SockTart

I slipped.  Really badly.  I meant to get back on plan, get my life in order…and what happens?  Well, my kitchen is a mess, the clean laundry is still waiting to be put away, the dirty laundry is piling up, and my weight has ballooned.  Significantly.

I’d meant to follow strict Low Carb for 2 weeks before my birthday, right?  That didn’t work so well.  Then, right after my birthday, when I was trying to get everything back in order…my parents gave me my birthday gift.  A baked cheesecake.  A FULL baked cheesecake.  While I love the fact that Mum remembered…it was exactly the wrong trigger.  Cue another week of poor eating habits.

Combine that with Warcrack…I’d planned on making a nice, LC chicken stirfry on Saturday afternoon before Raid.  Um…yeah.  Couldn’t get that done in between two heroic instances and THEN the raid. Also disturbing is my tendency to snack on chocolate candies during raids.  Yet another bad habit to kill.

So this week I have to get this crap figured out and fixed.  I’ve made a stab in the right direction by ordering an Atkins-induction-friendly cookbook online, and it should hopefully arrive soon.

Other than that…I can still make my stir-fry for dinner, and hopefully I can get some planning done on a week’s worth of groceries, lunches and dinners.  This needs to get done, ASAP.  I feel like crap, and it’s pretty obvious why.  In the past month, I’ve felt queasy, and my headaches have been recurring.   I’ve also gained a LOT of weight back, really quickly.  The good news is that weight gained quickly should also go away fairly quickly, with little damage.  It still doesn’t make me feel good, though.

So yeah.  Sad panda.  Gotta get this under control.

In happier news, my Noro striped scarf is looking pretty.  Pictures to come once it’s done.  Yes…a scarf.  Sometimes a girl needs a break from socks…

Here’s my answers to the questionnaire.  I may just turn this into an easily-found page on its own.  Never know

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
- Ooo.  Good question.  I’m not a big fan of cotton.  It has its place, but unless it’s  blended with some other fibre, it’s a little hard to work with at times.  I hate to admit that I’m not much for the “fad yarn” that you can pick up at Michael’s or Wal-mart.  I’m choosy in my Wally-world/Zellers stash!  Why go for faux suede when you can get chunky black &  neon blue colours instead?  Right?  Right!

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
- My straights are currently stored upright in a Bowmore Islay Single Malt Scotch box.  We bought the scotch for our fathers one year for Yule, and stuck the bottles in decorative Christmas boxes for liquor…so the original sleeve was repurposed for holding my long, straight needles.
I generally keep my Addis in my knitting drawers, and my dpns in a Tinkerbell pencil case that also holds my notions.  The Other Half calls this pencil case the “Tinkerslut case”.  It’s not a very flattering picture of Tinkerbell

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
- I’ve been knitting off & on for about 3 years on my own.  My paternal grandmother was a demon with the needles, and tried to teach me when I was a kid…but it was something I had to teach myself, really.  I blame it all on the Kittyville Hat in Debbie Stoller’s Stitch & Bitch book.  Yeesh.
I’d say I’m at an intermediate level.  I’m not doing any stranded colourwork or knitting any sweaters quite yet.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
-Um….yeah.  It’s pretty out-of-date, but it shows how much of a sewing geek I can be.  If that link doesn’t work, look for the name ArcadiaX.  Because Amazon doesn’t like to make things easy, y’know.

5. What’s your favorite scent?
- In no particular order, Vanilla, Raspberries, Strawberries.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
-I do have a sweet tooth (I loveLOVElove chocolate!) but I’ve found that I’m highly sugar-sensitive.  No, I’m not diabetic.  Sugar makes me fat. Since I cut out sugar, I’ve lost about 40 pounds, with another 90 or 95 to go.  That will make me half the girl I used to be.  In the meantime, I usually suck on sugar-free mints (peppermint or cinnamon flavor).

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
-I cross-stitch, do chain-mail, and sew my own corsets. Well…I’ll be going back to sewing my own corsets when I stop shrinking…

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
-I like a little bit of everything.  Except maybe country.  And rave music, unfortunately, gives me a headache.  I’ve rediscovered a love of 70’s and 80’s rock & new wave respectively, and since our city got an alternative radio station, I’ve been happily grooving away to all the old songs of the 90’s that I used to enjoy when I was a poor art student in downtown Toronto.  Yes I wore flannel.  It was usually paint-stained.  Shuddup.

9. What’s your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can’t stand?
- My favourite colours are pinks, purples, blues, and blue-greens.  Normally I can’t stand yellows and rusty colours (oranges, etc), though I’m seeing some interesting solids & chromatic blends. Like that variegated yellow that I’m having the devil’s own time tracking down.  Grr!

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
- Two adults, one cat, no kids.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
-Scarves, hats, mittens, gloves and/or shawls.  I haven’t worn a poncho since the 1970’s, and at that point I wasn’t dressing myself so I had no choice in the matter

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
-I am an admitted sock addict.  Booyeah.

13. What are you knitting right now?
- A pair of monkeys in a bright pink Tofutsies sock yarn.  Mmmm…

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
- Handmade gifts are much appreciated.  Particularly since I know the amount of work that goes into them after trying to make a little something for everyone in the extended family these past two Yules.  Never. Again.

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
- I loves me my Addi Turbos.  **LOVES**.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
- Thanks to my local yarncrack dealer, I have a swift.  It saves the Other Half (and any friends foolish enough to wander into our house) from having to sit still for half an evening, holding yarn.  I do not have a ball winder as of yet.

17. How old is your oldest UFO?
- Ummm….about a year old, I think?  Almost a year?  I was knitting scarves for my brother & my Father-in-law…and, uh…got bored with them….
It is by will alone that I…uh…finished the Dr. Who Scarf for the Other Half.  He’s still paying that one off…

18. What is your favorite holiday?
- Every Day is Hallowe’en, Baby.  No, I’m not a goth.  Not at all. 

19. Is there anything that you collect?
- Dust, according to the Other Half.  But more seriously, about the only thing I’m really “collecting” right now are tarot decks.  Can’t read ‘em worth a heck, but they’re darned pretty.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
- Um….Cookie A’s non-free sock patterns?  I’d love to get my hands on some of the basic Elizabeth Zimmerman books.  I have one of the Vogue Stitchionaries that I’d like more of (I have the first one), and then there’s the Knitting over the Edge books.  I’d love to get my hands on those ones.
I have no magazine subscriptions.  I’ll pick up Interweave Knits at the grocery store or Yarncrack Haven when possible.

21. Are there any new techniques you’d like to learn?
-No, not really.  If there’s something I want to learn, I generally get a book and figure it out.  See, this is why Granny had such a hard time trying to teach me.  I like Diagrams Where Appropriate

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
-Guilty as charged!  Size 9 and a half foot.  Length: 9.5 to 10″, circ: 9″, approx.  Usually I make the socks just a wee bit smaller than that.  If I actually make the socks to what my measurements are SUPPOSED to be, then they wind up fitting my sis-in-law (size 9/10 feet) or my Mum (size 11 feet).

23. When is your birthday?
- February 7th.

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what’s your ID?
- Yep.  My ID on Ravelry is “Maire”.  Same as my name.  I try to keep things pretty simple

IMG_1142Originally uploaded by macgrrlx.

One more inch on Robin’s Socks and I can start turning the heel. Actually, it might be a little less than that. I’m kinda winging it. Haven’t had a lot of time to knit recently, so The Socks have been suffering. Thank goodness that the two-socks-on-two-circs method seems to take so little time. If I was doing my usual bit of procrastination, I’d be 1 inch away from the heel on only ONE sock by now. This is what I call progress.

Other than that, I’m looking forward to digging into some of my other sock yarn. It’s not that I’m bored with the yarn for Robin’s socks…not at all. I just have this kind of ADD when it comes to knitting.

Oh…one other thing. I mentioned that my co-worker’s wife spins, right? Well, I came back from lunch the next day and he had brought me some lovely handspun silk/merino blend sock weight yarn. Holy Mother of Pearl. Apparently, if I went “WOW”, I would know the cost of such a yarn, and it would be a gift from her to me. Yowza!!!! I am currently trying to figure out just what, exactly, I want to do with it. Because, y’know, whoever gets these socks are getting Very Special Socks, Indeed.

At any rate, Cassandra (the same co-worker’s wife) has offered me (though communication with her hubby) a small loom. A LOOM. She has no interest in weaving, and was given the loom by a friend, who was wishing to pass it on. I will re-iterate (for the sake of my own dear Significant Other, who may read this) that it is small. But a LOOM. My mama didn’t raise no fool…No, she raised a material artist. Verily I say Yea! to the loom!

What can I say….other than “I better get that sewing/crafting room finished soon”….

Turned off the Livejournal crossposting plugin. It doesn’t allow me to specify that the default be set to “off”, or to specify which authors can crosspost to which journals….it just wants to crosspost everything to my livejournal by default.

And while it’s nice that someone mistakenly thought I’d gotten some work done on a sweater….I’m still not up to that challenge yet. I’m still enjoying socks, thankyouverymuch.

If another, more specific, crossposter becomes available…maybe I’ll switch back. For now, I go through the inconvenience of updating two blogs. Hee.

My hand is doing a lot better today. They let me use some banked time at work yesterday, so I came home and watched some TV and read the ‘net for awhile, until most of the stinging subsided. Today, it’s just tender when the burn/scald is actually touched with some sort of pressure. This means I can knit again! The float of yarn against that hand isn’t enough to hurt me unless I have absolutely NO slack.

So Robin’s socks are growing again. If they were MY socks, I’d be thinking of turning the heel, but as they need to fit a size 11 man’s foot, this isn’t happening for another inch or two. I’m really quite appreciating the two-socks on two-circs method.

This afternoon we’re apparently doing a little shopping, and at some point this weekend we’re doing some spring cleaning. It’s rather grey outside, so I’m not sure whether I’ll get to do any gardening. It’s such a drab day, in fact, that I’ve been yearning for some sunny, banana-yellow yarn…and I’m SO not a fan of yellow! I guess we’ll see how the day shapes up.

So…I scalded my right hand. I was taking plastic wrap off the veggies I’d been cooking. Stoopid me, I didn’t use a long knife to pierce the plastic wrap.

I’ve spent the evening trying to get over the burning sensation. I have a cool glass of water to dunk my fingers in, and a cold gel pack. I’ve taken Advil.

My fingers hurt like a son of a bitch. It’s taken me about 10 minutes to write this much.

So much for knitting for the next couple of days

IMG_1138

Originally uploaded by macgrrlx.

So….a few months ago, when I was over at Mum & Dad’s place, Mum is somehow reminded that I like to knit socks. So she tells me to come downstairs and proceeds to dig a couple of balls of sock yarn out of her small stash (she also gave me about 12 small balls of some other sort of wool, which I am procrastinating on deciding what to do with).

My reaction was to look at the ball band, which is a decidedly 70’s style of design, and say “Wow, Mum…how long have you had these? They look vintage!”

Her response? “They’re not that old”.

Now…I don’t think my Mum realizes how long she hoards things. I’m pretty sure she likely bought these balls of yarn when they were new. She won’t admit to me (or maybe she doesn’t remember) when that was. The only thing I can find online is that Lady Galt Kroy, 3-ply, 85% wool, 15% nylon….are “vintage”.

What *I* want to know is…..HOW OLD IS THIS YARN?!

I’m thinking I may use one of the patterns from Knitting Vintage Socks on these puppies….

One of the gents that I work with lives on a farm. Today he mentioned that his wife spins. Apparently she spins all sorts of fibres, and knits as well. He has a hat somewhere, made out of dog hair (or so he says).

So I’ve asked him if he’ll check with his wife as to whether she’d be willing to handspin me some sock yarn, and how much it will cost. Yay! Hopefully he’ll have some good news soon

I’m pretty sure that he’s mentioned her spinning to me previously, but I, in typical fashion, forgot. Be cool to make someone some handspun knit socks for Yule, tho

Summer of Socks

You know you wanna.

Oh Cheeeeelseeeeeaaaaa!

(dangles DVD)

I have new Costume Pr0n! Marie Antoinette by Sofia Coppola. Droolworthy gowns with an 80’s soundtrack. Aw yeah….

Knit night next week? Maybe we can get Morgan into it….