Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Somebody Stop Me, Please!

babysocks5I can't seem to stop myself from making baby socks. I've already gifted one pair and I've almost finished the 6th pair. I haven't even modified the pattern yet, though I keep thinking I might. I'm seriously addicted to these little things.

Pattern: Miriam Felton's Baby to Toddler Sized Socks

Yarn: (clockwise from top left) Cherry Tree Hill "Jewels", Cherry Tree Hill "Serengeti", Cherry Tree Hill "Spring Frost", Perchance to Knit "Seascape", and (center) Tofutsies "Three Feet Short"

Needles: KnitPicks, HiyaHiya, and KA #0us/2.0mm.

babysocks6My husband reminds me often of how tolerant he is of my obsessive behavior. He even got me a new Cub Cadet to help me refocus my compulsion and do something "useful" at the same time. I enjoy the mowing but it hasn't stopped me from making baby socks.


MTD / Blattner Brunner
I have two friends who are due in Feb. and Apr. and I have quite a few items I'd like to make including Baby Bell Bottoms by Alison Hansel and Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmerman. I think I might be the only knitter in America who hasn't made one of the those yet.

So my poor, long-suffering husband will have to bear with me and my obsessions for a little while longer. He's a good man and like I keep telling him, there are worse things to be obsessed with then knitting.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

The Busiest Season of All (for me anyway)



I've read that many people consider the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas to be their busiest time of year. For me it's fall. My husband and I belong to a farm toy collectors club and every year in November and April our club holds a farm toy show that attracts hundreds of visitors. We only have about 15 members and only 8 are really active so this means that a few people do a tremendous amount of work. Our most important activity outside of the two shows is to sell chances on a pedal tractor to raise money for a scholarship. Every year we award a $1,000 scholarship to an area senior. That's a lot of chances for 8 people to sell. Doug, Linda and I take the pedal tractor around to various tractor shows and festivals, most of which are held in the fall. This provides many opportunities for Knitting in Public.

I knit in public all the time so when I learned that many consider this to be an unusual activity I was a little puzzled. Yes, I get comments and questions but I've never had anything other then a positive experience. More often than not, I'm approached by other knitters who want to ask about my yarn or pattern. I love this aspect of knitting in public.

Saturday Doug and I went to Crownsville, Maryland for the Renaissance Festival and I took my baby socks to work on while we're sitting around watching people (and drinking beer). I saw a woman knitting on the bench where I had been sitting and knitting just a few minutes before. I approached her we got to talking and really hit it off. It is amazing how many subjects we touched on during our short conversation. Her name is Sherry and she was there with her family. She was working on a sock but told me that she had only been knitting for a few months. You would have never guessed that by watching her knit. She went to a social knitting group with her daughter in Columbia, Maryland and I think that's how she got pulled into the knitting universe.

The Saturday before, I was knitting at an arts and crafts festival where we were selling chances on the pedal tractor when a little girl about 9 or 10 walked up to me and said, "You're knitting a sock." I was stunned. Not only did she know I was knitting but that I was knitting a sock. She scampered off before I could ask her how she knew what I was knitting. I looked at my knitting and it wasn't really to the point where it looked unmistakably like a sock hanging off my needles but she recognized it as such. I hope whoever the sock knitter is in her life teaches her how to knit.

Being out and about with time on my hands is a wonderful thing right now because I can sit and knit (or stand and knit) and I get to meet new friends like Sherry.

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

The Next New Thing

I buy two Vogue magazines each year, the big spring and fall issues. I'm not a slave to fashion but I like to see what the trends are especially in knitwear. One of the latest trends had left me baffled.
prada-open-toe-socks
Toe-less knee socks.

Have you seen these things? They have a heel and gusset and a band of ribbing and that's it. They come to an abrupt halt about halfway down the instep. They were everywhere in the fall issue. Usually two tone though I did see some solids.

Here's a link to the page where I found this photo. You have to scroll down to read about the socks. If you scroll down a little farther you'll see a blurb about fingerless gloves.

I guess this year's fashion statement is frostbitten toes and fingers.