WIP: Simple Socks

In the pre-ravelry days, I knitted a pair of socks very similar to these. I still wear them regularly, and when at my friend Laura's house, she saw my socks and really wanted a pair of her own. Who am I to deny a close friend hand-knitted socks?

These are just plain, cuff-down stockinette socks. I'm knitting these on a 2.5 mm 9-inch circular; it's my first time using a tiny circ. I actually really enjoy it. I find knitting on dpns sort of hard on my wrists sometimes, and the magic loop/two circs technique isn't my fave (I know, I'm sorry, I just feel like I spend as much time feeding needles through loops as I do actually knitting).

Gatsby does love to get in on the knit blog action.  

I've been knitting these on the subway or in various cafes in the city. And as someone who frequently knits in public, I'm used to people asking what I'm knitting. But when an older lady slid over to get a better look at my knitting while on the subway, I was totally unprepared for her question.

Nice Older Lady:"You're left handed, aren't you?"
Me: ".....uum, yes. How can you tell?"
Nice Older Lady: "I'm teaching my granddaughter to knit, and she's left handed too. I'll have to tell her that left handed knitters can do just as well!"

So, are there any fellow southpaw knitters out there? Is there really a difference? I knit 'English style'  (I'm a thrower, not a picker). I never thought it mattered- for crochet, yes, because I hold my hook in my left hand, but for knitting... the only time I find it affects anything is when I do a long tail cast on, since it is technically backwards (I hold the needle in my left hand).

Fellow knitters, help me out- can you actually tell if someone is left handed when they are knitting?

Leyburn Love

Eliza and I had a little mini sock swap with ourselves- we each a) secretly picked a sock pattern from the other's Ravelry queue, b) knit one sock, and c) sent the one sock, pattern, and the rest of the yarn to make the matching sock. No more second sock syndrome!! Eliza chose the lovely Leyburn sock by Pepperknit: (Look at that- a perfect fit!) Which is utterly fantastic. I love the gorgeous Koigu that she used-a lovely springy yellow. I'm so excited to knit the other sock with this scrumptious yarn! I got a kick out being sent Koigu from the States- Koigu is produced about 4 hours away from me, so it's pretty local, as far as Canadian yarns go! She also tucked in a cute little squid (who now doubt had very comfy ride to Canada with all that Koigu), and a CD mix of awesome tracks! Below is a sampling of a couple of the great tracks she included: The Blow- True Affection Of Montreal- Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games Awesome package. Thanks so much, Eliza!! P.S- I've been on a butterscotch kick lately- probably from making Eliza's Butterscotch Monkey sock. I recently made a vanilla and chocolate bundt cake, complete with butterscotch sauce (from scratch) and pecans. So. Damn. Good!!! I'm going to make this again, for sure.

Oh, what a night! Yarn Portraits and more

This past Thursday Julie and I had a date to meet up at Romni's, little did I know that she had some ulterior motives for her location choice, sneaky kitten. She said that we were there because she was going to buy me some yarn and that was that. I long ago learned not put up a fight with her on these occasions. (Who'd want to? Please don't buy me some pretty yarn Julie, I would not like to work with some outstanding fiber on a garment of my choice!) A little while later we found these three special skeins of Misti Alpaca. 80% Baby Suri Alpaca 20% Silk Hand painted with more colors that any Dream In Color yarn I've seen. This specific colorway (#15, lot#80110) is so incredibly awesome that I took picture after picture loving the twists and contrasts in the color play. These three were taken in a northern facing window on a cloudy day. The next were with a makeshift light box to get a softer effect. It's even softer than it looks, practically dancing over my skin. I am very lucky girl. Which brings me to the second reason Julie wanted to meet up... She asked me to be a maid of honor at her wedding! I accepted enthusiastically through a flurry of hugs and tears. I will be happily sharing my maid of honourdom with our fantastic mutual friend Monica. I'm peanut butter jelly time excited this and my new yarn! Woo! Here is the ideal that I have for it. I sketched this ages ago and this yarn has inspired me to figure it out for real. 1. lying flat: a round cabled shrug with detailed rectangular back piece 2. around the neck: a cushy collar that naturally falls high 3. big twist: the main cable needs to be simple and defined 4. from behind: a look at how the piece sits 5. (seems I skipped 5 altogether) 6. supplemental: if the first idea doesn't work out... 7. coverage: the priority areas that need warmth I can picture this alternate version with ribbing of some sort around the arm holes to give it more finishing. A cable with texture in the center, big detailed stitches perhaps? As you can see, I have some hammering out to do. I tried on a great vestish piece at Fraiche (great store on Queen) a while back. I wonder if I could deconstruct it...and if I have the patience for the cables? The back is knit sideways and the front pieces look separate but seem to be attached by the cable. Two modish buttons close and cross the panels for an overlapping collar. Inspiration is oozing out of me. Now, if only I could get rid of this second sock syndrome. I've been stuck on the second of the spiral socks for forever and a day. I simply couldn't get it to match in gauge, that sock has been frogged more times than miss piggy. At the moment the heel turn has just finished and it's onto the home stretch gusset and instep! The time it would take to knit these socks was horribly miscalculated!

Strawberry Bread and Sock Vote Tally!

The votes are in, and Jules wins! I'll be casting on for Jules in the next couple of days. Thanks everyone for helping me decide!

I've been wanting to bake this recipe ever since I saw it a week ago. Today was that day... I made Strawberry Bread.
Look at how pink the batter gets: And here's a shot of it just before it's baked: and then here's a shot of it after it comes out of the oven:The strawberry bread is basically like a banana bread, in terms of general baking time and recipe structure. It turned out perfectly, but I kept thinking that it would be even better as muffins instead of a loaf. And it would really shorten the baking time (one solid hour in the oven). That, and muffins mean maximum slivered almond consumption. Mmmmm. I will make this again, but in muffin form, and then tell myself it's a very nutritious snack while I devour several of them.
Let's get a close-up, shall we? Oh yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

And since it's Self Portrait Sunday, Here is a shot I took (thank you timer function!) while I was licking the bowl and talking to my mom on the phone.... I haven't quite got the apprehension out of my face about having my photo taken, and that's something I really need to work on. But hey, it's still an accurate shot. Messy kitchen and all!

Sock Pattern: Vote!

Now that I've used up my delicious Mirasol Sulka, I'm onto my Hacho. I've decided to knit socks, and as you sock knitters out there already know, there is an absolute glut of patterns available. According to Ravelry, there are 3,382 sock patterns in it's pattern browser. That's some serious sock variety. I wanted something that had no lace (I get chilly feet- I want them covered up!), was fairly simple, and could be done without constantly looking at a chart or counting stitches every second. I wanted blank-out-and-knit socks. But pretty blank-out-and-knit socks. To that end, I narrowed it down to three patterns to swatch up: That's Jules Charade and Crusoe I'm partial to Jules, but only because I seem to be having a five-year-old response to the name of the pattern: 'Hey! Those socks have the same name as me! I want them!' I can't say that I feel really strongly about any of them. but I refuse to swatch any other patterns, and these meet my criteria of simple (but not plain) socks. So tell me: which one do you think I should make? Leave comment, and the pattern with the most votes will be chosen!