yarn tootin'

Oldies but Goodies

     I was talking to my parents the other day and they complained that I haven't been blogging.  My Dad pointed out that I'm down to about 1.5 posts per month and he was concerned that my readers were going to give up on me.  This has probably already happened, and for some reason it doesn't really bother me.  I like to knit and I knit a lot, but I don't feel the need to be a knitting celebrity.  There seem to be enough of those already.

    In case anyone is still interested in what I'm knitting, I'll tell you.  I've recently cast on for two of my favorite patterns.  The first is the smash hit sock pattern of 2005, the Jaywalker.  Here is my very loud Jaywalker.  The yarn is lightweight STR in Dixie Chick.  I can't decide if I love it or if it's really annoying.  Either way, it's fun to knit and I'm amazed by how easy it is this time.  I knit my first pair of Jaywalkers during the 2006 Winter Olympics and at the time I was very impressed with myself for knitting such a tricky pattern.  It's not so tricky now.

     As I was coming out of Target this afternoon, I realized that it was probably going to be getting dark by the time I got home and I knew I wanted to post something today, so I took pictures of my knitting in the car.  I propped my sock up on my new iPod dock.  I love this iPod dock because I can see the iPod while I'm driving and if I need to change playlists, podcasts, or audiobooks, I can do so easily without driving off the road.  The reception is about as good as it gets for this type of thing.  For some reason, the newer iPod adapters don't go down to 87.9 which is usually the most empty and therefore the best frequency for iPods.  The original iTrip that I had with my first iPod went down to 87.9, but none of the adapters I've purchased since then do and it makes me a little bit cranky.

     About a month ago, I posted a picture of two skeins of Silkie Socks that Rock and I mentioned that I was considering knitting another Chevron Scarf.  I got started on said scarf soon after that and I've been knitting a few rows of it here and there ever since.  My last two Chevys took months to finish and I'm sure that this one will be no exception.  It's always good to have a little STR on the needles for when you need a fix, but don't want to cast on for a new sock.  Here is my latest Chevron Scarf in progress.  The colorways are Backstabber and Walk on the Wild Tide. 

     This is a terrible picture, but it's completely dark now and this was the best I could do in the car.  Bob got a new SLR camera for Christmas and I've been meaning to have him teach me how to use it.  Maybe if I learned to take better pictures, I'd be more inspired to blog.  Because he is a huge nerd, Bob is in Houston for the evening at a Houston Symphony concert.  I'm a little surprised that on a weekend that is free of San Antonio Symphony concerts (i.e work), he wants to drive 6 hours round trip to listen to another orchestra, but that's what he's doing.  The one thing I enjoy about evenings without Bob is I'm free to cook whatever weird thing I want for dinner.  After living by myself for several years, there are a few of my old favorite, single person meals that I miss having.  Tonight I'm making a Morningstar Farms Grillers Original veggie burger topped with a Kraft single with tater tots on the side. Yum-O.

Birthday Yarn

     I can't believe it's already February.  I only posted twice in January which is a new low for me.  I blame Facebook.  It's just so much easier to write a quick one line status update than it is to formulate an entire post.  I think I mentioned in my last post that I'm on a yarn buying hiatus for a little while.  I've actually decided that for 2009 I won't spend more than a set amount of money on yarn.  Evey dollar I spend on yarn will go into the tally and when I get to the limit, I have to stop.  This should help me to only purchase yarn I really love.  My spending limit might seem like a lot to spend on yarn to some people, but it's less than 25% of what I spent in 2008.  Bob seems to think the amount is completely reasonable and he tends to be far more frugal than I, so I'm comfortable with the arrangement. 

     So far, I have spent $0 on yarn in 2009.  My birthday was this week though, and a big box of yarn arrived from Webs (thank you Mom!).  Did I mention that there is no limit whatsoever on gift yarn?  The first shipment of the 2009 BMFA Rockin' Sock Club also arrived on my birthday.  I was home with the flu on my birthday which wasn't so fun, but two yarn packages made it a little bit better.

 

     This is the Socks that Rock posing with my new computer.  The colorway is called "My Blue Heaven."  It's pretty, but I'm not in love with it.  I prefer the louder, more contrasting STR colorways.  This one came with beads and the pattern is for a beaded sock.  I actually like the pattern, but I'll probably knit it without the beads.  I've never been drawn to knitting with beads.  It looks pretty, but stringing all of those tiny beads onto a strand of yarn sounds like a huge pain in the ass.  Also, I don't think that beads on socks would be very comfortable.

 

     This is the yarn from my mom.  It's 8 skeins of Noro Iro.  I bought the book (Knitting Noro by Jane Ellison) a few weeks ago at Yarnivore.  There is a pattern in there for a super cute, chunky, chevron cardigan knit with this yarn in this colorway.   As soon as I saw it, I put the yarn on my Webs wishlist and when my mom asked what I wanted for my birthday, I had the answer.  I have a few things to finish before I get started on this, but it won't be cold enough to wear it in San Antonio for another 10 months, so that's okay.

     Knitting progress has been slow.  For the first time in a very long time, I've been too sick to knit.  I spent many hours this week just staring at the TV and I never do that.  The Super Bowl is on right now and I'm not watching it.  Bob is watching it and I'm baking a belated birthday cake for myself.  We imported a Trader Joes vanilla cake mix when we were in California over Thanksgiving and I think it will be perfect with the Pineapple Coconut Haagen Dazs Bob got for my birthday.  I wasn't hungry enough to eat it then, but I'm looking forward to it now.