Fifty Books

One of my New Year's resolutions was to read 50 books. Last night I finished #50! The complete list:

50. Loving Frank
49. Songs Without Words
48. Birthdays
47. Living in a Foreign Language
46. Evening
45. On Chesil Beach
44. Eat, Pray, Love
43. A Year Without Made In China
42. Animal, Vegetable, Mineral
41. Plenty
40. Oh My Stars
39. A Year of Pleasures
38. Two Steps Backwards
37. The Birdcage
36. A Chateau of One's Own
35. Best Foot Forward
34. Notting Hell
33. French at Heart
32. The Manny
31. A Pig in Provence
30. What Comes After Crazy
29. When in Rome
28. Saving Agnes
27. Three Bedrooms in Chelsea
26. As Seen on TV
25. Class Mothers
24. The Lucky Ones
23. The Tavern on Maple Street
22. Pope Joan
21. The Observations
20. Welcome to the Great Mysterious
19. Bed Rest
18. When Madeline Was Young
17. A Trip to The Beach
16. Jane Austen in Scarsdale
15. School for Husbands
14. Caliph's House
13. Chasing Matisse
12. Floating Through France
11. Yummy Mummy
10. Friday Night Knitting Club
9. The Knitting Circle
8. Swapping Lives
7. Theft
6. The Breakdown Lane
5. Round Ireland with a Fridge
4. The Hot Flash Club Strikes Again
3. Arlington Park
2. The Baby Trail
1. A Tale of Two Sisters

It's a different world

Across the country hundreds of homes have burned to the ground in California. A quarter of a million people have been evacuated. Georgia is in danger of running short of drinking water because of serious draught. And New Orleans is flooding.

Yet if you turn to the Boston news you might think you were living on a different planet. The Red Sox have come from a 3-1 game deficit to play in the World Series. The Patriots are undefeated. And we're experiencing summer like weather with temps near 80. It's all good in this city, and I'm feeling rather guilty.

Have you seen Holiday Gifts? I'm thinking of Garter Mug Cozies, Little Gems Mitts, and Twisted Stitch Gauntlets. On Friday I ordered the yarn for the Mitts from Woodland Woolworks. It came in the mail yesterday! Now that's fantastic service! Also shipping soon will be the October STR Rockin' Sock Club, and Chewy Spaghetti's Thanksgiving Holiday sock club. I think we're going to have a little log jam of projects.

And don't forget about My So Called scarf (now 36 inches), another Shifting Sands, and another So Called Scarf. Gotta Knit Faster.

Welt Not so Fantastic

So friday evening I had turned the heel on welt fantastic and began the gusset decreases. I thought that would be a good time to try the sock on and admire it on my foot. But it wouldn't fit.

I immediately frogged it and the yarn is now being punished. I should have listened to my inner voice earlier.

So I moved on to the indian summer socks, with the embossed leaves pattern. Here's the first leg:




I just finished the first sock a few hours ago, and I'll be starting the second later today.

Also nearly off the needles is shifting sands II. I'll be adding fringe to this one, and I hope to finish it off today. The next scarf in the queue is My So Called Scarf II in STR Carbon.

I'll leave you with a view from my front yard, bug's eye view.

Spooky socks are done!



And my Posh Yarn arrived--this is Helena 4 ply sock weight in colorway Indian Summer:


And I cast on my Tiny Toes sock. I was wrong about the color--it's called Colorado Treasures. I started the corded rib pattern and worked a couple of pattern repeats but it looked like crap, frankly. So I ripped and looked for another pattern. You'd think with nearly 10 sock books and 20+loose patterns this wouldn't be a problem. After a few hours of waffling, I settled on "Welt Fantastic" from Sensational Knitted Socks. I love what this pattern did to the yarn, and vice versa. Doesn't it look like a fireplace? So glad I started over.


But all is not wonderful in Tiny Toes land. Despite how it looks, I'm not in love with this yarn. Firstly, it comes in 50g skeins. My skeins do not match. One has significantly more orange than the other. This irritates me, and I think the dyer should have a little better quality control. And speaking of quality control, both skeins were hopelessly tangled. They were a mess! I hate wasting an hour trying to wind yarn. So, it's going to take a lot of convincing for me to order this yarn again.

But that sock does look good, doesn't it?

Horrifying!

Here's the first of my spooky socks:

The pattern is Fiber Trends Railroad Rib. This pattern is one of my old faithfuls. It's written for 3 different weight yarns, and always gives me a good fit. Now if only it glowed in the dark!



The second shifting sands is about 14 inches, and nearly through the first of four skeins. My plan of half Christmas knitting and half sock knitting is working well. I don't get so bored of either project so quickly. Still to knit on my Christmas list is Shifting Sands III, My So-Called Scarf II and III, and Syncopated Caps II and III. I think I've got plenty of time to finish these, plus my seasonal socks. Well, maybe not the socks. Still to do for October are Interlacements Tiny Toes in colorway October something, a Posh Yarn Emily in Indian Summer, which hasn't arrived yet, The Thanksgiving sock from Chewy Spaghetti, a skein of Dream In Color November Muse, The Christmas Sock from Chewy Spaghetti, plus the following Christmas colorways from Blue Moon: Jingle Bell Rock, Xmas Rock, Hollyday, and Grinchy. That's nine pairs before Christmas.

13 weeks left until Christmas. That's going to be very, very close! Can I do it?

Tolerance

So I ran out of yarn for My So Called Scarf. One skein took it to 60 inches, which is just a little too short for my taste. So I ordered another skein. And I treated myself to this:

A skein of "Grinchy" Looks a lot like another skein--Holiday Rocks maybe? that's ok. Can't have too many Christmas socks, right?

So after I ran out of yarn, I should have started on the next Shifting Sands, but I didn't. I decided I just wasn't happy unless I had a pair of socks on the needles. So I cast on with an unfamiliar yarn and pattern. I knew immediately that I wouldn't like the yarn. Very scratchy. The stitch pattern was lovely, but I wasn't thrilled with the construction. Last night I turned the heel, and then I gave up. It just wasn't going to work for me. I knew I'd never wear these socks. So this morning I ripped and tossed. Yeah, that's right. Tossed. I'm getting too old to work with yarn or a pattern that isn't making me happy. There was nothing anyone would ever be able to do to make this yarn work for me. So it's gone. No guilt. Well, maybe just a little.

So along with the second skein of Nodding Violet and Grinchy, this came in the mail yesterday:

I joined Chewy Spaghetti's Holiday sock club, and this is the yarn for Halloween. It's funny because I was completely expecting orange and black, and look what I got! I like it a lot. I like it so much that I'm going to cast on with it today to replace the sock who shall remain nameless. I figured that if I knit socks for half a day, and then whatever Christmas gift I'm working on for the other half, I can get all the gifts finished, and still be knitting socks.

And that will make me very, very happy.