I have officially joined Socktoberfest.

That is all I can say for now, since I am working on two of my own pairs, as well as a commissioned pair. Details and pics later, along with a Socktoberfest button (once I figure out the game of "Blogger Why Do You Make My Life So Difficult?).

What is a knitter to do when her husband's style is so limited (I prefer picky, but you know how men are...). I still don't know what he to knit that he will actually wear. He would like a gansey but that is waaaay more than I have time for with all of the other knitwear gifts for the holidays. I am thinking more along the lines of a fisherman's or reversible scarf in a gorgeous aran yarn.

The problem is that his birthday is January 6th. Directly after the holidays. What is a knitter to do in such little time?

I joined the lovely Toronto band, Enter the Haggis, last night for their first Los Angeles show. It was a shoddy turnout, which is unusual for their concerts in Florida where hordes of fans gather hours in advance to drink, eat and be merry in honor of the show to come. That's Los Angeles for you. I think that the few of us who showed, including The Young Dubliners, gave them a right and proper crowd of hooting and hollering.

The truly cool thing of the night even with a shoddy turn out? The hubby and I were able to have a pint or two with the band members before they went on. I guess they decided that mingling with their only fan proudly attired in an ETH shirt, signed by all of them two years ago, was a good idea. We talked about prior concerts, kilts, drinking, touring, Canada, hockey, then moved on to Toronto specifically and the cool people in that lovely city.

After all the talk of Toronto, I decided it was cool to mention Stephanie and her blog. They were all on board when I discussed the new tradition of the traveling sock and its pictures. We talked about the Knitting Olympics and Knitters Without Borders and all of the other lovely things that have stemmed from this lone Toronto Knitter and the lovely friends that support her blog. The drummer said he'd check it out, women in his family knit after all and if it's funny... you get the gist. We are slowly taking over the world, damnit!

Anyone have a good kilt hose pattern? I'd like to subtly taunt them into wooly submission.

There is good news, and there is bad news. Bad news first?

On Friday, my Namaste purse was stolen from work. From directly behind my desk. The yarn and all. I had two skeins of Artfibers' Slyph yarn for my cardigan project, as well as a skein of their Takhi for my mother-in-law's Christmas scarf. I also had my first two pairs of socks and their Knit Pick's Simple Stripes yarns in there with a whole slew of notions. The bag was also holding my signed copy of Knit Happens!, right next to my wallet and blah blah blah. The entire office of post production supervisors, machine room operators, sound mixers/editors, and the president of the company, joined together to search the entire building and grounds of Oracle Post's property in Burbank. No dice. My purse was gone, along with my projects and all of my money, checkbooks, debit cards.

I called my husband to pick me up, since my car keys were also in the stolen purse and I had no other way home. I called the cell phone in my purse in hopes that the perpetrator would pick up and I could curse at him. I called the bank to cancel my debit cards and checkbooks. I started to call my phone company to disconnect my cell when I got a returned call from the lovely hubby with news on my purse. A local woman spotted my bag, contents spilled over the ground, shoddily shoved behind a dumpster in an alley a half block away. Since it is a hot pink (ahem, raspberry) purse, it was a pretty obvious find on her way home from work. She saw my phone and car keys falling out and knew it must be a robbery, then dialed the last two numbers on my cell phone until somehow the message got back to Sean and then me. The yarn and signed book, along with out of print patterns and a spa certificate that I'd treated myself to recently, were safely in the possesion of the woman and I could pick them up at my leisure.

I nearly cried with joy and sadness when I saw the bag. It is a little worse for wear, but I love it even for the scratches and random exterior stickiness left over from it's battle. Sadly, my wallet is nowhere to be found. I was forced to take my Monday off from work (yay, more money lost!) to replace my driver license and social security cards that disappeared with my debit cards.

But enough of that. On to the good news (aside from recovering the yarn)! I have finished my first sock... well, first sock that truly fits me... It is a basic sock pattern in Simple Stripes. The heel is a short row heel flap and the whole thing fits like a glove, err, sock. Quite lovely.

P.S. If you haven't already, go over to Stephanie's blog and wish her the best on her official wedding to lovely Joe this past weekend. Those two crazy kids will make the rest of our marriages look shameful. The very best, you two!

My dear One Knitty Blog, it's been a while, my dear. I am so very sorry if I hurt you and made you feel unwelcomed, unimportant and/or unloved. These were not my intentions and I am here to make up for it. Not only will I post today with the gorgeous items of knitting past. Later this week, you will also be privy to my photos of the visit with Stephanie in Los Altos at Full Thread Ahead. Who knows, I may even continue to update regularly... when I have time. I know, I know, I can't help but slack. I have neglected you since I started the new job but you know how pressuring it is to work 50+ hours a week. Plus, we have moved and even the stash isn't privy to its own organizational time yet. I have a husband, too, but you've always known that the deal is that you come in second to my husband. I take that back. You are third. Don't argue. You are third below the (tied) husband and knitting, but those are REALLY good things to be placed below. Shush, you are lucky that I am not breaking "knitting" into the process, materials, challenge, etc. If you are pleased by the apology, we shall continue. Okay, but only one more minute of the pouting. We have more important things to do in our minimal time together.
***The Noro socks I'd posted prior are still incomplete. I have decided that the pattern was the suck and I have moved on... the Kureyon is destined to be fabulous mittens. More on this later.


Here is the detail from my mother's birthday gift. (I know! I was supposed to post this in July. So shoot me...) It is a Branching Out knitted lace scarf from Spring '05 of Knitty.










I used some Elsebeth Lavold's Silky Wool that was purchased for a hooded scarf for Mum the year prior. As that pattern was also the suck, I decided to use a pattern that did the wool/silk blend justice. These pictures don't come close to capturing the beauty of the piece. I will get a picture of it on her this fall.





The pink business to the left is one of several quickie drop-stitch scarves out of some novelty (ick!) yarn as a project for a local fall craft fair. The ritzy ladies in Los Angeles seem to like my work and constantly ask where I purchased such lovely scarves, so I figure that if I make some they will sell and I can pay back some student loans. This puts a smile on my face.



I was ahead (was being the key word) on Christmas knitting. I started the Baby's First Tattoo raglan cardi for my lovely niece, Keelin:The back turned out nicely. The directions for the front and the shaping, among other things, made me want to rip the hair out of the entire left side of my head and ingest it with peanut butter. Needless to say, that project is officially tossed and I must start her gift from scratch. Her lovely mum, Terra, has approved a pixie hat with earflaps and lovely colorwork from Weedkend Knitting by Melanie Falick. Here are the remaining Christmas/Yule gift plans: Mum gets a Stephanie's Bookbookbook1 and an Annie Modesitt leafy scarf in a gorgeous auburn. Mum-in-law gets Stephanie's Bookbookbook3, autographed on Saturday, with a vertical drop stitch scarf in Artfibers' Takhi. (That shall stay off of the blog until December since she may see it here.) Terra will get something fabulous in fibre or notions. Draken shall get a hat, scarf, mittens set in his favorite of all colors: red. My best girls will also get hat, scarf, mitten sets and/or knitted penguins. I have NO idea what to make my hubby. The others will simply do without or with something small since the budget is still very tight this year.

***
I have finished my first real and wonderful sock. However, it is too small. I will rip it back and take photos of the sock and my other projects later this week, along with my Harlotty book signing update.

I made out like a bandit this year. I really did. I haven't been very lucky this year and I wasn't sure that an end was in sight. My birthday rolled around without much ado, then the presents started piling up. My Mum gave me a ridiculous horde of goodies, including visual effects books, knitting books and my very own Canon digital Rebel XT camera. This is good, this is very, verrry good. Now I can shoot pretty pictures for this blog and to make a bit of extra cash. I already have about 7 lenses that will fit the bugger, so life will be beautiful.

For those of you going "This isn't about yarn or fiber, what do we care?", I can only retort that my aforementioned glorious mother-in-law (who is also a brand new knitting fiend) also got me one of these Namaste Everyday knitting totes. I hear the jealous whispers already. *grin*

I have a problem.

While searching for apartments, the hubby and I parked near my favorite local LYS. As I was expcting a special order, we decided to go in for a moment to check on the item in question... and a basic sock pattern (to solve the problem of yesterday's blog). Oh, I found a basic sock pattern. Well, the co-owner of the store told me about this fabulous sock pattern and got me hooked on a Noro book containing these:



Since it was a Noro book and I didn't have any sock yarn to go with the 4.5mm guage of the pattern, I decided it would only be justified to purchase some of this:



Noro Kureyon 138, Lot B. What kind of world would it be if I got a sock pattern of beauty without equally beautiful yarn? Plus, this way I am sure to maintain the pattern's guage. Right? Randy at Stitch Cafe saw the broke, regretfully cheap look in my eyes and made a copy of the pattern for me. The pattern book was a whopping $16 so the yarn is TOTALLY justified.

I think she also realizes that I will be back for the book when I land a job...