Progress

It's easier and starting to go a little faster now on the two circular needles. I'm still not likely to abandon my double points, though. It seems like there are ends of needles flying around all over the place. I have learned that it's a lot easier to start a needle on a knit stitch instead of a purl stitch, though. Hey Tobie, I already messed up and knitted all the stitches on to one needle... I thought that might make you feel better. :) I am going to need to get kicking, though. Tomorrow's day one of February, you know.

Speaking of February, Knit Knack got his Valentine's shell earlier this week, so that he could be fashionable well in time for the big day. Apparently now he's "expecting" more seasonal outfits throughout the year. Seems kind of presumptuous to me. Knit a turtle a couple of shells, and he starts thinking he deserves the world. Who knew.

Knit Two, Purl Two, 'Round and 'Round

Well, Maggie's socks are finished.

(That's right, there's two. Where's the heckling now?)

And Calvin's socks are...

(What's that? Oh. Right. The heckling.) Do you notice anything different about these socks as opposed to the other socks you've seen in progress on this blog? My sock class in February is being taught with the two circulars technique, so I figured I'd better try it before I teach it. So far? Not a big fan. I'll keep you updated.

On the plus side, this is how much sleeve you can get out of one skein of Donegal Tweed. Actually, that's how much sleeve I can get out of one skein of Donegal tweed. You might be able to get a whole sleeve out of a skein. This is a big sleeve. My elbow is very excited, though.

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So I'm sitting on the couch at Kimmie's house last Saturday evening and I'm starting this sleeve and I'm about three inches into the five inches of 2x2 ribbing and I'm TIRED of 2x2 ribbing so I start digging through my project bag.

I could start Calvin's Valentine's socks. (More heckling? Really?) Oh wait, Calvin's socks will be mostly 2x2 ribbing, just like his sister's. Scratch that.

I could start the second Uptown Boot sock. Oh wait. The first two inches of that sock are in 2x2 ribbing. Scratch that.

Did I bring anything else? No. Sometimes knitting gets tedious, don't it?

The sun comes up and the sun goes down,
Knit two, purl two, 'round and 'round,
One sock to knit and one sock down,
Knitting gets tedious, don't it?

- original uncorrupted lyrics by Carson Robison


I wasn't sitting like this on the couch. And Zipper wasn't knitting. It all works out.

We Don't Need No Stinkin' Sock Yarn

Get a load of that. I alternate between being desperately proud and extremely shamed. Regardless, that picture is my new desktop background. Remember how I said I don't like to be trendy? I didn't join that stash-a-long/yarn diet thing for the new year. However, I am determined to knit up some of this sock yarn this year, not double the pile by 2008.

Do you see the Cherry Tree Hill? Neither do I.

I dug a little deeper. It seems the fuzzy children have been playing in the stash again. Guess what I found behind my yarn shelves?

She's lovely. She's gorgeous. She's everything I remember from the day we first met. The ill will is gone. The Jaywalker calls. I long to give her a second chance.

Peaches and Herb said it best:

Reunited and it feels so good
Reunited 'cause we
understood
There's one perfect fit
And, sugar, this one is it
We
both are so excited
'Cause we're reunited, hey, hey

One perfect fit, indeed.

Valentine's socks? Never heard of them.

Oh, guess what else I found?

My Kid Merino from Crystal Palace. I bought this last fall sometime and promptly lost it. Oh, those fuzzy kids.


I wonder what else they've hidden?

Remember That? That Was Awesome.

First of all, Saturday was Brenda's birthday. Go wish her a happy birthday (and time to post on her blog). Everyone loves Brenda.

Do you remember that one time, over a year ago, when I blogged about this totally awesome sock, and I was knitting it, and it was beautiful, and it was a Jaywalker, and I was making it out of Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn? Remember that? That was awesome.

Do you remember that one time, when I was knitting that sock, and I turned the heel, and I tried it on, only I didn't really try it on, because it didn't fit, and I had to rip it out, and then I started over a couple of times, but still couldn't get it, so I made the sock yarn sit in time out? Remember that? That was... not... awesome.

Do you remember that one time, when I was thinking about that sock, and then about that sock yarn, and then I was looking for the sock yarn, and I looked through all my sock yarn, and I looked through all my other yarn, and I even tried to organize my stash, and I still couldn't find that sock yarn? Remember that? Do you?

I can't find the Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn! Maybe you can help. Did I give it to you? Did I give it to someone you know? Did I give it to someone you don't know? Did it run away from home? I tried asking the stash if they knew anything about it, but no one would talk. They were all muttering things about "cramped quarters" and "neglect" and other phrases I'd rather not repeat here. Anyway, maybe you know what happened to this yarn. If you do, will you tell me?

A Pair of Socks

Look! I finished a pair of socks!

Don't worry. Chaka's not buying it either.

I do love this sock. I can't wait to start the second one. (I say that now, when I have a deadline for the V-day socks and shouldn't be messing with stuff for myself. Hrmph.) The really cool thing about this sock is that my good friend Wendy kool-aid dyed the yarn, and my other good friend Lisa provided the pattern. And some of my other good friends have provided supervision while I've knitted it! What a combination.

I am endlessly amused by the tiny balls of yarn I have remaining after finishing a sock. (Hey Leone... I meant to tell you... I am constantly TERRIFIED of running out of yarn, which is one of the reasons why these tiny balls are such a source of amusement. I have these great big giganto feet and I am constantly convinced that I will run out of yarn. Shockingly, I came closer to running out of yarn for my sister-in-law's Pomatomus socks than I ever have knitting socks for myself!)

I have convinced myself that some day I will find an incredibly clever use for all of these sock leftovers, and it will be a super-special, incredibly clever something, since each of the sock leftovers reminds me of the socks I knit and the recipients for whom I knit them.

Ahhhh.... socks.

Knit Knack and a Winner

Remember the alligator I showed you before Christmas? Silly rabbit, that wasn't an alligator!

It was Sheldon, from the winter issue of Knitty. Only I made him for my mom for Christmas, and I couldn't show him before it was time. She was very impressed, and promptly named him Knit Knack. The cool thing about this pattern is the removable shell. This gave me an idea.

Clearly, this turtle needed a Christmas outfit. The tan/brown shell is a good everyday-go-to-work shell, but what if he got invited to a Christmas party? It was obvious he needed a fashionable Christmas outfit to wear.

And who doesn't need a Santa hat? The Sheldon pattern is very fun to knit, and I don't think I've seen the last of it.




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And the winner is...

A long, long time ago (in a land far, far away), I told you we were within 100 comments of having the big 500th comment on Drunken Monkey Knits, and that the 500th commenter would receive a prize. Well, after my sushi post of a couple days ago, we have a winner! The crazy thing about this commenter is that I really doubt she knew I was even having a contest, as she came to my blog through a comment I had left on another blog. Not only that, but I then clicked to her blog and saw that last October, she'd won another prize on a completely different blog for leaving the 700th comment! This is one lucky commenter.

My congratulations to ~Tonia~ of Knits Galore! Your commenting prowess has earned you the right to one of the following prizes:

knitovation by Barry Klein and Fayla Reiss, autographed by the authors at last summer's TNNA. This book contains patterns for "creative knitwear made from three simple shapes."

OR

Two skeins of KnitPicks Gossamer in the Rose Garden colorway. 100% merino wool, lace weight, 440 yards/50 grams each.

Additionally, I'm going to send one skein of Lang Jawoll Cotton Jacquard sock yarn, the perfect amount to make a pair of socks for your adorable little boy. I'll also send the daisy yarn winder from craft locker. Email me at brooketyler2002 AT yahoo DOT com with your prize choice and your address, and I'll mail your prize. Congratulations!

Thanks for playing everybody. I'll let you know when the next contest starts.

Sushi, or Not Sushi

subtitled: Waiter, There's a Fruit Fly in My Soy Sauce

Saturday was a busy day. I had a successful sock club in the morning and a small fuzzy feet class in the afternoon. The weather in southwestern Ohio hasn't been conducive to people wanting to knit heavy, warm slippers lately. Nevertheless, these classes gave me a good excuse to sit and knit all day.

After the store closed, Dani and I went out for sushi. We had talked about it a couple months ago, and since I don't have much if any real experience with sushi, Dani told me she would go with me and help me figure out what to try. We went to Soho Japanese Bistro and had a great time. You'll be proud of me. I was very brave.

We asked the waiter for his recommendation, and he naturally pointed to the most expensive item on the list we were perusing. His suggestion turned out to be my favorite of the night, though, so I can't complain too much. Here's what our first plate looked like:

On the left is a California Roll, which is crab, cucumber, and avocado wrapped in seaweed and surrounded by rice. That's a fairly common roll. Even I had heard of that one before. On the right is our waiter's suggestion: The Angry Dragon! Oooh! Doesn't he look angry? I thought he looked kind of cute. His eyes are fish eggs. Dani and I both tried one. Not bad... kinda squishy. The rest of him was shrimp tempura and cucumber wrapped in seaweed and covered with rice, avocado, eel, spicy mayo, and eel sauce (which is more like a teriyaki sauce than the eel "goo" the name made me think of). Like I said, this was my favorite roll of the night. The green lump on the back of the plate is wasabi. Very hot. Clears up any sinus infection in a matter of seconds. The pinkish lump on the back of the plate is pickled ginger. Surprisingly tasty. Dani says it's good to use that to cleanse your palate between rolls.

Here's our second plate. In the front is Spider, a deep-fried soft shell crab with cucumber, avocado, spicy mayo, and eel sauce wrapped in seaweed. He was very yummy, too. Behind him is the Philly, which was raw salmon, cream cheese, and avocado wrapped in seaweed and surrounded by rice. This was the only actual raw fish that we had, and I have to admit it was probably my least favorite roll, mostly due to the texture. That's a lot of squishy stuff to have together inside that seaweed. I did eat two pieces (one hello bite, one good-bye bite) to make sure I gave it a fair try.

I would definitely go back.

Instead of going our seperate ways after we finished dinner, we decided to go to Perkins for coffee and knitting. We both had sad little pieces of pie, and ended up staying for over four hours talking, knitting, and laughing. For a good amount of time, we were the only ones in the restaurant besides the workers.

Oh, did you want to see what I worked on all day yesterday?

This is the Uptown Boot Sock pattern from an old Interweave Knits. I'm using Lorna's Laces that was Kool-Aid dyed for me by my BFF Wendy. I love these colors, and I love the way the subtle cable pattern looks without ruining the effect of the variegation. I'm using size 2 dpns, of course, and these socks will be for me. I worked on these a little bit yesterday.

This is the first of the Maggie Valentine's Day socks. I started this Saturday morning during sock club. I'd say that's a bit of progress for one day. It's just an easy kids sock pattern in Cascade Fixation yarn. I haven't used this yarn before... it's 98.3% cotton and 1.7% elastic, which makes for some soft and stretchy yarn. It seems to make pretty sturdy fabric (bet you'll never guess which size needles I'm using), and hopefully will last a while since they'll stretch to fit.

I also started a silly fuzzy foot during that class, and played with it for a while. I'll not post pictures, because I was only playing, and it's silly. And I probably won't finish it. We'll see.

I Hate Being Trendy

I don't watch Survivor, 24, or Grey's Anatomy.

I don't have an iPod, Tivo, or satellite radio.

I don't wear Gap, Old Navy, or Aeropostale clothes.

I don't do yoga, crave Starbucks, or read Harry Potter.

I don't join knit-a-longs, swaps, or Stitch N Bitch groups.

I don't want to be just like everybody else.

I have yet to be confronted, but I'm completely prepared with my argument that I started knitting before it became totally trendy to do so. (Hopefully Brenda will back me up on this.) I don't just say that because this month marks five years that I've devoted to this craft. I say it because I want people to know that I've never knitted a fun fur scarf, and I couldn't be more okay with that.

So I got all cranky the other day when I realized that there exists a Central Park Hoodie knit-along with over 75 people signed up. No, I'm not signed up; I didn't even know about the KAL until it had already been closed. But the fact remains. And I was cranky.

But then I thought about it. It's not so bad being a little bit trendy. I do, after all, watch American Idol. I have a knitting blog. I have a cell phone and a digital camera. I like Jelly Belly jelly beans. Trendy isn't all bad.

I realized that when other people knit the same thing I do, I can get tips from them and learn from their experiences. So I decided not to rip out the back of the Central Park Hoodie that I finished almost entirely during my trip to Washington. That's two pieces down, three to go. I'm going to love this sweater, even if everyone else in the world decides to knit one.

But, I hope they don't.

p.b. That other picture shows how much I got done. This picture shows the true colors in the yarn.

Tales of Fiber in the Northwest

Deadlines are our friends.The thumb on the second Maggie mitten was finished in the airport the morning we left for Seattle.


I reiterate: I work well under pressure.

They were well-received, too. They fit perfectly, and were only taken off when it was realized that they greatly inhibited the fine motor skills.

The birthday sweater made an appearance. Wow, is that kid cute. I could make the ugliest sweaters ever, and those kids would make them look tres chic.

Mom
"helped"
"knit" my sweater. There's something in that North-western air that allowed her a few lucid knitting moments. Aww, who am I kidding. It looks convincing, though, doesn't it?

Despite a rousing game of Pass the Plague, we did get to do a little yarn shopping on the Thursday after Christmas. We tried to go to Wooly Monkey (how perfect would that have been?) but they were out of business. We did hit Kirkland Yarn & Stitchery, where I picked up two skeins of Dale Baby Ull. One is a nice, soft, light blue. The other was a delightful, unusual berry-magenta in the store, which turned into a fairly everyday red once I got it home. Such, as they say, is life.

I really liked Great Yarns in Everett, though. We were a little hesitant to go there, since they'd been cranky to Morgan in the past. However, we must have charmed them with our large, noisy group of yarn shoppers, because they were super nice when we went. They basically had a nice big house with rooms stuffed with yarn... lots of yarn. Nice yarn. I picked up a ball of Malabrigo in muted sea greens (mittens?), and a ball of Monarch Fly Super Sport handpainted sock yarn in dark dark dark teal (ooooooo-pomatomus).