too many socks?

OK, it is official, I am addicted to sock yarn. Both my husband and I have a drawer full of beautiful socks. He is a size 13, I am an 11, and still we are so spoiled we only wear hand knit socks. Neither one of us needs socks. I am in need of a calming project for this weekend. What is in my stash? Yarn for 8 pairs of socks! The kids only get a couple of pairs a socks a year. Hanukkah and birthdays. In the past some have been felted and some worn in a not so gentle way. So knitting for them is out. Is it too early to start Christmas presents?

most beautiful ever

Look at the beautiful yarn from BBFA. Simply gorgeous. From top to bottom is G-Rocks, Downpour and FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN. Fire On The Mountain deserves all capitals because it is quite possibly the most beautiful skein of yarn ever made. Really. It makes me happy just to look at it and stroke it. No knitting involved.

tainted tree

A recent post on the Knit and Tonic blog about her being hit on by a very old man made me remember an incident that happened to me 17 years ago...

17 years ago we lived in San Diego and I shopped at the only real health food store in town. Now this was at a time when you had to explain to people what the word organic meant, and the only people shopping at the health food store were ourselves, a few locals in the neighborhood and the dreadlocked people. So here I am pushing around my youngest who is sitting in the cart. An older man is shadowing us. At first he tells me that he is a doctor and that I should stand up straight. Then there are comments about the produce I am choosing. Then he tells me that he has never married because there was no way he could be sure that a American woman's family tree had not been tainted by black people. He looks at me and my daughter and tells us he is so happy to see that there is no way that could be true in our case.

For the first time in my life I was speechless.

Of course on the way home I came to my senses and realized that I should have informed him, loud and proud, that my husband is Mexican. That the cute little fair skinned, red headed, blue eyed doll before him is in fact Mexican. It probably would have killed him.

yes, they ALL will be named Juan

an island...cocktails with little umbrellas...pool boys named Juan...warm sand to wiggle your toes into...water too cold to deal with the bathing suit issues

SIP

Here is the current Sock In Progress. I am using Louet Gems. The first time I have used this yarn. It is very soft and easy to work with. The pattern is a Diagonal Rib Socks by Ann Budd.

While looking for link to the diagonal sock pattern I came across this. It is an index of Interweave Knit patterns by designer! Now I will go back and check all of Evelyn Clark's designs. She has become a favorite.

There are new colors up on the Blue Moon site. Stash enhancement is definitely in order. Before I head out of town tomorrow I will order, Downpour, G Rocks, Fire On The Mountain, Cracked Canyon and Titania. Titania is one of the colors from the sock club and not shown on the website. The Titania socks I knit in November were given to my Thanksgiving hostess. I love the colors so much I need to have a pair of my own. As for the other new colors, I need to decide light weight or medium weight. Probably a little of each.

Day Camp Director's Retreat this weekend so I am off to camp. While I do prefer to be at home it will be nice to be away from the phone for a few days. Keep your fingers crossed I do not run across any bears or cougars. That is a little more wildlife than I am after.

kristen

I had a comment. I was shocked. At first I was pretty sure I had done something stupid that only made it look like I had a comment. But I clicked and it was a real person. Kristen. I believe she is also the first person to comment on Slowknitter, back in the day. So if there is anyone beside myself and Kristen reading this, take it as a challenge. Go find a new blog and leave a comment. Good and good for you.

white Martin Luther King Day?

So it started snowing Wednesday. We got a couple of inches. It snowed on Thursday, another couple of inches. It has been too icy to do anything, other than sit inside and laugh at the people who were stupid enough to try and drive as they slide down the block. What happens Saturday? Snows all day long! Forecast for Tuesday? Snow. What the hell is going on around here?

let the dipping begin

I know there are people out there who have fondue parties. Little pots of gooey goodness set here and there. You walk around and mingle while snacking. My idea of fondue is much more intimate. Fondue for 2 is the only way to go. First you have to sit side by side, on a couch, or a bench, or the floor. Somewhere your knees can touch and you have the ability to lean against each other from time to time. Do not worry about double dipping, eat the warm, soft goodies right off your dipping fork. You two will be swapping spit and doing the horizontal mambo in a few hours anyway.

This is my all time favorite fondue recipe. Gets em every time.

2 Tablespoons butter
1 big portebello mushroom, finely chopped
2 Tablespoons shallot, finely chopped
1 pound brie, trimmed of rind and cut into 2" cubes
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup white wine*


Melt butter and add mushrooms, saute 3 minutes. Add shallots and saute 1 minute more. In a bowl toss brie with cornstarch. Add wine to mushroom and shallots and bring to a simmer. Add cheese a 1/3 at a time, whisking well. Do NOT boil. Once the cheese is melted transfer to fondue pot.

Serve with lots of crusty bread, steamed potatoes, blanched asparagus and green beans.

The fondue needs to be made right before it is served, but everything else can be prepared in the afternoon. It can sit at room temperature no problem.

* white wine - I am a red wine drinker and do not always have white on hand. I do however always have champagne on hand, yes always! Champange will work just fine in place of a dry white wine.

Enjoy it, let me know how it turns out.

flap hat done

Here is my flap hat.






I used Mountain Colors and size 6 circs. I have made many hats as gifts, but this one is all for me. It will take its maiden voyage this weekend.



There were also plans show sock progress, but alas, no. I had to alter the the Whitby pattern from a petite woman to a man's size. The leg looked fine, I turned the heel and worked the gusset stitches, then began to worry. It looked too small. As I was working to gusset I was talking myself down from having to frog the whole thing. Michael tried it on and sure enough, it was "a little tight". I rewound the yarn and decided to ditch the pattern as well. All that math down the drain. So I cast on the Cedar Creek pattern from STR, it should be just fine. This pattern is also available from Interweave Knits as a Web Knit. Done by the fabulous Ann Budd and titled Diagonal Rib Socks. I do not know if you need the subscriber password for access.

Tomorrow, the BEST fondue recipe ever!

what does THIS cord attach to?

8 weeks ago you would have found this house in the dark ages. OLD computer, long ago broken printer and scanner, nothing but a sweet CD collection to get us through the days. Then it happened, my computer began to self destruct. Now I need to tell you just how long this computer has held on. It was a laptop with 90Mghz. Yes, you read that right, 90. Built before the inventors of the Pentium chip were even born. This thing has trundled on through thick and thin. Being a trooper and not complaining a bit about being hooked up to a 22bit dial up connection. So after fretting long and hard I ordered a new laptop. This coincided with Clearwire coming to town. They had a killer deal and I said yes. So now I not only have a new computer with all the bells and whistles I did not even know I was missing, but it is blazing fast. I feel spoiled. Giddy with the joy of this machine. OK, now that there is a computer that is actually from this century in the house I have options. Options like a digital camera. OOOO a digital camera? No more feeling guilty about the 6 month old roll of undeveloped film at the bottom of my bag? Done. The girls have saved enough for iPods? Sure, why not? All of the sudden we have a house full of gadgets. What does a person do with all of these cords?

We got some snow today, PERFECT snowball snow. Bring it on.

look what I can do

The oh so nice UPS man brought me a digital camera today. I ordered it from Costco.com and it turns out it was shipped from about 5 miles away. I could have picked it up! The shooting and viewing of pictures part are as easy as pie. I even downloaded and emailed a photo, ok, an image, this afternoon. Now I need to learn how to add pictures to the blog. MORE technical reading...

I had a late meeting this evening. Came home, did some work, opened the wine, did some more work and then read blogs. Far and away my favorite blog is slowknitter. She cracks me up. If only I still lived in LA.

Knitting...today I made a quick stop into Weaving Works to purchase needles and some sock yarn. The needles are for a skein of Mountain Colors that will become a hat. I have not knit with this yarn before and really like it.



It has a beautiful sheen. Speaking of sheen (not Charlie, he probably googles himself for references), I also picked up a couple skeins of Louet Gems. They will become the Whitby socks from Nancy Bush's Knitting On The Road. If you swith the ' it becomes a dirty joke. Poor Nancy, I am sure she has heard it before.





The wine is gone. It is either bed or vodka...

what next?

This evening I settled into the couch and finished knitting the toe on my evil pair of socks. I have knit MANY pairs of socks. If you have read the previous blogs you know that is particular pair was giving me copious amounts of grief. As I go to graft the toe on the second sock I have to rip it out not once but twice. I do not know what I was doing wrong, but boy did it show. Now the graft is 8 stitches on each of 2 needles, takes about 1 minute to finish. After pulling it out twice I pressed on and found that the 3rd time was indeed the charm. I had finished half of the stitches and all was well until.... the power goes out!!!! I live in Edmonds Washington. A stones throw from the north of Seattle and right on the Sound, we get a LOT of wind. We get power outages. But I can not help but think that this sock did not want to be made and its final little joy was turning out the power as I was thinking about weaving in ends. Yes, I did weave in those ends, by candle light. There is NO WAY I was letting this wool get the better of me.

What to knit next? Usually I know what my next knitting project will be long before the current one leaves the needles. Not this time. I have some yarn I am going to make into a throw. But my Mom tells me that she is sending me multiple skeins of black lace. I need to wait until it gets here to decide if I want to incorporate it into the throw or save it for a lace wrap. Then there is the BEAUTIFUL ball of Mountain Colors yarn that is sitting on my desk. I just reached over to touch it. OOOOO This was a gift and I have plans to make it into a hat, but I do not have the right needles. My LYS is out. It always amazes me when I do not have the right needles, I mean really, how many needles does one person need? So I guess I will start a new pair of socks tomorrow. I think I will use the STR Rare Gems that came as a bonus in my December kit and maybe the Birch pattern by Nancy Bush from Gathering of Lace. The gauge is not quite right, but I will need to knit a few inches before I can see if it will work.

Sorry no pictures, camera is on the way.

No recipes tonight, but wine! If I thought anyone was actually reading this blog I would hesitate to share, but because I am all alone here...my favorite new wine is Reggiano Lambrisco Le Grotte. It is red, which I love. It is bubbly, which I love. It is cheap, which I REALLY love. $4.99 at Trader Joe's. Probably less expensive where you live because Washington state has antiquated liquor laws. To put the cherry on top it has a fairly low alcohol content. Although I am a self proclaimed lush, it is nice to be able to have a few glasses without the dread of a morning after headache.

virgin wool

It has been suggested that a sacrifice to the wool gods may be in order. It would accomplish two things. #1 Please the gods by letting them know I care about their well being and am willing to work with their needs. #2 Let any other skeins of wool with thoughts of doing things their own way know that this sort of thing will not be tolerated.

Henpecked

No camera today. They were out of the one I want at my local Costco. I am not very good at being patient, so I ordered one and will now be stalking the mailman waiting for its arrival.

Last week I began a new pair of socks using STR Henpecked from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. Now I have made many pairs of socks using STR yarn and just LOVE it. It is beautiful, soft and knits like a dream. Because it is a hand dyed yarn I never know what the the colorway will do and I like that. At least I used to like that. The first sock I made with Henpecked has cute little stripes. I like the cute little stripes. Can I get the second sock to stripe in the same way? No, not even. I have knit the same 1000 stitches over and over and over and yes, over again. Each time varying where I start in the the color pattern. This yarn just has different ideas. This yarn's intention is to have its way with me without leaving me so much as cab fare home.

Its a blog

It is true that I have been toying with the blog idea for some time. I even set one up last spring but then never did anything with it. What has pushed me into the game? slowknitter "(c’mon! ALL the cool kids are doing it!)".

Knit From Your Stash. It seems the whole knitting world is abuzz with this idea. Well, it does not work for me. I have spent most of my knitting life buying just what I need for projects. Sure I have a few odds and ends left from those projects, but nothing that would fall into the stash category, until last month. I have 4 sock projects waiting for my attention. I also purchased stash reduction from Cookie A. and have 3 skeins on the way. That means I officially have a stash. I LOVE having a stash. I can not wait to see it all sitting there on the shelf, calling my name, enticing me with its deveil may care attitude. You stash reducing people are crazy.

Buying a digital camera is on my list of things to do tomorrow. Knitting pictures and Noshing recipies to follow.