stripes

I blame the Yarn Harlot.

I really should be doing my Christmas shopping. Or at least my Christmas knitting!

sock it to me

In other news… I’m still knitting socks.

In my defense, I seem to have this trend going on where I can’t estimate how much yarn I’ll need to make one pair of socks. So I use all these shortcuts, don’t make the foot as long as I think it should be (it will stretch!), make the leg a bunch shorter than I’d actually like (what if I run out, mid-second sock?)… yeah. Let me mention here a bit sheepishly that never once have I actually been knitting a pair of socks and run out of yarn. What’s been happening, in fact, is that I keep ending up with a squidge of yarn left over– a squidge which is just that teeny bit less than needed to make another pair of socks. It might actually be enough to make one single sock, or maybe not even that.

So what to do with the leftovers? Must. Not. Waste. Yarn.

First, I knit myself and himself teeny cell-phone cosies in the leftover yarn from our respective socks. Guess what? Still more yarn left over.

From that one skein (“One skein makes one pair of socks!”) of Bernat Sox Multi, I managed not only to make the Biggest First Pair of Socks Ever (unintentional), but also to be left over with enough yarn to drive me mad trying to think of what to use it for.

Enter Super Short Socks, a pattern found on Ravelry, and originating from this blog. They call for about 50 grams of fingering-weight yarn, precisely what I found myself with after the Big Socks. As of today,  I have finished the first sock:

It’s a wee little thing, and as usual, it looks like after I finish the second one I will have just a bit of yarn left over! (groan)

I also finished knitting a scarf for himself- Shifting Sands from Grumperina‘s blog. It’s made using 2 skeins of a variegated yarn in an assortment of woodsy brown colours which simply refused to be properly photographed.

rain-o-matic

So yeah, remember how it’s September? Well so far, all that’s meant is rain. And more rain. And… etc etc. Plus last night this huge tree a block away from us got blown over by the wind, cracked right down the middle of its trunk, and fell right into the road. Luckily when I left the house at 6:45 this morning (!!!) they’d moved it of the road and barricaded it in. There’ll be no sneaky esacping now, fallen tree!

Why was I leaving the house at 6-freaking-45 this morning, you ask? Oh, it’s just for work. Although the thing is, I complain like the dickens about waking up early, stomp around the house mumbling about coffee, and then like two hours later when I get home (short shift!) I’m all like: Hey! It’s only 9 o clock! This is great- I have the whole day ahead of me, what shall I do with it?

I think one of life’s greatest conundrums is whether it’s better to sleep in until noon (because hello? The sleeping?) and “waste” part of the day, or wake up super-early (let’s face it, anything before 9:30 a.m. is not natural), be grumpy, and then get a longer day. I dunno. Leave it to the philosphers.

In other news, I finished a scarf:

It’s Danica, from a past issue of Knitty, but I found it on Ravelry. I totally hijacked the use of Soy Wool Stripes for it, after seeing countless gorgeous versions online done in precisely that yarn. Plus it only cost $4 a ball, so at 4 balls, this scarf only cost $16. Woo! Anyways, people have complained about this yarn (which is 70% wool, 30% soy– who knew, go go gadget soy!) being “scratchy” and yeah, it may cause an itch on the neck or two, but it’s freaking gorgeous. So, much like a cute pair of heels that sort-of-okay-actually-more-than-sort-of hurt when you walk in them for more than 5 minutes, I’ll wear this baby through the pain mild scratching sensation.

(It’s not that bad, people!)

Oh, so anyways I was going to mention that the technique, entrelac, is soooo much fun! Seriously, I havent tried it before because I was intimidated by its criss-crossy interwovenness. But hi– it’s just stockinette stitch done from differnent angles, 10 stitches at a time. And okay, there’s a purl-two-together or two thrown in, but nothing *that* bad, I promise!

I can’t wait to wear it– bring on the cooler weather (yes I actually did just say that. I’m just yearning for a nice pair-of-pants, long-sleeved sweater, jacket + scarf day!)

PS: I got owl earrings!!!