Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Musings on a Look

As I dressed this morning I thought long and hard about my Look and why I try to appear a certain way on certain days. On the weekends and during the summer (when I do not work) I dress casually. Right now, for example, I am wearing jeans, a turtle neck and a sweatshirt. Not half an hour ago, however, I was wearing slacks, a blazer, the same turtleneck, and heels (now I am clad in warm, felted slippers over handknit socks). My work "face" is still mostly in place but the lipstick is long gone.

When I dress for work I sort of leave my "home" persona (also known as Devorah or Mom) and put on the Mrs. Z. persona. It is a part of the dressing, makeup and jewelry routines and on days when I get distracted -- perhaps by a sick child or an odd interruption -- if I forget a step such as putting on my watch or earrings, I am a little off for the rest of the day.

Earlier in the year I thought of it as putting on a different attitude but now I suspect it is really just a way of transitioning in to the professional mindset that I need for dealing with my work environment. Those days when a kid goes to school a bit off (but not enough to keep home) are the days that no matter what I wear, I am still very much Mom and I will never achieve the professional level I seek. That is just fine with me after all, Mom is the most important job I will ever have.

Anyone else "put on" a different face for work?

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And for those of you that did not come to read my musings on dress ... I give you Squid.

These are not the pair in progress but rather Chthulu socks from a few years ago. The tentacles are chains that hang out from the sock. Sadly these socks felted with wear and are now waiting for the smallest feet to grow in to them. The yarn is hand spun cheviot, Navajo plied. The yarn for Chthulu was dyed on the stove using icing dyes.

Monday, February 27, 2006

Not Squid

Sunday was not a Squidly day it was a spinning day. When faced with the choice of knitting Squid or spinning while the laundry dried, spinning won. Later, the siren call of my wheel won out over the gentle "bloog, bloog" of the Squid. Maybe it is because the Squid actually want world domination and not to simply swim in the waters of our world. Or, maybe it is just that I burned myself out, knitting fiercely all day on Saturday.

The second sock is just a toe but hey, who knows, maybe it will get a half a foot by the end of the day. [Note: this post was started early in the day, the foot of the sock is now about 1/3 complete.]

Since Mike has such large feet, the thought of all of that mustard colored stockinette again is daunting and I hear the dulcet tones of my white lace scarf calling for this evenings knitting. Leave the world dominating sock foot for another day, I hear it whisper. Knit me ... Figure out where the heck you left off ...

Start of Sunday ...

End of Sunday ...

Tonight?


[Second note: the laundry room spinning was actually Jacob on my Emily spindle -- the wheel spinning came later in the day and the roving is of unknown parentage.]

Saturday, February 25, 2006

Progress!

Yesterday was spent trying to make up for the negative progress on the Squid socks and replacing my new cell phone. It was also then spent restoring all of my "stuff" to the new cell phone. Please note: the phone was less then 2 weeks old! The vendor, however, replaced it without a problem, admittedly a big surprise to me. Hence, time was lost from squid knitting while futzing with the cell phone. However ...


The first "Squid" sock is almost done:

It is folded on itself to hide the details on the front of the leg. The dpn is left in for perspective -- it is a 6" size 3 dpn. Yes, the sock foot is larger then the piece of 8.5" X 11" piece of paper that is serving as its background. Mike has BIG feet. Yes, that is a "buttonhole" near the top. I had to work it flat for a while to accommodate the detail on the front.

Here is a view of the tentacle detail:(O.K., my photography skills need some work.)

And here it is unfolded:


The origami chrysathamum is hiding the detail. I am still taking guesses as to what this is and where it is from. It will be at least another couple of days before the mate is done. Origami courtesy of the female child. Doesn't she do nice work?

And just because ...

I discovered this on Mamacate's site and had to try it. It actually seems to be pretty accurate even though I was hoping to be Kermit.

You Are Scooter

Brainy and knowledgeable, you are the perfect sidekick.
You're always willing to lend a helping hand.
In any big event or party, you're the one who keeps things going.
"15 seconds to showtime!"
The Muppet Personality Test

I've always had a thing for The Muppets.

Negative Squid


I was going to show you cool pictures of the heel of the in-progress squid socks. I was going to gloat about how well it worked out. I was going to fly up the leg last night as I watched Twins. Instead, I show you this:

Yes, that is crinkled. I had to do some frogging. O.k., ... I had to frog the entire sock. Shortly after putting enough ankle on it to matter, I decided to have Mike try it on. Uh oh. It was a tad too small. After spending only a few minutes debating if it could be worn anyway, it was off to the frog pond and back in to the sock on larger needles. Note the red smudge in the upper left -- it is a paperclip and marks where I got last night. I plan to spend much time today reading blogs and knitting stockinette in order to get back to the heel as fast a possible. I am a driven woman. Now that I have figured out how to get tentacles where I want them I must finish these socks!

Yesterday we spent a lovely afternoon in Chinatown. I would show you pictures but it was really too cold to take out the camera outside. Instead I give you this:

The kids in a pastry shop in Little Italy. Yum!

Friday, February 24, 2006

The Vest!


How do you decide what yarn or roving will become? In the case of The Vest the process from roving to yarn to wearable object has been a long, convoluted one. It started with my first trip to the New York Sheep and Wool Festival at Rhinebeck. I was still a fairly novice spinner with exactly a year of experience under my belt. I spent the festival roaming about picking up a little bit of this and a few ounces of that. Included in the purchases were two bumps of indigo dyed
Coopsworth roving. When I saw them I immediately liked the idea of the natural dye method and had a vision of a yoked sweater worked in the two colors.

Fast forward a year. The light blue is mostly spun and I have decided that the two bumps -- totaling about a pound, will not be enough. My mission: to pick up some coordinating roving at the same stand at the same festival. Luck was with me and the stand was in the same
location and this time I acquired a bump of a swirled mix of the darker blue with black and white and a bump of a swirled mix of rose and white and the darker blue. I figured they would go nicely with the other two bumps. Please note, I knew little about how the darker
blue might just cause them to blend in to the intended background color -- this knowledge came later.

Fast forward a second year and we find our heroine with the wool mostly spun and now questioning if she has enough for a sweater. The wool spun up in to a light and lofty two ply and the early skeins of the two blues are some what uneven in thickness. The multis are much better spun and more consistent. My female child and I head to Rhinebeck without the rest of the family and make the rounds. When we come to Handspun By Stefania -- the vendor mentioned above -- we choose two more bumps of wool and leave as happy campers.

Arriving at home I grab the first bump and start drafting. D'oh! The wool is much different, not the shiny, Coopsworth, and results in a much different yarn. Not a bad thing but I was looking for a match of sheen. After much thinking I finally start swatching to get a feel for gauge. The multis are significantly thicker then the solids and I think about a garter stitch striped sweater with the multis used sparingly. Then I calculate my yardage and convince myself that I do not have enough for a sweater. I start looking for vest patterns and even start a couple, always ripping back after an evening or two of work.

In to the house arrives the Winter 2005 Knitters and I find my vest. I know my gauge is way different but then, hey, I want a smaller item anyway. I cast on for the smallest size without changing a thing. Quickly I realize that the row gauge is also way off and since this pattern talks about rows and not inches, I will have to do some quick math. The math again convinces me that I do not have enough of the light blue to do the back and fronts as was the plan. On to the needles goes the dark blue for the fronts and then the blue-multi for the border.

Over all I am pleased with the result but it is a bit smaller then I would like. It still works though and I will wear it for a while and then probably give it to the female child after I make a replacement.

I still have plenty of the yarn and am now thinking about what else I can knit with it. The rose-multi is just screaming to be knit into something -- it just has not decided what.

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Elephants and Squid

Here are the completed projects from the NH trip:

Elephant Sweater

Detail:

The Elephant Sweater uses this guideline-pattern as the base, adjusted, of course, to my son's measurements. He seems to have a longer torso and arms then the guidelines call for and had me constantly second-guessing my knitting. I do not remember where the elephant graph came from. I've used it before and when I went searching I could not find it either on line or in my graph stash. Instead I grabbed the hat I made last year and regraphed from that. If you look closely you will notice that the elephants march in one directon around the shoulders and in the other direction around the waist. That was DS's idea. Reversing the elephant graph while in the car was a task I would rather not repeat.

Squid Mittens:

The cuffs are worked on 40 stitchs of k2, p2 ribbing and are almost 5 inches long as per the owner's request. The hands are worked on 52 stitches and fit nicely due to the compression that results from the mosaic knitting. The pattern is the mosaic "Four-way Spiral" from Charted Knitting Designs A Third Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara G, Walker. I used one and a half repeats of the design keeping the decreases as subtle as possible. The thumbs are on 21 stitches and are also slip-stitched to keep the parallel lines going. DD claims that they are nice and warm.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Home again

After almost 5 full days away from home we are back. After carefully evaluating my project progress I must confess that I was not paranoid enough. The squid mittens are finished and the sweater is lacking 3/4 of a sleeve. I will finish that tonight and take nice photos of both finished projects in daylight on their intended victims. The Squid Sock (s) have almost an entire foot and I am just about ready to start the tentacles. That said, yes, I did have more projects then I needed but only another days worth or so. I think the buffer should be a little larger since I lost about 2 hours of knitting time while futzing with the GPS.

On the Geocaching front, we introduced two sisters to the activity (one on each side of the family) and found 3 caches out of 5 intended. My sister proved very adept in spotting each of the two that we attempted and Mike found the third. All in all a good series of hunts / hikes and we saw some really neat stuff while searching. Both failed caches still had nice views and one yielded some cool icicles. The two NH caches were hikes and also yielded wonderful sights like the iced over stream where you could still see the water flowing below the ice. We also saw evidence of ... Bigfoot?

(We do know what really made the prints but I'll only tell if people guess.)

We had nice visits with the family and some of us learned how to ski. Others ... well lets just say that we will try it again, one of us willingly and the other ... because I said so. (Sometimes a mom's got to do what a mom's got to do and if I am trying again, so is he.)

Now I am settling in for a quiet night of games with the kids (unexploded cow) and then knitting to a chick flick (yet to be decided) while Mike is off at a concert.

Monday, February 20, 2006

A Mother's Pride

After many, many hours of driving we finally arrived in New Hamphire. Total car knitting -- half a mitten (to complete the pair) and a good deal of sweater yoke. An inch or so of Squid Sock was knit while waiting for lunch in Sturbridge.

On Sunday morning we all headed out to Ragged Mountian for ski lessons. Mike and I were the only people in our class so we had a very nice "private" lesson while the kids spent the entire day in Ski school. After lunch we looked out at the kids and realized that they were now in different groups. After putting on our own gear, Mike and I headed back out to the learning area -- having been told not to do the mountain on our own -- and I promptly lost control and wound up on the grass. Deciding that I had had enough, I retreated to the learning center and proceed to knit and to watch Mike and the kids from inside.

I did more watching then knitting and watched as DD headed up the mountain on the chair lift. I then spent the next 45 minutes glued to the window as I waited, with baited breath, for her to come down the mountain. Finally, I saw her bright yellow jacket with the red scarf and hot pink mittens coming down. DSister was at the bottom to give her a big hug when she made it down.

Watching her go up on the lift, my heart was in my mouth. Watching her come down the mountain filled my heart with pride and my eyes with tears. She took yet another major step toward adulthood and the tears were for the childhood that is quickly disappearing. In the last few months she has grown tremendously, both physically and emotionally and I am so very proud of her. The changes fill me with awe and a little fear of what is to come. Hopefully she will always retain what is wonderful about her as she adds skills and maturity.

That brings us to today. DD and Mike are back out at the mountain and DSister and Dson and I are going to go geocaching and shopping. Right now the two of them are playing with the dogs. We came to NH hoping to find another family sport but have probably found a daddy-daughter sport instead. Hey, that works too.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Ready or not

Hear are the projects that will accompany us to New Hampshire. On the top left is the Elephant Sweater -- it now has a neck and about 1.5 inches of the top. On the right are the Squid Mittens of which the second one is about half done. On the bottom left is the first of the Squid Socks of the squid-like creatures from the popular animated program. I am still waiting for guesses ...

I was hoping to finish the mittens before departure but I suspect that last minute packing will prevent that. Just in case this is not enough knitting, I will toss a ball of thin sock yarn in to my bag with a set of size zero needles. I have absolutely no clue how much I will actually accomplish on this trip.

This may be my last post until we get back and will certainly be the last with pictures unless my sister is armed with her digital camera. If she is ... then hey, we may have some pics of me falling on my rear, or, perhaps even sking.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Starting

I finally started swatching for the elephant sweater. This will be a top down sweater. The elephants will march around the neck and shoulders and then again around the hips. I will try to make it rather large so that when he growth-spurts a week after it is done, it will still fit.

I also finally cast on the newest squid socks. However, there is half a foot (not six inches) of a different pair of squid socks on the needles and that is what I have actually been referring to up until now. The newest pair-in-progress will have a pair of squid-like creatures from a popular prime-time animated program. (They appear once or twice a season in said show. These squid-like creatures will be green and will "stand" on a brownish ground which will be the sock foot. The other, to be finished much later, "squid" socks will have grey feet and a red creature with squidly tendencies (it is actually more crab then squid but around the mouth ...). This creature is from a no longer aired animated program from the same cartoonist. (Or rather, no longer airing new episodes.)

I am happy to entertain guesses as to the names of the creatures on either set of socks.

Meanwhile, for your viewing pleasure, I present ... a squid. Knit and beaded by yours truly for a sea-creature exchange. It is long gone but its essence remains. (The fish that I received are in my office and are not photographically documented at this time.)

Monday, February 13, 2006

Finished!

The striped socks are done and the smallest feet now have 3 pairs of hand knit wool socks to keep them warm. The third sock is a mini-sock that will be used as one of our signature Geocache trades. DD will embroider a Z on it and we will be good to go. Every finished project now gets a matching mini sock and the kids take turns with who gets to trade the sock for whatever trinket takes their fancy. Hopefully some socks will find their way in to New England geocaches next week.

In planning for this trip I realize that I still have to swatch for the elephant sweater and then graph it out before we hit the road. The same holds true for the legs of the squid socks which are about to leave the planning stage and enter the actual knitting stage. Now that the smallest feet are clad it is time to knit for the largest feet. Can you say "men's size 11.5?"

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Snow!

Today once again proved that well knit (and felted) woolens will keep my kids as warm as anything anyone else is wearing. Both children wore hand-knit wool socks, hats and mittens. The mittens are the Fiber Trends felted mittens with extra, long cuffs knit on after felting. The addition of the extra cuff kept the snow out of their mittens and out of their sleeves. The mittens were quickly coated with snow but they did not get wet on the inside until they were allowed to sit for a while after we disrobed at a friends apartment. That is, I must admit, the only drawback to the woolens. Unless you have access to a dryer, they are useless for the rest of the day after being worn once. Once the outer coating of snow melts and soaks in, they can take a long time to dry.

The kids did go out twice today -- once in the morning while I did the laundry -- but I was able to take the hats and mittens and toss them in the dryer before we went out again.

For those of you interested in NYC sledding places, we can now compare two major sites. The first, and until now our main destination, is Cedar Hill -- just south of 79th Street in Central Park. Cedar Hill is very large and has the benefit of a double hill -- you go down one and if you have good speed you bump across the path at the bottom and go down another slope and then -- if you are really lucky -- up the hill on the other side. Today's hill was the one at 91st Street in Riverside Park. We found the crowds to be more civilized but the hill is steeper and a tougher climb. DH and I had some nice conversations with other adults while the kids slid, slogged and slid again. Once the cold finally penetrated all of the layers that the adults were wearing (the kids were fine) we headed back to the subway and bumped in to some friends who live nearby. We accepted an invitation up for hot cocoa and conversation and stayed for an hour or so. Finally we re-dressed ourselves and slogged back to the subway only to spend another 20 minutes excavating the car for tomorrow.

Yes, New York City schools are open tomorrow. I admit it, I look forward to a snow day as much as the kids do. Tomorrow, however, we will bundle up extra early and I will make a judgment call about driving.

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Squid Mitts? And some process stuff

*** The annoying squid background has been temporarily disabled. It will be brought back when we can figure out how to put it up in a way or a place where it will not be annoying. ***

It seems that Butterflies are not to be. Once the elusive copy of Barbara Walker's Third Treasury (the yellow one) was located last night, I let the Daughter loose with it and she chose the Four-Way Spiral pattern. After one full repeat I have come to realize that the spiral is really a Squid and, the Daughter agrees. And so it goes, another pair of Squid in the apartment.

My Planning Process

I was asked today where I got the pattern for the hat I was wearing. It is at this point that I must admit that I now rarely use specific patterns for things like socks, hats and mittens. After a few years of using other people's patterns, I realized that I was changing almost every one that I used. So now, for basic items I just incorporate all of the rules that I've learned along the way and figure out how to get where I want. For hats I am currently on a 2 X 2 ribbing kick and just give a good guess as to how many to cast on. Since the ribbing is so stretchy it is a safe bet for most head sizes. The hat I was wearing today was knit in grey cashmere in the standard 2X2 and has plenty of length so it is doubled over my ears. I actually knit it for someone else and it has come back to rest in my care.

The mittens I am making for dear daughter start with 40 stitches of 2 X 2 ribbing (see a pattern here?) knit for 5 inches on size 4 needles (she wants very long cuffs to keep the snow and cold out). Since my son's last pair of mittens, knit just 2 weeks ago, were a tad too snug for Daughter, I increased to 52 stitches which is what works for the pattern she chose. The pattern is mosaic so it draws in a lot (that was for those of you saying "52 stitches for a kid?!). After 18 rows (9 pattern rows) I added one stitch and then increase on either side of it every other row until there were 17 stitches in the thumb gusset -- the edge stitches for the gusset are purled and the increases, after the second round, are spaced so as to keep a vertically striped pattern going.

At this point I have completed a full repeat of the pattern (51 rows) and figure (after a try-on) that I have 1/2 a repeat to go before decreasing for the top of the hand. I am going to try to do the decreases so as to keep the Squid looking as Squid-like as possible and should have that piece done by the end of the night. My real goal is to finish the entire mitten tonight but that probably will not happen.

Tomorrow will probably be a low-yield day, knitting-wise, since we are assuming that at least a few hours will be spent in Riverside Park sledding in the first snow of the season and another chunk of time will be spent in snowball fights and Snowperson building. I am actually looking forward to this since the worst should be cleared by the time I have to go to work on Monday. Actually, I usually look forward to romping with my family in the snow -- it is just plain fun to watch the kids having such a good time.

Friday, February 10, 2006

Weekend Knits?

Today's purchases from Knitty City. The green will become Squid Socks, the blue a sweater for my male issue, and the pink and purple will become mittens for the female child. Unfortunately I cannot currently locate my yellow Barbara Walker Treasury (I do not remember the number) which has the butterfly pattern that I want to use. I used the book only two weeks ago when I made the male child's new mittens so it has to be around here somewhere (much like squid). For the time being I will manage as I do not need it for the cuffs.

The Vest is on hold while I try to get the mittens done by Monday. The poor child has a thinish pair of butterfly mittens and a really heavy pair of pink felted mittens but she really wants something in-between -- hence the mosaic stitched butterflies. If I can find the book. If not, I will wing it.

Tomorrow -- hopefully the additon of a knitting squid to the header. The gif now exists, I just have to figure out how to get it on to the page and that just is not happening tonight.

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Why butterflies?

The following was posted to the comments section: "really I don't get it the aquarium story isn't enough for me. And if squid why butterfly. I think squid is a really good idea."

Even though this was posted anonymously I know who the poster is -- he did it from this very desk.

To answer the question of "Why butterfly," the answer must come from within the squid mythos itself. As the story goes, Squid eat Gorillas and Gorillas eat Butterflies. Butterflies eat Seeds, Seeds eat Water and ... Water eats Squid. (Apparently, Gorillas also eat Squid.) And this is -- Why Butterfly. (which implies, why butterflies on DDs mittens) Also -- because she WANTS butterflies on her mittens.

Here is the Squid-eating-Gorilla hat knit for my wonderful spouse. Yes, he really wears it. Sometimes.


On other topics, how many people get woken up in the middle of the night by their turtles? Am I really the only one?

We have three turtles in the house, two are family pets and one is a loaner while his owner studies overseas. DD has her turtle in her room and the other two are in the living room. The living room turtles fight. And they fight in the middle of the night and make lots of noise bumping their rocks and filter and such. This results in the lightest sleeper in the family, me, being woken up. Blah! Tomorrow I will clean out the fish tank -- the last fish died this week -- and move the loaner turtle to DSs room where the fish tank is. This means more tanks to clean but more sleep.

The Vest and Striped Socks are coming along but progress will be interrupted this weekend so that I can knit butterfly mittens.

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

How long ...

do you spend planning what you are taking on a trip?

After viewing Stephanie's latest post I was forced to admit that I may be a bit obsessive about planning my travel projects. After all, the whole purpose of yesterday's attempted yarn acquisition excursion was to obtain sufficient stash for my upcoming trip to New Hampshire ten days from now. The trip will include at least twelve hours of car time exclusive of lunch and potty stops. It will also include two full days and three full nights of visiting with Dear Sister and her Dear Spouse.

Now, we are planning on attempting to learn how to ski during some of that time (please don't laugh aloud) and will probably lose a few hours to that endeavor but still, there should be lots of good knitting time.

What to take? The car knitting has to be easy enough so that I can pay full attention to my navigation duties and listen to whatever book we chose for the trip. The house knitting should also be of moderate difficulty at best so that I can give my full attention to my visiting. I could just pack lots of sock yarn (pictured on the right) but then my size 1's needles would carve a groove in my finger. Got to add something on larger needles ... hmmm. I know! I somehow must finally obtain the yarn for the sweater I have been promising my son. Size 6-8 needles and worsted weight yarn -- simple elephant motif -- that's the ticket!
That, and a pair of socks. Or two!

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

WIPs and some blathering

*** Comments are now enabled for non-blogspot members. Sorry about that! ***


The Vest. "Assembly Required" from Knitter's Winter 2005. I have taken some liberties with yarn, color and gauge. The yarn is homespun Coopsworth from roving acquired at NY Sheep and Wool over two different years. The dark blue are the front sides and the light blue is the back. The front edges / collar will be in the multi-rose or the multi-blue. DH is in favor of the rose, I am in favor of the blue. Any other opinions?


And, socks for the smallest feet in the family. I could really get in to making socks for him -- they go so much faster then socks for any other family member. However, if genes rule then he will wind up with boats like his parents and I will have addicted him to handknit socks.

Check out this Squid hat, link courtesy of Debbie.

And now for the blather ...

I tried. I tried to get the yarn I have decided I need for what is supposed to be the newest pair of Squid Socks. Leaving work with plenty of time to get across town, buy yarn and then get back across town in time to retrieve my eldest from Hebrew school, I was unexpectedly thwarted when the store was closed. Blah.

Instead I retreated to Plan B -- hit the drug store near the yarn store and get my usual Tuesday haul of shelf stable lunch food and some sparkly barrettes for She-who-now-brushes-her-hair. Back across town I flew to find myself twenty minutes early for the retrieval. Into the back of the synagogue I slunk, and while waiting, pulled out the striped sock. Sitting in the row in front of me was another knitter, showing her partially completed blanket to another knitter-parent. I held up my sock and a quick conversation ensued with us sharing our impressions of the local yarn stores. Hebrew School then finished and the Eldest and I headed home. Hey, Knitters are everywhere.

Now to pull out the Vest and make some decisions. I would like to finish it this week and already have a replacement project lined up -- new mittens for the hair-brusher. Her old ones are too thin and the felted ones too thick for everyday wear. I am thinking ... Squid? (O.k., maybe butterflies!)

I am not faithful ...

I always have several works in progress at once and now I can share them with the world. New to the sidebar is a list of these WIPs and hopefully later this week I will figure out how to add pictures. At the very least I will document their "current" state this weekend and share it out.

Today's projects will include the striped socks for the smallest feet in the family and the vest -- for me. The vest has been in the works for years since I first purchased the roving 2 years ago. The socks have only been on the needles for about a week and I am on the second sock.

Monday, February 06, 2006

Squid Socks -- the first pair

These are the socks that started it all.

After I had been knitting for a year or so, I decided to give socks a try. I managed to make a few pair for myself and then decided that I needed to convince my adoring spouse of the Wonders of handknit socks. He agreed to wear what I made IF I could put Squid on them.

At the time I was also playing with mosaic knitting techniques and this is what resulted. The Squid are reveresed because I wanted a bit of a challange on the second sock. The socks were designed on knitters graphpaper with an old-fashioned pencil. (Actually I used a mechanical pencil so we are not really in the dark ages.) The yarn is a superwash worsted which after 3 years is no longer superwash. The pattern is worked in mosaic with short-rows used to keep the bottom of the foot the same length as the top of the foot. The size is (gasp!) a men's 11 1/2.

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Why Squid?

A Squid walks in to a bar ... o.k., maybe not. A family ventures out to the Aquarium dragging a small child who does not really want to go. His parents and sister tell him about all of the neat things he will see, to no avail. Finally, one of them says, "We will see Squid." At that, the toddler's eyes light up and he happily hops in to the car.

While at the aquarium, the family sees sea otters and sea lions, sea horses and eels. The toddler insists on finding the squid. After looking in almost all of the cases the toddler proclaims, "There must be Squid around here some place!"

After recovering from a huge attack of giggles, Mom, Dad, Grandma and Big Sis finally locate a tank of small octopi and call them Squid. The toddler is satisfied and the trip is a success.

Since then, Squid have been a huge part of our lives and Daddy has many pair of hand knit Squid socks. (Socks with Squid on them, not socks for Squid.)

In the future, more will appear about the Saga of the Squid in addition to content about knitting and family.

Welcome to Squid Knits!