Bouncing back with some mitts

First, let me say that you guys rock (situation normal). My copilot encouraged me to blog about the lost sock, saying that I'd feel better with the support of some fellow knitters, and of course he was right (the three words every spouse loves to hear). Thanks for being awesome.

I took pretty much all of your advice and I'm not even thinking about socks. Screw socks (OK, no, they are still wonderful inventions. And I think Smartwool read my post bitching about their socks wearing out in specific areas, because I just got a new pair and they are totally reinforced in said areas. Go Smartwool!).

Through Dec. and Jan., I was periodically working on a pair of mitts for a friend that were supposed to be Christmas presents...they've gone through various stages of partial completion and varying degrees of despise by me; only to end up looking like this. Then I banished them to the yarn basket.

Last month, I happened to be in the state of WA for work during the Great Midwestern/Eastern Snowstorm of 2011 (GMES11)--you might remember it, the one with like 3 feet of snow. The people of Richland were bitching about their unseasonable 28 degree weather--I'd hate to have seen the shit-storm that most certainly would have occurred if there had actually been any snow. Despite the lack of inclement weather, I still had a day where nothing was working at the lab--this happens every time I go there, so I'm very familiar with their antique shops and LYS. I am slowly collecting a set of Betty Crocker cookbooks, as well as a nice set of buttons from one particular antique store:



So after THE INCIDENT I decided I wanted to use some of my buttons. I had yet another idea for the mitts, partially inspired by the little flap on the Battleboro hat, and it incorporated some buttonage. The majority of the mitt was worked flat, so the texture wraps around the hand in a way that I think is pretty cool:



I like it, but I'm afraid it rides the fine line between eclectic fingerless mitten and fancy ACE wrist support. I'm sure the color has quite a bit to do with that, but I'm hoping it falls on the side of ecletic mitt. On to the next one!

Happy Xmas/belated b-day to me!

Dudes. Coolest gift ever from my dad's sister's family. I'm just going to present this absolute awesomeness right now:


DUDE!! My aunt commissioned this from a lady she knows who makes bags. This chick is a knitter, and gave me all kinds of awesome little pockets inside perfect for needles and little tools, and a nice big open area for yarn and whatever I'm working on. She also actually checked out my blog for font and color ideas (thank Jebus I haven't used any Comic Sans recently.

*SWOON* I'm not the only one who likes it:

I can't believe he's not trying to put it in his mouth, honestly.
My family rocks!

Lofty Ambitions: or How I Think I'm Much Awesomer Than I Really Am

I always drop the ball (of yarn...ha! Ehhhhh.) when it comes to knitted Xmas gifts. Such lofty ambitions...but ask yourself, why would a person who has never done a two-color stranded knitting project decide to write her own pattern because she didn't like any of the ones that she looked through? The result was inevitable:


How did I not see this coming? And when I'm on the mighty Xmas deadline with more bitten off than I can chew as it is. Note to self: YOU ARE NOT AS AWESOME AS YOU SEEM TO THINK YOU ARE.

People tend to call tearing apart your knitting 'frogging'. I feel that this is an unfair characterization. Frogs are really pretty cute, when you think about it:

Awww, look at that little punum.

And think of the great frogs throughout history:





Come on. I propose a new word defining the torture that is tearing apart a project, one that truly captures the pain, one that's not so fucking cutesy. Go ponder, I'm thinking of something along the lines of 'searing gas pain-ing', 'UTI-ing', or 'shards of glass-ing' Those might be a little too cumbersome, but you get the idea.