Various Bits of News (Adriana)

I have various bits of news to share today. For one, I am done school! (Well, sort of.) I'm done the classroom portion and I am one week into my second placement. This one is at the local museum and is very promising. I will be learning a lot about marketing, PR, event planning, and fund raising. I'm very excited about it.

Another piece of news: I am officially dropping out of Mission Possible 2008. I was totally into it until I got sick. A month later, I am just not feeling the love for these projects, and really, what's the point of knitting if you're not having fun.

I have been inspired by Phoe who blogged every day for the month of May. There is no way I could manage a full month of daily blogging (not to mention the logistics are impossible since I'll be out of town for half of June) but I would like to try to blog every day for a week. Today is day 1.

I didn't finish my final essay for school until near the end of last week so I haven't had much time for knitting lately, but I have been strangely monogamous to one project for what little knitting time I've had:

This is Regia Kaffe Fassett sock yarn that my brother gave me for Christmas. I thought it would make perfect knee socks so I got an extra ball. I'm trying to figure out the math to keep them matching perfectly while maximizing yardage.

I couldn't stay monogamous for too long and I started a new project last night, but I'll hold off on showing it for another day (I don't know what I'm going to have to talk about for 7 straight days).

One last bit of news, for those of you on Ravelry I have changed my username. I was never really happy with aphrodidee. I picked it in a hurry in my excitement to get on Ravelry. I've been trying to come up with a new name for the past couple of months but nothing felt right. Last night Pete and I were watching the movie Clue and inspiration struck me. I love that movie. I used to watch it over and over again with my friend Calli. I can still recite parts of it along with the characters (which Pete tolerates). Anyways, to make a long story short ("too late!") my new username on Ravelry is MissScarlet.

I think that's it for now. See you tomorrow!

A Sock and a Request (Adriana)

I finally FINALLY finished my second Naive sock! Long-time readers will recall that I knit the first one last summer. Then it sat by itself all winter long until I decided to make it part of Mission Possible.

It is now done and here are the pictures to prove it!


View from the top (it's hard to take pictures of your own feet)


The cables go on and on and on...


The sexy gusset


Cleo gives her approval of the new socks

The pattern is, of course, Spillyjane's Naive Socks (This Must Be The Socks) (pattern free here)
I dyed the yarn myself a few years ago.

Comments: this is a really awesome pattern (and I'm not just saying that). Once you get going it goes really quickly. After a few repeats you start to be able to see where the cables are supposed to twist which makes it good bus knitting. Unfortunately I did something a little wonky with the first sock so I had to repeat it with the second one in order for them to match (I don't care).

In other news, I FINALLY learned how to cable without a cable needle! I figured out the left twist by myself on the bus one day and Grumperina's great instructions helped with the right twist. Now I actually enjoy doing cables, which is seriously awesome. I just wish I'd learned before knitting Trellis.

I have a request for you all. I'm going to be away from home for a month this summer (I'm stage managing Pete's Fringe shows this summer and we're hitting the road!) so I've decided to only knit socks while I'm away. This should help me make a dent in my sock yarn drawer. In preparation for this trip I want to buy a new skein of sock yarn, but I'd like to support an Indie dyer. I looked at a bunch of different yarns but I'm totally overwhelmed and need recommendations.

Here are the ones I've looked at:
Artsygal
Mama Blue
MadelineTosh
Sunshine Yarn
Fearless Fibers

With so many gorgeous sock yarns out there you can see why I'm having trouble picking one. If you have any recommendations please let me know.

Mission Possible Update (Adriana)

Back in January I announced that I was taking part in Mission Possible 2008, which was an attempt to finish UFOs and use up yarn that had been sitting around for too long. I've been making some progress on it and I thought it was time to report back.

My list:
1) Chevron Scarf - all done, just needs pictures taken
2) Red Merino from Vancouver - made into berets for Emma and myself
3) Make one shawl with stash yarn - done but only those on Ravelry can see it
4) Finish Mystery Shawl 3 - I tried, I really tried. I knit another 50 rows but then it started making me depressed so it's back in the box. I honestly don't know if I have it in me right now to finish it.
5) Make a Huggable Hedgehog - started it yesterday.
6) Knit a summer top that I'll actually wear - no progress yet though I think I've settled on making Kate Gilbert's Camellia.
7) Knit second Naive sock - 80% done! I should finish it on the bus sometime this week
8) Knit second Pomatomus - not yet
9) Play with Kid Silk Haze - DONE!
10) Use up purple Koigu from Christmas - done!


11) Use Grey Jo Sharp - made hats for my brother and his girlfriend
12) Finish the second Simply Lovely Lace Socks - done and gifted to someone with teeny feets!

So, for those of you keeping track at home, that 7 done, 2 in progress, 2 not started and 1 who knows (MS3).
Enough procrastinating for me. I need to go write a report on Leonard Bernstein's (of West Side Story) leadership abilities. Fun.

Mission Possible (Adriana)

Thank you to everyone for your kind words and support for my parents' quilt. It makes me feel so good.

Lately I've been feeling strange about knitting. After the Christmas rush I've been craving fast projects and I have been wanting to knit for other people. I've also been feeling the urge to stashbust. I figure that now is a good time to work through a chunk of my stash while I'll not employed since hopefully by the fall I'll have a great job and be able to buy yarn when I want it (instead of hoarding it). I'd come up with these thoughts on my own, and then I read about Mission Possible 2008 on Turtlegirl's blog. The idea is to finish some UFOs or use up some specific part of your stash during 2008. I thought this was a great idea and quickly made a list of 12 items to knit:
Chevron Scarf with peach Koigu and stashed sock yarn - I bought this peach Koigu on sale and then promptly got buyer's remorse. I think a Chevron scarf will be a good use for it.
Do something with the red merino from Vancouver - already underway. I'm making a red extra-slouchy hat for my girl Emma.
Make at least one shawl using laceweight from stash - sometimes I feel like I'm being buried under the weight of my laceweight stash (which really isn't all that big) so I want to make a dent in it
Finish my blasted MS3 already! - self explanatory
Make a huggable hedgehog - early Christmas plotting
Knit a summer top that I'll actually wear - *sigh* why don't I wear my knitted garments? That's a subject for another post.
Knit second Naive sock - I dislike having UFOs kicking around and I have two unfinished socks!
Knit second Pomatomus sock - see above
Play with my Kid Silk Haze - one of these days I'm going to get over my fear of sticky mohair and give it a try. I do have 4 balls in my stash after all (a sweet score when someone destashed)
Use purple Koigu from Christmas to make Annetrelac socks - I started making these Nutkins which were so cute, but I lost interest in the pattern. I'm all about entrelac these days so I think these socks will hold my interest longer.

Super cute socks but I just wasn't feeling it anymore so they've been frogged.

Use up WotA bulky - maybe legwarmers (I might replace this one with using up the grey Jo Sharp)
Finish the second Simply Lovely Lace Socks - done!

These socks were intended for Gen for Christmas but somehow they ended up being too small for her (I don't know what I was thinking). In a fit of madness I ripped the socks back to the heel to see just how much too small they were (they were very very much too small for Gen). I've been playing Cinderella trying to find feet for these socks and hopefully I have now. Gen will get Deegu socks that actually fit at some point (I've got to break out the dyes).

I feel like this is a very doable list, so much so that I have told myself that if I make it through the list in the next 6 months, I get to buy myself something fun and frivolous.

In other news, Heather and I have received the "You Make My Day" Award from Bertha!

The rules say that we have to list our 10 fave blogs. Since I've got to run in a few minutes, I've quickly come up with a short list of my favourite blogs. Heather, feel free to add to this list.

SpillyJane - our own SpillyJane is a knitting, designing machine!
Karma Kitties - I'm sending this right back to you, Bertha. Your blog always makes me smile, especially when you show pictures of June.
Azura's Vices - now that we got Gen knitting she can't seem to stop!
Lickety Knit - Rachel's blog, now in a monthly format, is always hilarious
Phoe Knits - I recently discovered Phoe through Bertha and I've been greatly enjoying reading all of her adventures
Team Knit - I was so excited to randomly come across Julie and to discover that we'd gone to the same high school and even know some of the same people (such a small world!). I always love seeing the beautiful and creative knits that Julie and Jen come up with.