Knittin Kitten

So the only thing I've finished this month is really easy slippers. The pattern is Amy March Slippers: a freebie from Tiny Owl Knits. And they used up some of the stranger balls in my stash. I'm counting 'em as socks on my 2011: the Madness list. I know they don't have cuffs and some people would say they're not socks but I made the list. I make the rules. So there.

Comfy, cozy, smooshy, whooshy slippers! Yup, it's the perfect thing for a working woman to slip on at the end of the day. And who's that working woman? Yup. Me! I've actually had a paycheck. Seems unbelievable. I had kind of a ceremonial opening of the pay envelope. It was awesome. And my boss has used these words about me: wonderful

and

amazing.

He's been trying to figure me out: why I work so hard and I'm so cheerful. Dur. I'm happy!

1. I like working with the public.
2. I like games.
3. I like being appreciated.

How Many Socks Make a Pair?

Guess who got a job! A real-life, paying job! With a pay check! And a schedule! And a boss! You got it right--Me! After being the lady of the manor for almost two decades, I've returned to the work place. (And loving it!)
Which is why I haven't been blogging that much or knitting that much or quilting that much or really, much of anything besides learning, absorbing, thinking, counting, redisplaying, cleaning and then when I get home: zombie. Not the brain-eating rotting-right-before-your-eyes kinda zombie, more the sit down and stare blankly kinda zombie.
But since you've been so patient and read so far, let me show you the Rockin' Pixie socks in progress. Notice anything strange? Does one look a little smaller than the other? Yeah, it turns out that when knitting, there's this thing called guage.

Guage (n) the number of stitches per inch in a sample of knitting with one type
of yarn, a particular needle, and a particular knitter. Note that the knitter's
guage can change with experience, mood, temperature, chocolate, and massage. It
is recommended for almost any pattern that the knitter "get guage" before
beginning. But most of us just skip it.

Sideways socks do not respond well to "skipping it". Instead of just stretching a bit around the leg (if knit too small) or being slightly fluffy (if knit too big), the sock is just too long. And not, oh-I-can-fudge-it too long, like 2-3 inches too long.
So I'm having to make three socks. So the answer to our question is three. Three socks make a pair. sigh

Glue Diva with Sticky Fingers

When Tiny came into the bathroom, this is what she saw. What can I say? Occasionally, mah jongg tiles need a good wash. Especially if you've played on a table in public use. It didn't take much, just a soak, once-over with the sponge, and drying. The real work came with glue and clothespins. Rubber bands, too. The inserts in my case had come a little loose. Not horrifying or anything, but the heat in the car probably cooked the glue a little more than needed.I'm kind of a glue diva. I have Krazy Glue, Elmer's Glue, hot glue, Gorilla Glue, School Glue, Paper Glue, Watch Cement, Epoxy--I've even made glue out of rice flour. So, when something gets broken, I go to town! Not a perfect record by any means, but sticky fingers are not uncommon around here.

I broke into Tiny's sock drawer and finally got pix of the Slayer Sox I finished, what? Four months ago? (She loves 'em, by the way, and wants more. Nice to be appreciated.)

I thought about putting this pic up for her socks, but her feet are just a little too big for booties now. The pattern is Elegant Snowballs Booties from the 2010 Knitting Pattern Calendar. (Hey, got another project down from my 2011: the Madness over on the right there.)Speaking of which, one charity project down: I'm calling the her the Sugar Plum Bear-ie. I'll be sending her off to The Mother Bear Project in February. It's a really cool organization and... CogKNITive and The Manic Purl are both randomly giving away prizes for Mother Bear Knitters! One entry per bear. Deadline: Feb 20. Look into it!

Oh, yeah, this bear is modeling on top of a new apron I made. Pretty basic apron, but the fabric is groovalicious, in my not-so-humble opinion.

Setting Cornerstones

Q: What is a cornerstone?

A: Well, aside from architectural definitions--which won't be helpful since we're talking about a quilt, here--a cornerstone is that little blob of fabric that goes in borders and in sashing where two strips of fabric meet. Or don't really meet, because the cornerstone is there instead. Dur.

In this quilt, the cornerstone is the little square with the lightening bolt on it.

Q: Why do you use cornerstones?

A: 1. it looks cool, 2. sometimes fabric won't look nice butted up against itself, like the stripe in our example, 3. you don't have quite enough fabric (2" short is still 2" short).

Q: Enough with the Qs & As already. Show me how it's done!

1. Measure the width of your unfinished quilt. (We'll call it the medallion to cut down on confusion.) Measure the height. Cut your border fabric strips. Mine were 2.5". Cut the strips to the exact width and height of your medallion. Pin and sew the width strips to your medallion.
2. Cut 4 cornerstones, the same as the width of the border strips. (2.5" here.) Pin and sew them to the ends of your height border strips.
3. Pin and sew the height border strips to the medallion, being careful to match up the cornerstone seams to the seams between the width strip and the medallion.
4. Add another border if you like. Hey! You've got quilt!

Charge!

Prayer quilt for Tim. I was working on the houglass components and ran into a little trouble.


Tip of the day: when trimming, BE CAREFUL. I'm really not sure how I managed this, but I think it wouldn't have happened if I had followed that advice. Probably.There was enough fabric to make up for my little gaff. The medallion is now completed and I've got the borders started. Tomrrow should see progress.

Any Guesses?

What would you guess this project is? The yarn is fingering weight, and the needle size is 2. And yes, it looks this weird in person.
It's... socks. Okay, it's a sock. It's knitted not from the cuff down, not from the toe up, but sideways around the leg and foot. The pattern is called "Pixie" from The Enchanted Sole by Janel Laidman. As far as I can tell, the pattern is written perfectly. I haven't run into any problems yet. It's just... weird. Nice and all, but weird. Kinda like a blogger you might know...

2011, Here I Come!

I was looking for a gadget that I could use to keep track of my progress on my 2011 goals. TickerFactory seemed great, but I could only get it to configure one ticker. Boo. So I guess I'll have to just do it by hand. (Until genius strikes... and that could be a while.) I'll just put the text into my sidebar. But first, I'll run it by you:

Knitting
Socks: Make 12 pairs (1 down as of yesterday!) That means there should be one pair/month. I can probably do that, seeing as I have four pairs already started.
Baby Booties: Make 6 pairs (They keep getting born!)
Sweater: Make 1 for me (I know, I should have made a sweater for myself long ago. Wipe that smug look off your face, you experienced sweater-knitters and send me some good mojo!)
Gloves: Make 3 pairs (I just want more gloves!)
Hats: Make 1 (I figure I will anyway, so if I put it in the list, it looks like I planned it.)
Charity: Make 2 projects (Bears, hats, whatever...)
New First Cousin, Once Removed, on the Way: make something. (Consult with first cousin)

Quilting
Non-charity quilts: Complete 6 (Somehow it's just easier to make them for someone else.)
Charity tops: Make 12 (Tops are what they want.)

Sewing
Morsbags: Make 30 (and give them out--Earth Day is April 22)
Zipper bags: Make 30 (sci-fi/fantasy theme will be fun!)

Hand-Sewing
Cross-stitch projects: Complete 6 (any size)

Beadwork
"Involved" projects: Complete 1
Earrings: Make 20 pairs for sale

Reading (Actual books, audio doesn't count.)
S&SF/Asimov mags: read 12 (That's only one/month and the backlog of unread 'zines is embarrassing.)
Non-fiction Books: read 4 (What? Only four? Yeah. Probably the ones on last year's book list.)
Classic Literature: read 4 (So here's the funny bit: the Bible is composed of 66 books. Some of them are really short. And they count as Classic Literature. Heh.)
Other Books: read 12 (That's right. Any old trash I want! Or if I decide to read 16 works of classic literature, they can count here. What? It could happen.)

Phew! So, you think I can do it? Of course, I'll probably wind up adding to the list...

Which is Which?

The Wicked Traveler Socks are done! Hurrah! The weirdest part was finding the right buttons for 'em. But somehow in my stash of items there was a sample card from a button company. Look in the top left corner. See the date? Probably not. It's really small in the photo, Desi. Well, it says "July 1954." That means these buttons have been out of circulation for over 50 years! Well, welcome back. I'm not sure how you fell into my hot little hands, but my socks are the better for it. And nope. There's only one button of each style so they don't exactly match, but I think they're close enough. And durned purty, if I do say so myself! Can you guess which one's from the card and which one came out of my sewing box?

Wha Happa?

That's "What happened?" as heard by most dentists. Go ahead. Open your mouth wide, stick at least four fingers in, and try to say it. If you can understand it, you're probably in the dental profession. (Free-Range, I'm talking to you!)

Anyway, my thoughts were that I would probably put down the knitting needles and pick up something else once I had completed the long, long shrug for Tiny. Nope! I yanked this ball of yummyness (That's a word. Look it up.) out of the stash and started on Wendy D. Johnson's Hearts and Flowers Toe-Up Sock. I could barely stop myself to eat. It's wonderful! Perhaps it's because I don't have to do it. There's no assignment, no deadline, nobody but me waiting for 'em. But that's not like me. I do well with assignments, deadlines, people waiting... Hmm, maybe I'm possessed. That'd be cool. Possessed by a ghost that knits socks. So I've been working on this for just three days and I've already completed the heel!

Or perhaps.... somebody else has been working on this for just three days and already completed the heel.... Ooooweeeooooohhhh...

What I Did for My Christmas Vacation

This. Mostly. On Christmas Eve, I finally gave up and wrapped the unfinished project, needles and all. I think most people would be perplexed if they opened a gift with knitting needles still in it. But when Tiny opened it up, she totally got it. Her eyes lit up: she was excited! Now that kid is soooo knitworthy!
After Christmas, I went nuts getting ready for our annual New Year's Eve Game Night, cooking and cleaning. Mostly cleaning. Here's how I made it work: I made these lists based on each room and taped 'em down on my desk. Lists tend to get lost... especially if it's stuff I don't really enjoy. Tape keeps it findable.

It worked! The house was tidy by the time 2011 came roaring--and honking and shouting--in.

And New Year's Day saw that shrug finished: