, but my dad sold him out from under me while in my early years of university!

2. i fall asleep with my glasses on at least one night a week.

3. when i really like something (movie, tv show, song), i’ll watch/listen to it over and over again for a week or two, until i find something else i like just as much. most recently: the office (us), and ‘makes me wonder’ by maroon 5.

4. i never celebrated christmas until three years ago, when i started joining adam’s family for the holidays. its no chanukah, but really? its not bad!

5. i’ve read just under 40 books this year, and i have a goal of 100 by year’s end.

6. thanks to my most recent foot surgery, the second toe on my right foot no longer bends.

7. prior to this summer, i’ve never even managed to keep a houseplant alive- now i’ve grown two varieties of tomato, three of peppers, and a whack of herbs! and there is nothing better on this earth than a fresh from the garden tomato.

8. my all time favourite movies are: forrest gump and bridget jones’ diary. i don’t know what that says about me.

now, your turn!!

i’ll be turning 28 on friday, and have decided that it is important, for me, to write more. this means keeping a journal, taking an hour or so a day to write something creatively, and yes, keeping my knitblog updated! there were a million reasons why i started ‘blogging’ again, last january, and then there were a million more why i stopped (mostly, the wedding planning took over my life and everything else just fell by the wayside). but now, i am back!!! and luckily, i have over six months worth of knitting and spinning to post about!! hurrah!

so, since we last met: i have gotten married! adam and i have been together now for nearly six years, and in march of this year we finally got ourselves hitched! it was magical and wonderful and went better than we could have ever hoped! we honeymooned in vancouver, i’ve had foot surgery, one of the cats has developed asthma, and i am slowly and reducing the size of my small stash - not as part of the knit from your stash movement that swept the knitblog world in january, but because yarn costs money and that is something we are low on these days. i’m grateful for my insane sock yarn binge in 2005, it’ll be another year before i run out of sock yarn, if i keep up my average of 1.5 pair a month. this is not to say that i would not accept gifts of yarn and fiber if someone out there in the unviverse decided i deserved them, but i certainly can’t be buying any for myself!so far this year, i’ve knit eight pairs of socks, i have three pair on the needles currently (sidewinders, charade, and falling leaves). i knit my first colourwork hat, and i’ve knit an entire shawl out of handspun (ok, not you know, anything too fancy, but it is gorgeous and out of my own handspun!!). i started a simple top down raglan the other day- i’d show you a photo but right now it still looks like a grey blob. my friend alexandra helped me out with the numbers, and i’m about half done the raglan increases, at which point i’ll be able to decide if it is flattering and gorgeous, or betrays me for the giant tubbo that i am. i’m hoping for flattering, i love the idea of another cozy grey sweater. and, it gives me hope that the summer will end at some point (something i’ve never wished for in my life, but dang! its been hot and we just have one little window unit air conditioner and well. its hot!!!).

so! ok. this was fairly easy! i hope i have more to say (and more to show!) tomorrow or the next day! hurrah!

while flitting around on the internet last night, i came across a page chock-a-block full of delicious looking recipes. one in particular said to me, ‘rachel- you must make this for breakfast tomorrow’, and really, i had no choice. once we had our laundry 70% done, and the morning was no longer requiring a run to the basement every fifteen minutes (why? to feed quarters into a dryer, of course), i began to prepare the delicious oven pancake. this was a fabulous (and likely not very weight watchers friendly…shhh) way to start our sunday. as usual, i forgot to take a photo until after we’d had our fill. i must remember that the actual goods are much more attractive and compelling than a plate of crumbs and leftovers. at any rate, we’re looking forward to playing with this recipe, adding some fruit perhaps, and having it on special mornings- you know, the ones made for a quiet lie in and lots of snuggling.

adam has gone to work, and i have been to the grocery and though i wish i could spend the rest of the day comfy on the couch, knitting and watching some girly movie, i have chores calling me from every room of the apartment. put laundry away, clean the washroom, do the dishes, make the bed- so on. i do not love being the primary housecleaner, but i am home all day and adam works so by default, most of the housework falls to me. ho hum.

my reward, when the work is done, will be to knit some more on a lace sock - one i started and abandoned months ago. i’d like to get these socks knit and off the needles so i can start another pair with a clear conscience. i do have a goal of knitting 25 pair of socks this year, to clear out the stash a bit (i do not have a large stash of yarn, if you don’t count the obscene amount of sock yarn that i do have…), so two in january would be a fantastic start. next time you see this sock, i hope it is complete and has a mate on the needles.

enjoy the rest of sunday!

i’ve managed to stick to my guns and actually make up a website! how about that? i even manged to figure out how to configure this whole wordpress thing by myself (ok, there was a fair amount of help from TheBon). so, let’s see if i can keep it going this time!

to start, i’ll share my latest knitting endeavor, a pair of half arm length gauntlets from the book the purl stitch, knit as a paying gig for a friend. it was a great opportunity to knit with koigu- which is my favourite yarn, and one i rarely buy because of the cost. last time i knit this pattern, i shortened the gloves by nearly four inches to compensate for my short person’s arms. i’ll likely knit another pair of these, as another friend has requested a pair- but not for a while because i need a break from miles of stockinette! i have a lot of different projects in the queue, a half done pair of socks, eunny jang’s two new patterns (which would provide quite a challenge), more socks, etc. but i think i’m going to attempt to find a pattern for and knit a lace garter to wear on my wedding day- now, this would obviously not be the kind of thing that would be throw during a bawdy ‘garter toss’, but i think as a knitter, it would be neat to have a heirloom quality garter that i could save and pass down should i ever have children. i think that will be my next challenge, or at least something to tinker with as a stress reliever while the wedding planning crunch descends (one and a half months to go!).so! that concludes my first entry! i hope i write many more (and ones that are interesting, at that).