Monday, November 06, 2006

Fond Farewell

I have decided that I am going to move over to my new wordpress site permanently. I will no longer be posting to this site, so if you are looking for me, come on over!

Friday, November 03, 2006

Secret Pal

New post over at my "tester" blog. Still trying to decide if I want to make the switch, so in the meantime go over and see what my secret pal sent to me!!! :-)

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Thinking about Moving

I am thinking about moving this blog over to wordpress b/c lately I have been having a lot of trouble uploading pictures, etc. I don't really know how to go about changing everything from this url to that one, like rings, etc. but surely I can figure that out! Anyway, go over to my new blog and tell me what you think!

Friday, October 27, 2006

I Think I Might

I have been doing the Secret Pal 9 Swap which so far has been a lot of fun because I get to buy a lot of fun things to give to my pal. At times I actually forget that there is someone out there who is buying fun stuff for me! My secret pal, the one that is buying for me, seems to be very nice and she has asked me lots of questions that have made me stop and think. Especially about the scary and before uncharted topic of socks! I think that I might have given the impression on my blog here that I don't want to knit socks more than I may have meant to.

I will admit that before she asked me about socks I really didn't care much to make them because I don't really wear "decorative" socks all that much. (Yesterday was an example of when I should have as my feet were cold and I had to wear stupid white socks that really didn't look all that cute with my shoes.) But now that I have pondered the question for a while I think that I might actually want to make them. It doesn't hurt that I have found all kinds of fun things with which to make socks.

Exhibit A:
Stretchycirculars.com
Obviously DPNs are intimidating, even though I feel I have become somewhat of a master after my successful baby hat earlier this month. I thought that I would try 2 circulars b/c that is what Ann uses, and if it's good enough for Ann then it is certainly good enough for me. I also looked up the magic loop method which seemed like something that I might want to try. Then I got the Knit Simple magazine and inside was an ad for 10'' size 2 Stretchy Circular needles which they proclaim to be useful in the knitting of socks. I believe that this will be my poison of choice.

Exhibit B:
Sock YarnStacie has informed me that sock yarn does not count as stash, so all the more reason that I should learn to make them. I don't really have a huge stash anyway, but I would be more than happy to have some fun yarns that don't count toward it!

I bought some.

Exhibit C:
Patterns
Really, the patterns for sock knitting are almost endless when you pair them with the wide array of sock yarns out there. I found several yesterday in my brief search that I liked, these, these, these (sort of) and these for Jason. These are also fun, but I am thinking that they might be a little too ambitious for one just starting out.

Exhibit D:
Gifts
I think that many of my very grateful family and friends would be more than happy to get a pair of socks from me for an important gift giving/receiving occassion. Maybe next Christmas everyone will get socks. Who knows. (If this is to be the case, then I think that I shall have to start on the first pair on Dec. 26, 2006 just to get them out in time. I think that we all know that this isn't going to happen.)

I believe that all of these exhibits are just cause for me to learn to knit the elusive sock. I will do it...one day.

On a side note, I have been knitting this week. (Although I knit nary a stitch yesterday! Nor did I crochet.) However, all of what I have been doing is going to be a gift to my secret pal, and really, I can't be posting that on here. Once I am revealed to her, I will be more than happy to slap a few pictures up for your viewing pleasure.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Ann Shayne Day

As I alluded to yesterday, and if you've been to either Ann and Kay's or to Maria's, you know that this past Saturday ANN SHAYNE came to Memphis, TN as part of the Southern Festival of Books. Maria and I were indeed not only lucky enough to go, but to get to meet and hang out with ANN! It was a thrilling experience to say the least. (I won't go into the pick-up lines that we encountered along the way to and from the festival as they are best saved for another time.)

Ann gave a very cute talk about their fabulous book complete with profound truths, and as you might can imagine, she is just as funny and cute in person as she is on the blog and in the book. After the talk, she signed books outside and thought that it possibly couldn't get any better than just meeting her and talking for a brief moment. WE WERE WRONG. We were told of a kitting trip at Sleep Out Louie's. Of course we then proceeded to go to Sleep Out Louie's and sit and knit with Ann for about 3 hours with a group of about 20 knitters. It was so much fun!

Bless Maria's heart, she just could not separate herself from the love of the Rebels long enough to really let loose and give Ann all of her attention, but she had a grand time too. Fortunately, Ann is a really relaxed and fun person and found all of our antics to be humorous and I hope not too over the top. (Maria and I can really be a force to be reckoned with at times.) She thought that Maria was funny with all of her running back and forth to check the score. (Really, Maria loves those Rebels.) And I am sure that she thought I was crazy because I kept saying, "I can't believe that Maria is going in there to watch the game!"

We are going to try and convince her and Kay to come to Oxford and visit our LYS because we need to meet Kay too! We can only imagine that the Ann and Kay duo would be twice as nice, and we are having a hard time imagining how we would be able to hold up to the excitement of seeing them both! Somehow, I think that we could manage!

(I am sorry to inform that blogger is being a pain in the hiney and won't let me upload any pictures. I will try and rectify this situation and get some fun pictures posted ASAP!)

I think that Ann gave 10 profound truths during her talk, so I am going to be so bold as to add #11.
PROFOUND TRUTH #11: If you have the opportunity to go and see/visit/knit with/talk to ANN SHAYNE, by all means GO!

Monday, October 16, 2006

Kerchiefy Fun

A friend of mine and Maria's is going to be doing the 3-Day Walk for Breast Cancer this weekend in Atlanta and since I am such a thoughty person I made her a kerchief like she has been wanting. She is a part-time knitter (ha) and had tried to make herself a more complicated one but since I was under a time constraint and didn't have said pattern on hand I used the Kerchief pattern from Last Minute Knitted Gifts (can you tell that I just got a copy?) and some Sugar n Cream cotton that I had on hand. (Of course!)

Obviously I had to make some modifications due to the differing guages of the called for yarn and the SnC yarn otherwise it would have been more shawlish. It is really too small for her to wear around her head (made to the measurements given in the book) unless she wants to pin it into place, but she thinks that it will be extra handy for any sweating emergencies that are sure to come up during her 3-day, 60 mile walk.

I am only too glad that I could help. :-)

And because I am nothing but a shameless tease, here is one pic from this past Saturday that was spent with the lovely and adorable ANN SHAYNE in Memphis, TN. I promise that I will give a very detailed account of the fun time that ensued tomorrow. You will all surely hate me once I tell it because it was so fab. :-) :-)