flyinmysoup

it's finally getting reliably chilly here in indiana. (for those who don't know about indiana weather, here's the best description of it i've ever heard--if you don't like the weather, wait a day...it'll change)
anyhow, my head was freezing the other night when i took xavier out, so i decide that i would whip up a hat. i hate wearing hats, but they do help an awful lot with the whole retention of body heat thing, so i used some of the Malabrigo that i'd been hoarding (1.75 oz of it), 5mm needles, and the Simple Roll Brim Hat pattern out of Last-Minute Knitted Gifts and made this pretty hat to keep myself toasty. i still think i look terribly goonie in it, but at least it's a pretty colorway!

after all the lace knitting that i've been up to, i decided that i'd been neglecting my poor little feet. that and the fact that i prefer wearing hand-made socks to work (i stand for hours and hours) led to an outbreak of socks here. this is the Entrelac Sock from the Socks Socks Socks book, made with the parrot yarn i picked up the other day (the toe is Baby Ull from Dale). i have to admit, i'm lovin' the entrelac. it's interesting enough that i don't want to stab my eyes out with the needles, but it's intuitive enough that i can work on these socks whilst i watch a DVD. i started out on DPN's and switched to the Magic Loop, which made a hell of a difference in the ease of working the pattern. i'm interested in trying the technique out with a yarn that has longer color repeats so it'll make the different blocks all one solid color. this first sock is working up suprisingly fast--i just hope that i can keep momentum through the end of the second one!

this second sock represents a milestone for me. it's my first sock pattern that i designed that wasn't just stockinette. in the past, i've sort of been a jerk about different sock designs. (maybe not out loud or in writing, but definetly in my head). socks have such an easy, basic pattern, it doesn't seem like much goes into making up a sock that uses a stitch pattern instead of stockinette. now, i don't think these guys are going to be anything close to a fabulous work of genius, but i did figure out the math for the pattern repeat! the stitch pattern is from Barbara Walker's second stitch treasury, and i like how it's looking so far. it's a twisted traveling stitch, so i think that it looks pretty nice with the hand painted yarn (Artyarns Super Merino). the sock so far is a great in the car pattern.

i've made an executive decision to not kill myself with the knitting of yuletime presents this year. i'm still going to try and get the sweater i'm working on for my sister done, but i think that's going to be that. i just get so frustrated with it all in the end.