G, B & U

G is for Good

Good # 1

Although I do not usually post about acquisitions, I feel compelled to celebrate the fact that Koigu, a yarn dyed in Canada, is *finally* available in Ottawa, the nation's capital. Hallelujah!!


I might have bought a skein or 10.


Good #2

I haven't posted a doodad for a while, so in honour of Socktoberfest, allow me to share my method of storing DPNs. I used to use one of those roll things, but then I came across this:


I found them in a local dollar store. I believe they are originally designed to store utensils or silverware, but they're the perfect size for DPNs. I can keep each size in its own little tray. They stack for neat storage.

B is for Bad

Bad #1

I was going to post my answers to Lolly's Socktoberfest questionnaire (BTW - What's the difference between a questionnaire and a meme?) but I decided, after coming across the gazillionth questionnaire on other blogs and saying, "Yikes, not another one," that I wouldn't. My BAD. Sorry, Lolly.

While I was preparing to answer the questionnaire that I am not going to answer, I was digging around trying to find my first pair of socks that I knit back in 1999 using the famous Two-Strand Wool-Ease Socks that was all the rage many, many years ago that I had knit just to see how socks worked with the intention of determining how they held up, but I couldn't find them, and since I'm not sure whether I kept them or gave them away in the first place, I reminded myself that if I was to have done something differently, I really should have kept better track of a little piece of history, and likely should have used a nicer yarn, like Koigu, or Cherry Tree Hill, or one of the many wonderful handpaints that are available, but since I just wanted to figure what the heck a heel flap and gusset were, and I obviously did figure it out since I've many too many pairs to count since then, in the end, it was probably irrelevant. :-)

Bad #2

I did, however, find the second pair of socks I knit. I remember slaving over them, playing with gauge and stitch count so the colours wouldn't pool or stack but would still give me a nice pair of socks. And nice they were, for many years. Alas, Cleckheaton Tapestry, though beautiful, isn't really meant to give you socks that last for 20 years. The socks, though wonderful, are on their last legs .... err, toes.

U is for Ugly

Ugly #1

I apologize if I owe anyone emails, or responses to comments, or anything like that. It seems my computer was hit by an Ad-bot, despite about 37 prophylactic programs, and it is slowly eating its own hard drive. I have managed to save all my saved knitting patterns and photos and am in the process of saving all the rest of the crap I have accumulated over the past five years with this machine. My inbox has managed to empty itself several times, and my address book is now toast. It seems I get to spend the long weekend reformatting my hard drive and trying to load everything back on.

Ugly #2

I didn't pay much attention to blogs until I found Bloglines, and then I fell in love. At last count, I am subscribed to 718 blogs. (No wonder I don't get much kintting done.) However, in the last few days, Bloglines has decided that it wants to "help" me by automatically refreshing itself every five minutes. And while it does that, I get to sit and watch it, because it won't let me continue reading the blog I'm currently viewing. And if I should happen to go somewhere to comment and try to get back while it is refreshing itself, it freezes and shuts itself down. Thank you, Bloglines, for trying to be ever so helpful and thinking I am too stupid to click refresh myself when I want to refresh.

Jason, over at Jason Knits, has a very cool Google Reader blingy-thingy on his blog, and I am Very Seriously considering taking my blog reading business elsewhere.

According to the Bloglines home page, if you put the phrase bloglines freedbacking into a post, Some Poor Sap from Bloglines will actually read what you've written. I apologize, SPSfB, but since Bloglines has wasted an inordinate amount of my time this week, I decided to put this little bit of bloglines freedbacking way down at the bottom of this post so you can also waste a bit of time reading a bunch of nonsense about socks before you get to the bloglines freedbacking that you want/need to read. Turnabout is fair play. Unless you are a fellow socknitter, in which case, I hope you enjoyed the post.

The "New" Rule

Many thanks, everyone, for your congratulations on the Amazing Lace, and special thanks to the hostesses, Rachel and Theresa. They came up with a lot of great challenges and reminded us to have fun with our knitting. I think the incredible imagination that was shown in all of the entries is testament to how much knitters took to heart the spirit of the game.

Thanks, also, to everyone who suggested where I might find my missing toe. While no one pointed me to exactly what I seemed to recall at the back of my mind, SJ and ev and Ozknitter recommended the wide toe in Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks. The photos and the directions for that toe leave a little to be desired, but in the end I was able to come up with something that matched what I was remembering.


Forgive the wonky picture -- the only way I could get a decent shot was to put the sock on my hand. Turns out that to achieve the effect I wanted, I merely had to align the stitches differently prior to grafting. Um, yeah ... duh.

I am one of those strange people who likes to Keep Track of things. I make lists of all sorts of stupid things, which I usually ignore, and I count rows while I knit. It makes me happy. Yes, I'm strange. The bad part is that I tend to cast on while I'm upstairs and make careful notes of the yarn and needles. Then I rip the page out of my notebook because I tend to knit away downstairs. I take it all back upstairs to turn the heel, back downstairs for the foot, and upstairs again to finish the toe. It may end up travelling around with me, or not. When I'm done, I end up with crumpled, little grease and/or coffee stained pieces of paper which I then just throw into a drawer in my desk. For future reference, you know.


It is time to get a little more organized. This is my new record keeping system.


Yes, it's another doo-dad, and yes, I have BLUE index cards :-)

I am still suffering from startitis. I present to you a fistful of UFOs.


I have decided that in order to curb what is starting to turn into an annoying habit, I must institute a "New" rule. Because I'm not really into the whole Deprivation Thing, my "New" rule says that I can still cast on whatever I want, whenever I want, but before I start something New, I must first take a photo of the yarn. A decent photo. That means I need decent light and the camera batteries must be charged. No more spur-of-the-moment, 10:30-at-night cast-ons. Other than the socks above, and the mate to the sock up top, if you see sockly evidence without seeing the yarn in its "natural" state, you have my permission to yell at me. Nicely, of course, but still ... keep me in line, eh? Besides, it will be interesting to compare how the yarn looks in the ball or hank with the finished product.

In the Other News Department, I have started my scarf for the International Scarf Exchange. It's now about a foot long, but here's a shot of it in its infancy.