SockTart

I managed to get some more appropriate yarn for the Monekymen variation. It’s knitting up amazingly quickly so far, mainly due to the lovely texture of the yarn. Yowr

Here we have a preview of the sock-in-progress. Yay, Monkeymen!

SockTart Episode Three: Neither Live nor Memorex

Maire says hi to friends south of the border, talks about Head Trauma Boy, the knitalong, Dark Knight, Watchmen, Little Box of Socks, and Noro Kureyon Sock.

Off the needles:

- Hedgerow Socks
- Monkey Socks

On the Needles:

- Nanners in Lime & Violet Sasquatch, Colourway: Spriggan
- Plain old socks in Opal Petticoat Cotton
- Monkeymen in Louet Gems, Charcoal

Lesser Known Sock:

- lots of suggestions, but no agreement as to what folks would like to knit. Since I’m not the only person that needs to be impressed here…do whatever pattern pleases you as long as the amount of projects on Ravelry is less than 100.
- Please POST your socks on the Ravelry board when you’re done!

Reviews:
- Little Box of Socks by Sharlene Schurch & Beth Parott
- Noro Kureyon Sock Yarn

Credits:
- Intro clip from “8 BIT Junkie” by George Wood
- Outro music: YMCA by The Donman Band

Yay! More complete sockage!

Finished these off yesterday afternoon after work. These are so pretty, I could lick ‘em. That is, if they wouldn’t leave some sorta fuzz on my tongue

Yarn: Scout’s Swag, “Secret”
Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A.

This means that 2 skeins of yarn have left the collective, and as nature abhors a vacuum…I went to the yarn store this afternoon. And that, my friends, is mild fodder for the podcast

One pair of finished pseudo-hedgerows. Yay for perseverence!

Pattern: Hedgerow Socks by Jane Cochran
Needles: Size 1 US Addi Turbo, Circular
Yarn: ShiBui Knits, Wasabi.

I really admire those with the patience to do fancy ribbing. Ugh..

SockTart Episode Two: Stays crunchy in milk

Pre-introduction: Mashup of the Twilight Zone intro with the theme from Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In.

- in which we find out that Maire has a lot of socks on the go at this time…and has also been knitting dishcloths when the weather throws up unexpected heatwaves. We also wax poetic about sock design, and we show off our inner geeks when referring to World of Warcraft and the Forums.

On the Needles:

-Monkeys made of Scout’s Swag, Colourway: Secret
- Hedgerow Socks in ShiBui Knits, Colourway: Wasabi
- Nanners in Lime & Violet Sasquatch, Colourway: Spriggan
- Plain old socks in Opal Petticoat Cotton
- Monkeymen in Zen Yarn Garden, Colourway: Licorice Lime

Lesser Known Sock:

Candidates at this time:
- Hidden Hearts By Jeannie Cartmel
- Scroll Lace Socks by Rebekkah Kerner
- Crooked Cable Socks by Sockbug
- Smoking Hot Socks by Monkika Steinbauer

Nominations and Voting are still open. You can come by the group on Ravelry, or use the forums here. It would probably be best to stick all this stuff in one place, however, so please bear in mind where the most traffic may be!

Credits:
- Intro clip from “8 BIT Junkie” by George Wood
- Outro music: A Moment in Time by Tonyy Doggett

It’s something that’s been lurking in the back of my mind for awhile, and while the Other Half was at work last night…I recorded a podcast. I’ve always had a knack with fiddly things like audio & video programs (go figure…was part of my schooling) so I thought I’d see where it takes me.

It’s a knitting podcast, focusing mainly on socks…so those friends of mine who aren’t into such things might just want to look away & hum a few bars of some convenient brain candy while I put together a few show notes.

SockTart Episode One: Damn you, CRTC!

- In which our heroine decides to podcast and lays down her miniscule qualifications to do so.

- Breakdown of “features” that we hope to discuss over the course of a podcast:
- Yarn Reviews
- Store Reviews
- Equipment Reviews

- Sock patterns, particularly lesser-known, less popular sock patterns
- Possible Knitalong
- Technique

Yarn Review: Sweatermaker Yarns from Vancouver, BC, Canada.

- Definitely recommended for those who love a range of colour, soft fabric and a quick knit that doesn’t rely on a funky pattern to make the socks stand out.
- Not recommended for those who want to do lacework, cablework, or any design that doesn’t suit busy semi-striping.

Credits:

- Intro clip from “8 BIT Junkie” by George Wood

- Outro music: “You Say You Love Me” by Outside
Music from Podsafe Audio: Music for the Revolution

Been awhile since I posted.  Things have been…busy?  Hectic?  Stressful?  It’s hard to describe.

On the one hand, we’re trying to get financing and a house…on the other, trying to take care of the place we’re in.  We’re on separate schedules, and trying to fit in time for each other where we can.  We’ve both gained a craptastic amount of weight, and are trying to get back on the wagon.  June 1st is my new start date, and he’s said he’ll be joining me this time.  I’ve picked up a Dana Carpender book (15 minute meals), and there’s a couple of Sheila Pike-Pereyra’s books around here…so I’m trying to keep some recipes in mind for not only dinners, but also lunches.

On the knitting front, I got a very plain pair of socks done in April (forgot to post ‘em to the SAM5 knitalong…oops), and finished Sock1 of my Hedgerows, my cotton Jaywalkers, and my Eleanors.  Bear in mind…that’s only sock 1 of each.  Yeah…I’ve been having some serious discontent with my knitting lately. My Noro scarf is on the back burner.

So…that’s about it.  Maybe there will be more later.  Still debating on that…

Things are starting to even out.  My laundry still isn’t done, and the kitchen is still a mess, but those are ongoing projects since one person is generally asleep when the other’s awake around here.

• work situation hasn’t changed.  There was a chance it would.  That isn’t happening.  Now that this isn’t in limbo, I can concentrate on grousing that I’m the only person into the office first thing in the AM.
• got in some quality knitting time this week.  Knitting always helps even out the moods.
• our housing situation is still up in the air, but looking a lot more favourable and a lot less bleak.  This makes me happier.
• spent much less time on warcrack.  I actually *can* walk away from the game when it starts pissing me off. I actually rolled a wee mage on an Alliance server that a friend is playing on, just to noodle around.  I generally get bored with Alliance and ditch.   We’ll see if I continue the trend. So far for lvl 70 toons, Horde is winning, 2-0
• down about 6 lbs this week.  Blood sugar is somewhat stabilizing.

…of having to wind the next ball of yarn!

I’ve now happily spent the majority of my evening re-winding balls of yarn.  It makes me a very happy camper.  As nice as it may seem to be frugal and hand-wind one’s yarn, the time savings is phenomenal.  I re-wound the Evil Cotton Yarn…even managed to quickly re-partition it into fairly even balls.  I re-wound at least 4 other skeins.  And the alpaca laceweight….AND a ball of larger gauge (scarf weight) yarn.

Very happy camper, indeedy.  Yep.

Sock #1 of the Baudelaires are almost done.  For some reason, even though I have the pattern pretty much memorized, actually doing the work is kicking my arse.  Of course, I probably would be done with Sock #1 if it weren’t for the fact that we’ve been frantically cleaning the house.

Some of the folks who read this might be wondering…is this a day-to-day blog, a knitting blog, a diet blog, or what?!  The answer is…a bit of all of the above.  I’ve tried to keep things separate…and it’s a pain in the keister.  Basically, whatever goes through my brain will eventually make it here in some way, shape or form.  I kinda like that.  Makes things more organic.

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