Purls Beyond Price

All the Time, Socks!

Finished socks! I finally finished my Summer of Love Lace socks on Friday evening. I cast these on at the very beginning of the month and then got distracted because I wanted to finish the second cuff at home, so I could steam block it as soon as it was done. Then I was never home except to sleep. Meanwhile, I got all excited about the Ni Socks and Love Lace languished.

I'm pleased with how these turned out. The turned cuff is an interesting design element, while the plain stockinette feet mean that I will probably wear them more often, since they fit into shoes better.

I made a couple of modifications to the pattern, the greatest being that I cast on for the largest size cuff, then decreased to the second largest size for the ribbing and foot. I know that a 72 st sock works best for me in STR and gives me a snug, comfy fit. Hurray socks!

So it seems that my sock knitting mojo is back with a vengeance. When Carrie suggested a new Cedar Creek knitalong, I pulled out my skein of January One STR and cast it on. I elected not to work the picot at the top, and made the leg slightly shorter. I'll make the heel flap slightly longer than usual, since I'm using the double slip stitch heel which draws in considerably more than my beloved Eye of the Partridge, but provides lots of cushiness. And I love, love, LOVE the colorway. All rich burgundy and brown. Yarn this yummy makes the knitting easy!

Shop Genes

In our family we coined the special phrase "step genes" after Kaelyn was born. Kaelyn has blond hair and blue eyes. Neither her father nor I do. However, both my stepmother, who is of Norwegian descent, and my stepfather, who is of Danish descent, are blond and blue. Clearly, step genes got involved.

Here we have a definite case of shop genes. The first thing anyone remarks upon when they meet Ellie is her fabulous hair. We swear she gets it from Chloe.

Frighteningly Accurate

Found Chez Lu:

What Nathania Means

You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people. You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts. You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals. You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. You are a seeker. You often find yourself restless - and you have a lot of questions about life. You tend to travel often, to fairly random locations. You're most comfortable when you're far away from home. You are quite passionate and easily tempted. Your impulses sometimes get you into trouble. You are truly an original person. You have amazing ideas, and the power to carry them out. Success comes rather easily for you... especially in business and academia. Some people find you to be selfish and a bit overbearing. You're a strong person. You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing. You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long. You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

Sweater Day

We celebrated Mr. Rogers Day at the shop Thursday night. Check us out in our fine sweaters! Even Ellie participated! LtoR: Jasmin, Sandi, Ellie and me (poor thing was so sleepy, she napped through pictures), Britta and Kaye.

Ellie and I celebrated earlier in the day in our matching Tulips Cardigans. We had a great time playing in the front yard and then we remembered Robin's photo suggestion. Ellie thought it was tremendous fun to watch Daddy dance to get her to smile for the picture. I cannot tell you how enchanted we are by her beautiful baby smiles. Every time she smiles we fall in love with her all over again!

In knitting news, I finished a pair of socks last night. This pair has been a long time in the making. You may recall that I began them while at TNNA last summer. I had the first one all but finished and then my feet started to swell and I lost my sock knitting mojo. So it sat in the knitting basket next to my bed waiting and waiting for the toe to be kitchenered. You know my rule: kitchener the toe, cast on the next sock immediately. I just couldn't bring myself to do it, knowing that I wouldn't be wearing these until the pregnancy was over.

I finally took the plunge last week and here they are, my finished socks! We'll be publishing the pattern at the shop. I'm calling them "Ni Socks" (pronounced like the Knights Who Say "Ni!"), since it's a nine stitch repeat and nine in Norwegian is "ni."

Since I'm trying to make up for nearly a year of no sock knitting, I'm focused on new socks to wear to Camp. I cast on a pair of Cedar Creek socks in STR January One on Thursday, and finished the second cuff of my Summer of Love Lace socks last night. Both pairs should be done within the week. I'm thinking I need a couple pairs of plain Jane socks too. Time to paw through my STR stash for some fun colors!

It's Such a Good Feeling

As a child I often visited Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. It was an oasis of calm in an otherwise chaotic world. I would walk to Nana's house after school, settle in with a piece of her homemade bread and a glass of milk and be swept away into the Land of Make Believe or the wonders of Picture Picture.

Even after I outgrew Mr. Rogers, I watched with my little brother Sam. He loved it too. Today I'm wearing my sweater in honor of Mr. Rogers. I hope you are too.

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Mr. Rogers Sweater Day
Thursday, March 20, 2008

From the event's hostess, Erin, "On this day, everyone worldwide will be wearing sweaters to commemorate what would have been Fred Roger's 80th Birthday. It started in Pittsburgh, but let's spread the love. Honor the man, wear a sweater!

"PS- remember friends, it needn't be a cardigan... as Mr. McFeely says, any sweater will do. Even a Cosby sweater. I'm sure Bill and Fred got along swimmingly."

Those of you local to us, come on in to the shop on Thursday evening and we'll take a big Mr. Rogers picture, all together.

Nine Weeks and FOs Aplenty

Little Ellie is nine weeks old today and I simply don't know where the time has gone. Already she has become such a fixed part of our family that I can scarcely remember what it was like when she wasn't with us. She is a charming and delightful baby, strong, healthy and beautiful. I couldn't ask for a more wonderful baby. She's about the best FO ever, I think.

Speaking of FOs, I never posted a picture of the Mama Tulips Cardigan (Ravelry details) that I finished just before Stitches. This isn't the greatest picture. I had Karin snap a quick shot yesterday just before sunset, since I happened to be wearing the cardi. I'm finding it to be an incredibly versatile piece. The slightly longer length in both the body and arms are ideal for me, and the Dream in Color Classy is super comfy and lovely to wear. I'll probably knit another of these in different stripes at some point. All in all, a quick, easy knit with fantastic results.

An Unoriginal Hat by The Yarn Harlot (Ravelry details) is an even faster knit. Chloe and I both cast one on on Thursday morning and finished them that very evening. The pattern calls for only a single skein of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Leticia. I chose the best colorway ever: Nodding Violet. I had planned to wear the hat at Sock Camp next month, along with my Nodding Violet Socks (Ravelry details), but when I finished it and tried it on, it wouldn't stay put. I don't have a particularly large head, but my hair is thick and very slippery. It was quite hilarious to watch me pull it down over my ears and then watch it slowly rise up off my head. So for now, this one will be a shop model. I'm going to work up another one with a few extra stitches in my other favorite color: Rose Quartz.

I also have half a FO to report. I cast on the lace cuff for the first Summer of Love Lace Sock (Ravelry details) from last year's Rockin' Sock Club when we were on the road to Bakersfield last week. I kitchenered the toe last night and cast on the second cuff. It's been a fun pattern, but deceptive in the yarn usage department. I weighed the remaining yarn and have in the neighborhood of 62g remaining, while the sock weighs in at 64g. I'm crossing my fingers that by some miracle I won't have to dip into my Emergency Sock Yarn, but I have offers from several folks who have leftovers in case I need them.

I'm happy to be knitting socks again. Last year I lost the sock knitting mojo when the edema made my feet not my feet. Then there was that whole not being able to reach my feet to put socks on period, much less try them on as I was knitting them. I decided to just wait until my feet returned to normal again. I'll finally kitchener the first Nodding Violet Sock and cast on the second tomorrow. At this rate I will have at least two new pairs of socks to wear for Sock Camp, and I'm hoping to make it through another pair or two to add to the collection.

In other knitting, I'm designing a new sock pattern for the shop, working a bit on Robin's Rook-y Clapotis, and contemplating a new cardigan design in BMFA Twisted. Life is busy and the needles are flying. March is looking good!

A Quick Trip

On Saturday morning, we packed Ellie and about a metric ton of stuff into the back of the minivan and headed south to Bakersfield for a family baby shower. Kevin's grandmother isn't well enough to travel, so we went to see her. Ellie slept through the entire four hour drive. She is officially the best baby ever.

There were lots of aunts and cousins to meet, but it was Great Grandma Marge who was the star of the show. Elinor Marjorie was named after her, you see. She's great grandchild number 22 and Marge was delighted with her. The picture at the right is four generations: Kevin, Great Grandma Marge, Grandma Alice and, of course, Ellie.

Ellie also got to meet her second cousin Elijah. He's about 6 months old and didn't quite know what to make of this little person who nabbed his spot as youngest great grandchild.

The car ride home yesterday was just as smooth. Ellie slept until we reached Gilroy, when I decided to stop at Old Navy to get socks that fit her ginormous feet and a couple new outfits, now that she's grown out of the 0-3 month sizes. We spent the 45 minutes from Gilroy to Sunnyvale singing songs and playing "Who's That Baby in the Mirror." She's a super traveler, our girl. This bodes very well for our trip to Sock Camp in April!