Eighteen pairs of socks: pair number three and three a

The sock knitting continues and, during my recent trip to San Francisco, I managed to finish two pair of socks.

O.k, I actually pretty much started and finished two individual socks but each individual completed a pair.

First up, from the Eighteen Pair of Socks splurge, Beaded rib in Knit Picks Stroll, color Dusk. Made for sibling the eldest and a Squidette size foot. (Women's socks in this house get made in 2 sizes, Squidette size (woman's medium) and Mama Squid size (woman's large). If I ever knit for my aunt, I'll have to make them a bit larger.

And second, pair 3A. The pattern is Snowflake from the Knit Picks Into the Woods sampler knit in a yummy alpaca, mohair, romeldale blend that I picked up from Still River Mill. The label says "local harvest" but I don't think that that is a color name. I think it means that the fibers were all local. ( I know the picture is awful. The socks just don't seem to lend themselves to my limited photography skills. They seem to absorb all the light.) Intended feet: Squidette. These are meant to be a little felted to keep her toes warm while rowing in cold weather. I still have to do the fulling.

Pair four is now on the needles. Color is Peapod, pattern is Eyelet Rib. Intended feet: Sibling the youngest. (Yo brothers mine, if you want socks, speak up before all the manly colors are gone!)

Pair 5 goes on the needles this evening. Color is Springtime Tonal, pattern is Butterfly Garden. Intended feet: secret.

Eighteen pairs of socks: pair number two

Knitpicks Stroll, color: agate heather

Pattern: Gingham

Knit for: Little Squid

Now on the needles, a "purse knitting" pair in blue for one of my siblings and a more complicated pair for Squidette. For my other siblings ... you didn't ask! If you ask, you'll go into the queue. :-)

Eighteen pairs of socks: pair number one

The first completed pair, meant to adorn my own feet. Knit in Knit Picks Stroll, color: golden glow tonal. Busy Bees pattern from the Into the Woods sock sampler.

They feel very soft and cozy and I look forward to wearing them to work next week.

Eighteen Pairs of Socks

Over the break I had some major nesting issues. I was like a squirrel who needed to stock up on all sorts of stuff for the winter. I placed a huge Col d'Lizard order and a less expensive but even larger Knitpicks order.

I do not usually order yarn on line. I only do it if there is something very specific I need for a project and can't easily get locally. When I knit Squidette's last blanket, I special ordered the yarn from one of my LYS's and paid a premium for it instead of going for the cheaper option on line. I'd really rather support my local businesses but ...

I'd been "window" shopping at Knitpicks a few weeks ago and saw a couple of sock kits that were calling out to me. All of the patterns looked really nice and I'd heard good things about the yarns. I put them in a shopping cart and let them sit there until the urge passed.

Then I got the email.

Two of the kits were now on sale.

I went to the site and discovered that all of the kits I'd picked out were still in my shopping cart. (yea cookies?!)

At that point I decided it was meant to be and hit "complete purchase."

I am now the proud owner of enough yarn to make 18 pairs of socks (not counting the couple of skeins I already had in my possession).

I immediately picked a pair for myself and let each kid pick a pair (Mike has more hand knit socks then the rest of us combined).

On the needles is my pair and Little Squid's pair. Mine has cables so it is an "at home" project and his is a "purse" project. Squidette's pair is the next in line.

One sock (mine) is finished.

Only 35 more to go!

TdF: Final Intermediate Sprint

"Hills like this were never really to my liking." (Paul Sherwin whenever asked about a mountain stage by Phil Liggett)

A few days ago I realized that I was not enjoying the pressure of "having" to finish my TdF project. So, with that in mind, I took out my wheel yesterday and went for a nice long spin. Then I balled up the first skein of Tilli Thomas Rock Star Bridgetown Brown (100% spun silk with glass beads) and started in on this shrug for Squidette.Her Bat Mitzvah dress is less modest then it should be so this shrug, designed to cover a halter top, is just what is needed. I've been resisting starting it, knowing that I have to finish my socks, but last night I just dug in and started.

During the Tour I also finished these socks for my only sockless sibling -- but they were "purse" knitting and don't count as interfering in the TdF sock progress.The real hindrance to knitting was the fact that life just took over during the daylight hours and with Little Squid in camp for 1.5 hours less then last year, and with us riding our bikes there most days, there was just less time.

Last, I was working on another project, which will be finished and revealed in all of it's glory tomorrow. parts of it have been worked on in secret from the recipient so no peaks until they see it first.
The second sock. Oh, and did I mention that I lost my squid graph and have to reconstruct it from the first sock ...

And so, I concede the race. no green jersey for me. Oh well, there is always next year.

Super Mommy Explained and Some Knitting

All semester, Squidette has been struggling with managing to get her Bat Mitzvah folder into the car for her Wednesday night class. For a while we tried just leaving it in the car and that worked until last week when she met with the Assistant Rabbi. After the meeting, she put it in her back pack and forgot to leave it in the car. Fast forward a week (no class the night before Thanksgiving) and she can't find the folder. Again.

I looked around the living room but I was pretty convinced that it was in the car. After suggesting that Squidette go down to the parking lot to look, I went back to unwinding and let the subject drop. In the morning we tore the car apart, to no avail. So, quietly dripping tears, Squidette got out of the car and went to school. I dropped off Little Squid and set out to my own school.

Actually, I had a meeting to go to at the New York Academy of Medicine over on Fifth Avenue. My intention was to park the car in front of my school and then walk to my meeting which was about a mile or so away. Strangely, however, all the spots in front of the school were taken and I really didn't want to park in back and risk getting into a conversation that would make me late. So, I drove to the meeting, figuring that I'd find a lot nearby. Yeah, right. No such thing in that neighborhood.

Finally, after circling the super block that is Mount Sinai Medical Center, I pulled into their garage and hot footed it a few blocks north for my meeting.

Fast forward through an uneventful meeting. Now, I have my car nearby and am feeling guilty about the missing folder. I should have searched her room the night before says my heart and my brain chirps in "um ... you could go home and look for it." And I did. And I found it. In under 5 minutes. And, because I am a serious geek, I shouted "I AM SUPER MOMMY!" over and over to the empty apartment. Then I called Mike and left a voice mail to that effect. Then I shouted it some more. Then Maria came in and I figured I should stop being such a dork.

Then I called work and determined that they really did not need me for the last two hours of the day. So I sat on the floor by our All-in-one printer and copied the contents of the folder. Page by page.

And then I got back in the car (now clad in jeans instead of my work slacks) and head uptown to this place:
Yup, the new one, just blocks from my next stop -- Knitty City. between the two, my wallet was just a tad lighter.

Then I set out for my usual Wednesday rendezvous with my daughter. And made her VERY happy.

While waiting for her to finish her class, I finished this hat for Papa Squid.
Won't lose him anytime soon.

Mike decided to break out the Futurama Socks yesterday, in honor of the series release on DVD.
After riding to work in them, he has decided that Zoidberg belongs on the left otherwise his tentacles risk getting caught in the bike chain.
Yes, he really did ride to work like that. Just wait until he breaks out the Kang and Kodos socks!

I Have Decreed ...

because I am a beneficent mother, and because there are battles not worth fighting, that I will no longer make socks for my daughter. Instead, I will make for me and share freely.

Hey, her feet are only going to keep growing for a few more years and mine have stopped. Why make more socks for her to grow out of when I can make them all in my size and we can both wear them? Then, by the time she goes off to college, I will have enough, in the proper size, to send her off with.

What say you?

Free Range Socks

Apparently we are now in that stage where Mama's clothing is up for grabs. Just look at the socks below -- then look at the person wearing them. Take a good look, I'll wait.
Looked hard enough yet? Notice something about the person wearing them? Yeah, it's not me. And those are my socks! Apparently they were in her sock drawer. Hmm ... I think she's plotting with Maria ... and maybe the turtles.

Knitting!

Yes, this is a "knitting" blog and to prove it ...Child's First Sock from Vintage Socks. Modeled by the owner, the lovely and growing-too-fast Squidette. The yarn is something she picked out in Lancaster last year. A locally dyed product obtained at Labadie Looms.

Now on the needles, a plain sock for Little Squid -- also growing far too fast.

Our recent visit with every piece of clothing that we own revealed that most of their handknit socks were too small and so ... mama is knitting for them. Little Squid is getting Cabin Cove socks from yarn intended for ... someone else. Knitting it for larger feet, however, would require my digging through the still buried stash on the balcony for my heel and toe yarn and so, Little Squid is getting the good stuff. I'll just have to order more. Aww shucks. (Also, the Cabin Cove was readily at hand while the rest of my stash is buried under bags and bags of stuffed animals.)

For those of you concerned about the trauma of tossing half my stash, please note that I am not upset about it nor am I looking to replace it. I am still sticking to my goal of more yarn out then in each month and am not counting the tossed ones against the total. Nope. Not doing it. September is ending net negative 5.5 balls of yarn and I hope to knit up another one or two before Rhinebeck. I also hope to put Dave's wonderful roving on the wheel later today if I can gather up the energy to spin.

I did finish plying my alpaca yesterday and hope to skein and wash it today -- and then figure out which issue of Interweave Knits has the Flower Basket Shawl as that is what I think the alpaca wants to become.

And there you have it, knitting and spinning here at Squid Knits. What a surprise!

My New Toy

I admit it, it is a toy, pure and simple. My new baby is an HP Pavilion tx1000 series "entertainment pc." 4.1 lbs and tiny enough to easily sit on the arm of my chair without being in imminent danger of toppling over. It is fast, light and has lots and lots of memory. And a really cool screen that pivots.

I still have to finish setting up all of my programs and the am busy transferring all of my work and personal documents from my "old" machine. Picassa is now set up and the iRiver software is downloading as I type. I think I got my new Palm software last night but need to double check that. Security software is just waiting for the iRiver download to finish so I can restart the machine. Lots to do and it is already late ...

Oh, and on top is a new sock for Squidette. Started last Wednesday before her blessings class and finished tonight while waiting for her to get out of Hebrew School. Lots of knitting time on Tuesdays and Wednesdays this year. Little Squid and I had a lovely dinner at the diner and played some Scrabble on my Treo while Squidette was in class (he goes from 4-6, she goes from 5:30 - 7:30). This will be an interesting year.

Tomorrow I restart the knitting club at school.

All Quiet on the Squidly Front

Things have been relatively quiet the last few days, hence the lack of blogging. I met with my new Principal on Thursday and then watched Squidette perform in her camp orchestra. Brava!

Friday saw a bike ride with Little Squid while Squidette was getting pelted with water balloons in camp.
Yorkville and Ruppert Towers, a one time bastion of middle class living in Manhattan -- now condominiums. Commentary on that sad state of affairs will wait until another day.

We rode up and over to our favorite bike store
where they had special ordered a helmet mirror for me. We then rode back home, doing a loop of Central Park in the process. During our journey, Papa and Little Squid introduced me to a foot.I, in turn, introduced the foot to a sock.Then a dragon got the sock. Eek! These curiosities can be found on 81st Street if you want to check them out.We cycled 15 miles in the heat and then came home and crashed until it was time to retrieve Squidette.

Today saw us pedal uptown for a breakfast picnic along the Hudson River just south of the Little Red Lighthouse. No, we did not climb that hill. We did, however, discover this lovely little cove. Then, instead of just retracing our path along the river, we left the greenway for Riverside Drive at 125th Street and climbed a "memorable" hill which rises something like 4 stories in the span of two city blocks. The last time we tried this hill, Little Squid and I stalled quite near the bottom. Today ... we made it! And then had a lovely ride up and down Riverside Drive until rejoining the greenway at 72nd Street. Total mileage (including a side trip to the Green Market): 20 miles all before 11:30 a.m. and before the temperature went over 90.

***

On the knitting front, am I the only person in the world who needs a spread sheet to knit a Baby Surprise?
I'm not kidding! I need to pay very careful attention for the first 30 rows or so until the increases begin. Once those are done I have a good time of it but there is a good reason why I do not knit too many of these. This one is for a colleague who is due to join the wonderful world of parenthood in October. The sweater is now done except for the seaming which will wait until said child appears.
Also in progress are two pair of socks to be gifted. Yes, that is monkey going on again in the bright (female) sock and just a plain k2p2 ribbed thing in the duller (male) sock.

The End is Near!

Last day for students and teachers today! Yea!!! I still have Thursday and Friday to clean up the bits and pieces that need to be squared away. Interesting how there is always more to be done then you think there is.

I've been up since 3:30 and am wired. I'm so wired that I knit an entire sock toe in the near dark -- by the light of my laptop. Now I am working on the heel flap to a sock I started too long ago to be considered a part of Summer of Socks. There will, however, be pictures later of my first finished pair for SOS.

Yesterday was kind of sad. At our end-of-year meeting, the usual departures were announced including the retirement of a woman who means a whole lot to me. Ms. W (not her real initial) took me under her wing when I started teaching and educated me in what it means to be a teacher. When you look up the words "model teacher," you'll find her picture. For the lasts 35 years students have passed through her classrooms and have emerged not only with a greater understanding of Biology, but with a greater understanding of life. Her standards were high and her students lived up to them because to not do so would be wrong. She has spent her entire adult life learning and teaching and those of us who have benefited from her wisdom will miss her.

Ms. W received a standing ovation from the faculty -- one that went on and on and on. And she i s worth every clap.

Overly Productive Day

I went on a major activity kick this morning. The kind of bender that usually starts right after school ends. It started early this year.

After lifting weights and riding on the trainer (am I sounding sickeningly virtuous?) where I spun many yards of wool on my spindle (yes, I spin while I spin) I went on a cleaning binge. The binge was predicated by our recent loss of a set of ramikens and the kitchen scale. My binge did not uncover them but did serve to remind me of all the lovely crystal bowls we got for our wedding. They have now been degreased and put back into a freshly scrubbed cabinet to sit and collect more kitchen grease. Maybe we should hold a party?

Then I pressed Squidette's new top (finished last night) and started in on my first pair of the Summer of Socks. These are for Squidette who, after being given all the yarn you saw two days ago to choose from chose the Regia Silk. Figures. (Yes, I bought it for myself but far be it from me to begrudge silk socks for my daughter.)

Since most of today was spent at friends for their daughter's birthday, I managed to almost finish the first sock -- and got a lot of silk spun to boot!
It is now kitchenered and sitting on my lap. I will cast on the mate and then work on something else for the remainder of the evening.
Oh, and somewhere in there I finished plying the last of the current batch of silk singles. I'll let you know how much it is when I skein it. Right now I am estimating between 300 and 600 yards on the bobbin. It was two spindle fulls. (No, I didn't do it all today -- I did most of it last weekend.)

What to Do ...

Decisions, decisions. Summer of Socks began yesterday and I have yet to cast on. Cookie suggested that I knit socks for Squidette. That works since her feet are adult size so she qualifies for SOS. But what yarn to use? And what pattern?
Meanwhile, I did make this for the same woman-child but have to find a crochet hook to finish up.
From yesterday's birthday celebrations, proof that growing up does not mean for going presents!
Little Squid went out and bought the cat house with 5 cats for her. They then spent the evening playing with the cats. (If you got here by googling cat house and are sorely disappointed then I am sorry. Try googling bunny ranch instead.)
Birthday Souffle! No candle -- it would have made the souffle fall. Yummy!

Recursives in Squidland

Remember when I teased you with this picture?

No? Really?

How about when I kept mentioning a mystery project and promising to reveal it any day?

Not that either, huh?

Well that's because I was asked to make a very special, secret project that Papa Squid would then reveal in his classes. Unfortunately he never got around to it, despite my nagging.

So, after all that, I am finally revealing the secret project. Current Stuyvesant High School students are asked to swear an oath of secrecy and state that you will never reveal what you are about to see to any student in Z's classes next year. Let them mine this blog all by themselves or rather, be surprised when the items below are finally revealed.

And so, after putting enough words to fill in the space so that the secret has to be scrolled down to ... I give you ...

A sock puppet.
And the sock puppet's sock puppet.

And the sock puppet's puppet's puppet.
Rear view. Yes, they have heels.Have I mentioned how much I love my husband. That I would do this for him? True love, I tell you, true, everlasting love!

Home Again

And my urge to blog in rhyme is gone. Sorry.

The last few days were wonderful. My sister and her husband are great people and my nephew is just the cutest, sweetest baby I have ever met ... since my own.We all gained new skills and new confidences on the ski slopes and grew as people. Originally, Little Squid did not want to ski this year after coming up short in comparison to Squidette the year before. To get him to take the lessons, I had to promise to do the same. Since I do not believe in breaking promises to kids, Papa and I took a semi-private lesson. (We shared it with each other.) We got lucky and had the same instructor as last year -- and she even remembered us! Despite the easiest slope being closed, she got us up and down the mountain twice.

At the end of the first day, three squid had descended the easiest available beginner trail and all had found it kind of scary. Two squid opted for not skiing on the second day, one got up his courage and promised to go down the mountain and the last squid wanted to ski but only on the bunny slope. That same squid was a bit offended by her stanza in yesterday's verse so here is her correction:

Squidette found her place
On the Bunny Hill
And went up the rope tow
With balance and skill.She also kept an eye on her brother and let us know when he went up the mountain. This guaranteed a cheering section when he came back down.

This morning we were all up early and hit the road before 9:00. Others would have stayed and skied some more but we are home-squid and wanted to be in our own abode by dinner time.

Once home, laundry had to be done.

This is how many wool socks Squid wear in sub-freezing weather.They are now scattered around the apartment on top of convector units, drying.

On the way home we passed this "tree." Any of you have cell trees in your neck of the woods?
Knitting did get done. As you can tell, Little Squid's scarf was ready for skiing. Also finished was the mystery project. That project will only be revealed after it has first been used for its (their) intended purpose. The first mermaid sock is done and I fully expect to get to the heel of the second sock today. We Squid go to the dentist en masse and I have the dubious pleasure of being the last one in the chair, so lots of knitting time.

Later, pictures of the blocks for the latest school blanket and of my Journey Wheel.