Socktoooooberfest!

The other night, I was gathering my sock yarn (if I saw it all together, I could decide what socks to work on this month ... or that was my theory anyway). It was bedtime and I was waiting for the bathroom, so why not be productive, right? Since I was in the other bedroom, G asked "what are you doing?" When I said that "Socktoberfest starts tomorrow and I needed to get organized," he broke out into a long song-like "Socktoooooooooberfest." It had me in giggles.

Well, the organizing and photographing of my sock yarn did NOT help me decide what to do, yet.

Here they are:



Part of me thinks I should start socks with the Trekking XXL (top row, pink and green) b/c that was my first sock yarn purchase EVER, in April 2006. But I am really drawn to the atumnal orange Dream in Color (top row, left) that is my most RECENT sock yarn purchase. But I bought the blue and Tess Designer Yarn (bottom row, in a ball) at Stitches East last year and Stitches East this year is just a week away, so wouldn't it be good to use that up?

But since I am working on a lace project, I also like the idea of using the Lorna's Laces worsted (white, gray and tan, second from right) b/c it would be fast socks and a nice break from the teeny yarn. Plus, there's a pretty pattern for cabled socks in One Skein that uses LL worsted.

I do have a couple of pairs of socks on the needles. These DK-weight socks (Colinette Cadenza) are my plane project. These basic ribbed socks on wooden needles have been my travel project for the past couple of months. They are stalled now b/c I don't have any trips until Thanksgiving. I could just finish these up and have a Christmas gift ready (or keep them myself).



And I love the yarn I won from Knitpastis. I started a Roza's sock (from Summer Interweave Knits), but haven't gotten past the top rib yet. I need to use smaller needles or it will be too big. And I am no longer certain I want to do this pattern. I love, love, love, this yarn! I really want to find the perfect pattern.



I need help.

(I think I found some help on the Socktoberfest Flickr group, in this discussion. Some great ideas for patterns that work nicely with variegated yarns.)

But still how to decide what yarn???

Hurry! Last Day of Project Spectrum

Ever since Aug. 1, I planned to put up a post about the last triad of Project Spectrum ... here I am late as usual.

My participation in PS this summer did lag. I was busy with the new house and had some deadline knitting. I did finish these Monkey socks in Aug.



And I was inspired to shop for PS colors!

Here is some orange Dream in Color sock yarn:



And some purple Malabrigo lace:



And here's an actual purple craft that I made, but it was about four or five Septembers ago:



This was my second quilt and the first that didn't use matchy-matchy fabrics. My mom let me raid her fabric closet and helped me decide what size to cut the strips. I love this quilt! It's a large lap size, big enough to cover me and my legs, even my feet! (I hate it when lap blankets are too short to go all the way around the feet: dude, that's where I get cold!) The colors still thrill me. I am not really a purple person, but every so many years I just crave it. Purple doesn't really flatter me so I rarely wear it. Maybe that's why I was so drawn to it with this quilt. I didn't have enough purple in my life? That must explain the purple malabrigo, above. I am quite certain it will not look good on me, but I had to have that color instead of the blue or green that is pretty on me.

The quilt is a basic strip quilt construction. I remember carefully planning out which strips would go where. I bought the light and dark purple batiks from a wonderful quilt shop in the Milwaukee area.

For the actual quilting, I tried freehand on my mom's machine for the first time and I totally sucked big time. There are lots of very sharp turns instead of the lovely loops, but I got better as I went along.

I have not quilted or sewn anything for a long time, but this is inspiring me to get out my machine, a Bernina! I got it a very basic model (it doesn't do all the fancy embroidery) for Christmas in 2004. It's a wonderful machine and it deserves to be used. L and I started Yellow Brick Road quilts in 2005 but didn't get past the cutting out stage. We need to set a date to work on them!

Mini Break!

To (badly) quote Bridget Jones: "A mini break isn't just shagging, it means true love" (or something like that, I am too lazy to break out the DVD). Two years ago, G and I went on our first mini break to Williamsburg, Va. He has a lifelong friend who lives there and we visited. It was our first overnight excursion and the first time I met two of his best friends.



Fast forward to this past weekend and we were back. His same friend hosted a gathering of the whole crew: five guys who've been friends since middle school plus five wives. Those with kids shuffled them off to grandparents for the weekend. It was a great time. First of all, Williamsburg is really pretty this time of year; flowers were in bloom and the weather was gorgeous. We stayed at this lovely inn right next to the historical section. Our room had the best canopy bed. I now heart canopy beds.

Highlights of the trip include a poker game that I did not win, sadly. I made some bad betting decisions. Oh well, the losers got to console themselves with cheese cake and a fire pit out back. And it cooled off at night enough for me to break out Fetching!

And we will not soon forget the Presidential Museum of Heads. Ok, I can't remember the museum's actual name, but it was basically giant cement heads of all the presidents, right up to the current one. It was on odd and surreal place. But what cool Project Spectrum pictures! These pictures do not represent any political bias. I basically just took pictures of the heads I thought looked coolest.







I brought along a sock to knit, but honestly didn't get more than a few rows knit on the drive down Friday before it got dark. Yesterday during the drive home, I spent most of the time reading to G from the Idiot's Guide to Buying and Selling a Home. We are at that stage! We have an appointment next weekend to look at homes with our agent. We've been talking, talking, talking about doing this and suddenly, bam, we're taking action. And now of course I am really excited and impatient to get in a house!

We're looking in Baltimore County mostly, especially the two P-villes: Parkville and Pikesville. G lived on the city side of Parkville and really liked it and we currently live very close to Pikesville and also like it. Of course we need to do tons of research about other towns and neighborhoods. Where do people like to live? We're looking pretty modest: a three bedroom home with 1.5 baths (or more!) in a place where there are lots of people with young children (we're not there yet, but are headed that way, I suppose), maybe a park within walking distance? Ideally we'd like an actual house, but we might change our minds and look at rowhomes too. There certainly are a lot of cute ones in our area.

I've started to get hooked on the various HGTV home buying shows, which leads to jealousy: a cute five-bedroom house with inground pool in Mobile, Ala., for $264K?!!!

Since the market has cooled down a little bit, I know we can take our time (our lease is up in July), but I also know that I am going to see something that I love and want it RIGHT NOW!

Good thing I have a respectable stash; I think my yarn budget will soon be smaller.

And speaking of stash: it was recently enhanced at swap hosted by the lovely Kirby of Yarn Coffee. The swap was on March 10, but I've been pretty busy with work and never got around to photographing my haul. It was a really good swap!



I came away with some sock yarn. And some Knitpicks. Some Lambs Pride. And some mohair. And a cool needle case!

Oh, you thought you saw some Noro, did you? No, that wasn't from the swap. See, I had to stop by the LYS on my home to buy needles for Fetching and this found its way to me. I am planning a felted tea cozy. I just love this Noro colorway.





Not bad at all! Plus it was a fun afternoon. Kirby served us yummy wine and cheese. And she has this really cute apartment that got me wanting to actually hang my pictures and tidy up.