Knits and Giggles

Despite the odds I did manage to finish knitting the second sock for Katie. She didn't even have to wait until her next birthday for it to be finished. Adam I fear will probably not be that lucky. His birthday was August 31st and I haven't even started on his socks. I have the yarn and the pattern but can't seem to muster the desire to knit them, and if that's not bad enough, Kurt's birthday is next week and I have nothing, Sorry hon, nothing.
On that score, I'm not too concerned because he doesn't want me to knit him anything for his birthday anyway. According to him, there is nothing on his wish list that is knitted. I wouldn't know because I don't look at his wish list. What? I thought that was how we play this game. He totally disregards my wish list and gets me what he thinks I would or should want and for my part I reciprocate in kind. He's getting socks, just not this year is all.

Katie wearing her socks as earrings.

Do your ears hang low? Can you swing them to and fro? Can you tie them in a
knot? Can you tie them in a bow?
Can you throw them over your shoulder like
a continental soldier?

If you've read Yarn Harlot's post about knitting a corset and questioning the location of her "girls" on her body then you'll know why I'm giggling a bit right now.

I developed a bad case of SSS (Second Sock Syndrome) while knitting these socks, which is to say that the charm of knitting these socks had worn off which made it very difficult to finish the second sock without straying a bit.
One such diversion that I have been working on whenever I didn't want to knit the sock is a Calendar project that I started back in July as a birthday gift. I have a pattern a day knitting calendar that I received as a Christmas gift. One of the projects in July is a Suzi Q shoe box doll. This amused my daughter Ani and me because Ani has a close friend that is affectionately referred to as SuziQ and has a July birthday. Clearly this doll was meant to be for her. I decided to try to make the doll look like her, despite the fact that she is going to think we're a little strange. ( Ah, I'm pretty sure that ship has sailed anyway)
Everyone who is isn't SuziQ can click here to see her. She is pretty much done except for one little detail that we haven't worked out yet. She needs a pair of cool SuziQ eyeglasses. Any suggestions?
Other things I learned while I was not knitting the second sock include learning a new way to cast on and a really easy way to do a Brioche rib without using yarn overs. The new cast is dubbed German Twisted cast on ( a more PC version of the Twisted German Cast On). Meg Swansen has an article about in one of the Vogue Knitting Magazines, I'd tell you which one except Katie was using it for something to write on and now I can't find it. It is suppose to be a very elastic cast on. I learned it fairly quickly as I'm apt to, and then promptly forgot how to do it, as I'm apt to, when I tried to show it to Julie at a Monday night SnB.

I learned how to do the brioche rib while playing with some yarn I have that plan to use for a sweater for my MIL. I was looking at the Borg Jacket Pattern, think Scandinavian, not Star Trek, and I thought I would cast on (yes, I used the new cast on) the sleeve to see how the yarn knit up in the stitch pattern. The instructions for knitting the cuff of the sleeve were as follows:
Work 9 cm in brioche rib as folls: Row 1 K. Row 2 *K1, k1 below* until 2 sts remain, k2. Rep row 2 only.
Try this if you are knitterly inclined, I found it fascinating. If nothing it will give you a good idea of how easily I am amused.

I haven't decided whether or not I'm going to make the jacket, but I think I will use this brioche rib method. I'm planning on knitting helmet liners for the soldiers in the gulf. Regardless of how you may feel about this war, I believe it is vital that we continue to support the soldiers who are there. Also in an effort to make a contribution to the relief effort for those affected by Hurricane Katrina I am knitting and donating the Astrodome Cap and Scarf from Knitty.com. The caps are my new take a long projects.

Today is the autumnal equinox, I just like saying that, autumnal equinox. Don't you find words fascinating? There are just some words in the English language that are fun to say, ( yes Ani, I know I'm a freak) I can't say that I am sad to see the summer go, summer has never been my favorite season. I like the Autumn best, second would be the Spring, even Winter is higher on my list than Summer. I know not many of you may share this opinion but I wonder sometimes of those that claim to love summer so much would they be singing the same tune if they didn't have the benefits of AC? Just saying.

Tonight I'm having the Buttonhole Bag Exchange at the Yarn Cafe'. I ran this exchange throughout the summer for the TCSnB Yahoo Group. Each of us knit a buttonhole bag from the Mason-Dixon Knitting Blog pattern. The plan is to get together and exchanging the bags by numbering each of the bags and then have a drawing. I am interested to see how many people will actually be there. At least five people have said they won't be able to come, most are sending their bags along so we will go ahead with the exchange regardless but I do hope there will be more people there than Beth, her dd and myself. We plan on having fun regardless. I myself have never been to the Yarn Cafe' so just going there will be fun for me. I'm planning to send a picture of all the bags to Ann and Kay at Mason-Dixon because it is written in the instructions to do so. According to them, they live for this sort of thing.

Believe it or not I already have a new exchange that I would like to try. Scarfing it Up. This one will be by post though, because it is difficult to find a time that everyone can get together at the same time.

I think that is enough blathering for now, in my next post I will tell what I learned about myself after cracking my head open at work. Also there's the gruesome tale of death by badminton net in the backyard. Other noteworthy events include Hobb nobbing, a call from an old friend and an upcoming High School Reunion. Do I want to go? Also, why Katie thinks she should be rich and whether I need to get her physiological help