Socks! (Rib and Cable and Cotton Surf)

Last week, I finally finished my first pair of knit socks! These are the Rib and Cable Socks from the Fall 2005 Interweave Knits. I think I started them back in November. I finished the first one sometime after my surgery, when I was doing a lot of sitting around recovering. Then I didn't pick them up again until maybe two weeks ago? The second one was much faster to knit than the first. I also knit the second at much looser gauge than the first.


When I first started knitting, I thought I would never want to knit socks. Silly, I thought (of course, I was living in Florida at the time). But I've been won over. They're fun and quick! So I started another pair. When Matt was away the week before last he picked up some sock yarn for me. Regia Cotton Surf in colorway 5411.
I started these Saturday night using the Knitpicks Toe-up Socks on two circs.

The toes look so pointy, but once I put them on, they look pretty cute. They're going very quickly, so expect to see them finished in not too long.

Ignore the cramping in my right hand

There's been renewed knitting fervor around here lately. For quite awhile now, I have knit at least a few rows almost every day, but I haven't had much to show for it. The most successful thing I've knitted this year was a very simple baby sweater for a friend and the clapotis scarf.

But lately, I've been knitting a lot and feeling pretty confident about it. The first reason is that I received two new knitting books in the mail last week. Mason Dixon Knitting by Ann Shayne and Kay Gardiner and One Skein by Leigh Radford. Both have wonderfully inspiring, quick, and affordable projects that got me excited.

The second reason is that I'm doing 12 programs a week at my libraries right now and seeing a little less than 400 people. This is really fun and keeps me on my toes, but it takes a lot of planning and energy. So it's nice to come home to something as simple and ordered as needles, yarn, and a pattern.

The third reason is that Matt has been out of town at a songleading workshop this week, which somehow leaves me with more free time in the evenings. (I think because I'm not chatting with him, but it may have to do with less chores too.) I'm knitting like crazy.

So even though I should be finishing some old projects - I started a new one. I had the yarn needed to make the Ballet Camisole from the July issue of Magknits. Actually, the yarn is recycled from a project I decided I wasn't crazy about. I was happy with my knitting, but the end result just wasn't flattering.

The shaping on this tank seems right on to fit well, but we'll see. The good news is I just started on Tuesday and it's moving quickly.

Before I go to sleep -

I just want to say - I held two live snakes today. (Oh! I'm imagining how my mother's skin is crawling as she reads this.) And it was fun. They were small and kind of cute. Thankfully, I didn't encounter them in my yard but at the library, in the meeting room, under the supervision of the pet store lady who brought them to show to two of my day camp groups. It was all very exciting. But the tarantula did kind of freak me out.

I took Matt to work with me last week.

He really enjoyed it. He even wrote a special song for the occasion. The kids loved it. I sing with them all the time, but I can't play guitar and accordian and teach them the way he did.

And, the kids (especially the boys) saw a man reading. That's another example I can't provide on my own.