Sad Socks

I spent a delightful weekend last weekend in Raleigh with my best friend Lindsey and her sweet sweet baby Sophie (7 weeks old). This baby was born in late November, just in time for winter, so it goes without saying that I have been knitting for her since Lindsey told me she was pregnant. I had plans to let her mommy choose some yarn and knit her a pair of socks while I was there. We looked online at patterns and found some very sweet baby socks.

Sweet, huh? I thought so too.

The pattern called for fingering yarn, the kind you use to make lace and other delicate things. We went to the store and couldn't find any fingering weight yarn, but we found some soft peach yarn that was only a little heavier, and Lindsey and I both loved it. Surely it wouldn't throw the pattern off too much, right?

We got back to the house, put Sophie down for a nap, and I checked the pattern again. It called for size 0 needles. Another snag. She smallest size I had was 2. Still, if you have every seen or worked with size 2 needles, they are pretty teeny. I am always afraid I am going to snap them. "These should be small enough," I said to myself.

5 hours of work later, I finished up the first sock and pulled it off the needles to look at it. In my hand was a sock-shaped sack no smaller than the baby's face. I won't upload a picture of the monstrosity so as to hide my shame. Turns out the size of the yarn and the size of the needles are important when making baby socks. It's almost like the designer knew what they were talking about.

Maybe there's a lesson in that. :-D

Yarn Bombing!

Here is a sample of something new I have been trying. I bought this book: Yarn Bombing by Mandy Moore and Leanne Prain, all about knitted graffiti! Ha! I saw the subtitle and I almost couldn't believe it. Still, there is some really pretty artwork in yarn out there on the streets. Best of all, it's the kind of graffiti that doesn't do any damage to the structure it is attached to.

Here are some examples that are featured in the book:













As you can see, knitted graffiti can range from the simple to the complex.

My first attempts are VERY simple. But still cute! Sorry for the poor quality. Installing knitted graffiti requires being a little stealthy, and all I could manage was my cell phone camera. :-D










It is goofy how much joy knitted door handles bring me!

Copying Sarah

My friend Sarah from college decided to make it her New Year's Resolution to blog regularly. It is really neat to hear what is going on with her family and life. I am sad to admit that I am one of those facebook, etc creeps who uses the internet to see what is going on with their friends but never discloses anything about herself. I guess I am kind of private in that way.

Still, I thought I might copy her and try my own hand at this. Sarah's blog makes the third that I have followed and admired. My cousins, Betsy and Katie, live in Florida and both have beautiful boys. One is a medical miracle and the other was recently adopted. I have so enjoyed getting to know my cousins through the internet. Falling in love with Andrew and Isaiah made me want to try the blogging thing when I have my own kids. No kids yet, but maybe I should practice.

But what to write about? Like I said, I am a pretty private person. I am not comfortable writing about my every day experiences. My blog needs a focus.

The hit book Julie and Julia gave me a solution to my blog-focus problem. (Excellent book and movie, btw). Julie Powell wrote about her trials and errors in the kitchen and it was awesome! I loath cooking. But I do knit every evening. Knitting is my anchor of sanity. I find some time to do it every day. Counting stiches, feeling the eveness of the yarn, smoothing out finished pieces, knitting always works. I may hit a snag here and there, but (compared to the rest of life) it is always an easy fix.

So here are my adventures in knitting. Maybe my life will sneak in.