My birthday is coming up (on the 24th)! I was talking on the phone with my grandma last night and she told me that I’m going to have to “buy my own” birthday gift. I insisted she didn’t need to worry about it, but knowing how she is, she’ll send some birthday money. I was thinking what I might get with it and then I remembered the Namaste bags that my LYS recently got in stock…

They had the Laguna in hot pink and the Malibu in lime (or maybe it was vice-versa). They’re beautiful bags. Everyone in the shop was drooling over them, I think. The materials they’re made from are so soft and luscious and they just feel so well-made. Unfortunately, they also have a price-tag reflective of that. Not to say they’re not worth every penny, but I couldn’t justify spending money on one right now.

BUT I’m thinking if I can use birthday money to pay for most of it, I don’t have to feel nearly so guilty, right?!

And I’ve also been thinking: they’re such handsome bags that you really could carry it for a purse, so it’s doing double-duty. As it is, I carry a purse and a tote-bag everyday to work. My purse has my cellphone, car keys, wallet, and assorted lip-balms and such. My tote has my planner, my iPod, a book to read at lunchtime, and whatever other miscellaneous things I might need/want for the day. I think I could easily fit all those things into one of the Namaste bags and still have room to carry a knitting project too! I’m thinking I could put my “purse stuff” along with my planner, book, and iPod on one side of the center divider and carry a knitting project on the other side. I just love the idea of having a knitting project with me everywhere I go! (Never know when you’re going to have a long wait, ya know?)

But now I have to figure out which bag… My first impression was that the Laguna (pictured above in the Olive color) looked a little too “bowling bag”-like for my taste. But the more I look at it, the more I have to admit that I do like the structure. But I’m still leaning toward the Malibu (pictured to the left). It just seems like it would be more comfortable to carry. I’ll have to look at them again at the LYS the next time I stop by.

I can’t decide on the color either. The bright colors are lovely (especially the lime!) but being that I plan to use this as a purse and knitting bag, I’m wanting to go with something more subdued and practical. I’m thinking charcoal or saddle. I love the rich color of the saddle but if I’m going to carry it to work, I tend to wear more black than brown… so I don’t know. Olive is another option that I like. The Malibu bag in saddle would be awfully lovely though, I think…

Does anyone have these bags already? How do you like them so far?

Last night and this morning I managed to turn out a couple more FOs for 2007:

First, I finally finished my Irish Hiking scarf. It’s only been on my needles since November (ha ha)!

I’m extremely happy with the way it turned out. I used 4 balls of Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Claret Heather. It’s not a color I’d normally pick, but I thought it would look nice with my black peacoat.

I’d set a goal of wanting to learn to do cables this year, and this project was my first experience knitting them. I think they turned out well! I only screwed up once:  I twisted the cable the wrong direction by putting the cable needle to the back instead of to the front. I almost let it go and kept knitting, but I decided to rip back and fix it. I’m glad I did because I’m sure it would have driven me crazy.

The other quick FO I completed this morning was a pair of Fetching gloves. This is such a popular pattern, but I’d actually never knit a pair before. However, after knitting them up, I understand why they’re so popular! They are super fast and you really get a great finished product with very little effort.

The Fetching pattern calls for size 6 DPNs, but I decided to give my new Knit Picks Options interchangeable needles a whirl instead. I used the size 6 needles with the 32″ cable and knit them using the magic loop technique:

I have to say, I’m more than pleased with the Knit Picks Options needles. They’re every bit as nice as Addi Turbos! (And what a deal…!) I have to make sure to call my parents and thank them again for getting them for me for Christmas.

The first one turned out a little on the small/tight side. I guess I was knitting a little too tight, which I sometimes have a tendency to do. So when I knit the second one, I went up to a size 7 needle and that worked much better. Eventually I may re-knit the left one on size 7s so that they both fit better, but right now they’ll do the trick!

I’m guessing those will be my last FOs for ‘07. I may finish up my FIL’s socks tonight while watching the ball drop on TV, but it probably depends on how much toasting Nick and I have done!
I’m happy with how much my knitting has progressed in 2007. I achieved two goals I’d set for myself: learning to knit socks and learning to knit cables. Neither one turned out to be nearly so scary as I’d feared. Quite the opposite, really, because now I’m hooked on sock-knitting!

My knitting-related goals for 2008 are:

• Knit my first sweater (any pattern)
• Learn to do colorwork (intarsia and/or fair isle)
• Learn to knit 2 socks at once on circs
• Knit or crochet an afghan

And yes, I said crochet. I know a lot of knitters consider that blasphemous, but I’m an equal-opportunity fiber artist. My grandma taught me to crochet when I was 7 or 8 years old, but I’ve never really crocheted anything “nice” before. So I’d kind of like to dust off my crochet skills and make something. I’m thinking a traditional granny-square afghan might be fun!

What are your knitting goals for ‘08?

Anyway… hope everyone has a happy and safe new years eve!

How do you knitters do it?

I love knitting. I really, really do. As far as arts & crafts-type activities, it is by far my favorite.

But I could never do it exclusively. I also like to dabble in so many other artistic and/or crafty endeavors: sewing, embroidery, paper-crafts, photography, etc. In my home craft studio, you’ll find everything from yarn and fabric to woodworking tools and a Wacom tablet for editing digital photos on the computer. I love it that way; you never know when mashing all those seemingly dissimilar hobbies together will result in some entirely new creative idea or product.

Can you commit to just one craft?

In her post today, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee talks about Cat Bordhi’s book, New Pathways for Sock Knitters. Specifically, she discusses Cat’s different, “outside the box” approach to knitting. The post is well worth the read.

Our sock club got a copy of New Pathways for Sock Knitters as a sort of guide for all the patterns we do. Admittedly, I haven’t had as much time or patience as I’d like to devote to studying it. I wrote it off as being too difficult. But as the Yarn Harlot explains in her post, it’s not “difficult” — it’s that we tend to be creatures of habit. At sock club the other night, one of the women was talking about how wonderful the formula explained in the book really IS, once you understand it — and how it can be applied to any pattern to make a much better fitting sock. It certainly piqued my interest. I think it’s time I gave the book another try.

Anyway, I hardly think it’s worth posting what’s on my needles this week because sadly, it hasn’t changed much since last week. I’m about 65%-ish of the way through my Irish Hiking Scarf. It’s turning out beautifully and I’m quite pleased with it. I have yet to cast on my second red/purple sock (which is supposed to be a Christmas gift). Then there’s the green socks that are also a Christmas gift — they were going great: I turned the heel, knitted the gusset, and was on to doing the foot… and I screwed up some of the stitches (purled where I should have knitted) so it needs to be fixed before I can go on.

Then there’s my sock club sock. It was going well. I was actually really impressed at how pretty the TOFUsies was knitting up.

However, I got to a part in the pattern where you’re supposed to do a left-twist.

I thought I knew what I was doing… but apparently not. ::sigh::

I knit the entire leg chart once through, and it looks nothing like the sock in the picture. So I got out some big needles and some bulky-weight yarn and tried to do the stitch pattern with that, just to see what I was doing wrong. Well I’m definitely not doing it right — but I have yet to have figured out exactly what I’m doing wrong. So tonight before I head to bed I’m going to try and re-read some different directions online and see if I can figure out where my problem is. It can’t be that difficult. (Right?)

Gidget says: “Dis knitting stuff makes me sleepy!”

I’ve had a nasty migrane headache half the day, so this is going to just be a quick update — ’cause now that I’ve shaken the migrane, I’m trying to catch up on all the things I didn’t get done earlier!

First, thank you — you know who you are. I don’t know why you do what you do… but thanks. You’re something else!

Look! Sensational Knited Socks AND Twinkle’s Big City Knits. A girl can’t ever have too many sock-knitting patterns to chose from. (Or, uhm… that’s my opinion anyway.) And I was just looking at the Twinkle’s Big City Knits book at Books-A-Million the other day and I was so tempted to buy it… there’s so many lovely things in there that I want to knit for myself SO badly. So now hopefully I can start on that after I get my Christmas knitting done.

OH! I just remembered: my LYS just got in this Plymouth Yarn Baby Alpaca Grande in stock that is… well it’s the most incredibly soft stuff ever. And I’m betting it would be perfect for things in that book. Oh man… heavenly! I’m thinking birthday present to myself!! Hehe.

Here’s the start of sock club sock # 2. It’s the Oc-Toe-ber FiddleSticks Socks by Deby Lake. The yarn is TOFUtsies in an exclusive colorway for sock clubs. Fun!I got through knitting a few rows of the cuff. Those first few rows are always the most difficult!

I’ve read a lot of complaints about TOFUtsies being very splitty. I had a lot of trouble with that the first few rows, but once I got going I didn’t find it to be a problem really.

Anyway, I’m off to get ready for tomorrow at work. I feel SO behind. (Sleeping half the day away in a dark room, trying to shake a headache will do that to you.) Hopefully I can ease back into the work week, and the Thanksgiving holiday is right around the corner. Yay!

I’m hoping this isn’t a serious fashion faux-pas. The wannabe-fashionista in me says it is — but the avid knitter in me just plain doesn’t care! These things are GREAT! Clear-freakin’-clogs! I mean, after all the work a person puts into knitting socks, you want to show them off, right? So how perfect are these?! You have no idea how excited I am to wear them and show them off. I had seen them online but I was able to pick them up tonight at my LYS (The Neighborhood Knit Shop). I was psyched!

Speaking of my LYS… our sock club starts our next project tomorrow night. I’m psyched for that too. The pattern is still a mystery. I found out that the yarn is some sort of special edition or new type of Tofutsies. But again, I won’t get to see it till tomorrow night. Oh the anticipation!

In other (random) news, Miss Gidget got a new kitty-toy tonight. It’s a Whisker City Play Cavern Scratcher and she absolutely loves it. Gracie, on the other hand, thinks it’s totally overrated — but makes a descent chin-rest:

So, what better way to spend a Saturday evening than knitting up Christmas gifts?

My weekend has been a quiet one so far. I’ve not been feeling well lately so today I made a point of going to the grocery store and buying some fresh fruits, vegetables, and lean meats. I’ve not been eating well at all (lots of takeout) so I’m thinking maybe getting some more balanced meals into my system might help.

That and I’m trying to cut back on the caffeine… *shudder*. We’ll see how that goes.

I got an e-mail the other day from my LYS about our sock club. Our next get-together is this Tuesday. The e-mail newsletter didn’t say what the chosen pattern or type of yarn is — but the clue was “Fiddle n Bow”. Is that a type of yarn? (I’ve not heard of it, if so…) Or maybe a pattern? I’m going to have to check Ravelry! Ha ha. I’m excited though. I’m probably going to head up there on Monday to pick out my yarn ahead of time and hopefully pick up the pattern in advance so I can familiarize myself with it.

Most of our sock club knits their socks using the magic loop technique. I tried it on my last pair for sock club, and I’ve decided I still prefer DPNs. I typically use 4 DPNs, but sometimes I switch to 5. It’s mostly dependent on my mood. I’ve never tried the two circular technique before. What’s your favorite technique for sock knitting?

Kitty (who still doesn’t have an official name) supervises my sock knitting…

First off, I have to show off my new Ravelry beta shirt!!

It arrived in the mail today along with three Ravelry buttons: a “Hello my name is” button with a Ravelry logo (with space to write in my Ravelry username), one that says “Where my stitches at?” (same as the t-shirt), and one that says “A daily dose of fiber”. How cute!

For anyone not yet on Ravelry — what are you waiting for!? Honestly, I completely marvel at the fact that it was completely designed by one programmer. The site is so feature-packed and I have yet to hit any glitches on it. I really admire what they’ve done with it and I can’t wait to see where it goes over the next few months.

Anyway…

What I actually wanted to post about today are Lantern Moon’s Sox Stix. They’re my new love.

Sox Stix come in sets of 5 double-pointed needles in an organza bag. They’re available in sizes 0 through 5 and in three materials: blondewood, rosewood, and ebony. Aside from the lovely feel of the wood, what makes these DPNs special is that they’re only 5″ long, making them much easier to navigate when knitting small socks.

The downside is the pricetag. The price ranges with the material, blondewood being the least expensive at $22.25 and ebony being the most pricey at $24.50. So unless you have an unlimited knitting budget, this is probably going to be a special treat. However, if you’re an avid sock-knitter, it’s easy to justify at least one set in your most commonly used size. With the lovely organza bag, they also make a very pretty gift for a fellow-knitter (especially with the holidays upon us!).

I have purchased two sets (sizes 2 and 3) in the ebony and I absolutely adore them. They have just the right amount of slip and grip, and the ebony wood is very sturdy and doesn’t warp. I absolutely adore mine.